That evening, Ed and Al walked with Manami to the Hughes Estate. Manami was surprised to realize almost immediately after Elicia addressed them as "Big and Little Brother" that not only had Ed and Al been here before, but they were those "guests" that Maes had mentioned staying in her room for a few nights. Manami could only laugh at the irony, though when they got inside she immediately went in her room to check something.
She pulled open the drawer to her nightstand, looking to see if the junk she had placed above it was still there. She was relieved to find that it was all as she left it, and moved the miscellaneous papers and whatnot aside to find her journal. She pulled out the small book and flipped through it, going through pages of music that she had written, encoding her own alchemical notes into a few sheets... but more importantly, she made sure two photos were tucked into the last page of her book. She noticed they were still there in that last page. One photo was of her with her family, while the other photo was of her with her friends and sister.
Her most prized possessions.
She sighed softly, tucking the pictures back into the journal and putting it back in the drawer, careful to put all the junk inside on top of it before closing the drawer.
The dinner table was set, and Ed and Al went to sit with Elicia at the table. They seemed to be distracted, and Manami noticed that both Maes and Gracia were in the kitchen. This was probably her only chance...
Manami slipped away while Elicia was distracted with the boys and quietly went to the kitchen. Maes was helping Gracia get the food ready to bring out.
"Hey... need help?" Manami offered as she approached them.
"Sure! We'll take all the help we can get." Maes chuckled, but then noticed her expression. "You okay, kiddo?" He blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, I just..." She sighed. "The shortest way to say this is... I haven't been totally honest with you." She looked up to the both of them. "About my past, and everything..."
"Not that you lied," Maes pointed out. "You just didn't tell us. We didn't expect you to."
"Well... now I kind of have to." She glanced out the small window that peeked out to the dining room. She saw Ed and Al talking with Elicia, smiling happily.
"Because of them?" Maes followed her glance.
"Yeah. They're childhood friends of mine." She answered, looking back at them. "And I mean... it's time that I told you everything. I just... can we talk about the specific details when Elicia is in bed..?" She asked quietly.
Maes noticed her pained expression and went to put a hand on her shoulder. "Of course." He said with a nod.
"The last thing we want to do is push you." Gracia nodded in agreement. Manami sighed softly in relief.
"Thank you so much..."
And the dinner was peaceful. Not a word of the tragic backstory was brought up. There was no research, no stress... just a happy evening with a delicious dinner and good company. Manami found herself smiling and laughing more than she normally did at dinner.
The time flew until Elicia started yawning, and Gracia announced that it was her bedtime.
"Come tuck me in, Nami?" Elicia had pulled on Manami's sleeve, earning a smile and nod from her.
"Aww, why not me?!" Maes whined, making the little girl giggle. "You can tomorrow night, daddy." She said as she pulled Manami to walk with her down the hallway to her bedroom.
She came back about ten minutes later to find everyone sitting in the living room. They had been waiting for her. Manami took a deep breath.
Maes and Gracia were silent as Manami explained her story. It was mostly the same as what she told Ed and Al, but it didn't hurt any less to hear it again. Maes had a stone-cold demeanor while Gracia had her hand over her mouth.
"I'm sorry..." Manami apologized, as she had many times before.
"I'm sorry you had to go through it. It's just... sad, to hear that you kids are enlisting in the military, growing up so much before they have a chance to really live." Maes shook his head.
"I'm glad we found you, Manami." Gracia finally spoke up. "Who knows where you would be if we didn't take you in. I'm glad that we got to at least provide you a safe place to stay."
"Yeah..." Manami nodded, blinking quickly to hold back tears. "You really did, and I couldn't be more thankful."
Ed smiled softly. Things could have been very different, but at the very least he was glad that Manami had been somewhere safe this whole time.
Even if it wasn't at home.
"So, now what?" Maes asked, looking to the boys. "She's sticking with you two?"
"Seems like it." Ed answered.
"So you'll be traveling a lot..." Gracia said quietly. Both she and Manami knew that was going to be hard for Elicia.
"I'll try to be here as much as I can. I have a bed here while we're at Central." Manami noted.
"You wouldn't like a hotel or the military barracks anyway." Ed chuckled, going to glance at the clock. "Speaking of which... we should probably head out." He and Al went to stand up, Manami and Maes following suit. They escorted the brothers to the door and Maes opened it.
"We'll see you at the library tomorrow. Whenever you get up, no pressure." Ed said to Manami with a small smile. She nodded with a hum.
"See you then."
"See you soon, boys." Maes waved as they went to walk out. He closed the door and then looked back to Manami.
"Hey..." He turned to face Manami and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry again..."
"It's not like it's your fault." Manami blinked. "I should be sorry since I didn't tell you sooner."
"I more so mean what was our fault. Looking back, I talked about 'family' and 'sisterhood' a lot." His lips curled into a small frown. "... I'm sure that hurt."
"No, no..." Manami shook her head. "You guys are a family to me. The fact that we're not related by blood doesn't change that." She put on a small smile. "I miss my real mom and dad and sister like you wouldn't believe... but they would be happy I found you guys."
"Ohhhh...!" Maes pulled her into a tight hug. "You're gonna make me cry..!" He whined, rubbing his face against hers.
"O-Ouch! Elicia doesn't lie, your beard is scratchy..!" Manami winced, but found herself laughing anyway.
Maes released her and patted her head. "You're one hell of a kid, you know that? I know your parents would be proud."
"I don't know about that..." Manami chuckled nervously.
"As a parent, I know that they would rather it be this way— they would rather take the hit if it meant you walking away unharmed." Maes said, making Manami's eyes widen in surprise.
"Life is full of mistakes, and sure, you made a big one, but you learned from it. That's what matters. You eventually found your way back to those boys and now you're helping them fix their mistake." He smiled. "They would be proud."
"Geez..." Manami went to wipe an eye that she felt a tear start to form in. "Now you're making me cry."
"Now we're even." Maes kissed the top of her head. "I'll quit being sappy now, you get to bed."
Another three days of hard work and no results.
The topic of giving up and trying something else came up multiple times, but they also knew that they couldn't stop.
They were just so damn close...
Finally, Manami noticed something.
"Hold on..!" Manami tensed up as she finished scratching her notes. "We messed up something..." She mumbled. Ed quickly jumped up to look over her shoulder while she worked.
"You see? Ginger doesn't stand for what we thought... it stands for..." She circled it and pointed to it, and Ed's brows furrowed as he thought.
"... you're right..!" He quickly picked up the paper and went to bring it to his own notes. "That's why the equation wasn't adding up!"
Another hour passed. The sun was beginning to set. Ed viciously scratched his notes, but then... he stopped abruptly, his eyes widening.
"... what..?" He whispered.
"What is it, brother?" Al asked, both he and Manami practically leaning over the table in anticipation.
"Check this for me. Both of you." Ed said, his voice low. He handed it to Al, and Manami got up to walk over and look over Al's shoulder.
"!" They both came to the same conclusion.
"...l-let's check again." Manami took the sheet of paper and held it close to her face. She mumbled quietly to herself as she did the math frantically in her head.
All the math was right... it was the same result.
The secret ingredient was...
"One more time... let me look it over." Ed held out his hand. "One more runthrough. Thoroughly. From scratch."
Manami handed the paper to him. He set it down on the table while whipping out a fresh piece of paper and began scribbling, a little slower now. Manami and Al watched closely, the only sound in the room being the scratching of Ed's pen...
But all of a sudden, Ed threw his pen onto the desk and kicked the table over.
"DAMN IT TO HELL!"
Manami flinched. It was triple checked... there was no other answer. She stared at the table on its side, papers scattered all across the floor. All their hard work over the past ten days... it all came to this?
The gut-punch of a conclusion made her nauseous.
"What's wrong?!" Ross and Brosh barged into the room, surprised to see that the room was an absolute wreck. "Wh-What happened..?!"Brosh gasped.
"Are you angry because you can't break the code..?" Ross asked. If so, that was no reason to throw a fit...
"No... we did break it..." Al replied, his eyes glued to the floor.
"So that's a good thing, isn't it?" Brosh asked, but Ed kicked a book and sent it flying until it hit the wall.
"There's nothing good about it!" He yelled, falling back on his bottom and holding his face in his hand. "Marcoh called this 'The Devil's Research...' and now we know why..!"
"What did you find out..?" Ross asked, feeling like she shouldn't have.
"The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is..." Al trailed off. He couldn't even bring himself to say it.
"Human lives." Ed finished for him.
Ross and Brosh gasped, their eyes widening in horror. Manami held a hand over her mouth, honestly concerned that she may throw up.
There was a brief moment of silence in the room.
"Hold on..." Brosh finally spoke. "You're meaning to say that the military was in charge of something so... inhumane?"
"..." Ed gritted his teeth. "Second Lieutenant, Sergeant..." He lowered his hand, but still didn't look up. "I need you to not tell anyone about this."
"But—"
"Please." Ed cut off their protests. "Please act like you never heard of any of this."
"..." Brosh and Ross exchanged glances before they reluctantly nodded. "... do you need help cleaning up, sir?" Brosh asked quietly.
"No. We'll take care of it and be out soon." Ed replied, his voice low.
And with that, the Second Lieutenant and Sergeant saluted and exited the room.
Silence once again filled the room. The three children remained where they were, still like statues for what felt like forever.
"..." Until finally, Manami bent down to pick up a single piece of paper.
And then Ed picked up a book. Al went to move the table to stand upright again.
None of them said a word as they cleaned up.