A few years had past... Edward had disappeared and Alphonse... Alphonse had lost his memory - the hard times he went through when enclosed in the suit of Armor. When I first found out about his amnesia, it broke me. He hardly remembered me... I tried desperately to force him to remember, even showing him the pictures of the journey all three of us took. He didn't remember a thing. Not Mustang, not the military and not even the Homunculi (Whom had disappeared also.)
But this gave him a new goal. He had his body back, but he didn't have his brother and once he found out about Edward's disappearance he vowed that he'd find him again and he'd learn Alchemy at it's best. As I had. Despite his young age, Alphonse was more determined than anyone I knew. Seeing him in such a state, it made me feel a lot happier about the situation. Sometimes, I hope he doesn't receive the memories that he once had; it's clear that he's a lot happier this way, with a full body and a will as strong as metal. Kinda like his older brother. It was amazing, how alike the two were except Alphonse was clearly much kinder. He didn't leave anyone damaged or distressed when he searched for a way to retrieve Edward - he made sure that the people who helped him were happy, even if they'd made sacrifices. But, sacrifices were necessary, especially for the journey we embarked on.
"Hey (name)," I heard Alphonse call my name suddenly, pushing me out of my unconsciousness. My head shook slightly, returning me back to the real world. It was surprising, I actually fell asleep on these uncomfortable train seats.
"I've got a plan." He'd simply exclaim, resting his head on the palm of his hand, looking at the rural scenery passing. The younger boy had recently been exclaiming such actions unpredictably - he seemed almost mad. This made me smile weakly out of tiredness. The previous night had been boiling, making it impossible to sleep in. I was merely using the draft coming from the train window as it travelled at such high speeds to gain my rest.
"The two Agricultural Alchemists - " Alphonse would say, taking a brief pause of contemplation before continuing, "You said they led brother and I to the Philosopher's Stone, didn't you?"
My complexion changed at his question. What did he want with the Tringhams? Yes, they did lead the three of us to the Stone or 'Red water,' but what significance what that make? The Philosopher's stone would just be a dead lead to getting Edward back. We had already tried...
"Yes, of course. But, what could you want with them?" I ask suspiciously. Could Agricultural Alchemy actually help us to bring Edward back? Curiously, I look in his direction, raising a brow.
"I think they can help us. Agricultural Alchemy can be pretty useful, plus it can provide us with some information we probably have no clue on. Get my point?" He'd ask, his head remaining motionless. I nodded simply, letting my head rest against a wooden object next to the seat, it was what I'd rested my head on previously. Perhaps I could catch a few more minutes of sleep.
With a jolt, the train stopped. I felt a mild force centre around my shoulder as Alphonse tried to wake me.
"Hey (Name), we're here." The young Alchemist would say, jolting me again. I tried to speak, but the only sounds that came out of my mouth were a few mumbles. I shook my head once again to wake myself up, lousily rising off of my seat and to my feet, stumbling a few steps before I gained balance.
Once off of the train, we were both blasted with the boiling summer heat from the mid-day. The sun was at it's highest and we had no water. Great. I could already feel the sweat start to accumulate on my forehead. Alphonse was probably feeling this ten times as worse, the fabrics of his jacket were far thicker than mine, making him a lot hotter than I was.
"You sure you don't want to take that Jacket off, Alphonse?" I asked, my mouth running dry as soon as I opened it. As if my saliva had evaporated just by being exposed to the air.
"Na, I'm fine." Alphonse 'chirped', walking with quite a lot of speed, as if the heat didn't bother him. I would've thought that he'd be suffering more than myself, but the young Alchemist seemed to be taking them a lot better than I was. Myself? I was already starting to loose my breath.
It took us 'ages' to actually find a shop that hadn't sold out of water flasks and by then, I could swear I was starting to pass out. My legs were feeling weak and I was already dripping with gallons of water. At least that's what I thought. Alphonse, when turning towards me would always laugh at my 'Over exaggerated' exhaustion. Me? I'd frown at him, continuing to 'crawl' my way through the town.
The shop, to our hopes, was quite cool. A gust of warm air, not too hot and not too cold zoomed our way as the door opened, revealing a cheerful looking man. He seemed to be placed within the late 40's region, with wrinkling skin and grey hair - the typical working and ageing man around these areas. He greeted us with a slight nod of the head to which Alphonse gave one back. I simply stuck my hand in the air before searching around the shop.
As I had said before, the shop sold the last of the water flasks probably within the town and I was more than grateful to lay my eyes upon it. Even Alphonse commented on my 'saviour'. He chuckled as I jokingly praised the bottle, cheering to myself on finding it's discovery. But when my hand stretch to reach it, another did too. Surprised, I looked upwards, my eyes setting upon a boy around the same age as Alphonse. He was about 13-14 years old, wearing a green hat. Grey iris' stared back into mine with the same surprised expression. This boy... He seemed so familiar. Was it?
"Russell?" I'd ask, seeking a confirmation of the culprits name.
"Nope, it's Fletcher. C'mon (Name), I'd thought you remember my hat." Fletcher would chuckle, removing his hand from the flask. An invitation to take it for myself?
"Oh!" I'd exclaim, rather shocked. He'd grown up to resemble his older brother, except his hair didn't cover his face. "Well, you've grown." I commented, scanning the boy's features. He had certainly grown taller, like Ed had. Actually, Fletcher might have surpassed Edward's height and this made me wonder. What would Edward's reaction be to this? He'd probably be quite mad, exclaiming how he hadn't grown. Or maybe not.
"Fletcher, hu?" Alphonse would say, turning attention towards the pre-teen. "So you're the younger brother of Russell Tringham, right?" He'd ask. His asking made Fletcher somewhat confused.
"Alphonse?" The lad would ask, obviously noticing the identity of the Alchemist with his distinctive vocals. "You got your body back?"
"Er, yeah." The Alchemist would reply, changing his attitude from formal to more friendly. Perhaps he'd forgotten that he'd used to know these two and they wouldn't know of his amnesia. It was tragic really, Alphonse and Fletcher got along together unlike Russell and Edward. Me however? I got along with both of them... Hopefully. Russell might have forgotten me and the check I'd given him. Or perhaps he was still mad about us taking his work. Although, he had invited me to return and let him teach me about his alchemy. Well, hopefully equivalent exchange lasted a long period.
"I got my body back." Alphonse would continue, rubbing the back of his neck in an embarrassed and mildly confused manor.
"What about Edward?" The plant-based Alchemist would ask, causing my eyes to turn to Alphonse - he did the same. The message was the same between us. 'What should we say?' Should we tell him the truth?
"About Edward - " Alphonse would say, keeping his hand firmly clenched on his nape -
"I'll tell you about it... Somewhere private." I'd cut Alphonse off, feeling the Golden-haired Alchemist frown in my direction. I had hesitated and spoke something stupid once again. Under pressure, I wasn't the most confident and my thinking was dulled. Fletcher, at this 'weird' behaviour simply shrugged.
"Well, I hope he's alright." He'd reply. We did too. Where ever he was or whatever he was doing.
"Yeah." I said, looking down to the wooden flooring for a brief moment, thinking of a subject to change the current one.
"Er, hey. You gonna buy the flask, or shall I?" I asked, my own hand rubbing on my nape. "I mean, you were grabbing for it and -"
"You can have it." Fletcher would answer, smiling in my direction. This came to a relief, after all the awkward moment that had just passed made me sweat even more.
I only had a spare couple of coins after buying the flask, which I planned to buy dinner with. It would be amazing if I could even buy a sandwich with the money. Although, perhaps I wouldn't be needing to buy anything for Fletcher had invited us to his house. Hu! Russell actually spent the money on something good.
"Great!" Alphonse replied to the invitation, "I was hoping we could meet the both of you actually. If Russell is actually present."
"Oh yes he is," The younger brother would say, as always with happy vocals, "In fact, we were actually talking about you two yesterday. He never got to properly thank you for the money, (Name.)" Fletcher would turn to me, still plastered with a smile. I was pleased myself - he still remembered the check.
"Well, I guess he'll be thanking me soon enough." I'd comment. In fact, I was quite exited to see the boy again. I was quite intrigued also. Had Russell changed? Surely he'd be a lot more mature now, being older. Perhaps he was more muscular than thin. Perhaps that blond fringe covering his face had grown out.
"Talking about thanks, I would like to thank you too!" The young Alchemist would say, stretching his smile even further. He seemed truly happy and it filled my with such satisfaction. "I didn't get to thank you, so here's mine."
Such words made my giggle, I always loved people praising my efforts to make them happy. Such joy was accomplished out of it. This is probably why Alphonse followed in my footsteps with this act.
It didn't take long before the three of us had arrived at the fairly large house, of course separated from the others and placed in a rather rural area; all of this creating a rather beautiful scenery and of course it took awhile to arrive at the house in which we actually spent most of the time in silence as we had no food for conversation.
Fletcher opened the door to the house, revealing non other than Russell himself. Upon appearance he obviously seemed much larger and muscular, however the he had managed to keep that same hair style...after all those years. I noticed that he had set his gaze upon myself which meant that he had remembered me and I was happy about that.
'Hey...never expected you both to turn up here,' Russell spoke as happily as his brother did, getting up from the sofa that sat comfortably by a large window that gave a nice view of a hill just by a forest. 'Take A seat, I guess we have a lot to catch up on then ay'? His vocals were deeper than the last time I had seen him. This was expected. But his tone was very smooth, in fact it created Goosebumps along my arms. To sum up, he was a lot better 'looking' and sounding than when he was younger.
"Alphonse, right?" He'd ask the younger Alchemist, "I see you've got your body back."
Alphonse would give the same reaction as he had to Fletcher: scratching his nape in a confusion.
"Er, yeah." He'd repeat, "I sure did."
"And you voice hasn't changed at all. Seems like you were a lot younger the first time I met you." The older brother would chuckle, looking down upon Alphonse, who would answer with the same reply, 'Er, yeah'.
"Brother, the two wanted to tell us something" Fletcher jumped onto the sofa, leaning against the side of it, Russell followed and of course I would sit by him however Alphonse stood by the sofa. And with a long sigh, Alphonse began to speak...
After Alphonse had explained the situation the two seemed pretty confused, as was I when I first found out. I had to figure this out which made it even more confusing.
"So, that's why we need your help. We already know that the stone had lead us to a dead end, so we're here to ask if you could teach us your Agricultural Alchemy? We think it could give us some new knowledge on Alchemy and perhaps lead us in a better direction." I'd comment after Alphonse. Their response was not immediate, instead the room was plunged into silence. Were the brother's thinking? Or were they just shocked?
"Equivalent Exchange," Russell would murmur under his breath, turning towards his younger brother. Fletcher nodded, causing the older brother to rise his head, Grey iris' staring into my own. For one reason or another, my muscles began to tense as his vision locked onto me; why couldn't he have looked at Alphonse instead?
"You gave me the check, so I will teach you the alchemy." Russell continued, smiling in my direction. I smiled back, but not for the same reason he was. Truly, something forced my lips to part - embarrassment? Perhaps. But something warm filled my cheeks.
"Great!" Alphonse chirped, pressing his two palms together, but this was not to transmute anything. He seemed to clap his hands out of excitement. I felt such excitement within myself too, but not for the Alchemic reason... More of a chemistry I felt running within my veins, making my heart pump faster. Perhaps...
"Er, (Name)." I heard a voice force me from my contemplations, Alphonse had nudged me in the shoulder again. "Are you okay?" He'd ask, raising an eyebrow, seeming concerned. At this, I chuckled as if I were a school girl, everting my eyes away from the older brother and towards Alphonse.
"Never been better." I'd say, my voice straining against the laughter my heart so wanted to push out of my chest.
"Okay, then let's go learn some Alchemy." He'd say, following Russel and Fletcher who had already made their way towards the door. As much as I wanted to travel by 'his' side, I stayed next to Alphonse. I didn't want to seem desperate or anything...