Here you go guys. I have a plan for chapter 7, but I've got a lot of reading to do, so it won't be up 'til next week. Sorry.
Freddy mine, Ed not.
My Misadventures in Alchemy II: Waking the Gate
Chapter 6: A Week and the Weak
My first week in Vancouver was… Interesting was the vague word for it. While it was similar to Amestris in some ways, it was drastically opposite in others. There were things here that we just didn't have back home! People acted very differently here, and wow were there a lot of people! More than Central and Lior combined! And they were all bustling this way or that, talking on 'cell phones' or listening to 'MP3s.'
Technology was so advanced here, I felt like I had to take notes on every new object to keep up.
I'd never seen a washing machine before. I'd never seen a digital clock before. On my first morning, I had come down to the kitchen for breakfast as Mrs Radcliff had said, but when the little box called the 'toaster' popped, I ducked under the table. When I peaked back up to see if the coast was clear, Seth and Freddy both laughed and Mrs Radcliff quirked an eyebrow when she placed the two pieces of toasted bread on my plate.
The Skytrain was a different story. On one of our little journeys to the city library, Freddy took me to what looked like an ordinary train station, purchasing two tickets from a big silver box and guiding me up the stairs onto a platform. I didn't understand. How could you ride a train when you're not on the ground? When a long string of passenger cars came zooming into the station, I couldn't help but let my jaw drop.
Where was the engine? Where was the conductor? Where were the station masters and how did the doors open by themselves? As Freddy led me into the train and to one of the many seats, she explained about the computers and the electric tracks. The doors closed, an announcement came on stating the line we were riding and the train began to move. It was sickeningly fast and it weaved around buildings with only feet to spare, all on a narrow little track suspended in midair.
I clung to Freddy, very nearly panicking when we went over a bridge, refusing to look out the window down to the deep green water.
When at last we reached our destination and the doors opened, I ran out of the train and onto the platform, sitting on a bench with my head between my knees until I was no longer dizzy. Freddy bought a bottle of water from a small vendor, handing it to me and sitting with me until I finally straightened, giving me a concerned look as I swayed.
"Are you okay, Edward?"
"Trains are supposed to stay on the ground! If you ever take me on one of those again, Freddy, I'll transmute you into something horrible!"
I found that most of the inventions of this world were actually entertaining. I didn't care much for television, but I liked the PlayStation 3 that connected to it. I had even beaten Freddy at her favourite game, 'DDR,' in which you stand on a little pad with arrows that you step on, following the instructions on the screen. More than once I fell on my ass. My favourite inventions so far were the ones specific to music, and I often spent my time in Freddy's room, browsing through her collection of CDs while we read. We agreed that Death Cab for Cutie and Kimya Dawson were both amazing artists, but I had been kicked out of her room for the rest of the day when I told her I hated The Beatles.
It was in her room I discovered baby monitors. I had picked up the little gadget on her night table, turning it over and playing with the little dials. When she explained that parents used them to keep tabs on their infants at night, I laughed at the fact that she had one in her room.
I didn't laugh that night when I found out why she used it.
I awoke to the sound of a thud, gasping and pained crying. I jumped out of bed and threw the door open, running across the hall to Freddy's room where the noise was coming from. Standing at the doorway, I was thrust back a little over two months to one of the worst nights of my life.
There on the floor, where she had collapsed, was Freddy, clutching her chest with her eyes shut in pain.
"Freddy!"
I ran to her, falling to my knees beside her and turning her onto her back. She was ghostly white and cold as ice, and when I put my automail to her forehead, her eyes peaked open. She was shivering and my first thought was to hold her to me to get her warm. As I did, I heard her whisper from near my chest.
"Get Mom…"
That made sense, since she was Freddy's mother and knew what to do for her daughter, and because I had learned Mrs Radcliff was a nurse. But I was too scared to leave her. I looked around until I found the baby monitor, the back popped off and the batteries loose, half under the bed from when Freddy collapsed. I grabbed it, knocking the batteries back into place and turning the dial so I could be heard.
"Help! Freddy needs help! Please!"
I heard running and a moment later Mrs Radcliff had pulled me away from her daughter, laying her back down on the ground. Almost instantly, Seth joined us, running straight for her backpack. I backed up until I was pressed against the wall, watching as the two worked. Mrs Radcliff was taking her pulse, using a small machine with a cuff around Freddy's arm to check blood pressure and pulling blankets down around her daughter. Seth kneeled next to her, pulling out medications from her bag, so many more than what she had when she came to Amestris.
I wanted to hold her hand and be the one to keep her safe. But I remembered how I couldn't help, how her heart had stopped beating under my hands. So I watched Seth and Mrs Radcliff, biting my lip as I waited.
Finally the medication set in and the color in her face came back. She opened her eyes, no longer shivering, and the slight beeping from the machine became regular and slow. I waited while Mrs Radcliff helped her up, pulling the blankets around her and kissing her forehead. When she stood, I took a step towards Freddy.
"Edward."
I looked up at Mrs Radcliff. She and Seth were both looking at me with a curious frown and glanced down at myself. In my rush to help Freddy, I had forgotten about my automail. In only my boxers and muscle top, my metal arm and leg stood out almost dark and menacing in the low light. I bit my lip, shifting nervously and I reached my flesh and blood arm to cover my right. Seth gave his usual glare and Mrs Radcliff spoke almost monotone.
"Go back to sleep, Edward."
I looked up at her and nodded, turning to leave. I didn't want to. I wanted to stay with Freddy and make sure she was alright, but I did as I was told. I looked back over my shoulder at her, and I know she saw me because her eyes locked with mine, but she closed them and went to sleep.
Freddy had been acting odd since the day I had arrived. We were friendly enough when out in public, but in the house or by ourselves she had grown distant. We hadn't kissed once since that first reunion in her room. She didn't speak to me unless I spoke to her, wouldn't look me in the eye and when I'd move to take her hand or hold her, she'd slip away and leave the room.
What had happened? Did I do something wrong? Did she find someone else? Did she not care for me anymore?
Had I been wrong to think that she'd cared for me in the first place?
I didn't know what to do. I couldn't ask Seth about her feelings. Her brother had made his distaste for me very clear, snarling when he spoke and always glaring at me. I couldn't ask her mother, who didn't know that we'd kissed and that we were… What were we?
It was infuriating and so I buried myself into my work on getting home. I had to get to Al. Freddy had mentioned once that alchemy was once a practiced science in this world, but that it had died out long ago. Without help from my world to initiate a transmutation, my only choice was to try to establish a link to Al and research the ancient alchemy here. I found that Vancouver Public Library, four times the size of Central's, had quite the collection on the subject. Separating the fact from the fiction was the hard part.
"Come on Freddy! You know that's not how alchemy works! We don't need batteries, concentrate!"
"There needs to be an energy source, Ed! When I was taken to Amestris, the Robson kids used two batteries when they activated the circle on this side, remember? We can't just clap and will it to happen!"
We sat at the cluster of tables in the middle of the library's third floor, snapping back and forth at each other much to the annoyance of the other readers. Volumes were stacked around us and our notebooks were covered in crossed out theories. We were getting nowhere and it was starting to frazzle our nerves, our voices growing louder by the second.
"Don't shout that name here. And we're not willing anything, batteries won't do any good!"
"Cold fusion won't do any good either so keep looking!"
"I don't need you to tell me to keep looking, Freddy! I probably have a better idea of what I'm looking for than you do!"
Freddy glared at me, eyes sparking dangerously and she stood. I thought she was going to strike me, honest I did. I could feel the people looking at us, but I didn't care! I was too angry! Freddy leaned forward, her face inches from mine and she whispered low and menacing.
"Fine. You think you can do better, do it yourself!"
She picked up the volume she had been working on and threw it down onto mine. She grabbed her backpack and jacket, turning and heading towards the stairs to leave. I stood and called.
"Freddy! Freddy!"
She kept walking without looking back and I cursed. Sitting back down, I heard the low murmur of the people around us and I swallowed hard to keep from yelling at them to mind their own business. I held my head in my hands, closing my eyes and trying to calm myself. Freddy and I had fought with each other. We hadn't done that in months, since we called the truce back in Central's library. I hated that we'd done it and I winced at the thought of it, of arguing with the first girl that made me feel… happy.
How did this happen?
A little bit of romance to add some suspense. Things will pick up next chapter about Ed's attempts to get home. If you don't know what a "Skytrain" is, it's basically like a subway, only the track is suspended on large pillars above ground. As for the part abot Ed's taste in music, I got this from a dream I had. I had dreampt he and I were hanging out in my room, he was sitting on my desk and he said he liked my Death Cab for Cutie CD. Then he said he didn't like The Beatles. Being a die-hard Beatle fan, I kicked him out, then I woke up. Do not watch FMA while eating nachos, then fall asleep to DCforC. Weird dreams happen.
