You people keep chosing the sensible option all the time and I'll stop offering it as a possibility. ;p
Evening Day Nine, Earth Nation Fortresses
“Then don't trust her, trust me,” I implored him, standing up
abruptly and clutching my hands in front of my chest. He backed up a
step, his gold eyes blinking. “I don't want to have to choose
between you and...” I trailed of.
“Me and what?” he said. “What did she offer you?”
“A way to fix this...” I said under my breath, staring at the
floor again. He stepped closer to me, until he was within my personal
space. I felt my heart beat quicken and my palms grew sweaty. There
was a smell to him, sweat and ink and iron that somehow mixed in a
way that was distinctly Ed. Up this close it was thick, almost
cloying but I didn't want to step away. I felt a certain part of
myself stir and I groaned in discomfort and moved away. “Please,”
I begged, not certain what I wanted him to do.
“What is with you?” Ed asked. One eyebrow was quirked and his
perpetual frown had turned into a confused grimace. “Why is this
woman so important to you?”
“We shouldn't separate,” I said. “Just think about it. You
still don't speak a word of the local language. Your leg is a
makeshift replacement you can't repair yourself if it gets broken, or
replace if you lose it. You can't use your alchemy to defend yourself
from any benders you might encounter.” I looked him in the face
again once I felt I had my racing pulse under control. Hopefully he
would excuse my flush for simple enthusiasm or frustration. “If you
go on your own, your chances of success at saving your brother are
almost zero. With me at your side, they improve dramatically!
“Not to mention how much I need you.” I rushed through the words
to get them out. “Not just to teach me alchemy, but because you're
the only person on this continent that I can trust. You've
saved my life multiple times already. If I go with this woman, I need
someone to watch my back and make certain I don't get in over my
head.
“Working together, we are stronger than apart. So if you can't
trust this woman for whatever reason, then don't trust her! Trust
me!”
I began gasping for breath after my verbal explosion. My hands were
shaking, my fingernails cutting small crescents into my palms and my
jaw ached as my teeth clenched. Ed reached back and rubbed at his
untamed mess of gold hair, his slim but muscular shoulders bunched in
tension. His eyes blinked languidly.
“I don't like it,” he said stiffly. I suddenly felt off balance.
“People who have something to hide from the public, why should I
trust them? I've been on the bad side of too many secret groups.”
It was like the floor had crumbled away underneath me. “I've seen
what happens with groups who have big plans for the future,
especially my own. Just because she wants to keep you safe for now,
doesn't mean she has anything good planned for you.”
He held out his hand to me. “There is nothing that her and her
group can do for you that you can't do for yourself, with a little
help from me. You have two good strong legs, use them to stand on
your own feet.”
I blinked away a few tears. “You don't understand,” I said.
“Understand what?”
“She might be able to fix me!” I shouted, no longer
caring if he knew. If he refused to come with me anyway, what did it
matter if he thought of me as a freak? “This body... I can't even
stand to think about it!” I clawed my fingers into the air before
my face and leaned forward. “I drive it from my mind every chance I
get. I throw myself into the situation at hand, hoping not to think.
I haven't so much as looked into a puddle of water, much less a
mirror, because if I do I think the sight might drive me insane!
Somehow, if I don't see it, it isn't real. But it is real!
“You must know what I'm talking about? Have you ever felt as if
your missing leg was hurting, or cold or just disconcertingly there,
even though it was not? Imagine that, but across your entire body. I
don't just have phantom limbs, I have an entire Phantom Person!
“And Tsubaki has offered me a chance to fix that.”
“You...” Ed was staring at me, his eyes wide and his mouth
slightly open. “You're body... is wrong?”
“And the worst part is...” I took a deep breath. “The worst
part is that I think I might be...” I glanced down at myself. “The
reason I don't want to go alone is because despite this body, I
still...” Oh god, I was sounding like some teenage schoolgirl. Just
out with it! “I think I may care about you.” I looked down at my
feet. “A lot.”
For a long moment the room was silent. Did I mention I hate silence?
It wears on the nerves. At least with noise, even painful or
frightening noise, you know what is happening. Silence is just the
absence of meaning, so your mind fills it with all sorts of things.
“C-care about me?” Ed asked, his voice thin. I couldn't look at
him. “I mean... we hardly know each other... how could you
possibly... that is... I'm a jerk and a sceptic and...”
“I don't know,” I said just loud enough that it would carry to
him. “Maybe its just the action, driven together, fighting for our
lives, unable to trust anyone else...” I cleared my throat. “It's
probably just hormones,” I finished feebly.
“Listen, you... you have to understand... I don't exactly...” He
swallowed. “And there's somebody else I-”
The rest of his words cut off as I dashed from the room.
*
“Stupid, stupid!” I rubbed at my face with my sleeve again. “How
did you think he would react? Might as well have been a gorilla!” I
leaned my head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling of the
small storage room I had fled into. A small oil lamp cast flickering
shadows across the ceiling. “I'm acting like a child,” I admitted
to myself. “Of course he already has somebody. Guy like him wants
to get back to his loved ones back home. He's right, I barely know
him. All I know is he's brave, and smart, and funny and loyal beyond
all reason...”
I banged my head against the wall, but that hurt so I stopped.
Standing up I looked around the room. Finally I found a metal tray
which was shiny enough for my purposes. I buffed it with my sleeve
and finally took a look at myself. This was the person Ed had just
seen confess to him.
I gasped. Some people has suspected that Ed and I were brother's in
the past, but I had assumed that they were talking about the fact
that we both had foreign hair and kin tones and just weren't used to
the differences between those of our race. However the resemblance
between Ed and I was uncanny. My hair was messier than Ed's, shorter
as well. My chin was a little more defined, my cheeks had a bit less
baby-fat than his. It was the eyes, the exact same eyes. If I didn't
know better, I could be his older brother. Heck, I could be Ed
himself, just a few years older and leaner.
“What the hell?” I probed at my face in astonishment. “Why
hasn't more people...” Then I realized that my assumption had been
working in reverse. The people of this continent were not used to our
race and thus it was not the differences they had a hard time
noticing, it was the similarities. We looked uncannily similar, but
they would be two busy noticing the big differences between us and
them to notice the similarities between Ed and me.
“But why hasn't Ed said something? He must have-” My musing was
cut off as the door to the storeroom began to open. I looked up
sharply. “Ed, is that you?”
“Sorry, no.” Tsubaki glided into the room. “You weren't at the
tower so I came looking for you.”
“Is it that late?” I asked. She just raised a trimmed eyebrow.
“What happened to Ful... to Edward?”
“We had a... disagreement.”
“He doesn't trust me,” she said, sounding more amused then
annoyed.
“Frankly,” I looked at her. “I don't trust you.”
She tilted her head and smiled in a winsome manner. “Fair enough.
So, you plan to turn down my offer?”
“I didn't say that.” I put the silvered tray aside. “If
anything, I have more questions for you now.”
“This isn't the place to talk about them.” She stepped outside
the door. “General Fong should be thoroughly exhausted at the
moment, but this is a fortress used to siege. Both of us will be
noticed missing before long. We have to go, or it will be too late.”
“What about Ed?”
“His absence is regrettable,” she said. “We were hoping he
would help you master alchemy.” She started walking away and I
stumbled after her then jogged to keep up. “We don't have time to
wait for him. You're too vulnerable now. Let's go.”
She led me through the tunnels. Most of the men who would have
filled them were asleep at this time of night but every now and then
she gestured for me to stop while soldiers patrolled in nearby
corridors. Soon enough we came to a large bared door, locked with a
thick iron padlock.
“What's this?” I asked.
“A secret exit.” She reached into her cleavage and removed a
key. “An escape tunnel in case the worst happens and the fortress
falls.” She unlocked the door with a loud clack and grabbed the
large brace. I was surprised when she easily shifted it out of the
way. She was stronger than she looked.
The door opened up to a long dark tunnel, angled down. The sound of
water echoed ahead. “Hurry,” she said and started into the tunnel
after grabbing a lamp from the wall. I grabbed one as well.
I paused at the threshold. Did I really want to do this? Tsubaki
stopped after a few steps and looked coyly over her shoulder at me.
“You don't have time to regret or doubt. Trust me, I would never
hurt you.” She turned and placed her hand over her heart. “You
are everything to me.”
I closed my eyes. It was a very near thing, but I had to know. I
followed her into the tunnel.
The trip was surprisingly short before we came to the end of the
line. The tunnel opened up suddenly into a great chasm. Down below,
beyond the light, I could hear the rush of rapids. The other end of
the chasm was at least fifteen meters away. It might as well have
been forever.
“What kind of escape tunnel is this?”
“An earthbending escape tunnel. Only earthbenders can build a
bridge over the chasm.”
“How were you planning on getting across?” I asked a little
acerbically.
“You can create a bridge.”
“But I don't know that kind of...” I trailed off because Tsubaki
had pulled something else from her cleavage. It was a scroll, and on
that scroll was an array.
“I came prepared.”
“You... you know alchemy!” I gasped.
“I know how it works, of course.” She placed the scrolls on the
ground in front of the chasm. “I can't use alchemy myself, of
course.”
“How do you...?”
“I'll answer all your questions once we're safe.”
I paused and then nodded. I knelt next to the scroll and placed my
hands on it, my eyes scanning the array. I closed my eyes, picturing
it in my head. The chorus sang. When I opened my eyes again the light
in the room was just returning to normal and there was a simple
bridge stretching across the chasm. Tsubaki didn't pause, quickly
moving across the bridge with deceptively dainty but rapid steps.
I followed. Soon we came to what looked like a blank wall. Another
earthbending defence mechanism. I wondered idly about what would
happen to the non-benders if they were forced to flee the fortress
while Tsubaki pulled another scroll from her amazing cleavage of
storing. The sight of her doing that made me fume, and the reaction
that followed was perhaps a little violent, releasing its energy in a
loud bang rather than a steady crackle like normal.
We stepped out of the newly formed door and into the moonlight. A
quick glance around showed we were on the side of a mountain and the
fortress was nowhere in sight. We hadn't walked that far so we must
have passed through one of the mountains surrounding the base. The
ground here sloped gently down to a valley, which stretched out into
the horizon.
“Okay, let's talk,” I said.
“We're not safe yet,” Tsubaki said.
“No. I'm not going on step further without an explanation. What is
going on here? How did I get here? What is wrong with my body? How do
you know alchemy?”
“Yes, those are interesting questions.”
My head snapped up and around. General Fong was standing on a small
cliff above the door we had exited, his expression was smug. Flanking
him on both sides were five men, each wearing the wide brimmed hat
and green armour of earthbenders. Further up beyond them were a half
dozen of those strange lizard-ostrich things that Ed kept calling
'chimera' no matter how much I tried to correct him.
Next to him, encased from head to toe in rock so that only his nose
was visible, was Ed. He looked like he was trying to scream. My heart
skipped a beat and I clenched my fists.
“Tsubaki, I'm deeply hurt. Was my company so distasteful?” Fong
leapt to the ground, the earth rose up to meet him partway down and
then gently sank back until he was standing level with us. The four
men on the cliff snapped their hands up and rock walls blasted from
the ground behind and beside us, pining us in.
“Let's just say the earth didn't exactly move,” Tsubaki said
with a smirk, cupping on fist under her cheek.
“You followed us?” I asked.
Fong turned to me and sighed. “No, I was waiting for you. I'm not
as much of a fool as she took me for. When I noticed the key was
missing from my desk, I knew were you were headed. Thankfully, on
ostrich-horse back, the trip here was much quicker.”
He turned back to Tsubaki. “I always thought you were too good to
be true. A beautiful young women like yourself, interested in a
broken down old warrior like me?” He laughed, but there was
bitterness in his voice. “So you were just using me after all.”
“Family comes first,” she said.
“Family?” Fong shook his head. “Whatever. I can't let these
young men leave our care. This strange bending of theirs could upset
the course of the War.”
“Damn you,” I stepped forward. “You can't force us to help
you! Let Ed go!”
“You're right.” He looked at me. “I can't force you to help
me. But I can keep you under control. This alchemy must either be
under the Earth Kingdom's control, or we must prevent anyone from
potentially using it against us.”
“What?” My eyes widened.
“Secure him.” He gestured and I tried to move but the earth
moved faster. Pillars rose from the ground at odd angles, catching my
limbs before I could so much as take a single step. “As for you, my
dear, I'm afraid its treason.”
“Even after all the time we've shared?” she smirked.
That was evidently the wrong thing to say. His expression darkened.
“Kill her.” He gestured sharply again.
She didn't so much as have a chance to move before five pillars
struck her from five angles. There was a stomach churning crunch and
her body bent at angles human bodies were not supposed to bend. I
turned my face away, clenching my eyes shut and tried to hold down my
lunch.
“A pity,” Fong said, his voice shaking. “Such a beauty...”
He coughed and when I opened my eyes he was rubbing at his eyes. “If
only she had been loyal...”
“Bastard!” I hissed. “You murdered her in cold blood!”
“She was an enemy of the state,” he explained, but sounded only
half-convinced himself.
“If you think there was any chance of me helping you, you can
forget it now!” I snarled.
“It's war.” He turned away from me and the body. “Secure the
two prisoners for transport back to the base.”
There was a series of thumps as the earthbenders landed all around
me. I futilely struggled as they moved closer. On of them was
carrying Ed on his back, and set down the boy next to me, right next
to the body. They had us surrounded and trapped, was this how it
ended?
“Thank you for that.”
All eyes spun back to the body. It was rising. She was grinning.
There was a series of sickening cracks as her shattered form
realigned itself. Swirling blue light played across her form, causing
the cuts on her skin to heal up, like they were simply reversing
themelves. Only her clothing was left damaged, revealing more of her
chest. My eyes were drawn to a newly revealed tattoo between her
breasts, a black circle, a serpent devouring its own tail. Ed's
muffled screams drew my attention next, his eyes were widen and his
face had drained of all colour.
“Tsu-tsubaki! You're... you're alive!” Fong shouted, his voice
choked.
“I'm not as easy to kill as a human. But I did need your men to
come closer.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and bowed.
Then ten black spikes erupted from her sides, two impaling each of
the earthbenders through the chest. The shocked men didn't even
flinch until the inhumanly fast spines had driven themselves clean
through their bodies. One gave out a chocked cry, another seemed to
faint. Tsubaki rose. The spines were her fingers, somehow grow to
inhuman length and sharpened into terrible claws.
“See how easy humans die?” she asked in a lyrical tone. Then she
uncrossed her arms. The men screamed, blood breifly fountaining from
their chest before they collapsed to the ground. “Like puppets with
their strings cut.”
“Wh-what in the name of all the spirits are you!” Fong screamed,
backing up a step.
She looked at me and Ed in turn then back to the general. “Tch. I
was hoping not to have to reveal this until later, especially not
with the Fullmetal brat watching. But you were going to take away
Mother, and I simply can not let that happen.”
“Mother?” I breathed. Ed's eyes narrowed.
“You're a monster!” Fong roared, and then stepped forward,
gesturing sharply with a raising hand.
Tsubaki drifted sideways, avoiding a spear of earth. But Fong was
not finished. Using the time he gained he spun his arms in a circle,
raising a circle of earth around him with a square cut out in the
middle for himself. Tsubaki leapt away as the edges of the circle
grew thick spikes and began to spin like a saw. She landed lightly on
her feet, her lips curled into a serene smile.
“I'm hurt,” she said lightly. “We homonculi are just like you
humans in many ways. We have feelings and souls as well. We're just
superior to you, and that makes us monsters? What does that make
benders then?”
“Monster slayers!” Fong screamed and stamped his foot against
the ground. The earth under Tsubaki opened in a chasm which she
jumped aside to avoid. As she moved, Fong lifted his hand and the
circle of spinning stone around him levitated over his head. Spinning
in place he threw his hands out like a discus toss and the stone spun
straight at Tsubaki while she was in mid-air.
Tsubaki pulled her hands in, the claws vanishing in an eyeblink and
she snapped her palms against the disk, pushing herself just up and
over it. One of her legs was caught by the spikes and ripped off her
body. But even as she put her other foot on the stone wheel her torn
leg was regenerating in a flare of blue light. She ran along the top
of the circle and launched herself off towards the general.
His eyes widening he crossed his arms and stood back, raising a wall
of earth in front of himself to fend her off. Her smile deepened.
“No, that won't stop her!” I shouted, but it was too late. Still
in midair she gestured with one hand, and the claws shot out so fast
I couldn't even see them grow. They pierced through the stone like it
was air. Fong coughed and looked down, five black spikes were sunk
into his chest, with small spikes emerging from the back.
“Ah, earthbenders. Always so straightforward. Meet any attack head
on, right?” Tsubaki landed on the ground lightly.
“Wh-why...?” Fong coughed out.
“Like I said, we homonculi have feelings, too.” She glanced at
me. “Like love for our family.” She turned her attention back to
the general. “It's terrible when family gets between a romantic
couple, but we have to break up.”
I turned my head away as she pulled her hand viciously to the side.
I tried not to hear the wet thumps that followed.
“What's the matter?” Tsubaki asked as she walked up to me. She
flicked her hand, causing the blood on her fingers to splat on the
ground. “I only did that to protect you.”
“What the hell are you!” I shouted. She recoiled as if slapped.
“Did I anger you?” she asked with what looked like sincere
contrition.
“Anger me? You just slaughtered half a dozen people while I
watched!”
“They were only humans.” She gestured towards me and there was a
black flash. I fell to my knees, abruptly free. I glanced around and
saw the neatly chopped sections of stone scattered around me.
“Only humans?” I asked, dazed.
“Oh, are you worried I'll hurt Fullmetal?” She laughed. “Much
as I'd like to, he's perfectly safe.” She gestured towards him and
again there was a flash of black as her fingers extended and then
retracted in an instant. Ed landed on his side, but wasn't there for
long. He kicked himself to his feet.
“Homonculus!” he shouted, pointing at her. “How... HOW! You
died! Al told me that Mustang burned you to a crisp! You burned to
death!”
Tsubaki crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked at him. “We
homonculi are closer to the Truth than you humans. We don't die. We
just go on to the next cycle.” She laughed to herself and Ed backed
up slowly. “Though I admit that what your colonel did was most
unpleasant. I took more than a little pleasure in working towards the
murder of firebenders, as you might imagine.”
“Ed, what's going on?” I asked.
He looked at me, then back at her. “Go ahead, Fullmetal, tell
her.” She smirked and it was only then I realized she was speaking
in Ed's language now.
“She's not human,” Ed said. “She an artificial life form, a
homonculus, formed via alchemy through the use of a Philosopher's
Stone.”
“Philosopher's stone?” I asked.
“A horrible perversion of alchemy,” Ed snarled. “Human souls,
trapped in a stone. All of their Gates combined amplify alchemy to
inhuman levels, allowing one to bypass the laws of Equivalent
Exchange.”
“Perversion? Mmm. I like the sound of that.” She chuckled
throatily. “But you're leaving out the best part, Fullmetal.
Certainly you must have suspected all along. You're a bright boy and
must have figured it out by now. Tell her what she is.”
“He's... she's a human being!” Ed snarled back.
“Close,” Tsubaki turned to me. “You are so much more than a
human, Mother.”
“Don't listen to her, she's a vicious liar!” Ed shouted.
“You keep calling me that, Mother. What does it mean?” I asked.
“What else would it mean?” Tsubaki tilted her head and stroked
her cheek. “You are our Mother. We are born of your essence,
descended from your information. We are your children, and everything
we do we do for you.”
“What? That's impossible!” I shouted. “I would remember having
children!”
“Yes, we were afraid of that.” She shrugged. “Unfortunately it
could not be helped. We had to construct you a new body suitable to
hold your essence, and only Fullmetal was a compatible donor. I'm
sorry about the condition of your body and memory. It was
unavoidable. Though it is our fault we lost track of you for so
long.”
“No, you're lying... you're lying! I remember my life! My brothers
and sisters and all the places I've been, all of that...” I trailed
off.
“Fragments, nothing more. Pieces of the lives that went into
making you.” She smiled. “When you close your eyes, can't you
hear the voices?”
I slumped forward, slapping my hands on the ground. No, it was
impossible. I was myself! I could remember... remember something
specific. Some name. Some place. Yes... so many. Too many.
“Come with me,” she said, extending her hand. “I can fix you.
We're already beginning preparations to get what you really need.”
“You bitch, leave him alone!” Ed snarled and stepped forward.
“Ah!” Tsubaki held up her hand, her fingers extended into claws.
“I wouldn't, Fullmetal. Without your alchemy, you're just a weak
human. I could kill you without any effort.”
“Then why haven't you?” Ed snarled. “I stopped you maniacs
last time, I can do it again here!”
“Convenience. We need someone to teach Mother alchemy. Well, not
so much teach. Help her remember, mostly. She has to be prepared for
what is to come.”
“And you expect me to help?” Ed snarled. “You monsters are
just planning to kill more and more people, you nearly destroyed an
entire country before we stopped you.”
“It's not like its your country this time,” Tsubaki said with a
pout. Ed growled and she laughed. “Oh, its not like I plan on
giving you a choice.” She tilted her head. “I see you managed to
get your arm back.”
Ed's eyes widened and he tried to dodge, but the claws were just
that much faster. He screamed and clutched at one of the two black
spines shoved clear through his shoulder.
“Maybe I'll take it back?” she said.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted, jumping to my feet.
“Oh, you actually do care about him?” Tsubaki blinked.
“If I'm your Mother, I order you to leave him alone!”
“Ah, sorry Mother, I can't do that.” She twisted her hand a
little and Ed let out another cry of pain. “We knew you might be
confused at first, so we're prepared to engage in a little tough
love.” She smiled apologetically. “Though your feeling for the
brat are helpful. It means I can just threaten to gut him if you
don't cooperate instead of risking hurting you while you're still
vulnerable.”
[ ]I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt him anymore!
[ ]I'll never help you, and threatening my friends won't break my
resolve!
[ ](lie) I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt him anymore!
(wait for her to lower her guard and...)
[ ]You monster! I'll kill you!
Woo. That came out a little long and angsty, but hey, revelations abound. So, now you know the Truth (or, at least, some of it...).
Just a note on the decisions the MC made in this chapter re going with Tsubaki without Ed. Just because you people decide to go with a course of action doesn't mean its going to succeed. ^_^ So when that happens, the second most popular choice (in this case Ayeikie's half vote for abandoning Ed) may be what ends up happening. That's why all votes matter, even if they go against the majority!
--------------
Epsilon
Evening Day Nine, Earth Nation Fortresses
“Then don't trust her, trust me,” I implored him, standing up
abruptly and clutching my hands in front of my chest. He backed up a
step, his gold eyes blinking. “I don't want to have to choose
between you and...” I trailed of.
“Me and what?” he said. “What did she offer you?”
“A way to fix this...” I said under my breath, staring at the
floor again. He stepped closer to me, until he was within my personal
space. I felt my heart beat quicken and my palms grew sweaty. There
was a smell to him, sweat and ink and iron that somehow mixed in a
way that was distinctly Ed. Up this close it was thick, almost
cloying but I didn't want to step away. I felt a certain part of
myself stir and I groaned in discomfort and moved away. “Please,”
I begged, not certain what I wanted him to do.
“What is with you?” Ed asked. One eyebrow was quirked and his
perpetual frown had turned into a confused grimace. “Why is this
woman so important to you?”
“We shouldn't separate,” I said. “Just think about it. You
still don't speak a word of the local language. Your leg is a
makeshift replacement you can't repair yourself if it gets broken, or
replace if you lose it. You can't use your alchemy to defend yourself
from any benders you might encounter.” I looked him in the face
again once I felt I had my racing pulse under control. Hopefully he
would excuse my flush for simple enthusiasm or frustration. “If you
go on your own, your chances of success at saving your brother are
almost zero. With me at your side, they improve dramatically!
“Not to mention how much I need you.” I rushed through the words
to get them out. “Not just to teach me alchemy, but because you're
the only person on this continent that I can trust. You've
saved my life multiple times already. If I go with this woman, I need
someone to watch my back and make certain I don't get in over my
head.
“Working together, we are stronger than apart. So if you can't
trust this woman for whatever reason, then don't trust her! Trust
me!”
I began gasping for breath after my verbal explosion. My hands were
shaking, my fingernails cutting small crescents into my palms and my
jaw ached as my teeth clenched. Ed reached back and rubbed at his
untamed mess of gold hair, his slim but muscular shoulders bunched in
tension. His eyes blinked languidly.
“I don't like it,” he said stiffly. I suddenly felt off balance.
“People who have something to hide from the public, why should I
trust them? I've been on the bad side of too many secret groups.”
It was like the floor had crumbled away underneath me. “I've seen
what happens with groups who have big plans for the future,
especially my own. Just because she wants to keep you safe for now,
doesn't mean she has anything good planned for you.”
He held out his hand to me. “There is nothing that her and her
group can do for you that you can't do for yourself, with a little
help from me. You have two good strong legs, use them to stand on
your own feet.”
I blinked away a few tears. “You don't understand,” I said.
“Understand what?”
“She might be able to fix me!” I shouted, no longer
caring if he knew. If he refused to come with me anyway, what did it
matter if he thought of me as a freak? “This body... I can't even
stand to think about it!” I clawed my fingers into the air before
my face and leaned forward. “I drive it from my mind every chance I
get. I throw myself into the situation at hand, hoping not to think.
I haven't so much as looked into a puddle of water, much less a
mirror, because if I do I think the sight might drive me insane!
Somehow, if I don't see it, it isn't real. But it is real!
“You must know what I'm talking about? Have you ever felt as if
your missing leg was hurting, or cold or just disconcertingly there,
even though it was not? Imagine that, but across your entire body. I
don't just have phantom limbs, I have an entire Phantom Person!
“And Tsubaki has offered me a chance to fix that.”
“You...” Ed was staring at me, his eyes wide and his mouth
slightly open. “You're body... is wrong?”
“And the worst part is...” I took a deep breath. “The worst
part is that I think I might be...” I glanced down at myself. “The
reason I don't want to go alone is because despite this body, I
still...” Oh god, I was sounding like some teenage schoolgirl. Just
out with it! “I think I may care about you.” I looked down at my
feet. “A lot.”
For a long moment the room was silent. Did I mention I hate silence?
It wears on the nerves. At least with noise, even painful or
frightening noise, you know what is happening. Silence is just the
absence of meaning, so your mind fills it with all sorts of things.
“C-care about me?” Ed asked, his voice thin. I couldn't look at
him. “I mean... we hardly know each other... how could you
possibly... that is... I'm a jerk and a sceptic and...”
“I don't know,” I said just loud enough that it would carry to
him. “Maybe its just the action, driven together, fighting for our
lives, unable to trust anyone else...” I cleared my throat. “It's
probably just hormones,” I finished feebly.
“Listen, you... you have to understand... I don't exactly...” He
swallowed. “And there's somebody else I-”
The rest of his words cut off as I dashed from the room.
*
“Stupid, stupid!” I rubbed at my face with my sleeve again. “How
did you think he would react? Might as well have been a gorilla!” I
leaned my head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling of the
small storage room I had fled into. A small oil lamp cast flickering
shadows across the ceiling. “I'm acting like a child,” I admitted
to myself. “Of course he already has somebody. Guy like him wants
to get back to his loved ones back home. He's right, I barely know
him. All I know is he's brave, and smart, and funny and loyal beyond
all reason...”
I banged my head against the wall, but that hurt so I stopped.
Standing up I looked around the room. Finally I found a metal tray
which was shiny enough for my purposes. I buffed it with my sleeve
and finally took a look at myself. This was the person Ed had just
seen confess to him.
I gasped. Some people has suspected that Ed and I were brother's in
the past, but I had assumed that they were talking about the fact
that we both had foreign hair and kin tones and just weren't used to
the differences between those of our race. However the resemblance
between Ed and I was uncanny. My hair was messier than Ed's, shorter
as well. My chin was a little more defined, my cheeks had a bit less
baby-fat than his. It was the eyes, the exact same eyes. If I didn't
know better, I could be his older brother. Heck, I could be Ed
himself, just a few years older and leaner.
“What the hell?” I probed at my face in astonishment. “Why
hasn't more people...” Then I realized that my assumption had been
working in reverse. The people of this continent were not used to our
race and thus it was not the differences they had a hard time
noticing, it was the similarities. We looked uncannily similar, but
they would be two busy noticing the big differences between us and
them to notice the similarities between Ed and me.
“But why hasn't Ed said something? He must have-” My musing was
cut off as the door to the storeroom began to open. I looked up
sharply. “Ed, is that you?”
“Sorry, no.” Tsubaki glided into the room. “You weren't at the
tower so I came looking for you.”
“Is it that late?” I asked. She just raised a trimmed eyebrow.
“What happened to Ful... to Edward?”
“We had a... disagreement.”
“He doesn't trust me,” she said, sounding more amused then
annoyed.
“Frankly,” I looked at her. “I don't trust you.”
She tilted her head and smiled in a winsome manner. “Fair enough.
So, you plan to turn down my offer?”
“I didn't say that.” I put the silvered tray aside. “If
anything, I have more questions for you now.”
“This isn't the place to talk about them.” She stepped outside
the door. “General Fong should be thoroughly exhausted at the
moment, but this is a fortress used to siege. Both of us will be
noticed missing before long. We have to go, or it will be too late.”
“What about Ed?”
“His absence is regrettable,” she said. “We were hoping he
would help you master alchemy.” She started walking away and I
stumbled after her then jogged to keep up. “We don't have time to
wait for him. You're too vulnerable now. Let's go.”
She led me through the tunnels. Most of the men who would have
filled them were asleep at this time of night but every now and then
she gestured for me to stop while soldiers patrolled in nearby
corridors. Soon enough we came to a large bared door, locked with a
thick iron padlock.
“What's this?” I asked.
“A secret exit.” She reached into her cleavage and removed a
key. “An escape tunnel in case the worst happens and the fortress
falls.” She unlocked the door with a loud clack and grabbed the
large brace. I was surprised when she easily shifted it out of the
way. She was stronger than she looked.
The door opened up to a long dark tunnel, angled down. The sound of
water echoed ahead. “Hurry,” she said and started into the tunnel
after grabbing a lamp from the wall. I grabbed one as well.
I paused at the threshold. Did I really want to do this? Tsubaki
stopped after a few steps and looked coyly over her shoulder at me.
“You don't have time to regret or doubt. Trust me, I would never
hurt you.” She turned and placed her hand over her heart. “You
are everything to me.”
I closed my eyes. It was a very near thing, but I had to know. I
followed her into the tunnel.
The trip was surprisingly short before we came to the end of the
line. The tunnel opened up suddenly into a great chasm. Down below,
beyond the light, I could hear the rush of rapids. The other end of
the chasm was at least fifteen meters away. It might as well have
been forever.
“What kind of escape tunnel is this?”
“An earthbending escape tunnel. Only earthbenders can build a
bridge over the chasm.”
“How were you planning on getting across?” I asked a little
acerbically.
“You can create a bridge.”
“But I don't know that kind of...” I trailed off because Tsubaki
had pulled something else from her cleavage. It was a scroll, and on
that scroll was an array.
“I came prepared.”
“You... you know alchemy!” I gasped.
“I know how it works, of course.” She placed the scrolls on the
ground in front of the chasm. “I can't use alchemy myself, of
course.”
“How do you...?”
“I'll answer all your questions once we're safe.”
I paused and then nodded. I knelt next to the scroll and placed my
hands on it, my eyes scanning the array. I closed my eyes, picturing
it in my head. The chorus sang. When I opened my eyes again the light
in the room was just returning to normal and there was a simple
bridge stretching across the chasm. Tsubaki didn't pause, quickly
moving across the bridge with deceptively dainty but rapid steps.
I followed. Soon we came to what looked like a blank wall. Another
earthbending defence mechanism. I wondered idly about what would
happen to the non-benders if they were forced to flee the fortress
while Tsubaki pulled another scroll from her amazing cleavage of
storing. The sight of her doing that made me fume, and the reaction
that followed was perhaps a little violent, releasing its energy in a
loud bang rather than a steady crackle like normal.
We stepped out of the newly formed door and into the moonlight. A
quick glance around showed we were on the side of a mountain and the
fortress was nowhere in sight. We hadn't walked that far so we must
have passed through one of the mountains surrounding the base. The
ground here sloped gently down to a valley, which stretched out into
the horizon.
“Okay, let's talk,” I said.
“We're not safe yet,” Tsubaki said.
“No. I'm not going on step further without an explanation. What is
going on here? How did I get here? What is wrong with my body? How do
you know alchemy?”
“Yes, those are interesting questions.”
My head snapped up and around. General Fong was standing on a small
cliff above the door we had exited, his expression was smug. Flanking
him on both sides were five men, each wearing the wide brimmed hat
and green armour of earthbenders. Further up beyond them were a half
dozen of those strange lizard-ostrich things that Ed kept calling
'chimera' no matter how much I tried to correct him.
Next to him, encased from head to toe in rock so that only his nose
was visible, was Ed. He looked like he was trying to scream. My heart
skipped a beat and I clenched my fists.
“Tsubaki, I'm deeply hurt. Was my company so distasteful?” Fong
leapt to the ground, the earth rose up to meet him partway down and
then gently sank back until he was standing level with us. The four
men on the cliff snapped their hands up and rock walls blasted from
the ground behind and beside us, pining us in.
“Let's just say the earth didn't exactly move,” Tsubaki said
with a smirk, cupping on fist under her cheek.
“You followed us?” I asked.
Fong turned to me and sighed. “No, I was waiting for you. I'm not
as much of a fool as she took me for. When I noticed the key was
missing from my desk, I knew were you were headed. Thankfully, on
ostrich-horse back, the trip here was much quicker.”
He turned back to Tsubaki. “I always thought you were too good to
be true. A beautiful young women like yourself, interested in a
broken down old warrior like me?” He laughed, but there was
bitterness in his voice. “So you were just using me after all.”
“Family comes first,” she said.
“Family?” Fong shook his head. “Whatever. I can't let these
young men leave our care. This strange bending of theirs could upset
the course of the War.”
“Damn you,” I stepped forward. “You can't force us to help
you! Let Ed go!”
“You're right.” He looked at me. “I can't force you to help
me. But I can keep you under control. This alchemy must either be
under the Earth Kingdom's control, or we must prevent anyone from
potentially using it against us.”
“What?” My eyes widened.
“Secure him.” He gestured and I tried to move but the earth
moved faster. Pillars rose from the ground at odd angles, catching my
limbs before I could so much as take a single step. “As for you, my
dear, I'm afraid its treason.”
“Even after all the time we've shared?” she smirked.
That was evidently the wrong thing to say. His expression darkened.
“Kill her.” He gestured sharply again.
She didn't so much as have a chance to move before five pillars
struck her from five angles. There was a stomach churning crunch and
her body bent at angles human bodies were not supposed to bend. I
turned my face away, clenching my eyes shut and tried to hold down my
lunch.
“A pity,” Fong said, his voice shaking. “Such a beauty...”
He coughed and when I opened my eyes he was rubbing at his eyes. “If
only she had been loyal...”
“Bastard!” I hissed. “You murdered her in cold blood!”
“She was an enemy of the state,” he explained, but sounded only
half-convinced himself.
“If you think there was any chance of me helping you, you can
forget it now!” I snarled.
“It's war.” He turned away from me and the body. “Secure the
two prisoners for transport back to the base.”
There was a series of thumps as the earthbenders landed all around
me. I futilely struggled as they moved closer. On of them was
carrying Ed on his back, and set down the boy next to me, right next
to the body. They had us surrounded and trapped, was this how it
ended?
“Thank you for that.”
All eyes spun back to the body. It was rising. She was grinning.
There was a series of sickening cracks as her shattered form
realigned itself. Swirling blue light played across her form, causing
the cuts on her skin to heal up, like they were simply reversing
themelves. Only her clothing was left damaged, revealing more of her
chest. My eyes were drawn to a newly revealed tattoo between her
breasts, a black circle, a serpent devouring its own tail. Ed's
muffled screams drew my attention next, his eyes were widen and his
face had drained of all colour.
“Tsu-tsubaki! You're... you're alive!” Fong shouted, his voice
choked.
“I'm not as easy to kill as a human. But I did need your men to
come closer.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and bowed.
Then ten black spikes erupted from her sides, two impaling each of
the earthbenders through the chest. The shocked men didn't even
flinch until the inhumanly fast spines had driven themselves clean
through their bodies. One gave out a chocked cry, another seemed to
faint. Tsubaki rose. The spines were her fingers, somehow grow to
inhuman length and sharpened into terrible claws.
“See how easy humans die?” she asked in a lyrical tone. Then she
uncrossed her arms. The men screamed, blood breifly fountaining from
their chest before they collapsed to the ground. “Like puppets with
their strings cut.”
“Wh-what in the name of all the spirits are you!” Fong screamed,
backing up a step.
She looked at me and Ed in turn then back to the general. “Tch. I
was hoping not to have to reveal this until later, especially not
with the Fullmetal brat watching. But you were going to take away
Mother, and I simply can not let that happen.”
“Mother?” I breathed. Ed's eyes narrowed.
“You're a monster!” Fong roared, and then stepped forward,
gesturing sharply with a raising hand.
Tsubaki drifted sideways, avoiding a spear of earth. But Fong was
not finished. Using the time he gained he spun his arms in a circle,
raising a circle of earth around him with a square cut out in the
middle for himself. Tsubaki leapt away as the edges of the circle
grew thick spikes and began to spin like a saw. She landed lightly on
her feet, her lips curled into a serene smile.
“I'm hurt,” she said lightly. “We homonculi are just like you
humans in many ways. We have feelings and souls as well. We're just
superior to you, and that makes us monsters? What does that make
benders then?”
“Monster slayers!” Fong screamed and stamped his foot against
the ground. The earth under Tsubaki opened in a chasm which she
jumped aside to avoid. As she moved, Fong lifted his hand and the
circle of spinning stone around him levitated over his head. Spinning
in place he threw his hands out like a discus toss and the stone spun
straight at Tsubaki while she was in mid-air.
Tsubaki pulled her hands in, the claws vanishing in an eyeblink and
she snapped her palms against the disk, pushing herself just up and
over it. One of her legs was caught by the spikes and ripped off her
body. But even as she put her other foot on the stone wheel her torn
leg was regenerating in a flare of blue light. She ran along the top
of the circle and launched herself off towards the general.
His eyes widening he crossed his arms and stood back, raising a wall
of earth in front of himself to fend her off. Her smile deepened.
“No, that won't stop her!” I shouted, but it was too late. Still
in midair she gestured with one hand, and the claws shot out so fast
I couldn't even see them grow. They pierced through the stone like it
was air. Fong coughed and looked down, five black spikes were sunk
into his chest, with small spikes emerging from the back.
“Ah, earthbenders. Always so straightforward. Meet any attack head
on, right?” Tsubaki landed on the ground lightly.
“Wh-why...?” Fong coughed out.
“Like I said, we homonculi have feelings, too.” She glanced at
me. “Like love for our family.” She turned her attention back to
the general. “It's terrible when family gets between a romantic
couple, but we have to break up.”
I turned my head away as she pulled her hand viciously to the side.
I tried not to hear the wet thumps that followed.
“What's the matter?” Tsubaki asked as she walked up to me. She
flicked her hand, causing the blood on her fingers to splat on the
ground. “I only did that to protect you.”
“What the hell are you!” I shouted. She recoiled as if slapped.
“Did I anger you?” she asked with what looked like sincere
contrition.
“Anger me? You just slaughtered half a dozen people while I
watched!”
“They were only humans.” She gestured towards me and there was a
black flash. I fell to my knees, abruptly free. I glanced around and
saw the neatly chopped sections of stone scattered around me.
“Only humans?” I asked, dazed.
“Oh, are you worried I'll hurt Fullmetal?” She laughed. “Much
as I'd like to, he's perfectly safe.” She gestured towards him and
again there was a flash of black as her fingers extended and then
retracted in an instant. Ed landed on his side, but wasn't there for
long. He kicked himself to his feet.
“Homonculus!” he shouted, pointing at her. “How... HOW! You
died! Al told me that Mustang burned you to a crisp! You burned to
death!”
Tsubaki crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked at him. “We
homonculi are closer to the Truth than you humans. We don't die. We
just go on to the next cycle.” She laughed to herself and Ed backed
up slowly. “Though I admit that what your colonel did was most
unpleasant. I took more than a little pleasure in working towards the
murder of firebenders, as you might imagine.”
“Ed, what's going on?” I asked.
He looked at me, then back at her. “Go ahead, Fullmetal, tell
her.” She smirked and it was only then I realized she was speaking
in Ed's language now.
“She's not human,” Ed said. “She an artificial life form, a
homonculus, formed via alchemy through the use of a Philosopher's
Stone.”
“Philosopher's stone?” I asked.
“A horrible perversion of alchemy,” Ed snarled. “Human souls,
trapped in a stone. All of their Gates combined amplify alchemy to
inhuman levels, allowing one to bypass the laws of Equivalent
Exchange.”
“Perversion? Mmm. I like the sound of that.” She chuckled
throatily. “But you're leaving out the best part, Fullmetal.
Certainly you must have suspected all along. You're a bright boy and
must have figured it out by now. Tell her what she is.”
“He's... she's a human being!” Ed snarled back.
“Close,” Tsubaki turned to me. “You are so much more than a
human, Mother.”
“Don't listen to her, she's a vicious liar!” Ed shouted.
“You keep calling me that, Mother. What does it mean?” I asked.
“What else would it mean?” Tsubaki tilted her head and stroked
her cheek. “You are our Mother. We are born of your essence,
descended from your information. We are your children, and everything
we do we do for you.”
“What? That's impossible!” I shouted. “I would remember having
children!”
“Yes, we were afraid of that.” She shrugged. “Unfortunately it
could not be helped. We had to construct you a new body suitable to
hold your essence, and only Fullmetal was a compatible donor. I'm
sorry about the condition of your body and memory. It was
unavoidable. Though it is our fault we lost track of you for so
long.”
“No, you're lying... you're lying! I remember my life! My brothers
and sisters and all the places I've been, all of that...” I trailed
off.
“Fragments, nothing more. Pieces of the lives that went into
making you.” She smiled. “When you close your eyes, can't you
hear the voices?”
I slumped forward, slapping my hands on the ground. No, it was
impossible. I was myself! I could remember... remember something
specific. Some name. Some place. Yes... so many. Too many.
“Come with me,” she said, extending her hand. “I can fix you.
We're already beginning preparations to get what you really need.”
“You bitch, leave him alone!” Ed snarled and stepped forward.
“Ah!” Tsubaki held up her hand, her fingers extended into claws.
“I wouldn't, Fullmetal. Without your alchemy, you're just a weak
human. I could kill you without any effort.”
“Then why haven't you?” Ed snarled. “I stopped you maniacs
last time, I can do it again here!”
“Convenience. We need someone to teach Mother alchemy. Well, not
so much teach. Help her remember, mostly. She has to be prepared for
what is to come.”
“And you expect me to help?” Ed snarled. “You monsters are
just planning to kill more and more people, you nearly destroyed an
entire country before we stopped you.”
“It's not like its your country this time,” Tsubaki said with a
pout. Ed growled and she laughed. “Oh, its not like I plan on
giving you a choice.” She tilted her head. “I see you managed to
get your arm back.”
Ed's eyes widened and he tried to dodge, but the claws were just
that much faster. He screamed and clutched at one of the two black
spines shoved clear through his shoulder.
“Maybe I'll take it back?” she said.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted, jumping to my feet.
“Oh, you actually do care about him?” Tsubaki blinked.
“If I'm your Mother, I order you to leave him alone!”
“Ah, sorry Mother, I can't do that.” She twisted her hand a
little and Ed let out another cry of pain. “We knew you might be
confused at first, so we're prepared to engage in a little tough
love.” She smiled apologetically. “Though your feeling for the
brat are helpful. It means I can just threaten to gut him if you
don't cooperate instead of risking hurting you while you're still
vulnerable.”
[ ]I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt him anymore!
[ ]I'll never help you, and threatening my friends won't break my
resolve!
[ ](lie) I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt him anymore!
(wait for her to lower her guard and...)
[ ]You monster! I'll kill you!
Woo. That came out a little long and angsty, but hey, revelations abound. So, now you know the Truth (or, at least, some of it...).
Just a note on the decisions the MC made in this chapter re going with Tsubaki without Ed. Just because you people decide to go with a course of action doesn't mean its going to succeed. ^_^ So when that happens, the second most popular choice (in this case Ayeikie's half vote for abandoning Ed) may be what ends up happening. That's why all votes matter, even if they go against the majority!
--------------
Epsilon