Thanks for the review! It was in the middle of the night when I posted the story up and I forgot to put the disclaimer on the first chappy.
Ed- You never think in the middle of the night.
I know, but I really wanted to post that chapter before I went to bed.
Ed-Just don't write in the middle of the night or no one will understand you.
I'm not, well now on with chapter two! Disclaimer please.
Ed- alchemist fan1, wait what up with your name?
It's stupid I know, now please continue
Ed- alchemist fan1 doesn't own The Outsiders, or Fullmetal Alchemist, thank god,
S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders, and Hiromu Arakawa owns FMA
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Poor Alchemy
Chapter 2: Studying Alchemy
Sarah and I had finished our book debate, and by no surprise I got over an A, and A+ to be more exact. I won't have any trouble passing English this year. The school day had just ended and it was already the weekend again. I guess the week flies by when you're working on nothing but homework. I don't even remember the last time I watched TV. I arrived at my house very soon and already started on my homework before Darry had even gotten home. He came into the house quietly took his shoes off, grabbed today's newspaper and took a seat in the armchair. I got my homework completed a little before 7:00. I would have completed it earlier but I couldn't get anywhere with it when Two-bit was here. Soda went to bed quite early that night, 8:00 to be exact. Darry went to bed early too. I was planning on staying up all night reading that alchemy book Sarah let me borrow.
At around 2:00 in the morning, I heard Soda tossing in the bed and yawning.
"Pony, your still up? It's 2 in the morning you need to sleep, I think your homework can wait another 8 hours." I was almost finished with the book and had notes everywhere. After reading the first five pages I decided it would be best if I took notes because I couldn't really understand it. It made some sense but I was still at a loss with all of it.
I decided I should get some sleep, I'm probably not making any sense anyway and might make some mistakes on reading. I undressed myself and fell on top of Soda's and mine bed. I was still thinking though, one way that book didn't make sense is that if all that in it was true then there'd be no god. Even though I don't go to church anymore I still believe in him and there's no way he doesn't exist. It wasn't long before I fell into a deep slumber……
(no particular pov)
"So… If you pray and polish the altar enough times, someone who's dead will be brought back to life?"
"Something like that."
"Water, 35 liters; Carbon, 20 kilograms; ammonia, 4 liters, lime, 1.5 kilograms; phosphorous, 800 grams; salt, 250 grams; saltpeter, 100 grams; sulfur, 80 grams; fluorine, 7.5; iron, 5, silicon, 3 grams; and trace amounts of fifteen other elements."
"What's that?"
"It's all the ingredients of the average human body, down to the last specks of protein in your eyelashes. And even though science has given us the entire physical breakdown, there's never been a successful attempt at bringing a human to life. There's still something missing, something scientists haven't been able to find in centuries of research. So what makes you think that hack-job priest with his parlor tricks is going to be able to? And in case you're wondering, all those ingredients can be bought on a child's allowance. Humans can be built on the cheap- there's no magic to it."
"Well, if there's no magic… Then you bring someone back to life!"
"just a matter of time, Rose- Science will find a way… Science is the answer to everything… if I were you, I'd drop the scriptures and pick up an alchemy book. We're the closest thing to gods there are."
"You're not a god. You're nothing close to it."
"And neither is the sun. It's just a mass of hydrogen. Get to close to it like Cornello claims, and all you'll do is burn up."
"What are you thinking about brother?" asked a boy about the age of 16, he had short dirty blonde hair (thanks to a major haircut) and dark green eyes- almost brown.
"Nothing Al." answered his older brother only a year older then his brother. He had about shoulder's length of golden hair carefully placed in a braid. To match his golden hair he had golden eyes that has seen already too much in his lifetime.
"I know you better then that Ed. You're thinking about something, what is it?" Ed sighed.
"It's been three to four years since that day."
"What day is that?"
"The day we met Rose. I was thinking about our conversation just before Cray shot your helmet off."
"I remember. Why are thinking about it, brother?"
"I don't know, maybe I'm just wondering what would have happened if we never went to Liore. What would have happened if we just let them be."
"Brother, it's not your fault. You didn't know Dante would use Rose the way she did, we both know that."
"I know, it's just-" Al looks down at Edward staring at both his hands "I wonder, if their lives would be better off if we never showed Cornello as a sham. Just let things be." Ed looks up at the ceiling, closes his eyes, and began to form a slight grin.
"Now what are you smiling about brother?"
"Just about some paperwork I never handed into Mustang." Al began to smile at this and looked out the window. What he saw was hundreds of miles of ocean water. Al began to get nausea and went to sit down on the bed.
Recently Edward and Alphonse Elric left their current quarters in Munich, Germany. Ed thought that it would be like old times, traveling the world with his little brother. But this time it would be for fun, and he wouldn't have to worry about all the dangers that they use to put themselves into to restore Ed's lost limbs and Al's body. Although Al had regained the body he lost, Ed had only gained his left leg back and his right arm still remained automail. Automail… automail is what engineers developed to enable people with lost limbs to replace and still use with great function what they had lost, and unfortunately it is only available in his original world. Even though if Ed broke his automail he would not be able to fix it. Reason be, is he doesn't have the skill to and his automail mechanist is currently in his own world. Even if he were back in his own world, if he broke it he would get a wrench in his face.
(author's note) For all you readers out there that have never seen FMA I'll explain some stuff real quick. Edward and Alphonse's world is kind of like a parallel universe but not so much. You see there is one thing separating it and that is the Gate. The Gate is not so much a gate but two gigantic doors with millions of things inside of it. The only time anyone has ever seen it would be if they performed a human transmutation (which you'll learn about in upcoming chapters). Ed has seen the gateway several times (around 6-9) while Al has seen much less. What happened to Ed, and other characters in the FMA series when they first experienced the gate for the first time is something like a vast information about alchemy was being implanted directly into their brain ('cept Al). You'll learn more about the gate separating the two worlds, Ed and Al, alchemy, and human transmutations in later chapters.
"Brother?" Al said looking out the window once more.
"yeah Al?" Ed questioned and laid down on his current bed with his arms crossed behind his head.
"What do you think America is like?"
"I don't know. From what I've heard it kind of sounds a more modern version of back home. I've read that there's miles upon miles of outstretched farmland, kind of like Risenble, huge cities like Central, tourist hotspots like Aquorya." Al went and sat down on the bed opposite of Ed's. Al perked up.
"Do you think we'll see anybody?"
"hmm, what do you mean?"
"Like altars from our world?"
"I don't know."
"Think about it brother, it would kind of be nice to see someone. Like Lt. Hawkeye, or maybe even the Tringham brothers." At the sound of the Tringham brothers Ed opened his eyes back up and thought about it. And closed his eyes again.
"Just as long as the imposter doesn't call me short."
"He has a name brother, Russell. And his little brother Fletcher."
"Yeah, how can I forget that?" Ed said sarcastically.
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Back in Ponyboy's POV
I awoke earlier then usual this morning considering how late I stayed up. I got dressed and headed out to the kitchen. When I got out there I was surprised to find Steve sleeping on our couch. This is the first time it's happened since Johnny, and Dally died…
I walked by Soda who was at the kitchen table reading the paper. I headed towards the fridge and opened it, taking the carton of milk out and looking for a clean glass. Once I poured the rest of the milk into my glass I went rummaging through the icebox hoping to find a piece of chocolate cake, no luck.
It wasn't till I was just about finished with my milk that the silence was finally broken with Two-bit crashing though the door…
The sound of the door slamming open made everyone jump, especially Steve who looked like he about had a heart attack.
"You know Two-bit, you can try to make a more silent entrance." Steve said shooting him a death glare.
"You know that's not my style, the entrance wherever you go is very important, it's kind of like first impressions." Two-bit finished his wisdom with a finger up in the air like he was scolding someone and teaching them the right way to do things. I started laughing until milk about started to come out of my nose, which wasn't very long.
Two-bit then started going on telling Steve this story about perfect entrances, but he wasn't listening. I glanced towards Soda,
"Hey Soda, you and Steve working today?"
"I am, Steve's still working on Two-bit's car." Once Two-bit heard his name he immediately stopped with story time and began to talk to Steve about his 'car issues'.
"I thought you said it would be ready by today!"
"I ran into some problems last night."
"Like what?"
"My old man got mad I was using his paint, yelled at me, and now you're stuck with supplying the money to buy new paint."
"wait, I thought you said that you were using your dad's paint."
"I was until he painted the sidewalk. He blamed me as usual, I really didn't want to be there while he was drunk and in a pissy mood so I left. I just hope that nothing happened to your car!" Everyone but Two-bit smiled and I most definitely got a kick out of that. They're conversation ended with that because Soda started to talk.
"Hey Two-bit, do you think you can watch Ponyboy for the day. You guys can go to the movies or whatever."
"yeah, sure."
"Here's a 20 to get you both in and maybe get some cokes."
Not to long later, Steve left to work on Two-bit's car after he was annoyed of the Mickey Mouse rerun that he swore was on at least twice a week. I went to my room and looked over the notes I took from the book last night.
-Equivalent Exchange: To obtain, something of equal value must be lost . That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. (that was mentioned quite a few times, equivalent exchange)
-In order to perform alchemy, an array (transmutation circle) must be made carrying the characteristics of the transmutation occurring.
-Alchemy can be used to reform objects, and create, if given the right materials….
The list of notes went on.
I thought it was quite interesting anyway. Alchemy. I thought how it would make the world such a better place. Then realized that people could use it to cause pain and misery for others.
Once Two-bit and I were walking towards the movies (yeah, we didn't have a car to drive.) I noticed someone familiar, it was Sarah. Oh please don't let her see me. Oh crap she spotted me.
"Ponyboy, wait up!" I didn't stop walking. She started to run and almost tripped. Two-bit looked back at her and started to snicker.
"Pony, did you like the alchemy book?"
"So far, yeah. I can't understand some of it but I think I got a pretty good idea about the subject so far."
"Do you want more books on it?"
"You have more?"
"Yeah, about 6 more, you can keep them too if you like."
"Really? You sure?"
"Totally, I've read them dozens of times but I can't make anything out of 'em. They'd be better use to you, you at least understand them."
"I don't think I can. I'll just buy my own."
"No, I don't mind, I remember everything I read. See, I have a photographic memory and I remember what is on every page." Heh, no wonder she remembered that book from elementary school.
"And besides, one, you can't find books about it in the United States, and second of all you couldn't afford them. No offence."
"none taken."
"I'll have my grams drop them off at your house later, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks." After that she went back to going on her walk.
"So," Two-bit started "what movie you want to see?"
"I don't know, anything I guess."
"'Cept romance flicks, they make me cry." I gave him a strange look at the last part of his sentence.
"Fine, fine, they don't make me cry, I was just messin with ya Ponyboy."
Once the movie ended I headed home, Darry said that Mrs. Trenman had already stopped by and dropped off books. I was actually kind of glad being able to read more books on the subject. When the movie was over I couldn't stop thinking about it, I don't know if it's cause the movie we saw was a sci-fi flick or cause I wanted to know more on the subject, it's just hard to explain.
Needless to say, I was in my room the rest of the weekend.
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Hope you liked the second chapter
Ed- I know I sure did, I was finally in it! But what's the deal with the author's note in the middle of it?
I just thought I'd try explaining alchemy and other things a little bit.
Ed- ookay.
Please leave a review, it makes me really happy. And if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!