Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Warmth of the Sun

_____________

We landed in Kuijec after a few hours of traveling. I stretched out my legs, walking on my tip-toes to extend the muscles a bit more. Ed noticed, sending a small smile my way. I looked down, blushing at being caught doing something so foolish.

Light chatter floated between us, that is, until we walked past a pet shop.

Al immediately stopped, a distant whine overtaking his suit.

Ed sighed, half-lidded eyes glaring off to the side. "I'm not going in there."

Al whined, hands in front of his mouth. "But Brother..."

"No." Ed walked off, swinging the case. I almost trotted after, but my stare went to Al as he turned to me.

"You can talk some sense into him, can't you?" the hollowed voice asked. "He'll listen to you."

Ed turned, stopping in his tracks and frowning, a huge blush on his face. His eyebrow twitched.

"I... I would not."

I looked back to Al as he replied, fists on his hips.

"You so would." And then he continued on, asking me to ask Ed.

I'd rather stay out of it. I replied silently, taking a small step back.

Ed gave a dramatic sigh, head hanging. "Not that I'm giving in or anything, but I guess we could stay for a few minutes..."

"Yay!" I could almost see the confetti pop out from behind Al, and tried to hold down a laugh. "This'll be great! I can't remember the last time I was in a pet shop!"

"Mm." Ed trudged on back to us, dragging his feet as his hand remained in his coat pocket, the other holding his suitcase at his shoulder. "Let's just get―"

"Excuse me. Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

We all looked up, and I turned around to see a dark-haired man a bit older than myself. His stare was on Alphonse, waiting patiently.

Al quickly held up a hand, and I could almost see the blush on his face as his eyes curved. "Oh, no, that's not me. You're talking about my brother, Edward Elric."

"Oh," he looked down, brows furrowing in thought as his hand came to his chin. "'Cause I was supposed to retrieved Alphonse Elric from downtown Kuijec for a State Alchemist license renewal."

Ed and Al held one another's stare. Slowly, Ed dragged his sight to the official. And he grinned, quickly closing the distance and shaking the official's hand.

"Edward Elric, famous Fullmetal Alchemist, at your service!"

"E-edward?" the man replied, then shook his head. "Well, actually, the fuhrer requested Alphonse Elric to be given the examination."

We all stared, confused. Even I understood how strange that was, to an extent.

"Why would Al have to give the report?" Ed asked. "I'm the one that's a State Alchemist, not him."

The official pulled out a small notebook, licking his thumb before thumbing through the pages. "Well..." he drawled, before stopping on one of the last pages. Realization dawned on his face; an expression of surprise, too. "Oh. It says here that 'Alphonse needs to be interviewed for fact-checking and info-retrieval?"