Yo yo yo! :D I think I'd thought of something interesting to write here yesterday, but I can't remember what it was anymore. Oh well.
I'm glad you enjoyed the omakes, author! :3 I hope anyone else that read last chapter (haven't looked at the views for this story lately) enjoyed them too!
I was excited when I realized this next chapter was a train chapter. Last time I wrote a train chapter was in "Ed the Cat". So, of course, the only course of action is to refer to "Ed the Cat" in this chapter. This is not an essential chap, to be honest, but it was fun to write, and it's nice to just see Ed and Al hanging out together for once in VH.
On with the story!
Matt gazed around in fascination as he and his older brother hesitantly stepped into the train taking them to West City. They had heard that these trains were actually bullet trains, like the public transportation back home, but they'd kept them looking as old-fashioned as they could. The outside was round and smooth, but had dark green paint and gold detailing, hand-distressed to look vintage. The inside also kept a vintage color scheme despite the modernization (which, luckily, meant the seats weren't so hard and painful like they were a hundred years ago). The signs with helpful reminders like 'No Smoking' were all wood and hand-painted. There was a warm, inviting feeling in the vehicle, like an old lake cabin, a stark contrast to the usual air the shiny white trains gave back home. It was a cool, interesting way of combining old with new that the brothers could definitely appreciate.
Knowing they would be there for the entire ride, the Elrics raced to get seats next to each other and take out their books before the compartment got packed. To give themselves a chance to relax and take their minds off their research, they'd actually checked out a novel each from the library before checking out of their room and boarding the train. The books seemed a little odd, but they were in the 'Popular' section- and, who knows, maybe the Amestrian idea of written entertainment would be pretty different than the American, and therefore they'd experience more of the culture.
"You're totally sure we're on the right train, right, Brother?" Al whispered nervously.
"Of course, Al, I checked 5 times. That's better than Santa." Ed nudged his arm. "But if you're still worried, I think there's a map on that wall over there."
Matt lifted his head and strained to see what his sibling talked about. There it was, over the head of a hobo-ish man diagonally to the right of them. He didn't want to get up and risk losing his seat, so he just squinted. Well, he could see a green line on the map going horizontal, which seemed right... The red line was the one going to the north, and he was sure they went on the green train. Good thing, because I do not want to deal with snow if I don't have to; we get enough back home.
"Happy?" Younger brother glanced to older, who was holding one eyebrow higher until his question was answered.
"Yeah, I guess."
"We'll be here a while, so just go ahead and get comfy and start reading."
Al nodded back and did just that.
There were gonna be a few short stops within the current city before they really raced toward the west. The stopping wasn't exactly helping Ed focus on his book, and neither did his brother when he suddenly made a weird giddy noise.
"Cat!~"
"What?" came his immediate reply as he looked up to Al, to see that Al was staring at someone that just barely boarded. He followed the line of vision and saw that, indeed, there was a person by the sliding doors that was carrying a cat in their arms.
"It's so cute!" Matt gushed quietly. John rolled his eyes at him until logic hit him in the face.
"Wait, pets can't be allowed on here, right?..."
A stranger actually voiced what he just said but louder, pointing the fact out to the cat owner. The owner, a nervous blond with a blonde woman at his side, apologized back.
"Animals are allowed if they're in carriers, but we don't have one for him. But, honestly, I'm sure he'll behave fine anyway..." the owner tried to explain.
"How weird would it be if I tried to pet that cat?" Al whispered to Ed.
"Very."
Ed clamped his hand over Al's mouth when he started to whine softly in disappointment.
"Shut it."
Al said a muffled "But-"
"Ssshh."
He grunted in acknowledgement, with a clear tone of annoyance and frustration.
"Good."
"Ew, gross! You licked my hand!"
"Payback!"
The elder Elric had been worried about the cat. And not just because someone in the corner was sneezing horribly because of it.
It was staying still quietly for now, but, with a cat, you never knew if it's going to take a nap or explode and run around like nuts.
He got through a few chapters of the book (which was looking to not really be that interesting, and he had therefore concluded with the over-generalization that all Amestrian authors were LAME) before he sighed and put it down.
He glanced over to see the younger Elric staring at him from the corner of his eye.
He just nodded back.
Al cracked a smile as he looked away again, discreetly eyeing the cat.
"Why do you love cats so much, Al?"
"Uh, they're awesome?" He made a 'duh' look.
"But, I mean, it's not normal. You act like Lily just thinking about them."
Al snorted and gave Ed a disbelieving look. "Really?" He then paused to think about it and snorted again as he tried to not laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"One Lily is enough, I don't need two around." Ed huffed, crossing his arms.
The other Elric seemed about to comeback when something caught his attention. Ed followed his gaze to see that the cat had jumped off its owner, who was frantically whispering and waving it to come back, and steadily walking around people, heading towards them.
"It's coming here!" Al nearly squealed, then started motioning it to get closer, making the "pshpshpsh" noise people use to attract dogs and cats.
"He's gonna get mad!" Ed scolded, glancing to the worried owners who were wondering how they were supposed to get through the now-thick crowd in the train to retrieve their pet.
"I'll get it back to them, don't worry." By now, the cat had reached them and, surprisingly, started rubbing up against the brothers' legs. Al grinned and promptly lifted the cat onto his lap, who meowed in surprise and protest.
The cat was all orange (though a shade of orange so light it looked yellow) with yellow eyes. They weren't sure why, but both brothers caught a glimpse of something in its eyes that showed intelligence- a mischievous intelligence.
"You're a really cute cat," Al chirped as he pet the feline, who squirmed about uncomfortably, but didn't bother trying to escape the teen's grasp.
Ed rolled his eyes at his stupid little brother, eventually scratching behind the feline's ear for a second before returning to his book.
He was surprised to feel fur on his arm, and glanced over to see that the cat started walking off Al's lap and onto his own. The cat settled nicely and sat in front of the book.
John sighed and lifted the book back into view, but the cat's head followed it. He eventually scoffed and just held the book farther in front of him so the cat wouldn't block him anymore and he could still manage to read.
"Why are you hogging the cat?" Al whined. His brother gave him a disbelieving look.
"You think I want the cat here? I'm just too lazy to move it."
"Hey, look- it's like it's reading," Al said with a look of wonder. Ed looked back to the cat to see its eyes glued to the pages of his book. He passed it off as the cat being weird and just read. His younger brother, though still a bit disappointed the cat favored Ed, followed suit with his own book.
When he made a move to flip to the next page, the cat quickly placed a paw on the edge of the page. He finished scanning the words before dropping his paw again.
The elder Elric wore a strange look on his face, trying to comprehend, but he flipped the page anyways. He glanced to his sibling, furrowed his brows, and then covered the top paragraph with his hand to see how the cat would react.
It instinctively pushed his hand away with its paw, unhappy until all the words were uncovered again.
"Al, you seeing this?" he whispered in amazement, now pretty sure the cat was actually reading... Or, at least, pretending to like a pro.
"What?" He glanced away from his book.
"It's... really reading."
The cat looked over to both of them, then rubbed up against Al's arm again before leaving.
It glanced back again, giving what somehow looked like a smirk.
The blond was suddenly infuriated. "Oh my gosh, it was screwing with us!"
They were now in the West state of Amestris, but there were a few stops before they reached West City. While John was glad to see some people get off the train, he was not so pleased that many more got on.
Yeah. Not so great to have someone's butt in front of his face.
The situation was even better because, apparently, the cat was claustrophobic or something. Unless it actually felt insulted by that grumpy guy who said something about it being hotheaded. Maybe it was both. At this point, anything could be possible with that darn cat.
Whatever it was, it was making the cat go crazy, hissing and swiping at everyone around it.
The cat's owners were cautiously attempting to grab it before someone got injured without getting scratched themselves, throughout the process attempting to talk sense into the kitty.
It was a relief to everyone when the intercom came on, announcing they were nearing another stop.
About half of the occupants of the compartment threw themselves out the sliding doors the moment they could. The cat itself even tried to follow those people out, but it didn't beat the doors before they closed again.
"Come on, already!" The owner pleaded to the feline, whose ear flicked to show it actually heard but wasn't planning on obeying.
It looked over to the brothers with its yellow eyes. It started nearing them, but Ed quickly took care of that.
He leaned forward threateningly and commanded a loud "NO."
The cat stepped forward. "NOOO."
It paused hesitantly before lifting a paw again. "Don't you dare."
To surprise the cat, Ed grabbed hold of the nearest pole, waited a few seconds, then quickly rushed forward. He laughed victoriously as the cat jumped and returned to its owners. The blond and blonde flashed him a grateful look as they gathered the cat in their arms and berated it for its behavior.
"Brother, did you really have to scare it away?"
"Al, seriously?! Even after seeing it lashing out at everyone just a few minutes ago?!"
As Milo drove himself and Rillie to West City, the younger pondered aloud at some point.
"I wonder if anything interesting happened to Ed and Al on their train."
Milo glanced over to her with an incredulous yet amused look. "Really? Nothing even remotely 'interesting' happens on the trains."
This next alternate is L. Since that's an awesome letter of the alphabet, I wanted to make sure this was awesome. I think this is influenced by Alt. K and another alternate Scaehime suggested once. Now, this would follow more the Brotherhood timeline even though this story leans more toward 2003 anime, but hey! It could still happen, right?
I know what's going on in Ch. 13, but next chapter's 12, and I just don't even know what Lily's next move is. At all. WhatdoIdo?! ;-; Guys, please make a suggestion for something that could happen on our side of the Gate! I'd really appreciate it!
K bai!
Alternate (Route) L:
He dropped onto solid ground, but didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience.
John and Matt finally started waking up when some loud clinking and clanking sounded in front of them. John groggily opened his eyes, wincing at the brightness, hotness, and dryness of wherever they were. He squinted to see that there was a suit of armor in front of him, along with walls on both sides of him and-
Wait- the realization actually registered in his mind- a SUIT OF ARMOR?!
He nearly screamed as he sat up and backed away, gawking at the metal man before them.
He nudged his brother, who gave him a sleepy, confused look, but quickly came to the same realization and yelped as he too scooched back, wide eyes staring at the armor.
"Sorry I scared you," the looming armor apologized in a young voice. "Are you okay?"
Both John and Matt gaped, still can't believing just what was happening. John was inclined to pinch himself.
"Don't tell me you found another cat, Al," an annoyed voice said loudly as it neared the alley. A very familiar blond kid poked his head out from behind the armor, immediately donning a surprised look when he saw that his younger brother was actually in front of people.
"What are you doing there?" he asked, eyebrow raised. "Are you guys okay?"
"Um, yeah, I-I think so," John eventually replied, blinking hard.
"Are you... the Elric brothers...?" Matt squeaked out.
The suit of armor clinked, then nodded. He seemed to finally understand why the teens were so shocked.
"Yeah, we are!" the braided blond proudly announced with a grin. "I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! And this is my brother, Alphonse!" He pat the side of Al's armor as he introduced him, making a metallic echo.
"What are your names?" Al asked politely, holding his hand out to help the two up.
"Oh, I'm E- John," the elder corrected quickly, doubting their nicknames would be best at the moment.
"I'm Matt," his brown-haired brother said with a small, nervous smile, accepting Alphonse's hand to pull himself up off the ground.
"So, you're okay?" Ed asked again, understandably worried about them.
John was about to tell them yes when Alphonse interrupted.
"You must be starving. We can get you a meal, if you'd like."
Ed gave his brother a discreet confused look while Matt refused. "Oh, no, we're fine-"
Al started walking away, bidding them to follow him. John and Matt shared another glance. They brushed the dust off their backpacks and hesitantly went after him.
"Hey! Wait up!" Ed quickly caught up to the group.
Matt glanced over to the side, and saw that, in another alley, there laid a black-haired guy clad in yellow and white.
Alt. L: They are not just dimension-travelers, but time-travelers. Ed and Al find them instead of Ling Yao in Rush Valley. Just how much are they going to change in the timeline, and how much are they going to reveal to their ancestors? Will they actually find what they're looking for in the past?