Chapter Six
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(SARAH)
Elicia glanced over us warily. She seemed a bit on edge, but at the same time seemed like a composed lady. I had no idea why in the world we were told to come here. She looked at Theo again, eyes widened, as if just realizing something. "Wait... You said 'Elric'...right?" she stuttered.
"Yeah," Theo confirmed.
"You wouldn't happen be related to...Alphonse Elric, would you?" she asked.
My eyes widened. I suddenly realized why we were sent here.
"You know Uncle Alphonse?!" Theo shouted in bewilderment. "Do you know where he is!?"
"Come inside," Elicia said, ushering us all in.
She took us to the living room where we all took a seat on the puffy furniture. I sat on the couch next to Theo, who was practically vibrating in anticipation.
Elicia sat in a chair across from us, a look of sorrow in her eyes.
Theo finally blurted out just about everything on his mind. "Where is Uncle? How do you know him? What's going on?"
Elicia took a deep breath and looked at Theo and I. "I... I worked with Alphonse, briefly. I was with him when..." Elicia began to cry, then wiped her eyes.
"When what!" Theo demanded.
"Well... I-I was sent to Ishval by Fuhrer Mustang to go and research a few things there, along with the other scientists of the Amestrian military. Collecting and examining soil samples and such. As it so happened, Alphonse was there helping Mustang as well, repairing some of the ruins using alchemy. I talked to Alphonse a few times when we were taking breaks, and we became good friends..." Elicia trailed off again.
"Get on with it..." Theo mumbled eagerly. I was getting antsy as well. The Mustang kids obviously weren't as anxious as us.
Elicia shook her head and apologized. "Anyway, one day we were getting off work for the day and we were headed back to the camp where we slept, and... It all happened so fast... There was a flash of light, a loud boom, shouting, firing guns... I couldn't find Alphonse in all the smoke, and the next thing I saw was a convoy of jeeps filled with men and women yelling in excitement, opening fire on us. That was when I got hit on the head and I blacked out. When I woke up, my team was lying on the ground, fatally wounded. Alphonse was gone. They had taken him."
"Who?" I asked. This could've finally been what we needed. A clue to finding Alphonse.
"Some radicals who are against the rebuilding of Ishval. It's some group that's appeared in the past few years and its spreading like wildfire. There are people everywhere like that now," she replied.
"Not to change the subject, but why would people hate Ishvallans that much?" I asked curiously.
Maes spoke up from her chair in the corner of the room. "People are discriminative. It's human nature."
Elicia nodded sadly.
"But why would they take Alphonse? What would they have to do with him?" Theo asked.
"The Elric brothers are greatly involved in helping rebuild Ishval," Clint said, ever the expert on the Elrics.
Theo and I sat in contemplation. We were a step forward in the search, but we still had a long way to go, as far as knowledge went. I put what I knew together in my head. Father and Uncle were helping rebuild Ishval, there is a large group of people that hate them for it, so they kidnapped Alphonse. And now we had to go after a terrorist group to get him back, in a foreign country I hadn't heard of until recently. I sighed and leaned my head on Theo's shoulder, tired and confused.
"Do you know anything else?" Theo asked, a bit more calmly than before.
"I'm sorry, but no..." Elicia replied.
"Alright..." Theo said, avoiding eye contact. Maes came over and sat on the other side of him, sitting a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you still sure you want to go through with this?" Maes asked. "All things considered?"
Theo hung his head. "I need to think."
I looked up at Theo. "Let's go back to the hotel and think about it there."
Elicia straightened up a bit. "You all could stay here if you'd like," she said.
Everyone exchanged glances. Did the military know we were here? Obviously. Was the military on our side? I had no idea. Mustang was acting suspiciously, and I didn't like it.
"We will graciously accept your offer, Mrs. Butler," said Maes, standing. We all looked up at her in surprise. Did she know something we didn't, or was she just being her usual self?
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(THEO)
I was put in a room with just my sister, which I liked very much that it was just her and I again. I opened the window, and closed my eyes. Listening to her breathing, it almost felt like we were going to wake up in our house again, mother and father not speaking, Pinako's shallow breathing on the couch. Mom's breakfast. Dad turning pages in his study. We would've never gotten the note. Alphonse would come home for Christmas, and apologize for being gone so long. It would be okay....
But that's not how it was. And it would never be that way.
I woke around one, and pulled the covers up on Sarah, but she wasn't sleeping.
"Why are you awake?" I asked.
She looked at me. "Can you honestly sleep now?"
"...Barely..." I admitted. "But try, okay? Just don't think now. It's not going to do any good."
"Theo?" she whispered. "What are we going to do next?"
I pursed my lips. "...I think we should go to Ishval. If Uncle Alphonse was attacked and taken in Ishval, there's a good chance he's still there. I wouldn't say they are the heart and soul of it all, I'd say some where close to the boarder."
"Theo, if we did go, how would we cross the border?"
I stared. "Duh, illegally."
"...What if Maes and Clint and Travis say no?"
"Sarah," I said, taking her small hand. She'd grown so much over the past few days. I was sorry about that, but I couldn't keep her young forever. "the only people who matter now are you and me. He's our Uncle. And we are going to find him....So?" I asked. "Ishval?"
**************••••••••••••******** :P
(SARAH)
We woke up the next morning still not sure what to do. If we went to Ishval, it would be extremely dangerous. If we didn't, we would feel guilty for the rest of our lives. But was it really better to die trying?
I yawned and stretched, forgetting where I was for a brief moment. I looked over to Theo and said, "Good morning."
"Hey," he mumbled. I didn't even have to try to ask him the question on my mind, because I knew it was on his mind too.
"Mornin', beautiful," Travis said to me, grinning and winking. I threw my pillow at him and it hit him in the face.
Clint was sitting by the window reading the alchemy book. I had no idea how long he'd been up. I'd have thought he would know pretty much everything in that book by now anyway.
"Clint," Maes yawned. "When did you wake up?"
"Never went to sleep," he replied, eyes fixated on a transmutation circle.
"Clint!" Maes scolded. "You need to sleep."
"I'm alright," he said, rubbing his eyes. "If we go through with this, we need to know as much as possible. Besides, I do this all the time."
I felt a little guilty for some reason. Clint losing sleep because of our problem. He was admirable.
"Little nerd," Travis laughed. I threw Theo's pillow at him.
There was a knock on the door and Elicia stepped in. "Anyone want breakfast?" she asked, smiling sweetly.
My stomach growled at the mention of food. We hadn't really eaten anything the day before. "Yeah," I replied, grinning sheepishly.
"Good," Elicia chirped
---
After we had eaten what tasted like the best food of my entire life, we all went to the living room and relaxed a little.
Yeah, right. My stomach was in knots from anxiety. It wasn't really my decision whether or not we went to Ishval, though. It was Theo's choice. If I wanted to go but Theo thought it was too dangerous, then there was no way he would let me go. And if he said yes, that's that.
I hugged the puffy pink pillow on the couch and sighed. How would we even get to Ishval? I didn't know where it was!! And neither did Theo! So far, this wasn't going well. And just what the heck was the military doing? Trying to help us? If they wanted to help so freaking bad, they could just go and rescue Alphonse themselves! They're more suited for the job than five teenagers!
I sensed eyes on me and turned to the left to see Theo staring at me quizzically. Apparently I had been mumbling quietly, and I was about to rip a chunk of my hair out. I went silent and released the lock of blonde hair from my tightly clenched fist. "I need some fresh air," I said. It was more or less of an excuse to just be alone for a moment without sounding rude. I stood up and went to the door.
Theo stood up as well. "I'll go with you--"
"Alone."
He paused for a second, then sat back down.
I walked out the door and down the sidewalk, trying to relax. I was tense and anxious and various other emotions that I didn't care to identify. I tucked my hair behind my ear and kicked a rock as I walked along.
I passed several interesting shops that I wouldn't have minded going into if I had had any money. Well, there was money in one of our pillow cases, but that wasn't for spending on frivolous things. Though I did see a really pretty necklace in a shop window... Oh well.
I kept kicking my rock down the sidewalk until my shoe hit it wrong and it flew to the side, out of my path. There was a clink as it hit a trash can in an alley to my right. I looked over into the alley and saw a group of people on the far end. One person shoved another one, then said something to him. I stopped and stood by the trash can in the alley to listen to them, out of curiosity.
Upon closer examination, I saw that it was a group of four teenage boys. Three were rather fair skinned and wearing clothes that the upper class boys wore. The other boy was darker skinned and was wearing slightly tattered baggy clothes. His hair was a bright white color, and he had a slightly muscular build and an intricate black tattoo on his right arm.
One of the upper class boys shoved the dark skinned one again. He didn't retaliate though. Just clenched his fists and avoided eye contact.
"C'mon, red-eyes!" one of the rich boys laughed. "What'cha gonna do?"
The white-haired boy started walking away.
"'Ay!" One of the rich boys went after him and threw him on the ground. "Don't you turn your back on us!" He put his foot on the white-haired boy's head, grinding it in the ground. The other boys laughed.
I looked on, horrified. But what could I have done to help? I was just a girl. They wouldn't have listened to me. Just would've pushed me aside and told me to stay out of it.
The rich boy standing over the dark-skinned one kicked him repeatedly. "Come on, Ishvalan! Fight!"
My breath caught in my throat. So the white-haired boy was an Ishvalan. I wondered why they were bullying him. Just because he was Ishvalan? Why did that matter? He was still human. Now I knew I couldn't step in and stop them. The three Amestrian boys were stupid, and those are the most dangerous kind of people.
The Ishvalan boy was kicked in the face and was spitting out blood at that point.
"Come on!" the Amestrian boy shouted, getting aggravated. "You're content with just getting the crap beat outta you? Fine by me!" He kicked him in the stomach.
The Ishvalan stood slowly and wiped blood from his face. "God will judge you..." He got up and turned to walk away.
The three boys just laughed. "Why isn't your God helping you out then?"
The Ishvalan's eyes narrowed and he turned back to them. He walked back over to one of the laughing boys and stared into his eyes, putting his right hand on his chest. "I'll give you a moment to pray to God."
The boy didn't have a response for that. He was just very confused.
The Ishvalan just said, "All right, then..."
There was a flash of light and a deafening shout. Then the Amestrian boy lie on the ground, blood soaking his shirt. Dead.
I was aghast, but I couldn't leave. I couldn't just walk away like nothing had happened.
The two other Amestrian boys shouted in terror and ran as fast as they could out if the alley, right past me. The Ishvalan boy stood above the dead boy's body, flicking blood off of his hand. "May God have mercy on your soul." He walked to the opening of the alley, then noticed me standing there. I immediately feared for my life. Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about going to Ishval after all.
He turned and looked at me . His eyes were the color of blood. I swallowed nervously. My breathing quickened and I let out a high pitched scream.
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THEO'S POV
I tapped my fingers nervously after Sarah shut the door. I didn't like being away from her. At all. Ever.
It took me two whole minutes before I realized what an idiot I was before running out the door.
"Theo-" Maes asked, but for the first time, it wasn't hard to not whimper on command of her voice. My sister would always be more important than Maes Mustang.
"Sarah?" I called. I looked into different shops, checking for her. It wasn't unlike Sarah to go where the wind took her. Even as a young girl, she just tumbled around town, going wherever she wanted. That's how we'd first found Trisha Elric's grave. I remember the dark look passing over father's face when he found her there, and how he'd yanked her up so fast, running away, leaving me to only stare as he yelled after me. I had asked him what that was, and he had told me it was his mother.
Sarah cried for the grandmother we'd never met. She was only six or so at the time. I didn't know her, and couldn't bring myself to tears no matter how hard I'd willed it. I asked my father how it had happened. He left for his study.
He had an opportunity to tell us everything, and he hadn't.
I pasted jewelry shops and grocery markets and everything.
"Sarah?"
And as if answering, a scream went up.
"SARAH?!" I screamed. "SARAH!" I was running, ignoring the looks I was given by everyone. I took the pocket knife Travis had armed me with and kept running, regardless of Grandmother Pinako's teachings.
I came to an alley, with Sarah on the opposite end. I started towards her,until I saw the threat. A dead body was on the ground, it's torso covered in blood. The smell of it ran into my nose, and I hissed. And in the middle, a boy with tan skin, white-hair, and blood-red eyes. On his muscular arm was a black tattoo, like branches, twining to form a dark ring around his bicep. I swallowed. On his beefy hand, was deep crimson blood.
"Crap," was all I could whisper. "Sarah..." I said, as the boys eyes trained on me. "Run..." I pulled out my pocket knife. "Go home. Go to Ishval. Find Alphonse, okay?"
I took a step forward when she screamed. "Theo, wait! He's Ishvalan!"
That made me lower my guard immediately, but not the boy.
"You are?" I asked. "That's awesome!"
Sarah facepalmed but I ignored her. I quickly remembered the raise my weapon again, just in case.
"Okay, bro, listen...we won't tell anyone about this...I wasn't going to anyway...if you help us."
He didn't say a word, but his eyes seemed to say, Go on.
"Our Uncle...Awesome dude, ever hear of the Elrics? Did some awesome stuff with Ishaval, by the way, helped the rebuilding and all that jazz. They had two great Ishvalan friends. Edward Elric is my dad, friends with a guy named Scar? You ever hear of him? Helped the military and junk ya know, after he murdered all those people."
The boy dropped his guard then, and looked at me. Then chuckled darkly.
"Scar...that's a name I haven't heard in a while."
I blinked, but continued on less nervously. "So, our Uncle, he's in major trouble, okay? We think someone's taken him to Ishval, some anti-Ishvalan group, actually, and we need some help. Neither of us knows how to get there. Can you help us?"
He studied me with out an expression for a moment before asking,"What are your names?"
I smiled stupidly. "I'm Theophrastus Elric, and Sally McScreams-a-lot over there, she's Sarah."
Sarah frowned and yelled at me, to which the boy laughed.
"What's your name?" I asked. The boy laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
"I am Kain, to better familiarize yourselves with me, I will start off with the truth:
I am Kain, son of the one you label as Scar."
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