EDWARD
"Yeah, sure we won't." I mumbled with a smirk as we snuck around. Glancing behind me, I said: "Are you sure about coming, Neo? You could stay in your room and wait." She shook her head. "No way. I'm coming. I told you, I'll help you whenever I'm available." I nodded with a smile.
We rounded the corner to the lab and checked the perimeter. I hummed. "Hmm, a guard posted at an unused building. Interesting." Al buzzed. "That is suspicious. How do we get in?" Neo looked around, then pointed to the wall.
"There. We can climb up there."
Xxx
We made it over the wall and came to a airshaft. "Al, wait here." I ordered, climbing into the shaft after Neo. "It's moments like these where I'm grateful to be so small," She said with a laugh. "Yeah, I get what you mean." I said. I heard a smirk in her following words: "So you admit you're small?" I spluttered out some excuses, but she laughed me off.
"Screw you..." I hissed through gritted teeth. She let out another laugh. She suddenly stopped and got out a card from her pouch. The alchemy did it's work at the metal bars disappeared. We slipped out of the shaft and looked around.
"Not in use, huh?" Naomi smirked. I chuckled. "Pretty well lit for an out-of-service building." I commented. Naomi nodded. "I say we split up," She said, stunningly serious. "you go down there and I'll go over here." She said. I nodded in agreement. "We can meet back in 20 minutes, outside." I offered. She hummed, nodding. "Sounds good. Be punctual, or I'll come looking for you." She threatened, causing me to growl. "Are you implying I'll need saving?!" She shrugged and left.
NAOMI
I walked down the hallway and glanced around. The area was well lit and looked loads like the average Labratories in Central. I kept walking and came to a stop before a white door. On the side there was a golden plate that read 'Main Office'. I went inside.
The room was furnished with a desk, three chairs, a armchair by the door and shelves filled to the brim with flasks with multicolored liquids. I walked around the desk, my fingers fleeting over flasks and wood carvings. I inspected the drawers of the desk and hummed. I opened one and flipped through several files. "Philosopher's stone...blab la blah...Sacrifices...? Promised day and homunculi?" Then, I saw it: "...Potential Sacrifices..." I murmured aloud. I opened it and gaped at the first picture and form: "Roy Mustang....Colonel stationed at...Central? Since when...? Flame Alchemist...Alchemist from the Ishvalan war of extermination..." I furrowed my brows and continued to flip through.
Then...I saw my own file. "No," I gasped, raking a hand through my hair. "Naomi Rosenwall...15...Almost a sacrifice...State Alchemist, Silvertarot...Traveling, lives with Riza Hawkeye." I read. "Damn...." I cursed. Crumpling to the chair beside me. I kept going and gasped. "Elysabeth Tarko...15 (nearly 16)...almost a sacrifice...technically a Lieutenant....Traveling, adopted by Riza Hawkeye..." Suddenly I heard the sound of armor clanking against stone floors and stood up defensively. I slotted a card into my automail arm and prepared to fight.
"Oh no-ho-ho~" A feminine voice creaked. "The little girlie trespasses! This simply will not do~" She cooed. "I guess it's time for death, heheheheh!" She cackled. Before me stood a armor, painted poorly pink, decorated with gems, jewels and feathers. The armor jumped at me, swinging an axe. I jumped to the side and rolled the chair into the armored lady and ran for it.
I ran down the hall and transmuted part of my automail into a long metal rod, and transmuted my earring into a slim blade and connected the two, creating a scythe. The clanking of armor registered too late however, and the armored woman slammed me into the wall. I jumped up and parried her axe with my scythe. I jumped away from her and slid on the toes of my feet for a moment before charging again.
I knocked her head clean off and stared. "That right little pinkie!" She called, shrill and loud. "I'm body-less! Good luck finishing me off now!" She hissed. She charged again and I narrowly avoided the full impact of her axe: I got away with a hefty scar though.
I clutched my waist and hissed. She kicked me into the wall again, and I coughed up blood. She slowly approached, monologuing about something. I quickly took a nearby rock and carved into a nearby plate. 'Deconstruction'. When she stood above me and rose her arm into the air I slammed the stone into her stomach and activated the alchemy. The armored soul burst into pieces, the only remains were her blood seal and decorations.
"You...actually outsmarted me..." She huffed. "Well...this is new." I scoffed. "I bet it is." I said, a little more proudly than I'd like to admit. "So," She probed. "You gonna kill me or what?" I frowned, brows furrowed. "I'm not going to kill you." I declared. "That'd be like killing Al, and, by now he's like a brother to me as well. I can't." "Silly girlie," She hissed. "I'm your enemy. And most likely dead already." I tilted my head. "Most likely only counts for flame alchemy. You're alive." Neither of us spoke for awhile. "You should get out of here," She said finally. "You don't have anything to transmute into armor anyway, and if you stay here you won't be surviving." She said. I hummed. "Fine. I'll come back." She scoffed. "Don't make promises you can't keep honey."
"Whatever." I mumbled, struggling up. As I examined the ruins of the area, I let her describe a back-exit to me. I followed her instructions and exited the building. I walked around and eventually found Al, Brosh and Ross standing by the entrance. With them was another person in armor—or, soul I'm guessing. "Lieutenant! Sergeant!" I yelled. "Silvertarot!" Brosh called, running to help me. The armor clanked. "This isn't going quite as I planned." Just then, the building began to crumble.
"Sergeant," Ross demanded. "get down now!" Alphonse ran towards the building. "Al! What are you doing?!" I yelled. "My brother is still inside the building!" He screamed back. I paled. "Ed's in there?" I whimpered. "Ed's in there!?" Ross called. The armor whizzed. "Hmm. I know what this means. Time to get out of here!"
"Hey, you!" Brosh called, aiming for the armor. It simply said: "I'd get going if I were you." Brosh hissed. "Hold it!" He demanded.
Meanwhile, Al was distressed. "Brother! Brother!" He called. I felt the world grow more difficult to navigate, and if it were not for my mechanical legs I might've crumpled to the floor already. "Take cover, Al!" Ross demanded. A little quieter, I added: "you're going to get caught in it too!" He didn't hear us. "ED!" He shouted. The building fell to dust and a figure emerged.
He was holding Ed over his shoulder. "There you are." He said. "I bought a little present for you." Al and I gasped, at the same time we called out (me, a little quiet): "Brother!" "Ed..."
I finally let my legs give out and crumpled to the floor. "Silvertarot...!" I heard someone call. I didn't have a grasp on anything. The blood loss was increasing.
I blacked out completely.
Xxx
EDWARD
When I came to I found myself in a dark room. Hang on, it wasn't fully dark, there was a light on beside me. When I looked at it I saw Naomi scribbling into a book and pursing her lips. There was a bandage around her head and her automail arm looked a little beaten up. Her shirt looked like it was hiding a bandage around her waist. A moment passed before she caught me staring.
"Well..." She hummed. "Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty." I grumbled a reply. When I glanced back at her she had a look of soft gratitude and anxiety. "How are your wounds?" She asked. I hummed. "There. Yours?" I asked in return. She let out a guttural groan. That made me laugh, which made me wince and clutch my ribcage. "You good?" She asked. I nodded stiffly. She put away her book and turned to face me. "Ed? Who was that creepy kid...with the ouroboros tattoo." She pried.
I glared at my lap. "I wish I knew. They're bad news though." We sat in silence for a moment. "I'll tell you more when the others get here," I said. "Okay?" She nodded. "Fine. How do you know they're bad news?" I paused, then explained my entire encounter. She inhaled sharply. "Yeah. Defs bad news." I hummed.
I shrugged. "You've been up all night, right?" She tensed, "I know you by now," I said. "try to get some sleep. I won't disclose any info without you." She nodded. "Okay. Good night Ed." I nodded as well. "Night Neo."
A few hours later I woke up again, the sun shining and a nurse bringing us breakfast. Al was nowhere to be seen. When I asked a nurse she simply said that he was sitting in the hall. Odd.
When I noticed Naomi scowling at her legs I couldn't help but smile crookedly. She glanced at me and smiled a bit. Then, after I waved, I guess she noticed my limp automail arm. "Did you break your automail?" I groaned. "Yeah...gah...Winry's gonna kill me." Naomi let out a huffy laugh and hummed. "You going to call her over here?" "Yeah." "Can you ask her to bring some spare parts for my right leg? I think I busted something. For my arm too." I nodded. "Yeah, I'll let her know." She grinned. "Thanks."
After that, Ross and Brosh barged into our room.
"Looks like you can sit up now, huh?" Ross said. The two employees shot Naomi a look that made her gulp. "What happened with the Fifth Laboratory?" I asked instead. Brosh shifted. "Well, it, uhm..." Ultimately, Ross concluded: "Somebody blew up the building and there's nothing left of it now but rubble."
I growled, then roared: "DAMN IT! YOU MEAN THEY WIPED OUT EVERYTHING?" I stopped shouting and clenched my ribcage in pain. "That didn't feel good... " I groaned. "This isn't fair... Do you know how close I was to finding out the truth?" I asked Naomi. "This is no time for me to be lying around in a hospital." I told Ross and Brosh. They exchanged a glance, then shouted in unison:
"FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, SIR!" I rose my eyebrows. "Huh?" "WE DO APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR THIS!" "Huh?" Then, with no warning, Ross smacked me. "You acted like a selfish child!" She scolded. "You only escaped with your life because you were lucky!" From the corner of my eye I saw Naomi stiff and tense.
"You don't have to do everything on your own, you know." Ross said. "You can lean on other people. Like us. Not all adults are the enemy. You can trust us." When she finished they paused for a moment before shouting apologies: "THAT'S ALL! PLEASE FORGIVE OUR ABUSIVE WORDS AND CONDUCT, SIR! IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN." I looked at my lap, eyes wide. "No. You're right. I should be apologizing." I said. Stiffly, Ross pried: "My punishment? For slapping you?" I shrugged. "Huh? Nothing. I had it coming."
"What got you two so scared of me?" I asked, eyebrow raised. "State-certified Alchemists carry a military rank equivalent to that of a major." Naomi answered, still sounding a little shaken. Brosh hummed in agreement. I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I didn't get my certification so people would kiss up to me. You don't have to talk to me like a high ranking officer." Ross sighed in relief, "Really? Oh." Brosh sagged together. "Ahh. I guess we were scared of the brat for nothing."
They adjust quickly. "You adjust quickly." Naomi said. "Oh, by the way," I said, attracting Ross' attention. "where's Al? I haven't seen him." "Alphonse got his own lecture earlier." Brosh replied. "But, I was the one who did the slap." Naomi and I laughed, and I felt relief wash over me upon seeing her smile.
I stopped laughing and remembered my automail: "I almost forgot. I have an even less pleasant lecture in store for me today." I declared. "Huh?"
Xxx
NAOMI
The next few hours were boring, mildly entertaining at best. Until Winry arrived, Ed and I passed the time by sitting by the window and lip-synching for passerby's outside.
Then, Winry burst through the door: "What happened?!" She shrieked. Ed spun around and scratched his head. "Well, that didn't take long. You're gonna charge me an express service fee now, aren't you?" He said, a little shyly. "No, I won't charge you for this. I didn't do a good enough job on your automail last time. And now you're badly injured." She replied instead. Ross, Armstrong, Brosh and I all glared at Ed who hastily argued: "It's not your fault, you can't blame yourself for this. I broke it because I was being reckless. Your repairs were flawless as ever. This was all my fault." Winry looked as if she was doing some very quick thinking. "Besides, if my arm hadn't broken when it did, I would have kept fighting then I would have been hurt even worse. So don't worry about it, okay? okay?" Ed rambled on. Winry didn't reply at first, but after a moment she belted out: "Well then, let's go ahead and get right down to business, shall we? I'll have to charge you the usual rush order fee of course."
Of course, Ed stared at her a little shell-shocked, but the moment passed almost immediately when Winry noticed the full bottle of milk on his tray. "You didn't drink your milk." He averted his eyes and pursed his lips. "Why should I? I hate it." He argued. Winry sighed angrily and raked her hands through her hair. "You're going to be small and stubby forever if you keep using that stupid excuse!" "Shut up! I don't have to drink if I don't wanna!" I snorted as Ed defended himself.
"You sound like a spoiled little brat, Edward Elric!" Armstrong said. "Every growing boy need his milk." Ross added. "Yeah. You want the girls to like you, don't you?" Brosh said, which inexplicably made me blush. Suddenly a nearby door closed and we turned in it's direction. Ed tilted his head and pondered aloud: "Was that Al?" A few of us shrugged, and I watched as Ed's shoulders sagged defeatedly. "I don't get it. Al's been acting really weird lately." I raised my brow and cocked my head to the side. "Weird how?" I asked.
Ed hummed. "Just seems like something's been bothering him." He said. I hummed, sitting down on the nearby bed. Ed joined me soon after. "You should try talking to him." I said. "Maybe later." He hummed. A part of me thought that very unlikely.
Xxx
"Ok. You're all set." Winry said after roughly an hour. Ed jumped up and started to flex his new arm. "Well done. Ah, feels good to have it back. Thanks a lot." He said appreciatively. Meanwhile, I was fixing my own limbs with the parts Winry had brought. "Sure, no problem." She hummed.
Just then, Hughes burst through the door. "Yo! Ed, my boy! Is it true you brought a pretty blond girl into your room to service you?" He asked dramatically. For some reason, that made me feel a weird twist in my stomach. Weird. Ed, overreacting, shouted outragedly: "She's my automail mechanic. That's all, nothing more!" Hughes hummed. "Oh. I see. You've seduced your mechanic, have you?" " No! That's not even what I said at all. Were you even listening to me?" Ed protested.
"Maes Hughes." Hughes said, shaking Winry's hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, young lady." Winry smiled and in trun said: "You too. I'm Winry Rockbell." Ed sighed, and sat on his bed again. He scratched his head and frowned. "Nice to see you, Hughes. But don't you have work to do?" Hughes grinned. "Nope," He said, popping the P. "It's all under control. I gave Sheska some overtime."
I huffed. "Asshole." "Hey." He scolded. "I am still your superior." I rolled my eyes but smiled. He had humor, that guy.
"Oh, yeah, I think you'll be happy to know I just found out you two and Alphonse shouldn't need to be kept under guard for too much longer." He announced proudly. Ed started grinning immediately and whistled: "Great!" Winry stood up and hissed: "What did you say? Hold on just a second. How much trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Ed spluttered for an explanation. "Well... You see, it's..." He fumbled with his braid. In the end, he concluded: "Well, it's nothing that concerns you." I took a deep breath, wanting to argue, but found my voice dying in my throat. He was right. If Winry got involved...no. That won't happen.
Winry huffed, crossed her arms and glared at the wall. "Of course, not. I don't know why I bother to try. It's not like you'll talk to me anyway." She accused. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow." She announced finally. Ed had a very guilty look on his face. "I'll have to go and see if I can find some place to stay tonight." Hughes laughed, "Come on. No need for that. Why don't you spend the night at my place?" Winry blanched. "Really?" "Yes, of course. My wife and daughter will be delighted to have you."
Winry protested. "No, I..." "It's settled. Come on, come on. Here, let me take that. Oh, I've got it. Let's go!" He insisted, taking her toolkit and dragging her away. "Do you really have to drag me?" Once they'd left, the room burst out in laughter.
"Hughes...he sure is something else." I hummed. Ed sighed. "Yeah," With a soft smile he said, "he is."
xxx
The next morning, Edward was once again faced with his arch nemesis: MILK.