Cara: Next chapter...
Chloe: Speaking of which...
THE FMA CHAPTER 108 IS OUT! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE TO ! IT IS AWESOME! SUCH AN AMAZING ENDING! AUGH!
Ed: (blinks): Well geez...
I need to right a FMA fic that coencides with the manga... I've got an idea and everything but I swore to finish Lightning Strike first so I wont be quite yet... anyway ENJOY!
Al: REVIEW
Ed sighed and leaned against the wall of the small train car next to the crate that carried his smashed up brother. He had decided to ride with Al the remainder of the train ride because between the smell of sheep and the presence Armstrong... he would brave the fluffy animals to sit with his brother.
Now, as the steady hum of the train echoed through his ears, the alchemist let his mind drift. His thoughts rested on the Red Devil and her little side kick. Why had they tried to save them in the first place? The red head had mentioned something about needing information, and that was the only reason she was saving him.
God she annoyed him, she was selfish, taunting, her smirking mask never wavering and it killed him that he actually might owe her something for saving his life twice. He didn't want to help her or have anything to do with her. Hopefully though, he'd be able to avoid her for a little while out here in Risenbol.
"Brother? What are you thinking about?" he heard Al ask, the tenative voice cutting into his thoughts.
"Oh uh..." Ed jumped. "Nothing! Just uh..."
"That girl?" Al finished for him. "I've been thinking about her too."
"Yeah." Ed muttered. "She's annoying as Hell... but she might've saved our lives... you know?"
"Mm hmm." Al sighed. "I've been thinking about the younger one too. Do you think it's true what the scarred guy said? That she's blind?"
"Her reaction was clue enough" Ed nodded. "It's hard to believe though. She moves like a normal person... and it took us this long to figure it out. Looking back though it makes sense... she never seems to be looking straight at some one. Her eyes are glazed."
"And what about the Red Devil?" Al asked.
"What about her?" Ed muttered. "She's annoying, concieted, and she only cares about herself. She's just a constant mask of careless smirks that never cracks."
"That's not true" Al murmured. "That night in the jail."
Ed winsed at the memory his hand subconciously moving up to gingerly touch the fadeing bruise on his cheek. "Right I forgot about that." There was no denying that she could punch hard but the thing that had really suprised him was how suddenly her mood had changed. He had called her weak and suddenly smirk melted to snarl, golden eyes narrowed into a piercing glare and she had shot forward so quickly that he wouldn't have been able to dodge if he had seen the mood swing coming.
"ELRIC BROTHERS!"
Ed blanched as the unwelcome voice of the major boomed through the train car and the gigantic, sparkling, muscular man burst through the sliding door. Ed realized he had been so engrossed in his thoughts he hadn't realized the train has stopped.
"It is time we departed Elrics!" Armstrong said sweeping his arm under Al's crate and hoisting it over his shoulder so easily that he might as well have been hoisting up a pillow, scaring away several of the sheep in the process.
"Right" Ed sighed. "Let's go."
Chloe knew they were coming several minutes before the dog did. She sensed the state dog's metal leg first and his arm soon afterwards. As they drew closer she could feel the broken up pieces of the armor too, though they didn't appear to be touching the ground. A minute later she sensed a third set of vibrations, that came from a presumably large person who appeared to be carrying the armor.
"Are you ok Chloe?" Winry asked, noticing how the girl had tensed.
"Fine" she said with a bright fake smile as the dog began to bark.
Let the fun begin...
The state dog was only in the door for a second before he spotted Chloe and exploded "WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE!"
Chloe smiled pensivly and sighed "Ah look, the people we needed to meet are here."
"DON'T IGNORE ME! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"
"Tch..." Chloe waved her hand in front of her blank eyes. "I'm blind remember?"
"WHERE'S THE RED HEADED FREAK!" the alchemist demanded and she could practically feel his hot breath as he loomed over her.
Then something hard and metal swung through the air and contacted with the boys head, sending him sprawling on the ground "EDWARD! DON'T BE SO RUDE TO GUESTS!" Winry yelled at him, stamping her foot on the ground. "AND WHERE IS YOUR ARM!"
Edward wasn't deterred by this blow and sat up quickly repeating his previous question with a bit less volume "Where is she?"
"Cemetary I think" Chloe mused before turning and calling after the boy who had already flown out the door and down the path "BUT WITHOUT YOUR ARM SHE'LL KICK YOUR ASS! YOU REALIZE THAT RIGHT!"
She doubted he heard her or cared anyway and she sighed resting her cheek in her hand.
"What was that about?" Winry asked confused.
"Nothing" Chloe smiled closing her un seeing eyes. "The alchemist might come back a little bit more damaged though..."
It was quiet in the grave yard except for the almost silent sound of the breeze. Cara was the only one there, standing alone in the garden of hedge stones, the wind blowing through her crimson tangles. As a thief living on the street she didn't exactly clean up well. Anyone who looked at her could tell she wasn't an advocate of personal hygene. She didn't have a problem with it though, and she had never been to sensitive about others opinons of her.
The cemetary displayed tomb stones of all types. Some old, cracked, worn under years of sitting un tended, long forgotten by any living person, the names almost completely eroded away. The newer ones were well tended, some with flowers in front of them, they were the newer graves. They were of all genders, ages, and names. All with their own un told story.
There were a few in paticular that caught her attention. The graves of Sarah and David Rockbell, the young mechanics parents were among the newer and well tended graves, with almost a minature garden in front of them. Winry must've visited them often. The other that caught her eye was that of Trisha Elric.
'I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric'
It was his mom Cara guessed. She had recognized it well enough when she saw the stone. The father's grave wasn't there so he must've been still alive.
The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of running footsteps before they stopped and she heard panting a few yards behind her. "What are you doing here!"
Cara smiled to herself "Took you long enough Mr. Al-chem-ist. I was worried you were never gonna show up."
"You want something" the young state dog's voice was accusing.
"You're deductive skills amaze me." Cara smirked turning to look at him. His golden eyes glared straight into hers and she held the stare. "Obviously... it's the only reason I intervened back in the East."
"What makes you think I'll give you what you want?" he sneered.
"Cause you owe me" Cara smirked at the look of defeat on the alchemist's face. "And you know it too."
"Well spit it out!" he demanded after a pause.
Cara sighed and closed her eyes the smirk lingering "In the jail cell I heard the tin can mention the philosiphers stone. You know anything about it?... Paticularly it's where abouts?"
There was a long pause before he asked "And what would you use it for?"
Cara's eyes opened and she stared in disbelief at the boy "You remember those amazing deductive reasoning skills? Now would be a good time to use them."
"Right" the alchemist muttered. "The girl is blind and you have those wierd..." he paused as if searching for the right word. "...siezure... things."
Cara raised an eyebrow "Really? You pass a state alchemy exam and that's the best name you cam come up with? You sure know how to dissapoint."
"Oh, Shut up!" he snapped, in obvious annoyance. "What do you call them anyway?"
"I don't have a scientific term for them" Cara shrugged. "I just call them attacks."
"Why do you get them anyway?" he ventured.
"How did you lose your arm and leg?" the red head countered snidely.
The state dog flinched at her question and clenched his jaw.
Cara let a smile pass over her face "You tell me your secret then I'll tell you mine. That's equivalent exchange is it not?"
"Fine" he muttered. "Now what are you doing here in the cemetary anyway?" his eyes trailed to the head stone of his mother behind me and his voice turned bitter. "If you're looking for information you won't find anymore. My moms the only one of my family here."
Cara made a face "Ugh... I'm not looking for information. Do you really think I'm that petty? Don't answer that" she cut him off as he started to open his mouth. "I wasn't really trying to barge into your personal junk. I couldn't care less about the past. I just went for a walk."
"This isn't exactly a senic view" the alchemist pointed out suspiciously.
"I know." Cara turned around again and stared down at the tomb stones. "But it's quiet out here... I'm not used to all this silence. I've lived in a city most of my life. I don't know, the dead are strangly comforting to me. They tell a story all on there own without any words. We'll all be with them someday anyway... might as well get used to the quiet..."
For a moment she heard nothing but the alchemist steady breathing behind her before he replied "And... your afraid of death?"
A pensive smile found it's way onto Cara's face "Not of being dead... no." She turned back around. "So the philosiphers stone."
"I know I owe you" he sighed. "But... I don't know where it is... we have on good lead right now but we're still searching."
"Aw damn" Cara placed a hand against her forehead in theatrical frustration. "That means Chloe and I will just have to come with you."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second" the alchemist began to protest but Cara kept going without any notice of him.
"And since I'm wanted right now it'll be difficult to keep hidden-"
"Are you just inviting yourself to-"
"And I hate sneaking around all the time-"
"You can't just-"
"And the pipsqueak is so annoying we're bound to kill eachother-"
"I'm standing right here you know!"
Cara turned back to him with a smirk "What? You didn't just think I was going to let you off the hook because you didn't know did you? Chloe and I were going to make this journey anyway but it'll be alot easier with your private access to all those files in the library. And don't think about trying to ditch because where ever you go Chloe will find you."
"Ok first of all: That's creepy" the alchemist said slowly. "And second of all what makes you think Al and I are just going to let you mooch off our work?"
"We aren't going to be mooching" Cara rolled her eyes. "Look, Chloe is young but she's a genius when it comes to alchemy. Half the time I have no clue what she's talking about. She can pull her weight with the research. And as for me" she shrugged. "Well, I myself am not an alchemist... I don't really care to try and understand all those complicated equations and shapes. But I'm good at strategical planning and you might've guessed I'm not a terrible fighter either. The kid and I will pull our own weight."
"Even so are you really sure you want to do this?" he asked still trying to weasel his way out of the deal. "This thing isn't a game, it's dangerous and its rough. It's not exactly for everyone you know that Red Devil?"
"I know it's not a game" Cara replied seriously. "I've heard it all. It's a journey for the desperate, it's dangerous, people lose everything" a small smile crossed her face. "But the kid and I... we've got nothing to lose." she looked back to him. "And my name isn't Red Devil... that's the uncreative title given to me by the public. My real name is Cara."
"And my name isn't alchemist or pipsqueak or any of those other names you call me" he returned. "It's Ed."
"Fine then Ed" Cara smirked.
"Alright Cara" Ed let a smirk grow over his own face. "And... thankyou..." he forced out the last word with great difficulty. Cara guessed it was a blow to his ego.
"Not a problem..."
The alliance begins...
Cara: Sure to result in several deaths.
Ed: And all of them will be your fault.
Cara: Will not!
Chloe: Sigh...
By the way, I may not update again before I go to this week long camp on Sunday so it might be awhile... my apologies...
Al: REVIEW!