Guess what?! Ed's back from the OOC and is doing much better! I loved writing this chapter, it really shows a lot of personal growth for Ed. I hope you guys like it.
I really, really like this chapter. It's not all that long, but it's so meaningful, it makes me happy.
I know you guys will like it too.
Chapter 7 – The Learning Cycle
Al sat across form Ed, a hand over his mouth and his eyes still as wide as ever. "Are you sure?" He spoke muffeled through his hand.
Ed sat with his head down, mouth upturned in what seemed to be a smile, but it had a more ruthful overview to it. "That's what I asked. She was sure I'd be mad at her and she appoligized to me." He shook his head. "I really don't know what we're going to do. I hate to admit it, but...I'm scared." He rested his elbows down on the table and allowed his head to slump down.
Letting his mind catch up to him, Al tapped his brother's right arm. "Don't worry brother, I'm know you'll have a lot of people behind you. I'll be there, so will Aria, I'm sure of it. Pinako and dad might be upset for a while, but it's just a baby, it's not the end of the world."
Ed straightened his posture and sighed. "I suppose you're right. I guess I'm a little more stressed out because it's happening to me."
Al nodded. "Most likely; but don't worry...well...don't worry too much. We both have good jobs, we have a home to live in and we do really well. Adding a baby to the mix won't be that big of a change. I mean, sure, you won't get as much sleep, but oh well, that's what coffee's for."
He smiled. "You're right. Besides, worrying and stressing won't get me anywhere. I have to stand up and walk on my own."
The younger of the two smiled. "You have to carry your own weight brother, you don't have to walk all alone, I'll always be right beside you."
"Thanks Al." Ed smiled in return.
"Do you think it's going to be a boy or a girl?" Al asked, he sounded happy.
Ed raised an eyebrow. "You seem excited about this." He accused him as they walked up the empty hall towards Mustang's office.
Al nodded. "Well yeah. I'm going to be an uncle. That's exciting."
Smiling, he reached for the knob. "True. But I really don't care about the gender, so long as he's healthy."
"Ha!" Al pointed at him. "You said 'he'."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Don't look into it too much." He pushed the door open and entered the empty room. He looked around the corner and found nothing. Even in a faint glimmer of doubt, he checked under the desk. "That's odd. They said they'd be here at eleven sharp, right?" Ed closed the door behind him and his brother. "Where the hell are they? Our train leaves at two, they'd better hurry up." He sat at Mustang's desk and spun once in the chair.
Not wanting to intrude on anyone, Al sat at one of the desks in front of Mustang's work area. "They're probably running a little late. They'll be here."
Nearly a half hour passed and Mustang still didn't show up. "I'm tempted to leave. I'm hungry." Ed said with his feet firmly planted upon Roy's desk.
Al was leaning back in his chair supporting himself with his legs beneath the desk. "Let's give it a few more minutes."
Upon finishing the sentence, voices could be heard out in the hallway. "Hey, I think they're here." Ed stood up and leaned over the desk. "Don't sy a word about Winry. I don't feel like letting them know just yet."
He bit his bottom lip. "But...I want to." Al sulked.
Ed glared at him. "It's not your news to tell. I'll tell them when I'm ready."
"Fine." He folded his arms and pouted.
The door opened and Hawkeye, Havoc and Breda walked in. "Oh, just you three?" Ed inquired.
"Yeah. Roy's still down in the food court eating and Kain's off visiting Rose in Lior." Havoc pulled up his respective chair and sat down. Placing his coffee cup down, he rested his eyes. "I hope I can go home early today, I don't feel like being here." He complained.
Breda snickered. "You just got here."
Hawkeye sighed. "It's your ouwn fault you're sick." She turned to Edward and examined his face crefully. "I see you were sick tody as well. Let's hope you learned your lesson." She could tell by the few small red dots beneath his eyes and on his cheeks.
Ed rubbed the back of his head. "I'm feeling better now. I still have a headache though."
Havoc raised en eyebrow. "Why are you sick?"
Riza turned around and straightened out some files, ones that Roy needed to look at when he got back, on his desk for later. "He and Alphonse decided to go out last night as well."
"I didn't go out, it was just brother. I just went to go get him." Al defended his inocence.
Ed shot him a cold stare. "Sell out."
Riza shook her head. "Then why did you smell like tequilla?"
Al blushed a bit. "I was pressured into it. I didn't want to."
"Sure Al." Ed scoffed.
Al glared at him. "How would you have known, you were out cold?"
Breda waved a hand. "Stop it, you two are making me feel old talking like that. Did you two get home alright?"
Riza nodded. "We stopped and gave them a drive on the way back form the pool hall." She said as she flipped thought one of the fils on the desk, it looked to be Edwards file.
Havoc shrugged. "That's new to me. I don't even rememer leaving the pool hall."
Ed nodded. "Same here." He rubbed his temples. "But you don't have to worry, I'm not planning on doing that again any time soon. I feel like crap."
"Let's hope you're not feeling too bad. You won't be able to stay awake through my lecture." Roy said in a snippy tone as he walked into the office.
"Oh wonderful." Ed said sarcastically. "And here I thought you were going to be late." He said while reading on the clock that it was nearly noon. "You know, we do have other places to be today."
Roy, carrying coffee in his hand, sat at his desk. "I know that. Your train doesn't leave till two. So you have plenty of time to hear me out." He looked at his crew. "If you'll excuese us for a few moments. Go take a walk, get some air." Without hesitation, Havoc and Breda stood up and headed for the door.
"No problem chief." Breda shut the door behind him and Jean.
"So Ed, what's on your mind?" Roy began.
Ed was confused. "I thought this was suppose to be a lecture, not thearpy."
Al nudged him. "Take what you get. You should appoligize while you're at it." He said in a hushed tone.
"Appoligize? What for?" He thought for a moment as his borther's cold stare shot daggers at him. "Oh right...that." He had remembered what Al had explained to him, and how he was quite rude to the colonel; not that he cared, but figuring it would look good on him to apoligize, he dicided to go for it. Ed realized that there was a time to wear your pride and a time to swallow it, this was one of those times it needed to be swallowed. Regardless of how bitter it was. "Listen Mustang, I'm sor--"
Roy raised a hand and silenced him. "That's not what I'm looking for. The lieutenant has informed me that you might be having some troubles at home. So I ask again, what's on your mind Ed?"
Ed glanced up at Riza, who stood alongside Roy's desk, and then back to Roy. "Nothing."
Al bit his tongue. "Well..." Ed shot a cold stare at his brother. He told him to keep quiet, had he blurted anyting out, he would have to beat him snecless.
"Well?" Roy antoginized.
"There's nothing going on. Besides, if there was, my personaly affiars are not pulic knoledge." Ed refused to divulge any information.
"I suggest you start talking, lest you want to be put on dishes duty for the remainder of the day." Hawkeye piped up.
"You can't do that anyway. We have to leave." Ed defended his point.
"Try me." Roy said without a hitch.
They sat there in dead lock for only a few seconds. Ed finally sighed. "Alright. You got me." He begrudgingly stood up. "I've been stress out lately, because of my health."
"Your health?" Roy said in disbelief.
"Yeah." Ed pulled out the case holding his glasses. "You see, I was short on cash this month, and then, this bill for these things came up." Ed placed the glasses on his face. "The military doesn't cover for glasses, so I had to pay out of my own pocket." After the demonstration, he placed the glasses back in their case and returned them safely to his pocket.
"Edward, the military does pay for glasses. The only ones that it doesn't cover for is new recruits and privates." Riza stated calmly.
Ed played dumb. "Really? Oh then I can just write these off as a medical expense. Thank god, that's a load off my mind." Ed stood up and stood in front of Mustang's desk. "Oh, and here's my certificate, make sure not to lose it." The whole reason Ed went there that day was to file his paper with Mustang for future refrence.
Riza took it in her grasp before Ed could lay it down. "I'll be sure to do so."
Roy sighed. "Alright Elrics, you can go." They both headed for the door. "But remember Ed. Just because we refer to you as an adult, doesn't mean you can go out an do adult things like drink and such. Being an adult means making the right decisions and thinking them through clearly. Decide on what needs to be done and do it before all else. And finally, make sure to take care of yourself."
Ed looked over his shoulder. "You done?" He said in a bored tone.
"Yes." Mustang spoke, his hands folded together carefully with his chin resting atop them. Ed shut the door behind them and finally, Roy and Riza were alone. "He was liying just now. About all his troubles being lifted."
Hawkeye looked shocked. "What makes you say that?"
Roy got that half smirk on his face that Ed just hated. "Ed's an Atheist, why would he be thanking some god for no good reason." Roy was good at noticing the freudian slip in Ed's speech. "I'll figure it out. It's what I'm good at."
Riza smiled and walked behind him. "I'm sure you will Roy." She rubbed his shoulders and leaned in close for a hug. "You always do." She kissed his lips lightly.
Ed slowed his walking down and then stopped. "Al...would you mind going on ahead...I want some time alone to think before we board the train."
Al turned and facced his older sibling. "The last time I left you alone, you drank yourself into the ground."
He snickered. "Hehe, no worries, I'm still licking the wounds from last night. I just want to go and sit on the roof for a bit, just to cool my head. This headache is killing me."
Giving it a second thought, Al shrugged. "Alright. But if you do what you did last night to yourself again, I'll be sure to start calling you the 'Cirrhosis Alchemist' from now on."
Ed laughed. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
Ed walked up the stairs to the roof and finally approached a rather large steel door. Pushing it open, he was met with blinding sunlight that pounded on his eyes, making the head ache throb in his temples. Upon closing the door, the tie on his braid got caught and was torn off. His hair fell out slowly as he bent down to pick up his broken elastic. "Damn." he did his best to tie it in a knot, but it was a significant amount shorter than before. Giving a sigh, he headed for the edge of the top of the building.
Leaning over the edge, he huffed and lowered his head, allowing his hair to blow freely in the breeze. As much as he hated to admit it, Roy was right for a change. Being grown up didn't mean 'do what you want' it meant 'do what's right'. He became angry with his own actions about the previous night. He was stupid and pratically destroyed his body. On top of that, he nearly went with that strange girl that was there too. He allowed his head to bump against the cool metal of the railing. He winced in pain. Movement and hangovers were not something to be mixed.
Taking a brief moment from his own self loathing, he looked out over the city. Central was a big city. Lots of train routes, streets, houses and businesses; all of which needed skill and know-how to build or work in. He never really looked at it like that before, before all he saw was another rooftop in a city of thousands, hundreds of thousands.
Giving a sigh, Ed stod up straight. He never really took the world for what it really was, it was a whole lot of hard work; surprisingly enough, not everyone was hiding in their houses or running through the streets, scared of their own shadows.
"I've got to stop thinking so much." He remembered that Al made the statement the if he thought too much, it would make him depressed. He looked down at his hair tie, he could have just as easily fixed it using alchemy, but decided to leave it as it was. Things didn't always work out for the best, but it was best to make it with what you got, it was better than nothing at all. Alchemy didn't fix everything, he knew this and was reminded of it everytime he looked at his right arm or left leg.
Ed shook the rest of his golden hair free and allowed a breeze to catch it once more, cooling his head down a little. Then, in one fell swoop, he grabbed it all and tied it back with the broken elastic. He could only wrap it around twice, so putting it in a pony tail was his only option. Giving it a tug, he pulled it tight.
Upon doing so, the glasses case fell from his pocket and hit the ground with a small tap. He looked down at it and sighed. "Hmm..." Picking it up, he opened it and placed the glasses on his face. And for the first time in a while, he saw the world clearly.
Yeah for self revelations!
It seems to be that our young Full Metal Alchemist is growing up and will face his probles in stride. (cheers) Go Ed!
Tell me what you think, please and thank you.
