A Land Divided in Three
Chapter 2: An unlucky alchemist
A/N: This and maybe one more chapter should be enough to conclude Ed's team. That's when the story should begin to pick up, oh and for anyone reading this story, sorry it took awhile. I wanted to see if anymore support would roll in. Sorry if there are grammer problems or anything of the sort.
"I'm really getting sick of trains…" Ed sighed slightly idly tapping his hand against the glass window, the first members of his team insisted on taking a separate car in order to reduce suspicion…but that's what he got for picking such a stern person like Maria Ross. "Its better then walking though…even if it is a little quiet these days." A low meow was heard, the metal form of al instantly stiffening when his brothers stern face turned towards him.
"Al I better not is hearing a cat coming from you." When his brother started inching away from him he lunged at him "Give me that cat al!" The entire train shook while the elrics fought amongst themselves not even noticing the two men opening the compartment door dressed in red military uniform "Mr. Elric" The brothers froze in there places almost instantly, the small brown cat dashing out the open door to escape the noise "What the hell do you bozos want?"
"Ed be nice!" waving his hand dismissively towards his brother as he watched the two men suspiciously allow there guns to show. "CommanderFrank Archerwould like you to immediately head for riol for a small…chat" When ed showed no interest in accepting there offer they both let out a small sigh pulling out there guns quickly "Don't try that alchemy crap, these are armor piercing bullets, more then capable of going through armor or that auto mail"
Sitting back down in his seat Ed sighed, either they would be kidnapped or there team would save them. He couldn't have been more off in terms of what would happen "So what, you're going to kill me? Or kidnap me maybe? Does archer need support that bad?" moving towards him one of the officers glared "Don't you dare talk about commander archer in such disrespect!" Attempting a punch he stopped in mid swing when a large suitcase popped open revealing Major Armstrong.
Staring with wide eyes and mouth open Ed watched asthe oversixed alchemistflexed his muscles, the iron knuckles attached to his hands sending one flying while the second dropped to the ground in fear "You dare attempt to strike at one of the amazing Elric brothers! Children are the future of this world, and as one of the famous Armstrong line it is my sacred duty to protect them from harm!" Flexing his muscles a second time small pink sparkles surrounded his head.
"How the hell did you even fit in that suitcase! You're more then twice its size god damit!" Picking up the still conscious lackey of archer, Armstrong kindly stuffed him in the same suitcase that had held the good major "Those of the Armstrong family have many talents! When mustang ordered me to protect you on your important mission I knew I must be as secretive as possible in order to surprise these common thugs!" It was about now Ross stormed in, slightly disappointed in herself that she failed to take down the thugs herself, but settled for tying up the one still outside a suitcase. The audible yells of one could be heard from inside the luggage, screaming about how it smelt like sweat.
(Train station)
Leaving the soldiers in the train to be foundat another time, there still small team now one member larger stepped off into the cool summer breeze ofed's home town, a place he would always love the scenery in. "Brother, are we really going to take winry along on the mission…" Nodding slowly he told his three military friends to stay at the local inn, since he would spend the night over at pinakos with auto mail repairs "I don't have a choice al…if I need repairs during the mission I can't just come back here. I don't want to put her in any danger…but if she doesn't want to go I won't push her, so don't worry!"
Lugging his bag over his shoulder, Ed sighed "Hey look there it-"Clunk "What's the big-"Clunk "Ow stop-"Clunk. Three wrenches hurled in perfect intervals collided with his head, causing him to fall over, three throbbing bumps on his forehead and somehow no blood. "That's for not even sending a dam letter in four months Edward! I went easy on you!" The blond huffed her annoyance crossing her arms before blowing one of her bangs out of her eyes. "Now come inside so I can see what kind of damage I need to fix now"
Helping his abused brother up, al had to hold back the smallest chuckle from the way winry treated him. It was obvious to almost anyone that she liked him, except Ed of course who kept all sense of happy emotions locked away until needed. They made there way into the old house,and as always it was the same besides for the smallestchanges.No matter what, for the elrics it was a hidden sanctuary where they could be themselves away from wars.
Sitting in an old rocking chair pinako smirked from behind her pipe "Well if it isn't the shortest alchemist" Twitching Ed glared at her "Hey! Who are you calling a boy so short he can fit between the grates of a vent?" Laughing for a moment the old woman put aside her pipe "Honestly ed, some of the things you come up with. Winrys down stairs, come on al let's go shopping" She left with the metal body trailing close behind.
"Stupid hag…I'll show her one day, I'll be like 7 feet tall! And then she will regret it, and I can laugh and laugh…oh who am I kidding. I'm dam short!" Heading down into the basement, which also served as Winrys workshop he placed his bag down, smiling sheepishly towards her stern face. "Hold out your arm Edward…" Hesitating a moment he did as she requested, pulling back the sleeve which revealed a huge dent in the architecture, and of course the few gears and screws that were popping out. "Um…I can explain, see this really big guy tried to kill me, and he had this gigantic war hammer. And the only way to not get crushed was to block with the arm and uh…"
That defiantly didn't seem to help things as her anger built and built "You used MY auto mail that I made with all my ability to block a WAR HAMMER! Do you have any idea how much one of those weighs! Did you think even MY auto mail could block such a thing! It could, but I have to know a head of time Ed, why do you do this to me!" In truth she was very glad her auto mail had saved his life, even if it did take some damage. Every time he came back to her she spent her time and effort, and usually her nights working and putting together the perfect auto mail with all her love and care just for him. She didn'tdo anything of the sort for regular customers, but he would always be way to dense and preoccupied to notice…didn't mean she couldn't wait right?
"I'm really sorry win! I couldn't help it you know? I have a lot of stuff to do and obligations…but I brought you a present!" This seemed to calm her down slightly, his slightly nervous stare watching her face twist from anger, to confusion, and finally curiosity. "A present…ed…you bought a present for me?" She wiped her eyes with the excuse she needed to get some oil off her face "Alright let's see it then"
Digging through his bag quickly he pulled out a new shiny wrench, on the side was her name. "The guy I ordered it from said it had like 16 different features and you could customize the size or something…I didn't really understand it but it sounded kind of cool. I had to special order one to get the name though" Now a wrench wouldn't be considered a great present in most cases, but a wrench to winry was better then gold. And just the fact Ed had bought her anything made it seem like a diamond.
After several long moments of silence she finally snatched the wrench from his hands, turning her back to him to stare at it with a gleam in her eyes. It really was a nice wrench, and it must have costed a lot since it had all kinds of adoptability. Actually it beat any wrench she had by a long shot, they barley made enough to buy food since they gave ed free auto mail and the military only paid a percentage of it, so she rarely had money for high end equipment. Even when Ed let her have a shopping spree on the militaries dime, she still tried to stay with basic needs and a few extras so as to not be a burden on him. "Well…uh it's alright…I guess I'm not that mad at you then…"
Sighing slowly she turned back to Ed trying her best not to look ecstatic about her gift, and simply remain neutral. "Well let's see what I can do about this arm…let me guess, a rush job right?" He nodded slowly, and after telling her he wanted it over night she thought about hitting him with the wrench he gave her. After studying the damage to his arm she discovered it wasn't too bad, it really only needed a new frame a few adjustments and parts "Alright I can have it over night…"
"Um…there's one more thing Win…I was wondering if you would consider coming on my next mission with me. I can't give you the details yet, but um if I need repairs I can't come back…" He didn't have to continue since winry had practically cut him off to accept the offer. She had wished she could join him on countless occasions, just to make sure he took care of himself, but anytime she asked he would simply say it was to dangerous.
When al returned from the market he found an unusually excited winry, and Ed was still alive lying on the couch in the living room "Brother did you ask her yet?" Turning his head towards al he shook his temporary replacement arm "Yeah, she wants to come with us. So we will head to Aquroya next, it should still be above water"
"Aquroya? Who are we going to recruit there…I don't remember you mentioning anyone there. Is it that inspector we met? Wait you don't mean…" With a smirk ed nodded, sitting up on the couch "That's right, we are going to pay Clara a little visit and see if she will lend us her card tricks" he still remembered that thief and her tricks, oh he remembered that adventure well. His first encounter with a woman for an enemy, and he finally captured her even if she did trick him a few times. He wondered if that letter he got would be enough to get her out of jail, if she didn't escape that is.
The brothers heard the old woman call them for dinner, and al was blown away when Ed flew by to his seat at the table. Followed shortly by al, who although couldn't eat just wanting to be around company, to keep memories alive. As Ed immediately begin digging into his food the younger brother sighed "Pinako, are you sure winry should come with us…your going to let her?"
"Of course I don't want her to go, but she's more stubborn then Edward here. That and she's already packing five suitcases. Besides its hard enough watching your granddaughter sleeping by the window waiting for you two to come back" The fork in Ed's mouth stopped for a moment before he mumbled through the food "Winry sleeps by the window?"
There conversation was quickly drowned out by the mechanic herself "Hey! I'm downstairs packing things, and you people go and start dinner without me!" As her favorite alchemist tried to explain through his still full mouth she sat down glaring over at him, but lucky for him she was still excited about the present he gave her "Oh shut that mouth and chew will you?"
(Next morning)
"Brother come on! Wake up Ed! We're going to miss the train!" Al had tried for the last hour to get him up, but unfortunately due to Winrys rush job, she had him up till three in the morning finishing, and reconnecting his arm. With only six hours sleep he simply rolled around and grunted at every attempt to wake him…that was until winry came in. "What's taking so long!"
"Ed won't get up, he just keeps trying to sleep more" He watched in pure amusement when winry dragged him out of bed, fought with him to let go of the pillow, rolled around on the ground practically wrestling over the pillow, and end in an awkward position causing them to both blush a bright red and scatter to opposite ends of the room "Ok ok I'm up!"
Forced downstairs the slumping alchemist grumbled the whole way, pulling on his red coat slowly he tripped over the 6 large bags at the bottom of the stairs, landing face first in the floor "Ow! What's with all these bags! Winry please tell me you don't plan to bring all this!" Staring at him innocently she smiled "Of course I am Ed, it could be a long trip so I packed a bunch of clothes and other things. I needed three bags for auto mail parts; you never know what kind of damage you will cause to it after all. So come on, if you two can lug it to the station I'm sure Armstrong can handle most of it. You said he was coming right?"
With no small amount of complaints Ed stuffed two bags into al's chest plate, lugged one on his back and one in his hands. Al carried the fifth under his arm, and winry happily carried the smallest and lightest bag. "You're going to be the death of me winry!" refusing to respond to him she walked by him waving her hand "Come on boys, we don't want to be late"
Maria Ross tapped her foot impatiently while staring at her watch "They tell us to meet them at 9, and there a half hour late. Not only that the train is getting ready to leave" Kicking the bench, the tired Denny jumped up from his nap "Aw come on, stop pestering me. I'm here aren't I?" looking out towards the small town he slowly raised his finger "Isn't that them…? Dragging those bags?"
Armstrong smiled with a loud laugh "Look how strong the young elrics have gotten! Carrying such big luggage for a woman like that!" Tears streamed down the giants face "They make me so proud!" His speech didn't impress Ed, the young alchemist quickly yelling for them to come take some of the weight off him and his metal brother.
A/N: Yes look, armstrong can be more wierd then he usually is. Thanks to me atleast, anyway review if you can. Might motivate me to actually update in a good amount of time.