Aqua Alchemist / Ch.4

Aqua returned shortly after the men regained conciousness. Aqua eyed the men struggling in the net coldly. Then she turned to Ed.

"I've phoned the Brigadier General. He told me that he would send Major Armstrong and several other military guys to pick these serial killers up. They'd arrive at around two o'clock," Aqua reported.

"Good. I'd like to go into the town and tell the townspeople that the serial killers are captured," Ed said. "Guard them when I'm away."

"Yes, Fullmetal."

"Edward or Ed is fine," Ed said. He did not like being addressed as Fullmetal. It was bad enough for Mustang to keep calling him Fullmetal, with the excuse being that he forgot Ed's name. Now here comes a girl who was younger than him by eleven years calling him Fullmetal too. He was sure that both Mustang and Aqua remembered his name. For Mustang, he just liked to taunt him about being a dog of the military. As for Aqua, it was apparent she did not want to be friendly to him. The tone in which she spoke to him made that apparent.

What she replied surprised him. "Okay, Ed." Ed did not really think she would be willing to call him that. And the tone she replied in was also different. It was no longer that hostile, unwelcoming tone. It was more friendly and cheerful. Ed secretly congratulated himself for his success in managing to break down the wall between them, even if only a little. He sensed that she still had more to tell, and he still to work harder if he was to destroy that wall completely.

Ed walked away into the town. He knocked on the doors of different houses and announced the news to the residents. Some of them were relieved, some of them refused to believe him. He did not tell them who captured the serial killers, for he knew that most people would find him and Aqua, two young tourists who were seemingly unarmed, capturing the six armed serial killers unlikely. When the news had finally spread through the whole town and reached the ears of everyone, he returned to the woods and waited with Aqua for the military personnel.

X X X

At two o'clock, Ed left for the train station to meet Armstrong and the others. They arrived at about a quarter past two. Armstrong greeted Edward in his usual manner.

"Edward Elric!" he shouted in his deep, strong voice and hugged Ed so tightly that he could not breathe. Ed was so glad when Armstrong released him, and he sucked in air gratefully.

They went into the woods and, after a bit of a struggle, carried the net, along with all the yelling, kicking men, to the train station. Armstrong told Ed that tickets had already been purchased. They were going to return to Central on the four o'clock train. Ed sat down on a bench and took a nap. Aqua sat down next to him and gazed off into the distance. She did not sleep, nor did she do anything else. She just sat there, and her mind wandered off to things that no one knew about.

Armstrong tried to talk to her about his family, but he soon saw that she was not paying any attention to him at all, and gave up. Instead, those poor military guys had to listen to him. They had already had enough of him on the last trip, and now he was starting it all over again.

The train arrived, and Ed was woken by Aqua. They boarded the train. Armstrong continued to talk about his family. His speech was endless, so it seemed. He always had something to tell. The military guys were not the least bit interested, but they just had to listen.

"Aqua... You're not an Amestrian, are you?" he plucked up the couraged to ask. He feared that Aqua was not ready to answer this question yet, and if that was the case, all his past efforts would be wasted.

Aqua's eyes opened wide at the question. Ed was afraid that Aqua was not going to answer, but she did.

Ed never expected her to have such an extraordinary story to tell.

A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter than the others. The next one will have a really really long paragraph telling Aqua's story, and it might bore you. XD

Reviewer Responses

Mukies - Glad you think it's cool! (Um, is that what you mean? Because you typed 'col'. XD) Can you actually imagine Aqua shooting water out of her palm? I do think that with my crappy description, no one would know what I mean. XD

Pale-Darkness - Thanks so much for the ideas! I'm going to use those ideas.