Don't own anything fma just my oc's
This is a bit long and I still wasn't able to pack in everything I wanted, so it will be carried on into the next chapter.I would love as much feedback as you could give
hope you enjoy!
State of Flux
Chapter four:
The shadows held on tight, wrapping writhing arms around her limbs, holding her against all her struggles. Words whispered in her ear. Eerie and disturbing things, she screamed back at them in protest, yet, harsh and sharp they cut through her mental defenses, carved into her being. When the shadows and the voices disappeared they left little crimson cuts all along her body and she bled out life. She looked up into the endless white void gasping for breath her shaking hands reaching out for refuge, some salvation, anything. Her soul, her past, her essence fled out through the lacerations and as it all trickled out light entered her through those same cuts. It filled all that emptiness, now she felt like someone new, the light was her, reborn, reconstructed, purified and amplified. She could breathe easily now, see clearly, her hands lifted and she touched her face, everything was so lucid. She had never been so content in herself, in the world and in her knowledge of it.
Ava woke abruptly from the dream, the book she had been holding fell to the floor with a soft thud. She rubbed her eyes and checked the time; she had only slept for two hours. It could have been an eternity for all that she was feeling. The clock was nearing five-thirty in the morning. She had stayed up late reading and going over and over notes. Her intuition was screaming at her, warning, supporting, and again cautioning. There is a point in a person's life when destiny plucks you from your content place in existence and flings you forward to where you're supposed to be. It sets you on that path you're supposed to blaze. All set alight, hell fire and burning glory. This was it. She knew it, her soul knew it. She was ready.
She couldn't wait another minute around this place. She grabbed all that she needed, donned all her gear. She looked formidable. She tugged on black fingerless gloves that had steel plates over the back of her hands. Heavy steel bars crisscrossed at her lower back, formed to liken billy clubs. She flipped the hood up on her grey leather jacket, and zipped it over her tank and off-shoulder cropped t-shirt. She strapped a small dagger to the inside of her right ankle under her black pants and pulled on her black leather boots. Ava grabbed her bag, turned off all the lights in her small home, and left. Doing all she could not to look back.
Walking out into the pre-dawn morning was refreshing. The morning air was sweet smelling and clear. She felt confident and ready for anything. She looked at the shops she passed, some keepers already shifting around inside. Lights glowed amber through some windows, but most was quiet and dark. It cast a setting for a perfect peaceful goodbye, an easy one. But not just to the town, the town would always be here. To the old things, what would be old things, now.
She neared the train station and looked out for any sign of the Fullmetal Alchemist or Alphonse. But the platform was empty; she could hear the train barreling down the tracks not too far off.
"One ticket for the Six-O'clock to Dublith, please." She asked the man at the ticket window sliding money through a crescent shape hole cut in the bottom of the glass.
"You got it miss." The plain looking man smiled and handed the ticket to her. "Safe travels!"
She thanked him and took a seat on a bench. There was still no sign of the brothers. The train was nearing the station. The ground shook and the rails screamed from the deceleration of the great beast of a machine. The clock on the side of the building read six o'clock.
Ava was about to board when she heard the steps running up from behind her. "Ava!" She heard Al call "where here, sorry, hope you weren't waiting very long."
She turned to greet him "Good morning!" Ed and Al jogged to her, followed by the Paninya girl and another blond haired femme. "Hi everyone!" she smiled lightly.
"Hey! You showed up, that's great!" Ed said happily and stood by her. "Winry this is Ava." He motioned.
"Wow! It's so great to meet you, these guys haven't stopped going on about all the things they've read and learned from you." Winry, the blond, smiled wide.
"Well it's not all mine, really it's my father's research and field journals. But thank you, and it's nice to meet you as well." She two shook hands. "And good to see you again, Paninya"
"Yeah, you too, that's crazy you're leaving with them. The food at old man Lan's restaurant isn't going to be worth eating now." Paninya joked.
"C'mon Ava we gotta' go, train's leaving!" Ed called from a set of boarding stairs then called out his goodbyes to his friends.
"Make sure those two don't get into too much trouble for me okay?" Winry said thoughtfully.
"I'll do my best." Ava nodded and headed toward the train. "I hope next time we meet there is more time to talk!"
"Bye!" The two girls called after Ava and she waived blindly, hopping on the train just before it started pulling out of station.
Ava looked around, it had been a while since she had been on the train. It was pretty plain, rows of benches, there weren't too many passengers. She saw Al immediately and walked over to the brothers and took a seat next to Ed, scooting in by the window. "So guys, what's this teacher of yours like? Think she could give me a few pointers?" She shrugged her pack onto the floor.
"A few pointers? She could probably teach you loads more than that." Al said with conviction. "She's incredible."
"That's awesome, I can't wait to meet her." She looked to Ed who had paled and looked frightened.
"Yeah, well I can, she's going to kill Al and I, she doesn't know about our bodies yet." He frowned and Al trembled.
"She sure is scary." Al squeaked.
"Up on a pedestal one minute and now you guys are shaking in fear at just the thought of her? What kind of a teacher is this?" Ava asked confused.
"Oh, you'll find out." Ed said ominously. Ava didn't know just what to think about that.
"Well I'm going to try to get a little shut eye on the way there, wake me when were close." She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned her head against the window. Closed her eyes and waited for sleep.
"Brother, she sure looks like she's prepared for anything." Al said softly after she had drifted off.
"Yeah, well she should be, with the things that follow us around." Ed responded dryly. "I hope, this whole thing doesn't turn out to be a disaster."
"What do you mean?" Al asked.
"We barely know anything about her, well besides that she seems to have performed human transmutation like we have, but there's nothing obvious that she would have given in exchange." He thought for a moment. "Her father's research notes are incredible and it seems she's well versed in alchemic knowledge, hell, she knows a whole other form of it I don't have a clue about."
"So why is that a bad thing?"
"Well, it all seems too set up for one, like too much of a coincidence." Ed glanced sidelong at the sleeping girl.
"What, you think she's some sort of spy or something?" Al was surprised. "I really do think we can trust her, I don't think it's like that at all."
"No, not like a spy," Ed chuffed, "Something else, I'm not sure really." He crossed his arms, "Forget I said anything." Al nodded in response.
Ava woke when the train started decelerating into the station. Her eyes flashed open almost in a panic. For a moment she had forgotten she had even left Rush Valley at all.
"Good you're up, we were just about to wake you." Al said, voice smiling.
She yawned, "We 'eere?" she managed, stretching her arms and legs out in front of her.
"You bet," Ed said standing as the train came to a slow stop. "now let's go!" He grabbed his suitcase and started to rush off the train, Al stood quickly after and followed.
Ava fumbled for her bag and tried to keep up, legs a little wobbly from sitting for so long. "Whoa there short stuff hold up!" she yelled after them.
Suddenly Ed turned to her, "Who are ya' callin' a bean sprout midget!?" He yelled crazily, Al held his coat as he writhed in the air.
She laughed, "I didn't say any of that!" note to self: apparently the little dude is super sensitive about being called short.
"Yeah, that's what I thought!" He grumbled.
"Right," She smiled nervously. "lead on.."
The three walked a little ways Ava's eyes darted around taking in the sights. The city wasn't really anything special, but it was quaint and clean and she liked the normality of it. Everybody she saw seemed pretty content. She looked forward again just in time to stop herself from colliding with Al.
The boys stood side by side looking in toward a small red and white shop, the sign above read 'MEAT' "We finnaly made it Al." Ed said it what seemed to be a mixture of disbelief and defeat, "Be nice if teacher wasn't home."
"Yeah," Al agreed in the same morose tone.
Ava looked to both of them "You guys still sure about this? You're starting to really get me worried about meeting this 'teacher'." She said looking at the shop nervously just as heavy booming footsteps stomped their way to the door from inside. They all stiffened. A huge burly man stepped through the opened door with a bloodied knife in one hand. The tree jumped back all turning a little blue in the face. Ava reached for one of the bars strapped to her back.
"Hello Sig." Ed piped
"Long time no see." Al peeped fiddling with his fingers.
Ava moved her hand back to her side. So they know this guy. She mustered a small smile in greeting.
"You two have grown up a little, huh?." Sig patted Ed's head with one giant paw of a hand.
"You're squishing me…" Ed gasped
"You probably don't recognize me, but It's Alphonse" Al pointed toward himself and bowed a little. "Sorry we've been away so long."
"Looks like you've grown up more than a little" Sig rubbed Al's helmet. "And who's this?" He raised a brow toward the unfamiliar girl standing back a little.
"This is Ava," Ed pushed her forward forcefully; she teetered trying to keep her balance. "We ran into her in Rush Valley, she's going to be teaching me a few things about alkahestry!" He smiled.
"Hi, Mr. Sig, Sir…" She held out her hand awkwardly but he just plopped a mit on her head and ruffled her hair too. "..ooff!" she was surprised.
"Nice to meet you Ava." He smiled subtly.
"You too…" she patted her hair down quickly as he walked toward the other side of the shop. They followed.
"Izumi," he called into an opened window by a door. "The Elric shrimps and a friend have come for a visit, so you think you can see them?"
"I'll be right there, I'm feeling better today." A small voice answered from inside.
"Lying down? That's not a good sign." Al said to his brother.
"I guess she hasn't gotten any better since last time-" Ed was cut off when the door opened violently smacking into Al who stood behind it. A tall women with long, dark, dreaded hair wearing a white coat stood ominously for a moment before planting a swift kick right in the middle of Ed's gaping face. He was sent flying
This must be the teacher they were talking about… Ava took a few uneasy steps off to the side.
Izumi stepped out of the door way a fear invoking look shadowed her face, eyes glowing. "Hello my stupid pupil, I hear you've become one of the military's dogs!" She yelled at Ed, still not recovered from the blow. The door squeaked and swung behind her revealing the tall armored figure. She turned slowly with a death glare still worn firmly.
"Uh teacher," Al stammered, "You see, it's because I'm-"
"Al?" Izumi asked, a light hearted expression and a smile blooming on her face. "You've gotten so big!"
Ava looked toward Ed who had started to stir. "Should I Hide?" She mouthed silently to him. He was about to respond when Al was thrown smack dab into her. "Holy-!" She crumpled underneath him splaying out unnaturally.
"Your skills are rusty." Izumi crossed her arms then noticed Ava crawling out from underneath Al. "Oh, who's this?" She put her hands on her hips eyeing the girl.
"I'm so sorry Ava!" Al sputtered and stood quickly helping her to her feet.
Ava brushed herself off, "Hi," she heaved, Al had knocked her wind out of her. "I'm Ava…Ellistone.." She held out a hand, "Nice to meet you" she thought for a moment and put her hand back down. "Introductions are enough right?" She wasn't about to make that mistake. By this time Ed had joined them
"You're cute!" She beamed kindly and punched Ava in the shoulder, what seemed to have been playfully, but non-the-less powerful. Ava rubbed at it. "A friend of the boys?"
"Yeah, you could say that." She grinned, gritting her teeth still working out the pain.
"You've got lots of energy for somebody who's not feeling well." Al said to his teacher.
"Not feeling well!?" She screamed frenzied, "What are you talking about I'm perfectly-" Then she vomited blood. A lot of it.
Ed and Al flailed "Are you okay!?" Ava asked just as shocked, she wasn't expecting that.
Sig laid a comforting hand on Izumi's shoulder. "You shouldn't over exert yourself." He wiped the corners of her mouth clean of blood.
"How sweet of you to worry dear," She swooned and embraced him. "Thank you!"
The brothers and Ava stood baffled. Ed twitched a little.
"Why don't we go in for some tea?" Izumi asked shortly after.
"Yes, tea sounds normal-Nice! Tea sounds nice." Ava caught herself, Izumi just smiled.
They followed her inside.
Ava sipped her tea contently. Ed asked Izumi about the philosophers stone.
"The philosophers stone huh? I don't know much about it. It holds no interest for me." She said with her arms crossed.
"I see, okay." Ed accepted her response.
"There was that one alchemist, I thought that one we met in central knew a good amount about the stone." Sig recalled.
Al and Ed exchanged a look Ava put down her tea and listened intently. "Who was this guy?" Ed was excited and sat forward eagerly.
"Let me think," Izumi put a hand on her chin, "What was his name? Ah, Hohenheim."
Whatever anticipation Ed and Al had mustered vanished. Ed balled his fists and looked toward the floor.
"Do you know that guy?" Ava asked concerned.
"So he's alive?" Ed said distantly. Ava looked between the boys for the answer.
"He's our father." Al answered.
"The one that ran out on you when you were little?" Izumi sat a little straighter.
"Yeah, that's the one." Ed said through gritted teeth. "It's all because of that bastard that our mothers dead. If it wasn't for him…" He trailed off.
What kind of man abandons his children? Well… I guess my father really wasn't much better. Ava sipped her tea again.
"Um," Al chimed. "Did our dad say anything about the philosopher's stone?"
"He said something about a life-long dream coming true, he seemed very happy when he said it" Their teacher replied before standing abruptly and smacking Ed across the top of his head. Ava and al cringed a little. "Now were going to eat!" she yelled walking into the kitchen.
"Okay!" Ed said roughly.
They all sat around a round table, heaps of food laid all over it. "Wow this looks great!" Ava sad filling her plate.
"Eat as much as you like." Sig said through a bite. "You going to eat Al?"
"I'm not hungry I had a big meal on the train ride here." Al held up his hands.
Ava thought about that for a second. Al couldn't even eat, really there are a lot of things he can't do. She hadn't even thought about that before. How awful and lonely that must be. All of a sudden, she wasn't really hungry.
"You should tell her about Rush Valley! About the baby being born and how we met Ava!" Ed said quickly changing the subject.
"Oh yeah, we helped deliver a baby! There was this big storm and we couldn't get the mother to a doctor." Said Al, cheerfully.
"It's pretty generous to call what we did helping." Ed rubbed the back of his head laughing.
"Yeah it was mostly Winry and the whole family pitched in too. The mother was so brave. Everyone is blessed when a baby is born." Al finished. Ava smiled at this, wondering if her mother thought that way when she had her.
"Yes that's right, that same miracle brings us all into this world." Izumi smiled, "Always take pride in the lives that where given to you." The brothers smiled to each other, well, Ava could only assume Al was.
"And how'd you meet this young lady?" Their teacher looked to Ava.
"We had missed our train and I got a call from one of my officers in central, said there was an alchemist we absolutely had to see if we were stuck in town. Ava's father studied all sorts of things about alchemy and she has a crazy amount of records, journals and books that her father wrote." Ed explained.
"They happened to spot me one night getting off work from the restaurant and Ed wouldn't leave me alone until I taught him everything I knew."
Izumi laughed, "So you're an alchemist too?" she asked, Ava nodded and smiled.
"So we asked her to join us, on our hunt for a philosopher's stone." Al said looking toward Ava. "She knows about alkahestry from Xing and she's going to teach brother how to use it."
"That's right," Ava smiled.
They sat around the table for a little while longer talking about this and that, Ava accidentally called Ed short again and he blew up. They soon retired to the Curtis's spare bedroom. There were only two beds, Al graciously took the floor.
"Hey Ed," Al said softly to his brother who looked to him in response, "teacher hasn't changed has she?"
"Nope she hasn't changed one bit in all this time." Ed said looking out the window.
"She's pretty cool," Ava said rolling over to face the wall. "I wish I knew someone like that when I was young."
"Yeah, we were just in the right place at the right time to have met her." Al said.
The room was quiet and Ava closed her eyes but sleep never came. She drifted from thought to thought but no rest. She mentally kicked herself; she probably shouldn't have slept on the train. She was restless she rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. Soon though, despite the nice day, that feeling started creeping back into her.
Starting from the shadows of her mind, crawling around her head suffocating all higher thought, like some poison from her subconscious. It made her stomach turn with anxiety. It ran around her insides making her feel like she wasn't real. Her body felt heavy, like a burden. She trembled and sat up she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
"Ava? You're awake?" Al asked hushed. Ed was sleeping by now.
"Al, I can't sleep. I think I need to go for a walk, clear my head." She stood quietly stepping into her boots and pulling on her jacket.
"Is everything alright?" Al asked concerned, "You're shaking."
"Yeah…" She looked to her hands which trembled, the feeling of hot adrenaline filled blood shook through her. "I'll be okay." She looked back to him. "Do you want to come with?"
"Yes, of course." He stood and they headed for the door. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Maybe, but you can't go shouting what I say to the world, alright?" She looked to Al who nodded in understanding.
They walked out into the night.
Alright hope this one didn't drone on too bad
I was hoping to get to Ava's past in this one, but nope! Next chapter will be filled with allathat.
Thank you peeps!
Peace!
~NDG