Disclaimer- I don't own FullMetal Alchemist
Chapter 7
Someday
The rest of the week past quickly for Kate. She worked, threatened to kill Roy countless times, actually stole Hawkeye's gun and held it to his head at one point and of course went to class. All in all, it was a normal week.
When Friday finally came around, Kate couldn't contain her enthusiasm about getting to go and see her brothers. She was in class at the moment, in the top row of the stadium seats of the lecture hall, tapping her foot impatiently and chewing on the top of her pen. There was ten minutes left to the class and she was praying that the instructor would end class earlier for the night so she could go and catch her train.
Much to her annoyance however, he didn't, in fact, he held them all over for two extra minutes.
Grabbing her bag as soon as the class was dismissed, Kate ran out of the building and made her way to the street where she saw that Roy was already waiting for her. He was leaning up against the side of a black car with his arms folded over his chest as he watched the people milling around, his eyes lingering on one girl in a short skirt as she laughed with some friends. Rolling her eyes, Kate strolled up to him and raised her brows expectantly.
"Ready," he asked with a small grin, knowing full well she had seen what he was staring at.
"Yeah."
He opened the door for her and then walked around to the driver's side to let himself in and start the car. Her bag was already in the back, she had brought it with her to work that morning so that she could go straight to the train station and not miss the last train out of East City for the night.
Her brothers had no idea that she was coming for a visit, she hadn't talked to them, they were always off training with Izumi. She had instead talked with her husband Sig, who had told her where they lived and had been more than happy to hear she was coming to visit them. She wouldn't be seeing them until the following morning since it was going to be late when she got to Dublith and she really needed some sleep.
"Thanks for the ride," Kate said to Roy as she got out of the car and got her bag out of the back.
"Hey, Kate," he protested when she began to walk away without another word. He had gotten used to her being upset with him, she still hadn't forgiven him for his rudeness and made sure he knew she wasn't happy with him.
"Yes," she answered blandly when he appeared next to her.
"I just wanted to tell you to have a nice time and to let you know that there will be someone waiting for at the station in Dublith. I didn't want you wandering around a strange town at night so I arranged for someone to pick you up and take you to the hotel."
"Thanks."
Nodding, Roy slowed his pace and let Kate walk away from him with a frown on his face. She was still mad, definitely still mad.
Kate jolted awake in response to a light tap on her shoulder and blinked her red and tired eyes lazily at the train conductor who had woken her.
"We're in Dublith miss," he said politely.
"Oh, thank you for waking me," she answered, standing from her seat and grabbing her bag from the seat beside her.
Yawning while making her way into the small train station of Dublith, Kate didn't even bother to try and look at her surroundings. Instead she walked towards the only person in the building that didn't work there. A man no more than 29 with short dark brown hair, he was about the same height as her, but his body was lean to the point Kate thought about buying him a candy bar from the snack stand, but the laziness kept her from doing so.
"Ms Elric?" The young man questioned as she approached him. "I'm Matt, I'll be escorting you to the inn tonight."
Kate nodded, too lazy to speak and offered a tiny smile to the brown eyed man that took her bag from her hand and led her out of the building to a waiting car. He opened the car door for her, closing it once she was inside and after stowing her bag, he climbed behind the wheel and they were off.
She wasn't sure if Matt had tried talking to her or not, she was too tired to pay attention to anything and spent the short ride with her head against the window and her eyes closed. When she felt the car slow and come to a stop before being shut off, she opened her eyes and looked out of her window to see that they were parked in front of the inn.
It was a three story brick building that looked to be the best kept one on the block and the brightest with all of the lights in front of it lit. Stepping out of the car as the door was opened, Kate made her way inside without bothering to wait for Matt and went straight to the desk where a smiling woman with chocolate colored hair and green eyes stood, smiling at her.
"Ms Elric I presume," she said sweetly.
"Yes, checking in for two nights. The charges should be taken care of."
"Yes ma'am, everything is taken care of, including meal costs if you chose to dine with us. Your room is on the third floor, number is on the key and Matt is already taking your bag up for you. If you need anything else please let us know."
"Thank you," Kate said, picking up the brass key and glancing at the metal tag that had the room number attached to it. She was about to walk away when she turned back around. "You know, I should probably have you wake me so I don't sleep all day."
Kate awoke to the sound of the metallic sound of the phone ringing. Groaning, she stretched and yawned widely, grunting when the bright morning sun that was filtering through the curtains she hadn't fully closed stung her eyes. If it weren't for the fact that she was going to be seeing her brothers, she would have gone back to sleep in the comfortable bed, but she dragged her heavy body from the sheets and stumbled her way to the bathroom.
After a boiling hot shower to wake her up, she took a peek outside to see what the weather was like. She grunted when she could feel the heat coming off the window and it was still only morning. Being that she had a habit of wearing long sleeved shirts and gloves, Kate didn't really care for the heat and wasn't looking forward to being out in. She dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans, a white tank top and a cropped red cardigan, it was of course long sleeved, but it was made of a lighter fabric that would still breath. She pulled on a pair of the nude colored gloves she had taken to wearing instead of the black ones she had almost always worn before that and then slipped her feet into a pair of black slip ons. After haphazardly throwing her hair into a ponytail, letting her bangs hang over her face, she grabbed a small purse and headed out, stopping at the desk to ask for directions to the butcher shop that was owned by the Curtis'.
She found the shop without much trouble, it was only about a ten minute walk from the hotel and thankfully most of it was shaded by the buildings that lined the street, it was still hot, but the shade helped to keep her from sweating like a pig at least. Opening the door, Kate breathed a sigh of contentment when she was greeted by a rush of cool air, there was a small string of bells attached to the door knob that tinkled as she shut the door behind herself and walked towards the counter. The door behind it opened and a well built man with short dark hair walked in, smiling at her.
"Hello, how can I.." he trailed off as he looked at Kate and his grin grew as he turned his head back towards the door. "Hey boss, we have a special guest," he called before turning his attention back to Kate. "I'm Mason, I'm guessing you're Kate, you and Ed have the same eyes."
"Yup, I'm Kate. It's nice to finally meet you Mr Mason," Kate replied politely.
"Eh, just Mason, that mister stuff makes me feel old," he chuckled.
Kate was about to ask about her brothers when the same door Mason had just walked through reopened and a very large, very muscular man with black hair and a black beard to match lumbered through it.
"So you're Kate, I'm Sig, it's nice to finally meet you. Ed and Al talk about you all the time."
"Thank you for taking them in, though I somehow doubt they gave you and your wife much choice," Kate said with a bashful grin.
"They are pretty determined," Mason agreed, smiling at Kate.
"Um, so where are they? I'd really love to see them," Kate asked, feeling a little awkward and not knowing what to really talk about.
"They're training with Izumi out near the lake. Mason, why don't you show her the way so she doesn't get lost," Sig suggested.
"I'd love to, come on Kate," Mason said to her, removing his apron and waving a hand towards the door.
"Thank you," Kate said to Sig and happily followed Mason out of the shop, excited at finally getting to see her brothers.
Kate and Mason talked as they made their way down to the lake. Mainly about her brothers and the month they spent alone on an island, which had sort of freaked Kate out at first, they were still only kids after all, but she found herself being rather proud of them in the end for being able to endure it.
"They don't know that I was coming right," Kate asked as they walked through the tree lined paths that led to Lake Kauroy, she could hear sounds of fighting and talking in the distance that she knew was her brothers and she guessed the female voice was their teacher, Izumi.
"Nope, they have no idea," Mason answered.
A devious grin made its way to Kate's face and she chuckled to herself. Following the sounds of the fighting and yelling, Kate and Mason made their way towards a small clearing where she could see three people. Mason was just about to walk into the clearing, when Kate stopped him by putting a gloved hand on his shoulder.
"Wait just a sec, I want to surprise them," Kate said an evil glint in her gold eyes as she watched her brothers spar with a woman Kate thought was quite pretty with her dark, dreadlocked hair, pale skin and blue eyes.
Staying hidden in the trees, Kate waited and watched as her brothers continually got the snot beat out of them. They were doing really well in her opinion, they didn't give up and they kept trying, working together as much as possible, but the woman they were fighting against, was much more skilled then them and it was obvious. Kate knew that the woman training them had noticed her and Mason's presence, but had chosen to continue with the training session. After about a half an hour, she must have gotten curious about why neither one was coming forward and told the boys to take a break at which they sighed and fell onto their butts in the dirt, back to back and using each other for support to stay upright.
"I think it's time I said hello, if you'll excuse me Mason, I'm going to go and play with my brothers now," Kate winked at the man before running out of the bushes and straight at the two boys sitting in the dirt.
Ed was about to take a sip from a canteen when he heard the soft sounds of feet hitting the dirt, being that Kate was quick and light, she didn't make much noise, but he still heard it and his head flew around to see who was coming at them. He was confused when he saw that it was Kate, but a big smile appeared on his face and he started to stand up. Kate, however, had other plans, she snatched the canteen from his hand and ran past him into the trees.
"Hey," Ed cried as he watched Kate run off with their water. "Give that back!"
"Gotta catch me first," she yelled over her shoulder. "If you can."
Growling in frustration, Ed took off after Kate, Al scrambling off the ground to follow after him.
"I'm gonna kick your ass Kay," Ed shouted.
"Just you try it, shrimp!"
"Who the hell are you calling a shrimp, you damn toothpick?!"
"Edward Elric watch your language, and I'm naturally slim, by the way," Kate scolded, smirking when she looked over her shoulder to see that Ed's face was bright red as he glared at her.
"Hey big brother," Al asked, panting slightly as he caught up to Ed. "What's Kate even doing here?"
"How should I know," Ed barked, scowling when he lost sight of Kate through the trees. "Damn it, where the hell did she go?"
"What did I tell you about your language Edward?"
Skidding to a stop, Ed spun around to glare at Kate who was casually leaning against a tree trunk and taking a swig of water from the canteen she had stolen from him. Al stopped too, looking between his sister and brother and knowing automatically that someone, most likely Ed, was going to get hurt or at least humiliated.
"Stopping glaring at me Ed, I thought you were going to kick my ass, not stare at me," Kate said with a lopsided grin.
"You wanna fight, fine, you've never been very good anyway," Ed shouted before launching himself at Kate and throwing a punch at her side.
She caught his fist, twisting his arm before sweeping his legs out from beneath him, he grunted as his back collided with the dirt.
"Didn't I tell you," she told him innocently. "Since I work for the military in a potentially dangerous spot, I've been learning to fight and use a gun."
Laughing at the pissed of expression on Ed's face as he twisted his body around to push himself up, Kate didn't immediately notice that it was taking him just a bit too long to get up.
"Brother what are doing," Al shouted worriedly.
"Huh," Kate stopped laughing to look down at Edward who had turned to grin at her before raising his hands over the dirt. It was then that she noticed the transmutation circle he had drawn in the dirt with his finger. "Edward, don't you dare put your hands on that circle!"
"Heh. Too late," he sneered, before throwing his hands towards the ground.
Kate's eyes widened, not knowing exactly what to expect as there was a flash of blue light and the earth beneath her shifted and several metal rods began to grow out of the ground, circling her and caging her.
"I hope you didn't forget that you're not the only one who knows alchemy you little brat," Kate snapped.
"You can't do anything to-ah!"
Ed squeaked in surprise as several green vines popped out of the ground and wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides and making it impossible for him to move. Several little buds sprouted tiny flowers along the vines, but the largest of the flowers was a red rose that had bloomed from a vine just above Ed's head, the petals of which rested on the boy's head. The bars that were growing around Kate, sunk back into the earth to reveal that Kate had crouched down and her hands were on the ground. Standing up and dusting her hands off, Kate put her hands on her hips and stared at Ed who was desperately trying to get free of the bonds that held him.
"You've gotten pretty good little bro, I'm proud of you. Still have a short temper though, you need to work on that.".
"I am not short!"
"Chill out will ya, I said your temper is short, not you."
"Whatever, just let me go," Ed demanded haughtily.
"Ask nicely," Kate replied.
Growling, Ed turned his head away stubbornly, but refused to say anything else.
"Ask nicely or I'll leave you there," Kate threatened in a sing song voice.
"Let me down.... Please."
"That's better," Kate replied, crouching down and bringing her hands together before seeming to realize something and stopping. Pulling one of her gloves from her hand, Kate used her fingers to dig out a transmutation circle before putting her palms over it.
The vines around Ed loosened and shrank until they were nothing but a small patch of flowers at his feet. Not a moment later as she started to stand up, Al ran at her, throwing his arms around her waist and throwing the both of them to the ground.
Kate laughed, hugging him back before rubbing at her back. "I missed you too, but did you have to tackle me?"
"Sorry," Al said sheepishly.
"It's alright, come here," she replied, hugging him again. "You too Ed, come here," she waved Ed over, but at first he only glared at her, but the glare faded and was replaced with a wide grin as he too threw himself at Kate and hugged her. "I've missed you two so much."
"We missed you too," Al told her, smiling up at her.
"How long are you here for," Ed asked.
"I have to go back tomorrow night, I have class on Monday. Don't look at me like that," Kate whined when both boys gave her the saddest looks they could muster.
"But we haven't seen you in forever!" Al protested.
"Yeah, can't you stay longer," Ed added.
"Sorry, but I can't. Besides, you guys have your training to focus on. I'm going to have more free time over the summer and I plan on spending a few weeks with you both then, ok?"
"Ok," they both sighed in defeat.
"If you two don't stop pouting I won't buy you any ice cream," Kate chided.
Both boys' eyes instantly brightened and they jumped up, tugging Kate with them and pulling her back in the direction they had come.
After spending most of the day walking through the town or sitting around the lake, Kate and her brothers made their way back towards the Curtis' shop and home. She followed the two in the door that led to their home only to scream and duck when a knife was thrown at her, barely missing her head before embedding itself in the wall behind her.
"You brats are late!" Izumi yelled from where she was cutting vegetables in the kitchen while Sig pulled something from the oven, unaffected by her out burst.
"Sorry teacher," both boys coursed together, bowing respectfully to the woman who was glaring down at them with her hands on her hips.
"You better be, now go clean up, dinner's almost done," Izumi ordered, pointing to the hall to the right.
"Yes teacher."
Blinking in shock as her two blonde brothers obediently walked off to clean up, Kate stayed where she was, not sure of exactly what to do and afraid another knife might get thrown her way if she so much as twitched.
"You alright," Mason asked her, walking up to her to look at her curiously.
"Uh, she's kinda scary, isn't she?" Kate asked, nervously scratching at her head.
"Eh, she's harmless," Mason replied.
Kate gave him an incredulous look, wondering if he was serious and judging by the smile on his face, he was.
"Right," she drawled slowly.
"You're joining us for dinner, right," Mason asked.
"Uh, I don't want to be a burden, you've done-"
"Sit down," Izumi said.
"Yes ma'am," Kate squeaked, plunking herself down at the table much to the amusement of Mason who laughed heartily at her.
"Take it easy on the girl Izumi, she's not used to your loving personality," Mason teased.
"Um, since they're not here at the moment, can I ask how they've been? After mom died, they both were so sad and it didn't seem like they would ever get over it, but the seem totally different now," Kate observed, thinking about how they had acted throughout the day. It was as if they weren't affected by the death of their mother anymore, almost like it had never happened at all and she was a little concerned. She was happy that they seemed so bright and cheery, but at the same time they hadn't mentioned their mother at all and when she had, they had both exchanged looks as if there was a secret she didn't know and couldn't know.
"They've been fine," Izumi answered. "They're extremely determined and they don't give up, they want to learn alchemy and they won't take no for an answer."
"They've been behaving themselves, I hope," Kate asked.
Izumi nodded, wiping her hands on the apron she wore to keep her white dress like blouse free of food. "For the most part."
"Well that's good. I'm thankful to you for taking them in and agreeing to teach them and train them, they seem to have grown a lot in the last few months."
"They're quick learners and they have no fear of anything."
"We're scared of you teacher," Ed said as he sauntered back into the room to sit beside Kate at the table.
"Yeah," Al laughed as he took the seat on the other side of Kate.
"Ow!" Both boys cried at the same time, rubbing the backs of their heads and sulkily glancing over at Kate who had whacked them upside the heads.
"Be respectful you runts, they've taken you in, feed you and you're learning some pretty valuable lessons and for free," Kate scolded.
"Listen to your sister, she knows what she's talking about," Izumi spoke up, grinning at them.
After dinner, Kate sat with the Curtis', Mason and her brothers. They talked and eventually Ed and Al, exhausted from their training and their time walking through the town, fell asleep on her. She was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed and her back against a comfortable red chair. Ed's head was in her lap, his legs stretched out and his hand on his stomach, that was partially exposed. Al was leaning against her shoulder, her arm was around him and he snored lightly as he slept against her, the sound of her heartbeat having lulled him off to a peaceful sleep.
Kate rested her cheek against Al's head, perfectly happy and never wanting the moment to end, but knowing that it would and all too soon they would be separated again. She didn't like not being near them, it made her feel as if a part of herself was missing. The two boys that were asleep on her really were her heart and soul and it was hard to think about going back to East City after only being able to spend two short days with them, especially since she knew it would be at least July before she would be able to see them again.
Mason and Sig later carried the two boys to the room they shared and Kate went back to the hotel to get some sleep and come back the following day. She was catching a much earlier train so she wouldn't have a lot of time to spend with the two the following day and she wanted to spend as much of it with them as possible.
Kate laughed heartily as she stared down at her the two boys who were lying in the dirt at her feet, panting for breath and grinning up at her as she put her hands on her hips and smirked.
"See, what did I tell you," Kate boasted. "I've been learning to fight too. Not so bad, am I?"
"Oh, shut up," Ed grumbled, his smirk never leaving his face.
"Don't worry, if you weren't so small, I'm sure you'd have done better," Kate replied, an evil glint in her eye.
"Who are you calling so small that you need a microscope and a magnifying glass to see him!" Ed shouted, jumping to his feet angrily.
"I'm calling you small because you are, so deal with it. Al's small too, you wanna know why?"
Ed just glared at her and Al looked at her, waiting for her explanation.
"Because you're the little brothers, you're supposed to be," Kate said, ruffling Ed's hair playfully.
"We won't always be so small, right Al?"
"Right big brother and then we'll take care of Kate so she doesn't have to work so hard," Al answered proudly.
"Right," Ed nodded surely.
Kate smiled warmly at them, stepping forward to hold a hand out to Al and heft him off the ground. "Lets go have lunch, I'm all packed so we'll have sometime to do a little more exploring before I have to go catch my train."
At the mention of Kate's quickly approaching departure, the boys' little faces and the took to staring at the ground beneath their feet. Kate sighed, stopping to cross her arms over her chest and stare at the two.
"That's enough of that. You two want to take care of me, right?" Kate asked.
The two nodded, looking up at her with their bright, but saddened eyes.
"Then you need to get stronger because if I can beat you, then how are you going to protect me? So are you going to mope around or are you going to spend time with your sister while you can and then get stronger so that next time we spar, you can beat me?"
Ed and Al exchanged looks. At first the saddened expressions didn't leave their faces, but after a moment a determined grin spread over Ed's face and a wide smile found its way to Al's.
"She's right brother, we need to get stronger and teacher can help us with that. Next time we see Kate, we'll be able to beat her, won't we," Al asked Ed.
Ed nodded. "Yeah, we'll beat her next time, that's a promise."
"Good," Kate said. "Now lets go eat, I'm starving."
Ed and Al stood proudly in front of Kate, determined to show her that they were capable of being strong for her.
"You guys behave, call me if you need anything, ok," she said.
They both nodded in understanding.
"Alright. I have to go, I love you both," she told them, leaning down to give them both hugs and kiss their cheeks.
"Love you too, Kay," Ed replied.
"Yeah, love you too," Al chirped happily.
"Next time we see you, we'll be stronger, that's a promise, right Al?" Ed asked, his eyes full of pride.
"Right," Al nodded.
"You better be," Kate smiled, glancing behind her as the train's horn roared to signal it was about to leave. "I've got to go, love you," she called as she waved over her shoulder and jogged to the train.
The train ride was boring, but Kate occupied herself with thinking of how strong and mature her brothers were becoming. She smiled softly to herself throughout most of the ride and was glad that her pride in her brothers was distracting her from the slight ache in her chest that came from having to leave them again.
It was a little easier this time though, Ed wasn't mad at her and the two weren't as upset they had been when she had left Resembool. She was still sad and she missed them already, but she was trying to think positively and she knew that not only were Ed and Al where they needed to be for now, so was she. A scowl crossed her face for a moment when she remembered that she had class the next day and she had a test in her first class.
She sighed, thinking that things could be worse, but then she remembered that she was being forced to attended Mr Hughes' wedding as Roy's date. That made her change her mind and think that things couldn't get much worse than that.
She was soon proven wrong when she disembarked the train and began the trek through the station to hail a cab and go home. She was just about to walk through the large double doors that led to the street when someone fell into step beside her. There was an audible grunt of annoyance from Kate and a frown took residence on her face after casting a quick glance at her company that was smiling self-assuredly at her.
"Can I help you?" Kate asked.
"No, but I can help you," he replied.
"Oh really?"
"Yes. I can give you a ride and I'll even throw in dinner."
"Well aren't you being unusually generous."
"Is that a yes?"
Kate sighed. "Sure, why not. It's still early and I'm starving."
"You're not still mad at me," Roy asked, he hadn't expected her to willingly say yes.
"I'm still mad, but you've done a lot to make up for what you did. Not that that fixes how you acted or treated me, but it's a start. Besides, you'll look really pathetic eating dinner all by yourself so I could at least make you look good by going to dinner with you."
"You're in a good mood," he observed. "It's a little scary. You're not planning to poison my food when I'm not looking are you?"
Laughing, Kate shook her head. "Nope. I need a job and if I kill you, I'm out of one."
"Is that all I'm good for, money?"
"Yup."
"Couldn't you like me for my body instead?"
"Nope."
"But didn't you want to see me without a shirt on?"
"Then take it off and let me see," Kate said with a shrug.
Roy dead panned. "I think I'll keep it on actually."
"Chicken."
"If you're going to be in such a good mood after taking a day off and going to see your brothers, then you should do it more often," Roy told her.
"I'd love to, but we made a deal. The next time I see them, they're going to be stronger than me because they want to take care of me and they can't do that if I'm stronger than them now can they? I'll wait awhile before seeing them again, give them to keep their promise," she replied with a happy smile.
Roy studied the smooth lines of her face as she smiled up at him, she really was beautiful and that fact didn't escape him. When he noticed her looking at him oddly, he turned away from her with a frown.
"Something wrong," she asked.
"You'll make some man really happy one day Kate," he replied.
The response made Kate stiffen and her eyes widen, the statement had been out of the blue and she had a strange feeling that there was a slight feeling of bitterness beneath the compliment and it confused her.
"Thanks," she said slowly, uncertain of what else to say.
"Lets go to dinner, shall we," Roy asked, his entire demeanor changing, further confusing Kate as she took the arm he was offering her.
I'm going to make this quick, I spent all of yesterday in the Urgent care center and then at the lab getting a bunch of tests done. I'm sick and my lungs are being stupid so I can't take full breaths and they hurt, a lot.
Anyway, I had wanted there to be more Ed and Al, but for some reason there just wasn't and it wasn't intentional, so, sorry about that. Next chapter is almost done so expect that soon-ish. There's sone Roy and Kate fun time, yay!
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, fav'd, etc. You are the bestest.
Please review, I'm off to lay around and watch some Kyo Kara Maou and the Bleach:Memories of Nobody movie in english since I've seen the subtitled version and want to see that one too. Byebyes!
