When I remove the gag though she just has a smarmy smile but winces in pain after shifting slightly. “Normally I’m a fan of bondage but this just isn’t doing it for me… Mind letting me out? I swear I won’t hurt anyone.” She looks up at me with big puppy dog eyes.

I put on a mock look of surprise. “Oh no! Let me help you there, as long as you promise not to attack us of course.” I place my hand against the back of her head and freeze it solid again.

Moving back in front of her I wait for her to finish regenerating. “Well, it looks like it’s stuck. So, I guess you’re just going to have to stay stuck in that binding for now.”

She lets out a long sigh. “Well, it looks like we are stuck at a bit of an impasse… you can’t kill me, and I won’t talk.” She smiles up at me a bit of blood coming from her mouth slowly dissolving into nothing. “Eventually I’ll just escape and kill everyone you hold dear, same with the brats. I might not be allowed to kill them, but their friends? Their family? They are all free game.”

I squat down in front of her and act as if I’m looking her right in the eye. “That’s not exactly the truth, is it? I can feel the stone inside you dimming.” Her eyes open in shock. The first bit of real nervousness started up. “Yes, the more I freeze you the dimmer it becomes. So, here’s a counter-question, you may not be afraid to die once or twice but how many lives do you have left?” With a smile to give her something to think on I put the gag back in her mouth and freeze her again.

Edward glances between the two of us a few times before somewhat nervously speaking up. “Where are we going to bring her? Do you think she can follow up on those threats?” He glances back at Al and then his severed arm, likely thinking of Wenry.

I just shrug. “Only if you let her out, we are going to need to look into how she regenerates and make sure she doesn’t escape.” Looking at her angry gaze. “I wonder if she’s a person with the stone inside her or if she’s some sort of construct made in the shape of a person. Either way, she isn’t exactly human now.”

I can’t wait to use analyze on her. Though I don’t think I can really get away with putting my head or face up against her right now without coming off as a total creep. I’ll just have to wait until later when asking her questions or after freezing her? Not sure if that’s more or less creepy when she will be unaware of it…

Alex interrupts my thought process. “Now now we shouldn’t start talking about experimenting on people.” He says it in a lighthearted matter but there is a subtle steel in his eyes asking me to challenge him on that.

“She might not even be a person though? Besides she just threatened to murder all of our friends and family?” I point my thumb over towards Edward. “He’s a state alchemist that threat alone should see her sentenced right?” He looks a little uncomfortable for a moment.

“Well… you see” He glances at her for a moment before moving me away from her.

“She followed us sure but that’s not exactly against the law. Then you were the one that shot first… if anything, legally I should be taking you in right now. Then she made threats under duress… I don’t think she’s legally done anything wrong.” Oh… right. I’m not the prince here. I may be in the right but there is no proof so therefore I just shot, froze, and tortured a woman before tying her up according to the law…

That means…. “Then why did you help tie her up? If it was so clearly illegal?”

He looks conflicted. “She was making threats and you mentioned that she had a philosopher's stone inside her. I was caught up in the moment! Besides the art of properly tying someone up has been passed on in the Armstrong family for generations! I couldn’t just do a poor job of it.”

So, is that why he didn’t really help in the fight but was willing to tie her up? He on some level knew attacking first like that was illegal. “Well, she isn’t really 100% human and seems to run on a gas tank of souls so at the very least whoever made her has a couple of thousands of deaths on their hands right?” He looks surprised but then nods.

“Yes… I suppose that makes this a little easier.” He looks at her again.

Coming to a conclusion he nods. “I’ll bring her in on charges of assault of a high officer and threats against their family. That’ll at least see her imprisoned for a few months. I don’t believe I can keep her locked up as well as this for that long though…”

I pause for a moment before it comes to me. With a smile, I look back at her glaring form. “Then don’t send her to jail. Send her to Mustang and explain the situation to him. He might even question her himself. We can assume she’s not human and therefore no longer designated as having any rights within this country. It’s just the current law system would misdiagnose her if they were to have her in their jail cells and release her. Therefore we need to take this precaution.”

I’d rather question her myself, but I don’t think I can reasonably hold her. I don’t even have a cell or anything. Besides we will be back out to East city soon enough. I can question her myself then.

Alex smiles too “Of course, just as a precaution to make sure there isn’t any sort of mistake. I suppose that means I am not obligated to bring you in on assault charges either. As you did not harm anyone.”

Our peaceful moment is interrupted by a group of newcomers. “What the hell is going on here?!” We all turn to see some of the local police looking at the clearly hurt tied-up woman and the people all around her.

Alex adjusts himself before holding his hands up in a placating matter. “I am Alex Louis Armstrong! I am a Major and we apprehended a criminal. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

The frontmost one looks at Alex with a bit of scrutiny. “We heard gunshots and a woman’s screams that were drawn out repeatedly. What happened? If you don’t mind, I’d like to know what charges she’s accused of, and is this how the military does it in the big cities because we handle our criminals here.”

Alex becomes serious too at being doubted. “She’s coming in for threats against a superior officer’s family and attempted assault. I am above your station officer stand down now.” The man seems to cringe slightly before relenting.

He scowls at Armstrong and looks at the rest of us before turning to his group. “Alright… I guess the military is torturing girls for supposed threats now huh? Come on guys let’s just tell the people that the situation was ‘resolved’…” I can hear him lightly muttering “Fucking military moving in and taking charge where they aren’t wanted.”

Interesting… so perhaps the military isn’t well-loved everywhere. I suppose that makes sense then why doctor Marcoh stayed here. Either that or years of having a doctor that doesn’t like the military has helped sculpt people's view here.

Alex shakes his head before putting a hand on Edwards's shoulder. “It seems like I’ll have to cut my trip with you shortly. I need to report back to East city with our prisoner. I wish you well on your journey I’m sure you will be safe in Young Du here’s hands… well hand.” He smiles and gives me heavy pats on the back as well nearly knocking me over.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Edward looks at all of us still slightly overwhelmed at everything that’s going on.

“I… is it really okay to have her tied up like that? Isn’t she in a great deal of pain constantly from the regeneration into the cord? That… that’s pretty much torture and she’s still human.”

I can’t help but shake my head. “Legally we can’t see her as human. She has something inside her chest that makes her no longer ‘human’ therefore we can take her in without charges or afforded rights. Besides she just threatened your family why do you care?”

He starts getting upset at that. “But according to your definition, Al wouldn’t have any either…”

I just shrug. “You’re right he probably doesn’t he is not human. He’d likely be considered your property rather than a person. Keep that in mind for the future in case of any accidents occurring.”

He starts glaring at me and grinding his teeth. “You…. Don’t say that about him! He’s a person! He should be treated just the same as all of us!”

Okay… “Is this really the time for this? Besides I was just saying legally he can’t be considered –“

“Shut up! He’s a person and that’s final! You have no idea what sort of pain we’ve been through! The least he deserves is to be considered a human just like me or you!”

Well, there goes another shred of my respect for him.

Letting out a long sight I can’t help but just raise my hands in defeat. “Whatever it’s not important let’s just go.” He smiles smugly before turning back to go to his brother. It’s hard to forget sometimes but he is still just a kid. I didn’t exactly have a normal childhood and he’s stubborn about his views to the point of childishness.

With that dealt with Zig carries Al and Alex carries the woman over his shoulder. Being careful to keep her hands pointed away from him even if she’s tied up much to her annoyance. Doctor Marcoh meets us at the train yard.

“Y-you caught one of them?” He looks ecstatic. “I still have to leave this town… I’ve been their doctor for years but if I stayed here then they would just be hurt more by the people searching for me. I don’t want all the good I’ve done to be for nothing because I didn’t leave when I could.” He looks down at his hands.

Edward smiles and shakes his hand. “It’s fine doctor! We’ll be sure to use your notes well and try to do better with them.” Marcoh smiles at that.

“That’d be good… I just wish I’d considered that earlier on. The matrix I studied referenced using the fuel of lifeblood. We made the wrong very dangerous assumption it needed to be man's lifeblood.” He shakes his head again.

“So many lost in the Ishvalan war for nothing…”

Edward speaks up at that. I know a bit about it but not all the details. “What do you mean? Wasn’t that over some dispute over a child being shot?”

He looks a little surprised. “Well… you’ll know eventually anyways. While that was part of the cause they sought to end the war early. Our research required bodies though, so the top denied their surrender…” Alex glares at Marcoh now. Having his own sort of crisis with this new information.

“I knew what I did was wrong… but I’m trying to fix that now. I only hope that by doing as much good as I can with this I can eventually atone. But I may never equal the scales, so I’ll just keep trying.”

Alex lets out a long huff. “So many lives lost… You’re right that it was a useless war. I have a lot of questions for my superiors when I return to central now. Thank you for letting me know… It’s a shame I won’t be able to tell anyone where I came across this information. I only met a small-time doctor in a small town after all.” The girl on Alex’s shoulder shifts slightly trying to say something but we all just ignore her. People at the train station all stare at him in confusion and fear.

It doesn’t take long before our train arrives, and we say our goodbyes. The train ride to Wenrys place is long and quiet. I chat with Al every once in a while, but Edward clearly doesn’t want to say anything. Still brooding on the idea of Al not being considered a person for rights. After he falls asleep I and Al have a real conversation.

“I know my brother is mad at you… he’s still not letting you repair me so he’s just being childish. For what it’s worth I’m sorry.” His helmet tilts slightly.

“Why is he so angry? I was just pointing out what we needed to say to arrest her so she doesn’t attack your family. He got upset about your circumstance though.”

Al lets out a long metallic sigh. “We’ve been a little sensitive about our bodies ever since that day. I think he feels responsible for what happened to me. He was older and I followed him around like a duckling.”

He has another hollow metallic laugh. “I miss those days, lately it’s been great though… being able to feel some things again through him. It makes me want to experience them on my own even more now. But I’m also thankful for what you’ve done. I’m Sure Ed is too just… he can be a bit difficult. So, I hope you don’t judge him too much…”

Haaa why is the younger one so much more mature? “I get that you’re both kids, but I still feel like he doesn’t have much control of his temper. He needs to start thinking things through before reacting. That hot temper of his is going to get him hurt one day. He keeps acting like nothing wrong happened afterward too. Then stubbornly pretended like he has nothing to apologize for. That’s going to lose him some friends someday…”

“I’ll try to reign him in a bit… thanks again for everything just… yeah. I’ve been meaning to ask something… When we uh make that philosophers stone… How long do you think it’ll take for you to make me a body?” His voice hitches a little bit near the end like he’s nervous about receiving the answer.

I knew that question would come at some point. “It depends? I need some practice with it and testing to see how much it amplifies things. I’m also not sure how well it’d work for you. My current plan is just to make an empty body and transfer you over to it with your symbol tattooed onto it. You won’t be fixed per se but your vessel will make you human. You’d just need to be very careful of wounds to your tattoo.”

“That’d be better than this at least… Would I age or die if I were hurt? At the moment I don’t really feel any pain when I lose an arm or a leg.” That’s interesting? I don’t really know…

I’ll think about that more later. “Considering what’s going on with Edward? You probably wouldn’t die from anything unless he dies too, or your symbol gets broken. I think your soul is bound to his like an anchor. So, unless you do the ritual to him too you’ll die eventually even if you don’t outwardly age or anything.”

The rest of the train ride is fairly silent. I’m not sure if he’s considering how to approach Edward about the idea of replacing his whole body or how to break the news to him that their lives are connected to that level. Edward may take a lot fewer risks if he learns that if he dies then Al does too.

In the meantime, I make some small adjustments to the transmutation circles on my gloves. I rearrange the circles a bit adjusting their size. I wonder if I can make them all part of one transmutation circle. I have a few overlapping ones here. Water, soap, void, oxygen/fire. I could try to incorporate them into something like purity or cleansing? I also need to look into ranged transmutation. My sound one is nice, but I can’t really use it in the middle of a town without causing a panic.

Oxygen has potential but any burst I make will catch me in my own explosion… Water or stone I can make javelins? Not ideal but useful nonetheless. Alex’s is interesting. Rather than transmuting something specific, he focuses on transmuting specific shapes. He imposes an image of himself into an object while transmuting to create a sculpture. This allows for quick alchemy in the middle of a fight because he always has himself on his mind. I’m not sure how well I can incorporate that into my fighting style, but it could be useful as a different method of alchemy at the very least and the attribute points are welcome.

After the long train ride, we finally get back to the small town that Edward and Al call home. It looks… exactly the same.

“It really hasn’t been that long since we were last here, has it?” Edward looks over at Al in Zig's arms.

“Not really… I wonder how Wenry will react? We weren’t expecting to see her again for at least a month!” Edward staggers for a moment before continuing.

“Yeah… I’ll show that old hag that I’ve grown! I’m a whole one and a half inches taller since I started your exercises, Jing! It won’t be long now until I’m as tall as Al!” He runs off ahead of us with a big smile on his face.

Hmm Well, there is an easy way to get a good idea of his final height. “Hey Al, how tall were your parents?”

“Hmmm dad was kind of tall I think he was 5’10 or something around there and mom was 5’6.” Ah right, lower height average. Armstrong and Al are both around 6’2 but look giant when next to most people here.

“Then it’s very unlikely he’ll be as tall as your metal frame. Then when I make your new body, it’ll be whatever height you want it. So, I guess he’s just doomed to be shorter than you are forever.” He gives off a metallic laugh. “I’ll let him think he’s going to catch up for a while. I haven’t seen him this excited since the state alchemist exam!”