Chapter 83: Trouble IV

Jun Li inhaled deeply as she stepped back a little bit. "You know, Qiang, I really pity you," she said while she let her kunai circle around her finger. "It has to be a really sad life when you can never be happy for someone else … but, hell, what did I expect from a spoiled little brat like you?"

The princess glared at her and if looks could kill, Jun Li was at least six feet under. "You are dead."

The bodyguard allowed herself a little smirk before she touched the vein on the side of her neck with her free fingers. "No, my heart is still beating, so I am hardly dead," she replied while her smirk widened. "And, really, I wouldn't be one of the best in Xing if I would die from a simple glare."

"How … how can you even dare to speak with me in such a way, servant?" Qiang yelled in anger.

"Technically, she stands above you," Lei said calmly. "I believe that you messed up the rules in the imperial palace where it is stated that a lady of Xing who got this title from an emperor stands above any princess who earned the title with her birth…" He was a man who detested fighting but he was an extremely skilled fighter who had trained for years. "Step back, Qiang. I order you to as your uncle. Step back before you can get hurt, understood? Step back I said!"

As she didn't obey, he stepped forward in a fluid movement and blocked her dagger with his arm. The metal cut through the silk of his black jacket and through his skin. Jun Li gasped as she felt the pain running through his chi and as she saw the crimson blood, she stepped forward while her chi was radiating her pure wrath. Cai stepped backwards while he watched her in admiration. Lan Fan was terrific as a fighter, there was no doubt, but the difference between her and her older sister was that Jun Li never allowed anything to cloud her judgement, meaning that she had full concentration. It took seconds for her to incapacitate her opponent and after the waitress tied the princess up, she walked over to Lei while she took a set of alkahestry-knives from her belt. She sighed deeply as she formed the array. Honestly, she had been fixing up princes and princesses for years now.

"Ah…" Lei smiled at her while his uninjured hand cupped her face. "My Jun Li … my heart, my love, my bird … how much I love you…"

She snorted. "You have a way with your words, Lei…" she muttered while she helped him up after retrieving her knives. "Well, I would say that we should hand over Qiang to the police. Sadly enough, I keep filling the cells in Amestris with people who are foolish enough to attack me."

Cai held her hand like it was a lifeline once more and she hugged him tightly before he surprised her by kissing her cheek. "Ling was right," the little boy said. "You are more than just alright."

She laughed and patted his head. "Go on and look if you can hang out with Laila," she said. "I need to get rid of a stupid bitch who dared to mess with me."

By the time the both blond alchemists finally reached the majestic building, Edward was impressed of his companion's calm demeanour. Of course, she had the advantage of knowing the area and the house but considering the situation they were in (and that it was the first time for her to be free to do whatever she wanted), the patience she had as she tried to force the lock to the secret passage to open was amazing. It was obvious to Edward that her skill had suffered under the long time she hadn't been allowed to do anything what could drive her back to her insane behaviour from before. He knew that she hadn't been allowed to use alchemy for a whole year and even he who had given it up it on his own accord, had desperately searched a way to get it back while she had been able to deny this part of herself without any trouble. She had always had everything she needed to transmute but she had never broken the promise she had made.

"Alright," she finally said while she took out a pen. "It would take too long to unlock it the old-fashioned way. Step back, I am going to celebrate my return with a loud bang … just to announce that I am not dead yet." The array she drew was small and Edward wondered how she would use enough energy to make this little thing blow up the door. "Well, let's try it out," she said casually while she pressed her thumbs on the array which started to glow before the door swung open with a loud bang.

"That was great!" Edward complimented enthusiastically. "How … how did you do this?"

She smirked. "Like I said, I grew up here and in my youth I made sure that I know every secret passage my father left behind. He was the one to construct this passage … and he sealed it. It took months for me to figure out how to get back into the building without anyone's notice but one day I figured out the seal on the other side of the door. I just had to activate it from our side to let us in."

"That's…" the young man stared at her. "That's more than most state alchemists can do!"

She snorted. "Most self-taught alchemists who take their studies seriously are at least as good as any state alchemist," she said. "And I always take everything very seriously, Elric."

"Of course … but to activate an array you cannot see or touch … that's advanced alchemy!"

She shrugged. "It's based on the alkahestry from Xing," she said. "In order to be better than anyone else, I combined both techniques to create my own brand of alchemy. Most of the time it was frustrating," she admitted as she walked down the dark path before she picked up a torch which she lightened with her flint. "But I always used to say 'the end decides about the worth of the result'."

"You seem awfully calm when I consider that we are probably walking into our downfall," he stated.

"You are way too negative," she complained. "Try to see it as a test. When we survive and win the battle, we are awesome. If we fail and die, we are dead."

"Amazing how sharp your conclusion is," he muttered. "The death is a logical consequence of dying."

"I like pointing out the obvious," she said while she stopped in front of a hole in the wall. "It looks like no one was down here since it left," she said relived as she took out a map, a necklace and a bracelet. "The map shows the whole building with every single detail," she explained while she handed it over to Edward. "I expect you to keep it safe. It is the only way you won't get lost in the building if we had to separate from each other in order the find the hostage."

"The map is amazing!" he said as he opened it. "And is it really true to scale?"

She glared at him before she crossed her arms. "Do I look like someone who doesn't do everything as good as possible?" she asked with a hiss. "Of course it is! It took me three weeks – but now it is almost perfect. It shows every floor and I am sure that you will be able to find your way with it."

"What the hell is she doing?" Laila asked while she watched Victoria from afar. Cai and the blond girl had been following the redhead for half an hour by now and it seemed like Victoria had no idea where she was going. Suddenly, the younger girl stopped in front of a shop and looked around, like she was making sure that she wasn't followed by anyone, before she entered.

"Why is she making so many efforts to keep other people from knowing what she does in her free time?" Cai asked with a frown. "It's not like it was forbidden to buy books, right?"

Laila whistled with a grin. "But Vicky is hardly allowed to buy these books," she stated. "The book store sells books on alchemy and on how to decode alchemistic manuscripts. I know that because daddy and aunty Jade were talking about the store … and Jade happens to be the number one when it comes to codes and systems. I just don't get what Vicky would want there. She has nothing-" She stopped and her eyes widened. "Of course…" she whispered. "This sneaky brat … she planned it out all along … she wasn't really sick last weekend when everyone attended the dinner at Aunty Gracia's … and I bet that Jade's sudden disappearance can be blamed on Vicky too…"

"If I follow you correctly, you suspect her to mess around with alchemistic codes," Cai said with a frown, "and from how I see our favourite redhead, I guess that it could be right. Victoria is smart, maybe the smartest out of us, and I would always say that she would do everything for her goal."

"But even for her, this is drastic," Laila muttered while she frowned. "She is learning alchemy with Jade without mommy's knowledge and that's bad enough but that she would make an attempt to figure out a code…" She shook her head. "And even though daddy gave up on keeping her from alchemy long ago, I am not sure if he would like it when she is doing something like this on her own…"

"If she has Aunty Jade's help, it's hardly like she is endangering her innocence," Cai said while he wrapped one arm around his best friend. "I am sure that she knows what to do, Laila…"

"Aunty Jade called daddy from the train station," Laila replied. "She is on her way to the West. She didn't tell him what she is doing there but from how I know her, she is seeking trouble once more."

"That means that your parents will have to work more the next few days, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," the blonde replied while she watched how her little sister left the store with a heavy bag. "We need to talk with her – maybe we are completely wrong and she is just buying some novels. I don't want to have a wrong image of her, you know?"

They walked over to the younger girl who was happily eating lemon ice cream and Laila smiled at her. "What did you buy, Vicky?" she asked sweetly.

"I bought nothing," her sister replied. "I just picked up the books Aunty Liv ordered because she is stuck in a meeting with Drachma until eight o'clock."

Nerissa heard the footsteps before Edward even had the chance to grow suspicious and twirled around. She was – like Laila had always thought – insanely beautiful in her own way. The mad gleam had left her eyes and now her beauty wasn't to be called twisted any longer. She wore a blue jacket with golden buttons, a jeans and a white blouse with sneakers. She held up her hand and Edward froze instantly. "Someone is coming," the former lunatic said slowly.

"You are sure?" Edward whispered. "How can you be so sure?"

"My hearing is better than yours," she stated while she closed her eyes to concentrate better on the light steps. "I trained it for a while as a child, you know?"

"Can you estimate how far it is away?" he asked while he frowned slightly.

She sighed. "Edward, can you walk?" she asked insulted. "Of course I can! Hundred metres away."

"Closer, actually," the familiar voice of Jade Mustang rang out as the young woman came around a corner with a face which spoke of great anger. "First of all: not everyone walks like a bunch of elephants like you to! And secondly: what the hell are you thinking, Edward? You took a bunch of files with you that belong to me! Did you even think about all the problems I will get for this move of yours? I could even lose my job!"

"How the hell did you found us?" Nerissa asked calmly while she looked at the black-haired woman.

"Like I said: finding you two is as easy as finding two elephants," Breeze Soul muttered.

"Well, since you are already here, you can help as with the door," Edward said. "Nerissa's genius of a father made it impossible to use alchemy on it and she doesn't have her key with her."

Jade rolled her eyes before she took out a hairpin. "Well, that will probably take some minutes," she said. "I haven't done stuff like this since I was fifteen and broke into Phil's room to read his diary."

Six minutes later, the door swung open and they entered.

"W-o-w…" Edward exclaimed as he saw the entrance hall. "This is surely a nice place for a gangsters' hideout! It looks totally cool!"

Nerissa glared at him. "Do you even notice that we are still in the broom closet, right?" she asked before she opened the door and stepped into the real entrance hall. "Honestly, my father would cry if he would know what happened to the house of his family." She crinkled her nose in disgust. "Really, how dare these morons to taint this place with their presence? It makes me downright sick!" She had barely finished the sentence as a group of men in black robes appeared in the doorways and her lips curled up into a smile. "There is no place like home after all," she stated smugly, "but it looks like I have to clean this area before I can be happy here once more…"

To Edward, Jade was a hypocrite of unknown degree. She had been successful in whatever she had done so far and sometimes it seemed as if she was living a never-ending dream of success. True, he saw the hard work that had been the reason for her success but he had also to consider that she had had the support of her family and a fool's luck.

She was too far gone to finish what she had started, in another lifetime, before the pain and the agony of losing a beloved person. He wasn't sure whether she would ever be there to put an end to what she had fought for since she had left the academy. She was also too high above the clouds, flying aimlessly because her old goal was gone and had left her hanging in midair where she neither fell nor proceeded.

Alphonse had compared her to a snow globe only a few hours after they had met for the first time and Edward agreed with his brother. Jade was independent and didn't need someone to stay alive. She was safe on her shelf, being a weak imitation of winter. But when she wanted to shine, she needed someone to shake her up – and he happened to be this someone. He knew that she hated the power he had over her … that he could make her fight even when she saw hardly a sense in a battle anymore. He hated that it worked the other way around as well. She was giving him the courage and the ambition she lacked and he never understood how she could give something she never had possessed.

But she had called him out on his own hypocrisy. She had glared at him when he had confronted her and he still heard her words in his ears. "We are very much alike in this aspect, Edward," she had told him seriously. "You keep reaching for the greatest goal available but you refuse to shed sweat for your ambitions. You can go on and delude yourself into believing that your genius brain will support you forever. There will be a time when you will have to rely on other people than only yourself."

She had been right – like usual. There was no one who knew him like her … maybe because they were cut out of the same wood. They were strong on their own yet nearly unbeatable when they fought with someone else.

They didn't have to like each other – it was enough that they managed to work together when it was necessary and this was something they always managed to do somehow. This time, it was obvious that they had to work together and so it went without saying. A small glare to both sides and they were ready to face the problem head on.

Riza stepped back from the window as she turned around to look at her husband. "I always thought that Vicky shared Kay's thirst to learn," she said worried while she walked over to him, "but now I fear that her obsession goes deeper than Kay's. Victoria is incredibly smart … she searched the limits she cannot pass … she is destroying herself, I believe. I never saw such an attitude before … but maybe that is what Nerissa drove into the mess she couldn't get out of alone…"

Roy rubbed her tense shoulders after getting up and stopping behind her. "Victoria has far more self-discipline than anyone else I happen to know," he said, "and like you said, she is way too smart to get into serious trouble. The only problem I see at the moment that she is losing her childhood right now." He huffed. "And I don't want her to go down the Elric-path … that's why I asked Jade to keep an eye on our little redhead." He sighed deeply. "And like I expected it from her, Jade is doing a good job … she keeps Victoria busy with the theory and keeps mentioning that Human Transmutation is forbidden with a reason. You could say that she is brainwashing Vicky – in a good way, though."

Olivier's lower lip trembled and she stared at the broken pen in her hand with disbelief. Who dared it to break in the middle of a report? She had used it for years, ever since Bendix had given it to her as a present for her tenth birthday … and now, her precious pen was broken.

"Hey-ho, Aunty Liv," Victoria said as she walked in while she dragged Laila and Cai along.

"Vicky, Laila … I need your help," the blond woman said. "My … my pen is broken…"

"So? Buy a new one – you have the money after all," Laila said with a shrug before Cai elbowed her.

"Oh dear," Victoria sighed while she walked over to take a look on the pen. "I would love to make it whole again … but I have no clue how such a pen works. Nick is the expert for stuff like this – but I can call him if you want to! So you can use it again!"

The explosion made the whole building tremble and the shock wave let the three alchemists fly through the air. Jade hadn't much luck; she hit a pillar and heard how some of her ribs gave in – again. Nerissa was the luckiest for she landed on the couch. Edward was thrown against a wall and as Nerissa got back up to check on her comrades, Jade was getting already back on her feet in spite of the raging pain in her chest while Edward lay their, unmoving. Nerissa paled as she saw the blood on his head and looked back at Jade.

"Do you think…" the blonde couldn't say it. "Jade … please … answer me…"

The dark-haired woman was about to say something as she smelled the fire beneath them and heard the agonised scream of a woman. The state alchemist collected herself. "Nerissa, trust me, I … I take care of it," she said seriously. "You aren't hurt … go and take care of it … I beg you…"

Nerissa knew that she could nothing do for the relationship between the Air Alchemist and the Fullmetal Alchemist was an incredibly complicated one. She had heard of their fights that left the training grounds for the state alchemists in states close to complete destruction but she had also heard of kinder, softer moment between them. She had heard of Jade's knack to ensure her subordinates' safety before she cared about her own and so the blond woman hadn't been surprised to hear that Jade had allowed Edward to sleep on the couch in her office when he had been stuck in the capital after missing the last train back to the eat. Rumour had it that she had stayed the whole night to catch up with her paperwork while she had guarded his sleep.

The relationship was strange, Nerissa thought. Maybe it was sibling-like but then again, the age gap was neither enough to make her his mother in a sense nor small enough to make her his older sister. She was both, in a way, and this was why Nerissa Hamilton would never be there to stand in between of Breeze Soul and Fullmetal. Jade would be there to keep Edward alive, not Nerissa. She swallowed her pride and nodded. "I understand," she said as she walked down the stairs, away from her injured comrade and the motionless body of the boy.