Arisa pov:
Though I had stopped the bleeding of Dr. Marco's wound and wrapped it up with a support so he wouldn't move and strain his arm, I figured that he would have to get it looked at by a real doctor soon. Nonetheless, it would suffice for now, for the time our discussion would last.
I was quick to prepare rice, salad and a tangy gravy for dinner and serve them onto a plate on a tray. I stepped to Dr. Marco with the tray and held it out to him. I said, "You should eat to regain your strength."
"Oh, thank you," he said, taking the food from me. After a bite, he asked uneasily, "So, you're a State Alchemist?"
"Yes, I am."
"I'm quite surprised. You seem a bit young to be in the military. The way you fought that homunculus too was quite unexpected." His voice was soft as he spoke and the light shudder that escaped was noticeable.
"I'm sure you've heard of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist – I'm actually a year older than him. I guess my small physique is a little misleading," I said, suppressing a sigh. Then I met his eyes with a small smile, "I knew Hughes san – the soldier who was killed recently – and I also found out what he was trying to investigate secretly in the military. He came to meet you a couple of days ago, led by the Fuhrer's secretary. But he was killed because he found out that the Fuhrer's secretary is a homunculus, which means, the homunculi themselves are controlling the military."
Dr. Marco gasped in surprise and even more unease, "The homunculi are controlling the military?"
"That's right," I answered, while shifting my gaze to the floor. "Although, it is something that cannot be revealed at the moment. If it is, there are many people who could possibly lose their lives. That's why I decided that I would take responsibility to solve this. It doesn't matter if I have to fight them the way I did today and I don't care even if I have to become an enemy to the military itself in order to stop them. I've already made up my mind."
The room was silent besides occasional clanks of cutlery and giggled from Leo as he read through a picture book. My gaze remained on the floor, narrow and serious.
"You're very brave," Dr. Marco said and I met his gaze to find him watching me with a smile. It made his face even more wrinkled than it was before. "You're very brave to be able to take such a serious decision at such a young age. Fighting without hesitance, to understand what to put as first priority is something people don't learn very easily but you really think beyond your age."
Perhaps it was unexpected for a sixteen year old to think about this matter so seriously but it wasn't surprising with me considering the person I was and the kind of life I had lived.
"It's not something to be surprised about, Dr. Marco. I've been this way my whole life and I want to help, so it's nothing surprising." Nodding, Dr. Marco resumed eating. I then added, "I have some questions I wish to ask you. May I?"
"Of course. What do wish to know?"
"How is the Red Stone created? The Red Water is made from sacrificing human lives, isn't it? just like the Philosopher Stone, but in lesser number. Is the Red Stone created in the same way? Or is there some special procedure you use besides the way the Red Water is made? I need to know this first because the homunculi are after the Philosopher Stone and are looking into all research concerned to the Red Water in the military."
"Actually," Dr. Marco answered, putting the spoon down, "the Red Water is not made with human lives."
"It's not?" I mused, narrowing my eyes.
"No, the Red Water is created using multiple alchemic catalysts. The Red Water can be created in very large quantities and is usually store underground with continuous kinetic energy to keep it in the right composition. For the process to be finalized and for the Red Stone to be created, it has to be synthesized with an organic component. It cannot be combined with a human because it's poisonous and would just end up killing the person and not creating the stone. However, it can be combined with plants."
"But isn't the Red Stone and Philosopher Stone created from the Red Water? By sacrificing human lives and using large quantities of the water itself?" I pressed on. This was not what I was expecting to hear at all! This was the total opposite of what I had read in books and heard from the homunculi!
"There is a difference between the real Philosopher Stone and the Red Stone. The Red Stone can help a person use alchemy without having to draw a transmutation circle. In fact, people who are not alchemists can also use the stone and be able to use alchemy to an extent. But it is risky for them because a slight imbalance can affect the user themselves. The Philosopher Stone uses human lives because it has the ability of soul alchemy; meaning, it goes beyond the Law of Equivalent Exchange."
I leaned back in my seat with a deep exhale. The Red Water, the Red Stone and the Philosopher Stone were totally different from each other, right from their very make up. It was a shock that I had been able to create the Philosopher Stone from the Red Water without the use of human lives – Envy himself had confirmed it. What sort of freakish alchemy ability did I have?!
Then again, perhaps it was for the best. If I could create the Philosopher Stone with just the Red Water, I could turn the homunculi into humans myself. I could thwart Dante's attempt to achieve her selfish goals at the cost of innocent people, I could figure out a way to defeat her, and, finally, help the homunculi. There was the fact that I didn't know how to use the Philosopher Stone to change the homunculi to humans though.
Uff, this was driving me crazy!
Meeting Dr. Marco's eyes again, I questioned, "Can the real Philosopher Stone turn a homunculus back into a human?"
"I can't really say. I've never tried and I've never heard of anyone doing so. But it is highly possible."
I took a moment to jot down all that I had found out about the Red Water, Red Stone and Philosopher Stone. I ensured that the paper on which I wrote down all the points was not visible to Dr. Marco.
1. Red Water, Red Stone, Philosopher Stone are all different.
2. Red Water is not made from human lives but from alchemic catalysts.
3. Red Water can be transmuted to create Red Stones.
4. Red Stones are incomplete, but allow user (both alchemists and non-alchemists) to be able to amplify and use alchemy without a transmutation circle.
5. Red Water + human lives + alchemy = Real Philosopher Stone.
6. Red Water + human lives + MY alchemy = Real Philosopher Stone.
After a glance over all the points, I crumpled the paper and threw it to a corner of the room. Dr. Marco was curious of my behavior but said nothing when I turned my attention to him again.
"Thank you for all the information, Dr. Marco. Do you by any chance have any information on the Gate as well? It's something I've heard often and I wanted to know about it a little."
Dr. Marco narrowed his eyes. "Why would you want to know about the Gate? Don't tell me that you too did something forbidden like the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother."
"No," I answered with a smile, "but I do need to know about the Gate for other reasons."
He didn't seem convinced by my words and didn't answer. Averting my eyes, I contemplated a moment. Though I had known Dr. Marco for a very short time, I had the feeling that I could trust him. Col. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye knew half of the truth about me, since the fact that I was possibly from beyond the Gate had become known to me only recently from Pride and Sloth. I figured that telling Dr. Marco about it would make him give me the information I needed about the Gate.
Meeting his eyes again, I said in a soft voice, "I think that I am from beyond the Gate."
There was a tense silence in the room for a few moments after I had spoken. Dr. Marco's expression slowly turned from curiosity to surprise and finally to shock. His eyes were wide.
"What? That's impossible! Are you trying to joke with me?" He sounded angry.
It took me a while to tell him the same details I had told Col. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye. In the beginning of my explanation, he was disbelieving but as I narrated how I had met another alchemist in my world, got transported here because of the weird black things, how I woke up in Hughes san's house, and everything that followed, the facts finally seemed to sink in. I also showed him my smart glasses and ear piece, and it was more than enough to leave him speechless.
When he finally found his voice to speak, he said, "I see. I never once thought I would meet a person from beyond the Gate. What you speak about and all these items you have in your possession makes it hard to prove that what you said to me isn't true. Do you wish to know how to return to your world?"
"I'm afraid I don't know much about the Gate, all the more since I have not seen it myself," answered Dr. Marco. "I have heard that there are two sides to the Gate – the alchemic world and the non-alchemic world. I believe there is also an intermediate space where homunculi and the souls that pass through the Gate stay temporarily. That's all I know – I'm sorry I can't help you beyond this."
"That's alright – I doubt anyone will know anything about the other side of the Gate anyway. I guess I'll have to figure it out a way back on my own," I said and stood, giving my body a much needed stretch. "Well then, I should head back to the office since Col. Archer will get suspicious if I'm out too long. I will contact Col. Mustang and arrange for a safe place for you to stay. Until then, you will be staying in my room. Make sure no one finds out you're here."
"Of course. And thank you for saving my life."
Regarding him with a smile, I reached for my cell phone, glasses and jacket. Before I could leave, I looked to Leo. Kneeling in front of him, I placed a hand on his head and said, "I want you to stay here and watch over Dr. Marco, okay? Help him if he needs anything."
"Leo help Maro sama!" he chimed then giggled when I ruffled his hair.
"Good boy. If you get hungry, there's rice, salad and curry on the counter."
I left my apartment and headed to the headquarters. I stalled a moment outside the office doors when I reached, feeling burdened. I had been in such a rush earlier and I was sure Col. Archer was going to ask me full details about Keith. I had to make up a convincing story to save my ass.
Huffing out a breath to ruffle my bangs, I knocked once before stepping into the office. The minute I did so, all eyes were on me. I resisted the urge to cringe as I stopped to stand in front of Col. Archer's desk. He too looked up at me and the expression on his face told me that he wasn't happy.
"So, did you find your friend?" I clenched my jaw at the mocking hint in his voice. I suppressed the desire to smart-talk back at him and I managed a smile.
"Unfortunately, no. The tip I got was on someone with a similar background. I was hoping that I could get some clues on Keith but even though I spent quite some time running around, I didn't get much." I shrugged, as if not overly concerned about it. I knew that as long as I didn't show any drastic change of emotion, Col. Archer wouldn't find anything interesting to dig through.
He watched me silently for a moment while I maintained eye contact. Seeing that I didn't show any hints of hiding anything from him, he shifted his attention to some papers on his table.
Reaching for one in the middle, he held it out to me. "This is your new assignment."
Taking the sheet from his hand, I read through the contents. It had me frowning slightly. Meeting the colonel's gaze again, I said, "You want me to find Ishval civilians?"
"We already have their approximate location on the map here. We suspect that Scar is hiding among them so we want you to find their tribe and kill Scar when you get the chance. Some State Alchemists managed to injure him recently so he should be an easy opponent. You are free to kill anyone else who gets in your way as well, even if they are civilians," he said nonchalantly.
His lack of respect for human life had me mentally scoff. He was being nothing more than a cold-hearted military man – where was his sense of humanity?
Whatever the case, this was a mission and I had to see through it. "Alright, I will leave first thing tomorrow morning."
With a courteous bow of my head, I excused myself from his office. The colonel's subordinates eyed me intensely as I left, giving me the message that this mission was going to be quite a ride. I couldn't help but smirk as I walked down the corridor – it had been a while since I had done anything exciting and this mission was sure to give me the exercise I had wanted for a while now.
What the colonel had planned out for me had me looking forward to the events ahead.
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