Chapter 96: East and West
"Aunty…" Nick looked at Nerissa. "Let's look at the alias-problem from another perspective: which aliases or nicknames did you and your sisters used?" He had the list with all the women in Serena's age that lived in Lionnenburg on his lap and his green eyes were narrowed. "Please…"
"Alright, alright…" Nerissa closed her eyes. "I will start with Lynn, she was never that creative: Violet Summers, July Lavender, Anastasia Force, Helena Powers and Silver Lily. Kay's known aliases were Black June, Victoria Mayer, Aileen Miller and Golden Rose. And to end this and to uncover my undercover identities: Viola Simons, Eva October and Blue Lily-"
Nick's grin started to widen as he interrupted her. "Gotcha, Serena," he said. "Lily Blue lives in the outskirts of Lionnenburg since two years. Her date of birth is coincidentally exactly the same as Serena's and – hey! – they even look extraordinarily similar…"
Nerissa sighed. "Of course," she muttered. "Such a smart little girl … she's my sister after all…"
"And hard to track down, like it had to be expected," Roy ruffled his son's hair with a proud and nearly smug grin on his face. "Well done, my boy."
Jade who had been asleep on the couch stirred slightly and rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "How far are we?" she asked.
"I really hope we don't disappoint you but Nick figured it out," Laila said.
"Lily Blue, Lionnenburg, Jonathan-Llewellyn-Street 12," Nick said smugly.
"Charming – and how it had to be expected," Jade said. "How did you do it, Nick, my boy?"
"I thought that it would make sense," he said with a shrug. "When I would hide from everyone, I would hardly use an alias a bunch of people knew somehow. And I assumed that Serena would know that her sisters who know her better than anyone else could get behind the mystery around her so-called death…"
Jade smiled at him. "You are bloody brilliant," she stated friendly.
The red-haired woman stood on top of a hill and looked over the valley to her feet. Her arms were crossed and her green eyes narrowed. "Welcome to Amestris, Madame D'Artagan," she whispered. "No matter how hard you try, it seems like you just can't stay away, huh?"
She had been born and raised in Creta as a member of the aristocracy but she had been always drawn to Amestris – ever since she had been sixteen and madly in love. She had raised Nerissa Hawkeye since the blonde had been six and confused. It had been a favour for Peter Hamilton, Nerissa's father, at the beginning but the professor had grown to love the blond girl with the talent for painting. But this visit had nothing to do with Nerissa, no matter how much Catherina missed her first pupil. This time, the red-haired woman had come to get finally a little bit of closure from her past.
Golden hair flew as the both people in black danced. Their steps were perfectly timed, synchronised and light. The young woman laughed as the man lifted her up in the air and as the music stopped, she pressed her ear against his chest to listen to his steady and calm heartbeat.
"You got better, Lily Blue," he said smiling while he held her close. "I am proud of you … but on the other hand, you always learned fast."
"Thanks," she said before she reached behind him to put his king in checkmate. "I believe I just won again, boss. You are losing your touch I believe."
He looked at her with his usual boyish grin. Her long hair was down as usual and framed her pale face with the high cheekbones and the bright blue eyes. Her black dress reached down to her knees and left her forearms uncovered. Around her left wrist, she wore a golden bracelet with a coin as a pendant.
"My girl," he said as he rubbed her tense shoulders. "My little girl…"
She looked back at him. His bright red hair showed first lines of grey but all in all, he had aged well and with dignity. He was forty-seven years old and all the little lines on his face showed that he had led a happy and content life so far. "I am not so little anymore," she replied with a hint of wistfulness in her calm and pleasant voice. "Well, I say goodnight for today, boss."
"…we will travel in several teams because that's the smartest thing we can do," Nick said, holding up a complicate scheme. "Alright … hey, Nerissa – you don't fail at transmutations that change the outer appearance, right? It was someone else who never got that, right?"
Olivier on the couch coughed and it sounded suspiciously like "My brother".
"Of course I don't fail it," Nerissa sighed. "Why do you ask?"
"Can you make yourself look around ten years older than you are?"
"Can you score goals, Nick?"
"Of course I can!" he grinned.
"I thought so," she smiled. "Ten years older? Give me a moment…"
He watched her leave before he turned and looked at Victoria. "You're with Uncle Ben and Aunty Liv. Laila, you are with Alphonse and Mei, so say Hi to your new brother, will you?" He grinned for a short moment at the blonde before he caught himself. "The twins go with mom and dad, obviously. Bea and Phil go together – and I'll be with Jade and Claudio-"
"Owen will be with me," Victoria interrupted him forcefully.
"Okay, sis," he sighed and rearranged some arrows and flashes on his paper. "Abigail will travel with her sisters, Izumi and Chris, and Sig will go with Alain. Anyone who has a problem?"
Victoria raised her hand. "I have a question, Nick," she said sweetly.
"You can ask," he sighed and rubbed his wrist.
"How did you arrange the groups?" she asked innocently.
"I looked after the strength and the intelligence," he replied.
"Alright, now I have a complaint," Laila said. "Why are Edward and Aunt Nessa in the same team? That so not fair, Nick!"
"Someone needs to keep her in check, just in case that she would lose it again. She will act as Winry's mother," Nick said while he felt his headache coming closer and closer. "Anything else?"
"…does this look okay?" Nerissa asked shyly. Her blond hair had some grey lines in it and her usual perfect makeup suddenly showed some wrinkles and crowfeet around her eyes. She wore a plain blue dress and her hair was up in a bun, hold up by a beautiful crafted hairclip.
"Perfect," Nick complimented. "You're Winry's mother for now."
Phil walked over to the card on the wall and took out some pins. "If we all travel straight to New Lanchester, it would be obvious that something is up with us. No, since we are smart, we are travelling to other towns first. Team Orange: Jade, Claudio, Nick on the one hand and Dad and Sig on the other one – you will go to Midgenbool first. Team Lemon: Vicky, Owen, Olivier, Bendix and Lars – your first destination will be Willow. Team Rice: Laila, Mei and Al-"
"Um, can we be Team Panda?" Mei asked while she stroked Xiao Mei.
"If you want to, yes," Phil sighed. "Well, however, you go straight to New Lanchester with the next train. Laila, I believe you know the town in theory, right?"
The blond girl tapped against her own forehead. "It's all in here," she said.
"Good," her uncle smiled friendly. "Team Housewife … I trust you to find a way to raise no suspicions."
Abigail and Izumi shared a wide grin.
"Team Royalty: You know the drill."
Roy rolled his eyes.
"One question," Nick said. "Why such crappy names for the teams?"
Phil looked at him in mocked hurt. "These names are wonderful!"
Victoria sighed deeply. "Boys…" she muttered under her breath.
"…will be boys," Laila added. "But I am okay with the plan."
"…you come here quite often, Miss D'Artagan," the woman behind the counter said. "Where do you want to go this time, Madame?"
"The City of the Lion," Catherina muttered darkly.
"Lionnenburg?" the young blonde asked.
"Yes…" the professor sighed while the hand in her pocket held her knife a little bit tighter for a second. "How much is it, Miss?"
"650 cenz, Madame," the blond girl said.
"Voilà, Miss," Catherina said as she handed over the money. "Have a nice day."
"…that's the house where your mother grew up?" Mei asked with huge eyes.
"Yeah," Laila said as she stepped back. "Al, if you would please open up for us…"
"This house is bigger than the Chan-palace!" Mei said as Alphonse unlocked the door. "Wow…"
They entered and Laila flicked on the light with the back of her hand. "Looks like no one is here yet," she said while she made her way upstairs. "Let's go – we are the first ones here and we should use this for our advantage. The less people we have here, the better we can act."
Alphonse nodded as he set down the key. "It's the first time that we can act before the other even reach the location!" he said. "We should start our investigation in Serena's room – maybe we find a reason why she never told anyone that she's still alive. She has to have a reason."
"That's something we should assume seeing what she left behind," Mei said, looking around in the elegant and noble entrance hall they were standing in. "I don't want sound superficial but this house is more than just high-class. This embodies a great strength – and much pride."
Her boyfriend nodded while he walked up the stairs. "Let's, um, stay together, yes? It's not our own house, so I believe that it would be smarter when we don't separate."
Mei stopped as she saw a picture on the wall. It showed a tall red-haired man with four little girls. One of them was as red-headed and green-eyed as himself, another one was silver-haired and had purple eyes while the last both girls who carried flowers in their hands were blond and blue-eyed. "Look at this," she said. "That is a family picture…"
"Ah yeah," Laila said as she looked over her shoulder. "The sisters and their father in happier days … and look at the flowers Serena and Nerissa carry – and you get why Serena probably 'borrowed' Nessa old nickname instead of making of something of her own."
"Nerissa carries a blue lily," Alphonse stated. "And Serena has a white rose."
"Exactly," Laila nodded. "Kay has a golden rose on her jacket and Lynn a silver lily in her hair."
"The flower seems to be big in these pictures," Mei said, mentioning towards another picture that showed Riza with a red rose in her hair. "It seems a common theme in the pictures."
"…so, why were you against using the train?" Edward asked as he sat down next to Winry before he hugged her tightly and kissed her lips softly.
"The seats are hard and I can't imagine that my mother likes sitting in a train while her leg is broken," his fiancée said while she flashed Nerissa a faint smile.
"Oh, it's no problem for me," the older blonde said while flipping back her hair. "I have other reasons why I hate trains: usually, the trains I use always get robbed or have an accident. I seem attract problems – but on the bright side: I know everything about getting out of a burning train."
"Wonderful," Winry sighed. "So absolutely nothing will happen to us, right?"
"Hey, that sounds great," Edward said. "How was it to jump out of a burning train?"
"It's all … well … I blacked out and what I can remember is very blur but I'm pretty sure that it ruled," Nerissa shrugged before she tapped on her leg. "I hate breaking bones."
Winry smiled at her. "Things like that happen when someone is very brave," she said.
"Very dumb is far more fitting for me," Nerissa muttered.
"Let's speak about something else, yeah?" Winry wrapped her arm around Edward. "So, tell me, Nerissa, were you ever in love? I mean you're like … twenty-seven?"
"When I was sixteen, bored and had far too much time on my hands, yeah," the alchemist grinned.
"So, you weren't in the war, right? Because back then, the war was already on…"
"I was never a state alchemist, Winry," Nerissa said. "I guess the people already feared that Kimblee might snap – which he did – and they didn't want to double the risk of having an insane state alchemist on their hand. And so, since I stayed in the West where the war was more like a distant nightmare than a serious danger, I had enough time for my studies."
"And for having a boyfriend, right?" Winry clapped her hands. "We want all the details!"
Nerissa laughed softly as she pulled down her shirt to show the younger blonds the scar on her uninjured shoulder. "When we first met, we nearly killed each other," she said before she covered the scar again and rubbed her aching ribs. "He was … different from the other men I know."
"That looked like a wound inflicted by a bullet," Edward said with a glare. "And from what I know, there where soldiers in the Western Area too. So, was it a soldier?"
She nodded calmly. "It's the fate of women of my family to fall for soldiers," she said. "My father was a soldier and all my brothers-in-law too. Even innocent little Riza fell for one in the end…"
"And he shot you when you first met?" Winry asked, in complete and utter shock.
"He thought I was an enemy – and since I thought the same, I got him before he got me," she said. "He wore uniform when we met but my father's experiences taught me that you can't trust a uniform." She grinned widely. "But on the other hand: there is nothing more attractive than a man in a uniform."
Izumi's fist hit home as she run after the man who had tried to steal Abigail's handbag. But the man had tried to mess with the wrong housewives. While Izumi was getting back the bag by hunting the man, Abigail had disappeared for a second.
"What the hell, bitch?" the man asked as he tripped over his own feet.
"Na, na, I am sure that your mother never wanted you to use words like that," Chris said as she stopped next to her youngest sister. "Sweetheart, do you happen to have soap with you? We have to clean this poor man's mouth before it can rot…"
"Sisters, we are wasting time," Abigail said as she returned and picked up her bag. "And time is something we don't have a lot at the moment. Let's get rid of this problem and then we leave."
"You're the older one," Izumi sighed before she took a candy from Abigail's hand. "Let's go, sisters."
"Who … who the hell are you?" the man on the ground asked.
Abigail smirked widely before she nudged Izumi light.
The younger sister turned around with a wide grin. "I am just a passing housewife – and the woman who looks like she could have more money than hair, well, that's my dearest older sister," she said amused.
"What happened?" Roy asked as he entered the living room in the house where they had met and spotted Alphonse out cold on the couch. "Did he get attacked?"
"Something like that," Mei muttered. "This Serena-woman, well, she doesn't seem to want that someone gets in her room. We tried everything. Whenever we try to open the door, the person passes out. I first believed she used some poison that needs to get into contact with the skin but we even tried with gloves and Al still passed out. And opening the wall isn't an option either because we don't know the inside of the room, so we could destroy important evidence."
"There was a reason why Bradley wanted Serena for the secret service," Olivier muttered. "She always had her ways to create dangerous traps. She – um, where is Nick right now?"
"I just came back and wanted to inform you that I managed to open the door," the boy said. "It was no poison; it was the most brilliant construction I ever saw. She sealed the door in a certain way and that was the reason why Alphonse got knocked out. I found the way to switch it off. We can enter."
"…your pride could be a problem sooner or later, my girl," the red-haired man said slightly worried while he walked down the street next to the blond woman. "And should the seal break, you will get in trouble."
She chuckled. "They are already on my tracks," she said calmly. "I expect Lynn's son to figure it out. He has her intuition and his father's intelligence. It will be a walk in the park for him."
"And you don't run? You know that they will come after you and you don't run?"
"It would be futile by now."
"How so?"
"Considering that they started to search for me, they know that I am not dead. And I know them far too good to believe that they would give in when they wouldn't find me in Lionnenburg. They would go on and one day I would slip and they would find me. I spare both of us the problems. I let them catch me – but the rest of the game will be played by my rules." She raised her head and blue eyes burned brighter than fire. "You may say that I am too proud, boss, but you have to realise on thing: I am not longer a fragile little girl that needs to be protected. I grew up while I was gone. I grew and became stronger than before. They can't hold me down any longer, boss, and they need to accept it."
"Be careful with whatever you do, my girl," he said. "In the past, well, maybe you were able to beat them when they were weaker. But they grew, darling. They became stronger than before."
"Considering that most of them probably ran straight into my trap, I doubt that," she said. "I know that I am still weaker than them, physically, but my mind was always the best weapon I had. I know that I would lose tragically – should I ever be foolish enough to consider a direct fight. And I don't even want to fight against them. They are my friends. I would just defend myself should they attack first."
Roy reached Serena's old room first and entered with Helena on his arm. The room was neat and tidy, like it had to be expected, considering that it was the blonde's room. Her books stood in her shelves and the bed was made. The only thing that seemed terribly off was a familiar black velvet box on the desk. He hurried over, ignoring the footsteps on the stairs and opened the box, praying that he was wrong because if he wasn't, he would have to wonder about his old friend's innocent.
But, of course, he wasn't wrong.
The diamond on the ring sparkled even in the dim light and he unfolded the paper in the box. ' Roy – I know that you will find this … sooner or later, that's the only question. Kay gave this to me after your little (how do you want to call it?) stupidity. She stole it from Crimson, so don't wonder how she got to possess this. Consider it, please, as a last favour of an old friend. Best wishes – S.'