Chapter 85: Problem: solved
Edward was shocked when he saw Nerissa leaving the cellar. Her jacket, her skin and her hair were red with blood and she didn't move as gracious as usually. He grabbed her upper arm as it looked like she was falling. "What happened?" he asked. "What did you do?"
She sighed deeply while she tried in vain to clean her hands. "I hate blood," she muttered before she looked back at the youngest alchemist. "I did nothing," she said. "I just defended myself when I was attacked by these fools. Can you see what they did to my jacket, Edward? They ruined it!" She waved her newly blood-free hand around in the air to empathise her anger. "It's a designer jacket and the first of these bastards dared to spill his blood on my jacket!"
"Were you able to free the professor?" Jade asked from her place on the couch. Colourful bruises spread all over her pale face and even though Edward didn't like her at all – or at least this was what he told everyone , he had to admit that her stubbornness to stay in the mansion until the very end was something that made her special.
"You worked with my little sister for years and really ask something like that?" Nerissa smirked. "Of course – I mean, a real Hamilton never does anything without success. When we do something, failure is never an option – that's why we stay away from Human Transmutation."
Edward turned away. "May I ask where the professor is, Nerissa?" he asked while he hid his shame from her.
"Oh, she is coming after me as soon as the bad boys are tied up properly," the blonde grinned.
"Why didn't you do it yourself, considering that you beat them up in first place?" Jade asked.
Nerissa blushed. "Like I said, I don't like blood," she muttered while she hid her face behind an old newspaper. "Believe me, it's never a good idea to keep me close to blood, Miss Mustang."
Edward tilted his head. "Does that mean … you faint when you see blood?" he asked while he clapped his hands. "Oh-oh, Miss Nerissa, that means that you are afraid of blood!"
She glared at him. "I am not afraid of it," she said childishly. "I just don't like blood and doctors. I just hate it."
"One question…" he chuckled. "If you are afraid of doctors, how was your time in the … hospital?"
She leaned against a wall while she took off her bloodied jacket and revealed an equally crimson blouse. She looked down and sighed deeply. "Life hates me, right?" she muttered.
"How got the blouse beneath the jacket bloody too?" Edward asked. "I mean … it's a good question!"
"It probably bloody when I dragged this one man out of my way," Nerissa sighed. "Really, I need to change before I lose my nerves!" She looked unhappily at her stained clothes. "Those bastards ruined my favourite clothes," she complained. "Really, Elric, that's just your fault! You dragged me once across the country and now my favourite blouse is dirty! Those stains will never come out again!"
Jade rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the blonde. "Well, my mother knows some ways to get these stains out of clothes," she said friendly while she patted Nerissa's shoulder. "But right now, we should grab our victim and get the hell out of here! I called reinforcement but that will take some minutes until they get here … and even though it hurts to admit it: neither I nor Edward is in a constitution where fighting is a good idea." She huffed in annoyance. "We need to go."
"How bad is it?" Nerissa asked while she wiped away the blood on her face with a wet cloth from the kitchen which she had passed on her way back to the others. "We can't risk anything right now…"
Jade looked at Edward. "He should have a light concussion," she replied. "I have just some broken ribs, nothing serious. I just need some days off – and a doctor before a rib can pierce my lungs – because that could be a little bit more serious injury than I care for at the moment."
Nerissa bit her lower lip. "Can you still walk?" she asked while she stopped cleaning herself for a moment. Her sapphire blue eyes were directed at the younger woman and she seemed worried.
"Never underestimate me," Jade said but even though she seemed to stand as strong as always, her eyes betrayed the pain she was suffering. "It takes more to take me out than just some broken ribs. I will be back in a short time…" she hissed in pain as she moved before she took a grip on a little table behind her. "Damn my bones!" she cursed. "Why do they always break that easily? That's unfair!"
The very next second, two persons entered the room. The first one was a red-haired woman with deep green eyes who came from the cellar. She wore an emerald dress beneath a black robe. She was the previously kidnapped lady, Professor Catherina D'Artagan. The man who came from the outside was black-haired and wore a black suit with a red shirt. His emerald eyes flickered over everyone in the room before they remained on Jade who looked down. His name was Philippe Abel Mustang.
"Phil!" Jade exclaimed and tried to walk over to him but the pain forced her down on her knees. She rolled her eyes as she forced herself to get up again. "You aren't even supposed to be here!" she said.
He picked her up and grinned down at her as he carried her bridal-style over to the couch. "You called and said that you need reinforcement," he said. "I was present in WestCity and so I am here not need to complain."
She huffed. "You aren't supposed to be here, no matter what the guys in WestCity said!"
He kissed her forehead. "I just don't want to lose you, princess," he said.
"You are just a cute pair of twins," the professor said while she let her head rotate in order to get rid of the tension in her shoulders and her neck. "Well, guys, I would agree with whoever said that we should get out of here. This will be hell if we don't leave now!"
The children were already asleep when Riza entered Roy's study where he sat on a chair with both feet on the desk while he played a wistful melody on his old guitar. She stopped behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders. "It's a wonderful night, isn't it?" she muttered lowly while she looked at the silver moon above them. "Full moon … no wonder that you can't sleep, Roy … you are like Father…"
He chuckled darkly. "No, I am tired," he yawned. "I just don't want to go to bed until I figure out this part of the song." He picked up a sheet of paper and waved it around. "No matter how hard I try, this song sounds like – excuse my language – crap … and that's impossible. I have to make a mistake."
She took the papers away from him and sighed as she had scanned them all. "Roy," she said while she patted his head. "You are making no mistakes. This song is obviously not meant to sound good." She raised her gaze. "Who gave you these papers?"
"I kinda stole them from Lynn," he admitted. "But I meant no harm! Lynn took every single melody Rena ever composed after the princess fell down – and I wanted just one … as a reminder, you know?"
His wife sighed deeply. "That makes sense," she said. "Listen, Roy, the reason why this melody will always sound a little bit strange is that it is Serena's code. While Father and his sister became tattoo artists in order to protect their legacy and Kay wrote her book, Serena used music to hide her ideas."
"How do you know?" he asked while he hugged her tightly with his free arm.
She chuckled. "It's easy to figure out when you keep an eye on the alchemists who are around," she said. "I know that Jade uses choreographies from her favourite ballet and that Phil's manuscript looks probably like he planned a football match. Even State Alchemists are predictable after all, Roy…"
He laughed while he kissed her hand. "I married a very smart woman after all," he said seriously.
"Oh, did I meet her?" Riza asked while she tried hard to keep her collected and serious face.
"Well, I believe you meet her every time when you look into a mirror," he grinned and put down his guitar to pull her on his lap to nuzzle her neck. "She has long blond hair, deep brown eyes which always remind me of chocolate and a wonderful, smooth and pale skin." He kissed her nose. "Oh, and her name is Riza Hawkeye. I believe you and her work together…"
She started to laugh and he held her close while he tickled her. "Stop it!" she giggled. "Please, Roy!"
He grinned evilly before he pouted as one of the twins started to cry. "I am on baby duty tonight, right?" he yawned as he got up. "Well, I will go and check on … hmh … I think it's Helena. I bet that it is Lynn's legacy that made her cry now. Lynn never let me have my fun…"
"She was always a responsible little girl," Riza chuckled while she brushed back her hair. "Well, I am going back to bed. Bendix asked me to go shopping for some baby clothes with him tomorrow and I really don't want to fall asleep in the store."
"Did they finally come to a decision how to call their little boy?" Roy asked while they made their way down the hallway. "The last I heard from Hughes was that Olivier wanted to call him Louis…"
"Yes, she considered that but Bendix talked her out of it," his wife replied while she opened their bedroom door. "And I am happy for the child that he did it."
"He risked life and limb to protect his son … that's heroic!" Roy exclaimed. "The normal Olivier hates it when people tell her that her ideas are bad … the pregnant Olivier downright murders everyone who dares to suggest that there could be better ideas than hers!"
"Don't underestimate Ben," Riza said with a smirk. "He is very subtle when he really wants something and he dropped hints for weeks. Now Olivier told me yesterday that they will call their son Lars, after her favourite character from An Eternal Love – and that is also the name Bendix wanted from the very beginning, so they are both really happy."
"Since you mentioned their happiness…" Roy smirked back at her. "Phil suspects that they are using drugs or something like that because their all-time grin is getting a little bit scary by now."
"Laila and Vicky told me that Olivier was a little bit depressed today when her pen broke," Riza said before she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. "Good night, Roy."
He smiled gently at her. "Good night, Riza," he said softly.
Olivier's eyebrows formed a single line across her forehead as she stared at Edward and Jade. Then, the first-in-command sighed deeply as she started to pace around in the room. "On the bright side," the blond woman said, "we could improve our relationship with the Cretan government because of your little well-who-cares-for-the-rules-so-let's-us-act-without-thinking-trip. But on the other hand, I have trouble with the University of Lutetia because you beat up half of their best researchers!"
Edward raised his hand. "Technically, General Armstrong, it wasn't us who beat them up," he said. "As much as it hurts to admit it: Mustang and I were out of action seconds after the second blow, so Miss Nerissa Hawkeye took care of the bad guys…"
An icy glare shut him up before Olivier turned towards Jade. "Soul, what do you say?" she asked.
"We made some mistakes," Jade said carefully, "and I understand your worries, madam, but you need to see that we knew by the time we entered the building that the men were the kidnappers of Madame D'Artagan and at that moment, my worries were directed at the consequences for our ties with Creta if the Professor would die in our country … in the mansion of a former general nonetheless."
"Well said, Breeze Soul," Olivier said crisply.
"Of course, we were aware that it could get us in trouble to beat up a bunch of foreigners, especially if they would say later on that we were the ones who attacked first, so I went through the standards to ensure that my partners and I wouldn't get in trouble," the dark-haired woman went on. "I called the Western Headquarter to get reinforcements since I had no idea how strong or weak our opponents would be. Elric supported me during this time and kept an eye on my back."
"I understand," Olivier said with a nod. "You are both dismissed, Elric and Mustang."
"Understood, madam," Jade said while she saluted and left while she dragged Edward behind her.
"What the hell was that?" the blond man asked confused. "I thought you said that Armstrong wouldn't give us any trouble because of the broken noses Nerissa caused!"
"It wasn't Olivier who wanted us to explain why we did what we did," Jade replied. "Did you see the creepy guy in the corner? That was Henry Douglas, newly reinstated in the military," she whispered as they passed a group of men from the investigation department. "He doesn't like me much and I guess that he dislikes you too. He was thrown out a year ago, after the Promised Day, when he tried to blame the death of Major Hamilton and Captain Force on me but he somehow got his position back."
"And how could he make Olivier play the role of the bad cop?" Edward asked.
Jade rolled her eyes. "If more people would know that Olivier is a great person to talk to, she would lose a good part of her influence. Does that answer your question?"