Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Gotta Knock a Little Harder ❯ Fool in The Rain (Interlude) ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

McKenna's Secret revealed. A short chapter of her memories. Being in Risumbul, and meeting Edward Elric's father.

WARNING: For those who have yet to see later episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist, Spoilers ahead.

Anime/Manga: Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.05.2005 | Updated On: 10.22.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 5.5K | Visits: 901 | Status: Completed

Fool in the Rain

Warning: For those who have not yet seen later episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist, Spoilers ahead.

(You have now officially been warned, so no complaints)

I'll run in the rain till I'm breathless; When I'm breathless I'll run till I drop ~ Led Zeppelin (In Through the Out Door)

Brianne McKenna woke up in a strange place. Hardly unusual for her, though. She quickly assessed her environment. The room was small and dimly lit by an oil lamp turned down as low as possible. There was enough light for her to see that the room was sparsely furnished, and the walls weren't insulated.

Primitive, she thought. So I went back. Or did I end up in another place entirely?

The sound of someone snoring softly brought her eyes to a dark corner. She could just make out the shape of someone in a chair, arms crossed, and legs stretched out in front of him. The weak light reflected off his glasses when he snorted and lifted his head. She caught the movement of a hand going up, and the glasses being lifted.

“Ah, you're awake, now,” the figure in the dark said. McKenna was struck by the gentleness of his voice.

He crossed into the circle of light, and sat on the side of the bed. He was a big man, with broad shoulders, and long sandy hair. He smiled and her heart skipped a beat.

He helped her sit up, and then poured some water for her from a hammered pitcher, into an equally hammered cup. “Here,” he said and he held the cup to her lips. “You've been out for a couple days, you need this.”

“Thank you,” she said after she took a few sips. She leaned back, and just regarded him. Regarded her surroundings.

She'd awakened in a lot of different places in her life, but they were usually nasty, dangerous, or just plain exposed to the elements. Never had someone found her, and took her in without question like this. She wasn't quite sure how to take the kindness, and immediately assumed she would have to return the favor in some form or fashion.

After a long silence, he smiled shyly and asked, “Do you have a name?”

“McKenna.”

“Just McKenna?”

She nodded. She knew she wouldn't be here long; there was no point in any kind of real intimacy, and keeping her first name to herself kept others at arm's length.

His smile grew warmer, and he said, “Okay, `Just' McKenna.” He offered her his hand, and it took her a moment to realize that he was being polite and greeting her properly. She hesitantly took it, and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then brought it up to his lips. “I'm Hohenheim Elric.”

[1.1.1.1]

She soon learned Hohenheim had been heading toward home late one night, when he saw her pop into existence practically at his feet. She was disheveled and seriously wounded. Her feet and legs were severely burned. The flesh was still smoking when she appeared. He wasn't about to just leave her there.

Over the following weeks, he'd nursed her back to health, and they'd spend some evenings talking. He'd never asked her how she came to be here, though. He just seemed to accept that here was where she was, and why wasn't important.

One day, he came in, dressed in a military uniform. “I think it's safe for me to leave you alone now,” he said. “Aunt Pinako will check on you about lunch time. I've been called back to work.” He made sure she had everything she needed, but from that moment on, he was always gone during the day.

McKenna woke up each day to a warm meal and fresh bandages on her legs. She never actually saw this `Aunt Pinako', though. Slowly, she learned to walk again, and spent her days watching out the window at the activity below the second floor window of the apartment. She didn't have the strength, or the energy to go any further than her bedroom window.

“This is Risembul,” he told her, once. A small village about three days from the main city of the area. “For now, I've been stationed here; but I'm hoping to get back to a post in Central City soon.”

Boredom and inactivity finally got the better of her, one day. She ventured out of her little room, and explored the rest of the apartment. The main room was filled with books. She grinned, and felt like she'd hit the mother lode. As she scanned the spines, her brows crept higher up her forehead. Alchemy? She wondered what kind of place she popped into this time, and a shudder went through her. Do they burn witches here, too? Will this kind and gentle soldier be killed if his secret came out?

She had always been of a mind that getting nosey, and asking too many questions was a real good way to get noticed by the wrong people, but she had to know. Fear started to grow within her, and she felt herself trying to phase. She took several deep breaths and calmed herself. Now would not be a good time to pop, she thought. When she was calm, she became solid again.

When Hohenheim returned home that night, she steeled herself, and asked him about the books. Something in her question made him laugh. “So, you discovered my dark, and dirty secret,” he said. “Yes, McKenna, I'm a State Alchemist. A dog of the military.” He looked down at his uniform, then back at her with a crooked grin. “But I suppose that was obvious.”

He easily, and without hesitation answered her questions, telling her about how Alchemy was a science, about life in Risembul, and Central City; even about life as a `dog of the military'. Then he grew very serious, and said, “I've been around for a long time, McKenna. I've committed terrible sins. But I'm trying to atone for them. I want you to know, so you can trust me.”

He clasped his hands together, and rested his elbows on his knees. “What's your story, McKenna? It's pretty obvious that you're not from here. Probably not even from this planet.”

The question hit her in the gut. But even more so was her own reaction to it. She always tried to disappear whenever anyone started getting too curious about her. She learned long ago it was much safer that way. Of course I didn't get away soon enough last time, she thought, remembering the scars on her legs.

But something inside told her she could trust this man. So she told him. She couldn't believe how easily the words spilled from her lips.

After she was done, the whole sordid story spent, she sat in silence, as Hohenheim stared down at the floor across the room from her.

When he finally looked back up at her, his gold eyes were bright with threatening tears. “They tried to burn you at the stake?” he whispered. She saw him grow tense, and begin shaking in rage. His hands clenched and unclenched as he looked at them.

McKenna suddenly felt shamed. She had told him too much. She folded herself up, and hugged her knees, not sure what to do, now.

Hohenheim crossed the room, and she flinched. “Don't,” he whispered, and knelt in front of her. He cupped her chin, and looked her in the eyes. “My God, the horrors you've experienced. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am.”

He wrapped his arms around her, then, and held her close.

She could smell him; hear the strong beat of his heart; felt the warmth of his arms. It was intoxicating, and she knew she could die right there, and that would be just fine with her.

He learned everything he could about her, from that point. He knew she had an ability to cross time, space, and universes, but she had no control over when it happened, nor where she ended up. Sometimes with disastrous results.

She told him about the time she popped on her home world. The disruption of the space-time continuum inadvertently causing a catastrophe. “The time period I arrived,” she said. “The technology had advanced to intersystem travel, and they used a gate. It was a controlled hyperspace wormhole which enabled people to jump from one end of the solar system to the other in days, instead of months, or years.” She had to explain as best as she could about the gate. She was pleasantly surprised when he seemed to grasp the concept, even on a world that didn't even have air flight, yet.

“It was a somewhat simple, and mechanical version of what I do. But it was unstable. Even though I was a small disturbance, I was still a disturbance, and it caused it to explode.”

She hesitated, the memories of that more horrible than burning at the stake. “They'd already discovered the instability, and were working on it. If I'd arrived just two weeks later…” She shuddered, and buried her face in her hands.

She felt him brush her long red hair from her face, and he said, “You can't blame yourself, McKenna.”

“But I'll never be able to wash the blood off my hands.” She looked at him through her tears, and said, “Disaster follows me wherever I go, Hohenheim. It'll find you, too.”

He just looked at her for a long moment, and she wondered what was going on behind those golden eyes. He seemed to come to a decision, but was hesitant. Finally, he said, “I think I know how I can help you control this talent of yours.”

“I prefer to think of it as a curse,” she said. “And how can that be possible?”

He smiled sadly, and told her. Along with how he was going to help her control her talent, he also revealed another secret of his own. “I've lived several lifetimes, too, McKenna.”

He went to the window, and stared out. She stayed where she was, knowing it would be easier for him to not look at her. She didn't need to see his face, and didn't think she could bear the pain in those eyes.

“I know…” He cleared his throat. He went on, voice thick, “I know the terror you felt when you were tied to that stake. I know the shame you feel about all those deaths. What you did… was unavoidable. An accident. What I did… was deliberate.”

[2.2.2.2]

Two months later, the vat of red water Hohenheim had created was ready. But he was not yet home.

McKenna had noticed that he'd been returning home later, recently. But she wanted to assume he was working. It didn't prevent her from pacing back and forth in the front room while she waited.

Time crawled slowly, until she heard his key in the lock. He saw her in the middle of the room, her arms crossed, and her foot tapping. He smiled a little. He blushed, which only served to make McKenna's brows shoot up into her bangs. “I'm late. I know. Please forgive me.”

“Well? Hurry up. The red water is ready.”

He took off his jacket, and cast a sideways glance at her. Humor sparked his eyes. “Easy. It's not going anywhere,” he said.

She threw her hands up and said, “Yeah, but I might.”

He chuckled, and nodded. “Okay, okay. Wait here.”

He placed a mask over his nose and mouth, and went into the other room. McKenna had taken to sleeping on the couch, because the fumes from the red water could be detrimental in it's liquid state, and the still had been set up in what was once her room.

A few minutes later, he came out with a small dish of red stones, and pulled off his mask. He placed the dish in her hands, and went to get a glass of water. She just stared in wonder at the small, smooth stones which glowed with an inner light.

“What do I do with these, now,” she asked. “I thought I was going to be drinking that red water.”

Hohenheim handed her the glassful of clear water, and said, “The red water solidifies when it's exposed to the air. You'll have to swallow them like they were pills. They'll be absorbed into the lining of your stomach, and they won't be passed.”

She picked one up, and cocked a brow. “These aren't going to give me cancer, are they?”

“What?”

Some things don't translate, she thought, and said, “Nothing. Never mind.” She brought a stone up to her lips, and felt Hohenheim's hand on hers. She paused.

“They won't last forever, McKenna. Once they lose their charge, your body will begin to reject them. And you might be worse off than before.”

“How long?”

He shook his head. “I can't say. I've never heard of them being used for anything like this, to be honest.”

“Heh. I doubt there is anyone else like me.” Then she started to bring them back up to her lips.

He stopped her again. “I don't know about this,” he said.

She cocked a brow. “Getting cold feet Hohenheim?”

He looked stricken. “McKenna, I've only used these stones on Homunculi. I don't know… I don't know how they'll react to your physiology.”

“Homunculi?”

He sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Another dirty little secret.” He looked at her again. “Homunculi are biologically human. But they have no soul. They're the result of taboo. Using Alchemy in an attempt to bring someone back to life. I've used the red stones in the past to control them.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “'In the past'. Right?”

He nodded. “I haven't done anything like that in several lifetimes, McKenna. I don't intend to do that ever again. There's a good reason it's taboo.”

She stared down at the glowing red stones. “These might turn me into some kind of puppet? Or kill me?”

He nodded.

She pulled the long, loose skirt up, and exposed her scarred legs. “If I can't control this…whatever it is I do… I could end up going through this again.”

She looked back up at him, and saw him squeeze his eyes shut. A tear escaped the thick, sandy lashes. “Death by fire, or death by stones. One way is out of my control. The other… at least I'm doing something deliberate. I'm attempting to control my own destiny.”

He opened his eyes, and looked at her, accepting her decision. She gently touched his face, leaned forward, and kissed him on the lips. Then she started dropping stones down her throat.

The pain was unbearable. McKenna felt like she was being burned at the stake again, only from the inside, and she writhed in agony. Hohenheim held her, as she shook and sweated while her body absorbed the stones. Then everything went black.

[3.3.3.3]

When McKenna awoke, she found herself in her bed. She stared up at the ceiling for a bit, trying to clear her head. Hohenheim must have cleaned out the equipment, she thought. She wondered just how long she had been asleep. She brushed her hair out of her face. That took more energy that she had, because her arm quickly felt heavy, and dropped.

Her hand rested on soft, silky hair, and she slowly turned her head. It took a little to get focus, but she felt the movement under her hand. She realized then that Hohenheim had pulled the chair up to the side of the bed. She wondered if he'd ever left her side.

“McKenna,” he whispered. “Thank God.”

“W-what happened?”

“What I feared. You almost died.” He grasped her hand in both of his, and she could see his fear and anguish. “I'm so sorry.”

“Sorry? It was my decision.”

[4.4.4.4]

It only took a few hours for her to be mobile again, and a few days before she felt her old self again. She asked Hohenheim over dinner about testing to see if the stones worked.

“It seems to me that they do,” he said. “You're still here.”

She nodded. “Sure, for now. But I can't tell if I'm still here because my body hasn't made up its mind to leave, or because of the stones.

“Besides, I'm going to have to leave, sooner of later. I don't think your girlfriend will be all that happy to learn you're living with another woman.”

Hohenheim's eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open. “How did you…”

McKenna smiled. “You come home smelling of her perfume at least three times a week.”

He blushed furiously. “I suppose I should have said something.”

“Yes, well, that seems to be the nature of this relationship,” she said, and looked down at her plate. She mentally kicked herself for that sniping remark.

“The point is, I want to see if I can control where I go, and when. I think I need to test that.”

She felt his hand on hers, and she looked up. “I never wanted to hurt you, McKenna. If I hadn't met Trish before, I think we might—“

“No we wouldn't Hohenheim. I'm grateful to you, but I don't love you. Not like that.” It was a polite lie, and she could see he knew it.

He let go of her hand, and nodded. “When do you want to test it?”

“In the morning? When I've had some rest.”

[5.5.5.5]

The faced each other in an open field far away from Rosenbul, and far from prying eyes. The weather was dark and dreary, and starting to rain. A heavy silence hung between them, and McKenna appreciated the irony. She tried to find a reason to just tell him what she felt inside right at that moment. But doubt muted her tongue. He loves someone else. I can't ask him to give her up for me. Not when I'm already so ephemeral as it is.

He hugged her. “I'll be here, waiting for you, McKenna.” Then he stepped back.

“Brianne,” she said.

He smiled a little and nodded.

Then she phased.

She never went back.