鋼の錬金術師 (FullMetal Alchemist)
Chapter 6 Sinners.
Ed woke up lying on the floor. He had fallen at night, and didn't even realise. He stood up, and got dressed for school.
Al and Hohenheim were sitting on the table. He heard his mother singing in the kitchen, and felt glad to be there. He had an orange juice and some toasts ready for him to eat.
"Do you want me to drive you to school, kids?". Hohenheim asked.
"I wanna walk today… You, Al?".
"Although I seriously doubt you just want to walk, I'll go with you".
Ed looked at him, very angry. He didn't want Hohenheim to find out that he was seeing Winry, because he knew how fathers behaved about that kind of stuff.
"I guess you want to see Winry. It's ok, but you better hurry, or you will never make it on time for school".
They both stood up, greeted their parents, picked up their bags, and left. They found Envy waiting for them on the park. He jumped off one of the benches, and joined them. A while later a limousine stopped near them, and Ling and Mei Yang walked down. After that, they met Winry, and walked to school together.
Ed and Winry walked ahead of the group, holding hands. They mainly joked about teachers.
"So, what's on for today?".
"Oh, damn it, we have the first period for math… Then Biology… The best part of the day, Lunch… Gymnastics, and…Chemistry with that razy genius. Well, that is it". Ling sayed.
"I hate maths" Envy said.
"It's not so bad… There are many things that are helpful". Winry said.
"It's not maths as a subject, it's the math's teacher". He sayed, changing his expression to somewhat, disgust.
"Oh, get over it, I still have a lot to learn before I can really own the company, so, please don't complain".
o0o
Ling walked past the entrance to the school building, to leave his sister at the kinder. Ed and Winry sat down for a second, to relax, while Al, Envy, and all the other students went in.
After five minutes sitting there, he saw Wrath walking with Izumi and Sieg, his parents, walking by him. He went past him with a smile, obviously looking forward to the day he could save his mother's life.
Ed told Winry to go to the classroom, and walked up to Izumi.
"How come you are here?".
"I was allowed to go out of the hospital for a couple of days, since it seems I have improved a lot. And it was the only way to make him come to school". She looked at her husband angrily.
"Many muscles, many brains, many stomachs, many feelings. He couldn't help his son's puppy look when he wanted to visit me at the hospital". Izumi said.
"Well, his hopes are high, and so are mine".
o0o
The bell rang, and they all went into the classroom as soon as they could. Ed sat with Winry, in the back row, and Ling sat in front of them, while Envy sat down right next to the teacher. He was the kind of student that was better when watched closely.
"Good morning, class". Greed said.
The professor walked in with his spiky hair, round sunglasses and sharklike teeth showing in a wide smile. He was wearing a raincoat, in spite of the sun shining outside.
"Well, well, many things have happened this weekend. Among them, in case you kids didn't watch the news, some of your classmates stormed into the worldwide known video game company yesterday, and helped geting it back to it's rightful owner. I say, since they were so enthusiastic about this adventure, they wont be troubled in making a surprise exam".
Everyone whined in exasperation.
"Shut it, kids. You know I expect the highest grades in every test I take. I'm very greedy about that. I'm practically Greed in person".
"I'll say". Envy sentenced in a loud voice. The whole class shut up, looking at the professor. The sunglasses hid his eyes, and he made no visible expression.
"Since you are so smart, I we should all feel envious towards you. Why don't you come to the chalkboard and solve this?". Greed started writing down a long equation for Envy to solve.
"The rest of you, take out your activity book while your class mate does this, and solve everything from page 41 to 55".
o0o
"God made breaks for students to hate". Ling commented.
"Come on it wasn't so… Forget it, my head aches a lot, I don't know what I'm saying". Ed said.
Al came running towards them. He was holding a letter in his hand.
"For you, Ed".
"Whu…?".
To:
Edward Elric.
We know that you have spent some time in the hospital recently, and we want to make sure you are fit to exercise during the Gym period.
Please report to the Gymnasium after the break is over.
The principal.
After this, there was a signature Ed didn't understand, but had the feeling of having seen before.
He looked at the classroom were Envy was left cleaning the chalkboard. Envy looked at him, and walked towards the window. He slid it open, and jumped off to the tree under the window. A group of birds flew off after this.
"Either he is crazy, or he is a genius". Ed said.
"Crazy". Thay all answered at the same time.
Just then, they heard wood cracking, and one of the tree's branches fell off. Envy jumped off the tree and landed rolling in front of the broken branch.
"Oops".
Greed came running to the tree, and found Envy playing the fool, whistling.
"A bird did not do this, Remy. Birds are smarter then this. Come with me".
Envy's look became dark and rageous. He would have killed Greed right there if there hadn't been so many witnesses.
o0o
Ed walked towards the gymnasium. He had the letter in his pocket, and was ready to show it to anyone who asked him what was hedoing outside the classroom. He walked in and found only one man in the middle of the big place.
His steps echoed as he walked towards the Gym Teacher. His haid was short and white, and his skin was dark. He had a big scar in the middle of the face, in the shape of an X. Everyone called him Scar, and he had gotten used to it.
"I guess you must be the Elric kid that got shot". He said with a severe look when he turned around.
"Uh, yes sir, it's me".
"Well, before we start, take off that white glove. It wont help what we are gonna do here".
"Suit yourself, sir". He took off the glove of his right hand. His auto mail surprised Scar, but his look didn't change much.
"I have seen things simmilar to this in the war. I guess we will see now if it is good or not".
In that moment, Envy walked in heavily.
"Excuse me, teacher. The principal sent me over here for punishment".
"That old man is proud of his school. He can't have you messing around all the time, you know".
"The day you can control a snake by conversating with it, you will be able to control me". He said smirking.
"Since you have sinned of Pride, I will make you fight Edward. That will prove to us how seriously you are talking and how good his metal arm works".
"Fight him?". They asked at the same time.
"I must do my job, and I have found a way to kill two birds in one shot. I'm sinning with Sloth, but it's easier this way. Now, fight!".
Envy and Ed stood in the middle of the basketball court.
"The one who steps out the circle looses, and therefore gets an F".
"Damn it". They both thought to themselves.
o0o
Ed ran towards Envy, and tried to punch him in the face. As he had thought, Envy jumped over him, so he kicked him in the chest by rising his left leg. Envy turned in middair, and landed in his hands. This produced a loud slam that could be heard beyond the door of the gym.
"It seems I'm heavier than I look". He said. He jumped with his hands and kicked Ed in the chest. He almost step out, but he rolled and jumped, trying to headbutt Envy. He grabbed his head and lifted him up in the air. Ed rolled to get free and hit Envy on the back with his auto mail. He moved heavily, and was knocked down when Ed kicked him on the knees with his right leg.
From the floor, Envy grabbed his arm and pulled Ed towards him. The he kicked him with both of his legs. Ed turned in the air and verily landed inside de circle. Already tired, he clapped his hands and transmuted the floor into a big hand that pushed Envy out of the circle. After this, the hand dissappeared.
Envy was lying on the floor, and looked at Ed smiling.
"You have gotten better!".
o0o
"Since you both put out such a great show, you both have an A. Now go, you have some classes to attend to".
They walked out of the gym, very tired and sour.
"By the way, Ed… I wonder, what is that thing you do when you clap your hands? It seems magic".
"It's alchemy. It's a long story, but, basically, it's science. I change the elements I choose to, to create something new. For example that hand".
"Is that all there is to it?".
"No… I had to study and lose a lot of things to achieve this… The main thing you need to know is that to obtain something, another thing of equal value must be lost. This is called the Principle of Equivalent Exchange".
"Fair trade?".
"You could say".
They walked inside the classroom, and took their respective places. The biology teacher, Lust, was giving them some notes for Bio-molecules.
Her long, black hair and her emmerald eyes were gorgeous. She was wearing a black coat, and a red dress underneath it.
"Why is it that you are so late, kids".
"We were called to the gym by the teacher". Envy answered.
Lust's look completely changed. Her eyes were almost closed now, and her hands started fooling around with the chalk. She moisted her lips with her tongue. Envy seemed to be expecting this reaction.
"Ok… We are getting ready for the Bio-molecules exam I'm giving next week, so get your notebooks out".
When the bell rang for lunch, everyone ran off very quickly. The last ones to leave were Ed and Winry, who walked out of the class room hugged. Lust looked at them, as if she were wishing for something simmilar.
"Getting ready for whats coming, are you?".
Both students heard this and turned around blushing.
"Uh, well… No! I mean, yes! But,huh… I mean, We just… We are…!".
"Yeah, we still… We wanna… Not! Yet! It's, more like, we… I…".
"Sorry kids, I should mind my own business".
She got past them and walked away.
Both Ed and Winry were surprised, and didn't really know what to say.
"SOOOOOO… Let's get this straight right now!". Ed said.
"Uh-huh… We are in love, but just started dating. We want to wait, until we both feel ready… Is that it?". Winry said quickly.
"Yeah… This never happened".
"Right…".
They walked away quickly, as if they were escaping some sort of ghost
o0o.
Ed and Al met in the row for lunch. Ed asked for a hamburger, some chips and some soda. Al got spaghetti and juice. They were served by a fat man with a big nose, with nothing on his head but a chef hat. His little white eyes revealed he wasn't very smart.
"Hi, Gluttony". Al waved.
"Whooooo?". Gluttony asked.
"Oh, sorry, I got confused".
He smiled widely and stupidly, and continued to serve other people.
o0o
They ate without hurry, and went to the lab.
After that, they went to the lockers. Winry kissed Ed and left with the girls group. As soon as she joined her, they started giggling.
They all walked out of the lockers with black shorts that were just above the knees, and white t-shirts. Ed's metal limbs were calling everyone's attention.
"You can run with those?". "Could you smash a wall so we run away?". "Where can I get one?".
"Stop messing around, he got those because he needed them. He doesn't have them to show off". Ling shouted to the group.
Scar walked up to them with a basketball.
"Separate in four teams. We'll make a little tournament".
Once more, Ling, Envy and Ed got together. The other two team members where some guys called Robert and Sammuel. Their team went first in a half hour match, and they were really confident they would win.
While they were running, Ed asked the ball. Envy had to jump over the other team's members to pass it, and that was when Ed saw it.
Envy had an Ouroboros tattoo on his right leg, just above the knee.
The ball hit him in the face, and he fainted.
o0o
A while later, he woke up. Envy and Scar were crouching next to him. Envy's face was like the kind of face a kid that just broke a plate unwillingly would use to apologize to his parents.
"Good news is that the ball bounced off your face and went right inside the hoop!". He said.
Ed felt dizzy. He was confused for what he had seen. Scar made him lie down for the rest of the class. When the class was over, he met Winry in the playground.
"Why is your face so red?".
"I got smashed and won a basketball game".
o0o
They hang around the plagydorund until the bell rang for them to go to the chemistry class. Al went off to maths. They walked up to the second floor, and then walked into the lab.
They got the white robes on and separated in groups. Ling, Envy and Winry joined Ed as fast as they could, since he knew a lot about chemistry. The professor walked in, with all his long black hair tied back. He was wearing the same white robes than his students, and latex gloves.
"Well, we are gonna make some things blow off today". Kimbley said with his ever-psycothic glance.
They sat down and started listening to a ten minute speech about bombs. The professor seemed really interested on the subject. Many people said he was crazy, and tried to make magic when he was young. He went into the science school, since he thought it was the closer thing to magic.
Ed rose his hand, waiting for the teacher to answer his question.
"Yes, Elric, what is it?".
"Why are you wearing gloves? We are not handling any dangerous substance".
He looked at Ed darkly. For the first time, his smile faded away. He ripped his gloves off, and extended his arms, showing the palm of both of his hands. On the right one, he had a tattoo of a transmutation circle. Ed recognised it as the deconstruction symbol. On the left, he had a circular scar, that had a simmilar shape to the circle.
"The one on the right is a crazy thing I did in my days of youth. The left one is from the time I messed up with the wrong chemicals, trying to get rid of another tattoo".
Ed looked at him scared. Kimbley was obviously trying to do alchemy, not magic. He had stopped trying, and Ed thought relieved, that it was a good thing, because he would have been able now. It seemed that he had the theory right, but he failed on practice.
"Now, Elric, go to the principal's office. I am giving you an F for making such a personal question".
Ed started cursing him inside his mind, and walked away. Ling, Envy and Winry were worried now, since they usually let Ed do everything, and they only wrote down some notes.
o0o
Ed sat down waiting at the entrance of the principals office. The secretary was typing something on the computer, when out of nowhere, she told him he could go in. He stood up, and opened the door.
He walked in, closed the door and sat down, all of this, looking at the floor.
"You must face your problems, not look at their feet". The principal said.
Ed looked up, and saw Fuhrer King Bradley looking (or so he thought, for he was always with his eyes apparently closed) back at him, with his almost never ending smile.
"Excuse me, sir, I had never been here".
"It seems that you have been doing some serious hero work, kid".
"Well, I-".
"Don't interrupt me, please. One of my teachers has been offended by you. I think you said something to him that brought him back to his old days, when he was young and confused".
"Well, I… I am deeply sorry. I wish to tel, this to my teacher, although it's not gonna wipe the F out".
"Hmmm… You are honest… I'll tell this to Kimbley, and see what I can do".
"Thank you".
o0o
Ed stood up and walked away. Suddenly, the fire alarm went off, and he ran away to the nearest exit. All of the students were there, and some ambulances and a fire truck too. He was surprised to see Roy Mustang and Alex Armstrong trying to control th water hose. Riza Hawkeye was running into the school, probably going to look for some trapped students.
Ed saw Envy being carried away towards an ambulance. His shirt was full with burns, and he had a deep cut on his cheek.
"Envy! What happened, where is Winry!".
"Ed! The classroom blew up! Kimbley did something and everything caught fire!".
"Where's Winry?".
"She's inside with Ling!".
Ed turned around and ran into the building. He transmuted a wall into a stair so to walk up to the second floor sooner, and ran towards the lab. The aisle was covered in flames, so he transmuted the ceiling into sand, and it all went off. He covered his eyes, and ran.
"Riza!". He shouted when he saw her trying to knock the door down.
"How do you know my name!".
"Stand back". He clapped his hands and blew the door open.
"Winry! Ling?".
The smoke didn't let him see. He crouched, and dragged himself through the lab. He finally found Winry and Ling lying on the floor. Riza got past him, and caught a fire extinguisher. She blew off the fire, while Ed picked Winry and Ling up, and ran towards the window.
"ED!". He heard Al shout through the window.
"AL, TRANSMUTE A POOL UNDER THE WINDOW!".
Ed ran towards the window and jumped, cracking it open. He fall down, and fell into the water. Al jumped in, and helped him carrying Ling and Winry to an ambulance.
Once they were on the floor, Ed gave mouth-to-mouth to Winry. She woke up coughing, and when saw Ed, hugged him and started crying.
"I was so scared! I thought I would never see you again".
"It's ok… Calm down". He told her, and hugged her.
o0o
"And I have an exclusive interview with the heroes of the day". The news reporter said, getting next to Ed and Al.
"Huh?".
"Tell me, how did it feel to go inside the bursting flames?".
In that moment, Ed heard a splash. Riza Hawkeye had jumped off the building.
"Well, I only wanted Ling and Winry to be safe, and-"
"Mhhmmm! And how did you create a pool! It was like magic! Was it magic!".
"What! No, I just-".
"Amazing, isn't it!" The reporter yelled at the camera.
Envy was watching this from his bed on the hospital. His arm was broken.
"That piece of shit Kimbley. He found out he could transmute".
Envy shapeshifted his broken arm. It started changing by little squares, and ended up being a full, pale skinned arm again.
"The most amazing thing is that the fullmetal pipsqueak hasn't yet figured that I went past the gate again".
o0o
"It's real!". Kimbley shouted in excitement. His lonely house was full of burns.
"I can do alchemy. It IS real! Somehow it became real!". He touched the table, and it blew up just a second later, bursting in flames.
He started laughing evily. He didn't fully understand how had it finally become possible, but he didn't care.
He could use the destruction alchemy.
Whatever he transmuted became crimson, and seconds later, it blew up.
"I can finally be called Crimson Alchemist".