Chapter 7
"Rush Valley!" Winry screamed when they got to their first destination "Automail! Automail! Automail! Ah! I'm so happy!" They were now sight seeing/ touring the place, having to put up with Winry's constant yapping. "Ah! It's the Gods '11 model!" She pressed herself against the window of the store "I never thought the day would come where I'd behold it with my own eyes!"
"That's the holy land of automail for you" Al said "This place is bustling"
"Feh, why do we have to come out in all this freaking heat and look at automail?" Ed complained "We should have left Winry behind, and gone straight to Dublith" Asuka silently agreed
"You there, do you have a second?"
"Huh?" Ed turned around to a crowd of people admiring his automail arm
"What an unusual model of automail"
"It really is! Everyone, come look at this!"
"H-hey! Hold on! S-stop! S-stop that!" Ed complained as the automail geeks swarmed around him and started stripping him, trying to get a better look at his automail "N-no, don't undo that! Th-thats-!" He made a feeble attempt as his jacket, tank top, and pants went flying into the air
"Everyone's eager to study them" Winry said, as if that apologized for everything
"Stop screwing around!" Ed fought back, now only in his boxers
"Geez" Ed got his pants back on "This is why I can't stand automail engineers" He reached for his jacket in Asuka's arms, but then realized the absence of the familiar weight in his pants pocket
"What is it?" Asuka asked
"It's gone..."
"What is?"
"The thing that proves I'm a state alchemist. My silver watch is gone!"
"What? I don't give a crap about proof that you're a state alchemist, but then you won't have any money to take me shopping if your watch is missing!" Asuka put two and two together.
"Is that all you care about?"
"That must be the work of Paninya" a bystander said
"Paninya?"
"A pickpocket that targets tourists as her marks"
"Do you know where she might be? That thing is important!"
"We'll tell you..." The bystanders began "But in return... Show us your automail again!" Ed transmuted his automail into a blade and threatened them "The shop of an automail engineer named Dominic" They pointed towards the mountains
"They say he lives deep in the mountains" Winry repeated what she heard, all of them sweating bullets in the merciless sun, after an hour of walking "because he can get high quality ores out here. Is this really the right way? They didn't trick us, did they?"
"This is all because you said you wanted to go see that town, you know" Ed said, wiped of all energy he had possessed in that town, dragging himself down the path on the side of the mountain
"It's your own inattentiveness that allowed your watch to be stolen!" Winry accused
"Shut up!" Ed shot back
"Shut up both of you!" Asuka said, extremely irritated because the extra noise was just increasing her headache "I just want Ed to get his silver watch back so he could buy me more clothes. So I'm not in the mood for your bickering"
"When are you ever in the mood for anything?" Ed replied
"What was that?"
"Stop it both of you" Al attempted to break up the blooming fight
"What?"
"Isn't that her?" Al pointed at where there was a wooden drawbridge connecting a mountain to another, where a lone girl was walking down the path. Something round and shiny was clutched in her hand
"I've found you!" Ed exclaimed, and immediately started transmuting a shorter path for him to get to her. Asuka ran after him. The girl, after sensing that she was being chased, broke into a run, but was stopped when Ed transmuted a wall straight from the ground
"Give it back"
"Amazing. Who are you, mister?" She asked
"I'm an alchemist!" Ed transmuted multiple hand shaped things out of the rock beside him, grabbing for Paninya. But she dodged all of them with the skill and agility of an acrobat and got away. She stood on the edge of another mountain, as if waiting for them. Asuka pulled out a coin from her shorts and fired. Paninya jumped, the mountain where she had been seconds before exploded from the force of the railgun.
"If it comes to force, I'd be more than happy to shoot you down" Asuka said
"Amazing, amazing!" She complemented, only edging them on, as they ran after her
"Stop moving around!"
"Come on! Come on! You're starting to breath hard!" She jumped another wall, and landed on the other side of the mountain, where Paninya encountered Al
"I've been waiting for you" Al said, as he transmuted the ground to form a bird cage, trapping Paninya
"Nicely done" Winry commented
"Now, why don't you give me back my watch?" Ed walked slowly towards her, but jumped back, a piece of the cage almost hitting him as Paninya broke through the trap with her right... automail leg?
"It's not all that unsual, is it? Not in this town" Paninya put it simply, showing off her leg, where a wide blade stuck out of it "By the way," she began again, right before shooting a canon out of her left aimed at Ed's head "I have a 1.5 inch culverin in my left leg" she click it back into place and ran off
"Wait!" Ed protested
"Haha, just try to catch me!" she teased. However, she was stopped as Winry latched her hand onto Paninya's wrist
"I'm not going to let you get away" Winry stated the obvious
"Nice work, Winry! Don't let go of her!" The trio of alchemists ran to catch up to her
"Yeah, as if I'd let go!" She said confidently, until the automail geek in her surfaced "Not until you let me have a closer look at your automail!"
"Oh, Paninya" a pregnant woman wearing an apron, followed closely by a man the same age as her, opened the door to the small shop "Friends of yours?" She caught sight of Winry jumping up and down, too exited to stop
"N-not exactly..."
"Ahhhhh...! I've never seen automail like this before!" Steam blew from Winry's nose as she overheated. The woman had invited everyone into the shop, and Paninya was showing Winry her artificial legs "This has an advanced suspension, but more than anything, it's the balance! This streamlined design is a true work of art"
"Um, about my silver watch" Ed piped up
"It's no use, Brother" Al said
"I really respect you for being able to make automail like this!" Winry went up to the younger man
"Oh, I'm not the one who made this" he replied, awkwardly
"I am" another voice said, causing Winry to snap her head in the direction it came from, coming face to face with an older, but strong looking man. He then noticed Ed and started to observe his automail. "Isn't this a bit heavy?"
"Yes it is" Winry said
"It's no good to place a strain on your outfitee" the man, who turned out to be Mr Dominic, said from years of experience "That's why this guy's so small, right?"
"Don't call me small!" But he then realized... "So you're saying that if these were made lighter, I would grow taller?"
"It's possible" Dominic admitted, which caused Ed to go into a trance, no doubt thinking about how tall he would grow
"Mr. Dominic, please take me on as an apprentice!" Winry begged
"Not a chance" he shot her down
"But if you just take some time to consider...?"
"Cork it. I don't want apprentices"
"Could you at least see your way to teaching her how to make automail so I can grow taller?" Ed added
"Shut up, water flea" he got up and left
"Sorry about that, my old man is pretty stubborn" Dominic's son apologized
"Water flea... Water flea... Water flea..." Ed kept on chanting, hours later. It had started thunderstorming outside a while and Ed seemed like he lost the will to live, so Al had to drag him around, but stopped at a doorway. Asuka followed, and saw the soon to be mother, Mrs Satera, sitting in a chair, feeling her bulging stomach
"Um, you're having a baby soon, right?" Al asked
"That's right"
"Would it be okay if I touched your tummy?"
"Go ahead" she said, catching the attention of Ed
Al placed his hand on her stomach. Ed and Asuka crowded around, sight seeing. The mother, seeing them just sitting there, offered her hands, and took Asuka's smaller one, and put it next to Ed's on her stomach. So this is how Asuka was like when she was at this stage... her father had been nothing but a sperm donor. From an elite sperm and elite egg, Asuka had been born elite, but had been nothing but clinging onto her identity as a pilot after her mother and only parent... left her... Did her mother love her as much as this mother loves her baby? Had she only been filler material that her mother resorted to when she was unable to have a baby with her true love... What fills the womb, is not related to what fills the heart, right?
"It seems so miraculous somehow" Ed interrupted her thoughts
"Mm-hmm. To think that we were once inside Mom's tummy like this, too" Al added. The woman smiled, but suddenly, her face was filled with pain "Are you okay?"
"Y-yes, but I'm going through labour. The baby's coming"
"Eh? Then, I'll go get Winry, or someone!" Ed offered and ran down the hall
"In this rain, we can't take her to the hospital in town" Dominic said, putting on his coat "I'll dash over there, and call for a doctor" he exited the house
"It's coming!" Satera yelled, unable to stop it
"I-it's coming?" Dominic's son, Mr Ridel repeated
"What do we do? The doctor isn't here yet!"
"We'll just have to do it!" Winry decided
"Do what?" that calmed everyone down
"Deliver it" and everyone freaked out once again
"Have you ever been there when a baby was born?" Ridel asked
"No, we don't have any time to dither around. Everyone help me out here. We're going to deliver this baby!" she tied on her apron "Ed, Al, Asuka, go boil water! Paninya, gather as many towels as you can! Mr Ridel, do you have any disinfectant alcohol?"
"I think there was some in the storeroom"
"Say, is Winry ok in there?" Ridel asked after everyone gathered what they were sent to.
"She comes from a family of doctors. She grew up reading medical-related books instead of picture books" Ed said, having no doubt in what Winry was going to do
"Huh? But it's not like she actually learned anything, did she?"
"I guess whatever she knows, she just vaguely remembers. But all we can do right now is defer to her knowledge and nerve!"
"I know we don't believe in God" Ed said to his fellow alchemists in the hall, after hearing how much pain Satera was going through
"Mm-hmm"
"But just for once, for God's sake, please..." Ed said
"How ironic, we're praying, even though there's no God to pray to..." Asuka muttered.
15 minutes passed... 20 minutes passed... 30 minutes... an hour... Finally, the door opened and Paninya fell out.
"The baby's been born" She said weakly after they entered. And they saw for themselves
"Th-the baby's been born!" Ed repeated "Hooray!"
Asuka saw the little thing, as it cried for the first time, wrapped up in the warmth of it's mother's arms, and couldn't help but feel jealous of it
