The Water Alchemist

Blind Faith

Welcome back to The Water Alchemist. I don't own any of the intellectual property of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Blind Faith

***

Ed walked up to me and rested the back of his hand against my cheek, then my forehead. I stood there frozen as he stepped back, looking puzzled.

"You don't have a fever," he said almost to himself.

"Of course I don't, I feel just fine," I retorted. I hadn't felt sick at all after resting in Resembool.

"Well, something is definitely wrong with you if you think we're about to use you as bait."

"Just hear me out," I said.

"No way," Ed said hastily, frowning. "I'm not going to hand you over to them, not in a million years." He folded his arms and walked back to the couch. I followed and rested my hands against the back of the sofa.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying use me to draw them out," I said, motioning my hand to my chest. "It's a more direct approach to what you were planning. You wouldn't have to fight Scar, and we have an element of surprise by being prepared for what may already be inevitable." My explanation came out rushed and erratic, barely registering in my own mind.

"What do you mean 'inevitable'?" Ed asked, raising a brow.

"You heard Mustang; they're already looking for me," I said, clutching the back of the couch tighter. "If they're so determined to find me, it shouldn't be long before they notice I'm back. Why not use that to our advantage?"

I knew that what I was suggesting wasn't very pleasant. I had been spending all this time avoiding the Homunculi, and now I was offering myself up to them on a silver platter. But the strange part was that I wasn't scared; I was more worried that the brothers wouldn't allow it. Al looked over to Ed.

"We won't use you. We'll do my plan, and you'll stay out of it," Ed said, a note of finality in his tone.

"Ed—"

"Besides, shouldn't you be focused on getting back to your side?" he asked, his words stabbing me in the chest.

I inhaled sharply, biting my lip. He was right, of course, but I couldn't focus on it. It made my head hurt, and my heart ache, and I didn't want to think about it. I was barely thinking at all.

"We appreciate the offer Marina, but we won't use anyone else to clean up our mess," Al said.

"But you're not using me. I'm offering myself willingly," I countered.

"Even if we took you up on your offer – which we won't – we don't have a way to catch them. They're super strong, and they pretty much can't die," Al said thoughtfully.

"Can't die?" a certain Xingese Prince asked, entering unannounced through the window with his trusted vassal. "Was that hyperbole?"

"Or are they actually immortal?" Lan Fan finished asking for him. We all looked at them in disbelief.

"Why don't we lock the windows?" Al asked as they stepped through.

"Aw, but if you did that, neither of us would get what we want," Ling pouted, crossing the room to us. He glanced over to me but didn't make any strange remarks about my presence or anything of the sort. Without the stone, there was nothing for him to sense. "Now, what's this about your plan?"