AN: Thank you so much for your support! I greatly appreciate it!
I can't seem to get ahold of my beta reader, so my friend beta read it for me. She's amazing! (Daricio, if you like Bleach, check out her stuff. :D )
Note: If I can't get ahold of my beta reader, I will be looking for a new one if anyone is interested.
"Selim," Johan's voice stopped the dark-haired teen on the school stairs, and he turned around to see his friend come panting up behind him. Selim waited for a moment for the blond to catch his breath, trying not to feel uneasy at the dim light and fairly enclosed space of the stairwell. "Are you going to stay in the library through lunch period again?"
"Yes," Selim shrugged and turned to continue walking. Johan hurried to keep up.
"Selim, you've been going over every alchemy book in there for the last two weeks. Don't think I didn't notice. You're not going to find anything," Johan protested.
"I might."
"Then you would have already."
Selim shook his head. "You don't get it, I have to do this. I have to try."
Johan made a frustrated grunt. "What did that guy say to you that has you so fixated on studying alchemy? You can't even do it, so why?"
For a moment, Selim considered lying to his friend. He'd been avoiding the subject since the night Clemin had attacked them. Still, he'd known that if he gave up his lunch periods to study, it would only be a matter of time before Johan confronted him. Unfortunately, he had no other time to try and figure it out. For his own safety, he'd been given strict instructions to stay on campus all day, and while they could still walk to and from school, they both had escorts and were to go directly home afterwards. He didn't dare broach the topic of a homunculus with his mother again, either.
He opened his mouth, ready to say something calming and completely untrue, but seeing the worried, determined look in Johan's eyes, he knew he couldn't outright lie. Sighing, he turned and continued upstairs. "I'm looking up information on homunculuses."
Johan's footsteps stopped. "What are those?"
"Artificial beings created by alchemy," Selim repeated his mother's words tonelessly.
"They're what? Selim, why?" Selim turned to face his friend, but didn't say anything. "Was it because of what he said?" the blond asked worriedly. Again, Selim didn't answer, and looked away. "Selim, he's insane! Probably wasn't all there before he attempted the coup! He only said that to hurt you. He was trying to distract you so he could kill you! Of course he was going to-"
"No," Selim interrupted. "He wasn't saying those things just to throw me off. He meant them."
"Did you miss the 'insane' part?" Johan exclaimed, throwing his arm out to emphasize his point and hit his hand against a wall. "OW!" he yelped, shaking his hand quickly through the air, grimace firmly on his face before a scowl settled on it.
Selim smiled, but when he answered, his voice was completely serious. "Well, if it isn't true, then I don't have anything to worry about, do I?" he responded, trying to shrug his friend's worry off as he turned to continue up the steps.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Johan massage the bridge of his nose with his good hand. "You're not going to give up on this, are you?" he stated the question dryly. The dark-haired-boy snorted softly, hiding a small smile. His friend knew all too well that Selim didn't give up. Couldn't handle the blow to his pride.
"I have to know," he said finally, not turning around. He couldn't explain it to himself, let alone anyone else, but Clemin's words had cut him to the very core of his being. It felt like a long-forgotten dream or memory, and he still didn't think the ex-general was ranting or raving just for the sake of it. It struck a chord so true that he couldn't help but try to figure it out.
Johan sighed. "Then it looks like I'm gonna have to help."
Selim almost slipped as he spun around, stunned. "What?" he asked, realizing only a split second later that he must have sounded incredibly dense.
"The sooner we figure out that nothing is wrong, the sooner we get our lunch periods back, right?" Johan grinned.
A matching grin also found its way onto Selim's face; probably the first real smile since Clemin's attack. "Right!"
xXx
Eight days later...
"Aarg, this is impossible!" Johan complained as he tossed another book on the top of the steadily growing pile they'd already scanned. For once, Selim was beginning to agree. They'd been at this for what seemed like forever and had yet to come across anything even mentioning a homunculus in passing.
"I'm not giving up," Selim commented, turning another page in the book he'd picked up. It promised to be completely useless, but he needed to go through it anyway. As of that moment, he'd only made it about a third of the way through the library's alchemy section. That was with Johan's help.
"Maybe we're going about this all wrong," the blond boy muttered, massaging his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I mean, you want to know more about your dad, right? That's why we're looking up homunculus stuff to begin with, right?"
Selim blinked over at his friend and nodded.
"Then maybe we should be looking up stuff about the war and Fuhrer Bradly instead."
Selim remained silent for a moment, staring thoughtfully out the nearby window at the low, gray clouds that had rolled in that morning. "That might be an alley of thought worth exploring, but only once we have gone through all the alchemy books here."
He could tell Johan was trying not to look frustrated. "How 'bout I start on the history thing, and you keep going with the alchemy, seeing as you're the one who actually understands this stuff."
Johan was right in that regard. Only so much could be understood without application, and Johan had commented that he'd passed his capacity for understanding the mechanics of alchemy the first day he'd tried to help. Strangely enough, Selim seemed to be the exception to the rule. He had little problem really understanding anything in the books, despite his inability to perform alchemy himself. He almost felt...familiar with the concepts.
"Very well," Selim conceded with a nod.
"Yes!" Johan literally jumped up and ran down to the other end of the library. Selim smiled and shook his head. Honestly, when else would he be so excited to study history?
xXx
Three days later...
"So," Johan muttered around the apple he was currently devouring. Selim had been trying to ignore him as his own ever present hunger seemed to perk up whenever anyone else ate anything in front of him. "About the shadow thing..."
"It was a fluke," Selim muttered.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Johan look up at him incredulously. "How can you say that?"
"Because, I can't do it now," he muttered, trying not to sound annoyed. "Look," he held out his hand at some of the shadows on the desk caused by the stacks of books they'd gotten out to look over that day. Johan watched uncertainly as Selim tried to get the shadows to move with no success. "See? Nothing. Just a fluke."
Johan didn't look entirely convinced, but he shrugged and went back to the historical encyclopedia he'd been leafing through. They sat in relative silence while Johan finished his apple and the page he was on. Selim had just gotten to something that looked rather promising when a loud noise jerked his attention back to the table.
Slam! Selim jumped and looked up at Johan in surprise. The blond was staring down at the closed history book in front of him on the old, worn library table with a funny expression on his face. An expression Selim couldn't quite place.
"Johan?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
Johan blinked, as if he didn't know where he was. "Huh?" he asked, then looked around. Once his pupils landed on Selim, recognition and a fair share of worry entered those brown eyes. "Oh. Nothing. A spider crawled onto the page."
Selim raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't comment further. Returning to his book, he dismissed the incident. If Johan had found something worth mentioning, he would tell Selim.
He went back to reading without another thought, hoping to get in as much research time as he could before the bell rang.
xXx
Four days later
"Yo," Johan muttered, laying his bag down on one of the seats as he slumped into the creaking chair and glancing out the window that pierced the dim, library light. "I'm gonna go back to the alchemy books with you."
"No luck?" Selim asked with a sigh.
Johan shrugged and reached for one of the books off the top of the stack beside Selim.
"It's still a good idea. I plan on researching that idea next," Selim commented.
Johan shook his head and raised an eyebrow. "Thorough much?"
Selim returned the gesture with a smile, trying to make sure it looked particularly sincere, as his friend's had seemed rather forced for some reason.
For a moment, he wondered if he should actually inquire after his friend, but dismissed the thought. If it was something Selim could help with, Johan would ask him to help. Until then, he'd allow Johan his privacy.
xXx
When he got home from school that night, he found his mother pacing by the door. Some policemen were there with her, asking questions. They all stopped and looked up once Selim opened the door.
"Oh, Selim!" Mrs. Bradley said. "Come in, quickly."
"Mom?" Selim asked unsurely, glancing at the two police. "What's going on?"
She stood in front of him, ringing her hands. "We received a note. It was...delivered to our house." She nodded over to one of the policemen.
"It was addressed to you," he said, handing him some gloves and then an envelope. Taking his cue, Selim slipped on the gloves and fumbled with the envelope for a few moments, finally managing to take the paper inside out.
I'm still here, is all it said in bulky but neat handwriting. That's all that needed to be said. Selim glared down at the paper that would guarantee his continued lack of freedom and felt the dredges of a deep rage stir within him. This man was responsible for his parents' deaths and almost killed him. Worse, he'd almost killed Johan as well. No doubt he'd try to kill Selim's adopted mother if he ever got the chance. There was no doubt in his mind about those thoughts.
He'd just started in on all the horrible things he would do to this man when his mother's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Selim?"
"I get it," Selim said, thrusting the note back at the policeman. "I'll be in my room."
xXx
It was dark again, and not the familiar, comforting dark of his room. This dark seemed to hold an unnamable menace that seeped deep below the skin to dig relentlessly at ones consciousness. Selim desperately wanted to leave the darkness, but his body wouldn't let him.
They were underground. The dank atmosphere said as much, but somehow, he'd already known that. Pipes and cold cement surrounded him in a sort of organized mess.
"Come, my son," the man on the strange, make-shift throne gestured for him to come forward. Selim felt himself move before he'd really realized he was being addressed. It surprised him just how much he wanted to follow that order...and any order given by this man. It scared him. Deeply. "Report."
Selim knelt down on one knee respectfully. "We have located two possible sacrifices. Two boys who have seen the Gate of Truth. It will take some time to bring them here, but I am confident we can succeed."
The man turned and looked at him with a completely blank expression. "You have done well, my son. Inform Wrath."
Selim nodded, realizing with a sick stomach that he'd just felt a shot of glee at the promise of another's pain. Was this really him? He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He turned his eyes up to the blond-haired man with a beard. "Of course, Father."
"Selim!" a voice jerked him awake. His first instinct was to jump at and attack the noise, the unknown factor in the situation. Before he could, though, he saw his mother's worried, lined face above him.
"M-mom?" he asked uncertainly. Neither one of them noticed the shadows in the room that had begun to move forward settle back to normal.
"Shhh," she said softly, drawing him forward and into her arms. He allowed her to as he willed his heartbeat to slow down. "You haven't had a nightmare that badly in a long time." He nodded, not really able to say anything. Instead, he simply sat there, reveling in his mother's warmth, and allowing himself to feel her safety.
"I didn't mean to wake you," he finally managed to say.
He could almost feel her smile. "I already couldn't sleep. When I walked by, I heard you moaning. No yelling this time. You didn't wake me up."
Somehow he felt that had been a lie. He didn't care. It was the sweetest lie he'd ever heard.
xXx
Thirteen days later...
Selim's breath came out visibly in the crisp morning as he sighed at the front cover of the newspaper that showed Clemin glaring out of a picture. The words "Escaped Prisoner Still at Large!" practically screamed at him as he passed the news stand. Apparently the ex-general had skipped town, because no one had seen him since his attack on the two boys more than a month before. At least that's what the papers said. After the threatening letter, though, he found little comfort in their assumptions. Clemin was just lying low for now.
Not wanting to dwell on it, he quickly put the thought out of mind and turned his attention back to lunch. Johan had helped him finish up going through all the alchemy books in the library a little over a week before and they hadn't even glimpsed so much as a word about homunculuses.
That's when Johan had suggested that they go through his family's library. Apparently Col. Browbeat had an entire section devoted to Alchemy. Selim had quickly agreed, and each day his friend sneaked a few more books for them to look through during lunch. It still wasn't looking very hopeful, though. Selim was convinced they would be the most knowledgeable non-alchemists in the country by the time they actually finished…if they weren't already. Still, Johan's help had been invaluable, and he found himself looking forward to the new information his friend would bring every day. The tomes from Col. Browbeat's library certainly had more information than the pathetic school books.
"Johan!" he called out as he recognized his friend's figure next to the familiar form of Johan's bodyguard outside of the school gates. When the two groups didn't meet up on the way, they would usually end up waiting for the other party outside of the school grounds.
"Thanks, guys!" Selim said to his own two bodyguards, Sam and Nick, hinting that they could leave. The two large men never did, but that didn't faze Selim. He broke into a jog, leaving them behind as he approached his friend.
As soon as Johan turned around, he knew something was wrong.
"Johan?" he asked worriedly, slowing to a walk. To his surprise, the bodyguard (Mark, if Selim remembered correctly) stepped between them, glaring down at Selim, who froze in his tracks. The guy didn't really scare him, but Selim had to wonder just why he would do that.
Johan shot Mark a glare as he stepped around him.
"Young Master," the man protested, but Johan cut him off.
"I've got to explain it to him sometime. Back off." Mark didn't look too pleased, but he nodded and didn't move.
Selim looked over his shoulder at his own bodyguards for a moment and then back at Johan warily. "Explain what?" he asked.
Johan couldn't seem to meet his eyes. "My parents told me I can't hang 'round you anymore. They don't want me to be your friend."
It took a minute for those words to sink in, and when he did, the world fell away from underneath them. For as long as Selim could remember it had been him and Johan. He'd always felt that he could do anything with Johan by his side. They were best friends after all.
"What brought this on?" Selim asked. "Why-?"
"Dad caught me raiding the library last night. They asked me why I wanted to know about Alchemy. I don't know how he does it, but I can never lie to him. He always sees right through me. I've been taking notes...they saw those too."
Selim dropped his eyes. "You told him."
Johan nodded. "Sorry."
Selim shrugged. What else could he do?
"After that, they said I can't be friends with you anymore," Johan concluded, his voice fading into a mutter.
"Did they even give you a reason?"
Johan shook his head, but Selim could tell he was hiding something. "If I didn't agree, they were going to make me transfer schools."
"But...why?"
"I don't know. I..." a large hand on Johan's shoulder cut him off, and he seemed to slump beneath it. "I gotta go."
"Yeah," Selim muttered.
"Sorry," Johan muttered again as he allowed the body guard to lead him away.
Selim could only stand there, watching him go. "Me too."
xXx
Saying Selim was miserable didn't even begin to touch on the depth of the situation. He couldn't seem to remember the last time he'd felt so utterly despondent. His research suddenly became a chore, and his productivity dropped far lower than when he'd originally been studying by himself, not to mention he had to go back to only school library books. They'd gone through all of the Alchemy books, so that left history. Despite the rather interesting, local events that had occurred in the past, he would find his mind wandering on more than one occasion, refusing to focus on anything other than the birds flying by as he gazed out of the window beside his favorite table in the library.
His grades had begun to suffer too.
Truthfully, he'd never realized just how much he'd come to rely on Johan's company. As the days passed, he also began to realize just how alone he was without the other boy. He knew other students, yes, but he didn't really know them, and he found himself unwilling to even make an effort to try and make more real friends. Not to mention most of the other teens seemed a bit wary of him anyway. He couldn't figure out why, which frustrated him to no end, which in turn did little to encourage any social behavior. As a result, he tended to retreat to his own corner every class and lunchtime, and no one seemed eager to drag him out.
Whenever he saw Johan in the hallways between classes, both of them would smile sadly, wave or nod and continue on. Apparently the teachers had instructions to keep them apart, and even his mother hadn't had any words of wisdom. He knew she'd tried to talk to the Browbeats, but nothing had come of it as far as Selim could see.
The days crawled by, and yet it seemed to have rushed past all too quickly as the deep winter months approached. Selim would still spend his lunches in the library, trying to read in between the lines of what had been recorded about the war. It was interesting, and kind of strange to see someone who looked so much like himself in the pictures behind Fuhrer Bradley. The Bradley child always had a supporting, adoring smile, but something about him seemed almost ancient to Selim. Sometimes he'd swear he could sense something sinister. Whenever he found his train of thought going down those roads, he would always start a new book. He did not want to think disrespectfully of the dead, nor of someone his mother may have cared for. She had been related to Madam Bradley after all.
The first snowfall of the year came and went, and All Hallow's Eve approached, the ancient holiday of feasting with the spirits of the dead. Just days before the holiday, Selim flopped down into his usual seat and slowly pulled the book he'd started the day before. He had just gotten settled into the biography about Fuhrer Bradley when the sound of something heavy falling on the dusty table in front of him jolted him out of his personal study/pity party. His eyes immediately went to the tome that had appeared before him. He could tell it easily outweighed the library's dictionary. On the almost new cover it said in clear, bold letters: Advanced Alchemic Theory and Applications: The Revised Edition.
For a moment, he just stared at the book. Then, blinking rapidly, Selim looked up at the figure across the table. Johan stood there, same as ever; slightly plump face below sandy colored hair, and sad brown eyes. When Selim saw him there, his hopes rose for a moment and he couldn't help but smile.
"Johan?" he asked, almost afraid he was seeing things.
His friend didn't smile back. "It's 'homunculi'."
Selim blinked again, slightly confused. "What?"
"It's not 'homunculuses', it's 'homunculi'."
Selim's eyes widened as his mind finally processed the implications of those words, and he looked back down at the book hungrily.
"You mean...?" he asked, reaching out to touch it almost as if it were a sacred object.
"Yeah. Newest version. Recently updated."
"Where did you get it?" Selim asked, opening the cover and looking over the table of continents, along with the copyrights.
"I sneaked it out of Dad's library lastnight," Johan replied with a shrug, as if getting this monstrous thing out of or into any place without someone knowing was a common occurrence. "He won't miss it. I need it back in a week, though."
Selim got the hidden message and smiled sadly. "So, we still can't be friends, huh?"
Johan sighed. "I'm working on it. I'll wear them down eventually, okay?"
"Yeah."
They stood in silence for a few seconds before Johan spoke again, his voice quiet. "I warned you."
"Yeah," Selim replied. "You did."
"I gotta go," Johan said, turning around and grabbing a random book off of the shelf. "Later."
"Yeah." Funny, his vocabulary wasn't normally restricted to one word. Selim watched his friend turn the corner out of the aisle where their table was situated. His eyes lingered on the now empty space for a few moments before turning to look back at the enormous tome in front of him. Setting his own historical encyclopedia aside, he reached forward and opened the alchemy book to the first page.
xXx
Selim didn't just read the book, he devoured it. Never before had he come across a theory book that actually challenged his mental capacity to this extent. That, and he found the subjects contained in the book to be fascinating.
And that was all before he got to the section on homunculi.
Homunculi, it seemed, were indeed artificially created humans, or more specifically humanoids created with alchemy. A long list of common traits took up the first page and a half. Every homunculus had a philosopher's stone at their center (which also intrigued Selim-he'd heard about the mystical gems from bed time stories and tall tales in his childhood), homunculi couldn't die unless those philosopher's stones ran out of energy. Strangely enough, the book said nothing about what kind of energy was necessary. Electricity? Somehow, Selim doubted it.
Reading on, he found that according to the book, every homunculus tended to have similar markings that they could hide only if they had enough energy in their philosopher's stone and the will to do so. It then went into detail about "greater homunculi" that had a personality and could act on their own, and "lesser homunculi" which would only move forward with a body's basic instinct to feed, no matter the conditioning beforehand.
The lesser homunculi had red lines running across their bodies and one single eye, while the greater homunculi had a tattoo of an oroboros—a snake eating its tail. Selim heaved a sigh of relief when he didn't see anything about coin-sized targets similar to the one on his own forehead.
Each homunculus had some sort of power as well. That part did make Selim uneasy. Trying to dispel the worry, he glanced down at his shadow before continuing on.
The lesser homunculi tended to just be able to eat anything organic, and bullets didn't affect them. They didn't die unless they were quite literally blown apart or burned to death. Selim quickly shoved those descriptions out of his mind, rather disgusted. How would anyone know that? Or did he even want to know how they'd discovered that?
The book didn't go into the different powers of the greater homunculi.
It didn't get much better as the book went on. Many alchemists believed that homunculi didn't have souls. Where would an artificial soul come from, after all? Others would theorize the person who created the homunculus would give up part of their soul to the being. Still others believed that a homunculus would have a soul just like any human.
No one really knew for sure. With the anti-human transmutation law in effect, it was difficult to believe that anyone would find out soon. Not that Selim really wanted them to. The kind of half-life that any such creature would undoubedtly have did not sound appealing to him at all, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Well...maybe Clemin.
After he'd spent three lunch periods reading and rereading the section on homunculi, the weekend came and he had to put off his research. He didn't dare even take that book out at home. When the beginning of the week rolled around, he began to make a list for and against his being a homunculus, going through the book more slowly for reference. By the fifth day, he'd almost completed it and Johan found him working on it when he came to pick up the book exactly one week after giving it to Selim.
"Did you find anything useful?" he asked, taking a seat across from the dark-haired boy casually.
"Yes," he responded eagerly. "Look, here are the traits of a homunculus. The checked ones are those that I have as well."
Johan looked down the list, reading each word carefully. "You don't even have half of these checked," he commented slowly, sounding a little relieved himself. "And the special powers?"
"Well, I can't do anything with the shadows anymore, but I could then. We both saw," Selim responded uneasily. "That's why I put a question mark beside it."
"You also have a question mark beside 'difficult to kill'."
Selim shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Don't want to find out. I mean I'm only 15. The closest I've been to being killed or seriously hurt is Clemin."
"Hmm," Johan responded with a nod before looking up at Selim. "So what do you think?"
Selim leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Keep in mind, I don't have any real proof to back my theories, so they are just that: theories. My first theory: my father was a homunculus," he said, holding up his pointer finger. "It would explain why I have these strange traits and why the shadows moved when they did. It's some sort of residual or inherited effect."
"Okay..." Johan said warily. "What's your next theory?"
Selim chuckled dryly, "That I just got lucky. Or unlucky as the case may be. Somehow Clemin was able to put on a show to psychologically attack me. I'm a normal human with no particularly extraordinary traits. The biggest problem with that one is motive: why me? Just because I look like Selim Bradley? That's the only reason I can think of. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's why my biological mother named me 'Selim' to begin with."
"Doesn't that bug you?" Johan asked with a shudder.
Selim shrugged. "Not really. It used to, but hasn't for a while now. Like I said, kids are named after famous people all the time."
Johan nodded again. "And your other theories?"
This time, Selim's smile vanished and he sighed. "The third is that I somehow am a homunculus and Clemin was telling the truth."
"But the list..." Johan protested, pointing to the piece of paper still in his hands.
Selim nodded. "That is my least probable theory, if only because I would be an extraordinarily human homunculus. I do not have an oroboros tattoo anywhere on my person—believe me I've looked. Now I was born only 15 years ago, and have not had any serious threat to my life, so I cannot draw a conclusion based on that information, but…." Selim faded off as Johan got that strange look on his face again. Realizing his friend wasn't about to say anything, he continued forward. "I also grow and change, which most homunculi don't. I may or may not have supernatural powers other than a ravenous appetite, and I am not indentured to any human that would have had to create me as far as I know."
Johan listened thoughtfully. When Selim finished, he looked down at the book and then relaxed against the back of his chair. "So, in other words, chances are you're human, not homunculus. Satisfied?"
Sitting back, Selim thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, for the most part. I think that answers my questions rather accurately."
"Good, 'cause I've been over here too long anyway." With a sigh, he reached over and shoved the book into his bag. Then, with some difficulty, he hefted it over his shoulder and smiled on the way out. "Okay, I'll see you later."
As Selim watched him go, his spirits began to fall again. "Yeah...sure. Bye."
Once alone, he reached down to the table and began to gather up his notes. Placing them all neatly inside of his own bag, he made his way to the library door and walked out. There was nothing left to really research now. Truthfully, he didn't know what to research for. Problem was, although he'd told Johan otherwise, he felt like he had even more questions now than he'd ever had before.
And he still hadn't found out anything concrete about his parents.
xXx
Roy stared at the report sitting on top of the other paperwork scattered half-hazardly across his desk as he leaned back in his chair, chin resting in his hand. Riza stood by, watching him carefully. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to.
It came down to either turning a blind eye on a potential enemy, or tearing down the life of one of the most respected women in the country. He hated decisions like these, but someone had to make them.
"What did Fuhrer Armstrong say?" he asked softly.
"She said the decision should remain with you as you're the one who knows him best."
Roy nodded, and couldn't help the sardonic touch that entered his smile. Absently, one of his hands reached up and touched his eyelid. "And she doesn't think I'm too close to the situation?"
"You know better than that, sir."
This time, he snorted outright. "She hates anything that has to do with me."
Riza didn't argue that point. She knew better. "She also trusts you, sir."
Either that or she wanted to see him squirm. He wouldn't put it past her. And she'd only gotten worse since they'd practically forced her into office. She hated that chair almost as much as she hated...well, everything else.
Roy looked back at the manila folder. According to the reports he'd been receiving, there was no reason for serious alarm. Selim Baker-Bradley had not once acted like Pride in the 15 years as far as they knew. Not that they'd kept the closest eye on him recently. They had other things to do with their field and secret agents than babysit a brat that seemed like any other perfectly normal human. Still, no one felt confident enough to just leave him be. Watches may have diminished to sporadic at best, but neither Roy nor Fuhrer Armstrong would allow for him to be left completely unsupervised.
Perhaps they'd left this potential threat alone for too long. According to reports from Col. Browbeat, Selim Bradley had begun to research homunculi after being attacked by Ex-Brigadier General Clemin. Roy's fist clenched. He hadn't thought the man would have degraded to that level of stupidity. Now he may have upset the somewhat precarious balance…or awoken a sleeping dragon. Of course, that may have been his plan all along.
Without actually talking to Selim Baker, he had no way of knowing.
Sighing, Roy looked back up at Riza and nodded. "Bring him in for questioning."
Riza nodded curtly before turning and walking out. Roy smiled as he watched her go. As loyal as ever. She had passed up several rank advancements to stay a Lieutenant by his side. She knew what he needed done, and when he needed it. He'd never come across someone who could do as good of a quality rush job since Hughes…
Ignoring the old pang of regret and sadness, he shook that train of thought from his head and reached into his desk drawer. His hands touched fabric, and he pulled out the white alchemist gloves that had become his signature. One way or another, he may as well get this over with. If he had to, he could take Pride out, just as he'd done with the other two he'd beaten. It wouldn't be difficult.
Once all of that was settled, he could focus on other, more important problems, like the fact that FFO had suddenly seemed to gain a competent leader; or the increasingly hostile relationships with at least three of their neighboring countries. Amestris' history of being rather violent towards almost all of the surrounding nations didn't help. It seemed their only neighbor that didn't hate them was Xing, and with how things were shaping up, the Fuhrer was seriously considering asking them for reinforcements, which only opened up a whole new can of worms; transporting them across the desert, making sure they survived the trip and were treated well, not to mention housing, the likely culture clashes and paying them, etc.
Then, of course, there was the problem of the escaped ex-brigadier general. No one had heard so much as a whisper about him for weeks, despite the fact that they also had not received any concrete reports of him leaving the city boundaries. Didn't mean he hadn't, and Roy didn't like the idea of him loose and in the country side any more than he liked the idea of him being loose and in Central.
Just to top it all off, along with all of that and the normal duties that came with his position, his Alchemy proficiency deadline was approaching all too quickly.
He reached a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose, hoping to stave off the quickly building headache.
Maybe he'd just send for Alphonse to come and fight him for the proficiency test; see if he could hold a candle to Ed. It would certainly give him a release for all of his building frustration. None of the current military alchemists seemed to really be worth even trying to fight, except Brigadier General Armstrong...if he even wanted to go that far. The idea of cleaning up after all of that did not appeal to him. Alphonse would at least show some restraint, and it would be nice to see him again.
Smiling slightly, he set aside the manila folder labeled "Selim Bradley" and began to read over some of the other reports while making a mental note to give Risembool a call later.
xXx
He'd have to confront his mother.
Selim cursed silently as he came to the conclusion for the umpteenth time that day. No matter how he looked at it, she always popped up as the answer to all of his questions. Problem was, he still could not think of conceivable way to do so. His mother had made it more than clear that the subject of homunculi was not to be broached, but she was also the one who could conceivably present a solution. She'd been close to the Bradleys after all, and she knew something about homunculi. If he wanted figure this out, she would be the person to go to...but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Just bringing up the subject before had seriously frightened her. How could he find a way to ask about the subject without hurting her again? It wasn't possible. That's all there was to it.
If only there were someone else he could talk to...like Clemin. Not that he wanted to seek that psychopath out, but he had been close to the Fuhrer. Or maybe someone who just knew more in general about homunculi, like the authors of the book Johan had given him. E. and A. Elric. Maybe he could find a way to contact them-
A sudden flare of warning in the back of his mind was all he got, and it was all he needed. As if moving on its own, his body ducked, and he watched with wide eyes as the tree just off to the side splintered; a bullet lodged in the wood.
Then he heard a sickening squish and turned around in slow motion to see a blank-eyed Sam fall to the ground, hole neatly in his forehead.
"Young Master, run!" he heard Nick yell before another shot silenced him too. Selim watched, horrified for a moment as those two lives flickered out before him. He suddenly felt sick, but Nick's warning was not lost on him. Turning on his heel, he sprinted into the nearby bushes diving inside and ignoring the scratches with some difficulty. Trying not to get his clothes caught on the branches, he scrambled through the brush, desperately looking for a safe place.
His foot caught a root, and he went down hard. The wind emptied from his lungs, and he lay there for a few moments as he desperately tried to regain his breath. That's when he heard something large rustling in the bush nearby, coming towards him. Somehow, he knew that the person causing the noise was an enemy. They smelled of fear, anger and aggression. Vaguely wondering how he could smell something like that, he struggled to his feet, more than a little panicked. His scrambling caught up with him as tripped again. Looking back, he saw the cause: His jacket had snagged on several branches.
Frantically he tugged and pulled at the school uniform as the person continued to approach. It did no good. The coat refused to budge from the sharp wood. Giving that up for a lost cause, he was about to slip out of the sleeves and leave it when it happened again; the shadows responded. Before his eyes, they surged up, cutting every single branch off in one quick swoop. Suddenly free of his inanimate captor, Selim fell on his backside and stared in shock at where the branch had been, all else temporarily forgotten.
The shadows had answered his call that time, he was sure of it. For those seconds, his mind stopped working. The implications of that happening again...
He stayed like that just one moment too long. A large figure rushed up behind him, grabbing him with massive arms before he could get away. Snapped out of his miniature trance, Selim struggled as hard as he could.
"Let me go!" he yelled, trying to get at the pressure points his defense instructors in school had drilled him on, but he was held tight. Then a smaller, slighter figure came up beside him, placing a cloth over his face before he could get a real look at them. The last thing he remembered before the world blacked out was the question running through his head: Am I really that weak?