Yep, I'm back for chapter 3! And just so you know, when I switched scenes from Ed and Kararu to Mustang, Hawkeye and Al, it was a two and a half hour switch! Just getting that straight! Go ahead and go read please!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own Kararu and Shikou (even though she belongs to a friend) Rinamino.
Loosing the Sight
Chapter 3: Why She's Also Called 'The Visions Alchemist'
"Mustang, what are you going to do?" Hughes asked as he ran down the hall to catch up with Mustang.
"I'm going to call Wolf and Demon right now to see if the person that is staying with them is named Edward. It is possible that he has amnesia, though I have no idea of why he would be blind, but if it is him, then the girls are in grave danger because the Homunculi have probably already figured out where he is and are going there to finish him off and get the stone that he probably has with him." Mustang said as he walked briskly back to his office.
"Mustang, calm down! If you're this uptight, imagine how much you'll beat yourself up if it's not him." Hughes continued.
"Hughes, you know how much I care for Edward as a son, but I care for those girls even more. I was best friends with their mother before she was murdered. If Edward is with them, we'll have to get someone there right away and-"
"Roy, you know that it takes two days by train to get from here to Ileki."
"I don't care! If it means that I have to walk the entire way, I will do it!"
"Roy…"
"Hughes, don't even start with me right now, I'm not in the mood."
"Roy, listen to me!" Hughes said. Mustang stopped and turned to face the Brigadier General. "You can call, but we'll still have to send someone out there. If you think too much ahead, you'll only hit crisis and total chaos when something goes wrong. Just call them, and if it is him, then we can get on a train and meet them there."
"Your right…still, I'm going to call them now." Mustang said, then whipped around and started walking briskly towards his office again. Once they reached it, Mustang opened the door, let Hughes in behind him, then locked the door once it was shut. Hughes looked at him confused, but Mustang just shook his head. Mustang walked over to his desk where he picked up the receiver of the phone off its cradle.
"Central Military Headquarters Front Desk, this is Sciezka speaking."
"Sciezka, this is Mustang. Could you do something for me?"
"Anything sir."
"Patch me through to the Rinamino residence."
"Right away sir."
Mustang's hand twitched nervously as his fingers started to intertwine themselves with the phone cord. The ringing started on the line and Mustang sat up. After about thirty seconds of the on and off ringing, and he started to get impatient.
"Pick up, damn it!" Mustang said as the on and off ringing continued to play. After another minute of waiting, he slammed the receiver back on the cradle. "Damn it!"
"No one answered?"
"No one. Hughes, get Hawkeye to pack her a bag. You need to pack one as well. We're leaving. When is the next train out of here to Risembool?"
"In half an hour." Hughes answered.
"All right, we're taking that train. Hughes, call your wife and tell her what's going on. I'll meet both you and Hawkeye at the train station in twenty minutes, agreed?"
"Yes sir." Hughes said, then saluted.
Once Hughes had unlocked the door and walked out, Mustang slumped down in his chair for a minute. "Why me…"
XxXxXxXxXxXx
xxFive Minutes Beforexx
Ed felt that it had been about three hours since he had last talked to Kararu, so he made his way out to the tree, being careful not to trip on the roots again. He had been sitting against the trunk for about fifteen minutes when he heard someone walking towards him.
"There you are Ed; I've been looking for you for half an hour. Where've you been?" He heard Kararu ask.
"I was inside until fifteen minutes ago, then I came out here." Ed said.
"Oh…Ed, we can't go to the lake tonight." He heard Kararu say.
"Why?" Ed asked, confused. He felt her soft hand grip his and pull him upright.
"I'll tell you when we get inside." Kararu said, then she led him back over to the house and stepped inside.
"Kararu, what's wrong?" Ed asked her once he heard the door shut. Then, he heard how still the house was. "Kararu, where's Shikou? Is she all right?"
"Well…you see…" Kararu said.
"Where is she?" Ed demanded.
"She's in the living room."
"Take me to her. Now." Ed said. Kararu took his hand again and walked him down the hall a short way and into the living room, and over to where Ed knew the couch was.
"Shikou?" Ed asked after hearing her even breathing. "Shikou." Ed said, then reached out and touched her knee. "Shikou!" Ed said while he shook her leg, yet her breathing pattern didn't change. "Kararu, why isn't she responding to me?"
"Well…there is a reason why the military also calls her the 'Visions Alchemist'. As we've told you before, we're high parts of the military. I am the Demon Alchemist, and Shikou is the Wolf Flame Alchemist, both in the ranks of Brigadier General. I can transform into a demon and Shikou and turn into a wolf, and also shoot flames like bullets using alchemy.
"When we were in Central, which is the home of the State Alchemist headquarters, we, as in Shikou and I, were sitting in Mustang's office and she just spaced out. I tried to wake her up, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get her to wake up, so I eventually just gave up. I called Mustang in, and we brought her to Mustang's dorm for the moment.
"About five hours later, she woke up, screaming about an explosion, and we ran in to see what was wrong. She said that she had seen an explosion, and was screaming that we needed to get out of there before anything bad happened to us. Then, a moment later, there was a loud boom, and the building around us exploded, and all three of us were buried in the rubble, but fortunately for us, there was a man named Armstrong, a bit of a show off if you ask me, dug us out. We all sustained injuries, ranging from Shikou's scratches to my broken leg and bruises. We never found the source of the explosion or any logical cause for it.
"Then, another time, she spaced out, and I just left her alone. She woke up about ten minutes later, asking me about some guy named Alphonse, telling me that Mustang was looking for him. I didn't know what she was taking about. Five minutes later, Mustang walked in and asked if we had seen a guy named Alphonse. We told him no, and he walked out. Her seeing the future has happened on a few other occasions, but it hasn't happened in a while.
"When she's like this, she's vulnerable to anything, so I have to keep an eye on her when she's in this condition. There's no telling how long she'll be like this, because the longest she's been out was a day, and another time was only three minutes. She could also be out for longer. No one really knows. Somehow, word got out in the military that she could see the future, so she gained her unofficial title, 'the Visions Alchemist'. Pretty interesting, huh?" Kararu said, finishing her small tale.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that…" Ed said. "So…what are we going to do?"
"I'm not sure…I guess all that we really can do is just sit around here…"
"Uh…Kararu?"
"Yes?"
"Um…uh…I…uh…oh, never mind…"
"You sure you don't want to tell me?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay…"
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Sir, are you sure you want to spend two days on a train sitting on our butts following a simple hunch?"
"It has to be him Hawkeye! Who else could it be?"
"Someone that looks and dresses like Ed?"
Mustang sighed. He knew that Hawkeye could bait him and he couldn't evade her traps, no matter how much he tried.
"Let's just go, and if not, it'll be a little getaway."
"With Hughes here sir?"
"Yes, with Hughes…at least he'll keep us company…and Hawkeye, please don't shoot me like our last train ride…the other officers thought someone was trying to murder me."
"In point of fact, sir, I was trying to murder you."
"Why? I never did figure out what I said to make you so angry!"
"You started talking about your love life with that 'Stephanie' girl before you found me."
"Oh, is that what it was?"
At the look Hawkeye gave Mustang, it made him shut up and laugh nervously.
"Well, hello again!"
They both turned around to see Hughes walking towards them with a suitcase in hand.
"Ah, Brigadier Hughes." Hawkeye said. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Yes. I've just said goodbye to my little Alicia. She gave me a picture and-" Hughes said as he started to dig in his pocket…no doubt looking for the picture.
"We get it Hughes. You can show us on the train. It leaves in three minutes." Mustang said with a sigh.
"Are you sure you don't want to see it now?"
"Yes, I'm quite sure. Hawkeye agrees with me, don't you?" Mustang turned to Hawkeye with a look that clearly stated 'please say you agree!'
"I agree with Mustang. Now, shall we get onto the train before it leaves without us?" Hawkeye said, Mustang letting out a sigh of relief.
"Yes." Mustang said, then picked up his suitcase and tried to take Hawkeye's from her hand.
"Uh, sir, I can carry my own suitcase." Hawkeye said.
"I know." Mustang grinned at her. "But I want to carry it for my sweetie."
"Okay." Hawkeye said, letting go of the bag. She had to try hard to keep from laughing as Mustang's arm shot to ground along with the suitcase.
"Damn it Hawkeye, what do you have in here?" Mustang said as he tried to lift it, but it fell to the ground after lifting it about ten inches.
"Well, let's see…shirts, pants, shoes, hair pins, rifle, pistol, hand gun, machine gun, bullets, eye scope, an extra pistol, more bullets…" Hawkeye said through her laughter, counting off on her fingers all the things she said, and was about to continue, but Mustang stopped her.
"Okay, that's enough. You can finish the list on the train once Hughes shows us his pictures. Just pick it up and bring it for now."
"But I thought my honey was going to carry it for me." Hawkeye put on cute, adorable little puppy dog eyes…the only way she could have done better was if she had gotten a puppy Black Hayate and put the puppy in front of her face.
"Mustang, my man…she got you good." Hughes said as he patted Mustang on the shoulder. "She's got you cornered. You better listen and do what she says if you want the chance to woo her."
"Rot in hell…" Mustang growled to Hughes, then summoned up all his might and picked up the suitcase. Amazingly, he was able to stand evenly. Now…for the hard part: taking the first step.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"So…your telling me she could be like this for a few days?" Ed asked.
"It's possible." Ed heard Kararu say with a sigh.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know."
"Is there anything to do other than just sit here and talk? Not that I don't mind being with you, it's just that we might get bored later." Ed said.
"I could…I could read you a book…if you like…since you can't read…" Kararu said, and Ed could sense that she was blushing.
"Um…sure…what book?" Ed asked, getting curious as he felt the blood rush to his face.
"It's called the Demon Twins." Kararu said, and Ed heard her get up and walk over to the bookshelf that she had told him about.
"Hmm…what is it about?" Ed asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"You'll find out." Kararu said, Ed sensing her grinning. "It'll take a while to read though…"
"We've got time." Ed said as he settled down in the chair as he heard Kararu take a book off of the shelf walk back over to the chair next to him.
"All right, it's time to start." Kararu said, and Ed pulled his legs up into the chair with him to put them Indian style. "In the beginning, there were two babies, both born of one mother at the same time. They were twins, and their mother named one Kararu, and the other Shikou."
"But Kararu…how is this your names?"
"Shh, let me read. I'll answer questions later."
"Fine…"
"Anyway, their parents were killed in an explosion when they were five, and had to live on their own. These girls weren't your ordinary everyday girls that you see on the street. Maybe it was their long, waist length hair at age six that gave that away. Or maybe it was Kararu's natural red streaks, or Shikou's blue hair. Maybe it was even their unnatural eye color that tipped people off. No one really knows. But somehow…word got out. Word that the City Oodami was host to demon twins…"
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"Now see, look, Alicia got Gracia to take this picture of her! She got on her bathing suit and hugged that stuffed panda bear to death even before Gracia took the photo! And now this one," Hughes said, flipping the photo to the next one in the stack, "is Alicia when…"
Hughes looked at the picture, then sweat dropped and laughed nervously as he tried to hide it, but Mustang and Hawkeye knew something was up.
"Hughes? What is that a picture of?" Mustang asked, cocking at eyebrow at him.
"Nothing, nothing at all!" Hughes said as he tried to shove it into his pocket, but Mustang grabbed it before he succeeded.
"Is that Alicia with…THROWING KNIVES?" Mustang asked, pointing at the picture. Hughes sighed.
"Yes…"
"Hughes how could you…"
"Hawkeye, you don't understand…Gracia and I walked out of the house for a moment to say hello to some old friends, and when we walked back inside, Alicia had somehow found my throwing knives, and she was throwing them at the target on the other side of the room…"
"Which was…?"
"…A small teddy bear…"
"Still, how did you take the picture then?"
"Well, Gracia keeps a camera at hand, and we found that she was throwing the knives amazingly well, hitting the target nine out of ten times, so we just let her and we took pictures. I still don't know how this one made it into the stack…" Mustang looked at it, turned it over, then started laughing hysterically.
"Sir? Are you all right?" Hawkeye asked.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Hughes…your daughter has one sense of humor." Mustang handed the picture back to Hughes. When Hughes looked at the picture confused, Mustang said, "Flip it."
Hughes turned it over. Then he saw it. There was a message on the back in Alicia's handwriting.
'Hah hah! I got Daddy in trouble! (I stuck the picture in here, by the way .) Mr. Mustang, be sure to laugh at Daddy for me! -Alicia'
Hughes sighed. "She knows me well…"
"Maybe too well." Mustang said.
"So, you two are married now, right?" Hughes asked the two as he put the pictures away.
"Yes…it wasn't very big…Edward and Alphonse were there as witnesses, but other than that, no one except for the minister." Mustang said.
"I see…"
"I'll be right back…" Hawkeye said as she got up.
"Where are you going honey?" Mustang asked, confused.
"Bathroom…" Hawkeye said, then opened the door, walked out and closed it behind her.
"So, Mustang, my old friend, are you going to be as enthusiastic and crazy about your baby as I was about mine?" Hughes asked with a sly grin. He just couldn't wait to see Mustang's reaction.
"Yeah, I guess." Mustang said from his comfortable position in the seat, then his eyes widened and he shot straight up and stared at Hughes as realization dawned on his face.
"Wait…WHAT baby?"
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
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Me: Well, that was chapter three; I hope you all liked it!
Ed: Hey, I'm tired…
Me: So?
Ed: I want to go to bed? HINT HINT
Me: So? I need you to help me with my homework!
Ed: Do it in the morning on the bus!
Me: What? No!
Al: Brother, let's just help her now so that we can go to sleep and-
Ed: Al, you're going to let her do this to us?
Al: Well why not?
Me: Yeah! Why not?
Ed: Because…because I said so! I'm going to listen to someone who's shorter than me!
Me: (-through gritted teeth while clenching fists and glaring at Ed-) I. Beg. Your. Pardon?
Ed: Uh…I said I'd be glad to listen to someone who's taller and a much nicer person than me!
Me: Oh. I thought you said something different.
Ed: Well, reviewers, for reading this and the chapter, and for reviewing last chapter, you all get eight platters of cookies and a special edition of Fullmetal Alchemist First Season Disk Set (not really…just imaginary)! (-hands stuff to reviewers-).
Me: Now help me with my homework so I can go to bed!
Ed: (-sigh-) All right…
Al: Please don't forget to review!
Join me next time for:
Chapter 4: Good Night? Yeah Right!