Once they had explained everything that happened to the Military Police, a car took them all back to Nina’s house. Seeing the car pull up, Edward went out onto the porch to see what was going on since it was very rare for a car to be out here. Riley was the first to get out of the car, followed by Adrienne and Austin. Adrienne and Austin helped Nina get out since she was still too weak to stand on her own while Riley went up to talk to Edward.
Nina hadn’t transformed back and Edward recognized right away that something had happened while they’d been in town. He went to go to Nina but Riley stopped him. “Hi Mr. Elric,” he said. “I’m sorry we have to intrude on you like this but…”
Edward took a deep breath and shook his head. “Don’t worry… just tell me what happened. Where’s Amy? Why does Nina look so… well… defeated and broken?”
Riley shook his head. “Let’s get inside where it’s safer and we’ll explain everything.”
Adrienne and Austin brought Nina inside and helped her lay down on the couch, Riley and Edward followed right behind them. Hearing all of the commotion, Natalie came down the stairs to see them all there. “What’s going on?”
“Something’s happened… The boys were just about to explain…” Edward said, the look on his face grave, almost like he already knew what Riley was about to tell them. Natalie walked over to Edward and they both sat down. Adrienne sat on the couch with Nina, her head resting in his lap. Austin stood behind Riley who was sitting in a chair opposite Edward.
“Amy’s been kidnapped…” Riley finally said, his voice soft but angry. “We tried to stop it but there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t protect her and we couldn’t save her…”
“How did… how could she have been…?” Natalie started.
Adrienne decided to take this one. “The person that took her, he snuck up on her while she was in the bathroom at the tavern. Nina and I were right there but we didn’t know anything had happened until we heard Amy scream. I don’t know how he managed to sneak up on her but…”
“And who are you?” Natalie asked.
Adrienne bowed his head. “That’s right, you and I haven’t met before and I am truly sorry that we had to finally meet under these circumstances… I had actually hoped to greet you properly, but I’m Adrienne Rothstein. I would get up but…”
Natalie shook her head. “Don’t worry; it’s just nice to meet the young man that seems to have such a hold on my Nina’s heart. I can see why… but that’s for another time. What are you boys all doing here in Resembool anyway? Shouldn’t you be home with your families?”
“Riley and Austin were asked to look after Nina after what happened in Central…” Edward said. “It was Fuhrer Mustang’s idea. I knew leaving it to you boys wasn’t a good idea…”
“Hey wait a minute!” Austin started to protest. Riley put his hand up to stop him.
“I’m not saying you guys aren’t talented and capable young men, it’s just…” Edward continued. “Well, I was just concerned when Mustang suggested this knowing that you boys didn’t have the experience doing this kind of thing. But we both also knew that it was only going to be worse if we forced the police to be with them all the time… Either way, there’s nothing we can do about that now. The only thing we can do is get her back.”
“And we’re going to get her back no matter what,” Riley said. It was clear he was beating himself up inside for letting this happen. He cared just as much about Amy as any of her family in her and he’d let her down.
“Tell me everything that happened boys and don’t spare a single detail,” Edward said, his face turning more and more upset and angry by the minute. It wasn’t directed at any of the boys in the room; it was just a general anger that someone would dare mess with one of his daughters and right in his back yard on top of it.
Natalie was actually very proud of Edward though. He wasn’t flying off the handle like he would have once upon a time. She was actually impressed with how cool he’d managed to keep his head up to this point.
Riley started explaining that he and Austin had just gone out to make their way to the house to visit when they’d seen Amy and Nina come up the street and go into the tavern. He also said that they had noticed a strange man follow them up the street and then inside. They had stayed outside and had watched the girls through the window so they wouldn’t be noticed since they figured it would have been better than trying to explain things. When they saw that Amy got up, Austin had gone down the alley so he could listen at the back door. That was when he’d heard the commotion coming from inside and had run back up the alley to get Riley. It was only a moment or two after that the man emerged from the door with Amy.
Adrienne picked up the story from there and told them about what had happened inside up to the point they had met up with Riley and Austin. He even explained why he was in town to begin with as he could tell at least Edward was questioning his reason for being there at all though he was pretty sure Riley and Austin were questioning it as well.
Riley finished the story and explained what he’d seen Nina do and how things had happened right up to the point where they had taken off in the car.
“Did any of you get a look at the man that took Amy or the one that was driving the car?” Edward asked.
They all hung their heads a bit and shook them. “No we didn’t. All we know is that the car took off out of town on the road that leads to East City,” Riley said as he’d been the only there aside from Nina and at this point she had pretty much passed out.
Edward sighed heavily. He hated to ask this because he didn’t want to have to ask Mustang for anything else but… “Has anyone told the Fuhrer about this yet?”
“Not directly,” Riley replied. “I’m sure the news has gotten to him by now. You know how my dad is; he has fingers in everything even if he doesn’t always want to tell you about it.”
“That’s true but none the less,” Edward started as he got up. “I’ll be right back, you boys stay here. I need to make a phone call or two…”
“What are you doing Ed?” Natalie asked.
“First I’m calling Al and May, we’re going to need their help then I’m going to call Mustang. If he thought he could keep me here in the East he’s got another thing coming now and I need to make sure he knows it.”
“Don’t do anything rash Ed…” Natalie started then stopped herself. She already knew better than to try and stop him. The reason he’d kept such a cool head until now was only because he planned to let Roy have it instead of letting loose on the kids.
Once he was in the other room, Natalie turned her attention to Adrienne. “Would you mind taking her upstairs to bed so she can rest properly? Her room is the last one on the left.”
Adrienne nodded and smiled a bit. “Sure Mrs. Elric, I’d be happy to.” Adrienne carefully got up making sure not to jostle Nina too much and wake her up then lifted her up. Without waking up, Nina wrapped her arms around his neck loosely. He then took her and went upstairs to the room that Natalie had directed him to.
Natalie couldn’t help but to notice how strong he was. If he were that strong that he could lift and support Nina without her even really having to hold onto him, why hadn’t he been able to catch up with the man that had taken Amy? Something was strange here and Natalie wanted to figure it out. She knew she’d have to do it carefully though, the last thing she wanted was to make things any more difficult for Nina than they already were.
Riley looked at Natalie. “So what do we do now Mrs. Elric?”
Natalie sighed heavily. “The only thing we can do for now Riley, we wait. We can’t just go off half cocked considering we have no idea where they took Amy and we need a plan. I just feel sorry for whoever took her.”
“Why is that?”
“Because, whoever it was, Ed is going to rip that person apart…”
No comments:
Post a Comment