I immediately run out, Zig and Al follow and Edward lags behind somewhat limp running as quickly as he can. It doesn’t take long to find the restaurant that Nina and Mr.Tucker were supposed to go to. The place is surrounded by military sectioning it off.

The first soldier tries to stop me, but I just jump over him and keep moving in closer. I can see behind me that Al is stopping to ask questions… I don’t want to be too late. Healing may still be low level… It might still not have any additional abilities but I’m still one of the best bets anyone would have at surviving something here.

“NINA! MR.TUCKER!?”

Dodging several more soldiers I make my way to the restaurant itself… Inside everything is a mess... The blood, it’s covering half the room… Like someone exploded… exploded… the scene of Zig’s body laying on the ground half mangled along with others. The flashes of images from Shimada’s and Haru’s life flash by as well the bodies... My imagination and vivid memory of those events messing with my head as I try to find what's important now. Inside my mindscape the other two have shown up to see what's wrong.

My voice almost chokes. “Nina… Mr.Tucker…”

I hear a voice behind me but… it’s not important right now. In the corner away from the blood… I finally see her. Wrapped in a towel as an officer with penned up blond hair is holding her, she looks famili- not important.

“Nina…” I take another step before I hear a meaty smack followed swiftly by a gun shot behind me. My attention snaps to the sound. There I see a soldier holding recently fired gun grimicing in pain as Zig holds him down.

The sound around me suddenly comes to life. My attention finally in the moment rather than focused on just finding Nina or Mr.Tucker.

A cacophony of sound assails me from every direction. “Get down on the ground now!” “Explain yourself!” “Who are you!”

The surrounding soldiers are all pointing their guns. Yelling questions, some getting upset that I’m not complying. Others just trying to figure out what's going on. I see several holding back small smirks as their fingers slide over the trigger.

I raise my hands, calling on Shimada’s experiences with the police. In my mind he guides me through what to say. “I’m Jiang Du, I have lived with the Tuckers for the last several days. I just…” I swallow a lump in my throat as I look over towards Nina. “I just want to help. I’m a medical alchemist. Edward Elric… the uh full metal alchemist should be following soon behind me. I just… I can help… I just, I want to help.” Several of the guns are raised but some still aim at me.

One of the men still aiming speaks up. “How do we know that’s true? How do we know you’re not some foreigner working to kill our countries alchemists with that terrorist?” I can feel the hatred roiling off him like it’s almost physical. I suppose there are some things I like about my country more after all.

Before I have a chance to respond someone else speaks up. “Because I know him from when the Elrics came to my office. Stand down everyone.”

The man from before in the office, Mustang Edwards boss walks up. That’s where the girl with the penned-up hair was from! The office, of course they would be here. A state alchemist was killed nearby and he seems to be fairly high up in this town.

He gestures for me to move forward. The rest of the people here put their weapons away. It annoys me that I see disappointment.

He stretches his glove a bit showing off his transmutation circle. A subtle reminder to behave and that makes a few of the others get back to work suddenly finding better things to do. “You may check on the girl. Just know that if you try anything funny, I won’t hesitate to burn you alive.” I just nod. I see his glance go over my exposed metal arms, he seems to pause when he notices his own on there frowning.

He opens his mouth to say something, but I walk past, this isn’t important right now. “We’ll be talking about that later too.” I hear behind me as I walk towards Nina. I… okay, first aid check list first check for obvious injuries. Then shock or concussion if unresponsive… then ask the military for answers on what happened? What do I do after that? I… if there’s no injury. I can… Right, title… I… oh I never changed it back from healer. That’s good… um what oh I’m in front of her now.

I turn to the blond woman from before. “Are there any bruises, cuts… bleeding?” She shakes her head. I can see Nina’s form shiver at the mention of blood. Taking a quick glance back at Mustang who just nods.

“No, she’s… just in shock.” I nod but still look over her regardless. Perhaps healing will even help her mind. I move in next to her and help clean of the blood using my new transmutation circle, using a bit of soap to draw on the blood and grime. The transmutation lightning causes a few to watch with vigilance but when they notice I’m just removing the blood they relax.

The woman starts with a bit of surprise at it drawing a pistol almost instantly but quickly rehosters when she notices what I’m doing with a confused look. “Oh, that’s uh useful, I guess. So, you practice cleaning transmutation?” I just ignore her and look at Nina. She’s still staring off into space, rapid breathing and her face is going pale, slight trembling. She’s probably going to faint or worse. I gently lay her down wrapped up in the now much cleaner towel. I can see her throat hitch at the start of a sob.

Okay, worst case scenarios? What do I need… “Do you have oxygen masks?” The woman looks at me oddly but shakes her head looking back at mustang. I shake my head alright that’s not a go. I could make do with a paper bag and elevating her feet to help with circulation so she won’t pass out.

I take off my jacket and wad it up to keep her feet elevated.

What’s next? Right! Assurance and positive thoughts… “You’re going to be fine Nina… you’re going to be okay… Everything will be.” It’s hard to say this to someone that just lost their father… especially in such a gruesome way.

I see her mouth open slightly as her eyes twitch slightly… “N-no… d-d-daddy… no…” I just gently caress her hair. She has no major injuries, but I still give a once over again to make sure. After checking once more the only ones found are small bruising on the arms and small cuts on the palms. Likely from falling down or being shoved and catching herself. I gently hold her hand and start looking them over… Gently wrapping them once I’m confident there’s no glass or anything in the wound. I feel it… the moment that healing leveled up to 25. My mental self-checks while I continue to reassure her.

Skill: Healing level 25

Description: wounds treated by you heal 15% faster per lvl.

Lvl 25: Improves all forms of healings effectiveness by 5% per level

It lost the treatment tag… it’s all forms of healing now. So, it should…

Her breathing starts to steady slightly she starts crying more openly rather than shaking. I hold her closer, and she begins crying earnestly into my shoulder.

“It’ll be okay Nina… you’re safe now… I’m not going to let anything happen. It’s okay.” I turn to the woman. She’s looking on in curiosity, a glance towards Mustang shows that he’s also curious but neither say anything. Eventually Edward shows up out of breath and wincing as he walks.

Alexander jumps right in and snuggles with Nina as she drifts off… that should be good for now? I don’t know…

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

After she does, I lose my reassuring smile and look. I stand up and with a serious gaze turn my attention to Mustang.

First important information. “So, do you know what happened? Who did this?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware you were in the military Jiang Du. This is an Amestris problem. I allowed you to help with Shou Tuckers daughter because she needed it. But you are not at liberty to know information about-“

Edward speaks up first. “It was a man people are calling Scar… I asked before and some of the guys outside told me. He’s the terrorist that’s going around killing state alchemists… I guess he saw Mr.Tucker performing a small bit of alchemy and recognized his last name from something. He… grabbed him by the back of the neck and… deconstructed him.” Looking around I see the results. Alchemy is built on three principles. Understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing. Whoever did this obviously just wanted to destroy… Something I will do well to remember when I find them. I look down at my transmutation circles. I use the metal one to create an empty circle… one meant to understand and take but to make nothing in return.

“Interesting… you just made that didn’t you?” Mustang looks closer at my metal arm. “I noticed you’ve copied mine as well. Just because you have my transmutation circle doesn’t mean you can use oxygen to burn.” Oh… so that’s what he does. He groups of pure oxygen and ignites it by increasing the energy of the molecules inside causing a spark to heat the process.

I raise my hand up extending the metal disk slightly and use his copied circle to pull a small amount of oxygen in the area then to vibrate at increased speeds. Easily enough a small flame pops into existance. Much to the surprise of Mustang, the woman from before and all the others that witnessed it. He frowns as he looks at my gauntlet then back down at his own glove. My skin unable to burn because it’s metal with a high heat tolerance.

“It’s not as hard as you’d make it seem Mustang. Now I would appreciate if you told me where this… Scar was last seen? What direction and how long ago? His death is inevitable now. It’s just a matter of if you’ll help me or if I’ll have to find the details out myself.” I level my gaze at Mustang.

Edward who’s panting besides us looks surprised and somewhat upset at this. “Woah woah here. Who said anything about killing him? He’s a human being too! He… no one deserves to-“ I can’t help myself. I smack him across the head with a metal hand… with a little more force than necessary.

“Brother!” Al catches him before he falls.

Looking down on him I can’t help but let out a little of the anger I have in me at someone that would say something so stupid. “You do not get to decide that, Edward. Get off your high horse. There are those that have done unspeakable things that deserve to die. This man came into a restaurant and killed one of our friends… in front of his daughter. Not only did this man kill him but did it in one of the ugliest ways I’ve ever seen and that’s an accomplishment. I’ve seen people murdered and killed in ways you can’t even imagine. Think of if it was Wenry that was killed that way in front of you? Would you roll over and pretend like nothing happened? Would you let them stay around to do it to others? No? So shut up and don’t interupt while the adults are talking.” Edward just stares at me in shock, not able to come up with a response right away.

Mustang looks slightly, impressed but also meets my eyes despite how angry I am. “Be that as it is. You are not a member of the law. You have no authority to apprehend or kill this fugitive. You’re only method of justification under our law is if you were to assist a state alchemist in an arrest.” He gestures to himself and Edward. “I will not help you in this matter and considering you’re intent to kill I doubt the Elrics will either.” I move my heated gaze away from him back to Edward.

He’s taken on a more serious look as he rights himself up. A mixture of rage, loss and sorrow mixed together. “I’m not a kid, neither of us are kids anymore. Just because I’m a dog of the military doesn’t mean I will kill someone. I won’t help you kill either.” He just stares at me dumbly not understanding at all.

I can hardly contain my annoyance at all of this. I pinch the bridge of my nose closing my eyes briefly. “What’s the sentencing for the murder of a state alchemist Mustang?”

He sighs obviously not having wanted to say this to Edward. “Obviously, as one of our countries strongest military assets they will be sentenced to death.” Edwards eyes go wide.

He looks between the two of us. “D-death? Even if we catch them? B-but he’s human?”

I can’t help but feel annoyed. “Of course! What do you think happens to seriel murderers? Do you think they keep them locked up forever? What about that father Cornello guy? He obviously was the cause of multiple deaths and attempted to murder the investigating state alchemist. How long is he in for?”

Mustang awkwardly pulls at his collar. “Well… our troops moved in to seize the town and everything seemed fine but strained. I’ve recently received notice that the units from central that were there have been attacked and things are starting to escalate.”

Nodding along I can’t help but feel like there’s something missing. “And the father himself that started all of this?”

“He’s… escaped but if not for that he would have likely also been sentenced to death.” Edward looks hollow and shaken by this revelation more than the death of Mr.Tucker.

I can’t help but feel like he’s just a kid and doesn’t deserve all this annoyance but also I just can’t help it… “Congratulations Edward, you’re not a direct murderer, instead you just send people to their death. But you failed to even do that right. Now there’s a cult leader out there stirring up his fanatics to kill and hurt more innocent people. I knew breaking both his hands wouldn’t be enough.” No wonder the quest never updated. He likely was never officially sentenced with anything before he escaped. Mustangs eyebrow quirks at the mention of destroying their hands.

Edward still hung up on the killing part seems to be having an emotional breakdown looking at Mustang. “B-but we’re the good guys right? I-I don’t want to be a murderer. You didn’t tell me about this Mustang.” Mustang also looks annoyed and stressed.

“Haaa Look Full Metal, I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react like this. You’re still children, I send you out on tasks that normally don’t require that sort of judgement… Jiang isn’t wrong though. If you’re going to be a state alchemist… at some point in time you will be the cause of someones death. That’s something you’re just going to have to get used to.” A slightly haunted look in his eyes he walks away. I look down in disappointment at Edward who won’t even look at me. Likely upset that I’m willing to end a problem rather than let it fester.

I walk back to Nina and gently lifter her up. Alexander wines softly as I carry her out. Turning to the woman that was with Mustang I hold out a hand. “Jiang Du 9th prince of Xing.” Her eyes go slightly wide at the prince part but takes my hand anyways. “1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.” Her eyes glint seriously as she frowns at me. “You won’t receive any additional information from me.” Her eyes harden slightly but I just shrug at that.

She’s the one that was helping console Nina before I got here. At least someone was trying. “I wasn’t trying to get any from you.” I just gesture to Nina. “Thanks for trying to help her. I’m going to take her home if that’s fine with you. Feel free to send some people with me to make sure that’s where I’m going if you need to.” She shakes her head but eyes me warily.

“I don’t think I do but…” She hesitates for a moment. Seemingly deciding on whether or not to say something before finally deciding on it. “I feel something odd coming off you and your friend there. Especially when you got mad… I don’t know how to place it but for a moment you didn’t feel right? Like… I could feel your blood lust?” Interesting someone that’s naturally achieved an amount of Chi training. Looking over at Zig who’s been stoically staring at the soldiers keeping an eye out for threats this whole time. He also looks over at Riza hearing her.

I won’t give her lessons but I might as well give her a tip. “That’s quite the gift you have there. If I were you, I’d cultivate it. Do you know how to contact Nina’s’ mother?”

She shakes her head. “We haven’t checked yet. Any other family you’re aware of before we start searching?”

I mentally search for anything they may have mentioned… There isn’t much. “He just mentioned that Nina’s mother was staying with her parents some place. He never said where that was though.” She nods then moves over to a few other military people spreading the word to look into it.

I walk out of the restaurant with Nina in hand. Slowly heading back to her house… It’ll be just us and Alexander for a while I suppose…

I… should search for him tonight… try to kill him before he has a chance to do this to anyone else. Opening door to the suddenly much darker house. Clean as it is the place just feels odd. He didn’t have a noticeable presence and I hardly knew him. But I know he meant the world to this little girl.

I set her in her bed… I raise to leave but she clutches me tightly.

I start to move her off when Haru speaks up in my mindscape. “I know I don’t offer help often… but times like these are when you need to be there for the kid. I regretted not being there for mine when they needed me. If you go out to kill him tonight and she tries to get up, she’ll be all alone that’ll hurt her worse at her worst moment.” I can’t help but agree… My hands stop and I gently pat her head and clean up some of the tears off her face. I guess I can rest for a bit…

A couple of hours later she wakes up from her nap with a start.

“Daddy!” She looks around frantically then realizes she’s home. She looks relieved but still has tears in her eyes. She looks over at me and hugs me tightly.

“I-I had a n-nightmare.” I gently hug back.

“I-I d-dreamed that -sniff- daddy d-d… was g-gone!” I hold her for a bit not sure about what to do now.

How do I tell her that the nightmare was true?

“T-that was just a dream though right? H-he’s fine! I… we have our day together today, right? I… we get to spend time together, right? Where is he?” She starts almost desperately trying to squirm out of the hug to go search for her dad.

“Nina…” She stops struggling and her body almost goes slack at the tone of my voice.

This is going to be hard… I look her in the eyes and give her the toughest news I could. “That… it wasn’t a dream…”