"(Y/n), are you sure you're okay?"
Your recovery period was short because you insisted over and over that you were okay, that you no longer needed to lay around. Five days had gone by, and you received word that Sheska had finished writing up Dr. Marcoh's notes. You refused to be unproductive any longer, despite your injuries not being fully healed.
"I already told you I'm fine, now stop asking," for the millionth time, you reassured the Elrics and the body guards Ross and Brosh that you were just fine. You fell behind the group, a dark cloud hanging over your head. You did say you were fine, but you kept making nauseous faces and walking slowly.
Maybe I'm not okay... Nope, definitely not okay... You thought to yourself, pulling over to a tree and leaning against it.
Brosh was the first to notice you fell back and came to your aid. "Are you sure you want to come?"
"Yes," with your firm insistence he smiled and turned his back to you, kneeling down.
"Alright, but at least let me carry you. You shouldn't push it," his kind gesture made you feel shy. You hesitantly got on his back, hugging your arms around his neck.
"Just for a minute though..." you said quietly to him.
"Sure," he caught back up with the group.
Edward looked back to check on you but was surprised to see Brosh carrying you. He was even more shocked to see your cheeks were red. He clenched his jaw and sharply turned his nose back to the road ahead.
Once again you entered Sheska's sea of books, you didn't even know if you could consider it a home. Brosh set you down upon your request.
"Here you are, complete copies of all Tim Marcoh's notes! I know five days is a long time to wait but there was quite a lot to write down," Sheska presented a beautiful table full of his research. Stacks upon stacks.
"Unbelievable, there are some amazing people in this world," Alphonse praised.
"These are really Dr. Marcoh's research notes?" Edward took some piles off the top, giving it a quick glance.
"They sure are! Written by Tim Marcoh, '1000 easy recipes'"
"......"
"Oh great does this mean we came all this way for a cookbook?" Ross exclaimed with a hand on her head.
"Is it not what you're looking for? All I did was copy down what I remembered," Sheska felt as if she'd let you guys down.
"Sheska, are you absolutely sure this is a flawless reproduction of the notes?" Edward stared at it with furrowed brows.
"Oh yes I'm a hundred percent certain!" She gleamed.
"Then thank you very much, you're incredible!" Edward handed Ross his pocket watch and a piece of paper with numbers written on it, asking that she ensure Sheska gets paid.
You flipped through the notes. No doubt it was incredibly smart to mask such dangerous notes as something completely unrelated, but you could only imagine the headache this would be to unravel.
"Thank you so much Sheska," you expressed your gratitude, smiling big.
You tried your best to carry a large stack of notes. Alphonse, noticing your struggle, took the majority of the stack and piled it on top of his. He didn't give you the chance to complain, quickly walking ahead of you.
You sighed, mumbling to yourself about how you were perfectly capable. Edward came up next to you, taking the rest of the stack you carried minus one little piece of paper. "Hey!" You glared at him, but he also ignored you and walked ahead. You looked at the single piece of paper left in your hands. "Table of contents..." you grumbled and held the paper at your side.
Thus began the treacherous adventures of decoding a cookbook. It started off with excitement, being able to decode little things here and there without much of a struggle. But that changed very quickly. To say it was a tricky task was a severe understatement. The three of you were up day and night with random outbursts and throwing things across the room. Nothing was making sense, and you were beginning to go crazy.
Burnout happened on the fourth day, your brain felt like it was rotting. Every time you started nodding off, Edward would kick your chair and jerk you awake. The last time he did it, you jumped to your feet and threw your papers in the air. "Ahh I give up!" You whined.
The door opened suddenly to a yummy smell. You looked over to see a beautifully assorted feast on a cart. Ross and Brosh got together a bunch of delicious looking pastries and had made each of you a breakfast plate with eggs, bacon, fruits, and much more. Your eyes sparkled brightly. As always, Alphonse would save his plate for the two of you to share, but in the mean time you and Edward both shamelessly dug in. As if you hadn't eaten in weeks, as if you were severely deprived.
You and Edward reached for the same pastry, as as your fingers touched you glared at each other. "Back off it's mine," he said through gritted teeth.
"I saw it first," you said loudly. You stood up to each other, neither backing down without a fight.
You winced, dropping your arm and putting your free hand on your wounded shoulder. He dropped his guard instantly, "are you okay?" But in that moment of weakness, you quickly snatched up the pastry with a victorious laugh,
"Hey, that was a dirty trick!"
"You lost," you teased him as he sulked. You smiled and split it in half, placing the smaller half in his hand. "Here," you were pleased by his surprised look.
Brosh laughed at your fight, gently patting your head before turning on his heals. "Let us know if you need anything else."
You watched Brosh leave a shy smile on your face. Edward cringed. "Yuck- you have a crush on him or something?" He stuffed his face with the pastry.
"Huh?" You got flustered with his sudden accusation. "No way!" You strongly denied.
"Oh yeah? What's your type then?" Alphonse was excited to hear what you had to say, eyeing and nudging his brother to pay attention. You hummed in response, sitting back down in your chair and resting your head in your hands.
"Tall," the first answer off your tongue was like a jab at the elder Elric. "Strong, sensitive," you looked like you were dreaming, your head in your hands with hearts in your eyes.
Someone that always comes to my side, blonde, protective... You thought with a giddy look on your face. You shook your head, snapping out of your daze. "What about you guys?"
"I don't really have a type," Alphonse rubbed the back of his helmet. "Maybe a nice girl that will cook with me," he had a whole list of foods he wanted to try when he got his body back, so that answer didn't surprise you even a little bit. You looked to Edward who was hesitant to respond.
"I don't have time to think about girls," he said, balancing his pencil on the top of his index finger. You scoffed at his answer.
"Oh come on you can't even think of one little thing?"
"Well," he tapped his foot. "Maybe someone that listens... I guess," he said the first, least embarrassing thing on his mind.
"You'll just talk her ear off about alchemy," you yawned.
"So? Maybe she'll like alchemy," he glared at you. You laughed and laid back in your chair, patting your full tummy.
"Don't count on it alchemy freak," you stretched your arms gently, your arm still incredibly tender and in the healing process. "I'm going to take a nap, wake me up in 15 minutes," you stood up from your chair and went over to the couch where you laid on your side. "I mean it, 15 minutes!" You yelled to them.
"Yeah yeah I'll wake you up," Edward said grumpily. Within seconds you were passed out, softly snoring. "It's your turn to wake her up next," Edward whispered with a shiver, remembering the last time he woke you up how you kicked him across the room. And the time before that you nearly knocked him unconscious with an uppercut. And you always claim you don't remember doing it, so a fight breaks out each time.
"My turn? But brother-"
"Just do it!"
•
•
•
In the middle of a mess, Sheska came for a visit, thanking Edward for his generous payment as it helped move her mother to a better hospital. Soon after, Hughes also stopped by to chat and see how you were feeling.
"I'm fine, shouldn't you be worrying about your own work?" Your smart mouth made him dramatically gasp.
"My own daughter doesn't want me here," he cried out, to which you sighed.
But then, you got a brilliant idea.
"Hey, didn't you say you were struggling to recover data from the first branch?" You pointed to Sheska with a big smile. "I might know someone that can help."
"Huh? Well, I have read the military's criminal case records and I do remember them all..."
"That's all I needed to hear lady, you're hired!"
It worked out for everyone. Sheska got a job, the military could recover missing data, and the three of you would be left alone once again to piece together this puzzle.
•
•
•
You were so eager to learn the truth that you were blinded to all the possibilities.
The sickening horrors behind the stone...
"To hell with it!!" Edward threw the notes and books from the table and you stood quietly with a horrified look on your face.
Ross and Brosh barged into the room to question the tantrum. "What's going on in here?" Brosh looked around at the mess.
"Don't get angry because you can't crack it, throwing things won't help," Ross, clueless to your findings, said insensitivity.
"We did crack it," Al shut her down, his attitude alone thickening the air.
"Wait, that's a good thing isn't it?" Brosh questioned, but he should've remained in the dark.
"There's nothing good about this dammit!" Edward punched the floor. "This is the devils research... it should have been destroyed. Dr Marcoh was right, it's evil..."
"What's so evil about it?"
You laid out the piece of paper in front of you that revealed your cracked truth. After reviewing the documents multiple times, there was no mistaking it.
"The main ingredient for a philosophers stone, is human life. In order to manufacture even a single stone you have to make multiple human sacrifices," Edward spoke quietly, but they heard it loud and clear.
"How could the military authorize research of something so horrible?" The officers were shocked and disgusted.
"Do us a favor, don't speak to anyone about this," Edward pleaded.
"But sir-"
"Please, just pretend you never heard any of it," you cut them off, to which they silently obliged.
Ten long days of hard work for the outcome to be so horrible. You felt for the brothers, to them this was the end. Any hope they clung on to about getting their bodies back crumbled to the ground. They were truly stuck.
The next day you continued to sit around in a dark room, soaking in the truth and contemplating your next course of action.
"We try so hard to grasp the truth but it always slips away. Now that we finally have caught it," Edward clenched his fists and crossed his arms over his eyes. "It turns out the truth is too dangerous to hold. I wonder, if it'll be like this all our lives..."
You remained quiet, afraid anything you could say would be the wrong thing. The stone was important to you, but not as it was to them.
Determined to find any further underlying clues, you spent the quiet time looking over the research again. But in the end, you couldn't find anything else.
You looked to Edward who was shroud in a dark aura. You wanted to do something, anything to make him feel even just the tiniest bit better.
"Here, I think you should eat something," you held out a roll of bread that Ross had delivered to you earlier with a smile on your face.
"No thanks," he refused. You sighed in response.
"Look, Ed I know you don't feel up to it but you're going to make yourself sick," you set the bread in his hands, and he immediately chucked it right back at you. You braced for impact, but it flew right past your face and landed on the floor. You looked at him with big eyes, wondering what you did to deserve that. He hesitated, realizing what he had done.
"You don't understand (Y/n)... So just butt out." He turned to his side, facing away from you, guilt eating him alive.
You clenched your fists as you stood up, pursing your lips. "I was just trying to help-"
"Well don't." Edward was firm with his words. "Just go away."
In anger, you grabbed the biggest book you could find on the table beside you, holding it up over his head prepared to swing. He blocked his face with a look of shock, regretting his actions and words. But the blow never came, and he slowly lowered his arms as you stood there with a conflicted expression.
"You're such a jerk Edward..." You dropped the book to the floor and turned on your heel. You ran out the door, slamming it roughly behind you.
"Brother!" Alphonse scolded.
"Shut up," he turned on his side again with a deep frown on his face. "We shouldn't have gotten her involved in the first place..."
"But don't you think you were being a little too harsh?"
"... Yeah, I feel awful," he whispered honestly and closed his eyes.
"Maybe you should go apologize," he suggested, even knowing his brother would refuse.
"Just leave it alone Alphonse," he sighed, annoyed.
Alphonse felt conflicted on what he should do. Stay with his brother in silence? Go after you to apologize on his behalf?
But before he could act, Armstrong came barging into the room loudly announcing his presence with dramatic tears in his eyes, having heard everything from Ross and Brosh. At that moment they knew it was going to be a very, very long night.