I'd like to completely rewrite this chapter, but there's no time. *sigh* This was mainly for the purpose of showing readers that Rebecca is extremely annoying and overly critical. Well, in my opinion, at least. Dialodue is really annoying...

Chapter 3

At breakfast the next morning, (which was eaten in a giant room with multiple windows) Rebecca quickly explained the goods and bads of each passing student, talking a mile a minute.

"That's Annabelle," she said, pointing at a tall, thin girl a few tables away. "She's really nice, but she's anorexic."

"What's that?" Ed asked dumbly. Rebecca gave him a look.

"She's OBSESSED with her weight. Always thinks she's too fat."

"What? But she's so skinny..." Ed trailed off, confused. Rebecca snorted.

"Try telling HER that. Pass the juice, please." Ed handed her the pitcher of golden liquid, which she poured into her cup before continuing to talk. "She barely eats; it's like a diet, times a thousand. She probably weighs, like, two pounds." She took a sip of her juice.

"I'll never understand girls..." Ed muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Rebecca asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Ed sighed, then changed the subject. "Who's that person coming toward us?"

Rebecca looked up, then spit her juice out all over the table. "NO!" she yelled. "Crap, I hate her! That's Harriet, and she's horrible...She thinks she's SOO popular and everyone loves her, even though everyone hates her and- Hey, Harriet!" Rebecca smiled warmly as Harriet got within hearing distance.

"Hey, Rebecca!" Harriet said. Harriet slid into the seat next to them.

Harriet and Rebecca began talking and Ed soon lost interest. His gaze wandered to the pool of sunlight on the floor that was spilling in through the window nearest to him. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl coming towards him. She ran into him, causing him to fall off his chair.

She glanced down. "Oops, sorry," she apologized quickly before continuing to walk and talk with her friends.

Ed stood up, rubbing his head. "Who was that?" he asked.

Rebecca jumped at the opportunity to stop talking to Harriet. "That was Beth. She always speaks her mind, which makes her kind of funny. Although some of the things she says just make her sound like a jerk. She's bossy too."

Ed sighed. "I remember when everyone I met was either simply good or simply bad."

"No one is just good or just bad," Rebecca said. "Which is the deepest thing I've ever said, by the way." She turned back to her breakfast and spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate.


The day passed slowly; Ed hadn't been to school in four years, and in that time had forgotten just how BORING it was.

He could tell it would only get worse as the year went on, too. The first day was always just getting everyone back into the routine, explaining the basics of formal education over and over again at every class the students attended.

"All assignments must be turned in on time."

"No talking in class unless you are called on."

"Treat everyone and everything around you with respect."

"Try your hardest on all assignments."

The same suggestions, warnings and reminders rained down upon them for seven hours straight, before they were finally aloud to go back to their dorms for an hour before dinner.

"No homework!" cheered Rebecca.

"But that's just because it's the first day..." Ed groaned, not excited at the prospect of homework, on top of his required weekly reports to Mustang.

"Psh. You and your logic," Rebecca scowled. She opened her mouth to say something, but Ed interrupted.

"Hey, where's the library?" he asked, remembering his mission.

"Down the hall and to the left," she said as she headed towards the bathroom. "I'll see you later, I guess..."

Ed waved, but he was already too far down the hallway for her to see. He sprinted toward the library, although his shoes and skirt weren't making it easy. He growled angrily as he remembered the fact that he was wearing a skirt. I just can't get used to this... The only good thing about the uniform was that it covered his automail, as well as his normal limbs. Most girls didn't have as much muscle as him.

He skidded to a stop in front of the huge double doors that led into the library. He pushed them open with a light shove, stirring up a small bit of a dust that had collected on the floor over the summer.

The library was a huge room with the same architectural design as the rest of the buildings. The shelves were made of dark, almost black, wood and were covered with hundreds upon thousands of books. He stared in awe at the collection, wondering how long it would take for him to look through it all. Although he didn't like being here, away from his brother, the library intrigued him. With all those books, there had to be at least some information on the stone.

In a trance, he walked along the shelves, fingering the book spines with outstretched fingers, giving the dusty old pages the utmost respect. He was so preoccupied with the endless stream of titles that he didn't notice where he was going, and soon enough ran into something that obviously was not supposed to be there.

Ed looked curiously at the objects on the table; multiple thick books that looked nearly identical to the ones he had seen over the years on his search for the philosophers stone; papers scattered all across the table, each one covered with handwriting even messier than the last. He reached out to pick up a paper and examine it more closely, when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

"That..." the man's voice began coldly. "...Would be mine, and I would appreciate it if you didn't touch it."

Ed shivered as the grip on his shoulder tightened. He let go of the paper and let it flutter back into position on the table, holding his hands up as if to plead innocence.

"May I suggest going back to your room, little girl?"

'LITTLE?' Ed objected in his mind, but he knew better than to say anything out loud. He nodded simply and turned around to walk out, seeing a small glimpse of the man as he did so.

He was tall, with thinning hair on top of his head. He wore simple white clothes and thick glasses. Nothing about him was that exceptional, except for his face.

The right side of his face looked as if someone had taken a bread knife and sliced the skin right off. It was red and raw, similar to the scarring around Ed's right shoulder. He shivered again, instinctively determined to get far away from the man as fast as he could.

He half walked, half ran back to his room and sat down on his bed with not a single book to show for his (extremely short) visit to the library.

That wasn't to say he didn't learn anything from his trip, though. At least now he had a plan.

Maybe this mission will be over sooner than I thought...