Ultimate Alchemist
Chapter 3
Train Song
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing!
A/N: *dodges rotten vegetables from the rabble* Sorry for the late update. My imagination is rather like a magpie, it sees something shiny and new, and off it goes in a completely different direction than I want it to. Also, this chapter kept kicking my butt. Multiple times. I can't say I'm that happy with it, but I really just want to move forward in the story. It will probably be re-written later.
Anyway, thank you all the people who have read, reviewed, alerted, and favorite this story. You guys make me so happy.
People I could not reply to by e-mail:
coldblue- Thank you for taking the time to review. Any critiques you can give me to make the story better would be much appreciated.
ibn- Thank you for reviewing, and apologies for the late chapter.
The Silverhand Alchemist- (sings) Thank you for reviewing! And please don't kill me!
I Like This- I'm so glad you like the story so far. Hopefully you will keep enjoying it.
Onwards to the story!
Edward Elric awoke to the familiar hardness of a wooden bench and the rocking and beating of a train heading steadily down the tracks. He opened his eyes and was momentarily blinded by the intense brightness streaming through the windows. He swung his legs off the bench and planted them firmly on the train's metal floor. His eyes widened when he could feel the cool metal beneath both of his bare feet. He brought his hands to his face in wonder. His limbs were returned. He looked around the silent compartment, finding no one to tell him what was going on. He turned toward the window and was greeted by the vast loneliness of a desert, nothing living except for a buzzard that circled wide, lazy circles through the sky. "What the-"
There were voices coming from the compartment in front of him. He approached cautiously, ever conscious of the chill of metal against his feet and the Sun's pleasant warmth on his hands. He peered slowly through the window of the door that separated the two compartments. His stomach sank and jumped in both sorrow and joy at the sight he beheld. His brother alive and breathing and young was playing innocently with Den near the river they had played so often at when they were kids. He looked so happy. Winry, Teacher, Gran, Sig, Rose, her child, and Mason sat watching and talking contentedly on the grass nearby. Ed's hands wrapped tightly around the door handle as he tried to forcefully open the door that separated him from the ones he loved most. The door would not open. He pulled backwards with all his strength, pressed forwards, stuck his feet against the door and pulled. It would not budge. He clapped his hands and nothing happened. "Damn it! Al! Fuck!" he exclaimed in frustration and defeat, punching the metal door. He could feel the rare sting of tears welling in his eyes.
"You're going the wrong way," a voice coolly commented behind him.
Edward whirled around in surprise and suspicion. There hadn't been anyone in the compartment with him. He met familiar golden eyes, blonde hair, and a knowing, subtle smirk. He was looking at himself.
"You sacrificed yourself for your brother. Remember, alchemist?"
Edward clinched his fists. "I'll find a way back to them," he growled.
His doppelganger gave a noncommittal wave of its hand. "Whatever you say alchemist."
It stood and stretched and walked casually towards the opposite side of the compartment, its footsteps making no noise. It opened the other door with ease and raised its eyebrows expectantly at Edward. "This way alchemist."
Ed held his ground stubbornly. "Who the fuck are you? What's going on?"
The doppelganger rolled its eyes and disappeared through the door silently.
Edward frowned at the darkness, his arms crossed, cursing the cryptic creature that was obviously trying to play tricks on him. Inwardly he fought a battle between instinct and curiosity. Curiosity, as it did so many times, won out.
He plunged headfirst into the darkness. His doppelganger stood beside him, his eyes passively observing the scene before them. Edward's ears picked up the eerie, soft murmuring of a shadow that stood distinct in the darkness. He couldn't understand what it was chanting over and over again. The doppelganger stepped towards the shadow and beckoned for Ed to join it. Edward stepped forward and slipped on a thick, sticky substance that covered the compartment floor. He didn't need to look down at the red that now stained his feet to know it was blood. He knew the feeling all too well.
The doppelganger grabbed his sleeve and pulled him beside the shadow. The shadow traced its bloodstained hands across the wall. Its cold gray eyes were its only defined characteristic and stared forward unfeeling, unseeing. The doppelganger pointed toward the wall the shadow was painting with blood. "Look familiar alchemist?"
Edward's eyes widened in horror. A red trunk and numerous branches and a great eye were dripping down the side of the train compartment's wall. "It's the Gate." His voice came out in barely a whisper.
The doppelganger remained silent. The shadow's harsh voice became suddenly coherent. "To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Amen."
It sent a chill down his spine. Memories of his greatest mistake came rising to the surface of his mind, and he felt suddenly sick. His doppelganger forcefully led him to the next compartment's door and pushed it open.
A burst of cold air, heavy from rain, brushed against his skin. A blue skinned woman with orange hair and little to no clothes Edward noticed, his face reddening and an odd green skinned man stood in front of an elderly man who cowered on the pavement. 'Chimeras. No, mutants,' he corrected in his head.
The woman bent down at the old man's level, smiling sweetly. "We just want the book Mr. Rockford."
"Yeah, where's the book old man?" the green man cut in.
The blue woman slapped the man (who reminded Ed of a frog) away and told him to shut up. She looked back at the cowering man. "Now, where's the book?"
The elderly man Mr. Rockford looked both frightened and confused. "I told you already. I sold it a month ago. Some man really interested in alchemy and Shamballa. I don't have it no more."
There was a flash of black-green hair and blood sprayed on Edward's face and clothes. Mr. Rockford crumpled onto the pavement. "It's called Amestris," came a voice that sent ice into Edward's veins.
"And so the sins of the father pass onto the son," the doppelganger stated without emotion.
It then pushed Edward through the next door. Edward fought in vain against his doppelganger's vice grip. "What the fuck is this! Let go of me!"
The doppelganger's golden eyes were strangely cold. It nodded its head towards the center of the compartment. "Look alchemist."
Edward turned reluctantly, knowing he would see nothing good. Shrouded figures gathered in a circle, kneeling on the stone floor. "I wonder what they're up to," the doppelganger said, its voice dripping with sarcasm, eyes challenging Edward.
Ed growled and stepped forward on his own accord. The group began to chant in an unfamiliar language, the ominous tones echoing against the stone. Edward knelt beside one of the figures, his fingers lightly tracing a line in the giant transmutation circle that was carved into the stone. The shrouded figures simultaneously pulled curved blades from their robes. Edward watched solemnly as the figure next to him sliced deeply into both hands and let the blood flow into the lines of the transmutation circle.
The doppelganger grabbed his collar and pulled him towards yet another door. "So much blood, eh, alchemist?" It pulled the door open with a grunt from effort.
The intense wind pushed violently against them and the harshness of the Sun was oppressive. Edward suddenly felt a deep pain on his left thigh. They had reached the end of the train.
The doppelganger looked at Edward fondly. "You alchemists never seem to clean up your messes. Don't let me down."
Before Edward could retort rudely, the doppelganger placed a hand on his back. "I'd wish you luck if there was such a thing, alchemist."
"What are you tal-"
The doppelganger pushed him over the rails of the train. Edward hit the desert floor in a cloud of sand. "Better start walking kid!" came the doppelganger's voice behind him.
"Good Morning New York City!"
The first thing Edward saw was a ceiling fan swirling eternally in slow circles. He pushed himself up on his elbows, his head throbbing. "Am I always going to wake up with a damn headache in this world?" he asked no one in particular, without thinking, pressing his cold automail hand against his head.
There was a snort of a laugh beside him. "Guess that depends. Maybe the atmosphere on Earth is different or something."
Ed nearly fell off the couch he had been placed on, trying (and failing) to get into a fighting stance. A blonde girl around his age sat cross-legged in a chair beside the sofa, eating what seemed to be a bowl of cereal. Her sharp hazel eyes held a spark of amusement. The oversized t-shirt she wore as a short gown made Edward blush slightly. "Lay down before you pull your stitches," she ordered in a seemingly neutral tone. "Aunt May's creepy therapist boyfriend Dr. Warren said you nearly ruptured an artery."
Edward looked at the couch ruefully. He had somehow ended up on another person's damn couch. He sat back down slowly, still watching the girl, and propped up the leg that had been shot by that bastard "Punisher." "Where the hell am I?" He saw no need for pleasantries.
The girl took a bite of cereal and smiled mischievously. "Well, Mr. Alien-With-A-Headache- And- Metal-Limbs, you're in the Milky Way Galaxy in the Solar System on Plant Earth in the Western Hemisphere on North American in the United States in the state of New York and in the city of New York City. That about cover it?"
Edward stared at her grumpily. "Where am I?" he repeated.
The blonde girl did not seem phased by his lack of humor. "We're at the Parker's house. Spider-Man dropped you off."
"So you're a Parker?"
She looked a little put out by the question. "You know, it's polite to introduce yourself before demanding the other person's name. I'm Gwen Stacey. Another stray dog the Parkers have taken in."
"I'm Ed." He felt kind of bad for being so rude. He knew how it felt to be an orphan and alone. But he sure as hell wasn't going to apologize.
The two fell into a somewhat comfortable silence. Edward studied the box with moving pictures that was called a television. The colors and movement were quite mesmerizing. "I hate morning TV," the girl named Gwen commented with cereal stuffed in her mouth. "All they have are annoying news talk shows."
The two teenagers watched the two hosts talk animatedly about the magnificent uses of the avocado. "And now," the female host with bleached blonde hair began, "we have a special guest who witnessed the Punisher's defeat by a single man. Patrick Flanagan, ladies and gentlemen!"
There was applause from a fake crowd as a tall bean of a man walked awkwardly onto the set. He sat beside the female host, his face a deep red. "So Mr. Flanagan," the male host with extremely white teeth began, "you witnessed the downfall and subsequent arrest of the Punisher."
"Yeah," Patrick replied. "Yeah I did."
"So what exactly happened?"
"Well, I was working behind the counter when this guy sticks me up, wanting all the cash in the register. Another guy in the store, a blonde dude about six foot tall," Gwen laughed, "starts to try to stop him when the Punisher started shooting into the store. The blonde guy got shot, but he stood right up and punched the Punisher right in the face. Dude just falls right to the floor!"
The blonde host looked at the cashier in awe. "Amazing…"
Patrick nodded in agreement. "And then the blonde guy just claps his hands like he was praying. Like this," he clapped his hands, a broad, almost childish smile on his face, " wraps the floor around the thief and the knocked out Punisher and just walks out the store like nothin' happened! It was all over before Spider-Man even got there!"
The female host looked enthusiastically back at the camera, now ignoring the excited Flanagan. "It looks like we may have a new hero in New York City! And this one doesn't wear a mask! What do you think of this Jeff? Man? Mutant? Superhero?"
Edward glared at the television. Not how he wanted to start out in a new world. Gwen laughed loudly, holding her side in pain. "You are sooo not six feet tall."
"WHO YOU CALLIN'-"
Gwen pushed him back against the couch. "Stitches!"
"Gwen?"
The two looked towards the light that came on at the stairway. An elderly woman walked down the stairs, wrapping her bathrobe tightly around her body. "Gwen?" she repeated. "What are you doing up so early?"
Gwen's expression turned serious. "I couldn't sleep."
The older woman nodded in understanding. She suddenly seemed to notice the boy in his boxers awake on the couch. "You're awake! Miles said you would be out for at least a day!"
Gwen smirked. "He's an alien. Those drugs don't work on him."
"Gwen…" the older woman warned.
The girl held her hands up in mock surrender.
The elderly woman looked back at Edward with worried eyes. "I'm going to get some coffee and then we'll talk. Okay? Do you want some water?"
"Um, sure."
The woman walked out of the room into what Ed assumed was the kitchen. "And Gwen," she called faintly. "What do I tell you and Peter about eating in the living room?"
Gwen paused while putting a spoon of cereal in her mouth. "Shoot," she cursed before retreating to the kitchen.
The woman Ed assumed was Mrs. Parker came back into the living room and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. She gently handed a glass of water and two pills to the boy. "They're to help with the pain." Her eyes lingered on his bandaged thigh.
Edward glared down at the white, chalky pills and stiffly handed them back to the elderly woman. "No thanks Mrs. Parker. I've had a lot worse."
The woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise and her eyes involuntarily traveled to the boy's mysterious metal prosthetics. "Please call me Aunt May." She took a sip of her coffee. "How are you feeling this morning? You lost a lot of blood."
"I'm fine. So that Spider-Menace guy dropped me off here for some reason?"
Aunt May looked confused. "You mean Spider-Man?"
"Sure."
She nodded her head warily, knowing she could accidentally give away her nephew's secret identity. "Yes, he's saved both Gwen and my lives many times." She shrugged. "We owed him a favor to say the least."
Edward's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What about the guy Peter who lives here?"
Aunt May knew she had made a mistake. "Yes, him as well. I heard what you did to the floor of the store. And your arm and leg…" Her brows furrowed in concern. "Are you a mutant?"
Ed looked at her incredulously, slightly impressed by her abrupt change in topic. "No, I'm not a mutant. I'm an alchemist."
"Alchemist?" She obviously had no clue what he was talking about.
Edward sighed. "I guess I have powers like a mutant. Can't say I'm like the ones you hear about everyday though."
"Yeah because he's an alien." Gwen Stacey laughed as she reentered the room.
"Gwen, why do you keep saying that?"
She looked towards Ed with amusement clear in her eyes. "It's just a joke between me and the alchemist Aunt May."
Aunt May sighed and looked back at the boy. "What is your name?"
"Edward Elric. Call me Ed."
She gave him a knowing, thoughtful look. "You're an orphan aren't you?"
Ed tried to stand up and wobbled unsteadily. "What the hell is this? Twenty Questions?"
Aunt May gently pulled the boy back down, and Edward didn't even bother trying to resist. "I know the look. I already have two orphans staying here. There's always room for one more."
Edward shook his head resolutely, trying to stand once again. "No. You don't know me and I can't even pay you back for stitching up my leg."
" You staying here safe with us would be repayment enough."
Edward didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure how to retort to such an emotional request. He never was good at dealing with emotional women. "I'll stay until my leg is healed if it'll make you happy…"
Both Aunt May and Gwen smiled broadly. "That's a start."
A small teenaged boy stumbled sleepily down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. "Aunt May? Gwen? Is the metal guy awake?"
Edward smirked. "So this is the Spider-Menace."
The boy Peter Parker halted immediately, eyes wide in surprise and fear. "How'd you know," he responded slowly.
The alchemist's smile grew. "I took a wild guess."
Aunt May sighed in exasperation. It was obvious that the new orphan in her home was extremely intelligent. "It's alright Peter. Edward here is going to be staying with us for a while."
The brown haired boy didn't look reassured. But nodded anyway, his eyes locked in a staring match with the fierce, golden-eyed boy.
Gwen laughed and turned to their guardian. "Well Aunt May, now you have a spider, a mutant shrimp, and a cloned freak staying in your house."
The elderly woman could only sigh as the house exploded into a chorus of short rants.
A/N: Okay, well that's Chapter 3. Hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave a review to tell me what you think, and I will happily reply. Thanks so much for reading.
Gufetto
