Chapter 23
March 4th – March 18th
AN: Sorry to all my reviewers – the site isn't letting me reply to the reviews again. Nor does it seem to be registering my chapters, but I'll keep posting them anyway. This has happened a few times, but no matter how much I report it, it always seems to come back every now and then.
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March 4th – Military Headquarters, Central
It was sunset by the time Winry's feet touched the roof of the military headquarters. She had flown back as fast as she could, and now her wings were trembling, sweat was pouring down her skin, and she was gasping for air.
"Winry!" She felt Ed's arms around her. "Winry, are you okay?"
"Fine," she gasped out. "I found Mangeli."
"What? Where?"
"The top of White Mountain."
Winry took another deep breath, trying to steady the rapid thunder of her heart. "I need to tell the others, I need..." the world spun around her for a few moments "...I need some sleep."
"Take it easy," Ed soothed, holding her tightly. Winry was grateful for the support – she was beginning to feel as though she were about to pass out.
"You can tell everyone in the morning," Ed pointed out. "But right now, you look as though you're about to collapse! How fast did you fly?"
Winry acknowledged his point – she hadn't exactly shown good judgement as far as her speed went. If she'd taken the return journey a little slower, she would be in better shape now.
But she supposed there was no real hurry to tell everyone about Mangeli. After all, it wasn't like she'd been spotted, and he was hardly going to move his laboratory somewhere else.
So Winry allowed Ed to lead her downstairs without any arguments.
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March 5th – Hidden Cellar, Central
"Now listen up, people," Winry spoke from her usual rafter. She paced from side to side as she talked, her wings trailing behind her. "I've finally found where Mangeli is, but reaching him is not going to be easy. Nor is fighting him. Unlike Father, Mangeli's chimeras are weapons, pure and simple. And while Father had only a few homunculi, Mangeli has dozens of chimeras."
Ed was barely keeping himself from smirking at the looks on the faces of Mustang's crew. While Havoc, Breda, Falman and Fuery had been told that Winry had changed, they had still only remembered her as his mechanic – not as the winged leader walking across rafters as she primed her followers for a deadly battle.
"I know you've been training hard, and in the next few weeks, I want you training even harder. I still need to work out a plan of action – Mangeli has made his new laboratory very hard to get to. I've kept an eye out, but he hasn't attacked any more villages, so there's no hope of catching him by surprise out in the open. We have to take the fight to him – something that may involve a long hike up White Mountain."
She looked down at them all, her blue eyes piercing.
"We need to gather supplies – food, thermal clothing, the works. Assume the climb will take a few days. Even though I should be able to use my powers to smooth out the trail for you, it will still take a long time – there's a reason few people make it to the peak, after all. Now, are we all clear on what must be done?"
A bellow of assent rose from the crowd. Winry grinned.
"And are you with me?"
This time the roars sent dust sailing down from the rafters. Winry laughed, and clapped her hands. Then she opened her wings, and glided to the floor in a rustle of feathers.
"This is really it," Earnest murmured. "We're really going to find him."
Winry took his hand, giving it a compassionate squeeze. She could understand why he was conflicted – no one knew Mangeli's horrors better than Earnest...but Mangeli was still his father. And Winry didn't envy Earnest's position.
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March 10th – Military Headquarters, Central
"Fullmetal!"
Ed jerked awake, to the sound of Mustang pounding on his door. Which would have been mildly annoying any other day, except that today he happened to be in bed, completely naked, with an equally naked Winry beside him. Mildly annoying became an offense Ed could have killed for.
"Shit," he whispered venomously.
Winry stirred against him and muttered something in her sleep.
"Winry!" Ed hissed, "Wake up!"
Winry jolted awake, springing to her feet in a blur of feathers and legs. She stood in the middle of the room, stark naked, her fist glowing with white fire, her blonde hair tangling wildly as it fell down her back.
For a moment, Ed wished he had more time to enjoy the view.
Then Mustang pounded on the door again. "Fullmetal!"
Winry yelped.
"He wants in," Ed explained unnecessarily.
"I can hear that, Ed," Winry hissed, searching the room frantically. "Where are our clothes?"
"You don't know where they are?" Damn. He had been counting on her knowing.
"You don't know where they are either?"
Ed chuckled, a hint of a grin pulling at his lips. "I think we were pretty distracted at the time."
Winry giggled as she found her shirt on the bookshelf.
Mustang pounded on the door again.
"Isn't he Fuhrer now?" Ed grumbled. "Can't he get someone else to do this? Someone with a bit more tact?"
Winry threw his boxers to him as she pulled on the last article of her clothing. "Answer the door in your boxers and robe, and he'll think you've been asleep. I'll go out the window."
"Wait a minute," Ed paused, realising something. "Why are we hiding?"
Winry kissed his cheek as she passed, already opening her wings and preparing to fly back to the cellar. "Because you don't need him teasing you about your love life on top of everything else."
"Good point."
Winry waved, then shot into the sky.
"Fullmetal, open this door or I'm melting the lock."
"Okay, okay!" Ed yelled, trying to sound as though he'd just been woken up. "Jeez, can't even let a guy sleep, can you?"
He pulled open the door, to find Mustang smirking. "Nice try, Fullmetal."
"Nice try, what?"
Mustang took out his watch and tapped it. "Ten minutes since I started knocking before you answered the door, pretending I just woke you up."
"Your point being?" Ed was beginning to get the sinking feeling that Roy was on to him.
The Fuhrer gave a sardonic grin before walking away. "Only that I used the same tactic on my commanding office whenever I had a woman in my quarters."
"WHAT?" Ed's shriek could have raised the dead.
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March 15th – Hidden Cellar, Central
Winry was feeling both anxious and excited when she flew up to her usual rafter. Excited, because she had taken a trip to White Mountain and finally mapped out the plan on how they were going to defeat Mangeli. Anxious, because she knew that this was the battle that had the greatest chance of claiming lives.
"I took a trip to White Mountain," she announced. "and I've calculated that the trip to the peak shouldn't take us more than a day if we really push ourselves. But because pushing ourselves is precisely what we don't want to do, we'll stop for the night near the summit, leaving us prepared and rested when we finally attack."
"As for the attack itself, I'll use my powers to knock the laboratory from its support, and send it the ground. Hopefully, this will give us the element of surprise, allowing us better odds on overwhelming his creatures. And you must – you must – attack to kill. The chimeras have a very fast healing rate, and they are totally obedient to him. Killing them is the only way we can ever stop them."
The words hurt. She had never been a killer, nor had she ever condoned killing. But she knew – the knowledge Truth had given her told her – that the chimeras were beyond help. There was nothing anyone could do to bring back the people they had once been.
But it still hurt.
"I want the alchemists to move as fast as they can – alchemy is the weapon with the best chance of causing them lethal damage. Don't waste your time in prolonged fights, if it looks like you can't get your attacks through to the chimera, move on to another one. The aim isn't to tie them up in battle, it's to fell as many as possible so Mangeli can't set them on me while I'm fighting him."
For better or for worse, they were going into battle in four days.
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March 18th – Military Headquarters, Central
"Good news," Roy grinned, setting down the phone. "It took some string-pulling, but we, Fuery, Breda, Havoc and Falman are officially off for the next four days."
"Four days, sir?" Riza raised an eyebrow.
Roy shrugged. "I figured we'd want a few days to rest after the battle."
Riza's eyes slid to the side.
Roy had known her long enough to recognise when something was bothering her. "What is it?"
"Sir, you..." Riza took a deep breath. "You are the Fuhrer. You shouldn't fight with us. Not now."
"I have to," Roy said softly.
"It is not part of your duties," Riza argued. "In fact, as the Fuhrer, it is your duty to keep yourself as safe as possible-"
"Hawkeye!" Roy cut in, stopping her words.
He knew why she was arguing. Mangeli presented a far greater threat than Father, and he had a feeling even Winry's powers weren't going to prevent loss of life. All of them could very well fall beneath the claws and fangs of Mangeli's chimeras.
Suddenly, looking at Riza, Roy was struck with a feeling of liberty. He was the Fuhrer – the head of the military – and they all might die in several days. If this wasn't a time to be honest he didn't know what was.
And Roy made a decision to face head-on what had been terrifying him for nearly five years.
Riza's rejection.
"Hawkeye...Riza," he corrected himself. This shouldn't be done with last names.
He could see the surprise on her face as he used her first name, but didn't bother to explain himself.
"Riza, has it ever occurred to you that I might be as incapable as leaving your side as you seem to be incapable of leaving mine?"
He could tell by the expression on her face that it hadn't.
"Have you ever wondered why Wrath chose to use you – you, and not any of the others – to manipulate me?"
Riza shook her head, and Roy could almost see her scrambling to pick up the threads of the conversation.
"Did you ever suppose that maybe, just maybe, he saw something I thought no one else could see? Something I thought I had hidden too deeply for it to ever be detected?"
When her voice finally worked, Riza was surprised at how hoarse it sounded. "What did he see?"
Roy's lips quirked into a slight smile as he approached her. She wasn't yelling at him, or slapping him, or shooting him. That had to be a good sign, right?
"I think he saw that I was in love with you," Roy admitted. He had a strange urge to close his eyes as he waited for her response, the same way condemned prisoners closed their eyes before the guillotine fell.
But there was no scream, no slap, no bullet. Instead, there was a pair of warm lips on his own, and small, calloused hands sliding around him to pull him against another body.
Roy returned the kiss enthusiastically, and it was Riza who finally broke it.
"Funny," she said with a soft smile, "All these years I thought it was all on my side."
Roy laughed. He couldn't help it. "Trust me, Riza, it has been anything but one-sided."
But then she pulled him into another kiss, and words were forgotten.
Outside, Breda and Havoc took their ears away from the door, and finally stopped eavesdropping.
"Told you," was all Breda said.