WE WERE THE COST CHAPTER FIVE

Chapter Five

 



(THEO)
"Crap," I mumbled, taking Sarah and Maes by the arms, pulling them toward the fence. "Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!"
"Will you hush?" Maes said, sliding through the fence with ease. I didn't have to time to marvel at how calm she was, or how she moved in the shadows as if she was one. All I could worry about was getting Sarah and I out of here. Squeezing through the fence and into the forest, we all set off at a sprint.
"Maes?" I panted in a whisper,"who would be following us?"
"Anyone," she replied. I frowned at her. Her sarcasm had always been humorous and seductive. Now, it was not funny. At all.
Sarah grumbled behind us, and through the wind all I heard was,"kidnapping the Furher's daughter."
"Aw, crap!" I screeched again. "Why didn't I think about that?!"
Maes threw her head back and laughed.
"What-?"
She smiled."This is the most fun I've had in ages!" I frowned at her, but it was hard to frown at something so beautiful and carefree.
"Hey!" I heard behind us. The heavy footfall of boots a background noise. Sarah screeched, and I turned in time to see her collapse, with a heavy body on top of her.
Spinning on my heels, I lunged at the body, prying it off of my sister and as I swung, a hand caught my fist and twisted me around, thick, muscled arms were wrapped around me neck. I swallowed.
"Travis!"
Oh, frick.
I wriggled, trying to get away, but the taller boy just laughed at me. I could feel my face getting red, and prayed Maes didn't see it in the dark of night. I promptly, however, sent my elbow into the boy's ribcage, causing him to grunt and release me.
"C'mon, shorty," he grunted through the pain. He was doubled over, arms wrapped around his midsection, and eyes squinting. "Why'd you have to do that?"
Now, I was ticked.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'SHORTY'?! I'M NOT THE ONE DOUBLED OVER!!"
Travis straightened himself out with a grimace, and ruffled my hair. "Alright, kid, alright. I'll give you that one," he mumbled before slouching at the bottom of a tree. "Mind telling me what the midnight jail break is about?"
"We could say the same for you," Maes hissed.
Travis grumbled. Maes picked up the knap sack he had, showing us the contents.
"You were running away?" she asked. He snatched back his bag.
"And you, Princess? Running about for a midnight stroll?"
"Shut up," she hissed.
"Hey," Sarah reminded," we need to get going." She grabbed my arm, and didn't seem to be stopping for the Mustang children.
"Where are we headed?" Travis asked, leaping up.
"You aren't going anywhere, pretty boy," I sneered, breaking away my sister and poking the boy in the chest. "We are getting out of here."
"I'll bet Sarah wants me on this little rescue mission, right babe?" He tipped her chin up with his finger, making their blue eyes lock on one another. Her face was red and flustered, and I could tell she was melting. I, on the other hand, was boiling.
"DO NOT! EVER! TOUCH HER!" I growled, and swung, but again he caught my fist.
"Need to work on that, little man."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-"
"Theo."
Maes hand on my shoulder calmed down as much as her musical voice.
"One night..." I hissed. Travis pumped his fist.
"Hear that Sarah? One more magical night-"
"And you're staying arms length away from my sister."
"Aw, so legs are-"
"AWAY!"
***
We walked for several more hours until the dawn. We found a forest with the trees thick enough to block out the sun.
"We should be able to rest here," I said, sighing. Sarah looked dead, and I wanted to run her back to the mansion and let mother and father take her home. But it was too late for that.

She'd be too stubborn to let me do that anyway.

"It's freezing..." Maes mumbled, rubbing her arms. I felt so compelled to give her my jacket, but there was Sarah, shivering wordlessly, not wanting to bother anyone. I sat beside her, and slung my arm around my sister.
"Go ahead and sleep if you want to," I mumbled.
"No...No....I'll do what you do. I'll be fine."
I smiled. "Of course."
"Here it is!" Maes pulled out a blue military coat and pulled it around her. "Warm, could come in handy, but sadly, not all that fashionable." She then reached in, pulling out a white scarf, and two white gloves. I stared.
"Are...are those?"
"Transmutation circles," Sarah finished.
Maes stared. "A design?" she asked.
Sarah shook her head. "Most likely, no."
"I wonder...I wonder what they do."
"We'll find out later-"
"Whose were these? I-...Someone in my family is an alchemist? And...and I don't even know?"
"Maes-"
"Ugh! Of course! More lies!"
"Maes," I said again, more gently. "Just sleep, okay? We'll worry later." Not the most assuring thing that could come out of my mouth, but it shut her up, and we all fell sound asleep.
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(SARAH)

I slept as soundly as possible, which doesn't say much. I was a nervous wreck. I kept waking up and dozing back off over and over. At one point, i woke up and saw Theo sleeping restlessly as well. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, deciding not to even attempt going back to sleep. Instead I stood up and stretched, surveying the area. We weren't too far from Central. The forest we were in brushed right against the edge of the city. I decided to walk around the forest a bit, just to pass some time, and possibly calm my nerves a bit.
All of the beautiful greenery reminded me of home. The smell of the air, the birds chirping. I sighed, thinking this might be the last time I get even a remote sense of security.
And I seemed to have proved myself right.
I heard footsteps and the snapping of twigs behind me. I stopped in my tracks, my muscled tensing in anticipation for something terrible.
"Hi." a small boyish voice called out.
I whipped my head around to see a blonde teenage boy behind me. I sighed with relief, realizing it was the younger Mustang boy I had seen a few days before. Clint, I thought.
"You scared me!" I whispered.
"Sorry." he said, nervously running his hand through his hair. He took a couple steps back and looked at the ground. "I, um... I saw you guys leave... I didn't know where you were going and I was curious and I- I'm sorry."
I giggled a bit at his politeness. Not because I was making fun of him, I just thought it was cute, even though he was a few years younger than me. "It's okay." Then I remembered that we were going on a dangerous trip. We didn't need another Tagalog. We had two too many already. "Go on home, Clint. Alright?"
His gaze shifted back and forth. "I-I'm sorry for intruding. But..." he ground the toe of his shoe in the dirt. "Mother and Father have no doubt noted our absence by now. If I were to return home they would surely get some information about you from me... I-I mean--! I mean I would never INTENTIONALLY do that-!! I-I just! They can be very persuasive! I-I would never--!!!"
I went up to him and put my hand over his mouth. "Okay."
"Hm?" came a muffled sound from his mouth.
"You can come. Okay?" I sighed.
His eyes brightened and he took my hand off of his mouth. "You mean it?"
I wondered for a moment why he was so eager. He had no clue what we were doing, much less the danger we would face. But if he was that excited, who was I to say no? "Yeah. Come on." I grabbed his wrist and took him to where everyone was sleeping and we sat there and waited fir everyone to wake up.
Clint was pretty quiet the whole time. He just sat there kind of awkwardly and drew circles in the dirt with a stick. Finally, Theo woke up and immediately glanced back and forth at me and Clint. "No." he said sternly.
"Theo, he's coming with us." I said, equally harsh.
"Sarah, he can't come with us." Theo's voice was rising in anger. Clint seemed to not even notice us talking and just continued drawing circles.
"Why not, Theo? You got to bring Maes!"
"We need her!"
"We need her just as much as we need--"
I heard the buzz of electricity and saw a flash of light coming from beside Clint. I whipped my head around to look over at him and my jaw dropped.
"Alchemy...!"
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(THEO)
I watched Clint Mustang-a boy I've often forgotten-silently as the lightning buzzed around him.
"Alchemy..." I mumbled, reiterating Sarah.
Sarah laughed crazily. "Oh, he is so coming now!" she high-fived the boy and I groaned.
"This is just freaking great! Let's just bring a whole school bus of kids and kidnap every Politician's children, shall we? Let's make this a huge roadtrip!!" I put my head in my hands.
"Theo." I heard Maes' voice behind me and felt her gloved hands on my back, warmth radiating off her. I smiled sadly into my hands.
"Think rationally. We could use my brother. Although, I am upset at him. How long have you known Alchemy, Clint?"
The younger boy beamed that people were finally noticing him. "Since I was 7. I found a few books in the library and-"
"Okay, I don't need a backstory," I grumbled. "Watch Sasquatch over there. We need to hit the road," I said, kicking Travis lightly in the head. He jumped, but I kicked him again and started walking off.
"Theo!" Sarah screamed. I could hear her shuffling things back into bags. "Wait up!"
"Hurry up!" I instructed.
***
"Wow, Central," Maes said. I stared at her.
"You live here."
"But I don't see this. Theo, I've only been out of the mansion for a few public gatherings, which isn't much. We have tutors for everything. We've hardly ever left."
She smiled around at the alleys covered in trash and grime and at the vendors. She'd never seen this dirty part of Central, and she loved it.
"We need to get you guys a change of clothes," I said.
"What do you mean?" Maes asked.
I looked at her in her long black frock. The buttons were probably worth more than what Sarah and I were wearing put together. Travis and Clint both had on crisp button ups and blazers in navy colors and Amestris symbols on them.
"How much money do you have?" I asked Maes.
"2-"
"Say it in my ear."
I gaped. Sarah looked at me quizzically. I whispered the amount her ear.
"200?!" she mouthed. I kicked her.
"Give me 10," I told her. I went up to an older man with a greasy mustache. He looked like he hadn't bathed in a month. I probably didn't look any better.
"We need clothes for her and the two boys. Whadda have?"
He showed me a black tee and green cargo pants for Maes with lace up combat boots. She agreed eagerly and almost gave him the 10 dollars, but I stopped her. He found a white thermal and khaki corduroys for Clint and a grey tee and navy jeans for Travis.
"How much?" I asked.
"7 dollars."
"Hmm. Got any food or soap?"
"Both."
"How much for some fruit and one bar of soap?"
"4."
"All I have is 10 dollars."
"Then don't bathe."
"Then you're not making a sale."
The vendor frowned at me and I smirked. He stared me down for a moment, before I walked away.
"3...2...1..."
"Sir! Sir! A sale! 10 dollars!"
I smiled.
"You're a smart man," I told him, and took the goods.
"Now what?" Maes said, straightening her black jacket on her body.
"Now, we find a hotel."
"You think that's safe?" Sarah asked.
"Well," I said, turning to tie up Maes' hair,"we don't have the Furher's children anymore, do we?"
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(SARAH)

"Theo," I said. "We're not staying in a hotel."
"And why not? It'll be totally safe. Nobody would suspect anything!" he replied.
"Yeah." I said sarcastically. "Because absolutely NO ONE would suspect ANYTHING about five teenagers staying at a hotel unaccompanied by an adult!"
"Hey!" Travis shouted. "I'll have you know that I am almost a legal adult!"
"ALMOST doesn't cut it, Travis." I said, annoyed.
"And it just makes it that much creepier that you were hitting on Sarah." Maes added.
Travis ignored me and shot Maes a glare.
"Well then what do you want us to do?" Theo shot back at me. "We don't have very many options, so if you can come up with something better, by all means, you're free to make a suggestion!"
I sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Theo, calm down." I said. "Let's just walk around and see what our options are."
"Yeah," Theo mumbled. "Okay."
We walked around the back alleys of Central for who knows how long, having random conversations that ranged from our mission at hand, to Clint's knowledge of alchemy.
"Well, basically," Clint said, walking with his hands in his pockets. "Alchemy is the deconstructing and reconstructing of matter, enabled by what we know as transmutation circles."
Theo raised an eyebrow. "But, from what Mustang told us, our father could transmute things by clapping his hands."
Clint shrugged. "I don't know all of the specifics, but, from what I've read, it seems that if you have a certain degree of knowledge about alchemy, that knowledge acts as your circle, and the circle is made complete by pressing hands together. It's very rare to find an alchemist who can do that though." He kicked a rock on the sidewalk into a trash can, startling a stray cat. "I've read a lot about your father in old military reports that I got from my father's office." He paused for a moment. "Quite a story behind the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother."
Theo and I looked at each other, still upset that our father had never told us anything about his past.
"Yeah.." I said.
"Whatever..." Theo scoffed, apparently still angry at Father because of the dispute the day before. He sped up his pace a bit and shoved a hand in his pocket, reaching up to touch the cut on his cheek with the other hand. I sighed and caught up with him.
"Theo..." I said softly.
"Don't." he said sternly, exhaling.
I didn't know what to say to him at that point. He just seemed upset and I had no idea what to do. We were both so stressed out that neither of us were sure what to do. "Look, Theo. How about we just go find a hotel and work out a real plan. Okay?" I said, totally abandoning my argument that a hotel was a bad idea. I supposed it would be fine, just one night.
"... Alright." he responded.
From there we walked around Central for the rest of the day, looking for a hotel we could afford to stay at. It was a long and grueling search, considering all of the high class hotels, and severe lack of, well, lower class ones. But, we did eventually find one. It may have been a big change for the Mustang kids, but Theo and I were fairly comfortable.
We got to our room and laid out all of the items from our pillow cases on the floor. We all sat in a circle with everything in the center of us sitting on the dirty carpet. I sorted through some things and attempted to categorize them into piles, as I'm prone to doing considering I am very OCD about some things.
In one pile was clothing. Just a few shirts and a couple pairs of pants which Theo and I had grabbed, Theo's jacket, and a pair of white gloves with a red circular pattern on it, which I didn't remember packing.
In another pile were things we had managed to take from the kitchen, non-perishable, of course. Jam, crackers, and a few cans of soup. As far as the fruit we had gotten from the vendor went, had four apples, three bananas, five oranges, and a lemon.
The next pile was weapons. Or what I assumed were weapons. They looked pretty deadly. A hand gun, bullets, gun powder, two pocket knives, and some objects I couldn't identify.
The pile after that was all if our books and papers. The alchemy book, the photo album, the three other books that we had yet to open, the military reports of our father, and some letters, which we hadn't read yet either.
The last pile was composed if personal hygiene products, which I had taken the liberty to pack, plus the soap we had gotten from the vendor. (Theo wasn't going to do it.) A hairbrush, perfume, two toothbrushes (I had only intended on the two of us for the trip...), and a tube of toothpaste. Did Theo think I was an idiot for bringing all of these items? That would be a yes. Did I care about what he thought? No.
My eyes made their way back over to looking at the mysterious gloves. Had Theo packed them? I picked them up and examined the pattern. I spark of recognition flashed across my face. I held them up to Clint.
"Is this a transmutation circle?" I asked eagerly.
He took the gloves in his hand. "Yeah." he said, his mind appearing to wander. He then proceeded to feel the texture of the cloth, seeming to be piecing something together in his mind. He slipped one of the gloves on his hand. It fit him, like, well, a glove. He held his hand out, everyone observing him closely, wondering what he was doing. He snapped with his thumb and middle finger, a small spark flying off the glove. An odd grin spread on his face. "These are..." he whispered, laughing in disbelief. "These are Father's old gloves!"
Everyone still had no idea what he meant.
"Which means...?" Travis asked.
"Am I the only one who has read Father's military reports?" Clint grumbled.
Maes looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Those files are in a safe for a reason, Clint."
"Like it would've been difficult for you to get into, crook," Travis laughed.
Maes shot him a glare, which was surprisingly frightening in the low light if the room, her dark eyeliner adding a menacing quality. Travis shut up. I grinned.
"Anyway," Clint continued. "Father used these gloves to perform fire alchemy--"
"He was an alchemist?!" Travis spouted out.
"I even knew that much, Travis," Maes sighed, facepalming.
"Well sorry for not being as nosy as you two!" Travis retorted.
I exhaled. "Please continue, Clint." I shot a look at Travis. "And no more distractions."
Travis gave me a look that said 'what did I do?' and I punched him in the arm.
Clint snapped again, a spark appearing again. "These gloves are made if ignition cloth, a special material which can make a spark with the right amount of friction." He snapped again. "Father would then adjust the oxygen in the air using alchemy, causing the spark to grow into a flame. Therefore, earning him the name 'The Flame Alchemist.'"
Everyone was pretty amazed at the science of flame alchemy, especially Maes and Travis, considering their father was THE Flame Alchemist.
"Can you show us?" I asked Clint, very intrigued by any alchemy.
"Uhmm..." he said shyly. "I can try." He squeezed his eyes shut and snapped his fingers, only producing a spark that was no bigger than before. He tried again multiple times, only getting the same spark. "Sorry... I guess I can't..."
"It's fine." I assured him. "I was just curious."
He put the gloves back on the clothing pile and I looked over everything again. I decided to move the gloves to the weapon pile, even if none of us knew how to use them. "So." I said, trying to get back to checking inventory. Maes helped me to write down all of our supplies in a scrap sheet of paper, while the boys were discussing the mission at hand.
We were all a bit stressed, so when there was a knock on the door, we all jumped.
I looked over at everyone, who were all afraid of whoever might be in the other side. I slowly stood up and made my way to the door, taking a deep breath as I grabbed the handle. I opened the door just enough to look out of it and see the blue military uniform. I'm a bit of a jumpy person, so this made me scream and slam the door shut, leaning against it as if to block out the man outside.
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(THEO)
I stared at Sarah, wide-eyed as she leaned up against the door. Her face was one of pure panic and terror.
"It's just an officer."
"He could be here to take you back, stupid!" I hissed at Travis, who naively thought all military was his friend.
"Open it, Sarah," Maes said politely.
My sister stared. "Are you nuts?"
"Slightly," she responded, her hands behind her back. "On my count, if you will. One-Two-Three-!"
Sarah flung open the door and I all I registered was Maes arm whip in front of her, a snap, and then the flame consuming the room. I heard a scream, and when I regained my eyesight from the blinding light, our door was singed around the edges, but there was a ivory letter in the hallway, which Maes leaned over to retrieve. Closing the door, she smirked, and started opening the letter.
"Wait! What if it's a bomb?" I couldn't smile as Sarah slapped Travis over the head for his stupid remark. Travis just got this huge lop-sided smile on his face. Prat.
"If it's a bomb, Master Mustang, by all means, open it," I sneered. He just stared. I held out my hand with a sigh, and Maes handed me the note. I cautiously opened it, walking, getting as far away from Sarah as possible.
I stared.
"What does it say?" Maes asked, leaning over my shoulder, hands on my arm. I tried to ignore the fact that she still had on the gloves that caused our door to be black on one side. Clint was working on repairing it now, but it would still...she could still...just...I shivered.
"It's just an address," I said.
"Should we go there?" Travis asked.
"No, it could be trap," Sarah said, sitting down. "Or a clue...from someone helpful."
"Sarah, that was an officer. From the Military. I highly doubt the Fuhrer will choose to help us after we've taken his children. Travis shrugged.
"Our father isn't evil," he supplied. Maes pouted, clearing thinking otherwise.
"...I think we should go," Sarah said. "It's obviously something we can handle," she said, gesturing toward the door. Travis cocked the handgun.
"I'm a pretty good shot."
I looked at Sarah. Whether I was mad at Father or not, Sarah's safety was my number one priority.
"...I dunno."
"Theo," she said. "I don't care the risk. Either way this could be a clue. We can find Uncle Alphonse."
I stared up at her, at her big, brave blue eyes. I looked away from them, unable to take it.
"Fine," I choked, not believing what I was doing. "Tomorrow."

I rose from a dreamless sleep, with Maes curled into my side. I blushed crimson as she stretched, turned, placed her head on my chest, and smiled up at me.
"Good morning," she sighed.
I said something real intelligent like,"I-er-uh-sho-er...uhh..."
She laughed and hopped up. "Get dressed," she said, throwing clothes at me. "We need to go."
When we were all ready, we came to the apartment listed on the address. Outside, there were flowers in the window boxes, and a cat on the ledge.
I turned to Sarah. "I want you to go home."
She stared. "What? No. Are you stupid? You'd get everyone killed without me here!" she said. I knew she was trying to make light of what she knew was very dangerous.
"Sarah, I'm serious. If something happened to you...Sarah, I..." I couldn't talk. She wrapped her little arms around my waist, the way she would when we would play as children, and sighed. "Go answer she door," she told me, letting go and smiling sadly.
I turned and sheepishly knocked.
"Coming!" I heard, and was surprised to hear a young woman's voice. The door swung open, and I came face to face with a young blonde woman with her hair in a braid, and a pink apron on.
"Can I help you?"
I stared up. "I'm Theo Elric."
She looked at me, then the kids behind me. "That's very nice. Are you the knew neighbor children?"
"Uh, no." I said, thinking she might respect the truth. Or fear it. Probably fear.
"Oh. I thought you were. I'm Dr. Butler. Mrs. Elicia Butler."