Since they tried to bring back their mother, he had those harsh feelings of déjà vu. Although they had always been small and miniscule, happening only once in a while. Often during the heat of the battle, he'd get this…lapse. Like this was the second time he was in this fight. But, as it was he was usually about to be killed when those moments happened, he didn't think on them too long.
But ever since that incident with the stairs, he couldn't help but feel perhaps this was worth looking into. Yet how would he explain it to Al? To anyone, really? It was still an enigma to him, how would anyone else understand?
So, as the train rocked and sputtered along the tracks, he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. The hushed murmurs and whispers of the fellow passengers was white noise to his ears. Alphonse, seated next to him, seemed fidgety, flicking through the pages of a book. Just by listening to the shifting of his metal joints it was obvious he was trying to hide from their dagger-like gazes.
Ed risked a quick glance to the accompanying Major.
Sans was slouched against the hard seat of the train. His feet dangling above the floor, his hands in his pockets. Soft snores shook from his sleeping form. But that grin was still plastered on his face, hiding beneath the bandages like a snake in the grass. Ed suppressed a shudder. Something about that smile seemed almost skeletal.
He closed his eyes again.
Sans was another oddity in his life. But not a high enough priority for him to trouble himself with.
While he was still trying to puzzle out his déjà vu spells, he didn't resist sleep when it came knocking. Just when his mind was fluttering off to slumber, however, a violent shaking of the train accompanied by a loud BOOM rudely woke him. Made comedic, of course, by throwing him out of his seat and onto the train floor, along with the strange Major who landed on top of him with a dull 'thud'.
Ed all but shoved the man off, scrambling to his feet and frantically trying to shake himself awake.
"What the hell was that?" He yelled, darting to stand next to his brother. Alphonse was already on his feet, tense and at the ready.
"Sounded like an explosion." He observed. The lights that served as his eyes caught on Sans on the floor "M-Mr. Skell, are you all right?"
The only response they got was a sluggish thumbs-up.
Ed and Al exchanged a brief, annoyed, look. Then overhead, the train's intercoms buzzed to life. Static clearing, a man's voice was heard.
"ATTENTION PASSENGERS" the voice roared "WE ARE THE MONSTER ERADICATION UNION! THIS TRAIN, AND ALL OF YOU DAMN MONSTERS LOVERS, ARE NOW UNDER OUR RULE! ANY SYMPATHIZER WILL BE SHOT-"
"Monsters?" Ed mumbled, completely ignoring the rest of the announcer's speech.
"Oh yeah…" Al blinked, a hand casually resting on one of his metal hips "I heard about this. Apparently a few years ago, a group of 'Monsters' came from underground and settled near Ebon."
"Oh. Okay." Ed said "So….wait." His expression melted into one of pure annoyance "So they're being so damn annoying 'cause of some lousy-ass monsters?"
"Ed!" Al scolded.
Sans chuckled, pulling himself up off of the floor using the seat as a crutch.
"heya kids, the guy's still talking." He pointed out.
"Huh? Oh yeah." Ed shrugged "I'm just kinda ignoring that."
Alphonse sighed "Brother, we probably should do something."
"Well DUH." Ed snapped. He clenched his fist tightly, balling it close to his face as his grin turned sinister. "THOSE ASSHOLES RUINED OUR TRAIN RIDE!"
Sans barked out a short, curt laugh "oh-w-wow….o-okay…." He wiped a tear out from the corner of one eye socket "you kids gonna handle this?"
"Yeah." Ed and Al said in sync, as if this was obvious. Sans gave a shrug.
"great, im goin' back to sleep." And at that declaration, he settled onto the train seat and fell soundly asleep.
The Elrics didn't quite know how to respond to that.
"Why fight them?" one man said, his voice gravelly as it filtered through his bushy gray moustache. He hunched over into a paper "Let 'em kill the damn monsters. Less freaks for us to worry about."
"Wha-" A small girl whined, clinging onto the skirt of her mother who looked ready to murder the man. She blinked tears away from her eyes "B-but the m-monsters are nice!"
"Ignore him, sweetie." The mother cooed gently, brushing the girl's hair back. She hugged her daughter to her chest, glancing up at Edward and Alphonse with concerned eyes.
Ed couldn't help but give his biggest grin. "Dontcha worry about us, Miss! We can handle this! Right, Al?"
Alphonse nodded in response. Squatting down so he was eye-level with the girl, he gave her a reassuring pat.
"Don't worry Miss. We'll make sure those meanies are put in their place." He said. The girl stared at him a moment, her eyes widening and sparkling in awe. Al felt a tad awkward for that split second, shuffling slightly as the girl shouted out:
"You're just like Undyne!" She seem ecstatic "Momma, momma! Doesn't he seem like Undyne? He's so cool!"
"'Cool'?" Al repeated, clearly happy with this statement as he was somehow blushing. Ed chuckled a moment, then put his hands on his hips.
"Alright, brother. Let's go beat us some baddies!"
"Got it!" Al said, nodding his helmet. The brothers shot the rude man a glare as they hopped their way out of the train. As they exited the car, a low, low and tired, voice said
"go get 'em, boys."
Ed rolled his eyes and closed the door.
"Alright Al…." He mused as the wind rushed on by, brushing his bangs and braid about in a wild mess. "I'll train-walk, you go through the cars?"
"Sounds like a plan." He agreed "Be careful, Ed."
Ed shrugged "Sure."
Al chuckled lightly, opening the door to the next car and beginning his pursuit. Ed looked around briefly and was quickly rewarded for his search. Mounted to the wall of the car, a ladder led to the roof and seemed to be in a decent condition. He rolled his shoulders and shot his way up.
The wind picked up as he left the cranny between the cars. It rushed at his face harshly, threatening his balance and his life. But if Ed was anything, it was stubborn. So, his knees bent and his body leaning into the wind, he steadily made his way over the car heads. It was somehow quiet up here, despite the wind rushing by his ears, reddening the skin and making them ache.
He was doing pretty well, when one of the hijackers spotted him. The balding man spat a wad of tobacco out of the corner of his mouth, leaning onto the train's roof and taking aim at the boy. Ed narrowed his eyes, flattening himself to the roof and crouching much like a cat. The gold of his irises locked onto the barrel of the gun, following where it would aim. He darted about like a centipede. Scurrying quickly, limbs flailing to keep him from falling and to keep from getting shot.
Bullets hit the metal floor where Edward was. Several times pocking the roof with bullet holes and making the man yell out in frustration. Just as Ed reached the homestretch, only a meter away from punching the gun-happy asshole in the face, he miss-stepped. That, combined with how he lunged to dodge a bullet and the force of the wind on his body, sent him tumbling off of the train.
In a desperate attempt to survive, he lashed his arms out and…suddenly he wasn't falling at all.
Ed hung there suspended in nothing for moment, before he opened his eyes. He wasn't quite sure what it was he was expecting, but it wasn't this. He opened his eyes to observe his fingers wrapped around the metal bar of a ladder bolted to the train car.
Slowly, his muscles tense and his mind and heart racing, he moved his body to climb up the ladder. Again. Before he pulled himself over the edge, he halted. Stiff. His small body shaking he pressed himself to the car wall. Just for the assurance it was real. Gritting his teeth, he whipped up his golden gaze.
Think about it later.
Still shaking, he clambered up into an exact replica of what had happened before. When he was once again in the home-stretch, he darted to the opposite side. His foot slipped, but he managed to keep his balance as he pelted the gunman in the face and sent him scurrying back into cover.
Ed slipped down onto solid ground, holding tightly onto the rail and breathing heavily. Sweat slicked the sides of his face as he tried to tame his racing heart.
"Brother?" came the light voice. Ed practically jumped off the train. He stared up at his brother, who had somehow caught up to him without being noticed. Despite the lack of facial expressions, his concern was written all over the face of his helmet. Al knelt down. "Are you okay? What happened? Did you get hurt-?"
"I'm fine." Ed interrupted. He forced a grin "Just relieved to be on something a bit sturdier."
"Oh." Al said, although the drop in his voice hinted at his disbelief. "Well, we're at the last car. The boss should be ahead."
"Yeah." Ed said with a nod. He stumbled to his feet, putting his hands on his hips. Standing, he was about the same size as his kneeling little brother. "Let's go get 'em!"
"Okay." Al said with a slight nod, straightening himself up.
The brothers rushed into the room, and were greeted with just about what they expected. The main baddie and his cronies were on them in an instant, but through a combination of Edward's alchemy and Alphonse's general invincibility, the group was dispatched quickly enough.
Ed dusted his hands off, a smug and content smirk on his face at his handiwork. The hijackers were tied and incapacitated, and the ones that were particularly annoying gagged. Ed shot his little brother a grin and a thumbs up. Alphonse chuckled a bit.
"Well. That takes care of that!" He chirped.
"Yep." Ed smirked. Then his face quickly dropped to one of exasperation, his eyes slipping over to the men "By the way, why the hell were you morons attacking the train, again?"
None of them said anything, instead glaring at Ed with frustration and anger bubbling in their irises. Ed rolled his eyes.
"I guess they're just jerks." Al shrugged.
"sounds 'bout right." came a voice. The brothers jumped, turning to see Sans (who had been hiding behind Al).
"Major Skell!" Al gasped "You shouldn't be up here, it's dangerous!"
"looks to me like you got it handled." Sans shrugged. He casually walked over to the captured group of terrorists, his hands in his pockets and his tone as if he were speaking to a long-time friend "so heya pals, ya got a beef with monsters?"
Again, no response.
Sans shrugged "fair enough. ya don't wanna talk. All right. just askin' for a friend." He gave a wink "he likes to know the 'root' of these problems, if ya get my drift." He chuckled at the joke only he seemed to get. And when this became obvious, he gave a light shrug "yeah i guess you wouldn't know him, huh?"
Ed rolled his eyes "Major, we're done here. Let's just get back to our seats and wait until we get to Ebon."
"okay okay, gotcha'." Sans threw his hands in the air in mock-defeat. He finished this movement with a dramatic salute "whatever you say, sir."
Al chuckled. Ed fumed.
It was an easy walk back to their seats. No more explosives, and the officers on board the train said they'd handle the rest of it from there. Ed eagerly accepted, yawning and ready to get back to his nap. Sans seemed to have the same mindset. Seated again, the trio relaxed as the train chugged steadily on. The mother from earlier seemed grateful, as well as relieved, that they were back unharmed. She told them as such, her daughter chattering excitedly on how cool she thought their actions were.
Ed let Al handle the talking.
His eyes shut, he let himself drift off to sleep once again-
"hey."
Ed mumbled an impolite response, prying open one eye and glaring into Sans's gaze. The man seemed didn't seem fazed, leaning in towards him, likely to speak in private.
"WHAT?" Ed hissed.
"what's yer opinion on monsters?" he asked, his voice low. "i mean, ya rushed in to punch those guys. so i'm a tad curious."
Ed rolled his eyes, snuggling deep into his jacket. His response was low, grumbled out, and sizzling with annoyance "I never meant a monster. Don't even know if they exist. If they do, who gives a shit. As long as they aren't assholes."
Sans seemed amused by this response, chuckling lightly as he leaned back into his seat. "fair enough."
And that was the end of that conversation.
The sun was setting, casting orange over the mountains and fields as they arrived into the town. Slowly, creaking, the train came to a halt into the station. The hiss of the brakes and the song of evening birds filled the air of the sleepy city. The conductor's voice came on over the intercom.
"We have arrived in the City of Ebon."
A/N
Sorry. Really, I am. This was supposed to be updated a lot earlier. But the file crashed and got deleted. Then a bunch of things just came up and everything sucked for a bit. But I should be good now. I had to re-write this chapter, like, twice though. (Once because of the previously mentioned reason andonce because I just didn't like how it turned out).
Well, anyway. I keep forgetting to ask what you people think of the new cover picture. So! What do you think?
Drop a review, if you would.