1908- Ishval War
Why'd it have to turn out like this? What was the point of all this fighting? Who was enemy, or friend? Did it really matter anymore? It seemed as though they were all required to kill anything that spoke, anything that moved. Was this what we humans deteriorated to? Is this what we've become? Can we change our fate?
"Hurry! The enemy! They're coming!"
"Let's go! Grab all you can!"
I watched, still not able to take in the sight. Bloody men, motionless children, and sobbing mothers littered the field. Their eyes were of a brilliant red, some burning dangerously, others so terribly hollow and deprived of life. Ishvals. That's what we were here for.
There were so many, running to our vehicles, reaching for the ammunition we supplied. My men shouted orders, calling for more hands, never moving quickly enough. In the distance, I could see a storm of dust, burying the village, charging straight for us. My chest throbbed. I was beginning to feel ill…
"Fujiin!" Nathaniel called, snapping me back to reality.
"What is it?" I asked, straining for composure.
"M'Lady! The Amestris, they're reaching the halfway point."
I noted the wavering strength in his voice, nodding dismissively. "We don't have much time."
I faced the warrior villagers, passing a sympathetic look at a family huddling amongst one another, fearfully. This was utter madness. What did they hope to gain from this meaningless war? Why the hell would they even shoot a kid? The bastards…
"Fill up the empty spaces with as many women and children as we can manage," I commanded, addressing everyone within shouting distance. My second in command took action, repeating in loud shouts to the remaining soldiers who hadn't heard me.
"But… we were only ordered to transport the supplies," some recruit protested, bowing respectively.
"Rise," I commanded angrily, grabbing his collar and pulling him in closely, "I'm in charge here. You listen to me. And I say you go and help the others load up the women and children. Understand?"
Trembling, he nodded. I shoved him off, casting a final glare before taking off to do my share of work. The sound of gunfire was approaching. We were short on time.
A child stood sobbing in the midst of frantic legs. Without hesitation, I charged towards the little girl, falling to meet her eyes, taking her hand in mine.
"Hey miss, I'm Fujiin," I said gently, mindless of the men now giving the two of us some spacing. The girl sniffed, rubbing her eye and giving my hand a fragile squeeze. In a weak, shaky voice, she asked if I was the wind goddess. With a light chuckle, I nodded. "Yes, I'm here to save you. We're going to take you to a pretty palace, would you like that?"
"Where's my momma? Will she come with us too?"
I maintained my smile, glancing at the body resting a few feet away. Her face looked strikingly similar to the girl's. Oh how I wanted to give her a proper burial. Damn these idiots. Could they not stop and think of all the funerals these kids would have to face without a body to even mourn over!?
"Your mom is already in a beautiful palace," I said sadly, reaching to wipe away an escaping tear. "Let's get you out of here, right?"
To my relief, she agreed, allowing me to reach down and lift her off her feet. Walking briskly, I showed her a few miniature displays of my winds, making them dance in her hands, earning a radiant, weak smile. Good. Even the smallest moments like this should count. Once she was packed in a quickly filling vehicle, I bid her a safe trip, patting her head. In a matter of seconds, the car revved, and they were gone in the distance.
"M'lady! Five vehicles remain!" someone reported, running to my side. I nodded appreciatively, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"They approach! They'll arrive in approximately ten minutes, judging by their speed!"
I cursed, giving my companion a reassuring squeeze. "Alright men, all of you will take up two of the cars, take your leave, you are dismissed!"
The man beside me spun towards me, eyes wide. "M'Lady? What about you?"
I smiled, dropping my grip. "I'll stay back and load up the other three," I said, giving a light push in the direction of my soldiers. "I'll be fine. Now go."
Reluctantly, he took off, giving a final glance back at me with a pained expression.
Hands clutched at my coat, tugging frantically. A young woman, delirious with panic, was shoving a baby into my hands, begging me to tend to her. Accepting her request, I cradled the crying child, bobbing her up and down. Just as I was preparing to escort the mother to the car, I heard a terrifying thud.
I hadn't even noticed the bullet hole forming on her chest, reddening to a color richer than the color leaking from her wide, wide eyes. Ambush.
"Go!" I screamed at one of the cars full of my men, waiting, waiting for me. They didn't react instantly as I sprinted towards them, top speed, shoving the child into one of their hands. With a flick of my wrist, the car was on its way, several protests screaming my name. The driver was trying to turn around, fighting against my push.
"I said GO!"
With another flick, they were soaring across the sands, disappearing out of sight in the flurries of clouds I created amongst the chaos.
Clearing my mind, I took off running, shielding and protecting as many Ishvals I could manage. Men were screaming in agony, in rage. Explosions lit the skies, blowing storms of dust into my eyes. I went from place to place, lifting crying children to their feet, tugging at the sleeves of woman yelling out the names of their husbands. I fled from the major points of battle, determined to get myself alive long enough to fill those three trucks. It wasn't too big of a goal, but it was something.
After some considerably lengthy amount of time, I had two of the trucks up and running, briefly teaching some of the women how to operate the controls. Both loads made an effort to plead for me to depart with them, thanking me for my kindness. I declined, waving them off. It pained me either way.
Once I had filled up the majority of the final vehicle, a terrible earthquake rumbled through the ground. I was in the middle of a sprint towards a flaming house, echoing the cries of a trapped family. To my horror, the floor began to split, and a mouth formed, gradually widening…
I witnessed the entire remaining truck filled with frightened innocents being devoured by the earth.
My throat tore open at the attempts of my deranged shrieks.
Then I felt a burning sensation at my back. As I spun around, a blast of flames leapt out at me, grazing my waist and ripping a serious wound along my right leg. My uniform tore open and blood blossomed, dripping gruesomely to the sandy remains of the segmented village. With a stunned cry, I cushioned the stinging spot on my waist before landing roughly on top of my scorched thigh. Where did this fire come from? This wasn't normal. It was…alive.
I gagged, struggling up to my feet. The burn was severely deep. It'd be a pain running around. I gritted my teeth, putting some distance from me and the ravenous flames at a slow limp.
Alchemy. That's what this was.
Groaning, I put weight on the closest wall, breathing heavily. I kept picturing that damn car with the kids…watching me…frightened…
"Damn it!" I yelled, slamming my fist against the wall.
This was no good. I had to push aside the emotions. I had to get out of here.
With a sob, I tore away the remaining cloth on my bloodied leg, fixing it into a temporary bandage. It would take too much of my strength to heal the entire thing. With a grunt, I placed my gloved hand upon the area, willing for the transmutation embroidered on the material to take effect. It ignited, blanketing the wound in a fiery pain, sealing it. I swallowed a wave of nausea, turning my head to focus on the monstrous flames taking out anyone in its way. If I had been there a second longer…
I finished my spell, taking a testing step for precaution. Still hurt, but endurable. I faced the direction of where the most commotion was, noting the small numbers of the enemy, but also the impressive powers of their alchemy. Most of the Ishvals were dead.
Half-heartedly, I raced off in the opposite direction.
Why? Why did we have to fight? What was there to gain when there was everything to lose?
It was eerily silent.
My back rested against a crumbled wall, my head slumped forward from the weight of shame, regret, hatred, fear, and sorrow. My bandaged leg had grown cold, numb from my constant movement. My waist ached. Sudden movements were a challenge. Every time I was forced to evade a surprise attack, I felt as though I would die simply from the pain.
The war was over.
All I wanted was to go home.
Sluggishly, I raised my hand, pulling up on what used to be a home. When I had hovered a few feet from my seat, the top of where I was anchored shifted into rubble and I collapsed back to my bum, wincing in pain from the jerkiness stressed on my leg.
Recovering from the shock, I reached up once again, succeeding to push my full weight on the wall, hugging it tightly.
It was then I saw her. Staring at me with a pointed gun, standing directly in front of an unstable building.
She was branded with the color of Amestris.
"H-Hey," I found myself warning, grimacing as I shimmied over to an easier opening. She stiffened as I moved, emitting a loud click from her readied weapon. I froze, all too familiar with how this was going to go.
"You're not one of us," she yelled, her eyes growing cold. "Why is an alchemist sided with the Isvhals?"
"Lady, you're right in front of," I tried pointing only to shudder at the impact of a bullet tearing through my shoulder. "Urg!"
The bricks above her shifted, sliding down…
"Look out!" I screamed, clutching my arm. Ignoring the misery I was putting through my body, I raced out of my broken shelter, snapping my fingers. The girl fired again, but this I easily dodged. A ferocious wall of wind swarmed beneath her, swooping under then around to shove her forward. Unfortunately, thanks to her last minute firing attempt and my evasive skills, my plan to get her out of the way of the collapsing debris had to be adjusted to getting most of her out of the way.
With a yelp, she flew forward into the sand, turning just in time to see the piles of heavy weight come crashing on her. The sound of bones crunching brought tears into my eyes and I decided then to lose my lunch. When I had finished emptying myself, I limped my way over to the woman, still breathing, but unconscious.
She was one of them. One of the ones who started this whole damn thing, yet all I could feel towards her was pity.
My hand pulled away from my damaged shoulder, slick with red. With a reluctant sigh, I began to move away the toppled mass crushing her, piece by piece. Doing it by hand, my shoulder and waist were giving me a hell of a time keeping quiet. After what felt like decades, I reached the halfway point of uncovering her, witnessing her eyes flutter sleepily open.
She was surprised to see me, drawing up her gun to my head, pulling the trigger. I hardly flinched at the expected 'clink' of the emptied chamber. Her eyes widened, fearfully, and I shook the hair out of my eyes, continuing to unbury.
"What- What are you doing?" she found the strength to ask. I forced a weak chuckle, glancing to find her staring severely at the hole in my shoulder.
"Digging you out of your grave," I answered, wincing at another sharp attack crawling along my arm. The girl either had some serious pain tolerance or she just hadn't noticed the situation she found herself in.
"What do you mean? Didn't you knock me down? Why would you try helping me?"
I went for the latter explanation.
"After your little firing incident," I said, almost bitterly, eyeing my shoulder, "You failed to realize that I wasn't trying anything to antagonize you or provoke a fight."
I uncovered just enough to find a nasty looking bolt sticking straight out of her lower chest, no doubt demolishing her spine.
"What were you doing then?" she snapped viciously, unmoving. Unmoving because she couldn't move. Not in the condition she was in. I frowned.
"Trying to move your stupid ass out of the way," I answered in a steady tone, glowering. "Now I'm going to ask for you to keep quiet and conserve your strength seeing as how you've completely immobilized yourself and I can't be too sure how much damage your body took from the impact."
That certainly got her attention.
She grew pale, lifting up her head, not saying anything like I asked. But clearly, she was panicking.
"Stop," I said softly, speaking to her as I did with the little child from earlier. I briefly wondered if she was alright. "You seriously need to take it easy." I eased her forehead down, gently, passing a lopsided grimace. "If I can just have you trust in me for like ten minutes, I'll have you fixed up, ok?"
I took her willingness to lie back and be motionless as her approval.
Diligently, I powered through the obstacles, occasionally pausing to ask if she felt anything, anything at all, for her to answer no, nothing. When I had almost everything out of the way, I noticed how long she had been observing me. Questions were planted all over her face. Much to be expected I supposed, having your enemy close and all.
"You seem conscious enough," I spoke, pushing myself to maintain my pace despite my trembling grips, "What's on your mind?"
She didn't answer right away, giving herself a moment to take up my offer at conversation, but she gave in to her curiosity.
"How old are you?"
I hesitated, a couple of rocks hovering in mid-air within my throbbing palms. This wasn't really a question I had expected, but I relented anyways.
"I'm just about eighteen," I replied, growing somewhat shy about my youthful appearance. People had always considered me barely an adult. It never failed to surprise anyone, learning I had the talents at such an early age to become the Prince's closest knight. Of course, that never came to prevent me from earning my respect.
The girl's reaction was the same as everyone else.
"That's…young," she whispered, her eyes flickering over to my sleeve. "It's hard to believe that you're…at such a high placement."
I laughed, wincing at the tension in my gut. "I get that a lot."
"Did you join by choice?"
A bit more personal, but what was the harm?
"Yes and no." I yanked away a larger chunk of rock, pausing to catch my breath. "I, uh-" I gasped, just realizing how surprisingly long I'd lasted being this awake. "My father was suffering with financial situations and my mother sort of…made things worse. So I went to the Prince, asking to see him." I chuckled, closing my eyes to will away specks of black and blue. "The guards wouldn't let me in, so I caused quite the scene. Especially after they carelessly pushed aside an elderly couple, politely requesting to pay the Prince a visit for family reasons, that's when I really wreaked havoc."
Goodness, the world was really spinning now.
"The good man," I smiled at the memory, "He rushed on out, demanding what was happening. When he saw me standing red faced on top of his unconscious men, he collapsed on the floor, rolling with laughter."
The woman allowed herself to smile. She was actually pretty, it suited her.
"Prince Claudio," she muttered to herself, "Never thought I'd hear a story from one of his soldiers."
I beamed, taking this as a compliment to his highness. "Ah, you're of a Fuhrer ruling, right?"
She nodded weakly, looking tired.
"Sorry, I'm making you use too much energy," I apologized, swinging over the last of the rubble. "Ok, now for the fun part."
"You're really pale," she warned, lifting a steady finger and pointing to her coat pocket, "I have some water… Please, don't push yourself. I-" she trailed off, struggling with what to say next. I shook my head stubbornly.
"Nonsense. If I were to wait any longer, your wounds would only worsen."
Couldn't argue with that, she grew grimly silent.
With a trembling crack of my knuckles, I wrapped my hands tightly around the ghastly object pinning her down. "You're about to let out a heavy mass of blood, so do not panic, do not speak, but most of all, do not move."
Her eyes widened, but she allowed a very reluctant nod. Concentrated, I inhaled then exhaled loudly, ensuring I would have at least enough juice to seal away the hole I was about to expose. Hopefully, I did. The worst case scenario would be I'd collapse from the ritual and fall into a heavily induced coma. God, I pray that doesn't happen.
Not believing in the whole "on three" warning, I put my entire strength, what was left of me, and gave a ferocious yank. The attempt nearly had me vomit again with dizziness. Black spots seethed into my eyes, and I desperately tucked away my fading consciousness, covering her now spewing fountain of blood, willing for my strong binds to take effect and seal the horrid opening. Her body went rigid, then a violent spasm possessed her and I knew she had recovered at least a portion of feeling. Not good. The unplanned movement created a leakage, sizzling red liquid splashing hazardously upon my face. I was performing blindly now. All I could distinguish was the muzzled sounds of her groans and the tensed muscles of her stomach. Was she… quenching her own screams? Never mind that! With a nearly emptied gasp of stamina, I demanded her life to keep blazing and drew an electric current into her nerves, rewarded with a confirming twitch. After a matter of agonizingly long seconds, she went limp, relaxing into a barely functioning state, but alive none the less. I wiped the red from my eyes.
Then I turned my head to vomit up an ocean of blood.
How I was still breathing, I hadn't the faintest clue, but I was certainly relieved.
"O-O…Kay…?" I gasped, coughing the last of my stomach into the sand. The girl had her eyes shut tightly, the fist she had shoved in her mouth falling to the floor, trembling. Damn. Fighter, this one.
"I-I think…"
Close to the point of hyperventilating, I crawled back over to check my work. Thankfully, I had done everything in one go. Her belly was exposed, flat as a pancake, deprived of any signs of impalement. I had went for realigning her spine as well, not to mention mending all the bones of her legs. Had I succeeded?
"Ca…Can you... Sit up?" I asked, pausing between each attempted speech.
She did. Slowly and with difficulty, but she was up and sitting tall. Her large eyes settled over my, no doubtingly, disgustingly drenched face.
"Is that-?" she choked, horrified.
"Let's get you up," I cut her off, standing, hardly, on two feet. The world swayed and my lids drooped. Stay awake. Stay awake enough to give her a hand.
She took it wordlessly. I could instantly tell she was fighting to get most of herself up on her own.
"Don't be shy," I said, tugging, "I promise I'm not as brittle as I appear. You're light as a feather."
And she really was. My alchemy soaked gloves ensured that much.
Frowning, her weight increased slightly, and she was leaning against me. I asked for a few more tests, asking that she rotate her ankle and perform a couple of steps with a rewarding success. Bones were healed. I was still alive. And she hadn't taken the opportunity to attack me at my useless condition. Something went according to plan and I suddenly felt… better.
"Thank…you."
Surprised, I looked over at her, watching me with a genuine gratefulness. A smile came to my lips and I nodded, lowering her gently to the ground against a more stable surface. When she had settled, I collapsed to my own rear, having the extremity of what I had done hit me like a train. I was deathly tired.
The girl observed me with concern. Hard to believe she had shot me minutes ago. Hard to believe she was from Amestris. Even more difficult to believe she was supposed to be seen as a cold blooded threat. I shook my head in disbelief.
"… You really are an alchemist," she addressed almost impressively, narrowing her eyes. "What is it?"
"Nothing," I laughed, "It's just-"
I lifted my gaze to the sky, shaking my head once more.
"This whole war. This- I don't know," I stopped to glance at her humorously, "What are we fighting for again?"
She understood exactly what I meant. With a sad smile, she sighed. "I wondered the same thing," she whispered, palming the gun I failed to notice in her hand. "All I had were my orders. I didn't really question it at the time, but sitting here next to 'the enemy'. It's almost silly."
"Yeah."
We went quiet for moment, deep in thought. I'm almost positive we were both wondering the same thing:
What now?
"Don't you think it's funny," I found myself saying, twiddling with my gloves.
"What?"
I chuckled, leaning my head back on the wall, looking at her curious expression.
"We're solving bloodshed with… more bloodshed."
She nodded.
"And," I continued, "A majority of us don't even realize that. As simple as it may be."
Again, she nodded, exposing a small smile.
"For an almost eighteen year old, you seem to be more experienced than our own Fuhrer."
Stunned, I gawked at her incredulously, unable to decide to be flattered or furious. Had she really just considered her opponent to be at a higher rank than her own leader?
"Those wounds," she said out of the blue, pulling me away from my shock. "Are they? Burns?"
I automatically covered my legs, embarrassed for some odd reason. "Yeah," I replied, shrugging. "But it's fine."
Her eyes glinted with a knowing look, but we found ourselves pulling away from the topic. Instead, we went into full introductions as if meeting for a friendly gathering. Her name, I learned, was Riza Hawkeye. To our surprise, we lent out a series of information, uncaring of who we were speaking to. Really, we sort of dismissed our titles and origins altogether. I passed my only name, confirming it was indeed intended to represent the goddess of wind. She wondered why I had just the single identity to which I answered I had eventually separated myself from my family, tired from the problems they always seemed to burden me with. She revealed to me the death of her father, a mentor of one of the alchemists ordered to partake in the war. She mentioned having a sort of powerful knowledge, tattooed to her back. After this, however, she went stiff, clearly regretful of letting out critical info. I tried calming her, saying I had no use for flame alchemy. I hated the stuff. Flames were always a hazard for me and I'd probably end up setting myself on fire. At that, she laughed and apologized for the possibility of being somewhat responsible for the burnt marks on my body. Her talent was, remarkably, sniping. Based on the accuracy of her hits, I was amazed by her skill. She was useful whether close up or incredibly far away. I told her bits of my abilities to manipulate the weather, heal, and with the help of my carefully scarified ankles, run with incredible speed. We spoke of fond memories before today. She spoke of her hobbies and fears. I described my dreams and hatreds. She had no one in particular to go home to. The only one she notoriously described as a probable friend was the alchemist her father mentored. As for me…
"Ritsu," I said shyly, going red.
"Ah?" she teased, relishing my uncomfortableness. "Do give me details."
With a timid smile, I sub consciously decorated the ground in distracting swirls. Where to begin?
"Well," I warned, biting my lip, "Prepare to be bored out of your mind."
She laughed pleasantly. "Fire away."
I took a deep breath.
"Ritsu… Is Prince Claudio's brother."
"The Prince has a brother?" Riza asked, surprised. I nodded, reminiscing on when I had first laid eyes on him. His black, messy hair, always falling into his face. His tendency to stray into trouble and adventurous attitude. The way I immediately hated the way he stared at me in a weird fascination.
"Yes. Although, he enjoys keeping it secret. He's not that much of a royal figure."
"What do you mean by that?"
I blushed, drawing my legs to my chest.
"He, uh, was sort of drawn to me…"
Riza tried, and failed, to suppress a snicker. "Oh really? So does that mean he thought unroyal thoughts?" she joked, giggling at my brightening cheeks.
"N-No!" I exclaimed, hugging myself tighter, "I mean, he… He was always running off from the palace and acted as a regular civilian in our town. Rather horribly I must say."
He'd always be standing out of the crowd, easily amazed by the plainness of our lives. Unknowingly, he had the girls fainting for him and the men carelessly throwing out idiotic insults to his cluelessness.
"How so?" Riza asked, intrigued. I rolled my eyes.
"The boy would just take things from the market and wonder why all the marketers would start pursuing him angrily."
Riza laughed, making me join her.
"Yep. That's actually how we met in the first place, of course I didn't realize he was a prince of all things. He was standing by a stand, drawn to some sort of item and carelessly grabbed it. The one in charge of the sales was… a little unforgiving and was just getting ready to tear off his limbs when I just couldn't put up with the scene. I went up and tried haggling with the man, but he wouldn't have it. He tried to make a mark on me, which I would have easily avoided on my own, but of course the princely fellow just had to make a heroic attempt for the damsel in distress." I sighed at the memory, sarcastically emphasizing 'damsel in distress' in a distressing tone.
"He leapt in front of me, taking the blow to the nose, and I just sort of knocked out the man and made a run for it with Ritzu's nose dripping like a faucet."
Riza laughed again.
"He's… a special one," I admitted, shaking my head. "Ever since then, he had been following me around like a lost pup, pestering me with stupid questions and asking about me. It wasn't until I was found by Prince Claudio by those testy guards that I learned that Ritzu was telling the truth about being of nobility."
"You mean he tried telling you before?"
"Yes, but I mean, would you believe him, knowing him as this clueless idiot running around causing trouble?"
Riza gave an expected no gesture, causing me to giggle. "Didn't think so," I said amusingly.
"So," she addressed, leaning forward to take in my entire expression. "Are you two-?"
"Eh?" I flushed, suddenly growing frantic. "Oh no! I mean, yes? Maybe? I mean well, we didn't really make it official or anything…"
I was blabbering like a moron, burying my face in my hands. I was a knight for Pete sake. Why was I getting so… girly?
Riza grinned, waiting patiently for my freak out to subside.
"He's… told me he loves me," I murmured, tapping my fingers on my knees.
"Oh?" my companion prodded, raising her brow. "How interesting? Think you'll become his secretive princess?"
"Don-Don't be ridiculous!" I exploded. "Like that'd ever happen!"
"And why not?"
"Because he's just- How could I-? UGH. BUT HE DRIVES ME INSANE."
"I bet you drive him insane too," she sang, knocking her shoulder against mine. I winced, forgetting about the bullet wound. Riza went pale. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot…"
I pushed back against her, regardless, beaming, "No, no. It's fine, really."
Relieved, she looked out past the endless, abandoned land. "Did he originally come here with you?"
"No," I replied, taking my own look out into the sandy graveyard. It was scary how quickly we had forgotten our place. "He… Didn't even know I left." With a nervous chuckle, I combed through my hair worriedly. "Oh man, he is going to be pissed."
"Maybe at first," Riza said softly, "But… from what you've told me, he'll be more relieved than angry."
I took in her words happily. "Let's hope so."
"Hawkeye! Riza! Riza! Are you there?! Riza!"
My body went on full alert, snapping up to my feet. Glancing down, I saw Riza's calm, composed stance and knew this was the man she told me about. Her father's student. The flame alchemist.
"…tch," she snorted with irritation, "such a careless man."
"Aren't they all?" I retorted, staring down at her amused face.
"Riza!"
I had to leave.
"Riza," I started, but went quiet at the sight of her understanding nod. She offered her hand and I took it appreciatively.
"Thank you. I'm sorry we couldn't have met a better way, but regardless, I'm glad to have had the pleasure."
I gave her hand a friendly squeeze, feeling a heavy tug at my heart.
"As am I. Good luck out there."
"You too."
We parted ways.