Pride & Humility

XI

Vestard was the latest of these ideas.

And debatably the deadliest.

Once everything was organized she and Selim exited the basement laboratory under her greenhouse.

After obtaining her State Alchemist license a laboratory was attached to her greenhouse. The first level was her main laboratory and was generally open to visitation. The basement, however, was for more... intense testing.

Namely anything involving human corpses.

This required a certain level of security. While a determined alchemist could probably still get in, it would take them a while since the door and walls were made up of different materials.

Elizabeth highly doubted anyone would care enough to break in. The only alchemists who even knew about the basement were the Elric brothers, and Elizabeth was not ashamed of showing them the cadavers she worked on in order to successfully perform human transmutation, or test her new medicine.

Although both boys were reluctant to ever go near that basement after the first time Elizabeth gave them the tour.

'Surprisingly squeamish for being alchemists who want to make an entire human body,' Elizabeth thought.

Selim shut the basement door behind them, and just as they entered the greenhouse the front doors opened up to Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse Elric.

"Hello, boys," Elizabeth greeted with a chirp. "What can I do for you?"

"If you need a step ladder you can ask a janitor," Selim said with a false smile.

Edward glare hatefully at the smaller boy before completely ignoring him—Selim scowled at that—to say to Elizabeth: "Can we talk to you for a moment? In private."

'Selim will absolutely hear everything regardless,' Elizabeth thought, but didn't have the heart to say. Instead she nodded and turned back to Selim. "If you want to head inside, I'll be with you shortly."

"O-kay!" Selim sung, brushing past the other boys. Elizabeth was unsurprised to feel Selim's shadows stretch out around the greenhouse. He kept them faded enough it would be nearly impossible to see them, but Elizabeth knew Selim's shadows like she knew the back of her hands.

Edward awkwardly scratched his cheek after Selim left. "Um—look, about last night..."

He fell silent, his brow furrowed in clear discomfort. He was even starting to fidget, which in turn made Alphonse fidget.

Elizabeth resisted the urge to mimic their nervous habits, her stomach starting to flutter with irrational anxiety. "Are you—are you mad at me?"

"No," Edward and Alphonse immediately denied.

"I'm not one to pry into someone's past," Edward began, shifting his weight. "The past is the past, and things can't be done to change it. All we can do is move forward."

"I agree," Elizabeth said, nodding her head.

"But Mustang said something that got us thinking..." Edward trailed off.

"Elizabeth," Alphonse hesitantly picked up when Edward was silent for too long. "Would you mind... would you please tell us what happened to the Luxanna family?"

Elizabeth stilled, an instant sensation of detachment causing her eyes to dull and her lips to tug down in a frown. She did not feel fear, or anxiety, when discussing her life before Selim had saved her. She did not feel remorse, or pity, over what had occurred that night.

But she simply didn't know how to explain that to the brothers.

She didn't talk about it with really anyone before. Selim already knew, so Elizabeth felt there was no need to dig it back up. Mumma had tried to get Elizabeth to speak more about it, but Elizabeth could never get her tongue to work properly then. Mumma even tried to set Elizabeth up with counseling, but Elizabeth, Selim, and Papa fought that idea stubbornly.

As a result, Elizabeth had not spoken about the Luxanna family, or what happened that night, period.

Her tongue felt heavy, and she tried to work her mouth well enough to say something, anything, but she found herself unable to. There was a chilling numbness inside the pit of her stomach, and the tips of her fingers felt unnaturally cold and stiff, like a corpse.

She struggled for a few minutes before both brothers realized she was having difficulty. Guilt entered Edward's eyes, and he reached out a hand to place it on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"We're sorry," Alphonse whispered, bowing his head. "We didn't mean—"

"They were bad," Elizabeth managed to say, her voice cracking and raspy. A shudder overtook her, causing goosebumps to crawl up her arms and spine. "They were... bad."

They waited in patient silence to see if she would say anything else, but Elizabeth simply couldn't. She was starting to feel a little nauseous, the numbness seeping into her head and making her dizzy. She must have started to wobble because suddenly Edward had both his arms around her, supporting her.

The door to the greenhouse swung open, hard, and Selim marched in, big fake smile on his face and a downright malicious gleam in his eyes. "Ellie! Come on, Ellie, Mum wants you."

He brushed past Alphonse, grabbed Elizabeth's hand and yanked her with impressive strength right out of Edward's arms. Elizabeth stumbled, her world tilting until Selim hooked his arm through her's and without another word began to quickly guide her away.

Elizabeth barely remembered to call back to her friends and say, "I'll—I'll talk to you both later—"

"See you, Lizzie," Edward and Alphonse said in return.

Selim kept pulling Elizabeth along until they made it to the kitchen.

Silence fell between the two. The discomfort Elizabeth had began to slip away, and she felt her body sag into her Selim's. He stood rigid, not saying or doing anything else but allowing her to lean onto him. She took several deep breaths, inhaling the familiar and comforting scents of the kitchen and Selim.

When she finally felt like herself again she pulled back and quietly said, "Thank—"

He immediately grabbed her cheeks and stretched her face out into such a wide smile. "Shut up and make me croquembouche."

"As tall as Papa?"

"Taller."

Elizabeth let out a small giggle, her eyes sparkling with affection. "Okay."

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

The Elric brothers had left for some far off city. They didn't have a chance to say goodbye, but that didn't matter. The friendship between the three would remain strong regardless of time, or distance apart.

Elizabeth went back to work on her experiments, tending to her greenhouse, and playing with Selim. For the next few weeks her time was spent in warm peace.

And then the first State Alchemist in Central was slain by a man with a scar.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Bit of a short chapter to transition into the next arc, and sorry for the delay. Insane Friday & weekend.

Answer: Any one where Hoenheim sticks around. I live for Happy!Elric family because I feel like if Hoenheim had stuck around he coulda cured Momma Elric.

Question: What are three things you would have changed in the FMA universe if you could?

Reviews are love!