Chapter 46: The Final Preparations
Ed lifted his hands up as he caught the kick Mina swung at him, throwing her leg to the side as she too was thrown off balance. She stumbled slightly as Ed moved his hands back into position.
"That was better." Ed said "But you're focusing on power than placement, I get wanting to go for the knockout blow" Ed said pointing at his jaw "But you have to break down your enemy first, only go for the big blow when there's a clear opening."
"What would a clear opening look like?" Mina asked.
"When they're on their last legs and won't counter any big hits." Ed replied, demonstrating it by wobbling his body. "Or if they go for a desperate attack." Ed stopped as he faked an obvious attack. Mina stepped to the side attempting to dodge. "But you have to be the one to decide that, go with your gut."
"But I'm getting better, right?" Mina asked.
"Yeah much better" Ed replied as if stating the obvious "Your technique at times is pretty good too, were you lying when you said that you were about mid-table of your class in hand to hand?" he suggested jokingly.
"No no, that's the truth." Mina replied "But to be honest I think the memories are helping me."
"Oh… no I see." Ed replied nodding his head slightly.
To the side there was a loud thud as Alphonse threw Eren to the ground. "You okay?" Alphonse asked almost immediately.
"Yeah, wasn't expecting you to flip me over like that." Eren replied with a joking smile. Eren dusted himself off "I never asked but how did you guys learn to fight? Wouldn't being alchemists take up your time?"
"Guess we were lucky to have a teacher who knew how to do both." Edward replied "Taught us from a young age, really beat her lessons in us."
"Literally." Alphonse added "The number of times teacher had thrown us to the ground…"
"So she was like an army instructor?" Mina asked.
"She'd be pretty pissed if you compared her to that." Ed commented as he and Alphonse began to reminisce "When she found out I joined the military back home, she kicked me so hard she sent me flying down her path."
"But she was intense with her lessons though." Alphonse continued "She left us on an island for a month with nothing but a knife."
"What?" Both Eren and Mina said in unison, shocked by the revelation.
"Oh yeah, she wanted us to both fend for ourselves and learn the fundamental lesson of alchemy, 'All is one and one is all.'" Ed said rubbing the back of his head "Took eating ants to understand that." He said with a silly smile. Both Mina and Eren looked at him shocked and confused.
"I didn't do that." Alphonse added. "Thankfully."
Erwin sat idly by the open lake, a large note book sat on his lap as he continued to scribble down the ideas and preparations he needed to make for the expedition soon. The sounds of soft quacks caught his attention has he moved his eyes to see a white duck picking through the grass as it pulled out and devoured a small insect.
"Oi." Came a voice from behind him, Erwin turned his head back slightly to see Levi standing off to the side of the bench "They're ready for you." Erwin closed his book and stood up.
"Good." Erwin replied "It will be nice to see some old faces." the two walked up the path on a small slope towards a large mansion; formerly owned by a member of the landed autocrats who was uprooted after the uprising. A large fence surrounded the building with an excessively large garden hugged closely to the building with bushes, roses and lilies. The house was made of a washed coloured orange brick with a large grey stone tower at the side connected to the mansion; windows decorated the mansion covered with white curtains. The mansion looked to be three stories high with pointed roofs crowning the building.
The wooden double doors opened for both Erwin and Levi as Hange came to greet them with a small number of staff. Hange jogged towards them, a massive grin on her face "I can't wait for you to see it Erwin." She said, barely containing her excitement. A dark wooden flooring was covered in a large red carpet and dark wood furniture, chairs and tables, hugging the red walls of the house, all of which were no doubt the previous owner's belongings.
"You must be so proud, Hange." Erwin remarked. "Your work with automail helped make this happen." The three walked up to the staff.
"Welcome, Commander." A member of staff greeted, they were all dressed in medical scrubs with a few carrying clipboards and folders. "I'm honored to welcome you here to the first automail recovery center." The staff led them along, first to a large room packed with groups of people huddled around others dressed in scrubs or mechanical wear as they showed them metal limbs while they measured people with missing limbs. "This is the consultation room, patients and their families are informed of the process."
"Lot of people here." Levi remarked "Surprised you have the capacity."
"We don't." the staff member stated. "All of them will be placed on a waiting list for now, the process of attaching the automail limbs is painful and the rehabilitation is grueling."
"You've been handling the rehabilitation well though, aren't you, Erwin?" Hange asked.
"Yes, I must be lucky; I haven't experienced the intense discomfort that came with healing." Erwin replied.
"Yeah… very lucky." Levi repeated eyeing Erwin.
The staff moved them through the halls, some patients wondering around, some limping, as they adjusted to the new limb. "Most of our equipment comes entirely from the Reeves Company, as are the engineering staff." The staff member informed them "Though truth be told most of us are learning on the job about automail, these kinds of surgeries and procedures are unfamiliar to us."
"Comes with the territory with this new technology." Hange stated "I hope more centers like these are build."
"Though we have you to thank commander." The staff member "You being the first automail user in the walls, your experience have provided a handy guide on the surgery itself, though the down side to you not experiencing any intense pain did leave us a bit unprepared for others."
Erwin remained quiet for now; he looked down at his arm, he could make out the misshapen figure that reflected off the metal arm as he moved his fingers.
"Hopefully it'll be available for other people too; even civilians got those limbs back on the Elrics world." Levi remarked.
A lone patient walked up to them, limping slightly as he tried to walk with his new leg. Their fist clenched as they tried to walk straight. "Commander." They said.
Erwin stared at them for a few seconds "Joseph…" Erwin said recognizing the patient. The patient fell slightly as they grabbed Erwin's arms, Erwin held them up.
"Please…" the patient muttered "If you meet those two, the Elrics, can you give them my thanks; I owe them a lot for this."
Moblit along with Nifa stood in a small wooden observatory with telescopes in hand. To the side was what Moblit thought looked like a cannon, it was nothing like Moblit had seen before; its barrel was narrower and longer compared to the ones mounted on the walls, it had black metal wheels, at the end of the barrel was a more pronounced snout and near the breach of the cannon was a metal guard with a small rectangle hole which separated the barrel from the rest of the cannon.
This was based off the design of cannon from 'Amestris.'
They both watched as a member of the garrison began to load a shell into the cannon, even the ammunition was different; it looked like a shotgun shell but curved at the end with a golden tip, smaller than a regular cannon ball. There was a loud clang sound as the garrison troop shut the hatch of the cannon.
"Ready!" yelled the garrison troop.
Moblit turned his head towards the large dummy titan a few miles away from them; both he and Nifa peered through their telescopes at the titan.
There was a loud bang as the long barrel of the cannon retracted slightly and a subdued explosion of light was contained within the snout.
A large explosion of yellow and orange engulfed the dummy titan before a thick cloud of grey smoke covered the damage.
"Target hit!" yelled one of the garrison troops watching. They all watched in anticipation as the smoke began to clear before them. There were gasps and exclamations from those watching as the smoke cleared from the titan body.
"Oh my God…" Nifa muttered as she lowered the telescope from her eye. Moblit was almost equally shocked by the result.
Everything above the stomach of the titan was gone, its parts scattered across the field far from the rest of the body.
Moblit quickly placed down his telescope onto the ground has before he began to scribble notes onto a piece of paper resting on a wooden board.
"Prepare the next shot!" ordered one of the garrison troops. "This cannon… this pretty much shits on the previous ones." The troops commented. "How the hell can something like this cause that much damage?" looking at the artillery shell.
"I don't know but with this… I'm sure we can't lose."
Ed heaved as he carried the boxes of equipment off the barn; he dug the heels of his shoes into the dirt as he walked forward towards the wide entrance of the barn before quickly placing it down onto the grass. He wiped off the sweat that ran down his forehead with his hand before sighing.
"I thought Winry ran me ragged." Ed muttered.
"Hey!" yelled a voice behind him; he turned around to see Historia chasing after some small children as they ran off laughing from her. Ed watched the scene and smiled "Queen of humanity…" he chuckled. He thought back to that moment in the cave when she stood up to her father, the emotions of the moment… so different from the person there.
The kids then ran towards a small crowd of kids as they watched Alphonse demonstrate Alchemy to them. Historia stopped chasing them as she marched up to Eren, Jean and Armin who were leaning up against the fence.
"Hey, you're slacking off!" she yelled at them "carry all this stuff before the sun goes down!" she turned her head forward to see Ed watching her "You too, Ed!"
Ed rolled his eyes as he jogged towards them.
"She's starting to remind me of my mom." Jean muttered as he picked up one of the boxes.
"A real Goddess huh…" Armin replied.
Ed tried to pick up as much as he could, sacks of grain piled upon a two wooden boxes. He followed behind them.
"You okay there, Ed?" Jean asked.
"I'm fine." Ed replied "You go on ahead." He couldn't see them through the objects in front but he heard their footsteps quickly scattered as he laboured over carrying the boxes over to the barn.
He had made it halfway to the barn when someone in front of him lifted up one of the boxes off him, as the box moved from his vision he saw Historia looking at him. "You could hurt yourself doing that." She said matter of factly.
"I've done worse." Ed commented "Carrying some boxes is about the least reckless thing I've ever done." They continued to walk "I thought you were with Eren?"
"Mikasa's with him." Historia replied. "She's taken the sacks he was carrying and Eren took the other box off my hands so I thought I'd help you."
"Thanks for that." Ed replied.
"Eren told me about the hardening experiments, said that both he and Mina were making good progress on it." Historia mentioned.
"Yeah, Mina is still getting the hang of being a titan shifter but she's doing pretty well." Ed replied. "Sucks she can't be here, she looked upset about not being able to see how you and the orphanage was doing."
"So where are you guys going from here?" Historia asked.
"We've got a trip to Trost after our visit here." Ed replied. "Hange wants to try and put together the titan traps around the district and Reeves wants us to be there for the opening for the hydroelectric plant."
"Sounds exciting." Historia replied. "All the technology you and Alphonse help make, people are excited about it."
"I just hope we don't run into some of the crazies." Ed mentioned. "Ever since the coronation Al and I keep getting people walk up to us asking about God or something, some even kneel in front of us." Ed shuddered slightly.
"I take it you hate that kind of thing." Historia remarked.
"I've seen where that kind of thing can take people." Ed replied "It's nothing good."
"Are you staying with the others in Trost until the operation?" Historia asked.
"I'd like to but it's likely we'll be moved around from now until then." Ed whined softly "After our business in Trost we have to meet Darius and the higher ups in Ehrmich."
"You know whats it's about?" Historia asked.
"I was hoping you do." Ed replied almost jokingly. "Probably something related to the army or new weapons." they approached the barn door, a large pile of sacks and wooden boxes inside the barn just off to the side. Ed placed the boxes down with Historia on the pile
"Ed… are you and Alphonse ready for the operation?" Historia asked.
"We are." Ed replied looking out of the barn, his eyes wondering off into the sky. "I don't want to sound arrogant when I say this but we've been ready for something like this since the day we got here."
Hange observed the large titan killing contraption before them; the two walls which stuck out from the walls, both fifty meters tall and ten meters wide, were extended out by almost twenty meters and more than ten meters apart. Between the two walls was a large platform which was suspended in the air by large chains holding it and preventing it from falling onto the ground by four cranes on each side.
Sticking out of the walls were two cranes holding large crystal cages with thin gaps in between the bars.
Hange leaned forward; getting a better look, the line of rectangle shaped holes in the walls caught her eyes as scout troops standing on the edge of the holes as a few titans on the outside clawed at them.
"So this large platform would drop on their heads and crush whoever's inside?" Levi asked.
"That's the idea." Hange replied. "The original idea was a sort of guillotine like contraption but with Ed and Al's help we managed to expand that."
"And I see Arlert's idea got the go ahead." Levi remarked looking at Armin who stood by next to Eren and Mina. "You must be proud."
"Of course, Captain." Armin replied. "It's just a shame that Edward and Alphonse couldn't be here to see it."
"That reminds me, we have to go see that 'hydroelectric' plant their opening with Reeves, shame that the scheduling clash." Hange turned her head back to the contraption "But first let's see Armin's invention in action."
One the cranes slid to the left slightly as it was angled just on the direction of the titan's head. A garrison soldier drop dropped down and fires their hook onto the wall, sitting underneath the cage before looking down at the titan. They swing to the side, their hand pointed to the operator. The operator pulls a lever before the cage fell down onto the titan. There was a loud thud and a subdued yell by the titan before the cage was being raised from the ground, the chains holding the cage from the top clanging slightly as it was reeled back. They all watched with anticipation, as the titan came into view so did a slight trail of smoke.
"No… don't tell me…" Hange muttered.
"Did it work?" an onlooker asked.
Hange turned to look at Armin; he looked calm and collected despite the anxiety and curiosity. Hange turned back and pulled out a telescope, peering into it for a better look, the titan lay there still.
C'mon… be alive… c'mon you beautiful monster…
The titan's hand began to grab at the bars, its fingers sticking out between the gaps.
"It's alive!" Hange exclaimed. There was a low roar from the titan as it tried to stand up. "It's worked!" Hange exclaimed looking at Armin, he still looked calm just with a small smile on his face as his friends congratulated him.
A green flare was shot by one of the scouts standing inside the hole in the wall. "That's the signal."Hange said to the others "The other trap ready." A chaotic clanging of large chains echoed across the area as the large platform between the two walls collapsed onto the ground.
BOOM!
"Nothing could have survived that." Eren commented.
There were a few seconds of silence before the low and slow rumbling and clanging of metal chains filled the silence as the platform was raised slowly from the ground. Hange and the others leaned in further, as the platform passed by the holes in the wall and mass cloud of thick grey smoke began to pour out, rising from the ground.
There looked to be some commotion by the scouts watching from the large hole in the wall when another flare was fired off, a green trail of smoke reaching up and passed the rising clouds.
"It's worked!" Hange declared excitedly. There was a loud cheer from the onlookers "We can kill titans on mass now without the risk of losing men, she turned towards the press watching "Spread the word! Spread the good news to humanity!" She turned to Eren and Mina excitedly "We did it you guys! Now that we know it works we can bring it to the other districts!"
"That's great, Squad leader." Eren replied.
"Whatever you ask, we'll be happy to help-" Mina added until Levi interjected.
"You two, your noses are bleeding, the single red trail of blood running down one of their nostrils, both of them touching just above their lip to find a thin red line.
"Whats happening?" Mina asked slightly concerned.
"This has happened before." Eren said as he wiped away the blood off. "Don't worry about it; last time it happened to me was in Trost."
"That was when you were constantly using your titan." Armin added.
"Looks like they've being pushed close to their limits." Levi said "Good thing this whole thing was spread out between them."
Hange sighed "I'm sorry about this." Hange apologised "I should have been more aware of this."
"We're fine, Hange." Eren reassured her.
"Yeah, we've had worse." Mina added. "A slight nose bleed is really nothing."
"This is a big step towards winning the fight against the titans and to not lose anyone in future… we'll clear out Wall Maria sooner than possible." Eren declared.
Erwin sat alone in his office, once more staring outside the window as he watched from a distant as people carried on with their lives. He looked down at an open pocket watch sitting on his desk.
They should be here any minute now…
He checked his long brown coat, looking for any imperfections one last time. Suddenly there was a knock on the door "Come in." Erwin said. The door opened as Ian Dietrich followed by Mitabi Jarnach and Rico Brzenska walked in.
"Welcome." Erwin greeted them, standing up. Three saluted him "Please take a seat." The three sat down at the desk, on the three empty chairs facing him, Ian sitting between the two others. "Thank you for coming to meet me on such short notice."
"It was no trouble, commander." Ian replied.
"I'm sure you know why I've asked you to meet with me." Erwin stated.
"We know, Pixis gave the word out to other captains to see if there would be any battalions willing to bolster your forces for the coming expedition."
"Yes, that would be correct." Erwin replied. "As it stands the scouts are comfortable over two hundred strong however that would be including those new recruits from the 104th and those soldiers who are possibly on course finish their initial automail before the expedition."
"So in truth… you may have less than two hundred soldiers who you're confident in?" Rico pointed out.
"In truth yes." Erwin admitted "While not ideal, this will possibly be humanity's defining battle in our war against the titan and we can't afford to pull our punches, if you don't wish to join us then this is the course of action I will take." Erwin paused for a second "Are you willing to join us?"
They were silent for a few seconds, Ian turning his head to both his subordinates as if to gauge their reactions "Yes… I've already discussed it with them and we're generally in agreement however we need to know what we're getting ourselves into."
"However we need to know what you have planned for us." Mitabi inserted. "Rumors going around the garrison that you'll use the however signs up for the expedition as cannon fodder to save your own men."
"Rest assured that is not what I have planned for our garrison volunteers." Erwin told them "Your role would be to act as support and provide all round defense." Erwin turned to the side, looking down he pulled out a draw in his desk and took about a folded map. Unraveling onto the table, it was a map of Shiganshina. "Your role will be to hold the village around the interior entrance to the district" he said placing four red blocks on the north, east, west and center of the village "or to help organise a siege of the district should the enemy try to hold it." He then moved the red blocks out of the city and towards the outskirts of the village.
"If you're planning on using us as such then we'll need to bring cannons with us too." Rico suggested.
"That is more than possible." Erwin replied "Quite recently we've developed a new cannon from the blueprints Edward Elric has provided us, from our reports the test have proven to be effective and exceeding the capabilities of our previous design." Erwin told them.
"We can effectively carry out those tasks." Ian stated. "So you'll need four platoons."
"Indeed, four platoons numbering twenty men each would suffice." Erwin clarified.
"If that's the case then we'll need one more officer to take charge of a fourth platoon." Mitabi stated. "Problem with that is that other officers in the garrison aren't going to take up your proposition."
Erwin lowered his head slightly to the table as she placed his hand over his clenched fist and pondered "Yes, I guess that is a problem…" his mind searched through a list of names, crossing out those who he believed would reject until… "Perhaps there is someone who might be willing to take up their position."
"You know someone who would join us?" Ian asked.
"Yes, I'll write a letter asking them to join." Erwin replied.
"You're gonna have to be really convincing." Mitabi remarked.
"I think I can do that." Erwin replied with a small confident smile.
"We can beat them!" Marlowe exclaimed excitedly as he slammed his mug onto the table, catching the others attention. "We can beat them! Those spears and the new artillery will make short work of the titans; even those shifters won't stand a chance against that!" he turned his head towards Edward and Alphonse who sat opposite to Marlowe and then to Eren and then Mina who sat next to him "And we'll have the Elrics and two of our own shifters on our side."
"Spoken like a person who's never been in a fight a titan before." Jean remarked. "And you're putting way too much stock into the idea that neither of those four won't bit the dust… no offence."
"None taken" Ed chuckled. "We aren't invincible after all."
"When you think about it, the amount of times we were lucky or had close calls is pretty concerning." Alphonse remarked.
"But still! With all these advantages how can we not win?" Marlowe asked.
"You really do sound like someone who is new to all this." Jean said with a frustrated look on his face. "Look around, nobody here is excited for it." Jean waved his thumb around emphasizing his point. The room was filled the with mumbling, laughter and chatter of the garrison troops of the district but among them were scouts sitting silently as they ate their meals.
"Guess you're right." Marlowe said quietening down.
"Listen, you can sit out of the expedition if you want." Jean told him "Those garrison men from Ian's company will fill the gaps in our ranks that was meant for the recruits and the rehabilitating scouts, there'll be other expeditions."
"I can't do that." Marlowe replied, almost declaring it "I joined the scout regiment because I wanted to best serve humanity, and that's exactly what I'll do even if I have to sacrifice myself for the cause."
"Marlowe… those words may sound noble but… please remember you have people waiting for you, don't leave them like that." Alphonse said, his words sat heavily with those at the table as they grew quiet for a second.
"Yeah, think about Hitch." Sasha added. "You got to go back to her some day."
"Why would I do that?" Marlowe asked.
"Well… you know…" Sasha said teasingly as Connie tried to stifle in a laugh.
"I don't understand what you mean but Hitch did try to stop me from joining and trying to berate me." Marlowe replied "She said since we were recognized by the revolution we could live an easy life in the Military police. It's a shame really, I thought better of her until then, I told her that I had the wrong impression of her." It was only until his last word was uttered when he noticed the glares he was getting.
"Piece of shit" Jean spat.
"I really want to hit you." Mina said glaring at him.
"Are you stupid?" Armin asked.
"Bowl-cut bastard." Sasha insulted.
"But I don't understand… Marlowe hasn't done anything wrong." They turned their heads to Eren who stared at them "What?"
"Marlowe I've had to work with some very dense materials and objects in my life but you probably rank second in that list."
"H-Hey!" Marlowe exclaimed.
"Eren ranks first." Ed continued.
"Wait what?" Eren exclaimed. Ed began to laugh at their reaction, quickly Jean followed, and the Connie, then Sasha, Mina, Alphonse, Armin then Marlowe and then Eren and even Mikasa.
After a while Connie got up from his seat "I should get going." He said.
"Why? Tomorrow is a day off so take it easy." Sasha replied.
"Yeah, that's why I was hoping to use tomorrow to head over to my village." Connie explained. "I might be able to learn something new too." He said, as he picked up his plate and left. "Good night."
"You too." Armin replied as everyone else nodded at him.
"Do you guys think it's possible to turn Connie's mother back into a human again?" Sasha asked, throwing the question out there.
"I don't know but if there is a possibility then we should try." Alphonse replied "If we can then we could turn others back."
"Do you guys remember what it was like to just be a titan but not a shifter?" Sasha asked both Eren and Mina.
"No… I can't remember a single thing about being just a titan." Eren said, looking down onto the table.
"Me neither…" Mina added "The only thing I remember about my titan was… what Annie saw…" he voice shook slightly.
"I think its best you guys don't think about it." Ed quickly interjected. "Probably wouldn't want to remember something like that anyways…"
"Maybe you're right." Eren replied as he continued to look down at the table as if in deep thought.
"Brother we should get going too." Alphonse said standing up from the table. "We have to head out too, Darius wanted to meet us about something in Ehrmich district."
"Whats the meeting about?" Armin asked.
"Probably something to do with more weapons ideas." Ed replied disgruntled as he picked up his plate and pushed in his chair with his foot.
"We'll see you guys soon." Alphonse said.
"Yeah, have a nice trip." Mina said.
Both Edward and Alphonse walked away, dropping their plates into a self before exiting the mess hall.
They entered into a hallway "Hey." Said a voice from behind them, they both turned around to see a group of people dressed in Scout uniform approach them.
"Please don't be another group of crazies…" Ed muttered.
"Brother…" Alphonse muttered back as if to chastise him. They both looked at the group, however one of them caught Ed's eye; the guy in front of the group who looked to be just a few centimetres taller than them and had a very curly blond hair.
"Hey, I've seen you before…" Ed said as them came close to them. "You were at that memorial service."
"I'm surprised you remember me." The guy replied, a cold expression on his face. "Do you remember all the faces of those who died for you or fought alongside you?" the question caught them completely off guard. "What about you, Alphonse, do you remember us?"
"I'm… I'm afraid I don't." Alphonse replied as politely as possible, the tension rising.
"It must be hard to count the dead you could have saved." Said a person in the group.
"What did you say?" Ed growled back. "Step forward and say that to our faces."
"I'm sorry you feel that way." Alphonse said trying to defuse the situation, his voice sounded almost restrained like he was holding back.
"We fought alongside you, Alphonse." the guy at the front stated "back at the castle with the southern 104th you were there with us, do you ever wonder if you could have done more?"
"That's enough." Ed stated with an unforgiving tone. "Just who the hell are you anyways?"
"Floch." The guy at the front of the group replied with a stern tone "You must think that everyone in the army and the walls loves you." He stated almost venomously "The higher ups are willing to throw men to their deaths to protect you when you could help yourself and that you could get away with anything."
"What makes you think we would believe that?" Alphonse questioned, frustration seeping through.
"You think you're little stunt with Mina went unnoticed in the regiment? In the other corps? We don't care if she was meant to inherit it but we know that it got swept under the rug and you" he said looking at Alphonse. "Got away with breaking rank, one rule for us and another for you two, is that how it is?"
"No it isn't." Ed replied. "And you better back off now."
There was a few seconds of silence as both Edward and Alphonse stared down the group and Floch. "Fine… just remember that cannon fodder like us have grievances too." The group walked passed them as both Ed and Al continued to watch.
Both Edward and Alphonse sat outside in the hallway as they waited to be summoned into the room. Ed leaned to the side with his arm resting on the arm rest of the chair as his back slumped into the chair as Alphonse sat straight diligently.
"Whats taking so long?" Ed whined slightly. He pulled out his pocket watch and pushed down on the button, taking out the picture and looking at the time. "Alright eight minutes past seven."
"Be patient." Alphonse said, his hands gripping his knees.
Ed leaned forward "Hey Al, I know I said this on the way here but, are you okay?" he asked "Those guys back at Trost, they didn't get to you?"
Alphonse turned his head towards Ed "No, no I'm fine." He replied as if trying to wave it off "No point in dwelling on that."
Suddenly the door next to Ed opened as an MP greeted them "The Premier will see you now." Both Edward and Alphonse got up from their chairs and entered into the room; there was a long table before them filled with empty seats opposite to Darius and the others who filled the other side. The room was brightly lit with the rocks that were mined from the cavern under Reiss family chapel.
"Premier." Alphonse said as he saluted him, Ed followed.
"At ease." Darius said "Edward, Alphonse Elric, please take a seat." They both pulled out their chairs just opposite of him. "Thank you for coming to this meeting at such short notice; we know you must be busy what with the expedition coming up."
"Can't exactly refuse a meeting with you, Premier." Edward replied stating the obvious.
"I guess you can't." Darius replied. "You are a part of our armed forces until the day you decide to leave. A sad day that will be; oh the things we could do if only we all had more time with you and the people who will miss you and what you've done for them." Some papers were then being passed out among those sitting on the opposite side of the table, leaving out Edward and Alphonse. "With your knowledge and, more importantly, your alchemy we've have gone leaps and bounds in what we thought possible."
"I guessing you want us to stay here permanently?" Ed said, reading between the lines "Sorry to break it to you but that's just not happening."
"Yes we know, we know all about your goals and ambitions." Darius replied "A deal with God in exchange for your deceased loved ones. I could never ask you two to stay here forever but we can't lose your alchemic knowledge too so I'm asking…" Darius then handed them the paper that had been handed out among the other officials "Just like you've trained Squad leader Hange Zoe and Armin Arlert, you train the first generation of alchemists of this world and help create a new branch of the army, an alchemist corps."
Both Edward and Alphonse were dumb struck by what Darius was saying, they looked back at him and the higher ups then to the pieces of paper in from of them. On it was a diagram of the corps structure, as they read on it listed what this new branch had jurisdiction over, the resources available to it from materials to buildings and its responsibilities.
"Sorry if this plan is bare bones." Said one of the officials "We thought it would be best if you two got to decide how the new branch would operate seeing as you Edward Elric had experience in a branch of your own army which focused on alchemy."
"Yes, a 'state alchemist' as you called it." Darius "If you wanted to you could structure it based on your Amerstrian model."
Every part of Ed was screaming no, how could he? His mouth suddenly felt dry with an easy feeling roaming around his body at the thought of humanity's only government having a monopoly on alchemy and its uses.
Dogs of the military… those words seemed to ring around his head that's what we'd be helping to create…
For some reason… that pocket watch in his jacket got a lot heavier…
"No…" Ed said also muttering it "No… No! We couldn't!" he exclaimed "How do we know you or someone else won't use it to keep people in line or abuse it for personal gain? The army can't have this; alchemy should be free to the people."
"I would ask you to reconsider." Darius replied calmly "If you fear an abuse of power then rest assured that won't happen, as I said before you two would be the one in charge for the time being helping to create it and appoint your subordinates and successors."
"You also promised to transition into a democracy." Edward reminded him "I don't even know if you plan on upholding that."
"That is an issue for another time, when humanity is not about to engage its greatest threat." Darius replied calmly.
"Still… even if we were on board with this it would take years to build up something like this from the ground up and our agreement was that we were done after we helped take back Wall Maria." Ed looked down slightly as he clenched his fist into a tight ball "I'm sorry but no dea-"
"Wait." Alphonse interjected "Even if we did reject, this wouldn't be the end of it would it?" Ed turned his head to Alphonse.
"No, it wouldn't" Darius said frankly "If you two were to decline our offer then we would propose this same offer to your trainees, Squad Leader Hange and Arlert, they would be the ones to build a new branch."
Alphonse was silent for a few seconds. There was an audible gulp as Alphonse swallowed, his eyes drifted back from the paper to Darius to Ed.
"Al, what are you-"
"We get to decide what happens to it?" Alphonse clarified.
"We're willing to give you the freedom to shape the institution, mould it into what you want and shape its ethos." Darius elaborated "You even get to decide the emblem to represent it."
"If we wanted to teach people alchemy and let them use it outside of the army then you'd let us?" Alphonse asked.
"Perhaps, if you're asking to create two separate institutions then that is a possibility, all that depends on how you'd use the resources made available to you two." Darius replied.
"We can't do th-"
"Can you give us some time to think about this?" Alphonse asked quickly. "When do you need an answer?"
"We were hoping that you'd give us an answer now seeing as the operation is closing in." Darius told him.
"How about after we retake Shiganshina?" Alphonse suggested sternly. "That way we could have a look at the situation at hand first before making a choice and this whole deal does still hinge on the idea that we survive and win so nothing will change until then."
Ed continued to watch stunned as Alphonse attempted to negotiate with Darius about it.
Darius smiled as he scoffed slightly "We were aware of that but if you insist on till after the expedition then fine, we shall wait." Darius replied. "Now that's all we wanted to discuss we you two, please inform us of your decision to and I hope you will continue to work with us."
Ed got up from his seat "Hang on just a second, there's nothing to-" Alphonse got up from his seat and tugged on Ed slightly as he motioned towards the door.
"Thank you, Premier." As Alphonse placed a clenched fist over his heart before almost pushing Ed out of the room. When the door had shut and both of them were standing outside the hallway.
Ed grabbed Alphonse by the shoulder and forcibly turned Alphonse to face him "Alphonse what the hell was that?" Ed questioned "Why the hell did you want to hear them out on that?"
"I didn't want to just pass up on something like this." Alphonse replied. "I at least wanted time to think about it?"
"Think about it? Think about what? How they'll use alchemists as their weapons like what Bradley did? How they propose to make an army branch than anything else?" Ed reminded him as he moved his hand of his shoulder. "You know what alchemists who were recruited by the army were, 'Dogs of the military', and what they did. We can't be responsible for something like that."
"We don't do it then it'll go down to Hange and Armin, you think they won't be pressured into accepting this on worse terms than what we were offered?" Alphonse argued. "At least this way we get a say on how alchemy should be taught and used, if we want alchemy to be for the people then we can make it for the people."
"And how long do you think that's gonna take? Not just teaching people but making sure that we can trust them to keep it that way?" Ed questioned "five years? Ten? We have people waiting for us back home remember; Winry, last time she saw us we were just taken away in front of her, Grandma Rockwell who must be wondering what happened to us…" Ed squeezed the bridge of his nose with his fingers "Even the army back home must have interrogated them on what happened, everyone must be worried sick about us."
"I know…" Alphonse said looking at the ground, his eyes drooping down.
"I thought we were on the same page, our goal was to seal up the hole in Maria then we leave." Ed said "If we have to tie up some loose ends then fine but we can't stay here for years, all that time we spent away from them before… we owe it to them to come home with everyone."
"And we owe it to walled humanity to help them survive." Alphonse replied.
Hello everyone,
Sorry this is a bit later than usual, I had gotten caught up in my coursework and this chapter was a bit scattered in my original plans, making it a bit difficult to write.
Hope you're all staying safe during quarantine and thank you for the close to 400 follows.
Next chapter will be the start of the 'Return to Shiganshina.'