Alright! Chapter 2! I had this written in advance, and decided not to publish it until I had started the third chapter. I want to stay ahead or it will die. Now read, my minions!
Hecate: Shut up, they're probably on a much higher intelligence level than you. I wouldn't be talking.
Eona: And besides, no one would follow you in the first place.
Me: …but… *goes off to cry*
Eona: Anyways—
Me: I DON'T OWN FMA! Ha! I said it, figment of my imagination!
Eona: …
(Break)
Chapter IIEd opened the door to his hotel room and kicked off his shoes. "Winry, I'm back!"
His wife walked into view, and seemed surprised to see him. "Where're the kids?"
"I left them at the library," Ed moved to hug Winry, and she leaned into it.
"By themselves?"
"Yeah, they'll be fine."
A wrench hitting Ed's head with a loud 'clang' ruined the sweet moment between the two.
"They'll be fine?" Winry gritted her teeth. "Ed, they're 11 and 12 years old."
"So were Al and I when we went to the library. And besides, they have Ian with them, so there are probably hidden ninja guards all around the room."
Ed was hit by another wrench as he made a move to stand up.
"You idiot," Winry sighed. "Not everybody is like you and your brother. In fact, I'll bet no one is."
Ed cautiously stood back up. "Now... Ah... Could you look at my leg? It feels kind of off..."
Ed braced himself for another wrench, but was surprised to no end when none came.
Winry just sighed tiredly and said, "Sit down."
Ed complied silently, and Winry went to get her toolbox.
(Break)
"Why do you think dad left us alone?" Abigail pondered. Eric shrugged, and continued reading.
"Who knows, but I'll bet he wants to be alone with your mom," Ian said, grinning.
Abigail groaned. "Eww..." Then she stood up and stretched. "How long has it been?"
"About two hours."
Abigail walked over to one of the shelves. She ran her hand over the spines as she scanned. Then a rather small book caught her eye. She pulled it out and flipped it over to see the front.
It was a travel log. She frowned. Why would it be in there? She opened up the cover to see a name in the corner. 'Edward Elric'. She grinned.
"Hey, guys! I found something of Dad's in here!"
She rushed back over to the table to see the two boys looking up at her from their books.
"It's a travel log!"
Eric frowned. "What's so important about that, Abi?"
"Idiot! Dad said he used to—and still does—code his alchemy notes in a travel log! He never used to let us see them, and now we have one!"
"So you want to crack the code," Ian said slowly.
Eric shook his head. "Come on, Abigail! Dad is one of the smartest alchemists in the world! How are we going to crack his code?"
"Over time," Abiagil said confidently. "Didn't Uncle Al tell us about that time they were trying to decode notes and it took them ten days working day and night? So we'll work whenever we can! And we'll crack it in less than a year! I promise!"
"A year?" Ian whimpered.
"Yeah," Eric sighed. "I'll be surprised if we can do it in a year."
"Well then," Abigail grabbed some papers and pens from a stack on the table. "Let's get started!"
(Break)
Eric groaned, his face on the table. "This is too d*** hard..."
"No cursing," Abigail muttered automatically.
"Why did dad have to be so d*** smart?" Eric went on.
"Language," Abigail moaned.
"Ian?" Eric asked. A soft snore was his reply.
Abigail wrinkled her nose as the door opened.
"Hey, guys! I'm back..." Ed frowned as he saw the scene before him. Papers shrewn on the floor, books piled high, and they all had their faces on the table... Was that a snore?
"What were you doing?"
"We found some alchemy notes and tried to crack the code. It was too hard," Abigail whined.
"I never want to see another set of coded alchemy stuff again," Eric grumbled.
Abigail sat up slowly and tossed her father the small book.
Ed caught it with ease and turned it to see the cover. He smiled when he opened it.
"This is where this went, huh?" Ed snapped his old travel log closed and said, "I wouldn't get too depressed. No one has ever cracked my notes before. Not even the Fuhrur or Alphonse."
His kids perked up. "Really?"
Ed nodded. "Trust me, there are very few notes that are this hard to crack."
Abigail started to straighten up her area. "Like who's?"
"Well, Mustang's are coded using the names of women. You'd have to know every girl he ever dated to make sense of his, I'd imagine. I only understand parts of his. Your Uncle Al has extremely hard notes to crack. In fact, I don't even know what he codes them as."
Eric shook Ian awake.
"Come on," Ed tucked the log in his jacket and indicated the door. "Let's go out for dinner."
(Break)
They walked towards the Fuhrur's mansion on full stomachs. The group of four had gotten Xingese food for dinner, and they were all very content. Ed grinned as he thought of presenting Mustang with the bill.
Lost in thought, Ed didn't notice the flashes of movement that had slowly started to surround them.
When he did finally notice, he was jolted out of his thoughts and instantly on alert, it was too late.
"Give us the kid, and no one gets hurt," A gruff voice demanded from in front of them, somewhere in the shadows.
"There are three of them," Ed smirked. "Which one, dumb-a$&?"
A growl was heard. "The fuhrur's son. Hand him over."
"Nah," Ed said casually. "I haven't had a good fight in a while," He cracked his knuckles, then ran straight at the voice.
He ducked a punch and grabbed the arm, using the owner's momentum to carry them forward and throw them. The next swing was dodged, then the attacker was kneed in the gut. Ed moved swiftly to the next target, and the three kids stood in awe. They'd seen him spar with Uncle Al before, but the two of them hardly ever hurt each other. Now they saw what their dad could truly do.
He moved fluidly and swiftly. He made it look so easy.
A crunch, and Ed had broken a thug's nose with his right fist. The thug stumbled back, and the last one swung sloppily at him, which Ed easily ducked and swept the attacker's legs out from under him. He placed his boot firmly over their throat, and said in a menacing voice, "And remember never to mess with an Elric." Ed pushed down on the black-clothed guy's throat just enough to cut off their air and render last the gang member unconscious.
Ed pocketed his hands casually and walked back over to the kids. "Come on, let's go."
"That was amazing!" Abigail shouted grabbing her Dad's right hand. He winced and she pulled back.
Ed cursed. "I think I broke it." He held up his right arm, squinting in the moonlight. His hand was swollen and one of he fingers was in an ugly looking position.
Ed frowned and put his hand back in his pocket. "This is one of the only times when I wish I either had a) alchemy or b) my automail arm," Ed sighed. "But now Mustang gets to pay the dinner bill and my medical bill."
(Break)
Ok! And that tis be it! (For now) I want to continue my xover for FMA and SINF, but I can't think straight! I also want to do a Maximum Ride and FMA xover. I've written up to chapter 4, and I'm working on 5 for this story. I've also got a side story I'm working on XD. But anyways, Hecate (Heh-ka-tay) and Eona are code names for the real figments of my imagination that would give me away in real life if you knew who I was. AND I WISH TO STAY ANNONYMOUS! But Hecate is the Greek goddess of magic, and Eona is the name of a really suckish book. But it looks epic on the cover… darn you author for having an epic artist, but being pathetic!