Chapter 4

Edward woke with a start, forced awake by the nightmare of that traumatic day, five years ago. He could still remember, clear as day: the meeting with The Truth, waking up in the forest, fighting the Giant Beasts; or Titans; he was told, and he can still remember waking up in that uncomfortable cart; traveling to the "last home of humanity".

What Ed could hardly remember though, was his life before all that. He could remember faces, names and general facts. Specifics were something else though, obvious things like knowing who Alphonse Elric was, was easy; the clue is in the name, but Winry Rockbell? Colonel Mustang? Obviously he knew them, but how he knew them and who they were to him was a mystery, as his memory of his life before arriving here had rapidly disintegrated, leaving only tiny fragments, that bore no relation to any other fragment of memory.

Ed shook the memories from his head, causing his blonde hair to fall out of the bun he'd tied it in the night before. As he braided his hair, Ed planned out his day. He had to present his findings to the Royal Government's Agriculture Department that evening, but apart from that, the day was his.

'Great, once I get my notes sorted and packed, I'll go to Shiganshina and have lunch at Roger's'

Once Ed was brought within the walls that protected humanity from the Titans, Commander Erwin Smith of the Scout Regiment, was given the arduous task of bringing him up to speed on this strange new world. What Ed learnt was terrifying, but it was his reality and he had to accept it. However, the Royal Government and Military police weren't so accepting of Ed and his alchemy, when they were introduced.

The Government and Military Police were on the verge of declaring Ed a monster and having him executed, when that short guy - Levi? Ed couldn't remember, it had been so long - flipped out and nearly beat the MP's commander to death (Commander Smith caught him and stopped him though), causing the fastest political backtrack that Ed could have imagined.

With the Scout Regiment's (particularly Levi's) help, the Royal Government had allowed Ed to live within the boundaries of wall Rose, provided he used his Alchemy to help the farmers increase their crop yields. Given that Ed knew nothing of farming or agriculture, he had to learn everything from scratch, spending days, weeks and months; learning about the growing and harvesting of all sorts of crops, storing them and how soil can be treated in order to make it suitable for farming.

All of this knowledge had kept Ed alive since he arrived; in the year 840. Though, he wasn't sure if what he had discovered would keep him that way, as the Agriculture Department gave him a vague goal, with no specific direction and relatively short time of five years (until 845), then told him they'd kill him if he failed, not that he was too worried; as he still had his philosophers' stone. Still, Ed had worked on using alchemy for improving soil quality, irrigation, crop growth and harvest. His five years of work had given him dozens of rudimentary theories, that could be expanded and applied to any farm within the walls, and one of them was sure keep the MP's off his back.

As Ed dragged himself out of bed, he glanced around the dingy office that served as Ed's home and lab. It was a simple room, once vibrant and welcoming, was now scorched and burned as a result of Ed's failed experiments in soil quality and crop growth. If Ed believed the stories, he'd lowered property value in the local area as a direct result of the explosions and smells coming from his laboratory-home.

Collecting his notes and diagrams from his various desks, Ed used Alchemy to staple the relevant notes together; making sure they were ordered correctly, before shoving them in a simple shoulder bag made of brown leather. Once Ed was sure he'd gathered everything he'd need for his meeting with the Agriculture Department, he set about making himself breakfast; which was looking to be a simple affair of 'whatever-I-can-find delight'. It took some searching but eventually, at the back of the cold-box, Ed found a bread roll and the last of his strawberry jam.

'It'll have to do. Shiganshina is the better part of three hours away… if the ferries are running to time' Ed thought, indifferently.

Spreading the jam on his bread, Ed walked to the door of his home; placing the now empty jam jar on a shelf near the door. Making a mental note to throw the jar out when he got home. Exiting his home, Ed weaved through the wheat and barley that he was growing in an ad-hoc fashion in his front garden and immediately beelined towards the ferry docks near the centre of Wall Rose's vast cities.

Ed managed to make through the streets without anyone harassing him, which was not totally unusual. Most people that lived in the cities behind Wall Rose thought of Ed as mad-man, they steered clear of him and some people locked up their houses when he passed by. None of this bothered Ed particularly, as he could understand their fear of him… to a point, but he let it slide as he didn't want much to do with them anyway. These people all seemed arrogant and up-themselves, not like those in the Interior; behind wall Sina, but it still didn't sit well with Ed, as it reminded him of something that unsettled him, though he wasn't sure what.

On his way to the docks Ed also noticed that the street preachers, notorious for banging on about how the Walls were "bastions of faith", were quieting down as he passed.

'Looks like they haven't forgotten my blow out when I first moved here. I really did go overboard on that guy'. Ed mused, remembering how he ruthlessly fought a well-built Preacher who got in his way, breaking his arm and three of his ribs. Ed healed him with alchemy and appologised, but the damage to his reputation was done, behind wall Rose at least. The people of Wall Maria were far nicer to Ed, so he went there as often as possible.

Ed hurried towards the centre of town, towards the river where all the ferries and boats would gather, before heading on their various trips throughout the cities. A few friendly merchants and stall owners waved to Ed, as they knew of the work that he was doing for the Royal Government; they also bought and sold some of the crops that he grew in his garden and gave Ed a cut of the profits, all in all he had an amicable relationship with these people.

'Headed to Roger's today?' called a squat and portly merchant, Ed only knew Goldy.

Ed waved him down. 'Yeah, that's right. Figured I would enjoy a relaxing lunch there before meeting with the Royal Government, later tonight.' Ed said flatly, not looking forward to the later half of his day at all.

'Shit!' Goldy blurted out, drawing disapproving looks from his fellow merchants and a few on-lookers. 'Shit, that's tonight?' He asked more quietly. Ed nodded, rubbing his eyes. 'I've got a few people that I do business with in the interior, I'll write a few letters and have my assistant deliver them… No, no… I'll do that myself, she can watch the store.'

Ed looked perplexed. 'What are you talking about?'

Goldy stared back at Ed, aghast. 'If they don't like what you've found, they'll have you executed, you said so yourself. They can't do that, it's just wrong! The crops you've sold us merchants have been of much better quality than the ones we have got from the farms, if you can perfect your… magical-' ('It's not magic, it's alchemy, a form of science' snapped Ed) '- looks the same to me. Look, my point is, this... alchemy could save our food supplies from totally collapsing. If we have one more bad harvest, like the one last year; we'll be suffering from a major famine, mark my words! You're the only one who knows how to do it, they can't kill you and I'm gonna tell 'em that.'

Ed was touched by Goldy's words, as the Merchant was almost the only friend the Ed had within wall Rose. As soon as Ed had settled in wall Rose, Goldy was on Ed's door buying up his crops, treating him fairly and paying him well, despite his increasingly surly and colourful reputation. Other Merchants came, but Goldy was the first and he was the kindest.

'Thanks Goldy, I appreciate the thought. Although, hopefully those letters won't be necessary. Anyway, I will see you later. If I don't go now, who knows how long I'll have to wait. Hopefully Hermann's ferry is running to time.'

Goldy nodded and shook Ed's hand vigorously ('Have a good day my friend! Hopefully you you'll live to see tomorrow.') Ed continued to walk down the winding streets of the City towards the ferry docks as his time window was significantly shorter, after having that chat with Goldy. As the docks drew nearer, Ed started to get hampered by the crowds of people who wanted to move between the walls. Merchants, Nobles, Commoners and Soldiers were all jostling for positions to get onto the next ferry to either wall Sina or wall Maria. Ed, however didn't join in the Jostling, but fought his way through the crowds looking for the distinctive ferry owned by Hermann Bosse.

Hermann was an imposing man, at least 190 centimetres tall; whom Ed absolutely loathed, and vise-versa. As result Ed and Hermann steered clear of each other as often as possible, as Hermann was a Church of the Walls follower; who couldn't look past Ed's assaulting of that preacher, all those years ago. Yet whenever Ed needed to move by ferry, he went straight to Hermann. This quirk in the two men's relationship came about when Ed saved Hermann's daughter, Daisy, from a group of thugs that were going to rob her and probably… well… do worse things… Ed felt sick to the core when ever he thought about it, as Daisy was such a sweet young woman; he struggled to fathom how humans could do such things to each other. Despite Hermann's utter loathing of Ed's violence and "lack of faith", Hermann felt compelled to repay Ed's Chivalry by promising Ed free trips on his ferry whenever Ed needed it and Ed was all too happy to cash in on this offer.

Gazing through the crowd, Ed heard the gruff voice of Hermann calling over the other ferry owners for passengers, his voice was rough and commanding, hoarse from all the years he'd spent shouting on the ferries. Using his voice as a guide, Ed quickly found Hermann, standing on the gangway of his ferry, which was painted all black and decorated with symbols of his faith.

'Hermann! Hey, Hermann!' Called Ed, over the bustling crowd. 'Are you headed to Shiganshina?'

Hermann didn't acknowledge Ed at first, as he was arguing over travel prices with a potential passenger, as Ed was about to call out again; Hermann gave Ed a thumbs up and waved him on board, so Ed strolled past him onto his ferry.

'Hey, how come he get's to go on without-'

'He saved my daughter's life from a pack of thugs. He did her… and me a great service and I owe him. I don't know you, so I don't owe you, therefore you owe me. Now pay-up!'

Ed chuckled to himself and quickly found a comfortable spot near the bow of the ferry. Ed sat himself down and prepared himself for the long trip to Shiganshina and a nice pleasant lunch. Ed, now comfortable at the bow of the ferry, busied himself, by going through his shoulder-bag, going over the documents he was to present to the Royal Government. Just reading through and going over his notes, diagrams, statistics and other information, took the better part of 2 and a half hours, the only reason he stopped was because he was about to fall asleep and Ed knew that Hermann would love to use Ed's lack of consciousness as an excuse to renege on their deal. So Ed rummaged through his bag and found the remnants of one of his few successful pet projects in his bag, a pair of white gloves made of a compound fabric; called ignition cloth. Ed managed to create a weapon using alchemy capable of creating and, to a certain extent, controlling fire.

Ed managed to figure out how to perform this, "flame alchemy", from fragments of recalled memory of a tall, dark haired man, who used the same alchemy as a weapon, himself. Although Ed could hardly recall who this man was.

Getting on this train of thought was, Ed had discovered over the years; was a bad idea, as he could never quite piece together the few memory fragments he could recall, but nonetheless Ed crossed his arms and legs, closed his eyes and tried to piece his life, from before, together. Yet, as always, Ed got nowhere, just disconnected memories, flashes, not related to anything in particular. A hollow suit of armour that Ed felt a brotherly love for, a beautiful blonde girl...woman that Ed also loved but differently, the black haired man whom Ed seemed to despise and respect all at once. All of these people were important to Ed, yet he had no idea why and nothing Ed did got him closer to putting the pieces together. All of Ed's anger was about to boil over when:

'Oi! Elric, we at Shiganshina! Are you gonna get up, or do I have to drag your arse off my ferry?' Snapped Hermann. 'Besides, you're dirtying my deck. I need to clean this spot before I let anyone else on, to remove your filth.'

Ed glowered at Hermann, slowly getting to his feet. 'Sorry about that.' said Ed, slowly, watching his tongue, so as not give Hermann a reason to hate him any more than he did already. 'I was just, let's say... taking a walk down memory lane.'

Hermann grunted. 'How about you take a walk down my gangplank. And if you're going to Roger's, tell my daughter that her mother is working late tonight so I'm cooking dinner… Also, I want you to stop talking to her about that alchemy stuff you do, I don't want you corrupting her with your heretical magic!'

Halfway down the gangplank, Ed stopped and turned. Looking Hermann dead in the eyes and with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice, Ed blurted out. 'Alrighty, tell Daisy that mummy's working late and that you're burning dinner and to stop indulging her natural curiosities about an obscure area of science. Got it, see you Hermies!' Before Hermann could respond, either verbally or physically, Ed had darted off the gangplank and down the main road leading to Roger's Public House, one the best kept secrets of Walls Maria and Rose. Roger's Public House, or Roger's, was easily one of the nicest establishments in either Wall Maria, or Wall Rose.

It didn't take long for Ed to get to Roger's, as it was near the docks and Ed had been there so often that he knew how get there by instinct. Making his way to the modest oak building, Ed reached for the door's brass handle a pushed it open. Smiling, Ed was greeted to familiar sights, sounds and smells, of the modest "pub", as the locals called it, with Daisy; the barmaid serving drinks to customers and Roger, the proprietor and Barman chatting amicably to a group of Military Garrison Troops who were, hopefully off duty. Ed waved to Roger (who waved back, calling out, 'The usual, Ed?'. Getting a thumbs up from him.) and took his usual seat, in the back right-hand corner booth.

While Ed waited for his usual Steak, Salad and Mashed Potato, with a fine local Whiskey; on the Rocks, Ed took out his notes for his meeting and continued reviewing them, constantly double and triple checking his transmutation circles and chemical data for the optimum soil nutrient levels, as they were the most likely things to be scrutinised by the Royal Government's people. Ed was so involved in making sure his work was perfect that he didn't notice Daisy bring over his food, she had to pinch his arm, to get his attention.

'Ouch! What-? Daisy‽' Cried a startled Ed. 'What was that for?'

Daisy chuckled, her black hair falling effortlessly around her shoulders as she did so. 'Jeez, silly. Why do you think? You were so engrossed in your work that you didn't notice me dropping your food off.' Her voice was sweet and sing-song like, as she smiled down at Ed; who roughly pushed his note aside and was ravenously digging into his Steak. 'Eww, Ed, if you keep that up, you'll ruin our great reputation.'She added cheekily.

'Oh, pweez. I hewp make zis pwace's wepwutashun.' Ed retorted through a mouthful of steak. Swallowing, he added. 'Compliments to the chef as always.'

Daisy nodded and sat down opposite Ed. 'Will do, I'll let him know, as soon as I get off break.' Leaning forward, Daisy caught Ed's eye and smiled broadly, her white teeth contrasting nicely against her brown skin. 'So, what brings you here today? You're eating like it's your last meal.'

Ed choked as she said this. 'It might well be, if things don't go well tonight.' He blurted out before he could stop himself. 'Well done, idiot. You could have broken that a little smoother. I don't think she even knows about our actual work!' He thought immediately after.

Daisy's face fell from sweet happiness, to deep concern in an instant. 'What are you talking about‽ What's going on with you, Ed?'

Ed sighed, and put his knife fork down. Running his hands through his hair and leaning back into his seat, weighing his options. 'If you must know, it involves my alchemy. So if I tell you, I'll be breaking an order from your father - (getting a strange look from her, Ed briefly told Daisy about what Hermann had said to him) - so if you want to go against his-'

'Ed, I'm nearly twenty-one, despite what my father thinks, I can think for myself!' Daisy snapped.

Ed held up his hand in mock surrender and proceeded to tell her about his "agreement" with the Royal Government. He told about how he had to use his alchemy to improve farm yields, or face the possibility of execution, though he did leave out everything that happened before that and his little trump card, because the look on Daisy's face was heartbreaking enough, he didn't need her feeling for him more that she already was.

As soon as Ed finished his story, Daisy reached forward, taking both his hands in hers. 'Oh, Ed! This is horrible, how have you been so calm and… normal with this weight on your shoulders?' Squeezing his hands, she looked deep into his eyes, imploring him to answer.

Ed didn't answer at first. He just stared at Daisy's hands, wrapped firmly around his own and fought back the flood of memories that came with the sensation. 'It's just something you get used to.' Muttered Ed, his voice feeble and pathetic, just like his excuse.

Daisy frowned at him, but knew she wasn't getting more out of him, so she instead looked at his notes. 'Is this what you're presenting to the Royal Government?' Ed nodded. 'Explain it to me.'

'What?'

'Tell me about your research, I won't really understand it, but at least you'll be better able to hear any flaws in your research,' She said, sounding sure and commanding.

Ed couldn't fault her thinking, after all, the best way to learn; was to teach. Pushing his unfinished food aside and started going through his notes with Daisy. As Ed went through things like crop rotation cycles, irrigation techniques, soil ph-levels, soil treatment methods and how alchemy could be applied to each of these, Daisy's eyes glazed over more than once, but that didn't matter, as a small group of between five to ten people had crowded Ed's booth to listen to his "crazy, magic farming stuff".

Only two of those people were actually farmers and they offered a bit of valuable insight into some of Ed's basic ideas.

'Look kid ('I'm twenty-three') you're younger than me; so you're a kid, even if this is possible, you'll need to change water levels and ph-levels slowly, or you risk sending the crops into shock. Plants aren't able to adapt like we can, so if you change their environment too quickly, you'll kill them. Your magic ('Science!'),whatever, will have to change the soil's moisture and ph-levels over maybe 3 hours, not 3 seconds.'

Making some notes on the relevant pages, Ed thanked the farmer for his advice. The other farmer was about to speak, when the dull, easily ignorable drone and bustle of the streets outside was replaced by a loud crashing noise and screaming.

Ed shoved his notes back into his bag and sprinted outside with the others in Roger's pub. Crowding onto the main road, everyone was looking for the source of the commotion, not that it took long to find.

Daisy, who was huddled behind Ed spoke first. 'Th-tha-that Wall is over 50 metres tall… How-how can that be taller than it?'

Ed saw it too. An absolutely gargantuan Titan that stood head and shoulders above the gate protecting Shiganshina from the outside world. Ed, like everyone else stood frozen in fear, watching, as the beast slammed its' hands onto the top of Wall Maria. As the Beast gripped the parapet, Ed took in its' appearance properly: based on the little of the Titan he could see, this colossal Titan had absolutely no skin, unlike the others that Ed fought in the forest, his intricate network of muscles and ligaments were an almost identical match to a humans', just greatly scaled up.

Ed felt a tugging at his red coat. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Daisy quivering with fear. Ed put his arm around her and squeezed her reassuringly, whilst also looking for Roger.

'Roger, take these people and run to the docks.' Barked Ed. Roger wheeled around and stared incredulously at him, clearly about to demand why, but before he could, Ed was already barking orders at him again. 'If this Titan is as strong as it looks, it's going to be able to smash open the gate of Wall Maria, allowing the other Titans to get in. I've fought them before, so I know what I'm doing. I can hold them off, and if the Garrison is not totally inept, I'll co-ordinate with them too.'

Everyone stared at Ed, clearly shocked at his bold proclamations, yet Ed made no move to answer any of their questions. Rummaging through his bag, he found the white, reactor cloth gloves he was looking for and put them on.

'What are you waiting for‽' Ed snapped, when he noticed no-one had moved. 'To the docks, now! Run!'

Roger nodded, and started to shove his patrons towards the docks. Despite some minor protest, they all got the message and began to run for the ferry docks. Ed, still a bit in shock and very much; terrified, stared at the Colossal Titan ('Solid name, very fitting, I'll stick with that') and estimated that he was about 70 kilometres away from it. Doing the math in his head, Ed decided that if he could, should create a fireball within ten kilometres of it and create a ten kilometre wide fireball, which should… in theory, incinerate the Titan's weak spot. Ed raised his hand, about to snap his fingers, when a strong force knocked him off his feet and flying down the street.

Lying on his back, Ed saw the world going to hell around him, as the debris from the breaching of Wall Maria crashed down around him.

A/N: Sorry about the wait guys, I know I implied that I would try to semi-regular about these things, but I am a fuck-wit so don't worry yourself too much. I know where I am going with this, kinda, so try to stick with me, despite my irregularities. I'll try to at least be like the CGP Grey of FanFiction, irregular, but relentlessly entertaining.