Chapter Nine – An Alchemist's Suffering Part I
A solder looked at the circle where Alfred had used his flame alchemy.
"Whoa … that was amazing …" he commented.
"Hmm?" the blond with wild hair asked, reaching into his pocket for a lighter. "So you've never seen the colonel shoot fire before?"
"Oh! Second lieutenant Densen!"
"How in the world did he do that!" a second soldier asked.
"Well, the colonel's glove is made a special cloth. When you rub it together, it sparks," Simon Densen said. In the background Alfred and Gilbert were talking together. "The rest is just adjusting the oxygen level in the air around what you want to combust …" Densen lilt a cigarette, taking a deep breath. "… and then boom."
"I understand the logic behind it, but how …?"
"Alchemists are people who can do that. The little guy next to him is a State Alchemist as well."
"What!" the soldier glanced at Gilbert. "So he's the one who captured all the highjiackers?"
"Can you believe that …?" the first soldier said to the second as Alfred along with Gilbert and Ludwig left the station.
"I don't know … he can't be human …."
XXX
"You owe me for this one, colonel," Gilbert said smirking as he and his brother sat across from the colonel in the Flame Alchemist's office.
"Hearing you say that makes a chill run down my spine … all right. So what do you want?"
"You sure come right to the point," Gilbert said. "The awesome me needs to know more about Bio-Alchemy. Where can I go around here for more information? Like a library or an expert?"
"Right now? You sure are in a hurry …" Alfred sighed, getting out of his seat to a bookcase.
"My arm and leg aren't going to just grow back if I wait long enough."
"It's been a while since we saw each other … why don't we have something to drink – but not tea …"
"What's so fun about dining with you?" Gilbert asked as Alfred started looking through a bookcase for a certain file.
"Umm … I know it's here somewhere …" Alfred muttered, ignoring the albino. "Here it is," he picked out a file and looked through it. "'Chimera: An artificial fusion created by alchemically "marrying" two genetically dissimilar life forms.' In other words, there a Chimera researcher in this city," Alfred turned to the brothers. "Shou Tucker, the Sewing-Life Alchemist.
"He got his State Alchemist certification two years ago when he created a Chimera that could speak."
"It could speak?" Gilbert asked his eyes wide. "You mean it talked like a human. A Chimera?"
"It says that it did, but the hero wasn't in charge of the case, so I never actually saw the Chimera. It could understand human speak and it spoke …" Alfred looked further down on the file. "But all it said was … 'I want to die.' After that, it refused to eat and died."
XXX
Alfred led the two brothers to a large house in East City and rang the bell for the front door. Gilbert was looking around the house noting that it was huge.
"What a huge place …" he said as Alfred stood by the door, waiting for it to open. He heard a rustling sound and turned towards the bushes. As a large object came bounding out of the bushes and jumped on Gilbert, you could hear his yell for miles.
"GYAAAAGGH!"
"Hey, Alexander. You stop that …!" A young child's voice said. Gilbert was flat on the ground with a huge dog on top of him, panting. At the door, stood a tall light haired man with glasses and a young girl with light brown hair in braids down her back. The man looked to be in his late twenties while the girl looked roughly four or five. "Wow, daddy! Lots of guests!" The girl said.
"Nina, I told you to keep the dog tied up," Tucker said, sighing. He invited the alchemists in his house, glancing at the mess.
"I apologize for the mess. It's been like this since my wife left me …" he said, sitting down. "Nice to meet you, Gilbert. I'm Shou Tucker. The one they call the Sewing-Life Alchemist."
"Gilbert's interested in Biological Alchemy. I, as the hero, told him you might be able to show him your research," Alfred said, motioning to the albino.
"Oh, I don't mind …" Tucker said. "… But if want to see what's up my sleeve, first you have to show me what's up yours. So, why are you interested in Biological Transmutation?"
"Um … well, he's …" Alfred was looking for an excuse when Gilbert held up a hand.
"Mr. Tucker has the right to an answer," he said as he took off his black jacket that he always wore under his long red coat.
Tucker was at a loss for words when he saw Gilbert's Auto-Mail arm. "So … that's why you're called the Fullmetal Alchemist," he said, looking surprised and shocked.
Then after Tucker had gotten over the surprise of the metal arm, the brothers told Tucker how they came to be how they were.
"I see," Tucker said after a silence, "so you lost your mother … that must have been hard."
Gilbert and Ludwig were quiet at that remark.
"I've told my higher ups that he lost his limbs in the civil war in the East. The hero must ask you to be quiet about his attempts at human transmutation."
"Sure," Tucker said, standing up. "No problem. I'm sure that the military couldn't afford to lose such a brilliant individual," he added. "Well then … let me show you my laboratory, although I'm not sure if it will be much help to you," he led the three to a room which had animals in cages. Some looked like they were mixes of two or more different animals.
"Ahh …." Tucker said, hand on his head, laughing softly. "You've got to excuse me … I'm supposed to be the authority on Chimeras, but in reality, it's never easy. Lots of failures … lots of false starts," moving through the room, he opened another door. "This is my file room."
The room was large with a lot of books and papers in it. Gilbert admired it greatly.
"This is incredible," he said, looking at the amount of books.
"Feel free to look around. I'll be in the lab," Tucker said.
"All right then," Gilbert stated, talking like only he and his brother were the only ones in the room. "I'll start with this shelf."
"Ja, I'll start from over there," Ludwig added.
"All right, you two," Alfred said, cleaning his glasses. "I have to get back to work. I'll send some of my men to get you before dark."
The younger brother thanked the blond quietly as Gilbert was reading a book and ignoring every one in the room.
"… He has an amazing ability to focus, when he's ding, he doesn't even hear the voices around him," Tucker noted.
"Yes, well you know he's not average, becoming a State Alchemist so young," Alfred said.
"I guess … geniuses really to exist," Tucker said, looking at the albino.
XXX
GONG.
The clock in the room rang and Gilbert finally looked up from the pile of books that he was reading.
"Uh-oh," he said, glancing at the time. "I didn't realize what time it was … West!" He called to his brother who had seemed to have disappeared. "Ludwig! Where are you?"
He stood up and sighed. "I wonder where he went …"
Before he knew what had happened, he was on the floor, trapped under Alexander the dog again.
"Oh, Hallo bruder," Ludwig said, turning the corner to see his brother in his floor. Nina – Tucker's daughter – was sitting on his shoulder, grinning.
"What do you mean, 'Hallo bruder'?" Gilbert asked, angered. "You're supposed to be looking through the data, not baby-sitting!" He yelled.
"Well, Nina got bored and needed something to do, so …" Ludwig started to explain.
"WHY YOU …!" Gilbert started to yell at his brother when Nina interrupted him.
"Hey, big brother! Alexander says he wants you to play with him too!" Nina said as Alexander began to lick Gilbert's face while Gilbert was glaring at his brother and the dog.
"Hmph," Gilbert said, wiping his face with a cloth. "You've got a lot of nerve asking me to play with you, dog," he added. "They say that catching a mere rabbit takes every bit of a lion's strength … JUST TRY TO SIT ON ME AGAIN, YOU CANINE FIEND! I, GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT, WILL FIGHT YOU WITH MY ENTIRE BODY AND SOUL!" He yelled chasing after Alexander while Ludwig sighed, thinking that his brother was being immature. Nina just laughed grinning at the sight.
A few hours later, there was a knock at the door. Densen stood there, waiting. "Hey, Chief, I'm here to pick you up."
He then looked at the sight of Gilbert stuck under Alexander for the third time that day.
"… Mind if I ask what you're doing?" the lieutenant then asked.
"Uh … well, I guess you could say I'm just taking a little break from research!" Gilbert said, quickly, standing up.
"So did you find any useful data?" Tucker asked. Gilbert's mood became even gloomier than before when he caught being overpowered by a mere dog. "… You can come back tomorrow," Tucker said, getting the message.
"Are you gonna come back tomorrow?" Nina asked the armored brother who nodded.
"Ja."
"Oh, Mr. Tucker," Densen said. "I have a message from the colonel. He said, 'Please don't forget that the assessment date is coming up.'"
Tucker was silent for a moment before saying; "… Yes, I know."
After the three had left and Tucker was bolting the door, Nina asked, "Hey daddy, what's an 'assessment'?"
Tucker turned to his daughter.
"Well, sweetie … when you become a State Alchemist you have to show the results of your research once a year. And if they don't like how you're doing, they take away your license. Daddy's evaluation wasn't very good last year … so unless I do something great this year, I won't be a State Alchemist anymore."
"Whaaat? You'll do great, daddy! You're always studying a lot!" Nina yelled, hugging her father.
"I know, sweetie. But if they don't like me, there's nothing left that I can do … That's right … there's nothing else I can do …"
XXX
"Hmm … so your mom left two years ago?" Gilbert asked the next day when Nina was sitting in the file room with the brothers.
"Uh-huh. Daddy said she went back to her parent's house," Nina said.
"Really? It must be lonely in his big house with just your father," Ludwig said to the young girl.
"No, it's not!" Nina said. "Daddy's nice to me, and I have Alexander too!" Then her mood shifted. "Lately Daddy's always in his laboratory with the door locked … so it's a little lonely," she muttered.
Gilbert had an unreadable look on his face as he heard that.
"Ahh, man," he moaned as he shifted. "All this reading is making my shoulders cramp up. Day after day …" he whined.
"Exercise is the best cure for shoulder cramps, bruder."
"You're right," Gilbert said standing up. "I guess I'll work out a little in the yard," he then pointed at Alexander. "Hey, Dog! I'll play with you for exercise!" He said.
"Come on, Nina," he other added. "You too."
Nina grinned and laughed.
She watched with Ludwig as Gilbert and Alexander chased each other around the yard and laughed when Alexander landed on Gilbert, pinning him to the ground time after time.
Meanwhile, Tucker sat in his darkened laboratory, looking stressed about something and he glanced out of the window at where he daughter was playing with the two brothers.
To Be Continued …
First off, I would like to wish everyone a happy late Canada Day and a Happy Independence Day for all you Americans.
Secondly, this chapter took longer than I had hoped for many reasons. First off, were my final exams which took up mid-June. Next came when my family – minus me – went camping and my sisters took my FMA books without my permission and so it took me a while to actually type this up. But the next chapter will be up soon, I can promise that.
And because people have been saying they've wanted to hear the Mini-Skirt line from America – here it is!
"That's a stupid question, Densen," Alfred said to the other blond man. "I say it because it's true. When I become Fuhrer, they'll be changes," the colonel's tone changed. "That day, all female officers will be required to wear …" he took on a heroic pose. "… TINY MINISKIRTS!"
Densen began hugging Alfred's leg saying, "You're a miracle, Jones! I'll follow you forever!"
Alice on the other hand, just sighed.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise I'll update sooner. I was half tempted to make Belguim Nina, but I couldn't make Netherlands Tucker no matter how hard I tired. So I kept them the same.
Please read and Review.
