I woke up to the sound of Al gasping.
"Brother!"
There was a glimpse of red light; transmutation-like. Then it faded.
Ed's voice came through the darkness. "What? What is it, Al?"
I stood up, padding to the living room light lamp and flicking it on. "What's going on?"
I looked around the lit room, seeing nothing besides Ed sitting up on the couch. I couldn't see much of his face, only that his eyes were wide and Al was staring at him from his seat against the wall.
"I..." Ed blinked. "I can..." A grin overtook his face and he threw his arms up, falling back onto the couch. "I CAN SEE AGAIN!"
An immense amount of happiness came to me, and I felt tears rise to the edge of my eyes. He could actually see...? I held the edge of the doorframe, watching him put his hands in his hair, laughing from the sheer relief of it all. Al was laughing a little too, and I'm sure if I could see his face, he'd be crying like I was.
Ed breathed out as he sat up, that grin never leaving him. He said my name as he turned to me.
"Let's go celebrate!"
I looked at him, surprised. "What should we do?" I asked. "It's the middle of the night."
"I don't know, let's just do something!" He even threw his arms out to the side like a little kid when he said that. He sighed again, looking at my face. "I gotta say"—he turned, meeting Al's smiling gaze—"It's really great to see you guys again."
Bashfully, his hand went to the back of his head as he grinned at me. "I was getting pretty worried there for a sec'."
"Yeah..." I agreed, suddenly solemn as I leaned against the doorframe. "I was, too." I thought back, wondering what that light was. My stare shifted to Al, thinking if he saw it, too.
"Al..." I began, watching his head turn towards me. "Did you see that light?"
"Yeah," Al nodded, "I did."
Ed blinked at us. "What light? What're you talking about?"
"There was a red light," Al said, "Before you woke up. Like a transmutation."
"Transmutation?" Ed repeated. "That doesn't make any sense... How could I have transmuted..." His expression twisted in confusion. "Transmuted my eyesight back?!"
"What..." His hands were on his hair again as he looked around himself in quick shifts. "How... That doesn't..."
He sighed, sitting back down again. "I have no clue about any of that. And you said the light was red?"
Al nodded. "Yeah."
"Huh."
Ed got up, rolling off the couch and to his feet in one smooth motion. He popped the front of his coat out, looking at me from over his shoulder.
"So are we celebrating or what?" he asked.
I smiled, feeling a little bit of heat touch my face. "Give me a few minutes to get ready, okay?"
He nodded, one hand in his pocket. He was standing taller now, no longer the beaten defeated posture he'd had before. That strength was back, more than ever. I turned away, heading into my room again with a smile.
_____________
"Here you are, miss."
"Thank you..." I took the glass of champagne, watching as she set down the tray with more glasses and the bottle.
After asking if we needed anything else with our food, the waitress left. I watched her go, feeling a little guilty keeping the restaurant open like this. We came by just as the doors were closing, but one flash of Ed's wallet and they opened again.
I looked down at the champagne in my glass, my mind on the State Alchemist sitting across from me.
"It isn't much of a celebration if you can't drink this..." I told him.
"Hey, give it a few more months." He grinned at me. A sly expression came to him, his stare off to one side. "Of course, it really wouldn't be that fun if we didn't break some rules."
He took one of the glasses that had been placed upside down and turned it right side up. With that same massive grin still on his face, he poured his own drink. From his place beside me, Al just gave a sigh. I looked away from him to see Ed's glass held out to me.
"Cheers." he said. "To a bright future."
I tapped my glass against his, matching his enthusiasm. "Cheers!"
We laughed, and I heard Al join in a little bit too. I was debating on offering him some, considering he was nearly 17 and his older brother was already drinking illegally... But before I could, Alphonse spoke.
"Brother..."
Ed tilted the glass away from his lips, looking to Al. He waited, watching his brother look away.
"Don't you think it's strange?" Al continued. "If there was a transmutation... Then there isn't any sign of equivalent exchange..."
Ed grew solemn, considering what his brother had said. He set his glass back on the table, fist resting against the side of his face.
"I'm not sure, Al..." he answered. "You both say you saw that light, and I don't doubt your experiences..." His brows knotted together, and I sensed the frustration behind them. "I just don't know. Maybe something else caused that light. A transmutation doesn't make any sense."
He looked down, further away from me. "Especially not one without equivalent exchange."
There was something going between them, Ed and Al. Some idea floating around. Al lifted his head, speaking quietly.
"Do you think...?"
"It still doesn't make any sense!" Ed's voice rose, causing a few stares to move our way.
"Maybe..." Al's eyes went wide, his focus going in front of him. "Maybe it's something to do with The Truth..."
Ed raised one eyebrow, again listening as Al continued, stare turning to him. "You can make transmutations without a circle, so why can't your body also know what to do to heal severe injuries?"
"That's kind of a leap." Ed commented, raising the glass to his mouth as if he was prepared to take another sip. "I don't remember seeing anything about that, and besides, why would it only work now?"
Al thought hard.
"There... Was something..." he began. "I know there was something about medical alchemy..."
"You mean when you saw it?"
Al nodded. I shook my head, trying to get rid the headache that was now throbbing.
"Can somebody fill me in, please?"
Ed looked to me, surprise catching his expression before he grinned an apology. "It's a long story, I guess." he told me. "It's really nothing to concern yourself with. Probably just a bunch of dead ends, anyway."
Something of an irritated growl came from Alphonse, causing Ed to look back. They exchanged looks, but when Ed turned back, the glare on his face disappeared. He tipped his glass back, swallowing the last bit of champagne.
"Ah, wow, this stuff is good!" he said. "Now I see why it's so dang expensive!"
As he laughed at his own joke, my mind was elsewhere, still trying to figure out how his sight was restored. Al had a good point; something like that happening was really strange, especially when it happened without taking anything in return...
I looked back to Ed, voicing the idea as it began to form in my brain.
"You were sleeping, weren't you?" I asked. "Before it happened?"
Ed nodded, taking another sip of champagne from his second glass.
"What were you dreaming about?"
He nearly choked, leaning forward and suppressing a gag. His face was bright red.
"W-why's that matter?" he asked, avoiding my stare. "I was just sleeping. Completely normal dream! Nothing special about it!" He glanced to me, and for some reason that seemed to set him into even more of a frenzy. "Nobody HERE was in it, that's for sure!"
I blinked. "Um. Okay."
Al was smiling, his eyes perfectly curved in pure amusement. I looked between them again, and my idea suddenly fell away. Maybe there was a connection between thoughts and... Whatever that was. Apparently not.
Ed downed the last of his drink and returned his glass to the table. He blinked a little bit, shaking his head to probably rid the buzz that had set in. "Whatever it was, I think we should just accept it and move on. No use going around in circles now, especially when we got so much on our plate."
"That's right." Al said. "Now that you have your sight back, we can catch that imposter."
"Granted he's not in another continent by now." Ed added with a sigh. "We were so close, too..."
"At least we know what he looks like now!" I said, smiling as best as I could.
Ed's golden stare glanced to me. His posture straightened, mood picking up slightly.
"Yeah, I guess so... Just wish he..." His words suddenly faded. His eyes widened, an expression twisting on his face. An alarm settled in, enough to raise his hair up as he grabbed it.
"PEANUTS!" he said. "THAT'S WHY HE NEEDED THE PEANUTS!"
I jumped a little bit as both of Ed's fists slammed against the table. He was yelling now, but I knew he wasn't yelling directly at me.
"I should've seen it before! Bombs! Nitroglycerin is in PEANUTS!"
I heard Al gasp and my mind clicked together what he was saying.
"This idiot is making a BOMB!" Ed dashed out of his seat before suddenly stumbling to a stop, wallet flashing out.
He spun around and slammed more than enough money on the table, shooting me a mischievous grin. I sighed.
"Is this really a good time—"
"Right!" Ed was out the door leading to the inside of the second floor. "No time! We gotta go!"
I stood up as well, wanting to follow him out before noticing that Al hadn't moved. He continued to sit at his place beside me, his eyes becoming slits as he sighed.
"I wonder how long it'll take for him to realize the trains don't run this late at night."
Hearing footsteps below us, I looked over the balcony, watching Ed run out of the restaurant and down the sidewalk.
"C'mon!" he yelled back at us. "What're you guys doing?! Just hurry up‼"
When neither of us responded, he finally turned around, almost bumping into someone as he skidded back on one foot. His angry expression suddenly fled upon seeing my disheartened one. I watched something of an idea dawn onto his face. He flipped his pocket watch open. His jaw dropped, and his hands rose to his hair as he stomped around.
"Damn it‼"
I heard Al giggle behind me.
"It's a good thing you're here!" he told me. "He might've been all the way to the station before he realized the time."
I smiled a little. But that still didn't change the situation we were in. How were we going to stop this?
I kept myself in thought as I moved passed the table, trying to ignore the stack of money next to the bottle of champagne. I heard Al walk behind me as we made our way through the double doors, seeing a few people stop eating from the corner of my eye. I looked up, noticing their stare was on the person behind me.
I smiled, turning to look at Al from behind my shoulder.
"You probably get these a lot, don't you?"
His eyes curved in another smile, a tiny laugh coming to him. "A bit..."
I expected him to expand on that statement, but he remained quiet until we were back downstairs and walking through the entrance again. Ed was waiting for us close by, glowering to himself.
I wanted to get that expression off his face; it just reminded me of when he was blind...
Stepping forward, I spoke, catching his attention.
"So what do we do?"
Ed sighed, hand stretching one eyelid downward. "I don't even know." he replied. "Who the hell knows where this guy is, and I doubt contacting a specific branch about some guy in a thick jacket with brown hair and sunglasses is really going to help."
I looked down, trying to think of something. But he was right... What do we do?
A loud, ground-shaking explosion answered me.