The next day, Al and I were too excited to tell Ed about what happened last night that we actually pushed him off his bed when he didn't want to wake up.
Yes people, we did push him off the bed. And since the both of us did it, im pretty sure that it made a big impact on Ed's head. (Grins evilly)
'What is the matter with you two?' he yelled. 'It's early in the morning! Sheesh! What'd yah want?'
'It's already eight o' clock, brother…' Al sighed. 'We want to tell you what happened last night so get up!'
Ed sat up groggily. 'Why…? Wha happen las nighy?' he said, sleep still clearly evident in his voice.
'We saw Seiko!' I practically jumped off my bed. What? That's my brother we're talking about!
Ed's eyes were the size of ping-pong balls. 'Seiko? Seiko with the glasses, Seiko?'
'YESSS!' I squealed. 'He said we should meet up by the old guy's store today so stand up! Let's get going!' I pulled him up and grabbed my jacket then dashed out the door.
I heard Al giggle then yell out, 'Maki-chan! Wait for meeee!' A second later, I could hear metal foot steps running after me. I stopped so he could catch up with me and I saw a glimpse of Ed walking out the door with a scowl on his face before Al and I ran to the old guy's shop.
I can't wait to see Seiko again.
The three of us stopped by the fountain to catch our breath. Well, Al just stood beside us. Then I heard someone calling out.
'Maki! Al!'
'It's Seiko-kun!' Al exclaimed. I looked up, and sure enough, Seiko was running towards us, waving.
'Sei!' I ran to him and hugged him which almost made us fall down. (A-ha-ha~)
'Hey, how are you?' He asked. I was about to answer when Ed interrupted.
'Guess you should've stayed with us after all, eh?' He said, walking towards us with a smirk on his face.
Seiko scratched his head. 'Heh. Yeah, I wish I did.'
Ed and Seiko shook hands. Before we could strike up a conversation, though, we saw a crowd forming not too far behind us.
'I wonder what's going on.' Al said.
'Ah,' Seiko said. 'Founder Cornello must be showing his "Power of Miracles" today.' He said in a bored tone, but I swear I just saw him smirk, even if it's only a little. But I discarded it.
We made our way through the crowd to see what Founder Cornello's gonna do.
A moment later, Cornello took a small rose. He covered the rose with both hands and red light flashed in his hand and a second later, the rose was turned into a giant sunflower.
The crowd cheered. I could hear people yelling out, "Founder! Take the bird! The bird in the cage!"
Cornello must've heard it cuz he was already edging to the cage where a small baby white dove sat quietly. He opened the cage and took the bird and covered it with his hands. Red light flashed again and a pink (Eek!) butterfly flew away.
I found myself thinking, off the course, why he turned it into a pink butterfly. He could've turned it into a blue butterfly or even an orange one instead. I never really liked pink… (No offense to those who like the color pink ^-^)
'What do you guys think?' I whispered to the boys.
'Well, that transformation reaction is normal alchemy, right?' Al whispered back.
'Yep…' Ed nodded grudgingly.
'But still…' Sei said, also a bit doubtful.
'Oh! So you came!' we heard the familiar cheerful voice. 'How is it? No doubt about it, this is the power of miracles! After all, Lord Cornello is the Son of the Sun God.'
I sighed. This gal's way out of it… Besides, in Greek Mythology, Apollo and Helios are the Sun Gods, and neither of them had kids like Cornello. Yah know, complete fakeronies…?
'Nah...' I said. 'It's definitely alchemy.'
'Um. Cornello's a fake.' Seiko said while nodding.
'But that's against the law!' Al said. Ed, Seiko and I nodded to this while Rose said, 'Law? What law?'
'From an average person's viewpoint, alchemy is a very handy skill that can make anything without a limit.' Ed started to explain. 'But the truth is that there's a rule to all this.'
'To put it roughly,' I continued. 'There's the law of conservation of mass and the law of providence.'
'Among us practitioners, there are people who use the four elements and the three principles but…' Ed blinked at me, looking confused. He must have noticed that I shifted my position when he said that, so I nodded at him to continue but he let Al continue what he was saying.
'Oh... Um, ok. It's taking an object with one element, and changing it into another object containing the same element.' Al said slowly, for the sake of the confused girl.
'For example,' Seiko said. 'An object with the properties of water can only be transmuted into an object with watery attributes.'
'Right. So in short, the basis to alchemy is "Exact Trade".' Ed said. 'If you want to make something, you need something of the equivalent cost.'
'But he ignored that law…' I muttered.
Seiko nodded. 'And yet he was able to transmute…'
'Make some sense!' Rose yelled. 'Do you guys believe in the power of miracles or not?'
We all ignored her.
'Brother… Er, maybe it's…' Al whispered uncertainly.
Ed nodded. 'Yeah… Maybe it is…'
One look at each other, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing: Bingo!
Ed turned around to Rose with his hand raised as if he were in school. 'Hey! I guess you're right after all! We're interested in this religion! I wanna talk to this Founder, so could you give me some information?'
Rose jumped in happiness. 'Oh! So you've all finally become believers!'
Jeez… Gal's got it bad…
We headed back to the church to meet Mr. Fakeronie… Wow, that suits him, ne?
We're waiting in the hallway, a lil further away from Cornello's quarters. But I could easily hear what's being said inside, even though the door's closed. You see, I've always had heightened senses, so I could usually hear or see stuff that normal people wouldn't right away.
'Founder, there are people requesting an interview with you.' I heard the guy who led us here say.
'They're twins, a boy and a girl who are introduced as the Sugisaki Twins and a little boy and an armored man who call themselves the Elric Brothers…'
'What?' another guy, who I figured was Cornello, gasped. 'Did you say Sugisaki and Elric? The Makiko Sugisaki and Edward Elric?'
'Yes. Im sure those were their names. Do you know them?'
'Ooohhhh! This is extremely bad!' Cornello whisper-shouted. Is that a word…?
'They're the Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric and the Earth Alchemist Makiko Sugisaki!'
'You mean those pipsqueak brats?' (I feel a vein popping…) 'Is this a joke?'
'Idiot! Age is irrelevant to being an alchemist!' Cornello hissed. 'I've heard when they were 12 they obtained their license for being national alchemists… But… I see… So they really are those rumored brats…'
'But what are national alchemists doing here? Could it be that they know about our plan?'
'It seems that the dogs of the army have excellent noses…'
'Do you want me to send them away?'
'No. Doing that would be suspicious. They might return if we-'
'Hey sis, you ok?'
I blinked. I was too intent in listening; I didn't realize I was spacing out already.
'Uh, yeah… I was just, uh, thinking.'
'Thinking about what?' Seiko asked.
'Well-' I was cut off when the guy who was talking to Cornello came out.
'Please, enter. Lord Cornello wishes to see you.'
We walked through the door only to find another hall. I guess that room's pretty farther than I thought. (Oh gosh, that is far! O.O I can't believe I heard all that!)
'The founder is a very busy person, thus he does not have much free time, but you children have good luck.' The guy said.
'Don't worry! I don't plan on talking to him for too long!' Ed said with fake cheerfulness, completely oblivious to the fact that the door has been locked behind us.
That's the problem with Ed. When he's too concentrated in doing something, he completely forgets the world around him. Even when he's talking… (-.-)
'Yes… We'll end this quite soon…' The guy said. There was this tone in the way he said it, like… a "Pure Evil" flashy neon sign was written clearly on his forehead.
'Just like… this!' he pointed a revolver gun at Al's head. He shot him and his head went flying at the other side of the hall.
'AL!'
Ed, Seiko and I all tried to go next to Al but got held off by the other members of Cornello's court.
'Brother Millet! What is the meaning of this?' Rose said to the guy who shot Al.
'Rose, these people are heretics that were going to trap the founder. They're demons!'
'No!' Rose shrieked. 'Even so, the Founder surely wouldn't have allowed th-'
'The Founder has allowed this!' the guy said. 'The words of the Founder are the words of God! This is the will of God!'
'Oh?'
We all turned to see Al holding the guy's gun. His head's missing. 'That's a mean god.' He commented.
The men screamed in fear and I took that moment to kick the guy holding me by his stomach. Seiko and Ed started beating up their captors as well. Al gave the guy with the gun an upper cut.
Another one of Cornello's goons was about to run away but someone threw Al's head at him. I realized it was Ed.
'STRIKE!'
'My head!' Al cried in annoyance.
'Wha-wha-what's going on here?' Rose shrieked.
'It's always… been like this.' Ed said while knocking on Al's chest plate.
'Th-there's nothing inside…! It's hollow!' she gasped.
'Oh… This…' Al said as he put his head back. 'This is the punishment for trespassing into God's forbidden domain… Just like my brother and the twins…'
'The three of you… as well…?' she said in a low voice.
I averted my gaze from her and caught a glimpse of Seiko. Was that irritation I saw in his expression? I decided not to dwell on it too much. But I can't help but think that he has been acting strange since last night, whenever we talk about our past, like he's hiding something from me.
But that's impossible… right?
'Oooookaaaayy… Let's change the topic…' Ed said while rubbing the back of his head.
'Wait! Are you saying that you saw God's true nature?' Rose asked. Then… 'NO! There HAS to be some mistake!'
'Jeez… The lady's already seen too much and she still believes in that fraud of a founder…' Ed muttered.
'Rose…' Seiko suddenly said. Everyone turned to him.
'Do you have the guts to see the truth?'
We all know what that meant…
It's time to see the Great Founder, Cornello.
Author's Notes:
Pheew! Finally! Chapter 8 is up! I had a hard time trying to write this cuz i've got a really hectic schedule in school...
Gomen gomen!
Aaanyway, i owe this to Bloody Bonez Alchemist! My awesome savior! Thanksies! xD
Lolz, hope you all enjoy! Reviews please! ^^
