The next morning, the group arrived in Resembool. Breda and Armstrong turned to look at Ed and Manami.
"We'll be going to Central from here." He said.
"Alright..." Ed glanced over to Manami for a moment. He would have to talk to her about where they were going next.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Manami," Breda looked to her as well. "A message from the Colonel. The Furher is disbanding the State Alchemist Partnership Program. While partners are allowed to remain together if they wish, it's no longer mandatory."
Manami's eyes widened a little, and she looked over to see Ed already looking at her.
"O-Okay..." She finally said after a moment, looking back to Breda. "Thanks for the heads up..."
Breda and Armstrong saluted to them before turning to walk away. Manami and Ed watched until they disappeared inside the train station, then Ed turned to look at her once more.
She was silent, looking like she was afraid to say anything.
"... what do you think we should do now?" Ed finally asked, making her jump. When she looked back at him, he frowned a little at her terrified expression and sighed.
"Let's go somewhere a little more private." He said.
They left the square and found themselves walking down the dirt road that would take them home. Though Manami didn't walk too far, just far enough to be away from any people, then went to sit on the brick wall than ran alongside the road.
"..." Ed went to sit down next to her, neither of them knowing what to say.
"... what are you thinking?" The blonde finally asked.
"... I'm trying to guess what you're going to want me to do." The brunette answered, honestly.
They grew silent again.
"... it's really up to you, Ed." Manami said quietly. "I don't have to travel with you guys anymore, if you feel that I'm just in the way..."
"It's not that..." Ed sighed heavily. "I'm just... conflicted."
Manami looked him to see him turn his head.
"In a perfect world, I'd send you right down this road to stay with Granny Pinako and wait for us to come home, but..."
"It's not that easy. Not while I'm supposedly a 'sacrifice.'" Manami finished for him.
"Exactly." Ed nodded. "So, you being here might endanger Granny by being there."
"..." Manami looked down. "But, you don't want me to fight either."
"I don't want you to die again." Ed corrected her. "But it's sounding like... the best way to keep you safe is by staying with us and fighting."
Manami lifted her gaze to see Ed looking down at his feet, his expression clearly unsatisfied.
"... I know I probably don't have much of a say, but... that's what I want to do." She spoke up, and Ed looked back to see her look down to her hands in her lap.
"I... don't have the hands of a doctor or an automail technician. I can't use these hands to save or improve lives. All these hands are good for is fighting." She clenched her hands into fists, then lifted her head to meet his eyes.
"I want to stay with you guys. I want to help you two get your bodies back in any way that I can... and the only way I know how to help... is to fight."
"..." Ed sighed, and gave a nod. "Alright. But..." He looked down the dirt road. "How are you feeling about going home? I was thinking of going to get my arm fixed at Granny's."
Manami looked down the road as well, her lips pursing as she contemplated it for a moment... but then she shook her head.
"Sorry... I can't... not yet." She looked up to the blue sky. "I've been gone this long... I might as well hold off until I can come home with something to be proud of to tell my family about."
"..." Ed gave a silent nod. He had to respect that, to some level.
"So... you miss Al that much, huh?" He asked.
He held back the urge to laugh when Manami flinched.
"Huh?! N-No!" She stammered, her cheeks turning red. "I-I mean not that I don't, but..." She groaned, dismissing the awkward topic.
"I'm not going back to Central yet, either."
"Hm?" Ed raised a brow. "Where are you going, then?"
"New Optain."
"What's in New Optain?"
"My teacher." Manami answered, making Ed's eyes widen a little. "Well, he's not alive anymore, but... I've been wondering for a little while now, if maybe he left behind something that would be helpful to us."
"His stuff is still around?" Ed asked.
"Well, considering that he left his cottage and everything in it to me... yeah." Manami went to stand up.
"What?! You got a cottage?!" Ed asked, and she could only flash him a sheepish smile.
"Maybe after all this is over, we could go there on a vacation." She joked. "That is, if you're into being in the middle of a dreary forest where the sun never shines."
"I'm good." Ed forced a chuckle, pushing himself off the brick wall to stand now. "You're leaving now, then?"
"Yep. I think that's for the best."
"Alright." Ed nodded. "You take care of yourself."
"Likewise." Manami smiled at him, before they turned their separate ways.
The rain was coming down in a torrential downpour. People scurried past each other on the wet pavement of the New Optain train station, their feet splashing in numerous puddles.
Manami, only eight years old, scurried past the tall adults around her, in hopes that she wouldn't be seen.
"Excuse me, Miss?" A tall man in a black uniform approached her. "You look lost. Do you know where your parents are?"
Manami's eyes widened in horror at the sight of him. A cop! She quickly turned the opposite direction to run away.
"A-Ah, wait young lady!" He reached out to her before going to chase her. He blew his whistle, the sound ringing loudly through the air.
"Stop!"
But she didn't stop. In fact, she only ran faster. She quickly turned a corner to run into someone, stopping her dead in her tracks.
"Oof!"
"Whoa there..."
Manami looked up to see another officer.
"Don't let her get away!" She could hear the chasing officer call out, and the officer in front of her quickly reached out for her.
Manami didn't think. She turned to run again, feeling his hand grip the sleeve of her overshirt. She continued pulling away to run, allowing him to rip off the overshirt. She dashed away once again, still in a tank top.
She could see trees in the distance, and she bolted for it. She made it within the brush and continued to run, hearing the officers' voices from behind her follow.
"Stop!"
"I can lose them in here..." Manami thought to herself.
Her legs were tired. Her little lungs were going to pop from all this running, but she knew she had to keep going. While zigzagging in an attempt to lose the officers, she suddenly ran out of the cluster of trees, finding herself in a small open field of grass, where a small log cabin resided in the center.
She stood there panting, staring at the cabin for, the rain streaming down her face.
Why was there a house all the way out here?
"Get back here!" One of the officers yelled, snapping her out of her thoughts, and she quickly went to run again. She went to run around the side of the cabin, with intention to hide behind it...
But suddenly, before she could get to the side, the front door swung open and banged against the exterior wall, making Manami freeze in terror.
Someone actually lived out here?!
A man stepped out the open door. He had black wavy hair with a strand that draped over his face down to his chin. He had a short beard run along his jawline.
"Who are you?" He growled, making her flinch. She was too scared to respond, and h is eyes narrowed as they scanned over her.
He immediately recognized something. That mark on her shoulder...
His thoughts were interrupted as he saw two officers emerge from the trees.
"There she is!"
Manami quickly turned to face them and nervously took a few steps back.
"Stand down, gentlemen." She heard the stranger call to them in a gruff voice from behind her. "She's with me."
"Huh? Are you her father?" One of the officers asked, making the man click his tongue in disapproval.
"I'd rather you say 'guardian.' A friend sent her to stay with me for a while." He answered.
Manami looked back at him, eyes wide. He was... helping her?
"A-Alright... sorry about that, sir.
"Must have been taught not to talk to strangers..."
The officers mumbled to themselves, seeming confused.
"H-Here you go, young lady... sorry about the trouble." One of them approached Manami to return her overshirt.
"Get in here and out of the rain!" The man barked, making Manami jump.
Should she go inside? He was scary... s till, he was offering her shelter. Even if it was for a moment, she would be out of this rain and away from the cops...
She swallowed thickly and went to walk towards him with shaky legs, looking up to him to get a better look of his face as she stepped up the front porch steps. His deep blue eyes glared daggers down at her, then he motioned his head behind him, meaning to get inside.
"Good day, gentlemen." He quickly said as soon as Manami stepped in the doorway, slamming the door shut behind her. She flinched at the harsh sound, but noticed him shuffling past her as if he didn't want to touch her.
She looked around to find that she was in It a small, warm cabin. Books and papers were scattered everywhere, and a faint smell of cinnamon filled the air.
"Don't get too cozy. You're out as soon as the rain stops." The man grumbled, opening a closet door and reaching inside it.
Manami swallowed again. "Th-Thank you, mister—"
"None of that." He glared back at her. "Tyberious."
"H-Huh? The young girl blinked as he pulled a towel out of the closet and threw it at her.
"Never call me 'mister.' My name is Tyberious."
"O-Okay..." Manami stammered, lifting the towel to her face so that she could start drying her hair.
"Thank you, Tyberious..."
After Manami had dried off, Tyberious had to alter some old clothes of his to fit her small body. She went to sit at his dining room table, and he went to join her.
"So, what's a kid like you doing out here in the sticks?" Tyberious asked her.
"U-Uh..." Manami didn't know how to answer that.
"Running away, I take it." Tyberious clicked his tongue. "You should go home. Running away is never the answer, y'know."
Manami looked down to her lap.
"No home, huh?" Tyberious sighed. "I get it."
"Huh?" Manami looked back up at him, blinking.
He went to tap his own right shoulder. "You're an alchemist, right?"
Her eyes widened. He could tell just by seeing that mark she had?!
She didn't have this mark until...
"And one that committed a taboo." Tyberious shook his head. " I'm not going to ask what happened, because I'm sure you paid the price and learned your lesson."
Manami averted her eyes and stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.
"... don't be so freaked out. Your secret is safe with me. Frankly, I don't give a damn." The old man shook his head.
"... you really could tell, just by seeing this mark on my shoulder?" Manami asked quietly.
The mark had appeared after the failed transmutation, but...
"Anyone who knows anything about it would be able to." Tyberious answered rudely. "It's the mark of a sinner."
Manami flinched at the word "sinner." She was still coming to terms with the severity of what she had done.
"... but a kid your age? Someone clearly didn't teach you properly." He looked her over for a moment before looking away again.
It was quiet for a brief moment.
"... you don't have any home to return to?" Tyberious asked her.
"... no." Manami answered.
"..." He sighed. "Guess that means I have a calling, then."
"Huh?"
"Get some rest for now. You can have the couch." Tyberious got up and gestured to a small couch. "I'll be in my study," He motioned his head towards one of the doors.
"Under no circumstances do you go in there, or you're out of here. Got it?"
"Y-Yes..!" Manami quickly nodded, still trying to grasp the situation.
Was she... going to be staying with him longer?
"New Optain! New Optain station!"
Manami's eyes cracked open when she heard the train whistle blow. She was finally here... after gathering her belongings and getting off the train, she looked up to the sky. It wasn't raining like the last time she was here, but it was still cloudy and gloomy like it always had been. She walked through the town square towards the forest she desperately ran through almost six years ago.
After a while of walking through the trees, she finally made it to the cabin. She went to one of the windows and reached behind the sill to find the key, right where she had left it when she left two years ago. She unlocked the door and threw it open, finding the cabin dark and dusty.
Still, she could still smell that faint cinnamon scent.
Manami stepped inside the cabin and closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it afterwards. Something Tyberious had taught her. She then went to light a lamp so that there would be some light.
"Alright..." She put her hands on her hips and looked over to the door, the one that led to his study.
The room he told her to absolutely never go in.
"Well, he left this place to me, so... that means I can go in now, right? ... right." She convinced herself as she approached the door and reached for the doorknob.
It was locked.
"... huh?" Manami tried the knob again to no avail.
She reached in her pocket to try using the key for the front door.
It didn't work.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Where the hell was the key to his study?!