Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist
Hey! Read and review and as promised here it is :3
Chapter 9: Coffee Zombie
"This mess hall food…really sucks." I stirred my mashed potatoes with the metal spoon like thing they had given me. It had obviously been reconstructed and deconstructed a gazillion times by bored alchemists. It was annoying that they allowed our so called 'state alchemist' to spend their valuable time messing with spoons when they could be out doing something worthwhile in this messed up world.
"No shit. Let's spend our entire lunch period pointing out all the other obvious things." Edward grumbled. He was in a bad mood after hearing from Mustang yesterday; one hour with Mustang puts our FullMetal into a grumpy mood for the minimum of one day.
I humored him and told him that his spoon looks more like a fork.
He glared at me.
I wish that Mustang would send me out on errands more often. At least then I could grab a sandwich.
Yesterday just as I was leaving his office Mustang said in his usual cocky 'yes I know everything' voice. "Oh and by the way Alexandria, the next time you buy a coffee with my paycheck, pick me up one as well. Equivalent exchange, unless of course you want to find another way to pay for that coffee."
I had stormed out shouting "YOU WISH!" And practically ran to throw myself at Alphonse who would no doubt whisk me away onto another fun date where we spent the majority of our time snuggled in each other's arms.
"Hey you two!" Leonardo took a seat carrying not one but two coffees with him. With no food in sight I wondered if he actually ate or was slowly turning himself into a coffee zombie as well. Had the crazy Growth alchemist infected our Leonardo? "Heh…Edward looks funny."
Edward promptly flipped him the bird in which Leonardo responded to by sticking his tongue out.
Vivian decided that now was a decent time to join us. She didn't bring any food just herself and a cup filled with orange juice. "Honestly how long does it take to approve a simple request?"
"It's not simple Vivian! This is a large scale project that'll probably take months if not a year and a half. Who knows! It all depends on how fast we can ship the material, get our alchemist, make our plans, and put them into action. Doing something like this will take a lot out of any skilled alchemist!" Edward shoved some bread in his mouth.
I kind of wished he'd do that more often.
"Look I'm positive that Mustang is taking care of everything as we speak." Actually that's a lie. I'm pretty sure he's doing the same thing he always is right about now. Reading the newspaper and waiting for something to happen. The thing is I knew for a fact that when the time came he would pull through for us. He'd leap into action.
Edward rolled his eyes like he knew exactly what I was thinking.
"Well I'm not going to stick around with a crazy coffee addicted alchemist, a frumpy aging man, and a sister who's more or less ready for a nap. I think I'll go-"
"To the library." Edward rolled his eyes once again. I swear he's done this so many times that I can quite literally hear them roll. "Go on I don't want you here anyway."
"I would have gone without your permission thank you very much." I picked up my half eaten food and tossed it.
If Mustang needed me then surely he would know where I'm at. He always seems to. So to the library I went my heart speeding up with each step that I take. The librarian waved me through with a smile pointing out the aisle that he was 'guaranteed' as she liked to say.
He was there of course, a book propped up on his thighs. Like last time I was fascinated with how fast he could actually read. I wondered if Edward read as fast if not faster than Alphonse.
"You can stop staring at me and come over here anytime Alexandria." Alphonse turned his page with a confident smile on his cute face.
I blinked a few times sure that I couldn't have given myself away that easily. "Okay I'm stumped, how'd you know?"
"Would you believe me if I said that I just know because it's you?"
"No way in hell."
That got me a chuckle. "Plop a seat?"
I sat between his legs resting the back of my neck against his right shoulder. His arms went around me taking his book so that we could both see what was inside.
"It's your smell." He answered simply.
I smacked his left knee. "Hey!"
"No, no! I guess that could have sounded bad. Sorry. Sometimes you wear a certain perfume and I've come to take a liking to it I guess." He admitted.
I did have a perfume that I use, not very often but every so often I would put a little sprits on my wrist and base of my neck. "Fine. I believe you."
"Good you should, because I'll never lie to you." Alphonse flipped his page.
I swear that I could sit here all day like this, watching him read. He was currently reading about building structures, on a large scale. It told how to make them stronger and better leaving out artistic ability. I wondered if that would come in some of the later chapters. There are a lot of alchemists out there who believe that strength is nearly everything, that it's the only thing that matters, but I believe in art. It does matter.
It's like when you're going to eat something. They say that you eat with your eyes first and with your mouth second. I would much rather eat a sandwich from a shop downtown then one made from the mess.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Alphonse asked as he turned another page.
I shrugged no really knowing what to say to that. "Art. About how some alchemists are just muscle brained idiots."
"You'll find a lot of those in the military, that's what the military needs and wants. When a war breaks out, art will no longer matter."
I pouted which earned me a laugh.
"You know it's true!" Alphonse teased.
"Yeah but I don't have to like it."
"True. I swear your just like brother sometimes."
Maybe that's why you like me.
I snort in response. "I'm nothing like that short temperamental…alchemist." I have to remind myself that this is Alphonse's brother I'm nagging about.
"Yeah, but enough about him…" Alphonse set his book aside so that he could turn me to face him.
"And here I thought you were just going to read the entire time." I smiled childishly and grabbed the collar of his shirt pulling him towards me.
Kissing Alphonse is always so sweet. He's gentle and kind and that shows whenever we get like this. Never asking too much and yet always asking just enough, it made me want more than I really should.
It had been a long time since I've been intimate with someone I was surprised with myself that I actually knew how, even though Alphonse is a completely different person from…well… never mind.
"Breathing is…such a…bother." I say to myself in between large gasps of air. The look that Alphonse is giving me though makes me want to laugh. He seems so pleased with himself.
Wrapping my arms around his neck I pulled my handsome blond alchemist even closer pressing myself fully against him pressing my lips again his own. Lightly I bit his bottom lip which caused him to say about half my name by the time that I cut him off to run the tip of my tongue along those pretty white teeth of his.
When he groaned it was my time to smile and be pleased with myself.
"What the hell?" I rubbed the back of my head as it throbbed with pain from flinging myself backwards so quick and smacking it on the edge of a bookshelf.
Havoc stood snickering his head off. Just as Alphonse was taking off my jacket that damn 2nd lieutenant decided to make himself known.
"What kind of pervert just stands there and watches?" I snarled from my spot on the library floor.
Havoc waggled a finger back and forth like a mother scolding a child. "Now, now is that any way to treat the bearer of good news?"
"I don't know, I'll decide after you tell me you're so called 'good' news." I crossed my arms despite the fact that I wanted to pout so badly. What an ass! He couldn't have waited I don't know an hour or so before he decided to come and find me? Jerk!
"The Colonel ordered me to find you…he said something about the plans for Aquroya being approv-"
I was already running. If the plans to save Aquroya were true then honestly I wanted to hear it from the Colonel himself. So I ran all the way into headquarters and down the hall to Mustang's office.
When I entered without knocking Mustang gave me a look knowing that I always knock.
"Is it really true?" I asked panting.
Mustang nodded. "Yep, we set out on the train with our material in two weeks' time. We're using steel pieces because we don't know for sure what length the rods are going to need to be. Supporting an entire city won't be easy."
I nodded because we had been expecting this the entire time anyway. We never thought for a second that this was going to be some walk in the park. It was going to take time and lots of it. Good thing I can be patient when I want to be.
"Just be ready. We won't be back in Central for a long time, so we'll be setting up a temporary base in Aquroya. I trust that Alphonse has already volunteered to help?" Roy raised an eyebrow.
I nodded knowing that he most likely had. It wouldn't be like Alphonse to miss out on something his brother was putting his all into. Besides I would hope that he would volunteer just because I'm going away…
"Understood." I saluted then, exited.
"Good news I'm guessing." Alphonse inquired as soon as I came out. He was leaning against the opposite wall a smile on his flushed face.
I nod. "You didn't strangle it out of Havoc?"
"Nah. No need, I figured you or brother would tell me right away. When do we leave?"
"Two weeks." I answer. Or at least as long as everything went as scheduled. I hope it did, I was itching to do some advanced alchemy. Doing paperwork and running errands was clearly not my calling and even if it was I was not interested in the slightest.
"That's a long time to prepare; brother is going to kill Mustang. He hates sitting around doing absolutely nothing."
"Sometimes doing nothing, is appropriate you know? It's okay to sit down and think about things every once and awhile. There's no shame in it." Although sometimes thinking about things can be a real bummer.
There's times when people think about things too much and end up making a total mess out of things. I've seen that happy many times, or when people think about things too much and never act on their feelings.
And then…nothing ever happens, the person hits a stalemate unable to move forward and yet unable to go back…I'm glad that I'm no longer like that.
"Whatcha thinking about now?"
"Thinking." I said as an answer.
Alphonse's face told me he was wondering if I had just played a bad joke on him or not.
Too bad I wasn't joking.
Two weeks of listening to Edward groaning and moaning and being pissed off would drive any girl over the edge wouldn't it? If it weren't for my rendezvous with Alphonse I would more or less already be trying to strangle the obnoxious alchemist.
I spent most of my days either helping Mustang out with calls ordering the steel by the truckloads. Sometimes Mustang sent me off to do whatever I pleased which usually meant a visit to the library or some time out on the town walking along with Alphonse sharing an ice cream. I would visit random shops along the way just to see what was inside; I usually came out empty handed wondering about certain items.
My nights were spent with Alphonse reading by candle light or by the river where no one we knew would bother us. We've fallen asleep out there more than once, there's a lady who walks her dog by the river every morning who always teases us when she spots us asleep. We always wave to her and joke around, sometimes we'd pet her dog.
Leonardo had made a full transformation into a coffee zombie, we would know if he hadn't at least three cups by the time we seen him because he wouldn't be well…himself. He'd be muttering really fast about plants and wouldn't bother to try and tick Edward off even a little bit. Gloria would make an appearance with him telling him about what they were going to be doing next, if he had his coffee he would be nodding all excited like.
If he hadn't he would quite possibly drool.
Vivian had taken it as her mission to talk to Fuery nearly every day. She liked to see how flustered and stupid he got! It was actually quite amusing to watch especially when Mustang kept telling him to get his head back on his shoulders.
"Idiot." He'd remark shortly afterward.
"Like that!" She'd say exactly after Mustang.
Those two got along rather well. She did his bidding, ignored his paperwork, and helped him humiliate the rest of his staff.
"I'm glad you're coming with me." It was the last night Alphonse and I would be in Central together for a good amount of time. I snuggled closer to him.
"Of course I am…did you expect me to not?" Alphonse asked.
I shook my head. "It's like when you said that you never did tell me how pretty I looked at the festival. You still had to mention the fact that you thought I looked pretty and why is that?"
"I guess that's because…" Alphonse thought for a moment. "I wanted you to know."
"Exactly. You don't have to come…but you're still going to, that makes me really happy."
The smile that he gave me…made me want to smile as well, so I did. I smiled and gave him a long kiss.
Packing wasn't all that hard. All I had were uniforms and my small personal belongings anyway. For travel I pulled on the white dress that Alphonse had laid out for me that day in Aquroya along with his coat. Reluctantly I slipped on a pair of sandals stuffing my pocket watch in one of the many pockets. We would be boarding a train full of state alchemists; it would be as if we were going to war. Except for once the military was assembling to save someone.
"Women take FOREVER!" Edward shouted into my room. Time was ticking until we had to get on the train and move it.
"Men are always so LOUD!"
"Hey!" Alphonse called back in mock irritation.
My shoulders went up in embarrassment, thankfully he knew who I had aimed that at. Running a brush through my hair I was ready to fly. Edward gave me a nasty look upon sight, but Alphonse offered me a refreshing smile that I knew Edward could pull off if he really tried.
"Really Edward is smiling really that hard?"
"Only if it's meant for you." He muttered.
Sometimes…I just want to smack you so bad.
"Brother…." Alphonse groaned. He passed me an apologetic look.
"It's okay Alphonse, I'm used to your brother being nasty. He can't help himself."
Another nasty look that left me satisfied. We met up with Vivian who was just down the hall. She passed me a smile, and then proceeded to run around Edward in circles. He did his best to ignore the little freak but he wasn't fooling me. She was so getting to him!
I had to give him credit though for he resisted the urge to shout, kill, and snarl at her the entire way to the train station. Mustang was already there with a glass of wine and Hawkeye at his side.
We passed the Colonel and took a seat with me next to Alphonse and Vivian next to Edward who was already starring out the train window.
"Can you believe it? We're really on our way to save a city. A city that should be lost in the water." I pressed my nose up against the glass.
"We're going to become heroes!" Vivian cheered. She stuck her pencil to the sky only to have it taken by the person behind us. That got her to literally turn around and leap the seat. There was much protesting and shouting and lots of "YOU BIG JERK!" Coming from Vivian.
I had to peek over the seat just to see who was getting mauled by my little demon sibling.
It was a young alchemist with long black hair very like my own. Only his was thick like a lion's mane and ran to his waist. It layered off with layers that would have a girl no doubt drooling with want for her own hair.
"I'll cut you to shreds girl!" She screamed. From seemingly out of nowhere Vivian withdrew a pair of scissors ready to cut the boy's hair.
"I'm a boy a boy! A MALE!" He screamed still trying to fight her off. The two smacked at each other sending the scissors flying off and down the train aisle. She made a grab for the pencil only to have him reach it towards the sky. I plucked it from his hands like he no doubt did to my sister. His eyes shot up, confusion, and then understanding. "H-Hiya."
"Don't you hiya me, what the hell is your problem? Looking to start a fight?" I ask innocently.
The man shakes his head not sure why I was attacking him now. "I just wanted to see…she uses that to draw her transmutation circles…most people use chalk. I thought it was kind of neat so I thought I'd take a closer look at what it-"
"It's called asking ever heard of it?" Edward snarled from up top. He had joined me having been curious about what sort of idiot would take Vivian's pencil away from her.
"Yeah it's what you're doing right…ohhhhh." I liked how he got very quiet after looking up and seeing Edward there. Edward was smiling down at him stupidly like 'ha you're so screwed'. "It's an honor to meet-"
"Save it." Edward sat back down in his seat with a real smile on his face.
I too went back to my seat where Alphonse was staring at his brother nearly snickering himself. I grabbed his hand as Vivian returned with her new pet. They both sat in Edward's seat.
The new alchemist looked rather nervous being around Edward, that nervousness doubled when he seen who's hand I was holding.
"No way…there…you wouldn't happen to Alphonse Elric would you?"
"Why yes I am." Alphonse greeted politely. He was always so polite unless of course it was someone who had caused sorrow to him or his brother beforehand.
Very unlike another blond alchemist I know.
"You're really Alphonse Elric? The Alphonse Elric?"
Edward's left eye twitched. "He already said yes so shut up already!"
"Brother, be nice." Alphonse objected.
Vivian grunted as a response. She didn't like the idea of being nice to this…man thing.
"My name is Lucas Medley. The Water Weaving alchemist. I didn't know that the two of you would be joining us on this trip, that's amazing! You two must be the Erikson sisters! I heard that the two of you were put under Edward's command-"
"Yeah don't remind me." I muttered. Edward's frown turned into another satisfied smile. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
Instead I turn towards Alphonse and give him a nice long light kiss on the cheek. I don't even have to look at Edward to see the nasty look on his face.
"You look like a girl." Vivian told him.
Lucas frowned. "I'm sorry?"
"I don't forgive you." She replied sweetly.
I could see the confusion on this new alchemist. It spread from the top of his head all the way down to his toes. As funny as this is I kind of felt sorry for the male. "Now Vivian, let's forgive him. He's sorry for what he did isn't that right Lucas?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Alexandria." I twitched.
Lucas looked to Alphonse with a nervous look, wondering if the blond would get defensive he called me by my name. Which was irritating because it's a normal human thing!
"Fine. Just. Don't. Touch. Me."
"You can even call me Alex!" I insisted.
"No! I couldn't possibly-"
"Say it!"
"I won't it!"
"Do it!"
"No!"
"It's normal you dolt!"
I had a terrible feeling that after Vivian stabbed him with her special pencil that this train ride was going to be extremely long. I couldn't wait to get to Aquroya.
Hey! I took the plunge! My parents said that I couldn't go anywhere with internet this weekend so I got out my moped and went by myself. It was awesome and now I'm drinking coffee myself. Cheers to the real coffee zombies 3
