I do not own Fma.
Images of Kurogane suffering and dying filled Kimori's dreams, turning them to nightmares. Though she had not actually seen his death, her minds eye was able to depict a gruesome image. With a gasp, Kimori's head shot off her pillow, eyes wide with terror. Breathing heavily she looked around to find herself safe in her dorm. She looked at the clock to see that it read 1:14 A.M. She sighed and collapsed back onto her bed. She needed all the rest she could get before she headed out on her mission later.
For this mission, Mustang had assigned Kimori and Edward to go to a small town south of Eastern Command named Cantora. Here they were to investigate how the owner of the town was running things. They were to go dressed as civilians, so people would suspect they were nothing more than young travelers; but in reality, they would be gathering information on the owner. If anything bad were to turn up, they would report it directly to the State, though Mustang doubted anything much would happen.
And this was why Mustang had given the job to Kimori, as a first mission. But of course, he had to be on the safe side, so he decided to send Edward as well. Not to mention, it would be good for Ed to take it easy for a while, since he been doing nothing but searching for the Philosophers stone for quite some time. But it frustrated Kimori a little, how Mustang didn't seem to have much faith in her. Thinking that she needed someone else to come with her, that she couldn't handle a simple mission. Though, it did reliever her that she wouldn't be saying good bye to Edward just yet. Their first impression hadn't been great, and she wanted another chance.
"Come on Ed, you seriously need to get up. It's getting late and Kimori's gunna be waiting." Al sighed as he tried to arouse his brother out of bed.
"She can wait." Ed grumbled as he dug deeper into his bed. He was still tiered from their previous journey and was in no rush to get out of bed. "Come on Al, just let me sleep a few more minutes!"
"That's what you said a few minutes ago! No come on, get up."
"Just leave me alone"
"No, then you'd sleep all day"
The two continued to argue for a few more minutes until Al finally prevailed. Ed slowly got out of bed and yawned. It was 6:30 and they were planning on leaving at 7:30. He could've slept longer in his opinion, but Al wouldn't allow it. He got dressed, and then headed down for breakfast.
The whistle of the train rang through to air as it approached the station. Kimori, Edward, and Alphonse were all waiting at the platform when it pulled up. They all boarded and were off to Cantora. They all sat silently for awhile before Ed broke the silence.
"Anyone wanna play cards?" he asked pulling out a deck of playing cards. Al shook his head.
"Not me, you always win!" he exclaimed.
"Ah come ya big chicken" Ed teased.
"I'll play" Kimori piped up. Ed looked at her and grinned devilishly.
"Ok, but Al's right, I'm undefeated." Ed warned. Kimori just smirked at Ed's confidence. She too was good at cards. As the game went on, the two made loud, rival-like remarks at each other, growing more and more competitive. Then suddenly, Ed happened to get a large strike of good luck and ended up winning the game.
"That was like a perfect hand at the end! There's no way that was just luck!" Kimori accused. Ed just sat back grinning, clearly satisfied.
"Don't feel bad, he does it to me all the time." Al reassured.
"Really" Kimori said, half to herself. Suddenly she reached out and quickly grabbed Ed's right arm. She looked inside the coat sleeve and sure enough, inside were tons of winning cards. But more than that, was his arm…metal?
"Ed, you cheater! Is that how you've been winning all this time?" Al yelled. Ed was about to say something but stopped as he realized Kimori was still holding his arm.
"Um, Kimori, my arm" Ed said to her. She quickly let go, embarrassed and looked down at her lap.
"S…sorry about that." She stuttered. Ed sighed. He could guess what she was looking at. He took off his red jacket, showing his automail arm.
"Is this what you were looking at?" he asked Kimori quietly. Kimori looked up and her eyes widen widened as she saw his arm.
"What happened to you?" she asked. Ed was silent. Kimori looked at Ed's face, seeing pain and sadness in his expression.
"Things happen, Kimori. And there's a lot that's happened that I wish I could take back." He finally said. She looked at Edward sadly. The boy's life faded deeper into mystery with every passing minute. Now she wanted more than ever to know the story.
The rest of the train ride was quiet, all three of them lost in their own thoughts.
They finally arrived at a small station, much smaller than the one they boarded at Eastern. Edward hopped off, turned to Kimori and Al, and grinned.
"Well, what do you say we find an Inn, put our stuff down, then look around the town?" he suggested cheerily, trying to shake to awkwardness they had experienced on the train. Kimori and Al both nodded and they headed off.
They walked down the main road observing the town as they looked for an Inn. The town was not fancy in the least; no paved roads or large buildings, but dirt paths and old style houses. Though there were plenty of people. Going in and out of buildings, walking up and down the streets, just living their normal lives. Edward grinned slightly. So far, the place seemed peaceful; a nice change from the busy streets of Eastern.
"Hey, there's an inn!" Kimori exclaimed, pointing to a good sized building.
"Lets go in then!" Ed cheered, and then ran off to the inn.
The lobby was vacant of any people except the man at the counter. As the three of them entered, the man's eyes lit up and a smile escaped his lips.
"Welcome visitors! Welcome to Cantora! Would you like a room?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes please" Al nodded. As they checked in, Kimori kept looking from Alphonse to Ed, back to Al again. The two seemed so different! Al was huge while Ed was puny, Al had manners, something Edward lacked, and Al was always calm and collected while Ed seemed to enjoy dancing to his own beat. There was just no way the two were related! Ed looked over and noticed Kimori looking at him oddly.
"What?" he asked. Her eyes widened then she looked to the ground, embarrassed.
"Nothing, sorry" she replied quickly. Ed just shrugged it off and took the key from the man.
"Let's go to our room then"
After dropping their stuff off at the room, Al, Ed, and Kimori headed out to fully explore the town. As they were walking down the street however, Ed's stomach growled. And it didn't just growl, it roared. He stopped dead in his tracks as it roared a second time. Kimori burst out laughing and Edward glared at her. As she was catching her breath though, Kimori's stomach growled as well, just as loud. Now it was Ed's turn to laugh. Kimori glared at him and he glared back. Suddenly it was a huge staring contest between the two.
"Come on guys; if you're both hungry, lets just find somewhere to eat." Al sighed, tired of the constant rivalry between his brother and Kimori.
"Fine" they both replied in unison.
They found a small restaurant and sat down to eat. Kimori ordered a sandwich while Ed ordered a huge amount of food; Al of course ordered nothing. Kimori giggled as Edward began to gobble down his meal. Ed heard and looked up. He gave her a questioning look and she just giggled some more. He swallowed then asked, "What?"
"You seem to be eating enough for the whole military Ed! Slow down before you choke or something." She replied. Edward just stuck his tongue out at her.
"I'm a growing guy, I need my food!" he claimed.
"Maybe some milk would help."
"Don't think so!"
"Seriously Ed,"
"Just can it, will ya?!"
Al just shook his head. Would these two ever get along, or would he have to deal with this through the entire mission?
Back on the streets, the three of them continued their tour of the town. As Ed had noticed before, the place seemed quite peaceful, making it doubtful that anything serious would happen on this mission. But then he happened to overhear someone's conversation.
"I don't like this, it's only going to cause bloodshed among both sides!" a voice said. The voice sounded like that of a young boy.
"I don't care if you like it or not, its how this town is! Now I don't want you to ever say anything like that in the presence of anyone ever again, do you hear me? If one of the higher ups were to hear about it, our family would be banned from Cantora, ratted out to the military, or worse." Another voice said, this one of an older man.
"But Dad, Casey would never tell anyone who would tell Lieutenant Krayton!" the boy protested.
"But she could accidentally say something around someone who might!"
The voices faded as Edward continued to walk, thinking about what he had just overheard. What did that kid mean by "it's only going to cause bloodshed among both sides" and the man saying that that was "just how this town is"? And who was this Lieutenant Krayton? Some thing defiantly wasn't right.
"Earth to Edward!" Kimori giggled as she waved her hand in Ed's face. He blinked then looked over at her.
"hu, wa…?"
"You were spacing out and nearly ran into somebody." Kimori chuckled.
"I did?" Ed asked, a bit embarrassed at how lost in though he had gotten.
"Ya, you looked real serious too. What cha' thinkin' about?" Kimori was now looking at Edward curiously. Even Al was looking at him.
"I just over heard something; something that gives me a bad feeling." Edward replied quietly, not wanting to gain attention.
"Perhaps we should talk about it later then, like back in our room where we have some privacy." Kimori suggested, suddenly serious. With that they continued on.
A few hours later they all went back to the Inn and headed to their room. Once there, Al and Kimori looked at Ed expectantly, wanting to know what he had overheard. Edward sat down on one of the beds and sighed heavily.
"Ok, so what I heard was something about bloodshed. My guess is they were talking about some kind of war with someone. And somehow, this is connected to a guy named Lieutenant Krayton, who ever that is."
"This peaceful place is planning a war? With who?" Kimori gasped.
"Not sure, but I can tell you one thing, this place isn't as peaceful as it appears to be." Ed replied solemnly.
"Should we report this?" Al worried.
"I don't think so, not yet at least. Who knows, it could be nothing. First we need to find out more about this Krayton guy and see if we hear anymore about a fight. But remember, we can't look too suspicious, if they find out we're from the military there could be problems." Edward said quite professionally. Kimori blinked. Edward was much different when business was at hand. Alphonse nodded.
"I'll go out tomorrow morning while you two sleep in. I'll find out all I can then meet back up with you guys here." He suggested.
"Wait, why are you the only one getting up early?" Kimori asked. "and you're not planning on going out in that armor again are you? I mean, we're supposed to look natural here, not look like we're ready for a full assault!" Both Al and Edward looked down at their feet silently, but Kimori was tiered of the secrets.
"Ok guys, spill it. I know something's up with you two and you're not telling me. Why is Al always in that armor and why is Ed's arm auto-mail?" she pried. She was determined to find out about these boys here and now. Ed looked up at Al and forced a laugh.
"Well al, I guess the gig is up." He said.
"Yeah," Al replied quietly.
"What gig?" Kimori asked. Edward turned to her, his eyes filled with pain. After a short but painful pause he spoke.
"It all happened about five years ago. We lived in a small town called Risembool with our mom. Our father, Hoenheim was never home. He was always off studying alchemy, and never came home to visit. With him being gone all the time, he worried our mother, which ended up being bad for her health. She eventually got really sick and she…she died. Al and I had always been interested in alchemy, reading dad's books and trying it out for ourselves. After mom died, we stopped making dolls and roses…we moved on to other things."
Kimori listened intently, absorbing all that Edward was saying.
"Al and I ended up going to Dublith with our teacher Mrs. Curtis to learn everything we could about alchemy. A year later, we returned to Risembool and got straight to work."
"To work? On what?" Kimori asked.
"Human transmutation."
Kimori gasped. She knew that human transmutation was strictly forbidden, and if the military found out, Ed and Al would be kicked out for sure. Not only that, she had never heard of anyone attempting and succeeding in the practice either.
"We paid a heavy price for our foolish actions, and for what really? What we got out of it wasn't even human! Alphonse lost his whole body and I lost a leg. I was able to bind Al's soul to that suite of armor with my arm as payment. That's why my right arm and left leg is auto-mail, and why Al's is always in that armor. It's because I was stupid enough to think I could do something that no alchemist had ever done before. It's my fault we're even in this mess." Ed's voice began to crack and he covered his face with his hands.
"No Ed, it's not just your fault! I tried it too. We took the same path and we bare the sin together. It's only your fault as much as it is mine." Al objected. Edward said nothing, leaving the room in an awkward silence.
And that's it for chapter 2! Kimori finally knows about Al and Ed's past! I had to get that over with before I could really go any where with this story so here it is! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! It would really help. ^^