Chapter 3 A Single Bluebird
Edward sat up, feeling sore. Almost immediately, he found sticks pointed at him. In fact, the only people not trying to poke him were the beacon and the old crackpot. He stared at them and they stared at him. He then peered around, first at the room for escape routes if needed, second at the people.
Ed concluded that he didn't like the greasy haired guy more than the weird eye dude.
Then he said, "I could punch you all except the ladies who obviously didn't just call me short." He spat out the last word. It wasn't his fault that he could no longer grow.
They looked angry, some glancing at the old man. He must be the 'Furher' of the lot. None of them lowered their pieces of wood.
"What's with the sticks?" he asked, getting more pissed by the second.
"Is he a muggle?" Sirius asked.
"Ah, I'm sure he possesses a magic of his own," Dumbledore chuckled. "Just like her, who can heal just by touching." His eyes flickered to the beacon.
Weird, it's like everyone's deliberately not saying her name. Ed thought.
"She can't be trusted, Albus," Mad-eye growled. The beacon rolled her eyes.
"I trust her, Alastor," Dumbledore said gravely. "Our business is strictly political and confidential." Everyone stiffened. Ed was observing, trying to pick out weak spots in case things were to get messy. Dumbledore smiled. "So Edward, have you considered my offer?"
Ed immediately said, "No."
The old man chuckled. Edward knitted his eyebrows and clenched his fists. This headmaster reminded him of a certain someone who thought everything to be amusing.
That's right, to the Truth, everything was a game.
"The existence of 'magic' is impossible. It goes against the laws of equivalent exchange," Ed said, receiving weird glances and raised eyebrows. "I'm a scientist and legally an adult."
Illegally actually. If he was his real age, he'll be in a retirement home, sort of.
"What if we provided proof?" Dumbledore asked, flicking his wand at a chair. It floated off the ground.
Edward was clenching his fists so hard they trembled and biting his lower lip. His body ached all over, automail joints the most. And his back, those scars throbbed painfully. He had a massive headache and his vision was filled with black spots. And his stomach hurt. He felt like throwing up, but there was nothing to puke out, except blood.
After a long period of silence, he finally said, "If I go to this school, what would I get in return?"
"Well, Hogwarts does have the biggest library in the wizarding world." It was like Dumbledore knew him inside out.
Edward sighed. "Fine. But I'm gonna need my research notes." A glint appeared in his eyes. "All my research notes."
"Done. You'll depart for Diagon Alley to get your materials," Dumbledore said. "Details would be sent to you via owl."
"One more thing, old man," Ed said, suspicious. "What did you see in my mind?"
Albus chuckled. "Nothing, my dear boy. All your memories were blocked."
In the military, treason was common. Anyone could just backstab you just because you hold a higher rank. Look at Mustang; he tried to overthrow the Furher. The only thing Ed learnt was that those betrayers got close to their enemies. To find the perfect moment, to watch them, or even to hold them hostage.
Ed can't trust anyone.
Anyone could be a second Envy. Anyone could want to create a huge transmutation circle out of your country to create an immortal army.
His stomach hurt but he refused to leave his 'guest room' (prison cell, he called it) for dinner. Edward couldn't eat anything. Half his stomach was gone, solid food would be puked out. Cookies were the exception. The room was a dump. Dark with simple furniture. Ed didn't bother to turn on the lights. He heard yells from outside from Harry. He swallowed his saliva. The headache wouldn't go away.
This 'magic', it exists.
I tried so hard. Ed thought. Al and I did so much. Now there's a short cut. Then wasn't everything for nothing?
Al gave his life, his soul. Was that for nothing?
The mere thought of it frustrated him. All his brother's efforts in vain. Ed could see the accusing finger pointed at him. And it ripped him to shreds.
And he laughed. Ed laughed the way Truth would laugh when he saw this soap opera. "You must really hate your brother now, don't you Al?"
His laugh faded to feeble giggles.
Al, if you hate me now then when I bring you back you won't feel sad, right?
Right now, probably no one would miss me if I die.
Agony withered into despair. Then Ed's stomach flipped and he gagged blood onto the floor.
Gazing blankly at the crimson splatter, he finally fell on the bed and passed out.
Ed was woken by the rays of sunlight peeping from the holes in the black curtains. It seems nothing had been washed for a very long time in that house. He felt a whole lot better, as if a good night's sleep did the trick. It was strange, though, there were no dreams, no nightmares and just blackness. The only bad thing was that his back was on fire, as if Truth was purposely reminding him about 'fate' and other stuff Ed did not want to remember.
He yawned.
There was a knocking on the door, lightly, like it was just to check whether he was awake.
"Ed..."
He opened the very creaky door and the beacon rushed inside and shut it quickly.
"Morning?" he said, or asked.
The beacon gave a small smile and a warm familiar feeling rushed through him.
"I have a lot to explain," she began. "Not much time, actually. People would be suspicious if they saw us together."
"We're not supposed to know each other, right?" Ed yawned again.
"Ed, close your mouth!" she scolded.
"So, you can start with what's going on with you and the Bumblebore guy."
"Dumbledore, Ed. He's helping me search, you know. I want to know who I am. In return, I'm helping him protect Harry."
"What does Harry have to do with this?" Ed then frowned. "I'm not having him involved with this. I won't allow the whole Hughes incident to happen again."
"No more meaningless death, right?" she said softly, sadly. "But it's too late. Harry Potter is the one that will lead you to the maimed soul."
Ed tensed up. "What is Truth playing at?!" he yelled. "Nina, Hughes and even my little brother! He CAN'T JUST MESS WITH HUMAN LIVES!"
The beacon flinched. She didn't think that Ed would flare up like that. But when she saw that much anger and pain in his eyes, she felt like she needed to calm him down, to at least stop his suffering with an embrace. The beacon had been watching him for a long time, but she felt like she knew so much more about him.
Edward saw her biting her lip in a confused expression.
"Hey, Ed. Do you consider yourself as human?" She touched his shoulder, but he swept her hand away.
"Well, I got over that part a long time ago. Truth wants to mess with me; I just don't like him dragging others down into his dirty game."
She looked into his golden orbs. Ed then realized her eyes were not black, but the darkest grey. "Someone tells me that you should stop being so lonely."
He scowled, thinking and a deep line appeared on his forehead, in between his eyes.
"Go down for breakfast, you didn't eat anything last night," she muttered, turning to the door. Then, she sighed. "Continue walking and soon you'll find a path where Truth cannot interfere, Edward. If you go against fate hard enough, you can shatter it. Remember that as long as Truth gets his victory, whether your end is a tragic or happy one doesn't matter to him." She opened the door and glanced at him with a smile. "Everything is all crazy now, but to continue walking is what we all can do right now. You still have two good legs, right? Even though one of them badly needs maintenance right now."
Ed flexed his automail leg and found it squeaking. "You're not Winry, right?" he asked.
"I don't know. Just for now, my name is Ai."
Ed got dressed and went for breakfast. He received weird stares at the table and a Mrs. Weasley fussing over how skinny he was. He downed a few glasses of orange juice and refused everything else until Ai requested porridge as he 'didn't look too well'.
He didn't talk much. He barely let anyone touch him. He glared at people who stared at him too much.
Ed was the last to leave the breakfast table as everyone else had to go clean up Doxys. Weird, was all he thought. No one talked to him and he didn't talk to them. He then mentally admitted he was a loner and went back to his room.
Then Ai picked him up to go to some place called Diagon Alley. "To get books," she said. "Robes, a pet and a wand."
Edward had to buy a personalized stick. He thought sarcasm in his mind. "Oh, joy," he groaned.
Ai smacked him.
It has been quite a while since Edward was around crowds of people. He heard parts of their conversations and found them all weird. Then again, they were wizards. Diagon Alley was like Rush Valley, just that people there were automail fanatics.
Getting books was not a problem. Dumbledore had kindly put Ed in Harry's year, even though he was secretly twice their age. No one could say that he wasn't the right height for his age now.
"People in England are too tall," he told Ai, who laughed lightly.
Next was robes. That was the problem.
"I'm NOT wearing a dress!" he half-yelled.
Ai gave him a 'Winry' glare. Ed knew she had entered his life somehow before, but she seemed to be a part of every girl he knew. Sometimes Winry, sometimes Rose, sometimes Ross, sometimes Hawkeye, maybe even Lan Fan.
She paid eventually. Next was the stick.
To tell the truth, Ed was expecting a wacky old man to sell him his wand. He was measured and slapped by the floating measuring tape and Ollivander peered at him. He was muttering something under his breath and soon went to the back of the shop and brought out a stack of boxes.
He waved the 'stupid stick' and something exploded. The wand snapped.
"Sorry," he muttered.
The second stick didn't break, but it exploded something else.
He flicked the third stick more carefully, and the lights from the ceiling came crashing down.
He picked up the fourth and a vase broke. Ed got tired of apologizing. It happened a lot more times. I must have broken everything in this shop, he thought.
"What violent reactions," Ollivander chuckled. "There was only one person before who had that sort of magical reaction, just not a potent. A wand chose him in the end though. I wonder...?" Ed was getting annoyed as the old man muttered under his breath some more. "Something sturdier," he said before turning to the back and picking out another box.
"Why am I here again?" Ed asked Ai, who smacked him.
"How about ironwood, Mr. Elric?" Ollivander handed him a wand. "15 inches, Thestral hair."
He picked it up cautiously and twirled it in his fingers. There was nothing at first before warmth spread through his fingertips and white sparks danced. There was a cold breeze that lasted for a second, and everything was silent.
"Ah, a match. Rather strange. I hardly sold any wands made of ironwood. The previous was sold around ten years ago. A difficult one, broke a few wands too. Could you be related to him, Mr. Elric? Ironwood, 12 inches, phoenix tail feather. A Mr. Hohenheim."
Ed twitched and clenched his fists. "Never heard of him in my life," he said.
Ollivander chuckled.
"You are the worse liar," Ai said.
"I hate that bastard. You can't do anything about it," he snapped.
"An owl, a toad or a cat. Owls deliver your mail. Choose one."
Ollivander watched the two figures exit and making their way to Magical Menagerie. He hadn't been this curious since Harry Potter came to buy his first wand. A feather from a phoenix which gave another feather that was in the wand of He-who-must-not-be-named. This Edward Elric had a Thestral hair wand, a creature known to be the closest to death. But the light that the wand gave was something that felt so pure and good. Contrasting elements. Very curious indeed.
Ed had a small sandy cat with a white tipped tail in his arms. He got her cheap because she had a bad leg which made her limp around. She purred and he stared intently at her black beady eyes.
"If you don't watch your way, you're gonna bang into a wall," Ai stated. He looked up and realized the crowd in Diagon Alley was scattered. It must be getting late.
"Ed, did you get that because of your brother?" she asked.
"Maybe. I got it for a whole lot of reasons I don't want to explain to you."
"Hmm," she said. "I said I have been watching you for a long time."
"Yeah. You can be any one of the people I met."
"I know. I didn't mean it that way." She refrained from looking at him. "I was the air around you, all the time. I was always there. You were there and I was watching."
"You're not making any sense."
She sighed. "I bought cookies while you were choosing a cat. Then you won't have to drink your meal every time."
Ed murmured a 'thanks' and began nibbling a chocolate chip. "Why do you trust that Bumbledore guy so much?"
"Dumbledore, Ed."
"So? He could be the bad guy. People who grin too much are mostly psychopaths, you know."
"I'll take my chances."
"You're too nice. Sooner or later someone will stab you in the back." Ed took a big bite out of his cookie. "Can't trust anyone nowadays," he mumbled with his mouth full.
Ai sighed. "Truth told me that too. 'Too soft', he said. I am only a messenger; I can't fight at all."
Ed shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth. "You haven't told me everything yet, right?"
Ai nodded. "People in HQ are eavesdroppers. They have ears on strings, literally." Ed smirked. "Edward, you passed Truth's first test. Even before I existed, no one ever passed the first test. Even Hohenheim failed." She paused for a moment, expecting a reaction from Ed. The smirk was still on his face, fists clenched into balls. Ai continued, "I wonder why he survived. And Hohenheim's twin, he wanted build that immortal army, but failed, thanks to you. You stopped him, the Gate happened, and you passed."
Ed nodded and dug into the bag for another cookie. "So now's the second test?" He bit into his cookie and began chomping loudly.
"A game. The hunt to complete the puzzle."
"Sounds like Truth." He wiped crumbs off his mouth with his sleeve.
"You have up till three years," Ai then paused, wiping invisible sweat from her forehead. "Any questions?"
Ed dropped his third cookie. "What happened to Al?"
"You both were candidates. Alphonse couldn't withstand the amount of sins being forced into him. You did and still managed to keep your sanity. Maybe you are that one. The one." Ai said it monotonously. A minute before, she was warm and gentle and too nice. Then it all vanished at the talk of Truth and the Gate. Then, Ai became like a robot.
Ed looked into the bag of cookies. There were four and half more. "But I'll bring him back," he said.
There was a shared silence. Ed's eyes had a flame that showed determination but at the same time a sense of sorrow. Ai's eyes had turned cold and darker, almost black.
"One more thing, what will happen to me?" Ed asked. He was surprised at himself. He thought he had pushed everything of himself to the back of his mind. Al always came first. The term 'me' came dead last.
At that moment, the gentleness and 'too-niceness' came back. Ai looked mournful, like she wanted to cry on his shoulder as his funeral was shortly arriving.
"If you lose, you would die. If you win, Alphonse would come back. Truth's wish would be granted. His wish will not ensure whether you live or perish."
Ed was shocked. His eyes widened and for a full five minutes, he didn't say a word. Then he sighed and said, "Truth is a selfish bastard."
"Ed, if the worst were to happen, would you still continue?"
"Yes."
"For this ambition, would you have the courage to sacrifice others?"
"Al wouldn't want that. I'd rather it be I and I alone."
"I guess you understand that more wishes would have more prices to pay. They would bring happiness or unhappiness."
"I get it. Equivalent exchange sucks."
Ai laughed. "Ed, remember that I'm always here," she said. "Till I know who I am, the only thing I remember is a lullaby."
I have never truly thought of death before. I just thought that my brother would be brought back and he would live a proper human life. I was prepared to sacrifice everything but when I really look at what I would be (dead), I feel…confused.
Guess the bravest people would have to be a little afraid of death.
Get rid of that hesitation, Fullmetal.
Hello
This chapter is now officially satisfying!!!! I wanted to squeeze the boggart part in, but I guess I'm putting it in the next chapter... I edited it and its better now I'm trying to shorten my chapters from now on too.
About Ai: You know her name is like the Chinese and Japanese word for 'love' right? It represents as a reminder to Ed that he is always 'loved' as she's always there. He doesn't know it coz he's in self denial, but she and all his friends will stick by him no matter how much he doesn't want them to, so sooner or later he'll realize (but he'll never admit it).
P.S. The speeches and stuff like that are there for a reason. There's always a deeper meaning. I looooove deeper meanings. Like the the sacrifice and death part (Will come out soon).
P.P.S. For those who read my the first Chap 4, I deleted the 'freedom' part mainly because I forgot what it was supposed to mean…
Ask questions if you don't understand, kay?
ssapphireangel