Chapter 7: Rush Valley
The sky was dark; thunder rumbled warningly overhead. Flashes of lightning gleamed in the distance. Edward glared at the imminent clouds and shook his head.
'I used to think that the rain may make me feel better, 'cause it was worse off than I was.' He thought with a melancholy sigh. 'Now if even one drop hits my face I feel like my heart's gonna bust…'
Edward pushed the rain out of his mind and thought back upon his encounter with Amara. Her alchemic tactics had been great, which he admitted with much chagrin. The way she pulled water from the atmosphere to crystallize it reminded him of Dr. Tim Marcoh, the one who had gotten farthest on the investigation of the Philosopher's Stone. He smiled; he had a deep respect for the man. A deserter from the army, and perhaps the wisest of the soldiers, as Roy once said. Edward was disgusted; he was agreeing with the Colonel too much. Sickening.
Amara's skill had been difficult to beat, even for someone with as much alchemic talent and experience as he. He wondered vaguely if she intended to join the army, despite his mocking of her obedience skills. She would be a good soldier; that was a fact.
However, the pure hatred in her eyes as he held the blade to her throat was evident. She was viler toward him than fearful of death for a reason he couldn't place. The old man had claimed that the reason for withholding information was merely out of embarrassment, but her tone had screamed reason when he began to tell.
"Father, don't tell this shrimp…!"
Edward wondered why she would be so coarse in her attitude; he hadn't really done anything to cause a great enemy in her. He had even complimented her fighting ability, which was more than he would usually muster. What did she hold against him after only learning his name?
He pushed the thought out of his mind, refocusing upon the Omega. His next stop was Rush Valley, now half a day's walk away. The mechanics there would surely be familiar with Glyph, and he could find more information regarding the equipment he had created before he disappeared. Maybe he would find out more about this cave that Kosuke had mentioned earlier.
"Gah…" Edward said aloud, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I gotta tell the Colonel about the real Rush Valley." He pulled Sciezka's notes from his bag and scribbled in the margin:
Rush Valley; 3 days west of current Rush Valley.
Something in another margin caught Edward's eye as he moved to put the notes back. It was a side note that Sciezka had copied down in Central, her prim handwriting scrawled near the list of required materials. Edward scrutinized the words, not making sense of her logic, which vexed him to every extent. The postscript read:
Fifty?
"Fifty?" Edward breathed aloud. "Fifty what?"
He moved to the side of the old dirt road and sat down, pulling all the notes from his bag. He flipped through each page, scanning it rapidly for the word, and coming up blank. He went over the notes two, three times; nothing. Edward sighed; he was visibly annoyed as he stuffed the notes sloppily back into his knapsack. He sat there for a moment, staring at the dust encrusted upon his boots, gloved hand toying with a blade of grass.
"I wonder how Alphonse is doing…" he whispered to himself, plucking the grass free from the earth. As if in reply, a drop fell from the clouds, landing in his outstretched palm. His eyes locked onto that tiny drop that lay in his hand, eyes blazing angrily. He clenched his hand into a trembling fist.
"Ah, forget it!" he shouted. "I'm going to Rush Valley, and nothing is going to slow me…!"
BANG. Edward had stood and walked straight into a tree. His head pressed painfully against the grassy earth, his bright red face twitching with anger.
"… down." He finished feebly, legs flailing in the air. He jumped up and glared at the tree. "YOU DAMN THING! WHAT ARE YOU GOOD FOR ANYWAY!" He shouted, and stormed off down the old dirt road, dust clouds kicking up behind him. His stride remained constant, a new determination riding in his heart, despite the gentle falling of the rain.
"At last!" Edward exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "Rush Valley!" He strode proudly in, grinning from ear to ear as he passed under the welcome sign.
Rush Valley hadn't changed since the last time he had been there. Winry and Alphonse had come with him once before, a year or so ago. There were little shops lining the streets, vendors in the middle of roads, all the people puttering along with stars in their eyes as they stared at the extravagant pieces of automail, crafted into jewelry or prosthetic limbs alike, they always captivated the tourist's hearts.
Edward's eyes scanned the side streets; he caught sight of the alley he was looking for and grinned. He took a right alley to a back road automail shop, and pulled his watch from his pocket. Edward sniggered and banged rudely on the door. He heard footsteps inside, and smiled as the door was pulled open to reveal a girl about his age, who was taller than he, with dark skin and russet eyes. At the obnoxious knocking, her face was set in a defensive glare as she met Edward at the door.
"'Member me?" he said conceitedly, holding up his watch.
"Hey, shortstop, long time no see." She grinned, pulling the door open. The girl's name was Paninya; she had befriended Ed and Winry on their first visit there. She had challenged Ed to a race after stealing his pocket watch, and was beaten, but not by much.
"Don't call me short!"
"Come on in." she smiled brightly. "So, where's Winry?" she asked, sitting down at the table in the back of the room. Edward plopped down in a chair next to her, draping his backpack over the chair top.
"Back in Rizenbul." He replied, copping his hand and crossing his leg. "She can't stop learning new techniques. That Dominic guy really inspired her. Especially after she found out he knew Pinako." He said complimentary, referring to her mechanic. Dominic was like a father to Paninya; he had created her limbs and taught her to live once more after she was the victim of a tragic accident.
"Ahh, I see." She grinned heartily. "And Al?" She was taken aback to see Edward's normally perturbed face fall. Silence hung in the air.
"I… I messed up, Paninya." He breathed. She was thrown off guard; she took that as her stopping point and pressed no further. She nodded sympathetically and toyed absently with her hair. She managed to grin again.
"It's good to see you, Ed." She said with a smile. "It's been a long time." He nodded, looking down at her automail legs.
"Hey," he said softly, voice taking on a serious edge. "I need your help." Paninya sat up straight, interested.
"Yeah, sure. With what?"
"I need you to tell me everything you, or Dominic, knows about a cave near here, and a guy called Omegas Glyph." Edward began, preparing to explain.
"Glyph?"
Edward and Paninya looked at the man hovering in the doorway. The intimidating form of Dominic, who was kindly despite his grave appearance, was truly a spectacle to behold. His voice held a scornful growl as he spat the name, as though it was a bad taste in his mouth.
"Yeah, hey, Dominic." Edward gave a halfhearted salute. "Do you know him?"
"Know him?" Dominic scoffed, rolling his eyes. "He was the gem of Rush Valley, so to speak." At those words, Paninya's eyes took on a hateful glaze.
"Oh… him." She murmured, voice low, curt. Edward was surprised at the rise the name had gotten out of the two of them; he must have been a truly excellent mechanic, though it was something he'd never say in their presence. Paninya's expression clearly depicted that she had heard every tall tale and hateful lore that involved this man, and that she believed every word of the slander she had heard. "The one who cheated every decent auto-mechanic out of the money that they rightfully…"
"Paninya." The hard tone of Dominic's voice stopped her mid-sentence. She growled and looked away, face set in a glower. "Omegas Glyph came here a few years ago from what was once Rush Valley." Edward nodded; Dominic looked surprised, and cleared his throat.
"Wait." Paninya sounded interested again. She spun around on her chair, her legs wrapped around the back legs, eyes perplexed. "Thisis Rush Valley. How could he come from what's already here?"
"A town a few days north of here was the original Rush Valley." he explained quickly. Noting the eagerness on Edward's face, she didn't press for details, but Paninya looked blown away.
"Learn something new every day…" she muttered, amazed.
"Glyph was their best mechanic too." Dominic snapped abruptly. "He came here, to what eventually became Rush Valley, shortly before the other mechanics and I did. He brought in the most customers because of his complex designs for years, until recently."
"Define recently." Edward said shortly. The gruff appearance loosened; the man's eyes wrinkled into a sardonic expression.
"Not recently on your terms." Dominic smiled wryly. "It was soon after I found that one." he pointed at Paninya.
"So about 10-12 years ago?"
"Around there, yeah." Dominic replied. "He just stopped showing up. The crowds lessened and the customers branched out to the other mechanics, a blessing for much of Rush Valley."
"Any idea where he went?"
"Not a one."
"Why he left?"
"No idea."
Edward sighed, exasperated. True, he had learned a thing or two, but not much that he couldn't have deducted himself. He put a tired hand to his forehead; this was a dead end. The only one with the information didn't have enough, so it seemed.
"Hey, kid." Dominic's voice came quiet. Edward looked up, hand falling lightly to the table, the automail hitting it with a clink.
"Yeah?"
"What do you wanna know about Glyph for?" he asked curtly, tone curling slightly with interest. Edward smiled weakly. He searched for the right words to explain; how could explicate that he had nearly killed his brother and was now after something that may not exist, that could have been created by a mechanic that was hated by everyone in the automail business?
"He messed up."
Edward's head whipped around. Paninya had stood, pushing her chair gently beneath the wooden table. Her face was blank, her eyes understanding. Dominic looked slightly confused, but realization dawned over his features.
"He messed up." She repeated softly. There was no need to say anything more. Edward cast her a thankful smile. He stood, pushing his own chair in.
"Thanks for the help, you two, it's appreciated." He said lightly, heading for the door. "But I have to be on my way." Dominic nodded, as did Paninya. Edward's hand rested on the doorknob as he heard a gruff voice from behind.
"Hey, kid." He looked over his shoulder at Dominic, his strong arms crossed firmly across his chest.
"Yeah?"
"There's a cave north of here that you may wanna check out." Dominic said lightly. "I heard you ask about them earlier. It's about an hour's walk north, half a mile down the Rush Valley ravine; it's right before you make it out of town. If you're suspecting that Glyph wandered off to a cave, that'd be the one." Edward's face broke into a smile.
"Thanks, Dominic. I'll head over now." Edward turned once more to leave; he was more than satisfied with the information he had received.
"Pipsqueak!" He cringed visibly, eyes narrowing into angry slits, his hand trembling on the doorknob.
"WHAT!" he barked, whirling around.
"Forgetting something?" Paninya grinned; his watch was clenched firmly in her hand.
Edward's mouth dropped, his eyes widening with shock. 'How the hell…!' he thought, searching his pockets futilely to find the watch truly gone. Instead of shouting and chasing her to get it back, he closed his eyes and laughed.
"You've raised some thief here, Dominic." His voice teasing. Dominic rolled his eyes and smiled thinly. Paninya tossed the watch in the air, flinging it toward Edward, who caught it simply with one hand. He slipped it in his pocket and smiled.
"Thanks again, guys." He pulled the door open, striding out of the alley with the echoing of goodbyes ringing in his ears.
Edward looked up at the sky, preparing for the next leg of the trip. His eyes slid closed; warmth rested upon the soft features of his face. Edward smiled as the sun gleamed vibrantly; the rain had disappeared.
A/n: There's our ch. 7: I did it at long last. Stay tuned for Ch 8: Price of Life