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I let out the smallest of sighs, utterly content, my fingers threaded between the spaces of his metal one.
A smile was on my face, and I couldn't remember when it had gotten there. If the train had been moving or not, or if the flow of passengers had put the expression on me.
I looked to the seat across from me, surprise ghosting against the space behind my chest. I was so used to seeing Al there.
"It's weird not having Al here."
I felt Ed nod against my head, the action light and subtle. "Yeah. I'm not sure if I've ever been on a train without him."
I moved my thumb against the side of his, stroking once. Trying to fill the silence as I thought.
"Where is he?"
"Somewhere safe," Ed replied. "We felt it was best for him not to be in the fray, given the extremity of the situation..."
I was quiet for a moment, and then the question that had been nipping at me since the beginning of this new chapter came forth. I spoke gently, thumb stroking the back of his flesh hand.
"Did you... Tell him about us?"
He nodded again, and I felt my heart skip before it began a quick, sinking descent. It didn't drag down very much, though, when I heard Ed's reply.
"I didn't go into any details," he said, and I could hear the small grin in his voice. He squeezed my hand, pressing our palms together a little bit more. "Just the fact that we had mutual, romantic feelings for each other."
I nodded, eyes closing as I turned my forehead against his shoulder. He shifted as well, nestling his temple against the crown of my hair.
"What'd he say?" I asked.
Ed nearly laughed; quiet sounds barely bubbling into the air before he spoke. "'Thank God. I thought something was going to catch on fire, with all that sexual tension between you two.'"
My eyes went wide in surprise, shock, and embarrassment; almost enough to pull me away from Ed.
"H-he actually told you that?!"
"Yeah." Ed grinned. "Surprised me, too!"
With a small hum, I relaxed against him, our hands gently cuddling just as much as the rest of us. I caught sight of an older lady sending us a smile from across the train. I smiled back at her, and for no reason at all except for a slight wonderful flare of my happiness, I spread my smile into a grin. Ed must have felt how my head shifted just a little bit at this, because he tried to nod. He spoke softly, playfully asking me what I was so happy about.
I closed my eyes, nestling against his shoulder a little more.
"I love you," I told him.
The slight weight of his head lifted, and immediately his lips planted a kiss to the corner of my forehead.
"You know I love you," he returned, murmuring against my skin.
"You've said it about ten times today already," I teased, feeling him snuggle against me again.
"Can't say it enough, Mirah."
I smiled at that, my hand holding his a little tighter and feeling him gently return the pressure.
The smile stayed, lasting until Ed led me to the outskirts of a town in the North-East. There were tents set up around the area; canopies that held bubbling beakers in one and a collection of books in the other, like a miniature library. I only caught a glimpse inside another tent before Ed drew my focus away, pulling on the shoulder of my sweater and guiding me in the right direction once again.
We approached someone with our back mostly to us; a tall man with a golden ponytail, an open book in one hand.
"Hey!"
At the sound of Ed's voice, he turned, brows lifted, and instantly his expression blossomed into one of happiness.
He was in front of me instantly, taking my hand in both of his. Forcing my fingers away from Edward's, at least for a moment or two.
"Why, you must be Mirah!" the man smiled, and the face looked almost uncanny to Edward's. Just put on the glasses and add a few years...
I focused, returning his smile. "Yes, that's me!"
When the shaking of my hand didn't stop, I grew playfully dumbstruck. "You... must be Hohenheim."
I was glad I remembered his name, after all these months. For a single moment, I was back on the hospital rooftop, Ed spouting off hatred for the man who had left them both shortly after Father's defeat.
"Yes," he replied, mimicking the wide curvature of my eyes. "That's me!"
He straightened, letting go of my hand, and turned his focus to Edward.
"Well," he began, "Now that she's here, let us demonstrate, shall we?"
Ed nodded, and we both took tiny steps as Hohenheuim began to walk away, his strong voice thoughtful.
"It's quiet the show, especially with you here," he said, "considering you are the key to his source of power..."
I looked towards Ed as he turned away, scratching an eyebrow with his metal hand. "Do you really gotta say it like that?"
Hohenheim just smiled at his son. "I figure with the amount of tests I put you through, saying it as simply as that would be easy."
Ed glanced to his father before his stare dropped, a deep blush coming to him. He sulked, a frown on his face as Hohenheim motioned us forward.
"It took me some work, given the notice," Hohenheim was saying, "but I feel I did an alright job."
"Um," I looked around for some kind of clue, "I'm terribly sorry if this comes off as rude, but what is it exactly that you put together?"
"This is a testing ground," he said. "For myself and Edward. You may have seen some books inside a few of these tents; I've recited those from memory, throughout my years."
I pondered for a moment, thinking he couldn't be past fifty at the most. How could someone regurgitate so much in so little time?
My thoughts held my focus, and a moment later we were watching Edward from a distance, a large clearing on the outskirts of all those canopies.
Even from a distance, I could sense Ed scowl, that voice of his yelling at us.
"Aw, c'mon, I can't do this while you're all standing there, watching me!"
A smile came to Hohenheim—the smallest of adorations for his son. A soft hand touched my shoulder, and for a moment, I thought of my own father. But it was a silhouette so deeply hidden, and part of me turned to Pinako's sly voice, her words creeping up again.
"You've broken away from them, haven't you?"
I shook away the old woman's words, and Ed perked up as I approached. The slight amount of lightning near his hands crackling until it disappeared.
I wasn't scared, but my brain reeled back the closer I got to Edward. Hohenheim wanted me to comfort him, but how could I? The sky wasn't dark enough, the ground below our feet wasn't hard enough.
He reached out first, hands coming to the end of my forearms, fingers wrapping over thin elbows. I tried to focus, part of my mind just wanting to lie there and enjoy the warmth and comfort of being with him again. But soon, Edward had raised my head up enough to capture my lips with his.
He moved a few moments into the kiss, hand tentatively coming to my waist.
He broke the kiss, and just in that movement my heart sank. His head moved, forehead bowing against the crown of my head, then shifting a little for the bridge of his nose to rest as well. Things I... I deserved, a little. I deserved this much.
His hold on me slid away, and I raised my hand to his, slipping my fingers in between the spaces he made for me. Feeling his digits curl again, gently securing mine. Warm. Strong.
"You can do this," I told him. "I mean"—My shoulders rose in a shrug—"I'm still not understanding what all this is, but I know you can do it."
His eyes curved, smiling at me with a softness. A love that brought me back to a moment that occurred over a year ago, him smiling at me from the other side of the train's seats. A small smile on his face; one filled with nothing but adoration. Filled with nothing but love.
"I know," he responded, voice just as soft. His forehead pressed against mine, those eyes closing as he gently nuzzled against me. Bringing a smile to my face; one I didn't force away.
I picked myself up onto my tip-toes, pressing my lips to his. I felt his breath fade, head moving back from my quiet force. His hand rose up to the back of my hair, fingers threading through the long black strands. I fought to keep a sudden wave of tears down, remembering the first sounds of him drawing in the sketchbook I couldn't bare to open. Remembering the sounds of him beginning to draw the length of my hair for the first time.
Remembering the first attempt he made to capture that warmth I saw in his eyes. That love...
He deepened the kiss, putting his other hand on my low back and pulling me closer to him. My quiet murmur of surprise was stifled against his mouth, and a moment later I felt his smile.
He pulled away a second later, mostly because I was guiding him away with a slow push to his chest. He grinned, and I returned it.
I playfully patted his chest before stepping away, feeling his hand slip from mine.
"Go do whatever it is you're doing," I told him as I walked away.
I heard a brief sound of acknowledgement come to him, and just as my feet touched the ground near Hohenheim, everything rattled with a power I didn't recognize.
I spun around, presented with a skyscraper of a statue. Ed on a throne, giant grin towards the sky. Jewels on exposed, fully human hands. I looked further up, nearly having to strain my neck in order to see the tip of his hair.
"Wow..." was all I could manage to say.
With wide eyes, I looked over at Ed, seeing him grin at me; one hand on his hip, the other in a light fist by his mouth.
"How is this possible?" I asked the man next to me.
"Well, to make a very long story short," Hohenheim began bashfully, "I'm a living Philosopher's Stone."
I blinked, then made an attempt at smiling. "That's just a fancy description for something else, right?"
Hohenheim laughed. "No, my dear; it's not an analogy. I truly am I living, breathing Philosopher's Stone."
Within a few sentences, he had filled me in on his past; saying how he was originally a part of the ancient Xeres civilization before a dark figment of someone's creation wiped out the population. It answered Hohenheim's wish of immortality, condemning him to the fate of living with those hundreds of thousands of lives that had been taken. In return, he was essentially a Philosopher Stone able to bend the laws of alchemy.
Hohenheim looked up, attention going back to his son as he continued.
"I'm nearly certain that, in the same way my boys inherited my looks, Edward in particular inherited parts of the stone. Of course, these genes have mutated a bit." He turned, looking to me as he continued. "The stone itself takes living souls in order to be created, but with Edward, it seems that life-sustaining emotions act as this vital ingredient instead." He nodded at a question I didn't voice, looking back to his son. "And, yes; in your case, Mirah, that emotion is love."
I turned back to Edward again. The alchemist we were speaking of stared at me for another few moments, and despite the fact that it was too hard for me to really see, I could feel that same smile on his face again... Keeping both hands in his pockets, he looked up, focusing on his sky-high creation. A moment later, the structure came apart, collapsing from top to bottom and beginning to rain down small pieces of earth. Before they could come close to hitting anyone, they vanished, swept up by skitters of red lightning.
"He's really grown since I've seen him last," I commented.
Hohenhim gave a brief chuckle. "I'm sure he'd be delighted to hear that!" he replied. "But in terms of alchemic power, certainly. He needs you here, Mirah. I couldn't get him to do anything close to that when you were gone."
I felt the weight of his words push emotion against my heart, sting my eyes with threats of tears. But I instantly knew they weren't bad ones; it was the good kind of overwhelming.
"Thank you," I found myself saying, bowing my face in towards my hand. "Thank you for helping like this. I know it means a lot to him." I hissed a breath in through my teeth. "Means a lot to all of us."
A moment of silence came, and then I felt a large, warm hand settle against my shoulder.
"It's the least I can do." Hohenheim replied, and a moment later, I heard footsteps.
Edward smiled, his hands gathering mine, golden eyes looking at the mass of our hands together. Hohenheim stepped to the side, and departed from us with sure steps, leaving Ed and I alone once again.
"I'm sorry," Ed began, giving my hands a stroke with his thumbs. "I really don't think I can say that enough. Everything that happened..."
I listened, feeling my chest sink with a familiar weight again. I didn't comply with the urge to shut him up with a kiss, to stop him from apologizing like this because everything was okay now. I held myself back, continuing to watch the self-directed frustration in the space between his brows, continuing to listen to the words I knew he needed to speak. For himself rather than me, I think.
"All of it was my fault..." His hands slid to my face, strands of my hair still threaded between his fingers as he gently cupped my cheeks and jaw. "I should've let you in. From the beginning, we should have told you what had happened. And then..." He shook his head, eyes avoiding mine still. With a sigh, he bowed his forehead against mine again, and after a moment, his eyes opened to meet mine from such a short distance. "That whole thing with Winry," There was a horrible pain in his voice, and I felt the agony in the way his hands held me a little tighter. "I should've told you about that, too."
I looked to him for a long moment, organizing my own thoughts. Retracing all of the steps that we took to get to this moment, all those movements we had made along winded and twisted pathways. I smiled, giving the same softness he had given me on a train to Central City so many months ago.
I raised a hand, my palm covering his and fingers wrapping around, slipping into the space between his hand and my cheek. Squeezing his hand a little, and watching a smile curve the base of his eyes.
"Fear gets the best of us sometimes," I told him, and for a moment, I wasn't just talking to the man I loved. I was speaking to my past self. The broken, berated shell sobbing on the rooftop of a hospital. "What matters is how we learn from it."
A smile broke onto his face. I barely saw the glimmer of tears before his lips found mine again, the firm but quiet passion stealing the breath from my lungs.
His arms wrapped around me, holding my body against his. Lifting me up, my toes leaving the earth they had once been supported by. I only grinned into another kiss, knowing he wouldn't let me fall.
A/N: Well, it's taken us forever to get to this point, but Ed's source of power is finally REVEALED! Yay or nay? Hope you enjoyed the chapter--lemme know your thoughts <3