Happy early Easter everybody! Finally on spring break, so I have time to actually write again. Whoo! When I'm not busy with studying, that is. But enough of being a downer (apparently whenever I tell a story, it'll be happy, until about the last line where it will be something along the lines of 'and then he died in a car crash four years later' or 'but then they moved away and now a mean old couple lives there, so I can't go in their yard anymore' yes, both actually happened) and on with the chapter.

Chapter 11

After Alphonse finished reading Selim the rest of his book a few hours later, he started making dinner. Selim tried to occupy his mind, but couldn't stop thinking about how much he wanted it to be tomorrow. Al noticed his restlessness and couldn't help but chuckle. He remembered when he was first learning alchemy, it really had been so exciting, especially when they first started, their first transmutation, finally getting a teacher. It wasn't hard to imagine the impatient going through the boy's head.

"Don't worry, once you go to sleep it will be like the time passed by without you even knowing," the blond said as the child helped him stir some of the vegetables in a pot. Selim nodded absently as he watched the greens swirl around in the water.

"I know, I'm fine," he said and Al simply nodded, a smile still on his face. People had always thought he was even stranger then Mrs. Bradley when she decided to keep him for spending so much time with the formally evil child, but he couldn't really help it. He really had changed, not to mention he was a sucker for cute things. Finally when it all boiled down though, it was simply more practical and safer to have him under watch by someone who could possibly hold their own in a fight if anything were to happen, but after so long, he really didn't think it would.

"You know, they say alchemy started in the kitchen," the blond man said, repeating something his brother had said to him years ago. Selim looked up curiously at his words before quickly glancing back towards one of the pots.

"Really? How?" he asked, sounding a bit mystified and confused. Al sometimes liked to pretend that that was why he enjoyed cooking so much, but in truth it was most likely just the years he'd gone without any food.

"Oh well, y'know, what we're doing is a lot like alchemy. When you cook food you end up transforming it. Just think of how different a cake is from a pile of flour, eggs and water," Alphonse explained, and Selim couldn't help but nod in agreement. It was a lot like alchemy, he'd never thought of it that way before.

"That's really neat," it must have been why Mr. Al was such a good cook, because he was an amazing alchemist. Personally, he thought Mr. Al was the greatest alchemist in the country, although he said that he was nothing compared to his teacher or father. Mr. Elric had apparently died years ago, a little before Selim was born, actually, and he'd never met Mr. Al's teacher. He wasn't even sure if she was still alive. Apparently she had been sick for years when she taught him, but they never said if she got better or worse.

Once dinner was done they ate, and Selim wondered exactly how someone would go about making the exact meal actually with alchemy. Maybe he would one day.

When it was finally time for bed, Selim tried to get to sleep as fast as he could, but whenever you try that it never seems to work. His mind kept going on and on about how tomorrow would be. When he tried to distract himself from that he eventually ended up thinking about Ethan and how his 'investigation' went. Surely he hadn't been able to actually find anything. It was strange, how he hoped he did and yet hoped he didn't at the same time. He didn't want his feeling to be proven right, but didn't think it would ever go away without proof.

Ah well, he'd probably find out tomorrow. So many things, he'd find out tomorrow.

Ethan desperately tried not to trip as he worked his way back to the farthest corner of the attic he could find. He had no idea what part of the house he was over, so he had to be extra careful in making sure his parents couldn't hear him. Finally deciding he probably went far enough, he started to dig through the box closest to him. There wasn't much in it though, just a bunch of broken frames without any pictures in them and an old chewed up curtain.

On to the next box, not that it held any more interesting results. A dusty old plate set and a random light bulb that must of fell in by accident. Placing it all haphazardly back inside he quickly went to work on three more boxes with absolutely nothing to show for his work besides a couple of wreaked up old shoes, a broken toolbox with bits and pieces of rusted metal that may or may not have once been automail and a lamp without a light bulb.

Sitting down on an upturned box the blonde box frowned to himself. There had to be a better way of going through all this junk. He'd never find whatever it was he needed to find at this rate. It was never this hard for the kids in the books. They didn't even have to try, it always happened by accident to them.

Maybe he was trying too hard, but he didn't want to wait for Selim to have it happen to him by accident. What if he wasn't there? Standing up from the box, he started over to another end of the attic. It was better then just sitting there anyway.

It sure was hard moving around though, especially to the places that didn't really have any paths cleared to them. Those were the places he wanted to go through. Trying to climb over a barrier of stacked boxes, he wondered where all this stuff came from anyway. He knew that his mom had lived in this house growing up, so some of the stuff was from all the way back then.

Unsure of whether to keep going farther, maybe it would be too far, the blonde boy accidentally sent one of the boxes spirally towards the ground, landing and sending all of it's insides about the floor in a loud crash.

Oh shoot! That was sure to get someone's attention. Panicking, Ethan wasn't sure of what to do besides stand as still as he possibly could as he heard the staircase that led downstairs fall out.

"Is someone up here?" It was his mom, and she had a flashlight. Why didn't he think of that? The lights on the ceiling really didn't do much, especially in the dark corners he was searching in. Not sure what else to do as the blonde woman stepped forward, shinning her light around the dimly lit room, Ethan stepped forward.

"Hi mom," he said casually, hoping that if he acted like nothing was wrong she wouldn't get mad. That didn't seem like it was going to work though as she stormed towards his through the cluttered paths towards him.

"What in the world are you doing up here? It's dangerous you know. What was that crash?" she demanded, and Ethan shrugged, hoping that his mom would believe his excuse as easily as his sister.

"I was bored and wanted to see what kind of stuff was up here. Um, that box fell when I was trying to climb over it," the blonde explained, trying to look sheepish and sorry as not to get in too much trouble. His mother looked down at the turned over box, a few old photo albums and what might have been some old documents from Ed's work. Sighing, she shoved everything quickly back into the cardboard box before turning it upright and grabbing her son's arm.

"No more playing up here. You could of gotten hurt. Climbing over things, be happy it was that box that fell and not you," the woman ranted as she dragged her son back towards the exit. Ethan nodded as he followed obediently. Okay, so he'd have to be more careful next time he came up here, maybe when his parents weren't home.

Mrs. Elric made sure he went down the ladder first before going down herself. "and look at you, covered in dust. Go take a bath this instant," she demanded, although the blond boy couldn't help but frown slightly at this.

"But mom, you're always covered in grease and stuff! Why's it matter if I'm dusty?" the boy whined, although it probably wasn't the best thing to say.

"Bath. Now," his mother demanded again, and this time Ethan decided it would probably be best to listen to her. Hurrying towards the bathroom, he tried to ignore his sister as she stuck her tongue out at him as he walked past. She would of gotten in trouble too if he let her come up, she should be thanking him!

Reaching the bathroom door, Ethan decided it didn't matter. So he hadn't found anything yet, but he would. Maybe something accidentally happened to Selim already, and he would find out tomorrow. He hoped so, it would make him feel better about having to show up empty handed.

The next day Selim woke up extra early. He couldn't even remember when he had fallen asleep the night before, but looking at the clock, it read 7:26am, he wasn't even sure if Mr. Al would be up yet, let alone ready to start teaching him, especially since they had woken up so early yesterday too. Pulling on a clean set of clothes he headed out of the room and towards the kitchen. It was empty, not that it surprised him much.

Oh well, he could wait a little longer for Mr. Al to wake up. Maybe he could make himself breakfast in the meantime, he'd done it the day he left for Resembool.

Grabbing a loaf of bread, he didn't have the time to get it open before he heard a knock from the front door. That was weird, it was kind of early, but they were out in the country. Didn't people with farms get up at sunrise or something? It probably wasn't the best idea to open the door with Mr. Al still asleep all by himself, but as the person knocked again curiosity get the better of the boy and he put the loaf down in order to go see who the visitor was.

Opening the door Selim was greeted by Ethan struggling to hold onto his dog's leash. "Stop Mupples. Stop! Sit!" The blonde said to the grey and white dog. It eventually listened to him and stopped her pulling, allowing for her owner to actually turn and talk to Selim.

"Hey! I didn't think you'd be up. Is uncle Al awake?" Ethan asked, trying to sneak a peak behind the black haired boy's form. Selim shook his head and Ethan smiled, before having to regain his balance after nearly being pulled over by Mupples. "Ah! Urg, stupid," he grumbled before turning back towards his friend, "Well, what I wanted to say was that I wasn't able to find anything in my search yet. My mom found me up in the attic and got mad. Any better with you?"

"Um, well I didn't find anything, but Mr. Al said he'd start to teach me alchemy today," Selim explained. He knew that Ethan wouldn't find anything. There was nothing to find. It didn't help that every time he thought that though, it felt more and more like a lie.

"Alchemy huh? That's cool, I could never understand that complicated stuff. Maybe when I'm older, but I just don't get how circles and squares can make a rock turn into a balloon or something," the blonde boy said, having to readjust his grip on the dog leash again. Selim nodded, he was a little scared he wouldn't be able to understand it enough, but tried to block that thought from his mind.

"Yeah, it's really hard. Mr. Al said I probably wont be able to even try a transmutation before I leave, but I'm still very excited," Ethan nodded at him, and while he wanted to stay and talk to the other boy a little longer, it was clear that Mupples had other plans.

"Mmhm, well, I better get going. Mupples doesn't like to stay in one place too long on her walks. Tell me how the alchemy goes! And I'll keep looking, don't worry!" the blonde said happily as the grey dog started dragging him away down the yard. Selim nodded at him, just realizing and glad that Mupples hadn't been barking at him this time. Well, she knew him now, so that might be it.

"Alright I will. Thanks!" he called to the younger boy, who was now at the edge of the yard. Ethan nodded and waved at him before starting to run down the dirt road with his energetic dog. Closing the door, Selim walked back to the kitchen. That had been a pleasant surprise, even if Ethan hadn't found out anything.

Okay, so maybe he did hope that he could find something. It wasn't his fault, he didn't want his life to be strange, it just was. He wanted to figure it out so that it could turn normal, not go on some magical adventure like Ethan suggested. It didn't really matter right now though. In a few hours Mr. Al would be up and he would start to teach him alchemy. Maybe if he could help people with that when he grew up, they'd stop treating him so coldly.

Of course, he had to learn it first. Placing a few piece of bread in the toaster, he tried to go over everything he knew about the magical science in his head as to get ready for his first lesson.

Okay, maybe he did want a little magic in his life like Ethan, but could you really blame him. After all, he was only human.

Eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs. Haha, I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry he didn't start his training yet, but I wanted to make sure I got the part with Ethan in. Do you think it's going too slowly? I always worry about that.

Oh, and by the by, I know the whole 'alchemy started in the kitchen' thing was actually from the first anime. I think. But I wanted it in here, plus it still seems like a plausible little thing for people to say, at least those who didn't believe it came from some magic philosopher from the east. Well, please review :D