Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 14

The Fullmetal Alchemist

Edward wandered through the blizzard, unfeeling of the wind biting his skin and ice frosting on his face. The only thing that he felt was the immense pounding in his head, like someone was viciously beating him with a hammer and smirking in his face. A vision of a black haired man in military uniform came to mind and he closed his eyes tightly. He knew… some things. His name was Edward, he was an alchemist… but that was about it.

Was the man that had met him earlier really his brother? He had no way of knowing for sure, and he had run away, afraid to come to terms with this new burden. He thought he could see the snow becoming lighter up ahead, maybe an end to this frigid place. Now that he thought about it, it had been getting slightly warmer as he traveled. He fell onto his knees weakly and looked up at the sign post wearily.

"Welcome… to West City?" he thought for a moment. West of where he had been sounded good to him, it was much warmer. But… he had a feeling it wasn't where he belonged. He got up again and trudged onwards. Maybe he could find a train station a bit more inland.

A few hours later, Edward was beginning to find that the West was much more hot than the East. Tanned people were staring at him suspiciously and he promptly ignored them, focusing instead on piecing together fractured memories. A pocket watch, a suit of armor, alchemy, circles, Homunculus… some otherworldly place called Germany… he bit his lip. Gluing these back together wouldn't be as easy as he thought it would be.

He peered at his reflection in a shop window and realized why the locals were staring at him. His clothes were tattered, shoes worn, hair long and dirty, unshaven, and dirty. No wonder. The first thing he would have to do was find somewhere to stay… he pulled out a bag of money and checked it, relieved to find it full of money.

After checking in to a decent hotel, explaining that he had just come from being trapped in a very dirty coal mine for a very long time-which was a complete lie, considering that he had no idea what he had been doing anyway- he washed up, cut his hair, shaved, and after cutting himself three times, went out and bought some new clothes.

He held the pocket watch up to the light and scrutinized it. A State Alchemist pocket watch, no doubt, but from where… he pocketed it. After figuring out where exactly he was on the map, he borrowed a town map from the front desk and sat down at a table, making notes here and there.

A boy ran up to him and tugged at his sleeve. "Hey, mister! You look like that State Alchemist Edward Elric! Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist?" Edward stared at him for a second and pulled up his sleeve to reveal his automail arm. He smiled at the boy and patted his head. "Yep, now don't you have somewhere to be little guy?" The boy nodded and ran off again to his mother, pointing and laughing excitedly at him.

Edward put down another note, "Fullmetal Alchemist, huh?" He drank the rest of his coffee, left the money and got up. He followed the map to West Headquarters and walked in. "Is there any way I can get a meeting with the Fuhrer of the West?" The lady at the desk looked up at him and checked a schedule. "I don't know, Sir, the Fuhrer's agenda is pretty much full up."

"I'm a State Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist." he showed his pocket watch and the lady picked up the phone, dialing a number. "Hello Fuhrer, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist to see you, Sir. Urgent business." she put down the phone and motioned to the stairs. "Fuhrer Havoc is on the fifth floor, the biggest office in the back."

Edward climbed up the stairs, hearing his automail leg creak unpleasantly. He found what he thought to be the largest office and opened the door hesitantly. "Yes, yes, come on in, Fullmetal." Edward stepped into the room, struggling not to gag at the smell of cigarette smoke. He could have sworn he had seen the man somewhere before, if not him, then someone that looked like him at least.

Fuhrer Havoc looked up. "Well, hello. It's not often we get someone from East Headquarters over here, not even my own son." he chuckled and put out the cigarette. "What brings you here Fullmetal? You've been laying low for a while, people have been looking for you for years."

Edward fidgeted. "Well, Sir, that's just it. I don't know where I've been all these years, and I want to go back to where I came from. Do you know where that is?" Fuhrer Havoc looked at him incredulously. "I haven't had anything this strange happen since Fuhrer Mustang died. You have amnesia?" Edward shrugged. "I guess so, Sir." Havoc nodded. "Yes... well this is odd. There's no mistaking you for a man from the East. I could bring up your records and hand them over, if that would help." Edward nodded enthusiastically. "It's not that easy... I'd have to get a confirmation from East Headquarters, and what do you know? The East's Fuhrer is out on business. And then they wonder why we have communication problems. The best thing I can do, is to send you back to the East and sort things out from there. I'll have it arranged for you to board the West-East train. Get off at East and head straight to HQ, see if you can persuade the stand in over there to part with your records.

"And while you're there, Fullmetal..."

Edward stopped from walking out the door and turned, expectantly. "Say hello to my son, Jean, for me." Edward saluted. "Will do Sir. Thank you for your help."

"Not a problem, I owed Fuhrer Mustang one anyhow."

Edward could barely conceal his excitement once he left the building, and he struggled to keep a dignified pace to the train station, the Fuhrer's signed order clutched in his hand. He was going back to East, where he could hopefully find someone to help him.

He was going back to the East!

Chapter 14! Woohoo! Everyone loves Ed, right? I thought it would be interesting to see the reaction of people once they heard that Ed's hair is short! All jokin aside, tell me what you think of this chapter! Thank you reviewers!

I completely forgot to respond to my reviewers last time!

The New Shinigami Hikari how did you know I like chocolate muffins?

Apparition7, Another loyal reviewer... and probably my most helpful. You really know how to sum everything up! And I do have a lot of work to do... T.T...

Anyway! Bet you guys can't wait till next chapter! Until then, goodbye! - T A