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Fullmetal Sensei Edward Elric! Student Profiles
#3.Name: Zhang Han
Age: 19
Birthday: September 15th
Sign: Virgo
Height: 165 cm.
Weight: 60 kg.
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black with red streaks (Tied up in a ponytail. Two thick strands go over her ears. Hair parts from the right side of her face.)
Likes: Writing, her brother Tao, "Salamandrea" (her sword)
Dislikes: Anyone with a God complex, possibly her mother
Note: Claims to have someone deep within her subconscious.
#5. Name: Marcia Del Rey
Age: 16
Birthday: July 8th
Sign: Cancer
Height: 185 cm.
Weight: 57 kg.
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Dark Brown (Almost Black) (Extends to her back. Bangs don't part, but they go slightly over her ears.)
Likes: Shogi (Japanese Chess), Ice Cream
Dislikes: Teddy bears
Note: Is often referred to as the "Bronze Goddess".
GYRAX Presents…
Fullmetal Sensei Edward Elric! Volume 1
Lesson 4: The Child Called "It"
Alphonse heard the cafeteria doors open, so naturally he turned to see who it was. To his surprise, it was five of the seven "sisters"; Enya, Alex, Lisa, Meryl, and Lebia, who had what looked like a still-bleeding cut on her forehead. The suit of armor could not help but wonder what happened to the leader girl; needless to say the bleeding forehead shocked him. Now why would a student come in to class in that condition, with a smile on her face even? That was just wierd. As was natural, he just had to ask.
"What happened to her?"
"Don't worry about it." Enya answered casually. "She just got some dirty thoughts out of her head."
At this point, Al was just plain stupified. Those must have been some pretty nasty thoughts. He sweat dropped. Then he realized something else; there were only five of them. "Where are the other two?"
"Oh them," Lisa replied without missing a beat, knowing he was going to ask sooner or later. "Marcia and Han are still in the hospital, tending to Ed's wounds."
"That's nice to hear. Nii-san could use some company. I would like to accompany him, but I have teaching to do." It was a nice thing to do. Al was glad that the students were considerate enough to stand by his brother's side.
"No problem, Mr. Al." Lebia gave him a thumbs up, even though her forehead was still bleeding. Al was still a bit creeped out by Lebia's strangely cool attitude. It just did not seem right. Al sweat dropped again.
"Mr. Al!" Another student cried out while rubbing the back of her head. "Nami threw a pencil at me!"
"I did not, you lying little bitch!" Nami protested furiously. "How many times did I tell you that I just fell and the pencil flinged off of my hand?"
"You threw it at me!"
"No, I didn't!" Nami's roar was growing more ferocious. "You have a grudge against me or something?"
"You threw it at me!"
"Shut the hell up, you broken record!" She knew right there and then that the other gilr just wanted to get her in trouble. It had to be some kind of grudge.
Al hung his head in embarrassment; just when he thought it was all over, God threw another curveball at him, and he was not good at swinging the bat. Nonetheless, life sucked today for Alphonse Elric. He silently prayed for his dear brother's return, hoping that maybe he will come to the cafeteria in a miraculous swoop and solve all of this with the grace of a dragonfly. Then he remembered how he handled almost all of the previous days and he sighed in defeat.
(O)
"I appreciate you staying here," Ed spoke, lying on his respective hospital bed with a cast wrapped around his right leg as he felt the unnecessarily cold and bitter air coming out of the air conditioner. "But it's ok. I'll be fine here. You two should go back to class. You still have some time left."
"We're not leaving without you, Ed." Han replied, sitting to his left. Of course she did not want to leave, because she felt that if she and Marcia did leave him there, Ed would be all alone in the hospital room --- alone and bored as hell. No one ever liked that feeling.
"Of course, you can. Al's taking over, so you don't have to worry about anything. I'm sure he'll do just as good, if not better."
"That's not the case Ed." Han did not think that Ed got her message clear. "All we want is for you to recover as quickly as possible. Besides, do you really want to be alone in this place?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've been through much worse. Why are you so concerned?"
"You know, Ed." Marcia added out of the blue. "Han's training to be a nurse. She can use alchemy take care of those wounds of yours."
"No fooling?"
"No fooling." Marcia kept on her emotionless face as she said that.
Ed could not help but feel a bit irked as he just noticed the fact that the bronze goddess did not really display much emotion, if any. He let it pass and looked back at the nurse-in-training, who was ecstatic. "All right, I'll give you a shot, but i hope you know what you're doing." Of course he had to say that to merely express concern, because for all he knew she could seriously mess up everything, and who knows what would happen next?
Han, however, was feeling ecstatic. It has been a while since she got to show someone what she was made of; she simply loved the thought of displaying her prowess, whether it was to help someone in need, like in this case, or merely to impress someone. Also, she has not been given many chances to try out her medical prowess, and she usually worried over losing her touch.
She walked over towards her beloved teacher, unable to contain her excitement, but she did not want to. She stopped and stod right next to him. The nurse in training looked directly at his face and was able to catch off the hint of concern, like he did not have that much faith in her, if any. She shook it off, believing full well that she could shove that doubt right out the door.
Han dug into her right skirt pocket and pulled out a black permanent marker. She turned back to Ed.
"Now, which part of your body is broken?
Ed's face just grew red while Marcia face faulted.
"The one with the cast on it." Ed said fumingly.
"Oh right." Han sweat dropped. After a few nervous chuckles, she went over towards Ed's cast. She carefully but swiftly unwrapped it. She held Ed's broken leg and gently placed it on the bed. She took the cap off of her marker and slowly began to draw a transmutation circle on him.
Marcia turned towards the door. "I'll tell them that Sensei is feeling better."
"Ok."
Marcia left the room, shutting the door behind her. Han continued with her transmutation circle.
"You're going to use alchemy to fuse my bones, muscles, nerves, and bloodvessels back together?" Ed asked.
"Bingo."
"Do you really know how to do that?"
"Duh. I've been studying every little component of the human anatomy my whole life. Just trust me, ok?" Han finally finished with the circle. She put her right hand a centimeter over it before she looked back at her teacher-patient. "I just want to tell you in advance: this may feel a bit wierd."
"Ok."
Now with Ed's consent, she put her hand on the circle and commenced the transmutation. The circle glowed a brilliant blue.
In an instant, the older Elric felt a massive, jarring pain. It felt as if someone was hammering nails right down to his bones as his tibia and fibula were fusing back together and his nerves were being repaired. Aslo, his lower calves felt like they were about to explode as his muscles were reconnecting the said bone. As they all fused back with one another, Ed then felt his muscles stretching like putty. Quickly after that, it was over. It only took three seconds to repair his right leg, but to him it seemed like one long, painful minute.
The transmutation circle was gone. Han moved her hand off of his leg, pulled his pants leg back over it, stood back upright, and looked back at him with a smile in her face. She felt good. "Done."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." She was glad to lend in her services, and she apparently has not lost her touch.
"You can stand back up now."
"All right..." Ed complied hesitantly to Han's reassuring statement and stood up, just like she said. He was expecting some kind of pain to surge through his leg, but instead, he felt absolutely nothing, like he never broke hat leg at all. A feeling of surprise surged through his whole body, including the right leg, which was where pain was supposed to be. He was healed, and that was it; there was no pain nor was there any sign of potential swelling. It practically sounded unheard of. Ed, however, let it pass, considering he was used to what normal people would call "absurd" or "too good to be true" by now.
"Wow. Nice job. It feels just perfect."
"Yup." Ed's praise just made Han more proud of herself.
"I don't feel any sings of swelling up or anything."
"You sound like a child. You know very well it was just alchemy I used to repair your right leg directly, stabilizing the muscle to prevent swelling. Can surgery do that? I don't think so!"
"Sorry if you think that. It's just that you did a wonderful job here." Ed was moving his right leg around, swinging it around right-to-left and front-to-back.
"I'm glad you think so." Han simply smiled, clearly showing her pride.
"Who taught you that, your mother?"
"Hell, no!" Han shouted, jumping right from proud to angry. Her mood swung so fast, you would not be able to see it. Something began to flare up within her, and quickly.
"So, it wasn't your mother?"
"No. I learned it all by myself."
"Oh."
"My mother was pretty useless. All she did was sit on her ass yelling at me for not doing her every single whim."
"I'm sure she just wanted you to-"
"She didn't give a damn about me!" Han cut him off abruptly and violently, the rage building up deep within her heart. "If anything, she wanted me gone."
"Come on, now. Don't say that."
"It's true. You have no idea." She tried so hard to bottle it up, but she just could not.
"Excuse me?"
"That bitch never deserved to be my mother, so I disowned her."
"Why would you do that?"
"To lift that burden of that drug-addict's shoulders."
"Burden? Drug-addict?" Ed was confused now. What did she mean by that?
"Apparently, all I did was force her to get off her ass and hit me. She never did anything but get high."
"You're being rediculous. That can't be true. What kind of person could say that about her mother?" As he said that, he was thinking about his own mother. Ed remembered all she did for him, and taking that into account, he was getting a bit peeved at her constant mother-bashing.
"You want to see what the freak did to me?" At this moment, she had just about enough of him. He was now in a forbidden place.
"What?" Ed could not figure out what her problem was. He did not know what he said to throw her into a fit, but obviously it must have been his fault.
"Do you?" She just wanted Ed to stop prying into her personal life. The problem was that what she was planning on doing may drag him further in.
"What's wrong? I simply said that I thought your mother taught you and you got into a fit. Do you really have something against her?"
"You're about to see." And with that, she unbuttoned her blazer and took it off. She undid her tie and dropped that on the ground with the blazer.
Ed could only wonder what she was up to at this very moment.
Han has slowly and reluctantly undone the top button on her white shirt. She then went to the next button down and undid it. She contined unbuttoning her shirt until she stopped in the middle. Then she took the end of her collar and pulled her shirt down until she exposed her upper back.
Ed was blushing for the moment until he saw "them"...
Two black scars went across her back, forming an X pattern. Normally, Ed would have taken this calmly, but this time around, he was just plain stunned. He could not figure out why the scars were black. Not even an infected cut turned black, so of course something was not right, here.
"What the hell happened?"
"My mother did this to me."
Ed just would not take that for answer. "You cant be serious."
"I'm dead serious. She tried to kill me, Edward. She tried to kill me!"
Ed just stared at her, now knowing full well that as rediculous as thigs were getting right now, she really was serious. First of all, she called him by his real name instead of Sensei. Second was her tone of voice. He clearly felt the anger enamating from her, and it was making his stomach hurt.
The more she thought about it, the more she cringed. "She kept slashing me, creaming 'Tod zum verdammten Homunculus'."
Ed's eyes widened. He was stunned. For the moment, he couldn't move a muscle, as if he was frozen stiff from the inside. He just could not believe what she just said, and to make double-sure that he heard her right, he just had to ask again.
"What was that?"
"She kept screaming 'Tod zum verdammten Homunculus' at me." She felt an almost crippling blow to the stomach after she said that.
"..." Ed could not really understand the language of that sentence, but the one word he was able to pick up was "homunculus". He was not sure what this meant, but what he was sure of was that this could be going a little deeper than he thought. His mind was now getting increasingly crowded with thoughts and possibilities, ranging from the rediculous to the frighteningly possible. Ed even had doubts that the girl standing with her back turned to him was even telling the truth, although she sounded very serious about it. Still, hearing her say that last word compelled him.
No matter how much it hurt, Han could not stop saying it...
"Tod zum verdammten Homunculus!"
There it was again. Ed heard it more clearly now, which meant that he was even more sure about what she said.
"Tod zum verdammten Homunculus!"
And again...
"Tod zum verdammten Homunculus!"
And again...
"Tod zum verdammten Homunculus!"
And one final time...
"Tod zum verdammten Homunculus!"
And that was when something snapped within the confines of her brain. A new kind of rage was burning within the deep chambers of her heart. However, she felt chills running down her spine, causing her to shake violently as she fell on her knees.
Suddenly, she heard a hum get louder and louder. She recognized the hum instantly; it was from the air conditioner. Somehow, it was getting louder and louder. She also heard people talking, but she did not know where. She looked around, but she saw only Ed in the room.
"Are you all right?" Ed asked the girl in concern. At this moment, he was getting freaked out by her erratic behavior. He took a few steps forward in attempt to get closer to her.
Ed's voice boomed in her hears, the thunderous sound of his footsteps also punishing her ears. It was unusually loud. That was when she found out that her hearing was becoming much more sensitive. Suddenly, she felt the muscles in her eyes pulling themselves, and as they were, she saw everything around her far more clearly. It turned out that her eyesight was going beyond 20/20.
Again she felt her body shake. Her arm raised up high in the air. She tried to move it, but was shocked to find out that she could not. The arm was actually moving itself. Her body also stood up on its own; that was when she realized the even uglier. She realized the her whole body was moving on it own. She involuntarily turned towards Ed. When she saw his face, she attempted to speak, but to no avail. Now she knew that she could not even speak; she could not tell Ed to move out of the way, although she was well-aware that something horrible might happen next.
Ed just stood still, never taking his eyes off of hers; her pupils now happened to be narrow like a cat's. Ed could not help but be baffled and compelled by her behavior, as well as her change of eyes. They were not just cat-like, but they also changed to a red color. Concerned over her safety, and worrying over a possible loss of sanity, Ed had to move a little further forward.
"Are you all right, Han?"
You idiot! Get out of here, now! Han pleaded in her head, knowing full well she could not even speak. Ed made one final step closer before Han's body twitched. She lunged at him, grabbing his throat instantly. She tries so hard to regain control of her body, but it all was in vain; she could not move her hands one inch. All she could do was just watch as her own hands were draining the life out of her beloved teacher.
Damn! I'm sorry Ed! I tried so hard to stop, but I can't do a thing!
"Sensei!" A voice came out from outside the room. Marcia stood at the doorstep. She only had to look at the scenario before her for a split-second before she knew there was trouble; she reacted quickly. The bronze goddess ran up to Han at lightning speed and gave her a well-placed slap to the face. Han fell face-first into the ground.
As she lied there, she could feel herself recovering. Her eyesight blurred a little and the noise around her was getting softer. Once more, she tried to take control of her body. This time, she was successful; she could move her right index finger. Silently thanking God above, she quickly but steadily stood up.
"Sometimes, she gets out of control." Marcia said. "Sorry about that. Are you all right?"
Ed, however, was shaken as he was still on all fours. In those long and winding seconds, he swore that she was going to kill him. If it wasn't for Marcia, it would not have been long before his lungs ran out of air. He was dazed and confused now; so much has happened, he could barely even keep track of it all.
Marcia lent him her hand. "Need help, Sensei?"
The older Elric willingly accepted her hand. The bronze goddess gave him a good pull and let him up. He wanted to ask her, even though he was aware that she might not have the answer.
"Do you know what's wrong with her, Del Rey-san?"
"Not sure what you mean." She replied, much to Ed's diasppointment.
"Never mind, then. Let's just help Han out and get back to class. Hopefully, it's not over." Ed was about to walk towards the shaken girl until he heard...
"Wait a second."
Ed turned back to see that the voice was Marcia's. "You need something?"
"Just a word for the wise."
"Eh?"
"Don't ever mention Han's mother in front of her."
Ed paused for a few seconds and looked at her. He did not have the heart to tell her that he already did today. On the other hand, he was pretty sure that Marcia may have already known that. He did not want to go any deeper into the matter, so he just complied. "Right."
Lesson 4 End
So, what do you think? Any comment is appreciated.
(Next Time)
Fullmetal Sensei Edward Elric! Lesson 5
Weekend at Lebia's Part I
Lebia's a strong girl. I know that one day, she'll grow up to be a fine State Alchemist. However, that path is not without its obstacles, and she has many she must overcome --- including her mother. A difference in opinions makes things difficult for her. I just hopes she does the right thing.
-Alphonse Elric