The next morning
"It's time for bye-bye! Daddy's gotta go to work now!" Maes Hughes smiled down at the three year old in front of him. Elise, Winry, and Isabelle all smiling down at the sight in front of them too.
"Daddy, come home early today, Okay?" Elicia smiled at her dad, her green eyes locking on hughes' a huge smile on the little girls face.
"Hmm, Well I'll try. But daddy has a bunch of important work that needs to be done. But I promise to do it as fast as possible." Hughes smiles and squeezes Elicia's cheeks with his palms making the little girl giggle with glee.
"That tickles daddy."
"Alright, don't be late now!" Gracia said still smiling at her husband who stands up straight and looks over at Winry, Elise and Isabelle.
"Well, girls you're leaving today right? I probably won't see you girls again before your train leaves, but it's been fun. Oh and tell the boys i said goodbye."
"Thank you so much . I really appreciate your hospitality." Winry said and bows quickly. If it was possible for Winry to smile any wider she would of.
"Yeah thank you!" Isabelle added happily and smiles wider at the man who she now considered family.
"You girls just make sure to come and visit us anytime your in central, Okay? Our home is you're home." He turns to Elise." You take good care of yourself okay tornado?"
"I will! Thank you again, for everything." Elise runs over to Hughes and pulled him into a hug. The tears she had been holding back, now rolling down her face and onto her shirt.
He smiles down at the girl and hugs her back quickly. "I'll see you girls later!"
"Work hard daddy!" Ellicia called out after her father. He waves again,his back still turn to them and before they knew it he was gone.
"I guess we should go get ready to catch our train." Winry said and heads back inside the others following her inside and shut the door behind them.
Train station
"Bye- bye big sisters bye big brothers! Remember what daddy said. Don't forget to visit." the little girl smiles and looks up at Winry, Elise and Isabelle then over to Ed and Al.
"Next time I come to central, you'll be the first person i come and see, Okay?" She smiles down at the little girl and pulls her into a tight embrace, Winry and Isabelle joining in quickly. Soon the train Whistle blows indicating that it was ready to leave. They hug Elicia a bit longer before standing up and looks at the adults.
"Thank you guys. See you later." Winry was the first one into the train, then Ed, Al, Isabelle and last was Elise. They all wave one more time as the train pulls away from the station.
"So why is it suddenly so important that you guys see your teacher?" Winry asked breaking the silence between the group.
"There's a couple of reasons. For starters, i'm a little tired of having my ass kicked."
"Wait! Is this some kind of combat teacher, Why don't you just quit fighting?" Winry asked annoyed.
"Oh, that would be nice, but it's not as simple as that!" Ed snapped back and sinks down more into the seat.. "This isn't only about our fighting! Our core needs a little work too, right Al."
"Exactly. We feel like seeing our teacher again will help us grow and make us stronger inside."
"Yeah, we're going to need as much strength as we can get."
"What's reason two?" Winry smiled softly.
"To see what she can tell us about the philosopher's stone."
"And to ask her about the truth within the truth." Al added. " we haven't gotten any closer to figuring it out. There's a chance our teacher might know something about it."
"Lets hope she gives us a chance to ask her. You should be more worried about explaining your appearance. Considering... considering.. She's going to kill us when she finds out what happened." Ed cried out and holds on to his brother just like he had at the hospital.
"It would've have been nice to atleast have a girlfriend before I died." Elise had felt herself blush at that. Not that it would ever happen. Al was just her childhood best friend; after all, Anyways Alphonse was probably not interested in Elise like t hat.
"Maybe you guys should get a new teacher."
Later
"Oh man! This is hands down the best apple pie ever!" Edward exclaimed, staring at the slice of pie that was in his hand.
"Isn't it though! Mrs. Hughes is actually a really Excellent cook."
"To put it mildly. Not to mention the quiche she made for us was also delicious." Ed smiled and took another bite of the delicious pie.
"Yeah, I actually wrote down the quiche down on the list of things i'm going to eat when i have a mouth again." Al added happily and looks down at the book in his hand.
"Well she gave us the recipe, so once your back to normal Al, I'll make it for you."
"Awesome thanks!" Al beamed and throws his hands up with a laugh.
"He's so freaking cute!" Elise thought to herself, her eyes locked on the suit of armor sitting in front of her. "Even when he's a suit of armor he still somehow manages to be adorable, Kind and caring.
"Earth to Elise?" Edward yelled and waved his automail hand in front of Elise's face. Elise quickly breaks out of her trance and looks over to Ed, A blush forming on the girls face as she realized all eyes were on her.
"Huh?"
"I asked if you were alright? You were just kinda staring at Al here." Elise's face quickly flushed again at Ed's words. Had she been staring at him for too long? Crap!
"Sorry, I guess I got lost in my thoughts, I guess i'm really missing central and Mr. And Mrs. Hughes and Elicia."
"How about next time we're in Central, we'll do something nice for them since they helped us so much?" Al suggested.
Elise smiled brightly at the Suit of armor, Ideas of things they can do for the family running though the girls head.
Thank you Alphonse."
"RUSH VALLEY!" Winry and Isabelle squealed with delight as their eyes wandered around the town they had just entered.. Elise had simply rolled her eyes at the set of gear heads, While Ed who had his usual annoyed look on his face, watched as the girls jumped around with glee.
"Automail! Automail!Automail! I'm so happy!" Winry cried out her blue eyes sparkling.
"LOOK! It's the most recent god's model!" Isabelle yelled out, her face and hands resting on a shop window. Winry quickly hurries over to the window Isabelle had been standing at and stares at the automail arm on the other side.
"What I would do to be able to hold it with my very own hands!" Winry cried out and pushes her face even closer to the glass. Elise shakes her head at her best friend and sister.
"I left my sister with Winry for a whole month, and she turned her into a crazy Gearhead." Elise sighs loudly her eyes still locked on her baby sister. Elise couldn't help but smile at her younger girl , She was happy that isabelle found something that she actually enjoys. If automail is her passion than Elise will be there to support her sister one hundred percent. After all, it's not every day that she gets to see her sister this happy.
"Welcome to the holy land of automail!" Alphonse said as they continued to walk around the town. "This place is bustling."
"Remind me again why we let ourselves get dragged into this heat to look at a bunch of automail?" Ed asked clearly annoyed at Winry and Isabelle. "We should've dropped Winry and Izzy off at the station and gone straight to dublith!"
"Hey Kid, come back here for a sec!" A voice called out from behind the group. Ed quickly turns around to face the man who, Elise had guess had either between an automail eye or A Magnifying glass Eyepiece. He quickly took Ed's automail hand and looks over it, while another Older man looked at Izzy's Automail
"I've never seen an automail model quite like this before! "
"It really is unusual, Everyone take a look!" The old man called out. Everyone gasped loudly and quickly makes their way over to Edward.
"H-Hey! Hold on! S-Stop! Stop that! No don't do that! Don't undo that!" Ed yelled out everyone swarming and Jostling around the Fullmetal Alchemist. Not but a few seconds later Ed's clothes were soon being thrown into the air leaving the boy in nothing but his underwear. The girls giggle at this as they watch Ed get inspected by the village people.
"Don't be so rude. They just want a better look." Winry smiled smugly, clearly proud that people like her automail.
"A LITTLE HELP HERE WINRY!" He yelled and grabs his pants since Winry clearly wasn't going to help him out since she was to busy being swarmed herself. "Geez, this is why i stay clear of automail mechanics." He fixes his belt before he realized something and reached for his pockets. Edwards face went pale placing his hands on each of his pants pockets and realized that whatever was supposed to be there was actually gone. "Oh no!"
"Is something wrong Ed?" Winry questioned, Al, Isabelle and Elise all staring at him now from their spot in the crowd of people around them.
"It's..Gone." Ed ignored Winry's question, Ed now sweating Excessively.
"What did you lose?" Elise,Al,Izzy and Winry all ask in sync making their way over to Edward.
"Only the thing that proves i'm a state alchemist, My silver watch. It's gone!" The groups first instinct was to start Panicking. Without his silver pocket watch Ed had no way proving that he's a state alchemist; If something was to happen..
"It sounds like you had a run in with Paninya." The man with the Automail/ eyepiece said matter-of-factly
"Paninya?"
"A pickpocket around here who likes to target tourists." The old man had said.
"Do you know how i can track down this Paninya girl? She took something important from me?"
The men turn away from Ed. "Lets see, where was she again?" The automail/ Magnifying glass Eyepiece man said his hand rested on his chin as he pretended the think.
"I know what might jog my memory-" Thinking of the exact same thing, the men quickly pull out there wrenches and smiles at edward.
"If we had one more look at your automail!" Ed claps his hands quickly annoyed with the men and turns his automail hand into a knife before pointing it at the two of them.
"The automail shop runned by a engineer named dominic!" The men croaked and points off to something in the distance.
"Really Edward!" Elise shook her head with a laugh. He always has to be so excessive.
Soon the group Left in search of Dominic's shop and hopefully that pickpocket Paninya too.
"Apparently this guy lives deep in the mountains because he can find the best high-quality ores out here. Are you absolutely sure we're going in the right direction? Because those engineers could of tricked us?" Winry asked sweating profusely.
"What are you complaining about? This is all your fault for dragging us to that stupid automail town in the first place!" Ed shot back weakly.
"My fault! You're the one dumb enough to let your watch get stolen!" Winry yelled causing Ed to turn around quickly and face Winry.
"Oh REALLY!"
"Really you guys! Now is not the time for you two to be fighting!" Isabelle snapped her green eyes locked on her two best friends. Needless to say Isabelle's words only caused a bigger argument between the friends.
"Um, hey guys?" Al cut in quickly.
"WHAT AL!" the group yelled in sync and turns to face the suit of armor angrily.
"Could that be her?" Al asked and points to something in the distance. They quickly follows the direction Al's hand was pointing in. On the bridge stood a dark skinned girl in a blue tank top and camouflage pants, Ed's pocket watch resting in her left hand.
"Ha ha, I got you now!" Ed yelled and quickly claps his hands together. The ground soon begins to shake violently as columns began to form from the ground as Ed across them quickly to try to get to the pickpocket. Before long Ed and Paninya were out of site.
"Hurry! Maybe we can help out brother from the other side of the wall!" Alphonse called out and runs in front of the group. Sparks of blue could be seen coming from the other side of the wall and they were getting closer and closer to the group. Elise watches as Al draws a transmutation circle in the sand and patiently awaits for Paninya. As if on cue Paninya jumps over the wall and onto Al's transmutation circle not even noticing she was standing on top of it.
"I've been waiting for you." Al said and puts his hands over each other activating the transmutation circle under the girl and traps her inside a metal cage.
"Nicely done, Al."
"Now, why don't you hand it over. My watch-" But before Ed could finish his sentence, Paninya had used her automail leg (that had a knife in it.) to escape Alphonse's trap. They gasp loudly and step back slightly, so that they didn't get hit with any pieces of metal.
"Don't look too surprised, you seen the town haven't you? Oh and." She pulls her other knee up and shoots a cannon at the boys nearly hiting Ed and knocking off Al's head." my left leg has a 1.5 inch Culverin. what do you think of that?" She smiles smugly and takes off running again.
"Come back here!"
"No way! Lets see if you can catch me." She called back. Luckily for the group of friends, Winry was fast enough to catch Paninya by the wrist and stop her from running off again.
"Well how do you like, that wasn't so hard!" Winry smiled smugly.
"Good Job Winry!" Elise and Isabelle yelled in sync and quickly runs over Ed and Al close behind.
"Yeah, Now don't her let get away!"
"No way am i letting her get away. Not quite yet, Not until i get a closer look at her automail!"
"Ahh!" Ed, Al and Elise scream and falls over, while isabelle agrees with Winry.
After Winry and Isabelle were done freaking out of automail, Begging Mr. dominic and being turned down by him to take her and Isabelle as apprentices and calling Ed a flea, the group was left to do their own thing. The Once sunny weather of rush valley had now turned into a cold and rainy one; causing the group to say put, at least until the rain had decided stop.
A little flea.. little flea. He called me a flea." Ed muttered as Al, Elise and Isabelle all head into the main house (Al dragging Ed in by his jacket collar) and follows the hallways like they had been told to do by to by Ridel. Upon entering the room at the end of the hallway, the group had been greeted by Satella, who was rubbing her very pregnant stomach
"Excuse me? But are you having a baby?" Al asked softly and walks closer to satella
"Why, Yes i am." She smiles softly at Al.
"Would it be okay if... i touched your tummy?' Al asked nervously.
She laughs before answering." Go ahead,"
Elise watched as Al sets down Ed, who, at Al's words, had finally broken out of his daze. He stands up and walked besided Al, who already had his hand resting on Mrs. LeCoulte's stomach. She holds a hand out to Ed, who looked confused for a second before letting Satella place his hand on her tummy too. The sisters watch in astonishment as the boys faces light up as soon as they had felt the baby heartbeat.
"It's like there's a miracle in your stomach." Ed gasped pulling his hand away.
"Yeah, we use to be in mom's tummy like this too, once upon a time."
"Do you girls wanna feel?" She looks over to Isabelle and Elise who were watching from the doorway. "Maybe one day you'll have a baby of your own."
"Me? No way..." Elise forced a smile. Who would ever want to have a baby with me? Elise thought to herself. For starters i'm way to skinny. The only real attractive thing about myself is my eyes.
"I wanna feel your tummy!" Izzy called out and hurries over to where Mrs. LeCoulte had still been sitting. Softly Isabelle places her hand over Mrs. LeCoulte's tummy.
"I remember when you were in Mom's stomach. I was so happy when I found out i was going to have a baby sister. Brynn and Mom had even sworn up and down that I would be an amazing big sister and never let anything happen to you, I guess I kinda messed that up huh?"
"Elise, Your the best big sister ever! It was both of our faults. I knew it was wrong but I wanted to help and as a punishment I lost my arm. So stop beating yourself up so much, Okay? I love you."
"I love you too." Elise smiles and hugs her younger sister tightly. It was the brothers turn to sit and watch in astonishment at the heartbreaking moment unfolding in front of them. Ed knew the feeling Elise was carrying. He knew how it felt Blaming himself for his younger siblings lost and how shitty you feel after words. Ed's thoughts were interrupted by flinching in pain.
"Are you alright?" Ed asked worriedly.
"Y-Yes."
Elise was Helping Satella out in the kitchen while Winry showed Edward's automail off to Mr. dominic (much to Ed's displeasure. ) and Al and Isabelle had been in deep conversation, that for some strange reason was causing Al to blush. Elise Immediately felt her anger flair up at the sight in front of her, but quickly turned away and walked into the kitchen instead.
"So, Do you know the gender yet?" Elise asked washing the same plate she had been scrubbing for the last twenty minutes.
"Yes, Were having a boy." She smiles brightly. " Can I ask you a Question?"
"Sure!" Elise said and puts the plate down on the counter and turns to face Satella.
"Why did you shoot yourself down when I said one day you'll maybe have a child of your own?" Satella questioned sadly. Elise looked down ashamed, she took a moment to think about her answer.
"Because I don't deserve it! Who would ever wanna have a baby with someone like me?"
kitchen) help Satella to a nearby chair.
"Hey now! Don't talk about yourself like that. You're beautiful Elise-" Satella suddenly gasped and holds on her stomach.
"Are you okay whats the matter!" Elise anxiously and hurried over to the older lady. Elise quickly calls for Ridel, while Winry and Isabelle (who just entered the "Satella? What's wrong?" Ridel hurries over to his wife side and kneels down next to her.
"The baby's coming."
"We have to get her to a hospital!" Isabelle cried out.
Dominic walks over to the door and throws on his coat over his shoulders with a grunt. "It's to bad out there, there's no way we'll make it to the hospital in time. I'll just go fetch the doctor myself." He rushes to the barn where he kept his horse and hurried off to get help.
"Al, Help me get her to a bed." Elise said not turning to face her best friend. It was childish, yes and she knew that she was acting like a child but her jealousy had gotten the better of the older girl.
"Ri-right." He hurries over and gently picks up satella and heads towards one of the backrooms of the house. Elise hurries towards the back room. She thought back to when she was back in resembool, when her and Winry would sit up in her room reading health books while all the other kids read picture books. The job both girls had wanted to pursue to be just like Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell. That was until her auntie and uncle passed, Winry's parents, had died in the line of duty in ishval. Both girls had been upset. Winry no longer wanted to be a doctor and instead took on the family business and started making automail.
"HE'S COMING!" Satella screamed. Everyone began to freak out, which caused Elise to break out of her thoughts and rush back into the room.
"DOMINIC'S NOT BACK WITH THE DOCTOR YET!" Isabelle yelled back.
"Well then, we're just going to have to deliver it." Elise said sternly. "Winry, do you remember anything from those Health books we read as kids?"
"I remember a little bit of it."
"Good enough. Ed and Al, I need you do go get some boiling water." Elise ordered and turns towards the boys giving them a stern nod.
"Right!"
"Sure Winry."
"Paninya, Go find some towels and hurry!"
"Roger!"
"Do you have any rubbing alcohol we can use as disinfectant? Winry questioned.
"I think we have some in the store room." nodding her head quickly, she turns and heads to find the rubbing alcohol. Oh and we need Ice chips. She turns towards her sister.
"Izzy, go get me some ice chips so we can put them besides 's bedside."
"Boiled water." Winry whispered and look over to Elise.
"Disinfecent."
"What else was there?" Elise asked and stared back at her friend then back over at the door."Come on remember it now.."
"Elise, Winry!" Ed called out a look of pure motivation on everyone's face. "You can do this!" They all say in sync.
Yeah, we can do this! We can do this!
"Paninya give us a hand in here!" Winry called over her shoulder before slipping into the room.
"O-okay."
"Izzy stay out here with Ed and Al,okay?"
"BUT SISTER, I WANT TO HELP!" Isabelle cried out and glares at her older sister. As much as Elise wanted her younger sister to help, Elise knew that her baby sister wasn't ready for this type of thing.
"I know- look just stay out here alright,don't fight with me!" Elise said and walks into the room leaving her sister to look at the door.
After an hour of pushing Satella and Ridel's baby boy had finally been born. The Aprons that both Elise and Winry had been wearing was spotted in blood and both girls collapsed to the ground; Exhausted.
"Winry, are you alright? What's the matter?" Edward asked worriedly while Al and Isabelle cheeked out Elise. Weakly, Winry points over to the bed, Ed,Al and Isabelle all quickly turning their heads to look at where Winry was pointing.
"IT'S A BABY! HOORAY!" Ed, Al and Isabelle cheer in sync and throw their hand up in the air. Elise and Winry smiles up at their friends.
"Awesome, its a real life baby. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" Ed exclaimed excitedly.
"Really, Awesome is the only word you can think of to describe this?" Winry asked dumbfounded.
"How else should i describe this? This is a birth of a new life. Alchemists have worked for centuries and were still not able to do that!"
"Really Ed. Child birth is nothing like Alchemy."
"I can't help it! It's just the way i think. Besides whatever you say, it really is awesome. People are awesome," Ed and Winry nod in sync."Alright, The baby is born and everything's good. You think there's anything else you need me for?"
"Actually there is. D-do you think you can pick me up please." Winry asked weakly, Elise watched as Ed picks up Winry and carries her out of the room.
They make such a good couple. Elise laughs to herself and picks herself up off the ground. Maybe I should try to get them together? I mean its clear that they like each other.
and maybe while i'm at it find myself a boyfriend too
tbc.
Rip