Lament

In the briefest of moments, I saw green wings and then I was being pulled from Alphonse's town house and Jeremy, holding the pistol. The sensation was what I imagined drowning to be like; something was pressing down hard on my body so hard I thought I might be crushed by the force of it. There was something roaring in my ears and everything was grey and black, everything was whirring and pressing and roaring, I knew I'd been shot, I knew I was dying, I knew this was the end…except then all of a sudden it stopped and I stood in a cemetery with Jason before me. Catching my breath was difficult, and I found myself doubling over in shock and pain, drinking in air as if it were water. Jason stood, unmoving, and it took awhile to realize where we were.

We stood in a cemetery. The night was much colder than the day, and the ground was misting and foggy. As I leaned up, I saw his face, he was searching for something. We were not in just any cemetery, we were in the cemetery my mother had been buried in. I remembered standing here those months ago, it had rained. I'd felt Death at my shoulders, and now that I thought about it, maybe it had been Jason who I felt. Or maybe I'd really felt Death. "Thank you," I told him after I felt I could speak. When my eyes closed I saw behind my eyelids Jeremy, holding a gun, pointing it at me. "He doesn't have anything to do with Charles, does he?" I asked. "He just…" I shook my head. "Why are we here? Where is Alphonse?" I questioned.

Jason surveyed the cemetery and then took my arm and pulled me forwards. "The young fool with the pistol did not, of course, have anything to do with Charles. And as for why we are here, we are here because this is where Alphonse has been taken." We sped up. "I am losing the ability to move in the space between spaces, so I could not get us exactly where we needed to be, but I've been following Alphonse's presence for awhile now. I noticed something strange when he left his house and then I heard you calling my name and realized that they were doing it tonight. They're going to kill him tonight, take his blood, make the homunculi." His words were forced and full of breath. My heart leapt into my throat and I began to run.

"Where are we going?" I questioned.

My brother shook his head. "I don't know, I'm following the feeling of Alphonse. He's somewhere here, they took him here…he didn't come by force but then…I feel something else, he was taken by something else, something not human…another homunculi, but it couldn't have been the one Charles is making. Dammit, I don't know…" we began to run faster and faster and suddenly I knew where we were headed towards. l remembered when Jason had said something about there being underground tunnels leading to where Charles was hiding, but he didn't know how Charles got in and out. Now, with a sickening lurch of my stomach, I thought I knew. Ahead, I saw my mother's grave, still dug up from when she'd been grave robbed. It looked as if the Bow Street Runners had not done much to help us. Probably because my mother had never gone to Church and was not well liked in the community. And then, all of a sudden, we stopped.

"Wha-" I began to ask but Jason put a hand over my mouth. From the darkness surrounding us, I heard movement. The fog whirled around our legs; the feeling was eerie. Jason removed his hand from my mouth and took my wrist. He put something large and heavy into my hands. When I looked down, I saw that it was Jeremy's pistol. I looked at Jason with searching eyes. He did not look at me, but pulled out a long, thin knife from out of thin air, it seemed. The blade glowed with a sickly green light, the same sort of light that were his wings. That was no ordinary human blade. Jason looked down to me for a moment and nodded once. My eyes traveled to the pistol, which was still cocked. What were we waiting for? Did Jason really believe I'd need to use a pistol? Then, I heard the same rustle of movement and my skin bristled as I answered my own question.

Stepping into the bright glow of the almost-full moon were two of my mother. No. They were the creatures that looked like my mother, the homunculi, the practice ones, the ones that were not real and could not think or speak. One of them opened its mouth and the same awful growl, scream I'd heard before erupted. The other one gnashed its teeth. They were both wearing burlap sacks, not the high-collared, black dresses my mother had always looked regal in. Repulsed, I brought the pistol up. "You are not made for this world," I found myself whispering as it came upon me. "And you do not belong here."

The next moment was blurry darkness. The homunculi standing before me advanced on me, I fired the pistol and the force sent me reeling backwards, my wrist snapping up with a sickening crunch. Red hot pain shot beneath my eyes and I dropped the pistol, but I heard the scream of the homunculi as it withered and died. Looking next to me, I saw Jason plunge the knife into the other homunculi's stomach. He pulled it out, grabbed my good arm and began to run again. I left the pistol where it was; I had neither gunpowder nor a bullet, so it would be useless now. "Are you all right?" asked Jason.

I shook my head, the pain making me feel fuzzy. "No, no, I think my wrist has been broken."

Jason swore loudly under his breath. We stopped right in front of my mother's dug up grave. It was dark and cold emanated from it. Jason put the blade down and ripped off a large piece of his shirt. Then he picked up a long, sturdy twig from the ground and tied up my arm with a splint with the quickest hands I'd ever seen. "I had to learn how to tend to broken bones out by myself," he explained. Then he picked up the blade and handed it to me. "You need to keep this. I must go to the Morgensterns and have them come immediately. In the mean time…by God I cannot believe I am saying this, but, Faerie you must go down there and try to save Alphonse. This must be where the tunnel starts, for I feel his presence. Honestly, I cannot believe I did not guess that."

"Jason, I feel that the Morgensterns will not be so obliging…" I started but Jason just shook his head.

"Let me worry about the Morgensterns. Go after Alphonse. Let us pray you are not too late." I took a deep breath and nodded. I slipped the knife into my sash and looked down into the pit of my mother's grave. My stomach heaved with fear and I was reminded of The Night of the Blood Moon. I did not even have the Banshee to keep me company. I looked back to Jason. He was watching me. "I would not send you down there if I did not think you were capable of saving him," he told me.

"Isn't it the dashing knight who usually saves the princess?" I asked.

"But you are ten times braver than a knight and twice as charming," Jason replied. "Now go, I do not want to think of what horrors await Alphonse down there if you do not save him in time." In a blink of my eye, he was gone. I swallowed. Prince will come. And he will stop Wren. And if he doesn't, I will talk Wren out of this. I will remind her of our friendship, tell her I never loved Jules and was planning on releasing him of our engagement. She could have a happy ending, she didn't have to sacrifice my fiance…I would remind her of how much she had not wanted this those months ago, remind her of who she was before she was delirious with love… Closing my eyes, I crossed myself, even though I knew it would do me no good. God was not watching tonight. I sat down at the edge of my mother's grave, not thinking too much about my beautiful silver gown. I pushed myself off the edge and the impact of the soft dirt on my shoes was stinging, but not terrible. The only bad pain was my wrist, but at least that was tied up for now.

We'd been right. I could make out a dark hole in the dirt. Putting my good hand in front of me, I started through the tunnel. It went down and down, but I did not trip over anything, nor did I meet someone or something along the way. I was alone with my breath and my gooseflesh, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I was scared. For my own life, yes, but more so for Alphonse's. Charles did not have any reason to need me, did he? And Wren would not kill me for the sake of killing me, would she? The darkness was blinding. Was there ever going to be an end to this tunnel? A sudden thought rippled through me. What if I was too late? I propelled myself onward, faster and faster, even though the impact of my feet upon the dirt sent radiating waves of pain through my wrist. I did not care.

And then, when I thought I would go mad from the darkness, I saw that it was getting lighter. There seemed to be orange light, glowing ahead. Candles. Alphonse. I wanted to cry out, but made sure I was as silent as I could possibly be. I heard a voice ahead. A male's voice. Deeper than Alphonse's…Charles. I knew it had to be him. I stumbled over nothing in the darkness as I became closer and closer to the light. The tunnel was getting bigger, it was rounding out into a sort of dirt cellar. I slowed my pace down, taking small steps. I heard another male voice, but higher. Alphonse. I recognized it immediately and waves of relief washed over me. He was still alive. For now. I must find out a way to save him, but I could not simply go and attack Charles.

I could see them. Alphonse was being held by two more homunculi of my mother. They looked even more wild in the candle light, dirt was smeared on their faces. Their dark eyes looked feral and I saw that when they opened their mouths that they had two rows of small, pointed teeth, like a dog might have. These were bastardizations of my mother and I hated Charles more than anything for them. I saw him as he stood before Alphonse, tall, so handsome, looking older and paler. His face was gaunt and thin, the skin stretched over his features in a cartoonish way. Still, he was as handsome as ever and when he smiled, I remembered why I'd trusted him all those months ago. I thought of him as a pitiful man, I'd been afraid of the fact that he believed he loved me, but I'd never thought he would try to kill his own son. My eyes turned to Alphonse, whose hair was loose and over his shoulders. His features were much like his father's, but entirely his own. His eyes were still bright, still glowed with fire. He was not giving this up. He never would.

I must be so careful.

"Well, as long as we're waiting for the final preparations, I should let you know how much I've missed you," Charles said to his son.

Alphonse glared back. "I'm sure you weren't thinking that when I was right on your tail. I followed you halfway around the world and you were too cowardly to turn around and fight me like a man."

"I didn't think it needed to come to blood," Charles answered, looking hurt.

"Well it's coming to blood now. It's always been about blood, you sick bastard."

"I do not deny that your blood is what I want. Still, I must admit that cat and mouse game we had going there for that time was amusing. Of course, I had to eventually come back to London. I knew I'd never get you if I didn't get you back here, if I didn't make you trust the person who would betray you," Charles said and Alphonse struggled against the homunculi, who hissed at his movements. Where was Wren? I wondered now, as Charles mentioned her. He grinned. "Still, you were surprised, weren't you?"

"The word I'd use is disgusted," Alphonse spat. I took a step forward, about to come into the light, when all of a sudden, I felt something cold and sharp against my throat. Instinctively, I checked my sash. Jason's knife was still there. I tried to look at my captor, but couldn't. They breathed in my ear. A female.

"If you take one more step to try and help that thing you call your lover, I will not hesitate to kill you." The words were harsh. Female. And familiar. But not Wren. I turned my head just a little further. The blade was dangerously close to my skin, but now I could see her face. Mrs. Haverford, the Dowager Viscountess of Farnsworth. Jules's mother. And the last person I'd expect to be associated with this. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here, but I think I'll let Charles, if he wishes, choose to explain it to you." She smiled. I opened my mouth, but Lady Farnsworth pressed the knife closer so that I felt a sharp tiny pain. "Ah-ah-ah," she whispered. "You don't speak." I wanted to ask her why she was in league with Wren of all people, Wren who she had just proclaimed to hate. She must have been lying, though, lying to get me to trust her. Well it worked, and I felt like a fool.

Lady Farnsworth pushed me forward into the light. As soon as Alphonse saw me, he made a strangled sort of cry in the back of his throat. I looked at him and smiled, not saying anything, not wanting the knife deeper in my throat. Charles's eyes lit up as he saw me. "Faerie…" he said, his voice full of wonder. He came towards me and kissed me on the corner of my mouth. I pulled back, but Lady Farnsworth shook her hand. "Ah, my Lady, killing Faerie won't be necessary. I have plans for her. Once I have resurrected her mother, we shall all live together as a family. Of course, if I choose to have Faerie join in my bed every once in awhile, that is my prerogative," he said, smiling as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"You're sick." My voice was a deadly whisper.

Charles shrugged. "Maybe so, but I have always wished to claim your virtue. I thought of it often as I came here. You and your mother, they will make lovely prizes for me…"

I grinned. "I hate to be the one to disappoint you, but my virtue has already been claimed by your son. The night before his eighteenth birthday."

In my ear Lady Farnsworth gasped. "I always knew you were a whore," I heard her say.

Charles's grin faltered a little but he did not stop smiling. "No matter. Alphonse will soon be dead, and you will be mine, virtue or not. And your mother…" Charles looked to the homunculi, who had been quiet. As soon as we turned our attention to them, they began to gurgle and squeal, sounding like something on the verge of death, or maybe something that was death itself. "I have to admit, they are not what I want, they have no brains nor have they a heart, but they have been useful in other departments," Charles explained. He ambled over to his son and took Alphonse's hair between his fingers. "Yes, I have missed you, my son, and I shall miss the fun we had while you chased me. Truth be told I was surprised when you debuted into society as an Earl, but you are a Wainwright, so I expected only the best."

"Expected? You expected me to be dead, you filth. And let me advise you never to speak to my fiancee like that again, lest you wish to die a very slow death."

Tilting his head back, Charles let out a laugh. "How amusing! And how do you think you are going to free yourself in order to kill me? You weren't even able to accomplish that when you were chasing me. I do think you really never meant to kill me at all. I am your father, you wouldn't dare kill your father." Alphonse opened his mouth to reply when suddenly there were footsteps along the tunnel floor. Smirking, Charles folded his arms. "I do believe the rest of our little party has arrived. This should make things very interesting indeed."

From the tunnel emerged Prince and Wren Morgenstern and Jules Haverford. For the slightest of moments I felt relieved, but then remembered that Wren and Jules - and Prince I supposed now - were with Charles. I struggled against Jules's mother. "You!" I cried to Wren, who stopped as she saw us. "I trusted you. And yet you went to Alphonse's house and tricked him into coming with you! I thought we were friends! If you'd told me you were in love with him I'd never become engaged with Jules at all, and still you betrayed me." For a moment Wren looked taken aback, but before she could say anything, Jules was shouting.

"Mother, what in God's name are you doing?!"

I stared at him. What? I turned my head just enough to see Lady Farnsworth looking panicked. "Jules, you don't understand, this is necessary…she was going to come rescue this boy and we cannot let that happen because Charles has promised to bring your father back to life…"

Jules shook his head in disbelief. "When I found those journals of my father's, I told you about them to educate you on what father believed. He thought those…those…" Jules pointed at the homunculi, "things were abominations of God. How could you do this? Father would not want this! And look at you! Resorting to holding a blade against an innocent girl's throat." Jules made to come towards us but in that moment, three more homunculi appeared from the shadows and grabbed onto Prince, Jules and Wren. They attempted to struggle out of the homunculi's grasp, but I assumed the monster was much stronger than any normal human being.

Wren looked at me now. "Faerie, I do not know what you are talking about. I never tricked Alphonse into coming here, I never betrayed you…"

"Then what did you mean when I heard you talking to Jules about how you were going to end it tonight?" I questioned.

Wren flushed, in parts embarrassment and anger. "We were planning to elope tonight because Jules thought you were breaking off your engagement with him. We were going to run away and get married. Jules explained to me how his mother was the one who'd made him break off our engagement those years ago and then break off our relationship all together. All season long we've been meeting in secret…" she stopped and looked down, "so I suppose I have betrayed you. I am so sorry, but believe me, I did not have any part of this. You know I would not. You know what we went through The Night of the Blood Moon to stop this foolishness and yet here we are once more, fighting for our lives."

I looked to Charles and then Alphonse. "But, if it was not Wren who tricked Alphonse into coming…" I started and a tear rolled from Alphonse's cheek.

It was then that one more person emerged from the tunnel into the room. One more small, beautiful woman who looked as if she carried the world on her shoulders. I swallowed. "Lily."

She looked to Charles and presented him with a long, thin knife, quite like the one that Jason had given me. She was holding edges of an apron up, and cradled in the apron were at least ten glass jars. "Darling, it is ready."

Charles strode over to his wife and kissed her on the lips. "Thank you, my dear."

Something broke inside of me and I thought of that night when I'd heard Lily sobbing with a portrait of Charles in her hands. I did not know if what I felt was grief or anger, but tears came down my eyes and the pain in my wrist throbbed and throbbed. "I trusted you!" I felt myself scream. "You were my second mother! Alphonse saved you! You were given a second chance to fix things! To make things right for your son and you betrayed him again! How could you? How could you! I trusted you and you…you…"

Lily shook her head and did not look at me. "Would you do it…if Charles were Alphonse and you were me?"

I stopped. To say no meant I did not love Alphonse as much as Lily loved Charles and I knew that was a lie. To say yes meant I was capable of murder. "That is not fair," I settled. "That is not fair and you know it." Beside me, I heard a strangled sob and looked to see Wren crying. I had never seen her cry before, it was a strange sight. I'd seen her mad, yes, furious, angry, scared, upset, but never crying. And I knew it was because she'd lost all hope. When a mother turns against her son like the way Lily was doing to Alphonse…it was more than I could bear either. I hung my head. "I hope you regret always what you do tonight." I tried to once again struggle against Lady Farnsworth, but the blade, which had moved enough, cut a little again. I felt another pain and a drop of blood trickle down my throat into my gown where it stained the top of the neckline deep crimson. The entire room was quiet, except for the occasional whine from the homunculi. Charles strode towards Alphonse, Lily in tow. I looked at my fiance, my lover, my everything. My throat closed. He looked at me and I knew this was the end. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you," he told me.

Charles took Alphonse's chin in his hand and turned his face up, exposing his neck. He brought the knife up and suddenly, I realized that I could not simply stand by and watch this happen. I brought my hands up to where Lady Farnsworth had the knife against my chin and grabbed onto the sharp blade which cut into my skin. I hissed in pain but did not let go. And then I saw the flash of green wings once more and Lady Farnsworth was coughing and choking. Charles halted to watch. Her eyes were bulging, quite the way Edmund Smythe's had before Jason had killed him. She toppled over and I knew she was dead. In my hands I held the bloody knife. I grasped onto that one with my good hand and took Jason's out with my bad hand. I barely felt the pain as I went to Charles.

In that moment, I saw green wings at least a half a dozen more times and Charles was looking around too. The homunculi began to scream in fear and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Prince, Wren and Jules struggle free. Just as before, everything turned blurry and confusing, but I watched myself as I jumped towards the homunculi that were holding Alphonse and slashed one of their throats. It began to wither and I gave Alphonse, who had reacted quickly, Jason's blade. He sunk it into the neck of the other homunculi that had been holding him. I heard a shot behind me and when I turned I saw that Prince's homunculi was withering. I ran at the one Wren was struggling with and put the blade into its back. Jules had put his arm around the neck of the one that had been holding his and broke it. The homunculi did not wither as fast but did die.

Charles's face contorted into rage and he raised the blade up to Alphonse, who stared at him, wide-eyed, to stunned to move.

The blade came down and sunk clean into a stomach. Not Alphonse's, though. Lily's, once again. Maybe he'd stabbed her where he'd shot her those months before. My body constricted but I pushed myself to catch Lily as she fell onto the floor. I yanked the knife out and the scream she emitted was once more terrible and more wild than any of the homunculi put together. I ripped off the bottom of my dress and pressed the cloth and my hand into her stomach, feeling more than skin against my hand but not daring to look. Alphonse scrambled up and was at Charles's throat. In my head I saw The Night of the Blood Moon - Alphonse going to strangle his father, his mother dying. This time, I knew, was different. Lily was dying faster and Prince wouldn't go into Death.

Or maybe it was different for another reason. The moment Alphonse's hands connected with Charles's throat, they disconnected. Alphonse took a step back. "I am not like you," he said, his words clear. "I am not a murderer."

Charles grinned. "If you are too cowardly to kill me then I shall finish-" except he did not finish what he began to say because all of a sudden, Jason had taken the place of Alphonse with his hand around Charles's throat. Charles's eyes widened in fear. "Who…are…you?" he wheezed.

Jason's smile looked more malicious than any Charles could have given us. He leaned in close towards his father. "Your son," he whispered. "And I am a murderer. I can kill you without even touching you," he spat. "Oh I won't kill you tonight, of course not…maybe even not tomorrow night, or the night after that, or the night after that. We'll let you go tonight. But you'll want to watch your back. It could be in a small inn at the side of the road, it could be in the forest at night, it could be in some beautiful byzantine palace. You'll never know when I'll be there, and you'll be dead." Jason let go of his father's neck. "Now go."

Charles's face was so contorted with fear I didn't think he had the ability to walk. "Jason…" he whispered. I was wrong, though, for he took off out of the tunnel.

Alphonse dropped to his mother's side. Lily was still breathing, but just barely. I looked to see Jules cradling his mother in his arms, sobbing. Wren was embracing him around the shoulders and had her face buried in his arm. Taking a deep breath I turned back to Lily. Prince was at our side in a moment. Lily raised a hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry. I just, loved him…I knew where he was and I should have told you…Lady Farnsworth was hiding him. She wanted her husband alive again." Her words were barely a whisper. She put her hand on Alphonse's face. "I don't suppose it registered with me that he was really going to kill you until he'd turned on you and I knew I couldn't let that happen because you are my son and I love you more than anything…I am so sorry, Alphonse. I just hope you can forgive…me…"

"Of course, Mama, of course," Alphonse put his own hand over Lily's. "I love you, I am so sorry it had to turn out this way, but don't worry, Prince is here…"

"No." Her word was definite and she turned her glassy eyes towards Prince. "You were gone for all those months. That won't happen again. I already cheated Death once. Not again." Behind us, I heard Jules sob. I held Lily close to me. "Faerie, darling, let me go now, please."

I realized I was still pushing down on her stomach, keeping everything together. I nodded, tears rolling down my face. My arm loosened and I took my hand away from hers. Alphonse took her body from me and I knew at once that I was not entirely human. I could feel her life as it slipped away. Alphonse held her close and bowed over her body. From behind me, someone leaned down. It was Jason. He put an arm around my shoulders, smoothed down my hair. I could barely see anything from so many tears. I felt as her life ebbed like the tide, and knew that this was all life was; a constant tide, a constant ebb and flow. One life wanes, another waxes.

Lily exhaled once more and then she quietly, peacefully, slipped into Death.