Sorry for the slow update! I found out that I'm a very slow updater so please forgive me!
"Maann, we have another mission already!" complained Kira.
"Are you sure you're alright? I wish I could go with you, but Investigation people aren't allowed!" Genji worriedly said.
"Yes!" insisted Kira, "How many times am I going to have to tell you? You've been asking me that for ages!"
"But you just got out of the hospital a few days ago! Surely that -"
"Genji! I'll be fine! And besides, it's not like I'm going all by myself. Hibiki's coming with me." Genji bit his lower lip, not completely persuaded.
"Alright. Just be careful!" Hibiki dragged Kira on board before Genji got all worried again and quickly sat down.
The train finally lurched foreword.
"Just like Genji to worry over a few scrapes and scratches." She muttered silently under her breath and rolled her eyes when Hibiki yawned, sprawled across the seat. Then, she settled into her seat and leaned against the window before closing her eyes to think, eventually, to sleep.
"Kira, hey, Kira! Wake up; we're at East City now." Kira groaned as she blearily opened her eyes. Hibiki tapped her head with his right, automail arm.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Hibiki smiled mission accomplished. She was awake. "We have to get off the train." With another groan, she forced herself to get off the bench and stagger out of the train. The sky was dark already. They quickly found a hotel to say at and waited for the next day.
"Hey, Hibiki?"
"What?"
"What are we going to do about the mission?"
"What we're supposed to do."
"But who could be making all the chimeras?"
"A crazy old person with no common sense, now go to sleep, I'm tired." Kira stopped asking Hibiki questions and lay on her back, looking at the ceiling, thinking what was wrong with this world. What did it have against her? What did she do wrong?
Hibiki and Kira both groaned simultaneously as the sunlight through the window burst itself into their faces.
"Morning."
"What no good morning?" Hibiki teased. Kira never failed to say good morning, or at least, up till this point.
"You call this a good morning?" she snapped, and then she just waved in apology. "Sorry, I just had a bad night. Dreams, you know? It's not really anything to worry about." Hibiki shrugged.
"I'm going to just wander around town until something turns up." He inclined his head. "Want to come with me?"
"Sure, just wait a few minutes." They both separately dressed up and left the hotel to pointlessly walking around town. But before that, they checked out. The hotel manager jokingly threatened them that he would personally hunt them down if they didn't pay when they were checking out. There was no reason for this, which they both knew. It was just to pass the time, to wait for the end of day, to wait for the beginning of the night, to wait for when the true threat would come out of hiding.
"I'm boorred." Kira grumpily kicked a pebble on the black path. "Admit it; there is no crazy old man with any common sense out there making chimeras." Kira whined.
"I never said that." Smirked Hibiki. "I said 'A crazy old person with no common sense.'"
"I modified your quote so my sentence would grammatically correct, you idiot."
"What about the person and man mix-up?" Hibiki coolly asked.
"It was a mix-up."
"Really?"
"You just said 'What about the person and man mix-up?' yourself. Face it; you're never going to win a single argument against me." Kira cackled. Hibiki flicked his pocket watch open and checked the time. It was late.
"We should just be getting back now. I guess I'll just check us both back into the hotel again." He sighed. "I thought we could catch this guy, get this over with tonight, and get back to Central by morning." Kira whacked him on the head.
"Stop acting like the mission is just a job. There are people who are dying because of the rogue alchemist. Do you want them to die? They didn't choose this and it's our duty as alchemists for undo what our other 'fellow' alchemists have done. Alchemists, be thou for the people. Or have you forgotten that as well as the filthy traitors, poor excuse for an alchemist? Well?" she hissed, punctuating every forced word with a sharp jab to the chest, her face only inches away from the Hibiki's frightened face. Although he knew her most of the time, there were some times where she suddenly seemed to have a totally different personality. Then, all signs of anger disappeared from her face to be replaced with tiredness.
"Sorry, the dreams are still bothering me. You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later. I need some time to sort my thoughts." Hibiki nodded understandingly and walked away, his footsteps fading into the distance.
"Now, now, that wasn't so hard was it, my dear?" a voice mocked from the shadows as a man stepped out. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She twisted from the brief contact and slapped the offending hand away.
"I'm never am and never will be your wretched dear!" she spat back at him. The man clucked his tongue at her.
"Continue that behavior and your friend just might have a deathly accident." The angry, tense body in front of him relaxed visibly, but inside there was cold hot anger. The despicable man had her stuck around his finger. He had all the keys to this game. There was no exit, except maybe one, or two…she could always get rid of herself…or she could get rid of the revolting man in front of her. She mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking! If she "died" then… whatever, and if the man died, then a) the chimeras would tear her apart, piece by piece, or b) if she got away from the chimeras… too awful to think about, being torn apart by chimeras would be a mercy. She frowned. What does all the worlds have against her? Something shoved her forward. She looked down. It was a cat snake crossover. It hissed at her, she glared back.
"You might want to hurry, I think your friend would want you back in a few minutes at the most. We mustn't waste time. Come." The man motioned and the cat snake thing shoved her again. Kira unwillingly followed the tall man, backed by the thing. When they slipped into an alley, he whispered into Kira's ear. Then, he smiled and patted her shoulder as if in reassurance before she took off, not looking back. She hated this. She had no free will. It was all entire ridiculous mans fault! Wait, she could, yes that would work. Smiling, she ran back to the hotel, ignoring a gnawing doubt in the back of her mind. Why are all the worlds against her?
Hibiki groaned as he stretch his cramped neck. He was never going to sleep in a couch again, or at least, he hoped. He checked the next room. The bed was crisp and white as it was the day before. Kira never returned to the hotel. A sudden breeze blew into the room from an open window and something fluttered to the ground. He knelt down and picked it up.
Dear Hibiki,
If you're wondering where I am, don't bother. It's for your own good. That's all for now.
KiraHe frowned, snatched the telephone off its hook and punched in a few numbers.
"This is the Amestris Military Investigations Department in Central. How may I help you?"
"Could you please transfer the call to Hitomu Genji? This is his brother."
"I'm sorry sir, since you are using a civilians phone line, please confirm yourself."
"Brigadier General Hitomu Hibiki, 2344568!"
"Identity confirmed. Please hold." Hibiki tapped his foot impatiently as the line beeped.
"Hello? Brother?""Genji, I need to go back to Central as fast as possible."
"Wait," There was a shuffling of papers. "If you run fast enough, there's a train leaving in a few minutes. The one after that is in two hours. Why?"
"No time to explain. I'll catch the next train to Central. Just wait for me." Hibiki slammed the phone back, grabbed the unpacked bags, ran downstairs, checked out of the hotel, and ran all the way to the train station just in time to get a ticket and hop on. Breathing heavily from his long run, he took out the now crumpled scrap of paper out of his pocket and stared at it, thinking, "What is going on?"
"Brother, here!" Hibiki, once heard his brother, ran to him and turned a surprised Genji around.
"Don't waste time! We have to get going!" Genji was clueless what was happening as his brother ran out of the station with him in tow. "We have no time to loose!" Genji tore himself out of Hibiki's grasp and ran ahead of his brother. He hadn't seen his brother like this for so long, ever since the start of the Philosopher's Stone. The gleam in his eyes made him shudder with barely suppressed thrill. They swiftly ran to the military headquarters and weaved through the still present soldiers into Hibiki's dormitory. Hibiki throw his baggage onto his bed, sat at his desk, grabbed his magnifying glass, and began to peer closely at the letter all in a single fluid movement.
"Brother, now that we're here, could you tell me what's going on?"
"Here." Hibiki stood up and pushed his younger sibling into the chair. "What can you figure out from this?" A few minutes of silence passed.
"Well," Genji started slowly, "This was written quickly and with haste and urgency. The paper is really old. It's thin and a little yellow on the ends. The writing isn't written with a modern pen. It's written with a worn quill."
I sort of have a writer's block. So if you have any ideas that you want to tell me please do, but there's no guarantee that they'll be used.
-Dark Reborn