F U L L M E T A L A N D T H E S I L E N T A L C H E M I S T
Chapter One
Desert to the East of Central
Shamballa – 1921
Edward; 17, Alphonse; 16, Rose; 18
An explosion sent sand shooting up in the air, but there was complete silence. At the source of the explosion sat a girl, covered in sand. She looked up, blinking and then smiled. She started moving her hand, in sign language, obviously, but she made no noise. I gave Al a quizzical look, and he approached her and after a moment, turned and translated –
"She's lost her voice."
The girl nodded, smiling.
"And she thinks you're cute."
Alphonse laughed as the girl fumed and threw a clump of sand at his armor, and she resumed her hand motions.
"She says she's lost. She's heading to Central to see Roy."
The girl nodded and I grinned, "Well, I guess I should escort you there. You're lucky we were heading that way." She nods again and gives me a sweet smile, and once again, moves her hands.
"Her name is Rose, and is known as the Silent Alchemist."
"The Silent Alchemist?" I blinked, 'Well it was obvious why… but, seriously...'. Before I could ask, she was moving her hands.
"She says she's pleased to meet you, but a name would be nice."
"Edward Elric," I replied and she returned it with a smile. I regained my senses and held a hand out to her to help her up. She took it, pulling herself up. She lingered with her touch a moment and I realized I had given her my automail arm. She pushed up the sleeve of my coat and I saw her eyes grow wide as she gazed at the shining metal. She stepped back quickly, a blush on her cheeks. 'Sorry,' she mouthed at me. I shook my head, "Don't worry about it; I get it all the time." She seemed more at ease after that.
She lowered her hood, revealing lightly tanned skin, most likely from traveling in deserts like this for long periods of time. Blue eyes shone brightly in the afternoon sun, and her long cascading black hair came just past her waist. She looked much like another Rose I know, but with out the pink bangs. Her cloak was similar to mine, but a deep purple in color. 'Hi,' she mouthed, giggling at my astonished look. I regained my composure at this and turned away crossing my arms. I saw her put her hands on her waist and pout – I couldn't help but to laugh, it was just so… cute.
She blushed prettily and stalked forward. I chuckled, "so… how – how did you become the 'Silent' Alchemist?" She paused at the question and her eyes clouded. She whipped out a pen and a notepad and proceeded to scribble down a message, 'the same way you lost you arm and leg.' I blinked, "you know about that?" She shrugged and starting writing again, 'everyone who knows Mustang knows about you.' I sighed and she gave me an apologetic look. I waved it off, "It's ok. It doesn't bother me now." She smiled at me and hugged my arm. I stiffened and blushed lightly, too cute; too, too cute. Her eyes were bright again and we finally continued our journey through the blazing desert.
'Sand, did I tell you, I REALLY hate sand. I swear.' "AL! YOU SANK! AGAIN!"
"I'm sorry Nii-san! I don't mean to!"
Sigh.
Chapter Two
Central – Mustang's Office
"So… you caught her," Roy said, smirking at Rose.
"Caught?" I questioned, blinked and my eyebrow rose in confusion. I looked to Rose, who looked just as confused as I.
"Yes, she… apparently left three hours ago, and she more than likely got lost. So you caught her and returned her here."
'Well, that made… SOME sense.' She was glaring at Mustang, but looking ashamed at the same time. For some reason, I felt like beating the crap out of Roy now… but why was it different? It seemed to be a much stronger surge of hate. I sighed mentally. Roy chuckled and shook his head. "Well, I'm glad she made it back in safe hands." His eyes glittered. "I have your next assignment, and I hope you got to know her well on your trek back, because Rose will be accompanying you on this one. Oh, and if you can ever manage to get her to tell you her story, it's quite… interesting."
She glared, and quite uncharacteristically flipped him the bird before stomping out of the office. Riza, who stood next to Roy, shook her head and sighed. "You know, sir, one of these days, she's going to really hurt you."
"I know." Roy looked to me again, "Go on Fullmetal. It should be a fun assignment for the three of you." He handed me the familiar envelope that I never look at and shooed me out of his office. I found Rose sitting against the wall outside the door, her head resting on her knees. "He's an ass, isn't he?" I asked, sliding down next to her. She sighed and nodded, leaning side ways to rest against my shoulder. I hesitated and she seemed to notice this and lifted away from me. But before I could relax I found her now, on her knees, in front of me and she had a hand on my chin. I blinked, and before I could say anything, or move, she had brushed her lips against mine. My eyes widened and a hand went up to my lips, and I looked to her as she was standing. "So… THAT'S how it works."
She blushed and pulled out the notepad again, scribbled her message down and handed it to me, 'that's only PART of what I can do. And that's not even alchemy.' She laughs and I award her with a curious look. "Oh, really…?" She grinned at me. "Let's go, I'm starving." I said suddenly, and stood finally. She nodded and followed me out of the building, where we found Alphonse sitting on the stone steps, playing with a kitten. "Al…"
He looked at me and laughed nervously.
"So… where do you come from Rose?" Alphonse questioned. She grinned and wrote a single word on a nearby napkin – 'Risembool'. I blinked at that. "Seriously?" She nodded. "That's funny," said Al, "'cause that's where we come from too. How come we never saw you there?" She smiled sadly and wrote, 'long story. I left before you two were born.' "Oh," said Alphonse.
I eyed her, trying to see if she was lying, but she seemed not to be. Rose smiled at me and I turned back to my meal. How little did I know how interesting this mission was to become.
Chapter Three
Some desert in the Southwest –
"I – HATE – DESERTS!" I growled after digging up Alphonse for the nth time. "Why isn't there someone around here with a truck or some—"Just as I ranted, a truck pulled up next to us. 'So there IS a God!' I mentally thanked whatever deity that was having pity on us.
"Hey, where are you kids heading?" The driver, a big, burly male that made me feel slightly uncomfortable, especially with that look he was giving Rose, asked. I stepped in front of her, confusing her, and glared slightly. "We're heading towards Liore, care to give us a lift?"
"Sure, pipsqueak—"
"NO ONE CALLS ME A PIPSQUEAK, YOU SMELLY OLD DRIED OUT TRUCKER!"
Rose stared, Alphonse sighed, and the driver blinked, "Whatever. Just hop in the back, the little lady can sit up in the cab with me, though."
Rose moved closer to me, instinctively, and I growled. "No, I think she'll sit with me, if you don't mind." I pulled her towards the bed of the truck and helped her climb in. The driver threw a glare at me and I threw it right back. We settled and the driver took off. I looked back at him, "Don't try anything funny, or you'll be part of this rig." That got him. He turned and drove without another word to me or Rose. I saw Rose sigh and she pulled out the notebook again, 'how much longer?' I thought a moment, "about two hours." She smiled, 'good, mind if I take a nap?' She scribbled in response. I shook my head and she snuggled up against my right side. She was asleep instantly. ". . . ."
Alphonse laughed silently.
"Shut up."
"Rose… Rose, wake up!" I shook her gently, and she stirred but fell into a deeper sleep. I knitted my brows together and sighed. A sudden smirk then appeared on my face and I attacked her ribs. That worked, too well, perhaps. She jumped and fell back, pulling me with and on top of her. We froze in that position; after a moment, she smirked and mouthed, 'Why, hello there.' I smirked back, "Well…" There was a metallic laugh behind us and I turned to glare at Al. "Shut up." I looked back to Rose. "Well, we're here." She looked around. 'Good,' she mouthed and pushed herself up. I helped her stand and climb out of the truck. As soon as we were on the ground she seemed to loose her balance and fell against me, my arms instinctively wrapping around her. I raised an eyebrow, "You ok?" She smiled sheepishly and nodded.
"What – the – hell!?" My eyes looked over our destination. In the far distance, there was a roller coaster and I could smell corndogs. "What is this? A fair? What could Mustang want us to do here?!" my eyes narrowed and I fished out the envelope that I would normally NEVER look at and tore it open to read the debriefing letter.
'Haha, fooled you, Fullmetal. I know you never read these. You do too much adult work. Be a kid for a change. Enjoy!
Mustang'
"…I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL THAT—is that cotton candy?" My eyes trailed some blue fluffy stuff that 'walked' by. I blinked, folding up the letter. "Well, we might as well enjoy ourselves, huh?" I looked to Rose who was starting in wonder, mouth agape. I smirked and wrapped my arms around her, placing my lips next to her ear and whispered, "You know, gape long enough and something bad might happen… or something good." Her mouth snapped shut and, pouting, she turned to face me. This placed are faces very close, she and I blushed but I couldn't bring myself to pull away. She was just… so warm. We had caught eye contact by now, and I felt pulled. I was finally able to move a hand away from her, only to use it to stroke her cheek, a soft smile on my lips. Her eyes closed and she leaned into the caress, I leaned forward, our lips mere inches apart.
"NII-SAN! Didja see the roller coast— ah—hehe—oops."
We were caught in the act. And I felt like burying Al into a sea of sand now. Rose pulled away – and I felt terrible as she did so, but I couldn't bring myself to stop her. "Ah – Rose –" I tried to say more but she turned towards me, her semi-sad eyes locked with mine – and I understood. I smiled gently at her. "Let's go check out that roller coaster, ne?"
Chapter Four
That evening, we rented ourselves a hotel room in which has two beds in the middle of the back wall of the room. The only thing that separated the two beds was a nightstand with a lamp upon it. I entered the room, only to freeze halfway in, as I saw Rose sitting on what it seemed that she claimed as her bed for the night. I gazed at her, still silent, so my presence was not known. She was hunched over a journal, her hair falling over one of her creamy shoulders and writing quickly. I longed to tough her, but it seemed so… forbidden to do so.
I swallowed and finally made my way fully into the room, and began to cross it to get to my own bed. She looked up, and we made eye contact, causing me to freeze in my walking once again. I was suddenly aware of my lack of clothing, since I was wearing a thin, skin-tight black tank and black boxer-shorts. Her eyes looked over me once before turning back to her writing. I was curious then, as to what she was writing about. I dismissed the thought though, as I finished my trek across the room and climbed into bed, pulling the blankets over me and fell asleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night, there was a rustle, alerting me to consciousness. It was then I felt a presence next to me; and warm, light puffs of breath against my chest. I shifted slightly, and the person next to me froze. I grinned, knowing who it was now, and wrapped an arm around her thin waist, pulling her against me. She gasped lightly and I chuckled, kissing the top of her head and pulling the thick blanked over us.
Sunlight; it shined through the window, onto my face, warming me, even though I was pretty damn warm already. Rose was sleeping peacefully, her breath an intoxicating rhythm. She looked so peaceful and beautiful in her sleep. I smiled warmly, pressing a kiss to her temple. She stirred and I preceded my kisses to her neck. She rolled over then and opened her eyes and I hovered over her, looking deep into her crystalline-blue orbs. I smiled and kissed her gently on the lips. "Good morning," I whispered, and she blushed, hiding her face against me chest. I laughed; she was just too cute. I ran my hand through her hair and she turned, pressing her back against my chest, as if she was seeking to get as close as humanly possible. I readjusted my arm and she twined her fingers with mine, and I kissed the crook of her neck. A large smile spread across her lips, and I grinned along with her. "Fun for us all, he said." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. I pulled her closer and we fell back into a light sleep, basking in the warm sun.
Chapter Five – Finale
Central – Return
"So, did you kids have fun?" Mustang asked, smirking and eyeing Rose and I.
"Define 'fun' Mustang," I retorted, wrapping an arm around Roses waist making her blush. "I hope I get paid extra for that little scandal."
"Extra, Fullmetal? I think you've already received your 'extra' payment." He grinned and my face flushed.
"You… you planned this didn't you?!" I stammered, staring in shock at Roy.
"Maybe, I did," he gave his usual smirk.
Rose was scribbling furiously on her notepad and after a moment, she literally threw it into his face. He picked it up, after rubbing the sting from his nose. He chuckled after a moment. "Yes, I do exploit such information as that." He grinned again, and after a moment, there was a silent explosion and the stack of papers that were on Roy's desk flew into his face and Rose vanished from the room.
"Sir," Riza sighed. "I believe this time; you've got on her last straw."
"Probably so," Roy laughed. "But I can tell she's thankful, the poor girl would have never taken such a fine opportunity of saying – or signing – anything."
Riza sighed, "you are too kind, sir."
"Damn straight."
I had followed after her, towards the main gardens, where she sat down on the stone wall surrounding the fountain. She sighed heavily and I sat down next to her, wrapping mar arms around her and nuzzling her neck. She giggled soundlessly. "You know, that's the first nice thing that ass has ever done for me since I've become a state alchemist."
Rose nodded, pulling out a new notebook. 'Yeah, I know,' she wrote, and sighed. 'Well, I can't say that I'm not thankful for what he's done-' I smiled at her and kissed her gently. "So… about this story of yours. Since you know mine-"
She smiled slightly, flipping the page of her notebook and scribbled down her message:
'It happened after I left Risembool; My brother, who I lived with since my parents were deceased,
suddenly grew ill and finally, after a year of suffering, he died. I was devastated, feeling as
though my last ties to this earth were snipped. I attempted to bring him back, using alchemy – and
I saw the gate. I wasn't ready to leave this world so the creatures took my next greatest possession:
my voice. Singing to me, back then, was my life, other than my brother, and now they're all gone. That's
how I became the 'silent' alchemist. I also control sound waves.'
I stared at the message, completely speechless and shocked. 'So… she had also lost everything that was familiar to her… it's like we were meant to be.' I finally looked up at her, and she averted her sad gaze. I lightly touched her cheek, bringing her attention back to me. I felt like saying a million things, but, my heart only allowed me to press a deep, warm, comforting kiss to her lips.
Somethingsare better left in Silence.
FIN