Chapter 3
Hey everyone. I know it doesn't make sense for Ed to be up that fast. I planned out this way for a reason so just bare with me. It will make sense...eventually. Some of it will be explained in this chapie. Enjoy. Oh, and PLEASE review (cries) I live off reviews. Without reviews, I die. Thanks to the 4 people who reviewed last chapie. This chapter is dedicated to you! THANK YOU!
Oh, just a note, I had to use a program with no spell check so my spelling might suck. I'll come and edit it later though. Please feel free to point out any spelling errors I made. Just please don't flame. Anyway enjoy the next chapter!
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Ed grimaced once he got in the small bathroom on the train to Central. He didn't like lying to Al, but for this to work he would have to. 'Great. From one lie to another.' His body sagged as he ran a hand through slightly messy blond hair. Hopefully this would all be over soon. He bent over slightly as a coughing fit racked his, regrettably small form. As it passed he plastered a smile on his face and excited the bathroom.
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Al knew something was up. Even if it was Ed he was talking about, no one could recover that quickly. Not from some serious, unknown disease. What was Ed hiding now? He let out a small sigh. He would get some answers. Even if he had to strap his brother into a chair to do so. He was tired of waiting for Ed explanation.
"Hey Al. You up for a game of card before we get to Central?' Ed grinned
"Brother." Uh oh. Ed knew that voice. That was the "I-want-answers-now-dammit-and-your-going-to-give-them-to-me' voice. He'd used that voice ever since they were kids, whenever Ed had tried to avoid talking about something. So far he had been successful at prying the information of Ed every time. No matter how hard Ed tried to stop it. He suppressed a sigh. This probably wasn't going to end well.
"Ya Al? Something wrong?"
Al gave him a look that clearly said that Ed knew very well what he wanted. Ed shrugged and chuckled, a nervous edge to his voice.
"Brother. I want to know what happened. Starting with how you got sick and how you got better so fast." the tone left no tone for argument and Ed's attempt at a smile faded. 'Crap'
"Well..." Ed trailed off, trying to think of a way to divert his younger sibling attention. It might be best to tell him at least part of what happened. At least that way he'd be satisfied. Temporarily at least. "What do you know?"
Al was beyond frustrated the moment, and, as far as he was concerned, with good reason. So far his brother had tried to run away, collapsed and ended up in the hospital, found out he had some unknown disease and was somehow ok and through out all this he had yet to tell Al anything.
"That you know how you got this disease and aren't telling Me." he replied
Ed let out a sigh and slumped forward in his seat. "It came from the stone."
Al blanched. The stone? He had thought the transmutation had worked properly. This didn't make any sense. He and Ed had worked for months on the formulas and equations they had used in the transmutation. They couldn't have been wrong!
"Th-the stone?" he questioned hesitantly. "Something was wrong with the equations? How could that be? We double-checked everything. Nothing should have gone wrong!" Another thing that had happened to his brother that he had been responsible for. If he hadn't been returned to his old body Ed wouldn't be sick. It was his fault.
"There was nothing wrong with the calculations. If there were it wouldn't have worked and we'd both be dead. You know that. It was a side effect that I knew might happen. I accepted it." he shrugged looking away. He knew Al would be angry that he had known it might happen and gone through with it anyway but it had been something he had to do. Apparently even with the stone, there still had to be something sacrificed.
"Wait, you knew this might happen and you went through with it anyway? Why? Why did you do something so stupid?" Al demanded. How could he have kept something this important from him?
"Would you have gone through with the transmutation if you had known?" Ed asked quietly. At 17 he had calmed down a bit (though he still dislike being called short.)
"Of course not! You could die! There's no way I would have agreed if you had told me you could be affected!" Al was yelling know and for once he was glad he had been promoted from major to Lt. Colonel as it gave them a private car and meant that there would be no unwanted listeners.
"Exactly. You wouldn't have gone through with it. This way, you have your body back." Ed replied, still remarkably calm.
"You...I..." Al stammered, trailing off.
Ed turned to look out the window, effectively ending the conversation. 'Crap. I said more than I meant to. At least this way he wont ask me about it for a while. Still...I'm going to have to careful not to let much more information slip. I need to get that information, and that's not gonna happen if they find out I'm sick.'
The remainder of the ride to Central was spent in silence, both brothers having more than enough to think about. This was one of the many times he wished they didn't have a private car, as it was far to tense for Ed's liking.
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A/N: yes, I know it's short but I made the mistake of attempting to have a social life so I'm going to be busy for the next week or so. Also, I wanted to update ASAP so, I had to sacrifice a bit of length. Sorry. The next one will be longer to make up for it.
Just in case you missed it, I included some semi-important information.
1. Ed is now a Lt. Colonel You'll find out why later.
2. Ed is now 17, making Al 16. I realized I forgot to say how old they were. Sorry about that.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! I'll give you candy!
