Dawn: Phew, another long week at school.
Ace: I know. Can you believe the test we just took was really the most widely-failed?
Dawn: Psh, you math genius. You finished in half the time I did.
Ace: Yeah, you did take all period...
Envy: CAN WE JUST GET ON WITH IT, PLEASE?
Dawn: Meh, fine, but only for you, Envy-chan.
Ed: Okay, let's do everything up here. Your footnotes, Dawn, are attrocious.
Dawn: *sniff* It's true.
Envy: Reviewers get chocolate.
Mia: I'm so not hanging around. Come on, Neo.
Neo: Right behind you. *trots off behind Mia*
Roy: *comes out of bathroom again just in time to catch Neo talking and does immediate U-turn*
Dawn: Poor Roy, not able to understand Neo.
Ace: I have to admit, it's hilarious though.
Ed: OKAY, ARE WE DOING THIS OR WHAT?
Dawn: Aw, Eddo-kun, you don't have to be so mean about it.
Ace: Thanks to Annie May Detective, little firework (who's reviewed for me before, XD), CrystalParticles (who's also reviewed for me before, yay for repeat customers!), and Megan May (what is with all these reviewers I know today, jeez!) for reviewing, and thanks to you, I finally bullied Dawn into updating.
Dawn: Stupid Envy-chan for being out killing someone right then... *rubs arm*
Envy: *smirk* Ace5980 and ImmortalDawn18 do not own FullMetal Alchemist.
Chapter One
The strange thing was, as well as Edward recalled the little neko, his brain had trouble reconciling the brunette before him with the frightened girl he'd rescued from the cage a month ago. Her hair was sleek and shiny, like silk, her green eyes held a playful sparkle, and her ears stood high above her hair, though her tail still clung close to her body. Even though she was perched high in the tree, she sprung down effortlessly when she caught sight of the red jacket. "Ed!" she cried, happily attaching herself to his arm, her ears twitching naturally as he reached around the confines of her entire slender body to scratch behind the little scraps of fur.
"I see you've been working on yourself," he chuckled, rubbing circles, which coaxed a heady purr from her throat. Her eyes slid closed in contentment, and she leaned into his hand, but he pulled back, unwilling to force her into something she wasn't comfortable with.
True to his suspicions, her ears slunk down a little when he stopped petting. "Are you leaving already?" she asked, tightening her grip on his arm as though she expected him to abandon her that very instant. "I don't want you to go," she whispered faintly.
"Emily, why are you always so eager to attach yourself to me?" he lamented quietly, "You know I'm not really good for you, and you're hardly ideal for me, what with the general high dislike of chimeras and your stubborn body refusing to change back."
"Because you're all I have left," she confessed, her tail moving absently behind her.
He sighed, recognizing her point. "Well, Mustang gave me an assignment," he said, untangling himself from her and looking over his shoulder pointedly.
"I'm coming with you!" she yelled half in shock and half in happiness. Her ears were up, and even though Edward was about to let her come anyway, he couldn't resist her puppy-eyes.
"I don't see why not, Em, so long as you keep yourself in check."
She smiled happily, her tail swishing. "I'm ready when you are," she said, her eyes full of hope.
He blinked. "Don't you have something to pack?" he asked, unsure.
"Nope!" she chirped, picking up Ed's suitcase easily. One of the things she'd worked on in the past month was her muscle strength, and she now had more than enough strength to do anything she needed to while maintaining her slight figure. "Do you have the train tickets?"
"Yeah," he sighed, following behind her as she bounced happily along the streets. "We'll make our train with plenty of time to spare." He stifled a yawn, unwilling to admit he'd stayed up late last night researching nekos, trying to see if there was anything on record about a chimera that was impossible to reverse; there hadn't been.
On the train, she stowed the bag carefully under the seat before sitting down quietly in her seat, her eyes taking in every movement, her ears alert for any suspicious sound. Edward, on the other hand, flopped down heavily on the seat, squirming around in an attempt to try to find a spot comfortable enough to sleep. "Damn cushions, so uncomfortable for sleeping," he muttered darkly, balling up his jacket beneath his head in an attempt to try to make a pillow for himself.
"Stop it," she muttered quietly, easing his head on her lap. "You're making a fool out of yourself." He tensed on her lap, and sensing his unease, she stroked his hair absently. "Relax. It's not like I really mind serving as your pillow."
He didn't bother with a response, instead burying his face in her shirt, inhaling her scent happily as he closed his eyes and let the steady movement of the train and the time-keeping of Emily's breathing lull him to sleep. She, however, remained ever watchful, far too wary of dangers that had come when she was lax about her arrangements to let down her guard any more than she had now, for the blond alchemist who had saved her life and become her master.
Mia frowned when she caught sight of herself in the puddle, seeing the unnaturally slender girl with alabaster skin and light red-gold hair, her dark eyes sunken and haunted, on the albino horse with rolling eyes and a bony body that almost seemed to flicker into a skeleton horse if you looked at it the wrong way. Mia understood she was small and underfed, but it was a choice, not a reaction. She was anorexic, she knew it, and unafraid of it. Neo, she called absently, waiting patiently for the reply of the "little" creature.
Yes, mistress? the cat-boy asked quietly, appearing. He didn't look like the large black cat he normally was; instead, he had taken the form of a little waif boy with wild black hair and ragged clothes, a black pouch made of the finest leather at his waist.
I need my wolfsbane. Something's not right here.
Of course. Shall I retrieve The Book of the Dead as well?
Mia paused to momentarily consider the question. No, The Codex will work just as well.
The boy shook his head as he rummaged around in his pouch, pulling out a small Bible-sized book and a small sheaf of oddly-shaped purple flowers without trouble despite the mismatch of proportions. My lady, working from the enchantress's equivalent of Cliff's Notes, he lamented, shaking his head in mock horror, what has the world come to?
Mia snorted at that, taking the objects from the boy hastily. There is no point in using a bomb when a mere bullet would do, Neo. Just because I have showed remarkable ability from a young age does not mean I will use The Book of the Dead for every single whim that strikes my fancy. I am above that, as you should be as well.
Neo frowned. I am a daemon, mistress, and a powerful one at that. Being a familiar does not suit my tastes, and as such, being closer to The Book of the Dead, albeit however briefly, makes me feel a little more at home confined to such a weak mortal shell.
Nevertheless, Mia childed, flipping through the book carefully, intent on finding the spell she wanted, I am your master and you will do as I say, as you very well know. My command, my rules.
Neo frowned, recognizing the time to back off. Yes, my lady.
The girl's finger stopped on a page, poised perfectly to read the slender lines of text far faded from the passing of years. Carefully, she spoke the chant, her words gleaming with the power she grasped so tenaciously in the slender thread of her voice, "Fero tui, bene tibi porto/ Custos tuus sum et incantatores herbae/ Vi invocato a Domino defunctorum/ Praecipio tibi ostendere immortalis quaevis caput.*"
There was nothing. No spark, no flash of light, nothing to accompany her intimidating display of power. Neo knew better than to laugh at his mistress's results though; the fact the spell had not worked meant there was some kind of interference, not that she had miscast. Perhaps you should try again, my lady, he offered submissively, unsure as to what to say to her.
"No, Neo," she murmured, for once choosing to forgo the mental bond she usually took advantage of, "The spell worked perfectly. I merely need to explore my options is all." The girl flipped through The Codex once more, her finger eventually tapping another page, a different one stained a sickly parchment yellow. "This will do, I do so believe," she muttered, nodding to herself.
Which is? Neo asked patiently, hoping it would be La Gamme (1).
In response, she merely chanted, "Fusce ac umida, umida et tenebrosus/ Quaero abs te tui mittere Marcus/ Ius vindicare qui confundit venatoria venatu/ Specie sua urunt ostentare verum genus.**"
Neo really hated this particular spell, for one reason and one reason only. Against his will, his mouth opened, speaking the great final word of this prophecy. "ανθρωπάριο.***"
*-I carry thee always, I carry thee well/ I am thy keeper of herb and spell/ By the power I invoke
from the Lord of the Dead/ I command thee to show any and all immortal head. (Latin)
**- Dark and dank, dank and dark/ I ask of you to cast your mark/ Claim right to those who confound
Hunter's chase/ Burn away their guise to show their true race. (Latin)
***- Homunculus (Greek)
(1)- La Gamme is the only spell named so far, the spell that kills both its caster and target(s). Taken from The Vampire Game.