(A/N: Hey guys... I know you wanted to look forward to when you guys go to Resembool, but I wanted to start doing special holiday chapters around the holidays. So, here's a new special chapter for July 4th! I was sick this week and we didn't get to see fireworks because it was raining. Yeah, it sucked :(
But, hopefully this chapter will make up for it :) This chapter does follow where we left off in the story. I'll be editing the prologue and first few chapters a bit for spelling and grammar mistakes, but hopefully the next chapter will be here shortly, just hold on a bit longer ❤️
Thank you for 6.2k!! I love you guys!!)
You pulled off your covers, starting to get ready to go to Resembool. You had already packed the night before, so you were able to grab your stuff whenever you needed to. You didn't pack much- just some clothes, a toothbrush, and the usual stuff you would need for a vacation. You set your alarm for 7:30 so you could have time to take a shower.
You hopped in, washing your hair and body, and doing the rest of your needs. You felt really refreshed. Your wounds were almost completely healed up, and your strength was back. Now, it would be a piece of cake to fight.
You got out, got dressed (you pick your outfit), and went to go eat breakfast after blow drying your hair.
You guessed that the boys were probably up by now. You walked into the kitchen to find Ed eating toast and Al on the phone with someone.
You smiled and yawned, making yourself some toast as well.
"So, who's Al talking to?" You asked Ed, sitting down with him at the table with your toast.
"I'm pretty sure he's talking to Winry.. She's going to kill me! She'll probably throw a wrench at me or something.."
Al hung up the phone. "Don't worry brother, I just told her we were coming down to visit. You can tell her yourself about your arm."
"That's even worse, Alphonse! I'm so dead!"
You laughed. "Even so, it's still nice to visit. I'm sure they miss you two a lot. And hopefully they'll recognize me when we walk up to the house."
At that moment, the doorbell rang. You stuffed the remains of the toast in your mouth and went to go answer the door.
The leader of the soldiers told you that a guide would be taking you out of town. You wondered who it could be.
You opened the door to find the same military officer that spoke to you last night.
"Good morning Ms (L/N). Are you ready to go?"
"Hello.. um, I thought there was a guide taking us?"
"Yes, well, they were all too busy evacuating the others for themselves. So they considered me, and I'll be your guide."
"Alright. You can come inside. We're almost finished."
The military officer sat down on the sofa. You didn't notice earlier, but his deep brown eyes and his black hair made him look mysteriously handsome.
"Ed, Al! Hurry up!"
"Coming.." Ed grunted, grabbing his luggage, along with Al as well.
The four of you walked out the front door, locking it. The military officer walked in front of you, leading you to the train station.
The weather was starting to get better. It was cloudy, but the sun was still out.
As the four of you walked through town, you noticed everyone was acting strange.
There were decorations everywhere, and most of the shops were covered in red, white, and blue.
"What's going on? What's all the decoration for?" You asked Ed.
He looked at you like you were crazy. "You didn't know? Today's July fourth."
"Um.. so?"
Edward sighed and put his hand on his forehead. "Today is the day that Amestris became an independent nation from the rest. So, people usually celebrate the day with decorations, cook outs, and fireworks and stuff."
"Oh, that's cool. I never knew it was a holiday. But it makes sense to me now. When I lived in Haven, everyone traveled out of town around the first days of July." You said.
"Maybe they were traveling to go see the fireworks!" Al said.
"What's a firework?" You asked.
Al and Ed gasped and thought you were crazy.
You actually didn't know what a firework was. Even when you were little, you never celebrated the fourth of July. And when you lived in Haven, there weren't any firework shows around.
"Well.. it's hard to explain. Fireworks contain gunpowder, and when they ignite, they explode. But not a bad explosion. Maybe when we travel tonight, we'll see some." Ed responded, putting his hands behind his head.
When you guys finally reached the train station, you stopped for lunch and decided to get to know your tour guide better.
Sitting down at a nearby cafe beside the train station, the four of you sat down at a table of four. Just like everywhere else, the cafe was covered in streamers of red, white, and blue. It was a really cute cafe, you had to admit.
The table, however, had two chairs on each end. You didn't want to sit by the officer, because you felt uncomfortable, since you didn't know his name or anything about him yet. So, you decided to sit by Edward. Al and the officer sat at the other end of the table. It actually wasn't awkward- not even Ed found it strange that you were sitting by each other.
Is it normal to him now? Are we getting closer?
Edward didn't talk because he had his head in the menu. He was really interested in the food here, apparently. Even Alphonse was interested. It seemed as if he was looking at the calories and such from the food, and he was scolding Ed to not eat a bunch of junk food.
You laughed, of course, but after that silence was the only thing you could hear. The cafe was empty, and you four were the only customers at the moment.
After the waitress came to take your orders, you all just settled for sandwiches and tea.
After you heard the sound of her heals fade away, you decided to start a conversation.
"So, what's your name? I don't want to call you Mr Officer the whole time."
He hesitated, but his dark eyes met your (E/C) ones before speaking.
"My name is Cameron Aldaine, and I'm a second lieutenant military officer."
That's weird.. State Alchemists have the equivalent rank of a Major. So why did they send a second lieutenant for a guide?
Then again, you thought. He did say they were too busy evacuating the others.
"Okay. Where are you from?"
He hesitated again.
Why is he hesitating before he speaks? He's acting rather strange.
"I've grew up in Central city all my life, and I started working for the military when I turned eighteen."
"How old are you now?" Ed asked, sipping on his tea that the waitress brought him not too long ago.
"I'm currently 26."
After that, there was some silence, but it was interrupted when the waitress came with your sandwiches.
"Is there anything else we should know about you?" You said, taking a bite into your sandwich.
"Oh, I'm not important Ms. (L/N). I'm just here to protect you."
You half smiled. "Okay. And call me (Y/N), since we're friends now."
He looked confused. "Friends?"
"Well, yeah. Friends protect each other and trust each other. And we trust you. So now we don't have to be formal with each other."
He half smiled back. "Okay."
You looked over at Ed who was playing with his straw, stirring it around the glass. He has already finished his two sandwiches and looked like he was ready to go.
You weren't that hungry, so you only ate one sandwich and had the waitress get you a box to take on the train. They were pretty good sandwiches, you had to admit.
The four of you left the cafe, tipping the waitress twenty dollars. It was around 2:30 by now, and the train was leaving at 5:00.
"Well, we have some time to spare."
"What do you want to do? There's some shops around here."
"Let's go look around! This is a nice town. Besides, we've got a couple hours."
You, Ed and Al went to go look around. Cameron said that shopping wasn't his thing, and that he'd rather stay at the local library they had here in town. He figured that it would be okay to leave the three of you alone, because Scar wasn't near the town you guy's were in, based on his records and sightings. He's been sighted in the northern part of Central, but you guys were all the way passed East city in the eastern part of Amestris.
"Are you sure you don't wanna go?" You asked him before the three of you left.
"Yes, I'd rather stay here. But I'm sure you will be fine." He said, smiling and putting a hand on your shoulder.
You kind of freaked out. Was this a friendly gesture or was he hitting on you?
You turned around and hurriedly walked with Ed and Al. You noticed that Ed's head was cocked, giving Cameron an angry glare.
You practically dragged Ed and Al around. They weren't into shopping either, but they liked to see you try on new outfits, because they got to judge.
After multiple weird and crazy outfits, you found one that was just right.
You looked in the mirror of the dressing room, examining yourself. In your eyes, you always looked amazing. But right now, you looked stunning. Your natural beauty was amazing- the outfit didn't even matter.
You opened the door, walking out with (outfit of your choice: this will be your new favorite outfit) on. You turned towards Ed, who was staring at you. Al was off looking at glass cat antiques.
"How do I look?"
They both stared and didn't speak.
"U-um.." Ed started to say.
"Um, what?" You said, sounding offended. You weren't really offended, but this would make Ed start talking.
"Y-you look great! Yeah, great!" He said, shaking his head up and down. He was blushing, so he must have been embarrassed.
Was he too stunned to speak? Maybe he does like me after all..
You smiled brightly. "Thanks Ed."
You looked at the time. It was 4:45! You didn't even notice! You, Ed and Al were having so much fun that you forgot to look at the time.
You quickly went to pay for the outfit and kept it on, because it looked nice on you.
"Ed! Al! We gotta go!" You yelled, not caring if the whole store heard you or not.
"Coming!" They both called at the same time as the three of you ran for the train station.
All of your luggage was with Cameron in the library, but he had already left and was waiting for you at the train station. Once you met up with Cameron, you grabbed your luggage and headed on the train, sitting at the nearest booth.
Once again, you and Ed both sat beside each other. It felt like the train had just started moving as soon as you got on, but it had actually been twenty minutes.
Time is flying so fast, you thought. Maybe if I take a nap, we can get to Resembool faster..
You closed you eyes, and you immediately fell asleep.
But that didn't last very long.
You had been asleep for two hours, but you woke up to someone shaking you.
"(Y/N)! Wake up!!" Edward said, shaking you.
"Ugh.. what is it Edward?"
You noticed the train was at a complete stop. Are we already there? There's no way..
"We stopped at another station to pick up some people, but come outside for a minute! I gotta show you something."
You wiped your eyes and followed Ed off the train. You started hearing loud booms, and you backed up.
"What was that?!"
Ed grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the crowd.
"Don't worry about it, you'll see."
Once the crowd was clear and you were out in the open, Ed told you to look up.
"Look up? Why?"
"Just do it, and stop being stubborn!"
"Fine, okay."
Two minutes passed by, and you were starting to get impatient. But suddenly a loud boom and a burst of light came from the sky. Then, multiple booms came from different directions, beams of light shooting towards the sky like rocket ships, and exploding into a colorful burst, lighting up the sky, filling it with colors you never thought could live in the sky.
Red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, white, gold... so many colors, so many explosions.
These must be...
Fireworks...
"These are called fireworks, (Y/N). Aren't they cool?"
You smiled, your eyes filled with excitement. "Cool?! They're more than cool! They're so beautiful! I never knew these things existed!"
Al and Cameron came up from behind you to watch them, too.
After a few minutes, Cameron and Al became uninterested and decided to get back on the train. But you and Ed stayed.
You sat on a bench next to Edward and looked up, still gazing in awe at the fireworks.
"Thanks Edward. These are the most beautiful things I've ever seen."
He smiled back. "Of course. Besides, it's the Fourth of July."
You decided to do something awkward again, but it was out of instinct. Sometimes your body just does things when you don't tell it to.
You slowly layed your head down on Ed's shoulder, but kept looking up.
You could tell he was blushing. He always did when you and him had your moments. But, you looked up at his face, and he was doing something different than what he usually did.
He was smiling.
You smiled back, looking back up.
After a few minutes, you heard someone call from far behind you.
"Brother! (Y/N)! Come on! We're about to leave!"
You quickly moved your head and got up first. Ed got up after you and you both raced to the train before it left.
Sitting back down, you decided to fall asleep for good this time.
I'll just dream of the fireworks...
I'll dream of the beautiful colors in the sky as I lay my head on Edward's shoulder.
When Ed's here, it's always better.
After finishing those thoughts, you fell asleep.
(SHORT A/N: Heyy! Was the chapter too bland or did it fit in with the Fourth of July setting? By the way, the seasons and weather for this book go by the seasons in real life. Well, where I live, anyways. That's why the holidays will fit in with the book!! Currently it's summer in the book. OKAY! Anyways, have a great night and I'll have the next chapter out soon!
~Jenna)