Manami's fingers twitched, and her eyes slowly slid open.
She was still alive..?
Her vision faded in and out of focus, but she managed to lift her heavy head to look around, only to find thick smoke swirling around her.
Manami let out a small cough as she struggled to push herself to sit up, looking over to see Mei lying next to her. She didn't hesitate to check her out, learning quickly that she was still breathing. Just unconscious.
But… what about everyone else?
She then turned her head and her eyes widened at the sight Al in front of her, arms outstretched.
"Al..?" She whispered.
"..." He slowly turned his head to look back at her, and bits of metal cracked and fell off of him.
"Manami…" His voice was weak. "Thank goodness... you're alive…"
His backside was facing her, but she could see where parts of his armor were blown clean off on the front.
"Are you hurt..?" He asked.
"D-Don't worry about that..!" Manami cried. "You—"
CLANG! He suddenly jerked, and Manami realized it was because his armor had broken. He began to fall backwards, but Manami scrambled over to him.
"AL!" She managed to catch him in time, at least enough so that he didn't hit the ground too harshly, and she laid him down gently.
Her hands ran along his cold, broken armor as she inspected him, and her eyes widened at the sight of his chest plate. It was completely gone… and there was a giant crack running down the middle of the inside of his armor, stopping right before his blood seal...
Manami's eyes welled up with tears. If that crack even went a fraction of an inch further...
"Al... y-your blood seal..."
But he didn't respond. He was unconscious.
Or was he..?
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Manami flinched at the loud sound, then looked over to see that soldiers were shooting missiles at Father. Even with that much firepower, he deflected it all with his force field.
She then saw a wave of flames that went to engulf Father, but he still had that invisible shield around him.
Those flames belonged to none other than Roy Mustang… and she also saw with Alex Louis Armstrong and Lieutenant Hawkeye with him, joining all the countless soldiers in their relentless attacks against Father.
"Keep going!" Roy yelled. "Don't stop! Don't give him a chance to strike back! Wear him down!"
Manami reached for her back pockets, but felt that they were empty. Her fans were gone... broken and splintered somewhere on this battlefield.
She could only watch as Lan Fan threw bombs, Zampano shot quills, Darius threw a giant concrete rock, Izumi transmuted a dome around Father for Roy to shoot his flame alchemy inside…
Hell, even Greed was fighting.
They were all fighting to deplete Father's energy…
And then she saw Ed join the fight, and Father completely destroyed his automail arm.
Even so, Manami knew… even if she had her fans, she couldn't get up. She couldn't leave Al. Not like this.
"... Manami..?"
Manami gasped when she heard her name and looked down to see that Al had regained consciousness.
"Thank God..!" She cried. "Y-You're okay..!"
"..." Al slowly reached up to brush some hair out of her face with a shaky hand. Manami quickly took his hand in both of hers and gripped it tightly.
"S-Sorry…" He whispered. "I guess... this is as far as I can go…"
Manami quickly shook her head. "Don't say it like that… y-you're gonna be okay..."
She felt tears sting the corner her eyes as she went to hold his hand against her cheek.
"I won't let you die..!"
Her eyes looked up to see that Ed managed to land a kick on Father. There was no force field to deflect it, but Father had blocked the kick with his own arm...
And then, he began to struggle.
"He's losing control!" She heard Hohenheim yell. "He can't contain the power of God he claims to have anymore!"
"GAAAAAHHH!" Father shrieked to the sky, and red sparks flew around him.
BOOM! He exploded with energy, and Manami squinted her eyes shut as she sprawled herself over Al and used all of her weight to anchor him down, so that they wouldn't get blown away. She felt something hit the side of her head, but she didn't react to it. She just focused on keeping herself and Al on the ground.
When it ended, Manami lifted her head to look around and see nothing but smoke once more. She then looked down to Al.
"Al, are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah… but… Manami, you're bleeding…"
Just as Al said that, Manami saw a drop of her blood fall on his armor. Was that her blood? She reached to touch the side of her head, where she remembered feeling something hit her head earlier. Thankfully it didn't hurt too much, but she pulled her hand back and saw blood on her fingers.
"Mm... I'm okay.." She assured him. "I think it's just a scratch…"
She heard Al gasp, and she followed his gaze to see…
"!" Ed was sitting back against rock, with a metal rod stabbed through his flesh arm...
"A stone…" They looked over to see Father rising from the rubble.
"I need a stone… a Philosopher's Stone!"
Father's eyes fell on Ed… and slowly began to stagger towards him.
"Edward!" Hohenheim yelled. "Get out of there, now!"
"Brother, run!" Al cried.
But Manami knew that Ed couldn't run. Without his automail arm, he was pinned down! He couldn't move!
She stared in horror as Ed struggled, blood spurting out of his arm.
"Stone… give me your stone…" Father wheezed.
"BROTHER!" Al yelled. "LET HIM GO, DAMN IT!"
It was almost as if Manami lost all feeling in her body, along with any ability to control it... but she still slowly went to stand up, her legs shaking.
"Manami..?"
Manami didn't look back when Al whispered her name. She didn't see that he had reached for her hand, but she stepped forward and broke into a run, straight for Father.
She had to do something. Even if…
Manami ran up to him and yelled out as she punched him square across the face, making him stagger backwards.
"Manami..!" Ed gasped.
"I'm not… I'm not letting it end like this!" Manami gritted her teeth and charged for Father, who glared up at her.
"GRRRR!" He went to attack, but Manami was quicker. She kicked him in the stomach to push him back, then lunged at him to land several punches and kicks.
She could hear cheering from around her, but it all sounded faint with how loudly her adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her head rush.
The only thoughts that were running through her mind were of the people who were hurt... who were killed... and then who would die, if this creature won this war.
Every punch, every kick, felt like the closest thing to revenge that she would get for killing Maes, and so many others... for all the hurt that the people they left behind had to endure...
And now, for threatening Ed and Al's lives!
"GRAH!" Manami twisted herself and kicked Father across the face as hard as she could, and he fell to the ground. She watched him for a moment and caught her breath, but realized that this was her only opportunity to go back and pull that rod out of Ed's arm. She quickly turned to run back for him...
But suddenly, something had held her ankle down... making her stumble and fall face first on the ground.
"?!" Manami looked back to see that Father had just barely managed to grasp her leg, but now that he had a firm grip…
"Give me… YOUR STONE!"
"NO!" She heard Al scream, before red flashes sparked all around her, and she felt like the oxygen was cut off from her lungs.
No matter how hard she tried to gasp for air, she couldn't breathe. She tried to crawl away, but Father kept a firm grip on her, even getting up to his knees and crawling to hover over her and wrap his hand around her throat. Despite that Manami gripped at his wrist to try to pry it off her neck, she found that she didn't have the strength to pull him away.
"It's mine…" Father cackled above her. "It's mine!"
"MANAMI!" Ed yelled, struggling to break free, but to no avail.
"..." Manami's hand dropped from Father's wrist as she felt the last of her energy be sucked out of her.
"This is it..." She thought. I'm going to die here..."
She failed to save Ed... she would never get to tell Al how she felt...
The Promised Day would be… her last.
She now couldn't hear anything except for a loud, constant ringing... and her vision was fading out of focus...
She knew… once she closed her eyes… she would be dead.
In her last moments of consciousness, she saw flashes of blue light, so bright that she had no choice but to close her eyes...
When she opened them, she was back at the white void. Not the Portal of Truth, but like the one in her dreams… Manami looked down at herself to see the same white gown that she wore in her dreams, too.
Suddenly, there was a bright light that made Manami lift a hand to shield her eyes. She tried peeking from behind her arm, but could only make out a silhouette.
Was it the same one as before? The one who reached out to her? With the short blonde hair?
Though the light was bright, Manami lowered her arm and tried make out who the figure was through squinted eyes. Once the brightness dimmed and it became clear, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"... Shiori?"
She couldn't believe it not only because it was her younger sister, but also because she wasn't as she remembered her at all. In fact, she was just as grown as she was, standing only a few inches shorter than her, and wearing a matching white gown.
"Hey, big sis…" She greeted Manami with a small smile.
"How did you..? You're grown up…" Manami said breathlessly, looking her over. "Y-You... look just like mom…"
Shiori chuckled softly, flattered. "Yeah… dad says that, too."
"Dad..?" Manami's eyes widened, then she looked around again.
This wasn't the Portal of Truth, but…
"... I'm dead… aren't I..?" She asked, in a whisper.
"That part is up to you." Another familiar voice answered.
"?" Manami looked behind Shiori, and through the white light stepped up Maes Hughes, in a loose-fitting white shirt and pants.
"Maes…" Manami whispered, her eyes trembling.
"Hey, kiddo." Maes smiled at her.
Manami was immediately overwhelmed with emotion. She felt tears quickly overflow from her eyes, and though she went to wipe them away, she still let out a choked sob.
Both Shiori and Maes's expressions saddened at the sight of her, and they stepped forward to pull Manami into an embrace.
It was strange, knowing that they were all ghosts, spirits, or whatever… but she could still feel their warmth and now she couldn't contain her tears. She wrapped her arms around her sister and hugged her as tight as she could, sobbing into her shoulder.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Shiori..!"
After a few moments, another familiar voice spoke up.
"What you did… it was a mistake…"
Manami looked up to see that two people had joined the embrace with Shiori.
It was... her mother and father. Not a deformed monstrosity, but as their normal selves...
"But we all forgive you..." Kai finished his sentence, smiling down at her.
"You just have to forgive yourself..." Renee added, also smiling warmly.
Manami was once again overwhelmed with emotion, and she hugged her family as tight as she could, not even bothering to try to hold back her sobs.
After a long moment of tears, they all pulled away, and Renee reached to wipe Manami's tears.
"What do you mean... 'it's up to me' if I'm dead?" Manami asked.
"The best way to explain it is that you're at the threshold." Maes replied.
"The Homunculus took your soul from your body, but didn't absorb it as energy…" Kai explained.
"So... right now, you exist in between life and death." Renee finished for him.
"..." Manami stared at them, eyes still trembling. "So… I really have a choice?"
The four of them nodded, and Manami looked down to her feet. She was quiet for a long moment as she racked her brain.
"..." She could only clench her fists. With all that thought, she still didn't know what to say.
"I'm sure you already know the answer, sis…" Shiori smiled sadly. "You just told me not that long ago… that, after all this, you wanted to go home."
"B-But… you are right here!" Manami cried, shaking her head. "How can I just turn around and walk away… a-and never see you again?"
"Because you have people back there waiting for you." Kai said, smiling sadly. "They need you, Manami."
"But I need you, too!" Manami sobbed, tears streaming out of her eyes once more.
"Honey..." Renee reached once more to wipe her daughter's tears away. "Don't you see? Whether it's now or later, you know now that we will see you again."
Manami was quiet, but Kai stepped next to his wife, placing his hand on top of Manami's head comfortingly.
"All we want for you is to be happy..." He said.
"..." Manami gritted her teeth. "But... wouldn't I be happy if I stayed with you..?" She asked in a small whisper.
"Sis…" Shiori smiled softly as she stepped next to their parents. "We all know that you have to go back."
"There's so much for you to do, yet." Renee added.
"Which, by the way…" Maes grinned. "Tell Alphonse that you love him already."
"Huh?!" Manami's eyes widened in surprise. "Wh-Where did that come from?!"
"Don't worry," Maes winked at her. "You'll make a fine wife for him."
"..." Manami could only let out a chuckle, that then turned into a laugh.
Maes and the Kami family smiled at the sight of her.
"Then it's settled..." Both Kai and Renee stepped back. "You'll be going back."
"But before you do, I want you to tell my girls something." Maes spoke up, approaching Manami now.
"Tell Gracia and Elicia that I'm with them every day… even though they can't see me… I'm always there." He said. "And of course, tell them that I love them very much..."
Manami felt fresh tears form in her eyes, but she managed to hold them back and she nodded up at him.
"And, of course, I love you Manami…" He reached down to pull her into a hug. "You've come so far in your life… and you can only go further. You and those boys."
Manami silently nodded, sniffling as they pulled away from their embrace, and Maes went to join Manami's parents.
Manami turned to Shiori, who was smiling at her. She smiled back, but it quickly faded.
"What's wrong?" Shiori asked.
"I just…" Manami shook her head. "I don't mean to think of this as something that's just a dream, but…" She looked up to everyone.
"Is this real? Or…" She couldn't bring herself to say the alternative.
"Just in your mind?" Maes finished for her. "I mean… let's just say…" He trailed off, going to scratch the back of his head.
"Have you considered that it could be both?" Shiori asked, smiling innocently.
"..." Manami smiled back at her, and reached for one more hug with her.
"I love you..." She whispered, then looked up to her parents and Maes. "I love you all so much..."
"We love you too..."