Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Disaster or Destiny? ❯ The Letter ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

We were suddenly shrouded in darkness as cement walls shot up from either side of the walkway and began to curve inward when they reached about fifteen feet high. The tops of the walls joined to form a tunnel, one that stretched the length of the entire walkway; a distance of at least thirty feet.

The light from the transmutation faded as I slowly removed my hands from the circle, hardly believing what I’d done.

I could barely make out Ed’s face from the light coming in from the end of the tunnel, and saw that his expression was one of complete awe.

After a silence during which the three of us stared dumbly at each other, Ed finally spoke up, his voice full of doubt. “There is absolutely no way a beginner could be capable of doing this.”

“Even an experienced alchemist would have a hard time completing such an advanced transmutation!” Al added in disbelief.

I looked down at my hands. “I…I don’t know how I did it…I didn’t mean to…”

Our attention was diverted to the double doors of H.Q. when we heard a yell of surprise.

“Why is it so dark? It‘s the middle of the afternoon!”

The light coming from inside the building revelaed it to be warrant officer Falman. Curious to see if I could do it again, I placed my hands on the circle and the tunnel disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Ed and Al just continued to stare at me, as if expecting me to provide an explanation.

The silence was finally broken by Falman. “Marie, I didn’t know you could do alchemy!”

“Neither did I,” I responded. I stood up, only to fall back to my knees at the onset at another bout of coughing. I put my hand to my mouth, and when I removed it there were traces of blood. I decided I was wrong in identifying it as a cold.

I tried to hide it from the others, but Ed kneeled down next to me and grabbed my wrist. He saw the blood in my hand and looked at me gravely. “Alright Marie, you’re coughing up blood and you’re suddenly able to do alchemy that should be way beyond your level. Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

I moved to stand up again and he put an arm around my waist to support me. “I swear I’m just as confused as you are.”

“If I’m not mistaken, I think I just saw Marie create that tunnel from my window,“ said a familiar voice. I looked up to see Mustang standing beside Falman. “Was that really you?”

“I’m having a hard time figuring that out myself,” I responded.

Roy raised an eyebrow. “Really Marie, how did you do it?”

I honestly had no idea how I’d done it, and told everyone so. “It was probably just a fluke or something,” I offered, more alarmed than pleased at the prospect of my first alchemic transmutation being a complete success.

“Try it again,” Roy advised.

I wiped the blood off on my pants so he couldn‘t see. “I don’t exactly feel up to it right now.”

Ed glanced at me with concern in his eyes, and Roy seemed to notice for the first time that I was using him as support. “You feel alright?” he asked.

“Fine,” I lied. “Just tired from the transmutation. But thanks for asking, dear brother.”

Roy glared at me with narrowed eyes before returning inside. “Don’t ever call me that again.” Falman chuckled as he followed the Colonel back inside. Being not only a subordinate but a friend to Mustang, he was probably well-informed of our “relationship.”

The three of us returned to the barracks and I prepared myself for a lengthy interrogation. It came the moment we stepped inside, just as I though it would.

“You can’t not know how you did it, Marie. Why won’t you tell us?” Ed asked.

I threw up my arms in exasperation. “I’m telling you guys I don’t know! I had no intention of creating something that big.”

“But that’s not possible,” Al argued. “You have to know what you’re going to transmute before you can do it, it doesn’t create itself.”

I sighed and fell back on the bed. “But that is what I intended to transmute, Al. It’s just a much bigger version. It’s like it was amplified by something…”

Ed wouldn‘t be satisfied. “But not only was it an enormous transmutation, it was perfect! Creating something like that on your first try, it should have collapsed or failed to join correctly or something, but that tunnel was flawless!”

Lying on the bed suddenly made me realize how exhausted I was, and I made myself more comfortable, ignoring the fact that it was Ed’s bed. “You can argue and ask all you want, but I won’t be able to answer because I’m just as confused as
you are.”

Ed seemed to finally resign to the fact that he wasn’t going to get any more information out of me and sat down on the edge of the bed. “How long have you been sick like this?”

“Today is the first day it’s been bad. I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Coughing up blood is serious though, Marie. Maybe you should go see a doctor.” Al added.

I groaned at the thought of visiting another hospital. “Let’s just give it another couple days, maybe it’ll pass.”

Ed and Al protested, but I finally got them to let me wait it out a little longer.

A little later on Al sat next to me and we pulled all five kittens on to the bed and laughed as they played with Ed’s braid, much to his annoyance. Their eyes had been open for a few days and they were getting more rambunctious.

Ed finally closed his book in irritation. “Will you keep those damn things away from my hair?”

I giggled and didn‘t make any move to stop them. “They just want to play, Ed.”

There was a particularly stubborn black one that came back to Ed every time he shooed it away.

Al, who the other four kittens were now mauling, chuckled at the sight. “Aw, he likes you brother.”

Ed picked up the kitten and added it to the pile of fluff in his brother’s lap. Why they were so drawn to Al, I didn’t know.

Two more days passed, and my condition worsened. I tried to hide how I felt from Ed and Al, but as it became continually harder to breathe I coughed more and more, and the two of them decided to drag me to a doctor come the next day.

The evening before I was supposed to go, we were all sitting around due to the pouring rain outside. Ed gathered up some of the books that were scattered on the floor and moved towards the door. “I’m gonna go take these back inside and see if I can’t find anything else. Be right back.”

But he didn’t come right back, and after two hours I decided to go inside and see what was taking him so long.

Inside I ran into the Colonel, who looked more flustered than usual.

“Colonel, have you seen Ed?”

His eyebrows furrowed in concern. “What, you mean he’s not back yet?”

I shook my head. “He’s been gone for a couple of hours now.”

He glanced out the window. “Whatever was in that letter must have really upset him.”

I looked at him questioningly. “Letter?”

He nodded. “One arrived for him today, and I gave it to him when he came in. Whatever was in it must have really disturbed him, because he took off in a panic the second he finished reading.”

I started to get nervous as the possibilities of what could have been in the letter ran through my mind. Ed had plenty of enemies that might try to lure him into a fight. I took off down the hall.

“Marie, just wait for him to come back, I‘m sure he‘s fine.” Mustang called after me.

I ignored him and ran out the front doors to the main road. I wandered along the streets and cursed as the rain began to fall even harder, soaking my hair and clothes. I was having a harder time breathing than I should have at the pace I was walking and I regrettably began to admit that I should’ve listened to Mustang. I had absolutely no idea where Ed was, and East City wasn’t exactly small.

I found my way to a small cemetery that looked to be abandoned; the tombstones were overgrown with vines, the grass hiding the graves it surrounded. I heard portions of a heated argument coming from what looked like a memorial statue of some kind, and I sloshed through the soggy grass toward what sounded like Ed’s voice.

“You’re lying!”

I moved close enough to the statue to see who he was arguing with but kept myself hidden behind it. It was Lust.

“I’m sorry Fullmetal, but I’m not. There is nothing you can do at this point.” I thought I almost sensed some sympathy in Lust’s voice, but decided the sound of the pouring rain was affecting my judgement.

Unsure if Ed would be angry with me for following him I wanted to stay hidden, but Lust’s eyes suddenly shot in my direction and Ed’s quickly followed.

I was horrified to see that Ed looked as if he’d been crying, and I wondered what Lust could have said or done to make the Fullmetal Alchemist cry. I’d seen him on the verge of tears, but I couldn’t recall ever seeing him actually cry, despite everything we’d been through.

His expression only grew more despairing when he saw me, and he turned a tear-stained face to Lust when she spoke again.

“I’ll be back in a week. Much longer after that, and it will be too late,” she said solemnly. She turned to leave, and passed me on the way. “If you care about these boys, you’ll do it.”

With that she strode through the cemetery, leaving me scared and confused. I turned to Ed, but suddenly he seemed unable to look at me.

He finally walked up to me, his face downcast, and put his arms around me. I could feel his body shaking slightly with his sobs.

“Ed…” I began, returning his embrace, “what’s going on?”

He only held me tighter, and there was a long silence. He finally faced me, tears still spilling down his cheeks. Brushing my wet hair out of my face, he whispered in a choked voice, “I love you.”

I was overcome with joy and terror at the same time. Although I knew it through his actions, I’d longed to hear him say it. At the same time, I wasn’t expecting him to do so with such a tone of misery and despair, and I dreaded to learn what Lust had said to him.

I put a hand to his cheek. “Edward, I love you so much.” I pressed my lips to his, and he returned the kiss eagerly and passionately. I momentarily forgot my discomfort from the cold and the rain and lost myself in the kiss.

Eager to know what was troubling him, I was the one to finally break it and Ed seemed none too pleased that I did. He continued to hold me as if afraid I would disappear.

I gazed into his wistful eyes. “Ed, please tell me what’s going on.”

He held me closer to him and whispered, “I…can’t…”

I pushed away from him and when he slowly raised his eyes to mine I saw in them a look that dreaded what was to come. He pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to me. I began to unfold it but he put a hand on mine.

“This is going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever read in your life.” His voice was unsteady and his eyes still brimmed with tears. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to keep this from happening.”

More reluctantly than before, I unfolded the letter and read the spidery handwriting inside:

Upon hearing rumors of a Stone in central, I spoke to an alchemist named Thomas who was in prison because of his affiliation with it. I’m sure you remember him. I persuaded him to tell me what happened and was unsurprised to learn that he had associated with you, considering his connection with the Stone and your goal to achieve it. I witnessed Marie’s unusually successful transmutation on her first try, and mentioned it to him. I’m afraid you’re not going to like what he told me. After recalling how she had destroyed the Stone, he came to a conclusion: when she fell and the Stone dissolved, he said her body was convered in cuts and lacerations from an earlier struggle. He said that the red liquid from the dissolved Stone must have gotten into one of her cuts, and was now in her blood stream. This is the reason for her unusual transmutation; the red water in her body was acting as a catalyst and amplifying it. I know you are aware that red water is toxic to humans. It will kill her within two weeks. If her success at alchemy is not evidence enough, you can attribute her coughing to the red water as well. I saw her after the transutation and the red water is definitely the cause of her ill condition. You’re probably wondering why I’m giving you this information, and it is because Thomas revealed another interesting fact to me; because the red water is in her bloodstream and has already combined with her body, she could be used to make a Philospher’s Stone and would be the only needed component. Of course since the sacfrice is so small, the Stone would only be good for two or three uses. I know you’re first answer will be no, Fullmetal, but you would be a fool to pass up this opportunity. Not only would you be able to attain a Stone, but you would only have to sacrifice the life of one human to do it, and she’s going to die anyway. I assure you there is no cure, so you have absolutely nothing to lose. All I ask is that you give it to me after you and your brother have used it. I will use it to become human and by then the Stone’s power will most likely be spent and it will cease to exist. I will give you one week to make your decision; any longer than that and it may be too late. Don’t allow your foolish human emotions to get in the way of what you need to do.

I finished reading the letter and stood frozen on the spot, letting the damp parchment drift to the ground. An unfamiliar feeling of impending doom took over. I’d been in life or death situations before, but never one where I knew my death was imminent. I fell to my knees on the now swampy ground, unable to believe what I’d read. I didn’t cry, I didn’t speak, I didn’t move. I flat out just didn’t know how to react.