"E-Ed?!" Vanessa exclaimed in shock since he looked different? In a way, he was different but his distorted look was familiar because he resembled the Edward Elric from Princess May Chang's imagination. He was taller, dressed in an aristocratic suit, and his presence caused roses and sparkles to fill the tent. Vanessa had to admit that the "princely" look was appealing.
"I beg your pardon, Cpt. Kingston please address me as Edward, not 'Ed'."
Vanessa reluctantly apologized and Edward told her that he heard she had selective amnesia and it appeared to be true. Vanessa could only timidly nod at that. Edward asked her if there was anything particular about the enemy territory that she remembered. She said that she only remembered falling from the top of the waterfalls. Edward noticed Luna and remarked that she wasn't here before while kneeling down to get closer to the familiar.
Vanessa looked at Luna before saying "B-Before the accident, s-she was with me…"
"I see. May I pet her?"
Vanessa nodded.
While rubbing Luna's back, Edward remarked "Me and my little brother, Alphonse, loved cats. My mother wouldn't let us keep them though."
This piece of information sounded familiar but it was only mentioned in the 2003 anime. Afterwards, Edward asked again "You really can't recall anything before the accident?"
"Nope. Major Armstrong told me I was doing recon before I fell but I can't remember anything else. But why are you asking about this?"
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment." Edward stood up then said "Well, I hope you recover your memories soon, Cpt. Kingston."
"Wa-Wait!"
"Hmm?"
"May I please get your autograph?"
"Why of course!" Edward went towards a table that had maps and found a blank sheet of paper. He took a quill pen and signed "Edward Elric" in cursive. He handed it to Vanessa "Will this do?"
Vanessa was surprised because it was in fancy cursive but nodded.
"Well then, have a good day Cpt. Kingston."
Vanessa was happy that she got the real Edward Elric's autograph, even if he was distorted. Vanessa suddenly thought of Inuyasha and regretted not taking a selfie with him, but knowing him, he would've denied such a request.
"So…What am I going to do now?"
Meow
"I really have no clue what to do and your meowing is not going to help..."
Luna looked around the tent, jumped to the top of the table, and began typing on the typewriter?
Vanessa got up and read the message that said, 'Why don't you go look for the point of the distortion?'
Vanessa pounded her fist on her hand and exclaimed "That's right!" then her mood deflated when she realized that she was supposed to be "resting" inside her tent. In all honesty, Vanessa would rather be napping instead of trying to sneak out the tent.
She forced herself to look out the tent and saw that the campsite appeared to be empty? This was her chance. "GPS function activate." The notification appeared and she clicked on it.
While she began following the GPS instructions, a man with a long golden braid noticed her leaving the camp border and silently followed a distance behind her.
A few minutes later, she arrived at the location near the waterfall where she was first rescued. She got closer to the plunge pool and kneeled down as if to examine it. She heard what sounded like the rapid stomping of boots then Edward's voice called out "Cpt. Kingston!"
"Huh?" Vanessa turned back in surprise and fell into the plunge pool! She was carried away by the strong current. There was a splash and it seemed that the water got stronger and something grabbed her arm! The waterfall added more force to the current that she and the mysterious figure got pulled away.
She was close to drowning until the water pushed her and the figure upwards. When Vanessa gasped for air, she heard a male voice yelling "What were you thinking?! Leaving the camp and getting yourself into another mess again!"
The voice snapped Vanessa back to reality and she began to splash frantically. Vanessa did not know how to swim. She felt an arm around her waist and drag her through the water. When Vanessa felt her body touch the hard ground, she finally calmed down a little bit. Luna pulled her claws away from the inside of Vanessa's collar to walk away, then collapsed on the ground.
Edward leaned over to look at Vanessa "Cpt. Kingston are you alright?"
"I am…S-Sorry about this… How about you?"
"Healthy as a horse."
Vanessa tried to push herself to sit upright while Edward supported her.
"W-Where are we, Edward?"
Edward looked around and he noticed a big ancient gate with engraved carvings on its slate walls which caused him to stand up with outstretched arms "T-This is it! This is what we Amestrians have been looking for!"
"Y-You, you lead us right to it!" he exclaimed as he kneeled to take her hands in his "Are you sure you don't remember our objective?"
Vanessa flatly replied "Edward, I don't recall what's so special about that gate."
"Behind this gate lies the reason why we are in a conflict with Ishvala. With this, the war is going to end." Edward solemnly stated while walking closer to the gate to examine it.
Vanessa's eyes widened. She was aware that the distortion created a new reenactment of the Ishvala Conflict but it didn't really hit her until Edward said those words out loud. She finally forced herself to stand up even though she was a little wobbly. She took a few steps forward until she got a headache.
Luna finally rose up as well and started hissing which added on to Vanessa's headache. She began to squint her eyes from the pain and the pebbles from the ground began to float up and hit the gate. Edward shielded himself when he felt the multiple taps on his back. Most of the pebbles hit the gate's walls and long black hands began to come out of it!
Since Edward was closest to the gate, the black hands threatened to capture him but Vanessa ran as fast as she could towards him while swatting the black hands away. Vanessa continued to furiously swat at the black hands but there seemed to be no end to them. She couldn't get to the hands that approached her from the bottom and they wrapped around her legs.
Caught off guard, the black hands began to quickly wrap around her upper body and touch her face which gave her chills. Edward's eyes widened in horror as the sight made him recall something "Captain!" He grabbed one of her hands and tried to pull her back even as the hands began to lift her off the ground.
"Edward, don't let go!"
"I know! Just hang on!"
Luna transformed into a giant panther and tried to help Edward by biting on the collar of Vanessa's left sleeve. Golden light surrounded Luna's body once more and flowed around Vanessa's and Edward's bodies.
Poof! They vanished from the scene and the black hands retreated inside the gate.
