Chapter 3: Alchemy

The next day was pretty much the same as the one before: awkward pauses, silence, fighting, working, and doing nothing as well, but I was occupied. I didn't know what to do first! I hadn't gotten to bed until very late the night before, after dinner, but woke up so early the sun was just rising and I was the only one awake. Since I couldn't get back to sleep, and had already inspected the whole house, top to bottom—except Winry, Pinako, and Ed and Al's rooms—there wasn't much more for me to see there. But I still got out of bed and wandered around the house to see everything again. Even after stretching my legs for a half an hour, I still couldn't get back to bed. I thought about venturing as far as outside in the yard, and maybe even farther.

I took a great amount of reluctance before walking over to the door as my feet made an immense amount of noise patting on the wooden floors, and was scared half to death by the cold wet nose of Den who wanted to go outside too. When I opened the door and the cool morning air brushed my face, I knew I could not turn back in.

Den pushed past me to find a place to pee, but I wasn't sure which way to go first. I'd seen every inch of the Fullmetal Alchemist world top to bottom so many times I knew where everything was without a guide. I wanted to go over to the Elric house before they burned it down since I knew it was coming. But then I wondered what they'd do if they saw me over there… Until I concluded they didn't know that I knew everything about them, so they would think I was just being curious and trying to find out how I gotten there in the first place. Though, truly, I actually didn't care. I'd stay in Amestris forever if I could decide to. Then I remembered my little slip-up last night…

'What did they think of me now?' I wondered. But they weren't awake, and the sun was only at the tip of the trees, so I decided to go down to their house anyway. I didn't have any shoes on because I hadn't had any when I was sucked into my computer—however the heck that happened—and the road was wet and muddy from the morning dew, but I didn't need any.

I followed the road to their house as if I had been there before. There wasn't a sound the whole way. Not birds, people, animals, nor swishing of the trees or grass. But as soon as I set on the road toward the Elric house, Den tailed right behind me as if I were one of her people. I was glad someone was coming with me, but I couldn't really tell if Den liked me that much. (Like Edward, dogs always trampled me. But I still liked them anyways.)

As we strolled farther I could hear Den's automail leg squeak a little, but he didn't pay it any mind and kept ambling forward, getting farther and farther ahead. I sighed; I didn't even know why. Even though I was in AMESTRIS, I'd met EDWARD ELRIC—and Alphonse too, but he's just a suit of armor with no expressions what-so-ever (don't tell him I said that)—AND I was going to his house at the moment, I couldn't help but feel sad. Not for myself, but for Ed and Al. They had gone through so much, and would go through so much more, and yet… I could do nothing for them. Even when I was right there.

I wondered if Winry and Pinako felt the same way, or if they didn't feel as much like that as I because they were the ones who helped them every day…

I looked up to see the house getting slightly closer, but not much. Den was now at least 20 feet in front of me, but acted as though I wasn't there and kept trotting on.

Ever since I had gotten to Amestris I'd barely said a word to anyone, and then when I had, I'd just made a fool of myself as always. Ed and Al probably thought I was some psycho by now. I'm sure Al told Ed that I'd known about his body. But I hadn't seen them since I sent myself to bed last night, making sure I didn't say anything else dumb, so maybe they had already forgotten about it.

I approached the house cautiously as if it were a sleeping lion, so did Den. I was sure Den hadn't been there since Ed and Al had made that… thing that was supposed to be their mother, so I'm sure she was shocked when she could smell its remains buried in the yard. Sure enough, Den sniffled around the yard. When she must've found the spot, she scrunched her nose, yelping quietly, and returned to my side, but I was sure not to be loving.

I climbed up the few porch steps and opened the door; it squeaked. I was kind of surprised it was unlocked, but then I remembered the last time anyone came near here besides yesterday was Roy and Riza when they were looking for Ed and Al. Only to find…

That brought up a thought, what about Roy and Riza? Would I get to meet them too? I remembered hearing Winry yelling at Ed about getting his automail sorted out before he went to East HQ to become a State Alchemist—

Hold on, that brought up something else. What the hell happened to Ed's alchemy? I thought about it for a second trying to stare past the darkness that aligned the doorway, and then remembered that too. Ed didn't use his alchemy again until his limbs were in full working order, so even he hadn't preformed for a while. As for Al, who knows…? I knew he couldn't transmute without a circle yet, but… Well, it didn't really matter. I took a step into the dusty house, leaving muddy tracks behind me. The dust on the floor stuck to my feet.

Den shadowed me quietly as if listening for any life inside the house, expecting to see someone she knew. I got sad because I knew there was no one living here anymore.

Right as I walked in, the sun gleamed from above the trees, and I could see inside the house much better. There were three photos on the table directly in front of the door… I wanted to pick one of them in particular up, but also didn't want to disturb the dust any more than Den and I already had. I just stared. There they were: the four of them. The only photo with the four of them. All four Elric's smiling, happy, except, Hoenheim…

I felt my hand shaking as it reached for the photo ignoring my brain that told me not to touch. I grasped the side of the frame. The dust that had gathered on it swirled around Den as I felt even sadder, but when the dust went in her nose the dog sneezed which made my hand shudder, and let go of the picture. I heard a loud crack as it hit the ground, but did not see any glass on the floor. I picked up the photo again, seeing it was now fractured across the front. Feeling sick to my stomach, I looked quickly over to Den, who just wagged her tail at me as I did.

I sighed again and set the photo back on the table next to the others. Then I looked for a light somewhere, anywhere, to turn on so I could travel deeper in the house without tripping over Den, thinking it was the dead body of the thing Ed and Al made. But even the lights I did find didn't work anymore.

I groped my way feeling every wall for a switch somewhere, and jiggled all of them. Finally I realized windows were invented for a reason, and tore the blankets down that were covering the windows, knowing they were there to block peepers.

All of the dust powders whooshed around Den and I as I ripped every cloth off of every window, making both of us sneeze horribly, but at least we could see.

I saw nothing left in the kitchen. All of the cupboards were cleaned out, and there were nothing except pictures, frames, and old blankets and couches in the living room. Even the rooms were basically empty. Only beds, bedside tables, dressers, and nothing else.

Since I didn't want to go back to the Rockbells' just yet, I looked through every room, down every hall, and up every staircase even though there wasn't much to see, until I found the door leading to the basement. I wasn't sure if there were any lights down there, and Den just seemed to follow me aimlessly wherever I wanted to go since I was the only other being in the house. I sucked back my fear of the dark, Pride, and many other things, and walked ever so slowly down the stairs with my trembling hands on the railing.

Just the walk down the stairs took hours as it got darker… and darker… quieter… and quieter… dustier… and mustier, and even Den seemed to be hesitant to go down.

I reached the bottom, and heard the sound of air running through the empty place. I was frightened to say the least, but I stayed close to Den—who also stayed close to me—and was able to find a light. I jiggled the switch; nothing. I tried the one next to it, success! But I screamed as soon I saw the floor. Den jumped back ready to run as I did so, but seeing there was nothing living in the room, stayed put—which I was glad for.

I had totally forgotten how Roy had known Ed and Al tried human transmutation: there was a giant splotch of blood in the very center of the study room, and around it was the circle with old runes etched in neatly. Beside the circle and the lake of blood, there lay another pool of red. I knew whose blood that was. And as I suddenly realized where I was, and what had happened in this very room, in this very place, in this very world only a year ago. My legs felt rather numb, and wobbly. My head began to spin, and my eyes started to water, and as I sank to my knees amidst all of that blood, I finally realized how sad it all really was, as tears ran down my cheeks that I could not stop from coming…

Ed yawned, but could not sleep. His automail was creaking and aching which made that impossible.

Alphonse wasn't in the room at the moment, but was probably at some place to pass the endless hours of nighttime.

He looked around. There was no way he could get back to sleep with this pain, so the only thing to do was walk it off. Gasping as he did so, Edward sat up trying not to curl into a ball from the immense pain, but stood up so fast he teetered for a moment and let out a groan. Catching his balance, he half limped to the door, and extended his not-hurting left arm toward the gold handle. The door opened; the house was hushed. There was no sound from anything.

Not even Den's creaking automail was anywhere to be heard or seen. He looked everywhere, but she wasn't in Winry or Pinako's room either. While looking for Den, Edward also noticed that that girl they found on their porch was gone, too. He thought her name was… Nelru? …Or something… he wasn't really paying attention when Al had told everyone, or when she had told everyone. And besides, what had she said to Al that made him give Ed the silent act? Well, whatever it was, it seemed to shock him, so Ed didn't know whether to like this girl or not. And how had she gotten on their porch anyway? What was it she wasn't telling him or anyone?

Not like he had talked to her much, anyways, but when he had, she seemed so very interest in him. She'd also seemed really interested in everything else in the house. Like she either knew what it was, or she had never seen anything like it… Or maybe even both.

He walked outside. There wasn't a sound out there either. It was still pretty early, too… Ed paced around the whole Rockbell property, but still no sign of Den or the girl. Where could they have gone? He scratched his chin.

'Where could they have gone?' The thought struck him: the girl probably went to his house with Den following, to see how she had gotten there… What would he do if she had gone into his house? She'd see how abandoned and dirty it was, and… the blood on the floor still had to be there… Would she ask him about it? What would she think? Would she know, just as Roy had, what had happened there? …Edward didn't have an answer, and didn't really want one either. But then he thought she probably wouldn't know what was on the ground if she could barely even remember her own name, and wouldn't've gone downstairs or in the whole house, anyways…

I rubbed my eyes as I shut the front door with a loud snap. It startled Den slightly, but I wasn't scared until I heard footsteps behind me. I baulked for a second, but Den was wagging his tail at the visitor, so I turned around with tense shoulders. I released them to see a face I knew. I didn't know if he made me feel more secure or nervous, but I was glad he was there. Even if he was giving me a foul look as he saw all of the curtains that had been in the windows were gone, or ripped in half. Then he noticed my eyes were red, and that my hands were still shaking on the door handle.

"Wh-what did you see in there…?" he asked in a quavering voice.

I stood frozen with my hand magnetized to the door handle, until I knew that even if I told Ed that I had seen the blood on the floor he probably wouldn't suspect me to know what it was.

"Uh-uh… I saw downstairs—if that's what you mean," I tried to say in a confident voice. Ed just stared at the ground as if he knew I knew. I felt really guilty all of sudden. I felt as though I shouldn't've gone into the house, and I shouldn't be here in Amestris just to cause Ed and Al more pain and trouble, and I definitely shouldn't want to stay here for the only reason I wanted to…

Edward didn't ask if I knew what it was, but he turned around holding his arm to his side and called Den to follow. Den looked at me, but then followed her real master down the path to her home.

I felt tears welding in my eyes again. 'No! You are not going to cry!' I told myself. 'You can't cry, because then he will know you know… even though that's what you want…'

I wiped my eyes fiercely, and followed Ed and Den home.

"And then this is to shine all of our metal pieces once we're done welding them!" Winry explained holding a shin guard in my face. "But I don't usually do that part, Granma does…" She gazed at all of the screws, bolts, and other tiny and large metal pieces on her desk. Her thoughts on her customers awaiting their orders. Waking from her stupor, she quickly jumped across to grab the wrench that was next to me. "I've just thought of something! HEY, GRANDMA!" she yelled making my ears hurt again. She rushed out of the room to go find Mrs. Rockbell.

Feeling awkward left in her room all by myself, I tottered out of the crowded dark place, and into the hallway. I walked straight forward to the sunny windows at the other end of the hallway, and looked out one of them. I didn't have much time to watch the grass sway, because I heard a bong and another loud annoying shriek outside.

"HEY! YOU! DON'T MESS UP MY AUTOMAIL! YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED ON THAT!"

"HELL, IF IT'S HALF AS HARD AS YOU THROW A WRENCH I'D BE SURPRISED!"

I rushed over to a closer window to see what Ed and Winry were fighting about now.

"Nngh, for real! You could try acting more like a girl and less like a gear-head," Ed complained, his voice muffled by the window. He held his head where Winry's wrench had whacked him.

"If you think I'm a gear-head that's fine, but you'd better get used to it!" Winry hollered putting one hand on her chest as she continued. "Cause as long as you're wearing my automail you're stuck with this 'gear-head' whether you like it or not!"

Ed clocked around to give her a panicked and terrified gaze. Alphonse giggled behind his back, and so did I.

"So, Ed, what did you do to your automail today?" Pinako asked; I listened.

"He ruined it! That's what!" Winry yelled with her mouth full of pork as pointed her knife at him.

"I put it back the way it was when I was done, didn't I?" he asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He avoided her and everyone else's eyes at the table while picking at his food.

"Did you transmute your automail with alchemy?" Pinako said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't see a circle out there, or did you wipe it away?" she asked.

"Oh, you see I don't need a circle to transmute… anymore, anyways." Ed explained, now looking at her.

"And why is that?" she asked again, but Ed didn't answer her because of what he had seen there, which he spoke to no one about—not even Al. Since I could tell Winry, or Pinako, or someone was going to bother him until he answered them, I decided to answer for him trying to make up for all of the bad thoughts and feelings I'd brought up in the last day.

"It's because the hands put together in front of you symbolizes a circle, and Ed makes up for the runes himself by what he knows about alchemy," I informed the table. They were impressed, and stared at me with mouths open. I looked back down at my plate. "It's just something I picked up," I murmured to myself feeling kind of big-headed.

"No it isn't!" Al assured me. "That isn't something that even the advanced Alchemist would know! How do you know that?" Alphonse inquired hysterically, now staring at me even closer along of the others.

"Uh… uh… I know a little Alkahestry…" I said quickly, dropping my fork, and shaking my head and hands frantically, even though no one knew what that was. "I… I only know how to read the Dragon's Pulse in the Earth—sometimes—that's all!" They still gaped at me.

"Uh, what's that?" Winry asked ignoring her dinner.

"Um… it's the pulse of the Earth that flows to every living thing, giving it energy."

None spoke.

"Hm. It sounds like you know a lot about alchemy," Ed concluded, finally looking away from me. Everyone else followed in his instance, and picked at their food again.

"Uh… well, I know a little, but not too much…" I said modestly.

"You seem to know more than Winry, at least. And she knows everything," Ed added. Winry stuck her tongue out at him.

"Can you perform any alchemy?" Ed asked looking at me again.

"Uh, no… or at least, I don't think so…" He raised an eyebrow. "Well, you see, the thing is I've never tried…" I said.

"Well, what do you know?" Ed asked.

I blinked not knowing where to start.

"I know the law of equivalent exchange—that something cannot be gained without giving something of equal value in return—and the one taboo for Alchemists," everyone seemed to duck their heads as I said that one, so I didn't continue on with it. "And the law of conservation of mass, and—" everything that I had set up to say out loud just disappeared in my brain. Embarrassed, I turned red. "I know a lot more, but there's just too much to be able to say…" I squeaked.

Ed resumed back to his food, but didn't look at all disappointed or annoyed. "That's fine," he said. "I know there's a lot—too much almost. But how about before we go to East Headquarters I test you on a little alchemy myself?" He didn't look at me as me said this, almost as if he didn't want to do it.

It was a dream come true! My idol—and Al—teaching me to preform alchemy right here in Amestris! All I did was nod so I didn't squeal and smother Ed with hugs. But then Ed said, "Hey, Al, time to go to the house one last time." Al also nodded, and I knew what he meant…