Diary
Chapter 3: Black
At lunch, he consumed his meal in less than two minutes. Ed hadn't gotten a chance to look at it all morning, and reading that book seemed to be almost an…obsession of his.
Someone else with black eyes and hair slid down the bench and sat across from him.
"What's this?" the black-eyed boy snatched the journal from his hands and scanned through it quickly.
"So, Ed's got a diary?" He laughed.
"Dear diary, today I just had the worst day ever!" he mocked in a high-pitched girly voice.
"Agh… Just shuttup, Zach! It's none of your own damn business! And plus, it's not even mine!" Ed bit his tongue. He shouldn't have said that.
"Oh, so now you go around stealing other people's diaries and reading them? That's not a whole lot better, Ed."
All he could do was sit there and glare at that annoying loser. He jumped up suddenly, reaching over the table to claim his book. Zach was faster than he was and pulled away, holding it up in the air.
Gah!His reach was just a little too short.
Owen came up to the table, having just gotten his food from the lunch line, with tray in hand. He set it down calmly.
"Umn, Ed. What are you doing?"
Owen was frustratingly naïve sometimes, and he would be dead serious too.
He looked at Ed trying to grab the book out of Zach's hand desperately and Zach having the time of his life keeping it just out of his reach.
"A little help here, Owen!"
Owen gave him a blank look.
"Just get the damn book, alright?"
Before the brown-eyed boy had a chance, Zach stood up and began to walk away, casually tossing the leather volume onto the table.
"As if I'd want your sappy little diary anyway." He said as a last defense before stalking off to wherever he went to eat.
Ed grinned. He hadn't technically won, per se, Zach had decided to just leave him alone, but he'd take what he could get. Sure, that idiot loved to get under his skin, but that was partially because it was so easy to do.
Zach was too busy perfecting his image to actually be real friends with him, and he accepted that. Some people just had to be superficial like that, although he couldn't imagine what that would be like.
Owen sat down next to him.
"So you have a diary?"
Ed glared at him.
"I said it's not mine! I swear!"
"Well, than whose is it?"
He turned away.
"That's the thing… I have no idea. It just showed up in my locker one day. But the story… is so… complex. Almost like it's real."
"What makes you think that it's not really someone's journal?" Owen scanned the pages. It certainly looked like someone's journal. There were even tear stains and spots of blood on the pages.
"Huh? What's 'alchemy'? It seems more like magic than a science to me…" He looked at the page opposite the writing and saw another daedal, intricate circle pattern.
"I see…. But still, what makes you think that it's all made up? I don't think the average author would bleed and cry for his novel. And why bother writing it in a diary, then?"
He had a good point, but its not like Ed was going to agree with him. First of all, that would mean that he had given up on his theory, and second of all, there was no such thing as 'alchemy'. Whoever wrote this must have been on drugs or something.
After reading a little more, Owen posed another question.
"Ed, are you sure you didn't write this? It seems that you and the author share the same names…"
But on the other hand, Owen was highly observant and introspective, which made up for his child-like innocence most of the time.
He looked at the picture of the person labeled 'Edward Elric, "FullMetal" Alchemist'. He read the entry that Owen showed him a few pages before hand.
"Goddammit, they wouldn't even give me a moment's peace! "How long are you going to keep sulking there, FullMetal?" "You have a lot of paperwork to catch up on, FullMetal." "Don't sit outside in the rain, you might catch a cold, FullMetal…"
It had just occurred to him that the person talking was this 'Full Metal', and 'Full Metal' also had the name of 'Edward Elric', or, as Owen had assumed, 'Ed'.
He really was slow. He'd been so caught up in the story that he hadn't even noticed that.
"No, goddammit, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't have a diary!" He yelled defiantly back at Owen, almost like it was his and he just didn't want to admit it.
"You can tell me. I won't laugh."
He could feel his face flushing.
"I don't have a goddamn diary, alright!"
He had said that a little louder than he would have liked. Ed just turned around and quietly continued fingering through the pages. He came to a page that he had missed un-sticking from the other pages. The first few lines had the top part of the paper ripped off onto the other side of the page. He cursed softly under his breath.
…Evaluation day, huh? All I can say is Mustang had this coming… After constantly mocking me, and then refusing to give me answers about Marcoh! Bastard….
The handwriting turned a little shakier. He could almost hear the author screaming indignantly.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST TO THAT CONDESCENDING COLONEL WITH A GOD-COMPLEX! Well, technically, it was a draw… but that still means that I didn't win, dammit!
He skipped the rest of the page…it was mostly a rant written in a large size, pressed down into the paper. At the bottom was another circle. What the hell was with this person and circles?
It was two circles, one inside the other, with two overlapping triangles in the middle, and another triangle at the top of those. On the top of the circle was a small flame emblem, and below the triangles was a lizard-y looking thing.
Hah. No matter what, though, Mustang still needs this pathetic array to use his alchemy! His flame alchemy almost looks like magic at first sight…but I figured out how it works. His gloves are made of some kind of weird material so that a snap is enough friction to produce a spark. Combine the oxygen from the air, and boom! You have flame alchemy. It really is ironic how stupidly simple that is for no one to have thought of that before…
The last bell rang and he head towards his locker to grab his backpack and go. Luckily, he lived close enough so that he didn't have to take the bus home. Walking out the front doors of the school, he pulled out the notebook.
He started to flip the pages with his thumb and the book fell open somewhere near the middle. The page was almost illegible, and wavy from dried water. No, not dried water…. Tears…. And blood. And something else that he had a feeling that he really didn't want to know what it was.
He picked a legible spot, not covered by any… stuff.
…"genuine truth behind all truths"? If that is what it is, I don't really want to know. Our dreams crushed in just one day… if it means having to sacrifice humans intentionally…I don't think I could ever do that. Not even for Al. I have to find out for myself.
There was a little map paperclipped to the side of the page. A building labeled simply '5th' was circled in red.
A little later down the page he could make out a part of another entry.
…So now I know, and I wish I didn't. He completely blames me for everything, I knew it! And I agree with him too… it was all my stupid, childish, ignorant fault! I… I pressured him into it… I could tell he didn't want to… but he knew that I wanted to so badly…
It really is all my fault. It's my fault that we are the way we are, Dogs of the Military, a half-metal teenager, and a suit of armor….
Wow, this Edward guy really has some issues. Owen says that we might be similar, but first of all, I don't have a brother. And second of all… I'm really not that messed up. Really. I swear. Wait, if he's "Full Metal" then how is he half-metal? Isn't he full-metal? That's just odd.
He was thinking about this too hard for his own good. It was just some stupid tear-jerker story that some messed up person came up with. He closed it, shoved and shoved it back in his bag along with his other stuff.
It was Tuesday, and he was headed to the bookstore to study. Setting his stuff down on a table in the adjacent café, something caught his eye. He picked it up, and bought it immediately. Paying only seven dollars for it seemed almost like a crime. The lady behind the checkout counter politely asked if he would like a bag. He declined, grabbing the book from her hand.
He stroked the cool, smooth, glossy black leather and headed back to his table. He had a lot of work to do.
You know what's really annoying? I know exactly how I want to end it but have no ideas for the stuff in between. :sigh:
FlameBrake and Lluvi-the-Wolfgirl: Reincarnation.. not really, but sort of. I can't really tell you anything without giving away the ending... sorry!
Gundamwinggirl: Yes... we all miss Roy. Especially now that I killed him. :hides: No, unfortunately, this is mostly an Ed-centric fic. It's his journal and all. Well, unless you count... whoops. Can't give that away either. But it's kinda easy to tell if you read closely.
Rikku-san: Thanks so much! That means a lot to me that you finally decided to review. I know that there are a lot of people out there that read stuff and dont review it (including me..oops.) Longer chapters? Eheh. I write at like midnight, so it really depends on how tired I am and if I have school the next day.
KitsuneOfShadows: It was just a bit of fun...XPPP Yes, you get a thanks for all the reviews that you've given me, and a biiiiig hug! As far as talent goes... don't overestimate me. XP
:Thanks and hugs all reviewers:
Oh yeah! I'm gonna be almost living at Kunicon this weekend, so probably no updates from Fri/Sat to Tues/Wed. Sorry! I am cosplaying too! w00t. Not as FMA people though. Although me and a friend were considering Roy and Ed... but we already had to get our other costumes done. One is from Gravitation and the other involves a group of like 11 people. think sailor scouts
'Taters
