Return to the Underworld

Chapter 11

They all die.

The end.

Just kidding XD

(Had too much ice cream when I wrote the chapter outline...)

- - -

Once again Ed was mostly confined to his room or at the library. The only thing that Charice had noticed changing was the fact that he doesn't go out late at night anymore, and he slept a little more than he usually would. Her exams were finishing, so her study leave was now filled with more free time as she has less and less exams to revise for.

But she was still worried. She was worried over two main things; the first was the concern that Edward might work himself into exhaustion, the second thing that was constantly playing on Charice's mind was that her mother, Raquel, still hasn't returned.

Her immigration cargo trip usually only lasted for a week. But she's been gone for nearly two months now. Charice sighed, upset that her mother hasn't contacted them either. It was her seventeenth birthday soon, and she doesn't want her mother to miss it.

Charice paused, retracing her train of thought. She's turning seventeen soon. Come to think of it, Edward hasn't mentioned his birthday at all. She stood up from her worktable in her room, closing her revision books, and sauntered to the next bedroom over.

"Ed?" she called, tapping on his door. "Ed? You in there?"

The door opened slowly, and Edward poked his head through the gap. Charice noted that his hair, usually styled in a loose braid, was now tied into a ponytail. Edward, however, still had the annoyed look on his face.

"What is it?" he grumbled. A pencil was also tucked behind his ear, and it jiggled slightly ever time he moved his jaw. Charice fidgeted a little as she tucked her hands inside her jumper sleeves.

"You know," she began. "You never told me when your birthday was."

"Already gone." He replied curtly as he proceeded to close the door, but Charice held out her hand to prevent it from shutting.

"What do you mean?" Charice folded her arms in displeasure. "Are you seventeen already?"

He mulled over the words for a while before he replied. "Yeah," he muttered. "I turned seventeen around a month of arriving here."

She clamped her mouth shut, and walked off without another word. Ed groaned to himself and burst out of his room, catching her by the elbow.

"W-wait," he urged. "Why are you so upset?"

Charice closed her eyes as she tried to control her nerves. "Ed," Charice tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You really have been keeping secrets. It's near enough a year since you arrived and we've accepted you into this house. Surely you would have trusted us by now. So why would you let your birthday go unnoticed?"

He shrugged. "It's not a big deal, really."

Charice ran her fingers through her fringe. "It is a big deal," she breathed. "So, in around a few months you'll turn eighteen? Jeez, that's pretty soon."

Edward nodded as he scratched the back of his head nervously. Charice then noticed something else, and she arched a brow in a mixture of fascination and amusement.

"Well," Charice took a step away from him. "I remember when you first came here. You only came up to the middle of my forehead. But, you've hit a major growth spurt."

Edward looked down at himself in pleasant surprise. "What you mean?" he said.

"You've just cleared the top of my head." She laughed. "Wow, you grow quick for only a few months."

Edward then stood right up to her, making a saluting motion as he compared his height with hers. His mouth made an O shape as he did this with fascination. "Oh yeah," he chuckled. "My eyes are near the top of your head now. That's great!"

Charice smiled. There was a slight pause, and she looked down briefly. Ed was still caught up with his growth spurt, and a he positively beamed at the thought of showing off his new height when he returned home.

"Ed."

Edward looked down slightly, trying to catch her eye. He hummed in recognition.

"Who does Mr. Hopkins look like?"

Ed's good mood instantaneously deflated, and he sighed. Charice feared the reaction, or the answer, that Edward might say next. However, Ed was slightly surprised by himself since he was able to keep himself so calm.

"He looks like my father," he finally whispered. Charice looked up into his golden eyes. "My father back home left us when I was younger. I haven't seen him ever since."

Charice nibbled the corner of her lips, and she internally scolded herself for bringing up a sensitive subject. "S-sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to be poking my nose into your private life."

Sensing her sudden solemn mood Ed held up his hands, waving them as if it would dispel her sad feelings. "No, no, it's fine Charice. Don't worry, it's nothing."

Charice looked up at him incredulously. "Sure doesn't seem like it," she mumbled. "Anyway, I'm going out. I have a birthday present to buy."

Edward pursed his lips slightly as he stepped aside, letting Charice pass. "Birthday present?" he repeated. She turned around to face him again, planting her hands on her hips with a scowl.

"Yes, a birthday present." She scolded. "For you, you nutcase."

- - -

Edward had gone back to his work. During the three day trip he had to go to several meetings with Church and Tulisa, discussing complicated matters regarding alchemical processes. As Edward and Church spoke, Tulisa would write down notes furiously into her notebook. Ed would write into his journal occasionally, but it was hard to write and keep up with the conversation at the same time. Ed wasn't as good at multitasking as much as Tulisa.

So instead Edward listened intently to what Church had to say, absorbing as much as he can into his mind so he could write them in his journal later. He was fascinated the culture that has revolved around alchemical conspiracies, how alchemy and religion has seemingly combined into a single medium, forming something so unique to what he was used to back home.

Church also informed him that there are disguised portals or alchemical worlds in religion. He was told that Ancient Egypt believed that there was an underworld, where the living would transition to this realm if they are dead, and they would be judged by weighing the heart. Edward could almost recognise something from it.

"The gate," he said. Tulisa and Church looked up to face him. "If you try to bring back a human life through alchemy you pass through to the gate. Inside the gate you kind of get judged, but they take away a part of you in exchange for a huge amount of alchemical knowledge."

They both watched Edward with gleaming eyes, or just the one eye in Church's case, as his right one was darting into his nose. "I recall you saying," Church wheezed. "That alchemy and human life is the ultimate taboo. Yet, you've performed it. And you have ended up here as a result. Could we perhaps trespass into that forbidden boundary, transmute ourselves and go through to the other side?"

Edward shook his head. "No, it won't work like that." He drew a simple circle on a blank page in his journal. "Alchemy works as a one way system. We know that because if we transmute something we distribute the flow of energy evenly in one direction around the circle. To reverse the transmutation we cannot just simply direct the flow in the opposite way, because the transmutation circle used is not designed for that purpose. It's one of the laws. One transmutation circle for every type of transmutation. My transportation through the gate is one way, and simply repeating the method to go back will not work."

There was silence in the room, and only the sound of the clock on the wall and driving of cars from outside were present. Eventually Church sighed, ideas and theories escaping him momentarily.

"So, what you are saying is, we have to come up with a completely new method?" he rasped, his voice grittier than normal. Edward nodded, and then shook his head slightly.

"Not necessarily." Edward pondered, resting his chin in his folded hands. "I think your ancient knowledge is still viable as a possible option. We just need to figure out how to open up a reversal gate to go through. And figure out what religious symbol relates to which alchemical symbol."

Church nodded as he digested his words. "Perhaps we should arrange a field trip abroad," he whispered thoughtfully. "Edward, how does a trip to Egypt sound?"

- - -

Charice returned home from school, and as soon as she closed the front door she cheered. Pumping her fists into the air as she sang, she danced her way to the living room. She threw off her bag, where it landed on one of the sofas, and ran into the kitchen. Edward peered into the living room as he walked past, curious about Charice's sudden outburst. She returned with a spoon in one hand and a tub of ice cream in the other.

"Summer has begun officially," she shouted. "No more exams, no more school, and more time to party!"

She scooped a heap of ice cream into her mouth, keeping the spoon there so she could turn on the television. Edward walked in, puzzled.

"Why are you so happy?" he questioned, watching her fold her legs as she made herself comfortable on the sofa. Charice swallowed her ice cream, enjoying the taste with relish as her head tilted back. She pointed her spoon to the other sofa, indicating that he should sit down. He obeyed, though still confused.

"Did my last exam today," she laughed as she scooped up some ice cream into her spoon. "I am now free from work, revision and exams for a few months, until I start my foundation photography course next year."

Edward arched a brow. "Photography course?"

"Yeah," she heaped the ice cream into her mouth again. The she stood up and walked up to the table, picking up a large black plastic book. Except when she opened it sideways Ed realised that it wasn't a book at all. Charice tapped the seat next to her, so Ed could sit there, and he once again migrated over. The inside lit up, and there were letters and numbers on the bottom side, reminding him of a typewriter. "I like to take photographs, and I really want to be a photographer in the future."

The screen flashed in all sorts of colours. Windows, boxes and texts sprang up seemingly at random, and Charice typed occasionally for password authentications. She grinned when a certain window popped up. "This here," she explained, circling a folder with her cursor. "That's where I store all of the photos I've taken. There are over two thousand photographs on here, so I'll only show you the most recent ones."

She opened up the folder and let the slideshow roll. Ed stared at the screen in awe, both at how the screen transitioned from one picture to the next, and at the pictures themselves. Most of them were of landscapes, some of them were close ups of some of the simplest things like coloured thread, tropical flowers, exotic bugs and a variety of fruit.

There were also photos of people. Some of the people were posing purposefully, some were dancing, and some of them wore outrageous costumes. But what startled Edward the most were the photographs of tall, mysterious and majestic temples. His favourite one so far was of a giant, black stepped pyramid, the sun shining behind it as it cast a ring of light around it. There was a statue at the bottom of it, carved out of grey corroded rock in the form of a coiled serpent.

"I can tell you like them," Charice giggled through the silence. "You've never been so quiet before."

"Uh, yeah," he said, his voice croaked slightly. "These look great. I can see why you wanted to do photography."

She smiled as she exited the slideshow. Charice browsed through another folder. "These ones are hilarious though," she sniggered as she put up the slideshow. Edward tried to stifle his laugh. These photographs were different from the other one she had showed her. They weren't as good quality as the others as well, but Ed couldn't help but stare intently at the screen. "I take them on my phone every time it happens."

"Oh really," he chuckled. Lo and behold, in every single photograph was him, asleep in many awkward positions and places. "I look good."

Charice punched his arm playfully. "You're always asleep," she folded her arms at this. "It's because you hardly ever take any breaks, and you constantly zonk off out of exhaustion. Look, in this photo your face is pressed up against the window!"

They both laughed at every picture of a sleeping Ed, mostly because of his sleeping positions and the expressions that was on his face. Then a thought dawned on him, and he looked at the photographs questionably.

"Charice," he began. "Why are you taking pictures of me asleep?"

She tittered. "I don't mean to sound creepy or anything," Charice double clicked off the window so it returned to her desktop. "I took a picture of you asleep when I was bored on the train from London. Then I uploaded it online so all of my friends could see. Now everyone wants me to take sleeping pictures of you."

He held up a hand. "You're showing pictures of me asleep to your friends?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

He laughed at the notion. "You are the strangest girl I have ever met."

Charice closed the laptop, shutting it like a clam. "Well, that should teach you for working like a maniac." She griped. "You'll only drain your energy faster. You should pace yourself, take a few breaks, chill out every now and then."

He grunted in reply and stood up, leaving for his room. "Don't start that again, Charice," he sighed. "I told you, I have to get out of here. I need to get home. I don't feel at all comfortable here. I just don't... fit in."

She sat on the sofa silently, pondering over something in her thoughts. The forgotten ice cream next to her was melting. "I think you fit in perfectly," she spoke softly, her words somehow conveying more than what was actually said. "You've influenced me quite a lot since you came. So please don't make it out as if being here is a waste of time and effort."

Ed was paused in the doorway, and his hand rested on the door handle lazily. The television was playing rather unfitting music, its happy melody clashing with the atmosphere between Charice and Edward. His shoulders slumped slightly when he decided to lean against the doorway. "I'm going to Egypt tomorrow with Church," he murmured. "I'll be gone for a few days. I'm sorry."

And he left.

Charice sighed, turning off the television. She could hear his footsteps upstairs, thumping across the wooden floors above. The thumping stopped, and a faint murmur of his voice resounded as he muttered to himself incoherently. Charice reached out for her bag as she listened to his ramblings. Her hand rummaged inside before she produced a small rectangular box, decorated in coloured paper.

She gave the package a forlorn look, turning it between her fingers as she inspected it. Charice set it out onto the coffee table in front of her, and she sat back down on the sofa as she stared at it.

"Happy late birthday, Ed..."

- - -

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

HOKAY! Here's the deal:

You see that rectangular box Charice got there? Yeah? For Ed? Now, I want you to decide what is going to be inside it.

Yes, send me a suggestion for Edward's birthday present, and I'll take a pick. :D

You'll find out which one is chosen in the next chapter :)

Hurrr hurrr hurrr Merry Burfday Edo!!!

And thanks for the reviews :D (See? I wrote fastar!)