The Mission
Only the sound of birds singing surrounded the mansion that was located in the forest outside Dublith. The place was quiet, and there was no life inside the mansion itself. Even the door was locked, another sign that the place was, in fact, abandoned.
That, however, didn’t stop Izumi. She forced the entrance open with a powerful kick, and the door collapsed on the floor with a loud crash. There was no time for discretion, after all. She wanted some answers about her old teacher and she would get them, no matter how long it took her. It was with that thought that she stepped inside, checking her surroundings quite warily.
From where should she start searching, though?
Just then, she remembered Professor Syndow’s words about a secret door inside the library, and she knew where she should go first. That’s where she headed off, keeping herself alert at all times.
“Wait here, okay, Al?” Ed said as the brothers reached Major Armstrong’s office.
“Are you sure about this, Brother?” the suit of armour asked, his eyes reflecting his concern.
“Positive.”
Al didn’t object again, so Ed used his flesh hand to knock on the door. He stepped inside as soon as he heard Major Armstrong’s deep voice saying: “Come in”, and he closed the door behind him gently.
“Hello, Major,” Ed said, standing in front of the burly man’s office. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I did,” Armstrong replied. He lifted his gaze to look at Ed, and the teen alchemist frowned mentally when he saw that Armstrong wasn’t smiling, like he usually did. Even the brilliant aura that seemed to surround the burly man at all times was all but extinguished.
“What’s wrong, Major?” Ed asked worriedly.
Armstrong stood up and walked up to Ed, regarding him quite thoughtfully. “Colonel Archer will be the one authorising the attack on Liore. His first orders were that all the State Alchemists should give up their watches for modifications.”
That didn’t sound right at all. “What kind of modifications?” Ed asked in a wary tone.
Armstrong’s lips tugged briefly to a small, wan smile. “Not all of us have Sergeant Beregond’s special ability. As you know, a State Alchemist’s watch has amplifiers that boost said alchemist’s abilities. In times of war, State Alchemists need as much power as they can get in order to fight efficiently.”
“I see,” Ed replied, frownin visibly this time. “Like they needed power in Ishbal?”
Armstrong winced, something that made Ed regret his words. “I’m sorry.”
Armstrong waved his hand dismissively, though. “I understand… Now, please, hand over the watch, Edward Elric.”
This time, Ed decided to comply without much fuss. He unclasped the silver watch from his belt and passed it to Armstrong. The man, however, curled his fingers around the boy’s wrist instead. Edward froze and looked at Armstrong’s eyes.
“Why are you doing this, Edward Elric?”
The question was gentle, an indication of what Armstrong really wanted to know. Why Ed couldn’t just quit the military while he still had his innocence and integrity intact?
Ed only smiled sadly and said only two words. “Fate… maybe.”
Armstrong looked at the boy quite troubled. “You don’t believe in fate.”
“Well, some events tempt me to reconsider my beliefs.”
Armstrong didn’t have anything to say to that. He just let go of Ed and watched him exit in silence.
“So… Beregond,” Roy said, still regarding the Gondorian closely. “Are my orders clear?”
“Yes, Sir,” came the soft answer.
“So you know what you must do.”
Beregond sighed. “You do realise that you ask me to keep the truth from Edward,” he said, his right hand tugging his medallion in a thoughtful manner. “In all this time that I’ve served under you, this is the first time that you’re willing to treat him like a child.”
“Would you rather I didn’t?”
Beregond shook his head.
“He doesn’t have to find himself in the same situation you and I have already been,” Roy reasoned. “We fight so that the next generation can live without fear. You understand that, right?”
Beregond smiled, albeit wanly. “You don’t have to convince me, Sir. I’ll do my duty.”
“Thank you,” Roy said, accepting the answer.
Beregond clasped his hands together, feeling that the matter was finally settled. “So when do I infiltrate Liore?”
“The first night after we arrive at the camp. We can’t afford to lose any more time,” Roy explained. “You go in, you find Scar, and you make sure he doesn’t create the philosopher’s stone. Do you think you can do it?”
“Just make sure there are no more soldiers on my back.”
“Good. That will be all, Sergeant.”
Beregond nodded his acquiescence and stood up.
“And… Beregond?”
The Gondorian froze on his tracks. “Yes?”
“Remember… not a word of this to Edward.”
“Understood.”
With that, Beregond walked out, coming face to face with Ed and Al. The boys smiled to see the Gondorian, and all three headed toward the exit.
“Well, what did the Colonel want from you, Beregond?” Ed asked, out of the blue it seemed.
Beregond swallowed hard. He knew that lying about matters wasn’t an option; the boys didn’t deserve that. On the other hand, he couldn’t ignore Colonel Mustang’s orders either, so he went for his next best option.
“He told me everything that’s happened while we were away. Even about Hughes,” he said truthfully enough. “We ought to go see him.”
“But the Colonel said that they were hiding him,” Al pointed out thoughtfully. “How are we to do that?”
“Easy,” Beregond replied with a smile. “I know where Hughes is, and we have the perfect excuse to go there.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ed asked.
“Nothing too fancy. Just a friendly visit,” Beregond replied enigmatically.
“And then Joshua said that he could stand on his head for even longer than Clause, so…”
Sarah listened to Alice’s recounting of her school day with a small smile, and yet she wasn’t really paying much attention to her. The woman was more concerned about figuring out how to keep Alice distracted, so that the little girl wouldn’t come across Hughes; it was something was becoming harder with each passing day. For one thing, Hughes was steadily growing stronger and restless. Not only that, Sarah could only find that many excuses to explain to her daughter why one of the rooms had suddenly become off limits. Worse, she would have to take up her duties as a librarian again soon.
That meant one thing, naturally. She wouldn’t be able to keep Maes hidden much longer. She would have to find safer quarters for him, and she would have to do that without being noticed by unwelcome eyes.
Suddenly, Alice’s voice cut her off her line of thought.
“Beregond! Ed! Al!”
At the next moment, the girl had pried herself off her mother’s grip and rushed to greet her friends. Sarah looked up, and she was certainly surprised to see that the boys and her friends were really on the doorstep, beckoning her to open the door.
Her smile broadened, and she walked up to them to greet them.
Izumi dragged another chest out into the light, so that she could have a better look at it. As she had expected, it was locked, just like the other ones she had found so far… and it was just as easy to alchemically open its lock.
The lid snapped open with a sharp click, filling the air with dust. Coughing slightly, Izumi looked inside the chest, only to see that it was crammed with books. Though that in itself wasn’t surprising, the very age of those books was. Some of them dated back to 400 years, and the very ideas that were presented in them were older… even forbidden.
The composition of the waters, the movement, the growth, the removal and restitution of bodily nature, the splitting off of the spirit from the body and the fixation of the spirit on the body are not operations with natures alien one from the other. But, like the hard bodies of metals and the moist fluids of plants, are One Thing, of One Nature, acting upon itself. And in this system, of one kind but many colours, is preserved a research of all things, multiple and various.
Izumi could only frown at this. It seemed that she didn’t know her teacher at all and yet some of her former teacher’s words on they day they parted finally made sense.
“I’ll leave the forest and go to the city,” Izumi declared, looking unwaveringly at the old woman who was sitting at a desk nearby. “I should be among the people that need me.”
“So that’s it? You plan on living your life looking for praise?” Dante asked. She sighed and shook her head. “Then you might as well enlist and become a State Alchemist.”
Izumi bit her lower lip and clenched her hands into tight fists. “Why--?”
“Leave.”
But Izumi intended to make her question and Dante wouldn’t stop her. “Why don’t you like people?”
“What is there to like?” Dante answered. “They’re egotistical creatures, beyond any redemption. Once they learned the use of gunpowder, all they could think of was waging war. If they were to understand the secrets of alchemy, it would be an even greater tragedy.”
“Even so, we are humans too!”
The woman shook her head as the memories made her feel quite bitter. However, she also knew that reminiscing the past wouldn’t help anyone, so she resumed with her searching.
It was then that she caught sight of a stack of papers at the bottom of the chest. Curiosity overwhelming her, she picked them up and looked at them.
At the next moment, she could only stare incredulously at what she read there.
Sarah had been more than happy to welcome her friends to her home, and Alice had settled on Beregond’s lap, scarcely containing her excitement. Everyone had spent their afternoon talking and exchanging small news, like it was expected from friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while, without even realising the passing of time. However, that kind of reunion was tainted with the thick air of tension in the air, as though everyone was careful with their words and actions. It was a strange sensation, even awkward at times, and the only one who didn’t seem affected by that kind of atmosphere was Alice. She was simply content with playing with Al and Beregond, until exhaustion caught up with her. She fell asleep on the Gondorian’s lap, her small fingers gripping his shirt tightly and refusing to let him go.
Sarah shook her head at the sight.
“She still thinks you’re some sort of a puppy, Mr. Beregond,” she noted with a small smile. “Do you want me to take her from you?”
“It’s fine,” Beregond said, and he carefully got up from the couch, holding the girl tenderly in his arms. “Where’s her room?”
“Upstairs, the first door to your right.”
Beregond nodded his acknowledgement and walked up the stairs. However, he also cast a brief glance in the boys’ direction before he was gone out of sight; a glance full of meaning.
Ed and Al understood what Beregond was telling them. It was time to speak to Sarah about Hughes. The brothers exchanged a look, and silently agreed that Al should talk first.
“Mrs Abbot,” the suit of armour said, “There’s something you should know.”
“Oh?” Sarah asked, raising her eyebrow in mild curiosity.
Al nodded. “We talked with Colonel Mustang this morning. He’s told us everything.”
The woman frowned at this. “Everything?”
“Everything,” Ed echoed.
Sarah’s expression softened. “I see.”
She didn’t say much else. She simply stood up and walked up to a closed door, then opened it and looked inside.
“You can come out.”
Ed and Al tensed, understanding what that meant. Sure enough, the sound of footsteps sounded quite clearly and, at the next moment, Maes stepped out. He was pale and haggard-looking, but it was really him, his smile brightening his features.
“Yo… You guys haven’t seen Elysia’s pictures from her birthday, have you?”
Ed didn’t think it was ever possible, but he was actually glad to hear those words.
TBC…
That, however, didn’t stop Izumi. She forced the entrance open with a powerful kick, and the door collapsed on the floor with a loud crash. There was no time for discretion, after all. She wanted some answers about her old teacher and she would get them, no matter how long it took her. It was with that thought that she stepped inside, checking her surroundings quite warily.
From where should she start searching, though?
Just then, she remembered Professor Syndow’s words about a secret door inside the library, and she knew where she should go first. That’s where she headed off, keeping herself alert at all times.
“Wait here, okay, Al?” Ed said as the brothers reached Major Armstrong’s office.
“Are you sure about this, Brother?” the suit of armour asked, his eyes reflecting his concern.
“Positive.”
Al didn’t object again, so Ed used his flesh hand to knock on the door. He stepped inside as soon as he heard Major Armstrong’s deep voice saying: “Come in”, and he closed the door behind him gently.
“Hello, Major,” Ed said, standing in front of the burly man’s office. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I did,” Armstrong replied. He lifted his gaze to look at Ed, and the teen alchemist frowned mentally when he saw that Armstrong wasn’t smiling, like he usually did. Even the brilliant aura that seemed to surround the burly man at all times was all but extinguished.
“What’s wrong, Major?” Ed asked worriedly.
Armstrong stood up and walked up to Ed, regarding him quite thoughtfully. “Colonel Archer will be the one authorising the attack on Liore. His first orders were that all the State Alchemists should give up their watches for modifications.”
That didn’t sound right at all. “What kind of modifications?” Ed asked in a wary tone.
Armstrong’s lips tugged briefly to a small, wan smile. “Not all of us have Sergeant Beregond’s special ability. As you know, a State Alchemist’s watch has amplifiers that boost said alchemist’s abilities. In times of war, State Alchemists need as much power as they can get in order to fight efficiently.”
“I see,” Ed replied, frownin visibly this time. “Like they needed power in Ishbal?”
Armstrong winced, something that made Ed regret his words. “I’m sorry.”
Armstrong waved his hand dismissively, though. “I understand… Now, please, hand over the watch, Edward Elric.”
This time, Ed decided to comply without much fuss. He unclasped the silver watch from his belt and passed it to Armstrong. The man, however, curled his fingers around the boy’s wrist instead. Edward froze and looked at Armstrong’s eyes.
“Why are you doing this, Edward Elric?”
The question was gentle, an indication of what Armstrong really wanted to know. Why Ed couldn’t just quit the military while he still had his innocence and integrity intact?
Ed only smiled sadly and said only two words. “Fate… maybe.”
Armstrong looked at the boy quite troubled. “You don’t believe in fate.”
“Well, some events tempt me to reconsider my beliefs.”
Armstrong didn’t have anything to say to that. He just let go of Ed and watched him exit in silence.
“So… Beregond,” Roy said, still regarding the Gondorian closely. “Are my orders clear?”
“Yes, Sir,” came the soft answer.
“So you know what you must do.”
Beregond sighed. “You do realise that you ask me to keep the truth from Edward,” he said, his right hand tugging his medallion in a thoughtful manner. “In all this time that I’ve served under you, this is the first time that you’re willing to treat him like a child.”
“Would you rather I didn’t?”
Beregond shook his head.
“He doesn’t have to find himself in the same situation you and I have already been,” Roy reasoned. “We fight so that the next generation can live without fear. You understand that, right?”
Beregond smiled, albeit wanly. “You don’t have to convince me, Sir. I’ll do my duty.”
“Thank you,” Roy said, accepting the answer.
Beregond clasped his hands together, feeling that the matter was finally settled. “So when do I infiltrate Liore?”
“The first night after we arrive at the camp. We can’t afford to lose any more time,” Roy explained. “You go in, you find Scar, and you make sure he doesn’t create the philosopher’s stone. Do you think you can do it?”
“Just make sure there are no more soldiers on my back.”
“Good. That will be all, Sergeant.”
Beregond nodded his acquiescence and stood up.
“And… Beregond?”
The Gondorian froze on his tracks. “Yes?”
“Remember… not a word of this to Edward.”
“Understood.”
With that, Beregond walked out, coming face to face with Ed and Al. The boys smiled to see the Gondorian, and all three headed toward the exit.
“Well, what did the Colonel want from you, Beregond?” Ed asked, out of the blue it seemed.
Beregond swallowed hard. He knew that lying about matters wasn’t an option; the boys didn’t deserve that. On the other hand, he couldn’t ignore Colonel Mustang’s orders either, so he went for his next best option.
“He told me everything that’s happened while we were away. Even about Hughes,” he said truthfully enough. “We ought to go see him.”
“But the Colonel said that they were hiding him,” Al pointed out thoughtfully. “How are we to do that?”
“Easy,” Beregond replied with a smile. “I know where Hughes is, and we have the perfect excuse to go there.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ed asked.
“Nothing too fancy. Just a friendly visit,” Beregond replied enigmatically.
“And then Joshua said that he could stand on his head for even longer than Clause, so…”
Sarah listened to Alice’s recounting of her school day with a small smile, and yet she wasn’t really paying much attention to her. The woman was more concerned about figuring out how to keep Alice distracted, so that the little girl wouldn’t come across Hughes; it was something was becoming harder with each passing day. For one thing, Hughes was steadily growing stronger and restless. Not only that, Sarah could only find that many excuses to explain to her daughter why one of the rooms had suddenly become off limits. Worse, she would have to take up her duties as a librarian again soon.
That meant one thing, naturally. She wouldn’t be able to keep Maes hidden much longer. She would have to find safer quarters for him, and she would have to do that without being noticed by unwelcome eyes.
Suddenly, Alice’s voice cut her off her line of thought.
“Beregond! Ed! Al!”
At the next moment, the girl had pried herself off her mother’s grip and rushed to greet her friends. Sarah looked up, and she was certainly surprised to see that the boys and her friends were really on the doorstep, beckoning her to open the door.
Her smile broadened, and she walked up to them to greet them.
Izumi dragged another chest out into the light, so that she could have a better look at it. As she had expected, it was locked, just like the other ones she had found so far… and it was just as easy to alchemically open its lock.
The lid snapped open with a sharp click, filling the air with dust. Coughing slightly, Izumi looked inside the chest, only to see that it was crammed with books. Though that in itself wasn’t surprising, the very age of those books was. Some of them dated back to 400 years, and the very ideas that were presented in them were older… even forbidden.
The composition of the waters, the movement, the growth, the removal and restitution of bodily nature, the splitting off of the spirit from the body and the fixation of the spirit on the body are not operations with natures alien one from the other. But, like the hard bodies of metals and the moist fluids of plants, are One Thing, of One Nature, acting upon itself. And in this system, of one kind but many colours, is preserved a research of all things, multiple and various.
Izumi could only frown at this. It seemed that she didn’t know her teacher at all and yet some of her former teacher’s words on they day they parted finally made sense.
“I’ll leave the forest and go to the city,” Izumi declared, looking unwaveringly at the old woman who was sitting at a desk nearby. “I should be among the people that need me.”
“So that’s it? You plan on living your life looking for praise?” Dante asked. She sighed and shook her head. “Then you might as well enlist and become a State Alchemist.”
Izumi bit her lower lip and clenched her hands into tight fists. “Why--?”
“Leave.”
But Izumi intended to make her question and Dante wouldn’t stop her. “Why don’t you like people?”
“What is there to like?” Dante answered. “They’re egotistical creatures, beyond any redemption. Once they learned the use of gunpowder, all they could think of was waging war. If they were to understand the secrets of alchemy, it would be an even greater tragedy.”
“Even so, we are humans too!”
The woman shook her head as the memories made her feel quite bitter. However, she also knew that reminiscing the past wouldn’t help anyone, so she resumed with her searching.
It was then that she caught sight of a stack of papers at the bottom of the chest. Curiosity overwhelming her, she picked them up and looked at them.
At the next moment, she could only stare incredulously at what she read there.
Sarah had been more than happy to welcome her friends to her home, and Alice had settled on Beregond’s lap, scarcely containing her excitement. Everyone had spent their afternoon talking and exchanging small news, like it was expected from friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while, without even realising the passing of time. However, that kind of reunion was tainted with the thick air of tension in the air, as though everyone was careful with their words and actions. It was a strange sensation, even awkward at times, and the only one who didn’t seem affected by that kind of atmosphere was Alice. She was simply content with playing with Al and Beregond, until exhaustion caught up with her. She fell asleep on the Gondorian’s lap, her small fingers gripping his shirt tightly and refusing to let him go.
Sarah shook her head at the sight.
“She still thinks you’re some sort of a puppy, Mr. Beregond,” she noted with a small smile. “Do you want me to take her from you?”
“It’s fine,” Beregond said, and he carefully got up from the couch, holding the girl tenderly in his arms. “Where’s her room?”
“Upstairs, the first door to your right.”
Beregond nodded his acknowledgement and walked up the stairs. However, he also cast a brief glance in the boys’ direction before he was gone out of sight; a glance full of meaning.
Ed and Al understood what Beregond was telling them. It was time to speak to Sarah about Hughes. The brothers exchanged a look, and silently agreed that Al should talk first.
“Mrs Abbot,” the suit of armour said, “There’s something you should know.”
“Oh?” Sarah asked, raising her eyebrow in mild curiosity.
Al nodded. “We talked with Colonel Mustang this morning. He’s told us everything.”
The woman frowned at this. “Everything?”
“Everything,” Ed echoed.
Sarah’s expression softened. “I see.”
She didn’t say much else. She simply stood up and walked up to a closed door, then opened it and looked inside.
“You can come out.”
Ed and Al tensed, understanding what that meant. Sure enough, the sound of footsteps sounded quite clearly and, at the next moment, Maes stepped out. He was pale and haggard-looking, but it was really him, his smile brightening his features.
“Yo… You guys haven’t seen Elysia’s pictures from her birthday, have you?”
Ed didn’t think it was ever possible, but he was actually glad to hear those words.
TBC…
Subtitles
- Brother's Debt
- Fullmetal Body, Fullmetal Heart
- A Quiet Day
- In The Night
- Two Men's Faces
- Transfer
- Making Plans
- Shadows Of The Past
- Underworld
- The Price Of Immortality
- Departure
- The Key
- Enemy Revealed
- A Step Back
- A Step Closer To The Truth
- A Race
- Rush Valley
- Responsibility
- Izumi
- Time To Stand Still
- Wild Child
- Encounter
- Riddles In The Dark
- In Search For Answers
- A Teacher's Mistakes
- Complications
- Visits
- The Nature Of A Homunculus
- Dante Of The Deep Forest
- Kidnapped
- Fight At The Devil's Nest
- Innocence Lost
- Blood Spilt
- Recovering
- Bearers Of Ill News
- The Flame Alchemist
- True Colours
- Markings On The Ground
- The Mission
- Heading To Liore
- Change Of Plans
- The Scar
- Holy Mother
- A Mother's Face
- Final Moments