Chapter 14 Innocence and Greed?
The dinner went just as Saige remembered it, with the exception of Ed talking on Jaden's behalf. When it came to sleeping arrangements, Ed, Al, and Saige shared a room. Ed insisted on taking the couch while Saige took the bed. Al obviously wouldn't sleep, so he would sit in the corner.
"So, Saige, now that we have some time, maybe you could tell us about yourself." Ed asked, sitting down beside Saige.
"Oh yeah. We can hear about where you come from too." Al said. Hearing that, Saige held her chin in thought.
"Well, this came up quick. Alright, let's see, what should I talk about-" Saige thought, but in the middle of thinking, Saige nudged Ed's arm to get his attention.
When that worked, she took Ed's left hand and wrote on it, 'If you don't mind, can you tell Al about where I'm from?'. When Ed saw Saige write that, he looked at her with a surprised but serious look. When Saige silently looked Ed dead in the eye, he sighed and turned to Al.
"Actually, Al, where Saige is from is a bit, well, hard to explain. She's...from the other side of the gate." Ed explained. The two of them heard Al let out a hollow gasp.
"What!? Are you serious?!" Al exclaimed. She simply nodded her head as a reply.
"Yeah. And they apparently don't use Alchemy where she's from." Ed explained.
"A world without Alchemy? Wow, so what kind of world is that like?" Al asked.
Sitting for a few minutes to just think of a way to describe it, Saige finally gets up to get the note pad and pen Izumi lent her. Sitting back down, Saige quickly began writing with a somewhat mischievous grin on her face. It took her at least 10-15 minutes for her to finish writing, Saige even used two sheets of paper. Waving her head, gesturing for Al to come sit on the bed, Saige stood to let the pair of brothers sit beside each other. Giving Ed the two papers to amongst himself and Al, Saige quietly left the room, waiting for Ed and Al to finish. Looking at each other, Ed and Al began reading over what Saige wrote.
"Hehe. I wonder what their reactions will be?" Saige thought with a snicker. When Saige made it down stairs, she happens to catch Izumi downstairs. She appeared to just be finished cleaning the dishes. Izumi turned just in time to see Saige.
"Oh, Saige. I didn't know you were still up. What are the boys doing?" Izumi asked. Walking over to Izumi, Saige took her hand to write, 'I'm just letting them read something.'.
"I see." Izumi said. Waiting for a few moments, Saige wrote something else on Izumi's hand. 'Do you think you can teach me like you did the brothers?'. That made Izumi a little surprised, but she eventually a warm smiled came upon her face.
"Sure. No problem. We'll start tomorrow. And, don't worry. I won't put you through the same test as Ed and Al. Just ask them about it and you'll know what I mean." Izumi said while patting Saige's head. Nervously smiling, Saige waved while mouthing 'goodnight' before heading back upstairs.
"This'll be great. She can help me use my crystal Alchemy better, and I can know the better basic science of it." Saige thought.
As she was thinking that and reached the room she shared with Ed and Al, Saige walked in to instantly feel the atmosphere of the room change. She saw the comical black lines around the Elric brothers' heads. Saige figured they were pretty much done reading what she wrote down.
"Maybe they weren't ready to find out about stuff like that." Saige thought while sweat dropping.
Everything she wrote was the basic stuff about where she's from, like how advanced her cities were, but she also included the World Wars 1 and 2 since this was a Military anime. She remembered the exact death toll from when she was at school.
"...I...did not...expect that..." Ed muttered setting the papers down.
"I-I think...just reading that...made me lose my innocence..." Al said. Silently snickering, Saige moved across the room to sit between the two boys to pat them both on the back.
"Another benefit of getting training, I can protect these two morons." Saige thought with a big grin.
The next morning, Saige woke up earlier than Ed and Al tp get early lessons from Izumi. The two of them went out front after eating breakfast inside so Izumi could train Saige properly. It was similar to the way she taught Ed and Al, especially in the results as Saige landed flat on her back on the ground with swirls in her eyes.
"You not talking actually seems to speed the learning process." Izumi said, standing over Saige.
"Jeez. Now I sympathize with Ed and Al." Saige mentally groaned. That was finally the time Ed and Al came outside.
"Ah, boys. Did you need something?" Izumi asked, not even looking over her shoulder. Hearing that, Saige quickly pushed herself off the ground to stand in front of Izumi.
"Um, well..." Ed said, trailing off as he scratched his head. Next thing everyone knew, Izumi clapped her hands together to create a spear out of the ground and began swinging it at Ed. That resulted in Ed transmuting his arm and cutting the head of the spear off.
"As I expected, you can transmute without a matrix." Izumi said, making Ed let out a small gasp. Saige quietly took a step back from Izumi.
"On top of which, Al is now a suit of armor, and two of your limbs are made from automail." Izumi said.
"Teacher, how did you know?" Ed asked.
"Please! I could tell from sparring with you!" Izumi exclaimed.
"...You saw it, didn't you Edward?" Izumi asked.
"YOU SAW IT!" Izumi shouted when Ed didn't answer right away.
"Y-yes!" Ed said. Izumi waited a moment before sighing.
"It seems both of us are beyond help." Izumi said.
"And Saige..." Izumi said, trailing off after getting said person's attention.
Before Saige could even wonder what was going on, Izumi suddenly pushed the spear's bottom back and hard against Saige's stomach. That surprised her for a second, but Saige then silently coughed up very little blood and fell to her knees.
"Saige!" Ed exclaimed, rushing past Izumi to kneel down beside Saige and wrap his arms
"You're voice. It's completely gone." Izumi said. Saige looked up at Izumi, her eyes wide open with surprise.
"H-how did you find out?" Al nervously asked.
"Even if she couldn't talk, her voice would've come out as grunts or moans during sparring and when I just did that." Izumi explained.
"I guess...B-but, Saige didn't see it! Honest!" Ed said, his arms tightening around Saige's shoulders.
"Either way, we'll deal with her problem later. For now, I think it's time we talk, Edward, Alphonse." Izumi said, leading the two inside.
Giving Saige a reassuring smile, Ed let go of Saige and walked inside after Al did. Now that Saige was all by herself, she finally pushed herself back onto her feet. Since going inside right now didn't seem like a good idea, Saige decided to go a little walk around town.
"Jeez. And here I thought I could pull one over on Izumi." Saige thought with a sad smile. As she was walking, Saige was mainly looking down, so she wasn't able to see when she bumped into someone.
"Oh, my bad-" Saige thought and tried to mouth, at the same time looking up.
But, she was cut short when Saige saw who she bumped into. It was pretty much impossible for her to forget the man smirking right in front of her, especially when she saw his very unique tattoo on his hand. It was the one Homunculus in Dublith, the one she wasn't supposed to meet yet. Greed.
"Oh. My apologizes, lady. Though, you really should watch where you're going." Greed said.
"Oh crap. This is bad. Al was supposed to meet Greed at the Devil's Nest, not me meeting him on the street. What's he even doing here!?" Saige thought, slightly backing up.
"...Hey, now that I take a better look at ya', weren't you with that giant suit of armor?" Greed said, leaning forward with his hand on his chin.
Hearing that, Saige turned on her heel to try and run for it, but her shoulder was then violently yanked back, causing Saige skid across the ground on her back for a few seconds. She tightly closed her eyes from the pain, so when she opened them, she saw Greed hovering above her.
"Now, that was pretty rude. I was just asking a question." Greed said with a smirk. Quickly scrambling back and onto her feet, Saige got into a fighting position.
"Hehe. Relax. It's not my style to fight women." Greed said, waving his hand. Saige lowered her just a bit, but not completely, once Greed said that.
"Listen, something tells me we can both benefit from a little 'trade'. I mean, you seem like a trustworthy person." Greed said.
Not being able to speak, Saige just looked at Greed with a questionable look. Greed walked over to Saige to stand right in front of her. Before she could do anything else, Saige's hand was grabbed by Greed. Saige was shocked for a quick second, but she didn't try and yank her hand away as Greed placed something in it.
"Tell that giant suit of armor to come to the Devil's Nest. There'll be some friends of mine waiting for him. Do that, and you'll get a better reward next time." Greed said, letting Saige's hand slip out of his as he walked away.
Saige silently watched as Greed's figure vanished in the distance. Her trance was finally broken when Saige remembered Greed placed something in her hand. Saige slowly unclenched her hand to see what Greed put in there, and what she almost made Saige's heart skip a beat. It was smaller than any general one, but it was still...a Philosopher's Stone.
"A...a Philosopher's Stone!? B-but, where would he get one!? Is it part of his own, or is it from Father, what do I do with it!?" Saige thought, completely in a panic.
"Should...should I give this to Ed? I mean...I know he'll never use it, but still..." Saige thought.
"No, no. I shouldn't even have this thing. It's evil." Saige thought, getting ready to throw it.
But, right as she was about to swing her arm forward, Saige stopped herself. She just couldn't bring herself to swing her arm all the way or to unclench her fist. After a few moments of struggling, Saige finally let her arm drop to her side, the Philosopher's Stone still in hand.
"Damn it. Damn it! I can't bring myself to do it!...Ok, I'll hold onto it for now. But only for emergency. Who knows what Truth is planning next." Saige thought, placing the tiny stone in her pocket and proceeding to walk back to Izumi's place.
"Now, I just have to make sure I can get Al meets Greed. I wonder if they're done talking to Izumi yet." Saige thought. That was the exact time Saige got back to Izumi's house, where she saw Izumi standing by the window with Ed and Al behind her.
"You're expelled." Izumi said.
"Well, that answers my question." Saige thought.