... surprise!

Hey y'all! I know it's literally been almost two years. I want to report I came home from my mission safe and sound! It was an incredible experience and I'm so grateful for the chance I had to serve the Lord in the New England area. But of course I left this fic in a terribly awkward place! and I finally with the end of the year found the motivation I needed to finish it in preparation for the New Year! So here you go, all the way to the end! Happy 2019!

4 March 1926

It took a few months. The chaos in Xing had to settle down and eventually the Xingese government declared themselves publicly as the Republic of Xing, with Ling Yao acting as President. There were no mentions of any voting process, which certainly cast some doubt on the legitimacy of their Republic, but there were numerous assurances that voting would occur every five years. It took longer after that for them to begin permitting visiting officials and then a few days more to commission a train to take Al to Xing. There were a handful of other Xingese citizens that had escaped during the revolts that were returning to their families now that the violence had died down, but for the most part Al was completely alone on the trip.

The trip was certainly one of the most surreal Al had taken. From a purely logistical viewpoint, it took longer than usual since the rail line hadn't been used in several months. It was also odd to see the Xingese landscape become more torn up the closer they got to the heartland of the country. Al was used to strange looks wherever he was in Xing, but the deeper into the country, the more menacing the looks got.

Arriving in the capitol he was greeted by a very grim-faced driver that hardly spoke a word to him as he drove him through crowded streets towards the palace. Most of the city seemed to be largely the same, or at least intact, but the closer they got to the palace the more the destruction became apparent. If Al had to guess he would say that the ordinary citizens of Chengshi gave way easily before the rebellion's forces. Either that or the openly supported them, which he supposed was possible.

As the forces approached the palace, however, they began to encounter imperial forces and the rest of the palace guards. And for as many forces or weapons they might have had the palace guards were the best in the country and should have put up a fierce fight. From the sound of the reports coming from Mustang's spies however, they could still hardly withstand attack from the inside.

That was the other fact that made the trip so surreal for Alphonse.

He still could not understand how this could have happened. And he still wasn't sure what he was going to do about it. Officially he was there to gain intelligence on the Republic of Xing plan for future diplomatic relations. In reality, he was there, desperate, to try to find the woman he loved. He had no clue how he was going to do it or what he was going to do if he did. And he knew that he wouldn't be able to do it without many obstacles in the way.

He was accompanied the entire way to his room, a different one from the one he always stayed in, and after the door closed behind him he could sense the man's qi still standing outside of it. He was being guarded now, the only question was whether the guard was to protect Al from other threats or to keep him inside his room?

Al threw his suitcase on the bed and sat down in the chair, reaching out with his senses as he did so. There was the man standing outside his door, but there were other life signatures moving around him. He had gotten slightly rusty with training he past few years but he had been trying to work on getting his skills back up to scratch the past few months. He had a feeling he was going to need them.

Mostly he was interested in finding Mei's qi signature, but any kind of information he could gather from it would be useful. He couldn't find her, but he was able to take stock of a few that felt familiar. Ling and Lan Fan were together, there was no surprise there. And if he was correct they were in Mei's reception room. They weren't alone, so the new President was no doubt meeting with other people, whether or Xingese or other dignitaries like him trying to take stock of the political situation, he wasn't sure. He assumed that the other familiar signatures were simply staff at the palace that were always around.

He could figure from the guard at his door that no one would take to kindly to him walking around the palace on his own, especially if anyone got wind the idea he might be searching for the Empress. She obviously wasn't being kept anywhere here in the palace, which he had assumed but now it was confirmed. He figured that if they were going to kill her it would be a public affair, so she had to still be alive.

His job was the figure out where she was.

Al was left mostly alone for the rest of the afternoon, thought the guard never left his front door. He was beginning to wonder what he should do for food when a messenger arrived at his door and informed him that the President wished to see him. Ling did indeed receive him in Mei's old reception room, so Al already knew the way by heart, but the messenger insisted on walking with him.

"Ambassador Elric. It's so good to see you again." Ling was dressed in an odd style Al had never seen. It was certainly a Xingese style, but with none of the Imperial pomp he had come to expect from formal wear. He wore straight legged pants with a tunic that fastened in the front, black with stark red embroidery and had hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

"President Yao."

"Come in, Alphonse. I'm quite eager to talk with you." Al followed the new President into the receiving room he had had so many conversations with Mei in. There was hardly anything in it now, but Al could see the telltale signs of previous transmutations. He had to bite back a wry smile. It looked like Mei had been attacked, or at least fought, in here. It was probably sparsely furnished because she had destroyed most of the furniture in the fight.

Al took a seat at the table where two teacups were set up as Ling had a quiet conversation with some of the guards near the door. They nodded and left the room, though Lan Fan stayed positioned near the wall behind Ling.

"I'm sure there are lots of things you want to talk about Ambassador-"

"How could you, Ling?"

The new President sighed. "Straight to the point, I guess I should have anticipated that considering your brother."

"She trusted you. I trusted you! I was the one who asked you to help her and you were working behind us the entire time!"

"Don't conflate your involvement with the former Empress as a position in the Xingese government, Al. And no, I was not working with the Revolution the entire time. I'm afraid I'm only a recent addition, though I must admit an important one."

"You're the one that led them through the palace."

"I was the main one, though I can hardly take credit for all of it. There was a handful of clan leadership that had been to the palace before. You might be interested to know that your friend Rikui was quite involved as well."

"Rikui?"

"Indeed," Ling said evenly, sitting down opposite of Al and preparing the tea. "She was quite influential in the actual invasion and had been involved in the efforts far longer than I had been. I was the one who provided most of the information in the last few months though that made the advance and the invasion itself possible."

"Why? That's what I don't understand."

"You have to understand, Al, I did nothing in malice towards our previous Empress. I never lied about my affection towards her as my favorite sister. I truly do feel a debt to her for the way she behaved while we traveled back to Xing after the Promised Day. She never tried to kill us or acted in any disrespect towards Fu or Lan Fan. This had nothing to do with her, or even her abilities as a leader. I think in other circumstances she might have been able to be one of Xing's greatest leaders. But the problem remained that she was an Empress. The Empire has been corrupt for a long time, Alphonse. This wasn't her fault. But she did refuse to let it die. There was no other option. It was the only way to bring about a Republic."

Ling passed Al his cup of tea, which he accepted and took a quick sip of. He could feel a subtle anger rising in his chest, almost pushing at his throat like a venom. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "With you as the leader."

"For now. There will be elections. Right now, we need stability and since I have been involved in the politics of the Empire, but still adhere to the ideas of the Revolution, I'm best suited to guide Xing through the tradition."

There was a pause while Al considered his word. His heart was beating hard in his chest and felt his opposite hand clench into a fist.

"You're a selfish snake, Ling."

"The word you're looking for isn't selfish, Al. It's greedy." Al stiffened like a jolt of lightning had run down his spine. Ling's tone, however, stayed completely even, ever the perfect image of a politician as he took a draft of tea. "Al, please listen to me. You need to leave Xing. You are more danger than you can possibly know right now. Diplomatic relations with Amestris are still in a very uncertain place right now. There are a lot of people that want you dead simply because of what you represent."

"I'm only here to help!" Al snapped, setting his teacup down on the table. Ling nodded at Lan Fan and, though he could tell that she was pursing her lips through her mask, she carried the cup away to another table and refilled it.

"You may be, Al," Ling acquiesced, pulling Al's attention to him again. "But you represent an entire nation with its own agenda. And we need stability. We need more time to figure out our position and your presence here in threatening. I don't want to be here when that threat becomes against your life. I like you Al. You're a good friend. Which is why I'm asking you to leave. Forget about Xing and, most importantly, forget the Empress. As soon as possible. Tonight."

"I can't do that."

"Don't make me order you, Alphonse," he said, voice dropping into an almost growl. "I let you into this country because you were a friend, not out of any interest in political relations. If you refuse to take my advice, I might be less inclined to keep protecting you at my own political risk."

If someone was listening in on the conversation, they would have heard nothing else but the veiled threat. There was a look in Ling's eyes though that looked almost… calculating. Al wanted to ask if there was something he was supposed to be getting out of the conversation that he wasn't, but he had spent enough time in Xingese court to know that you never knew where there were ears. Honestly it amazed Al that he and Mei had been able to keep their relationship quiet for as long as they did.

"You know Amestris wouldn't take kindly to that."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't find that threat all that terrifying. We don't need to rely on your charity anymore and you know as well as I do what shape your military has been in since the treaties at the end of the Great War. We were just fine before we got entangled with your country and we'll be fine long after we stop spending our time and resources impressing foreigners and focus them on building ourselves."

Al didn't really know how to respond, but Lan Fan offered him the cup of refilled cup of tea and he set to work draining it as swiftly as he could. As he moved to put the cup back down on the saucer however, Ling spoke again.

"I'm grateful for the efforts you've made in behalf of our country, Alphonse. I know maybe better than anyone that you truly did it out of the goodness of your heart, truly thinking you were helping. But we have no further need of you or your money and if you continue to stay here I will have no choice but to take it as a threat against our nation from your Fuhrer and respond in kind."

Al couldn't believe the way this conversation was spinning so quickly out of control. He had to admit that Ling was being nothing but clear. He wasn't wanted. But there had to be something more to this conversation. It couldn't just end like this. He hadn't even had a chance to see Mei.

"And because I like you I'll even let you take the cup as a souvenir." Al froze for only a hint of a second before nodding thoughtfully and examining the saucer a little more carefully. "I remember you had a fondness for the blue porcelain patterns."

"You're right, I do." Al looked into Ling's eyes, trying to convey what he hoped was the appropriate message. That he thought he understood and that he appreciated it. "Thank you."

"Of course. Then you will be on your way tomorrow then?"

"Tonight, if possible. I of course have no desires to start any bad blood between our nations. I understand if there might be some poor feelings about the past but hopefully in the future we can have an alliance like we once did."

"Perhaps. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help speed your process along."

"No need. I didn't bring very much."

"Very well. Have a good night, Ambassador."

"Good night, President."

Lan Fan escorted him to the door and then closed it behind him as he exited. Al took a deep breath and nodded to himself before setting off down the hall. It would be an unconventional path back to his room, but lucky enough this path led him back towards where his old room had been located so it wasn't even that suspicious that he would be heading that way.

He stopped for barely a second to tip the third vase down the fourth hallway up and swipe the piece of paper underneath it. It only took a second, but his hands were still sweating as he shoved it in his pocket. He spun around to try to walk away as quickly as he could when he saw someone standing at the end of the hallway only a few yards away.

"Al?"

She stared at him, looking like she hadn't changed a day since the last time he had seen her only with a new scar above her left eyebrow. Ling had mentioned that she was involved, but he hadn't truly thought he would run into her. Especially not now. Her eyes switched back and forth between his hand and the vase and then the look on his face before understanding registered in her eyes. He felt sweat break out suddenly on his forehead.

"Rikui-"

She rushed at him and he braced himself for an assault, not at all expecting her arms to go around his neck in a tight hug. Then, as if he hadn't had enough confusion and shock for the day, she whispered fervently in his ear,

"Save her, Al. You have to save her."

He pulled his hand out of his pocket to cradle her back, hugging her back.

"I know you can probably never forgive me, but everything I did, I did for Xing. But she doesn't need to suffer for it. Take her far away from here and have your happy ending."

She let go of his neck, kissing him quickly on the cheek and then almost as quickly as she appeared she disappeared.

It was a brief encounter that weighed on his mind the entire trip back to his room when he was finally able to read the loopy writing on the note.

Tunnel next to the Western Wall, on the left side of the blossom tree down 6 meters and then directly east 50 meters. Take a 90 degree turn to the north and tunnel for another 6 meters. Her cell will have a slight lapse between the guards from 2:40-2:50. They won't discover her missing for another few hours. Go to the Yao Provence to the White Lotus tea shop and asked for a man named Lee. He will tell you want you need to know to get back to Amestris.

Al couldn't have thrown the teacup, and the rest of his stuff for that matter, in his suitcase any faster.

In some ways being incarcerated was almost relaxing. Perhaps relaxing wasn't quite the right word, but Mei couldn't deny it had certainly been the dullest month since she had become Empress. Of course, there was the ever present, crushing guilt and that was stress enough, but at least there weren't dozens of people daily coming to her requesting aid for this and reporting a problem in such and such province and if she didn't give approval for this or that a dam was going to be destroyed. She had time to just feel the guilt and doubt in her own time rather than squeezing it into the hours when she was trying to fall asleep.

The first few days she was just angry. She couldn't believe she had trusted Yao. She couldn't believe she had let this happen. Then, after officially abdicating, she was mostly disgusted with herself. The end of the Empire. She was the Last Empress. Centuries of tradition ended on her head. How could she live with herself after that? How would her ancestors, the dozens of Emperors and Empresses before her ever forgive her?

It had begun to slip into a feeling of boredom and dread for the coming years. Yao had said that he would try to get her released in ten years, but she doubted it. So there were plenty of years ahead of her of sitting here. And she was sure they wouldn't be amenable to giving her any alkahestric supplies so she couldn't even use the endless amounts of time to research or study, one of the things she had dreamed of maybe being able to do one day, second to the idea that maybe one day she and Alphonse might one day have a future together.

So yes. She was mostly bored out of her mind.

Then the wall fell out.

To Mei's credit, she didn't scream. She also reacted almost immediately, jumping to her feet and flattening herself against the bars farthest away from the newly created hole in the wall. She wished she had her knives, but there was no way that they would have left those with her. Apparently, someone had decided that leaving her down here to rot wasn't enough. She was going to die.

Not without a fight though. She would die the Last Empress, but she wouldn't die easily defeated.

Mei bounced on the balls of her feet, ready to launch herself at whoever the attacker was.

Then she saw the blond hair.

"… Al?"

He lifted his head and Mei gasped slightly.

"Mei."

"Al!"

She ran to him, not caring that she had told him that she had told him to leave, not caring that he had left her, not caring about the fact that she was in prison and that he was most certainly not supposed to be there—she only cared that he was there.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face in his neck and he responded in kind, pulling her against his chest so tightly that it almost hurt. He buried his face in her hair whispering words that she couldn't hear.

Mei felt the tears pushing against the backs of her eyes. She hadn't cried in years. Not since Al had first confronted her. That was the first time since she became Empress that she had allowed herself to cry. It was the only time since she became Empress that she had allowed herself to cry.

She allowed herself to cry now.

If Al noticed them, he didn't comment.

She didn't know how long they stood there just wrapped in each other's embrace. Mei didn't want it to ever end. She wanted this moment to go on forever. Just the two of them together, holding onto each other.

"I never should have left," Al eventually said, his voice muffled by her hair and skin. "I've never regretted anything more in my life. When I heard about what was going on I tried to come as fast as I could, but they shut down the boarders, no outsiders were allowed in, not even me."

"No, I'm glad you weren't here," she answered, pulling away. He was reluctant to pull away as well, but he did, though he kept his arms around her waist. "You would have gotten caught up in it all and you could have gotten killed…"

"I still might be," he chuckled slightly. "Ling more or less told me if I didn't leave soon I would be. It wasn't exactly a pleasant conversation, but…"

"But what?" Mei asked, slightly on guard. Anything to do with her traitorous half-brother put her on edge.

"At the end… he gave me directions on where to find you."

"What?"

"He gave me directions on where to find you. He met with me and told me that Xing had no interest in developing or continuing diplomatic relations with Amestris and encouraged me to leave… but on the bottom of the tea cup he offered me was instructions to look behind a vase in one of the lesser used halls… there were direction on where to create a tunnel to your cell without being noticed."

"But…" Al procured the paper from a pocket and showed it to her. She snatched the note and stared. It was indeed Ling's handwriting. She recognized it from all the letters he had sent her during the Rebellion.

Down at the very bottom, scribbled as if an afterthought, were the words "Save my little sister." They were underlined.

"He wanted me to save you," Al said gently.

"But why?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Maybe because he loves you."

"He doesn't love me. He's been involved with this Rebellion the entire time. He was just waiting for the chance to get me off the throne."

"He did save you from execution."

"Well… yes…"

"And he more or less sent me to rescue you…"

"I…" Mei floundered. Her mouth opened and close as she searched for something to say. Al smiled slightly before pulling her close again and kissing the top of her head.

"You don't have to believe me. But I think that he cares about you a lot more than you think."

Mei glanced up once again at Alphonse with his sweet gold eyes and felt her mouth close. Maybe he was right.

"Okay… maybe you're right… but what are we going to do, Al?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a prisoner. I'm here for life. You can't wait your entire life for me, Alphonse, you can't. I don't want you to."

"I'm not going to Mei."

Even though those were the words that she was trying to make him say, actually hearing them hurt. She flinched slightly and looked away.

"Good."

He reached out, grabbing her chin and turning her head so that her eyes met his.

"I'm not going to wait my entire life for you, because you're going to be with me for the rest of it."

"What?"

He let go of her waist to grab her hands. "You're coming with me. I already have it all figured out. We leave now. Ling told me to leave, so it won't be a surprise to anyone if I leave now. It's the middle of the night so we can sneak out and make it to the next town before dawn and get on a train. No one will know that you're gone until we're already on a train halfway to Amestris. And even if they stop us at the border, Fuhrer Mustang owes you a favor for saving Lieutenant Hawkeye's life. They can hardly stop us if the leader of the nation gives direct permission for you to enter."

"But if I did that I would never be able to come back. I can't just leave Xing behind."

"Mei, there's nothing more you can do for Xing. You put up your fight. Ling's promised to keep Xing safe. He won't allow any harm to come to it." Her face clearly said that she didn't quite believe it and Al said her name firmly. "Mei… you've done your job. Remember? How we used to talk about what we would do if you were ever able to stop being Empress. We said we would move to Resembool away from the politics and the power plays and the economies and raise twelve children." He smiled softly. "Grow old together."

"But that was then…"

"And now we have the chance to. We can do it. We can get married. Be man and wife. Don't you want that?"

"You know I do, Al."

"Mei, I love you. And I always will. Please come with me."

"Al…"

"Please. We can have a life together that we couldn't have before."

"… Alright Al." She gave him her hand and he grinned, pulling her into the hole he had made.