Sorry, guys! This is so late, and it's so short! The next chapter will be coming very soon! I wanted to make this a lot longer, but I couldn't work out a way to connect the two chapters and still make the day flow! Ugh! Too many ideas!
"Have fun, brother!" Al wished cheerily, a warm smile on his face as he left his elder sibling at the door to his classroom (the silent undertone of "Please behave!" was blatantly ignored). With a departing wave, he turned to head for his own class.
Sighing heavily, Ed shifted his borrowed exercise book in his arms and opened the door to find the rest of his classmates already seated. The teacher, an old Ishvalan woman, frowned and crossed her arms disapprovingly. "You must be the new student the principal was telling me about."
Unnerved by her uncalled-for callous attitude and the seemingly-unending pairs of eyes staring at him, Ed muttered in reply, "I—uh—yes, ma'am…"
Glancing out at the sea of near-adults watching him like hungry vultures, Ed inwardly grimaced. If there were one thing he did not understand, it was teenagers. He himself had been robbed of the opportunity to be one, after all, and so age and physique were truly the only factors linking him to the students in this—his—class.
"Late," the women tsked, "but never mind. Come up here." He did so with carefully measured movements, golden gaze on his unsettlingly attentive classmates. "Now, go ahead and tell the class about yourself."
"My name's Edward, but call me Ed," he said. Peering back up at the teacher, he had to fight to keep the grimace off his face. "May I sit down now?"
"What's your last name?" she inquired impatiently.
"Elric."
"Okay, and where are you fr—? Wait! Elric? As in, the Edward Elric?" Her expression matched the brothers' homeroom teacher's when she'd made the connection.
Ed mentally steeled himself. Adoring civilians were familiar territory, but a teacher and teenage classmates? Well, here goes nothing!
"Yep!" he confirmed confidently. "That's right!"
A collective murmur spread through the class. Edward Elric, Alchemist for the People, was practically a household name by now!
Ed was expecting his teacher to praise him, like many adults before her had, but instead she pursed her lips and asked tersely, "The Fullmetal Alchemist?"
The boy nodded, gaining more whispers.
"Do you remember," she said, practically growling, "Robert Mitchell?"
Ed felt himself pale. Of course he did… How could he not? Mitchell's face, twisted with fear as the light left his eyes, kept Ed awake at night.
When he answered at last, it was so close to silent he didn't even realize he'd spoken.
"He was my brother," the Ishvalan condemned.
Again, the many eyes ate into him. But they didn't know the truth. How could they? Gate, Ed hated himself right now! He was at Al's school, damn it, and the first thing he did was find out he killed one of his teacher's brothers?
"Take your seat, Elric!" she hissed.
He inclined his head again, this time mechanically, and very nearly sprinted to the vacant desk at the back of the room.
This was going to be one long hour…
