Me: You know, the Angel of Destiny is such a strange thing? He's neither good nor evil, yet he brightens the path for us all and lays out how we interpret life. Isn't that something? How will the Angel of Destiny react to the alteration of time and space in Amestris in which Truth has created for the greater good? For I cannot answer that question, for I do not know and he's not in my story. Ha.
Chapter 21: We're Off to See the Wizard
Ed's POV
During that night, after the "talk" at the restaurant, we, I, paid for a hotel a few blocks down the street. When we arrived, Al shot down the hallway like an elephant that saw a mouse. I overheard Clair talking to him earlier wanting to check on the kittens that Armstrong babysat. While Al galloped across the hall towards the black, wired phone, I lied my pocket watch from my jeans on the table beside my tie-dyed bed, which I though was an odd change in scenery, but I didn't question it. Afterwards, I left for the shower rooms without telling Yuki where I went; I didn't feel the need to tell her. She might have the greatest alchemic device inside her known to man, well as great as - if not greater - than the Philosopher's Stone, but that didn't mean I must report to her what I was doing.
I honestly didn't think I needed a shower in the first place, but this was the hell I had to pay for keeping a girl with more alchemic willpower than I could possible dream of in the palm of my hands. If not for my sake, but for Al's, too; I needed to use her stone to get his body back, even if Yuki wouldn't agree to that route; that was the only option or known lead I had by our side at this point.
As I walked through the many hallways, I heard some clamor among the visitors desk. I slid passed them, trying not to make any small talk with them. Like Yuki said, we didn't need anyone to know much about us or what I was doing. Even if she didn't tell me that conventionally, I knew that was the thoughts swarming her head.
When I arrived at the showers on record time, ten o'clock sharp, all was silent, for there wasn't anybody in the room with me. Each stale had a swinging curtain that traveled with the night air of the climate winds that rested at the top of the room where a window fluttered open. I stepped in one of dainty rooms with a shower head above a facet set. I pulled off my two jackets, jeans, t-shirt, hair tie from my blond hair, and anything else on me, then turned the shower head to medium-high. Cold water didn't suit with my automail, 'course neither did hot, but I felt I deserved a hot shower after the hell I had been through the past month.
After I doused myself with pounding water, droplets falling across my tightened muscles, I ran my fingers through my slightly damaged, ruffled hair, thinking of that thing… the Pure Stone. Was it even a stone? Wouldn't it be a liquid, since it ran throughout her veins, making her immortal, or was there something I was missing from this equation? Figuring out the truth wasn't my cup of tea, for I didn't want an error clouding my head further from the truth. Pressuring judgment could lead me on the right path, but who was to say that I wasright or wrong? If I was a tad off from the truth, then destiny would be my exchange.
So what could I think? Could I take the risk of making a wild guess?
Was it an element? Was it made with human lives like the Philosopher's Stone?
No.
No, I shook my head, visibly confused as the rain began to pour down my legs into the drain, that wouldn't make sense. She'd be pronounced as a deadly killer if that was the case; she's too innocent for that, no remorse for them, no resemblance. Was it another element then? One not known to man, if so, I had never heard of it, neither had Al.
What if that stone was giving me the inspiration to think of this stuff about it? Was it doing this on purpose; did it have a mind of its own?
Now I was thinking of the unspeakable, the nonsense side of the equation. I quickly hunched for the knob and turned off the relaxing water, then grabbed a hanging white towel on the side with the others, bundling it around my waist as I removed my clothes from on top the shower stale. I rinsed my long hair to a weak dampness with another towel, while placing my clothes on my drenched body. After I placed my hair in a loose pony-tail, I grabbed my socks and boots and headed down the hall to my room bare-foot.
As I moved ceaselessly down the desolate hallway, I saw myself at a divergent boundary, one I've already crossed in my subconscious mind. I reminisced myself of the past month of my dues, and even as far as three years ago, standing at Truth's doorstep at the foot of his toes begging for mercy, to let me see…it again, the wonders of the world. He pitied me, playing with me in his undignified chess game, only toying with my life and watching me break under the pressure, probably laughing to himself. Truth up there knew the fool I had made of myself, yet he wouldn't let me fix it, not yet anyways. I guess that was the price I had to pay.
I shook my head reluctantly, forgetting those salvage memories of my past issues; they didn't apply to me now. I didn't need them, so I tried not to think about them.
Reaching, I grabbed the golden door knob to our room. I opened the door to see Yuki already in bed in the tie-dyed sheets, while I slid under my sheets on the other resting bed next to her.
"Yuki's been telling me what a great time you had," Al spoke from behind Yuki's bed, "did you have fun, brother?"
"Sure," I agreed with him, rolling my eyes, "If you like being slapped in the face a million times, anyways."
"I only slapped you twice, Ed, but that's because you deserved it," she corrected with a high-pitch attitude. I thought she was asleep already?
"For what? I didn't do anything to you," I interrogated with a sneer. I didn't want to start a fight, like every time we argue, but I had enough small talk and horse-play. Didn't she realize this was a serious matter?
She didn't say a word to me after that, rolling her eyes intensely, then falling buried under her underlying sheets. Clair giggled under her breath like she always obliged to do between us. What was she laughing about? I knew, I couldn't get the memo underneath all the giggles.
I rubbed my real hand from the bottom of my hair to the chin at the base of my face, sighing and trying to forgive any regrets I made, then turned off the lamp aside my perched bed, losing to all consciousness as I drifted soundly sleep with my hands down to my sides and my feet stretched out among my sheets, hoping that the Pure stone wouldn't give me everlasting nightmares through the dusky night.
I awoke the next morning, groaning about getting out of bed. Yuki was already awake and bustling around the room like a wild stampede, pacing back forth about something, "What's wrong?" Al asked. I figured she just woke up, seeing that Al didn't know what was wrong with her, and I didn't know what Clair was mumbling under her breath repetitively.
"I don't know what time it is because I don't have my phone," she blurted harshly, then turned to me. "We better get to the hospital when it opens," she grunted with a heave. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume that phone was her life.
"Settle down, Yuki," Al started with a calm voice, "the sun's starting to rise, so the hospital should open soon."
"Oh, I'm going to the hospital, then," she purposed, beginning to walk toward the door.
"Hang on, I'm coming with you to see Maes," I demanded her to patient herself, then flung the sheets over me, letting it fall to the floor. Her emerald eyes faded in and out with stress pulsing through them. She shot down the hallway before I trudged my socks and boots on my lopsided feet. I quickly found poise when I stood up looking over at Al; he gave an apprehensive nod and we both chased after Yuki out the door.
"Did you forget something?" Hughes asked, raising the phone in the air when we stepped in his room.
"Thank God," she exclaimed and grabbed it out of his hands without hesitation. The light flashed on as she typed in her password. "Were you looking at my pictures?" she paused, tilting her head somewhat to the side, "Wait, how did you know my password?"
"I didn't. It locked me out a few times," he laughed, then started coughing. We rushed over to him. "I'm okay. Anyways, I thought about it. I typed in your name—Yuki Tenshi, correct?—but that didn't work. That's when I realized, Yuki's a strange name for someone around here; well, even if you're not around here, it's still strange. So I called the translation department at the headquarters on my pager when they opened at eight-thirty, and they told me the translation for Yuki Tenshi is Snow Angel, which is quite ironic to me. I typed it in a few different ways to figure out it's 'snow'," Hughes explained in his explanatory voice. Her name's Snow Angel? She doesn't look like any angel to me.
"Wow, impressive," Yuki claimed. "But why were you being stalker-ish?"
"I wasn't being stalker-ish," he tried to yelled, but only came out a hefty wheeze, "I wanted to know, that's all."
"Know what exactly?" Yuki hissed abruptly.
"I wanted to know what you know," he answered. "You know more than anyone, so I had to look."
"So what did you find out about me?" she interrogated him.
"Settle down, Yuki. He apologize for what he did. You're sorry, right?" Al looked over at Hughes with his armored hands on Yuki's shoulders; Hughes nodded. "Please don't get mad at him."
She sighed, "I guess you're right, Al," then bowed her head. "I don't want the stone to activate either."
"No, no. I didn't mean it like that," Al waved his hands, "I just hate it when people are angry!"
"Oh, okay, but I know that's what you all were thinking," she sighed again. I didn't know what to do to comfort her. I couldn't lie on my behalf, because that was what I was thinking about, and she knew that. I knew lying would make her more upset, and nobody wanted that.
She sat down in one of the chairs besides Hughes' bed, mumbling with her hands over her face, "I never meant for this to happen. I didn't ask for this stone! I still don't want it. Damn you, Truth!"
The lights in the manor began to flicker wildly. Clair yelled, "Do something!"
"What the hell do you want me to do?!" I screamed, flailing my hands.
"Tickle her!"
"Tickle her?" I blurted. Would that work? I shook my head, "I'm not doing that. You tickle her, Al."
Suddenly the flickering died, then she pointed at me, "There's no way in hell you're tickling me; or you!" She pointed her finger at Alphonse. I didn't know Yuki hated being tickled… Me, myself, and I aren't very ticklish. "Clair, you better listen to me. You better not give them that idea in their head ever again, you hear me?"
"She heard you," Al answered.
"Okay, good," she crossed her arms.
"Ahem, I could show you an adorable picture of my daughter Elisa!" Hughes pulled a tattered picture with stains out of his pocket. "See? Isn't she precious?!"
"She's cute, I'll give you that, but that's not helping me at all," Yuki shook head.
Hughes placed the photograph by the night stand, then asked, "Where are you running off with your girlfriend now, Ed, anyways?"
"She's not my girlfriend!" I yelled with a glare.
"Damn it to hell," Yuki shook her head, face palming. "Don't say that. Do you really want me to blow up the place? That word is getting on my last nerve."
"Jeez, you don't need to get paranoid about it. I was only joking. If Ed had a real girlfriend it'd be with his cute automail manic, Winry," Hughes laughed.
"Uh-huh, sure it would," Clair muttered. "Well, in any case, we're going to Izumi's house next, right Al?"
"What! We'd be suffocated, put in a box, then left outside with our bones shattered if she saw us!" I ranted. Wow, that was a little harsh, but it was he truth!
"I'm too young to die, brother," Al started sniffling in a corner.
I joined him the corner shaking, "Do-don't worry, A-Al. I don't wanna die either, so I'm not going."
"Ha, Clair! I knew he wouldn't agree! I win the bet!" Al laughed.
"What the hell are you guys talking about this time?!" Yuki barked with a dirty look in her eyes.
"Clair wants us to go to Teacher's house to get us killed, that's all," I explained. "No, no, she wouldn't get killed; we would. Hey, you wouldn't either! How's that equivalent exchange?"
"Well, you're the one that went against your teachers ways of 'All is One, One is All'," she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I can't die, so I'd like to meet her. What harm could it do?"
"We know we did the opposite of what Teacher told us, but we wanted to see Mom's face again," Al sniffled. I sneered at the ground at his comment; we didn't deserve this, we were only defenseless little kids. Dammit, I just called myself little!
"Maybe she'll forgive you," Yuki shrugged.
"Yeah, after beating us to a pulp," I rolled my eyes, then stood up off the ground. My mind triggered something, "Wait, are we supposed to meet Teacher? Is that why you're agreeing to this?"
"Actually, more or less, yes," she nodded sincerely. "Look, I promise she's not going to kill you. Deep down she has a heart, you guys just need to bury deep to find it when you meet her."
"Whoever said we were going to?" I hissed.
"Guys, guys," Hughes tried to get our attention. "I think you should go, Ed. Your first priority is to help Yuki get a grasp on the stone inside her, right? Well, if I'm not mistaken, you're teacher taught you guys the ways of alchemy, so maybe she'll teach Yuki. You better not fight back either, Edward. You know I'm right."
I sighed, pinching my nostrils, and bowing my head. I didn't say anything to him; I didn't know what to say. Then I raised my head, "What if Teacher makes Yuki worse than what she already is?"
Hughes stared at the blank ceiling before answering, "I guess that's a chance you have to take."
"Besides, how could I get any worse than what I already am?" Yuki retorted.
I ruffled my hands through my hair, sighing, "I'll get our tickets." Walking to the door, I stepped out into the empty hallway thinking how stupid this idea was, but I couldn't disagree; this is yet another sacrifice I made for Yuki.
Clair's POV
Before long, we headed to the train station with our three tickets in hand. I gave an "I told you so" to Al. He wasn't very pleased that I was right, but he wasn't very mad either. I think he was mostly frightened of what Izumi may do to them. If I wasn't a ghost I would have second thoughts, too, but my math teacher on the other side of the Gate had gotta be one of Izumi's distant relatives, because they both look and act exactly the same. Every time I thought of Izumi I thought of that math teacher. She was nice if you get to know her, just like Izumi. They both have a heart, there was only certain times they use it, though.
When the train arrived we grabbed what little stuff we had on us, then crammed our way into the train with the rest of the people. I waited out of line to get on after everybody. Unexpectedly, I didn't feel any Yuki's emotions. Was that a good thing or a bad one?
As we stumbled on it, we picked a random seat that didn't have anything extraordinary about it that some rich person would have. Ed was a part of the rich folk, but now he was not. After about an hour of sitting around - which I finally got my seat back, I was so glad. Now Mr. Sparkles is gone we can talk to each other without someone spying on us - Ed stood up and winked at me while waving my hands to follow. I shrugged and squinted my eyes, telling Al, "I'll be back." He didn't say anything to me when I left, just gave a friendly, small wave without Yuki seeing. Ed muttered something to Yuki earlier, but I wasn't paying much attention.
Finally he stopped at the very last seat, not many people were on the transportation unit, so we sat in the abandon seat. "I've been thinking about this for a long time," Ed began. "Can you take me to see that bastard again, so I can get Al's body and leave without saying good-bye?"
"Hold your horses, Ed. Are you talking about Truth?" I shook my head while I tilted it, bringing my yellow bangs to the side. He nodded slowly. "Okay, no I can't do that. How could I do that?"
"You're allowed to do anything else it feels like, so why can't you do this for me?" he asked, kinder than usual.
"Well, I would if I knew how," I blurted, emitting from the silence. "This is an out of the blue question, so I would have to think of a way—"
"Actually," he cut me off, "I think I found a solution. You can travel inside my consciousness, right?"
I tilted my head back and forth slowly, "Well, I only did that because I felt like I needed to."
"Try," he urged. "I'm allowing you, so go on."
"Fine," I sighed with a frown plastered on my face that sunlight from the window faded through. I stepped through his body without going into his conscious. "See? Told you."
"So how did you do it last time!" he yelled, trying to whisper.
"What about you make me really angry like last time?" I smiled.
"What do you hate? Or better yet, how can I make you angry?" Ed questioned.
I thought about it for a while, "Hm…"
"Well…?"
"Hm… Ah ha, perfect idea!" I exclaimed with a sudden jump out of my seat like Sherlock Holmes would do. "I'm connected to Yuki's emotion. I can feel her. Like when she broke down and started screaming in the hospital I felt her built up anger and guilt that swelled into agony. Okay well, if you get her angry then so will I, right?"
He shrugged, "I guess, but how do I make Yuki angry?"
"Do you really have to ask me that question?" I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah," he urged. "You know her better than I do."
"Grr," I grumbled, "don't you get it? Every time you open your mouth she feels some-kind of hatred towards you."
"Why is she still angry at me? I'm trying to be nice to her," he sighed, crossing his legs on the green furniture.
"Honestly, I don't know, Ed," I started playing with my bangs. "She didn't really mind you before she came to Amestris. Knowing Yuki it's more than you making her mad, you're just adding onto it. I mean, she wants to go home. I think she's had enough."
"Had enough? Meaning she wants all this to be over? Well, at least we can all agree on something," he stared out the window of the endless mountain tops and rough terrain.
"Yup, she wants all this to end. Man, do I look like your guide to you? You should know all this by now," I sighed. "Tsk. Tsk."
"We've only know each other for a month, remember!" he cried, sitting up in his seat.
"Wait, do that again," I begged. He was starting to make me mad.
"Huh? Okay. She hates me! She wants nothing to do with me! She wishes I was dead! What the hell is wrong with her!" Ed screamed at the top of his lungs.
I sighed and shook my head. I didn't feel hatred, I felt remorse; wait why was I feeling remorse? "Brother!" Al cried. "You made Yuki sad!" I ran over to Al trailing behind Ed with everyone on the train staring at us.
"I didn't mean to!" Ed yelled with an apologize lacing his tone. "I'm sorry."
"Then why were you saying stuff about me?" she glared.
"Go on, tell her the truth," I waved my hand.
"I wanted Clair to take me to Truth, but she could only travel to my consciousness if she was angry, so talking badly about you would make her angry," he explain in a easy-going voice.
"You're not supposed to see Truth! It would ruin everything!" Yuki hissed with a glare. Now was my chance, I felt a sudden surge fill me. I bent down into Ed's body and the light shadowing my face started to fade into nothing.
"Hiya! Oooh, I'm the scary box ghost! Come out, come out, wherever you are, Eddy!" I echoed from inside his body. It seemed different in here. The blood wasn't a Philosopher's Stone red like last time? It wasn't like a scarlet either, maybe bright cherry in color. Why was that? What changed about him? Yuki? His innocence? Something?
"What the hell? Clair?" Ed questioned, confused. Then he moaned, "Well, I guess that works."
"Hey Ed, do you feel different?" I wondered aloud. "It looks different in here."
"Different how?"
"Can Yuki and Al hear you while you're talking to me?" I asked apprehensively. I had to ask, I was curious.
"Yeah, but they're staying quiet. They're wondering what you have to say," he answered.
"Oh, okay," I replied with some doubt. Should this stay between us, or should he let everyone know? Eh, I thought they should know what was happening, whatever it is. "Well, last time when I was in here your blood was dark red, but now it's a bright red. Does that mean anything to anyone?"
He mimicked what I said to the people around him, but I couldn't hear what Al or Yuki were saying to him.
"What do you mean I'm changing? I'm not changing, am I?" I heard Ed talking to me indirectly. "See? Yuki, you agree with me," he added.
"Well, I don't care. I was just sayin', so I'm calling Truth and you better be coming with me or all of this was for nothing. Find a comfortable position," I demanded. Better judgment would've found a better way of doing this, but I guess this had to work. I meditatively floated within the dark void with cells move every which way; the tiniest function of the human body working together for Ed's needs. I saw the light; the flooding light that led into the Gate's realm, or was it Truth's realm?
I blinked multiple times to adjust them to the light. I look around to see where Truth was and if Ed made it. I couldn't find either, but then I saw Truth appear out of nowhere beside the Gate sitting in an Indian stance. "I knew he couldn't resist coming here," Truth grinned. "How's your brother doing?" He faced his grin not at me, but beside me. Ed. He stood motionless.
"You bastard!" Ed lunged at him with full force, but something unexpected happened. Well, I could've guessed it, but that's because I'm a ghost like he is now. Ed faded through Truth like he was nothing. "Dammit! Why can't I hit you!?"
"Because you're just like me," I sighed.
"Your conscious only came with you," Truth explained. "It's not pleasant being a ghost like Clair, is it? Speaking of which, Clair, I need to talk to you."
"Whatever you're going to tell Clair you can tell me, too!" Ed urged, going into a front stance.
"Oh, okay. Clair, you know how the world's going to end," he paused, while Ed twitched his eyes, bewildered. "Well, now my image is foggy. I don't know how the ends going to turn out. Nothing's leaning towards good or evil anymore."
"What the hell, Clair?" Ed shook his head, "You knew the world was going to end and you didn't say anything! Who the hell are you?! Truth's right, you're only a ghost; you're not human!" My mouth dropped at what he said; I didn't know how to respond to that. I had never been cussed out like that in my life. No wonder Yuki hated this…creep.
I finally pulled myself together, licking my lips a few times to speak, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to freak out like you're doing now. If the future was going to change anyways, then what would be the point in telling you?"
"You still should've told us anyways! Yuki's already learned that lesson, but I guess you haven't," Ed sneered.
"Pardon me, but this is why Yuki hates you. Self-control is evident to human conversation, but you haven't learned that," I made the only come-back I could come up with at a moment's spare.
"You're only changing the subject," Ed retorted.
"Fine, you figured me out, but the good news is that your world isn't destroyed in the end. We don't know what will happen, but at least it will go on," I reminded him.
"You still should've told us," he repeated is a harsh voice that shot threw me. They don't know how badly I wanted to tell them within the past week or so, but I couldn't.
"I coulda, woulda, and shoulda, but I didn't. Can we leave it at that? I mean, at least you know now, right?" I shrugged. He didn't say anything to me after that; I thought he wanted to leave this place. It was probably bringing back horrible memories that I couldn't grasp. "Um, Truth, is there any other news you need to tell us?"
"Yes, about the 'Pure Stone' you people may call it. The Pure Stone extracted in Yuki is unlike any other. It has the power to change the world, you can either tell her or not; it doesn't matter to me. As long as the world is safe, that's all that matters. Which means she must connect with the stone before it takes her over," he grinned wilder. "I'm sure that's not a problem, though. How she's doing with it, anyways? Has it done any damage yet?"
"It turned me into a cat," Ed sneered at him.
"Hm..."
"What do you mean 'take her over'?" I questioned.
"I'm not its keeper, you'd have to ask Yuki," he explained.
"Technically ain't you its keeper? You're the one that gave it to her, right!" Ed bargained.
"No, the stone chose Yuki, so she's the keeper," Truth went on.
"Well, I'll be seeing you 'round, Truth," I waved to him.
"Hang on, I'm not done with him yet!" Ed started yelling… again. How many times has he yelled/screamed this chapter?
"C'mon Eddy, I need to make a deal with you," I commanded.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Since I sent you here I want something for E.E.," I glared.
"Hey, that's unfair! I didn't get what I came here for!"
Truth bellowed, "You better listen to her. You're on God's turf now."
"Fine, what are you bargaining?" he asked.
"Hm…" I started. What did I want from my famous alchemist character? "After me and Al get our bodies back, you guys have to live on our side of the Gate for one year. Fair enough?"
"No. Al shouldn't be dragged into this," he stated fiercely.
I snickered, "Aw, Ed, you crack me up sometimes; would you leave your brother alone in Amestris?"
"No."
"Then it's settled, if and when I get my body back you must live with us for one full year. No take backs," I smiled, laughing. "Even I'm not an Indian giver."
Ed shook his head and didn't scream at me for once, "How's that Equivalent Exchange? You take me to Truth, I can't even get my brother's body back, and I have to spend a year in your world."
"Well, it is equivalent because you're going to get your brother's body back, I promise! Yuki's also going to save your world, so I think it's a fair trade, right Truth?" I turned to him, but he didn't say anything to agree or disagree with me. "Shake on it?"
He took my hand, but we both faded through each other's, "Oh, right." Ed scratched his head.
"We better get going now, c'mon." Walking, I left Truth's realm again and woke up in Ed's mind.
Tah-duh! This was a dud. Nothing really happened, but awe well! Izumi's next, hehehe! Yes, my math teacher is exactly like Izumi. Seriously.
Ed: You're only laughing because you're not really here! Why don't you come here with us and see how it really is?
Me: I gladly would, but I can't do that. I wish every day, along with Pokémon was real, to meet you and all the other peoples.
Clair: Like Flamy and Mr. Sparkles!
Me: Eh, I'd mainly go for Alphonse.
Yuki: Figures. Naruto would've been better for me.
Clair: Figures.
Me: I like Pokémon better, so there you go.
Yuki: Why did you stop your Pokémon/FMA story then?
Me: Eh, I liked this one better. Anti-Sues are so boring and this caught my eye better! Now here I am!
Question #7: If you could meet only one FMA character who would it be and why? (Don't give 'I love him or xe's awesome' speech either. I want a real answer.)
Random Song: Until the End ~ Breaking Benjamin