On the Other Side of the Door
"Eddie!", Mr. Elric called in a panic. "Ed, Ed come here, it's important."
Said boy wandered into the kitchen, his face depicting one who is in a total lack of enthusiasm. He had been having a good dream, his first in weeks actually. And his father just had to wake him up.
"Can you please run to the store for me boy? We're out of half and half." Mr. Elric's face was one of desperation, that was the saddest part of the entire travesty. The man was like a bear before his morning coffee.
"Are you joking right now? Tell me your joking, you got me up to get you half and half!" Ed normally would have been fine getting up to do a chore. When he was younger he always had to help around the house, at least a little bit for his mother. But his father had woken him up almost every day now for some inexplicably stupid reason, whether it be to fetch cream or fix the television. It was getting out of hand. To establish his position he declared "Get it yourself".
Looking disgruntled the man did the last thing he wanted to do. He reached regrettably into his pocket and withdrew, a piece of chalk. He drew a pentacle upon the counter top and slapped his hands on the surface. Smoke disturbed the air for a moment before it cleared, revealing a new carton of half and half. Ed's father sharply plucked it from the counter, flipped the lid and with feeling poured it into his coffee mug. With too much feeling however as it spilt and made a small mess before he chucked it angrily into the fridge.
Ed was furious, "Just what do you think your doing?", he yelled. Caution evident in his voice he whispered "you know it's forbidden. They burn people for that here. Do you want to get us killed?"
Mr. Elric replied solumly "I just wanted some cream for my coffee. Sorry."
Ed, now awake, marched back into his room, closing the door carefully. He looked a wreck. His hair was out of it's customary braid, having slept with it out and was itching his naked back. He had bags under his eyes, though not as bad as per usual. He didn't often sleep well, haunted by nightmares from war and the events with the homunculi naught but two months ago. His face was blemished with teenage pimples, whether from stress or puberty was anyone's guess. His clothes even were in poor condition, he and his father had no money. They weren't certified for any job in this place, no legal one.
Worst of all was his look of hopelessness, what had happened to his brother? How could he live a life here? At first it had seemed like a new beginning, he could start over with his father and do something completely unrelated to the government and military. He had ambitions of being a mechanic, like Winfrey. That was before he learned the rules about alchemy. The science was looked upon like old witch craft, it was a sin and wrong. It was what he did! He loved it, and now he couldn't even do that. The penalty, was death. If you got caught.
And so here he was, pouting and speculating on his own misery. With a sigh he sat up and surveyed his room. Room, it was more like a walk in closet,big for a closet, small for a living space. He had no room for a dresser, his clothes were supposed to be hung up on a wire he had strung halfway across the opposite wall. As it was, they were gathering dust on the floor. He didn't have much, a stack of paper he used to write his thoughts on, a few pencils and hidden under his bed was another bunch of papers. Secrets, he was working on a new branch in alchemy. Very illegal, dangerous and probably would end up leading to his death. Almost certainly in fact.
Human transmutation had proved in the past to be a horrible, bloody mess. But all those alchemists were attempting to change another person. He planned to change himself. It would be the ultimate defense, and sometimes an offense. If he could transmutate himself into a creature at will, and still be able to change back, well lets just say his father would be extremely jealous of his success.
The drive to succeed in this venture is to return home. To Winrey and that empty armour that was Alphonse, his life and even Colonel Mustang. If he went through the door as another creature, there was a change however ridiculously small, that he would go unrecognized. The beings let things through all the time, alchemists messing with the universe. He once found a toy in the forest near his home when he was little. He had thought it was from the city. Now he knew it was from a technologically advanced community. He was going to sneak home.
"Gurulurp" his stomach growled effectively pulling him out of his musings. He grabbed a t shirt and a pair of shorts. He stepped into the hallway and made for the kitchen, nothing hung on the wall save a bit of old out of date wallpaper. The manager of their apartment really ought to remodel or something.
Mr. Elric wasn't in the kitchen and his nerves relaxed. He opened the fridge intending to get butter for some toast, only to find they were out of that too. A vein in his temple pulsed and he let out a frustrated growl. He really shouldn't use alchemy, he'd have to go to the store. Glancing through the fridge it slowly dawned on him that they had very little for lunch and supper. They needed groceries, and money to buy them with. Wait, he had a better idea.
"Eh, Dad." he called throughout the house.
"Ya?" was heard just above a whisper from living room, the man was probably watching the news.
"We need food for diner. Can you get another loan from the bank?" In truth Ed already knew the answer to that. The only reason they'd gotten a loan before was that they appeared wealthy with their nice clothes. The banker likely as not had assumed they were just in a rough spot. Now however, even with their better clothes they looked poor. Did they have running water for a shower? No, that was one of the reasons why their apartment was so cheap.
"No, they won't give us another one, we still haven't paid off the last one son. We still have some bread left, we can have that for supper." There was silence for a moment while they both considered starving the next day before his dad added "I got a job as waiter at a restaurant down on Birch street. I start work on Tuesday."
"Really? Why'd they, that's great. I'm going for a walk, I'll be back later." Ed grabbed a slice of bread to chew on, his coat and gloves and was out. The summer sun was scorching, within minutes he was sweating. It was too hot to wear a stupid coat. He had to though to cover his auto mail. Here, in this place people that lost a limb got plastic replacements that were skin coloured and didn't flex. His metal arm worked like any arm, only it was stronger. If people saw it he'd be in big trouble, work like his auto mail could only be made from parts by an alchemist. They would try to get him to tell them who made it and possibly assume that either he or his dad made it. In short, they would be toast.
He often went out to just walk, today was different though. He'd been thinking it over for the past while now, they really needed money. It was good that his dad had a job now but would that supply them with enough? Even to cover the rent? He wasn't going to risk it.
He bent down and picked up a rock. It'd do fine. He dropped it in a pocket. He found more rocks as he walked along the side walk, most of them no more than small pebbles. Eventually he came to a restaurant. He went in feeling very self conscious due to his poor attair and walked straight to the back. He went in to a stall in the washroom and placed his rocks on the toilet seat. He clapped his hands together, smacked the toilet seat on either sides of the rocks and when the smoke cleared before him laid a fair number of coins. He'd created money, enough to pay for some food and a new apartment.
Now that he had money he opted to splurge a little and buy a hot bun. Not from here, he looked like a poor person, they served middle class here. He was thinking more along the lines of the nearby bakery. He walked out with the money jingling in his pockets and having found a bakery right around the corner was soon found happily stuffing his face. There was so much to do in the city if you had money. He had to resist though, he didnt want to transmutate too much.
Soon he really just couldn't stand the heat, it was unbearable in his coat. He really would have loved to go for a swim at the indoor pool, but his auto mail.. That was it, he was going to die. He found himself laying under a tree at the local park. The shade was nice. His hair which was still loose was clinging to his face, the sweat combined with not showering for a week undoubtedly made him smell lovely. But he didn't care, he had shade. He fell asleep there, the money safe in his back pocket.
When he awoke it was to the sound of Alphonse telling him to get up. Right, Al was always an early bird. "inna minute Al," he murmured before trying to drift back to sleep. He was shook roughly and robbed of sleep. He looked up angrily intent on throwing Al in a nearby lake at least when his eyes locked on a girl and no Al in sight. He remembered, Al was far away. The girl however was very close. She looked about his age although she was far cleaner. Her short dirty blond hair shinned in the afternoon sun and he couldn't help but notice was nice smelling. She had a tank top and a skirt on, must be nice in this heat he thought. She was holding something out to him.
"Here", she said. "You want some water? You look a mess." He nodded and took it thankfully. Only after having downed half the bottle did he stop to breath. There was a little left and he gave it back to her with a thanks.
"It's sure hot out huh. Where I come from it rarely gets this hot." Edward stated, trying to start a conversation.
"Oh, your from up north? You just move here?" She asked.
"Ya not long ago. I'm still trying to find my way around too," he said sitting up. He felt self conscious with her there, he hadn't bothered to look presentable today. He quickly threw his hair back in a fish scale braid, nicely done from practice. She offered to show him around and the shortest routes from his house. She must have been bored or something, it'd likely take hours but he agreed. His father wouldn't expect him back till late anyway.
They stood up ready to go and to his complete embarrassment, she was taller than him. Not by much though, he was please to note. She didn't say anything though, only smiled and began the tour.
"And this way will lead you to the grocery store, you just have to cut through a few yards." Amy explained. He'd gotten her name at some point. " I don't think we actually want to walk all the way back there now though." They were in the middle of an alleyway at this moment, deciding where to go next. She'd shown him a lot of the down town considering the size of the city she knew the streets and Birch (his street) wasn't all that far away.
Ed plucked up his courage and spoke the question that had been nagging at him for the past hour. He debated in his head how to say it and everything. "We could go see a movie, I saw a theatre back there. We could go together, um, as a couple.. if you wanted to." There, he'd done it. He'd asked her out. The approach could use some work and if his cheeks would return to their normal colour he'd be doing good.
"Oh, Ed I don't.." Edward's nervousness turned to dread when he realized that was a no coming on. Dammit, he might have ruined a friendship too. Amy apparently couldn't decide on the best way to respond and the entire atmosphere practically screamed awkward. As if to mock him some guy came walking down the alley throwing tension into the already thick air. She was going to reject him, and there would be a witness. Where's a dark hole when you need one..
"Throw me your money, now!" a deep voice demanded. They turned surprised to face the stranger, he was tall intimidating and most importantly, holding a gun."Throw me your money bitch!" He demanded. Of course he was talking to Amy, Ed certainly didn't look like he had any, his clothes being second hand and all. Amy whimpered next to him and started rooting threw her bag.
Ed stood close on her left, he reached out and took her hand away from the purse. He squeezed it lightly to reassure her. The stranger go angry and said "Hey you, let her get it out! Unless you want me to shoot her. Don't think I will?" He pointed it right at her chest and stepped closer to them. He could kill her!
Ed panicked and dropped her hand. She returned to fervently looking for money, she pulled out her wallet and started counting change. He had to do something, this situation was out of control. He crouched down quickly and clapped his hands together, ready to perform alchemy. "Don't you move!" The mugger called his voice pitching, Ed became the guns new target. To his horror a gun shot was heard just before his palms hit the ground.