Chapter 4
Kairi sat up in bed the next day and looked around. Molly was the only one still in the room and she was still asleep. Kairi slowly stood up and walked quietly out of the room. She walked into the room and saw Maria. "Nice to see you wake up, sis." Maria laughed. Kairi didn't even look at her.
"Where's Edward...and Alphonse?" Maria shrugged.
"Who knows...I think I remember Al saying something about looking for a nearby town."
"And Ed?"
"He said we're out of food so he went to go look for some...They left quite a while ago so they should be back soon..." Kairi looked sadly at the floor. "Why?" Maria asked.
"No reason, why should I care what that shrimp is doing?" Kairi sat down on the couch in front of her sister.
"Well, you better get ready and help me get Molly ready, Ed said we're leaving as soon as him and Al get back. Geesh, you'd think he'd start ordering us around..." Maria laughed going to get Molly. Kairi looked sadly at the floor and then looked over in the corner where her sack was.
--flashback from 5 years ago--
A younger Kairi stood beside her father in her room. He was a tall man with brown hair and always wore his military clothes. He stood over his daughter at her desk and drew something on a piece of paper. "This dear, is a transmutation circle. It's sort of like magic and if you touch it..." Her father touched the circle and the piece of paper glowed. When it stopped glowing a single flower was in it's place. Kairi looked at it with amazement. Her father placed the flower in her hair and stroked her head.
"Daddy? Will I ever be able to draw a...trans...trasmutation circle...?"
"Of course, with practice, you could even become one of the best alchemists here." Her dad laughed.
"Yay!" Kairi said throwing her hands in the air.
--flashback ends--
Tears started falling from Kairi's eyes immediately as Al walked back into the room. "Well I...Kairi...are you ok?" Al asked slowly walking up to her. She immediately rubbed the tears from her face.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"
"You're crying."
"I am not...there's just something in my eye." Kairi immediately walked away from him and back to the bedroom. Just as Kairi walked in, Maria and Molly walked out.
"Kairi..." Maria started. Maria sighed as she and Molly walked into the living room.
"What was wrong with Kairi? She was crying..." Al asked her, thinking that he did something to make her cry.
"It's nothing..." Maria said just as Ed walked in.
"Well there's nothing around here to eat." Ed said folding his arms.
"I found something brother." Al said excited.
"You did?"
"Yeah, there's a city a few miles from here."
"Well let's go, what are we waiting for?" Just as Ed turned to leave, Maria stopped him.
"We can't leave yet, Kairi isn't ready." Maria told him and Ed growled. With an angry look on his face, Ed stomped back to the bedroom.
"Why the hell aren't you ready yet!" Ed yelled. Kairi didn't even look at him, she just brushed by him with her bag in her hands and her head down and eyes closed. "Kairi?"
"Let's go..." Kairi said sadly and everyone followed her out the door.
--about an hour later--
They had been walking forever and everyone was getting tired. For the past hour, Kairi hadn't said a word, she just looked at the ground and walked forward. Molly sat on Al's shoulders oblivious to all that was going on, but Al, Ed and Maria were getting a little worried. "Maybe you should go talk to her Ed..." Al said.
"Why do I have to?" Ed asked a little irritated.
"Well you are the only one here that has anything in common with her..." Maria said. Ed didn't move. "Just do it!" Maria yelled softly making sure Kairi didn't hear her.
"Alright, alright, geez..." Ed ran up beside Kairi. "You alright...?"
"Why do you care?"
"Look...I just wanna help..."
"It's nothing that you would understand...having your parents die like that...burned alive...it was all my fault, I could've stopped them...but coudn't..."
"Don't say that..."
"It's true...I was right there...I could have drawn that transmutation circle faster...but was too afraid to..."
"Kairi...there was nothing you could do..."
"SHUT UP!" Kairi screamed. "You have no idea what I've been through, someone always coming after you and killing your own parents...to grow up alone with only your sisters as family. Not knowing what's going on and having to live on your own at such a young age..." Al and Maria walked past them...It kinda seemed like an older sibling thing. "Having to take care of your sisters, knowing that no one else would...and to watch their spirits and hopes of their parents just...die..." Tears started to stream down her cheeks. "...you have no idea what it's like...to live on your own with the military breathing down your neck, looking to you every five seconds...as if your not good enough..."
"DON'T SAY THAT!" Ed yelled. "Nobody here knows any of that better than me..."
"Oh please, you mother probably can't wait for you to come back home so she can bake you that stupid little pie that she promised to make her strong little hero." Ed clinched his fists tightly.
"My mother died..." Kairi's eyes widened. "...my mother died when me and Al were only kids too...my father left us...almost as soon as Al was born...and haven't seen him since. Ever since then me and Al have been on our own..." Ed looked down at his right hand and clenched it tight. "...we did something terrible and we paid for it...searching for only one thing...and becoming a dog of the military was the only way to get anywhere close to it...and since then Colonel Mustang has been breathing down our necks trying to irritate to the point of killing him. Al's the only family I have left...that's it..." Kairi saw a single tear sneak down his cheek. "So don't ever say that I don't understand! I hate to say it but...it looks to me...like we're almost exactly the same..." Ed said looking over at Al, Maria and Molly. "I've noticed...Molly looks to you as a mother..."
"Yeah..." Kairi said softly a little ashamed of herself for yelling at him.
"She and Maria look up to you...you're their older sister and they look up to you just as much as Al looks up to me..."
"Uh...up?" Ed slouched over.
"Don't ruin the moment..."
"I get what you're saying now..."
"Do what I do now...you're parents are gone, yeah it's sad but...it's better to look at what you have now...Maria and Molly are still here, you need to protect them...because as far as I'm concerned your the mom now and they look up to you. Don't dwell on the past...they love you..." Kairi smiled at him.
"Yeah well...I still don't see how Al looks up to you." Kairi laughed. "I mean you gotta be what...4'7"?"
"Why you!" Ed chased her up towards them and Kairi just laughed. Al and Maria stopped when they ran past them. Al laughed.
"They really are alike aren't they?" Al asked.
"Yeah...they are..." Maria smiled.
--a few miles later--
The five finally walked into the town that Al had told them about and they looked around. "What is this place?" Maria asked.
"Beats me." Al said.
"You don't think this is Avalon do ya? I hope so..." Ed slumped over.
"I doubt it...I told you about three days on foot and because you passed out we stayed at that cabin for two days, we havn't even walked for one day." Kairi told him.
"Hey, I was saving your life!" Ed screamed. A drop of sweat rolled down Al's armor as they walked deeper into the town.
"I wonder what their all staring at?" Kairi asked. Since they had walked into the town, every person stopped to look at them and didn't move.
"They're looking at me, brother." Al said.
"Naw, they just probably never have seen travelers before..." Ed said. Al walked up to one of the people.
"Excuse me...but do you know where we are?" Al asked. The man screamed and ran off. "No, it's me..." Al sighed.
"Oh please, you people never seen a giant suit of armor before?" Ed yelled out. Everyone immediately turned around and continued what they were doing nervously. "Man, the nerve of some people." Ed said folding his arms. They walked over to a stand that looked to sell food. They each sat in a chair. The waiter walked over to them.
"What can I get..." The man looked at Al and started to look a little nervous.
"What's wrong? You never seen a group of travelers pass through a town before?" Ed said noticing that he was looking at Al. Al sighed and Maria touched him gently on the hand and smiled at him warmly trying to cheer him up.
"Can we just get some bread? I think we can bare with that..." Kairi said. A man nearby looked at the group of kids mysteriously and he smiled. The waiter walked away to get the food and Kairi rolled her eyes. "Geesh, you'd think they'd never seen a group of kids order food."
"Tell me about it." Ed said. The mysterious man walked up to them.
"So you guys are travelers huh?"
"Who wants to know?" Ed asked.
"Easy pal, I was just doing what a good neighbor does and wanted to invite you to spend the night at my place tonight. I can offer you a full meal, you kids look starved."
"Uh, no thanks, we're just passing through." Ed said.
"I don't know Ed, he seems alright..." Maria told him.
"Food food!" Molly said happilly throwing her little hands in the air.
"I don't know..." Ed folded his arms again.
"He doesn't seem bad, brother, I'm sure we'll be fine..." Al said. Ed sighed and looked at him.
"Fine, but tomorrow we head for Avalon. The sooner we get there the better."
"You kids are heading to Avalon huh? That's not far from here, I'll give ya a map when we get to the house. Come on." The kids followed the man forgeting all about the waiter and their food. "So what's you kids names?" The man asked.
"Well, I'm Edward Elric and this is my brother Al and are friend Kairi and her sisters Maria and Molly." Ed told him a little nervous to be giving out their names.
"Huh, well my name's Lieutenant York."
"You're a Lieutenant?" Ed asked.
"See I told you he didn't seem all bad." Al told him.
"Yup, been one for a while now." York told them. "It's over here, you'll love the house, there's a beautiful garden outside and I even have a dog for the little one to play with. He loves company and he'll be happy to see you kids." They all walked into a small beautiful house. "Here we are."
"Wow." Al said.
"Yeah, it's a pretty nice place." Ed said looking around. Molly climbed down Al's arm and to the floor when she saw something big run at them.
"There he is. Everyone, this is Napoleon." The dog stopped right as he got up to them. The dog was a great dane, the biggest dog in the world. It was a beautiful shade of brown and his coat seemed to shimer. He looked at little Molly and she grabbed onto his head and hugged him tightly. "He's a good dog and loves to play. I have a playroom if you want to play with him and his toys." York lead Napoleon and Molly to the playroom and left Ed, Al, Kairi and Maria alone in the main hall.
"Something wrong Ed?" Maria asked.
"Something...just doesn't seem right..." Ed told them.
"Oh please, I bet Ed's just nervous because that dog is almost as big as he is." Kairi laughed and made the others laugh.
"I am not." Ed said as York walked back into the room.
"Well, I suppose I'll show you to your rooms...now would you all like to sleep apart are together?"
"Could you give us a minute?" Kairi asked pulling everyone over.
"What's wrong?" Al asked.
"Ok, what do we do?"
"What do you mean 'what do we do?' We tell him we want separate rooms." Ed told her as if she was stupid.
"Yeah, but what if that guy that got away from the cabin figures out we're here and while you and Al are in another room, they grab us and kill us on the spot?" (Crazy'n'love: Well I'm going to say that would make pretty short story)
"She's right..." Al told them. "I guess we'll all just sleep together..."
"But we can't sleep in the same room as girls!" Ed said.
"That didn't stop you at the cabin." Maria told him.
"Well that was different, there was only one bedroom."
"And it didn't stop you from sleeping on the couch with Kairi." Al laughed causing Maria to laugh too. Ed and Kairi were getting a little tired of that being held up against them.
"Fine..." Ed said turning to Lieutenant York. "If it's alright with you, we'd like to sleep in the same room."
"Of course, I'll just move 3 beds into one room and because another won't fit, you boys won't mind sleeping on the floor, would you?"
"Of course not, we'll be fine." Al said.
"Alright then, enjoy, the courtyard's over there if you want to see the garden my wife made and the play room's over there just in case you want to play with Napoleon and Molly. Oh and there's a library over there if you get bored and want to read a book."
"We will, thanks." Ed said as York walked away.
"Well, I'm going to look around a bit." Maria said.
"I'll keep an eye on Molly." Al said as the two parted and went two separate ways leaving Ed and Kairi alone.
"Is it just me or does this house seem a little strange? Almost as if...it was watching us." Kairi asked.
"I was just thinking the same thing..." Ed said.
--in another room of the house--
Lieutenant York picked up the phone and put it up to his ear. "They're here..."
Ooooh, creepy...Well I don't know about you, but it's either just me or this story is getting a bit spooky for me. Probably just me shudder. Well, please review, cuz I love to hear from people and see if i'm doin a good job or not.