Chapter 84: Trouble V
Nerissa's footsteps echoed through the empty hallway as she made her way downstairs. She was more than just annoyed and her anger pushed her forward in record speed. She finally stopped as she reached the former dungeon which her father had used to store his wine away.
"It looks like someone came to visit," a black-hooded man said while he straightened.
She stretched her fingers and it gave a little sound while she glared at the men. "As the owner of this house, I ask you who allowed you to use it for your … criminal activities," she said she looked around in the room. She knew that she could easily take out all the three men without much effort but she preferred to keep the spilled blood on a low level.
"Looks like the little princess escaped the madhouse," the man in front of her grinned.
"I was released," she replied calmly while her left feet backwards to ensure her defence. "But – what is your excuse to be outside again, Mister? Someone who dares to mess with me is insane."
"Shut up, slut!" he yelled at her before he launched forward to grab her throat. She stepped sideward for a moment while her left hand caught the outstretched hand and her right hand grabbed his jacket before she pushed him away with all her strength.
"I hate men like you," she sighed. "Why do you have to be so violent? Why can't we talk about it?"
The man got back on his feet and attacked again, this time however she had enough and instead of simply defending herself by avoiding an injury she hit back – and broke his nose with the back of her hand. Blood spilled all over her jacket and for a second, she seemed dazed before she raised her head again to glare at him. "This jacket," she begun lowly, "was given to me by my Teacher and you bastard dare to stain it with your blood? Who do you think you are?"
But the man never got to answer because he fainted out of fear.
She sighed deeply and turned towards another man. "Well, why don't we go on, buddy?" she asked.
Edward heard someone calling his name and in his daze, he thought at the first moment that he had died and that he was hearing his mother. But soon enough, his vision wasn't blurry any longer and he looked into the half-annoyed-half-worried face of Jade Mustang who had his head on her lap. As she saw that he was awake, her face became hundred percent annoyed once more. "Finally," she said.
"How long was I out, Soul?" he asked while he sat up. "Whoa, my head feels terrible!"
"Ten minutes," she replied and got up while she hissed in pain. "Really, Elric, from what Roy told me, I expected a little bit more from you. One blow and you go down? Be happy that you were never called in. You would never have lasted more than eight seconds in a war."
"I am happy that you are obviously still yourself," he replied with a grin as he stood up too. "Really, Soul, what would you have done if I would have died?"
She glared at him over her shoulder but it wasn't as impressive enough because she had a scratch across her face. "Well, I would have need a reason why I let you die on my watch," she said, "but I am sure that most people would have agreed with me that you were annoying enough to let you die."
"Aren't you a caring superior, Mustang?" he asked while he frowned at her. "What are you doing?"
"Two things," she replied. "I am calling reinforcements and the hospital in WestCity. We will need both if my predictions are correct – what they usually are…"
"You are such a self-obsessed moron!" he yelled at her. "And as if you would get a connection!"
She smiled at him before she started to speak. "This is Brigadier General Jade Mustang speaking," she said while her voice was laced with smugness. "The code is Mother-Otto-Rune-Otto-Nine. I expect to be connected as soon as possible, understood?" she turned around to grin at Edward. "Impressed?"
He rolled his eyes. "Is that really your code?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No – but the girl at the connection is a friend of mine and she just asks because it is deemed as necessary by the protocol – in reality, she couldn't care less."
"How does it come that you are always used for the ridiculous jobs?" he taunted. "You are always supposed to do the things no one else wants to do…"
She chuckled. "You just proved how childish you are," she said. "I am content with what I have … all the people are constantly underestimating me – that's why I am still standing and got away with some broken ribs while you have probably trouble with your brain now…" She paused for a second before she smirked at him. "Oh, I forgot that something non-existent cannot cause trouble…"
He crossed his arms. "What's your problem with me, Mustang?" he asked.
She sighed. "I have no problem," she replied. "I am just careful around people who are idiotic enough to endanger family and friends," she said calmly.
Roy stared at her while he tilted his head a little bit. "I am surprised," he said calmly. "Today is the day of Serena's death … and you really want to work like nothing happened?"
Riza sighed deeply. "It wouldn't bring her back if I wouldn't work today," she said, "and even though we were family, Rena and I were never close. As much as I miss her, we separated our ways years before her death … so I lost the right to slack off because of her death."
"You know … she had her reasons for not speaking with anyone," Roy said while he rubbed her back. "She wasn't arrogant as many people thought … she just never felt comfortable with many people around her. When you got her alone, she was a great person to talk to. I really miss her."
"And you were one of the people who could make her talk sometimes?" Riza asked while she leaned against him. "I thought that Kay was your favourite out of the sisters – because you used to go out with her and Charles when we were much younger…"
"Nah, Kay was scary. She was too happy when she could annoy me a little bit, so I liked Serena more than her to tell the truth. Rena was a great person – and she was a great teacher. At first, she hardly spoke with me but later on … well … she started to open up a little bit…"
"She was always the smartest out of us…" Riza rubbed her dry eyes. "I miss her … I miss the way she used to glare at Lynn and Kay when they went too far in their arguments…"
"She is a lot like Vicky if you ask me," Roy replied. "But really, Riza, if you don't want to be here, you can go. Pick up the twins and go to the park. I promise, I will do my complete paperwork – and yours too. Just … please don't force yourself to work when you don't feel like it." He kissed her softly. "I don't want to see you break down, you know? I had to watch how so many people tore themselves apart…"
Female bodyguards had always been rare, Lan Fan mused as she walked through her old town as her old mask obscured her face. She was technically supposed to be in some fancy wellness hotel in Amestris which Mei had recommended after spending a weekend there with Alphonse to escape Edward being Edward but the empress had decided to visit her home – well, the house where she had grown up and where she had learned that nothing in life would ever come without any efforts.
The village had changed she noticed as she stopped for a moment to marvel at the beauty of the home residence of the Yao-family, the most beautiful palace in whole Xing – at least in her eyes. She once more inwardly mourned the lack of female bodyguards as she froze. The green jacket with the sign of the Cho-clan which happened to be one of the strongest warrior clans in the village shone bright amidst the usual black uniforms and the deep black ponytail fell onto the crest which showed a dog – symbol for loyalty and implication of their tracking skill likewise. The empress had never worked with a member of the Cho-clan when she had been still a real bodyguard and not an empress. She had heard, however, that it was challenging. Despite their loyal nature and their affiliation with huge dogs which might have indicated that members of the Cho-clan were submissive, the exact opposite was the case. They were proud and their pride came from the loyalty to the Yao-clan which they had displayed many, many times along the years.
The girl in the green jacket was literally skipping down the dusty road but Lan Fan wasn't easily deceived by seemingly innocent and cheerful disguises. She had seen the kunai holster on the girl's hip which indicated that she wasn't one to mess with and the slim silver bracelet marked her as one of the village's leader's most faithful subordinates. For a moment, Lan Fan tried to guess her age as she silently followed her through the crowd. She was very young, maybe twelve years old which made her achievements even more impressive.
The girl in green and black moved fluidly, never touching another person and being gone before anyone could notice her presence. Lan Fan had seen enough assassins to realise that this girl was one as well. She had the right physical appearance to be one hell of a bodyguard: slim and with light bones. The girl reminded the empress of a bird for these reasons.
They quickly reached the outskirts of the town where they walked through the huge gates which were protected day and night by the strongest warriors who hadn't been able to achieve the status of a bodyguard. Lan Fan sighed in nostalgia as she walked over a small bridge before she faced the forest – the forest where she and Ling had played in as little children before everything had gotten so complicated.
In front of the forest, a set of four young children stood, awaiting the arrival of the green-clad woman. There was a tall boy who was picking up flowers with an impish grin on his face – and this grin gave him away. He was a member of the Fang-clan, a clan that specialised in poison, antidotes and medicine. As a young girl, she had often encountered members of the Fang-clan who had attended to her cousin who had been cursed with a weak health and therefore, she was highly aware of the frightening competence this clan possessed. Next to the boy stood another member of the Cho-clan, a boy with another deep green jacket. He grinned about a joke or something else and had his head turned into the direction of the girl in the yellow dress who seemed to be quite annoyed with his antics but her smile gave away that she wasn't that bothered by it while the last member of the team, a bored-looking boy leaned against a tree.
Lan Fan had heard about this team quite a few times when she had been in town. They were supposed to be the most promising crew but all she could see was that they were ridiculously young and far too fragile to face the same terrors she had seen, over and over again.
She turned to leave as she suddenly felt the flare of a familiar chi approaching her fast before her cousin landed on a branch just above her, his eyes trained at the training children.
"It has been a while, Chao," she said as she looked at the same scenery he was gazing at. "How have you been holding up lately, cousin?"
He snorted before he landed next to her, the mask hanging loosely off his shoulder and his katana on his back. "I have just returned from another mission so I am tired," he explained casually as he nodded at her. "But what about you, empress?"
She rolled her eyes. "Compared to the life you are leading, it's pretty boring," she replied. "But it's good that it's boring because it means that no one dares to attack my children."
She watched how his face darkened and bit her lip. She had forgotten about the night when he had found an intruder, an assassin from another clan in the nursery of their clan. She had been one of the first to arrive because she had heard the weapons and so she had seen how he had killed the man who had dared to attack their family while he had carried one of the children in the nursery on his arm, threatening the man that he would torture him if the girl was to wake up. It had been a scarily impressive demonstration of raw power and this had been the day when she had learned that her cousin who had always seemed to be one of the weaker members of her clan was in reality one of the fiercest fighters she had ever met.
"I am sorry," she quickly apologised. "I didn't mean to remind you of this."
He raised his hand, the expression of his pale blue eyes unreadable. "Do not apologise," he told her as he took a step in the direction of the village. "Would you join me for tea?"
It was rare for him to invite someone to share his daily tea ritual with him and Lan Fan knew the value of this invitation. For a member of a powerful warrior clan, it was slightly unbecoming to be a proud and quite disagreeable man but somehow, he was respected nonetheless and had achieved more in his first few years of service than she would be able to achieve in a lifetime.
"I would love to join you for tea but I fear that I do not have the clothes required for such a ritual with me at the moment," she said as she bowed her head. She might be the empress but she had hardly participated at formal tea rituals so far. Ling was hardly the kind of man who enjoyed tea – at least not without something decent to eat – and so she had never invested money into a dress or a kimono fitting for tea with her older cousin who had great potential and chances to become the successor of their grandfather.
"It shouldn't depend on a dress whether you join me or not," he told her as they walked back to the village. "And I believe that your sister left a few dresses behind when she … left us. You can try whether you fit in or not … and if they don't fit you, we will have tea without fitting clothes."
She nodded and they walked the rest of the way in silence. She knew how hard it was for him to mention her sister who had backstabbed him by leaving him behind.
The Wei-compound was the second biggest after the Yao-Palace and this was their old home. Chao had never moved out because of his duties as heir to the clan after Jun Li had ran away to become a waitress in Amestris. Lan Fan mused whether he felt caged by the high walls and the eerie silence which always reigned. They were a silent and strangely serene warrior clan after all yet she felt the underlying tension which indicated that beneath the perfect mask, the same old elders who had nearly killed her for losing her arm were still working to protect the clan while they effectively drove away those who could actually protect the clan from its sorrows.
Half an hour later, she wore one of Jun Li's old kimonos which her sister had bought for formal dinners with the family – something the three of them had always loathed because of the overbearing presence of the elders in their pale clothes which were meant to intimidate them. The elders had been their worst enemies – even in their childhood. Lan Fan had no doubt that it had been the elder's doing which had eventually created a huge space in between of Chao and Jun Li.
"You never asked me to join you for tea before," the empress said cheerfully as she watched how he poured tea into the pretty cups he had gotten somewhere since the last time they had met.
"You never were mature enough to understand this before," he told her without missing a beat.
She smiled as she gratefully accepted her cup. "But what prompted this?" she inquired calmly.
"I believe that you are aware of the tension here at the compound," he replied as he looked seriously at her. "It's not easy to explain but the elders are getting restless. Something didn't work out the way it was supposed to and now, they are out for my blood. Not literally, of course. I bet that I could take on all of them at the same time any day."
"They are trying to marry you off to some snotty and bratty noblewoman," she realised as her dark eyes widened slightly.
He nodded solemnly. "So we came to the same conclusion," he stated drily. "I have no proof yet – the elders are sneaky bastards who keep everything hidden until they decide to act after all … but I am getting worried. This issue is threatening my freedom, Lan Fan."
She lowered her gaze as she allowed her eyes to scan his private room. On the walls was a remarkable collected of pictures which showed him along with a girl and she recognised the girl as the best kept secret of the whole clan. "You are doing quite a good job," she said as she raised her eyebrows. "I expected the elders to find ways to cause a terrible accident."
He snorted. "Up to now, my father keeps them in check but when he cannot do this anymore … well, that will be the day when we will face a serious problem," he sighed.
"I know," she agreed.
"I sometimes wonder why it had to come like this," he said as he stared at his tea. "Jun Li and I … why did we have to part ways … if we had kept walking side by side … if we had fought together … could we have end up changing fate, Lan Fan?"
"It's kinda the point of fate that it cannot be changed, cousin," she replied as she wondered why Chao had always been the wisest in their generation. He had accepted his limits a long time ago and she had often envied him for his ability to let go of a dream which would never come true.
"And … what if I intend to defy it?" he inquired as his eyes gleamed mischievously.
"Jun Li tried and failed," the empress shrugged. "And usually, you never succeeded in doing something she already failed at. I don't want to hurt you, cousin, but you do know better than that. To defy the rules … that's something too risky for you at the moment. We talked about this. You are the last one left to uphold the honour of this family. Jun Li did things to stain it … and so did I … my arm is proof of my failure and I will never get rid of it. You, on the other hand, you did nothing wrong. You deserve happiness more than I do. You sacrificed everything for Jun-Jun."
"I didn't do it for her," he stated calmly as he put down his cup. "You of all people should understand this, Lan Fan. We both sacrificed things out of duty, technically, at least. But if we are honest, we did those things because we believed them to be the only way."
"You know why I did those things but I have no clue why you are this selfless all the time," she huffed. "You have been like this for as long as I can remember. You took the punches fate threw at Jun-Jun without a second thought … and never complained…"
"That's because my only goal in life never got hurt by the things I did for her," he replied, carefully drawing circles onto the smooth surface of the wooden table. "I only care about people I love. That's my weakness but that's also my strength. For the sake of those I love, I will fight to the death. To be honest, I often wished that it wouldn't be necessary but as long as there are people who raise their weapons against my family, I won't rest and I will kill them."
A shudder ran down her spine because she remembered just too well she had seen him as someone else than the guy who had bandaged her knees after training because their grandfather hadn't had the nerve to do those things. She had been the third one to reach the nursery that night – right after her grandfather – but by the time they had arrived, it had been already over. Chao had always been a great fighter but he also been the kind of guy who preferred a conversation over a fight. That night, he had killed the intruder without a second thought – because he had attacked someone the young man had sworn to protect.
"I know," the empress said as she leaned back. "You made this quite clear a few years ago."
He sighed as he crossed his arms. "In the end, I am a fighter to the boot … and when she is concerned, I am a lion and strike down whoever dares to harm her," he stated calmly. "You know this feeling, Lan-Lan … the feeling of absolute rage just because someone hurts the one you care for so deeply that you wouldn't care if the world would crash burn … as long as he is safe."
"I can only pray that you know what you are doing," she whispered. "You are a great guy, Chao, and I would hate to see you broken just because of this. It's important to keep promises … but don't take it too far, yes? I would hate to carry you to an untimely grave, Chao."
"I understand your warning … but don't expect me to listen to it," he said softly.