"Ummm… Mom." I said with a kind of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I stood looking at the door of retirement home, my short curly blonde hair bounced as I nervously shook my head.
"Yes, Love?" She said with a smile and the wind picked up again. I always envied her beautiful long dark hair, but now I would kill for it. She has great-grandma May's hair and I was stuck with Dad's and great-grandpa Alphonse's platinum blonde hair. And it just had to be curly too! If it had been straight, I might not have been picked on at school. But at school I was known as little miss porcelain cheeks or Haruna the dumb blonde…. even though I made higher grades than any of them. I had a soft voice and tended to always say the wrong things, so people were easily confused by my actions. I recalled so vividly that first day of school. I should… it had only been a couple months ago.
"Ahhh~ She's so cool!"
"Yeah! People say that she's an alchemist too! I bet she can do all sorts of stuff."
"Like throw fire! And explode things! Oh, I'm so asking her out…"
I ignored those comments, they had no idea what I could do and what alchemy was, I learned from Big Al… my great grandpa… before he died last summer. He taught me so much and by the time he went into intensive care I had already known as much as he did. I did everything I could to try and save him but he waved off every attempt.
"Darling… just remember what I told you… That is a really powerful thing you have right there. You could even match Ed….." He rasped, but he never finished.
That was when I was 12, that was four years ago…. I had finally gotten over my depression stopped burring myself in alchemy and other sciences. I had resolved to go to school, but I had no idea it would such a task.
"Class this is Haruna, our new student." The teacher said.
"Haruna… That's a weird name. Is she from Xing?" A whisper came from the back.
"No… My great-grandmother was though." I said very shyly.
"Her voice is so soft: she sounds so cute!" Came another voice, and this infuriated me.
"Yeah…. No one asked for your opinion…. Just… go… off…. and play with your walrus!" I yelled. Shocked murmurs arose and I made a mental note to work on my social skills but It would be all for nothing. I had already made my way along a path that was impossible to retrace. I had gone from mysterious stranger to weirdo in a couple seconds….
"Nothing, Mother." I said, brushing another curly lock away from my face. I couldn't help but feel nervous. I was going to see my great-great uncle for the first time. I had heard so much about him from Grandpa John. Most of it I disregarded, seeing he was just institutionalized due to insanity.
"Alright, let's go in then…" She said, Finally entering the home. I took a deep breath and followed her inside. The next was sterile and still feeling. I couldn't help but shutter and remember my experiences with hospitals.
"We're here to see Edward…" Mother said to the receptionist, As if that explained everything… and in this retirement home, it did. Great-great Uncle Edward was known for his ranting about different dimensions and time travel.
"Mr. Elric is stabile today; you may visit him if you like." She said and went back to her typing. We walked down the hallway until we got to the room labeled "ELRIC" and let ourselves in.
"AH! Visitors!" The old man said almost instantly, "You aren't nutritionists here to make me drink my milk, are you?"
"No, Great-Great Uncle Edward, My name is Haruna. It's nice to meet you." I smiled brightly.
"Ah~ The pleasure is all mine." He said, with a toothless smile, "Aren't you just the prettiest thing…" He turned to my mother, "If I was only 70 or so years younger, eh?" He chuckled and I shuffled my feet awkwardly.
"Don't think Big Al didn't teach me hand-to-hand, along with alchemy. And don't think I'd take it easy on an old man." I said, with a huff.
"Haru! Apologize! Now!" My mother commanded.
"No, no, no, It's quite alright. It's been awhile since I've seen such spunk from a girl. Come to think of it… it was May who last talked to me like that. Ever since it been all coos and 'We'll take care of that for you, Mr. Elric." He ranted, "Call me Edward, please."
"Alright, Edward." I said and sat down on the side of his hospital bed. "Why did you call me here?"
"Actually, I wanted to discuss something very secretive, Mrs. Holstein…" He motioned to the door and my mother nodded and left the room.
"Haru… do you mind if I call you that, Darlin'…" He paused waiting for a reply and I nodded. "I understand that Al taught you a lot, but there is something that He didn't, and that was mostly because even he didn't know or understand it. It's the called the Split-String-Timeline theory." He paused to make sure I was getting everything he was saying. " You know that ostriches fall from the sky and the grass turns pink when it dies…." I laughed as I knew he was only trying to catch me off guard. "Good, You have my brother open-mind but May's ferocity. I like that, you'll need that. I'm about to ask you to do something very difficult and I want to you listen very closely. I'm going to teach you about the SST theory, and then you have to test it for me." By the time he had finished he a glint of hope in his eyes.
"Isn't it dangerous, Edward?" I asked.
"Not if you remember your equivalent exchange…" He said, "And I'll be there to guide you along the way."
"But you're not an alchemist Edward… Those stories… they can't be real." I stammered.
"That's what I need you to prove. The world need to know this… because it seems the world is repeating itself." He said with a grave face. I almost laughed until I realized…. Until I remembered Big Al's last words… 'You could even match Ed…"
"Ed!" I gasped.
"Yes?" The old man said.
"Not you… well… Yes, you. Big Al spoke of you on his death bed! He said…." I stopped when I realized what I said. My mother reminded me to not say anything about my great grandfather's death.
"Al's not dead… He stops by every day. So does Winry… Winry." He looked hurt and then I saw his eyes cloud over and I backed away. "AL DON'T! DON'T LEAVE! WINRY, I LOVE YOU! WINRY… THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE ME AWAY! THE BAD ONES!" He clapped his hands together and slammed them on the side of his bed, like it would make this invisible things go away. That's alchemy… He didn't have that any more.
The force of the impact shook wires and tubes from his weathered old hands. The nurses rushed in and sedated Edward while my mother pulled me out of the room to scold me… Nothing she said mattered… I had realized that the stories were real. People were going to die soon… I just realized I needed to see Edward again soon.
I sat for a couple of days in the waiting room of the nursery reading my great-grea…. I mean Edward's old journals. I was excused from school because of family reasons, and literally every minute of all of six days I spent reading and studying this new art. When I studied I realized things… first, When you went back in time, it didn't just whoosh and take you back in time, It created another dimension exactly the same as ours. This was how other alchemists were able to study this art without disrupting the natural order of things. It also was what was going to allow me to take things back with me and interact with the people to find some sort of change. Second, all these dimensions had already been made and there creators had suffered their consequences. Third, nobody had ever actually come back from this 'adventure' of sorts; Ed had figured this out too… They hadn't properly observed the properties of equivalent exchange. A soul for a soul… That was the only way this could work and have the person returned back to their normal dimension. The only catch was… the only way to get back to the original dimension was to release the soul from the body… in simpler terms that means you have to die. Very pleasant… but I took it like a big girl and practiced simpler alchemy to keep refreshed and to entertain the old folk at the home.
It was around three o'clock when the nurses told me to come to Ed's room. I groaned and tumbled out of my make-shift bed. The situation hit me and I realized that it was my chance to ask questions of the ex-Alchemist. I hurried to Edward's room and stopped when I reached the doorway. The nurses had not followed me. I assumed Ed had told them to leave them to talk in private. Inside the room I saw Ed sitting on the floor, a circle drawn with an old expert's hand. I was in awe until I realized what it was drawn with… blood.
"Don't look at me like that Al. It's the only think that would work on the floor." He said shakily.
"Haru, Edward, Its Haruna." I said carefully,
"Isn't that what I said?" He said, eyes sparkling with elderly innocence. I pushed it aside.
"I need you to answer some questions." I said, "What does it mean… a soul for a soul. Surely it can't mean."
"Come on, Haru. You're a smart girl." He said with a smile. A sudden blast from the heater made me uncomfortable but Edward just smiled. He stripped off his old flannel shirt only to leave him in a pair of jeans no bigger than mine… Which made me feel very self-conscious that a frail, little old man could wear that same size as me…. And also… he was a shirtless old man. How uncomfortable can you get.
"Doesn't 'Wow' the ladies like it used too." He said with a far-away look in his eyes.
"What…" I said, and he burst out in wheezing laughter.
"Nothing, just do it." He said, with a suddenly serious face.
"I still don't understand…" I said.
"Just trust me; I know what I'm doing." He said. I nodded reluctantly and he pulled out a strange device and handed it to me. It looked like an old version of the iTouch (A/N: POOF Now they have apple in FMA… get over it.) which had recently been advanced to a version in your brain. Which mother won't let me get. He tossed me the device with ear-buds attached and held up another one.
"The nurses have tones of them; they use them for medical knowledge and to secretly listen to music. I have a feeling you'll need it." He said with a failed attempt at a smile. I smiled at him, although no more successful than him and clapped my hands together and slammed them to the ground a familiar sense of power rushed through me and my instincts took over. Everything I had studied poured out of me… then, quite suddenly realized what a soul for a soul ment.
"Edward! You can't! No! Stop it!" I yelled to him.
"Can't." He said while shaking his head, "You already started. It was almost my time anyways. You'll be fine… just" the last bit of his sentence cut out by roaring winds of power and I felt my grip on this world lessen.
"What?" He said.
"TELL WINRY I LOVE HER!" He shouted and I saw him dissolve into the air. Tears prickled in my eyes but I stayed focused. The last thing I saw was the nurses standing in shock of the circle and the seemingly chaos it had created. The only way I could explain what happened next is that I was drowning in absolute blackness. I couldn't breathe at all and I could feel my consciousness slipping away. I remember gulping in fresh outside air and then I blacked out. I thought I was stronger than that…. mental note to myself to practice breath-holding when I regained consciousness.