Tigger: Look at me updating again!
Ed: I don't know why you bother.
Tigger: Shut up! Anyway reviewers I feel it is better to warn you that these chapters contain ED!
Ed: Of course these chapters contain me! I'm the main character!
Tigger: I know but lately I've been kind of doing an Al, Amy, Winry kind of thing. You're really only here for the comic relief.
Ed: THE SERIES IS NAMED AFTER ME!
Tigger: A series I do not own.
Amy: Woah did you just admit you didn't own the series?
Tigger: Yeah why would I want to own a dumb character like Ed?
Ed: GET BACK HERE!
(Ed chases Tigger off-screen)
Al: It seems like they switched positions for the day.
Amy: I wonder if its opposite day or something.
Al: So should we thank the reviewers?
Amy: Okay.
(Tigger runs by)
Tigger: THANKS REVIEWERS!
Amy: Well guess that's settled. Let's start.
Amelia had been Amy and at the same time she hadn't. Amelia and Amy were from the same genetics and raised by a similar family. They had looked identical. Sounded identical. But were they? How could they be? Even if they were made from the essence as each other they were not the same. There could never be two of the same people. Besides they had been raised in different times. Scientists theorized that what made up a person was their surroundings. It was one of the reasons cloning was impossible. There is no way to repeat the same surroundings twice. Even if someone cloned Hitler, there was no guarantee that the person would grow up to be like Hitler because they did not live the same life experiences. This new Hitler could be a social worker and spend all his spare time working in soup kitchens! This meant that Amy and Amelia were not the same. It was like Kikyo and Kagome from Inuyasha. Kagome was the reincarnation of Kikyo but they were two separate people.
At least that was the conclusion Amy had reached. Thinking this way certainly helped if nothing else. If Amelia was not the same as Amy, it made the loss hurt a little less. There was an understanding yes, all losses were sad, but it was better this way. Thinking that her other half had died (even if it wasn't exactly her) had sent Amy teetering on the edge of insanity. It would have made anyone unstable. Viewing Amelia as a different person was not only logical but a safety precaution for Amy's mental health.
"I'm sorry you had to die," Amy whispered to the air.
Ever since Amelia had well, there was no other way to describe it, had disappeared from inside Amy's head she felt strangely alone. She hadn't even known there was another person up there and now she felt so empty without that presence. It was just her now. It may seem strange but maybe Amy had been unconsciously aware of the other presence inside her. That would explain the talks with herself at least.
Although Amy refused to acknowledge she and Amelia as the same person, she did not deny there had been a bond there. Both were victims. Both had suffered. But they went through it together. Both had been frustrated and stuck in a place unknown to them. Although Amy had been physically stuck in another world while Amelia had been mentally trapped somewhere else. But now they were free or at least Amelia was. Amy may have not been very religious but at the moment she hoped there was a heaven. Somewhere where Amelia could run free for all eternity. Amy had a feeling Amelia would like that.
"Amy, how are you feeling?"
Amy turned to see Ed, Al, and Winry enter the room. Al had asked her the question and he looked slightly concerned.
"Physically I'm a wreck," Amy smiled, "I think I'm going to be perpetually bruised."
"You better hope not," Ed snorted, "Greenish-purple doesn't suit you."
"Don't talk to a girl that way," Winry reprimanded Ed and slapped him across the back of the head.
She turned to Amy and held out the bag, "I brought breakfast."
Ed sneakily tried to reach into the bag and Winry slapped his hand away.
"None for you," she said firmly.
"Come on, I haven't had anything to eat yet," Ed whined.
"Too bad," Winry said, "These are for me and Amy. Go get your own food."
"Fine," Ed grumbled and glared at Winry as she began to set out food for her and Amy.
"Don't bother," Amy told Winry, "I want to catch the next train."
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"You're not in any condition to travel," Ed said.
"How would you know? You're not my doctor."
"You're injuries are serious. You're not going anywhere."
"I'm fine. They're superficial." Amy argued.
"You were attacked by a murderer last night," Ed's voice was commanding, "You're staying here."
"I'm leaving!" Amy's voice rose higher.
"No." Ed said simply.
"Yes!"
"Amy, you need to rest," Al interrupted politely.
"I refuse to let a midget order me around!" Amy ignored Al, "Tiny people can't rule those taller then them!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT PEOPLE STEP ON HIM?" Ed yelled.
"Midget! Midget! Tiny person! Munckin! Wee one! Yee of shortness! Itty-bitty tensy-weensy itsy-bitsy little microscopic one!" Amy shouted back.
Ed was so enraged by the onslaught of short comments that he was speechless with rage. Meanwhile Al looked absolutely horrified that any sane person would tease his brother about his height so much and Winry was torn between amused and concerned. Ed finally seemed to recover and he stumbled around his words before spitting out the first thing that came to his mind.
"You have no girlish features!"
"I do too your Royal Shortness!"
"Flat-chested!"
"Pocket-sized!"
"Boyish!"
"Puny!"
"Scraggly-looking!"
"Diminutive!"
"Rest already!" Ed shouted at her, "You're such an idiot! Do you know how worried we were about you? You were attacked by a murderer last night! You almost died! Do you have no self-preservation?"
Amy faltered. Her insults died on her tongue. She had no idea what to say. It wasn't that she was ungrateful. She just hadn't thought about how this would affect the others. Truth be told, she had been more worried about herself. But now…now she just felt awful. This couldn't have been easy for any of them. Not Winry, who's shoulder Amy had borrowed to cry on through most of the night; not Ed, whose plan had started this whole thing; nor Al, who had promised to protect her. Were they hurt too? Had they been just as scared? Did terror pump through their veins last night? Did it feel like they couldn't breathe? Were they haunted by last night too? Did they all just want to put it behind them?
Amy bit her lip as she felt more tears sting her eyes. God damn it! She didn't want to cry anymore! She wanted to move on! To go to Rush Valley! To only think about finding her family! Every time her thoughts drifted to last night, she felt like she was being drawn in. She felt as if she would be trapped in that horrible nightmare forever with no escape in sight.
"You don't understand," Amy's voice cracked as she tried to keep the tears at bay, "I want to leave it behind. Last night. I want to pretend it's a bad dream. I want to go to Rush Valley and see automail. I want to have fun with you guys. I want the good times to seal this nightmare away. I never want to think about it again."
"You mean you don't blame us?" Al asked.
"What?" Amy looked at him stunned, "Why would I blame you?"
Truthfully, it hadn't occurred to her to blame Ed and Al. After all Milo had been the killer. Why blame anyone else when it was clear who had caused the problem in the first place?
"I guess that's a bit of relief," Al sighed, "We were worried you would blame us."
"I don't understand, why would I do that?"
"Because it was our plan that led to what happened to last night," Ed pointed out, "We're the reason you're so injured. How can you not blame us? It was our job to protect you and we failed."
Ed looked at the ground clenching his fists.
"You are not Milo and therefore you are not at fault," Amy pointed out, "But if you really feel guilty you can help me sneak out of this hospital."
Ed looked up at her and Al sweatdropped.
"Amy I fear you are becoming more like Brother every day," Al told her.
Amy looked horrified.
"No I want to become Winry. I don't want to become a midget!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT WHEN HE LOOKS UP HE ONLY SEES THE GROUND?"
"Shut up, Ed," Winry whacked Ed across the head.
"Why you!" Ed growled whirling on Winry.
"Now Brother, be nice," Al said politely.
"Yes, Ed be nice to me," Winry smirked at the enraged Ed and then made her way over to Amy.
"Are you sure you feel okay?" Winry asked Amy concerned.
"As fine as I can," Amy admitted.
"And if you feel unwell, you'll tell us?" Winry questioned.
"I'm not that good a faker," Amy admitted.
"And you'll stay by one of us at all times?"
"Of course."
"Then let's go the Rush Valley!" Winry declared.
"Hey! Don't decide things like that on your own!" Ed protested.
"Ed's right, Winry. Amy needs the rest," Al pointed out.
"Like you two are ones to talk," Winry scoffed, "Besides if Amy says she's fine then she's fine. I trust her. Also I have some extensive medical knowledge of my own. I can treat her wounds and if they get worse we'll take her to a hospital."
"It sounds reasonable," Al said, "What do you think Brother?"
Ed glanced at Amy and Winry. It was silent in the room as the group awaited Ed's answer.
"I'm going to loose this argument anyway," Ed sighed, "All right. Let's go."
"Yeah! Automail!" Winry and Amy cheered.
The two high-fived and Winry jumped on the bed as Amy did a little dance.
"Automail! Automail! Oh what fun! Automail for everyone!" Amy sung.
Ed and Al sweatdropped.
"Brother I sense that this adventure may be more dangerous then the last," Al said quietly.
Ed nodded in agreement.
Amy stared slack-jawed at the sigh around her. There were high plateaus in the background and on every level of ground was building after building. Every place she looked there were signs for automail, books on automail, and, of course, automail. People everyone had all sorts of automail which they showed off. The various types were amazing. Big ones, small ones, automail with built in knives and other sorts of weapons. One person even had automail with a giant skull engraved on it. Truly this place was heaven on earth.
A nervous excitement built up in the pit of Amy's stomach as she tried to take in everything with her eyes. Winry took had sparkles in her eyes, but unlike Amy she didn't stay still long.
"Oh! It's so beautiful!" Winry cried looking in one window, "This automail! They've got this year's automail! I'd never thought I see it here!"
Winry was aware of the silence of her companions and turned around.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," Ed trailed off.
"This place is aptly named," Al admitted, "Rush Valley. Things do progress here at a rapid rate."
"Also known as the Holy Land of Automail," Winry cut in.
"Really? This place is all about automail?" Al asked intrigued.
"Yeah, it's full of unrest though," Ed grumbled, "Hopefully the economy stays afloat."
"Where'd Amy go?" Winry asked.
They all looked around to see Amy standing near some guy with a massive automail hand.
"Look," he was telling a star-struck Amy, "My hand is better then any pocket knife. I have all sorts of things in here."
The guy flicked his mechanical thumb back and a small flame appeared.
"That's so cool!" Amy gasped staring at the lighter in the guy's automail.
Amy flinched as Ed grabbed the back of her shirt and began to drag her away.
"I thought you said you wouldn't run off," he growled.
"But the automail!" Amy protested, "I just want to see how it works!"
Ed didn't listen to Amy's protest as he dragged her back to the group. Amy pouted but Winry quickly cheered her up by promising to teach her all about automail later. There was some loud cheering from a little ways over and the group decided to investigate.
From what Amy could tell everyone was gathered around a table where two people with automail arms were sitting down on opposite sides. One of the men was huge with some weird sideburns and goatee while the other man was simply average. The huge man had a giant mechanical arm to go with his huge stature. Apparently this was some sort of automail arm wrestling competition. Amy felt bad for the average man whose automail snapped in half within seconds. The crowd cheered for the big man as the loser was dragged away by savage automail mechanics eager to fix him.
"Poor guy," Amy said as the man disappeared into the distance.
The crowd didn't seem to care as the announcer, or at least that was what Amy assumed he was, searched for another competitor.
"How about you big guy?" he asked Al.
The crowd looked at Al.
"Uh no thanks! Not me!" Al quickly turned down the offer.
"Then how about you?" he asked Ed.
It was actually really warm in Rush Valley so Ed had ditched his usual cloak and black over shirt jacket thing (or whatever the hell it was) and his automail arm was visible for all to see.
"Oh never mind," the announcer laughed, "You're much to short to participate in this kind of thing."
Amy flinched as she could practically feel Ed's rage building up. Winry and Al looked stupefied. Amy attempted to warn the announcer about the horror he just unleashed with those few words but was interrupted by Ed. Ed slammed his hands down on the table and took a seat across from the giant man. Everyone began to laugh and cheer at the sight of such a shrimp facing such a giant.
"Don't you dare loose!" Winry shouted at Ed, "I just fixed your automail!"
"Good luck Brother," Al told him.
"He's going to murder that man isn't he?" was all Amy said.
From the corner of her eyes Amy thought she saw a little flash of light. She blinked twice, blamed it on a reflection, and focused on the task at hand. Ed and the giant placed their hands in the proper position and someone shouted start. In less then a second Ed had slammed the giant guy's hand into the table with such a force that the arm snapped in two. Everyone in the audience was startled, no one made a sound.
"Eh," the man gasped in shock.
"Look like it's a busy day for the scrape dealers," Ed smirked evilly as he held up part of the man's broken automail.
The silence faded as, once again, a number of automail mechanics attacked the loser of the competition. They screamed about deals and payments plans as they dragged the stunned man away. Ed himself was relishing in his victory and had a smug smile on his face.
"I don't get it," Amy mumbled, "Ed's arm was so tiny and his was so big. It's not like he has any muscles in his arm so how could he beat him?"
"What did happen?" Winry whispered to Al.
Al told the two of them the answer in a low whisper, trying not be heard by the crowd.
"Ed used alchemy to break the arm," Al admitted.
"So that was that flash of light."
Al nodded.
"You should have lost," Winry told Ed.
"What? I can't hear you!" Ed said ignoring Winry's statement.
"Cheater," was all Amy thought.
"Hey I've never seen that sort of automail before," a guy said pointing at Ed's automail.
Suddenly Ed was surrounded by group of admiring mechanics. Amy and Al stood back from the crowd as Winry explained how her automail to the admirers.
"These people are like piranhas," Amy said.
"Indeed they are," Al agreed.
As suddenly as the crowd came it dispersed. All that was left was an almost naked Ed and a cheerful Winry. Ed stood in the middle of the town square with only his boxers on. Amy quickly covered her eyes and she blushed deeply. Winry on the other hand seemed to be unaware of Ed's almost nakedness and continued to talk.
"Everyone was so excited about your automail," she told Ed, "This really is the Holy Land of Automail."'
"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE STANDING HERE IN MY UNDERWEAR THOUGH!" Ed objected loudly.
The sight would have probably been hilarious if Amy had been reading about it. However she had no wish to see Ed in his underwear in real life. And, even though he claimed to be embarrassed, he wasn't hurrying to put his pants back on.
"Haha, a State Alchemist in his underwear," Al laughed good-naturedly.
"Want a beating Al?" Ed asked angrily.
"I didn't mean it like that Brother," Al pouted.
There was a silence except for Al crying in a corner.
"Geez I put my pants back on, you can look now," Ed yelled at Amy exasperated.
Amy quickly uncovered her eyes.
"Really Amy have you never seen a guy in his underwear before?" Winry laughed at the Amy's red face.
"Yes, but they were my little cousins and they were wearing diapers!" Amy tried to fend off more embarrassment.
Winry was about to say something else when there was a cry of anguish.
"It's gone," said Ed quietly.
"What is?" Winry asked.
Ed patted down his pockets frantically and then pulled them out. Winry, Al, and Amy looked at Ed curiously.
"My state alchemist watch," Ed said nervously, "My watch is gone."
OMAKE: (Mary-Sue cliché style)
Amy is fighting Envy in an intense battle with awesome kung-fu powers she gained overnight.
Amy: Oh no I am falling!
Al: No Amy! If you fall Envy will get you and I am too far away to help despite the fact that I have alchemy!
Amy falls onto the floor but her hands magically clap together before they hit the ground. A tower of earth appears and clocks Envy in the jaw.
Al: Amy you have alchemy!
Amy: Yes and I am able to do it without understanding the chemicals at all! Awesome it's like having superpowers even though alchemy is supposed to be a very difficult to learn science.
Ed: Amy it is up to you to beat Envy because Scar just came and exploded by arm again!
Amy: I can do it!
Amy leaps into the air pulling water out of thin air. She whips it around and smacks Envy with it. Then she lands on the ground and makes a jail for Envy. Envy lies there uncouncious.
Amy: Look I did it without following any of the rules of alchemy!
Al: Go Amy!
Ed: Let us skip into the sunset.
Narrator: So the three skip into the sunset. But what adventures will wait them next time on Pokémon Adventure? I mean FMA Omake.
