34: Hello Seattle

"Why couldn't we fly like normal people?" Edward groaned, letting his head fall against the window.

"Normal people do fly like this. Flying the way you do, by bird, is considered abnormal in this day and age," Josiah replied. "Actually, people haven't flown birds, like, ever."

"With some of them as big as they are? Have you seen Liluye?" the blond scoffed.

"Things weren't always like this, you know," Josiah snickered. "Don't you read?"

"Plenty, when I have the time. I've been busy lately," Edward sniffed, slouching down in his seat.

"Good evening, and welcome to Global Airlines. We thank you for choosing us as your travel guides. First off, we'd like to go over the safety procedures of our Boeing 8988..." a female voice announced over the intercom.

A small holographic screen appeared before each passenger, displaying a diagram of the seat they sat in. Edward rolled his eyes and slouched down further. He had read the manual tucked in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of him while everyone else was boarding. He knew that if the craft crashed in water that the seat cushion could be used as a flotation device and that he had to have his seatbelt on unless he was moving about the cabin.

"We ask that you shut off all electronic devices, apart from the ones specified prior to boarding, until we have reached our cruising height. Attendants will be serving beverages once we are airborne. If you so desire, blankets and pillows will be provided for the flight. Our estimated flight time is ten hours and forty-five minutes. Thank you for choosing Global Airlines," the voice finally shut up, allowing Edward to sigh heavily and mumble about what a nuisance that was.

"Ten hours?" Tobias asked uncertainly. "This thing can fly for ten hours?"

"It used to be longer. Some flights took a day or two, back before a quicker and more efficient way to travel was created," Josiah replied.

"How boring..." the young blond sighed.

"Well, guess I better power off," Rin announced.

"What? Why?" Edward demanded.

"You heard what they said. I have to shut down because I'm not on the 'apart from the ones specified' list. I'm a phone, not a life support machine," she replied glumly, like the mere idea made her sad.

"We'll reach cruising speed within a few minutes," Josiah said before Edward could ask how long it would be before she could power back on.

"I'll be back; don't worry," Rin smiled before closing her eyes. After a few moments Edward touched her; she did nothing. He sighed once again and slouched even further into his seat.

"Doing that will give you a bad back when you're older," Tobias chided.

"Meh, I've only got twenty or thirty years left; who cares?" Edward grumbled.

"You're only going to live until you're sixty?" Tobias inquired.

"If I make it through this alive, maybe. Depends on how bad a shape I come out in," the elder mumbled.

"If you slouch down any further you'll be sitting on the floor with the seatbelt around your neck," Santi chuckled from her seat across the aisle. The seating arrangements were Tobias and Santi having aisle seats, Belphoebe and Josiah in the middle and Edward in the window seat next to Josiah, with Rin on his lap because she was 'his' for the time being.

Edward inhaled slowly and scooted back up in his seat, letting his head roll towards the window. The airport in Cairo, Egypt began shrinking as the aircraft backed away from the dock. Soon it was completely out of sight as the thing turned to start its journey down the runway. He found himself clinging to the armrests when it picked up speed and tilted backwards. Was something going wrong? There weren't machines like this... well, there were flying machines, but those were used for warfare... back in Amestris and this was relatively new to him.

"Dad, Dad!" Tobias said, concern filling his voice. "It's okay; it's just take-off."

"O-oh, right..." Edward nodded, relaxing his grip.

A few moments later he was completely at ease, if not tired. He sighed heavily and stared out the window at the miniscule landscape passing beneath them all. He absently thought about how big the world was, and how small it made him feel. Now that he thought about it, this world wasn't too different from his own, of course, apart from being about three hundred years and more in the future. Things were advanced, yes, but similar in certain respects. Even the people were similar to the ones he knew, apart from the time-traveling inter-dimensional cockroach Josiah... or Soshi or whatever the hell he wanted to be called now. He felt his eyelids get heavy and soon enough he was fast asleep and dreaming, watching the same scene play out as it had every night, the golden fireworks clouding his vision as he stood at the top of a skyscraper.

"Let's see..." Christin mumbled, folding her arms. "Oh, I never had an Iphone, so I don't know what all these apps do..." she glared at the dozen odd icons hovering in front of her face.

She lifted her hand and flicked it left, making the set of icons move and twelve new ones take their place. Two flicks of the wrist later she found a web browser and tapped it.

"Search recent Valor Project articles," she commanded. The scenery around her changed and she found herself floating among a blank expanse with around thirty 'files' hovering around her. She tapped one randomly and began reading. It was about a student's forged report on the Project.

"Junk... junk... useless..." she muttered as she checked out different articles. "This looks promising..." she mumbled, tapping a link for an article that was dated the other day, from a Washington newspaper. After all, those fools were currently in Seattle; a Washington state newspaper made the most sense to have the most recent article.

'Washington state royalty King and Queen Aoyama are honored to have the head of Cassiopeia Syndicate, Homun C. Ulysses, temporarily moving the Valor Project to the Seattle branch of the company while prior experiments are cleaned up at the main branch in California.

"We have made astounding progress with the latest experiments. Our 'Mistress', as some employees are calling her, is adapting well to the tests we are running and is showing no signs of failure. We predict that the River model will be fully functional by the end of the year," an employee heading the research and development, Robin McLean, proudly states. "I'm sure no one needs to be reminded of the battle drones used in the third and fourth world wars. Another part of the Project was to reprogram them to aid our cause: restore our precious planet and thrive as a species. What we hope to happen is that River will be able to activate these drones, as such technology has become obsolete, and lead them in a global clean-up."

To celebrate the amazing progress and most likely the completion of the first stage of the Valor Project, a festival will be held in Sonora on New Year's Eve. All are invited to attend and the event will be broadcast on international television and streamed live online. Admission is free and suitable accommodations will be provided as long as the festivities endure.'

Christin glared at the image of the resurrected rapist. How ironic that he would be part of this, after she had already disposed of him. She wondered when Edward would turn the device back on; it had been long enough for them to have reached cruising speed. Knowing her luck, the man was probably sleeping.

"We have reached the cruising altitude of thirty-seven thousand feet. You are now able to turn on portable electronics. Please remain seated until the captain turns off the fasten seatbelt sign. Estimated time of arrival is ten hours and twenty minutes," the intercom announced.

"Toby, will you turn on Rin?" Santi inquired from across the aisle. "I think she has something to tell us."

"Oh, sure," Tobias nodded, plucking the miniature human from off his father's lap and looking for the on switch. He found it, behind her right ear, and pressed it. She lit up momentarily and stretched.

"Thank god!" she yawned. "I thought you'd forgotten about me."

"Not likely, Rin," Santi grinned, stressing her name. "You find anything?"

"Did I?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Look who you're talking to! Of course I found something; I have access to the internet." She hauled herself onto the tray Tobias's book was resting on and pressed her hand to the small camera the holographic screen was generated from. The screen appeared and the article she had found was downloaded and displayed.

"A festival to celebrate the completion of a machine?" Tobias asked aloud as he read. "Sounds kinda fishy."

"They mention someone named Homun C. Ulysses... I feel like I know that name," Santi huffed, biting her lip thoughtfully.

"My old boss," Josiah said suddenly. "When I first came here I was employed under him. I managed to fabricate false memories of 'our life together as college buddies' or something."

"It also talked about Robin McLean. But that's stupid... he died a long time ago..." Tobias mused.

"He was brought back by the enemy," Belphoebe replied. "Your mother originally killed him eight years ago, but the enemy brought him back to life to be a hapless marionette of dust and clay."

"How grim," Rin sniffed. "Lemme at him. I'll tear that sucker limb from limb and feed him to those stupid monsters of his."

"Isn't that a bit much?" Tobias asked nervously.

"Do you have any idea what that pathetic scrap of meat has done? He's a registered sex offender and rapist but because of the circumstances, no one has pinned him because of that. His most recent accounts, eight years ago, were never reported because the victim was too busy with another battle she had to fight, but in the end she got her revenge," Rin spat viciously, poison seeming to drip from her words. "Or so she thought..."

"Rin..." Tobias started.

This all felt oddly familiar. It felt like he had heard something like this before, but couldn't remember why or who had told him. No... He did remember something. His father was talking to him, late at night as he was being put to bed. He had asked why his father's limbs were metal and learned that he had made a mistake when he was little. Then his father said that his mother had a metal part of her body as well. He had explained, in a very roundabout manner, that his mother had been chased and badly hurt physically, mentally and emotionally. She had almost died and had to have her heart replaced.

"You all should get some rest. We'll be pretty busy once we land in Washington," the mechanical girl said distantly.

"What about you; don't you need to sleep too?" Santi asked.

"I no longer have my body. I don't need things like food or sleep in this state," Rin smiled.

"Alright, if you say so..." Santi shrugged, settling down for an uncomfortable snooze.

It was a while before anyone actually did anything worth noticing. "So, if you have no body, does that mean you're dead?" Edward asked suddenly, making Rin jump.

"Um... I don't know, really. It's not like my body is gone, it's just..." she paused, looking for the right word. "...misplaced, I guess."

"Misplaced," the blond repeated. "You misplace things like house keys or socks or a book. You don't misplace a body."

"But that..." she started.

"You have no body, yet you're alive. Obviously your body has died and your soul is residing in my phone," he said curtly, placing a finger over her mouth to prevent her from speaking.

"But it really could be missing!" she insisted. "I can feel it in my gut!"

"Your gut is 'misplaced' too, isn't it?" he asked. "It's a part of your body and your body is 'misplaced', making that 'misplaced' as well."

"Stop talking all smart like that," she hissed, biting his finger. He inhaled sharply and pulled away.

"You don't need to be so vicious about it, geez," he snapped.

"Try to prevent me from taking again and you'll be missing that finger," she retorted.

"Are you always like this?" he asked, incredulous.

"My husband never complained," she sniffed. "Well, he did, but he'd always make me pay for it."

"And what would he do?" Edward asked, curious. Maybe he could learn something about how to tame her.

"I can't say; it's indecent," she giggled, blushing slightly. "Besides, you might break me. I'm not normal sized anymore and I'm not sure how that would work out..."

"You're weird," he said, trying hard not to blush. She had circumvented the real statement but had managed to get her point across. He caught himself before he could wonder what that would be like with her, especially in her current state.

They spent a few hours talking about nothing in particular, marveling over how similar their lives had been, particularly the last ten years or so. He wasn't sure why, but each time he talked about his wife he pictured Rin in her place, and imagined himself as her husband. It wasn't impossible, but then again he realized that they had come from different worlds. It wasn't likely that they had met before, though it certainly felt that way. Somehow, that thought made him slightly depressed. The sentiment didn't last long however, because the more he talked with Rin, the more he grew to like her. He thought it funny the way she got so flustered so easily and made the most mundane subject funny just by talking about them in a certain tone of voice. Her face was only a holographic projection, but it was of her real face and showed her real emotions. He could see that she enjoyed being with him as much as he enjoyed being with her. It almost made the terrible situation lurking around the corner like just a bad dream. He absently wondered if this was what it was like to be in love. He remembered experiencing it, but could recall no details. He couldn't remember how it had made him feel or whom he had shared the emotion with, but he didn't really mind as much as he thought he would.

The flight passed rather quickly, what with the conversations that lasted for hours on end and the scattered periods of sleep. To Edward, it felt like the whole ten hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to make our final descent into Seattle. We ask that you return your seats and tray tables to their full and upright positions and turn off all portable electronics. Time is eight-thirty a.m. and the current weather is cloudy with a high of thirty-one degrees," the stewardess said over the intercom.

"Thirty-one degrees?" Edward asked, dread filling his voice. Yes, it was December, but it was that cold outside? He thought about if he had proper attire for such weather conditions.

"If you don't have a good jacket, why not transmute one? You're an alchemist, right?" Rin suggested. "Don't forget to turn me back on when we land," she reminded him as he went to shut her off.

"I won't," he sighed, rolling his eyes. He might be old, but he wasn't losing his mind yet. He woke up the others and they de-boarded the craft. The Amestrians gawked at the lavish terminal while the Americans smiled tolerantly at their reactions. Even Josiah was spinning in circles, staring at the luxurious decor. Must be some airport, to have large marble statues and a working fountain in the middle of the room.

"I wonder where Liluye is," Tobias muttered as he and Edward jogged to catch up with the others.

"She's probably waiting for us outside. She was too large to fit in the cargo bay, and animals aren't allowed in the cabin," Rin replied, gripping firmly onto Edward's coat lest she fall off and get trampled on. "You told her where to go, right?"

"Of course I did. Stop babying me," Edward griped.

"Just checking. Don't get all snippy with me," Rin huffed.

"Holy crud it's cold!" the blond announced when they stepped outside. "I'm going back inside!"

"Don't be such a wimp, Dad!" Tobias chided, grabbing his father's sleeve and dragging him towards the street, where Belphoebe was hailing a yellow car called a cab. "We have to save Rio and the world!"

"Right," Edward nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning towards the snow-covered streets. There was no mistaking it was winter here. "You cold?"

"No, I'm fine. I don't feel things like I used to," Rin replied, offering a small smile.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you? I am not cold," Rin growled.

"Well, you're just sitting there in a short sleeved dress! I'm getting colder just looking at you!" he replied.

"Then don't look," she retorted, folding her arms.

"I'm starting to regret starting to like you," he mumbled under his breath. Rin smirked in response.

A/N 9-4-10: week after week I churn out chapters... does anyone actually read them? Anybody like them? I'm watching the gag reel on Beauty Shop, so it's not so bad. I can laugh at other people's stupidity so I feel better about my LACK OF REVIEWS!

Newsflash about book 3... I wrote the outlines for the two parts. There's gonna be a part 1 and a part 2. I'm not sure how many story arcs I can squidge up in there; we'll see when we get there. Right now I hafta finish book 2...

So yeah, book three will mean the end of the Godsend trilogy. I was thinking about starting another series like this one, but I dunno... review and tell me what you think!

Until chapter 35... I shall watch Inuyasha because watching FMA makes me abnormally emo! I can NOT watch the ending. Like, at all. Even thinking about... that... makes me wanna start crying. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch the last three episodes of the old anime. You will know...

OMG, my econ teacher knows. We were going over a handout Thursday morning and it had the letters A,B,C,D,E,F,G, and so on until like... I or something. And he stopped right in front of my desk (I sit in the front row, desk two from the door), I mean RIGHT in front of MY DESK and said 'E as in Edward'. I almost said 'where?', but I didn't. MoE was trying not to laugh. It was stupid.

See you in chapter 35...