Somewhat Human (Fullmetal Alchemist)

19: Where Your Nose Doesn't Belong

The brothers look at (Y/n) confused but are reminded of what Marcoh called the research when they first met him. Alphonse tries to look at the files but (Y/n) stands, " The main ingredient for a Philosopher Stone is..." (Y/n) felt her voice get taken from her, the words she wanted to say dangling in front of her, tauntingly.

Edward squeezes her shoulder while Alphonse looks at her concerned. (Y/n) messes with her ring before pulling herself together, " The main ingredient for a Philosopher Stone is, human souls." The room drops in temperature as the Elrics try to comprehend what she said.

" Wha-what?" Alphonse shakily asks, (Y/n) removes her other hand from the papers and steps away and brothers read her translations, once they're done the whole room was stunned to silence. That was until Edward slammed his hands on the table, "No Fucking Way!!" (Y/n) and Alphonse flinch at the noise, and so did Ross and Brosh who were about to open the door to tell them it was time to leave.

Brosh is the first one to run into the room, " What happened?! Did you guys fight?" Alphonse shakes his head, " No, it's not that." Ross comes into the room and stands next to Brosh, "Are you getting frustrated because you haven't cracked the code?" She wonders, unaware that if that was the case they would've been at it for 3 weeks instead of 2 days.

" The code was cracked." (Y/n) mumbles, Brosh looks at them confused, " Isn't that good?" Edward plops on the floor his hand covering some of his face, " There's nothing good about this shit!" Brosh and Ross look at each other concerned, " Just what did you find out?" Brosh asks carefully, he didn't want to set Edward off again.

" The main component of a Philosopher Stone, is human souls!!"

Ross and Brosh took the news the same way the three of them did, freeze then react, " What?! How could the military let an organization inhumane as this run right under their noses!?" They knew that Ross and Brosh's first impulse was to report this but they didn't want this kind of news to go public.

" 2nd Lieutenant Ross, Sargent Brosh." Edward's softer tone immediately caught their attention as he looked down at the floor in defeat, " Please say nothing about this." Ross looks caught off guard by the fact they were told not to expose such information, "But-!" Edward cuts her off and his voice shakes a bit for only him to notice, " Please."

" Alright."

=TIME SKIP=

Three days passed and the three of them were in their rooms back at the Hughes's home, laying on the floor watching the fan above them spin. Hughes and Gracia were awfully worried, Edward refused to eat to the point Elicia noticed and asked him to eat, that was the only time he ate.

Milo heard about the state the three of them were in and tried to visit them but, Gracia told him they weren't in the mood for visitors. He wanted to be there for them but they all refused to let anyone in. Alphonse looks at his brother and tries to push him to eat at least dinner, " I don't want anything." Was his response.

Alphonse would've looked to (Y/n) so she can back him up but neither of them were in any type of mood to argue, " I hate this." Edward mumbles looking at his automail hand, Alphonse and (Y/n) hum in agreement, " It's like when I see my goal right in front of me, and I go to reach it...it runs away."

Edward thinks back to the words he said when they first met (Y/n), "It's almost like the universe doesn't want us to reach our goal." Edward sighs and rests his hand over his eyes, (Y/n) feels her button eye and sighs as well.

" Is it always going to be like this for us?" (Y/n) asks no one in particular, Edward furrow his eyebrows, " It shouldn't be for you, you don't deserve to be a part of this wild goose chase." (Y/n) turns her head to look at Edward, " ...Ed" Edward doesn't move and (Y/n) continues, "We're all in the same boat now, it doesn't matter who did or didn't do what." This time Edward removes his arm and turns to look at (Y/n).