Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

THE TRUTH

THE BLEACHED-WHITE WALLS of Raygen’s mansion shone in the slanting light of the sun. The outer wall drew a large semicircle around the grounds, ending in the cliff wall at both ends. The tall, sturdy wall barred all visitors, cutting the mansion off from street traffic. The only entrance was the gate in front, guarded by the watchful eyes of the security patrol.

“It’s strange,” Edward mused. “I mean, I understand why he’d want to protect himself from the bandits up top, but isn’t that what the guards at the entrance are for? Why all the guards down here? It almost looks like he’s trying to protect himself from his own people.” Edward looked up at the high wall before them. “As soon as one thing seems suspicious, everything starts to seem suspicious. You can see the wall here from the town, can’t you?”

Alphonse nodded.

“Let’s go back toward the cliff a bit, shall we?”

Alphonse walked along until the curve of the wall hid them from the rest of the town. They walked casually, two visitors out for an afternoon stroll. Visitors now—trespassers once they found their way in.

“That reminds me, I’m surprised that you came up with the idea of breaking in,” Edward remarked, looking up at his brother. “This is a first. Usually, I’m the one that says we should break in, and you try to stop me.”

Their various adventures often gave the brothers cause to infiltrate the odd home or fortress. Sometimes, they had to play a little loose with the law, but when push came to shove, Edward was always the one who shoved first. For Alphonse to beat him to suggesting criminal activity was a novel, and enjoyable, experience.

Alphonse chuckled, seeming a bit embarrassed. “Maybe we switched places? Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry. I kind of like the idea of being the sensible older brother who has to hold his headstrong younger brother back from charging off recklessly and getting himself into one mishap after another,” Edward said with a chuckle.

Alphonse gave him a sharp jab in the ribs. “Hey! I didn’t see you stopping me! In fact, it was your idea that we go in before evening. This is your plan.”

Earlier that day, when Alphonse decided they should go find out what Raygen was up to, he suggested that they wait until nightfall and slip inside. Edward had immediately turned the idea down. “No, if he’s really up to no good, there’s probably evidence inside. He probably keeps a stronger guard at night, if anything,” Edward reasoned. “We should go in by light of day, when he least expects it.” Alphonse had agreed. After all, when it came to planning mischief, no one was better than his older brother.

The two walked until they reached the point where the wall met the cliff face. They stopped and took a look around. Edward nodded, pleased. Their position—between Raygen’s wall and the back of a nearby house—shielded them perfectly from sight of the rest of the village. Edward and Alphonse looked up at the wall.

The top of the wall was dappled in the fluttering shadow of green leaves belonging to a tree on the other side.

“We could use alchemy to make a door,” Edward thought aloud, “but I’m not really sure what’s on the other side. Let’s have a look first.”

“Roger.”

Alphonse made one last check to ensure no one was watching before he hoisted Edward up on his shoulders and stretched to stand on tiptoe. Balanced on his shoulders, Edward too stretched to his full height, his eyes just clearing the top of the wall.

“How’s it look?” asked Alphonse from below.

“The tree’s in the way. I can’t see anything,” came his brother’s muttered reply. Edward pushed the branches away from his face to catch a glimpse of the bright, sun-drenched mansion grounds. Here and there stood bored-looking security guards. He had been wrong, it seemed. Raygen’s mansion was well guarded, even during the day.

“One, two … five guards in all,” Edward whispered down. “Plenty of cover in there, though. I bet we can pull this off.”

Edward smacked the wall with his hand to check its strength, then lifted himself from his brother’s shoulders to the top of the wall. Crouched in the foliage of the tree, he motioned to Alphonse, drawing a loop in the air with his thumb and forefinger.

“Okay to come up?” he whispered.

“Yeah, the tree should hide you.” Edward nodded.

Alphonse took a rope and hook out of the bag at his waist and threw the end to his brother atop the wall. Edward attached the hook to a low ridge on the inside edge of the wall. The noise from the refinery near the mansion echoed around them, helping to cover any sound that they made. Alphonse climbed to the top of the wall and joined his brother in his leafy hideout. The tree’s branches concealed them from both the town and the mansion.

Alphonse reached behind him to retrieve his rope when he heard the loud clang of metal crashing against metal. Someone had opened the gate in front. The two held their breath and stood perfectly still. Soon, they saw two security guards leading Leaf and Kett, the man who’d overturned the cart of rocks, who walked with the aid of a wooden walking stick. They were going into the mansion.

“They said they were leaving town,” Alphonse re-membered. “They must be asking Raygen to help them find other jobs.”

“They have to do something to survive.”

Raygen’s laws had made their life a hard one here, but it would be much harder if they left without any prospects for employment in another place. “You know,” Alphonse continued, “I used to think it was awfully kind of Raygen to give them work. Now I kind of wish he’d helped them earlier, before it came to this, so they could have had a better life here.” Alphonse turned his eyes downstream. “It’s so bright in the sun here. You can’t even see the other half of town.”

Edward knew what half he meant. Earlier, Alphonse had gone downstream with him to search the rotting, abandoned houses there for rope and something to make into a hook. There, for the first time, his brother had seen a town completely unlike the Wisteria he had come to know upstream. It had been quite a shock.

“It’s hard to see into the shadow when you’re blinded by the light.” But Alphonse knew better. He had seen the flowers that Leaf grew in the shade, and he had seen the people there, trying as hard as they could to make a living in this town that valued only the strong. It was clear that Raygen wasn’t looking at the shadow. But, Alphonse wondered, if he wasn’t looking there, where was he looking?

They had come here to find out just that. “Let’s go, Ed,” Alphonse said, turning back to the mansion.

Edward looked down. Beneath their tree grew a low shrub. He tensed, lowering himself to one knee on top of the wall. Alphonse crouched too, ready. They waited.

“Any moment now,” Alphonse muttered, when the roof of the refinery dome began to open slowly.

“Now!” Edward hissed, together with the sound of the steam gushing from the top of the dome. The two dropped down to the ground, the clamor of Alphonse’s armor lost in the hissing of the steam. 

“You okay?” he asked his brother.

“Looks like we made it,” Edward said, nodding.

The two crouched close to the ground and looked around. It seemed they had escaped notice. The refinery dome opened only once every few hours, but it had been worth the wait. Their plan had worked. The brothers checked out the mansion from their hiding place.

“From here, we should probably head around to the front of the mansion,” Alphonse said, reviewing what he had seen of the mansion’s layout from his brief trip inside the gate. “If I remember correctly, the front entrance is right in the middle of the mansion, and everything on the right and left is symmetrical.”

“So it doesn’t really matter which way around we go,” Edward concluded, peering over the bush at the mansion. “Now, if you wanted to build an ideal country—something strong enough to stand up to the military—you’d need money first, right? Then you’d need people, and then you’d need …”

“Weapons,” Alphonse said, finishing his sentence for him.

Yet neither could imagine a stockpile of weapons in this mansion. Though the wall was high and there were guards about, all of the curtains in the windows were wide open. The windows on the side of the mansion nearest them had been opened to let in the breeze.

“Maybe he’s hiding them somewhere else?” Edward said. His eyes went down to the ground beneath his feet. “Below the ground.”

“Yeah, you may be right,” Alphonse nodded. “But how do we get down there? Maybe there’s a way from inside?”

“Hmm. Probably.” Edward looked back behind them. The ground on the other side of the mansion rose slightly, so he could see the top of the large sluice gate and the water spilling out of the cliff behind it. “Didn’t Ruby say that the sluice gate divides the flow of water from the cliff into two streams, with one forming the waterway through town and the other running beneath the surface?”

Edward noted the front of the sluice gate, where the waterway diverted the water around the mansion. From there, the water flowed through numerous channels to the main waterway and into numerous smaller streams that fed the village fields. Edward’s eyes ran over the sluice gate, the waterway, the mansion, and the width of the grounds, then down to the ground beneath their feet. 

“If the stream really splits at the sluice gate, then that underground waterway must run right under the mansion,” Edward reasoned. “If there’s a cellar or some kind of storage room under the place, the river would flow right by it. They might even be connected.”

Alphonse nodded. “If they had to build that underground waterway, maybe we can find the entrance they used when they were making it and go in that way.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

Edward and Alphonse moved slowly along the inside of the wall, looking for a way below.

“Ed,” Alphonse whispered to his brother, who was carefully scanning the ground in the other direction. He pointed at an iron plate set into the ground toward the back of the mansion, a short distance away. “Maybe that’s it?”

The plate had turned red with rust, a square of color in the green of the grassy lawn. Edward waited for a guard to pass before leaving the safety of the shrubbery to run to the plate. Finding a small handhold in the plate’s center, he thrust in his fingers and gave it a tug. “Heavy!” he grunted under his breath.

The iron plate was about three feet square and heavy as lead. Alphonse ran up to help pull. Together, they managed to lift the plate slowly from the ground.

A soft breeze blew up from below.

“Bingo!” Edward whispered. “This connects to something down there.” Working together, they lifted the iron plate carefully, so as not to make noise. With the plate removed, they saw a metal stair leading almost straight down into the darkness below. They slipped inside, lowering the plate behind them. The moment the entrance closed shut, the sound of the water from the sluice gate became distant, drowned by the sound of water flowing briskly below them.

After a moment, their eyes grew accustomed to the dark, and the shapes of objects came slowly into focus. Edward noticed a lantern hanging near the entrance, complete with oil and matches. Edward lit it and directed the light into the darkness below.

The staircase went almost straight down for about fifteen steps to bare earth below. The sound of water became almost deafening the deeper they went. The underground stream flowed right by the foot of the stairs.

“There’s quite a lot of water going through here. Much more than in the waterway up top,” Alphonse noted, coming down behind his brother. Unlike the gently flowing waterway above, its underground twin flowed at a steeper pitch, and the water rushed fast enough to carry small rocks in its flow.

The waterway was about six feet wide here. Despite the rocks they could see caught in the flow, only a few seemed to have been deposited along the bottom. Someone must come down regularly to remove them, Edward thought. Walkways had been built along the sides of the waterway, allowing people to walk down the tunnel. The tunnel itself, they now could see, went on for quite a distance.

“That must be the refinery up there,” Alphonse said, pointing toward a beam of light stabbing into the dark tunnel some distance ahead. In the shaft of natural light, they could see ropes hanging down. These must have been the ropes Alphonse had seen used to scoop up stones in boxes for sorting.

They walked along the tunnel for a ways, looking carefully about them as they went. The builders must have tried a number of different routes for the water when constructing this place, for there were several side passages, some so narrow that only a single person could pass. With only their sense of direction to guide them, the brothers walked until they guessed they were roughly beneath the mansion. Switching to a side path, they turned several corners until the floor beneath them changed from rock to a sturdy path of wooden planks, ending in a wooden door.

“This is it.” Edward handed the lantern to Alphonse and pressed his ear to the door. “Doesn’t sound like anyone is in there.”

Quietly opening the door, they discovered a cellar made of concrete. It was filled with weapons. The brothers walked into the room, weaving their way through countless stacks of boxes containing pistols and rifles. On the far wall hung documents describing the weapons’ use, targets for shooting practice, and strategies for fighting military units, above a long stack of files along the back wall of the room. In the middle of that wall stood a wooden door, much like the one they had come through.

“I guess we found our proof,” Edward said, holding a rifle up to the light of the lantern. “This is military issue. Somebody must be sneaking them supplies.”

The cellar was quite large. Some of the boxes had a layer of dust on them, and others looked freshly arrived. Raygen must have been collecting these weapons secretly for months or even years. Edward expected they would find a similarly large stash of ammunition elsewhere. Their worst fears appeared confirmed: Raygen definitely planned on declaring independence. He wanted to make his little town into a nation, with the law of equivalent exchange its guiding light—and a bright and shining lure to draw in people who would serve first as labor for the town, then as its military force. The profit from the gemstones they snatched from the stream would fund their secession.

“So he is using the townspeople,” Alphonse said sadly. “Raygen’s kindness was a front … He doesn’t really care whether the people are happy or not, in the end.”

The hand of Wisteria’s founder was not stretched out in kindness; he was gathering puppets to dance on his palm.

“What should we do?” Edward asked quietly. Alphonse faced away from him, staring at the weapons.

“We could tell the people of Wisteria, but I’m not sure how much good it would do. They said they wanted a new world, after all. If Raygen wanted to start his own country, I bet many of them would choose his world over a world run by the military. Maybe some of them already know about this.”

“You’re probably right.”

Alphonse took a rifle out of one of the stacked boxes and ran his armored fingers down the barrel. “I don’t know if everyone in town would pick up one of these to build their new world, though. And … I’m not sure I’d have much to say to anyone who would.”

Edward was silent.

“But looking at this, I know now,” Alphonse continued. “I’m glad I didn’t go to Raygen for advice. I can’t say that the world outside is a great place, but I don’t think you should destroy it to find happiness. I think you need to care for what we’ve already made and find happiness in that somehow.” Alphonse looked at his brother. “Thank you, Ed. I’m glad you came along with me.”

Edward nodded.

Alphonse waved at the crates. “As for these weapons, that’s up to the townspeople to decide.”

Just then, they heard the sound of footsteps behind the door across from the one through which they had entered. Edward and Alphonse exchanged quick glances, set down the weapons they had found, and went back out through the door as quickly as they could. They were halfway down the wooden-floored corridor when they heard someone step into the room they had just left. 

“Maybe it’s a guard?” Edward whispered. “I’m surprised they’d patrol down here.”

“If we’re found, they’ll run us out of town for sure. Let’s hurry.” Alphonse turned sideways to pass through a narrow section of the corridor. Behind him, Edward scrunched his shoulders and followed. A light wavered in the hall behind them.

“Uh-oh! Al, get outside, now!” Edward hissed, handing Alphonse the lantern. Alphonse hurried off, hands clasped around the lantern so as to hide its light. Behind him, Edward ducked around a corner and hid in a side passage. Thankfully, the sound of rushing water from the main tunnel drowned out the noise of Alphonse’s footsteps. The wavering light from down the hall came closer, and Edward crouched to the floor, afraid even to breathe.

He heard a voice.

“Are you sure it’s not there somewhere?”

It was Ruby.

“Yeah,” a man’s voice replied. “Neil comes down once a week to dredge the river for stones, but the lamp he usually leaves in the entrance wasn’t there today.” 

From the voice, Edward pegged Ruby’s companion as one of the male security guards. As they spoke, light filled the narrow halls near where Edward hid. Holding his breath, he cursed himself for being so careless. It was the lamp they had stolen from the entrance that had given them away. He just hoped that they would get out of this place in one piece.

Ruby and the guard stopped at the intersection where Edward’s passage joined the main tunnel to the weapon room. Ruby stopped and looked around. “I don’t see any sign that anyone’s broken in.”

She stood so close to Edward that when she lifted her lantern, the light fell across Edward’s feet. He tensed, ready for the fight that would surely come. 

But the lantern stopped.

“With all the twists and turns, I’d be surprised if they got in this far,” he heard the man say.

“So maybe the lamp just fell on its own into the river and got carried away?”

“Must be. Let’s go back.”

“Right. By the way,” the man added, “those folks from downstream say they want to negotiate with Mr. Raygen. Should we bring ’em in?”

“We don’t have time for that. The bandits have stepped up their attacks lately, haven’t you heard? We have to deal with that first.”

Ruby turned, her long hair dancing in the air directly in front of Edward’s face. A stray strand tickled his nose, filling his nostrils with the smell of dust and soap.

Edward grimaced, a sneeze building behind his eyes, as he watched Ruby and the man walk away. They were out of sight before the sneeze got the best of him.

“Wachoo!”

The receding light stopped suddenly and began to grow brighter.

“What was that?”

“Who’s there?!”

“Uh-oh …” Edward said under his breath before launching himself down the narrow hall where Alphonse had gone. 

Ruby and the guard raced back into the main tunnel, but before they could discover him, Edward had disappeared down yet another side tunnel. He worried about getting lost in the maze of corridors, but being lost seemed better than being found, so he ran, taking right turns and left turns, putting as much distance between them as he could. 

Ruby and the security guard seemed to have as much trouble navigating down here as he did. Soon, their footsteps were far in the distance, leaving Edward alone in the dark without a lamp.

His eyes open wide to see through the darkness, he walked, his only guide the faint light that came spilling from the sluice gate and the refinery.

Edward walked with one hand along the wall, feeling his way, when suddenly the texture of the wall changed beneath his fingertips. The cold rock of the wall suddenly gave way to something softer. It was wood.

Another door?

Edward ran his hands over the surface. From the shape and size, it was definitely a door. He found the handle and tugged. It was locked.

Could Raygen be hiding something else down here, too? 

They had already found the weapons. Maybe this room held the stockpile of ammunition. But Edward couldn’t think of a reason why the room with the weapons would not be locked, while this one was. Looking around to make sure no lantern light was in sight, Edward put his hands together and used his alchemy to create a smaller door within the door. A blaze of alchemical light lit up the hall for a second, but his pursuers didn’t seem to notice.

Edward pushed in the door he had created with both hands and quietly stepped through. Inside was pitch dark. Edward closed the door behind him and walked forward, waving his hands in front of him to feel his way.

“Ow!”

Edward crouched and grabbed his foot. He had run into something midstep and nearly lost his balance. He reached out until his fingers found something like a wooden box resting on the floor. He ran his thumbs across the top until he found the edge. Then, he quietly lifted the lid. Edward thrust in his hands, having an idea of what he might find, but what his fingertips touched felt nothing like the weapons they had found earlier.

He reached in and picked up a small object. It felt cold, like metal, but it was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. The surface was smooth, though faceted. It was roughly the shape of a sphere. He reached in and found another. This one was more of an oval, with many hard edges and corners.

“Wait a minute …”

Edward clapped his hands together and put them on the floor. After a flash, the floor beneath the box swelled up, tipping the box on its side and spilling its contents on the ground. In the brief alchemical light, they shone like a thousand stars in the night sky.

“Jewels!”

Edward gasped. In the moment’s light, he had seen box after box, each of which must have been filled with gemstones. The sight stunned him, and yet, at the same time, he had a sinking feeling that these would only be used to buy more weapons. 

Still, Edward thought, if these boxes are all full, there’s an awful lot of gemstones here. Even if he’s been taking them out of the town to sell, he’s held quite a few back. 

Edward wondered why Raygen had hidden the gems back here, locked away, while the weapons had been relatively out in the open. He listened at the door but heard no sound of his pursuers. Ruby and the security guard must have given up or assumed that his sneeze had been just a trick of the water. Something else was odd, too. If Ruby and the guard knew about all these gemstones and expected an intruder, surely they would have come here to check. Perhaps they didn’t even know this room existed.

Edward used his alchemy again and tipped over another box to find even more glistening gems. Based on his best guess at how many gemstones Wisteria collected every month and how many gemstones he saw, Edward guessed that Raygen held back as many as half or a third of the gemstones for this secret stash. 

Yet something didn’t add up. Raygen obviously paid some workers quite well per equivalent exchange, and accumulating all those weapons couldn’t have been cheap. Yet here were all these unsold jewels. Edward sat down on one of the crates, thinking, and then he jumped to his feet with a gasp. He had just remembered the conversation he’d had with Roy when the colonel had first sent him on this miserable mission.

“What did he say about criminals?” Edward muttered to himself. Arrests had been on the rise in the Southern Area, he recalled. Roy said that rapid modernization had left the factories without enough workers. Desperate managers had begun filling positions by going to human brokers who sold criminals into forced labor.

“Oh, no!”

There were many bad people in the world, Edward knew. He had met more than his share. And one thing he knew about bad people: the worse they were, the better they were at covering their tracks. They could use people up and throw them away without anyone ever knowing.

A nasty suspicion took shape in Edward’s mind. It was time he and the colonel had a chat about this, and soon.

“AL!”

Alphonse turned at his brother’s voice. He stood outside the wall surrounding Raygen’s mansion. “Ed, you made it!”

Edward climbed back over the wall and ran up to his brother.

“They didn’t catch you?”

“Or you!”

“Not yet. We got lucky. Apparently there was a bandit attack while we were inside, and all the guards got sent out.” Alphonse pointed up at the cliff above. Edward could see security guards beginning to make the climb down from the entrance. It seemed the attack had been repelled.

“It sounded pretty bad up there. I heard a lot of gunfire.”

Edward nodded and then suddenly broke into a run.

“Ed?” Alphonse yelled after him. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to go check on something. Stay here, Al!”

“What?! Did something happen? Did they see you?” Alphonse ran hurriedly after Edward, turning around to look and make sure no guards were following them. There was no one else in sight.

Edward stopped and called back. “I didn’t get found … but I found something.”

“Huh? What?” Alphonse stood, confused.

Edward turned and ran back to his brother. “That Raygen might be a worse person than we thought,” he said, panting. “I found proof. But … I’m not sure. I need to get outside and talk to the colonel!”

“What, now? I’ll go with you!” said Alphonse, jogging alongside Edward as they returned to their house. 

“No, Al, you stay here. I need you to stop anyone living downstream from going to Raygen for help.”

“Why? There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? If he said he could get them work, why, all of them should be asking Raygen for a way out …” Alphonse didn’t want the people already suffering here to suffer any longer. Edward shook his head.

“No. Just keep them from going to Raygen until I check on something with the colonel. I’ll tell you everything later.”

Alphonse paused and then said, “Okay.” He knew Edward never made a claim unless he was absolutely sure of it. And to see him so hurried could only mean he had learned something vitally important. Even though Alphonse worried about sending Edward off through the bandit camps alone, he knew his brother wouldn’t be swayed now that he’d made his decision. Besides, if anyone could take care of himself, it was his brother, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.

“Then be careful. I’ll do what I can here.”

“Great, Al. I’ll be back soon!” 

Edward waved and headed up toward the entrance to the valley. 

Meanwhile, Alphonse went the other direction, down-stream, to stop anyone else from leaving.

Edward crossed through the central square, walking past men resting on the benches. He overheard snippets of their conversation as he passed by. They were talking about work, unsurprisingly. One spoke cheerfully about the upcoming monthly payday. It occurred to Edward that they might actually know everything that was going on here. They might be in on Raygen’s plan to build a new country in defiance of the military. But seeing the innocent smiles on their faces, he knew at a glance that they did not understand the sacrifices it would take to build their ideal world.

Edward walked up the narrow, winding stairs until he stood high above town. Looking down, Edward paused in thought. Wisteria, country of smiles. I wonder how long it will last. Edward stopped for only a moment to take in the view. When he resumed his march, he moved much faster and more deliberately, his growing sense of unease speeding him on his way.

Inside the valley, the shadows had already deepened into evening, but up above, the sun still shone low in the desert sky. He stuck his head over the top of the cliff and was bathed in the light of the west-leaning sun.

“Whoa, bright,” Edward muttered, holding up his arm to shield his eyes. One of two guards standing nearby noticed him and turned.

“Hey,” he called out. “You’re Edward, right? Didn’t expect to see you back up here so soon.”

“I need to get to the closest town,” Edward quickly replied.

“The closest town?” The two guards looked at each other.

“I can’t?” Edward asked, noticing the frowns on the security guards’ faces. He had worried a bit about this. A town that didn’t let anyone in was unlikely to let many out, but it seemed the man’s scowl was for a different reason.

“I’d advise against it—it’s dangerous out there.”

“The bandits are getting bolder lately.”

The guard, holding a rifle with both hands, motioned out into the waste with his chin. “Bandits called in some friends. They’re more confident now. They’ve come within range of our rifles three times in the last day.”

Edward squinted, looking out over the gently sloping plain. There, in the distance, he saw them. Even at this distance, he could see the weapons in their hands. There were many more now than when he and Alphonse arrived, that much was clear. Even now, it looked as though they were on the verge of launching another attack.

“If you have to go, we won’t stop you,” said the guard, casting a worried look at the bandits. “We’ll cover you as best we can.”

“Right,” said Edward, breaking into a run. 

“W-wait!” the guard yelled after him. “Send us a signal if they catch you … and take a right by the large rock—it’s a shortcut!” 

Within moments, the man’s voice was lost in the wind. Edward waved over his shoulder and kept running. It was tough to know how he should feel, he reflected. These guards were Raygen’s men, slaves to the system of equivalent exchange that Edward knew was anything but equal. He felt sorry for them, but at the same time, he now realized that some of them probably knew the whole story. They knew about the weapons, about the coming secession from the state. They knew about Raygen’s true plans.

Like Ruby.

Edward had seen enough of this crazy world to know that he couldn’t save everyone. He had trouble enough making his own way sometimes. That was why he had always remained the observer. Until now. Edward bit his lip. He had seen someone offer help and give only lies. He had seen an unfair law of equivalent exchange give the strong reason to prey upon the weak. He had seen glistening gemstones turned into cold metal guns. And he had seen people in despair turned into money.

It had taken finding those gems for Edward to realize what was happening in Wisteria. He remembered what Roy had told him—that the Southern Area had experienced a surge in criminal arrests, that selling human labor to meet the high work demand had become a profitable business. If it were really true, if Raygen was really selling the dropouts from Wisteria to fund his new, perfect world …

As he ran out into the waste, Edward realized why he was running. Edward was running for the people of Wisteria—the innocents both downstream and upstream who didn’t know the scope of the injustice Raygen had perpetrated upon them. Edward slapped his hands together, forming his automail arm into a long, sharp blade that glowed red in the light of the setting sun. Ahead of him, the bandits waited.

Edward didn’t slow down. “Out of the way!” he shouted as he cut through their midst like a sudden desert wind. He had no time to stop. For the first time in a long while, Edward had justice on his side, and it drove him on ever faster.

WHILE HIS BROTHER ran across the waste, Alphonse headed back toward the refinery dome. Downstream, he had already warned Ivans not to ask Raygen for more work. The older man had asked him why, but Alphonse could only tell him to trust Edward and wait until Edward returned. Then he had turned to go back up to the factories. He had to talk to Neil.

He found the burly man standing in front of one of the hot furnaces, his chest and arms glistening with sweat. His face glowed with the pride of a man doing tough work and doing it well. When he noticed Alphonse standing at the entrance to the dome, Neil stopped his work and walked over to him.

“Yo, Alphonse. What’s up?”

Alphonse motioned for Neil to follow him and stepped outside, where the evening winds had begun to blow. He spoke slowly, reluctant to do anything that would rob Neil of his smile—but he had to tell him what they had seen below.

While Alphonse told him about the weapons, Neil stood, leaning against the dome, his face a blank mask.

“Did you know about this, Neil?” Alphonse asked, noticing the lack of surprise in the big man’s face.

Neil shrugged. “I’ve never seen the weapons myself, but I figured they were there, somewhere. If you’re going to build a new state, you will have to answer to the military at some point.”

“And you still stay here?”

“Yes,” Neil nodded. “I’ve got a bone to pick with the military myself. Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind taking a shot at them. Besides,” Neil said with a wry chuckle, “I’ve no other place to go.”

Alphonse shook his head. “How can you say that?”

“What?” Neil said with a frown.

Of course, Alphonse knew Neil had no home, but before the big man could respond, Alphonse continued. “Just because Raygen saved you, you tell yourself that this is the only place left for you. But maybe it’s just that you aren’t looking. You’re happy for what you’ve been given here, of course you are, but that’s no reason to forget there are other ways to live. Other ways for other people … like Leaf and Ivans. Am I wrong?”

As he spoke, Alphonse’s voice grew louder and more determined. He grew increasingly certain that what he was saying was right. “Just because some people do well here and others don’t, it doesn’t mean you should judge them based on that alone.” As he spoke, Alphonse thought about equivalent exchange, and how it made it easy for people with strength to look down on those without. It was so simple, so tempting, and yet it twisted people’s hearts.

Neil stood, listening, until his mouth twisted into a scowl and his brow furrowed. “That reminds me,” he said at last. “Your brother said something about people forgetting to question … about us being machines and all. And now you say that we don’t understand Ivans and his lot. Are you saying we here at the factory are bad? Are you telling me it’s wrong to work hard for an honest wage?”

“Not at all,” Alphonse said, shaking his head. “I’m just saying some things can’t be measured by equivalent exchange.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean … you have to have the heart to try to under-stand people who are different from you. That’s all.”

Neil’s eyes opened wide at Alphonse’s words. Then, he turned and walked back into the dome without saying another word. The refinery door closed with a loud bang, cutting off Alphonse’s words, and Alphonse did not follow him inside. No matter which life Neil chose from here on, Alphonse would say no more. He had only wanted Neil to know the truth. He wanted him and the others to see what was happening, to think about what they were doing, not to become machines, their ability to think atrophied and lost. Choices were not to be given away—they were to be made by oneself.

Alphonse had his say. What Neil did with that knowledge would be his own business. 

With a sigh, Alphonse turned away from the refinery dome and walked, looking up at the sky. He had liked Wisteria from the moment he arrived. To Alphonse then, no place he had ever been seemed more promising than this town filled with hope and smiles. Even now, a part of him clung to that hope.

If only I could make this a town where more people, no, where everybody could be happy.

Of course there was a limit to what he might accomplish on his own, but he had an opportunity to make some change here now, and he intended to take it. Alphonse walked into the square, heading for his house, when he stopped. There, atop the bridge that spanned the waterway running through the middle of the square, sat Ruby. She was dangling her legs over the rushing waterway, looking off into the distance. She hadn’t noticed him.

“Ruby …” Alphonse called out softly, and Ruby turned and smiled. He walked over, and she moved, making a space next to her on the edge of the bridge. Alphonse sat down and looked at Ruby. Her face was pale.

“You don’t look so well. What’s wrong?”

There were many things Alphonse wanted to ask, about the weapons in the cellar, about how much she knew of Raygen’s true plans, but more than that, he worried about why she looked so blue.

A faint smile on her lips, Ruby looked down at the water rushing beneath their feet. She must have been off-duty. Instead of her usual camouflage, she wore shorts, and her long straight legs were bare down to the tips of her toes. Her shoes sat on the edge of the bridge next to her.

“It’s Leaf …” she said after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“He’s leaving. Tomorrow.”

“So soon? Ruby,” he began gently, “weren’t you the one who told him he should leave if he couldn’t keep up?”

“I know, but he’s from my hometown. Sure, I got mad at him a lot, but I just feel so different now that he’s leaving. I know it’s wrong of me.”

Even though she was still angry at Leaf, she looked lonely at the thought of him leaving. Alphonse understood. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes, you just have to let things go, even if you like them.”

Alphonse thought back to the house and the friends he and his brother had left behind.

“You’re kind, Alphonse. I think you’ve seen a lot. More than I have.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Really?”

“Well, I guess Ed and I have been through a lot.”

“A lot, see?” Ruby stretched her hand behind her and leaned back. She turned her head to look up at the sky. “I’ve been through a lot too. My hometown got caught up in the war. We both left the night we lost our families. I was so young when it happened, and Leaf, he was even younger than I was. The military said it would protect the people, but in the end, they took our house from us. I couldn’t accept it. I didn’t know what to do, but I decided I had to live, so I looked for work. Most people turned me away. They all thought, ‘What work can a child do?’ And sometimes, when I thought I’d found work, it turned out to be a lie. Yes, I have seen a lot. I was dirty and starving, and no one helped me.”

Bitterness had crept into her voice as she gave her quiet confession. “And after all that, the only one who held out a hand to me was Mr. Raygen. He was like a god to Leaf and me. That’s why I wanted to help build Wisteria. I wanted to repay him for saving me.”

“I see …”

Regardless of his motivations, Raygen had helped a lost boy and girl find their way. Alphonse did not know what to think. Ruby continued, “But Leaf, he forgot how much he owed Mr. Raygen. He turned against him. I kept hoping he would understand, that he would come around. Instead, he kept growing those flowers of his, and now he’s leaving …”

Ruby could not understand how anyone who had been through what she and Leaf had could ever turn their back on Mr. Raygen, and it made her mad.

“That’s right, Ruby. You never took the white flowers Leaf grew for you. Don’t you like them?”

“Raygen told us something the day he rescued us. He said, ‘Never let yourself be trapped in someone else’s world. Never let them choose the color of your life. Choose your own colors. Choose your own life.’ That’s why he likes such bright, bold colors. He doesn’t like white.”

Alphonse understood how much Ruby had tied herself to Raygen. Her voice, which had been low and wavering before, became bright and energetic when talking about Raygen. To Ruby, who had once lost all hope in the world, Raygen meant everything.

“So that’s why you don’t like white?”

“Yes.”

“I know it doesn’t have much color, but I still think those white flowers are very pretty.” Looking at them again, he found that he really did think they were beautiful. “What’s your favorite color, really, Ruby?”

Ruby said nothing.

The sounds of laughter from the restaurant echoed around the square, and the sound of rushing water from the waterway below swept across them. They sat in silence, looking up at the starry night sky. Framed by the edge of the cliff, the night sky sparkled, and the night breeze brushed gently against their cheeks.

Aside from a few dim lights in the nearby buildings, moonlight cast a pale light upon the town.

“It’s beautiful,” Alphonse said. Ruby nodded.

“Yes. Leaf is stupid to want to leave. If he just worked at it, he could be happy here, I know it.”

“But,” Alphonse replied as gently as he could, “what about the people who can’t keep up with the way of life here?”

Ruby replied without hesitation. “Then they have to leave.”

“Is that how he weeds people out, leaving only those faithful to him, to make a loyal nation?”

Ruby looked at Alphonse, shock in her face. Her expression soon changed to bitterness. She realized then that it was Edward and Alphonse who had broken in earlier that day.

“You saw them,” she said quietly. It was not a question.

Alphonse nodded. “I did.”

“We’re not happy with the military. Is it wrong to want to make a country where we can be happy?” she said, challenging him.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Alphonse replied quietly. “The military must have seized power from someone who came before them, I’m sure. But, if you build a whole country based on hating the military, isn’t that the same thing? Would you want to live in a place like that?”

Ruby trembled with rage. “Mr. Raygen’s not like that! He wants to build a country free from all the problems the military created! He wants a country of people who work together, a strong country that would never lose, not to anyone. That’s why anyone who can’t keep up …”

“But a country for which people? The ones who do what Raygen says, right?” Alphonse shot back. “If you cut away everyone who disagrees with you, don’t you know what you will become in the end? There will be no one left!”

Ruby stood up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

She had hoped Alphonse at least would understand her. She stood there, tears welling up in her eyes.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire cut through the night air. Bandits. Ruby glanced up at the entranceway but decided the guards could handle it. She had grown used to the sound of gunfire. She turned her glare back on Alphonse.

Just as she was about to speak, an incredible explosion rocked the valley. Flames leapt at the top of the cliff. Seconds later, a rain of gravel came falling down on the town of Wisteria. It signaled the start of a clash unlike any that had come before.

THE COINS CLINKED and clanked down the insides of the phone as Edward picked up the receiver. The next moment he lowered it, thrusting an arm out to one side to catch himself from toppling over.

I haven’t run like that in a long time.

Edward gasped a lungful of crisp morning air as he dialed. He stood in the telephone box of the town they had left several days before. The shortcut had brought him here in a fraction of the time it had taken him and Alphonse before, but doing it all at once—and running—had almost been more than he could take.

After a series of clicks and whirs, a military operator came on the line. Edward read off his code name and asked for Roy in Eastern Command. After a few more clicks and an ominous silence, someone picked up the phone.

“Colonel Mustang?”

“… Speaking.” From the sound of his voice, the colonel had just woken up.

Edward felt pretty sure he had been connected to the phone in Roy’s office at Eastern Command, which meant only one thing: Roy had been napping on the job. His schedule hadn’t improved since Edward had left, it seemed. He heard Roy yawn deeply on the other end of the phone.

“What is it, Elric? Finish your observation of Wisteria?”

“I wish. Look, I didn’t want to do this job in the first place, but now that I’ve gone and done it, well, we have a problem. Actually, a few problems.”

“Problems?” said Roy. In a flash, the sleep had vanished from Roy’s voice, and he was all business. “What happened?”

“There’s something I wanted to check with you. You told me that criminal arrests had gone up in the Southern Area, right? First of all, I was wondering if you had any data on where those arrests had taken place.”

As he spoke, Edward heard the scribbling of Roy’s pen as he furiously took notes. Edward waited for the sound of pen on paper to end before he began again. “Also, about the labor shortage you mentioned. Didn’t you say something about human brokers selling cheap labor? Do you have anything more on that? Anything?”

“Right,” Roy replied. “Give me ten minutes. I want to check on some things. Call me back, all right?”

“Roger.”

From the time of his early morning call, Roy must have guessed that Edward was in a hurry. Edward found himself feeling an unusual gratitude toward Roy for agreeing to look into things without complaining or questioning him. He called ten minutes later. Roy told him what he had found, his voice tense.

“Most of the arrests took place on the border between our jurisdiction and Southern’s. Oh, another thing: all of the arrests, without exception, were thanks to an informant. Apparently, someone made quite a lot of cash on the bounty. And here’s something interesting: the informant sent his letters from the town where you are now.”

“Can you tell me when the last one was sent?”

“Looks like the twelfth and the twenty-sixth of last month … oh, wait, there was one only two days ago. And about the human brokers, a few have been quite active, all in that same borderlands area. In other words, all of them are from somewhere near Wisteria, where you are. And here’s some good news: we picked up one of the brokers for an unrelated crime just yesterday. He confessed to buying people from a certain town. I don’t have all the details yet, but when I looked further, I realized that Wisteria seemed as likely as anywhere. This what you needed to hear?”

The information Roy had gathered more than convinced Edward of his suspicions. “Yeah, Colonel,” Edward replied darkly. “When I put what you just said up against what I already know, it paints a pretty scary picture. I have your man. The one behind this is definitely the mayor of Wisteria. He’s a crafty one, too. Move too quickly, and he’s likely to make a run for it. I’ll need some men.”

“You got it,” Roy replied without hesitation. “Our hands were tied because of jurisdiction issues, but we’ve contacted Southern. We’re sharing information on Wisteria now. Once we’ve gone through all the necessary motions, I’ll send some people from the nearest base.”

At the same time that his suspicion became conviction, Edward began to worry about Leaf. If he had been sold to a broker, he might be lost again—this time forever. “Thanks,” Edward replied. “I’m going back to Wisteria. I’ll leave the rest to you!”

Edward set down the receiver and ran out of the booth. Raygen was obviously out of control. He had to be stopped before there was even one more victim.

EDWARD RAN BACK as fast as he could, only pausing occasionally to rest. Even so, it was well after dark when he arrived near Wisteria. The day’s long exertion left him so tired he could barely stand.

“Huh?” Edward looked up. Something was wrong with the night sky. It took him a while to realize what he was seeing: thick, black smoke. “What’s happened?” Edward’s heart raced, and he picked up his pace. When he reached the place where he had fought with the bandits before, no one was there.

A shot rang out in the night. Edward ran for Wisteria as fast as he could, realizing what it must mean: the town was under attack. Running up the gentle slope, he reached the edge of the chasm where security guards with sticks and rifles were locked in combat with the bandits.

Several guards and bandits lay on the ground, moaning. The defenders looked like they were holding, but it had been a hard-fought battle.

Edward gave up on getting into the village from the front entrance. He returned to where the bandits had pitched their tents and found a rope and a short iron bar among the supplies left behind. Then, crouching low so he would not be seen, he headed for the edge of the cliff on the far side of town. The bandits were too preoccupied with their assault to notice him.

Edward thrust the iron pole into the ground, and with his automail left leg, he kicked it down hard. Next, he tied a rope around the half-buried pole. He gripped it in one hand and looked over the edge of the cliff down at Wisteria.

By the lights of the town, he could see people standing, looking worriedly up at the entrance. They were a long way below. But with only a moment’s hesitation, Edward leapt over the edge of the cliff, the rope held firmly in his right hand. The rope buzzed with the friction, and a faint burning smell filled the air, but Edward’s right hand felt no heat. He fell farther, bringing his other hand up. There was a flash of light, and the rope grew longer, stretched by alchemy. Moments later, at the rope’s new end, Edward dropped the last few feet to the ground.

Shaking his right hand to cool it, Edward jumped and yanked on the rope. It snapped near the top and fell down in a coil at his feet, ensuring that the bandits would not be following him. As soon as he had dusted himself off, Edward ran for the central square. The sound of gunshots echoed through the town, and many of the residents were standing by the fields or in front of their houses with worried looks on their faces.

Edward looked in the direction of the factory and the refinery dome from the bridge over the waterway. There, too, several people had stopped work and stood staring up at the cliff.

Passing through the square and running out onto the road toward the town exit, he ran into Alphonse, who was arguing with Ruby in the middle of the road. 

“There are plenty of guards at the mansion! Why go there? You need to help people get out of here!”

“No, the guards up above will stop them. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Ruby!”

Edward, relieved to see that Alphonse was all right, ran toward the two. “Al!”

“Ed!”

From the sound of his voice, it was clear that Alphonse had been worried, too. When Alphonse turned to greet his brother, however, Ruby slipped away and began to run toward the mansion. Alphonse let her go and ran up to Edward. “The attack has been going on since last night. The guards are doing all that they can, but it’s looking grim.”

“I had no idea,” Edward replied. He told Alphonse all he had learned about Raygen and that he’d been selling his own people to brokers. Alphonse was so surprised he could hardly speak for a moment. Then it struck him, as swiftly as it had struck his brother: “Leaf!”

“That’s why I came back so fast. Has he already left?”

“I heard he was leaving today, but since the attacks began, I’ve been down here with the wounded helping out, so I can’t say where he is for sure …”

Edward slapped him on the arm. “I wouldn’t worry. I don’t think he could get out of here with all the fighting going on. He must be hiding somewhere in town. But what about the others? Shouldn’t we be thinking about evacuating?”

Edward looked around, noticing that all of the towns-people were standing still, watching the events unfold above them. Hadn’t anyone considered escape?

Alphonse nodded. “I wondered the same thing, but the guards are too busy defending the cliff top and the mansion. The same with Ruby … I thought I might make a staircase in another part of town, but all of the crags in the cliff wall make it difficult to create something straight and sturdy.”

“Right. But if the bandits should come into town, there’s bound to be bloodshed. And we have to find Leaf. Let’s go downstream and ask Ivans if there’s any other place for the people to go.” 

“Right on!”

The brothers headed downstream as fast as they could, where they found Ivans and Kett and several others looking uneasily up at the cliffs.

“Mr. Ivans!”

Ivans turned and favored them with a smile. “Ah, it’s Edward and Alphonse.”

“Have you seen Leaf?” Edward asked hurriedly. “Isn’t he with you?”

Kett, sitting with his wooden staff across his knees, shook his head slowly. “He came back here with me last night, but I haven’t seen him since.”

Edward frowned.

“I’m sorry that this should be your welcome to Wisteria,” Ivans called out from where he sat, perched on the rubble of an old house that had fallen down and never been rebuilt. “We’ve had attacks in the past, but never on this scale. I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before they break through. I had hoped at least you would escape …”

“What are you saying?” Alphonse said, walking over to Ivans and putting his hand on the man’s shoulder. “When we leave, we’ll all leave together. Please, don’t give up. It’s not over yet.”

“That’s right, Mr. Ivans,” Edward put in. “We have to think about escape for all of us. That’s why I came here: to ask you if you know any way out of Wisteria or any place where we might take shelter.”

Ivans shook his head and sighed. “Not a one.”

“Not a single one?”

“Only the entrance, where the bandits are now. That’s the only way out.”

Edward frowned. Ivans was right. It was only a matter of time before the town fell. Even if they used the weapons from the hidden stash, the townspeople stood little chance of defending themselves against the combat-hardened bandits. Nor would Roy’s reinforcements make it there in time. With each tick of the clock, Wisteria fell deeper and deeper into danger.

“What should we do?” Edward muttered, half to himself, when he noticed that there were far fewer people from downstream here than he had seen before. “Mr. Ivans,” he asked, “where is everybody else?”

“Oh, most of them headed for Mr. Raygen’s mansion just a moment before you arrived. They want to try to convince him to negotiate, instead of shutting off the village forever.”

“Negotiation sounds like a great idea,” Edward said, looking up at the cliff. The sounds of gunfire had died down, but in its place, he could hear the telltale soft thuds and shouts of a brawl. The bandits were closer than ever. They had come here for the town’s jewels. Instead of putting all the people in town at risk, it made sense to cut a deal, give them what they asked for, and secure the town’s peace. But Edward had a sinking feeling that the time for negotiation had passed.

While Edward sat, mulling over their options, Alphonse stood and pointed toward the mansion. “Hey, Ed, maybe we should go to the mansion. If nothing else, it has high walls. It would be much easier than defending the whole town. Everyone would be safer in there.”

Edward looked around. The mansion did look a bit like a fortress, with its encircling wall and that cliff face at its back.

“Good idea,” Edward said to his brother. Then the two called out to Ivans and the rest of the people there. Eventually, all agreed, and they set out for the mansion, picking up more people from the town as they went.

As Ivans had indicated, a large number of people from downstream were already there. They stood in front of the gate, calling out for Raygen to appear. “If you really care for your town,” one older man shouted, “come out and negotiate!”

Another small bunch chanted “Keep your town safe!” over and over.

Off to the side, Neil and a number of other people from the factory had come to join the noisy mob. They were shouting for the guards to escort Raygen to safety. “He saved us once! It’s the least we can do to save him now!” Neil yelled above the heads of the crowd.

It seemed that Raygen heard neither of their pleas, for the gates to the mansion remained firmly shut. The guards on the other side smiled reassuringly at Neil’s bunch as if to suggest there wasn’t a problem. To the others, they raised their rifles menacingly. Yet they said not a word, standing their ground behind the gate in silence.

Edward and Alphonse joined the crowd shouting before the gate. “It’s too dangerous in town. There’s no place to escape!” Edward yelled.

“We need the protection of your walls!” Alphonse added. “Please, open the gate!”

“Are you crazy?” Neil shouted, turning to look at the new arrivals. “We have to get Mr. Raygen to safety first!”

Edward opened his mouth to respond and froze.

His eye caught something on the ground, just on the other side of the gate. It was a white flower petal.

“Leaf! He’s inside,” Edward whispered. Then he ran over to Neil and slapped him on the shoulder. “Hey!”

“Huh?” Neil said, flustered. “What do you want, kid?”

“Look,” Edward said, pointing through the gate at the mansion grounds. “It’s one of Leaf’s flowers! Did you see him go in? Do you know when he went in?”

“Leaf?” Neil said, blinking. “Ah, I think he was tending to the wounded, but then he left and went to the mansion. Mr. Raygen had called him in. Something about finding him a new job.”

“Al!” Edward shouted, turning back. Alphonse had been listening too, and he had the same thought as his brother.

“There may be a way out from inside!”

“Yeah,” Edward said, nodding, I’ll get the townspeople together!”

Edward left the mob in front of the gates and ran like a jackrabbit, shouting to the people who remained in town.

He was certain that Raygen intended to sell Leaf and Kett. They were his meal ticket, and he was taking one of them with him. He had surely been planning on handing Kett, with his criminal record, over to the military, and Leaf he could sell into forced labor. He might have already cut a deal with a broker.

If that were the case, then he would try to get at least one of his precious commodities to them. Human brokers were a despicable bunch, many of them belonging to organized crime. They wouldn’t take the trifling matter of a bandit attack on Wisteria as an excuse for a missed handoff of goods. They might have forced Raygen’s hand, sending him out a secret exit to make the trade.

ALPHONSE, still by the gate, was pleading with the guards to let the gathered people inside. With his strength, he could have forced the gate open, but he feared the rifles the guards held. He worried that they might turn them on the townspeople. He couldn’t force his way through the gate, not without considerable risk.

“Please, open up! We must get everyone to safety!”

It was not the silent guards who replied, but Ruby. “No,” she said simply from the other side of the gate. Like the guards, her expression was blank.

“Ruby …”

“We can’t open the gate.”

“Ruby, there must be a way out through the mansion! Where is it? You have to let us use it!”

“If there is a way out, then get Mr. Raygen to safety first!” Neil shouted at his side.

“Neil!” Alphonse shouted, the frustration clear in his voice.

The big man frowned. “You might want to leave town, to get on with your journey or whatever, but the rest of us, we owe Mr. Raygen our lives. He has to make it through this!”

Ruby spoke next, her eyes fixed on Alphonse. “It’s like Neil says. Besides, if all the townspeople tried to escape at once, the bandits would notice, and Mr. Raygen would surely be caught. If we want to make a new world, truly, then we must protect Mr. Raygen at all costs.”

Alphonse clenched his fists in frustration. From the way they talked, they sounded like Mr. Raygen’s life was somehow worth more than any of theirs. It made him angry, and at the same time, sad. “Ruby, please, open the gate! You have to think this through.”

Ruby took a step closer and whispered. “I think you’re the one who needs to think things through.”

Alphonse was taken aback. He could see the pleading in Ruby’s eyes. She desperately wanted him to understand how she felt. No, she wanted more than that. She wanted Alphonse to join her.

“Let’s make a new world, Alphonse—together. We can forget the past. We can start things over.”

Alphonse realized how much Ruby liked him. She was inviting him to join their lives. After the argument the other day, she hadn’t given him the slightest smile, but still, she wanted desperately for him to see things the way she did.

Alphonse had feelings for her too. She was strong and bright, burning with an inner fire that gave energy to everything she did and said. He liked that about her, and he didn’t want to throw all that away. But now that it came to it, all Alphonse could do was shake his head.

“I’m sorry, I can’t go with you. I can’t forget everything. I can’t live in your new world.”

“You’re just clinging to the past,” Ruby said desperately. “That won’t get you anywhere. That’s … That’s nothing but weakness.”

“Maybe it is,” Alphonse admitted. “But no matter how much I have to go through, no matter how much I have to suffer, I want my old body back.”

Ruby listened silently to Alphonse, and then she sighed. “I’ll open the gate after Mr. Raygen is safe.”

“Ruby!”

“Goodbye, Alphonse.” Ruby’s eyes closed sadly, and she turned around and walked away. Alphonse watched her until she disappeared inside the mansion. She had left him no choice. He prepared himself to knock down the gate, security guards and all.

Just then, Edward returned with many of the townspeople in tow. “Al!” He reached the gate and pointed inside at the mansion. “Someone saw Leaf going inside with Mr. Raygen! And get this: they were with a suspicious-looking stranger in a black suit!”

“So, there is a secret entrance!”

Alphonse had been thinking about Ruby, but he shook those thoughts out of his mind. They had to get the towns-people to safety, and now it looked like they had a way to do it. “Great!”

Just then there was the sound of a large explosion from above. The entire crowd looked up as one. The bandits had broken through the defenses. They were on their way down into town. 

“They’re coming!” one of the guards inside the gates shouted to the others.

“They’re not going to mess up our town and get away with it!” growled Neil. He turned to run toward the entrance, but Alphonse grabbed his arm in a firm grasp.

“No, Neil! You can’t win this!”

“How can you know that?”

“There’s too many of them! You’ll get hurt—or killed! We have to escape while we still can!”

Scared by the bandits, the guards inside the gate had disappeared. Edward shaped his right arm into a blade and cut away the bars holding the gate shut. “Everyone inside, now!” As he shouted, Edward used his alchemy to fix the lock, so he could close the gate behind them.

Seeing the bandits making their way down the stairs into town behind them, Alphonse and Neil pushed their way inside the mansion. Just then, they saw the guards who had survived the fight at the cliff top come running into the street behind.

“Quickly, inside!” Edward and Alphonse shouted to them. They waited until the last person had made it onto the mansion grounds, then Edward shut the gate and locked it. Next to him, Alphonse drew an alchemical circle before the gate, and, using the earth from the mansion grounds, he raised a wall higher than the gate itself directly behind it. Edward put his hands together and slapped his palms onto the high wall encircling the mansion, causing the earth beneath it to buckle and raise the wall even higher than before.

“That should hold them awhile,” Alphonse said. 

“Right,” his brother replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. “I’ll go find Leaf.”

“And I’ll take everyone down into the waterway tunnels.”

Their purpose clear, Edward charged headlong into the mansion, while Alphonse ran for the iron door they had used the day before, yelling for the townspeople to follow. They were running out of time.