A/N: Hello readers! Sorry this took a bit longer but, to be fair, I have a job, a boyfriend, friends, and family, that all demand my attention lol. First of all, yes I know I wrote that Ed had a ponytail instead of a braid last chapter. Apparently Shambala was in my head for some reason... Don't know why because, honestly, I was really disappointed with that movie. Bad way to end a great series. Secondly, I know Roy was stationed in East City when Ed went to Lior but, like I said, I will not be following the plot that closely. Also, I've notice a few minor grammar mistakes, which I will also fix later. I always post my chapters the minute I'm done writing them, so, without any proof reading, I think I'm doing an OK job lol. No reviews yet, but that's okay, I have followers so... I STILL HAVE HOPE...
Chapter Two
A brunette haired girl sat on the patio of a run-down cafe located in the outskirts Central. The sun was shinning brightly—a welcome change from the weather she experienced on the train. Not that the girl minded the rain. She just wasn't fond of wearing wet clothes.
Aliyah breathed out a sigh of relief before taking a sip of her coffee. She was thankful that most of the passengers from the train had been fairly easy to dodge. However, the two boys she'd seen talking to the military were far more persistent. It took at least twenty minutes before she was finally able to lose them by detouring through a series of alleyways. The short one had even tried to trap her by making walls with alchemy.
The green-eyed teen sighed again, this time in mild exasperation. If she had known that there was another alchemy practitioner on the train, she would have just let them fix the bridge. She didn't like being the center of attention. Besides, it's not like she did it to save anyone, it's just that the girl wasn't particularly keen on dying herself.
Aliyah had traveled to Central to get some information about her mother, who had been a State Alchemist while she was alive. The teen mentally berated herself for telling a high-ranking officer to fuck off, since she would need someone in the military to get her mother's documents. It wasn't like she had anything against the military, the man was simply in her way when she was trying to escape from the overwhelming gratitude of the passengers. 'Oh well,' she thought nonchalantly, 'I'll just have to find someone else.'
White-gloved hands slapped down on her table, abruptly shaking the girl out of her thoughts. She glanced up to see two boys she had avoided earlier. "Oi," the golden-eyed boy said with a triumphant grin plastered on his face, "found you."
"Good for you. Now, get lost," Aliyah told them offhandedly before taking another sip of her coffee. She didn't have time to deal with them, she had figure out a way to find someone in the military that would get her mother's documents for her.
The boy in the suit of armor placed his hands on the shorter one's shoulders, as if to try and calm him down. Taking a deep breath, the blonde ran a hand through his hair and spoke, "Hold on, we just want to tal—"
"Did I stutter? Beat it, shrimp," Aliyah interrupted in her smooth, monotone voice.
"WHO'S AN AMEOBA SO SMALL THAT IT CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH A ULTRA HIGH-POWERED MICROSCOPE?" the blonde screamed, flailing his arms as the much taller boy held him back.
Aliyah's eyebrows raised slightly, and she felt a small smile creep up on her normally expressionless lips. The scene in front of her was just too ridiculous to not be amusing. Then, as the boy in the red trench coat continued to thrash in anger, she noticed a glint of silver shinning in the sunlight. The girl's smile widened when she realized what it was. 'Seriously? This kid is a State Alchemist? Getting my mother's documents is going to be easier than I thought...'
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I'm not very good with meeting new people," Aliyah began, hands raised up in surrender, "we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Aliyah Moore."
The tall one in the suit of armor spoke first, "Nice to meet you. My name is Alphonse Elric, and this is my older brother..."
"Ed," the blonde said curtly, annoyance still evident in his tone as he composed himself.
Aliyah blinked, she had expected that the tall boy, Alphonse, was the older of the two. Though, she didn't dare voice that thought, so as to not offend Edward again. It was a lot harder to get someone to help you when they didn't like you. "Nice to meet you both. Please excuse my rudeness earlier. How about you guys sit down and I buy you something to drink? You were saying you wanted to talk to me about something?"
Edward sat down in the chair across from Aliyah. Alphonse, in the seat beside him. Golden orbs stared, trying to read any sign of dishonesty on the girl's face as he got right down to business. "How can you use alchemy without drawing a transmutation circle?"
Aliyah blinked, "That's why you chased me down?" she asked in her blase drawl, "I've always been able to transmute without drawing a circle. You can do it too. I thought certain people just had the talent for it. Although, you're the only other person I've met with the same talent."
The blonde's eyes narrowed, "It doesn't work that way. You would have had to see the gate to gain the knowledge to do that."
She shrugged, "I don't know what 'gate' you're talking about. Ever since I was old enough to understand alchemy, I've never had to use a transmutation circle."
"You're lying!" Ed snarled, "That doesn't make sense! You have to sacrifice a lot in order to gain that knowledge, it's equivalent trade!" Al stayed silent through his outburst, looking down-cast.
Aliyah studied the two boys curiously, she had never thought much about how she'd always been able to transmute without a transmutation circle. "I don't know what to tell you... I don't have any memory of a gate or sacrificing anything. Can you explain it to me?"
"No," he said darkly, "it appears I've wasted everyone's time. Sorry for causing you trouble. Come on, Alu." Ed got up and motioned for his brother to follow suit.
"Hang on... Wait. I would like some answers, I mean, you two chase me down and demand to talk to me, then just leave when you're not satisfied with what I had to say?" the green-eyed teen stood up, baffled, "I don't know why I can transmute without a circle. Truthfully, I haven't thought about it. But, if you say that the reason behind it is because of some gate, I'd like to hear about it." Not only was she curious, but she also needed to keep close to these boys so she could get her mother's documents.
Ed snorted, "Sorry. I don't have time to sit here and explain all this to you, you'll have to find out on your own." Al muttered a quick apology for his brother's rudeness and with that, the two boys began walking away.
'I guess he's not going to make this easy for me.' Aliyah sighed, slightly annoyed. She didn't like prolonged human interaction; it never ended well. The more time she spent with someone, the more they realized that she was different, that she wasn't like everyone else, and not in a good way. The brunette waved off her discomfort and began following after the brothers.
Ed glanced behind him and glared at the girl, "What are you doing?"
"Following you," she said flatly.
He rolled his eyes, "Thanks, Captain Obvious. Why are you following us?"
Aliyah looked thoughtful for a moment. "Because, I find you interesting. Also, because I have a lot of questions and I think if I hang around you two, I'll find what I'm looking for," she answered honestly. Although, she left out the part about wanting to use them to get confidential documents from the Central Library.
Ed spun around and looked at her coldly, "Listen, chick. We have important things to do, things that involve a lot of danger, and I don't feel like babysitting."
Now, it was Aliyah's turn to glare. This kid actually kind of pissed her off, which was an impressive feat if you knew her. "Listen, boy. I can take care of myself. I always have. You don't have to worry about that. I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."
The two teens stood there, glaring at one another, having some silent battle of wills. Al watched the scene and sighed in exasperation. If he had had eyes, he would've rolled them. A few more seconds passed before Ed spoke.
"You sure are stubborn. Fine. As long as you don't get in our way, you can come with us," the golden-eyed boy turned back to the direction he was headed and stretched before continuing forward.
"Don't worry. I won't," Aliyah muttered quietly, following after the two Elric boys.
Two figures in the shadows of an alleyway watched the teens walk away. One of the figures, a tall woman stepped out of the darkness. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but the malicious smirk on her lips and her gleaming purple eyes made her look fearsome. "Well. That Elric boy certainly finds interesting people everywhere he goes. We must let our master know that there may be another candidate for making the philosopher's stone." Her voice was sultry and intoxicating as she spoke.
The second figure poked his head out from the shadows, white beady eyes glancing around and a distraught expression on his round face. "Lust... I'm so hungry..." His high-pitched voice whined.
Lust looked down at him and smiled, "Not now, Gluttony. We have things we must do first. But, I promise you will eat soon."
Gluttony grinned widely and saliva dripped down his chin. "Yay, yay, yay, yay," he chanted as the two homunculus disappeared into the shadows once more.
Chapter Two end.
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!
Not much happened in this chapter, but things will be getting more exciting... I promise! And there will be more Al! I feel bad, he barely was even present in this chapter.
Also, I know my chapters are short, but there's several reasons for that. One being that my schedule is so packed, if I made long chapters I'd be posting them once a month. Secondly, I have the attention span of a gold fish so, I'd lose interest writing long, drawn-out chapters which leads to the third reason: losing interest leads to writer's block! So, please don't be mad at me for the short chapters, you see? It's in your best interest!
Much love! And thanks to my followers for giving me hope... :)
