Chapter 94: Burning Rose
Nerissa groaned in pain as she opened her eyes. The light was too bright for her eyes. She was used to libraries and dark study halls. She was used to the dim light in the mental hospital. She was, however, not used to the bright sunlight somewhere in the mountains. In the mountains?, she repeated the last thought. She wasn't supposed to be in the mountains. The last thing she could remember was that she had fought against the rogue ex-student of her mother and that she had gotten the beating of a lifetime. Maybe she had died and was in heaven? Or maybe she was just asleep and whatever painkillers they had given her made her dreaming the strangest things in a long time. She looked around and as she saw the dark rocks surrounding her, she realised that she was probably dreaming of the Briggs. Her eyes slowly got used to the brightness around her and she looked down on herself. Her leg was no longer broken and even though she knew that Healing Alchemy could fix a lot it was hard for her to believe that any kind of alchemy could heal a broken leg just like that. So it had to be a dream.
"Hey there, big sister," a familiar voice said and Nerissa slowly turned around before she faced her youngest and by far most favourite sister. Golden hair, exactly the shade of her own, reached down to Serena's waist. Blue eyes, also exactly the same shade of sapphire like hers, sparkled with glee and joy. The skin was as pale as Nerissa had remembered it. And the voice, oh the voice was wonderful.
"Good morning, Serena," Nerissa replied calmly. "I hope you're feeling fine this morning."
"I can't complain, either about the way I feel today or about your demeanour," the younger one said with a wide grin. "And they called you the most impolite out of us … just because you punched that one guy back then when we were younger." Serena sat down on a rock. "And I see that you came a long way from where you stood when I saw you the last time. You surely surpassed yourself."
"Being my own master allows me certainly to do things other people cannot do," Nerissa said while she sat down on another rock. "What about you, Rena? You got yourself killed, little sister."
"Things like that happen, Nessa, and even though I never wanted to leave this way … I had to. Roy and Rize got the bastard who killed Lynn and Martin, right? That's the thing I regret the most: I wasn't able to stop the one who wanted to murder my family. I am such a failure, Nessa, I really am."
The older one rolled her eyes. "I saw the pictures of the place where you were killed, Rena, and I am sure that you didn't go down without a hard fight. You aren't a failure but the first shot hit you in the shoulder. That surely slowed you down, white rose. Don't worry; the bastard got what he deserved."
Suddenly, she froze as she smelled smoke, somewhere close.
Serena's blue eyes widened as she looked around. "Nessa – wake up, now!" she yelled. "Now!"
"I hate that bastard!" Edward cursed as he and Jade returned to the mansion. "Making us act like the world best friends … I could puke! We hate hypocrites so much and now we became it ourselves!"
Jade nodded while she stopped the car. It was a warm summer morning, so the window was open and she smelled it long before anyone else could have smoked it. "Wait a second," she said as she got out of the car. Terror became visible in the face as she saw it. Fire was all over the smaller house next to the mansion. It had used to be the home of the servants but that had been long ago. Now the servants had their quarters in a more modern, bigger house on the south side of the estates while their old house was used for the ill and the injured people around the mansion – for people like Owen, Nerissa and Victoria who hadn't been awake by the time Edward and Jade had left the mansion.
"Oh crap!" the Air Alchemist cursed as she stormed back to her car. She drove down the hill in her usual neck breaking speed and stopped in the middle of the yard before she grabbed her gloves.
"Where is Roy when you need him, damn!" she yelled, more out of frustration than for the need of a real answer and started to wrap layers of carbon dioxide around the house to suffocate the flames.
Victoria awoke coughing and smelled the smoke before she looked around in the room. Nerissa was on her bed, her leg in a cast, and the blue eyes were widened in terror. For a moment, the little girl feared that there might be a fire close to them but that wasn't even the case. The fire had to be somewhere else but the heat was already suffocating for the girl who couldn't stand too high temperatures. Next to her, the boy called Owen woke up and he coughed due to the smoke.
"What is happening?" Victoria asked while she rubbed her throat. "I can hardly breathe…"
"Someone is burning down the house," Nerissa said calmly as usual while a sweat drop ran down her left cheek. "I know that it sounds stupid and crazy but we need to stay calm now. If we start to panic now, we use more oxygen than it will be the case when we stay calm. Let's face the facts: none of us is in a constitution that would allow us to get away. We have to trust the others."
Victoria gulped. "I … I don't want to die…" she whispered while she stood up. "I don't want to!"
Her aunt scoffed. "We won't die," she said while she swung around, so that her feet touched the ground. "Come here, Vicky, we will stay strong and stand our ground. We won't panic."
Owen got up to and ripped off the sheets of his bed before he out them into the sink and let the water run. Afterwards, he put them in front of the door and turned around. "That should keep out the smoke for a while," he said calmly.
Nerissa nodded slightly while she hugged Victoria tightly. If they would die – and the blond alchemist didn't even believe in this – they would die together, two of the last branches of the Hamilton-tree would be cut off on the same day. But Nerissa still had hope. 'If you don't get me out of here alive, Elric, I will haunt you until the day you commit suicide!' she swore darkly.
"Mustang, is there something I could do?" Edward asked while he watched how the first flames died under Jade's distrusting glare. "I mean, should I get water or something like that?"
She shook her head while her parents appeared behind her, supporting her in her fight. "You could search for the bastard who started the fire," she said. "We are here extremely careful when it comes to fire – years of experience taught us that. Someone tried to kill the people in the house."
"Who is still in there?" he asked while he headed towards the fountain on the middle of the yard.
"Nerissa, Vicky and Owen," Alain said darkly. "We need to them out of there."
The blond alchemist grinned. "Finally something that screams after me," he said while he emptied a bucket of water over himself. "Well, I am going in. It's a slightly suicidal mission, so it's perfect for me."
Abigail sighed deeply. "You are insane," she stated while she closed her eyes. "But you are eighteen, so I can't stop you if you really want to get yourself killed."
He flashed a grin at her while he ran towards the burning house. "Oh – and Mrs Mustang … should I come back, I will gladly become your apprentice," he said before he disappeared.
Phil and Bea saw the flames coming from the building and Phil stopped the car. "Bea," he said. "I know that I should help my family … but could you do me a favour? Whoever committed the arson is surely still close … and I would like to ask him some questions." He hugged her tightly. "I see you later, sun."
She nodded and kissed him swiftly before she broke away and got out of the car. She was a soldier after all and it was her job to protect the people of the country. "I see you later, Phil," she said before she hurried down a small path. Her senses awoke and she looked around before she saw the little way in the grass. Someone had come from the mansion and probably hidden in the woods. She sighed deeply before she checked if the safety of her gun was still on. It was and she clicked it off.
It was time for her to shine once more.
Edward coughed as he made his way through the burning house. For a moment he wondered why the others hadn't come out before he realised that they probably couldn't leave. Nerissa had a broken leg after all, Owen had suffered a neck wound and Victoria was certainly as tired as the world. They were too weak to leave on their own, he decided while he finally reached his destination. The door was – and that surprised him a little bit – locked, so he used Winry's wonderful automail-leg for a new way to open a door: he kicked with all his power against the lock, letting the door explode and fly open.
"Hello, ladies and gentleman," he said with an ironic bow. "I am here to save you, guys."
Nerissa on the bed was terribly pale and for a moment he feared that it was too late for her but then she raised her head. "You are late," she said in her usual scolding and accusing manner.
"Ah, I am sorry, milady," he said while he somehow lifted her onto his back. "I tried to be faster but I was a little bit busy at the police station. I hope you can forgive me."
Owen who was also awake didn't discuss with Victoria as he simply grabbed her and followed Edward on the way to the outside.
Bea had finally reached the place where the arsonist hid and grabbed her gun a little bit tighter as she inhaled deeply. "Come out and put your hands where I can see them!" she ordered as strictly as she could – and well, after years of ordering cadets and Philippe Mustang around, she was good at it.
The three men, however, were to her terror Aerugians. "You are late, duchess," the leader said. "The burning house contains three sinners. They died for our god."
"You should be happy, sister," a second man said with glee.
"Why?" she asked with a hiss. "God died a long time ago for me."
The leader's eyes widened as he saw someone behind her and he hurried to bow. "Prince…"
Claudio stopped his tracks as he stood next to Bea. "I see a bunch of fanatics who just attacked my girlfriend's family," he said coldly, "and right now I need to remind myself that I don't have the right to kill all of you. Bea, let's tie them up … and make sure that they won't annoy the Mustangs ever again."
The major nodded while she handed over her gun to him and grabbed into her handbag where she still had her handcuffs because she had forgotten to take out after an undercover mission.
"Finally you decided to show up!" Jade glared at her brother as he jumped out of the car.
"Sorry, sis, but the hero comes always a little bit too late," he smirked as he kissed her forehead. "I sent Bea to get the bad guys. I hope you don't mind, boss."
She rolled her eyes. "Ready?" she asked as she held out her hand. "If I had known that you would come in time, I would have waited for you with this."
"Ah, don't tell me that you tried the big transmutation without me," he sighed. "There is a reason why we usually never do it alone, silly girl."
She sighed. "There are people in the building," she said while she connected her palm with his.
"You don't tell me that you are doing this why there are people in the house, Jade, yeah?"
"Nerissa, Vicky, Owen and now also Edward," she shrugged. "Hey, Edward tries to get himself killed!"
"Did you finally drive him so far that he considers suicide to get away from you?" he asked.
Edward looked over his shoulder. "C'mon, Owen, we nearly made it!" he yelled. "Let's get out!"
Victoria clung to Owen's shoulder like she never wanted to let go again and for the first time in her life, she found herself praying to a god that would let them all out alive. Her fingernails nearly destroyed his shirt but she came to the conclusion that this was the smallest problem at the moment.
"Alright!" the twelve year old boy nodded while he speed up a little bit. "I don't want to stay either."
"I somehow under stand this feeling," Nerissa muttered while she bit her lip. "Tell me, Elric, am I too heavy for you? I don't want you to die out here."
"Technically, Nerissa, we are still in the inside of the building," he said, "so I would die in here."
"Hey, guys, I have a suggestion for you," Victoria rolled her eyes. "Let's not die, so we don't have to argue about things like that. Don't you agree?"
"Not to die seems like a great plan at the moment," Edward said while he looked around. "Ah, over there is the exit. We are as good as out of here. Isn't that great?"
"Wonderful," Nerissa said sarcastic as always. "But who would have thought that the Mustangs are that rich? I mean, they have a whole house for the sick and the injured from what this looks like."
"The Mustang-clan is one of the richest families in Amestris," Victoria stated from behind. "They made their money with business, just like the Hamiltons, and they are a traditional military family, also just like the Hamiltons or the Grummans."
"And in cases of doubt we can always rely on our walking data base," Edward smirked. "Well done, Vicky. I believe that answers Nerissa's burning questions."
"No jokes about flames and fire as long as we aren't out of here!" Owen yelled.
The Air Alchemists lost their concentration just when the four others left the burning house. Jade dropped her hands and broke the connection with her brother and hurried over to her injured comrades. Her parents also gave up. Even four masters of Air Alchemy hadn't been enough to get rid of the fire. They had just been able to slow it down considerably and to lessen the heat and the smoke.
"Welcome home, Philippe," Abigail said while she hugged her son tightly. "We missed you."
The Duke of Volana crossed the yard to the dark-haired woman and extended his hand. "You have to be Philippe's mother," he said calmly. "I see that he takes after you when it comes to the will to fight."
She nodded while she shook his hand. "We don't like watching how innocents die," she said.
Olivier threw clothes into the suitcase on the bed while Lars sat on her hip, happily toying with her hair. Bendix was also packing clothes and his face was serious as he turned towards her. "So, we are heading eastwards?" he asked. "Why are you so sure about this?"
"Jade called," she said. "Something went wrong and she isn't sure if they can deal with it alone. And from what I heard, Phil also left."
"And leave it to Jade and Elric to mess up a mission," Bendix rubbed his temples. "That could get really dirty. Maybe Jade lost her nerves and killed Elric, so she needs now someone who helps her to let the body disappear." He smirked. "But I believe that alchemy would help her more than we could in that case. Well, a comrade's wish is something we should take seriously."
"…and that's Victoria Hamilton, one of the daughters of the chancellor," Bea finished the presentation of the amestrian civilians to her parents. "Miss Nerissa over there is a valuable asset for every mission but right now she is on a vacation with the others."
"Just like Vicky," Nerissa said while she raised her head. She was checking the items the assassins had had with them with her sharp eyes, searching for a reason why they had been attacked. After the four people had left the house, Alain had speeded up the fire and now the house was gone forever. The rich family had never really cared for the former quarter of the servants and like Abigail had said: they had waited for the day it would finally burn down.
Phil sat on his favourite chair with Bea on his lap while he oiled his automail. "We need to tell the police that we caught three people who attacked us," he said while he looked at his father for a second.
"The police man doesn't like us the slightest bit," Jade said. "Honestly, when we brought the guy who put Owen, Nessa and everyone else besides Izumi nearly into hospital, the stupid cop thought that we attacked first. Edward had to tell him that we wouldn't have let him live if we had attacked first."
"Ah yes, the violent state alchemists who kill whoever gets into their way…" Bea said sarcastically.
"Bea, maybe you and Phil could visit the bastard tomorrow and maybe you can identify him as the one who attacked you in my office," Jade said with a wide smile. "It could be, however, useful if you would eclipse the fact that you and my brother are a couple."
Suddenly, Nerissa gasped as she held up a golden necklace with a rose cut out of a ruby. "I can't believe that family heirloom of my family belongs into the hands of an Aerugian fanatic!" she hissed before she looked at Victoria who was curled up to a little ball next to Owen. "Vicky, show me that you made your homework and tell me something about this necklace," she smiled.
The redhead closed her eyes. "As far as I can remember the old pictures Roy showed me, there was no picture of Aunty Serena where she didn't wore this necklace," she said lazily. "The necklace was in our family for two centuries before Grandfather Peter claimed it for his lastborn daughter in 1892."
"Perfectly remembered," Nerissa said while she wrapped the golden chain around her fingers. "There was no day as long as I remember when Serena didn't wear this necklace, so I wonder why she didn't take it to her grave. It was her trademark after all."
Izumi's eyes narrowed as she looked at the necklace. "That leads to another question," she said. "If the necklace was really always around your sister's neck and from what I remember, Serena was a strong woman who could hold her own against most opponents … well, now the real question isn't why it isn't in Serena's coffin. The real question is: how could it ever leave Serena's neck."
Olivier was sleeping with her head on Bendix' shoulder while Lars was on her lap fast asleep as well. The blond man smiled at his little but absolutely perfect family. He was more than happy – especially since Lars was a surprisingly enthusiastic sleeper and spared his parents from a lot of nights without sleep. Bendix had feared the worst, remembering that neither he nor Olivier had ever been good sleepers in their parents' eyes but Lars had taken a liking to sleeping all the time – especially when there was music around him. The day when Olivier and Bendix had both had to attend important meetings where they couldn't bring their baby, they had bribed Laila into taking him to her piano lesson where Lars had slept the whole time. It had been easily earned money for Laila.
Olivier stirred a little bit and looked at her husband. "When do we reach Barley?" she asked.
"Two hours," he replied before he bent down to kiss her forehead. "Try to sleep a little bit more. When you wake up the next time, we should be there and I really hope that Jade has a good explication for this."
"Nah, I am totally on her side," the blond woman laughed. "Hey, we got out of eating diner with my brother and my parents. I am very happy that we could ditch them."
"I am more worried about the reason why Jade called us," he said. "She sounded disturbed and nearly panicked and we both know one thing a little bit too well, right? Jadelina Christina Mustang Tempest never loses her cool about something minor – so it has to be something pretty serious."
"That's the thing that makes me worry too," Olivier said while she stroked her son's silver blond hair. "Your godmother surely likes to get in trouble, huh?"
The silence in the room was deafening after Izumi's question and everyone looked at Olivier who had gotten paler than usually. Her hand trembled and she pressed her son close to her chest before she opened her mouth to answer. "That's a good question," she said, "and if it helps you: the last time I saw Serena, she wore her necklace. I saw it under her jacket when she stretched. But hell, we never even found her body, so how the hell am I supposed to know if she wore her necklace when she died?"
Nerissa's sapphire eyes narrowed. "Wait a second, you declared her as dead without finding her body? Why?" she asked while her fingers tapped nervous rhythms on the smooth surface of the table.
"It wasn't even me who declared her as dead to tell the truth," Olivier said while disgust appeared on her face. "You need to know that Lieutenant General Raven, my special friend, was up at Briggs the night of Serena's death. The last time I saw her, she was leaving for her post – the post she probably never reached because she was attacked on the way. Other soldiers found a lot of blood and alarmed me and … Raven. That bastard looked out of the window and decided that with the blizzard outside, she had no chance to survive somehow out there. I tried to argue with him. I reminded him that other state alchemists had survived more dangerous situations. So he said that if I didn't want to lose my position, I should leave the field to him … and because I counted on Serena's sense for duty, I assumed that she would come back to the fortress after the blizzard. She never came back so I had to accept that she was killed by some Drachman rebel – you know that this is still the official explanation."
Jade tapped her chin while she walked around in her father's study where they had met up. "Daddy?" she asked carefully. "You still have those cards on the Briggs, right? Could you get them? And Iz, you know the mountains better than anyone but Olivier, right? I need you to answer some questions."
"Sure," Alain said while he took a huge card out of the closet and put it on the desk. "Here it is."
"Here is the fortress…" Phil said who was catching up with his sister's thought and took a red pen.
"And here is Serena's post," Olivier added, also understanding what they were trying to figure out.
"From how I see it, the fastest way would have been like this," Claudio piped in, adding a yellow line.
"The official reports mentioned that Serena was killed exactly here," Bendix drew a red circle around a clearing. "Or at least this was the place where the blood and the gloves where found."
"If you are looking at it from this point; when I visited the mountains the last time, I saw a lot of broken trees around this area," Izumi said while she bent over the card. "First I thought that it was an avalanche … but it didn't look like one. When I now think about it again, I would say it was Envy in his true form. From how Roy described it, he was gigantic."
Bendix nodded while he rocked his son back and forth. "Envy said that he shot her from behind, so why should he have gone on such a rampage?" he asked.
"Well, I don't think that Envy was the one we should use as an example of honesty and verity," Phil said drily. "Well, let's look at it from this perspective: Envy attacked Serena from behind hence the blood. But he never said if she died from that single shot. Let's assume that she was still alive afterwards and got away. Envy returns to arrange the place of crime in a way that would make it look like the Drachmans really killed her. Probably he wanted to use this event as a reason for us to attack Drachma, completing the blood seal. But then he has to realise that the most important thing was missing: the dead body of Serena Hamilton. He still thinks that she is dead, so he basically has to believe that she is ruining his plans even after her death…"
"…and since our favourite he-she-it has a pretty short temper, Envy loses it…" Jade went on.
"…causing the destruction Izumi saw," Edward nodded slowly.
"That leaves two questions and one is probably easier to answer than the other," Alain said.
"How could Envy know when Serena was coming?" Claudio's eyes narrowed.
"And where is she now, given that this creature didn't kill her for real?" Bendix tapped his chin once more while he thoughtfully looked outside the window.
"I believe it's safe to assume that the shape shifter used the appearance of Lieutenant General Raven," Olivier said while she paced around in the study. "He was a little bit too fast with declaring her as dead. Miles and Buccaneer both said so when we spoke about the event later on."
"And for where she is…" Jade sighed. "Let's imagine that Liv is right and Serena saw Raven-Envy before he could attack her. Probably she didn't see Envy's palm-tree-and-sports-bra-appearance, so if she is still out there, she probably thinks that Lieutenant General Raven has a little secret of his own and the wish to see her dead. The last thing was maybe even true…"
"…and since Raven is still declared as missing, she believes it's better for her to lay low," Phil said with a little frown.
"You are so smart, son," Abigail smiled while she leaned against the wall. "But there is still one little problem in our theory: how can we be sure that Serena didn't die form the wound?"
Bendix sighed deeply. "Right now it's even hard for me to believe that it was her blood," he said.
Edward nodded as he caught on. "The uniform, Olivier, which uniform did Miss Serena wear?" he asked as he looked at the fellow blonde. "She was a woman, is a woman … so she probably wore a little bit more than a man, right?"
"It's sexist as hell but yeah, she always wore some layers more than any man," Olivier said. "She was so thin, I personally ordered her into wearing a bra, an undershirt, a t-shirt, a pullover, the uniform jacket and the typical coat." She shrugged. "And I believe she had caught a minor cold before she … went missing," she added with a certain emphasis on the 'went missing'. "So she probably wore even more."
"Daddy?" Jade looked at her father with a faint smile on her face. "You happen to possess the standard gun of the Drachman army, yes? Could you get it? Olivier, Nerissa – you are with me. We see each other in ten minutes on the yard."
Alain wasn't much of a gunman but he had learned to shot a little bit when he had been younger and had accompanied his father to the chase. The old Master Tempest had been a good gunman but his son had never shown any interest. Alain still possessed some guns and his children had used some of them for training during the time on the academy.
"What does Jade plan?" Edward asked while he stood on the yard along with the others.
"I guess she wants to check if the bullet even had a chance to hurt Serena," Claudio said calmly while he checked the gun. "You took a good care of it," he said as he looked at his potential father-in-law.
Finally, the three women appeared with some mannequin that wore many layers of clothes.
"I would have tried it out myself," Jade shrugged, "but I don't trust your aim enough, daddy."
"You are cruel, Jade," Alain sighed while he took back the gun. "Well, which distance do you guess?"
"Thirty metres, at least," Nerissa stated. She was extremely pale and stood a good distance away from the dummy on her crutches. "Anything closer and Serena would have heard the breath. She had sharp ears and that's why I have a hard time to believe that she wasn't warned – especially since Olivier said that Serena wasn't wearing a cap or something like that."
Alain merely nodded as he walked away from the dummy until the distance was alright. Bendix who had stayed inside the house with Lars watched the scene from the window was extremely pale too.
Master Tempest raised his hand and shot once, hitting the shoulder of the mannequin before he lowered his gun again and joined his daughter as she looked at the hole. The dummy had fallen down upon the impact but the bullet hadn't even gotten through all the layers.
"So, what does this mean for us?" Bea asked quietly while she wondered how she should explain all of this to her parents. "The dummy didn't die…"
"That means that chances are high that Serena's death was a lie," Izumi said. "I believe that we should call the rest of the crew. We may know that Serena left the Briggs intact but we don't know how the blood came to be and where she is now. I guess we need to find her because from what I heard from you, she was a good alchemist and could be helpful for future problems-"
"That it is!" Edward interrupted her. "She is an alchemist! She even is a Water Alchemist! Nerissa, tell me one thing: is it possible for one of your kind to change the colour of water so it seems red and like blood? And if it is possible … can Serena do something like that?
The older blond alchemist turned around to face him before she slowly nodded. "This is the easiest task in the book of a Water Alchemist," she replied.