Hey, everyone! Here's another weird idea that just wouldn't leave me alone, so yeah, here it is. Hope that you like it. The next chapter might be coauthored by AlchemyOtaku if she likes the story, hehe.
Disclaimer: Don't own nothing, wish I did, enough said.
The old man's eyes twinkled as he sat down in his rocking chair with his grandchildren surrounding him on the floor. "Have I ever told you about the boy Edward Elric?"
"Yes..." the children responded dryly, "You've told us a thousand times, Grandpa." The old man just chuckled, and began his story anyway. He had known Edward and Alphonse Elric during both world wars, and never stopped talking about it, no matter how bored his grandchildren got with hearing the same stories again and again.
Meanwhile, down in the basement, one of the girls had managed to slip out, unnoticed. She was busily mixing chemicals of various weights and colors when her sister happened to walk into the room.
"Sheila!" shouted the sister, "You know how Grandpa reacts when he sees you mixing your potions."
"Yes, I know," sighed Sheila back at her sister, "But I can't help it. Magic seems to run in my blood. Everyone in this family seems to have an attraction to it, and I have no idea why. I can't just stifle my natural inclinations just because Grandpa thinks it's dangerous. Besides, I think some of my potions might actually help people one day."
"I still think it's not a good idea," said Lenore, the little sister.
"Relax, will you? Nothing's going to happen, unless Grandpa finds out." Sheila gave her little sister a glare that indicated she'd be happy to rend her limb from limb if she uttered a word, to which Lenore responded by clamping her mouth shut. Satisfied with the results of her "encouragement", she turned back to her chemicals.
"So..." Lenore asked hesitantly, "What are you working on this time?"
"Well," said Sheila, rubbing the back of her head, "None of it actually works right now, but there are several potions I'm trying to perfect. This one," she pointed to a beaker filled with a bubbling green liquid, "Is supposed to be a potion that allows one to fly, though it doesn't do anything yet. This one," she pointed to one filled with pink liquid, "Reduces one's biological age, though it's still too strong, and would more likely kill the person that drank it than help them, and this one," she pointed to a beaker filled with purple liquid, "Is supposed to make you remember things. I'm not yet sure if it works or not, but yeah, you get the idea."
"Interesting," said Lenore, "But you really shouldn't be doing this here. What if Grandpa catches you?"
"So what? What does he have against magic anyway?"
"He says it's dangerous."
Sheila scoffed. "What would he know about it anyway? Other than his little skirmishes with Edward Elric, it doesn't sound like he ever lived much, and he certainly doesn't know much about magic."
The girls heard a familiar voice call down the stairs. "Sheila? Lenore? Are you down there? It's time to go home!"
"We're coming!" Sheila called back in response to her brother's voice. She gathered up her chemicals and walked up the stairs. She was about to leave when she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to say goodbye to her grandpa, so she placed her chemicals on the counter, and rushed into the room where her grandfather was to give him a proper goodbye.
As she was talking with him, one of her little cousins rushed into the room, carrying the beaker of pink liquid. "What's this, Sheila?"
"PUT THAT DOWN!" she shrieked. Her grandfather gave her a look that told Sheila that he knew just what that was. She choked, and then turned her attention back to her little cousin, who was still running towards them, holding the beaker over her head. Sheila ran up to the girl to try and grab the beaker away, but in the process, the little girl tripped, spilling the liquid.
It should have gone all over Sheila's little cousin, but it didn't, because their grandfather had jumped up and shielded her from it, taking it all on himself. Sheila gasped. Now what was going to happen? This was the potion that reduced one's age!
A bright light appeared out of nowhere, and encircled everyone in the room, completely blinding them so they they couldn't see anything. It felt almost like the light had substance, since they could actually feel it blowing through the room like wind.
Finally, the light died down, and the kids blinked their eyes as they readjusted to their normal surroundings. Sheila quickly scanned the room for any sign of her grandfather, but couldn't find the old man. Instead, in the place she had last seen him, was a teenage boy with blond hair and mechanical limbs, who carefully pushed himself up off the floor, coughing and sputtering.
Sheila knelt down next to him, and cautiously asked, "...Grandpa?" The boy turned to look at her, as if in response to her inquiry. She knew. "You're...Edward Elric...aren't you?"
The boy placed himself in a sitting position, and coughed a few more times before speaking. "Yes, Sheila, I always have been Edward Elric, but I didn't want you to know. I don't want you following my life's path, with all its pain and sorrow. Why do you think I kept trying to keep you from pursuing magic?" He stopped for a second, and then continued, "Though I realize trying to stop you is futile...it's in your blood."
Sheila was trembling now. "B-But how could you possibly be Edward Elric? You would have to be over a hundred years old!"
The boy, her grandfather, fixed her with a steady gaze and raised one eyebrow. "And?"
"You mean, you ARE over a hundred?"
He nodded. "You remember that I told you about the time I had absorbed all that incomplete Philosopher's Stone into my body? Well, because of that, I can't seem to die at a normal age like everyone else. It took me forever to just start looking old, and now..." He gestured to his body, "It looks like I'm going to have to start all over again."
Sheila teared up. "I'm sorry, Grandpa, I'm so sorry! I never meant to do this to you! I'm so sorry!"
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and lifted her chin to make her look into his eyes. "It's okay, I'm fine. What's done is done. I don't blame you for following your heart, but you need to be a little more careful about it. Let's just be glad that all that happened was that I became a one hundred-year-old teenager." He stopped for a moment, and then added, "Speaking of which, people will probably look at us pretty funny if you call me Grandpa when I look like I'm fifteen. We'd better pretend that I'm your cousin from now on, and you can call me by my first name."
"But I couldn't bring myself to do that, Grandpa, er-" she began, halfway correcting herself.
He chuckled. "It's okay, you'll get used to it after awhile, I'm sure. We're all going to have to adjust to this." He stood up on his feet. "Well, if I'm young again, I might as well enjoy it. Is there any place you'd like to go to?" He didn't wait for an answer, but just grabbed his coat and walked out the door, as Sheila followed behind him, shaking her head. This was the beginning of a really weird day.
Hope you liked that story, please review, and feel free to suggest. My mind just drew a blank.