The dawn was beautiful- a thin, faint pink rim that stretched across the sky, slowly spreading to cover the entire horizon and surrounded by a magnificent yellow light, heavens light, revealing a world previously covered by an inky black darkness. This day, Ed thought was the day of promise, the day of redemption, the day when Al finally stopped fricking asking him in a high pitched, frantic voice while holding a young, grey, stray cat whether or not he could keep it. Yes, in this hour, in this glorious morning light, something amazing would happen to them both. He didn't know what that something would be or when it would happen but, he knew it would occur. And if it didn't happen by itself, oh, then he would make it happen, no matter what risk it would take, no matter what he would have to do.
It was precisely for that reason why he was standing outside the East City Central Library, on the stone grey steps, waiting for the snobby, greasy haired librarian to hurry up and get the heck over here to unlock the fricking door at 7 fricking O' two in the morning. Al stood next to him, looking over at his older brother and paying close attention to every detail of his head, the defiant, oh-so-familiar, determined, and somewhat weary expression never once leaving his face, not even for a second. A brisk, almost uncomfortable silence hung in the air as a slight breeze picked up suddenly, tossing the golden bangs across Ed's face. This continued on for a few moments more until finally, unwilling to take it any longer and partially curious as to why Ed's face looked like that, not that he didn't always look like that, with the determination practically pouring out of his eyes, but as to why he looked especially that way today, in the morning, at 7:06 a.m., at a place that didn't even open til' 8, of which they had been sitting in everyday for the past week, Al wanted to know. What made today special? The answer was what he was searching for.
"Brother?"
Ed turned slightly and looked at him, giving his thoughts a fleeting goodbye.
"Yeah, Al?"
"Why, exactly, are we here this early? "
Ed's eyes widened slightly at the sudden exclamation, clearly he hadn't expected the question and wasn't the answer clear enough? What other reason was there for him getting up at 6 o'4 in the morning, practically bursting out from under the covers and frantically pulling on his normal clothes and his signature, red cloak in the dark while tripping and cursing madly over Al's leg?
"We're gonna get your body back Al, and my arm and leg, too, and in order to do that we need information. Why else would we be here this early?"
Al didn't answer but simply put his words into thought.
"I mean, it's been four years since it happened and I think it's about time life gave us a good omen for once, instead of leaving us lying in the dirt. Don't you?" He grinned, latching his hands together and raised them to the back of his head, holding it as he leaned back.
"I just…. gotta feeling' that… something awesome's gonna happen." Ed stared at the sky with a dreamy expression on his face, his words clinging to the surrounding air, then fading into nothingness.
"I guess…"
And the silence continued. To an almost unbearable extent, until Al broke it again, asking the question that had been plaguing his thoughts for days now.
"What if…" Al's voice was almost frantic, the doubt showing obviously in sound. He looked at his feet. "What if we can't get my body back or your arm or leg? What if there is no way to erase the past. He raised his head. What if the formula we've been hoping for doesn't ex….."
The look on Ed's face silenced him and an expression of deep, passionate rage displayed on his face in perfect clarity, his wrath at the questions frightening Al as he stopped speaking abruptly and looked down to his feet. Again. Ed's hands dropped and slowly, with an anger quickly increasing as every word said before was processed by his brain, curled into fists, ready to throw a punch at any given moment. He fumbled for the correct words to express his silent rage and turned his back toward Al, pushing the bangs out of his face before speaking.
"Al..., I hate to answer a question with a question…..but do you think mother would be happy if we gave up and stopped trying?", he said in a surprisingly cool and controlled way considering his gritted teeth and clenched fists. He gave Al no time to answer.
"Do you…honestly believe that everything we've done up to this point won't go to waste if we just quit?" Again he spared not a second for an answer before beginning his final interjection.
"And if there really is no actual formula created by some alchemist before us….." He tuned back and took a few steps forward until he was practically breathing on the armor of Al's chest, looking up into those glowing, hollow eyes with a passionate, blazing fire in his own, and finished his statement.
"Then, dear brother, I'll create my own formula, using my own research and experience. And I most certainly don't care if that means breaking every law, rule, or taboo in alchemy until there's nothing left to break. But even so… I will get your body back. I will see the day when I finally don't have to look at this freaking' hunk of metal every morning and I will see to it that it will happen. I swore so on the day I became a state alchemist. But before that happens we need to know everything alchemy holds true and that is why we are here this early, to take the resources before some other guy does. Now I suggest you shut up about it or the police will come and arrest me for attempted murder."
He went silent, taking a few deep breaths while avoiding his brother's gaze of surprise and a bit of admiration, breathing in clean air while pushing out the bad. Once calmed down he took on a task of looking down the road leading to the library in search of that librarian. What was her name again? He swore it started with an E. Ellen? Eileen? Evanca? In reality he really didn't care at all about her and only wanted use of the materials she provided, Advanced Alchemy Vol. 6 and Reginald's 58 Laws of Alchemy all bound in leather and in mint condition. But in return for her services he and Al would also have to go through the outrageous amount of questions and nosey statements: why the two of them in weren't school or outside playing sports or how loud Al was when he walked around in his ridiculous, irremovable, heavy suit of armor through the shelves. He had even considered once to remove Al's head from his shoulders and expose the hollowness and blood seal inside only to watch her scream and faint. Her and her green sweater and perfectly groomed nails, with always a clever remark about Ed's height, and Al's bigness said with a sly grin. He sighed; sometimes equivalent exchange could be a cruel, evil thing.
Meanwhile, Al continued contemplating what happened a few moments ago. Every word spat out by Ed planted itself in his memory until he could recite the conversation phrase by phrase in his head. A warm, sweet relief washed through him, as if just those words gave him enough motivation to keep striving toward their shared, single goal of redemption. Doubt almost completely left his mind for he knew, as hot-headed as his brother was, once he made a promise, he would rather die, no , rather be called short for the rest of his life than to go back on his word. It was sort of like a code he lived by and Al admired it. Though being twice his size he still looked up to Edward as a sort of leader in their duo of brotherhood, The Fullmetal Alchemist and his Suit-Of-Armor companion. In most cases though it was he, Alphonse that acted more mature and good natured despite the age difference.
The sun continued to rise despite the fact that Ed's irritation toward the librarian increased with every passing minute that she did not appear. It was now 7:45 A.M., according to the trademark state alchemist pocket watch, currently in Ed's right hand as he checked it almost 7 times in the span of 5 minutes. Every few seconds he took it out, flicked it open, stared at the minute hand for a second then closed it, all the while making no indication to place the thing back in his black pocket, the annoyed frown on his face quickly turning to an angry scowl. This continued for a bit until finally, when the hand moved dangerously toward 7:54 did he take out a small, worn out, weather beaten, brown, leather notebook and proceeded to open the cover, turn to the next blank page and write quickly down in an almost unreadable print: Never. Trust. Librarians.
If breaking in and entering hadn't been illegal he would have done if by now, not that he was afraid of the law, considering his status as a state alchemist, but he always thought that if a person was desperate enough to actually need to break into a building then it might as well be a building of great importance, not just some library located next to a coffee shop in the busiest part of town.
Minute after minute continued to pass while the boys still stood there, the wait seemed like hours for Ed and the urge to kick something became increasingly stronger within the passing moments, until finally, when the effort to suppress those violent tendencies that followed Ed wherever he went became too much to bear, he placed a swift, hard, well aimed kick on an old, black and white stray cat that happened to be unfortunately passing the boy in a fit of uncontrollable, teenage rage.
"FREAKING LIBRARIAN", he screamed. The cat practically flew four feet in the air and landed in the middle of the road. It clawed at the air in pain and yelped helplessly.
"NO BROTHER" Al, yelled in response to this scene and ran across the street to tend to the poor stray cat in need, cradling it in his arms while wrapping it in his loincloth.
"ED, how could you?" The cat nestled in his arms as Al looked at his brother in disbelief.
"IT'S JUST A FREAKING CAT! GIVE IT TEN MINUTES AND IT WON'T FEEL A THING"
"CATS HAVE FEELINGS TOO YOU KNOW. NOW APOLOGIZE TO MR. FLUFFYKINS"
"WHEN THE HELL DID YOU NAME THE THING"
"Just now."
"WELL DON'T, IT'S NOT NATURAL!"
Just then, the cat or Mr. Fluffykins regained the wind that was knocked out of him and proceeded to pounce out of Al's hands and onto Ed's head, clawing and clinging to his face with surprising strength considering its previous state.
"HOLY MINISKIST OF MUSTANG GET IF OFF ME!" Ed screamed, tossing and turning his head in a frantic attempt to prevent the cat from cutting his head any more than it already had. A thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek followed by more drops of blood as the scratches increased, one above his left eyebrow, another behind his ear and a third one directly on his nose.
By now the people, waking up from a blissful night sleep had heard the commotion and peeked out of their, blind-drawn windows, expecting to see some robber failing at his art while being chased by the police or perhaps an old couple, arguing over some pathetic reason on a morning stroll but, instead they found Edward Elric, the state alchemist, standing next to a boy in a suit of armor, currently being attacked by a cat. All around them people laughed behind curtains and over cups of earl grey tea or plates of bacon while children stared in wonder at the funny, little, short boy shouting at the cat who at the moment was crawling down his shirt. Even the street police noticed, sending troops over to investigate the situation only to have them return empty handed with their lips curled up in a smile of great amusement.
Meanwhile as Ed swore greatly at the cat and Al just stood their watching, a large animated sweat drop sliding down his back, neither of them noticed a highly suspicious man dressed in a blue, military uniform. Strapped on his back was a large black mail bag. He stood directly behind them in a dark ally way and had been watching them for quite some time now, making sure they were the right people who the invitation in his right hand was addressed to. Finally, sure that they were the correct boys he stepped out into the light and in the most inconspicuous manor he could make, made his way over to where they were standing, invitation in hand. He attempted to strongly suppress the grin that was slowly spreading across his face at the sight they were in, with an emotionless, placid look. Again, both boys failed to notice their now closer observer.
At this point, Al felt somewhat sorry for his brother and gently picked up the cat from his back and placed it on the concrete sidewalk where the poor thing ran as quickly as it could the nearest dumpster. He watched as Ed, still angry at the encounter continue cursing at the animal; he did nothing to oppose him. He knew better, for Ed's wrath was like a virus, it struck him randomly and when it did it was best just to let it run its course and hope patiently that it would leave as quickly as it came. As the commotion died down he felt a pair of eyes staring at his back or armor and turned slowly around to see who they belonged to. The man had not moved for second, shoving words of protocol on to the tip of his tong as he had done many times before and finally, when Al acknowledged him sprayed them out, loudly, his right hand in a brisk solute above his right eye-brow.
"State Alchemist Edward Elric, Sir!"
Al looked at him with confusion in his mind. Then when the realization hit, he held his hands up and shook them up and down in a frantic motion.
"No wait you got it all wrong. I'm not the state alchemist, he is" and pointed to Ed.
The man continued to salute, his face betraying no emotion but on the inside, confusion clouded his thoughts. He was sure that the boy in front of him was the Fullmetal Alchemist. His appearance fit his title perfectly, what with the armor and all.
"I do not believe that I am mistaken sir!"
Al sighed. This wasn't the first time someone had mistaken him for his brother and it would not be the last. He was only glad that Ed, still tending to the scratches on his face, had not noticed the situation for the sake of the military man's life. This relief was short lived.
"Friggin' cat.," Ed mumbled, "Hey Al, who's this guy?" His's tone was annoyed but his wrath quickly faded.
The man answered for him.
"Private Gene Williams, military number 4097. I have come to present an invitation to Central sent by the Fuhrer himself to the Fullmetal Alchemist sir!"
Ed looked pleased at such a formality; it wasn't every day when you were sent a letter from the Fuhrer.
"All right then." He said cheerfully, "Give it here!" and held out his hand.
By now the man really had no idea who to give the invite to and prayed to heaven that his intuition was right about which boy was the Alchemist.
"I'm sorry sir, but isn't he the Fullmetal Alchemist?" He pointed to Al, who took a step behind Ed, preparing to grab him if, no when, he gave a lunge for the man's throat.
The anger that had briefly left Ed's eyes flooded quickly back.
"No…what. Made. You. Think. That?" his voice shook considerably and he wanted nothing more than to beat the man senseless.
"I just assumed…."
"Assumed WHAT?" Ed's left hand made a fist. He pulled it back and gave a swift punch to the face of the messenger and with his right grabbed the invitation. The man stumbled back, clutching his cheek which swelled considerably and realized his mistake. He made a quick apology and ran down the street, making a mental note of which boy was which.
"Brother, was that really necessary?" Al asked.
"Eh. Guy had it coming."
He turned, his back facing Al.
"Come on Al; let's blow this pop-sickle stand. I just remembered I didn't eat breakfast and I have a feeling that librarian won't be coming any time soon."
He looked down at the letter in his hand.
"It'll give us time to read this puppy."
And with that he walked down the street; Al followed close behind.