The doll sat aside from Alphonse, her hands clasped gently over a small emerald brooch that sat upon her chest, held tight to her like the very life she lived with. That brooch, of the deepest emerald was brighter than any gem Al had seen in quite a while, even more so that the stones of infamy he had once desired to possess. She obviously cared a great deal about it, as there weren't a few moments where she hadn't either motioned to it, clasped it or held it in her palm since they boarded the train for East City.
Travelling again, they shared a compartment in the train together. Violet didn't speak much, simply watching and looking out the train's windows at the landscape as they rolled through the valleys, leaving the desert area of Liore to finally approach one of the larger cities in Amestris.
Alphonse was happy to be once again heading home, after a long journey himself heading out to North City it would be good to finally be home again and see his brother. It had been some time, and it was time to start making plans for a new journey, now that he had some strength. Al's mind wandered a bit… thinking and pondering what that journey would entail, and just distracting himself on the long train ride.
Violet finally perked up, looking at something in the distance on the ground, a small crater surrounded by what looked like glass.
"Sir…" she spoke up, raising a leather finger and pointing to the crater as they passed it in the train car to get closer to the site.
"Sir Alphonse, what is in that hole?" she asked, her voice calm yet a slight hint of curiosity piqued through the porcelain façade.
Al looked and saw the hole she pointed to.
"More than likely, it's a leftover from the war that just ended. I don't know if we created it or… some other alchemist did." He responded, mind overflowing with memories of the recent past.
"Al… chemy?" Violet asked turning back to Alphonse. "Do you mean that… scientific alchemy can produce damage like that… like a weapon?" she continued, somewhat alarmed at the discovery.
"Unfortunately, yes, it can be. We saw a lot of the fighting done with Alchemy actually, and many of our friends… they were put in harms way by it's use." Al looked down, sad and in thought from this statement.
"Its hard to imagine that mixing a few chemicals together can create such power." Violet said, turning her head back to the landscape beside them, now rich and dense with trees and the crater gone from view.
"Well there's a bit more to it yea, but application is everything. Brother was one of the most skilled Alchemists in all of Amestris until…" Al stopped speaking, choking up slowly and turning his head away from Violet as a blush started to come over his cheeks slowly, burning under his eyes and betraying his emotions.
"Does one lose the knowledge of how to perform such chemistry?" She asked instinctively. Thinking back on her own knowledge, in their homeland alchemy was a science dedicated to the study and manipulation of chemical elements and their physical properties.
"Well… not quite…" Alphonse replied, somewhat visibly shaken. Violet, unable to properly read this discomfort however was persistent in her pursuit of this answer. Al scratches his head softly and smiles gently.
"I think I might just have to… show you…" He finally said shakily. Shrugging off the past and the memories. He takes a small glass ornament and shows violet the ornament. Its beautiful colors glistening in the light that radiates into the car through the window, bouncing off and flashing rainbows across the car.
Violet peered at the small glass ornament, amazed at its delicate yet beautiful structure. Forgetting for a moment about whatever Alchemy was, and transfixed on the small ornament, and gently clutching her brooch as well, smiling softly.
"I want you to take this and break it." He said. Handing her the ornament, he expected her to try and snap a piece of it off or break a small part of the ornament's limb off. Handing it to Violet, he watched as she instantly smashed the ornament into pieces in a single powerful squeeze, breaking it into many small parts.
"I have destroyed the ornament as you have requested, Sir." She replies, handing it back with a sly smile on her face.
Al looked somewhat defeated, surprised at the sheer veracity she displayed in destroying the ornament and the ease she did, but remembering his own power and strength from when he was armor, he smiled a little. Clapping his hands slowly and placing them on the ornament, small shots of blue light came from his hands and crackled, tingling across the leather gloves violet wore and a brighter light shone as the ornament was reformed back to its original state.
Violet watched and as he lifted his hands, she sat transfixed, holding a fully repaired and whole figurine again. It's small glass features fully intact, as if she had never broken it in the first place. She looked at him, her Sapphire eyes confused but amazed as she held it gently and handed it back to him.
"This is amazing, that kind of power is like magic!" She elatedly proclaimed, never seeing anything like it before in her life. Al quickly recoiled at the statement, having had dealt with persons calling Alchemy a form of Magic in the past, it was hard to explain without much study like he and his brother had performed over many years.
"Its not magic, no, but it can certainly be seen that way from someone who's never seen it done before. Normally, you have to draw a circle around the object but I know a special way, where I can transmute without a transmutation circle. My brother… he was the one who figured it out first, and we both learned to do it after some reflection." He said, choking back the truth a bit and holding it in as to not startle Violet.
"I see. So, you can alter an object given its initial components and even reshape them as needed I would assume?" She spoke, retrieving her hands as Al plucked the ornament back from her hand and put it back in it's container her held with him.
"Yes, that's correct!" Al confirmed, excited suddenly by her understanding and that she wasn't immediately put off by his demonstration.
"Alchemy is a science dedicated to the study of an object and its smaller components. One of the most basic laws is 'The Law of Equivalent Exchange', to get something, you must put something of equal value to the result you are achieving to desire. So, if I want a glass ornament, I must already have all the pigments, the glass and other components that go into the final product, even if they are broken." Al explained, using his fingers to draw in the air a circle to help illustrate.
Violet hastily and eagerly followed his motions, watching as he drew circles and other things in the air and explained the nature of Alchemy to her. Blown away, she learned quickly, intrigued by this new information and impressed about the talents of their far-off kinsman from around the world.
"So, what are the limitations of this scientific art?" Violet finally asked. Al, seemingly exhausted from explaining things as best he could, sat and pondered for a few moments before replying.
"Not many…" He replied with a good bit of hesitation. "There are some limits to Alchemy but in most cases we generally follow the rule that you, you can't create something out of nothing." Al said, his tone slightly more somber.
His memories jumped… back to the promised day when he finally came back to earth with his body intact. Remembering all that he had done and been until that moment, the prices they had paid for that taboo. Al clutched his own arm, just trying to remind himself for a moment that it was still all real, not believing it at times. Regretting the decisions, he and Ed had to make, and everything that had happened in their own attempts to create what wasn't theirs to control.
Violet didn't react during this silence, giving Al the time to pause, and to think. She sat perfectly still, looking back at him with her cool blue eyes gently resting their gaze upon him. Thinking on what he had said, she started to imagine what the abilities they had could do. Being able to reform something from the broken pieces. Imagining the glass being re-forged and recreated instantly without a second hesitation was impressive enough. Looking down at her hands, she thought for a moment, that if it could have been done with glass and sand, what about… what about her hands?
Reaching out slightly she paused again… but… if they could make new hands… could… could it? The Major.
"The Major…" she muttered, looking at all with the determined eyes and tears of a broken child, clinging to a tiny hope. "The Major… could this… fix the Major?" She asked, clutching her brooch.
It had been nearly a year since he had gone missing in action, and had not been seen or heard from since. With this, if they could find him… find Major Gilbert, could they heal him? Could they fix him?
The questions, the desires, her own feelings clouded everything now and she turned to all with tears in her eyes, to meet tears of his own.
Alphonse looked at her, scared to answer and being caught so of guard by it. He didn't even really know how to answer, because he knew Truth, as did Ed. How to answer without causing her more heartache. Leaving Liore, he remembered Rose and her brother, the desire to see her brother again. This "Major" was very important to her, he could see it in her eyes she cared much for him.
"I'm sorry but Alchemy… it doesn't work that way…" He said quietly. "The science we know, we can't fix people or make a new body." He said, choking back some of his own memories to tell her this.
Violet understood immediately, retreating and clasping the brooch, her tears falling silently as she simply remembered him. She held it tight, as it was the only thing she had left of him and nothing in this world would be able to fix that or bring him back.
"If… if someone were able to find him though… his body was there… You couldn't?" she stammered out, trying again to see if there was a better way to ask the question.
"The Major, he still has to tell me something…" she said, and Al raised his hands.
"I'm sorry but that's not possible either! Once something dies, you can't fix it, and if you try, you pay a horrible price!" His fear getting some of the better of him, not wanting her to think there is a way to try. This beautiful girl shouldn't have to get involved with that kind of horror, and Al didn't want her to start believing that there was a way to bring people back from the dead. He and Ed knew far better than that and since getting their bodies back they have worked hard to keep that information to themselves.
Violet nodded, "I understand." She confirmed, drying some of her tears. "The payment for trying to fix someone would be too high to comprehend." She returned to her cold, almost robotic stoicism. Al, taken off guard by this woman again he stared at her, wondering just what she'd gone through in her life to have this kind of emotional discord in her.
"I'm sorry about who this… Major… is. It sounds like you care a great deal for him though." Al confided to her, unsure of what to say.
"Yes." She only replied simply.
"Is he… why you became… a writer?" He asked, trying to change the subject a little.
Violet looked down at the typewriter she carried with her. The case wrapped in a beautiful leather, bound with the brass fittings and holding in it the tool of her trade. She smiled softly and turned back to the window of the car, seeing the grass fields beside them. She could imagine herself in that field, running through the grass with Major Gilbert, doing training exercises in the military, and again as an older woman, had he still been here.
"Yes, Major Gilbert was the person who ordered me to follow the Lieutenant, who gave me a job when I left the Army. Though, he didn't really give that order, the Lieutenant did, and he only did so to help me, so I still see it as if the Major himself was looking out for me. I became an Auto-Memories Doll to understand what he told me when I last saw him." She looked at the typewriter once again, thinking of the clients she had taken in the past. Every client, etched into her memory, leaving her with a small piece of humanity. Each letter, engraving a small piece of itself into her very heart.
Alphonse watched as she looked down, and saw the shy, small smile flick across her lips. Whoever this Major was, he was very important to her.
"Did… did you love him?" Al asked, and her expression turned to one of shock.
"I do not fully know, what love is." She replied. "I became a doll, to answer that question."
Al didn't completely understand what she meant by that statement, but in any case, she was a talented writer and a gifted scribe. She had emotion and passion for what she did, and that's all that mattered.
"I'm really sorry if I brought up any trouble for you, I didn't mean to do anything to upset you!" He said this playfully and apologetically, throwing up his hands and feigning a smile. It appeared to set her a little more at ease.
Several hours had passed, the long train ride fraught with other small conversations but in the end, Al was left more confused than anything. The girl was obviously very focused, but he couldn't make out who exactly she was. He didn't want to pry further, not here on a train at least, and reserved his questions more for later.
"Sir." She finally said, breaking the long silence that had begun to overtake the car. Late into the evening, the auburn glow of the setting sun hitting the train, she looked over to Alphonse and in a quiet tone she repeated the word.
Al had started to doze off when she woke him, sitting up a tiny bit. "Sorry, I must have been more tired that I first though." Al stretched and looked over to the doll, sitting just as she had been when he first nodded off, almost as if she had not moved at all. He almost envied that statuesque ability, one he missed since being nothing more that a suit of metal.
"Sir, I believe we are arriving at our next destination." Violet said.
The train gradually slowed its pace and entered a very rural station, signs outside indicating end of the line. Al, standing as the train stopped grabbed his bag and walked to the edge of the platform, looking off into the distance.
"Resembool, this is our home. Mine and Ed's." Al stated with a fresh confidence. Glad to be off the train as well, Violet stood beside him looking out.
"It's, quite a beautiful town." She said, looking over the amber glazed hillside from the setting sun.
"Come on, we need to hurry otherwise we'll have to walk in the dark." Eager to get moving and head home finally.
Violet, her case and typewriter in tow headed out as they started down the path.
"So, I must ask. What exactly am I here to do?" She investigated. She had waited a time to ask what her purpose was, as the request that was sent long ago had been under some secrecy, just requesting the aid of a foreign transcriptionist. The nature of the request was fairly… foreign, itself, and Violet was not sure what she could offer at this time.
Al lifted his bag over his shoulder and thought for a moment. Even he didn't know exactly what she was coming for, he'd only promised Ed he would find the doll and retrieve her to the station.
"I honestly can't say, Brother was the one who requested your presence, and he was the person who arraigned for your travel here to the countryside. Beyond that, I really can't say I will be any help!" Alphonse feigned another smile, but he was curious as to why Ed would do such a thing in the first place.
"My abilities are highly sought, and I have had many requests since becoming an Auto-memories doll, however I would never have thought to be requested from someone so far away." Violet conceded, unaware of this person's influence or reach. "Was… was your brother in the military?" She asked, remembering the letter and the military address on the letter.
Alphonse turned to her, looking at her squarely.
"No, Brother… I mean Edward was a State Alchemist, and hated the military. We were often referred to as the dogs of the military, and even though he received a budget from the military and was called upon to act, we never truly were soldiers. That didn't stop us from getting into trouble… and being part of everything that happened here." Al didn't want to say more, turning his head to the side and looking towards a particular hilltop, with two stones rising into the shadows from on distant ground. Al closed his eyes, a single tear forming and dropping down his cheek. All of the memories, all of the burdens, the chaos, the sorrow welled up.
"I see." Violet responded regretfully, clasping the handle of her luggage and twisting it firmly. 'Dog of the military….' She thought, remembering her own title and being called that by the Captain and others in the Army and the Navy when she was fighting in Leiden.
"Don't get me wrong though, with the title of State Alchemist, Ed was treated as a Major in the army…" Al continued, and Violets eyes snapped up to his, blue Sapphires blooming in her head but then dimming.
"The Major… he held the same position as the Major?" Her shock quickly faded, remembering that their military must function differently than her own and that their ranks may not even be the same.
"Major… Gilbert, right?" Al guessed, trying to remember what she'd told him on the train ride into Resembool.
"Yes, that's correct." She confirmed, taking a few steps forward and continuing down the path.
"Well, he seems to be very fond of you. Is he waiting back home for you to return?" Al asked and as he did, she stopped again, this time tears flooding her eyes.
"I… I… the…." She sputtered, freezing with fear and pain, clutching the brooch firmly in her fingers and sniffling at the assertion.
"No, I'm sorry I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you upset… its just you talked so highly of him!" Al got worried, he hadn't meant to upset her, and he really was just trying to make short conversation on the way home.
"T-T-The Major is Missing-in-Action and… as… his… and as his weapon I failed him. He fell and it's my fault he didn't come back from the war…" She sobbed, nearly collapsing on the road.
Alphonse was at a total loss for words, unable to think of a way to console the poor girl he knelt down next to her and gently took her hands.
"I'm sure wherever he is, the way you talk about him and bring him up, he's thinking of you and must love you very much." Al hoped this would cut through, and for a moment, it seemed as though she was lost to him. But in a pause, she breathed slightly and looked up.
"Yes sir, though, I still don't know what love is I am trying to understand it. He told me he does but, I have been searching for that answer since I last saw him." She confided in Al and looked up to him, his shadow covering her whole body and his silhouette from the sun looking vaguely like The Major's, she slowed her own tears, finally able to relax and stand again.
Al didn't really understand what he'd said to set her off in the first place, but he was at least glad to have helped calm her down.
"I apologize, Sir. As my client I do not wish for you to worry about me, and I am here to perform my duties, nothing more…" Her words sounded as hollow as their meaning, but Al understood. He didn't want to correct her further and upset her, so he backed off just a hair, letting her stand and compose herself further.
"It's fine, really I should be the one apologizing, not you!" Alphonso recanted, stepping back and holding his hands up defensively. He hated upsetting someone, and seeing her start to get emotional concerned him greatly.
Violet looked at him, her dolls face starting to come on and become more expressionless again as she shook her head with the slight glimmer of a smile.
"Do not worry, Sir, I am fine. There is nothing wrong I am simply still learning and seek to keep doing so. "She replied, trying to reassure him. Her own emotions aside, trying to keep herself professional is just as important.
"Well I don't know about being your client either, I'm only taking you to see my brother, he's the real person you need to worry about. "AL explained, and Violet nodded.
"Then I shall be worried about him then." Violet responded, adamantly looking towards the road.
"No! That's not what I meant!" AL hung his head, smiling but somewhat defeated as she walked away from him.
Walking together, AL had some time to point out the rest of Resembool to Violet. Much of the town had been changed or worked on, and yet to AL, it looked so familiar. The scenery, the lands, the smells in the air, and even the trees in the distance. The rolling countryside was always the same, no matter how many times he saw it and every time he did, he wondered… why did I leave in the first place.
Violet couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty, and saying multiple times how she couldn't believe somewhere so beautiful existed so close to such damage. Each time, it ate a bit at AL, knowing the truth and knowing that he and his brother, were part of the carnage. It ate a bit at Al's soul, having to hear her, a foreigner speak of their home and country as it was. Hearing those words, and that information come from someone from so far away, it made him sad. He wished there were better ways to describe what had happened, but as it remained there was little to be said.
Alphonse continued to lament the state of their country for the rest of the walk, finally approaching the Rockbell Auto-mail shop. Relieved to finally be at their destination, Al took a moment to try and calm himself. Normally outgoing and very talkative, this topic and the history it involves, and present company had mostly exhausted him and mindful of this his goal was to just rest for a time.
Violet seemed unphased seeing the modest shop in the valley. An auto-mail mechanic that had been in business for many years, she thought of her own arms. Having not revealed the fact that she had her own metallic arms, she did not know that the people of Amestris also had access to technology to craft and attach metallic limbs in place of the damages of war. She began to become more eager as they approached, curious as to the storeowner and their wares they sold.
"Before we go in, I need to tell you something…" Al stopped Violet at the door, holding his hand on the door before opening it.
Violet stopped short, looking at him with the same expressionless face she carried most of the time, waiting for him to speak.
"Brother, Edward, he can be a bit eccentric at times. Like I said, I don't truly understand why he summoned you however as you arrived now, this is a bit of an interesting time for us. Please try to understand if he's a bit… odd at first. He's a good person, but… be careful what you say." Ed explained. Worried that Ed may not exactly remember setting this up, and Violet not knowing many of their trials he didn't want the two to start fighting right off the bat.
"Do not worry, Sir, I will keep my professionalism as an Auto-memories Doll at all times and you don't have to worry about things getting out of hand." Violet replied with a slight nod of her head.
Reassured slightly, Al opened the door and revealed the interior of Pinako's Shop. Passing by a sign, Violet struggles to read it, placing her hand on the lettering, embossed on the door.
"It reads "Rockbell Automail' if you're wondering." Al presumed she wanted to read it, but was unfamiliar with the words. Even though their spoken language had been very similar, it appears the written language from Leiden and Amestris were going to be quite different. Ed may have his work cut out for him if she has to learn to type…
Violet held her finger over the words, memorizing it nearly instantly and the letters involved. It felt so familiar to her, almost as if the languages were almost the same but just separated and developed from the same base. The letters looked… vague but familiar.
"ED! WINRY!" Al called out, walking into the store and looking for the occupants. As they stepped in, Violet was hit with a wind carrying many scents and memories. The smell of Metal was in the air, oil and lubricants drying across work benches, grease tubs and the faint smell of medicinal oils and cleansers. The store itself was very tidy, having very little in the way of seating yet still looking very inviting and extremely pleasant for an operating house and Automail fitters shop. She at the worst was expecting something much drabber more toward hospital grade but this felt… familiar. The homey feel of the shop was in a way relaxing.
Perched atop a beautiful hill, Violet stood at the doorway looking out over the rolling hills they just walked through, and the location felt as though she'd been there before. Remembering the view from the Leiden Clocktower, she recalled the memories of seeing it for the first time and could only smile and shed a tear.
"Major…" she whispered to herself. 'I wish you could be here to see this with me…' Her mind drifted as she stood, and before turning to go inside, she saw a hint of the glowing orange sunlight, striking right across her body from over the hilltop as the sun began to pass behind the tree line. The sight was so perfect, so pristine. So far from home yet incredibly beautiful and reminiscent.
She clutched tight to the Brooch and bowed her head down to it.
The brooch she would never give up, not for anything.
The only tie she had to a past she wants to leave behind.
Al searched the entire house finding nothing while Violet waited, going through the entire home calling out for Winry and Pinako. Defeated and rubbing his hands through his hair walked back downstairs to the parlor.
"I'm really sorry but it looks like no one's home right now, I don't know where they could have gone."
"That's quite fine, Sir." Violet responded, regaining her composure from the view she had taken in. walking in the door she quietly shut the door and admired the inside now, looking at pictures on the walls and some form of engravings.
Al took a seat at one of the tables, resting his feet and sighing. "Sure, is good to relax after a long walk like that. I'm still not used to walking under my own strength yet…" He said, casually and rubbing his sore muscles.
Violet turned to him and bowed. "I'm sorry for causing you any discomfort, Sir. It was not my intention to cause you any harm by forcing you to walk so far." Her head dipped low and Al instantly felt bad.
"No, its fine, it really is! Please don't apologize, see, I'm fine!" He quickly jumped to his feet, coming to her to reassure her, and accidentally kicked the table leg, tripping himself and falling into a flat sprawl on the floor. Dazed and a little embarrassed, he lay there and groaned on the floor.
"SIR!" Violet screamed, trying to catch him but missing and losing her own balance, falling and landing directly on Al's back with a violent *WHUMP!*.
Alphonse coughed instantly, the weight crushing his spine and making him groan for air. Trying to roll out from under her body he was pinned.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Violet yelled, scrambling to get back on her knees and off Alphonse.
Al simply lay there, holding his back and groaning unintelligibly. Her metal arms, heavy as they were, pinned directly into his ribs and were very sharp.
"Well Alphonse, if you were going to use my home you could have at least called first." A familiar voice called out as the door closed.
"Granny Pinako!" Al said shocked, a blush burning his cheeks being caught as they were without nary a warning that she was home. Scrambling to his feet and quickly walking over to her smiling.
"It's good to see you, Granny!" He greeted her softly with a genuine smile this time. Violet also stood and walked over.
"Well, aren't you going to introduce your friend, Al?" She asked, her pipe switching into her fingers as she walked further into the room towards the young lady. Observing her odd style of white flowing dress and blue cropped vest, she didn't look as though she were from Amestris to Pinako. The brooch in particular, was stunning the vibrant green emerald sitting high on Violet's chest made Pinako think back many years to when she had seen and held a gem that beautiful before. The memory was fond as she took her gaze to the young lady's face instead.
"Greeting Ma'am, I am Violet Evergarden." She curtsied slowly.
"You don't have to be that formal with me, though thank you for the gesture however." Pinako smiled.
"Thank you, Ma'am." Violet said shortly, and straightening her dress out slightly from the fall on Al.
"Granny, do you know where Ed is by chance? I was supposed to meet him here and bring Violet with me." Al asked, sitting down in a chair and relieving his legs for a moment, still honestly catching his breath.
"Edward?" Pinako asked curiously. "Yes, he took off about a day ago, he said he had some business in Dublith. I believe he said he was going to see Izumi Curtis, was it?" She paused, taking a slow pull from her pipe and looking up to Al, who appeared exasperated at the statement. "I'm sorry Al, but if you had called first he could have told you himself." She teased.
Al hung his head, defeated but understanding.
"Do you know when he's coming back?" He asked, running his his hands through his hair and sitting back and trying to sit a bit more upright.
Pinako tapped her hand on her hip and looked down, unsure. "He didn't really say when he left, he said he had business to take care of and it would take him a little bit of time to do. I'm sorry Al."
Violet just stood silent during this, unsure of what to do aside from travel to Edwards location.
"If you can guide me, I would like to travel and find him so that I may complete the contract for my hiring." Violet said quietly. Al and Pinako both looked at the young lady and blinked. Her dedication to her craft was certainly like Ed's own dedication to his research.
Al, finally asking to break the silence and to satisfy his own curiosity. "Violet, what is it that you were here to do?"
Violet shook her head slowly. "I am not sure exactly. The request was not specific to a particular task. I am not sure myself."
"Well…" Al started, looking to Violet and Pinako. "I guess the only thing to do is to take you to him. I haven't seen Teacher since after the Promised Day anyway, so it would be good to go and say hello." He stated, rubbing his head instinctively remembering many fights and sparring sessions he had the displeasure of being part of.
"Until you leave, you know you're free to the house as you see fit Al. I'm sure you and your guest would like to rest here until the train arrives in the morning." Pinako offered, starting to walk off into the next room. "You may want to go and visit your father as well, it's been a while since you've been home. Hohenheim would surely appreciate a visit." Her voice heavy she exited the room, leaving Al feeling slightly sullen and a little heavy hearted.
Violet stood by Al, and he draped his head into his elbow. She stepped forward a few paces and stood beside him, unsure how to assist.
"I think… I'm going to take a walk…" Al said, suddenly very burdened and emotionally distraught. Both of them appear to carry very heavy emotional burdens, and seeing Alphonse like this, it made her remember her own past. Nodding slightly, she placed her bag and typewriter down on the ground.
"If it is ok, I shall leave this here until we return?" Violet surmised that most likely she would not need it out and about. Al nodded, and wearily walked for the door.
They both traveled in silence, this time walking and moving slowly through the grass and the village, to a remote part of the village where no one goes often. The top of the hill, one of the tallest in the area overlooked a beautiful landscape swept by the rays of the setting sun. A landscape of golden fields and trees of bright and colorful auburn glistened as Violet and Alphonse trudged along, eventually stopping at a set of gravestones.
Al stopped and remained still for many moments, not speaking or saying anything, but clenching his fists together firmly. Violet looked upon those two headstones, the markers of the unfortunate passing of ones loved ones.
"Who…" Violet choked out slowly. "Who… are they?"
Al pointed to a grave on the right, a slightly weathered stone with two lines on it.
"This… is the headstone of our mother, Tricia. The other one… is our Father, Hohenheim." Al explained, and said tearfully, his eyes flooding with emotions and pain. Sobbing audibly and letting himself feel remorse and pain for everything that had happened over 10 years of time, Al couldn't help but be overwhelmed. Not visiting the grave of his parents since Hohenheim was buried, he'd spent a lot of his time trying to fix or undo the damage that had been caused.
Violet followed his hands and then knelt beside the 2nd headstone. Cleaner, newer and more recently erected, she could tell the grave had only been dug recently. The grass, it had only just begun to grow once more and the stone had no wear from rain or sun, no moss. She turned to look at Al, he instinctively turning away from her gaze.
Al remained silent another moment before taking a breath to calm himself. Kneeling himself at Tricia's grave, he looked down on the stone and the grass in front of it. Clapping his hands, and pressing them to the ground in front of the headstone, a bright faint blue light sprung to life, crackling and buzzing faintly as the ground glowed, and flowers began popping up and blooming right in front of Violet's eyes. A vibrant rainbow of tulips and wildflowers instantly grew and became mature in front of her eyes. The gesture was clear, even to her.
Alphonse smiled as the flowers bloomed over her grave. "After all this time… you never got to see what we could do, could you, Mother?" He said. His words were hard for Violet to hear, but staying by the graveside of Hohenheim, she didn't interrupt just yet.
"We did so much, we did everything we could to fix what we didn't understand. We were only kids when we lost her, but that didn't stop us from trying to honor and love her in our own way, even if we were reckless and dangerous in the process." Al explained, but Violet did not understand what he had meant.
"Sir, what is it that you wish to tell her?" Violet asked quietly.
Alphonse looked at her, puzzled visibly by her question.
"What do you mean by that, Violet?"
"What do you wish to speak to her, if she were here with you?" She asked, a bit more clarified this time.
Al pondered this for a time, looking up to the sky as the stars began to twinkle over her grave and light the dark sky with their distant radiance.
"I would tell her we were sorry. So sorry we were young, and too brave for our own good. We would have never tried to do what we did, if we knew what the consequences were. But had it not been for that, we would have never saved the world…" Al began to tear up again.
"What do you mean, save the world?" Violet was now even more lost. How could the loss of one parent lead to the salvation of the world?
Al choked up again, but this time he was genuinely scared. The knowledge he held in his mind, the regret and the pain of everyone that was hurt and everyone who helped them flowing back into his mind like thousands of daggers flying straight into him.
"10 years ago… before when we were kids… our mother died. We didn't understand what we were doing at the time, but, we learned alchemy. We were stupid, and Ed and I tried to… resurrect her. Bring her back to life and make her a new body." He said, gripping a handful of soil and drizzling it down onto one of the flower's petals and watching as it just bounced off onto the ground.
"We failed." He stated bluntly. "We failed, and as a price for trying to bring her back to life, I lost my body. Everything, head to toe. I should have been dead, but my brother, he took my soul and bound it to a suit of armor, and he lost both an arm and a leg in the process. I lived like that, I lived and remained as a soul bound to armor for 7 years, and this body, it… remained elsewhere.
"I'm sorry Mother… for everything. We tried to do the impossible. But if it weren't for that, we'd never have gone down the path we did. We would have never become stronger, and made the friends we did. We wouldn't have stopped the war that would have sacrificed us all."
"I'm sorry, but thank you."
Alphonse, his heart heavy but his mind at peace bent over her grave and smiled down at the bed of flowers that now reside on her grave.
Violet listened, wondering if his story was true, but discarding the thought and remaining stoic. Alphonse was very troubled, and clearly hurt by the actions that had been taken, but his words for his mother seemed pure. He had expressed true remorse for the pain that had been suffered, and the thoughts of bringing someone back to life… These were concepts that struck Violet and made a sick pit in her stomach. With her own desires and loss… to have a chance… to get the Major back…
Al looked up to Violet, remembering she was there, crouched next to the headstone of Von Hohenheim and smiled.
"My mother, Tricia, she was our world. We were naïve enough to believe that two kids from a rural town could bring life back to her. In the end, we learned what true love was, and suffering. We would have never had the strength to do what we did. I spend a lot of time thinking just how much we would never have been able to do, had we not been as strong minded as we had been. To commit the Alchemist's Taboo… We were in over our heads from the start, and that made us strong. Ed, he still thinks like an Alchemist… I admire him, I really do. Big brother, he feels the same, but he wouldn't change a thing. With what we know now, we appreciate the world that we live in much more, especially since it's still here because of him." Al concluded, and sat back, resting on the ground and looking down at the headstones.
"Sir, I am… having a hard time following everything you've said." Violet admitted. The words, she heard the words. But everything with Alchemy… transmutation… life and death… she couldn't possibly understand how difficult the world had become for these two young boys.
Al nodded, and after a few breaths leaned forward again over the grave and bowed to it slowly before getting up and moving to the other grave.
"Your words… for your mother." Violet started to see where he was coming from after digesting a bit of the information for herself. "You cared about her very deeply, and you miss her with a genuine pain in your heart."
"Yes. I don't think I could have said it any better." Al confirmed, a prominent and confident smile returning to his face.
"Have you… have you ever written any of this down or expressed this?" Violet asked. She felt more concerned for his own self. The story he told, it was dreadful. The emotions he had that sprung across his face were… vibrant yet distant at the same time. Violet was having a difficult time reading his body language and his words sometimes didn't make sense, but through it all, the simple feeling of remorse came through loud and clear, even to her. She understood and resounded with the simple emotion of remorse more than anything he had said to her thus far, and the weight in his words felt as though it would crush anyone with which they had not traveled the weight of his shoulders with.
Violet was moved by his passionate, yet subtle explanation of the history they had gone through. Alphonse, though feeling sad, appeared relieved. On their train ride here, he always had a small air of… discomfort. Violet had believed it was because of her, a foreigner, and someone from an unknown land. But it turned out, he was simply discomforted by his own thoughts, and the fears of returning home for what it sounds like the first time in a long while.
Alphonse stood at Hohenheim's grave, looking down at the tablet of stone and reading the name over and over.
"Dad…" Alphonse muttered, with a smile still on his face. The father he'd always wanted, and the father he'd dreamt of. He hadn't understood it then, but he did now. Looking to Violet, it finally clicked that he had been going on and on and she may be uncomfortable.
"Do you want to return to the house? Its probably much more comfortable than out here with the graves of my parents." He said, his weary smile returning.
"No, I can stay if that is what you wish, Sir." She replied.
"Please, just call me Al or Alphonse. I was never in the military like my brother." He said, finally showing his disapproval of the sign of respect.
For Violet, he was just being more confusing but his request would be honored like any other. She rose silently, standing beside the grave and walking towards Al.
It had gotten very dark, and the moon was shining bright over them now. It was surprising how much time had passed with Alphonse recounting his memories and talking over the graves of his parents.
"I wonder… if brother ever came to visit them?" He said, silently turning his head and walking away from the site. His back to Violet he slowly walked down the hill.
"We'd better get on back, I'm sure you're tired from your journey like I am.".
Violet silently complied, falling in behind Alphonse and following his steps heading back to the house just a few hills away.
The Rockbell Automail Shop looked somewhat different at night, with Pinako's single light shining through her window, the house and shop looked oddly vacant. Not the homey, and inviting place it was when it was lit up and shining in the sunlight. Did everything have a dark side in this land? Violet couldn't place her finger on the thought, but something seemed off, ever since she got to Amestris, a nagging almost… insatiable feeling had sat with her the whole time.
Just what happened in this land to make it so… broken?
Violet shook off the thought, Al was a person she was barely beginning to understand and didn't want to think poorly of him just because of some of the things he had in his past. Most of what he told her, what he opened about was very… deep and moving, positive yet… sorrowful. Her understandings of the emotions were still vague and felt distant but, she felt moved by his words.
Walking in Al immediately went into another room, leaving Violet in the parlor alone. She stood for a few minutes, looking around in the inside again and really taking in the room. Dark and mysterious now, the inviting clinic and home had turned sour somehow, and she felt a little on edge from it. Walking over to a lamp, she lit the lamp slowly and let it's burning orange flame seep out and expand into the room.
The small light danced for her, swirling in its glassy container like a sprite. She smiled, feeling a little more at ease as she looked around at the room she was in. In the corner, she noticed a small box, similar to the one she carried her typewriter in. Walking over she dusted it off, pressing her fingers to the sides of the casing. It was certainly old, and hadn't been used in many years, opening it up she found a pristine, and immaculate typewriter. This one of course, had a different key binding for the local language.
Her fingers, expert at their craft now, traced over the keys, an she began feeling much more comfortable where she was. Taking her hands, she outlined each key, looking at the symbols and clattering them with the tips of her fingers. The keys felt familiar, like riding someone else's bicycle. Not exactly unfamiliar but strange.
Taking a cloth, she dusted the case off and the keys, revealing the rest of the device. It was beautifully crafted, black enameled sides with gold embossment across its casing. The lettering was done in all steel, and hand painted with what appeared to be Calligraphic letters. Pressing down on one of the keys, it moved similarly to her own, but required less force to press down the keys than she was familiar with.
As she rested her hands on the device, she sighed gently, thinking about her current company. His story, so vibrant and soulful, yet so distant and damaged. She'd been here less than a day, but her experience left her tired and ragged. His story and their travels were plenty on her mind, and without any thought at all, she started pressing more keys. The familiar clicking and clacking of the device almost soothing, even though there was nothing getting typed now.
Alphonse in the other room heard the clacking and was confused. Grabbing the piece of bread from the shelf, he returned to the other room, seeing her in a pose in front of the old device, clattering it gently. He didn't interrupt at first, seeing her tinker with it, turning the dials on the side to adjust it, checking its functions and working it like a true expert.
After several moments of being watched, Violet finally caught sight of Alphonse in the distance, holding a piece of bread in his hands. Instantly feeling a bit of guilt for exploring without permission, she stood and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, s—Al." She confessed, her hands clasped in front of her.
Al was instantly put on the defensive again, this girl, she had him thrown for a loop sometimes. Waving his hand and smiling defensively, he wafted away her fears.
"It's fine, that hasn't been used in quite a while. At least, I don't know of anyone who would have. Granny loves writing her notes in hand and Winry… she's been off apprenticing again so it's been sitting there. Its fine! Really!"
Violet nodded, returning to her normal stance and feeling somewhat relieved.
"I was just thinking, that if I am going to be able to fulfil my mission here, I may need to learn and use a typewriter that is from this land." She said, referring to her own she brought with her.
Al looked behind him and pointed to it, and Violet nodded in confirmation. He reached down and picked it up, the device much heavier than those they had in Amestris, much more efficiently designed and lighter. With an unconfident 'umph', he lifted it to the table, impressed that she had carried and moved it for so long with little relative difficulty.
Violet moved the other one over to the table as well from the corner of the room. Sitting them near side by side and comparing the two devices. The number of keys was almost exact, many of them falling in the same places, and some of the symbols appearing familiar yet different.
"Would…. You…" Al started lifting his hands a bit.
"Would you like me to try… and teach you?" He finished, although a bit more confident now.
Violet looked at him and nodded with a smile creeping across her lips.
"I would enjoy that greatly, Alphonse." She confirmed, sitting at the new typewriter and taking a position for typing. Sitting down now and getting comfortable, she removed her gloves for the first time, and Alphonse saw something that sent chills down his spine. Familiarity burst forth from his mind and his legs almost gave out.
She had Automail hands.
OOC: Thank you for everyone who reviewed and favorited my latest story. I've really enjoyed writing this one more than some of my past attempts, and I have really worked hard at making this one of my most serious works to date.
On a less serious note, I really wanted this out yesterday, as a birthday present to myself but, that didn't happen. I wasn't satisfied with it, and I wanted to get it finished proper the way I saw it. So today, here it is.
Thank you again for really taking the time to read these, and I want to keep publishing updates to this frequently because I do have a very particular framework I want this story to fit inside and I'd love to see you all read til the end!
