Chapter 26: End of the Beginning - Part 2

Yuri was skipping down the side walk, he really couldn't help himself.

"I finally get to see Yor again," he thought, a bouquet of flowers in his right hand, his briefcase from work containing the bottle of wine in his other. He was getting the chance to see his sister for the first time in over six months. It had been the longest he'd been away from his sister in his entire life, and part of him was simply gald that he was finally getting the chance to see his beloved sister once again.

"Yuri," Yor, then only fifteen, grabbed him up in a massive hug, "I just saw your grades from the teacher. You did so well!"

"Reall-acccccchhhhh!" he screamed, as her hug tightened so greatly that it almost caused his ribs to crack under the strain of the hug. After a few seconds, eleven year old Yuri went limp in Yor's arms, who looked down at his flopped over body.

"Yuri?"

Yuri's hand came up to his side, and rubbed his right ribs. He smiled to himself, once again reminiscing about the time he and his sister lived together as children. They were all they had, and Yor had been so wonderful, devoting herself to help raise him. He would say, if ever asked, that if it wasn't for her support, he'd never have made it as far as he had.

'These cracked ribs are proof of her love,' the fresh second lieutenant of Intelligence smiled to himself shook his head, before looking up. He then looked over at 1908 Main East Avenue, the home his sister now occupied. With her husband...

'No,' Yuri shook his head, 'remember what Lieutenant Colonel Hughes told you,' he regained his mental footing, 'Your sister seems to be on a mission to sniff out treason for Amestris, she's doing her best to serve our nation just like you are.'

Honestly, when he'd first heard that Yor had been married, Yuri had been utterly flabbergasted. When he learned her "husband" had moved her across the country to a new city, even if it the same one he now lived in, he had been about to get in his car to go rough u-confront this man. But, in private discussion with his mentor, Hughes had managed to talk him down, revealing what he had learned about this Lloyd Forger.

What he had learned should have been comforting. This wasn't some scummy lowlife forcing Yor into a relationship with some kind of emotional blackmail. This was an agent of Central Command, and likely from what Hughes suspected, a direct agent of Fuhrer Bradley. This was likely a major mission that Yor was a part of. And that meant that in some ways, this Lloyd Forger was very much like him, finding out information to protect their home from subversives and spies.

'So why do I still want to strangle him?' Yuri gripped his hand tighter, 'I was worried that Yor had gotten tricked into a relationship, but the thought of her being in a relationship with a man she doesn't love seems just as bad too, especially if this creep tries to take advantage of her,' before finally shaking his head, 'Though I suppose Colonel Hughes is right, we need to do our best to discover what exactly is going on with him. Doing so will let me know if this Forger character is taking proper care of her, and will give us a better idea what their mission actually is.'

It was a wire under Yuri's shirt. It was easily hidden enough, especially since this was a short distance wire. It could only go a hundred yards or so, but that would be more than enough with Colonel Hughes listening in from inside his own house while he was babysitting the Forger's daughter-

'Daughter,' a shiver went up Yuri's spine. Sure, it looked like Lloyd Forger was a comrade of theirs, but still, it irked him that this man seemed to dump his child on Yor's doorstep, and make her give up her career. It was true there wasn't much more room for advancement in the administrative sector, but still, it was a good job that paid well, and she served the state loyally. She should have been more frustrated to lose it.

'Calm down Yuri,' he made his way up the steps, glaring a hole into the doorway as he ascended them, and preparing himself for the warmest greeting he could muster for this scumb-comrade who was usi-married to his sister, 'If you're going to investigate what this Lloyd Forger is up to, you're going to have to get him to let his guard down. He might be on guard with a high ranking officer like Colonel Hughes, but with a family member of his "Wife" he should be more willing to divulge the details, and then we can make our next step once we know more,' he looked down at his sleeve, and remembered, 'just need to be sure to shake with my left hand, the wire has a small receiver that can be seen on my right arm when it sticks straight out.'

He pressed the doorbell, and stood tall. He made sure to hold the bouquet in his right hand, so that he could plausibly shake his hand with his left.

'Okay, Lloyd Forger,' Yuri's face morphed into the friendliest smile he could muster, and he raised the bouquet to up, 'Let's see who you really are.'

'So he's here to investigate me, huh?'

Twilight had suspected when he had shaken Yuri Briar's right hand upon his entrance into his home. It was customary for short wires to be partially along the right arm, so it was a relatively common technique to use the left hand for the hand shake greeting, all to keep the subject from possibly knowing there was a second monitor. He had then simply done a quick glance along Yuri's back to see the small indentation of what was the wire's harness to confirm it.

'I already suspected that this would be a way for Hughes to try and get some more information on me,' Twilight thought of his neighbor, who was right now looking after his daughter, 'Yuri is my brother-in-law as far as anyone knows, so he would have the ability to get in with less general suspicion, even if he is an intelligence officer,' he shook his head, 'It wasn't a bad plan, and one that'd probably have worked if I was just a Central Agent, rather than a spy whose had to deal with wires and hiding them for years on the job.'

"So," Yuri said aloud, looking straight at Yor as she sat on the couch while he was sitting on the large armchair, "How did you to meet?"

"Ah," Yor blanched. Twilight inwardly cursed. He knew that he was going to have to rely on Yor to actually take the lead on speaking with her brother, but he also knew that she wasn't the swiftest in conversations. Hopefully she would hav-, "I was working for a bit in the hospital in East City and we ran into each other while I was giving him some paperwork."

'Good,' Lloyd nodded as he turned his attention to the steaks he was searing, and peered his head to the potatoes roasting, all the while keeping a third eye he must have found somewhere checking the asparagus that was being steamed in a pot on the side, 'That's a more than plausible way to introduce our relationship. That it happens to be true, and seen by many witnesses, makes it harder for anyone to fact check it.'

"And you decided to get married right then?" Yuri was asking questions about their relationship, clearly trying to unearth some kind of information, or at least, try and find some kind of contradiction that would force some kind of information out.

"No," Yor answered quickly, trying to keep any kind of embarrassment under control, "You see, I was also at the hospital the day of the Scar attack. When the fighting occurred, Lloyd pulled me away from one of Scar's attacks, and...well we went on a date after that, and hit it off."

"So then you decided to get married?"

"...Yes," Lloyd sighed. It was the honest way their relationship had occurred, so it wasn't like he could be too mad at what Yor was saying. It's just that-

"So you decided to marry a man after the first date?"

"More like during the first date," Yor admitted.

"Yoooorrrr," he could hear Yuri whine, and Twilight honestly could understand where he was coming from. As he flipped over the steak once more, her could hear the argument about throwing yourself into a marriage with a man you basically just met, "You could have at least told me about it? Why didn't you tell me over the past few weeks."

Twilight looked expectantly at Yor from behind the kitchen window as he began to plate the baked potatoes. For a moment, Yor seemed to have frozen completely, as though despite the week of preparation, she was still trying to come up with an explanation for why she hadn't told her brother she'd been married for two full weeks.

"I forgot."

Twilight felt the need to facepalm, though Lloyd's hands were too full to actually do anything like that.

"You forgot?"

"Yes..."

"Okay then, I can understand that, you are very busy."

Twilight had to work very hard to not slam his face into his palm. He was lucky he was busy with the food for the moment, or he would have, and likely alerted Yuri and Yor he was listening in. That Yuri bought such a pathetic excuse was alarming, if for no other reason then it was so obviously a completely unfair one. Yet somehow, Yuri was willing to let his sister get by with an explanation that unsatisfying. He shook his head as he plated the steaks, the dinner almost ready.

'What is with this family?'

'What is with this family?'

Maes was massaging his forehead, where not a moment ago, he had slapped his head in frustration. That Yor had forgot wasn't that unbelievable, Yor had always been a bit...spacy, during the few times he had met her while he was in East City. But that Yuri Briar, one of the finest intellegence officer he had ever trained was willing to buy it was inexplicable.

"I knew he had a soft spot for her, but this is ridiculous," he sighed, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. He'd told Yuri and worked out this plan for interrogation for several days, and while nothing had gone wrong yet, he could already tell that this might not go the way he'd been hoping. Lloyd Forger could probably just let Yor handle most of the questions, and then he wouldn't have any chance of possibly revealing some kind of incriminating evidence of his plans, "Of course, maybe this might cause Forger to underestimate how far we are on to him."

"Mr. Hughes," Maes turned quickly, to see Anya Forger standing only a few feet away from him, Elicia only a foot behind her, "Ms. Gracia said Elicia and Me can get dessert out, but she wants to know if you would like some cookies?"

"Hmmm," Maes smiled at her for a moment, making sure to get in a thinking pose. When Yor had asked Gracia for the two of them to have Anya for a sleepover, he was glad to do it. It made the chance that the Forgers would let Yuri into their home more likely after all, and Anya was such a sweet kid, it was hard to say no. He'd gotten home early, and set up his listening device in his small study, only a few yards away from the wall separating his home from the Forgers. It was out of the way, so when Yor had dropped Anya off, she hadn't seen it.

So, after a couple of hours of him taking the lead with the girls before and during dinner, he'd then left to go back to the study so he could listen in during Yuri's infiltration. He hadn't seen the girls for about twenty minutes, and it had been an hour since dinner had finished...

'If I'm going to keep listening in on the Forgers, to see if I can learn anything,' Hughes thought, 'I could use a snack.'

"Sure girls," he laughed aloud, "I'd love some of those cookies," he smiled, though he noticed for a second a bit of nervousness on Anya's face. He bent down, and smiled at her, "Everything okay Anya?"

'I hope she's alright,' he thought, looking at her for a moment, 'I'd probably have to call it quits if anything happened to her,' he considered the metal box behind his chair, 'I'd hate to have to turn off this thing. I need it to listen in, and even turning the dang thing off can disrupt it for hours.'

"I'm good," she said, continuing to look him straight in the eye. For a second, they stared at one another, before Maes smiled as he saw a small hand reach out and grab at the sleeve of Anya's dress.

"Anya, we need to go get the cookies," Elicia whined, and Anya turned back to Maes's daughter, and nodded. As the two ran off, Maes brought the earpiece back up to the side of his head, and tried to listen in.

"So, how has life been in the city?" he heard Yuri ask his sister from the other side of the wall, "It must have been a bit of a culture shock when you got into Central, with it being so much bigger than East City," Yuri put out a little laugh, "It certainly was for me."

'Good,' Maes said, 'Try and make them lose a bit of their footing, and reveal something...'

"Oh, it's been an experience," Yor spoke up, a little fake laugh at the back of her voice. Maes could tell she was trying to put up the friendliest and most earnest front she could, and while it would work on Yuri, it wasn't going to work on him.

"Yes, it has been something," Lloyd spoke up, and Meas could here the clattering of silverware as dishes were likely being put out for their dinner, "But...I think it's been a positive overall. I hadn't been here but a few times before, and to actually live here is something new. We've made some good friends already."

Maes scowled to himself, and hoped beyond hope that Lloyd was lying through his teeth. If not...darnit, it didn't feel right to be taking advantage of people who considered you their friends. He shook his head, and adjusted the volume, as he heard the distinct sounds of cutting and chewing. The three must having finally started to eat. He felt tempted to put down the receiver, after all, the didn't want to spend the whole night listening to his neighbors masticating.

"So," Yor spoke up, causing a momentary pause of the chewing, "How was your vacation?"

"Oh, it was great," Yuri responded, "I went to South City for some sightseeing. I was able to observe the canyons around the area, and had a good time swimming in Moon Lake."

Maes nodded. Yuri had actually been training in the intelligence core in the proper detection of spies and counter intelligence operations. Hell, this wire trick was literally something they practiced down there. South City was well enough known for the sights that it served as a useful training ground because it was easy to form a cover story.

"Oh, South City," Lloyd's voice spoke up, "I've been there, it's a great place," Maes nodded to himself, as many people from the East did go to South City for vacations, "There's this great little place called Kalpatia, near the train station. Have you gone there?"

'What?' Maes's eyes widened, before sitting straight up and staring at the box. Kalpatia...was the restaurant that had been chosen by intelligence for the cover story.

"Yes," Yuri continued, following the script he had been given to cover for his training mission, enthusiastically speaking about his time there, "The old man who runs the place. He makes a stew that is to die for," he seemed to take a moment to bite, "The beef he uses is some of the finest in all of Amestris."

"And," Maes felt his back straighten as he heard Lloyd's next question, "That bottle of wine you brought, was it from there to?"

"Yes," Yuri clearly wasn't realizing that Forger was basically reading from the same cover story he had been given, probably his inexperience and the wine was mixing.

'He knows our training,' he felt sweat cover his brow, 'I suppose it makes sense for an agent of Central Command to know this...but still, it's like bringing this up is coming too naturally to him, especially if he-'

"Mr. Hughes," Maes turned, looking back to see the little pink haired girl standing with a small tray of cookies and three glasses of milk held high above her head. Maes was about to smile at the gift, when the little girl surged forward, and he saw the glasses on top of the tray begin to sway. His eyes widened, as he saw her lose her footing, and her suddenly fall forward, the milk and cookies flying forward. Before he could even move himself, the mass of liquid was spilling through the air-

And onto his listening machine.

ZZZRRRTTTTTT!

"Oh Come on!" he screamed as he looked over at the sparks suddenly flying out of the machine. He reached down, and pulled out the plug from the wall, before turning and shouting at at the little pink haired girl, "What Were You Thinking!"

"I...I," the little girl herself was covered in the remnants of their snack. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, and her lower lip began to quiver. Behind her, Elicia was looking up in shock at him, her own eyes beginning to tear up as she stared at him, "I didn't mean to fall. We just wanted to share our snack with you."

His shoulders sagged, before placing his hand on his forehead, and saying, "Sorry, sorry," he shook his head, looking at the now disabled device, and winced as he thought about the amount of money that would have to come from the department's budget to get it replaced. He then shook his head, and lifted up Anya and Elicia into his arms, the two girls still in the midst of crying, "Let's head down to the kitchen and clean you up. We should have some more milk and snacks down there after that."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, Anya," he pulled out his most conciliatory voice, "Accidents happen," he slowly walked out of the room, the spilled snacks covering his study, "You just are going to have to learn to be more careful, okay?"

"Okay."

'Eh, the mission seemed like a bust anyway,' he thought, pushing Yuri from his mind as he walked out the room, the two slowly recovering girls in his arms, 'So he knows our cover story, that's probably something he'd learn as an agent...'

'Right?'

Twilight had been able to parse out just how well trained in counter-intelligence Yuri was. He brought it up in natural conversation, and had slipped through it well. If Twilight hadn't been studying the training manuals during his short time in South City during his previous mission he would have missed it. But he hadn't so he was able to get an insight into just who this man was.

'Still though,' he looked over at the brother and sister finishing up their plates, almost empty bottle of wine laying at the side of them, 'Tonight has been a success I'd say,' he and Yor had successfully managed to create the veneer of a lovey dovey couple. And with that out of the way, he could continue planning for the rest of the infiltration of Ame-

"Yor, I have to ask," Yuri had a large red blush on his face, clearly the alcohol was effecting him. He'd had four glasses of the wine, though he seemed only to drink more when he spoke directly to Lloyd. Probably because he was nervous with the wire on his chest, so it wasn't completely unexpected.

"Go ahead Yuri," Yor had an even larger red blush on her face, one that seemed to pass her ears and fall down onto her neck. She'd had a mere two glasses, yet he could tell the alcohol was overpowering her faculties to a certain degree. Though at least the wine hadn't actually loosened her lips, just made her waver back and forth a bit.

"Have you and your husband," he seemed to stop at the word, like he had spit out something quite foul, "Kissed yet?"

...

'Oh shit.'

"I mean," he waved his hand around the room, towards all the pictures and decorations he'd put up, "For a pair who seem to be so close, I don't think you two have even touched each other since I got in here," his eyes had been very observant the whole time, and Twilight couldn't help but curse at the young man's observation skills.

"Oh," Yor shaking for a moment, eyes twitching back and forth, her mind clearly racing to try and come up with an excuse, "You see.-um, well-you know-kissing in pu-It isn'-don't want to make anyone unco-"

"Lloyd," he turned his head towards Twilight, and Yuri's eyes bored into him, "You say you love my sister," his rage seemed absolutely genuine, "You say you love her with your whole heart. But you always seem so detached from her," he pointed his finger directly at Lloyd's face, and then declared, "How can you love her, when you treat her not as a woman to be touched, but a porcelain egg to be observed."

"Look at these pictures," Yor suddenly reached to the side table, and showed a picture of Twilight and her holding hands while walking through a park, "We touch all the tim-

"I don't believe it," Yuri slammed his foot into the ground, "I won't believe it until I see you two kiss."

...

"Okay, we'll kiss," Lloyd Forger said straightly. Twilight could see the panic suddenly burst over Yor's face, before turning back to her, "Though a kiss isn't any real proof of true love, if that is what it takes to prove to your brother I love you, then I will gladly do so."

"Oh," Yor stared at him for a second, and for a second, she looked like she was about to explode from the suggestion. She shook, her pupils bouncing back and forth across the whites of her eyes like tennis balls in a particularly fierce match. She looked at him for a moment, and then her arm shot out, and grabbed the bottle of wine as it still laid there. A second later, the cork that had been sloppily placed back into it was popped out, and the lip of the bottle was resting in her mouth. Lloyd's mouth stood agape as she leaned back, and swallowed the rest of the bottle in one gulp.

'Oh my,' Twilight observed, before returning his attention to Yuri, who was looking in shock, 'Come on Lloyd, you've kissed plenty of women for your missions, this will be easy for you.'

Bottle empty, Yor tossed it behind her, and leaned forward. She pushed Lloyd backward, slowly brushing aside the bangs that hung over her forehead, her blush beginning to cover the entirety of her face. Lloyd felt his own face begin to blush, as he saw her rosy cheeks get closer and closer-

"Wait," Yuri's voice suddenly cried out, his arm reaching out towards them as they laid over the couch, "I changed m-"

POW-WAM

Lloyd's jaw drop as he saw Yuri's body slam into the chair he had just jumped from, causing the back of it to break off, and for him to tumble into a heap on the floor. Lloyd's eyes were focused on the long leg of Yor that was now hanging wear Yuri had just been, and with a quick glance, he could see that embarrasment had again overcome Yor's face.

'She has really strong legs,' Lloyd thought, staring at the outstretched limb.

"Well, that really could have gone worse," Lloyd said, having just escorted Yuri out the front door, the obvious cuts and blood apparently not too much of an issue for him, "Your family really have such amazing abilities physically."

"Aw," Yor, hanging from his shoulders, the alcohol having once again overcome her, laughed while waving her hand in dismissal of his comment, "We aren't that special," she let out a small hiccup, covering her mouth with her free hand, "Anyone can be as strong as us, as long as they have the right experience."

'No,' Twilight thought, trying not to look down at her and give his thoughts away, 'No they can not.'

"Though, I'm sort of glad that Anya is sleeping over next door," Twilight made a quick glance over the wall towards the Hughes household. He hoped that Maes Hughes hadn't discovered anything that might lead him to further investigate him, and with the wire likely destroyed by Yor's treatment of her brother, he likely hadn't, "she might have been woken up by some of the yelling."

"Oh yeah, that is good," Yor nodded as sagely as her current state allowed her. Twilight sighed, lifting his drunk "wife" towards her room. He pulled out the key, they'd locked it to hide they were sleeping in separate rooms after all, and got it to open the door, "We don't want her to not get any sleep."

'Though with how loud you two were being,' Twilight considered, not even bothering to turn the light on in the room, before walking his "wife" over to her bed, 'I wouldn't be surprised if the whole neighborhood didn't know what had been going on here tonight. I'm just glad it's only a chair I'm going to have to replace.'

"It's good you managed to leave on good terms," he said, pulling back the covers on her bed, hopefully allowing her to simply go to sleep in her casual clothes. Yor may be his "wife", but he didn't need to see her naked, "You to seem like really great siblings. I'm glad to be part of your family."

"I'm glad to be part of your family too," his "wife" said, falling onto the mattress with her buttocks, and flipping her legs up, shoes having been slipped off during the march here, "He was acting like a jerk. But you were really nice, and I'm sure he'll get to like you the longer we're married. He just needs more time."

'More time,' Twilight considered. It'd be less than a year until the so called "Promised Day" so likely it meant they wouldn't be married even that long. He had his mission to complete. Yes, he had lied to Yuri and Yor about being part of their family, but he'd said so many lies as a spy to women who had fallen in love with him, that it had come easily, 'Sorry, Yor, but there probably won't be much more time.'

"I look forward to spending more time with him," Lloyd smiled at her, and his "wife" smiled back. Seeing that she was secure, her whole body on the bed, he turned to leave, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. He looked back to Yor, whose face was only barely illuminated by the open door of the hallway, "Is everything okay?"

She lunged towards him, and before he knew what was happening, he felt a strange sensation on his face. It took only a few seconds for his mind to register that Yor's lips were on his, and that she had pulled him in for an intimate moment. Twilight was stunned, as every other kiss he'd taken, through all the relationships as a spy, he'd always initiated it. Now, for the first time, the woman he was with had physically come on to him first. It was an undeniable loss of control...

And for some reason, it made his face heat up.

A second after this realization hit him, she smiled, leaned back, and waved.

"Good night Lloyd," his wife fell backward onto her pillow. By the time she'd made impact, she was already snoring, a bit of drool hanging down her lip as she slipped off into dreamland. Lloyd blinked for a moment, before returning his fingers to his lips, pressing them against his mouth for a moment.

"Good night Yor," he stammered, before turning on his heel, and walking out the door into the hallway. He'd spend the next half hour checking the house for listening devices and cleaning up the messes. He did so robotically, quickly moving from task to task, Twilight doing his best to keep his mind blank. Finally, after it was over, and past ten, he marched down the hallway, making sure to be as quiet as possible to not wake Yor. He got the light switch, turned off the hallway, and then twisted into his room-

To see it decorated in lovey dovey decorations.

Twilight's eye twitched.

'I'm too tired for this shit,' he thought, pushing himself to the bed, throwing off the cover, and falling face first into the mattress, 'I'll just burn this crap in the morning.'

He gave one last look up, to a small photo on his nightstand. It was a photo of his family at the zoo, with Anya and her penguin being held up by Lloyd and Yor as they stood in front of the Elephant exhibit. Maes Hughes had insisted on taking it for them, and had had it developed. For a moment, looking at it...they looked so real.

'Well,' Lloyd thought, 'Maybe I don't need to burn all of it.'