Chapter Eleven: A Familiar Glow
"Clara...?" Ed asks as the woman nears him. She looks almost the same as she did eight years ago, but her hair might be an inch or two longer. Ed wonders why she would be here in Central. She stops and glances at Ed, a puzzled look on her face. Ed asks, "It's you, isn't it?"
A light seems to come on inside her head. "You wouldn't happen to be that kid I had some fun with a few years back, now would you?" she purrs. Ed being taller than he was at age fifteen did throw her off for a moment. He was only about an inch or two shorter than she was, now. And being clad in blue also made Ed look different. "Last time I saw you, I would of had to get on my knees to give you a kiss." (1)
Ed blushes as he exclaims, "What are you talking about?! We never kissed!"
She chuckles at his reaction. "Shall I make up for that, now?"
Ed widens his eyes and decides to change the subject with, "What brings you to Central? I mean, you were pretty popular over in..." Ed trails off and turns his gaze toward the ground. "Oh... I guess Aquroya was taken off the map a few years ago... Sorry about that..."
"Actually, a little over a year after your visit, some alchemist found a way to keep it afloat for a little while longer."
"Huh...?" Ed looks toward her in surprise. He smiles. "That's good to hear."
"And what about you? Did that stone of yours fulfill all your dreams, Edward?"
Ed looks away.
"That jewel didn't turn out to be all it was made out to be, huh..."
"Kind'a..." Ed mumbles. The truth was, if the Philosopher's Stone was never created, thousands of lives would have been saved. The stone didn't even have a thing to do with Al getting his body back. "Wait a minute..." Ed says to himself and turns his gaze toward Clara. "How did you know I found the stone?"
She seems taken off guard, but after a moment of thought, she says, "Ed, remember when I said I would help steal it for you?"
"...Yeah?" Ed says. His eyebrows furrow as he tries to figure out what she's getting at.
Al sighs. He stares at the white ceiling above him. Gracia had let the brothers sleep in the room last night, and when Ed left about an hour earlier, he woke Al without realizing it. The younger brother didn't feel like talking to anyone just yet, though, and stayed in bed instead of following Ed downstairs.
He can't keep himself from thinking about the conversation he had with Ed yesterday. He now realizes that he shouldn't have reacted the way he had. In truth, Ed would have loved the chance to forget the past, and now he has. Years ago, Ed had decided to burn their house down as a way to move on. He always thought it best to forget the past and look ahead toward the future. Why should Al worry his older brother just because he wants someone to share the pain of the past with? No... Al doesn't just want a person to share the pain. - He wants someone to share the happiness, too. To share the feeling of triumph at their successful alchemy attempts and the look of love in their mother's eyes when they showed her their achievements. To share the feeling of security they used to have, knowing that their mother would be there when they came back home at the end of the day. She may be dead, but her memory is supposed to live on. If Ed can't remember her, then it's as though a part of her just died all over again. Still, Ed probably would have believed he had cheated Equivalent Exchange, had gained two things for nothing. And Al should make sure his brother knows this.
Al hears a distant door slam shut. "Brother?" he asks himself. He sits up as muffled voices begin to drift into the room.
As Al gets to the bottom of the stairs, he can hear the irritated words, "I'll get it later, something more important came up."
Following that is a shrill yell of, "What do you mean more important?! Edward, that was important!"
Al glances at Winry to see her scowling, then at Ed to see a glare, then back at Winry to see the scowl still in place. He begins to feel a familiar pain in chest and can't keep from coughing. (2)
"Al!" Ed says and hurries to his brother's side.
"Al," Winry says, her eyes widening in worry.
"I'm okay." Al wipes his mouth with his hand and looks toward Ed. "What's going on?"
"You won't believe this," Ed states as he grabs Al's hand.
"Hey, wait! What about my screwdriver?!"
"There's a hardware store about two blocks down the road!" Ed calls, pointing with his thumb as he runs into another room, dragging Al with his other hand.
He shuts the door as Al asks, "What is it, Brother?"
"There's another Philosopher's Stone," Ed says quietly, his eyes narrowed.
Al widens his eyes.
"So you're the infamous Psiren."
"It depends on who's asking."
On one side of the table sat Psiren with her arms and legs crossed. She was wearing her usual black disguise that night at the restaurant. The building actually closed several hours before she arrived, but it was easy to find a way to the fenced-in tables outside. Her teal eyes twinkled in the candlelight, and a smirk was on her face.
The person opposite her had a smirk playing on her lips, as well. "I would rather my identity remain unknown, if you don't mind."
"I can understand that. - As long as I get enough in exchange." Psiren's smile faded as she said, "Now let's get down to business. Do you truly expect me to believe you know Edward Elric?"
"You can't be overly cautious, of course," she said with a warm smile. "But it's true. I've taught Ed a lot over the last several years, having been somewhat of a mother-figure to him. But since you need proof... We're close enough for me to know of the offer you've made to him a little over a year ago. My protégé would have been here himself, but I'm afraid he had to go away for awhile. I'll be sure to let him have it when he comes back, though."
Psiren frowned at her employer, remaining uncertain of her relationship with Edward..
"Still have your doubts, I see," the woman said with a sympathetic smile. "Maybe this will help." She dug around in her pocket until she found a photo. She glanced at it, then placed it on the table. The photo displayed a smiling, nine-year-old Ed.
Psiren nodded, finally relenting. She unzipped her outfit just enough to pull out a photo of her own. She stared at the picture as she held it between her thumb and index finger, then placed it on the table beside the other one. "And you're sure this is the fabled Philosopher's Stone, right?" the blonde asked, pointing at the close-up of a necklace.
"What better way to keep it hidden than to display it in a museum? The Elric brothers had never considered the possibility of it being used as jewelry. It was only by chance that I came across it..."
"Ed, Al," Gracia calls. She frowns as she looks around the house.
"They went in there a few minutes ago," Winry says with a frown as she points toward a room. She glares at the door, as though it was it's fault she didn't get her screwdriver. "Is it okay if I go out for a few minutes, Mrs. Hughes?" Winry asks as she pulls on a thin jacket.
Gracia nods. "Yes, it's fine. Actually, a break will be good for you, Winry. If you keep working as you have, you'll make yourself sick." Gracia notices Winry frowning and sighs. "Just try not to over do it, alright?"
"Okay, Mrs. Hughes."
Gracia smiles before turning toward the door Winry had pointed out. She reaches for the knob, but has second thoughts and decides to knock, first. "Ed, Roy's on the phone. He says he needs to tell you something." The door opens to reveal Ed.
"That's good timing... I need to tell him something, as well."
Gracia leads Ed to the phone and Ed picks it up from the table it was laying on. "General?"
"You have a new mission, Fullmetal."
"Sorry, Mustang, but I'm heading to-"
"You're going to Aquroya to meet up with another State Alchemist."
"What...?"
"The city has stayed afloat for several years through alchemy, but they need a permanent fix. Your mission is to work with the Green Alchemist to solve the problem."
"The Green Alchemist? Who's coming up with these names?! First, there was the Crimson Alchemist, and now this? Okay, let me guess. Either he loves money or he's very good at golf." (3)
Ed can hear the amusement in Mustang's voice as the man says, "I guess you'll find out soon enough."
The pencil wobbles slightly as the train goes over a bump, but it continues writing the letter.
"Dear Elicia,
"I'm writing to you because I feel partly responsible for what happened."
At Mrs. Hughes' house, Winry puts the tool in her hand down and nods toward Mrs. Hughes and Sheska, who nod back to signal they're ready for the next part of the operation. Winry, at Elicia's feet, picks up the painted piece of cardboard laying on the floor and holds it in front of her chest so Elicia can see it. It's white, with large black letters that ask if Elicia's ready. Elicia nods in reply.
"Elicia, I have known failure and I have repeated the same taboos time and again, thinking I could fix things. But in reality, nothing can be fixed without yet another price. I realized that after awhile. But several months ago, I forgot the lesson I've learned over the years, and it cost me a chunk of my memory. No matter what, I won't let myself forget again, because I don't want to lose anything else."
Elicia closes her eyes and holds her breath. A second later, Winry begins to attach the nerves and Elicia's eyes fly open as she screams. Skeska and Mrs. Hughes struggle to hold Elicia down.
"So the best advice I can give you is to be content with what you still have. Learn from your experiences and don't repeat your mistakes. Be brave and move forward, no matter how painful it may be."
Sweat pours down Elicia's face, but she'd stopped screaming and now manages a shaky smile.
"Because, I don't want you to abandon the ones you love and who love you, just to chase after a life that doesn't exist anymore, as I once did."
--End Chapter--
(1) If you don't remember a character with the name Clara, I'm not gonna say who she is just yet, but there's a lot of hints and I hope it's somewhat clear (especially after mentioning the town...). I watched the episode she's in before typing it, and put in a lot of words she'd say and references to things they did. Anyhow, the reason for this note is to explain Ed's current height. According to the absolute anime website - and the height chart they have, with a lot of characters' heights, Ed was 4'11" in the show. So, Ed grew a few inches before the movie, right? Ed may have had a little bit of false hope when Al said he was taller, since Al remembered him at age 11, but I'm pretty sure Ed had grown a little, since Winry said she estimated how much he'd grow when building the replacement automail for him. I'd say he'd be around five foot, or five foot one or two. Now, my story is after four more years. I'm going to say he's grown about five more inches. I'm not sure how normal that would be, but I'm guessing at it. So, Ed's now 5'6" (Mustang is 5'8", Hawkeye is 5'6", Lust is 5'7", just for a little reference. Alfons is said to be about 5'7" and since I believe that Alphonse should look just like him, since he's now 17, he's also 5'7". Clara's height isn't told, but I took screenshots, and studied their height difference as well as the height chart. She's about as tall as Lust, so she's 5'7" - and that would be with heels, by the way.)
(2) So... I tried to find something in the body that Al could loose without hurting him too much, and something that would cause him to cough blood very so often. Looks like he has Hemoptysis, but I'm not sure what from... Anyone have some ideas of what organs or things he could have lost?
(3) Hmm... "Green" has so many different meanings. (okay, maybe I shouldn't have made this a note... Well I guess I can add that I didn't really like that name at first, but I couldn't think of anything better, and it had so many definitions on dictionary dot com that I decided to use it.)
Hope that last scene wasn't too confusing... I was trying to make it like the end of the series when Winry and Sheska are writing to each other and you see things happening while the letter's being read. I had such trouble with how to word the letter, too. I guess this would be the third or fourth version of it. Hope it makes sense, and if it doesn't, tell me, 'kay? (Also... Anyone have any guesses about who that woman is and what's up with the extra stone?)
I have officially changed Eric's name to Erich (won't really change anything... Just, Erich is supposed to be a German version of the name. His name was only mentioned in the first two chapters, but it's always possible he'll come up again, in a flashback or something.)
It's been so long since I've updated this... Hope you guys are still around... Hmm... Well, I have two new fics to work on, now (although school work was the main cause of the delay in working on this - I haven't worked on the others too much, either). My "Mistaken Identity" fic has one chapter up so far (I think it's better than this fic - It's... kind'a like a puzzle. It's from Ed's point of view, and he's not very reliable). It was going to be a oneshot, but I had decided to break it up into two or three chapters. And I have another oneshot I started but haven't gotten done with, yet. It has a lot to do with the Philosopher's Stone, but I haven't decided on a title yet.
In other news, I need to work on fixing the scene breaks in most of my stories... (goes to take a look at the damage done to this fic)
