Beta: TaintedLetter
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Early into the next day Elizabeth headed off to meet with Papa and tell him she was ready to begin testing at Fort Briggs. She still didn't want to go, but she couldn't trust this weapon to anyone outside of the family.
She wished Selim could at least come along.
Her dear friend seemed rather skittish since last night. He must have been focusing on something outside of his vessel, because when Elizabeth went by his room to say goodnight he barely returned her words.
Then this morning when Elizabeth went to greet him, he actually hopped out his window without sparing her a glance.
Something was clearly distracting him, and whatever it was it was dearly important.
While Elizabeth would love nothing more than to pester Selim for an answer, she knew her friend was too prideful to admit a weakness—even to her. He had to go through it on his own.
If he truly needed her help, he would ask.
Elizabeth doubted that would happen since Selim was an excellent problem solver.
The child soldier made her way through Central, her posture precise as always as her heels clicked against the tiled flooring. Those stationed at Central were accustomed to seeing her walk about, and each one moved out of her way without a fuss.
Some might have spared her a nervous glance as she walked by.
Others might have done their best to avoid eye contact with her.
Such blatant displays of avoidance might have bothered other children, but Elizabeth had come to expect such.
She knew that she gave others goosebumps. She knew they were afraid of her, thought her unnatural and dangerous.
They were correct.
Elizabeth reached Papa's office and opened it up to reveal—
'Huh?'
Because sitting across Papa's desk was Colonel Mustang, Edward Elric, and Alphonse Elric.
Elizabeth blinked once, thinking perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Last she was aware all three of Papa's guests were on the watchlist, and potential threats to eliminate. Yet Papa was comfortably drinking his earl grey tea with them, and offered Elizabeth a (fake) warm smile upon her entry.
For a brief moment a surge of hope shot through Elizabeth.
'Maybe Edward and Alphonse didn't betray us?'
After all, they had no reason to suspect homunculi were anything but evil given their past encounters. Maybe now Papa explained to them that wasn't the case, and her friends would come around.
She—
She really hoped that was true.
She couldn't think of any other reason for them to be there.
"Good timing, Elizabeth, we were nearly done here," Papa said, a cool note in his tone. "These fellows had a few questions about me being a homunculus."
The room stilled, and Elizabeth's eyes brightened. Her heart leaped to her throat as she immediately put together what that information meant.
The emphasis on me instantly told Elizabeth that only Papa's status was revealed—Selim was to still be kept secret.
But more importantly—
'Papa told them!'
That could mean one of two things.
One: the trio had already uncovered this information and made a move against Papa, but instead played right into his hands and now Papa was manipulating them, imprisoning them, or laying out his hand.
Two: Papa revealed this information and the trio had become allies instead of enemies.
Without bluntly asking for clarification on this matter, Elizabeth had no way of knowing which of those two were true.
Were they friends, or foe?
'Does it even matter?'
Her stomach flipped flopped from the kaleidoscope of butterflies inside of her. For the first time in a long, long, time Elizabeth felt a tinge of cold anxiety that made her heart pound loudly in her head. She was elated, hopeful, terrified, and so much more all at once. It was difficult for her to properly catch her breath, as each intake and outtake chilled her to her bones.
This sudden onslaught of raw emotions was difficult for the child to control. A slight tremble made her knees weak, and she raised both her hands up to her chest and folded them together.
'Does any of it even matter anymore?'
'One way, or another, an end will come.'
'If they are foes, they will be taken care of. If they are allies, I don't have to worry anymore.'
"Thank goodness," the words escaped her, and perhaps a touch of relief joined her.
But a clearing of the throat reminded Elizabeth that a display of raw emotions was not tolerated. She was disciplined, and had expectations that absolutely had to be met.
With experience, Elizabeth took a deep breath—even as it turned into ice that sliced up her lungs—and smoothed her expression out into a polite smile. Her posture was straightened, and her composure was regained.
"The rest of you are... free to go," Papa said, gesturing for Elizabeth to step further in. "I need to discuss some things with my daughter."
"Yes, sir," Edward muttered, his tone dismissive and a tad disrespectful. Elizabeth bit her inner cheek to keep from reprimanding him, acknowledging now was not the time nor place.
When the three of them had left the office, Elizabeth offered her adopted father a polite curtsy. "Good morning, Papa. I wanted to tell you that I am ready to begin testing with the fungi."
"Excellent," Papa praised her. "That was sooner than I expected."
"After all my work done on the human nervous system creating something like this surprisingly easy," Elizabeth admitted. "It's already killed all my lab rats, so I will need to replace them, too."
"I'm afraid after this testing you'll need to put a hold on your experiments for a month or so," Papa told her. "Instead, assist Selim in shipping all of your research notes, and other essentials, to Lust."
"Yes, Papa," Elizabeth said, a brief frown on her face. "Am I... Am I being sent away?"
Papa was silent for a minute, his stoic expression unreadable. For a moment, Elizabeth worried she shouldn't have asked that question, but then—
"You and Selim will be moving out of the country," Papa answered her, his tone gruff. "When we are done here... you and Selim will be moving."
She was relieved that Selim would be coming with her, but the emphasis on her and Selim implied that Papa and Mumma would not be joining them. Going off the hard expression on Papa's face, Elizabeth could only conclude—
"No," the word escaped her, a soft plea.
Papa did not answer her, choosing instead to turn his back on her as he looked out his office window. His hands were folded neatly behind his back.
"Pa—" Elizabeth tried, but she was cut off by Papa's harsh voice.
"Elizabeth," Papa snapped, causing Elizabeth to flinch. "Control yourself. You knew this day would come, as it comes for everyone. Steel your heart, protect Selim, and do not disappoint me."
Elizabeth swallowed back her hurt. She would not allow any tears to escape her burning eyes, and she kept her tone soft and even.
"Yes, Papa," she said.
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
It took Elizabeth ten minutes to leave Central Command and find Selim in their garden at home.
That was how long Elizabeth forced herself to remain composed.
Elizabeth rushed forward, throwing her arms around Selim's neck and hugging him as tightly as she could. Her emotions felt overwhelming, but as she held onto Selim they became significantly better. Her lungs stopped burning, her heart eased.
Selim carefully returned her embrace, giving her back a pat. "Ellie?"
"Promise you won't die," she whispered. "Promise you won't leave me."
"I promise," he said after a moment.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, her entire body relaxing from that promise. Even if it was a lie, it was a lie she wanted to believe.
"Ellie?" Selim asked her.
"Mn?"
"Is there anything... anything you want to do in Central before you go to Briggs? Perhaps something you could only do here?"
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, pulling back to offer Selim a shy smile. "Eat sweets?"
Selim took Elizabeth's hand. "Then let's go eat some sweets."
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Elizabeth oversaw the last of her spores loaded onto the military train, her gaze narrowed as she observed the workers. While her spores were contained as best she could, if the containers broke it would be... unfortunate.
Not so much for Elizabeth, as she kept the cure on her, but for those around it. Death wouldn't come easy.
It had taken a few days for the containers to be prepared for her spore transportation. Given the spores temperamental nature Elizabeth had to carefully coax them into the container without bursting their pods. Their containers had to be made of a special metal that was ordered in from East Command, which took over a day to arrive.
"Ah-hem," coughed a sickenly sweet voice.
Elizabeth turned her cool gaze onto the voice.
Lieutenant General Raven was a slimy man that served the führer. His voice was always saccharine sweet, and laced with toxicity. Worst of all, his eyes mirrored that of Elizabeth's biological grandfather.
She hated those eyes.
She hated this man.
It would have been better if he was scared of her, but instead he saw her as a political step for him.
Selim hated him, too.
Elizabeth wondered if maybe she ask to use him as a test subject for her spores.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, her voice and expression neutral.
The grey haired slimeball offered her a grin. "I'll be accompanying you to Fort Briggs, Miss Elizabeth."
The intentional use of miss and not her title was a blatant show of disrespect.
"Why?" she asked, debating on the benefits of practicing some of her undetectable poisons today.
"Orders from your father. He's asked for your assistance in a side mission," Raven answered. "Shall we depart now?"
Papa knew Elizabeth held disdain for Raven—and a few others of his senior staff—so the fact that it was Raven on this mission told Elizabeth this mission was... not to be publicly advertised.
Raven was a dirty officer, after all. He took care of things for the military that the public should never learn about.
Given that Elizabeth was relatively famous in the public eye, she and Raven ran on different courses. Elizabeth stood out amongst a crowd, after all. Both because of her age, and how she gave most humans the creeps.
Humans always remembered what made them afraid.
If Papa needed Elizabeth to work with Raven on such a mission then it must have been important.
"Fine," Elizabeth muttered, turning away from Raven and boarding the train.
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
The first stop on this "mission" happened to be at a hospital at the base of the mountain, a few miles out from Fort Briggs. Raven escorted Elizabeth to a private room where a man laid in a hospital bed.
Elizabeth's brow furrowed as she looked at the man, as he looked familiar to her. He was pale, bony, had dark blue eyes, and long black hair pulled into a low ponytail.
'Did we meet before?' Elizabeth wondered.
"We need you to heal Kimblee up right away," Raven said. "Kimblee, give her one of the stones."
'Stones? Wait—Kimblee?!'
Kimblee the mass murderer?
'Papa, what the heck?'
Kimblee was a psychopath who disobeyed orders in the last war, and went overzealous in his destruction and death. Elizabeth didn't have anything against the man personally, nor did his crimes bother her in the slightest bit, but she deemed him an unpredictable man.
He was a wild card. Too much of a loose canon to be trusted, and that was why Papa had him jailed.
What changed?
'Just what is going on?'
Kimblee offered Elizabeth a waning smile. "Pleasure to meet you... Spring Alchemist."
Elizabeth reflexively smiled politely back. "I believe you have a stone to give me?"
"Ah, yes... a philosopher's stone," Kimblee said, pulling out—
'Oh. My.'
Elizabeth held out her hand, accepting the tiny red... stone? It was gelatinous in texture, bouncing up and down with each movement like a jelly. It was red like Selim's eyes in the shadows, and it seemed to hum with energy.
'Exactly what is the size of a human soul?' Elizabeth questioned, wondering how such a tiny thing could fit so many supposed souls inside of it.
Could she cut it open? Did it float? What happened if it was used in seance?
Elizabeth closed her fingers around the stone, temporarily putting those questions on hold. "I just need to heal you?"
"If you would be so kind," Kimblee wheezed.
Elizabeth placed her hand on Kimblee, wondering—
'Oh.'
With sparks of red lighting flying off her fingertips, the knowledge surged forth from her mind. The stone's power glided through her like a warm breeze and she understood perfectly what had to be done.
Within a second Kimblee was completely healed.
"Ah, thank you," Kimblee said politely. "I would have, but I don't know the nervous system nearly well enough to try."
"Mm-hmm," Elizabeth responded dubiously, turning back to Raven. "If that's all, I need to get to Fort Briggs."
"Actually," Kimblee cut in, smiling like a shark. "We need to go there, too. Your father mentioned you were going to need some test subjects, right?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said slowly, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I'll be arranging that for you."
Elizabeth chewed on the inside of her mouth.
'What the heck is going on? A mission that requires Raven, a wildcard like Kimblee, and it lines up with my needed testing at Briggs?'
If Elizabeth didn't know any better, she would have thought Papa was orchestrating a massacre.
'Hmm...'
(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Getting closer and closer to the Promised Day! Three planned chapters left. :)
Answer: Obviously a dragon.
Question: If you had a month left to live, and the money to go wherever in the world and do whatever, what would you do?
Reviews are love!