Part the Fourth
Amnesia
"How can you stay so calm about it?" Alphonse asked.
"I honestly don't know. I guess I've done my crying, and if I'm stuck here, then, oh well." She said, then added, "I've never really been able to cry very much at all, really. When I lost Secret, I didn't cry, I was just.. Sad. I don't know, it's weird." They sat in silence for a bit, digesting her words. Somehow, they didn't question that Secret had been lost at all.
"So anyone else up for some tea?" Savina asked brightly, changing the subject. At Edward's assent, she meandered off into the kitchen. Secret, who had, until now, been curled up on Savina's feet, followed her owner into the kitchen.
"You can come sit in here, if you want." She turned to a cabinet and took out and old-fashioned tea kettle as Ed and Al walked towards the small dining table. "Isn't this thing so clever? I don't know of anyone who still uses these in my world. I've only just got the knack of it, though, difficult little bugger." She said of the kettle. She seemed to be in a better mood, chatting away about this and that.
"So tell me-" Edward began, "You work at the Secret's Garden Coffee Shoppe.. Why is your kitten's name also Secret? What happened to her?" He looked dubiously at Secret, who cried silently and sashayed over, tail up and curling, wanting attention.
"Oh.. Well, in my world, she just disappeared, a few months before her first birthday. It happened quite a lot with our cats.. They'd just be gone one morning and not come back. I don't know if wild dogs got them or what, but I never saw Secret again.. Pretty bad, huh? I promised myself I wouldn't let any of them fade into obscurity, but they have. Even the old Secret, the first one, I've forgotten most of our memories. The only one I remember clearly was.. I was sitting on the couch, watching Storm Hawks, I think it was called, and she was laying next to my leg on her back, and I was petting her tummy. I guess there's no help for it.. Anyhow, there's no connection, if that's what you're asking. But then, when I found her," She gestured to Secret, who looked up at her, "wandering the streets, I took her home. She's so alike in everything she does that she may very well be her twin. Or the same cat. She is a cat you know, not a kitten. She's very tiny, huh? You see, I have a theory." Her tone now took on a pompous inflection, "That for every person in my world, there is a match to be found here. Like, there's alter-Secret. And I've seen other people that look just like people I knew before. An alter-Autumn, alter-Larissa, alter-Al.. not you Alphonse, a different one. Albert, his name was. But you see, there's some weird thing going on here I can't really explain it."
"You say alter before the name.. what does that mean?" Edward asked.
"Oh, just that, coming from my world and being prejudiced, I consider this an 'alter world', just as you must consider mine an 'alter world', or some other dimension or something. A parallel world. It means parallel, kind of." Here the tea kettle let out a loud shriek and Savina turned around and took it off the burner, which she promptly turned off. Taking a large tea bag, she stuck it in the pot to brew. "Hokay, so." She said. "Was there anything else, cause that's all I remember." She was obviously referring to her story and the Gate.
"Not unless you know how it sucked you in like that. Someone must have opened it from your side." Edward said.
"Hmm, yeah, that's what I thought, too." Savina murmured.
"You seem to know an awful lot about it." Al remarked.
"Well, I've been doing research, silly. Do you really think I'm going to be dumped god knows where and not know how it happened? Though, that hasn't worked quite as well as I'd hoped.. There really isn't much on it that I can get my hands on.."
"There isn't much in the military section, either." Edward said. "I've gone in there a bunch of times, but there's only a few vague references."
"Oh, the place where you have to have a military license to get in?" Savina asked, leaning against a counter. "I tried to go in there, but I got shooed away. I sneaked in a couple times, but someone always accosted me before I could really get my hands on anything." She shrugged.
"Yeah, that's the place." Edward laughed. She had a knack for making everyday occurrences seem like exhilarating adventures, just by the tone of her voice.
"Hmm, let's see.." Savina murmured, opening a cabinet near the fridge, and pulling out three cups. Edward glanced quickly at Al. "You know, last time I tried to do this, I burnt myself.. It really hurt!" Savina said to no one in particular as she began to pour the tea. She came out of this one unscathed, however, and carried two cups over to Ed and Al.
"Ed, what do I do?" Al whispered urgently to his brother, knowing full well he couldn't drink the tea.
"Just act natural." Edward replied vaguely, waving his hand as Savina returned with her tea.
"Oh!" She said, jumping up. "I just remembered, I brought home leftover cookies from Secret's.. No, not you, sweetie." She said, as the little cat hopped up from her place by Edward's boots and shot over. "We bake new cookies and stuff every other day, to keep them fresh. I'm not allowed to do it, I butcher them every time, but if there's anything left we divvy it up and take it home." She carried a small plate of assorted cookies over and set it down in the middle of the table, taking her seat. Secret followed her and put her paws on the seat. "Secret's really not supposed to beg.. Heh, I guess I spoil her.."
"Is it okay to give her cookies?" Al asked.
"If you like, just don't overdo it, or she won't stop begging from you. It can get quite annoying, actually. Just no chocolate." Edward and Alphonse sat against the wall across from Savina, whose back was to the living room. Secret swirled around their legs, every now and then taking a bit of cookie from Al. "So, have I been of any use?" Savina asked, swallowing a bite of sugar cookie.
"To be blunt, no. Unless we can find out who opened the gate and why, then there's nothing that can help us." Edward said apologetically, shoving half a cookie into his mouth.
"Oh.. Well, ah well. I suppose I'm still completely useless." She threw her hands in the air in a sign of defeat and slumped down in her chair. "You don't like my tea?" She said, her eyes lighting on Al's full cup.
"Oh, no, it's not that.." He began hastily, but Savina cut him off.
"It's fine, I'm not the master tea ninja, I'm just lucky the thing didn't spontaneously combust this time." This sudden remark brought a laugh out of all three.
"Actually," Edward said, suddenly serious, "I don't like to show people this, but.. Al, take off your helmet."
"What? But, brother.." Al protested. Edward cut him off.
"It's fine. Just.. Show her. She has a right to know."
"Because he didn't drink my tea? It's not a big deal.." Savina said, but was cut off by Edward, who seemed to be making a sport of interrupting people.
"No. You told us your story.. Now we'll tell you ours. Al, show her." Alphonse sighed wearily, then reached up and took off his helmet. Savina's eyes widened in surprise, and she sat still for a moment, warm fear washing over her. Then,
"Hey, that's pretty cool! Do you like, carry stuff in you? Dude, let me ride in you!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining deviously.
"Uh.. What..?" Al said meekly, as Edward burst out laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" Al and Savina said almost in unison.
"It's just that that.. Nobody.." He tried to talk between bursts of laughter, but ended up making himself giggle even louder. When finally he stopped, wiping away tears, he repeated, "Nobody ever acted like that when they found out Al's empty." He knocked the side of the armor with his fist as he talked.
"Oh.. Okay, so how's that work?" Savina asked.
"Well, I attached Al's soul to the armor here." Edward said, pointing to the blood rune, "He can move the armor and well.. You know."
"Ah. So if say, you take off his helmet, or his arm, then does the soul shrink into the armor, or does it stay the same?"
"That's not quite how it works. Human souls aren't tangible, so they can't really.." Edward searched for a way to say it.
"Oh, so it just happens." Savina said, with all the simplicity and innocence of a child.
"To put it simply, yes." Edward admitted, chuckling.
"So do you carry stuff in you? Oh, you can hide people in you!" This last bit was said with such forceful enthusiasm that Al leaned back and whimpered. Edward snickered.
"N.. n-no.." Al whimpered.
"Aww, that'd be so cool, though! Oh, what if someone snuck into you, and just started living inside your armor, and you couldn't get them out, and they did all this weird stuff, like at the market, just stuck their arm out and knocked off and entire row of fruit while you walked by, or grabbed stuff, and took it in. Oh, what if it was too big to fit in the hole, and they just tried to slam it in from the inside, and all you saw was this hand holding a box or something, trying to get it in, or in the middle of the night, they'd just scratch at the inside of the armor, and be like, "Hey.. Hey.. How's it ah.. How's it goin' out there?" Her voice, imitating the imaginary person, was soft, quiet, and more than a little creepy. "Ooh, ooh, or if they grabbed stuff and just threw it at random people, like, you'd just see this arm come out from under your helmet, grab something really fast, and chuck it at the closest person, and then slither back inside really fast?" Savina said loudly, bouncing up and down, laughing, her idea obviously having gotten her hyper. Edward had long since dissolved into another fit of high-pitched giggles, and was bent double on his chair. "Awh, I would totally do that!" She exclaimed, he eyes wide and shining. She looked over at Edward, who was still laughing so hard it seemed likely he'd tumble out of his chair, or chortle up his guts. Seeing him made Savina laugh hysterically as well, and Al watched as the two clutched their stomachs and rocked back and forth, unable to stop.
"Every one's picking on me!" Alphonse wailed helplessly, to no one in particular, placing his head back on.
"Oh.. Oh, god.. Oh, god.." Savina said, wiping away a stream of laughter-induced tears. "I can't remember the last time I laughed like that."
"Neither can I!" Edward replied. "Sorry, Al, it was just so funny.." He said, looking over at his brother. He chuckled a little.
"What?" Savina asked. Secret was staring at her like she was a retard. "Don't give me that look, that was hilarious, and you know it!" The little cat turned around and walked over to the fridge, laying down with her back to them. "Silly little thing." Savina muttered.
"She sure does have quite a personality." Alphonse said. Savina nodded in agreement.
"She's silly, but very smart. She's so expressive and vocal, too! I love it." She confirmed. "Oh.. I don't know if this helps, but a few years back, I got interested in alchemy. I never did anything, I just looked up stuff on the computer. None of it was terribly interesting, not like the alchemy you have here."
"Computer?" Edward inquired, testing the word.
"Eh.. It's like.. I really can't explain it. It's this machine that lets you do all sorts of stuff, write documents, look at pictures, read stuff it has a screen, and a mouse.. That's this clicky thing, and a keyboard I don't.. I can't explain it.." She repeated. Ed and Al, for the most part, had envisioned a loudly humming typewriter with a piano, a button, and a bit of wire screening attached to it. "Anyhow." She said, but didn't continue.
"So.. You didn't do anything? Just researched the concept?" Edward asked after a while.
"Pretty much. Like I said, alchemy's a lot different there."
"What was it like?"
"Well, it's a dead science now, been dead for hundreds of years. It was pretty much just a bunch of crackpots trying to make gold and immortal life in a cauldron."
"That's what is was like here, too.." Edward murmured.
"Well, it seems, that where, here, you advanced in alchemy, we advanced in technology. That's where things start to branch off." Savina said. Edward nodded his assent, looking solemnly at her.
"You've told us your story Now we'll tell you ours." He repeated. "I suppose I'll start from the beginning, it's the best place in this situation. Alphonse and I lived in a small town called Resembool, in the eastern area. We were happy, and our.. Our.. father" He said it through gritted teeth, angrily, "loved our mother very much. But then.. He left. And our mother became depressed."
"She was happy during the day, for the most part," Al said, picking up the story, "Sometimes we'd catch her staring off into space, but other than that she showed no sign of sadness, and she'd still say things like "when your father comes home". But at night.. We knew she cried. Sometimes we could her through the walls, and then we would get sad, too. So, we started studying alchemy. Our mother was amazed that we could understand our father's alchemy books. We'd show her the things we transmuted, because they made her happy. That's the only reason we did it because it made her smile, and we vowed to get better, so we could keep her from being sad ever again."
"And then," Edward began again, "One day as we came home from a trip to the market, we found her lying on the floor unconscious. I told Al to stay with her while I went for help. I ran to our friend's house, faster than I've ever run in my life, and her grandmother, called the doctor. By the time I got back, Al had woken her, and gotten her into her bed. Then, after the doctor saw her, he told us she was sick, and had been for some time, but hadn't told anyone because she didn't want us to worry about her."
"Not long after that, she died." Al began again, "We wrote letters to all the places our father could possibly be - but he never answered, and wasn't at her funeral. We stayed in that house for a while longer, studying alchemy. Then, one stormy night, while we were having dinner with our neighbors, we heard an announcer over the radio saying that the sandbags weren't holding the river back. Ed and I rushed out to help, but our efforts didn't do much, and our transmutation circle was washed away. It was then that a strange woman from out of town showed up."
"It was this woman who eventually became our teacher, and gave us the training from hell." Both boys visibly shuddered. "She sent us to survive on a deserted island for a month, and to figure out the riddle, "One is all, all is one." Every night we were attacked by a man who eventually turned out to be a man who worked at their deli. So, after the month was over, and we'd figured out the riddle, she took us to her home, where we began the real training.. The training from hell." They both shuddered again. They obviously didn't like to talk about it.
"Brutal." Savina commented.
"It was. But when we returned, we had advanced so much in our skill that we were thankful for it." Al said. "We even fixed our neighbor's barn after it collapsed. After that, we dove even deeper into our father's alchemy books than we ever had before. We wanted to bring her back, through human transmutation, even though it's illegal."
"On the night of the transmutation," Edward picked up, "We bought all the ingredients for the human body - Water, 35 liters. Carbon, 20 kilograms. Ammonia, 4 liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorous, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, 80 grams. Fluorine, 7.5, iron, 5, silicon, 3 grams, and trace amounts of 15 other elements." He recited the familiar elements and amounts, having memorized them a long time ago. "We'd reviewed our notes, the books, and made sure everything was perfect. We drew the circle exactly like it said to, we had text references, picture references, we made not one single mistake. It wasn't our theory that was wrong, our theory was flawless it was us."
"It began okay," Al said, "It all seemed to be working. But then, something went wrong. We were both sucked into the gate.. And when I awoke, I was like this, and Edward was on the floor, bleeding."
"While I was at the gate, that thing you saw, poured information into my head. I felt like my head was going to explode.. All the truths of the world were being stuffed into me. And then, I was so close, I could see our mother, and knew I was barely a second away from being able to successfully transmute a human being, then it stopped. And the thing, god, all, one, it called itself so many things, told me that was all I could see for the price I paid, and it took my leg." Here Edward stuck out his left leg, and, as Savina watched, rolled up his pants to reveal a gleaming leg of metal. "When I came back, and saw the monster we had created, and found Al gone, I returned and gave my right arm for his soul, which I attached to this armor. After that, after I knew he was safe, I passed out." He had rolled his pants back down, and had begun taking off his jackets, and was now in the sleeveless black undershirt, and his entire right arm was metal up to the shoulder.
"After Ed's wounds healed, a certain Colonel Mustang came to pay a visit, having heard about a gifted young alchemist living in that area." Al said. "After visiting our old house, and seeing the stains from the thing we created, he was directed to the Rockbell house, where Ed was recuperating, and offered him a job as a state alchemist."
"I then decided to undergo surgery, and have automail attached." Edward said, gesturing towards his arm. "They told me recovery time would take about three years.. But I didn't have time for that. I was ready in one. Before we left, we burnt down our house so we'd never have a place to go back to, and never have a reason to look back. And since that moment, we've been searching for the philosopher's stone, so we can regain our bodies."
"We've had only false leads so far, as you can tell." Al said. Savina sat still for a while, digesting all this.
"So.. That's the only reason you were interested in me, because you thought I'd somehow lead you to it?" She asked accusingly. Both boys were quiet, looking ashamed. Savina sighed. "I knew it had to be something like that. Ah, well. I'm sorry I couldn't help, really." Ed and Al looked up in shock. They had expected a tantrum. That was what they would have received from Winry, and she was the only other girl they knew on personal terms. They're so different.. Edward thought. He smiled. And Savina smiled back, a weary smile that spoke of deep sorrow, a look Edward could relate to. Al noticed the look exchanged between the two and felt an odd feeling. He couldn't quite name it.. "So anyhow." Savina said, interrupting his train of thought, "Was there anything else you wanted?" She asked.
"Well, not really.." Edward began, and then looked at the small clock that hung over Al. His eyes widened in surprise. Savina followed his gaze.
"Holy crap! It midnight seventeen!" She exclaimed. Al chuckled at this remark, and Edward gave her a quizzical look. "It's ah.. A joke my friend and I had.. Midnight seventeen. He grilled hot dogs when he was drunk quite amusing, really.." She trailed off weakly. "Anyhow." She ended.
"Aw, jeez, the military rooms closed at nine.." Edward said.
"So what now?" Al asked.
"Well.." Savina began. She was blushing hotly, "You could stay here. I've got some extra blankets, and the couches are open.."
"Aw, I hate to impose, but I guess we have no choice, huh, Al?" Edward asked apologetically, rubbing the back of his head. His eyebrows were knitted together, and a frown of confusion pulled down his mouth.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" Savina laughed. "I'll go get the blankets, then, and leave you to bicker amongst yourselves who gets the bigger couch." And, this said, she pushed back her chair and made a beeline for the hallway. "Oh," She called out, switching on the hall light as the boys moved out of the kitchen, "The bathroom's the second door on the left. The first is the closet," They heard a door creak open, "And on the right is mine. Just give a yell if you need anything," The door slammed shut, and her voice grew gradually louder as they settled on their respective couches, "If I don't wake up, just pop in, and help yourself to anything." She appeared at the hall entrance, her face obscured by two thick, heavy-looking comforters. "All right." She said, handing the top one to Al, and the second to Edward. It was a deep burgundy, one side embellished with a swirling heart pattern. Al's was a midnight blue, with a fancy star pattern on one side. It was very soft, Edward noticed.
Oh, I don't really need it.." Al said.
"Eh. It's there if you want it. Now, did you wanna go to bed now, or would you like to stay up a little longer?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
"Whatever you want to do." Edward said.
"Well, I'm not particularly tired, how about you?" She asked. Edward confessed that he wasn't, and Al added, when her glance turned to him, that he didn't sleep. Ever. "Well, alrighty, then." She said, sitting on the nearest couch, next to Al. "What shall we discuss, then? Being intellectuals, and all." Something in her tone made her guests laugh. She was definitely a funny girl, when she tried to be.
