A bright light, and an explosion. One minute, I was sitting there with Ed. My eyes were wide and burning with fatigue while the two of us stared at open books about the reports given in Laboratory 5 when it was still openly active. The next, dust clouded my vision, and I coughed to avoid inhaling it. Edward did too, and the air slowly began to clear from the collapse of the wall opposite us. Rubble was strewn all over the floor, and I realized that I had been thrown several feet back from the force of the explosion. There was no evidence of what had caused it, only the aftermath of the event. And after the dust clouds cleared from the air, I realized my vision was still a bit blurry, with black protruding from the corners. Slowly, I willed myself not to be knocked out from it, and looked over at Ed, who seemed unharmed from it. I exhaled my relief.
"Maya," he suddenly muttered, and came over to where I sat. "Are you all right?"
I furrowed my brows a bit. "Yeah," I answered. "I think so."
But Ed shook his head and touched his flesh, index fingertip to my forehead. I hissed and instinctively pulled away, feeling a sting that increased the blurriness of my eyesight. "Sorry," he muttered, and I looked back to see the blood that now stained his skin and dripped from the tip of his nail. A piece of stone must have hit me in the midst of the wall's destruction. I pressed my palm to the right of my forehead where the source of the bleeding was to try to get it to stop, or at least slow.
"What the hell was that?" I didn't receive an answer, only looked up to see a little over a dozen men in handcuffs and the same thin clothes sitting in a group, staring back at Ed and me. "They're prisoners." I recalled the map schematic, where the prison was built right next to Laboratory 5.
"Why didn't you tell me they were here?" Ed shouted, turning toward my father. "If I would have performed the transmutation of the stone without knowing, I could have…" he trailed off in sudden realization. Meanwhile, I looked at the prisoners. Of course. They had been sent here to be executed for the purpose of the Philosopher's Stone. But if that was the plan, then who blew the wall open? And how did they get here? "Alright, listen up!" Ed said, standing up. Carefully, I stood up from the ground too, using the wall to keep my balance. "Who brought you here?"
"I did."
The Brigadier General stood in the opening on the opposite side of the room. "I personally requested their transfer here from the prison next door, and what are you doing here, Fullmetal Alchemist?"
Confusion hit like a hammer to a nail. That was impossible. The Brigadier General had been killed, or at least that's what Ed had told me. Yet he was here. Or maybe someone was just trying to make us all think he was here. Within a second, Edward charged across the room, metallic fist raised. However, Gramm- quickly taking on a completely different form, backed out of the way just in time. "What gave me away?" The new voice was lighter, nearly feminine but definitely still male. Green spikes for hair jutted out in all directions as the younger man appeared.
"Brigadier General Gramm was killed by scar. I had a front row seat," snarled Ed through gritted teeth. "Who are you?"
"Well that depends," claimed the man- if that was what he was. "I can be whoever you want. So who would you like, Mr. Fullmetal Pipsqueak? Maybe a taller version of you?" Before Ed's temper could even take control, he was knocked to the ground: punched and round-kicked. I cringed and took a step forward, only to have my arm forcibly grabbed by my father's newly acquired claw. "Do you have any idea who you're trying to pick a fight with here?" the man continued, leaving me to look away after he kicked Ed once and twice more. "The only reason why I haven't killed you yet is because we were ordered not to, but I can never forgive you. And there will never be a time when I'll be able to forgive you- for carrying that bastard's blood in your veins!"
Before aiming for another kick, a second new voice came in. "Envy." So that was the creature's name? Envy? He seemed to respond to it. I looked over to see a woman standing in the entrance to the room. She was…attractive. Long black waves fell down her back, all the way down to below her waist. Her lips were colored blood red, and her skin was pale. Her eyes seemed as black as her hair and the dress and gloves that she wore. Just the one word she spoke was enough to hear the entirety of the seductiveness of her voice. She was quite mysterious; I was almost jealous. She turned to look at Ed after picking up the lone helmet that still was able to speak. "If you don't want to suffer anymore physical punishment, then I suggest you get on with the transmutation. We've had a minor setback, but the ingredients are still fresh."
"You want him to use the convicts to make a Philosopher's Stone?" I questioned, unable to sit by. I wrenched my hand out of my father's grip, trying to avoid him even placing a finger on me anymore. The woman was already making her way toward me before I spoke again. "Human transmutation goes against the laws of nature; that's why it never works!" I was barely able to finish my sentence before her fingertips were around my throat, her nails scratching at the skin, eager to cut it.
"Human transmutation is different when dealing with the Philosopher's Stone, smart one," she cooed, her lips curving just a bit as she did. "People in the past have just been too weak to take the number of lives necessary to make one."
"What makes you think I'll do what you say?" Ed cried. "Especially if you hurt her!"
If anything, the woman's lips curved even more. "I don't believe you have a choice in the matter." Just as she spoke, I saw Alphonse- or what was left of him- being dragged into the chamber. Both the arms and legs of the suit of armor were missing, rendering him unable to move. "Do it, or we'll show you what happens to a blood seal when you do this." Hooking her arm around my neck, she held up the helmet in her left hand, scratching at its seal a bit with her nail before her fingers suddenly turned into daggers. The metal shattered, and the life attached to it was silent. She dropped it, and the clang of the steel on the ground echoed throughout the silent room.
"We had a deal." I looked over at my father as he spoke, his eyes narrowed dangerously at the woman holding me in a death grip. I would not have paid much attention, would not have cared much for their "deal" if she hadn't reluctantly handed me over to him. His claws wrapped around my wrist once again, and I immediately started to struggle to get away.
"Can't even handle your own daughter, Tucker?" I heard the one called Envy ask with a chuckle. As he started approaching, I finally was able to slip my wrist through my father's grip yet again. I curled my hand into a fist and aimed for Envy's throat, but I wasn't quick enough. He grabbed my wrist, mid-punch, and swung my arm far behind my back and forced me onto my knees. "Stubborn little brat," he muttered, before aiming a direct hit at my jaw.
|| Edward ||
"I told you not to hurt her!" he snarled. But he knew it would be in vain to object as Maya fell to the ground. He still had Alphonse to worry for. "Don't you take her, Tucker, you've got a perfectly good copy!" He stood up from the ground, only to be knocked back onto it by Envy.
"Yes, Edward," whispered the chimera. "But I'm sure you of all people would understand that the original is far better than any copy. I'll just have to come back for my wife."
"Brother!" called Alphonse. Edward was conflicted, wanting to protect Maya. But his brother was in trouble too, and he did not want to have to choose between the two. If these people so much as touched Al's blood seal, he was gone. Yet Ed wasn't sure how far Tucker would go to truly get his perfect daughters back. If it meant that Maya wasn't good enough anymore, and he had to get rid of her to start over again, he would. But maybe, maybe if he let her go, he could save Alphonse and then go after her fast enough to save her too. Maybe. "These people," he heard his brother shout. "They're homunculi!"
And Edward's face snapped up. "Homunculi?" He looked at the attractive woman with a divine smirk, and the man who stood over Maya's unconscious body.
"It's true Edward," muttered Tucker, bending his knees to pick Maya up off the ground. Oh, how Ed wanted to object. He wanted to take her from the chimera and just run. But he could never leave Al, and even if his brother could move, none of them would make it out without a fight. "Artificial humans with the memories of the ones they replaced during a human transmutation. In exchange for you two, I get my Maya back and the secret of how to create a homunculus, so I can bring back Nina and their mother."
Fury was boiling up inside Edward. "How could you want to bring them back without their soul? Nina's still alive! And their mom is gone!"
"But I have remnants of their souls, Edward; it's all in my head, all the memories I have of them. I can implant them in the minds to create a more perfect family than I ever had before."
The volcano inside him erupted. "IT STILL WON'T BE REAL!"
Envy, without hesitation, took a fistful of force to his jaw. "That's enough chit-chat, Pipsqueak. I suggest you get going on those transmutations. You can start by fixing the ceiling."
Still, Edward refused to go down, though he was confined to his knees and staring after Tucker as he began to walk away. Over his arm, he could see Maya's hair strewn, and blood dripped from where her head remained cracked. He could see the bits of it, making a path on the concrete floor. Tucker was oblivious to it, and let the stream of crimson liquid continue to flow. "I'm sorry," he muttered, desperately. "I'm so sorry."
|| Amaya ||
I moved. First my fingertips, then my head, which responded with severe throbs. Though the black began to disappear from my view, it lingered in the corners of my eyes. I was moving, but I wasn't standing. And then I felt the fur of the chimera, my father, against my exposed skin. He was carrying me. I quickly shut my eyes and stopped moving, having noticed that I was not the only thing in his arms. Nina, or what was the replica of her, sat staring blankly at me in his grasp. I couldn't look. I wouldn't dare. Seeing the lifeless face put too many horrible thoughts into my mind. And I dared to look to my left, to see where I was, how far my father had gotten with me out of the red water chamber.
The green lamps that lit the floor of the hallway of Laboratory 5 were visible. So we had not yet left the place. I waited for a moment, formulating a plan in my mind, anticipating the different ways that it could go. On the floor of the hall, there were stones, very sharp ones. When drawing, rock can be used as both the ink and the paper. I took my chance, bringing my left arm up as hard as I could into my father's jaw. For it not being my dominant hand, it only made him stagger a bit, but it gave me the chance to jump down from his grip.
And then I ran back a few feet. If I just ran back the way we came, he would just come after me again. I was going to make sure there was no way through to his copy of me, or to my mother. He deserved to experience the loss over and over again, just as I had. So I grabbed a stone from the floor and dragged it against the wall, making as good of a transmutation circle as I could. "Amaya," he whispered savagely. "What are you doing!"
"You don't deserve the perfect family," I said with a spark of venom in my voice. "I'm going to make sure you never get it."
He took a step forward, but I placed my hand on the transmutation circle. It glowed a bright blue, my own alchemic power surging through it. "You never liked obeying your father," I heard him say.
As the wall directly in front of him cracked and molded, the rock closing the way between us, I stopped it long enough to say, "You are not my father."
The rock shot across the length of the hallway, creating a large wall between the two of us. I increased the thickness as much as I could, molding the rock just how I wanted it. It had been the first time that I tried alchemy, and I had expected it to be easier. My energy was depleted, having to move so much stone on the first try. Still, I didn't bother rest there. I bolted back the opposite way, trying to find my way through toward the red chamber. I went through the large doors into the room where Ed had fought the man in the armored suit. The remains of the thing lay shattered on the ground, and I leapt over them quickly, going through the opposite door and then continuing down the hall again. I passed the dead chimera on the ground, accidentally stepping in the pool of blood beside it.
At last, I saw it, the glow of red that emanated through the stone hall, guiding my way to the end. "Edward!" I called, instinctively. When I didn't receive an answer, I called again, raising my voice. I entered the lab, where it was empty, save for the vats containing the chimera that looked like my mother and me. Before I could avoid the gaze, I saw my mother's soulless eyes. The threat of my father had been lifted. My adrenaline rush had gone, and now I just stood weak, with my mind slowing down enough to comprehend what exactly I was seeing. She was nearly perfect. She was almost there. My hand instinctively reached up to touch the glass, where I knew she was still so far away.
And then I fell to my knees. The concrete ground cut through them instantly, bringing blood to the surface to soak where I knelt. An incredible sob escaped my throat, and my shoulders shook. Tears made trails on my cheeks and mixed with my own blood that still leaked from my forehead before they fell onto the ground. I sobbed louder. The volume of the pounding of my head increased at the same rate. I felt like if I sat there and cried long enough that I would eventually lose the ability to do it, that I would lose the ability to feel anything at all. "If he had just used me first," I muttered out loud. "You would still be here. You would be able to take care of Nina, better than I ever could."
"Amaya." I turned sharply, only to look straight into the eyes of Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes. He looked at me, and then up at the tank that held my mother's chimera. A flash of recognition went through his eyes, and he pulled me away from it. I fell against the dark blue uniform with my arms wrapped tightly around him, and he held my head so that I remained pressed against his chest to shield me from seeing her stare at me for any longer. "You're going to be all right." His voice rang lightly into my ears as the Lt. Colonel lifted me up off the ground, as if I were as light as Alicia. "Don't cry for her," he continued. "She doesn't have to live through what you do."
- - - x - - -
Outside, the air was easier to breathe, and the sun shone bright in the sky while the clouds drifted by it. I appreciated the heat and the moments of shade that came along with the day's weather. It reminded me of being back in Risembool, outside with Nina and Alexander. I had been trying not to let myself think about the things that had happened in Laboratory 5, repressing them back to the furthest depths of my mind. After all, my wounds from the place had faded. My memories of it could too.
"Mind if I join you?" I turned to see Hughes standing beside me. Without a word, I nodded. He sat down in the grass too. "You know, you should be inside resting." He was referring to the hospital that Ed, Al, and I had been transferred to. I shrugged.
"They told me I could come out for a little while to get fresh air. I was begging for it." Not entirely, but I refused to lie down in my bed, only staring out the window at the open grass and thinking about being outside. After an hour or so of it, a nurse gave in and escorted me out. I was sure she was still waiting at the entrance for me to come back.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "Ed told me about what happened," he admitted. "I want you to know that I had no idea that Shou was kept alive-"
"I know," I interrupted him. "You would have told me."
He paused again, letting another moment go by before sighing. "I've talked with Gracia," he said. "We both wanted to ask you if it was alright if we took Nina and Alexander in with us." I looked over at him, a bit stunned. "You would be closer to her then, and maybe it would seem like she had a family to fit in with- not that Winry and her grandmother don't make the perfect family."
"You would do that?" I asked, still looking at him. "You don't have to."
"We want to," he replied, leaning back on his hands. "It's the least we can do for the two of you after what you've been through. Why not make the burden easier on you? Nina will be closer, and you won't have to worry so much. You don't have to do everything on your own, Maya, even without them." I knew he was referring to my parents, and I also knew he was right. I nodded a bit, and gave him a smile of approval. "Good," he said. "Because they're already on the train with Winry here. She has to do some repairs on Ed's arm anyway."
- - - x - - -
Hughes walked me inside, to Ed and Al's room, figuring I'd feel less lonely in there. I had to admit that seeing Ed would be nice, after everything. He knocked on the door and walked in. I followed behind him, immediately going to the bed next to Ed and sitting cross-legged on it. The bandages on my knees stretched a bit as I did. Winry was there too, and I swore she looked upset before turning to introduce herself to Hughes. I looked between Ed and Al; neither of them looked at each other. I expected them to be talking, at least, thankful they were both still alive. I was, after all.
It wasn't two minutes before Hughes began to fret over Alicia. Before the rest of us knew it, he was dragging Winry off to meet her. "Tell her I said hi," I called before they left. I was planning to go over there later anyway, once the hospital let me out. Nina and Alexander were already at the house. I was going to go the next day for Alicia's birthday party.
Once they left, it was extremely quiet, which made me irritable. "Once again, I owe you two," I said, trying to start a conversation. Ed looked intrigued by my words, but Al didn't even move. "You saved my ass. Again." Neither of them said anything, and one of the hospital nurses came in. Al asked to be put on the roof. I frowned. What was his problem?
"Don't even say that," muttered Ed, causing me to look away from the door back at him. "I let Tucker carry you off without a word."
I chewed my bottom lip. "You were worried about Alphonse. Despite the fact that he's a big hunk of metal, he's more fragile than I-"
"Don't call him that!"
I blinked. I had never heard Ed snap like that before. His fist clenched right after he did, and he looked away from me again. I looked down at the ground, not really knowing what to say after that. "Sorry," was all I could come up with. I hadn't meant it as an insult, as if that's all that Al was. I knew he was human, that he was real. I knew it more than anyone! I had stared at my soulless mother right in the face. And I said all of that to Edward. I noticed him flinch, and then another moment of silence. "I was just trying to say that you made the right choice, letting me go," I explained, a bit softer. "My chance of surviving was higher."
"Your chance of survival was worth nothing if you disobeyed him," he retorted. "And who wouldn't, after what he put you through? He would have killed you the second he knew you wouldn't be the perfect daughter for him." My breath caught in my throat, and I shuddered at the thought. I stood up from the bed, not wanting to sit down. Edward stood up too, not entirely finished trying to talk to me. "You're selling yourself short," he continued. "Al's my brother, and I'd do anything for him." He paused for another moment after that, standing behind me as I looked out the door to the hallway, nearly heading there. I thought it best he didn't see me right now, and that he didn't want to. "But choosing between the two of you, which one to save and which to risk being killed, it was almost impossible. And now Al must hate me because in the end I couldn't go through with it!" I heard his voice crack, and it nearly made me lose my breath again. "Damn it, he's worth all of the lives of those prisoners to me, and I still couldn't do it!"
I turned around, shocked to see the crystal tears that formed two distinct trails down his face. Brushing my fingertips against them, I tried to tell him it was okay. But he never let me speak. "And then Tucker, he just walked away with you, beaten and bleeding and knocked out in his arms like that. He never once tried to protect you, and I thought… I thought…" He grabbed my wrist then, and all I could do was listen. "I thought he would let you die, just keep walking as you lost too much blood and then not even noticed when you slipped away. And I wouldn't have even known it either. If he had gotten away with you, I never would have known where you went!"
"Edward…" I said, trailing off. What was I supposed to say? Moreover, what did he want me to say? I wished I knew. I wished I knew what to tell him to make the tears stop. But I didn't. Instead I just kept wiping them away, as if that would be enough. "You could have followed the blood."
He froze, looking back at me with wide eyes that showed horror in them. I hated that look, and I hated the gasping breath that came with it. Nonetheless, he was the one suddenly holding me close, when I should have been trying to comfort him. His flesh arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me in. I didn't even try to object. "I would have been too afraid to see what was at the end of it," he muttered. "I would have turned back, and you would have been lost." I listened to the pounding of his heart as he spoke. It was fast, matching his upset breathing. "If there's one thing I know for sure about my plan for the future," he said, and I realized his lips were against my bangs, only brushing my forehead. "It's that I intend to have you and Al in it. I can't lose you."
|| Edward ||
He heard her gasp, her the catching of it in her throat. His own pulse raced, having quickened from his believing the worst-case scenario. But it was true. Ed had been so close to letting Maya disappear. He regretted the decision, only because he was supposed to be stronger than that. He was supposed to be able to do anything. He was the Fullmetal Alchemist. He was superior, and Edward knew that if anything like Laboratory 5 happened again, he would know how to save both of them: his brother and Maya, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
And then he pulled his lips away from her forehead suddenly, causing her to look up. Without entirely knowing what she would do, Edward grazed his lips against hers. Just like that, he was brought back to over three years ago, how she had kissed him at Yoki's mansion as a form of gratitude. He recalled the texture of her lips and recognized it now. When Amaya didn't pull back, he pressed harder. An unfamiliar feeling shot through him, like an electric wave that went down his spine and throughout his entire body. She kissed him back, and Edward nearly staggered when she wrapped her arms around his neck. But still he stayed close, trying to make it last. Though they were so still, there was nothing else needed to say what he wanted to, and he hoped what she was trying to as well.
Then he pulled back, just at the same time as she did. Not entirely away from her, but just enough so he could regulate his breathing. Maya did the same, and he felt her warm breath scale across his lips. He would have kissed her again, and wanted to. But something he saw just in time made him stop: the flash of blonde hair, whipping behind Winry's back as she bolted from the doorway.