Hehe, I know I should be writing in Part 3 of my other fic...but damn, I just got so much isnspiration to be writing this one now. Sorry guys. XP
Anyway, there's quite a twist in this one, let's see how you like it. :P
Chapter 3
Ed sat at the beer hall with Al and a few of their buddies from work. After their pay cheque's, they had been completely caught up in their bills and food was once again being put on the table every night. Except for that night, the one in which they decided to eat at the hall again. Ed was just a sucker for those litlte white sasuages, it couldn't be helped.
He had decided against drinking, Ed was sensible like that at times, though few and far between, he just wanted a good hot meal that he didn't have to make himself. Al on the other hand, even after the pain he and Ed had both suffered after his birthday, had a stien filled to the brim with delicious beer. "I don't know how you can do that." Ed said as he enjoyed his food.
Al meerly shrugged. "Bad memory. Stubborn. Alcoholisim. Take your pick." He smiled as he sipped his drink.
The meal passed uninturupted and was quite delicious, Ed's favorite cook was on, he always knew how to make the food just right. Satasfied that all was well, they got up to leave. Ed and Al were parting ways with the guys from work and were going to head home, but on the verge of getting up to leave, the door to the pub opened with a loud thud. None other than Breda walked through the door, his angry Scottish scowle everpresent.
Ed ducked behind Alphonse. "What does he want? Hope it's nothing to do with me."
"What can I do for you?" The bartender piped up with a smirk on his face. "Someone not pay ya?"
Breda scanned the floor for his target, and as soon as he set eyes on Edward, he began approaching him quickly. "Edward. Come on." Breda spoke only English, so he only confused the rest of the bar with his words.
"I paid you already. I don't want any trouble. " Ed said as he stood his ground on the opposite side of the table, ready to take off at a moments notice.
Breda shook his head. "It's nothing like that. Mama-san wants to meet you." He said with a smile.
Ed stood up. "Mama-san?" Ed rememberd that Japanese brothel's owner's usually went by mama-san or papa-san. 'She must be Japanese then.' Ed nodded. "Alright...but why?"
The red haired man shrugged. "Something about a job for you. Come on, I don't want to have to drag you."
Ed turned to his co-workers, Al included. "I'll be back later. Don't wait up for me."
Al planted his hand firmly on Ed's shoulder. "Don't waste any more money, we'll get kicked out if we don't have the rent ready." He said with a stern look on his face.
Ed nodded. "No worries. I won't." He turned to the Scottsman and smiled. "Let's go." He really didn't want to work for such an organization, but he would at least have to go down and meet with this 'Mama-san' lest he recieve a beating.
There had been a large section of Germany in which he had never visited. It was a big place and he'd only lived there for, give or take, two years; but in his own city, there was an entirely different side that he had not had the 'pleasure' of meeting. It was the seedy underbelly side, the one with the stand alone hookers with visible stitch wounds and tracks on their arms that could ride a train. The side of town with all the drug dealers who's cold stare was enough to make Ed want to take his chances and run.
Be that is it was, he digressed and walked close by Breda. It was so strange, he knew this man, but yet at the same time, he didn't. It was the same way when he met Alphonse Heidrich. He was 15 at the time, and strikingly similar to what Al would have looked like, provided he was given the chance to grow up. He also found it strange to have met Roy, or whatever his name was, and Breda all in the same country; surely he imagined they'd all be a little more widespread. Was it destiny for him to know all the people he knew on the other side of the gate in this world too? He shook the thought from his head as he continued.
Looking up, it was like seeing a diamond in the rough, a shimmering ray of light seeping into a darkend room; it was the place on the card. 'Halle der Spielzeuge' it read on the front in big red painted letters. It seemed as though they were going for a ribbon effect, it looked nice enough, espically with all the juxtopozed materials surrounding it.
"I feel out of place." Ed said as Breda guided him in through the front door and across the floor which was crowded with multitudes of people either flirting with a girl, or already engaging in acts that were best left for behind closed doors.
Breda laughed. "I do too sometimes. It's best not to make eye contact." He said as he finally managed to get them both through the crowd. "Just be humble around Mama-san, she's really good at spotting fear or disgust." He opened the door that led to a dark hallway behind the main room where the fron tdoors were. The Corridoor was dimly lit and a few, from what Ed could tell, hookers lined the halls, it seemed as though they were waiting for someone.
One of the shorter ones, not too much shorter than him, though she did seem to be a few year younger, approached Edward and tugged at his collar in a seductive way. "So you're the client, I hope." She gazed at him with her vibrant green eyes, they stood out quite well in the dark, espically against her long dark, chestnut brown hair.
Ed became quite uneasy. "Sorry..." He spoke as he removed her hands, yet another face he was familiar with staring back at him.
She looked pissed off to say the very least. "Ugh, I hope it's not that old guy again. Disgusting." She folded her arms and quickly averted her gaze.
Ed kept on walking right behind the Scottsman, as he weaved his way past the girls. "Here we are, now remember what I said." They stood in front of a rather large door with a sign written in bright red ink, buch like the banner outside the building, 'Mama-san'. Ed swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Mama, Edward is here to see you." Breda said as he walked around the desk and stood at her side.
A rather large safe was blocking his path and he was unable to see who exactally he was meeting with. "You called for me?" Ed said, a nervous tone in his voice, he wasn't sure if she spoke English or not, but if Breda spoke ti to her, he was sure that she would understand.
"Yes." She said from the opposite side of a safe, it looked as though it was hoarding a whole lot of cash. Her voice sounded strikingly familiar, but Ed just couldn't quite place it. "Edward Elric was it?" She inquired as a thin line of smoke was blown out form behind the open door of the safe and disapated into the air.
Ed could still catch the remenants of the smoke hanging around him, it was quite acrid. He held back a cough. "Yes Miss." He said in an unsure tone; he had heard everyone refer to her as 'Mama-san' so he was a little weary as to weather or not to call her that. Was it a lingo that only they were familiar with, or was it generalized for anyone? Either way, he stuck with what he knew, miss, tried and true.
She laughed a little. "Just call me Mama-san. After I visited Japan, I took a liking to that nic-name." She said as she swung to door of the safe shut and walke into plain view. "It makes me feel a little closer to my emploies, Edward." She smiled at him.
All the color washed from his face as he saw his own mother's face staring right back at him.
