Pride & Humility

XII

Beta:TaintedLetter

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

"Ellie... never leave Command without me, or Wrath," Selim ordered late one night.

The two had made a little fort in his bed while they were taking turns reading aloud from a rather hilariously dark story. It was Elizabeth's turn to read, and she had gotten a few chuckles out of Selim, but about ten minutes ago he had grown extremely quiet. His shadows flickered around in irritation, becoming sharper and darker under the warm light of the lamp they had under the covers.

His eyes were nearly shut from being narrowed so tightly in anger, and his posture stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked with concern. She reached out a hand to place it over Selim's.

"There's been another murder," Selim said, his voice low and almost snarling. "It's confirmed... someone is targeting State Alchemists."

Alarmed, Elizabeth gasped. "What? Why?"

"Does it matter? Stay close to us at all times. We'll have guards posted outside your greenhouse."

Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. "Okay... will you be okay?"

Selim's lips twitched into the ghost of a smile. "Didn't I tell you, Ellie? I'm very strong."

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Earlier that day, Edward Elric

"That Liore case was handled by you two. Let me convey my gratitude," Colonel Mustang said.

The man sat behind his desk, his hands folded in front of him while the two brothers took a seat on a couch in front of him. Ed had his head resting in his hand, trying not to get irritated by the condescending Flame Alchemist.

Even if it wasn't intentional, Ed always got the impression the bastard was smugger than a con artist who just duped his latest victim.

"No big deal, we didn't do it for you," Ed muttered.

"So this Philosopher's Stone was a dud, too?" Mustang asked.

Ed furrowed his brow as he recalled what he had seen. On their quest for the Philosopher Stone they had ventured to the town of Liore, where it was rumored a man could conjure miracles out of thin air. The man in question possessed a scarlet red stone that allowed him to do exactly that, but it shattered after Ed had defeated the false prophet. "The Stone was a fake, but its power was incredible. It transmuted this huge chimaera."

"I wonder how he used the Stone to do something like that," Alphonse commented. "We've only ever seen plants being transmuted by Lizzie, nothing like animals or humans."

"Still, it is kind of interesting, huh?" Ed remarked. "If we looked into it, it might come in handy for us getting our bodies back."

He and Alphonse had briefly debated on joining Elizabeth for her experiments with cadavers, but neither could scrounge up the stomach to do so. They had settled for reading Elizabeth's notes and going over what she had discovered whenever they visited.

But that was all limited research, since Elizabeth always prioritized her plants and medicine.

It'd be nice to see a different perspective, maybe discuss it with someone who's done more broad research.