Chapter 2: Not So Perfect Strangers
Elly waved her hand and closed her eyes, "Pft, you guys are pulling my leg." The three were seated on the stone steps of a public building. Al sat straight up, his hands folded in his lap and Ed slumped back, his elbows propped up on a step behind him. He looked bored out of his skull.
"But it's the truth," Al insisted. "We don't have any reason to lie to you."
"Your story is just a little hard to buy is all," Elly told him. Ed smirked,
"From what we saw back in the Inn, you don't seem to buy much of anything."
"Ed!" Al scolded.
"No, it's okay. He's right, I am kinda broke..." Ed inhaled,
"So, okay, we told you our deal, now you tell us yours."
"Not much to tell to be honest. I'm just like any other seventeen year old girl, following her destiny." And in humor, she made sparkly eyes whilst clasping her hands hopefully. Al sat quietly while Ed made a face at her,
"Uh huh...sure. Care to elaborate?"
"I didn't think you'd be satisfied with that," Elly grinned at him but Ed looked away. "Well, I was sorta kicked out from my previous residence..." Ed perked up,
"Kicked out? Why? What did you do?"
"They didn't want me there anymore." Well, duh, obviously, Ed thought. She sure does love beating around the bush.
"But we wanna know why. And who kicked you out exactly?" Elly shifted uncomfortably and Al spoke up for her,
"It's her business if she doesn't want to tell us, Ed. Leave her be." Ed shook his head,
"No. We told her about us, now she has to tell us about her like we agreed." But Elly had her eyes cast down and she made no sign that she'd give an explanation. Ed scoffed and got to his feet,
"Lets go Al, we don't have the time for this." And Al hesitated as he threw his glance from Ed to Elly.
"Brother, wait!" He charged loudly after him down the street. "Where are you going?" He asked when he caught up to him.
"It's a big waste of our time, Al. If she doesn't want to let us in on who she is, then why should we trust her? Besides, if she's so hesitant to tell us anything, she's hiding something and it's most likely bad."
"Maybe it isn't, maybe she's just embarrassed or sad about it." Ed stopped walking and looked up at his younger sibling.
"You do realize that you're standing up for a complete stranger. I wish you'd be a little more suspicious of people sometimes, Alphonse. If you don't, it's going to land you in a lot of trouble." But Al said nothing and instead stared down intently at him. Ed sighed, looking away.
"But if everyone did that, there'd be no such thing as kindness in the world anymore. There'd be a whole ton of people that would never have helped us. I want to help her, Ed. I just do. You've always told me how good it is do to the right thing. We both learned that from mom." Ed looked down at the ground where weeds had taken over a patch of white flowers.
"She's gone." Al said quietly when they had made their way back to the stone steps. Ed looked around them, but she was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't long before they abruptly heard loud shouts coming from a nearby supply store. They could hear a woman's thick voice snap harshly,
"I told you to LEAVE. What do I look like? A soup kitchen!" Ed shook his head,
"No she isn't..."
Thanks for reading! And, to be honest, I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get back to this story to continue with more chapters. I kinda started it on a whim, and because the idea had been brewing in my mind. I also wanted to try my hand at writing the FMA characters. I'm also not sure about the rating or the title, they may change.
So, as of now, it's up in the air. I'm also in the process of writing my own original story, so that's been consuming much of my writing time.
Alrighty, I'll try and get back to it if I can, toodle loo!