Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Volume 3 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

THE VALLEY OF

WHITE PETALS

THE INSIDE OF THE MANSION was strangely quiet. While the grounds outside were well manned, there seemed to be no guards inside the mansion itself. After Raygen had disappeared into the mansion, the line of command had become confused. The guards didn’t stop the townspeople from coming inside the grounds, and they stood aside when Alphonse went to help everyone into the underground waterway tunnels.

No one stopped Edward, but neither did they move. They still seemed dedicated to seeing Raygen escape first. The guards dutifully stood watch around the mansion grounds, waiting for Raygen to appear again and give them orders.

Edward got into the mansion without incident and walked along corridors connecting vast rooms, eventually reaching the second floor. Looking down from a second-floor window, he could see Alphonse holding up the iron plate that covered the entrance to the underground waterway tunnels, helping the townsfolk escape.

Above all else, the bandits wanted the gems. The doors of the factory and refinery dome had already been opened and the remaining stones stolen. After they finished searching the outlying buildings, the bandits would surely turn their attention to the mansion.

Edward knew he had to hurry, but he stopped and looked across the town, downstream. Fires here and there lit the town with a flickering glow. But despite the light of the flames, he could see nothing in the darkness of the downstream half of town.

“Not that Raygen would do anything even if he could …” Edward muttered.

Edward had known a lot of nasty people in his day, but Raygen had to be one of the nastiest. Even humans were considered fair game in Raygen’s idea of equivalent exchange. He had to be stopped.

But Edward had other worries right now. One of the townsfolk had seen Leaf through a window on the third floor of the mansion. Edward made a fist and, on the stairwell of the third floor, pressed his body to the wall and listened.

He heard a faint voice talking.

Edward stepped silently down the corridor, stopping in front of a room.

“Then I leave him in your care,” Raygen said in a low, smooth voice, devoid of real warmth. It was hard to imagine that this voice of cunning and flattery he was using to assuage the black marketeer belonged to the same man who had spoken to the townspeople with such convincing sincerity. Clearly, Raygen was worried about what effect the bandits’ assault was having on his guest.

“Frankly, Mr. Raygen, I’m a little concerned,” another, more sinister voice said. “With your town under attack, I suspect we won’t be getting any more ‘help’ from you. It’s too bad, really. We rather liked that this place was far from … military eyes.” This must be his contact with the brokers, Edward thought.

“Not at all, not at all,” Raygen protested. “My loyal subjects will gladly rebuild, and even if they can’t, I can make a new town elsewhere. Of course, with both the people and the gems here, I won’t give it up lightly.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Raygen?” Leaf’s small voice interrupted. “What are you talking about?”

He probably didn’t understand the conversation unfolding before him. His voice was quaking.

The door was open a crack. Edward put his face up to it, noting the positions of everyone in the room, and put his hand on the doorknob.

“So, I’ll be leaving before the bandits get inside the mansion.”

“I expect payment as usual, of course,” Mr. Raygen said.

“Of course. You, come!”

Leaf yelped in pain as the broker yanked his arm.

Edward flung both doors open and charged the man in a black suit holding Leaf’s arm, knocking his hand away.

“Hey, who is this?!”

“Wait, I know you,” Raygen spluttered, flustered at the sudden intrusion. The overweight broker, separated from his prize, ran past Edward.

The broker seemed to understand the situation more quickly than Mr. Raygen did. He immediately drew a pistol from his breast pocket.

Alone, Edward could have jumped and sliced the gun in half, but with Leaf to protect, his options were limited. Edward put Leaf behind him and clapped his hands together fiercely. Then, he touched the wall behind Leaf. Raygen ran out of the room in that instant, but Edward knew he had to fight the broker first. He pulled his hand away from the wall.

Alchemical sparks flew. When they disappeared, a long pole came jutting out of the wall.

“What? An alchemist?!”

The man dodged the pole by a hair and lifted his pistol, but before his finger could press the trigger, a lump of floor swelled up before him, bringing the carpet with it, and smacked into the ceiling. 

“H-hey!!”

The carpet blocked off his vision. Two seconds later, Edward nimbly sprung around the carpeted wall and threw himself at the flustered man. His fist impacted the man’s face with a wet, meaty slap. The man sprawled out on the ground, his gun skittering across the room to clatter in the corner.

“Wow!” Leaf was stunned.

Edward ran over to the boy. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Leaf turned and looked out the window at the pillaging of the town.

“What about the others?”

“They’ve gone underground, to the waterway for now. But we think there’s a way to get out of Wisteria from this mansion.”

Edward crouched before the man sprawled on the ground and slapped his cheek sharply. “Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up!”

The man groaned. Edward continued to slap his ruddy cheek until his eyes opened. Edward dragged him up by his collar. “How did you get into Wisteria? If there’s a way out, tell me!” With his automail right arm, Edward grabbed the man by the throat. The man raised his hands. “Wait, I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Ouch!”

“So, there is a way out?”

The man must have been afraid of Edward’s startling use of alchemy. He nodded furiously and pointed down. “It’s underground. There’s a way out. South, following the underground river.”

“I’ve been down there. It’s a maze. Which way do we go?”

“You head downstream, and you keep going. There’s a place where the tunnel meets the underground river. The tunnel gets wider there, and you’ll see a number of side tunnels. Take the one on the right. It’s an old mining shaft.”

Edward pushed the man up against the wall and used his alchemy to wrap the wall around him, binding him tight.

“Wait there. Your military escort will be by shortly to pick you up.”

Edward took Leaf back down the staircase and out to the entrance of the underground waterway. “Leaf, you heard what that man said, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going after Raygen. I want you to go find Al and the rest down in the waterway. You tell them how to get out and get everyone outside the village.”

Edward lifted the iron plate and motioned to Leaf with his eyes. “The townspeople are down there somewhere. Once you reach the bottom, just call out, and you’re sure to find them. I’ll follow as soon as I can, okay?”

“Okay!”

Edward made sure Leaf made it down and then slowly lowered the cover.

Edward stood and looked around.

Beyond the wall, he could hear the exultant shouts of bandits who had found gems. Some were still trying to get into the mansion. He heard them banging on the gate on the other side of Alphonse’s hastily erected wall.

The guards who had been waiting for Raygen apparently decided that it was too dangerous: they too had disappeared, either into the waterway or off into town to fend for themselves.

“I’d better catch this guy and get out of here myself.”

Edward assumed Raygen had retreated to one of his weapon caches in the mansion’s cellar. In order to head him off, he ran back into the mansion and opened one of the doors to the side of the central staircase. Through the door was a large hall, with six columns running all the way to the ceiling. He checked the other door and saw that it led to a similar hall. Edward noticed another door across the room beyond the pillars. That probably led to the back of the mansion, with a view of the sluice gate.

“Where’s the cellar?”

Edward scanned the walls carefully and spotted a small door off to one side. Each wing of the mansion was symmetrical with the sole exception of this one door—it had no mirror on the opposite wall. He ran up to the door and put his ear to it.

He could hear the faint sound of wind blowing from the other side. “Gotcha!”

Edward opened the door. Inside, he saw a small room with a staircase descending underground. At the top of the stairs stood Raygen, about to make his escape into the cellar.

Raygen froze and turned when Edward opened the door. 

“You’re not getting away!” Edward shouted.

“You again!”

Raygen spun and started down the stairs, but Edward stopped him. “You’re finished! In a few more hours, the military will be here. You’re a very popular man. See, both Southern and Eastern Command want to be the ones to get you first. You better give up now!”

“What?!” Raygen’s eyes stared, wide with shock. Clearly, he hadn’t suspected that the military was onto him. “How?! Who reported me? You?!”

Edward stared Raygen straight in the face. “You know, I don’t really care about your perfect country, your dreams of secession, or any of that. You gave the people in this town a little hope, once. But then you did something wrong. You sold people for money!”

Raygen seemed startled, but said nothing.

“You made equivalent exchange a law,” Edward continued, “and you pushed it to the point of insanity. You promised to find anyone who didn’t fit in Wisteria a job somewhere else. But that wasn’t the only exchange you offered. You exchanged innocents for money. Then, you turned over anyone with a bounty on his head to the military.”

Raygen listened to Edward in silence, but then an evil grin broke across his face. “You’ve done some homework, haven’t you?”

“If you’d stuck to using your gems to buy weapons, I might never have noticed.”

Raygen laughed—a deep, genuine laugh that sent chills down Edward’s spine. “Times change, but the value of gems does not. I’ll have plenty of opportunities to spend them in the future. But people, they’re different. You have to use them whenever you get the chance.”

The full extent of Raygen’s madness stood completely revealed. Edward unconsciously balled his hands into fists. He felt the bile rise in his stomach. “You’re despicable.”

Raygen chuckled. “Yes, but there are those who think I’m a god.”

When Raygen stopped talking, Edward heard light footsteps approaching.

“Mr. Raygen, sorry to keep you waiting! We can use the entrance above. We have to go down to—Edward?!”

It was Ruby.

She had been searching for Raygen’s escape route. Her forehead was beaded with sweat.

“Ruby, this man may have saved your life, but in reality, he wants to frame me for crimes I did not commit.” Raygen’s evil grin had disappeared. He spoke in a cool, calm voice.

“What? What are you talking about!” Edward said, disgusted, but Ruby looked more and more suspicious.

To Ruby, Raygen was the source of all her hope. For years, she had trusted him, believed in him. He alone had never betrayed her. Edward knew she would trust Raygen in an instant over himself. Why, she and Edward had been fighting ever since they met.

“Ruby, please deal with him,” Raygen said, ducking out into the hall. He no longer seemed interested in going out the cellar exit. He headed for the back of the mansion.

“Wait, you!” Edward began to chase after him, but in that moment, a fist swept by his hair.

“I won’t let you go, Edward!”

“You’re worse than Raygen in some ways, you know that?” Edward said wryly, glancing at the fist that had nearly caught him on the cheek.

“Oh, and you’re some kind of saint?” Ruby shot back, glaring at Edward.

The two stood staring at each other, faces inches apart. Then, almost without warning, both leapt back at the same time.

“You dummy—won’t you listen to what your Raygen’s been up to?”

“What? The weapons? I know about that!”

Ruby flew into arm’s reach of Edward with surprising speed and charged toward Edward’s jaw with her right fist.

“Whoa!” Edward dodged the fist and barely knocked aside the foot that came for his stomach with his left hand.

Which was exactly what Ruby had planned, for as soon as she got her right leg back on the ground, she twisted. Her left leg drew an arc through the air, coming straight at Edward.

“I see why they call you the toughest in town … but you’re still not tough enough!”

Edward crouched, letting Ruby’s circle kick sweep over his head. He grabbed her spinning arm and used her momentum to flip her onto the ground.

“Ow!”

“You need some more practice,” Edward said, shaking his head.

“That’s my line!” she spat back at him.

With her shoulder pressed to the ground, Ruby turned her head to glare at Edward.

Her eyes held no trace of defeat, and with more strength than Edward gave her credit for, she sprang to her feet.

“Okay, you are strong. But I can’t place the fighting style. An original?” asked Edward as he brushed away her fists.

“You bet. I’ve been training daily. See, I hate to lose.”

“Hate to lose to whom, I wonder?”

Ruby’s hand stopped for the briefest of moments.

“Are you protecting the town … or Raygen?”

“Both!” shouted Ruby, charging.

Ruby’s arm swung in a fierce punch, but Edward stopped it in midair.

“Listen to me! This Raygen you’re so dedicated to protecting? In this town you care about? He’s selling the people like meat at a market.”

Ruby was unimpressed. She snorted. “Who would believe that?”

Apparently, she believed Raygen. In her eyes, Edward was merely trying to blame him for crimes he didn’t commit. The accusation washed right over her.

But Edward’s next words made her body go rigid and her face go pale. “The ones he can use, he keeps close to him as his loyal slaves. The ones who can work he puts to work mining his fortune. The criminals he sells to the military, and the ones he has no use for at all he sells to anyone who’s buying. Raygen doesn’t think of the people in this town as human beings. You know those letters you carry out every once in a while? That’s Raygen selling out your neighbors to the military!”

“Th-that’s a lie! Raygen takes in people with no place to go! He would never sell …”

“Three days ago. And on the twelfth and twenty-sixth of last month. And the sixteenth of the month before that!”

Ruby’s face grew more and more pale as Edward spoke.

“He’s using those letters. You’re the one who sent them out, right? Up on the third floor here, I’ve got the broker who tried to buy Leaf. Do you see now?”

Edward let go of Ruby’s fist. Ruby took a few uncertain steps back and collapsed to the floor. “It’s a lie. It has to be a lie …” she repeated desperately.

But how could Edward, whom she had only met a few days before, know about the letters she had sent out months ago? And Edward’s calm, serious composure—totally unlike the Edward that had fought with her before—made his words hard to ignore.

Everything Ruby saw told her that he was telling the truth.

Just then there was a loud grinding noise.

“What’s that?”

The sound came from outside.

Edward whirled around, but Ruby did not let him go.

“Don’t you get it yet?!” Edward said. He was still trying to turn away, but his trapped arm was wrapped around his neck, holding him fast.

“Yeah … But even if that’s true, Mr. Raygen saved me!”

Edward heard it in her voice: Ruby half understood now, yet still she resisted. She couldn’t entirely escape Raygen’s spell. She whirled and caught a punch directly in her solar plexus.

“Wake up, Ruby!”

They heard the grinding sound once again.

Edward dropped to his knees and clapped his hands together. Then he put his hands on the floor.

An incredible amount of light and electricity filled the mansion, the mansion shook, and the door to the back folded into the wall, leaving a giant hole.

Behind was the sluice gate with its massive wooden handle. The giant handle managed the flow of water, so big it took two hands to turn it. The handle screeched.

Raygen, his eyes mad, threw all his strength into pushing the handle.

“If I’m going to be caught, I’m taking all of you with me!”

The water flowing to the aboveground channel began to drop. At the same time, the sound of water flowing underground grew to a deafening roar.

Edward jumped through the hole, fashioning his right arm into a pole, and brought it down toward Raygen.

“Stop that!”

Raygen lifted his hand from the handle and dropped to his knees, pressing his hands to the ground.

Edward looked down to see an alchemical circle drawn on the earth.

There was a flash of alchemical light, and the ground surged. Knowing what was coming, Edward dodged to the side with ease. The earthen spike slammed into the mansion, driving deep cracks into the wall from beneath.

Raygen fired off another shot. This time, the ground buckled and hollowed out beneath him. Raygen’s alchemy was energetic, uncontrolled, but its sheer destructive power impressed Edward.

Walls crumbled, and the roof of the mansion flew up and back.

“Ruby!” Edward turned to look for her—she had still been in the mansion.

Luckily, thanks to the sheer power of Raygen’s alchemy, the broken splinters of wood and clay tiles launched high into the air, and Ruby lay trembling on the floor of the now-roofless mansion, unharmed.

“You’ve gone too far!”

Raygen unleashed the full might of his alchemy, unconcerned even about Ruby’s well-being. Ruby alone had stayed true to him until the very end, but now, he cared not one whit if she was caught in the wreckage. He truly wanted to take all of Wisteria and its people out with him. Edward felt himself fill with anger. He slapped his hands together and touched the ground.

Alchemical light flared, and Raygen tensed, but nothing happened. Then, the cliff a short distance from the sluice gate buckled and warped, protruding in a sharp stone spike that thrust at Raygen.

Raygen raised another spike of earth with his alchemical circle, directing it toward the stone shaft. Raygen’s spike struck from directly below, shattering Edward’s and raining chunks of stone and earth down on Raygen’s head.

Raygen shielded his eyes from the dust and gravel. When he looked up again, Edward’s fist was coming right at his face.

FROM A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY, Ruby watched as Edward struggled to turn back the sluice gate handle. Raygen lay unconscious behind him.

She had heard the truth from Edward. She had heard Raygen’s maniacal laughter as he sought to destroy the town he had built. She had seen the battle before her eyes.

Ruby sat crouched on her hands and knees, her face forward, staring in mute horror.

Everything she had believed in lay in ruin before her eyes.

“I don’t want to be weak, I don’t want be weak …” Ruby repeated the phrase over and over. It was the only thing she could hold on to.

These words had guided her every day since she had met Raygen. She had repeated these words whenever she felt doubt. Every time she said them, she felt brave again.

But now, those words left her empty.

“I don’t want to be weak. I want to be happy,” she repeated. Ruby remembered what Alphonse had told her sitting on the bridge over the waterway. It seemed like so long ago now. She heard his gentle, melancholy voice again in her heart.

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 hugged the ground.

Her stomach hurt from Edward’s punch. A deep despair consumed her. Her eyes clouded, and everything was blurry. When she looked down, a teardrop fell on the back of her hand. A cold night breeze blew, running over her body.

She moaned, and with every sob, the tears in her eyes ran down her cheeks.

A single flower petal fell on her wet hand. A white petal, like the ones from the flowers that had grown in her hometown—hers and Leaf’s.

She looked at the petal. Leaf had given those flowers to her. He had told her to open her eyes. Now that she had, she realized something. It was her favorite color of flower.

Ruby grabbed the petal firmly in her hand.

“I don’t want to be weak. I want to be happy. I have to be strong to be happy! I have to look forward. I have to be better than anyone else! I can’t look back, but …”

She lifted her eyes.

In the night sky, white petals came fluttering down, dancing on the cool night air.

“But what’s the point of being the best if you’re the only person left?”

Ruby stood up, turning her eyes back to Edward. She saw him struggling to turn back the handle, fighting with all his strength to save Wisteria. And then behind him, she saw Raygen rise to his knees and place his hands on the earth.

Licking the blood from a cut on his lip, Raygen glowered at Edward. His hands flashed with light, and the earth buckled.

“You never should have turned your back on me!”

The ground swelled like boiling water. A surge ripped across the dirt, sending rocks flying, all the way to Edward. The ground before Edward rose.

“You don’t know when to give up!”

Edward let go of the handle and pressed his hands together. Dropping to his knees, he touched the ground, drawing up a wall in front of him. Then he kicked the wall with all his strength.

The ground shook, and the wall toppled onto the swollen earth. A great cloud of dust rose.

But in the little time that he took to fight Raygen, water continued to flood the underground passages. He could waste no more time fighting. Raygen knew this. He was trying to stall, to keep Edward from redirecting the water.

Edward hestitated, unsure of what to do. The night wind swept away the rising cloud of dust.

“You should never have turned your back on me, either!” shouted Ruby in a shrill voice.

Raygen spun and faced Ruby. Her eyes shone with a strong will, the will of one who has chosen to walk her own path at last.

Edward watched Ruby’s foot fly into Raygen’s chest. In the next instant, Raygen flew several feet across the floor and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“Ruby, you—”

Edward ran to the sluice gate without giving Raygen another glance.

“What?!”

Ruby put her hands on the handle. She glared at Edward as she leaned into it.

“No, I’m glad. I needed a lost cause like you to see the light, or I wouldn’t have felt like I’d made a difference,” Edward said, even though it would have sufficed for him to say he was glad.

“Yes, I did open my eyes … and it’s all thanks to Alphonse and Leaf,” she replied.

“What?! I helped too!”

“You’re lame. Who needs your help?!”

The two exchanged insults and barbs as they had the first time they met, but they soon stopped and laughed.

“Let’s give this a rest. Alphonse isn’t here to stop it for us,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, I could go on like this forever.” The two grabbed the handle and pulled at it as hard as they could. And the handle began to turn.

IN THE UNDERGROUND WATERWAY, Alphonse, the towns-people, and the security guards screamed as the rushing water climbed higher around them. They pressed deeper into the caverns as fast as they could.

“Why is all this water coming down here? This is bad!” Alphonse said, turning to look behind them.

The footpath on either side of the waterway had already flooded. Everyone pushed downstream, the water lapping at their knees.

Even though they carried lamps, their feet were in darkness, and with the water churning around their legs, it was difficult to walk.

The waterway path sloped downward slightly. If more water came in and the flow increased, they wouldn’t be able to walk down the waterway—they would be washed away.

Leaf walked with his arm looped around Kett’s waist, helping him keep his balance on the flooded path. Leaf shouted over the sound of rushing water and the roaring wind as the rising waters forced out the tunnel’s air. “Some-body must have switched the sluice gate to redirect more water this way!”

“We should go back …” Alphonse began. Next to him, Ivans grabbed on to Alphonse’s arm.

“If somebody’s doing this on purpose, there’s no way you’ll make it back in time. The water will rise too swiftly. We should keep going forward.”

Alphonse called ahead to the front of the line. “Neil!”

The lantern light swayed, and he heard Neil call out. “Eh?”

“How much farther is it?”

“Just a little more, I think!”

Leaf stretched as high as he could and looked ahead. “We’re past the factory where they raise the stones. We should be nearing the downstream part of town soon.”

Then they heard Neil’s voice from the front.

“I found something!”

“Have we made it?” But drowning out that voice came the tremendous sound of crashing water behind them.

“Everyone, hold on!” Alphonse shouted. He grabbed the nearby Leaf, Kett, and Ivans in his metal arms. Part of the tunnel behind them must have collapsed. A new surge of water came rushing in, carrying sand and gravel with it.

Screams echoed throughout the tunnel.

The wooden paths at either side of the waterway could not hold much longer. Alphonse called out again. “Everyone, just a little farther! Hold on!”

After a short distance, they came to a large open space.

“What is this?!” one of the townsfolk shouted.

The tunnel had opened up suddenly into a wide hall. The waterway was supposed to curve here and rejoin the water that ran through the village before going farther underground. There was supposed to be a door here and a mining tunnel going south.

But here in this large space, the water channel simply vanished. Instead, there was a large pond, deep enough to go up past their ankles. The water level was no longer rising, but the townspeople took no comfort from this fact.

The passageway that was supposed to take them out of here was nowhere to be seen. It was just a vast cavern.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Neil asked Leaf.

“We are. If you go downstream, there should be a wide-open area connected to the waterway. We were supposed to take the mining tunnel farthest to the right to get out of here.”

“You don’t sound too certain,” somebody in the crowd said.

“This is revenge, isn’t it? You’re getting even with us all for picking on you,” said another.

“He would never do that,” Alphonse said, defending Leaf. “Look at that wall: see those layers of rock? That means these caverns aren’t too stable, especially not when those layers have absorbed so much water. I’ll bet the explosives those bandits used must have made a section of the tunnel collapse. It’s not Leaf’s fault.”

Alphonse shone his lantern on the wall opposite the cavern’s entrance.

At last he spotted it: a place where the wall had fallen down. Gravel created a gentle slope that had buried their only other exit from the tunnel.

“So what do we do now?” somebody asked. “If we had just left earlier, we wouldn’t be stuck here …” The man pointed his finger accusingly at Neil.

“You’re the one who closed off the mansion entrance!”

“You want to blame us?!” Neil barked back. “You old folks are slowing us down! You can’t keep up the pace!”

“Please, we don’t have time for this,” Alphonse said, stepping between the men.

But fatigue and fear at finding this dead end had finally brought the townspeople’s unhappiness boiling to a head.

“You always blame us for everything in this town!”

“I bet you know another way out, don’t you!”

“Tell us!”

As the fighting began, several men dropped their lanterns into the water. They went out with a hiss. Just before one of the lanterns went out, its light flickered against the surface of the water. In that brief flash, Leaf saw something white floating in the water.

“What’s this?” Leaf reached out to pick it up. “One of my flowers! How did that get in here?” He looked up into the darkness of the cavern. Another white petal fell from somewhere above.

“Everyone!” Leaf shouted. “Your lamps! Turn off your lamps!”

The fighting men, surprised to hear the normally soft-spoken Leaf shouting, stopped arguing, and the angry crowd fell silent.

“I said turn off your lamps!”

Leaf grabbed a lamp from a man and doused its flame.

“But how will we see?”

“Don’t worry about it! Please, trust me!”

Cowed by his insistence, the townspeople put out their lamps one by one. When the last lamp was extinguished, a pale beam of light could be seen arcing through the room.

“What’s that light?”

“It’s the moon!” Leaf turned back and looked at everyone. “There must be a hole in the ceiling!”

“I see! The collapse must have broken clean through to the surface! If we climb up here, we can get to the top of the cliff!” said Alphonse.

The townspeople looked at each other, uncertain, and remained where they stood. They knew that the wet, steep slope would be no easy climb.

But Leaf did not hesitate. “Let’s go! It might be tough, but if we work together, we can make it out! I know it!”

Neil took a step forward and planted his foot at the base of the slope. “Come on, Kett,” he said, stretching his hand out behind him. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll help you. We’ll get out together.”

Kett sat in the water, holding his injured leg. He looked at Neil for only a moment before reaching out and taking Neil’s hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Neil …” Alphonse said.

Neil snorted. “Hey, I watch out for my own.” He supported Kett’s frail body with a firm but gentle grip.

“You won’t be able to get them all up yourself,” another man said, walking over to Ivans. “I’ll help you up. Let’s go.” It was the same man who had grabbed Ivans by the collar during the almost-fight the other day.

“I’ll carry this one. Hey, you help too.”

Another man carrying a child called out to the people downstream. Another person carried the woman from the restaurant. Another carried the wounded security guard. One by one, the people of Wisteria joined hands to climb the steep slope.

“We’ll all go together, Leaf!” Leaf wiped a tear from his eye and nodded.

The slope was steeper than any of them had imagined. Wet earth dirtied their hands, making their grips slick against the damp rock, and their footholds seemed always on the verge of crumbling. But still, the people of Wisteria helped one another and climbed slowly higher.

“Help!”

A child right above Leaf slipped. Leaf, climbing at the bottom, reached out a hand.

“Watch out!”

He held the kid who was about to fall and pressed him against the slope. But the added weight was too much. Leaf’s feet began to slip.

“Yipes!”

“Leaf!” Somebody shouted for help, but Leaf had already begun to tumble off the slope.

“Gotcha!” Edward said with a smile in his voice. He had caught Leaf by the collar just as Leaf’s feet gave out.

“Edward?!”

“You watch yourself, Leaf!” said Ruby, climbing at Edward’s side. They had succeeded in closing the sluice gate and raced to catch up with the others. Now, they all made their way up the steep slope together.

“Ed!”

Edward flashed a smile at his brother climbing nearby and he too resumed the brutal climb.

“Just a little farther. Let’s do this!”

“You got it.”

The moonlit gap in the cavern roof seemed close enough to touch.

THE TOP OF THE CLIFF shone in the moonlight, casting a supernatural glow on Leaf’s pale white flowers. They spread out in a vast field before the escapees from Wisteria.

At the top of the cliff on the other side of the valley, military teams from the nearest bases were rounding up the bandits trying to escape with the jewels. Among the people taken away in chains stood a familiar man with silver hair.

Perhaps they all understood what had happened, for none of the people of Wisteria felt the need to talk. They stood silently and watched as the man they had respected, the man they had vowed to follow forever, was led away, no better than the bandits who had destroyed the only home they had.

The wind blew, and the flowers danced in the desert breeze. White petals fluttered down on the broken town of Wisteria.

“It’s going to be okay,” Ruby said. “We can build it all again. Everything will be okay. If we all work together, we can do anything.”

“Ruby …”

Leaf quietly grabbed Ruby’s hand. Ruby squeezed it back.

They had lost the one they believed in, and the town they had lived in was destroyed, but they weren’t alone.

The sky in the east grew gradually lighter. Night fell away as the new day dawned. Ruby and Leaf looked up from the ruins of Wisteria to face the rising sun. Neil, Ivans, and the others all looked in the same direction, the rosy light of dawn casting a warm glow on their faces. Some seemed sad, others angry, but all were filled with the determination to rebuild what they had once possessed.

They had worked only for profit. They had been divided. Sometimes, they had even fought, but now they knew that kindness could not be measured in money, and true success came only by working together. They no longer had a need for any law of equivalent exchange.

“I’m glad we came here, Ed.”

“Same here.”

Before long, the dazzling rays of the morning sun fell on all the people of Wisteria.

“TAKE CARE of yourself,” Ruby told Edward and Alphonse.

“Thanks.”

The sun shone high in the sky, and at the top of the cliff under the cloudless blue, Edward and Alphonse prepared to leave on their next journey.

“Ruby, Leaf, hang in there. I know it will be hard, but you can make it work.”

“We’ll be fine,” Ruby said, looking down at the town with Leaf.

Neil and the others had spent most of the day putting out fires throughout the town. Ivans cared for the wounded, while the others cleared away the rubble of fallen houses and the ruined refinery. The town was alive with activity.

“We’ll be busy for a while, I think. We won’t have any time to be sad. And without as many people living here, it’s going to be hard. But we’ll do what we can.”

“Not as many people? Why?”

“A lot of people living in Wisteria had prices on their heads. They’ve all turned themselves in to the military.”

“Really …”

“They’ll be back, though. Once they’ve done their time, they’ve promised to come back.”

That too was a choice.

Freed from Raygen’s sway, the people of Wisteria no longer had one single voice to guide them. Now, they thought for themselves. Now, they chose their own paths.

“Thank you so much. I’m glad I met you,” Ruby said to Alphonse, smiling. “Promise you’ll come again soon, Alphonse.”

“You bet. Next time I want to see everyone in town smiling. I’ll be sure to visit.”

“Yes. You’ll have to let us take good care of you when you do, Alphonse.”

“Hey, there are two of us here, you know!” Edward said, glaring at Ruby.

“What, you want to come back too?”

“Who would want to go see a wretched little brat like you?!”

“Wretched? You’re the one who’s wretched! I know, you’re still jealous because I took away your little brother!”

“Jealous?! Who’s jealous?!”

“You know, you’re a lot alike, the two of you,” Leaf said, looking at Edward and Ruby.

“No way!” the two yelled as one.

“Please, please,” Alphonse said, trying to stop the endless disputes. “Can’t you get along, just this once?”

“Not a chance. Al, we’re leaving!” Edward said, snorting. He turned and walked off.

“Goodbye, Ruby, Leaf,” Alphonse said, saying his final farewells. He was about to run off to catch up with his brother, when he heard Ruby’s voice.

“Alphonse?”

“Huh?”

Alphonse heard a light, wet, kissing sound.

“Let me know if you ever need a fiancée again,” Ruby said, standing on her tiptoes, her lips still touching Alphonse’s cheek.

“Whaaaa?!”

Alphonse, flustered, stepped back and placed a hand on his cheek. Ruby began to laugh, a flower in full bloom.

“I’ll be waiting!”

“R-Ruby?!” Alphonse gaped, his voice shifting up a full octave. Even though his cheek couldn’t feel anything, he could swear it was burning.

Not knowing what to do or what to say, Alphonse stood flustered and dumbstruck. Edward called out from far ahead.

“Al, what’re you doing?! We’re leaving!”

“R-right! Coming! So, uh, bye.”

“Bye.”

“Take care.”

Alphonse waved to Ruby and Leaf one final time and ran after Edward. Edward looked at Alphonse, who seemed unusually agitated as they walked.

“What were you talking about?”

“Oh, n-nothing.”

From behind them in the distance came Ruby’s loud voice. “Alphonse, Edward, thank you so much!”

Edward was startled a moment. Then, he smiled and, without turning around, waved his hand.

TWO WEEKS LATER.

“Colonel, telephone for you.”

Roy was in a meeting at Eastern Command when Fuery interrupted him.

Roy scowled. “I’m in a meeting. Can’t this wait?”

“It’s from General Hakuro in New Optain.”

Roy made a face like he’d eaten something bitter. He rose from his chair and turned to the others in the meeting room. “Just read the reports we have until I get back.” With that, he went to the nearest phone.

“He better not have more work for me. I thought I gained some credit with that affair in Wisteria the other day.”

Roy scratched his neck and picked up the phone. “Thanks for waiting.”

“Colonel Mustang, thanks for your hard work the other day.”

“Not at all, sir.”

Maybe he was calling to thank him, thought Roy, then Hakuro went on. “I was looking at this observation report you sent in. It was quite well done, overall. There’s a lot of good information in here for us.”

Most of what Hakuro now praised was Havoc and Breda’s work. Roy had signed off on it, so he knew it was good stuff.

“But there was a problem with one page.”

Roy knew immediately that it was the page Edward had written. But Roy kept his cool. He knew better than to expect that Edward’s report would be well written or even legible. Still, he figured that Edward’s experience would provide valuable insight, so he assigned the final evaluation to Edward. Thanks to his prior research and his own involvement in the arrests at Wisteria, Roy knew, at least, what Havoc and Breda had written. He assumed he could fake any answers he didn’t have firsthand.

“I’m sorry, you’re speaking about Wisteria, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there had been an incident, sir. I couldn’t write well …”

“So it seems.”

“Which part had a problem? The bit about the town’s finances? Or the report on the guards?” Roy fished for some hint of where the problem lay.

But Hakuro didn’t take the bait. In fact, he seemed confused.

“Colonel Mustang, are we talking about the same thing? I’m not entirely sure you understand the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Now it was Roy’s turned to be confused.

“Have you forgotten what you wrote? Let me refresh your memory: ‘Regarding Wisteria, please look forward to a full report, coming soon!’ That’s all. What’s the meaning of this?”

Roy fell silent.

“You did write this, didn’t you?”

He couldn’t admit that he hadn’t. Nor could he own up to who had written those words. If he did, his own negligence would reflect poorly on his standing with Central Command. General Hakuro had a reputation for a short temper and little regard for people who slacked in their responsibilities.

“Colonel Mustang? What’s the meaning of this? Are you listening to me?”

Roy, uncertain how to answer, sat dumbly holding the phone, praying that, if he just said nothing at all, Hakuro might forget he was there.