Thomas stood in his hotel room, packing as much stuff as he could into a single suitcase. The yellow kitten meowed, jumping onto the mass of clothes. The man chuckled, picking the cat up. He scratched its ears and it purred lovingly, rubbing its head against his hand.
"You can't come with, kitten." He said to the yellow bundle of cuteness in his hands. "I'll have to see if one of the other officers can take care of you." He sighed, setting the kitten on the bed. "I don't know who would, seeing as Black Hayate is living there with Hawkeye."
Thomas finished packing, closing his suitcase with a satisfying click. All he needed were a few sets of clothing, some money and an alchemy book or two. He packed himself a small bundle of food, just in case he got stranded for some strange reason.
Feeling he had everything he needed, Thomas picked up his suitcase and the kitten before locking the door behind him. He gave the key to the woman behind the lobby desk and headed out for Headquarters.
000
Thomas got about a block away, when a voice called to him.
"Thomas! Thomas!" A redhead ran up beside him. It was Dana Pinker.
She heaved a breath, coming to a walk. Thomas smiled.
"Good morning, Miss Pinker." Thomas replied, keeping his pace with hers.
"Please. It's Dana." She said. "I heard you were heading off on an assignment."
"Yes. And?" The kitten squirmed to his shoulder, its claws digging into the blue material for balance. Dana removed the kitten from his arm, stroking its head lovingly.
"And I was wondering who would take care of your adorable, little kitten..." She gave him puppy eyes.
"Well, pets aren't allowed in the dorms—"
"Say no more! I'll take care of everything!" She gave the man a quick peck on the cheek, making him blush furiously. "The little dear will be fine with me!" She started off ahead of him.
"Thanks!" He called after her, changing his direction towards the train station. He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes. He cursed under his breath and picked up his speed. His first mission as a state alchemist and he was already going to screw up! ((note: I know it's not his first assignment, but it's the first to him, because of his loss of memory.))
000
The train whistle sounded and Thomas swung himself onto the caboose of the locomotive. He went into the car and found himself a seat, tossing his suitcase in before him. He slumped down onto the bench, trying to catch his breath.
"Excuse me? Is this seat taken?"
Thomas looked up to see a girl, perhaps fifteen, pointing to the empty seat across from him. Thomas shook his head and the girl sat down.
"Did that hurt?" She asked.
"What?"
"Did that hurt? Your automail." She indicated to the visible mechanical limb of his left arm.
"Oh. Not really." He answered, closing his tired eyes.
"Are you heading to Youswell, sir?" She stared at his uniform, her eyes landing on the silver pocket watch.
"Hmm?" Thomas looked at her.
"You don't listen very well, do you?" She huffed. "To Youswell. About the outbreak there."
"Um, yeah. Pardon my lack of hearing. I just had a rough night." He shut his eyes again.
"Oh." She brushed back her short black hair with a shaky hand. "I'm Kali, by the way."
"Sergeant Major Henker. Thomas Henker." He sat up, seeing he wouldn't be getting much sleep on this trip.
"Wow. Is that the official state alchemist's watch?" She pointed to the silver chain at his hip.
"Yeah." He unclasped it, handing it to her to see.
She was in awe, tracing her fingers along the lines and curves of the watch. She looked up at the man.
"May I see inside?" Thomas didn't respond right away. Oct 3, don't forget...
He shook himself from his thoughts. "Sure."
She opened the cover, her eyes squinting in confusion. She pointed to the words.
"What does that say?" It was Thomas's turn to be confused. She couldn't read?
He took the watch from her. "'Oct 3, don't forget.'" He read.
"What does that mean?"
"It was the day..." He paused. "It was the day something terrible happened."
"Oh." She could tell he didn't want her to know what had happened. She smiled slightly, leaning back in her seat, gazing out the window.
000
The rest of the trip was quiet. Kali had gotten off in the town before Youswell. She said goodbye with cheer, but Thomas couldn't help but notice sadness behind the girl's fake smile.
"Last stop! Youswell!" The conductor shouted as the train slowed to a halt at the station.
Thomas stood, grabbing his suitcase from the seat. He stepped off onto the wooden deck of the train station, pulling his coat tighter around himself.
"Youswell..." Thomas whispered under his breath. The town seemed to be like a ghost town once again. 'The mines must not be very successful.' Thomas thought to himself, walking through the nearly-deserted streets.
"Heads up!" A voice shouted. Thomas jumped out of the way just in time as a bucket of dried cement came crashing to the ground. A boy, perhaps sixteen, looked down over the ledge. His brown hair fell over his face, shading his eyes. "Sorry 'bout that!" He called down.
"No problem!" Thomas answered. "Do you need any help up there?"
The boy's face took on a look of confusion before turning to a beaming smile. "Sure! There's a ladder over there!" The alchemist followed where he pointed, his gaze falling on a beat up ladder.
000
The sun neared the horizon once more, bringing much tire and hunger to the minds and bellies of Thomas and the boy, whom he found out, was called Kyle. Great, another vaguely familiar name and face.
Kyle offered Thomas shelter at the local inn, which had been his home since he was a small child. His father, Halling, and his mother ran the inn. Kyle helped out when he was needed, but he wanted to explore the mines more than clean a dirty floor.
Thomas pushed through the door of the inn and took a seat at one of the vacant tables. His gloves and face were covered with dirt, but he just brushed it away with a white sleeve. He sighed, looking the inn over.
There were a few tables scattered around what seemed to be the lobby, and a single desk stood at the far end of the room, a woman behind it, looking over papers. She glanced up, seeing him and smiled.
"Welcome, sir." She said in a cheerful voice. "Can I get you anything?"
"Some food would be nice." Thomas placed a hand on his grumbling stomach.
"Me and Mr. Thomas Henker here were just finishing some work on one of the new houses." Kyle said proudly.
"Oh, you didn't have to help—"
"It was nothing, ma'am." The man held up a hand.
"Thank you, sir." She put a hand on her breast. "You were hardly in town for ten minutes and you still helped a working man without even knowing his name."
"Just doing my duty, ma'am."
"What's that?" The door opened again and a tall, burly man stepped in, pulling his work gloves off. He spotted Thomas at the table and a wide smile came over his face.
"A visitor! Well, let's get him some food!" He clapped his hand on the alchemist's shoulder. "I'm Halling. I run the inn here."
"Halling?" Thomas whispered to himself. He looked up to the man. "Do you, by chance, remember a state alchemist by the name of Edward Elrich?"
Halling was taken back. He sighed. "Yeah, he was a true alchemist of the people. He helped save the inn once, long ago."
Halling began the long story. Thomas listened, his eyes watching the man intently, gathering every word he spoke.
000
Halling finished near twenty minutes later and Thomas was in shock. Had he really done all that? It was coming back to him slowly. He sat back in his chair, wiping his mouth with the back of his glove.
"How much is a room for the night?" Thomas asked, glancing over at Halling as he took a sip from his glass.
"Well, it used to be 2K, but nobody could afford that, so..." He thought about it for a minute. "Five hundred dollars."
Thomas choked on his water, falling from his chair. He stood hastily, brushing the dust from his coat.
"You okay?" Kyle asked, leaning over the table.
"I'm fine." Thomas replied, pulling his money pouch from his pocket. He extracted the bills from the pouch and handed them to Halling. He smiled, letting out a hearty laugh.
"Thank you, Mr. Henker! We'll get your room ready right away!"
"What brings you to Youswell?" Halling's wife asked from behind the lobby desk.
"Military business. An inspection on the coalmines." Thomas grabbed up his suitcase.
"I figured as much." Halling scoffed. "No State Alchemist comes here for a pleasure cruise." Thomas looked confused. Halling pointed to the pocketwatch chain that hung at his hip. His hand immediately went to the watch, pulling it out.
"Of course." He had forgotten it was still there. He had wondered how the man knew. He wasn't wearing any part of his uniform—except for the pocketwatch.
His fingers traced over the lion detail on the cover. 'Alchemist be thou for the people...' The phrase kept crossing through his mind. Was he really the Edward Elrich? The alchemist for the people?
"Mr. Thomas, sir?" Kyle placed a hand on the alchemist's arm.
"I'm fine." He shook him off and went to the stairs before looking back to Halling's wife. "Ma'am, if you would kindly..."
"Of course, dear." She followed after him in silence.
000
I know you were expecting a new chapter, but with how this one ended, I hit a major blockage. I rewrote a bit and I shall get the next chapter up quickly!