Do you know what? I kept forgetting that I had made Roy the Fuhrer in this story, and kept calling him "Colonel Mustang"! Oops! Sorry about that. From now on, I'll make sure to keep his rank correct.
I also tried to make this chapter just a little bit longer. It's still not terribly long, but it's a little better than I've been doing. Hopefully, this chapter will have a few answers to some of the questions you've been having. Please feel free to ask questions though, as it helps me to know which questions need addressing.
Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, and I don't have time to come up with a witty saying, so you're just going to have to live with it.
"B-Brother…" Al began, but couldn't come up with any more words to say. He was confused, to say the least. Ed hung his head.
"Al, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to know."
Regaining his strength, Al grabbed his brother's chest furiously and demanded, "Brother, what happened? Tell me! Tell me!"
Ed sighed. He wasn't sure that he really wanted to tell Al anything, but he couldn't get away with saying nothing anymore. Ed took a deep breath and looked at Al. "Could you hand me my coat first, so that I can cover these wings up again?" Al let go of Ed with a start, and quickly ran and grabbed Ed's coat and brought it to him. Ed carefully slipped it on over the large wings, which amazed Al at how he was able to do that, since those wings were huge, and looked much too large to be able to fit under that small jacket.
Catching the reaction on Al's face, Ed replied, "You'd be surprised what you can do when you have to."
Al looked away for a second, cleared his throat, and then looked back at his brother. "So, Brother, how did this happen?"
"I'll tell you later," Ed said, "Right now, we need to get out of here. Mustang is going to have to pay all these witnesses to keep their mouths shut, and I'm probably going to have to go hide in another town."
Al looked down at the ground. "I-I'm sorry, Brother. I didn't mean to-"
He was cut off abruptly by Ed. "It's not your fault, Al. You didn't make that wall collapse, and I wasn't about to let you die just to keep my secret. So, relax." Then, grabbing his hand, Ed said, "Come on, I need to go and call the Fuhrer."
Before long, the two brothers were on the train again, heading for yet another destination. Fuhrer Mustang had made arrangements to pay off the witnesses in that small town to keep their mouths shut, and had told Ed where to go to continue hiding. All this hiding was really getting on Ed's nerves, since he didn't really enjoy having to hide, but he knew it wasn't safe to let his secret be known, for him or anybody else.
"Brother," said Al, interrupting Ed's thoughts, "You told me that you'd tell me what happened."
Ed sighed. "I did, didn't I?" He gulped, and then took a deep breath. "I can't tell you much, because it's classified information. However, I can tell you that there is someone out there abducting people to use in his human transmutation experiments. I just happened to have been one of his unlucky targets."
"Someone performed human transmutation on you?"
Ed nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. I was combined with a dove, hence the wings."
"Then…that means…" Al began, "That you're a chimera." Ed nodded in response, but didn't say a word. Al tried to hold back tears, but couldn't stop the flood of saltwater from rampaging down his face.
Ed reached over and affectionately rubbed Al's back. "Hey, it's okay," he soothed, "At least I didn't get hurt. This is awkward, but I'll be alright. Don't worry so much." Al nodded, as though he understood, but continued to cry. Ed felt helpless watching his brother this way, not being able to do anything about it.
Later, Ed and Al made their way to the dining car to get themselves something to eat. Al was surprised as he watched Ed not choosing any of his favorite foods. Most of what went on his plate were fruits and vegetables. Strange. Very strange. That wasn't like Ed.
"Brother," Al said as the two sat down at a table to eat, "Why didn't you get any of your favorite foods?"
Ed shoved a forkful of green beans into his mouth before answering. "I'm not entirely human anymore, Al. I have to eat things that will cooperate with the physical chemistry of both creatures."
Al nodded in silence. That made sense. A dove would naturally be a vegetarian, so it was likely that his brother couldn't even handle meat now. "You should probably force yourself to drink milk then to make sure you get enough protein then," said Al. Ed coughed.
"You said WHAT?" Al just responded with a blank stare. Ed chuckled and gave a warm smile. "Actually, I couldn't even if I wanted to. Not only do I hate it, but milk is like a poison to birds."
"Oh," Al said, "I didn't know that." Ed waved his hand as if it were nothing. Al slumped down into his seat. He had had no idea that being a chimera could change THAT much about your life. He felt so sorry for his brother, having to deal with all of this.
Catching his expression, Ed piped up, "Look, Al, relax. Everyone's doing the best they can to fix this. Worrying isn't going to help anything as it'll probably just make me start to worry. Just eat your food and try to be your normal, cheerful self. I'd be a lot more at ease if you were."
"Alright, Brother, I'll try," said Al. He meant it. He certainly would try to be cheerful for his brother's sake. He then took a forkful of the food on his plate and began to eat.
After a few hours, the brothers had finally arrived at their new destination, yet another small town out in the country. Ed once again went and made reservations for a room at the inn, and Al stuck by his side this time, to avoid having anything else happen. He didn't want to expose his brother a second time.
When they finally got settled into their room, Ed threw off his coat and stretched his wings. "Finally! I thought I'd never get to take that off." He flopped down onto his bed on his stomach and began mumbling under his breath.
Al looked over at his brother with a concerned expression on his face. "Brother? Who are you talking to?"
Ed looked up at Al with a startled expression on his face, and said, "What makes you think I'm talking to someone?"
"Just by the simple fact that you were talking just now, and not talking to me," Al stated. "Brother, what else are you hiding? I know you're hiding something else. You can trust me, you know that. Why don't you tell me?" Tears started running down Al's cheeks as he was saying this. Ed sighed. He couldn't ever hold up under that kind of pressure from Al.
Ed turned his face away from Al. "Do you really want to know?" Al nodded furiously. Ed didn't actually see him nod, but he figured that had by the way his sobs had been so garbled for that moment, so he turned back to face Al, and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Al, have you ever thought about what happens to the spirit of the animal involved in the transmutation?"
Al shook his head. No, he'd never thought of that. "Doesn't the animal's spirit just die?"
This was Ed's turn to shake his head. "No, contrary to popular belief, there is no difference between a human soul and an animal soul. They are simply in different bodies. When someone creates a chimera, there is no place for both souls involved to go to except into the same body."
Al's eyes widened in shock. "So there are two souls in your body?" Ed nodded. Al continued speaking. "So, that's who you've been talking to, isn't it? It's the spirit of the bird you were combined with."
"Yes, that's who it is. He's just as bothered by this whole situation as I am. He didn't want to be a human any more than I wanted to be a bird, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. What's done is done, and we both just have to move on, even if we both have to share the same body."
Finishing his speech, Ed stood up and walked over to the closet to hang up his coat as Al looked on. Poor Brother, Al thought, having to go through all of this. I feel sorry for the spirit of that bird too. Neither one of them did anything to deserve this. I wish there was something I could do for them.
Then he remembered. Ed wanted him to be cheerful. That may be all he could do for his brother, but at least he could do that. After Ed finished hanging up his coat, he turned back around to face Al. Al flashed him a big smile. This may be all he could do to help, but he was going to make sure to do a good job of it.
Hope you liked that chapter. Please leave a review, and let me know what you think.
