After Edward and Amy returned from picking up E.J., Edward set himself to look at the drawings of the transmutation circles while the girls helped their mother make dinner. He decided to take the drawings as well as Nina’s notes upstairs to his office so he could lay them out and look at them against the books he had. As he looked them over he recognized quite a few of the symbols, flame, metal, stone, explosive alchemy. Edward started to pull books off of his shelves and flip through them. As he found bits and pieces of information, Edward wrote furiously as his brain was working a mile a minute piecing the parts together.
He was so lost in his thoughts when Nina came up to see how things were going that when she knocked on the door he nearly jumped out of his chair.
“Hey Dad, how’s it going?” she asked as she pushed open the door.
Edward put his head down on the desk. “I think you may have been on to something Nina,” he replied sounding a bit tired.
“Excuse me?” she asked as she came in, closed the door, then walked over to look over his shoulder.
“Here,” he said lifting his head and pointing to her notes. “You mentioned a universal transmutation circle, the more I see the more I think you may have been right. I wouldn’t have believed though if you’d told me, but seeing it with my own eyes, looking at it, it seems to be the only answer. See here, you have the reverse Amestrian transmutation circle that fuses the traditional circle with the alchehestry circle and the runes all around and inside on that circle are all known symbols in alchemy, half on one hand’s circle and the other half on the other. Basically, these two circles together allow you to perform any type of alchemy.”
Nina sighed. She had really hoped that she had been wrong about her theory but if even her father thought the same thing there had to be merit in it. This was really going to make things more complicated for her, she knew it.
“Nina, when you told us about what happened, you mentioned that you were able to use the circles, how did you do it?” Edward asked.
Nina shrugged. “I thought I’d told you but I just clapped my hands together like you do and they lit up. Once I did that I was able to use the cement of the building to build a binding.”
“I was afraid of that, though I wonder if you even have to do that much given that you have the circles already drawn on the backs of your hands. When I put my hands together it’s to create the circle as well as activate it.”
Nina thought about it for a moment. “Maybe, considering I don’t need to say anything to transform like Mom does, I just have to focus and think about it to make it happen. Maybe the same could be true for my alchemy.”
Edward shook his head and sighed. “I shouldn’t be surprised given the line you come from…”
“What do you mean?” Nina said looking at him confused.
“Well you know about your mother and her powers, then there’s me and your mother both that have seen and been through the gate of truth. In there are all of the secrets of alchemy and then there’s your grandfather...”
“Your father? What about him?”
“He was a living, breathing philosopher’s stone. You know the stories of when Amestris was nearly destroyed and I’m not talking about the ones they told you and Amy when you were in school. What I never told you was that Father was created from your grandfather’s blood and then he basically made your grandfather immortal by making him into a philosopher’s stone. It’s a really complicated story and I’m not sure I even get all of it but I think that should be enough to explain.”
“So wait, you’re telling me because of all of this I’m the way I am? But why just me, why not Amy too? We are twins after all. Why is Amy more normal?”
Edward shrugged. “I have no idea. Honestly your mother and I thought if anything it would get split up between the two of you, Amy being more alchemically inclined like me and you having your mother’s abilities. I never would have guessed it would have all combined into just one of you.”
Nina sat down in a chair beside Edward’s desk and took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling but looking more like she was looking through it than at it and her arms hanging loosely by her sides. This was a lot to take in even after everything else that had happened. “Why…?” she said softly. “Why does it have to be me?” As she spoke a single stream of a tear ran down her cheek.
Edward got up and went over to her, kneeling down in front of her and taking his daughter’s hands in his. “Because it does Nina, plain and simple but you’re not alone, we’re all here to help you. I’ll tell you something your mother told me once, though it wasn’t used exactly for something like this but I think it still fits. She told me that there are some things in life that can’t be explained and the harder we try the further we get. Sometimes you just have to give in and that’s when it makes sense,” he said then paused for a moment. “Maybe it’s you because you’re the only one who can do this Nina.”
Nina turned her gaze to Edward and sighed a bit. “Maybe you’re right…”
“It has been known to happen from time to time,” Edward said with a laugh. Nina couldn’t help but to laugh as well. “But for now I think we better keep this a secret from anyone outside of this house. You’ve already made quite a name for yourself which puts you in danger, if this got out then there’s no telling how much more danger you’d find yourself in.”
“What about Adrienne?” Nina asked. “He already knows about my transforming, can I at least tell him the rest?”
Edward sighed heavily. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? I trust him completely Dad, he wouldn’t tell anyone if I asked him not to.”
“About that… I don’t think you should trust him so much Nina.” Edward got up and went to the window and looked out over the rolling fields of Resembool. “I wasn’t going to bring this up but given everything that we now know I think maybe I should. I’ve been talking to Mustang and he’s told me a few things that he’s found out from talking to that guy who tried to kidnap you.”
“What are you getting at Dad?”
“They think Dr. Rothstein may be involved in the kidnappings that have been going on in Central, either directly or indirectly. Every girl that has been taken was a student of his. Now I’m not saying that I believe that he’s involved but I don’t think now is a good time to be taking any chances. Even being around his son could put you in more danger.”
Nina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “No way! That’s just a coincidence. There’s no way Dr. Rothstein or Adrienne have anything to do with it! They’re good people and I’ve learned so much already from Dr. Rothstein and Adrienne… Well…”
Nina wouldn’t get a chance to finish the thought because Amy knocked on the door. “Hey,” she said as she opened the door. “Mom says its dinner time.” Amy had actually been standing outside the door for awhile now and had heard everything Edward had said about Dr. Rothstein. She would keep that to herself for now though.
Edward smiled at Amy. “Thanks, we’ll be down in a minute.”
Amy saw the angry look on Nina’s face. “Everything alright?” she asked keeping up the appearance that she hadn’t heard anything though she already knew her twin wasn’t alright.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nina replied. “Don’t worry about it. Like Dad said, we’ll be down in a minute.”
“Alright…” Amy said shrugging as she left. She was sure Nina would most likely tell her about it later anyway.
Once she was gone, Edward went over to Nina and put his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, we can talk about this more later, we don’t want to keep them waiting.”
Nina pulled away from him, the look in her eyes still very much angry, and walked out the door. “Whatever.”
Edward sighed and followed after her. He felt terrible for making her mad at him like that but he knew it was for the best that he had done it. The last thing he wanted was for her to not know and get herself into trouble. For the first time though, Edward found himself actually wishing that his daughters hadn’t gotten into alchemy, that they didn’t stand out like they did. If he had known the cost for it he never would have encouraged them like he had. Who was he kidding though? They were just like him, even if they didn’t always want to admit it. He supposed the only thing he could do was give them what he could and pick them up afterwards if they fall, something that his numerous friends had done for him all of his life.
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