Ha! Here comes chapter 4! Even though Ember wrote the whole thing before posting it, she never thought the story would make it this far… she was pretty much convinced the whole thing would flop.
Kuchaki—YOU CAME BACK TOO!!! Ember loves you. 3 And she's glad it seemed realistic. Originally she had written the whole thing, realized the dream sequence was really screwy when it came to any type of canon whatsoever, and scrapped it. She HATES rewriting of any sort, so she's really glad it was worth it.
Aigyou—heehee you have been trapped… Sarah's ankle is sprained. It just so happened that Ember is taking a sports medicine class, so she's totally nerding out with all the injuries that take place in this. So if the name's neglected it's because she was feeling particularly nerdy. And yes… let us talk, by all means. It sounds fascinating to both Ember and Rags to Riches.
And now…
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The Acquiring of Knowledge
Chapter 4
When Edward woke up, Sarah was already awake and looked like she had been for a while. "Did you get any sleep?"
The look she gave him told him she hadn't. "No. I never do when I hurt myself like this."
"You've done this before? Why am I not surprised?" he murmured as he examined her ankle again before they set out. He was shocked by what he found.
Her ankle was far worse than it had been. It was more swollen and the bruising had started to spread and get more colorful.
Sure, injuries looked worse before they looked better, but this was too much. She had done something to it. And then it hit him.
When he had fallen asleep, she had been by the fallen tree. And then she had come to his side when he woke from his nightmare. She had walked on her bad ankle. "You idiot! You hurt it again, and for what!?"
That hurt her. He could tell from her face. "There was something wrong. You were worried."
"Idiot! No dream of mine is more important than you focusing on making sure you don't hurt this ankle any worse than you already have!"
That was far too much for her. Tears started rolling down her face as she yelled, "Don't you get it!? I don't care about my ankle, I've had worse! What mattered to me was that a friend was troubled, was hurting!" And she stood and limped away into the woods, leaving Edward stunned.
~*~*~
Sarah moved into the woods as fast as she could, which was considerably slowly. It didn't matter. She needed to get away. She just couldn't take it.
He honestly thought she had been acting stupidly. Either he thought he was worthless or he thought she was foolish by nature. And she couldn't stand either option.
Edward was by no means worthless. He was the Fullmetal Alchemist, for crying out loud! He was probably the strongest alchemist alive.
And she knew she was naïve, but she refused to believe it was wrong to put others first. If someone was hurting, it didn't matter what happened to her, as long as she could help. That was how she felt and had felt for a long time.
Just as she had reached her limit, her ankle had reached its limit. She couldn't go any farther, and collapsed where she was, crying even harder out of frustration.
She couldn't go on. Just a couple of days into this and she had both hurt herself and gotten into a fight with her companion. It was a shame, they had been getting along so well, and Sarah was a sensitive person. When others felt bad, she did too. Which had led into this whole mess.
Thinking herself in circles, she finally cried herself into a fitful sleep, both wishing that Edward would find her and hoping he wouldn't see her like this.
~*~*~
Edward ran through the woods in the direction Sarah had gone. He had to find her; it couldn't be good for her ankle to run off like that. Also, he couldn't help but feel guilty whenever he remembered her face as she ran off.
"What mattered to me was that a friend was troubled, was hurting!" Her final words played in his head like a broken record. And they made him feel even worse.
He still didn't approve of what she had done. But now that he understood why, it was hard for him to blame her for it. And so he kept searching through the woods. She couldn't have gone far.
Sure enough, there she was, curled into a ball on the ground.
Edward approached her slowly, afraid of her reaction if he was too careless. "Sarah?" he whispered.
There was no response, so Ed moved a little closer. Either she was really mad at him or she had collapsed.
Her tear-streaked face was calm, her eyes closed. She was asleep. Well, she hadn't slept at all the night before. It was time for her to pay up—her body needed the rest.
But she had to be uncomfortable, lying on the ground like that. Gently, so as not to wake her up, Edward picked her up and carried her back to their campsite.
~*~*~
When Sarah woke up, she was back at the campsite with absolutely no memory of how she had gotten there. "How…?"
Edward was sitting nearby, his back turned. "Listen, no matter how big a fool I make of myself, don't run off like that, OK?"
What was he getting at? Was he trying to apologize for earlier? And that didn't answer the biggest question in her mind—how had she gotten back to the camp? "Edward, how did I get back here?"
At this he turned to face her. "You honestly have to ask?"
Realization hit her like a train. He had brought her back. He had gone looking for her and brought her back.
He had been worried about her.
She struggled to rise, to go over to him. Of course, he was having none of that. He was by her side in a moment, forcing her to stay seated on her now-familiar fallen tree.
It didn't matter to her. She hugged him, and smiled as he awkwardly returned her hug. "Thanks."
"Not a problem. Just try not to make a habit of it. I don't like running through the woods as a general rule."
She laughed. "Well, you'll be doing a lot of that soon. We have to get moving."
"Oh—here. I found this. You'll have to test it yourself, but I think it'll hold your weight."
The instant she saw what he handed her, she knew he hadn't found it. He had transmuted it. It was a metal staff, much like the one he had created the other day. You didn't just find those in the woods.
However, if he wanted to say he'd found it, she wouldn't contradict him. Instead she stood up, using the staff as a support, and began to walk.
~*~*~
By nightfall they had reached the edge of the forest. Sarah had looked amazed; apparently they were moving much faster than she had believed possible. But that would have been because of Sarah's dogged determination not to let her ankle slow her down, quickly learning what her healing joint could and couldn't take. It truly amazed Edward, how determined she could be.
They had just settled down for the night when someone else came out of the woods. Instantly Edward was on his feet, whipping around to face this newcomer.
He was the plainest person Edward had ever seen. He had nondescript features and was wearing plain clothing. The only thing about him that stood out was the spear he carried in his right hand.
This put Edward on his guard instantly. Not many people walked through this forest, and still fewer would go with spears. "Are you looking for something?" he asked, struggling to be polite.
The man did not waste any effort on niceties. "You two have been walking through this forest. Are you looking for something yourselves?"
At this point Sarah piped up. "Yes, actually, we are. Maybe you could help us?"
"No. You two need to stop looking."
"And if we don't?" Edward asked.
"Then I'll have to kill you."
Sarah sighed. "Really, what is it with people these days? Do something they don't like, they kill you. It's so… immature."
Edward instantly saw what she was doing. She was distracting the man as she moved closer, staff firmly in hand.
Well, if that was what she wanted to do, he could help. "I know, really. Why is it, do you think, that harmless discussion died?"
"I don't know. It's such a shame, though."
"Yes, it is. A crying shame."
And then they attacked as one.
Edward grabbed the man's spear and pulled at it, setting him off-balance as Sarah, using the staff as support, kicked out with her good leg. The man went down.
However, he did not stay down, instead choosing to lash out at Edward with his spear, grazing his arm.
Edward looked at the hole in his robe and felt the blood on his arm. "Now, that wasn't nice," he remarked conversationally. Then he stripped off the robe, revealing metal bands he had transmuted to fit around his forearms in case he needed to create a weapon quickly.
Soon the man was not the only one armed with a sharp object. And Edward was quite literally armed. After all, the blade he had created was on his arm.
Sarah evidently knew when to stay back, as she faded into the background. That was fine by Edward—the man didn't know what he had coming. He really seemed quite inexperienced compared to enemies Edward had faced in the past. He would pay for wasting their time like this.
As the man attacked with his spear again, Edward ducked under it and sliced the spear in half, and then the fight turned into a brief contest of hand-to-hand skill.
The man was big and used his superior height and weight to his advantage, but Edward was faster and knew quite a few tricks. Soon the strange man was on the ground with Edward crouched on his chest and the sharp half of his own spear at his throat.
Still conversational, Edward cheerfully said, "Now, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop attacking us. It's not doing any good. In fact, all it's doing is getting you hurt and wasting our time."
The man growled a few curses.
"Come, now. That doesn't sound like agreement at all." Edward's smile turned icy. "Unless you really want to get hurt."
The man growled, threw Edward off of him, and stalked back into the forest.
Soon Sarah was at his side, briefly checking him over for injuries caused when he was thrown and calmly examining the scratch the man's spear had given his arm. "This isn't too bad, all things considered. He could have done a lot worse. It seems pretty clean, and it's really shallow. In fact, it's already stopped bleeding."
"So when did you learn all this, from everything you've probably done to yourself?" Edward was genuinely curious.
"No. Well, not all of it. First aid is fascinating, and there are so many books on it. It wasn't really that hard to learn. Oh, and what are these?" She indicated the metal bands around his forearms. "I've never seen them before."
"They're an idea I had shortly after I got my arm back."
"Explain."
"See, in a pinch I would always transmute my auto-mail arm into a weapon. So if I was ever in trouble, I would probably instinctively go to transmute my arm. However, transmuting my real arm wouldn't work very well, so I came up with the idea of putting these metal bands on my arms. That way I don't hurt myself and I have a quick source of metal to transmute."
"It's a clever idea."
"Thank you. Oh, something's been bothering me since that man left."
"Really? What?" She looked mildly concerned.
"He growled at me. I mean, he actually growled at me. Who does that?"
She laughed. "I'm sure I don't know."
"Exactly. He's more immature than I'd previously thought. But his coming here tells us three things."
"Really? Care to share with the class?"
Edward grinned. "You honestly don't see it?"
"I think I do, but I want to make sure we're on the same page here."
"Whatever. And you don't know."
She looked affronted. "And what makes you think that?"
"Just your personality. If you had known, you wouldn't have wasted a second. You'd have already talked my ear off."
If looks could kill, Edward was sure he'd be critically injured at the least. The glare she was giving him now was priceless. He hurried to explain, before she actually did kill him. "Anyway, it tells us three things. One, whatever we're looking for really exists."
"How does it tell you that!?"
He held up a hand to silence her. "Just give me a moment. Two, whatever we're looking for is in this forest."
"Really!? I knew it had to be!"
"Are you going to let me finish?"
"No, I can guess the third now."
"Care to enlighten me?"
Sarah smiled, a predator's icy grin. "Sure. Three, we came close enough to it to scare him. So it's nearby."
Edward returned her grin. "Exactly."
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Oh dear, the action is coming to a head. Soon we'll all be killing each other… maybe. Maybe not, though. XD. Ember likes being mysterious like that.
If you liked, didn't like, think Ember's characterization of Ed is totally way off, or would like to rant about your cat waking you up at 2:30 in the morning as your younger sibling runs down the hall screaming "DADDY!!" (not fun. Ember knows.) then say so in your REVIEW. Please. Ember, as a result of sleep deprivation in the form of the scenario she just recently described, is currently incapable of reading your mind. It just won't work. She tried. All she got was "kitty?".
Ember and Rags to Riches—the mutant penguins. Mwahaha.