Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ The Unforgivable Sin ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14

 

I told Atemu everything that night, and to his credit he listened without interrupting. Yugi returned just as I finished, the town doctor following close behind. He skidded to a stop as soon as he entered the room and bit his lip. “Is…everything okay?” he asked.

 

The doctor shouldered past him before Atemu or I could answer. “Ryou!” she cried with a smile. “What a pleasant surprise. I didn't think I'd see you back in Serra's Point. But you're hurt! What happened?”

 

I laughed lightly as she pushed aside my hair to examine my head wound. “Just a bump on the head and a few scratches,” I replied. “Nothing major.”

 

“Scratches?” she said, turning her attention to the blood on my back. “Shirt off. Now.”

 

I complied, watching the Mutou brothers as she began to clean the glass cuts. Yugi was giving Atemu a questioning look, but Atemu was ignoring him, keeping his steady, unreadable gaze on me. He still hadn't said anything, and I began to worry that he, too, was angry at me. That he would turn me away just like my father.

 

“Look at me,” the doctor ordered, coming around to face me and pulling my eyelids up with her thumbs. I looked at her obligingly, and she nodded in satisfaction. “You'll be just fine,” she announced. “Though I recommend you take it easy for a couple of days. You have a light concussion.”

 

“Don't worry, ma'am,” Atemu said as he stood and stretched. “Ryou will be stuck in bed for a couple of days until we fix his automail. In the meantime, we'd better get some rest as well.”

 

The doctor nodded and thanked him while I gave him a half-surprised, half-relieved look. He gave me a brief smile and motioned for the others to leave. “Rest easy, Ryou,” he said as he followed them out. “We'll talk more in the morning.”

 

He turned off the light and closed the door, leaving me alone in the darkness. I lay down with a quiet sigh and turned to face the wall. Akira…is Greed right? Can I really bring him back with the Philosopher's Stone? More importantly, would I really sacrifice so many people just so one person could be brought back to life? Can I really do that?

 

Akira's face filled my mind, and years of happy memories flooded through me. So many years to come…and the power to make more memories with him was within my grasp. Oh, Akira. What should I do?

 

I fell asleep without finding the answers.

 

* * *

 

I had lain awake, staring at the ceiling, for an hour before Yugi came in with a wheelchair. “Good morning, Ryou,” he said in a falsely cheerful voice. “I figure we'll go ahead and get that mangled mess off today, and we'll start on your new automail after that. You'll have to use this thing to get around, though.”

 

“Atemu told you what I told him last night, didn't he?” I asked.

 

Yugi blinked and stepped back. “H-how'd you know?”

 

“You're not that great an actor, Yugi.” I gave him a sad smile. “So you can stop pretending to be happy.”

 

“Are you really going to…to dig up Akira's grave?” he asked quietly as he came around to help me into the wheelchair.

 

I gave a small laugh. “I have to, if I want to stop Greed.” But I'm not sure any more…if I want to stop him…or help him…

 

Yugi wheeled me into the small kitchen, where Atemu was already setting out eggs, bacon, and biscuits for breakfast. “Morning,” I said to him. “Ah, how long do you think it'll take to fix me up?”

 

“With both of us working on it? Two days, tops,” Atemu said as he sat down across from me. “I know you're in a hurry, and to be honest, I don't want to see that…well, I don't want him coming back here.” His lip curled faintly in disgust.

 

I nodded, biting my own lip. Atemu's right…I have to stop him. He's my sin; I must atone for it. But the doubt persisted in my mind.

 

* * *

 

My mother came to see me soon after my automail surgery. I was still bedridden, riding out the pain that came with connecting nerve endings to new automail. Still, I was very happy to see her. “Mom!” I exclaimed, struggling to sit up as she came in. “I didn't know you were coming.”

 

“Lie down, sweetheart,” she said with a smile as she sat down on the bed beside me. “Atemu sent me a message saying you were in town. You don't think I'd miss a chance to see my son, do you?”

 

“I guess not,” I answered.

 

She brushed a stray hair off my forehead. “Why are you back, Ryou?”

 

“Atemu didn't tell you?”

 

She shook her head. “He just said to talk to you about it.”

 

I grimaced and turned my gaze to the wall. My reason for being back in Serra's Point was the last thing I wanted my mother to know. She didn't need to know about Greed, and she didn't need to know the only way I could stop him. “I…I came to visit his grave,” I replied, settling on a half truth.

 

She frowned at me, but she didn't press, much to my relief. Instead, she spent the rest of the time talking about what had been happening in Serra's Point in the years I had been away, telling me about old friends and neighbors, who had died and who had new children, amusing circumstances and bad accidents. When she finally got up to leave an hour later, I felt a little better, but there was one last thing I needed to hear from her.

 

“Mom?”

 

“Hm?” She was halfway to the door, but she turned and came back to my bedside. “What is it, sweetheart?”

 

“If…if I could bring him back…really bring him back this time…would you be happy?”

 

She frowned slightly, giving me a sad look. “Ryou, I gave you that answer two years ago. I don't want one son back if it means losing another.”

 

“But it's different this time, Mom!” I said, sitting up. “I…I can do it; there's a way. It wouldn't hurt me at all, but…”

 

“But?” she prompted.

 

“But it's a terrible way. I…I wouldn't die, or even get hurt, but…so many others would suffer.” I looked up at her, unable to stop a tear from slipping down my cheek. “So many nameless faces to me, but I'd be able to have my brother back! Mom, I…” I looked back down. “I don't know what to do.”

 

She sat down beside me again, and with her hand she forced my chin up so that I had to look at her. “Ask yourself,” she said quietly. “If you brought him back, what would he say to you? Would he be happy? Or would you have made him sad, that you placed him above the lives of others? Do you want him to regret being alive, Ryou?”

 

I shook my head, sniffling lightly and reaching up to wipe the tears away. She gave me a warm smile and kissed my forehead. “I trust you to do what's right, Ryou,” she said, and she left.

 

* * *

 

By the time night had fallen, I was well enough to try out my new automail. The alloy the Mutous had used this time was a bit lighter, though it was just as durable, and the loss of the weight had me off-balance for a little while.

 

“You gonna be okay?” Yugi asked, sticking his head into the hall when he heard me fall for the fifth time.

 

“I'll be fine,” I answered, hauling myself back to my feet. “This is a little hard to get used to, but I've almost got it.”

 

Yugi nodded and returned to his room, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I planned to leave in the morning, so I had to get my business done tonight, but I didn't want either of the brothers tagging along. This was something I had to do myself.

 

I had the door open and was stepping out when Atemu's voice stopped me. “Going somewhere?” he asked as he walked around the corner of the house.

 

I cringed. “You know where I'm going,” I replied, knowing it was useless to lie to him. “But you're not coming along, if that's your aim.”

 

“I wouldn't want to,” he said. “But don't you think Greed will be hanging around?”

 

“He'd be a fool to. His one weakness is buried in that graveyard.”

 

Atemu nodded. “Of course. I wish you didn't have to go through this, Ryou. You're too good a person.”

 

“Heh,” I laughed. “No, I'm not. I brought all this on myself, Atemu; now it's time to correct it. I'll be leaving in the morning.”

 

“Of course,” he repeated. “I'll be waiting up for you to get back.”

 

I nodded and started down the street without another word. The cemetery wasn't far, only a ten minute walk from the automail shop. If I hurried, I could be there and back within the hour.

 

Hurrying was almost impossible in a tourist town, though. The setting of the sun meant the beginning of the night life in Serra's Point, and the streets were packed with tourists looking for entertainment. I gritted my teeth and pushed through the crowds, wanting only to get what I had to do done and wishing that all these people would get out of my way.

 

You want to get rid of them? There's an easy way.

 

I flinched as I pushed the words away. I won't…I can't do that! Akira…he'd never forgive me. I've done too much to him already!

 

Thankfully, the crowds thinned as I neared the edge of town, and by the time I reached the cemetery nobody was around. No one wanted to visit a graveyard, after all. With a sigh, I slipped through the gate and started up the hill to a place that was all too familiar.

 

Akira's grave was near the back, in a special section given to the victims of the train accident. The almost new tombstones seemed to glow under the moonlight, and I shuddered, trying to ignore the sensation that I was walking among ghosts.

 

“Hello, Akira,” I said quietly as I knelt beside the most familiar one, resting a hand on its cool surface. “It's been a while, hasn't it?”

 

The stone didn't talk back, of course, and I heaved a quiet sigh. “I'm sorry, brother. I've done so much to you already. Just…allow me this one last favor.” With that, I clapped my hands together and placed them on the ground.

 

The light of the alchemic reaction lit up the night, and I was briefly blinded. The earth under my fingers shifted, and as my vision cleared, I saw it moving, pulling away from the grave to pile up on the ground around it. In its place was a neat rectangular hole, stretching down to the dark coffin. I hesitated, and then jumped in, wincing at the hollow thud as I landed on the coffin. It was a single lid kind, not made for viewing at the funeral. But that was understandable, since Akira had been crushed to death.

 

I clapped my hands together again, this time transmuting a hatch into the coffin's lid so I wouldn't have to take the time to open it. Taking a deep breath, I pulled open the hatch, shuddering violently at the sight beneath it.

 

Akira's whole body had a flattened look, and jagged edges of bone poked through the thin, half-decomposed skin in several places. The memory of the last look on his face, that look of terror as the train rolled on top of him, rose into my mind unbidden, and I began to shake as I reached forward to his folded hands.

 

“You deserved so much better,” I whispered, breaking off a finger bone. “I miss you, brother.”

 

After folding a handkerchief around the bone and tucking it into my vest pocket, I closed the hatch and retransmuted it into the coffin lid. Then I jumped out of the hole, grabbing the edge and pulling myself up the last couple of feet. Shaking dirt out of my hair, I retransmuted the ground to fill in the hole.

 

I rested my hand on the gravestone again, unwilling to go even after what I had done. “I miss you,” I whispered again. “It's not fair…you shouldn't have died like that.”

 

The sound of rustling grass reached my ears, and I whirled around, half-expecting Greed or Wrath to be sneaking up behind me. But it was neither.

 

It was my father.

 

I snorted lightly to myself as I turned my back on him, looking at Akira's grave again. He was the very last person I wanted to see, here most of all. But there was no avoiding it now; he had seen me as well.

 

“Ryou?” I tensed at the harshness in his tone. “Why are you here? You have no business in Serra's Point.”

 

Fine! You want to play the `you're not my son' game? I can play it, too. “That's Major Bakura,” I replied coldly. “And I'm here on military business. But you don't need to know any more than that.”

 

“And what military business involves visiting a gravesite?”

 

I felt my lips thin as I looked back at him. “I'd tell you, but it's top secret. Civilians don't need to know.” With that, I touched the stone one last time and shouldered past him, trying hard to keep the tears from welling in my eyes as I left.

 

* * *

 

Once again, Yugi and Atemu came to the station to see me off in the morning. “Where are you planning to go now?” the elder asked as we stood on the platform, waiting for the boarding announcement.

 

“East City,” I replied. “I know it's a long way, but it's where Colonel Elric last reported from. If I can join up with him, we'll have a better chance of stopping the Homunculi. I really don't feel like facing them alone.”

 

“I don't blame you,” Yugi said. “I'd hate to be in your shoes right now.”

 

Atemu elbowed him, but I laughed. “Be glad of it,” I told him. “But don't worry about me.” I put a hand over my vest pocket. “I have a chance of winning now.”

 

“Still, be careful,” Atemu said. “And don't break my automail again!”

 

I laughed again, picking up my bag as the conductor called for boarding to begin. “I won't, and that's a promise. It hurts too much to break. But I will come back to visit when this is over!” With a little wave, I hopped into the train and found a seat close by the door.

 

“Bye, Ryou!” Yugi called to me through the open window. “We'll be waiting for you!”

 

I waved again as the final boarding whistle sounded, and then settled back in my seat, glancing down at my pocket. “Don't worry, guys,” I murmured to myself. “I have help this time.”

 

This time, Greed will be the one to regret seeking me out.

 

* * *

 

What's this? I sense an ending to the story quite soon. Too bad; it's so much fun to write. But don't worry, there's still a few chapters left. Until the next one, enjoy and please leave a review!