The Logic of a Child 2: Through the Eyes of Young Men
Chapter 1: One Bad Apple
by: IMBSA
IMBSA: 'Ellos! Back due to oh-so-popular demand, here is the sequel to "The Logic of a Child"! Yay::cheers. a few of her warm fuzzies cheer too: Well, without further ado, here is the chapter.
Disclaimer: "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."
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"Oh, you were an absolute brat as a four year old!" Winry told Ed was they walked towards the courtyard. "So how did you guys do it?" Winry asked.
"Well, we just sort of used this transmutation circle on one lettuce head. Strangely, the lettuce was like this little sprout looking thing when we left it that night before. But it must have reverted back to its original state," Ed replied.
"Oh, and that's when Ms. Riza and I saw it on the counter and used it for our salad. You know, you ought not to do experiments in the kitchen, especially when it involves food," Winry chided.
"Yeah, I know….It was Colonel Mustang's idea….It was really late and we were all tired and just fulfilling an obligation." Ed thought about it for a second, "You shouldn't be grabbing food off of the counter willy-nilly not knowing where it came from or where it's going to," Ed said.
"Yeah, for all you know, the cooks might have placed it there to throw it out," Alphonse stated in defense.
"We were hungry, what can I say? Hunger does that to people you know. But I still think it would be great to check out what a piece of fruit does as opposed to a head of lettuce, since it's a vegetable. I mean, would it become a seed?"
"It might even become a flower, depending on the age of the fruit. That would be so neat to check out," Al said.
"Al, you got your journal? Let's see what happens to fruits and see how long it takes for it to revert back. This time, we'll use our own fruits from the market and we won't be dumb enough to leave them in the kitchen."
"Okay Big Brother," Al responded with a notebook in hand. They made their way to Central City's marketplace. The trio looked at strawberries, plums, and grapes. A large bushel of apples caught Winry's eye.
"How about using apples, Ed?" She suggested.
"We have to be sure we get apples that were picked at least four weeks ago. I've calculated that each week equals the age in years, at least for the lettuce. I'm not sure about the apples though," Alphonse stated thoughtfully.
"That's why we're going to do experiments on it, Al," Ed picked up an apple, turned to the seller and said, "I'd like one pound of apples please," with a smile.
"Ed, don't you think three apples are enough? What are we gonna do with all the rest?" Winry asked.
"Oh—we wouldn't want them to go to waste, would we? These are perfectly good apples! Whichever we don't use, we'll eat!"
"Just make sure we remember which ones we transmutate." Winry cautioned.
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"Okay, Al did I get this all correct?" Ed questioned as he finished drawing the transmutation circle in the dirt.
"Yes, Big Brother….It's perfect!" Al replied, checking his notes in the journal.
"Well, here goes nothing!" Ed announced as he placed one solitary apple in the middle of the circle, clapped his hands together, and placed them within the diagram. The whole circle glowed a deep neon green and flashed brightly. They all looked at the apple in excitement. It remained unchanged.
"Hmmm…That's strange," Al responded, "The lettuce had an almost instantaneous change. Maybe you need to try again, but for longer."
"Yeah, I guess so…." Ed took the apple and gave it to Al. After a quick sketch he handed it to Winry.
Al grabbed another apple from the bag and gave it to Ed who repeated his procedure, although made sure he kept his hands on the diagram five seconds longer. After the transmutation process, the apple again was still unchanged. The two brothers looked at the apple Winry was holding. It too still was not altered.
The older brother Elric took the fruit from the circle and again gave it to Al, who then handed it to Winry. The girl was crouched down by the sack of apples, still holding the one that had been transmuted earlier, carefully keeping it separated from the others.
Ed was getting perturbed by the seemingly uncooperative apples.
"C'mon apple! Change already! Gee whiz, what's it gonna take for you to be transmuted into a smaller version? Transmutate, dammit!" He directed his words to the new apple in his hand, as if talking to the fruit would make a marked difference. Again he placed the apple in the center of the circle. He looked at Al who was painstakingly noting the reaction for each case in his journal. Ed clapped his hands together almost too hard and then placed them down forcefully on the diagram. The circle glowed again in its blinding, green colors. When the process was over, Ed stood up and walked to the middle of the circle. He bent down, picked up the apple and studied it. When Ed Elric found no physical change had taken place in the fruit, his frustration got the best of him and he dropped kicked it with as much force as he could muster with his right foot.
As luck would have it, the apple hit Winry in the face. Her hands shot up to her eye, dropping the apples she tried so hard to keep separated from the others. The kicked apple consequently ricocheted off Winry's face and knocked the bag of apples down, scattering them within the circle and mixing them with the ones that experienced the transmutation process.
Still in his drop kicked pose Ed watched the whole event take place in what seemed like slow motion.
"Big Brother!" Al exclaimed in a panic.
"Shit!" he cursed as he ran to check on Winry who was still crouched with her hand covering her face. "Winry are you alright?" Ed asked as he was walking towards her.
His answer came with a blow to his nose by the red skinned fruit Winry chucked at him. Alphonse strode over to the two apple injured beings.
"It was an accident, Winry! I think you broke my nose!" Ed exclaimed through his gloved hands, sitting up holding his damaged face. A trickle of blood was running from his nostrils.
"Good! I hope it's permanent!" Winry replied gingerly rubbing what could have been developing into a black eye, "…see how you'd like an automail nose.…And you better get it from someone else 'cause I won't help you!" she screamed in anger.
"Are you two okay?" Alphonse asked, trying to be helpful.
"Yeah…I'll survive, Al….You might wanna ask her how's she's doing. But look out for flying apples!" Another apple came flying and beaned Ed in the ear. "Ouch! See Al what did I tell ya'?" Ed rubbed his ear. He wiped his nose with the side of his sleeve and surveyed the blood that stained it. Alphonse looked at the apples that had spilled over into the transmutation circle.
"I guess this diagram only works for lettuce," Alphonse surmised and wrote more information in his journal. "Do you think we should just throw these apples away? I mean…which ones are the ones we put through the process, and which ones weren't? There really isn't any way to know, is there?"
"Nah, why waste them. You're probably right, Al. I bet this transmutation circle only works on lettuce," Ed said, lightly pushing on his nose.
"I don't know.…I don't think we should chance it, Big Brother," Al replied placing the journal down. He went to check Winry's eye.
"And what, waste some perfectly good apples? I bought a whole pound of them!" Ed stated, sounding quite nasally since he was pinching his nostrils together to stop the small trickle of blood.
"You bought too many…See? I knew you should have only bought a few!" Winry retorted, as Al studied her now swelled-shut right eye.
"Well.…We can probably get rid of the ones closest to you, Winry," Al thought out loud. But he realized that his theory was blown out of the water when he saw that there really weren't any that were closest to her. Most of the fruit had rolled towards the circle. Al walked behind Winry. Surely the one that hit her would be back here somewhere. Al knew for sure that one was transmuted. But he didn't find one and concluded it was probably the one that she chucked back at Ed and hit him in the ear. In which case brings him back to square one. Out of the ten apples, three of them were definitely put through the transmutation process.
"We need to destroy three of them," Al proposed.
The three teens started to look through the apples to come to conclusions about which were the ones that had been tainted by the transmutation process. But after a few minutes it was no use. The fruit all started looking the same.
"Let's blow this one up…." Ed said handing Al an apple.
"Great! Did you find one you had in the circle? What did you use as the basis for selecting the apple, Ed? Did you note the color or some type of markings? Was it size or shape? Perhaps it was the way it felt in the palm of your hand?"
"NO! I CHOSE THIS APPLE BECAUSE IT'S AN APPLE AND I HAVE A ONE IN TEN CHANCE THAT THIS APPLE WAS ONE OF THE ONES I TRIED TO TRANSMUTATE!"
"Oh." Al replied, rather sheepishly. A thought occurred to Al just then.
"Well, you know, I did make a few quick sketches of the first two apples. Maybe we could use those to try to identify them."
Ed said nothing for a few passing moments and once again was brought to a tirade,
"You mean we've been searching this ruddy pile of apples and you had sketches of the first TWO I tried to transmutate!...If I could choke you, Al…"
"Well, the sketches aren't that great, Big Brother…They're really quick!"
"Yeah but we could use them for—"
Ed's sentence trailed off as he grabbed the journal and turned to the pages of the first two transmutations. After a few diligent minutes, they found two apples that closely resembled Al's sketches. It was the third apple that gave them problems.
"So why didn't you draw this third apple, Al….What would possess you to draw the first two, but NOT the last one? I don't get it," Ed mused.
"It's probably because you kicked it away before I had a good look at it, Big Brother," Alphonse stated, slightly frustrated. Ed's shoulders sunk.
"No wonder…Well, let's see…" Ed began looking at the incomplete apple drawing Al made, and pulled a random fruit from the pile, "It's probably this one."
"I think it might be this one," Al proposed, pulling a different one from the group. Winry carefully studied the two apples the brothers had selected.
"I actually think it's the apple Al has," Winry stated finally coming to a conclusion.
"Oh, c'mon now! You're just saying that 'cause you're mad at me for hitting you! This is the apple!" Winry studied the fruit again and compared them to the drawing.
"No really, Ed.…Look how this line rises up just like the side of this ap—"
Ed rudely cut her off.
"Why am I even considering your opinion, Winry?…You can only see out of one eye!"
Winry belted him with another apple she pulled from the stash.
"Hey! Was I the last one to have contact with that apple or what?" Ed demanded.
The other two remained quiet. It was true. Ed did have that final contact with the apple right before he dropkicked it. There was no denying that, at least.
"Fine then…If that's that apple you think it is, then fine," Winry replied.
"Fine!" Ed yelled back. He placed his apple with the other two. "Let's get rid of these three babies." With a quick clap the apples were gone.
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When lunchtime came around, Roy was abandoned by First Lieutenant Hawkeye in favor of picking something up for her meal. No doubt it was positively not a salad. However, the Flame Alchemist was not alone in his office. Hughes had taken the liberty of rewarding himself for a job well done and released himself from paperwork duties. Currently, the pair was arguing over a stack of photos that sat on Roy's desk.
"No.…Maes, I can't let you have those pictures. So take one last look at them and remember them forever, because that's it," Roy stated as he pulled on his gloves.
"Oh-Geez, Roy what do you think will happen? Those are some fine Kodak moments!" Maes argued weakly as he handed the small stack to Roy who was looking through them one last time himself.
"Well, OK…Maybe these you could keep." Roy threw the two pictures on the coffee table. They were ones Gracia took of Maes with a sleeping Elysia in his arms just after the make over. Maes smiled thankfully. "But I've got to destroy the rest." With a quick snap of his gloved fingers the Polaroid photos Roy held over a trashcan were engulfed in flames and disappeared in ashes that fell into the can. The concrete evidence was gone.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" the Colonel invited.
"Sir, Winry, Ed, and Al are here to see you. Is this a good time, Sir?" A cigarette wielding Havoc asked.
"And I have some paperwork 1st Lt. Hawkeye wanted me to forward to you, and place on her desk, sir," a shy Master Sergeant Cain Fury noted, carrying two stacks: one to put upon the Colonel's desk and another for Hawkeye's.
"Of course Lt. Havoc, show them in. Come on in Fury," Roy announced.
Winry, Ed and Al stepped in. Ed was holding a bag of apples. Winry held a single luggage and Al held her tool box.
"Oh please don't leave yet Lt. Havoc, Sergeant Fury, if they may Colonel, I have something for them," Winry said and smiled. Havoc and Fury waited just inside the door. It was only then that they noticed her swollen eye.
"What happened? Did you have that injury checked?" Roy asked with concern in his voice.
"Quite a shiner there, missy….I hope you clocked the guy a good one," Maes said looking steady at her swollen eye.
"Yeah, she sure did!" Ed absent-mindedly answered, "Right here, right on my nose!" There was a pause. Roy and Maes exchanged glances and stood up menacingly towards Ed.
"You must be confused. You're supposed to fight for a girl not with a girl!" Roy announced.
"Guys, it wasn't on purpose…and she still clocked me good!" Ed explained defensively, looking like a cornered alley cat searching desperately for a way out.
"Yes, it was an accident. As much as I would like to see Ed pay dearly, it's true, the whole thing was not deliberate." Winry reassured.
"Good. I thought we'd have to teach Fullmetal some manners….Well, we still need to do that, but that's beside the point..." Maes mused.
Roy continued, "But maybe something might spark an interest in the proper way to treat a lady. I have some burning questions, Ed. Lem'me just fire away at them, shall I?" Roy smirked.
Ed's eyes only grew large with apprehension. Then he narrowed his eyes,
"Been playing with matches again, ponyboy!" Ed retorted.
"Who said I was playing? And that they were matches?" Roy asked. It was just too easy to get under Ed's skin.
"Well, you know I have a burning question…." Maes said eyeing the fruit with much interest. "Those are some good looking apples. Where did you get those apples? Did you get them at the market place? Gracia will love those for her pies."
"Would you like one?" Al offered, "We've got plenty."
"Well, I don't wanna grab all of them apples, maybe just one to try," Maes said as he reached in the bag Ed held out for him, took the smallest apple and sliced a part off with one of his knives. He cut a piece off for Roy, Fury and Havoc also, "Here!" he said chucking each piece perfectly to his comrades who caught them easily and enjoyed a small sampling.
"Well, I have to go catch my train back to Risenbool. Bye everyone!" They walked out exchanged pleasantries and headed to the door. As she left, Winry handed Havoc a small carton of cigarettes.
"Thanks! I was almost out!" Havoc said
"That is one sweet apple! Would you like another piece, Colonel? Lieutenant? Master Sergeant?" Maes asked between shoving a piece in his mouth for another bite of the crispy, tasty fruit.
"Don't mind if I do." Havoc responded, reaching for another piece of apple. Soon, the apple was finished between the four of them.
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IMBSA: Hm, I wonder which apple they ate. Well, considering that this is the sequel to "The Logic of a Child" it ain't that hard to guess. I also wanted to answer the reviews from the last chapter of "The Logic of a Child", so that's the note I'll end the chapter on. I don't really know if this'll be up to par, but, well, it's posted now. And if anyone is wondering this takes place about two days or so after the first story.
Ice Witch101: And I shall be waiting oh-so-patiently for it. For the good of writers everywhere::toasts with a warm fuzzy:
Mukies: We wanted them to be cute. We also wanted a hint of Royai there.
Presea Combatir: Wellz, here's the sequel! I don't care what Aoshi did; I still wuv him: B
The Celestial Tiger: Thanks for the continued encouragement for all my endeavors. And I whole-heartedly agree with you on the topic of not being able to remember sleeping with Roy! That would suck.
AngylLayDying: Yeah, we all love Maes. He's so kewl: B Here's the next one in the Logic of the Child Series (we have ideas for even a third installment, but don't get your hopes up).
Aquabubble: Well, you know we couldn't end the story without them being normal.
Fireness: I know it sort of left it hanging, but we did that on purpose. It allowed us to write this, which I know you love. Sorry 'bout the ending, but here's a new dose of "The Logic of a Child".
Cathy: Well, it's not another chapter per se, it's sorta a new story. You'd call that a sequel, right?
Tsunamimbw: To be completely and totally honest, we forgot about him. But the official story is that Armstrong was still in bed, sleeping while his alarm clock was poised to go off, when chapter 8 occurred. I'm going to ask one of my friends to draw a picture of Teddy-sama, and I'll try to convince her. I doubt it'll anything anyone wants to see, but whatever.
Everto Angelus: :huggles warm fuzzy: No problem::tilts head: Why would I write a slash pairing?
Apparition7: That's just what all of us have to do, right? I would have thought the same thing, though unlike her, I'd be enjoying it. (Except for, you know, the not being able to remember all of it.) Thanks!
Tsunade-chan: :hisses more and hugs plushie closer: NEVER::blinks: Well, tack on another one for Humor!
Kyia Star: Well, fine, ok, you don't hafta make a choice, jeez. :rolls eyes: Here's your sequel! The first chapter, anyway.
Maylin-chan: Uh….OK, I thought about. You twisted my arm. Here it is. Hope you like it.
Runa: Thank you! As a matter of fact, I believe R.W. Grimm gave me the same site a little bit before this chapter was published. The URL didn't work with yours, but you know how sensitive fanficdotnet is about these things.
Winry the Alchemist: They were very good quotes, some of my favorites, actually. Winry's reaction would probably be near the way I'd react if in that situation. OK, OK, I get the message, here's your sequel.
C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only: well, you don't seem to be getting my e-mails, so I'll just respond here. Sounds good. Are the girls going to retain their original minds? Like, are they just physically shrunk? Do you have an idea for the "accident" that happens? What about the Mountain Dew?...That was random...Anyway, I know I ask a lot of questions, but hey, consider it research. Count me in! And please, please, please, please, please e-mail me. My address is on my profile, so do it soon!
invisible johnny: We tried to make a Royai ending, with those mediocre results. If it were just me and if the story weren't what it is, they'd be almost all over each other. Wow, I do believe this is an accomplishment for you and I will be sending you champagne as son as someone can smuggle some to me. Well, I updated Second Chances, why don't you go find it again?
Schitz: Am I glad you gave this a chance! You knew Hughes had no dignity, we all knew it! When it comes to his daughter, anyway. He got shot for a little more than just that anyway, remember? If you want, by all means draw them. Here's the sequel, but I don't know I there'll be necessarily any Roy-torture in this one.
Alias Adrianna: I think Armstrong and Hughes make it all funnier just by being there. That mental picture rather stuck in my head too. You never told me, did you like your fuzzy? Or would you like a different color?
AoKo: We wanted Maes to be, as always, the comic relief. And Riza, that's just the way we envisioned her as a child.
To Mutsu Okato, Pichu172B, Kirusuchinu-sama, Silent wolf, My Dream's Shadow, Via, Camille, Flava Sava, Lunatic Pandora1, and crazyanimefreak15, as well as all the other readers: From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support and reviews! I appreciate all that you have done and the time you take to review. Thanks so much!