The Other Exams
By: Bar-Ohki
Disclaimer: I have never, will never ever own FMA in my lifetime.
Recap: Roy and Kimblee are somewhat friends (pre-Ishbal of course), Armstrong does his family proud, and Grand is an opportunist.
Other Stuff: InuJoey was so kind as to give me a bunny/cat chimera that I have affectionately named "Ishie". She is well-feed and well petted for all parties that this concerns. I would also like to take this time to celebrate the fact that I get more reviewers every chapter. A good accomplishment for myself. Thank y'all for reviewing, it means the world to me. And for those who didn't know, the man with glasses was Maes Hughes. Warning for this chapter: two words: Shou Tucker.
Chapter 5: Desperate
"Honey will you go get the mail?" Lydia asked cheerfully. She had a brilliant smile, rosy cheeks, and chestnut hair. Her eyes sparkled the most lovely shade of bronze. She was a happy woman living with her husband and daughter. Lydia had high hopes for the future.
"Sure thing love!" Shou called from the kitchenette of their little house. The house only had four rooms, a living/dinning area, a bathroom, a kitchenette, and a bedroom. Everything was in close quarters. The Tucker family didn't mind, they liked being together as family. Shou carefully navigated the floor littered with toys from their two-year old.
Shou was soon outside in the snow of one November morning.(1) He quickly made his way to the mail box, pulled out the mail, and trotted back into his warm home. He sat down on the couch next to his wife and together they began to look through their mail.
"Bill… bill… bill…." Both adults sat there stunned. Before them lay six different bills from various places.
"How bad?" Lydia asked her husband as he opened the first one. He did not reply, he just showed her the paper. It was an insurance bill for 200,000 cens.
"Oh my God…." She gasped. "How are we going to make it through the winter!? We don't have that kind of money!" It was true, the Tuckers were not a rich lot, in fact they were barely above the poverty line.
"Love…" Shou was a little nervous, "I was considering taking the state alchemist exam this year. If I succeed the money problem will be solved!"
"Oh sweetie!" Lydia was happy. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Actually, yes there is…."
-break-
"Hello? …Hi! I am Shou Tucker, do you remember me calling earlier? …Yes, the experiment was a success. …Anytime's good. …I understand. I would just rather it get done quickly, sometimes chimeras have unseen defects and don't last more than a week. …Thank you ma'am. …Yes seven o'clock sounds great. …Thank you." Shou hung up the phone and grinned at his daughter.
"Don't worry Nina, I'm going to pass for sure."
-break-
Lydia set down the book and sighed. She and her husband had been hard at work for the last two months, and so far their efforts proved fruitless. The exam was three days away and Shou didn't have anything for his practical.
Lydia glanced over her shoulder, her husband was quietly talking on the phone. She didn't know what he was saying or talking about. He smiled at her when he noticed her eyes on him. Lydia smiled back and picked up the next book.
The last two months had turned Shou Tucker into an extremely desperate man. All he wanted was for his family to do well, especially Nina. He'd sacrifice anything to assure that Nina would do well in the future. He glanced nervously at his wife again. She didn't know how desperate he had become, nor how much he loved Nina. She was ignorant of his plan.
The only way he was going to pass the exam was to do something that no-one had ever done before. He knew that transmuting a human was out of his league, but what about a chimera? One that understood human speech. That was sure to impress everyone. But who understands human speech? Dogs do, but that's not as interesting as one capable of returning talk.
But what besides a human talks?
This was the problem. He couldn't find the right animal, well besides a human of course. But maybe that's what he had to use. A human.
If one had to use a human, then who?
Shou had decided to call ahead and explain to the military that he was going to attempt to make a chimera that evening. If it was a success they could come over and pick it up and evaluate it early. This was mainly due to the fact that sometimes chimeras have unforeseen issues, more often than not medical, and don't always live very long.
"Honey." He called to his wife.
"Yes love?" She asked him so innocently.
"Can you help me draw a circle?"
-a few minutes later-
"There! All done." Lydia clapped her hands contently. She sat on her haunches, marveling her handiwork. Shou looked the circle over with an expert eye and smiled.
"Its perfect love." He grasped her hand and kissed her passionately adding a mental 'my ingredient' as they parted lips. Lydia only smiled innocently.
"Lets gather the animals, I want to get this done tonight." Shou explained leading his trusting wife into the back rooms where the animal cages lay. He selected an iguana, a dog, and a rabbit. With a nod to his wife the animals were carried back to the other room. Shou sedated them and lay their unconscious bodies in the middle of the circle.
For a brief moment Shou hesitated, his conscience making one last stand before he began what he had set out to do that evening.
"Lydia, how much do you love Nina?" Shou asked serious and somber. Lydia was rendered extremely confused by this question.
"A lot my love. You and her are the best things that have ever happened to me." Lydia smiled, hoping to cheer her husband up.
"What are you willing to give up for her sake?" Shou asked, his sanity wearing thin.
"Everything if I knew she would be happy and healthy until the end of her days." Lydia grew worried, the hair on the back of her neck was now on end. Suddenly she felt her heart falter and began to doubt her blind trust in her husband.
"Good then that is what you must do." Shou gave her a menacing grin that did not belong to a sane man.
"Shou!?" She cried taking a step back. Shou closed the distance, grabbing her wrists and holding them above her head painfully.
"This is all for Nina…." Shou explained, he wasn't looking at Lydia now more, he was binding her wrists.
"Shou, w-what are you doing!?" Lydia cried in both the physical and mental pain of betrayal. Shou quickly tied up her legs. He examined his wife one last time, as if contemplating whether or not this was worth the effort and risk. His fingers ran greedily up her thighs, tenderly touching her stomach, and up again to her cheeks. He held her head still and kissed her lovingly, passionately, and tenderly. Lydia sunk in and melt, knowing that only her husband kissed her like that. She knew that the real Shou Tucker had returned.
She was wrong.
The moment the kiss was broken Shou picked her up and set her down among the unconscious animals. Lydia's eyes widened in fear. She had drawn the circle not knowing what it meant, but now it was painfully obvious. She was just an ingredient, a small sacrifice for something much larger than herself. These were the beautiful words her husband had told her of alchemy.
"Shou, stop this, Nina wouldn't want this." Lydia begged him. He looked down at her with that same psychotic grin.
"We want her to be happy and healthy. We need money to do that. This will get us money." Shou explained. Lydia shivered in fear.
"There are other ways!" She trashed against her tight bonds, praying to get free.
"Not anymore." Shou said quietly. "Isn't it great? You're going to be apart of this world's largest scientific breakthrough, you're going to be a part of the world's first speaking chimera! You should be proud and excited!"
"There's nothing exciting about becoming someone's lab rat!" She gasped, upset.
"This is for Nina." Shou remarked decisively and set his hands on the circle. The runes lit up in an eerie purple light. Lydia would have found it beautiful is she had been anywhere else. Suddenly the animals on either side of here started twitching.
Were they waking? No, their bodies where literally moving and shifting. Suddenly a fierce pain exploded in Lydia's body. She watched in horror as her skin melted away and became replaced with the iguana's scales. The dog's legs replaced her own, soon she was shrinking, unbearable pain coursing through her body. She let out a mangled, inhuman scream.
And then she saw Shou, her beloved Shou, smiling like the maniac he had become. She looked into his eyes and saw love and excitement. This entire disturbing, painful process had made him happy.
She screamed again.
-break-
"That's one mightily fascinating chimera you have there Tucker." One of the scientists observed as they took it into the van. They were going to transport it to Lab 3 to further examine it.
"Iwant to die" It's mangled voice said. It coughed and took another breath.
"Iwant to die" These words echoed about the van as it drove to its destination.
"Iwant to die" Echoed through the halls of Lab 2.
"Iwant to die" Echoed in the little cage they kept it in.
"Iwant to die" Haunted Shou Tucker's mind, it would until the end of his days.
-break-
Shou stared at his wife, at the monster she had become. In her dieing eyes he could see his own reflection, the monster he had become.
"Shou." She breathed with that horse, mangled voice. "One day you'll end up becoming the monster you are." She warned him. "This wasn't for Nina. This was for you, your twisted self. Remember that"
She shuddered, let out an inhuman howl and her head feel to the ground. Dead.
-break-
"Sorry to hear about your wife Major Tucker." One of his newly made colleagues patted him on the shoulder. "Though, congrats on your passing of the exam!"
"Yeah, I'm the Sewing-Life Alchemist now." Tucker chuckled.
His wife's death didn't bother him. Her transformation into monster-hood didn't bother him. Those were justified and dismissed from his mind. Her last words he paid no heed, but he did have enough respect for his own ass to not tell the military she had said them.
But late at night, all alone in his large bed, Shou would here her voice. That mangled, tarnished voice saying one thing:
"Iwant to die"
1- They use the same set of months we do, they even correspond to the same seasons. This means that its winter.
Sorry this one's short. I didn't really like writing it. With my style I try to put myself in the head of the person its centered around and well, I don't like Tucker's mind. Well review and let me know how I did with this, ne?