Cecelia never looked up as the trio walked to the train station, melancholy echoing with their footsteps. Sig had accompanied them, his steps were heavy on their backs. The group stood on the platform and Cecelia twisted her foot into the brick flooring, staring down at the ground. She hadn't known the Curtis' for more than a day but the fact she was losing the chance to have a new teacher still had her mind spiraling.
The train whistle blew and Sig finally spoke, "Feel free to stop by if you're ever in town."
"I'm not so sure about that," Al stated solemnly
"You idiots!" Sig scolded, the kids were taken aback by his outcry, this was the first time he truly sounded angry in front of Cecelia. "You're so busy pouting you can't see what your explosion means. You aren't her students anymore so you can speak to Izumi as equals," Ed and Al shared a look, though Cecelia wasn't sure what this entailed for her, the prospect of staying gave her hope. "Unless of course, you're too chicken to try it."
Ed groaned, "Damn! Al, we haven't done what we came here to do in the first place. Thank you, we're heading back there right now."
Ed took off back to their home, Al and Cecelia followed closely behind. "Don't let her kill you,"
Edward barged into the home and let out a yelp when a sharp knife planted itself in the wall behind him, just above his head.
"What the hell are you doing coming back here!?" Izumi yelled, a demonically angry expression on her features. "And you call me teacher. I do not teach scum like you, get out of my home!"
The children knelt on the ground in front of her. "teacher!" Ed started.
"We came to you because we're trying to find a way to get our bodies back." Alphonse finished for his older brother. Cecelia was here to learn and protect the boys. Even if she wasn't going to be taught, she owed it to Maes to never leave their sides.
"Teacher, we won't leave without your help!"
"Get out now!" Izumi demanded.
"We're staying!" The boys cried together, and Cecelia nodded to their sentiments.
Izumi was silent until she looked away from the three with a sigh, "You idiots."
Izumi sat across the boys on a coach and Cecelia leaned on the wall. "Al, you didn't see the truth, did you?"
"No," He said. "I don't even know what that means."
"You must have lost your memory from the shock," Izumi concluded. "We need to get Al's memory back. His entire body was taken, just think what he must have seen."
"You're right," Cecelia chimed in. "We only lost parts of our body, but Al paid with his entire physical being, what he saw could be unimaginable."
"So, if I can remember what I saw then we might be able to get our bodies back?"
"But the memory of that thing," Izumi recalled.
"That thing," Ed added, Alphonse looked to Cecelia who nodded with wide eyes.
"What thing? Was it bad?"
"More like awful!" Izumi stood, waving her arms about in a witty attempt to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, and horrifying," Edward joined, waving his arms about like his teacher. Cecelia nodded her head, a contemplative hand on her chin.
Alphonse shook off his slight fear, "That doesn't matter. If there's a chance it can help us, then I want to do it.
Izumi gave way to the boy's determination, "I have an acquaintance who might know a way to retrieve your memories for you." The boys looked excited at that, "But, let's eat dinner first. Give me a hand."
Cecelia had hardly noticed that it was dinner time, as they walked to the kitchen, Cecelia heard a voice outside the window, it sounded light and raspy. A quick look out the window revealed nothing, figuring it was simply the wind she entered the kitchen as well.
"Cecelia, about you wanting to learn my alchemy," Izumi started.
"Oh, yes, what about it?" the girl asked timidly.
"Well I certainly won't be teaching you, but I am willing to help you learn."
"Do you really mean it?" Cecelia asked, a wide smile spreading across her face.
All Izumi had to do was nod towards the girl to send her into a giddy victory dance. The sight of Cecelia acting so childish at the idea of learning made the woman smile. It wasn't often she got to see a child so excited to learn. Dinner was enjoyed with stories of the class and how Izumi taught the Elrics. Leaving them on an island for a month, simply for an initiation. Cecelia hoped her time with Izumi would be much less harsh.
The next morning, Cecelia stood in the front yard with Izumi waiting to see what she could do. "Go on then, I need to see what you already know."
Cecelia nodded and cut her hand with one swift move, then creating a Manriki chain, demonstrating her ability, swinging it around her body then transmuting it again into a tanto blade, slashing an imaginary opponent. Finally transmuting the blood back into her hand.
Izumi took a second to reply, and Cecelia felt the need to speak, "See, all hand to hand, and no defensive."
"I agree," Izumi placed her hands on her hips, "However I believe you'll be able to learn fairly quickly, your transmutation uses the same principles as mine."
That made Cecelia feel very happy.
"Alright, now to the actual work," Izumi approached her. "You already know the basics of alchemy, so I'll skip ahead a little. A good way to think of this alchemy is using the earth as a conduit for your agenda. As you transmute think what you want and what you need, then, just like you do with your blood, pull the object from the earth."
Izumi clapped her hands and placed them on the ground, pushing a column from the ground. Cecelia watched in awe at the simple action. Her teacher stood back up and turned to her. "Your turn kid."
Cecelia grinned, clapped her hands and touched the ground, but nothing happened. Her transmutation dissipated and her cocky smirk fell. Again she went through the process but nothing happened. For a third time, she went through the process, thinking to her self "Column, earth, rock, anything solid." But like the previous endeavors, nothing happened.
Frustrated she sat down on the ground with a pout. "You aren't going to give up so easily, are you?" Izumi sounded like she was looking down on the girl.
Cecelia wasn't going to let Izumi be disappointed with her already. She shifted onto her knees and tried again and again and again, each time getting nothing. To confirm she could, in fact, perform alchemy she transmuted her blood and getting the usual, effective result of her blood forming a weapon. She returned the blood then went back to trying to transmute the ground. Once she had done it another five times she flopped onto her back with a frustrated cry.
Izumi shook her head. "I didn't think that I would have to baby you on this."
"I don't understand what you mean!" Cecelia cried, shooting her arms into the air. "The earth isn't a human body, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
Her teacher stood over her. "The earth isn't that far off from a body," Cecelia sat up and looked at Izumi with a bit more dedication. "When you use your body with alchemy you don't use your bones or organs, you control your alchemy and pull out blood, the only thing you need."
"How is this supposed to relate to earth alchemy?"
"Don't think of the earth as a separate entity, the earth is a body, so take what you need from it, and form what you will."
Cecelia looked into her lap. The earth as a body, huh? She flipped onto her knees and tried again. Blood: just salt, iron and slew of other elements. The earth naturally carries the majority of these elements. She clapped her hands preparing for her next attempt and placed them on the ground with one goal in mind, move the earth up. She transmuted but nothing happened. Again, she told herself, so she did and again nothing happened. Cecelia stood, a new determination building in her. Move the ground up into spikes. She clapped her hands with her eyebrows furrowed together. Move the ground up into spikes. She placed her hands on the ground thinking of all she needed to form the spikes she wanted. Move the ground up into spikes. The transmutation left her arms, and slowly the ground right in front of her rose.
Cecelia's eyes brightened and joy overcame her. Despite her actions being lack-luster, she was ecstatic at the fact she could transmute in a new way. Cecelia couldn't see Izumi, but a slightly proud smile graced her lips.
Cecelia transmuted the ground, again and again, slowly moving the ground more, and creating new things. She was able to do so quicker and smoother. By the time teacher told her to take a break Cecelia was still only transmuting very small things, at a pretty slow rate, but the rate she was improving was breathtaking. Cecelia didn't really want to stop, but she did as her teacher said. The Elric's were already sat down eating lunch, Cecelia felt starving. One thing alchemists never really acknowledge is how much it takes out of them to transmute in new ways. It takes less and less energy to transmute as alchemists get better, but in the beginning its a lot of work. Cecelia scarfed down lunch as Ed and Al asked her questions about her training, which Cecelia answered like a giddy school girl.
Once they were done Izumi gave them all jobs to clean up around the house. Cecelia had to wash the few dishes they had used and the boys had to sweep the streets. Cecelia had gotten done very quickly, (She was fairly sure teacher gave her that job to let her have some time to herself.)
Cecelia decided to grab her book and read where Al was sweeping. Cecelia had grown to enjoy the quiet and sweet boy's company, more than his brother's. She found that around him she didn't need to wear her jacket to hide her automail either, she only wore the grey, sleeveless, tight-necked crop top and the jeans she had come in, along with her boots and fuzzy socks. Neither of them spoke as Al did his job and Cecelia read, they simply enjoyed each other's presence. She hadn't looked up from her poetry until she heard Al stop sweeping. Looking up she saw Al looking around then picked up a crumpled paper that hadn't been there before. She hopped up and looked over his metal arm to see what it was.
It was a threat. At least that was what it sounded like. "We know your secret. Come to the Devil's Nest, alone."
"Do you think I should go?"Al asked, not looking away from the paper.
Cecelia shifted her weight. "Well, you're not going alone."
Alphonse protested. "But it says for me to go alone."
"Whoever threw that saw me here so it's saying that to the both of us."
Alphonse nodded, secretly glad she was going with him. Al walked in front of Cecelia almost the entire time, she was unable to keep up with the armored boy. Once Al stopped Cecelia stepped around him with a poker face, knowing they were there.
A man in a white kimono looking outfit almost growled at her presence. "I thought it said to come alone."
"Should have thought about that when I was sitting right behind him," Cecelia stated with a bit of spite behind her voice.
"Bido," He scolded and presumably Bido visibly shrunk as if trying to hide. "Whatever."
"So I guess you were the ones who wrote this note?" Alphonse said, obviously annoyed.
"That's right." the growling man said, "And we know a lot about you."
Alphonse's eyes went dark. "Well that's good because there's a lot of things about me I don't know"
The man in white approached with a shrug, "Then I'm the guy you want to talk to," Cecelia didn't like where this was going, she crossed her arms over her chest and dug her nails into her right palm, drawing a bit of blood. "Why don't you come with us."
"But my teacher always said I'm not supposed to go with strangers." Al acted coyly.
The man looked shocked, "How old are you?"
"Fourteen"
"Well come on then." The man waved a finger in the air, drawing an invisible circle. "I'd say fourteen is old enough to think for yourself kid. You gotta act like an adult, start taking some risks."
"You think so?" Al asked with excitement. Cecelia watched the man coldly. "I should think for myself?"
The man turned back around with a smirk, "Yes! And you can start by coming with-"
Alphonse kicked the man in the face without warning, Cecelia clapped her hands and drew a weapon. "So I thought it over for myself and I decided that I should just make you tell me what I want to know."
Alphonse walked over to the guy, who was now on the ground. "So you want to do this by force," he hopped up and Cecelia came right behind Al, as he hit the man in the face drawing blood. The growling man knocked Alphonse's helmet off. Cecelia then punched the man with her metal fist and knocked his sword out of his hand. She heard Al yell at somebody and she turned around to see a lady with green tattoos slither into Al's hollow armor. She was about to go help fish the woman out, but the man attacked her again. She dodged his attempt to hit her and kicked him down, where he stayed for once.
A loud crash brought Cecelia's attention to Alphonse, who had a large man on top of him. "Al!" she cried about to run to his aid, but a strong hand grabbed her right wrist and twisted it behind her shoulder blade until it hurt and she let out a cry.
She couldn't see the man, be she could tell he was much taller than her. Cecelia could feel the fur of what she assumed to be his jacket on her skin, and chills went through her as his hot breath spoke in her ear. "Now what do we have here?"
"Cool!" The man with the fur jacket said, looking into Al's empty body. The two teens were tied up, Al with thick chains and Cecelia with heavy rope. They were taken into the Devils Nest and Alphonse was being examined while Cecelia pouted. It was Al's fault, she knew they should have at least told teacher or Ed about where they were going. But no, Al had to be all macho and go with only the two of them.
"The names Greed," The man introduced. "And I want to be your friend."
Cecelia let out a loud scoff. She was leaned against Al's side, using the armored boy as a wall. Greed only spared her a glance before turning to walk away.
"Then why don't you tell me what you people really are?" Al commented. Earlier they had called themselves chimeras. To Cecelia's knowledge, the only chimera the boys had seen was a mix of a small child and a dog by Shou Tucker. Al seemed to think he had a leg up. "It's impossible, nobodies ever made a talking chimera before."
"You can't believe everything the government tells you, kid," Greed said, squatted in front of Al. Cecelia glared at the man defensively. "You've got all the proof you need right inside you," He tapped on Al's metal shoulder. "The girl in there is part snake. And this big guy here, Row what were you made with? Cow?"
Row nodded to his boss, "Yea."
"We've also got a lizard," The little character they had called Bido nodded, "A crocodile, and the little runt you took down earlier, little lady, well he tends to lift his leg when he pees." Cecelia snickered at the idea, almost unable to keep from laughing. Greed took notice and shot her a devious grin
"That only happened once!" The dog man yelled.
"You're part dog?" Al asked with awe
"Yup," He said with a smirk. "It's really not so bad."
"I don't believe it," Al exclaimed. "It's not possible. Who would even be capable of creating one?"
"The military," Greed informed with a grim undertone.
"Are you saying-"
"You've got it," Greed interrupted "There's a shadow world beneath yours that's jammed packed with the impossible." Cecelia knew that to be true. If her hands weren't tied she'd be stroking the chain of her necklace, an unfortunate and telling habit she had formed. "Hell, I'm more uncommon than they are."
Cecelia had no idea what that was supposed to mean. What could be rarer than a fully functional chimera? The Greed man held up his left hand and revealed a tattoo that had gone unnoticed by the girl. An Ouroboros tattoo. Cecelia's eyes widened with fear filling her. This could only mean one thing.
"I'm a homunculus," Greed confirmed with a wide grin.
Greed kept talking but Cecelia couldn't listen over her mind racing. A homunculus, a monster, an abomination, brother. Cecelia's mind filled with panic and she started to pull at her restraints, unable to stay near this man. Her attention was brought back when the man stood. and Row swung his hammer into Greed's head, knocking the top half clean off. His body fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Why'd you do that to him?"
"Al," Cecelia silenced the boy's desperate cries as she stared at the body, horrified by what she knew was coming. A red light came from the corpse and the body lifted its hand before standing back up as vampires did in cheesy horror movies. The two watched in shock as bones and flesh regenerated to reform Greed's chiseled face.
Cecelia was terrified and started to struggle against her restraints with more ferocity. She needed to escape.
Greed snapped his neck back into place. "Jeez Row, next time try to make the hit a bit cleaner." He rubbed his neck.
"Sorry boss." Row said blankly, little remorse in his voice.
Greed opened his mouth to talk, but stopped when he noticed the girl furiously struggling against her restraints. He walked in front of the girl and looked down at her. "What are you doing little lady?"
Cecelia looked up at him with wicked eyes, like that of a cornered animal. "Let me go you abomination!"
Greed squatted down in front of her, an expression of mock hurt on his features. "Abomination? Now I may not be human but I do have feelings." Cecelia glared at him with a snarl on her lips. Greed got closer to her face, and Cecelia felt terrified as he got closer. He opened his mouth to speak again. Cecelia shot her head back and rammed her forehead into his. Greed's head threw back and Cecelia's forehead throbbed. She looked down towards the wall. The girl held her breath, the pain was much worse than what she had expected. She saw Greed's head come back to face her. A cocky grin was spread across his face as he watched the girl try to hide her pain.
"That hurt?" He asked. Cecelia didn't answer but she let out her breath in a sharp exhale. Greed chuckled and from the corner of her eye she could see a black spot on the man's head dissipate, Cecelia wasn't sure, but she figured that this was why the headbutt hurt so badly. Cecelia flinched when Greed traced his finger across her cheek, tucking the curtain of hair that had blocked her face behind her ear. His muscular hand wrapped around her chin and pulled the girls face to his. Cecelia glared at the man with terrified eyes. There was something off about this girl, Greed could sense it. His eyes trailed away from her and to the chain of her necklace that went under her top. He removed his hand from her chin and reached for the gold chain.
Cecelia panicked. She clapped her bound hands and used the cuts she had made earlier to make a small dagger. She cut the ropes and lashed at Greed. He jumped back and Cecelia made a mad dash for the door. A man made a grab at her, but she slid beneath his arms and slashed his leg, cutting an artery. Another man approached her. Cecelia slashed upwards into his abdomen with her automail arm then slashed downwards into his clavicle. She used a roundhouse kick to send him to the ground. Someone wrapped their arms around her waist, catching her off balance. She took a step forward to recompose herself, then rammed the elbow of her metal arm into his face, once, twice, three times before he let go, then she punched him again, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
Cecelia turned to keep running to the door, but a black beast shot towards her. It punched her in the gut, ramming her into the wall behind her. Cecelia gasped, the air pushed from her lungs, knocking the wind out of her. She attempted to slash the beast with her automail arm, but it caught her wrist. She tried to use her right hand to push the monster off of her. But the beast was much too strong. It used its other hand to push her face into the filthy wall.
An amused chuckle left the beast's mouth. Cecelia realized that this thing was Greed, his laugh unmistakeable. "Whoa, there little lady," He said, his oddly toothed grin moving creepily. "I don't like fighting women, so how about you calm down."
Cecelia could barely see Greed from the corner of her eye. She didn't say anything, only glared at the man. Greed sighed and squeezed her automail wrist until the sound of crushing metal filled the room. Cecelia's eyes popped and he kept crushing her automail. Cecelia realized he wasn't bluffing. She dropped the dagger to the ground with a clatter. Greed's black skin returned to its pale color. A cocky grin on his lips.
"That's what I thought," He flipped her around so her arm was trapped between her shoulder blades. "Tie her up, separate her hands this time." Cecelia was tied down with her hands on opposite sides of a box. Greed decided that his first priority was Al's secret, the girl could be interrogated later.
Alphonse was interrogated by Greed, but Cecelia didn't pay attention. She continued to struggle against her restraints. This time they had tied her down in chains, hoping to keep her there. Her back was pressed against a wooden box. She couldn't escape. Greed had picked up her blade and messed with it as he talked to Al. It pissed Cecelia off to no end to see him dicking around with her blood. It was weird. But there was nothing she could do.
After a bit of talking, Greed sent Bido to retrieve Edward. It wasn't long until the lot of them could hear stomping, then the door to the storage room broke down, Bido being used as a battering ram, revealing the Edward Elric.
"Brother!" Al cried and Cecelia sighed with relief, she'd be untied soon, what a blessing.
"Never really crossed my mind you could get kidnapped. Where's Cecelia?" He looked around the room to see her in her sorry state.
"Hey Ed," Cecelia tried to sound smooth and unaffected, but it came off as annoyed and desperate.
"Bother this guy's homunculus!" Al exclaimed
"Hey!" Greed scolded, "Way to ruin it."
Cecelia rolled her eyes and the conversation continued. She couldn't see the end of this coming anytime soon. They started to bicker about Al's body. When Greed said something about Al not having it all that bad, Edward started to yell.
He went on a long rant, his entire body tensing. He yelled and insulted them, telling them how it was going to be, practically blowing everyone into the walls with his voice. By the end of it, Greed, though shocked, slowly clapped for Ed's rampage. Then they started to physically fight and Cecelia could tell this was going to take a lot longer than she had originally hoped.
Greed instructed Row to get Al out of there and all the other cronies followed after him. "Hey! Wait, untie me and take me with you!" Cecelia demanded but no one stopped. Damn, Cecelia thought. "Edward! Hurry up and beat this guy to a pulp so you can untie me!"
"You got it," Edward said and the two launched into a fight. Greed covered his entire body with his ultimate shield, Cecelia knew that this wouldn't end well. The fight quickly turned one-sided and Greed had the upper hand, pounding on Edward. Cecelia could only watch as Ed struggled to defend himself.
Not too long after he slouched against a wall with blood smeared behind him. "Edward!" she cried as Greed approached him.
"Are you dead yet?" He asked.
Ed looked up at Greed defiantly. Cecelia looked on in horror as Ed stood once again, throwing a punch into Greed unbreakable skin, shattering more of his automail. Greed threw the boy into a box effortlessly, she could do nothing as the beast wailed on the boy she was supposed to be protecting. There was nothing she could do as Edward was lifted into the air. "Edward!"