They were definitely an odd pair. A man in a suit of armor and a short kid. I was busy racking my brain for a conversation starter without sounding too nosy. But was there really a way to even bring it up? I mean I wasn't the only one in this cart who was thinking the same thing. Heck, I wasn't even the only staring.
'Oh, screw it.'
I leaned over the seat, crossing my arms and placing myself right next to the armored man, "Hey! Nice armor. You must really like it to be wearing it even on a train."
This seemed to annoy the blonde. I could tell from the look of aggravation on his face. He had every right to be mad. They've noticed everyone staring. I was just the first to actually approach them.
"You must really want to be a boy if you're dressing like one." He insulted.
"Edward!" the armored man (or boy?) exclaimed. His voice was that of a child yet he was in this big suit.
His voice kept me in shock for a good couple of seconds, "I was only paying him a compliment."
"Maybe you should mind your own business." He glared.
"Hmph," I glared right back before I turned back to the armored boy and apologized, "I didn't mean to come off nosy or anything. I really do like your armor."
"Its okay," he replied.
I gave one last smile to him then turned back into my seat.
'What a jerk! Maybe I was being nosy, but that was no way to act. Whatever. Short little jerk.'
There was a book in my bag that I had been meaning to read. Now was the perfect to whip it out. It would talk my mind off that little jerk. I placed my bag below the window so I could rest my head on it like a pillow and propped my legs up onto the seat. I shifted into a comfortable position before losing myself in the book. It was a typical fantasy novel. Typical alchemist heroine novel. Maybe these books are where I'm getting this itchy wandering spirit.
Besides the hushed conversations of the other passengers, the train cart was pretty silent. Especially on my side. I had been sitting in silence for a good 30 minutes before the armored boy spoke to me.
"Excuse me," he said, "I'm sorry for how my brother, Edward, acted. He's not normally like that." He gestured towards his sleeping brother on the seat opposite of his.
I sat back up and rested my arms on the back of his seat again, "It's alright. I don't have any younger sibling – actually any siblings – but I would think that they'd protective of each other."
He laughed nervously, "Hehe, he's actually my younger brother."
"What?! No way!" I exclaimed in disbelief, "You had quite the growth spurt." I laughed and held my hand out to him, "My name is Rei Cooper.
He shook my hand, "I'm Alphonse Elric. Nice to meet you."
I could now clearly see Edward's full appearance. He wore a black long sleeves shirt with a popped up color with a little bit of silver outline, leather pants, black boots with red underneath, and white gloves. Black must be his favorite color.
Our conversation was broken by the sudden rushing of footsteps. An anxious man stood before the brother's seats. He had dark grey hair, and a brown jacket. He glanced and forth at the brothers worriedly.
"He's right," he spoke loudly to himself, "there is a short kid with him!"
At this Edward opened his eyes. With an annoyed look on his face he sprang into the air and shouted, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A RUNT SO TINY HE CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS, YOU JERK!"
The grey-haired man backed away in surprise. He held up his hands defensively, "Sorry kid! I was only repeating what the Colonel –"
Before he could finish his sentence he was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. Two armed gunmen with sunglasses had stood up from their seats during Edward's shouting.
As soon as the grey-haired man hit the ground, they held up their guns to the rest of us. "Hands up! Nobody move!" They commanded. "Unless you want a bullet through the head."
Our only choice was to comply. One guy held his gun to us as the other one ties up the grey haired man and tossed him to the side in between the seats.
Once finished, they scanned the train cart again this time catching sight of the brothers, specifically Alphonse. They walked menacingly towards them.
"Take off your helmet." One of them demanded.
That's when Edward pointed right behind the guy and shouted, "Look!"
'Is he really pulling that trick! What kind of idiot would even fall for that!' I mentally face palmed at his ridiculous move.
Surprisingly the both men did. Another face palm. Ed took this opportunity to knee the guy right in the face. Before the other guy could even aim his gun, Alphonse slammed his fist right onto the guys head. Both were knocked unconscious and the brother's smiled at each other victory.
It didn't last long because ten seconds after the other passenger's began to voice their objections.
"You stupid kid. What are we suppose to do know?"
"Don't you think they'll notice when two of their men have gone missing?"
"They'll want retribution."
"We were safe if we just listened to them."
"What were you thinking?"
I quickly stood in front of the brother's and defended them, "Okay, put down your pitchforks. I'm sure they have a plan. Right, guys?"
Edward stared nervously at Alphonse and back at me. "I actually didn't plan that far." He admitted.
This time I did an actual face palm. It took about five seconds before I remembered the grey haired man. He might know what's going on or else he wouldn't have ran back here to check on Alphonse. I sprinted towards where he was at and motioned for the brother's to help me untie him.
"How embarrassing." He sighed, "Who are you three?"
"Just a simple farm girl." I answered.
"And we're just two old-ashioned alchemists." Edward replied.
He nodded, impressed by Edward's answer, "I'm State Warrant Officer Falman.
"You're not dressed like a soldier," I stated, looking at his casual appearance, "Is there a reason? I'm thinking it's a good one."
He laughed, nodding, "Well, we have a special passenger on board. The front car kind."
"So, that's why these thugs are here, isn't it? And they decided to drag us down with them." Edward said. He stood up once he finished the ropes and looked at Alphonse, "Al, I'm going up top to throw a surprise party. You go with him from below."
Alphonse agreed and headed out with Falman.
"You mind giving me a boost, Rei?" he asked, pointing to the hatch above us.
'I guess he wasn't asleep when Alphonse and I were talking.'
"Sure." I complied, intertwining my fingers so he could use it as step, "Just be careful up there. We are above an ocean after all."
"I'll keep that in mind." He grinned.
Once the hatch was open he hopped right up. Before he could close it once again, I felt a pair of hands grab me from behind. It was one of them gunmen and he was attempting to put me in a headlock.
"Hey!" Edward jumped back down, readying to jump into action.
But I reacted before he could do anything. He had lifted me up so I couldn't touch the ground. I needed that balance. I quickly elbowed him in the gut as hard as I could, causing him to instinctively hunch over. He still kept his hold on me, but at least now I could get a good base on my feet. I place my arm in front of his chest before placing a foot behind his legs. With all my strength I pushed my body against his. With him still being a little out of breath from the gut punch and his balance being a little off it wasn't too hard. He fell hard to the ground. I quickly rolled off him.
I didn't want to give them both a chance of recovering again so I quickly grabbed the rope that had been used on Officer Falman.
Edward stared a little in shock.
"Give me a hand, Ed!" I grunted, dragging both guys back to back. Because obviously the rest of the passengers were only good for looking.
"Right!" He caught on. He took the rope from my hands and began to tie both of their hands together. "That was pretty good. I didn't peg you for a fighter."
"No way in hell would I let myself be a damsel in distress." I snorted.
He smirked, "Well, not like you really look damsel anyways."
I shot him a death glare, "I may look scrawny, but I can pack a punch. I've trained in martial arts since I was a little girl."
He stood up and dusted himself, "Good! That means I don't have to go up there alone." He held his hand out to me.
I gladly took it, standing up, "You got it."
Once again I boosted him up to the roof. I ran to the window and opened it. I wanted to see windy it was first before going up there. It was my first time doing something like this and it was very bad fall. He seemed to understand?
"How's the wind?" I shouted.
"Not too-" and that's when a branch his him. He flew back and out of sight.
I was in shock for a good minute. I mentally screamed his name as I prepared for the worst. I stuck my head back into the train and ran to the back door. Relief washed over me as soon as I saw Edward. Except he was being held by a strange man with glasses and a purple shirt.
"You're okay!" I gasped, placing my hand over my heart in relief. "Oh man, I thought you were a goner."
The man smiled at both Edward and I, "You know there's an art to train walking. Stick with me and you'll get the hang of it.
I'm Major Hughes. And you must be Edward Elric." He said looking at Edward and then to me. "And who might you be? Do you to know each other?"
"My name is Rei Cooper. We just met on the train." I responded.
He nodded and looked back to Edward, "Mustand told me about you and your brother. I'm an old friend of his."
"Lieutenant Colonel?" Ed gasped.
"Yup. He's always bragging out that silly promotion too." He smirked. "Come on you two. We need to work as a team for this."
It took a bit of wobbling (on my part) before we were able to make it to the engine room. I ducked my head down below to the window to get a bag guy head count. There stood two engine guys and two men with guns pointing right at them. I came back up and signaled two with my fingers. Major Hughes then swung into the window. Edward waited five seconds before going in through the left window and giving that guy a good kick in the head. By the time I made it in the two engine room guys were giving a good punch in the cheeks to both the gunmen. I noticed that one of the gunmen had a knife through the back of his hand.
'Note to self. Don't piss off Major Badass.'
After that, Edward took off through the side to get onto the ladder of the next cart. We were sure that they must've heard the commotion going on by now. From our side and from Alphonse and Falman's side.
I watched as Edward carefully climbed the side ladder from the next cart over. That's when another gunmen had appeared from the cart after his. He scanned the area and set his sights on Ed, carefully aiming his gun.
"Look out!" I shouted just as he took a shot at him. Major Hughes pulled me back in as a second shot towards me came right after.
We both stuck our heads out again as Edward placed his hand on an alchemic circle. I watched in amazement as a cannon formed on top of the cart. So did the gunmen as well. He looked too stunned to even make a move. Edward swiftly took his place behind the cannon. A cannonball quickly blew off the hatch door and rifle out of the man's hands when he fell back inside.
"That was smooth!" Hughes praised.
"It was amazing! I've never seen alchemy before!" I squealed.
The engine squished both Hughes and I as he also squeezed through the window. "Hey you! Don't mess with that tender! It's the life of this train!" he scolded.
We could see a light bulb go off in Edward's head. Both Hughes and I smiled at each other as we made our way to him. He told of his plan. Hughes acknowledging that it was a good one, went off to go take his place. He was going back in through the way he had apparently escaped the first time. Behind the radio room in the very same cart that a General was being held at. The reason for this whole mess.
Edward then transmuted a metal pipe going from the top of the tender that connected itself to the door of the other cart. And on top of the pipe was a nice little speaker that Edward was using to communicate to the bad guys.
He noticed my astonished face. "Cool, huh?"
"Amazing…"
He then started speaking into the speakerphone, "Attention, gun toting extremists. You hear me alright? Or did you blow your ears out playing target practice?" he taunted. "Let the hostages go! You've got no right to drag these travelers into your personal politics!"
We could clearly hear the man in charge shout back, "You're one of Mustang's secret agents aren't you! Interfere and I'll kill these hostages one by one!"
"You're just itching to draw blood, aren't you?" Edward retorted, "All right… Okay passengers please hold on to your seats and get ready for some turbulence."
I quickly pointed to myself excitedly like a little girl. He shrugged, giving me the honor of pulling the lever. I did not hesitate. The cart was suddenly flooded with water. We could see the water pouring out through the windows. He gave the signal to stop it after a minute and I did.
We made our to the top hatch of the cart as fast as we could. By the time we got there we could see Major Hughes on the floor, clutching his bloodied arm.
"Before I finish off the General…" he smiled, "I'm going to take care of you."
"Me first!" Edward spoke, leaping into action.
They both had latched onto each other's hands. Both struggling for power. Well I guess no hands. With Bald's cape out of the way his metal gun arm was visible. And in the struggle Edward's right glove was removed.
'He has automail?' I thought. 'Who is this guy?'
Bald seemed just as shocked as I was.
"You're just a brat! Is the army feeding kids into its chophouse now."
"You're gonna pay for that brat comment..," Ed retorted. "And no one's feeding me into anything. I'm on my own."
"Take this advice kid, I used to be in this military too. It was fine as long I was following orders. Just like a dog. Pissing on cue." He seethed. "But then I wanted this upgraded arm. They didn't like that. Felt that I'd be stronger than my superiors.
You see the, they don't like it when their little workers begin to have a mind of their own. Minds they can't control. Since I've got this procedure they've discharged me. Now, I got a taste for destroying them, and the nation they command!"
As I peered over the hatch I could see that Edward was losing the struggle slightly. I wanted to jump down and help so badly but he had instructed me to stay up here for my safety.
"You understand kid," Bald continued, "You've got an arm just like mine. I bet you wanted to be stronger too. And the military will just discard you when you're useless to them."
Edward was struggling, "No I don't understand. And don't you ever lump my reasons for having this arm with yours!" With his last effort Edward went full force and crushed the end of Bald's arm. He flew backwards but luckily Alphonse was there to catch him giving him a surprise punch in the cheek.
He fell to the ground in pain. This was my time to jump down. It happened to be on Bald's stomach too. I felt contributed a little now.
I leaped onto Edward's back, grinning like crazy, "Guys, we did it!"
"Yeah, we did." Edward agreed, giving Alphonse thumbs up while trying to regain his balance.
We had been at the station for fifteen minutes now. I exited the train with the brother's and we watched as military personnel rounded up every single gunmen. Each of them bound with rope. Among them was Bald at the end.
We watched as black haired man with white gloves and a blonde short haired woman, both in uniform, stood before Bald. We were too far to hear the conversation, but we could tell it riled up Bald, because he proceeded to cut out of his rope and lunge towards the black haired man. The black haired man held up his hand and snapped his fingers. That's when I noticed they had an alchemic signal on them. Bald was subject to spontaneous combustion. We could feel the heat from where we stood.
When the smoke cleared up, he could see the scorch marks on his body. The smoke escaping his body. Everyone stared in awe.
"I controlled myself. The damage to your skin isn't as nearly as bad as it feels." The black-haired man explained, "You can call me Roy Mustang, Lieutenant Colonel, or hell, even the Flame Alchemist. But remember the pain."
"So he's Mustang?" I could hear Edward mumble under his breath. He rushed off to stand in front of Colonel Mustang's path. "You knew this would happen. That's why you made us take this train. You put us at risk on purpose!"
"Ed, do you really think I got the whole world on strings?" Colonel Mustang scoffed, "You should focus on the good news. The General heard about your exploits saving the train, and agreed to make a special exception. He's letting you take the State Alchemy Exam."
'The State Alchemy Exam?! No way! These guys are serious…'
I didn't know much about Alchemy, but I knew for a fact those no kids had ever taken the exam before.
"Exception?" Edward repeated, confused, "But you always said we could take it! That's the whole reason we came!"
"The State's never let a kid take a military exam before. Be realistic." He spoke in a mocking tone, "But luck was on your side. Good thing you took that earlier train, huh?"
Edward looked down defeated. Unsure of what was true or not, I guess. I feel like he was just as confused as I was feeling considering I have no idea what the hell is going on.
Alphonse walked up to his brother. Edward shouted a couple of more things to Colonel Mustang as he walked away. But I didn't pay attention. The shock of the entire day was finally hitting me. I could feel my body tremble a little. I hadn't realized how scared I actually was. The adrenaline kind of just shot through so I was just going with the motions. What was suppose to be a pleasant train ride wasn't at all. I could've been shot. I could've fallen into the water or the cliff. There was a high chance I could have died. This was all too real.
My legs couldn't support me anymore. I fell to my knees.
Alphonse noticed and rushed to my side, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"
I shook my head, "No. I didn't. It's just… I think I need a good nap." I lied. I didn't want to say the real reason. I didn't want them to see me as a weak little girl. I wanted them to like me.
Edward held out his hand once again to help me up, "Do you want us to walk you home?"
"No, no, it's alright. I'm not that far off." I declined. "But hey! I'll be staying with my aunt this entire week while I'm in Central. She owns a restaurant called 'June's Diner'. So if you guy's ever want to come down and have a meal, it's on the house!"
Edward seemed to perk up at the sound of 'free meal'.
"Okay. Yeah!" He piped up.
I couldn't help but get this big smile on my face. I could feel my cheeks blush. I had never wanted two people to like me so much before. I held my hands behind my back so that I wouldn't do a stupid hand gesture.
"You know," Edward spoke up, "if you ignore the boy clothes, you do have a face of a girl."
Well that went away quickly.
"Ed!" Alphonse scolded.
"Alphonse gets the free meals, and you pay full price. And we're not cheap!" I glared at him before walking away.
"Hey wait!" He called coming after me, "I was only kidding! You're pretty for a girl who looks like a boy!"
Alphonse face palmed as he tried to catch up to us, "You're only making it worse!"
I did an immediate u-turn and headed back towards Edward, "Says the little bean sprout!"
Edward immediately got that annoyed look on his face. His calm walk became a little charge. Alphonse immediately came between and held us back our shirts as we spewed insults at each other.
Despite this little insult war, I was glad for meeting the brother's. I wanted nothing more but to be around them. They felt adventurous. Maybe even dangerous. But I guess I was willing to find out.
