;-; I really have no excuse.

I'm just lazy.

Happy Thanksgiving

here you go

I'm so sorry

most of you have prolly lost interest anyway ;-;

Chapter 15

No one came to visit Reyn, and so Reyn would hardly speak, listening to the conversations of her roommate; though they were uninteresting to her, it would keep her 'sane' for the time that her assassin would be staying with her. The two had been roomed together for weeks.

"Miss Fukerita?" Joice asked the stoic girl, and as always, received an answer. "Yes?" Reyn monotoned.

"Tell me about Aerugo." The assassin demanded. Reyn sighed faintly, knowing that this question could be asking for Aerugo's weaknesses in any aspect.

"The climate is very hot and dusty." Reyn began. "There are volcanoes in the southern region, such as where I was born, and the people are few and far between, but the cities are large and busy." She explained releculantly.

"...Aerugo sounds like a god-awful place." Joice said honestly, and Reyn could feel herself stiffening. "It is not that bad," She defended.

It was true; the few memories Reyn had of her life in her small, remote village were quite... happy.

"It is not so bad." She said, a slightly softer tone creeping into the edges of her voice.

"Are you sure?" The assassin smirked, "To me, it seems like a hell on earth; a wasteland of sorts that people are too stubborn to leave."

Reyn stiffened, thinking of the heat of the rocks one could cook on, the stone that was Aerugo itself - the stone she was made to protect. And here this Amestrian sat, speaking such blasphemous words against her country?

"It is much more prosperous than this junkyard of a country you call Amestris." The stoic girl said - now, the words were simply running water, an unpreddictable force that was not to be reckoned with. "Really?" The assassin chuckled, "Because your people seem rather weak. If you're really the best Aerugo has to offer, then your men are truly screwed; You're weak, Reyn and your people are we-"

"Shut up."

The simple words flew from Reyn's mouth as she turned to the assassin, to Joice, a kind of fire in her eyes that could only be kindled from cold pride. How dare this fickle woman let such words leave her mouth. Aerugo is the finest land.

Wasn't it?

"Aerugo's people are strong and fierce; shut your mouth, you Amestrian snake."

Weren't her people strong?

"You know nothing of strength."

Or does she?

A familiar head of tousled ebony hair could be seen from the corner of Reyn's vision; Artemis, she told herself. Her arms moved in a quiet rhythm as she rolled them back and forth, letting the weights push her limits as she eyed the doctor. Artemis spoke with another medical doctor, writing(presumably what he heard) on a clipboard as he listened. Slowly, proudly even, Artemis made his way to Reyn and sat himself down next to her. "Hello again, Reyn." He greeted her calmly.

"Hello, sir." Reyn put the weights she was using down, making sure to pay her full attention to him as he spoke - his next words could be vital; after all, Artemis was a quite insightful one.

The man began to check her, making sure she functioned properly, as he spoke.

"Are you okay?" He smiled at her. "You... went through a lot."

"I am functioning properly, sir." The girl deadpanned; it was obvious. Artemis was not checking for her safety; he meant to stay here to ask a question. "Is there something you require of me?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay..." He straightened. "You seem tired, "Artemis smiled, his voice caring, "Shall I tell you a story?"

"Is that kind of speech required, sir?"

"No." He sat down on the foot of the bed. "One day, while I was looking through the ashes of a volcano that recently erupted, I caught wind of something really terrible smelling. It was putrid, really, and the scent followed me all the way to the Central City, Amestris." He smiled, and winked. Reyn knew.

This was no story. It was true; and a secret command. She would investigate.

"...Continue, sir." She said slowly.

And continue Artemis surely would. "When I actually arrived in Central I visited King Bradley; he's such a good man." He spat the words out as if venom - he'd been bitten by a snake, an Amestrian snake. "It'd be so horrible if the country were to lose him - I mean, they'd fall into a certain kind of chaos."

By this time Reyn was sitting perfectly upright in the bed, staring him down with a glare of ice. "You want me to assassinate King Bradley." She droned.

There was a pause between the two in which no words were needed; they stared at each other with such intensity and understanding. This was a war. Aerugo shall prevail. And what other way to do it would be to have the country shake from the very stake that holds it up? No, Reyn thought, this was no mere assassination. This would require more thought, more depth, more precision. More detail.

"You want me to break the military."

"Precisely. From the top down." He smiled almost pleasantly, but both knew there was nothing but frozen venom behind it.