If only... chap13

~ IF ONLY… ~




“Chapter 13: Disappointment…”


Alphonse found an old door with a fresh-looking lock.  A fresh lock in a dirty and rusty place like the sewers. That sure seemed to be interesting.

He wanted to go in but it was locked. Al thought for a second, then drew a little transmutation circle on the iron surface and, ‘click,’ the door was opened.

Al was proud.
Until he fall face forward because of some stupid stairs.

“Ouch…” he whimpered, holding his hurting nose.

He took the steps up and pushed another door open.

Al was surprised to see the Red-water reactor right in front of him. It was huge, gigantic. The red water was running in the large pipes, the valves were opening and closing busily, while the turbines gave out a soft buzzing sound.

The whole place smelled worn and dusty. Alfonse hurried along to the next door, on the other side of the large room. The reactor was usually kept checked and he didn’t want to be found.

The biggest surprise only came when he closed the door behind him and the staircase smelled like…

… like disinfectant.

He hurried up a floor and indeed, as he peeked out the corridor, it reminded him of a hospital.

He quickly pulled back as he heard someone coming.

“Hurry Alexander!” it was the voice of a little girl, and from the barking it was obvious that Alexander was a dog.

Al watched them as they passed the door.


But dogs have a great nose and Al smelled like the sewers already, so Alexander barked where Al was standing.

Nina hurried after the dog. “Alexander!! Don’t go there!” She caught him by the collar. “Don’t be bad a dog! Alex… ” She looked up at the golden-eyed boy as the mutt pushed the door open. “…Who are you?”

~~~


Mustang took silent steps in the clear white corridor.

He hated laboratories. Mostly the ones that had dead bodies in them.

Taking down some guards and professors wasn’t hard at all; the problem was that Roy didn’t know which way to go. He was quite lost in the building. Soon he finally found the way to the basement. It was always the basement where they did the dirty, evil things.
Crystal would be angry. But as much as Roy knew the old Alchemist, he and Strong would most likely come after him when they figured out that he was gone.

The whole place smelled like a hospital, and seemed like one, too. It had long, clean, white corridors, with pale white doors and deadly silence. It was very creepy in a way.

Roy stepped in to a locker as he heard people approaching.

“Everything is prepared sir,” said a humble voice.  “We’ll start the operation under you command.”

“Good.”

Roy just didn’t like the sound of that. Mainly because that approving voice belonged to none other than Basque Gran. “I will have my coffee and then you can start the dissection.”

“Yes, sir.”

~~~

Dante opened her eyes and met the face of Scar.

“Oy, brother! She’s awake!” He waved at him.

The doctor came over as she sat up. “How long was I out?” she asked.

“Longer then before. It has past lunchtime,” he said as he gave her a glass of water. “You should stay in bed until the afternoon, okay?” Then, he turned to his little brother. “Ask someone to bring in her lunch.” Scar nodded and left the tent.

“I’m sorry for all this trouble…” she started. “This was the fifth time….”

“It is okay, Dante.” The doctor smiled. “Just stay in bed, and rest. You will be fine.”

“Thank you.” She gave the glass back to him and lay back. Scar’s brother left to have his meal as well.

Dante knew she would feel fine in the afternoon, but how long could she keep it up? With each new body she took for herself, the less time she could use each one. This body was taken just 3 weeks ago and it already was showing the sign of rejection.

“Dante?” She looked up at hearing her name and saw Edward at the tent’s entrance with a tray in his hands. “Umm… Scar said I should bring in your lunch.”

She sat up and smiled at him. “I am not really hungry.”

“Yes, Scar mentioned that if you were to say that, I should answer that ‘you should eat at least a little’,” he said and stepped over to the bed. “So… you should eat at least a little. It’s good. Really.” Ed put the tray into her lap and took the chair the doctor was sitting in earlier.

The soup looked delicious indeed. And the body needed fluid in such dry place. “Thank you.” she said.

Edward heard her but didn’t answer. His mind was busy with other things. ”Dante . . .”  She knew the question that was coming. “What is the relationship between—” he bit off the ending of the sentence, but spoke up again. “How did you meet my father?”

Dante was surprised at the change of question. Not only that it wasn’t strict, but it wasn’t so direct, either. It was more like friendly.

She smiled nostalgic at the memories. “Your father and I visited the same library,” she started. “I was waiting for a book to be brought back, and when Hohenheim finally showed up with it, we talked a bit about it. Since then, whenever we have run into each other, we have always chatted a bit, mostly about alchemy.”

“How old was Father at that time?” The blond asked while she ate a bit.

“He was sixteen.”

“And you?” Edward didn’t know what he wanted to hear. He had already lost track in the morning after she showed up out of nowhere and confused him. The more he tried to count the years the less sense the whole thing had.

“I was fifteen,” she confessed. Then she met his gaze. “I know what you might be thinking.”

“Just…” Ed looked away for a second. “…Go on.”

“After a while, your father and I become closer than friends, and around 24 he got a job as an alchemist.  I couldn’t get a job because in those times females were to be doing the housework and watch over the children. We never had any though.” She ate some then continued, telling only the important parts: “After a while, your father and I wanted to live forever. I don’t even remember where we got the idea… Anyway, we researched a lot and finally found an answer.”

Then she looked at him again. “I am sure you have heard of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Edward nodded. He wanted to hear the end of this, even though it still didn’t make sense.

“We created one.”

“Wha-what?” The boy looked at her with wide eyes. “No, it doesn’t exist…” he said, but the expression on Dante’s face was deadly serious. Edward calmed down. “…Go on.”

“You know what that stone can do, right?”

“Um… yes. It is said to give you immortality, and if you use it in alchemy then you can skip the equivalent trade…”

“Yes, that’s almost true. But now I feel it didn’t give immortality; look at me, I am slowly turning dead. . . .”  She sighed. “It just made my dying longer…. ”

They both sat in silence for a long moment. You could bite the tension in the air. Edward was waiting for her to say what she wanted to say, to clear up this confusion in his head.

“I am sure your father had a good reason not to tell you all of this.”

“Tell me, what?”

She blinked and looked away from him.
“Edward, I met your father in 1496.” She didn’t see him but because he didn’t give any reaction she turned back at him. It was written in her eyes that she was telling the truth.  “Your father is just a year older than me.”

The boy was shocked more than he thought he would ever be in his life.

‘Hohenheim is more that 400 years old. 400 years old. 400….  400….’ The thought echoed in his mind until it found the right spot in his brain and settled.

It was true his father had great knowledge, and he never mentioned how old he really was.

‘And the books in his study were full of so many things…

Maybe he did go around the world at least three times?’

This fact made everything clear to him now…

Then his father didn’t cheat on his mother. At least that was good to know.

Edward didn’t really know what to do with this new information. He needed a walk, a long walk. So he slowly stood and headed out, but he stopped and looked back at Dante from the entrance.

“But… neither of you looks 400 years old.”

Dante looked up at the son of her love again. “Your father found a way to regenerate his cells, while I have to change bodies from time to time.”

“Oh…I see,” he said, just to say something. Edward was standing there for another minute or so, then turned and left the doctor’s tent.

~~~

“I am… my name is Alphonse.”

“My name is Nina!” she exclaimed. “You… smell bad.”

“Ah, yes, I’m sorry.” Al sweat-dropped. “I had a fight in the sewers and … well, it’s a long story.”

Alexander just sat there and waved his tail. Nina petted the dog.

“You must be a nice person.”  She smiled. “Alexander knows if somebody is good or bad.”

“Thank you.” Al smiled. “That’s nice to hear.”

“So… you came to see the homolus too?”

“Homolus?” Al blinked at her.

Nina thought for a long moment. “ Homunculus! Sorry, it’s a silly name.”  She smiled. “I would call it a doll. ”

“Doll?” Al crouched down to her level. “Why?”

“Because it has beautiful, long blond hair!” she said. “Although one of his arms and legs are robotic…”

“…ro- automail?!” Al asked worriedly.

“Yes, ” Nina gave him a sad face then. “They want Daddy to do an operation on him, though. They always want daddy to do such things even if he doesn’t want to.” She petted Alexander again. “Daddy is always sad after work.”
“Nina, where is this Homunculus now?” Al was really worried. They wanted to do an operation on Edward! It wouldn’t sound so scary, if they weren’t thinking of him as a Homunculus. From his father’s notes, Alphonse knew that homunculus was an alchemically-created human. Nobody could make one yet, so why were they thinking that Ed was one? Al decided to think later and do things now.

“He is in the Dissection Room,” she said casually. It was obvious she didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Al felt his blood freeze. “Oh, no.” The little girl asked what the problem was, so Al told her that the Homunculus was not a homunculus and that he really should not be operated on. “He is my brother, Nina. I must save him.”

“Save? But I thought operations save people.” Then Al quickly told her the meaning of dissection. “That way!” she pointed down the corridor.

~~~

Edward felt numb from laying on the hard table. He didn’t know how much time flew while he was stuck here. It seemed to be a whole day, at least. . . .

He saw a bit of light in the huge upper window, but it was soon gone. That room was dark, which was logical if somebody wanted to follow the happening in here. And if there was a bit of light, that could only have come from the corridor. That means a door was opened and closed. That means somebody went in. Which means somebody is here to watch an operation…

Sadly the fact was clear for the bond boy that the only one who is still in one piece in this room is him!

This annoyed Edward very-very much.

He heard some mumbling but he couldn’t make out anything from it. Then he heard sounds from the left. It came from behind the door.

“So we just make him sleep and operate like that?”  

“I don’t like this.”

“Shut up already, Tucker! Orders are orders.”

After that three men dressed in green stepped into the room. Edward hoped he was just having a nightmare.

And as If things weren’t bad enough already…  

It was obvious one of them was the Life Sewing Alchemist, but the other’s voice sounded like… like the Crimson Alchemist!

That was enough to give the blond the urge to just scream!

“AAAaaa!!!”  The three men stopped in their tracks for a second.  “No way! Don’t you dare! I AM NOT A CHIMERA! GO AWAY!!!” Ed tried to get loose again, but Kimbley stepped over and pushed his head back onto the cold table. “Kimbley, you MURDERER! Take your hand off of me!!”

“Bring me that sleeping gas…” Kimbley said and the third person brought up a small gas container. Crimson took it and pushed the mask on Ed’s face.

“Aaa hey! Take that off!! You jerk!” Ed struggled a bit until he felt his mind begin to get dizzy and foggy again.

“Good night.” Kimbley joked evilly.







~~~


End of chapter 13