DISCLAIMER: God, here we go again, with the fake disclaimer. Though I have cried at night, and printed out a million pictures like a mad woman, I do no own Full Metal Alchemist. AND WOOT BECAUSE HERE IS THE REVISED SPECIAL GOLDEN EDITION!
Chapter 2: A Forever Train Ride
"Hmm, let's watch the scenery, shall we? Green…green…green, green, green, oh my gosh, look, the actual color of brown!" the girl muttered sarcastically as she viewed the outside of her window on the train.
The constant blurry fields of the springtime country had begun to bore her on the tedious drive; but then again, there was nothing else to really looked at. At least it was moving, unlike the rest of the steam engine. Sure, it was crowded, but there was a stiff crowd that day.
In utter boredom, she let her face inch a bit closer to the window's cold glass, looking more foolish than before. As soon as the shock of the icy feel wore down, her entire cheek was smashed against the window as she let the train jolt her steadily around.
Kiara Nevina could be classified as a pretty young woman, but there were a lot of other girls who fell in to the category also. She had her imperfections, but unlike some people's, you couldn't see hers as much. But isn't that what makes a girl beautiful?
Her light, loose, red curls bounced just a little pass her shoulders, not in waves, but the spiraling mess that was a hassle to keep up. Though, it seemed to not frizz and poof out as much as it used to when she was little. Plus, she had learned a little about taking care of it, so it was admired. Some people would tell her she had model-class hair. Her eyes were even more entrancing; with a thick line entirely white that wrapped around her stunning turquoise eyes. They each had a small bit of a hazel burst that never faded away, and always in Kiara's opinion represented her hidden gentleness.
She wasn't all the too skinny, not since she had stopped training, but still had most of her muscle. Without flexing, you could still see her rather built up figure and slightly large arms and stomach. Her previous job had really influenced her to work on her body. Her tom-boyish build felt like it added up, but on the outside she was so short and small people saw her as petite.
Kiara, like many other people, had deceiving looks. Her shortening height would only add more to the one trait you could describe her personality— weird. Kiara Nevina was your average eighteen-year-old, offbeat merriment that couldn't keep a smile down if it hit her.
Yes, she was the girl running down the halls shouting, just because she could. Growing up with a loudmouthed speaking family, Kiara was always taught to show your emotions in the best way you could and let the world know it was okay to be messed up.
This, as always, had more downs than up. She was considered immature, irritating, self-centered and in denial. Though sometimes they truly poked out, Kiara learned when to stop. There was a time and place for everything, but she'd like to crack jokes whenever they could be inserted.
With the way life worked out for her, there was a lot more times where she had to be dark and serious. They were both part of her temper that set her in balance. Kiara thought to be just 'a very emotional person to hold everyone else's feelings' for her sake, and tried her hardest to keep down the oddity in a little spot in her chest.
And, as you'll soon learn, it didn't take much to set her off.
Prying her face off the pane, she looked around at the people aboard the scarlet train. There was nothing much— a bit of small talk here and there, and other bored children squirming in their seats. She had expected a lot more from the usual bustling passengers from Central, but thought better to ignore it. Even if she were looking for a little fun, she would have most likely disapproved of the noise.
Like she had found mesmerizing the few hours before, Kiara traced her thumb over the pattern on her seat in repetitive circles.
"I wonder when the train stops," she stretched out as far and wide as her legs and arms would go, hearing the usual cracks in places. "I've been on this stupid thing for like, forty million years," she complained, looking around her empty seat.
It wasn't that Kiara hated people, she just had a lot of carry on bags to entertain her, and liked a seat all to herself. And she didn't like people sitting across from her, because it felt like they were trying to stare at you the entire ride. Simply propping up most of her suitcases and bags, she told passengers she was waiting for her family to come sit with her.
There were moments Kiara wasn't sure if she loved or hated her cute, accessible eleven-year-old features, but it had gotten her the seats none the less. The people who craved seats and sat squished gave her glares that bounced off her shoulder, but they didn't make a move to claim one again.
Kiara had been on it longer than anyone else, already stopping at one station already. She gave a hard sigh, and squirmed around to try and find a comfortable a spot.
"Why must everything be so difficult!" she yelled, turning a few heads. "This stupid train better stop, I swear," she grumbled, looking like she was talking to her bags.
A lot of people were looking at her now, and they had caught her on a bad day.
"What! Never seen people talk to themselves!" she called out to them, as some turned away and muttered or others kept staring. "They act as if I'm a psycho. I don't think I can talk to voices in my head, people," she mumbled, turning on her back and facing the other way.
For a while she just lay there, staring at the other vacant seat thinking. Thinking of random things like what would happen if she slipped on soap, what lima beans taste like, and how words sounded really weird when you thought about them for a long time. However, right now, she was thinking of her new guardians.
I wonder why the military is sending me back out here, she curiously thought. I thought that once you were expelled, they never wanted to see you again.
Do they think I can help my guardians? Or are my guardians here to help me? Maybe it's some new form of taking the state alchemist test, I heard they weren't ordinary officials. I guess I'll have to wait until someone will explain something. But of course, I'm sure Colonel Mustang is going to be all sneaky. URG, I hate it when he does that! Now that I'm not in the military, I'll have to be even more polite to him. Well, Mustang usually has something good, and it has to be if he's doing something so weird like this.
As Kiara went back and for with her thoughts, the window outside let everyone know the afternoon was slowing dying into evening.
A sudden jolt gave away Kiara's peaceful sleep, although she kept trying to ignore the fact she was flinging out of her seat. When her head crashed into the metal leg of the seat next to her, she finally cried out in surprise. Apparently, being thrown a couple feet didn't affect her. Not until she hit something, that was.
"Ah, Jesus," Kiara swore instinctively, as she rubbed the spot with her left hand. "This thing is bulging by the second!" she screamed as it throbbed, feeling a definite bump in her skull.
"I'm sorry, we had a bit of a jolt there," a voice came into their section in a rushed, loud tone. "Is everyone all right? The train's stopped, but we're already at the station. Anyone getting off please do so now, it's OK," Kiara heard her ask in what seemed like she-didn't-truly-care type of tone.
Just after hearing the few sentences, it made her freeze. The voice sounded way too much like a certain person she didn't want to meet. Especially in a place where she couldn't defend herself from the crazy girl's attacks.
"What about you? Are you okay ma'am?" the petite slender woman tip-toed over to Kiara on her high heels.
Her silver-blonde hair swished over her thigh with bright blue eyes, and a nice smile for everyone to feel comfortable, when really it was kind of creepy.
"It depends, who are you?" Kiara asked muffled.
"I'm Ashley Yoko. Half American half Japanese, I always have to tell everyone," she could hear Ashley give off a faked laugh.
Yeah, what were the chances this would actually happen, Kiara growled to herself angrily. Did she quit school or something? Wasn't she always bragging about being a female doctor? I knew she'd never commit….
"Then I'm not all right."
"Huh? What are you talk—" Ashley froze on her sentence when Kiara stood herself back up. "YOU!" she shrieked, pointing a shaking finger of disgust.
"Really, must we be so hostile?" Kiara tried to smile widely, fixing her hair back into place.
"WHO LET YOU ON THIS TRAIN! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DANGEROUS!" Ashley starting bawling on the top of her lungs, everyone's eyes laying upon them.
"Oh, you heard about that?" Kiara chuckled, scratching her head like she did when she was nervous. "Well, it seems we've both been around, and just haven't had the time to chat."
"I'm reporting you to the main office! I'll get you this time, Nevina," her finger still waved in the air, her voice lower and venomous.
"Really, you sound like the antagonist in theatre or something. I'm allowed to be in public, I'm not a crazy killer. Hey, wait, where are you going!" Kiara called after her as she stomped off in her four-inch heels, wobbling a bit.
"Just wait till they hear this!" Ashley roared, earning more odd looks from the passengers than Kiara had received the entire time.
"Uh…it's not what you think," Kiara replied to the amazed pedestrians boarding on and off the train. "Really, I know it looked like a site, but we're old friends…enemies. It's hard to explain…." She laughed nervously, as people finally began to move on. "See? We're young, shtill do shose types of shings," she tried pulling on her red cheek, her words slurring around.
Feeling a bit flushed, she sat back down. Kiara was open, but didn't really want to be in front of random strangers who could give her the most hurtful looks. Fiddling with her thumbs, a new thought finally crossed her.
Wait a damn minute…why'd we stop! She freaked, looking out her pane again quickly.
Kiara would have thought it to be her stop if she didn't remember the dreadful day-and-a-half journey out to Central, and began looking around the platform. It had already been a long time-span on the steam engine, but she would have thought to not reach her destination until much, much later that night.
Just as she expected, nothing looked like anywhere she'd been before. Many people were fancy country folk, walking back and forth in big heavy dresses and suits. It was surely not the busy buzz of Central; even after seven months she could still picture it perfectly. And this place didn't match her description at all.
As she began worrying even more, a sudden raspy voice started to speak over the intercom on the train in a low booming tone.
"Kiara Nevina, please report to the front car. Repeat, Kiara Nevina please report to the front car," it told her.
It felt kind of weird to be called down, but at the same time Kiara felt kind of cool, if you catch my drift.
Woah…I didn't really think she'd actually do that, she thought in a slight amazement. Of course, this is Ashley we're talking about.
"No worries of course," Kiara assured herself, standing up. "It's a good thing I have connections."
It wasn't long before she had inched her way to the front, even through the crowd, and because she was sitting close to the front car also. The same blue uniform that had wrapped around Ashley was also on the other two male attendants standing lazily on each side, like very bad guards.
"You!" Ashley yelled again at the site of her, just like minutes before. "Let's see you wedge your way out of this one," she snarled.
"Oh, I can really see where your life is going," Kiara replied back as sarcastic as quickly, swinging open the door in front of all of them.
It was a fairly large room, but not as big as she expected. There were a few basic levers here and there, many buttons, and two cockpit seats sunk into the floor. If she had looked to her left, she'd have seen a very big machine-like engine rumbling around fast. Not sure how everything worked, and very intrigued, she began examine it all in detail.
As she studied what looked like a pipe along the ceiling rolling back into the water gauge, someone tapped on her shoulder lightly.
"AH!" she screamed, jumping literally all the way around.
The man laughed. He could only be more than twenty, with broad shoulders, a firm stomach, and a tough figure. He had deep-set eyes the color of autumn leaves and neck-length, straight, sand-colored hair. Every time Kiara looked at him she could feel the aura of a fun loving but serious man, and that was exactly what he was.
"Long time no see, huh Nevina? I thought it was you!" he kept laughing.
"Alright, before you laugh up a storm I have something to say!" she snapped, hitting the man on the head. "First of all, this train sucks, and has crappy service. I'm suppose to be somewhere in an hour and this stupid thing has stopped freaking bloody twice already! I do not believe that any type of public service told me we were going to take another stop before we reach Central! Secondly, I have been on this thing for like, a million hours, so my butt hurts like crap. Then you have the one girl I wouldn't want to see in another million years stir up all this trouble and piss me off! Not to mention, I have no one to talk to, nothing to do, and I'm just dead bored!" she ranted.
"Are you done yet?" the man asked impatiently, a bored expression etched across his face.
"Yeah, I guess," Kiara shrugged, still keeping her angry glare at him.
"I can't believe you complain about crap like that," he laughed, ruffling her hair. "You're so infamous for your tedious rants of absolutely nothing, how could I forget?"
"Stop it, Yukio!" she barked, trying to shoo his hand away. "Would you listen to what I have to say at least once in your life, you stuck-up weirdo!"
"Me?" he choked, laughing again. "You're the one hassling my staff," he smiled.
"I was not!" Kiara replied in her defense. "You of all people should know how that women is, Samaru; utterly crazy," she stated again, this time using his first name.
"You never change, Kiara," Samaru gave her his one and only famous smile she could still remember from long ago.
Then again, it wasn't that long ago, really. It had only been two years since their last departure from each other, and as she kept speaking with him, she started to wonder if he had forgiven her for what happened. But she wasn't going to bring it up.
"You'd be surprised, I can barely stand you now," she growled, while slipping out of his grasp of a hug.
"Not much," he retorted coolly. "Still as short as a midget, you can't have change dramatically," he commented.
"WHY DOES EVERYONE BRING THAT UP?" she roared, throwing a fist in his direction. "I'm not that freaking short!" she stopped seconds before smashing his face.
"Because I'm about five inches taller than you, and you're eighteen!" Samaru shouted, cracking up, as he had to avoid her hand this time.
"I'm rather tall for a midget then!" she fumed in response. "So…so…yeah! Stop calling me that!"
"And guess what else?" his voice had never lowered. "You've still got that unbearable temper!"
"Two years away from you has been the light of my life!" Kiara yelled, pushing him hard.
"Hard to believe it, huh?" Samaru asked, as they finally began to cool down.
"Not that hard," she murmured, crossing her arms in slight defeat. "I knew you were here," she told him.
"Really, why didn't you come see me!" he exclaimed.
"Well, I was pretty late getting on here in the first place. And two, I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me again," Kiara answered truthfully, eyeing him like his was a lit bottle rocket in her hand.
"Why— oh right," Samaru understood what she had meant. "Hey, Kiara, listen," he said calmly with a smile. "What happened, it's in the past, I really don't think about it. Besides, we had it going for a good while anyway. You don't have to worry about it or anything, I'm fine, really," he stepped a little closer to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear in a brotherly way.
She didn't need to think to step back, which is what she did the second he touched her. "Well, I was just making sure," she lied, knowing what he had said was a lie too.
There was no way he'd be so calm after how he had acted before, but in a way, she almost wished it was true.
"Right then," he nodded, giving her that faint smile again. "So, really, we can't just chat and catch up all day, I've got things to do," he became formal suddenly. "I'll tell Ms. Yoko you two just had a misunderstanding and you can be on your way then. Oh, and we made a short stop but will be off again in about half an hour," he assured her. "We'll be at Central at the exact time you need to be there."
"Thanks, Sam," Kiara gave him a weak smile in return and turned around. "And it was nice to see you again," she added before hearing his good-bye and walking out.
While coming back out the door, she saw the same two men talking to each other casually about the station, but didn't see her furious accuser anywhere in site. She took a few minutes to meander back to her seat, seeing as she couldn't keep her eyes off all the people walking past her. After she had finally gotten back to her stuff, she looked angry at the empty seat.
"There you are again, punk," she hissed venomously.
She slid over the evil window once again, but this time her eyes met a station bustling with people. Some were rushing by, others taking their sweet time, but all seemed to her the same. They all walked the same sort of way, they all wore the same type of clothes, and they all gave each other the same facial expressions.
So used to seeing what she did everyday, Kiara resumed to looking around other places. Eventually, her eyes trailed to her feet. As she examined the outline of her bulky right foot in its blue sneaker, she twisted it in circles.
"Feels nice," she joked, then removed her shoe and its sock. "Too bad it isn't more fleshy," she smiled warmly, her mechanical foot still moving in repetitive counterclockwise circles.
"Woah, is that auto-mail!" someone from behind shouted abruptly in a demanding manner.
Kiara snapped her head up in neck-breaking speed to see a little boy in the seat in front of her, dangling his arms over her own. He could only be more than ten, with short curly pitch-black hair, chocolate brown eyes, dark brown skin, and a round young face. Obviously, he had just arrived on the train, and his parents were running up behind him almost on cue.
"Davu!" what looked like his mother grabbed him be the wrist suddenly. "We said don't run off!" she scolded him, Davu's father coming up beside her.
"But mom," he complained, twisting in her grip. "This is our seat anyway, the ticket said 249!"
"The seat number was 12," his father's low booming voice replied, making Davu quiet down and become flustered.
"I knew that," he muttered.
"I'm so sorry," his mother apologized instantly. "He just gets so curious…." She trailed off, her eyes begging for Kiara's forgiveness.
It took a while to process everything, but once Kiara figured out they were waiting for an answer she finally laughed.
"Hey, not a problem here," she waved it away, then turned the boy named Davu. "And this is auto-mail, to answer your question," she ruffled his hair without getting up.
The eager Davu suddenly forgot his parents and dove into her seat easily. He opened his mouth to talk right away, making Kiara chuckle.
"That's so cool! I'm getting it too!" he cried all too happily, showing her that he had a wooden right leg under his pants. "I'm stuck with this for a while, but when I get auto-mail, it's going to be awesome!" he shouted, throwing his fist in the air.
Kiara laughed. "You sure get worked up for something so bad!" she exclaimed.
"Huh?" he asked confused.
"Well, it isn't the tastiest treat on the block, kid," she shook her head. "It's really expensive, and even this thing cost me a fortune; had to stop eating for a while," she began to explain as his eyes grew bigger. "You have to be awake for the surgery too, can't forget that. I'm not trying to scare you, but it hurts five times worse than when you probably lost that leg of yours," she explained.
"I don't care, I've already made up my mind," Davu replied strictly, his fists clenched in pride. "I'm sick of walking around with a leg that will barely move, so I'm going to get me a leg that works right!" he shouted determined, his eyes locked straight ahead.
"Then maybe you're prepared for what's ahead," Kiara chuckled, messing his hair.
Kiara gave him a wide smile, and he smiled back at her.
"So is yours just your foot?" he asked happily, looking at her metal that she hadn't had enough time to cover.
"Yeah, just this little thing. Thank God it was nothing big," she replied, lifting it up for the little boy to get a better look at it.
"Cool!" he cried like he had earlier, his childish voice high and excited. "How'd you lose it?"
"Davu, the young lady wouldn't want to talk about it," his mother intervened said respectfully, but looking impatient to get moving.
"Oh, that's quite alright," Kiara gave her a reassuring smile. "I lost it when I was a State Alchemist, in an experiment gone wrong," she told them truthfully.
For a second, she closed her eyes, getting ready to wince. There were so many people who hated State Alchemists…she wasn't sure how their reaction would be to her. While waiting gingerly, she finally heard a reply.
"You can't be a State Alchemist!" Davu yelled, bewildered. "You're only twenty!" he caused a few people to give a second glance at them.
"Ho ho, buddy, I'm eighteen!" she smiled, and then paused. It took a moment, but she knew she'd have to get it out and get used to saying it. "I lost my license a few months ago," she looked down, a bit ashamed of herself.
It would be best if those memories weren't brought back, Kiara told herself.
"Oh," he realized, going quiet along with her. "Well…I didn't lose mine in an accident like that," he whispered, trying to divert the conversation away from the bad moment. "I got hit by a car."
It was funny how he didn't sound depressed like her. In fact, he didn't sound angry or scared or any of the emotions you'd expect from a boy like him. Of course, there wasn't a sense of happiness ringing out in his sentence, but just blatant honesty. A simple statement.
"But I deserved it," he went on. "I shouldn't have run in the middle of the road," he explained, with the same tone.
"Now wait a minute!" Kiara cut in, startling him out of his state. "You should never say those kind of things! It couldn't have been your fault; it was a complete accident! You can't blame yourself, you never know when things like that will happen. It's NOT your fault," she lectured him, pointing an angry finger towards his innocent face.
"You sure have such strong feelings," his mother muttered quietly, but Kiara caught it anyway. It was meant to be good, but if it wasn't, Kiara still carried on.
"It's my number one rule," she relaxed her face and tense shoulders a bit more. "I've seen a whole lot of shit in my day, but the one thing that keeps moving, even if sometimes I have to lie to myself, is that it wasn't my fault," she stated calmly. "Oh, excuse my language!" she finally noticed she had just cursed with her philosophy.
"That's okay, daddy says it all the time!" Davu shook his head vigorously with a wide innocent smile.
"Alright, Davu," his father cut in instantly, picking him up and out of the seat. "Time to leave the poor young miss," Kiara watched as they pulled themselves together.
As the began to walk away, the mother seemed hesitant to move anymore, and turned back around to say one last thing.
"Whatever you're looking for, I pray you find it too," she gave her a knowing smile.
Kiara returned the gesture, wishing that soon the boy Davu would get what he wanted.
After all, she had just received the most gracious gift from their family— hope.
REVIEW OR DIE. No, just kidding, just kidding. BUT SERIOUSLY, REVIEW MY EDITED CHAPTER BECAUSE IT TOOK FOREVER TO DO AND I FOUND IT RATHER TEDIOUS. Love you all soooooo much. Oh, and I don't know about you, but this font showed up small, so just change it at the top of like you would normally do.
