The minute she'd heard the news, Mei called the only person she thought would know what to do at a time like this.
Foreigner Murdered by Emperor's Temple
She clenched the newspaper in her tiny hands, crumpling it up in a fit of confusion and worry. She dropped the grocery bag, whirling around with her unfailing balance and sprinted down the market place, all the way to the noble's sector.
"Name and business." demanded a guard who stood over Mei about five feet. She huffed a bit, an angry look displayed across her cherubic features, and panted. There was no way the guard would allow her inside the Emperor's temple, given her social standing, and that her only business was to discuss the paper with Emperor Ling.
"Sir, I-"
Luckey for her, there was a slam from behind the gates, the royal palace's marvelous doors creaking and slamming with the extrusion of the man she was looking for.
"Mei Chang! What are you doing here?!" Ling's voice howled, as he quickly paced his way toward the sullen girl. The guard immediately fell to his knees with respect, bowing before his lord, Emperor Ling. How funny that just about three months ago, Ling was being dragged out of Amestris for being a lowly illegal immigrant.
"Ling, read this paper, I think it has something to do with Edward's case and I know you went to visit the other day so I thought it might be of importance to you given that-"
"Woah woah," Ling chuckled a little, easing up the tensioned air, "Slow down."
Mei centered herself a little, trying to slow herself down for a minute so she could communicate properly. "Ling, this paper has something to do with Edward's case. I'm aware that just about two weeks ago, you visited him in his cell. I'm also aware that a few months ago, they visited you in your temple." She then handed Ling the paper with a small bow of her head.
He smiled, taking the paper gently from her hands and opening it cluelessly to read the headline.
"W-what?"
Mei nodded quietly as his squinted eyes shot through the paper with incredible speed. He examined the news twice, taking in every detail with a sinking stomach and pounding heart.
Found visiting Emperor's temple...A body of a teenaged boy with stabbing wounds...A suspect of the killing seen running from the scene in blue pants and a black undershirt. Suspect most likely male.
Just as Mei did, Ling dropped the paper, spinning on his heel, and trecked right back into his temple, leaving the massive gates to be shut right in front of Mei.
Riza's phone trilled an obnoxious noise, the irritating sound distracting her from her work on her weekly bills. Her new apartment was too expensive for a waitress, and with an irritated grimace at the amount of zeros following the number on her owed bill, she realized she'd need a new job. She contemplated for a moment on the subject, gnawing on the inside of her cheek when she heard the high-pitched trill.
"Hello, this is Riza Hawkeye, I am not available to take your call at the moment, so please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
*BEEP*
She heard the answering machine recording imitate her even, unemotional voice that she once knew. How she was such a wreck, these days. She felt as though the only solution to this issue would be to go back to her former occupation; an officer.
But how could she, when her only reason for doing so was to protect someone she loved?
And...And she'd failed?
Perhaps that was the reason she couldn't bear to wield a gun anymore. Perhaps, because she'd vowed to protect that man at the cost of her life, and had failed, gripped her with fear. What if she'd fail again? What if, this time, her failure resulted in another's death?
"Hi, Miss Hawkeye, this is a long-distance call from Xing so I'd appreciate it if you'd pick up the phone because every ticking second is the sound of my call fee rising, okay?"
The foreign accent got her attention, her sense of recognition to the voice on her answering machine belonging to Ling Yao, the Emperor of Xing, who had promised to report back any information about Alphonse's disappearance back to her.
She excitedly sped over to the phone, trying to contain her excitement the way her even answering-machine did.
"Hello?"
"Ah," Ling breathed, "Riza Hawkeye. Just the person I wanted to speak to."
Her eyebrow twitched in irritation at the kid's attitude: Even the first time they'd met, she was mildly annoyed with his disrespectful demeanor, and the way he'd beat around the bush to test her patience, just wanting to see her tick. It was like the whole world to him was a game, and he played with all the other pieces to see where it was they were weakest. Of course, she'd never once seen him actually use his game against anyone, but still, it annoyed her in ways her old self might have been able to explain.
Instead of responding, knowing her voice would deceive her and give away her frustration, she stayed quiet, and tested his patience, trying out his little game for herself.
Of course, she lost.
"So, today's paper was delivered to me today, and the leading article I found was quite interesting."
...
Again, her patience was ticking. But she restricted from activating her voice, reassuring herself that the longer the call lasted, the more expensive it would be for Ling.
And, finding that she was closer to her old, stern, self, she'd won the game:
"Foreigner Murdered by Emperor's Temple" Was all he'd needed to say, before Riza realized that this small victory was not one she was at all proud of.
"Who are the suspects?" She questioned eagerly.
"The article doesn't say anything about suspects, but that there was a man leaving the scene with blue pants and a tight black undershirt. Also, the foreigner who was killed..?"
She waited, feeling the suspense hanging in the electic signaling across the telephone lines. If he was thinking anything close to what she was thinking, she knew it would be bad.
"It was a teenaged boy. Around the age of fifteen, and quite small."
Her breath hitched a bit, and she gave up on hiding her surprise because if she even tried, she'd know Ling would figure out she'd been trying to hide it all along. A small teenaged boy..?
The two didn't even need to say goodbye before each had heard a click on the other line.
Havoc was on his way into the cell for his daily visit, hiking with a cancer-stick in hand, puffing out the deadly nicotine with no grace as he marched closer to the court.
Havoc had heard that Edward was going to be on trial in the next week or so, so most likely the judge would find him a lawyer worthy of this task. He almost pitied whomever would be left with the task of protecting Edward, since he and the other officers could barely even begin to understand anything about the case, or Edward for that matter, when they'd known the boy for four and a half years.
The officers stationed outside the cells saluted him, raising his ego as he nodded and strut to the open bars of the cell confining the small teen.
Edward was sitting in the same place that Havoc'd seen him last.
He sighed, wondering how the spunky teen had changed so much after being accused of murder.
Or, perhaps, after killing Roy.
Jean felt conflicted on the subject, and being the simple, stupid man he was, accepted that his opinion probably wouldn't do anything to find out the truth, and so he stood looking at the subject objectively, weighing all the options equally.
But still, he recognized how the teen had done a 360: Instead of being the annoyingly genius, loud, headstrong kid he used to be, Edward was now empty and quiet; sinister, almost.
He stood outside the bars, quietly observing Edward's still body.
"Ed," He found himself saying, "I don't know if you did it. I don't know if this is all a huge mistake, or if you actually killed him. I'm sure if you did, though-"
He paused, shocked that he'd said so much when he'd thought he'd had control over his voice.
"I forgive you."
Suspense hung in the air, Havoc could feel his stomach lurching a bit at what he'd just said.
I forgive you.
A military officer: Meant to catch the killers and bring them to justice, to protect the ones they care about and go to war to rid the earth of whoever posed as a threat to their country. An officer was one to enforce the laws, because that's what they believed in and enforced because it was right.
But, Havoc forgave. Havoc didn't care if Edward had rebelled against these rules. Havoc didn't care that he'd killed the man he'd looked up to so much, Roy, who he'd viewed as a mentor and a leader who he'd follow to the grave and trusted with every sense of the word.
He'd forgiven him. Roy would have stared down at him with cold, black eyes, disapproving such a decision that went against the code that was laid out before them. He would have told him to suspend such feelings because there were people he had to protect. He would have told him that justice is necessary to bring order to the world, and to protect the ones who need protecting. Roy would-
But Roy wouldn't. Roy couldn't offer him guidance. Roy is dead.
At the hand of Edward Elric, the Fulllmetal Alchemist.
He forgave him.
Ed's head snapped up, his golden eyes wide with shock and wet with disbelief: It was a parallel to Havoc's own eyes, that trickled shamelessly at what he'd just said.
Or so he thought.
What he thought was a realizing sob, was a chuckle. What he thought would be the words, "Thank you Havoc", was laughter. What he thought would be relief, was anger, insanity.
"Y-you, you forgive me..?"
Havoc wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, a small smile on his face as he nodded and mouthed the word 'yes'.
Ed's face broke into a massive smirk. "You forgive, me..?"
Havoc was about to nod again, when he halted and became confused at the disturbing look on Ed's face: It was shocked, wide with a smile and yet littered with anger.
"That's what I said: I forgive you, Ed."
And his voice broke out into a loud, booming laugh. "You idiot! You make me so sick, it's hilarious!"
Havoc's heart skipped a beat, but Edward continued: "The asshole, the asshole that fucker was! You wouldn't believe the anger that pulsed through me when I'd raised the knife! He acted so CONFUSED! Like he didn't know what I was doing, he was shouting 'Fullmetal, Fullmetal, stop! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! AHA!"
"It was GREAT! I was so PISSED at that BASTARD for what he did to me! I sunk the knife into his chest cavity- it took away all the pain he'd put me through. The stupid FUCK, doing what he did, he deserved to die- ALL OF THEM DESERVE TO DIE!"
"I'M NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING, HAVOC! DON'T YOU SEE, I DON'T NEED YOUR FORGIVENESS, BECAUSE I DON'T FEEL ANYTHING! THAT MONSTER DESERVED TO-"
At the sudden noise, the guards ran in, a pistol in hand and Havoc was too shocked to do anything when they fired two shots at Edward's convulsing frame.
A/N: Sorry for the late update! I would explain, but I think you'd rather just read the chapter: Busy with a play, concerts, school, and a health issue I need to take care of. Not going into detail ;). Thanks for reading, and I hope the cliffhanger doesn't torture you guys. I'll update A LOT quicker, being Dec. break is coming up and soon the play will be over (Opening night is this Thursday-wish me luck!).
Getting angsty, I hope. I just want to write the last chapter so badly...it's killing me...Hehehe
Thanks for all the kind (and sometimes threatening) reviews!