Kurai: Hello and long time no see! So sorry about the inactivity for so long but so much to deal with, especially since I've been badly sick for months now and am in the process of making a full recovery, but anyways, hopefully I will update faster now, after this the story might pick up a little (hate the whole adding backstory and back bone to a story but it is a must) and soon we will see more events happening!
Tristan: We do not own anything from FMA, just these made of characters and fake events not originally listened in the original FMA story.
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"You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play." –Jay Asher
/
Three months flew by as we made preparations for what we needed to set our plan in motion. Since I was bed ridden the whole time I decided to learn as much as I could, since I always had a love for History and reading I practically devoured every book I could get my hands on. I read into the late hours of the night, which got me multiple lectures from Mrs. Geldin, our kind nurse, since she said I needed all the rest I could get to heal up.
In the meantime, Tristan tried his best to keep us up to date with current news in the country, (because come on, we had no idea how long it would take us to get back home so might as well learn as much of the place we'll be staying at) going to get the newspaper and hear the nurses talk as much as he could. Yet nothing turned up that could help us find the Elrics.
On the bright side, seems the information I got from Truth wasn't just limited to Alchemy and Science but had information on this world and some of its History, but that didn't mean I didn't have a lot to learn. I learned some interesting things and after I finished the History books in the Hospital's library, I moved on to my next challenge; Alchemy itself.
It was decided that I would try my best to use what I got from Truth to learn Alchemy and try to get a state alchemist certification since without knowing how long exactly it would take before we got home, we needed a balance income to live off by as well as the information benefits of the military. I was against it at the beginning, since if they saw my arm and my lack of background they would automatically question me since we didn't have much background in this world we couldn't have documents and years knowing people and living in one place to back us up, as well as a family. If I was REALLY unlucky, I would get charged with illegally coming here from a neighboring country since our background, like I said above, was still iffy. Last thing we needed was to end up in a place we really didn't know, we barely were getting to know Amestris, don't wanna start over in a place that might not even speak English.
We spent days discussing and coming up with a good background, something that could hold up even with some investigation going into it. The main problem was the documents such as passports and birth certificates, since with so much rural land throughout the country we could easily state we live in a secluded farm.
We decided on a quick background, we were adopted by a nice couple when we were babies (since no one would question us not being sure where we were adopted from) we lived in a small quiet home and one day our house caught on fire and our parents died along with all of our important information. There wasn't much to investigate from a burnt house either way, and even less from a quiet town where fires cause a high number of deaths as we found out from local papers. Constant fires from lightning storms had the highest fatality rate around here.
We still had the problem of how we turned up near here which was easily solved when Tristan showed me another newspaper, dated the day after we had arrived.
Seems we appeared about a block from a gas leak explosion, though seeing our means of arriving here, it could have easily just been caused by the Gate, and luckily it helped cover our hole in the story, easily saying we were traveling poor orphans who got caught in the blast, explaining our cuts and bruises and overall injuries. I was caught by a flying sheet of metal from the boiler which caused my arm lose.
It was basic and easy without raising suspicions, and when we explain to Mrs. Geldin on the day she asked for our official information and how we meant to pay the hospital bill, she stayed silent for a while.
We stayed quiet, a bit worried if our story was any good until we were pulled into a hug, which trust me, isn't something we saw coming, suspicion and eventually handcuffs, yes, hugs, nope.
"You poor children! Parentless twice in your young lives." She said teary eyed as she clung to us tighter.
I felt a lump raise in my throat from the guilt of lying, which took me by surprise considering our situation but the look of sadness on her face took the lid off of my emotions, but I had to remind myself this was for the best, seriously, no one would believe we're from another world that has flying machines and the great Internet and texting and microwavable dinners.
With our good background story (which Tristan quickly took most of the credit for since he had the research he did to back it up), Mrs. Geldin managed to get us our citizenship passports and documents to replace the ones that has "burned" in our old home. Well one thing down, a zillion to go.
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After that was quickly cleared up, I asked why Tristan wasn't trying to get a state certification too, but according to him "I don't process information as fast as you do; you're a problem solver since you can think on your feet and according to the Basics of Alchemy, that's the main characteristic of an Alchemist. I'll learn Alchemy too but, at a slower pace."
Which translates to him being lazy since the guy did remember information better than I did, but I decided not to push him on it. I thought Alchemy would be simpler than it really was; it all had to do with formulas and elements, putting it in practice was WAY different. For example, if you want to create an urn from the ground, you have to see what elements you would need like dirt to make clay and metals that are already found in the earth, once you figure that out and find a way to combine the two into the desired object, alchemy deconstructed the elements down and then with the separated materials, reconstructed the elements into the urn using energy and causing chain reactions in the elements, binding them together. All this needed to be done in a split second; all state alchemists had this quality which helped them in combat.
And don't even get me started on the formulas and transmutations circles you need to create said objects. Every line and even every little damn squiggle meant something, messing even a curve at the end of a line would just make the attempt rebound and might even hurt the user if in a large enough scale. Yet eventually once an alchemist finds their "rhythm" as per say in alchemy, they find their transmutation circle, it seemed it was kinda like getting a name, it was one you can use for practically anything, only specific transmutations specified specific transmutation circle (try saying that five times!).
I sighed frustrated as I put the alchemy book down and looked at the clock on the wall, showing how it was little past three in the morning and decided to go for a quick walk around the halls. I rubbed my hair annoyed (making sure to use my right hand now, I was getting tired of hitting my face with my left hand by accident the times I forgot I DIDN'T HAVE A LEFT HAND ANYMORE!) and I quickly put on my slippers and quietly walked out of the room, careful not to wake Tristan as he slept.
I walked down the hall, taking in the sights before being forced to lie in bed again after this for who knows how long this time. I normally would be having a panic attack walking in a hospital in the middle of the night because come on guys, people die here and what comes from unhappy dead people? you got it, ghosts! But the atmosphere was peaceful as nurses passed now and then on their nightly rounds, always having a kind smile and greeting before checking on another patient or going back on patrol. (More than one reminding me to not over exert myself and tire myself)
I sighed quietly as I looked out the windows at the quiet night as the small town lay sleeping. Thinking back to the discussion me and Tristan had a couple days ago. To become a state alchemist, I needed two arms, not only to do alchemy and take the test, but in case I ever needed a means to defend myself, I couldn't really defend myself with my left arm missing, hell I could barely keep myself from tipping over at times since my body was so costumed to having more weight on my left side or trying to grab a glass with my left hand and ending up smacking it off the table. The only thing we could think of was automail, and no matter how cool it seemed to get it, I couldn't forget how painful it would be. If we knew for sure how long it would take to get home, I wouldn't need it and just managed without it till then, hell! I'll tape a stick to my stub if I had to! Yet it seemed like it would take a while one way or another.
People normally took three years or more to get the automail and go through the rehab and I'm pretty sure the pain lasts in some levels all the way till the end of the rehab, maybe even after. I shivered and tried to shake the thoughts out of my head before I freaked myself out even more. We had gotten information on an automail mechanic who lived in town, a reliable and fair one as we heard people talking about him in high praise.
Mrs. Geldin seems to be good friends with the man and convinced him to give me the automail and thankfully holding off the payment till after I became a state alchemist. Once I got the operation to get the automail, there was no more turning back on taking the test, my ass was on the line if I couldn't pay the guy back!
The first time the guy had come, his name was Mr. Martinfield, he had explained the whole procedure, how long it would take and thankfully for me, since I only needed automail for my arm missing till my elbow, which according to Mr. Martinfield was way less missing than people that took three years, the procedure could easily be done and the rehab endured within year and a half to two years max.
I was thankful for that but either way, pain was pain and it would still be a bitch to go through, less of an arm needed or not.
I continued to walk and finally decided to go back to my room, exhaustion making it hard to walk back to my room (last thing I need is my body throwing a bitch fit and making me collapse), in two days' time I would be undergoing the surgery and catching up on my last peaceful nights of sleep for a while before than seemed like a good idea.
/
(Tristan's Point of View)
I wrote quietly in the small journal I had gotten from Mrs. Geldin as a gift for being released from the hospital. My ribs still needed a couple more weeks of healing but with enough begging on me and Sparky's part; I was finally released after I promised to rest enough and get checked every two weeks or so to see my progress.
It had been around two and a half weeks since Sparky had her automail operation, I knew it would be tough on her and tried to prepare myself for the screams, but either way they still shook me badly. I shivered quietly, remembering how even though I was outside of Mr. Martinfield's house to wait; I could still hear her screams from upstairs.
I later learned from him that everything had gone fine, thankfully she didn't have to get automail all the way up on her shoulder where the nerves were harder to get to but either way, automail surgery was bad, especially with her just barely being thirteen.
I shut the notebook as I went back upstairs to check on her, she was still mostly sleeping, having fevers going up and down every few days. As I looked down at her sleeping, I thought back to everything that had happened to us so far, getting attacked by a couple of psychos and falling through the gate. I knew she still wondered how I managed to even pass through the gate to begin with, not having lost any visible limbs or even organs.
I just didn't have the guts to tell her how I've lost every memory I had, the only thing I had had left from before I woke up in that alley was of that last day we spent back in our own world with our friends and from than onward till now, everything else was gone, heck I couldn't even remember passing the gate itself, let alone the creepy guy Sparky kept telling me about.
I couldn't help but wonder what happened before then, and what had happened to our friends, where they looking for us? Or where we even missing? For all we knew our world's time had stopped or clones of us could be living our lives for us, just ghosts of the real thing, unfortunately we weren't holding our breaths.
/
(Back to Sapphire's Point of View)
Time's a funny thing. It seemed to pass quickly as I spent my days getting better and used to my new automail and yet at the same time it seemed to take forever. About three months after the two year mark, Mr. Martinfield had pronounced me good as new, though I couldn't overdo it and too much and tire myself out but who cares! I lived! The hardest part was probably the rehab, since I would put too much strength into my arm or too little and would break things at time and even tire myself out too much, but over time I got the hang of it.
Thankfully we were able to stay under his care while I underwent everything (thought it added more to my bill, much to his happiness and wallet). The benefit of resting in bed, after my fevers finally went down, was I spent more time studying alchemy and with my arm I could finally practice it.
And that's where I'm at now; staring at a transmutation circle I had drawn on the ground in Mr. Martinfield's backyard wrapped in a blanket as I prepared for one of my many attempts to transmute a flower. I had spent days trying and in the end only to get a puff of smoke or if I was lucky, a weed or piece of grass. I took a deep breath as I put my hands on transmutation circle again and concentrated.
Tristan stood to the side watching, having stopped his own alchemy reading to watch as a soft blue light appeared from the circle. So far so good. Yet just as a small stem began to form, the light quickly flashed once and disappeared, leaving smoke and a not even an inch of a stem in its stride. Well so much for a flower.
I growled frustrated as I rubbed my hair. "Why the fuck can't I get it?!" I yelled frustrated as I fell back on the ground, lying on the soft grass mad.
Tristan chuckled as he watched me with amusement written all over his face, "Maybe you're over thinking it." He said. I looked at him confused.
"Think about it, you're so determined to get it right, you're distracting your mind from the process and end result itself, try transmuting without thinking about having to do it, and actually do it. Actions speak louder than words, bro." he said as he rested his back against the tree he was sitting under.
Confused I nodded, might as well try something before I ripped every fricken blade of grass off this fucken lawn.
I took a deep breath and tried to push off my anger. I kept my mind clear from everything but alchemy as I put my hands back on the circle, watching as the circle glowed a brighter blue than before, and as the light quickly dimmed, a grin broke out across my face at seeing a daisy gently swaying in the breeze.
Tristan, you're genius is showing.
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Kurai: and there you have it! Hopefully it isn't too boring but hopefully only one or two chapters to go before the good stuff happens!
I Hope to Meet Another Night
