The Other Side of the Gate, And Across an Ocean

Chapter 3 "Camouflage"

"Ed! Al!" Chelle called out, looking all over the Food Court and peeking into other rooms. Edward was nowhere to be found. The Hughes cosplayer helped her look.

"No luck for me, either." he said, shaking his head.

"Darn! Where could he have gone!" Chelle asked herself. Then she thought of something. "I know!" she said, rather loudly.

"What? You remembered where they were?" Hughes said.

"No, but I know where to look!" and with that, Chelle took off to the nearest group of Edward cosplayers. She had asked at least three small groups befoore she came across a group of fangirls practicly fainting as they spoke of this one Ed cosplayer worthy of a look-a-like award.

"Excuse me, but have you seen an Edward Elric cosplayer running around? His name was Daniel." Chelle asked one of the breathless girls. The lady squealed and did a dance before answering.

"Yeees! I saw an AWESOME Ed cosplayer just a few minutes ago, actually, and he was with the most realistic Alphonse EVER! Eeeeee!" she said.

"Where did they go!" Chelle asked.

"Ooooh, they ran away from us..." she said sadly. "After a while we lost them in the crowd. They seemed to be heading that way." she said, pointing down the hall near the game room.

"Thanks!" Chelle said, running down to the game room. She passed a group of Als talking about how they love the scenes when Ed and Al are conversing. She asked around for a suit of armor that was real metal and a really tall Al cosplayer stepped up.

"You're Chelle right?" he said.

"Yes! Adrien, right?" Chelle asked, relieved. "Whew!"

"Uh huh. Where's E---where's Daniel?" Al asked.

"Well, did he take off to a---"

"Group of Edward cosplayers, yeah he did, but which one I don't know." Alphonse said.

"That's okay, I can help you!" Chelle said with a smile.

"Thanks!" and with that they set out. None of the groups that they had passed had an Ed that ran to them. There was one group left near the game room. It was a pretty big one, but it was worth a try.

"Excuse me...But are you Daniel?" Chelle asked at least three of them until she came to a rather intimidated, quiet and short Ed.

"Danny?" Chelle asked him. Ed looked up with wide eyes.

"Ho, God! I thought you'd never find me!" he said, getting up, the top of his head only going up to her shoulder. They walked away from the group to talk.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're alright! What happend?" Chelle asked, giving Edward a big hug.

"Well, it's a long story, and it started with Al running off...then a bunch of girls chased us..." Ed explained.

So that was you who those girls saw! Chelle thought with a grin.

"We got into a room with flashing lights and loud noises then after that we decided to do what you said to do." Ed finished.

"Ah-HA!" Chelle said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you listened to me! I would never have been able to find you unless I found a megaphone to project my voice!"

Edward smiled. If he had been an Armstrong, Chelle could have sworn she'd have seen pretty little sparkles. She laughed to herself.

"What?" Ed said.

"Oh, it's nothing." Chelle said, giggling. "I'm just glad I found you. You almsot had me worried sick." she caught sight of Hughes.

"Hey, Hughes! Come here! I found them!" Chelle shouted. He looked up and ran over.

"Where the heck were you guys!" He said breathlessly. "I've been helping Chelle out by looking all over for you!"

"We've been hiding, waiting for her."

"Playing hide and seek!"

"No, Lieutenant Colonel, we were told to hide among other people who look like us if we got lost."

"Huh? I'm not following you..." Hughes said. "You are really getting into your character Daniel..."

"Umm, Hughes? Can I have a second?" Chelle asked, tugging his sleeve.

"Yeah, sure." they walked over far enough from the brothers where they couldn't hear them but she could keep an eye on them.

"I need you to keep quiet about what I'm going to tell you...okay?" Chelle asked.

"Sure, but... why? What's the big secret?" Hughes said. Chelle leaned close and whispered in his ear.

"They're the Elric brothers. Really. They're using pennames to get by."

"Holy GOD!" he said, leaping around for a second or two. "You aren't serious are you!"

"I'm serious. They were in the cargo section of a ship that came across the Pacific. I found them on the dock and thought nothing of it until they met me on top of the Space Needle a little while after. Edward was asking around for directions back to Resenbool and Alphonse was following him around." Chelle said. "But yes, in short, they are the real Elric brothers. The FullMetal Alchemist and his brother Alphonse are here right now and you helped me find them!"

Hughes was in a state of shock, he couldn't speak for a couple minutes. Chelle sat down next to him on the floor against the wall. Hughes started to sniff.

"I feel like an idiot...I didn't even think...I was just masquerading for the day and I had no idea...if he really is the Edward Elric, then he knew the real Maes Hughes...what if Hughes died already where Ed came from?"

"He did, Sir. Major Elric told me. He told me that you and that Roy cosplayer were like the real people when you were taking that picture posed like Hughes was showing Roy another picture of Elysia, but that Roy doesn't get that annoyed." Chelle said with a small smile. "He also said that you were so much like Hughes he felt like he was back in Central."

"Really? I never thought I'd get a compliment from the FullMetal Alchemist...and a nice one at that." Hughes said, sighing.

"Yes, really, now can you keep all that a secret?"

"Yes, oh, I most certainly can!" he said, standing up and helping Chelle from the floor. "You can count on me!"

"That's good!" Chelle said. They walked back over to the Elric brothers who were standing there with looks of confusion.

"So, what's with all the yaking? You were over there talking for five minutes!" Ed groaned, looking at his watch.

"It was nothing! Like five minutes really dented your day!" Chelle complained. "I was telling Hughes your secret."

"Yikes! You did what!"

"You don't have to worry about it, Ed. I won't tell anybody. People usually trust me with their secrets because I don't tell on people." Hughes said with a smile. Ed was silent a while, then he looked at Hughes.

"Thanks, Hughes." he said smiling back like he had done at the train station with the real Maes Hughes back in Amestres.


you know, I was thinking this would happen at some point. This was not a planned story, so anything can happen, right? Anyways, I hope you like it! Please R&R