When Éclair woke up the next morning, she noticed the entire train car was dark. This prompted her to get up and walk around to see every window on the train car.
Every window was covered with sand.
"What the...what kind of sandstorm is this...?!" Éclair said to herself before she went to look back at her friends. All of them were still asleep. She even went to see Mustang and the man she titled 'that man'. They were asleep as well.
Éclair sighed to herself, "well I want to get out of here. So I hope you don't mind if I borrow this..." She crawled under the table Mustang was sitting at and grabbed his suitcase, opening it and stealing some of his flame alchemy ingredients, "Sand and heat make a nice glass tunnel for us to get the hell out of here." She crawled out from under the table and made it back over to where she had her stuff. She threw on her coat and boots before realigning her pocket watch necklace. She then opened the back door to the train car by where her stuff was, clapped her hands, and ignited all the sand to make two tall glass walls on the sides of the train tracks. "That's better." She smiled as she walked out of the train car and closed the door behind her. Since there were walls on both sides of the train tracks between the cars, she no longer had to worry about the sandstorm. She continued to go to the back of the train and clear the sand there as well, before crawling on the top of the train cars from there forward clearing the rest of the sand. She did this until she got to the engine room on the train, in which she cleared the sand from in front of them before she slid down into the engine room through the window.
"Hey kid! You're not supposed to be in here!" The conductors told her, backing away slowly.
"Relax, I'm not here to steal from you. I'm a passenger on this train. I just cleared the tracks, sandstorm is pretty much over, so could we get moving? If we hit a lot more sand I'll just clear it and build more walls out of glass. It's not that hard, I could honestly do it in my sleep." Éclair yawned.
"W-who are you?" The conductors asked, in fear that she actually was someone sketchy due to them being trapped out in the desert all night.
Éclair sighed, "I'm Éclair Elanie, the Halfmetal Alchemist. My pocket watch is around my neck." Éclair pointed to her pocket watch, "I'm from Amestris...look one of my dearest travel companion's father just so happened to be on this train as well and was trapped in our train car all night. I don't know about you, but having an estranged father that walked out on you to show up on a train and be trapped with you is not a fun experience to have to deal with. I'm willing to help you guys keep the tracks clear if we keep moving."
The two conductors looked at each other and shrugged, "We'd like to, but we can't have passengers running around, it's Amestris's orders to protect all those travelers." The first one stated.
"What if I told you I could change that order, how would you like that?" Éclair wrestled her notebook from her coat pocket and opened up to the page with the official seal of the Bradley house, "I do have permission, do I not?"
The second conductor gave El a strange look, "The King gave a kid like you power like that?"
"He didn't exactly have a choice. Anyways, let's get this thing moving! I want to get out of this desert before we hit any real trouble!" Éclair made her way back to the window, "And don't worry about me, I'll make sure to make it on the train after I clear more of the sand, just keep going forward through the glass wall tunnel. If anything does go amiss, there's more of Amestris's finest, including another another very talented state alchemist, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Flame alchemist but he's a lazy bum. If the glass walls fall, the flame alchemist could use the practice, after all, flames are his speciality and I can't recall the last time I saw him practice." The train conductor chuckled "Well we wish you the best young alchemist please be safe." one of them sighed.
"Eh I got this. Piece of cake." Éclair smiled as she jumped out of the window. She landed on the sand then created her wings, "Time to have some fun!" Éclair began to fly around, using her alchemy to make walls of glass out of the sand. She watched as the train began to move again through the glass walls, finally getting through the sandstorm. Eclair stayed a flight in the air until she noticed that the train was finally able to go through glass wall completely. When Eclair noticed this she smiled and then landed on top of the train sitting up there by herself for a while. The morning breeze running through her deep brown hair. She waited until she was sure that the train was back on its path and she was able to get her peace and quiet. After taking in the scene Eclair smiled to herself and then proceeded to club back through the window into their train car.
When she slid through the window and Eclair suddenly paused as she seen an unfamiliar brown ponytail searching amongst their luggage. This brought Eclair into action as she quickly ran and attached the figure knocking them down in a tackle. "Who the hell are you-" Eclair was suddenly interrupted by angry screaming back at her.
"What the hell was that for Eclair?!" Eclair had finally took the time to notice she had tackled Kiomi to the floor. "Well you were wearing ponytail I didn't know who you were,I just had to check and make sure you weren't a stranger!" Eclair defended as she folded her arms. Kiomi raised an eyebrow then she quickly sat up from where Eclair had pinned her down causing Eclair to fall to the side.
"Someone seems cranky." Eclair grumbled as she started to pick herself up.
Kiomi did the same shaking her head. "Well somebody else seems too much on the edge." She suddenly sighed. "I'm sorry I woke up in an irritated mood." She continued her search around her suitcase as Eclair shrugged and watched her.
"What are you looking for Exactly?"
"Well I found some notes on portals and stones and everything that connects them but now I can't seem to find the stupid things and they were important, you and Edward needed to read them too." Kiomi sighed.
"Let me know when you find them, I've gotta go check on the train conductors to make sure we can keep this train moving. Also..." Éclair looked to where Edward was still sleeping, "Try to keep him and that man over there from ripping each other a new one while I'm gone. I don't want anything happening while I'm out..." Kiomi glanced between the two of them before nodding to Eclair. "Yeah of course , plus that man won't be let off easy if he causes trouble I think you scared him enough."
"Good, it's taken me sixteen years to get this scary, I like to believe I'm not growing any less scary." Éclair smiled, "good luck you're going to need it if these two wake up." She waved as she walked out of the car and back through the others until she got back to the conductors, "Hey everything good for you guys to get us out of here?"
After rummaging around for the controls to the train one of the conductors shouted back to Eclair with a thumbs up. "We're all good thanks miss!"
"Good, let's keep ourselves on track now, we wouldn't want to end up getting there too late!" Éclair headed back through the train, carrying herself with a little bit of a higher self-esteem as she entered the first passenger car. Everyone looked rather eager to be moving once again, some of the children with their palms on the window, looking at the rather large sandy glass walls on the sides of the train.
"Look mommy! We're moving again!" A little girl smiled as she looked outside. The girls father had stood up, a book in his hands as he nearly ran into Éclair. She had abruptly stopped right before the man had ran into her.
"S-sorry there little girl, I didn't see you there. Say...you're not from this train car how did you get in here?" The man asked.
Éclair shrugged, "I walked through that door over there." The man just stared at Eclair in shock before he looked her up and down. Then he after taking time to access her and her attire he questioned her . "Are you a state alchemist little girl?"
Éclair balled her fists, "What do you think? And I'm not some child either...geeze..." She flipped around her pocket watch around her neck to reveal the Amestris state alchemist emblem.
"That's strange, because I've never met you before. I guess there's more state alchemists now than I know." The man pulled out a pocket watch of his own, "besides, what was a state alchemist such as yourself doing out on the borders of Ishval?"
"I could ask you the same thing, seeing as you're here with your family." Éclair responded back, watching the man's daughter, "It's not a safe place to bring a family ever since the war."
"We were visiting my mother-in-law, but I guess some introductions are required here, I'm Alec Eastman, the Blizzard Alchemist." The man extended his hand out for Éclair to shake.
She shook his hand confidently, "Name's Éclair, Éclair Elanie. Halfmetal Alchemist and specialist in lightning alchemy. Right now I'm traveling with the Fullmetal Alchemist...and sadly the Flame Alchemist too..." Éclair sighed, recalling that Roy was indeed still there with them.
Alec seemed rather bothered by Éclair's title, "Wait, you're the Halfmetal Alchemist? I thought he was a man, not some cute little girl..."
Éclair's shoulders shot up as she cringed and balled her fists, "Oh yeah? I bet you thought the Fullmetal Alchemist was tall too! There's no way in hell I'm cute and I've been to hell and back so I should know! I'll take all that cute glitter and shove it up yours!"
"But why are you the Halfmetal Alchemist if you're a lightning specialist?" Alec realized that Éclair was rather offended by his prior comments.
Éclair rolled up her left sweater sleeve to reveal her metal arm, "That's why! See there's nothing cute about a metal arm now is there?!"
Alec stared at Eclair with an eyebrow raised before shaking his head, "Well I suppose not..."
"Good, now that we at least agree on that I'm going to be on my way I got better things to do with my time." Éclair griped before she pulled the sleeve of her shirt down and huffed as she bumped the blizzard alchemists and walked past him. He gave her a rather estranged stare until she proceeded to exit the train car. Eclair rolled her eyes as she continued to the end train car where everyone else was asleep still, that she was aware.
When she began to approach the end car doors it took a minute until she began to hear shouting and the banging and clattering as if someone was beating someone up. Eclair frowned at this as she opened the door. I was only gone for such a short time, what could have happened? She thought to herself before walking right into the scene.
"Don't talk about mom or Eclair like that you bastard!" Eclair witnessed Edward shouting at his dad as Alphonse had held Edward back, Kiomi had pushed hohenheim out of the way and was holding him back as he tried to argue to Edward that Eclair was 'bad' for him. Edward was trying to clap his hands together but Alphonse wouldn't allow for that to happen which only resulted in Edward shouting more and startling the rest of them awake.
"What the hell is going on?!" Eclair shouted as everyone in the train finally noticed her entrance.
The car was silent for a moment before the bickering continued. "Nothing except our good for nothing--that stupid man showing his terrible parenting skills! Just let me at him! Ack!" Edward growled not even turning towards Eclair. He kept his gaze away from her, as if he couldn't muster up the strength to look her in the eyes although he shouted to defend her moments earlier. Eclair looked between Ed and his father, the both of them fighting to be freed.
"You don't see it, do you son?! She's dangerous for you! As dangerous as I could be, she's just a rotten creature like me, she should be-" Hohenheim was cut off by Kiomi punching him clear in the face. This caused him to shut up and bleed at the nose.
Edward even stopped his own shouting as they all watched Kiomi grab hohenheim by the collar of his shirt looking him straight in his eyes. "Look you stupid old man! Cut your stupid crap! The two of them have had enough problems as it is and you're only making things worse by trying to convince your own son that the one person he trusts the most is a terrible influence on him. El isn't; her and Edward care about each other more than anything and if you can't see that then you should just shut up because it's going to bite you in the ass if you keep up the act alright? Just give your sons the decency to live good lives without destroying their happiness." Kiomi growled as Hohenheim looked to the side before Kiomi released his collar making him step back. Edward and Alphonse's father stared to the side before sitting down next to Mustang who was shaking his head muttering about how it was too early to be woken up by bickering.
Éclair just stood there in shock for a moment before she headed over to Alphonse, "Ed..." she began, trying to figure out how to phrase her words properly, "Al...you can let him go...I've got it from here...Ed lets go head outside for a bit..." Éclair mused. Her words were fragile, quiet, but most of all, they were cold and bitter. Alphonse had helped Edward leave the train car before Éclair turned towards his father, her voice louder than before, but nonetheless bitter, "I don't know what you know about me or who I am, but you have no right to try to use it against your son. You have every right to hold it against me, but Edward isn't me, so don't you DARE do anything to hurt him, got it?!" Éclair had slammed her hands down on the table in front of him. She didn't use any form of alchemy, just slammed her hands. It seemed to intimidate both Ed's father and Mustang enough, considering Mustang knew full well what she was capable of doing.
"You're a monster and you still wish to associate with other humans—?"
"As far as I know I am only human and that's all I'll ever be but don't you dare bring Ed into this, you got that?! Or else it's not only him that will be coming after you!" Éclair tugged on her sweater sleeve to hide her metal hand more before shaking her head and heading outside of the car to go meet Edward. She slammed the door behind her as she left, not even looking back.
"That...bastard..." Edward banged his fists on the outside of the train car as Éclair joined him out there. Alphonse had noticed her presence and decided it was best to leave her alone out there with Edward before things got any more out of hand.
"Hey...sorry I was gone for so long I uh...was able to get the train moving again..." Éclair apologized as she tugged on her sweater sleeve more, beginning to feel rather warm from being out in the sunny desert. "I ran into the Blizzard Alchemist too...he seemed just overjoyed to see me today...And he also didn't have any idea who I really was...of course." Éclair looked to her arm, "Heh, I feel kinda shitty now...I told him to stick it up his right in front of his kids after he wasn't understanding me..."
Edward took a moment from his punching to stop and look up at Eclair. "Did he cause any trouble for you El...?" he asked suddenly as he clenched his fists trying to calm himself.
"N-no, I was fine...I am fine...you've got nothing to worry about." Éclair gave a light, but rather worried smile as she rested her forearms on the metal handrail, watching the desert behind their traincar. They were in the last car of the train, which gave way to a very nice view of not only the desert but Éclair's massive glass tunnel.
Edward sighed watching her and bowed his head down shaking it. "I'm sorry...I'm angry...it's just ...he..." he huffed before hiding his face in his knees. "I don't want you to be afraid of me again ..."
Éclair gave a wild smile before she put her hands on her knees and looked down to Edward. She began to laugh to herself, "You think I, Éclair Elanie the great Halfmetal Alchemist would be afraid of you? I've beaten you how many times in our training and spars now? I think I've got nothing to be afraid of at all, especially from someone who's shorter than me and I know his every move." Éclair pushed her bangs away from her eyes as she continued to laugh, attempting to brighten the mood a little bit.
Edward shot his head up with a small glare, "First of all I'm taller than you now so I'm not short! And second...Thank you for pulling me away from him...but I just wanted to make sure I didn't frighten you like before." he admitted.
"I wasn't scared of you...I was scared you'd get hurt...there's a difference." Éclair sighed as she turned back to the desert and glass walls, "From what you've warned me of him...I just didn't wanna watch you do something stupid that you'd regret..."
"No matter how many times I threaten to hurt him or be rid of him ... I know I wouldn't be able to follow through ... I would keep him for Alphonse's sake...I couldn't go through with it trust me El..."
Éclair sighed to herself, still keeping a very thin light smile on her face as she sat down next to Ed, "You know...you're a good person...Al is lucky to have a brother like you that's there for him."
Edward looked up to smile slightly at Eclair. "Sometimes I wonder if he thinks the same thing ...Or if he thinks I'm a terrible brother." he whispered.
"I highly doubt that he thinks you're a terrible brother, he's told me he's happy to have you there for him. Like it or not, you two are pretty much the only family you got, which is more than I can say I've had these past years." Éclair responded softly.
"Think of us as your family..." he responded as he paused "And grease boy and his father ... they're your family too El..."
"I guess so, yeah, you guys are the best..." Éclair smiled as she looked over to Edward, "Yeah, you guys are the best."
"You're the best too, Eclair. " Edward smiled back with his signature goofy grin. He was now distracted from the incident with his dad now.
Éclair smiled back, "See? You're back to being yourself again! No more stupid, now you're the Edward I know!" She fixed the sleeves on her sweater once again, "And see? I'm fine and you're fine, we're all going to be okay after all, 'cause we're still alive." She laughed at herself as she pushed her bangs out of her face once again, only to have them fall back in front of her eyes.
Edward chuckled lightly before sweeping her bangs out of her face with his hands. "Maybe if you actually moved them you wouldn't have to keep blowing the from your eyes weirdo." he shook his head.
"H-hey, they weren't annoying me that much!" Éclair tried to protest, "Besides, look at your hair, you need to fix it, it's a mess...if you're going to braid it at least braid it right."
"I'm not a hair artist I don't know how to braid the right way." Edward protested with quotations as he grabbed at his blonde and messily braided hair.
"Stupid...hold on you're only making it worse, I'll fix it for you...you know you could just ask me and I'd do it." Éclair grabbed his hair away from him as she began braiding his hair. "There...that should do it." She spoke as she finished braiding his hair, "It's not that hard, I'm surprised you haven't mastered it like you've mastered your alchemy."
Edward attempted to look back at how clean Éclair had done his braid. Éclair just smiled as she fixed her own hair, "See that wasn't too bad, now was it stupid?" She moved her own hair back out of her face, "now you can see better and your hair's fixed." Éclair went back to watching the glass walls of the tunnel she built around the train, and the way the glass shimmered in the morning sunlight. She had returned her hands down to her sides as she smiled up at her work. She then recalled the previous night, "oh yeah...did you ever remember what you wanted to talk to me about last night?" Éclair kept a warm smile on her face as she turned to Ed, happy with the fact he calmed down from before.
Edward suddenly thought back to their previous conversation and he scratched his head trying to think of what it was he wanted to tell her. After no success of finding any recollection Edward shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Come to think of it no ... I can't remember."
"Stupid, it better not have been important." Éclair shook her head as she looked back off at the distance behind them and the glass tunnel she created.
"Weirdo." Edward mocked back before admiring the glass on his own. "When did you do all this?" he questioned.
"Before you woke up...I knew you and that man didn't get along so I wanted to get us out of here as soon as possible to avoid having to spend any more time with that man than we needed to...I mean it wasn't too hard to do all of that...I just wanted us to keep moving and not stay stuck here...watching you and that man fight..." Éclair's face turned a little sour as she narrowed her eyes and continued to look out on the horizon. She used her right hand to draw a small alchemy circle in the sand that piled up next to where she sat.
Edward nodded as he sighed and laid his back on the train. "You know both of our 'fathers' or those 'men' should join the shitty parents club." he muttered.
Éclair agreed, "The founders of the deadbeat dads club. Kiomi's father can join him from all the pain he caused her too. Geeze, that old man in there is the worst...he too thinks I'm some kind of monster...'don't come near my daughter' and 'don't come near my son' blah blah blah I'm just a monster that he wants to get rid of because 'oooh I'm not good enough for his precious children' that he was never there for anyway." She shook her head before looking back up at the horizon behind them.
Edward shook.his head as well "Bradley's pretty terrible to he thinks he's father of the year even though he doesn't know where you are or even care what your up to half the time! 'Im further Bradley and instead of taking care of my children I'll just stick my lap dogs on them' ugh, get out would you?" Edward huffed after impersonating Bradley.
Éclair held her finger up below her nose, "you forgot the terrible mustache he thinks is cool. And the fact that his other kid he 'adopted' is really just pride and he's older than him. I mean 'how dare you insult my mustache I groom this thing every day no matter what that little Éclair says, and my son is my pride and joy, as a baby I couldn't leave him just stranded he needed a family and a home, and what better home than one with the further of Amestris?" Éclair fake coughed, "Bleck, it even makes my mouth feel dirty thinking about the fact he wants to keep that ugly mustache, yet alone his twisted principles."
Edward shuddered as he pulled his knees to himself. "How he ever was granted permission to run Amestris I have no idea but if I were the person to make the calls on that I would have denied him access due the fact he's just a creep and so is that son of his." Edward muttered recalling how Pride was a nuisance.
"It doesn't take much to be better than him, if I was actually attempting to be further with a good success rate from the people, I would already be trying to help them, like planting new flowers and fixing up stuff for the people in the cities who need help. Make people actually trust who's going to run the place, because right now half of them are afraid of Bradley's chihuahuas. And honestly I don't blame them. I'm not afraid of them, I just hate being near them."
"Who would enjoy being near them anyway? Whether you have the power to beat their asses or not, his puppets are nasty and ruthless humans just like him." Edward sighed as he looked up at the sky and then back down to his hands. "In Fact I was wondering how at least one of them hadn't found us yet, they saw you fight in town before we left it's impossible that one of them isn't following us by now."
"Oh yeah, they're onto us. That's why as soon as we get to central we're playing our favorite game of train hopping. You know when we get on the wrong train and then literally jump off the other side and board another one? Ah, Kiomi hasn't done that with us yet. But no, Regret was there which means she probably wasn't alone. I was too concerned about not destroying the city to attempt to figure out how many else were with them. Besides, we ran into Ernsworth so I'm positive there's more onto us. He can only redirect them for so long."
"Ah and it probably doesn't help out case that Mustangs with us, I heard that Bradley was becoming suspicious of him and had more watch on him. So coming with us just made it an even bigger pain in our sides."
Éclair's face met the palms of her hands, "Man...Mustang will never approve of our train hopping...great we're going to have to convince him it's okay and not totally crazy...man I was so preoccupied on figuring out how to get us out of here I forgot our extra baggage we're lugging around...why can't we just lose him and that man that's in the train car and just leave them somewhere?"
Edward thought for a moment before sighing. "Well we could stop in Freemont and maybe lose those two on the train there,we can stay at Trevor's house for a few days and get out repairs done and then we can head back in to central it might throw off anyone whos following us if we head back from where we started." Edward suggested as he looked over at Eclair.
"So we still do train hopping because I could do without Mustang here...and I'm sure you wouldn't mind if we lost that man too..."
"Correct...now we just need to convince everyone else except for those two of our plans. How are we going to do that?"
"Tell them if they want to get rid of Mustang and whats-his-face to jump ship and jump off the train." Éclair shrugged. "I'm sure they'll be happy to jump off with us."
"Alright we'll do it the next train we see. Hopefully that isn't too long ." Edward muttered thinking of how much longer they might have to ensure the two men he hated the most.
Éclair gave Ed a smile, "We'll make it, we always have in the past. And if not at least I'm jumping ship I've got nothing to lose but a bunch of idiots traveling with me. Besides, I could use the space away from everyone..."
"Hey I'm not an idiot!" Edward protested at first before glaring at her and shaking his head. "Space so you can sleep that's what you want it for." he mumbled.
Éclair's face flashed over a little red, "I-I wasn't calling you and idiot, you're just stupid that's what, stupid! There's a difference! I assumed you were going to jump off the train with me because I know if you don't Mustang's gonna rip you a new one if you lay another finger on that man and I'm not here to stop you!"
"Well be more clear next time! You said you were travelling with a bunch of idiots so it sounds like it applies to everyone! And Mustang can't do nothing about it, he is too useless at the moment. I would jump to get away from all these weirdos!"
"Me included there too, huh?!" Éclair crossed her arms as she turned her head. "And he could too...you're just lucky that I was here to stop you earlier or else you'd be a potato chip: extra brunt and I'm sure as hell you'd be extra extra crispy. Like those little bits at the bottom of the bag that are basically just burnt up charcoal! So much that I'd probably be able to use them in my charcoal drawings in my notebook!"
"No you wouldn't! It would be impossible if I was that burnt I would just be a pile of ashes! And secondly I would have done all of us a favor he's just an old hobo looking to freeload that stupid old man is!"
Éclair spat, "stupid freeloaders doesn't excuse the fact that you wouldn't be here anymore if I didn't stop you from decking that hobo in the face. Stupid. Besides, I could probably make something out of ashes too. I don't see why not, if they still have some charcoal on them I could use my alchemy to turn them into a nice charcoal stick...hmm I could make a better drawing of princess-no queen-Everlette Elric, the beautiful princess-queen that used to be known as Edward Elric."
Edward turned red in the face as he turned away from Eclair crossing his arms. "Don't use that weird drawing of yours on me you...weirdo!"
"Stupid!" Éclair barked back, "So what if I'm weird? At least maybe I can sell that drawing to make something so we'll be able to have food after we jump ship here!"
"Don't be a weirdo and sell drawings that you did of me that would be weird! And Bradley's lap dogs ,if they happened to follow us could trace us back to your weird drawings!" Edward growled with a frown.
"At least we'd have food!" Éclair grumbled back, "Remember that horrible week we basically ate grass two years ago? I don't want to go back to eating grass and wheat again for another week that was not okay!"
"That's because you ate all the sandwiches before our mission was over and we couldn't get anymore because you lost oh money!"
"I didn't lose the money that time! That was the other time and I got it back! I was talking about the time we had to escape from where the humoncoli held us and we were stuck wandering the barren wastelands of nothingness but grass grass and more grass! Or did that stupid head of yours try to forget that we were convincing Envy to actually turn into a palm tree just so we had some form of shade? I can only eat so much wheat bread before it gets bland and old and gross!" Éclair argued back.
"I don't wanna think about that creepy green haired palm tree! Your just a weirdo and think about him all the time don't you ,you weirdo!" Edward protested back as their bickering became loud and began to bother the other train car occupants who could hear from the Windows of the train.
Suddenly during their senseless bickering a spark of flame shot up between the two of them slicing the tiniest hair ontop if Edwards head off as Roy shouted." Halfmetal! Fullmetal! If you don't stop that bickering I'll charcoal you to nothing got it!?"
Éclair shrugged, "what did I tell you Ed? I do like having some new charcoals to draw with."
"Your gonna be the one that's turned into a piece of lead maybe I'll use that lead to write in my notebook." Edward grumbled back.
"Do you two do anything besides argue like an old married couple?" Mustang asked of the two. The two were quick to turn away from each other and pout.
"We do not!" Éclair crossed her arms.
"Did you drag him out here just to bicker? This is why I don't like to work with children..." Mustang shook his head.
Éclair turned back at Mustang, "Hey I'm more mature than you and your tiny mini-skirt obsession and at least I'm not making out to my own subordinates--Hawkeye-- in the supply closet!"
"That's none of your damn business your brat! And don't bring my lieutenant into this!"
"Agh! Shut up Mustang your just mad because you had to spend time away from her !" Edward growled back the both of them could hear Mustang punching the seat of the train.
"It wouldn't be my damn business if you never did it! Gosh I wish I could just erase some of my memories sometimes because I'm never getting that image out of my head! Bleck!" Éclair pretended to cough and make her weird sound effects once again.
"God, if there was one,knows no one wants to remember catching those two in the act! I've walked in on them in his office before!" Edward agrees with Eclair shaking his head.
"Maybe if the two of you learned what privacy was!" they could hear Mustang shout through the window once more before muttering something they couldn't hear because of the high winds.
"Oh, how long until we can hop the next train to Freemont?" Edward complained as the two headed back inside of the train car due to the high winds. Edward fell back into a seat covering his eyes from the sun.
"Entirely way too long," Éclair grumbled back in response. Edward groaned and huffed as he turned to the side.
"How much fun so you think we can have with them then?" he questioned trying to think of something to do to waste time.
Éclair continued to think, "hmm well they probably won't let us get away with much..."
"We could train . . At least it's better than just sitting around." he yawned.
While over hearing El and Ed's conversation Alphonse sunk in his seat next to Ayumi shaking his head. "Those two are going to go all at it again and their probably both going to end up doing something stupid." he began to dread.
"They can't just rest for one day, can they?" Ayumi sighed, "it's probably because they've been cooped up for too long on trains. They need to run around and get some fresh air, like puppies!"
Éclair turned to Edward, "Can we uh..." She looked back to Mustang, who seemed to have turned the other way for the moment, "Can we uh do that with him here?"
Edward looked over to Eclair before he nodded. "Why not if he gets bothered by it what's he gonna do? Tell us to stop improving our skills?" he questioned. He sat up from laying down and smoother his hands through his blonde hair.
"You're not wrong...hmm but where..." Éclair peeked behind her through the window, "I'm sure they'd not want us in there..."
"How about here on the top of the train ? The trains moving slow enough it shouldn't be to hard we chase all those frauds all the time up here what's the difference now?"
Éclair shrugged, "I mean it was more fun when the train was moving faster and I could play around more, but I'll take what I can get here."
"Exactly why I suggested it." Edward smirked deviously as he pulled himself up from where he sat.
"If it gives us something to do, I'll take it." Edward put his hand out and helped Eclair to stand up. "I'm so gonna kick your—"
"Not if I kick yours first!" Éclair shouted, as the train lurched wildly, throwing her into Edward. Sparks flew off the wheels of the train as the two grabbed onto the handrails to make sure they didn't fall off while the train halted in its advance.
"What the hell's going on?!" Éclair shouted to Mustang. Meanwhile the alchemist from the other train car burst into the car the rest of their friends were in.
"Did we have a barricade ordered?" He asked of Mustang. Meanwhile Éclair and Edward got themselves up from where they fell and reentered the train car.
"No, not that I'm aware was ordered."
The alchemist pointed to Éclair, "they're looking for you."
"Me? Why me?" Éclair asked, "alright what are they blaming me for this time."
"As of right now your presence is requested by the further, they say you're missing and in trouble."
Éclair rolled her eyes, "no I'm not missing but I'll sure as hell be in trouble if they find me...uh crap this is bad...where to hide...."
Edward groaned at the sound of this, "Ah that stupid old man always has tabs on you ! This would probably be a good idea for the escape plan!" Edward whisper shouted at Eclair so no one else but her could hear it.
"Eclair just what did you do now ?" Winry growled beginning to stand up from her seat.
Éclair sighed to herself, "this is what happens when I decide to go off the grid...they don't like not knowing where I am...also I kinda was supposed to be in a little bit of a 'time-out' a while ago..."
"Wasn't that when you were put in jail for spilling your sister's wine glass?" Kiomi asked as everyone decided to stand up from the sudden shouting of the alchemists.
"And destroying a bird bath...which I fixed! Same with the house!" Éclair noted, "Well I evaded Bradley long enough that he's finally ready to see me again...eww I'd rather not have to meet with him..."
"Yeah and now we're all going to be hunted down by your father's men!" Winry crossed her arms staring at Eclair with a look of discontent.
"They were going to find us eventually anyway...if it wasn't me they were after, they were probably going to go after Ed since he was the last person seen with me that Bradley can do something directly about." Éclair attempted to reason while she also attempted to keep her composure.
"Maybe if you had just been nice to your sister and the bird bath then this whole mess wouldn't have been made." Windy fired back obviously she was attempting to start something with Eclair.
Trevor and Ayumi could see this and attempted to stop Winry instead. "Winry it's not like she did it on purpose ,or knew what it would end up getting her int-"
"It's no excuse she's known her family enough to know they would react the way they did and she still continues to cause trouble!"
Éclair looked out the window to the glass walls, "that happened a week ago, besides, I can't control when my sister likes to show up and attack me out of the blue, if it were up to me, I would've ripped that stone right out of her chest already, but we all know that's something I just can't up and do at this point in time without setting off a worse chain reaction."
Winry was about to reply before Alphonse stepped in interrupting her. "Well anyways ... we have a problem at the moment we should deal with and not argue...so...what are we going to do about those men coming for you exactly?"
Éclair's eyes began to scan the sides of the traincar, "find somewhere for me to hide for long enough for them to pass through here, then when they ask where I am, just tell them I told you to tell them to go stick it up theirs and they're gonna need to work a lot harder if they want to find me. Also I don't wanna go back anytime soon I really need a break from those idiots that think they know what's best for Amestris but are really just some stupid puppets."
"Edward should probably go hide with you because they may be looking for him too. Oh we can have you hide amongst the luggage-"
"You're suggesting that because you think I'm short don't you Al?! I'm not small!" Edward ranted interrupting Al.
"Hey what about these seats? They have to have room under them...otherwise we can make room!" Éclair suggested, looking at the large benches for the tables on the train. She was quick to clap her hands to use her alchemy to remove the seat top, to reveal a large empty box-like space, "Perfect, they'll never find me if I'm in here!" She first took both her and Edward's suitcases and threw them in the one seat before using her alchemy to seal it up once again. She then made her way over to another one of the seats, removed the top and climbed in, "I think this could work."
"Me and Al can seal them up so the two of you can lay in the seats." Kiomi said while Edward grumbled and found a seat that he could hide in as well. The sound of the men approaching through the other cars could be heard.
"Ah crap we have to hurry!" Al whispered as him and Kiomi both clapped their hands to put the seats tops back in place and seal it.
As soon as they finished, everyone hurried back to their seats to attempt to seem more 'normal'. As soon as they sat down, two men of a lower rank entered the car, looking around at everyone there.
"Good morning there to you, Norton, Bellview. What brings you two out here to the southern district?" Mustang addressed the two men.
"Mandatory checks, Bradley wants to see you when you get back. He's rather upset about the recent disappearance of a State Alchemist, the Halfmetal Alchemist. From what we heard you worked with him." Nortan replied.
Éclair groaned rather quietly at the fact that they didn't even know they were looking for a girl. Meanwhile, Mustang answered, "Yes, although I can assure you that the Halfmetal Alchemist hasn't vanished, rather is just on a mission. Ah, my staff must have forgotten to turn in the paperwork, I'll have to get on Hawkeye for that!"
"When was he deployed for this mission? We were told he had boarded a train after being spotted in Ishaval."
"That's what I came to investigate, the Halfmetal Alchemist wasn't spotted, although is undercover. I went to check to see if somehow Halfmetal was here, turns out it was just some wannabe teenage girl with a tendency to draw a large amount of attention of others around her."
Éclair balled her fists, "why you..." She grumbled lowly, making sure she didn't make a loud enough sound to be noticed.
One of the men nodded before looking around the train car be examined the group in the seats overlooking them at first until he spotted Alphonse sitting down. "Someone also told that the Fullmetal Alchemist might be around if halfmetal was, I see one Elric brother is here would the second one happen to be around as well?"
"He caught an earlier train...he's looking for Halfmetal. The boy's so stuck on trying to find Halfmetal. You know those two men have such a strange bond between them. I'm sure if they weren't working all the time they might just make the perfect couple. Those two men get along just so well." Ayumi laughed, "We've been looking for them too, they have such an extensive mission we don't get to see them that often, so on that tiny glimpse of hope they really did end up out here and were done being undercover, we really wanted to see them. Oh Al, I miss your big little brother."
Edward grumbled lightly punching the seat top but it was quiet enough no one could hear it.
"Oh, me too, he's been fine far too long." Alphonse smiled up at the man inconspicuously.
"I'm here as the Halfmetal alchemist's mechanic, he's always destroying his arm I just hope that I could be of some service in case we do run into him. No one knows how to fix his arm better than I do. Such a destructive one haha." Trevor added.
"The same goes for me, that fullmetal alchemist kid has too short of a temper and he's always messing up his arm as well." Winry laughed lightly.
"Man, I thought we were so close to being able to see them again," Ayumi sighed.
"Those two are hard at work, but I'm sure we'll see them soon enough. After all it's only a simple mission right ?" Kiomi asked of Roy as the two men stared between all the kids and Roy.
"I see well if you happen to run into either of them please tell them they are requested to meet with the further as soon as possible."
Ayumi nodded, "will do, but I bet they already know that, oh well sorry for wasting your time here, and I wish you guys just as much finding those two as we will."
One men bowed to Ayumi and the others. "Thank you going lady, thank you all of you. Such respectful children." he smiled but the smile wasn't one at all.
"Do take care! It is still rather sandy out there!" Kiomi called after the men as they left the car.
As soon as they left, the seat tops flew off where Ed and El were hiding. "Why you—!" Éclair shouted as she was ready to deck someone in the head.
But before she could do anything, Ed's father threw her to the ground, "what a monster, I cannot allow you near my sons if you're going to burst into outrages."
"Oww..." Éclair took the time to sit up where she was on the floor and shook her head, "what was that for old man?"
"Because your a damn bra-" before Hohehheim could finish Edward had punched him in the face making his nose bleed a slight bit.
"Apologize you old hobo." Edward growled as Hohehheim stared at his son seeing he was clearly holding back.
"How can I apologize to-"
"She's a human being no matter what power she possesses or lacks! Now apologize!"
Hohehheim took a moment before he composed himself and turned away from facing everybody else. "Im ...sorry..." he spoke, his words slightly muffled.
"Now was that so hard?!" Edward questioned waiting for his father to respond but before he could Edward just shook his head angrily "Of course it was because your a damn hypocrite!" Edward sighed we he then walked over and help Eclair up as she rubbed her back where she had landed.
"Damn that old man throws hard..." Eclair pouted slightly. "I'm okay, there's nothing to worry about." Éclair told Edward quietly as she finally picked herself back up to her feet. She dusted herself off and made sure everything she had was still in tact. "He only hates me because of who he thinks I am, not who I actually am."
"It's still no excuse for him to commit crimes against you." Edward muttered watching his father slunk back into the seat.
Mustang chuckled at Hohenheim "I told you ,you shouldn't intervene with your son and his girlfriend, he gets quite protective of her."
"Ed...I'm okay, really..." Éclair attempted to put on a shy smile to prove her point. Edward turned to see her smile and then took a deep breath as he shook his head.
"We need to get out off of this train." he sighed plopping himself down in a seat across from Ayumi and Alphonse.
Éclair agreed, "yeah...and soon...This place is starting to get on my nerves..."
"We should be stopping at another train station here soon.. if I remember right it goes back to where we came from and somewhere near Fremont." Alphonse sighed as he put his hand under his chin. "I just hope brother doesn't really hurt dad by then." Edward just shook his head in response and did the same as Alphonse had done.
Éclair had followed in pursuit as she yawned and looked to the window, "At this rate I'm considering taking another week study in a graveyard...at least it's quiet there."
Edward yawned as well as he began to think. "I mean there might be another way out of here but I don't think two people here will like the idea of it.." Edward suggested looking right over to Eclair.
"Who cares what those two men think as long as we get away from them." Éclair grumbled, doing her best to hide her tiredness.
"Well there is those two which is a matter, but remember when we were caught by Lust and Kiomi did that portal alchemy...And the portal she sent you through when you were unconscious ..."
Éclair shook her head, "I won't go back there through those portals, no no no not again."
"I agree with you on that one Eclair, I'm not risking putting anyone through them when I don't even know how they work." Kiomi protested shaking her head as well.
Edward sighed, "Well it was a suggestion."
All of the group slumped in their seats and were silent for the rest of the trip. Ayumi, Al, Edward, and Eclair would be the ones to fall asleep. Kiomi and Trevor were able to avoid sleeping by talking and keeping on a lookout for the next train station where they would get off at. Trevor took a seen breath sitting up in his seat and he shook his head.
"Oh crap I was supposed to help my dad restock some parts in the shop and go down to Vapor's place." he sighed to himself.
"I'm sure you'll be able to once you get back, your father can't blame you for having to leave at the time being. You were kinda forced into it." Kiomi whispered as she folded her arms watching him shake his head.
Trevor nodded, "Yeah I just feel bad...both my father and myself included are getting older...and I'm supposed to be helping out a lot more, someone's gotta run the shop after all...we're the only one in the area..."
"Well how about this, when we get back there I can have Eclair and Ayumi show me where your friend Vapors place is and I can run and grab those parts for you ? That way you can get back to helping your father as soon as possible...if that would make you feel better..."
Trevor agreed, "Yeah, I'm sure they'll enjoy going out there...but just so you know Vapor doesn't exactly have a place...but I'm sure you'll see it when you get there...oh yeah!" Trevor paused as he recalled the prior events, "You guys can go after El fixes the shop, she kinda is the only one who knows the proper way to fix it..."
"Oh right! I totally forgot that we trashed it..." Kiomi face palmed putting her head into her hands. "Again I'm sorry about that ... you and your father's shop didn't deserve to be destroyed."
"It happens all the time, it's nothing to be that sorry about." Trevor laughed lightly, "Besides, it'll give El something to do when she gets there instead of instigating arguments."
Kiomi nodded with a small smile and a laugh , "Is it bad that I haven't even known the two of them that long and I'm growing immune to the arguments just a little ? How you haven't gone nuts yet is completely crazy to me." she shook her head.
Trevor continued his light laughter to ease the tension that was previously in the train car, "well, you learn to just ignore it or else you get drawn into it; it gets easier in time."
"I don't think anyone can be as calm as you are about it. Maybe ,just maybe if someone chose to do so, well your father seemed to handle them pretty well I think you two are the only ones." she smiled again before pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head down on them. "Back to talking about your shop... do you have lost of customers that live in Fremont who need automail? Or do you get many out of town customers?"
"Almost all are from out of town, all except one..." Trevor shook his head.
"That's El, right? Have you ever built automail for children ?"
Trevor nodded, "yeah, including El herself there. She's still young herself..."
Kiomi looked over at Eclair before turning back and nodding. "Even though they may have metal parts, it enables them to be able to live lives where they can use both limbs...so it might be a little upsetting to think about...but really you being And automail engineer, your helping them achieve goals they could have never thought possible..so even if El is young and has metal appendages...she can do things because you assist her with the daily parts she needs to function..."
"You should've seen that look on her face when she first learned she could do her alchemy without her circles. She was so depressed...but you could see that spark in her eyes still. Even though she was stuck--and still is like this, she's pretty capable of almost everything she is normally capable of and that's what actually is scary." Trevor looked over to where El had leaned her entire back up against Edward and the seat where she fell asleep and began slightly drooling, at least this time she was rather unattractive while sleeping, however she still looked rather innocent.
"Why...is it scary...?" Kiomi whispered watching him and then tilting her head up.
"Just think: if she's capable of all this nonsense without her arm and leg, think of what more she can do when she has it back. She'll be more stable on her feet and even quicker...I'm glad we're on the same side, most of the time at least." Trevor admitted. "But no matter what I'm sure she'll still be the same El that we know."
"She may be a little scary...But I think you of all people should know she isn't the terrible person people make her out to be. So even if she could possibly do something terrible with the powers she possesses, think of the good things she could achieve with them instead. Thats alot more than the terrible ones."
"And that's what my father told me too, he's always worried about her being alone out there in the world...well I guess he's worried a little less now that she's got company..." Trevor admitted.
"She still has more than just Edward there for her. Your still important to her Trevor even if she doesn't see you as often as she used to be."
Trevor nodded, "yeah, I'm the one she always comes back to when she doesn't know where else to go and she's a miserable trainwreck...sometimes I wonder how she can move on without me...I'm just happy she's found someone who can tolerate her."
"Maybe she will pay you back for all those times you couldn't tolerate her." Kiomi laughed lightly. "That is, if she finally realizes all the things she owes you."
Trevor gave Kiomi a look, "yeah, like that'll ever happen." He rolled his eyes and laughed, "at least we can hope, right?"
Kiomi laughed with a nod, "It's better than nothing, isn't it? I mean, maybe just imagining the day Eclair could possibly say, 'Hey Trevor sorry for ruining your automail and shop with my magic hands of alchemy I won't do it anymore' could be good too." Kiomi got Trevor to laugh at her impersonation of El shaking his head.
"Oh yes, her and her 'magic hands' that she can't seem to figure out if she likes or not...one moment she's running around 'LOOK AT ME AND MY MAGIC HANDS' the next she's cursing her magic hands for everything that they've done for her."
"She has a complicated relationship with them, one day she will choose whether or not to hate or enjoy them, who knows. Well, if it gets her into crazy situations, she will most likely end up liking them more than anything." Kiomi commented smiling.
"The crazier she can be the happier she is it seems..."
"That can't be the case all the time...I think she just enjoys living life with crazy experiences because that's how she copes with other things bothering her..."
Trevor shrugged, "perhaps...she always seemed to like the weirder things...like her graveyard experiences..."
"Yeah...pretty most people would not, let alone could not sit in a graveyard for more than ten minutes to study..."
"At least...at least I've met someone who's more normal than her...and this someone is kinda nice..." Trevor laughed nervously.
"Maybe this someone will balance out the amount of people you know who are weird compared to the people you know who aren't weird." she smiled once more this time with her teeth before they could feel the train begin to slow down.
When they felt the slowing of the train, Eclair had began to wake up, elbowing Edward hard in the stomach as she stretched, "Are we finally there...?" She blinked her eyes a few times, "it's train hopping time! Ed wake up it's train hopping time!"
"Ey! Watch it! That hurts you know!" Edward groaned holding his now sore stomach as shouted at Eclair.
"Train hopping. We're getting out of here let's get going!"
"I'm going I'm going! Alphonse get up." Edward grumbled and shook his brother awake by shaking his shoulder.
"It's too early for this." Alphonse shook his head sitting up and waking Ayumi in the process.
Eclair was quick to make sure she gathered her things and threw on her coat, making sure to hide her hair and as much of her face as she could, "we gotta be quick about this, can't let them see me."
Edward sighed as he grabbed all of his things as well. "We better hope the next train ride isn't as long as this one was." he mumbled everyone else followed Edward and Eclair packing all their belongings and suitcases before the train came to a complete stop.
Once the train had stopped, Eclair took no hesitation to bolt to the door and jump out as soon as she could, making sure she could get away unnoticed. She had quickly vanished in the crowd in front of them as the train station was busy at the current time of day.
"Halfmetal--where did she--?! Mustang was rather shocked at the way Eclair bolted out of the way as soon as she possibly could.
"Hey wait a minute get back here!" Edward shouted as he bolted past Mustang and after Eclair. He tried to follow behind her fast enough but was slow in doing so. He quickly lost her to the crowd as their friends tried to follow Edward. "Where the hell did you go now..." Edward asked searching the heads in the train station.
Soon someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him into a cargo car of a train. "Geeze, sometimes I swear you'd be clueless without me." Eclair commented as she shook her head, removing her hood. "This is the train to Freemont. I got the attention of some guards and hopped on and off a train heading in the opposite direction. They saw me get on, no one saw me get off thankfully, so now we hide out here." Eclair sat with her back against the train car wall as she placed her suitcase next to her, "I just hope the others are smart enough to get on the train too..."
"Well how do you expect them to follow you when they don't know where you went?!'' Edward protested crossing his arms.
"Well did you want all of Amestris to follow me? Because right now most of Amestris is after me and I kinda don't wanna go back to see Bradley again and I really, really don't wanna fight Regret again!" Eclair shook her head as she glared back at Edward.
"No that's not what I want! I'm just urgh! I'm just telling you that you should tell us if your going to go somewhere alright?!" He huffed, setting down his suitcase suddenly the door to the train car they were in opened a slight bit revealing Winry who rolled her eyes.
"Yeah it is them of course who else would be arguing in a train car right now?" she shook her head entering the train car.
Eclair looked to the others, "hurry up in or out, I don't want them finding me...I don't wanna go back yet...I don't wanna see Bradley or Regret or any of them."
"Hopefully Mustang doesn't report you as missing or something and put even more people on our tail." Alphonse commented as they all entered the train car quickly and closed the door immediately.
Eclair shook her head looking around and then huffed. "I'm just ready to get off these stupid trains." She looked down to the pocket watch she wore around her neck, "It's crazy...I honestly just want to stop being on the run or a train just to spend one night without a million people after me."
"We might be able to achieve that in Fremont." Edward spoke before leaning against the train wall, "It's not filled with so many people and it's actually quiet there."
"Just like the graveyards..." Eclair trailed on as the train began to move. She peered out a hole in the cargo cart that they all had taken refuge in for the time being.
"You don't see Mustang do you?" Edward questioned as he took his place on the floor with a sigh.
"Thankfully no." Eclair responded, "But they are looking for me, which isn't surprising at all. I'm guessing they really want me to come back...ugh."
"Well they're not going to get you to follow them back and hopefully if the old hobo follows Mustang maybe Mustang will incinerate him and get him out of the way."
Eclair shrugged to herself, still watching out of the tiny hole, "I wouldn't mind one less person that calls me a monster...but at least those two idiots can keep each other company for a little while."
The train started off as Eclair finished speaking. It started to speed off, making it impossible for El to watch through the little hole. "Just a couple more hours until freedom...can't wait to not get on another train for a little while."
"Then we can stop and eat and sleep." Edward smiled to himself imagining the relief of what could come.
"Food...man I nearly forgotten how hungry I was..." Eclair sat with her back against the wall of the train car, "Food would be so good right now..."
"Oh here comes their food rant." Alphonse commented in a whisper.
Edward rubbed his stomach as if in pain. "If only you didn't eat that sandwich we could have had something to eat." he glanced at Eclair.
Éclair gave Edward a return look of annoyance, "well I was hungry so I ate it. Now I'm hungry again. Why is it this hard to get good food?" Éclair melted onto the ground.
"That's an easy answer, the two of you eat it all and fight over it."
"Having a high metabolism is going to be the end of me. Éclair Elanie, not defeated by any man nor fool, but by her own hunger." Éclair sighed as she sat on the floor.
Trevor shook his head, "relax, you'll live and be perfectly fine. A couple more hours and then we'll be back near Freemont."
"Just what would you do if food never existed?" Kiomi asked with a laugh and a shake of her head.
"I suppose I wouldn't exist either...or I'd have to make more bread out of grass...ugh I still can't look at wheat bread the same way..." Eclair groaned, remembering her experiences from two years ago.
"You might be able to whip a meal out of dirt but I'm sure it would suffice as long as that grass bread did."
"I almost hate it as much as milk...ugh..." Eclair fell onto the ground, moping in her own defeat.
"Why would you even say the name of that nasty concoction?" Edward stuck out his tongue in utter disgust. He laid his face against the wall of the train car mopping just like Eclair.
"Because it reminds me of that awful grass bread." Eclair groaned from the pile she was in on the floor. The two miserable teens sulked in their hunger and tired state as their other friends just shook their heads before settling for the rest of the ride towards Freemont. The ride was two hours long and the two hours passed by quite slowly.