...I am so sorry that this chapter is so long...I hope you can get through it, it's 550 more words than I like to post at one time, but it's meaningful...so yeah, tell me what you think, and if you can only get halfway though, that's ok, just review on what you read.
Chapter 10 -The Cure
"How long has she been in there?" Ed asked as he sipped his icey cool glass of juice. "Mustang's going to be dead before she get's to him."
Al smiled. "Don't worry." Al sat on the small armchair next to the coach. "I'm sure she'sll be done soon." Ed took another sip of his drink. Al looked up, there was a strange noise coming form the room upstairs. "What was that?"
Ed looked up too. "I didn't hear anything." The sound happened again. "You mean that?" Ed took another sip of his drink. "It sounds like she's using alchemy. Ask her when she comes back down." Al nodded as Ed turned and entered the kitchen. He looked around, all he could see was Winry sitting at the table looking off into the distance.
The sun was shining in the window and reflecting off her long shimmering blond hair. From occasionally sitting out sunning on the back steps of her house, her skin had developed a base tan which only helped to excentuate her beauty. He then quickly caught himself, these kinds of thoughts never crept up on him, at least not while anyone was in the room. He found himself in awe just at the meer sight of her. Without another though he averted his gaze to out the window to where she was looking.
"So, what are you looking at?" Ed said as htough he wasn't hiding back a blush behind his long bangs.
Winry looked at Ed, she hadn't even noticed him come in the room. He had a nice tan, it was probably from playing with the dog outside for the past week. He was incredibly good looking, she never really took the time out to appreciate it; she also never really did think to tell him that she though he looked amazing. She blushed a little. "Oh nothing, I'm just watching the cars go by." That was believable, in resembool they were lucky to see even one car in the run of a day. "Did you need something?" She asked with a remenants of a smile.
Ed took a sip of his juice and laid it down on the table. "Well..." He began. "You said tht you wanted to talk to me about something. I figure since I'm not busy, we could talk now." He stood there, a hand on one hip and the other one just hanging by his side.
Winry shook her head. "Not righ tnow Ed...a little later on." She seemed really shy about the whole thing. He couldn't begin to imagine what she wanted to say; truth be told, he imagined a lot of things, just the things that he was picturing were never any good...
Sparkly and shiniy bubbles appeared everywhere signifiying a dream sequence. Winry ran into the mans arms and rested her head on his chest. "You're so amazing, handsom, so tall and youtfull too. Oh Russle! Take me away from that shrimp." He warppaed his arms around her and held her tight.
"There's no need to worry, he so small we can't see him anyway." Russel looked down at the litle imaginary Edward and lifted his foot up and stepped him out. The laughedcurely and then just as they were about to kiss the 'real' Ed inturpted the dream process.
He shook his head and allows the facts to sink in. 'She wouldn't do that...' He smiled and grabbed his glass. "Alright then." He said cooly as if nothing was fazing him. "Later on then..." He walked out of the kitchen and back to the living room to see that Al was no longer there. "Al?" He checked up the stairs and heard his voice. He smirked, this was the first time he'd actually seen his little brother take intrest in a girl.
"Aria?" Al knocked lightly on the door. "Are you finished?" He awaited her answer, but there was nothing. "Aria?" He knocked again, but this time she opened the door with the home remedy in hand.
She gave him a sweet smile. "Yes, I've finished." They headed downstairs where Ed and Winry were waiting in the living room now. Aria handed the little coucution over to Ed followed up by a couple of pills, there was about half a liter of white milky liquid and teh pills were hard and shiney, about the size of a pea. "Now there's a bit of a trick to this, you have to use this drink and take these pills. Wait 20 minutes and the illness should be gone. It's best if he takes a short power nap while these take effect; you get better results that way."
Ed popped the top off the dirnk and sniffed it, he quickly turned his head in disgust. "AH! That smells nasty...what's in it?" He asked as he held his nose.
Winry spoke from the other side of the room. "It is really stong...that smells like...garlic?"
Aria nodded. "Garlic has many healing powers that a lot of people don't know about."
"Was that what you needed to get from that little second story store?" Al added.
All she could do was shake her head and say. "I really should tell, it's a family secret." She looked at Ed. "You should get that to Roy, get him to drink it all with those two pills. If he doesn't, they won't work." She took the bottle in both hands while Ed was still holding it. "Tell him I said 'Trust me, it'll work.'"
Ed rose form where he was sitting. "Alright." He popped the cap back on the bottle. "I have faith in your abilities." Aria nodded. "I'm off." With that Ed headded out the front door.
Al turned to Aria again. "Hey, I almost forgot; I heard you using alchemy up there a little while ago. I didn't know that you knew alchemy."
Aria smiled. "Well, I only know enough to help me with my medicine, I only use it to condense material into pill form. Anything beyond that I can't do." She took a seat across form Al. "Now all we can do is wait. I hope he drinks it."
"What in the hell is this?" He turned his head in disgust, of course, Roy had the same reaction that Ed had. "I can't drink this."
Ed lowered his head. "You have to, this girl really needs your help. And she said before I left, 'Trust me, it'll work.' Just drink it Mustang." Roy gave him a skeptical, glance and popped the two pills in his mouth and whilst holding his nose he downed the drink. It took him a couple of tries, but he managed to get it all down. "There...was that so bad?"
Roy nodded and covered his mouth. "Actually yes, it was."
Ed backed off. "You keep that down!" He yelled as he pointed afinger at him. "Just lay your head down and sleep...I'll come get you in a half hour." Ed calmed himself.
"This better work." Roy coverd his face with his hand and lowered his head into a sleeping position. Ed backed off out of the room and shut the lights off and closed the door.
Roy could feel his insides trying their hardest to reject the sour smelling liquid, but he held his own and dozed off to sleep in a matter of seconds.
Ed sat on the small arm chair outside his office when he tought to himself. 'I swear if he wastes all that...I'll kill him.' Ed knew that Al and Aria spent a good portion of the morning finding the ingredients for it. He wondered what that 'mystery ingredient' was; paying it no mind he stood up, there was no point in waiting here, he figured that heading down to the cafeteria to get some food would be best, he still haden't eaten at all that day and it was almost eleven.
The cafiteria was desolate, Mustang was lucky, today was not a very busy day at all; it looked as though his nap was going to go over well. Ed headed up to the front counter and ordered his lunch, soldiers didn't have to pay their dues till the end of the month, so Ed decided to splurge on lunch; he'd probably get a little bit of a bonus from Mustang for this one anyway.
A half hour passed with ease, Ed was full and in a rather good mood, he had a feeling all would go well. Aria had helped him once before with his motion sickness on the train that time, so this should have been a piece of cake for her.
Ed walked down the hallway to Roy's office, he could see under the door that the lights were still off. "Roy?" He knocked lightly on the door. Nothing. He tried again; stil nothing. "Hey Mustang?" He opene the door to find the Colonel still asleep in his chair with his head slumped off to the side. Ed was about to flick the lights on but decided to wait untill Roy was fully awake, that headache of his might not have left yet.
He approached his desk with caution; walking aroudn the back he laid a hand on Roy's shoulder and shook him lightly. "Hey...hey Roy...get up." Roy stirred and sat up. "How do you feel?" Ed asked with a bit of worry in his voice. Roy quickly covered his stomach again. "AH! Keep it to yourself!"
Roy then felt his head and then he looked at Ed. "I feel great...wow. Go get the ligths." Ed headed over to the opposide side of the room and flicked the lights on. Roy stood up, stretched and yawned. Straightening out his hair and uniform he gave Ed a satisifed smile. "I actually feel wonderful Ed. Give my regards to your friend."
"...and?" Ed folded his arms and tapped an annoyed foot.
"Oh yes." Roy reached into his desk, pulled out a paper, signed it and then handed it off to Ed. "Here you go. Just so you know, I was going to help you anyway. If I could get a little relief in the process was entirely consequential." Ed face-plamed. "Don't worry, we both got what we want." Roy walked over to the windows and threw the curtains open. He paused and took one of the curtains in his hand, he rubbed it between his fingers. "When did these get so soft? Oh well, hope you find what you're loking for Ed...but...before you go."
Ed turned around to face Roy. "What?"
Roy smiled. "How about you go get me something to eat." Roy fipped him some money.
Ed took it and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not your servant..." Ed waved a hand at him and headded back off to the cafeteria. "He seemed unusually cheerful...I guess that stuff really worked." He smiled, a small victory was one to be happy about. He rounded the corner and headed down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he ran right into Hawkeye.
"Good morning Edward...what are you doing here? You're schedueled to work today." She greeted him, her ever present work ethic showing.
Ed nodded. "I know, I just had to get something from Roy."
"He's sick you know." She said with a half smile.
"Was sick, he's fine now." Hawkeye's eyes brightened.
"Really?...I guess it's safe to go to his office then." Hawkeye knew that when Roy wasn't well, it was in everyones best intrest not to go near him. "That's good to hear, see you tomorrow Edward." She walked off up the stairs.
"Later!" Ed continued off in his direction to fetch Roy some food.
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He got as much as he could with the money that Roy had given him. It was a pretty heafty load of food; he doubted that Roy would eat it all but at least he was sure he got something that he liked. When Ed returned to the office, Roy was signing papers left right and center. The two officers who were there, Hawkeye and Havoc, were completly shocked at what they were seeing, Roy actually doing work, and on time at that.
"What did you give him?" Havoc looked at Ed who had just entered the room. Ed placed the food down on Roy's desk. Roy not even looking up from his work grabbed the closest thing to him and crammed it in his mouth in one bite, it looked as though it was a small sandwich roll. "The Flame Colonel not only doing his paperwork, but also multi-tasking? That's something I haven't seen before." Havoc smirked.
All Ed could do was shrug. "I haven't got a clue." He watched him go, signing and reading left right and center randomly eating food along the way. "But whatever it was I'm glad it helped." Ed turned on his heel and was about to leave the room when Roy piped up.
"Hey Fullmetal." Ed turned his head. "Is my body suppose to feel light and airy?"
Ed shrugged. "Maybe...I'll ask her, if it's not I'll call you." Ed waved and left the room.
Hawkeye walked in front of his desk and leaned down. "Are you sure you're feeling ok?" Roy looked up to her and swallowed his food. "You look a little dazed." It was true, his pupil's were dialated and his eyes looked a little redish.
"I'm fine." He smiled as he fiddled with his pen.
Ed walked up the stairs to the Hughes's home. Upon opening the door he was greeted by Elicia; she was back form her sleepover at her friend's home. "Hi Ed." She hugged his knees, it was as high as she could reach.
"Hey there kiddo." He laid a hand on her head. "Did you have fun at your friend's last night?" She nodded. "That's good."
Elicia smiled and waved for Ed to lean in close. "Ed have to ask you something..." Ed knelt down next to her. Elicia smiled and giggled a little. "Is that girl with the red hair Al's girlfriend?"
Ed snickered a little. "What makes you say that?"
She placed her hands behind her and folded them. "When she smiles at him, he blushes a little."
Ed thought she was so cute. "She's not his girlfriend..." Elicia looked disapointed. "...not yet anyway." He quickly followed up.
"Really?" She seemed extatic.
Ed nodded. He knew that Al liked her, he remembered the time that they had visited Lush for the second time. Al had came back with a mark on his neck and everything, that signified that he was with Aria to some degree that night. It was kind of creepy to picture his little brother with a girl, not that he though Al didn't like girls, nothing like that, but it was just the fact that he was the so called 'Innocent one' of the two of them. He thought it was nice.
"We should go sit with everyone else." She nodded and the two of them went into the kitchen; the window in the kitchen wasn't getting any sunlight, so it was a lot cooler in that room. Everyone decided to gravitate there for that reason. "Hello everyone! Guess what!" He held up the paper. "We got it." Ed smiled as he looked on to everyone who was now in good spirits.
Aria smiled and sipped her ice water. "That's great, I take it that the drink worked."
Ed nodded. "Yeah, you should have seen the look on his face after he drank that stuff, I thought he was gonna keck."
She laughed. "It does have that effect on some people. Though I've never seen it make anyone sick. So, how was he feeling when you left?"
Ed raised an eyebrow. "Well, he said that his body felt all lght and airy...is that suppose to happen?"
Aria didn't seem surprised in the slightest. "Oh yeah, that's normal. Considering what was in it and all." Everyone looked towards her.
Winry piped up. "I'm really curious now...what was in it? You two spent a lot of time at the market." Aria sighed. "You don't need to worry about us telling what was in it." She coaxed.
Aria folded her arms. "I guess there's no harm in telling you." The three of them listened carfully. Elicia had already left to go play outside, so there was no worry there. "Ok, there's a few key things in it that cotribute to the cure. There were a few common herbes in there for nutrients, and the pills were made of a condensed parsley plant. Due to the garlic in the drink, the parsley helps you not to be tasting garlic all day." They all seemed confused.
Al placed his rink on the table. "How come Roy said that he felt all funny then?"
Aria continued. "That's because of the cannabis I put in it." Everyone eyes opened wide. "That's what the garlic was for, it coveres up the smell and taste of the cannabis."
Ed laughed. "You gave the Flame Alchemist, Colonel Roy Mustang...pot?" She nodded. Ed laughed again, Al and Winry snickered. "That's great...no wonder he ws acting so weird." Ed sat down at the table.
Aria nodded. "Yes, I didn't give him a lot, just enough to kill the headache and the nausea...and I guess give him a buzz too. I take it he's not very tall." Ed nodded. "That's why, I should have asked first." Aria continued on. "It's surprising that many people don'tknow about the medicinal benefits of the Hemp plant. I increases your appitite and helps you sleep better, and fortunatly it doesn't make many people have an allergic reaction, so it's very good for terminally ill patients. Most only look at it as a drug, but it's actually quite the oposite...when use properly that is." Everyone was in awe.
"At least it worked." Al added in and smiled.
Ed nodded. "Yeah, but to more important matters, we need to hunt down that contract and see if there really is a way to void it." He placed the papers down on the table. "We'll go right after lunch." They all nodded, it was set, Aria needed to find some way around this mess.
"Thank you all again, this means so much to me." She smiled and clasped onto her sundress, wrinkeling it slightly.
I'm so soory you had to sit thought that...it was another building chapter, so not too much happened in it...oh well, I'll have a little romance coming from Aria and Al in the next chapter...nothing too big...remember, she's still married:)
Chapter 11 - After hours of searching they find the contract.What's this? A loophole...maybe?"
Read and review please, your opinion means a lot to me! Thnkies!