Well, my foot stopped hurting... it's a bit late, considering I've already missed all my volunteer days this week, but it could be worse. Ah, well...

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Two: the People of Rizembul

"The Elrics, huh? They were good people. What do you want to know about them?" the tiny old woman drew a long breath from her pipe, scrutinising them all through her glasses.

"We wanted to know about the night they died, Ma'am," said Riza, "If it's not a sensitive subject...?"

Pinako Rockbell shook her head. "No, it's all right. The night they died... it was a long time ago," she said, taking another thoughtful puff from her pipe, "Seven years, now, right? But if memory serves me correctly... I'm pretty sure we heard a shot before anything else, and then Trisha Elric- kind woman, very friendly- came running into the village in only her night gown. She ran up to my son and asked him for help... well, he asked her what was happening, of course." Pinako said. "Rizembul's a quiet little place, and gunshots aren't exactly normal. She didn't answer him though, but ran back up to the mansion calling out for her boys...They say that she was shot begging them not to hurt her sons. The professor was found dead a few minutes later- and my granddaughter, Winry, saw two boys fall off those rocks... they never had a chance, not one of them." she sighed softly.

Every one they'd asked had given them similar answers- although one man insisted that the Elric brothers were demon children who practiced the black arts. They dismissed that idea as ridiculous, and compared the other, more credible stories to try and find the real story behind all the exaggeration. Although there were a few variations, the people of Rizembul had agreed on the key points of the story: there had been a shot, Trisha had come and asked for help, run off, begged some unseen murderer not to hurt her kids, been killed, then her husband had been shot, and then her sons had been chased to their deaths.

A nasty business, by all accounts.

"I see... Thank you, Mrs Rockbell. Do you know if we could we speak to your granddaughter?" Maes asked politely.

"Sure, she's here now. Winry!" she called into the back of the house. A far younger voice called back.

"Coming, Granny!"

After a few seconds, a girl of seventeen years old with long blonde hair entered the room. "Hey, granny. What do you want? And who're these guys?"

"They've been asking questions about the Elrics, and they want to talk to you. That alright?"

"Oh... Sure, I suppose. Ah... ask away, I'll answer what I can."

" We wanted to ask about the Eric brothers- you're the only one who's seen them, it seems. Anything you can tell us would be helpful."

Winry frowned.

"We-ell, I... I don't really know anything about them," she said. "I just saw them, that night... before they died."

"It's alright," said Riza, "Just tell us what you saw, Miss Rockbell."

"I- well, I was curious, so even though Mum told me to stay home, I followed Dad and the rest of the villagers up to the mansion... but then I heard the gunshot and people saying Mrs Elric was dead, so I got scared, and decided to run home. I took a shortcut through the trees... I'd never have seen what happened, if I'd been on the road," she said. "There were two boys, about my age, running away from somebody. I didn't see who was following them, or at least, not very clearly- all I know is that they had long hair. The person was catching up to the boys, when suddenly one of them said- I think he said 'Al, this way!'... th-they changed direction- towards the river."

Winry swallowed. "I tied to call out to them, I tried, but it was like I couldn't talk- I couldn't warn them, and they, they didn't stop... they fell." she said quietly. "And the person chasing them stopped running, and looked over the rocks- they said, 'well, they're dead now,' and then they went off, I don't know where."

"And then you went and told your dad, right?"

Winry nodded. "Right."

"Can you remember anything else? What did the boys look like?"

Winry furrowed her brow, looking thoughtful. "Well... I think they were my age... The one who looked a bit older- the one who said 'Al, this way!'- he was blonde, and the other one, Al, I suppose, his hair was sandy brown. Other than that, I can't really remember..."

"That's fine. I'm sorry we made you relive that, Miss Rockbell... Thank you for your help." said Maes Hughes, smiling comfortingly.

"No, it's okay. I want to find out what happened just as much as you do, actually... I always wanted to know a bit more about them."

Maes smiled, and assured her they'd tell her whatever they found out, and then they returned to the hotel with plenty to think about.

"Well... nothing particularly worth noting, but we do have a description of the Elric brothers." said Jean.

"Provided it wasn't all in her head." Roy reminded him. "She could've just imagined it."

"No... I don't think so," said Kain thoughtfully. "She seemed too.. down-to-earth, too certain. I don't think she'd have been so sure of herself if she'd made it up..."

"I agree," said Breda. "She saw something, alright. It might not have been the Elric brothers, but it's fairly likely that it was... if someone was trying to kill off all the Elrics, it would make sense that there'd be someone chasing the brothers, and if it were somebody who was concerned about them, they wouldn't have just walked away when they fell."

"That's true," said Riza. "And there were no reports of missing children around that time either, so I doubt it was a couple of village kids, messing about- it would've made the news if two children disappeared at the same time as the Elrics were murdered. It's possible that she's made it up- but I don't think she did."

"So basically, we still don't know for sure if the Elric brothers existed, and even if they did, then they're dead." said Roy, unimpressed.

"Yeah, pretty much." said Maes, not appearing to mind the lack of clues. "So, no help there. But tomorrow we're going up to look at the mansion itself, so we can have a little look around and see what we find."

Kain nodded- and then a thought occurred to him. "Hey... what do the police think about the Elric brothers?"

"They think that Trisha was delusional." shrugged Roy. "They said there were two rooms that could've belonged to kids in the house, and a nursery, but the rooms were neat and clean, as if they had never been used, and the nursery was tidy. The servants denied the existence of any children. As far as the police were concerned, the brothers never existed, and the nursery and bedrooms were there because Trisha wanted kids badly enough to pretend."

Jean frowned. "But from what we've heard today, she was a happy, cheerful woman, not delusional. Surely if she was that desperate, she'd have adopted kids- and if she was crazy enough to believe in imaginary children, why would she be sane enough to keep her 'boys' hidden? I think they existed, and they wanted to hide that for some reason- but when Trisha thought their lives were in danger, obviously she was scared enough to give up the charade."

Roy sighed. "This is going nowhere," he said. "Let's go to dinner... we'll find out more when we visit the mansion tomorrow."