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Daddy leads her and Alexander to the middle of the room. Alexander barks happily and she wraps her arms around him.
"Good. Nina, Alexander, just stay right there. Daddy will take care of everything."
Daddy's voice is different from usual. He's looked so upset lately, ever since he started talking about the... assessissmit. She still isn't sure what it means but he said that if they played together today he wouldn't have to worry about it.
"What are you drawing?" she asks.
He's making a bunch of chalk marks on the floor. A big circle around her and Alexander and then a bunch of other shapes inside it.
Daddy stops drawing and looks up. "It's an alchemical circle. I... Daddy needs to do some really advanced alchemy to impress the other alchemists. None of my other ideas worked out, but I'm sure this will impress them. But... it's something I can only do with your help. You and Alexander."
"Okay!" Nina says. "What do we need to do?"
Daddy smiles. "It's really easy. For now, just stay in the middle of the circle."
She nods. This doesn't sound much like playing, but this will help him win the assessissmit so she has to help. She wants to go back to running around with Alexander but she can stay here a bit longer. She has to. It's really important.
After a long time, he finishes drawing. Then he wraps his arms around her and Alexander.
"I love you," Daddy says. "I know this will take some getting used to, but it'll be okay. This is what's best for all three of us."
Nina's stomach tightens. She doesn't know why he's saying this but it feels like something bad is going to happen. She wants to ask what he means but she doesn't want to get in his way and he said she should just stand here so... so she should just wait and let him do whatever he needs to do.
Daddy steps back and kneels down and puts his hands on the edge of the circle. Then it starts to glow, and...
There's light everywhere and it's wrapping around her and it feels like she's melting, like Alexander is melting, like the two of them are swirling together. She feels dizzy and everything spins and she wonders if something is wrong but she trusts Daddy, she knows it all has to be-
And she's on the floor. She's having trouble remembering what was going on but she feels so weird and twisted up and sick. She tries to say something but she can't remember how words work or how to move her mouth right and all that comes out is a growl.
"Nina?" Daddy calls out. "Alexander? Are you okay?"
Is one of those her name? She feels like it must have been but she can't remember which. She lifts her head to look at him and barks.
Daddy looks away. "I guess I shouldn't call you that anymore. You're not Nina or Alexander, you're... the chimera I made. We can't tell anyone how. It's our secret, okay?"
"D... Daddy?" she finally manages to say.
He smiles. "So you can talk. That's really, really good. But... you can't call me Daddy anymore. We can't let anyone know who you used to be, or they'll get really mad. I'm sorry, I wish it didn't have to be like this, but they wouldn't understand."
She can't follow what he's saying. She can't call him Daddy, so what's she supposed to call him? And she's not Nina or Alexander anymore so who is she? A... ky-merra?
"O-Oh."
Daddy rubs her head. "I knew you would understand. Now, Edward and Alphonse will be here soon, so you have to pretend you're meeting them for the first time."
"Ed... ward." She wants to see them again. She remembers playing with them but when she thinks about how her head starts to hurt and she feels sick again.
Saying Edward makes her want to say something else, but she can't remember what.
Daddy cleans up the chalk and then he starts talking again. She does her best to reply, he seemed so happy to hear her talk, but it's really hard to say much.
After a while the doors open and light fills the room.
"Mr. Tucker!"
"There you are. So you are home!"
She knows those voices and she knows the smells with them. Alphonse and Edward. But she has to act like she doesn't.
"I did it, boys," Daddy says. "I finally did it. A chimera that understands human speech."
A ky-merra. What she turned into when he mixed the two of them together. And because she was a talking ky-merra she was the really cool thing he needed to show the other alchemists. She still felt kind of sick but Daddy said it would all be okay.
"Let me show you." He turns back to her. "That person over there, that's Edward."
"That person... Ed... ward."
"Yes, that's very good." Daddy puts his hand back on her head and starts petting her. "Well done!"
"That's amazing," Edward says. "It can actually talk!"
He really doesn't recognize her. That's... good, right? Daddy said it had to be this way. But she still feels sad. Can't they at least tell her friends?
"That person... Edward," she repeats.
Edward looks so happy. He's so impressed with Daddy's work and they'll get to play together again and the other alchemists will be impressed too.
"That person... Edward." She finally remembers what she wanted to say. "Big Brother Ed."
Edward's expression changes. He doesn't look happy anymore. Did she say the wrong thing? Does he know? Is he upset that it's her?
He starts asking Daddy questions. She isn't sure what's going on. Why are they talking about Mommy?
"Nina and Alexander... where are they?"
He knows. Alphonse gasps and she realizes he must know now too.
Daddy says something and Edward slams him into the wall. Edward starts shouting at him, he's so angry about how Daddy made the ky-merra. It's all her fault.
Daddy tries to say Edward did something similar and Edward punches him and his glasses fall off. Daddy says it's what they need to do to be better alchemists and Edward keeps hitting him and all she can do is sit there. Alphonse grabs Edward's arm and tells him to stop and Edward looks back and sees her and he looks sad again.
"Edward," she says. "No..."
Edward releases Daddy. Daddy falls on the floor and she walks closer to him and calls out to him. Edward thought what he did was really bad so is that why it had to be a secret? Is that why it felt so weird?
Maybe she shouldn't have helped Daddy. But she still doesn't want him to be hurt.
Alphonse leads her to the other side of the room and then he kneels and starts petting her head. "I'm sorry. Even with all our power, we can't do anything to change you back."
Changing felt weird and gross and changing again sounds like it would feel weird and gross too. She doesn't want to think about changing anymore.
"Can we play, now? Can we play now?"
Alphonse doesn't say anything. Why doesn't he want to play with her? Is she too gross to play with now?
Daddy says he'll get to stay an alchemist and Edward kicks something out of his hands. He doesn't want Daddy to stay an alchemist anymore.
"Can we... play now?" she repeats.
Edward looks at her again and he wails. She thought he wanted to help her but then why is he acting like this? Did they only like her before this?
And then... they leave. Why didn't they want to play with her?
Why did they keep looking at her like that?
The police show up. They put bandages on Daddy and they ask him a bunch of questions. Then they go back outside but some of them stay nearby.
No one seems to want to talk to her except Daddy. People are calling her Nina so she guesses she doesn't have to not be Nina. She's glad that she doesn't have to keep things secret anymore but she didn't want it to happen like this.
The two of them sit down by a window and Nina looks out at the pouring rain. It used to be the three of them. Is it still the three of them? She still doesn't really get what being a ky-merra means.
There are footsteps and a new smell and then someone else walks into the room. A man she's never seen before.
"You're Shou Tucker, correct?"
Shou Tucker. That's Daddy's name. Daddy asks who he is and how he got in.
The man says Daddy turned his back on God. Then he grabs his face and...
Daddy falls over and blood is everywhere. She walks over to him and calls to him but he doesn't move.
"You poor creature. Once you've been given this form, there is no way of separating you again. At least... your passing will be in peace."
What does that mean? Why is he touching her head? What-