(A/N: Here's the next chapter of "Follow the Stone". Wow, I never knew this story would get some positive feedback. Makes me what the dish out the next chapter as quickly as possible. Enjoy!
Thanks to everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed the first chapter!)
A Little Nuisance
"When can I meet Cornello?"
I glared at the annoying girl. Who the hell does she think she is?
When she noticed my glaring, she narrowed her eyes, shooting me a challenging look. Then she had the gall to scoff at me, smugly turning her back on me.
Urgh! This girl was infuriating! I never met someone as irritating as her. Never in my life have I wanted strangle someone right after meeting. Except when people comment on my height, but that's beside the point. The point is this girl was pissing me off!
Despite my fuming anger, I took a moment to take in the appearance of this new girl for...future reference. The girl didn't look Amestrian. She had dark skin. Dark brown skin to be exact. Her eyes were slitted and her dark brown, nearly black in color. Her nose was more pronounced and pointy. Her face was rounder than most girls and her cheekbones were lower. Her hair was black, straight, and long, reaching all the way down to her lower back. Her whole entire consisted of purple tank top and a pair of black shorts. Although, she wasn't wearing any shoes, which was really weird. Who walks around barefooted?
"I'm sorry, Keke," Rose replied, apologetic. So, the annoying girl's name was Keke?
"Who is this Father Cornello anyway? Is he really as great as you said, Rose? Can he actual help me?" Keke asked, her eyes narrowed in skepticism.
It was obvious Rose was ignorant of the girl's skepticism, her blue eyes sparkling with worship. "Of course he can!" she happily and stupidly, I might add, tried to reassure the dark skinned girl. "Father Cornello can create miracles! I'm sure he can help you. Just have faith in God."
I snorted at Rose's naivety. God? Haven't Rose learned anything during our conversation? There's no such thing as God. God is an unprovable concept. A concept with no real laws or science. I'm a scientist. I don't believe in gods or creators or any ridiculous concept like that.
"Do you really believe that this guy, this priest, can bring the dead back to life?" Keke questioned with a raised, dark brow, and her lips pressed together in a frown of disbelief.
Even though I was still pissed off at the girl, I found some smug satisfaction that someone in this damn religion was smart enough to realize how ludicrous Father Cornello's claim about reviving the dead was.
"If you have enough faith, Keke, then God shall reward you with the gift of your loved one!" Rose preached, strongly. "Father Cornello was granted the power of miracles from Leto. He could surely bring the dead back to life!"
"Miracles?" Keke asked, confused. "You mean that magic trick he did earlier?"
I decided to step into the conversation. It kinda annoyed me that this girl was confusing alchemy with magic. "It's not magic. It's alchemy," I corrected, sternly, crossing my arms in irritation.
Keke shot her puzzling gaze on me now. "Alchemy? What's that?"
"Alchemy is a science," I answered her, smartly. "It follows the Law of Equivalent Exchange. But somehow Cornello is ignoring the law," I finished with a cocky grin, daring her to counter my argument like Rose.
"Because he's performing miracles!" Rose shots in with passionate anger, but I ignore her, my eyes completely fixed on the dark skinned girl.
Keke stayed silent for a moment as if processing my words. "You're a wordy bastard, aren't I?" she deadpanned.
I simply stared at her utterly baffled. My face then set into a scowl.
"The Law of Equivalent Exchange? What the hell is that?" she questioned, her own frown forming.
I decided to educate her. Hopefully, I get into her thick head that Cornello isn't a miracle maker, but an alchemist. And I wanted to knock her down a peg or two.
"The Law of Equivalent Exchange is the basis of all alchemy," I explained. "To gain something, something of equal value must be lost. But Cornello wasn't obeying the laws. He turned organic matter into inorganic matter. With alchemy, that shouldn't be possible. He should only be able turn that petal into something with the same properties as-"
"Nerd!"
Her sudden, loud outburst startled me, causing me to stop in my explanation. Once I regained my senses, I glared at her, my anger rising. I was slowly losing my patience with this girl.
"What did you call me?" I growled, my voice dangerously.
"I called you a nerd, shorty! Hard of hearing?" she bit back, mockingly.
Though, my mind lingered on a single word. Shorty? Did she just call me a shorty?! "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BEANSPROUT SO SHORT THEY COULD BE SEEN BY A MAGNIFYING GLASS?!" I roared, enraged. My face red with wrathful fury, I furiously lunged at the temporarily stunned girl.
Before I could punch the girl's face in, I was held back.
"Brother!" I could hear Al sigh in exasperation. "Calm down!"
"Wh-what the fuck is that?!" Keke's voice screeched out in utter shock and bewilderment.
My eyes glared, coldly at her as she continued to gape at Al with a mixed expression of appalled and flabbergasted. The fact that I could feel my brother's aura of sadness coming out in waves just reminded me that it's my fault Al's stick living as an empty suit of armor. Still! That gave this girl no fucking right to stare him like he was some sort of freak of nature.
"There's no need to be frightened, miss," Al spoke, gently, albeit a bit awkwardly as well. "My name's Alphonse Elric. I-"
He was unexpectedly interrupted by Keke's excited, girlish squeal.
"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" she squealed in absolute glee. "You are just adorable! So fucking cute!"
I was left completely stunned and speechless by this dark skinned girl's sudden change in demeanor.
I glanced over at Al to find he was just as confused and speechless of the weirdo's enthusiasm as I was.
The girl in question was still screaming in joyful excitement. She was practically jumping up and down now. She gleeful rushed over to Al, examining him and checking him out as if he was prized work of art.
"Such perfection!" Keke gushed out, her dark eyes twinkling, stars shining brightly within them. She lightly touched Al's arm, feeling the cold, smooth surface with the pads of her fingers. "What an exquisite masterpiece! So menacing and brutal…! So beautiful! Aww! SO WONDERFUL!"
"Um, miss?" Al finally spoke, awkwardly nervous. I'm sure it was because he was unfamiliar. Most people are either afraid or intimidated by his appearance. This was the first time some actually admired his armored body. Of course it would leave him feeling embarrassed and flustered.
One of Keke's hands was on his shoulder spikes, and the other was touching his gloved hand. "You shouldn't do that. It's dangerous," Al warned her. "You can hurt yourself." He grabbed both her hands, and pulled them away.
Keke's dark brown eyes were still beaming with joy and delight. Hearing Al somehow caused her to brighten up even more. "Oh, my god! I-I just have to take a picture of you!" she shrieked, happily. I watched as she hastily dug into her pocket. My whole body somewhat tensed and my eyes narrowed, not knowing what to expect.
My eyes then widened with wonderment when she pulled out a strange, rectangular device. I never seen anything like it. It was fairly small with a dark purple covering. I nearly jumped in surprise when I heard a 'click' sound followed by a bright flash a split second later. I flashed my gaze at Al to find even he was stunned and amazed by the strange device.
I stared at the device once more. My brain was filled with burning curiosity and keen interest. I studied the thing while she continued playing with it. It seemed to be made of some sort of dark rock or maybe glass.
"Awww! This a good picture!" Keke cooed, rubbing her face against.
Okay… She was officially beginning to creep me out. Luckily, Rose, who had left earlier at my request, returned.
"Good news! Father Cornello wishes to see you!" she cheerfully informed me.
I hid my smirk. Finally! I was a few steps away from the Philosopher's Stone. "C'mon, Al!" I gestured towards my younger brother. "Let's go!"
"Um, hold it!" I could her Keke's voice shout. "What about me?" Her question was directed more towards Rose than us. She also seemed kinda annoyed.
Rose just looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, Keke, but you should stay here."
"Not happening," the dark skinned girl pouted, angrily crossing her arms.
"Please. Keke. I'm sure Father Cornello will see you soon."
The girl still didn't budge. In fact, she became even more annoyed.
"Keke, please listen to Rose," Al said, trying to placate her. And funnily enough, it worked like a charm.
"Okay!" she beamed happily at Al, her entire demeanor changing. "Whatever you say Mr. Armor. Just promise to come back. I want to take some more pictures! You're just so cute!" She winked at him.
Al blushed. "Uh, yeah, sure," he said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
I huffed, getting irritated at the delay. We don't need anymore distractions!
"Al!" I shouted at him. "Hurry up! Let's go!"
Al nodded his head. "Oh, right, brother. I'm coming."
We began walking away with Rose escorting us to Cornello, leaving the weirdo girl behind. Heh. Good riddance. I hope I don't have to see her again.
The meeting with Father Cornello was just about what I expected from an evil priest. Though, his stupid innocent act and his annoying preach about Leto was really starting to irk me. Does he really believe that an alchemist like me would fall for that bullshit?
Just minutes ago, his followers tried to kill us. He tried to pass off the incident as them being led 'astray' from the path of Leto. I snorted. Who would believe such a bold faced lie? Does he really take me for an idiot? It's also kinda convenient that he shows up right after a failed murder attempt.
I could see the Philosopher's Stone. It was so close…! Just so close…! It was on the idiot's ring. I could almost taste it!
"That is just something I don't get. How could you ignore the Law of Equivalent Exchange? Then I got to thinking… If you somehow managed to acquire an item that was said to boost your alchemic powers." My eyes zeroed in on his ring. "That would explain ever-"
"Neeerrrdddd!"
I froze at the new sound in the vicinity. I felt my left eye twitch at the familiar insult. You have gotta be kidding me! Did the little nuisance follow us here? Didn't Rose and Al make it perfectly clear to her to stay behind? How did she tail us anyway? We were escorted by Cornello's guard dogs?
"Who was that?" Cornello yelled. So he heard her too? Judging by Al and Rose's puzzled expressions, they heard her as well. That just proves it wasn't my imagination. The weirdo is in here somewhere. She really sneak in here! The stupid idiot! She better stay hidden, if she knows what's good for.
"Huh? I could swear I heard someone." Cornello seemed to be quickly losing interest. That's good. His attention drifted back to me and Al, seeing as we were a bigger threat than some annoying girl that really should have minded her own business.
Cornello didn't waste any time showing his darker, true colors by practically blackmailing Rose into mistakenly shooting Al under the pretense of Leto's orders. Even though the Fullmetal Alchemist is me! I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!
The battle just went downhill from there.
I was in a tremendously foul mood now. The stone… The thing we spent years searching for...was a fake! It was a fucking fake! I can't believe! All that work...being tormented by third rate priest...setting a trap for him… All that fucking work for nothing!
I was so angry, so infuriated, so frustrated! I still couldn't return Al to normal. How long will our search go on for?
I bought our train ticket to return us back to East City. Colonel Bastard will be expecting me to report back as soon as possible now that I was done with my mission in Liore. Urgh! I could already see the bastard's smug smirk and hear his mocking, arrogant tone.
"Hey, you! Wait up!"
I paused in my steps at the sound of someone calling us. We both turned just in time to see that annoying girl running up to us. My brow twitch and my face set into an annoyed scowl.
"What the fuck are you doing here?!" I yelled at her angrily.
"Brother, language!" Al chasisted me, but I ignore him.
"Are you following us?"
Despite her panting, the dark skinned girl had the nerve to smirk at me. I growled. I was in no mood for games.
"Yes," Keke said matter of factly.
"Why?" Al piped in before I could explode on her. "Do you need something?"
She pointed her gaze at Al and pouted. "Well, first off, did you forget about your promise about letting me take more pictures of you, Mr. Armor? And second, I need your help."
"And why should we help you?" I growled.
"Pretty please," she pleaded, trying to put on her best puppy dog face.
"Our help isn't free, you know." I yelped when Al smacked the back of my head. I shot a pained glare his way.
"What do you need help with, Keke?" he asked her. He'd always been much more gentle and patient with people than me.
"I just need some money," she stated innocently.
"Hell no!" I shouted at her. Who the hell does she think she is? Asking us for money? The fuck? "If you need so bad, go get a job! C'mon, Al." I pulled my brother along with me.
"I guess we have to do this the hard way," I heard her mumble, but choose to ignore. That is...until I heard something to cause me to freeze in my tracks, and my blood to freeze.
"Rose, this is the price of their sin. These fools attempted Human Transmutation! The greatest taboo for any alchemist! In their alchemist, they tried bringing someone dead back to life."
(A/N: This is it! The end of the chapter. I hoped you guys enjoyed it!)
