Beta: TaintedLetter

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(EDWARD)

Ed returned to Izumi's home with a heavy heart. He kept his hands tucked in his pockets, and he moved slowly through the darkening streets. His mind was elsewhere as he walked—he moved with an absent mind—his gaze pointed up at the sky.

His thoughts chewed back over his latest conversation with one of his oldest friends. A part of him was still having trouble reconciling the image of Lizzie as a soldier. He had only ever seen her in her greenhouse, working diligently on some new medicine with a bright, beaming smile on her face.

She was a doctor. She donated her inventions to refugees.

Yet she was someone who could casually take a life.

She worked hard to protect and serve those she loved.

But she didn't consider that those she killed also had people who loved them.

He wanted to ask what brought about this change, what made her become this way, but then—

"She is Elizabeth Luxanna," Roy Mustang said, his tone subdued and his dark eyes tinged with something closer to pity. "It doesn't surprise me at all, and those who know about her past, and her, shouldn't be surprised either."

Ed had recklessly asked Lizzie about that, and by the way she reacted he regretted it immediately.

He understood all too clearly how important it was to leave the past behind, and how it could still leave scars that couldn't be seen.

Something had happened to his friend. Something that made her—made her—

'Disconnect?' Ed really didn't know another word for it.

When he returned to his teacher's home, Izumi Curtis, he quietly slipped in. He knew Al had already taken their teacher back since she was unwell, so he guessed that she would probably be tucked into bed for the night.

Ed knocked once outside of her bedroom door and she said, "Come in."

He opened the door to their quaint bedroom. Izumi and her husband did well as butchers, but they certainly weren't on par with the money a State Alchemist made so they lived modestly.

"Teacher?" Ed quietly asked her. He slowly, hesitantly, approached her bed before taking a seat at the nearby empty chair. His hands were folded in front of him, and he leaned on his knees, his gaze downcast. This immediately drew Izumi's full attention, and she narrowed her eyes in concern.

She asked him, her tone not unkind, "What's wrong?"

"What would you do if Al and I killed someone as a soldier?" he asked her. "What would you do if we killed a lot of people?"

"Before or after I beat you back to your senses?" she asked him flatly. "Children shouldn't be soldiers. Have you and Al—"

"Not us," he reaffirmed. "Our friend, though, Lizzie. She's the fuhrer's daughter, and has been trained as a soldier for a long time. She was the one—"

"She's the one who cleared out the devil's nest?" Izumi sought to confirm. At Ed's nod, she let out a tight sigh. "A pity."

"She used to be a lot brighter," Ed said. "She still—she still is, but it feels like—it feels like—"

"Like she's lost something?"

"Yeah." Ed sat back in the chair, raising his gaze to Izumi's. "What would you do?"

Izumi made a firm hmm at that, glancing away as she seriously considered his question.

The two sat in silence for several minutes. Ed gave her time to think, and Izumi pondered his question.

"There's not much that can be done," Izumi finally said. "As long as she remains as the fuhrer's daughter, he'll have priority over how she is handled. If he treats her as a soldier—if everyone treats her as a soldier—then that is how she'll stay. All you can do is be there for her, and help remind her what it means to be a child."

Ed closed his eyes at that, leaning back and letting out a heavy sigh.

There was nothing childish about Elizabeth Luxanna, about Lizzie. She acted more maturely than Ed or Al most of the time. The only other child around Lizzie was Selim Bradely and something rubbed Ed the wrong way about that kid.

Ed didn't think he could help Lizzie be more childlike, because he didn't have much experience with that himself. Most of his childhood was spent studying alchemy.

It would be ideal if Lizzie could meet a few more children... make friends with them... and play with them.

But he didn't see that happening any time soon.

He wanted to help her. He wanted to—to do something for her. She was their friend, she helped them, took care of them, and cheered them up when they were down. She was someone Ed could always turn to for assistance, and she would listen to him seriously and consider every point. She could scold him without being too harsh, and she—

She was family.

And seeing family, seeing someone he cared about, lose bits of themselves over the years was unacceptable.

He had to do something.

But what?

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

(PRIDE)

Pride sat in Ellie's greenhouse beside her, listening to her retell what had happened on her expenditure. He was pleased when she retold how she dealt with the enemy Drachma soldiers, less than pleased when she admitted she came across Edward and Alphonse.

Downright irritated when she told him how Edward wanted to help her.

If Edward wasn't a sacrifice Pride would have already eaten that snot nosed brat.

But, no, the slippery meatsack was a precious resource. Even with the homunculi keeping tabs on him, he had a way of disappearing from their sights for a while only to pop back up at a random location. The only consistent thing the boys did was return to Central to study under Ellie in their free time.

This was, obviously, ideal for Father since it meant that Pride himself could keep an eye on them.

It was not ideal for Pride who had to resist the urge to turn them inside out every time they interrupted his time with Ellie for their fruitless research. They would be dead by the end of the year, so all of that time was wasted.

Time that could have been better spent with Ellie baking for Pride, or entertaining him.

The brats.

"An-y-way," Ellie drawled out, "that's all that happened on my part. What about you? Did anything happen while I was away?"

Pride was pulled back to reality by his Ellie's question, blinking vapidly as he considered how to answer. With Roy Mustang's arrival Pride had been preoccupied shadowing him and his team. It was blatantly apparent he was looking into what happened to Maes Hughes.

The colonel wasn't terribly subtle at first, but after a coded conversation with Alex Armstrong—one where the overly buff blond told Roy that Maes was looking into the philosopher's stone for the Fullmetal brat right before he was attacked—he switched to moving more quietly.

Frankly, Pride thought spying on the uppity punk was better suited to Envy since it was Envy's mistake that warranted Maes even being alive.

He couldn't blame Ellie for that. She was ignorant of the plans, and reacted in a manner that was entirely expected of her.

Pride did not expect Envy to choose sadistic pleasure over competence, and waste time shooting Maes in the heart instead of head.

Idiot.

And now that Ellie was aware of Envy—and viewed him as a threat—the moron couldn't stay in public Central for too long.

Pride supposed he could simply ask Ellie to ignore Envy—she would do so without question—but frankly Envy got what he deserved. On top of failing his original mission, he disobeyed orders. Father was less than pleased that Envy had to waste so much of the stone's power over something that shouldn't have even occurred in the first place.

If Envy made another mistake, Father would undoubtedly force a reset.

So now Envy was prowling around for a chance to prove himself again.

But he had to do so without coming anywhere near Ellie.

Because Ellie would undoubtedly kill the moron before he even had a chance to plead.

Which was why Pride was unceremoniously shuffled off to spy on those working in Central Command. He and Wrath were the only ones Ellie wouldn't attack, and since Pride was better suited to spying instead of Wrath...

These were things he couldn't complain about to Ellie, though. She didn't know, and wasn't supposed to know for a while longer.

At least, not until Pride could persuade Father on his new plan.

It originally seemed like such a long shot, but thankfully Ellie's research was slowly winning Father over. A few more events and things could work out in Pride's favor, and hopefully end up better for Father.

While Pride trusted his Father's decision unconditionally, he was still Father's son. And sometimes Pride wondered what would be best for Father more than Father wondered about himself.

Father was dedicated to his original plan because Father believed it would make him happy.

Pride hadn't seen Father be happy in centuries, so Pride hoped that would be the case, too.

Lately, though—

Lately, Pride caught glimpses of something Father's eyes when he read about Ellie's research.

And so Pride began to hope that his plan would prove to be even better for Father.

Pride pulled himself from his thoughts to answer Ellie's question, recalling that she was waiting for him.

"Mother found out about Nina and moved her into the main house where she's taking care of her," Pride responded, recalling how the older woman had reacted when checking on Ellie's greenhouse in her absence. Finding Nina—and a skim of Ellie's notes—was enough for Katherine Bradley to put two and two together and immediately ushered Nina inside where Katherine took it upon herself to tutor the chimaera.

Ellie frowned briefly at that. "I was wondering where she was. Is Mumma mad?"

"No," Pride answered honestly. "How are you on that progress?"

"With the bodies I have now I think I'll be able to make real breakthrough progress," Ellie said, her eyes brightening in excitement. "Hey, do you think Papa would let me make my own chimaera?"

Pride considered this. The chimaeras were largely dismissed as a failure since none of the results produced were optimal. The human scientists were only able to combine two animals—one human and one not, and even then they could only access certain parts. The ideal chimaera would have been multiple animals, and the creature could call upon whatever part, or feature it needed at will.

Doing such without a philosopher's stone proved impossible for the humans.

At least, that's what Father surmised until Ellie came about and somehow made plants grow human organs.

Undoubtedly Father would be interested to see what Ellie could do if given the permission to create her own chimaera.

Even Pride, who was wholly uninterested in alchemy, was intrigued at the idea of what his Ellie could make.

Pride leaned back in his seat, cocking his head in a manner that Ellie thought was adorable. "What are you thinking of?"

"Well, first I'd like to try my hand at some kind of plant-human hybrid," Ellie excitedly said. "A way for them to be able to use photosynthesis, and to regrow lost limbs, you know? I'd also really like to see what happens if I combine them with spiders, snakes, and plants. What kind of toxin would it naturally secrete? Would it be poisonous and venomous? It'd be fascinating to try a fusion of avians, as well with plants. A plant-bird-human that could fly, use photosynthesis, regrow lost limbs, self-pollinate..."

Ellie trailed off, her eyes sparkling the way they always did when she thought of a new project.

'It would be... intriguing to see,' Pride thought to himself.

"It would take years, though. Even if I were to start on it this year, I don't see it finishing within a decade," Ellie finished thoughtfully, tapping her finger on her chin. "But gosh that'd be a fun journey!"

"I don't think you would be denied such," Pride honestly answered her.

"After that, I'd like to try to recreate the human race," she added, almost absent-mindedly.

Pride froze, his entire body seizing for a moment as his mind processed her nonchalant statement.

'What?'

For a moment he thought she was joking, but then she just smiled sweetly at him and he knew she wasn't kidding.

'I mean... what?'

"Wh—Why?" Pride finally asked, his mind still stuck on the sheer absurdity of the statement... and the fact that he couldn't outright dismiss its impossibility. Even Father didn't have such ambitions for humanity because he saw them as ants beneath him. He thought Ellie felt similarly... was he wrong?

"Why not?" Ellie shrugged. "If I can create a human without the... issues... wouldn't that be spectacular?"

'Issues? You mean the faults that define them as human?'

"And do you honestly think you can?" he asked her.

"Not in my lifetime, no," Ellie responded sincerely. "But I might be able to set up the building blocks for another great scientist. It might take centuries, but I'd rather try and fail, than sit around and wonder about what if."

Pride didn't have a response for her. He didn't know what to think.

His Ellie's projects sounded outrageous at first, but she always found a way to surprise him.

It was because of her consistent victories in science that he was able to propose a new idea to Father.

What Ellie was proposing was something she herself wouldn't be able to complete... but something she wanted another scientist to pick up upon her expected death.

For the past couple years Father had become increasingly interested in the projects Ellie came up with.

Pride wondered... if this was something he would finish for her?

'Or perhaps...'

Pride's lips twitched up on their own, and he hopped down from his seat in the greenhouse.

'A little early, and Wrath won't be pleased, but—'

"Ellie?" Pride asked her.

"Hm?" Ellie raised her head up, her emerald eyes downright sparkling with warm affection. When she looked at him like that it made him want to squish her cheeks, or play Hunter and Prey.

"There's someone I want you to meet, if you'd like," he said. "They are the one who created me... who created your Papa, as well."

Pride held out his hand to her.

She stilled, her eyes widening and her mouth. Surprise flickered over her face, then delighted elation. With excitement she exclaimed, "I would love to meet them!"

She accepted his hand.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Answer: Ideally would be hero, and I'd like to fight for good.

Question: Out of all the fandoms who would make your perfect rival? Who would you hate to be your rival?

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