After running drills, Amelia had been too exhausted to stay awake long enough to get a filling dinner. She ended up going to bed early, thinking that was probably best since they would be getting up early anyway. The next morning, Edward gathered his things and banged on Amelia's door to get her to wake up. He spent a few more minutes getting everything ready, and Alphonse helped him out.
Once he had that, he banged on Amelia's door again since she still hadn't come out, "Hey, come on, let's go!" He shouted, "Get out of bed! We've got a train to catch!"
He only heard a reluctant groan from the other side of the door. He rolled his eyes, "We don't have time for this." He reached for the door handle and barged into the dark room, seeing Amelia still in bed.
"Brother!" Alphonse chided him, "You can't just barge into a girl's room!"
"It's fine, Al." Edward brushed it off, going over to Amelia in the bed, "Hey, come on. We said we'd be leaving early, get up!" She just groaned and pulled the covers up over her head.
"Isn't there a later train we can catch…?" She asked sleepily from under the blankets. Edward scowled and went to the foot of her bed.
"We already paid for the tickets, let's go!" He yelled, grabbing at the blankets at the foot of the bed and yanking them to pull them off of Amelia's body. He almost instantly regretted it since the blankets exposed how she slept. She was on her side, curled up around a pillow, in nothing but a cotton shirt and her underwear. His face turned bright red at the sight of seeing so much skin from her, even though it was nothing particularly scandalous for Amelia, showing that much leg in Amestris wasn't exactly common. Alphonse couldn't look, bringing one hand up to cover his eyes, but Edward was left gaping at the sight of her.
"Christ, fine…!" Amelia groaned, sitting up and glaring at Edward, "I just wanted a few more minutes…" She swung her legs over the side and went over to the dresser where she had left out an outfit to wear that day.
"Uh- good! A-And make it quick!" Edward was flustered, but he tried to keep up that take-no-shit attitude he had barged in with. Amelia didn't seem to notice just how embarrassed he was at seeing so much of her body from that one instance. He closed the door behind him and let her get dressed.
On the other side of the door, he glanced up at Alphonse, "Next time, you go wake her up." He said.
"Why me? I don't want to have to do your dirty work, Brother!" Alphonse complained. Edward tried to pretend he didn't hear him as he decided to make sure they had the right tickets, even though he had already checked about 3 times before then, trying to forget what he had just seen.
Once they had gotten on the train, Amelia had almost immediately fallen back asleep and stayed that way for another hour or two before she started to slowly wake up. The sound of the train running along the tracks had been somewhat soothing and she found it a little difficult to come back to the land of the waking world, but she did. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretching out her arms and yawning before she looked at the seat across from her, seeing Al sitting alone.
"Did you sleep well?" He asked, reaching for a little brown paper bag next to him and holding it out to her.
"Good enough," Amelia said, reaching out to take it, looking inside and seeing there was a little bit of food in there for her, "Is this for me?"
"Yeah, brother made a stop by the dining car and grabbed you a few things. They stopped serving breakfast a while ago, though." Alphonse said as Amelia started reaching inside, pulling out what would have been a warm, fluffy biscuit if she had eaten it as soon as it came to her, but she was content with biting down into it cold and holding it in her mouth as she started reaching for the other things to eat, which included a little jar of jam to eat with her biscuit, and a knife to spread it with. She munched down on her bite, looking up at Alphonse.
"What time is it?" She asked with biscuit-filled cheeks.
"I think it's a little after eleven."
"Oh, jeez. I slept awhile." She had a little trouble swallowing the somewhat dry biscuit before she reached for the jam and spread a little bit on her next bite, making it easier to swallow. "Where's your brother?"
"Using the bathroom," Alphonse answered.
Amelia put on another bit of jam before she ate another bite of biscuit, "How much longer until we get to North City?"
"It'll be a few more hours at least." Amelia frowned at that answer.
"God, I should have just kept sleeping, could have slept through the whole trip." She muttered before stuffing her mouth with the last of a jam-covered biscuit and swallowing it down. "Did he bring anything for me to drink?"
"No, sorry," Alphonse said, Amelia pushed herself to stand up, taking a moment to stretch her legs after sleeping on the train seat. It had been a little stiff and her legs weren't too happy to be moving again.
"I'll find some water or something, be back in a minute." She said, and Alphonse stood up behind her, getting her attention, "What's up, Al?"
"Brother told me to watch you since you're technically not allowed to be alone. Sorry." Alphonse said, and Amelia let out an exasperated sigh.
"Right, of course. Come on, you can at least show me where the dining car is." She said, and she followed the suit of armor through a couple of train cars. Alphonse had to duck down for every doorway, and she couldn't deny that it was somewhat scary to have to step out into the open air between train cars. She could feel the cold rush of wind and hear the clickety-clackety of the train tracks much more loudly in that small space between them. Going into the next car that was heated was a delight after that sudden rush of cold air. They had to go through a couple of cars before they managed to get to the dining car and someone was able to give her something to drink. She downed a paper cup of water before they returned and made the trip back to where they had been before. As they passed by the windows, Amelia could vaguely make out that they were passing by a lot of hills that seemed to only grow larger in the distance.
"I guess we're traveling through the mountains," She commented as she and Alphonse made their way back into their car, "No wonder it feels so much colder out here."
"Oh, was it? I should have warned you to get your jacket." Alphonse said, "I didn't think the air would get cold that fast, but I guess it's different the higher we get?"
"I think so." Amelia agreed.
Coming back to their seats, they saw Edward sitting down, looking up at them, "Hey, where were you?" he asked.
"I was thirsty, I got a drink from the dining car," Amelia said as she moved to sit across from him, and Alphonse moved to sit by his brother as Amelia looked out the window. She could see the hills rolling gently through the horizon the farther she looked out, "It's kind of chilly out there, too." She brought her hand up to the window glass, watching as the spot around her thumb began to fog from her body heat. She pulled it away to see a good fingerprint staining the glass surrounded by fog that started to disappear now that her thumb had left its cold surface. She reached for her coat, her hands digging through the pockets before pulling out her phone and her headphones.
"Well, it's bound to get colder as we get closer to the fort," Edward said, he could still feel where he put the letter from Major Armstrong in his inner pocket. He had no idea what it said, the seal was still unbroken, and while he was curious to know what he wrote about him to try and get them all on his sister's good side, he knew better than to make it look like the letter had been falsified. He could probably guess what it was (at least to some extent, his vocabulary wasn't as elegant and loquacious as the Major's was) and assume it was all about the good things they had done as alchemists under military watch. "Fort Briggs is on the mountain border between Amestris and Drachma, it's as far north as we'll ever be in this country."
"This is the first time we've ever been so far north," Alphonse commented.
"Yeah, it is," Edward replied, looking out the window as they looked over the green hills that seemed to rise higher and higher into the sky as if trying to stab through the incredible blue.
"Do you think there will be snow there?" Amelia asked, and Edward smiled a little at the thought.
"That would be something." He said, "I might like to see that, snow's one thing we never got much of back home." He looked over at Amelia, "Did you get a lot of snow back where you're from?"
"No, Sacramento's too close to the coast to ever really get snow." Amelia answered, shaking her head, "I've never really experienced a lot of snow at once." She still kept looking out the window, "I know there were a bunch of places that got a lot of heavy snowfall every year back home. I remember hearing stories about how they have to keep their cars running when they're parked because the engine will freeze otherwise."
"Really?" This was the first time Amelia had really talked about where she came from, "So most people are pretty far north where you come from?"
"Well, it's a big country, we take up about half the continent." Amelia shrugged, "So the north gets tons and tons of snow every year, and the south doesn't really get that. And we live in a kind of mountain-ish place, but it's not high enough to get snow every single year. Which is probably for the best, we get enough weirdos jumping into the ocean naked in the middle of winter, we don't need them freezing to death."
"What?" Edward couldn't really imagine someone doing that. "That sounds kind of crazy."
Amelia pulled her gaze away from the window to look over at Edward, "Yeah. You've never heard of that? I think it's called polar bear jumping or something."
"Why would someone jump into the ocean in the middle of winter?" Edward asked.
Amelia shrugged, "I don't know, something about how it's supposed to be good for your health to spend some time in the icy water. I have no idea if it's true or not, I just know that's a thing people do." Edward had a look on his face that spoke to his confusion and slight disgust at the image of a bunch of naked people rushing into the cold water for a swim. She just shrugged it off and pulled up her headphones to start listening to music to kill time while traveling.
"Oh, hey, don't do that," Edward said, reaching for her headphones and yanking them out of her ears, much to her surprise that quickly turned to anger.
"What the hell?!" She snatched them back, "Don't do that, you could have broken them!"
"Alright, sorry!" Edward said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a book, "Here, read this." She looked over the front cover.
"An Abridged Summary of Advanced Alchemical Theory?" She read off the title and looked back up at Edward.
"It's not like I can teach you how to punch on a train, so we might as well train your brain to learn some solid alchemical theory," Edward said.
"I'm a little insulted that you got me the abridged version instead of the actual book, but whatever," Amelia replied as she put her headphones back in as she opened up the first page, scrolling through her phone for a moment to find some good music to listen to before she got into reading it, Edward scoffed.
"Well, you don't exactly have the natural understanding of alchemy, so I have to start you off small." Amelia didn't look up as she scowled and kicked her leg out, actually hitting Edward's flesh leg this time, "Ow! Hey!" He glared at her, and she just grinned to herself as she pulled her legs up onto her bench so he couldn't return the favor, starting to read the first chapter. Edward rubbed at the spot she had kicked with a scowl on his face. "It's not like you're getting the stuff you can't understand! I'm not in the wrong for doing this, am I, Al?"
"Uh… well…" His brother turned away from him, "I don't really want to get in between you two." Edward frowned and crossed his arms.
"Traitor."
"You guys always have big fights and I don't want to have to be the one to have to calm you guys down!" Alphonse defended himself, "If we get kicked off the train, I don't want to get kicked off with you."
"We wouldn't get kicked off the train! Come on, have a little faith in your older brother!" Edward snapped.
"I have a lot of faith in you, Brother!" Alphonse said quickly, "Just… not when it comes to controlling your temper." Edward opened his mouth to respond, "And don't say you don't have a temper, because you do!" He closed it with a frown and just sighed, sitting back in his seat and slouching as he pouted. Alphonse just let out a sigh that echoed through his armor and looked out the window to watch the scenery pass by, as he had done many a time when Edward would sleep through train rides.
Edward glanced over at Amelia as she continued to read. She sat up on the bench with her back against the window and her feet facing the walkway aisle. She was completely focused on the book in front of her and didn't seem to know anything about the little argument that he and Alphonse had just a moment ago. Her expression was neutral as she read through the book he gave her, her eyes following along every line as she took in everything that was in front of her. He couldn't help but notice how when she was calm, she actually didn't seem that bad. Looking like this, reading a book and completely quiet, he would have taken her for a studious girl rather than the bratty one he knew. It was different for him, seeing her in a slightly new light as she resembled him on what must have been dozens of train rides by now, he had tried to get comfortable on those benches while reading and never really succeeded, and he was sure she would end up changing her own position soon, but for now… he really could see some of himself in her that others had talked about before. He wondered briefly if there were other things that they might share an interest in. Then again, his focus never really went outside of alchemy, except for a couple of things and she had already told him how much she hated his sense of style.
He looked over the clothes that had been given to her by the Armstrong family - the entire outfit reeked of money, a white coat with a fur trim, black pants that looked like they were made out of some special material made only for the cold, fur-trimmed boots, and her brown hair hung around her shoulders in a bit of a mess around the collar of the coat. Even still, he could easily see that outfit in a magazine somewhere on some hand-drawn woman that was made to be more perfect than any human woman could ever be so they could sell those coats. She looked just like everyone else, but he guessed that was how she wanted to look. She never really showed any signs of wanting to stand out except in alchemy so that she could avoid whatever sentence was ahead of her. Still, he thought she would probably look really good in red if she ever wore it outside of whatever clothes she had from the Armstrong family.
"Brother?" He looked up at Alphonse, "Is something wrong?"
"No, why?" Edward asked.
"You were kind of staring at Amelia." Edward's eyes widened and his cheeks turned red even though he had nothing to be embarrassed about.
"I wasn't staring! I'm just thinking and her face is in the way I'm looking." Edward said, and he turned away from her pointedly, and Alphonse let out a knowing laugh.
"If you say so." He simply replied. Edward scowled deeply as he knew his brother was thinking things that probably weren't true, but it's not like he had proof, and telling him to knock it off would only embarrass himself and not really Alphonse. He glanced back over at Amelia, who was still so focused on her book that she hadn't noticed them at all again. Like this, she was actually kind of nice to look at, not at all like the bratty version that would roll her eyes at his coat or make some jabs at him for something else. Still, there was a fire to her that burned her determination to do well and get things right, even when she was just calmly reading a book about alchemical theory. It was… nice. Amelia could be nice when she wasn't annoying him with little things.
But, unbeknownst to him, Amelia had actually been paying attention to when Edward was looking her way, and now that he was facing away, she snuck the first of Richard's letters into the pages of her book to read it over.
Dear Amelia,
I've just returned to my bookshop as I write this letter. I have been thinking about you a surprising deal since the reunion. You have such an analytic mind, the way you spoke about the Golden Rose series has me re-thinking the entire thing. I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I've taken a second look at the series. I can definitely see a lot of the points you made about the overall character development of the main cast and the supporting cast. I find myself most often drawn to the character of Lily, Rose's sister. Something about her reminds me a little of you, and I almost picture you in her place - the elegant sister trapped in an unhappy marriage but knows better than to abandon it. Would you be the type to stick out the relationship like Lily would when things go bad? I can't help but wonder that about you.
The bookshop is the same as it has always been, lines of books on shelves to be sold to whatever person deems them interesting enough. I enjoy it, though. The shop is quiet and no one says anything if I read books at the table since no one's there to berate me about it! Miss Arentia still frequents our store, though. Every now and then she'll still try to make me laugh with her terrible puns, and I'm starting to lose the energy to laugh every time. I'm starting to think that my being polite with her might be leading her on that I like her more than I actually do, so I'm going to stop. It was such a relief to know you hated them as much as I did, she really doesn't understand proper wordplay. I can tell a much better joke than those silly puns, like this: Two men walk into a bar, and a bartender says "Wow, never seen two guys hit that bar at the same time."
Amelia let out a small chuckle. Edward heard it and glanced over at her, wondering what would make her laugh in advanced alchemical theory. She didn't notice him and continued to read.
I've been wondering how you've been doing since the reunion. You seemed so torn up when you were on the stage. I don't know what happened, but if you need someone to confide in, you can always write out what you want to tell me. Our meeting was pretty brief, but I'd very much like to be your friend, Miss Amelia. You have an appetite for reading and I know I can list out a variety of books that you might enjoy, depending on the genre. 'The Golden Rose' series is starting to grow on me the more I read it, but there are some historical fiction novels I think you might like as well! One is called 'The Beginnings' and it's about a soldier in one of Amestris's founding civil wars. It really is an enthralling read and I think you might enjoy it, I would love to have an in-depth discussion with you about the way it presents morality, too. I know I can't really assume much about you, but you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, one that analyzes and enjoys thinking about every part of her favorite books.
Here's hoping we both get to devour some good stories together!
Yours sincerely,
Richard Wallace
"What's that you've got?" Amelia jumped as she saw Edward's gloved hand reaching into the book and she snatched back to try and hide the letter, but he grabbed it first. He frowned, "Oh, come on. You think I wouldn't notice that?" He asked as he held it up, seeing that it clearly wasn't part of her book.
"Let me have that back!" Amelia reached for it, and he pulled it away from her. "Ed, that's my letter!"
"You can read it after you read the book. I know this guy has sent you a bunch of mail, but you're not going to be able to answer any of it while we're in Briggs." Edward said, handing her back the letter and she took it, folding it up.
"I know that!" She snapped, "I just… I didn't expect him to send so many letters, I want to know what they say." She still had four more to go. "And I can answer him when we get back to Central."
"Assuming we don't just stay up here after we find the girl," Edward said. Amelia sighed exasperatedly.
"Yes, fine, assuming we go back." She conceded, "Whatever, just let me read them, huh?"
"Alchemy first, this should be your priority. When we get to North City, you can read however many you want." He said, and Amelia let out a groan before putting the letter back in her pocket.
"Fine." She opened the book and went back to it, trying to focus on it even though at that moment she was remembering Richard's face from when they first met. He seemed really sweet, and that letter only seemed to prove that sweetness to her. What was he doing now? Probably still at his bookshop wondering why she never wrote him back. She hoped he wouldn't think her rude for being so… ignorant about his letters.
The rest of the trip was fairly calm, the quiet occasionally interrupted by a question from Amelia for Edward to further clarify something in her book. The conversation never drifted too far outside of alchemy since she got the book, and it stayed that way until they arrived at the station for North City. From there, they would have to wait to get a train to Brigg's Fortress, so they would have to disembark. On the way to the station, the landscape had been covered in snow, so everyone was a little eager to get out into the world and see what North City looked like, being three kids that never really got to see a lot of snow. The three of them hurried out of the station, Edward first, then Amelia, then Alphonse. They all showed their tickets to the station master as they left to confirm they would still be taking the train to Briggs before they dashed out of the station. Edward reached the front first and smiled widely at the sight before him.
"Look, there's snow!" He exclaimed. The city before them was an expanse of white, and Amelia took a moment to stare at it with wide eyes and her own excited smile. The clouds of their breath barely blocked their view of just how much snow there was. The roads were covered in it, tire tracks bearing down in the snow from the few cars that would drive around the statue in front of them of a man on horseback. The statue was dusted with snow in a way that reminded Amelia almost of powdered sugar, and despite the cold that she could feel through her coat, it was delightful to see the town like this. She had only really seen heavy snow like this on television and movies, so to actually be in it herself was something else. The cold embraced her body, but the snow looked impossibly soft and it glittered in what little sunlight poked through the heavy gray clouds above them as fat snowflakes fell to the ground, gently flowing down on the breeze.
"It's so pretty!" Amelia gasped as she looked out at it all.
Edward started making his way down the stairs, Amelia and Alphonse following. As Edward went a little too fast, he found one of the steps to be a little icy, tripping on it and falling on his backside all the way down the rest of the stairs.
"Brother!" Alphonse rushed over to him, and Amelia did too, though she was laughing as she did.
Edward groaned as he reached one hand behind him to try and soothe the pain from falling down half of the stairs from the station to the sidewalk, glaring up at Amelia. "What are you laughing at?"
"I'm laughing at you," She replied, as if it were obvious, "It was funny to watch you fall like that." She held out her hand to him, and he accepted it, letting her pull him to his feet, "You're good though, right?"
"Yeah, I'm alright…" Edward said, grunting as he arched his back to try and stretch a little, and wincing from the pain, "Ow…!"
"Ugh… Ed, you're so uncoordinated." Alphonse sighed.
"Oh, shut up. It was just a little slip, jeez." Edward groaned.
Alphonse chuckled a little bit, "Do you need to sit down for a minute?"
"No, I'm alright," Edward said, straightening up a little more and reaching for his suitcase he had dropped in his tumble. The three of them began walking down the road as they looked over the snow, leaving behind imprints of their shoes as they walked further into town.
"All this snow is amazing," Alphonse said.
"Yeah, you don't get much snow like this back home, that's for sure," Edward replied with a smile as he looked over the city. His smile fell as he remembered something, "Oh, yeah! Hey, Al!" He looked over at his brother, "Do you remember that one really heavy snow we had way back when we were little?"
"Maybe…?" Alphonse said softly, trying to think, and the image of his childhood home covered in snow quickly came to his mind, "Oh, yeah! I remember! We had a snowball fight!" He said excitedly, glad to know he still had that memory.
"Ha, ha! And we made a snowman!" Edward recalled with him.
"Yeah!" Alphonse laughed a little, giddy at the childhood memory the two of that one winter's day that they shared. "Back then, I never imagined that we would come this far north. It seemed impossible."
"Yeah, but here we are now," Edward said, coming to a stop as they looked over the snow walk in front of them, the roofs above them caked with a blanket of snow 6 inches thick. The three of them took a moment of silence to watch the snow falling around them, the flakes silently hitting the ground and landing on their shoulders, their heads, their suitcases. The world around them seemed quieter, somehow, and more peaceful than the city of Central, even though the two were basically the same in terms of population.
"So," Edward broke the silence, "Now what do we do? We still have a little bit of time before our train to Briggs takes off."
"Hmm…" Alphonse thought a moment, and so did Amelia.
"We could get something to eat? I could eat right now." Amelia suggested.
"Eh, I don't know… not really all that hungry." Edward replied, but after taking another moment, he shrugged, "But I guess we could look." He picked up the pace and started to run, surprising Amelia and Alphonse when he suddenly took off.
"Careful! You're gonna fall again!" Alphonse warned.
"Shut up!" Edward fired back.
"Wait for me!" Amelia called as she ran behind both of them. They rushed around the roads until they came to a street that had a cafe that seemed to be somewhat empty and stepped inside. The people were sparse, but everyone was enjoying themselves there. Amelia shuddered as she stepped into the heated space, "God, it's so cold out there!" She wrapped her arms around herself. She could see a menu above the counter where someone waited to take orders, "I hope they have hot chocolate here…"
"You can have some if you buy it yourself." Edward said as he started to make his way to the counter, "I'm getting some coffee."
"What?! You know I can't pay for anything, I don't have gobs of money like you do, Ed!" She snapped at him, "I can't just have a hot chocolate? That's literally all I want because of how cold it is outside!"
"Or you could just drink some coffee and be fine with it." Edward said, "It's cheaper than the hot chocolate anyway."
"Oh, so now who's the penny pincher, huh? You got all over Mustang's case the other day because he wanted his change back, and the difference in price is literally just a few cenz!" Edward scowled as she called him out. Alphonse could already see this as the start of another fight.
"You know what? How about-"
"Amelia Seymour?" A new voice cut off whatever Edward was about to say as Amelia's attention was called away from him to see someone else. A dark-haired young man with a smile that threatened to break his face, "It is you! I thought I recognized you!"
"...Richard?" Amelia could hardly believe it as she looked at him, and she smiled, "Wow! It's been months!" She turned away from Edward to walk over to him, and he watched as this new guy took the initiative to give her a hug once they greeted. "Oh! Uh, okay." Amelia hadn't been expecting that, but she gave him a pat on the back before they pulled away, "What are you doing here? I thought you worked near the border of… what was it? Arugo?"
"Aurego," Richard corrected, "And I said I'd be in the north for a conference, have you not gotten my last letter? I sent it not too long ago." Amelia grimaced.
"Oh, uh, no. And I'm sorry I haven't been replying to your letters. Things have just gotten so crazy like you wouldn't believe for me, like I had to get a new teacher and I moved out of the Armstrong estate, and now I'm with this guy," She gestured to Edward and Alphonse without looking at them, "And he's putting me through this new wringer and I honestly hadn't been aware you were sending me letters all that time, I'm so sorry." He didn't need to know that she hadn't been reading his letters.
"It's alright, I assumed you were busy." He said with an understanding smile, and Amelia couldn't deny that it was nice to see him again. She felt guilty that he had been thinking of her so much that he had sent her so many letters and she had barely thought of him at all. But here he was, totally fine and happy to see her. "But I'm really glad to see you again. What are you doing up north?"
"We're just stopping here to-"
"We're just making a stop." Edward interrupted, stepping up beside Amelia and getting their attention, "We have a train that's going to be leaving soon, so we're just grabbing something to eat." He put his hand on Amelia's arm to direct her away from him.
"Uh… hey!" Richard's eyes widened, "Aren't you him? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" Edward stopped as he was recognized (instead of Alphonse this time), and Richard beamed, "Wait, Amelia, this is your new teacher? That's amazing! He's like the most famous alchemist in the country!"
"Oh, I don't know about the whole country," Edward said with that false modesty, clearly flattered to have been called as much, and Amelia rolled her eyes.
"Please don't encourage him. His ego is bigger than he is." Edward glared at her, knowing it was a subtle jab about his height. "But yeah, he's my new teacher. And he's right, we don't have a lot of time to spend here, our train will be leaving in a little bit."
"Well, as long as you're here, let me buy you lunch." Richard said, "They make some great hot chocolate here, it's very sweet." He paused as he realized something and asked, "Oh, do you like sweets? I know we've never really talked about that, but I've always wondered…"
"Yes, I do like sweets." Amelia said, "And I'd love it if you'd buy me a cup of hot chocolate." She gave Edward a pointed glance as she mentioned the hot chocolate, and Edward couldn't help bristling a little. "That's very kind of you to offer, Richard."
"Aw, shucks it's nothing." He got a bashful smile on his face and the two of them walked to the counter to place their order. Edward watched them go with a little glare. Who the heck was this guy? Why were he and Amelia suddenly so buddy-buddy out of nowhere? On top of that, what guy just up and hugs a girl he hasn't seen in months like that? He didn't like it, and he could feel a very strong dislike for this stranger as he and Amelia started to chat together about something he wasn't familiar with.
"I guess that's her friend who keeps sending her mail," Alphonse said after a moment, looking over at his brother.
"What a weirdo," Edward said, crossing his arms. "I mean, he's acting like they're old friends or something."
"Well… they kind of are, aren't they?" Alphonse asked.
"If they're such good friends, how come Amelia hasn't mentioned him to us once?" Edward asked, "She's never talked about this guy, I've never heard of this guy before. What makes him so special that she's just totally fine with him hugging her like that out of nowhere?"
Alphonse stared down at his brother for a moment, a little surprised at the scornful tone in his voice, "...Brother, you're acting like a jealous boyfriend."
"What?! I am not!" Edward said quickly, his cheeks turning red at the insinuation, "I just think it's a little weird that Amelia's never brought this guy up before!"
"She hasn't really brought up a lot of things with us," Alphonse reasoned, "She doesn't really talk about her friend Katie either, or her family. This guy is probably just like those other things, maybe she just never found the right time to talk to us about him." Edward still scowled and watched as Amelia and Richard moved away from the counter now that their orders had been placed and went to sit at a table. Edward put in his own order next and went to sit at their table, uninvited.
As he sat down, Amelia had been in the middle of talking about something else, "-And then we decided to get some physical training, and-" She stopped when Edward sat down in the seat beside hers with Richard across from her. "Uh… hi?"
"Hello." He replied.
"I don't remember you asking to sit with us," Amelia commented dryly. Alphonse stood sort of awkwardly to the side, knowing he was a little big for the small space of their table, and she let out a small sigh, "Come on, Al. Why don't you join us?"
"Oh, okay!" He said, happy to be included and sat on the other side of Amelia at the small table.
"I guess I should give you guys a more proper introduction, anyway." She said, "Richard, this is Edward Elric," She gestured to Ed who still had a scowl on his face as he looked at Richard, "And this is his younger brother Alphonse Elric." She gestured to Al who held out his hand for Richard to shake, and he did so with a smile, "Guys, this is Richard Wallace, a friend I made back when I was learning under Major Armstrong. We met at the family reunion."
"It's an honor to meet you both." He said, "I actually dabbled a little bit in alchemical studies, but I could never manage to wrap my head around all those numbers." He let out a small laugh, "How do you manage to do it so easily? I hear you're the youngest alchemist to ever be certified. Age 12, right? I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Elric." Edward's scowl lifted a little as he was met with some more ego-stroking from this stranger. Okay, maybe he wasn't so bad.
"Well, it's something of natural talent with me, I've been doing alchemy since I was a kid." He said with a grin, clearly thrilled to have the chance to brag a little. Amelia rolled her eyes and shook her head, though Edward didn't seem to notice.
"Really? That's incredible! No wonder everyone calls you a prodigy." Richard said, "I could never get my head around that stuff, hardly can now as I am, I definitely couldn't do it as a kid." He turned to Amelia, "What's he like as a teacher?"
"Oh, you know," Amelia shrugged, "He's a bit of a hardass, lots of discipline, and generally an asshat." Edward frowned, and she gave him a small smile, "But he's a good guy overall, and I've learned a lot from him." Edward's frown lessened, though he didn't smile back. He felt like he could relax a little more, and it was nice to know that Amelia wasn't going to constantly put him down to someone else.
"That's good, I'm really glad to hear you're progressing in your studies." Richard said, "Can you actually show me how far you've come? I never did get to see you performing alchemy."
"Uh… maybe not here in this place, I don't want to mess up their furniture." Amelia said, and Richard's smile faded for just a moment before he quickly came back to his usual self.
"Of course, I understand." He said.
Soon, someone came over with some of the food and drinks they had ordered, and the conversation paused as the three of them started to eat, though Richard ate a little slower than everyone else, always asking a question here and there, "So what kind of stuff are you learning with Mr. Elric?" "Have you read the latest Golden Rose book yet?" "Where are you staying these days?" "If you like sweets, what's your favorite?" "Are you specializing your alchemy studies or just sticking with the general education?"
Amelia would answer each one while she ate and drank and enjoyed her time with him. Soon enough, their plates were empty, and she and Richard were sufficiently caught up with each other. He had this charming, boyish smile on his face as he stood up to pay for her meal, and Edward tossed a few cenz on the table to cover his own as they started to step out.
"What time is it?" Amelia asked as they stepped out, the world looking unchanged from their time in the cafe, with grey cloudy skies and snow still gently falling from them. Richard checked his wristwatch.
"It's about 1:30, we weren't there very long." He commented.
"Really? Well, we should get going." Edward said, "Our train leaves at 2:00, and we really shouldn't be late." He reached for Amelia's arm to pull her along.
"What? I don't want to just sit at the station in the cold for a half-hour!" Amelia complained as she let him pull her along.
"Oh, well let me escort you back to the station!" Richard said, and Edward let out an inward groan as Amelia turned to him.
"Are you sure? What about your conference?" She asked.
"I've been to all the meetings I want to for today," he held out his arm to Amelia, and she hooked her arm with his, "Besides, what kind of man would I be if I just let you leave without a proper goodbye?"
"Aw, well aren't you such a gentleman Mr. Wallace," Amelia said as the two of them started to walk down the snowy road together, leaving Edward and Alphonse only a few steps behind.
"You know, you can call me Richie if you want. Only my customers call me Mr. Wallace."
"Oh? Alright, Richie. If that's how it's going to be, then you can call me Amy, if you like."
"Okay, Amy." Richard beamed.
Edward could feel himself bristling a little at how familiar they were acting together. He scowled and walked behind them with Alphonse just next to him. Richard had a bashful smile on his face as she called him by the nickname he had asked her to, and he couldn't help but feel like this wasn't really… good. He didn't really like how close they were, especially not now when they were arm in arm and walking down the street so close together in the snow. It was like a scene out of a romance novel at first glance, and they didn't really need to be that close.
"You know, you probably don't need to escort her by the arm, she can walk on her own just fine!" Edward called to them, and Amelia looked back with a frown, but Richard backed off.
"Oh, uh, I guess he's right." He said, and he glanced back at Edward, leaning a little closer to Amelia, "Is he always like this? He seems kind of angry…" He whispered to her.
"I don't know what his problem is," Amelia whispered back to him, "He's never taken his role of watchdog so seriously before."
"Watchdog?"
"I can't really go anywhere without his supervision," Amelia quietly explained, "But now it just feels like he's taking it too far."
"Hey! What are you two whispering about?" Edward called out to them, and Amelia rolled her eyes.
"We're making fun of Colonel Mustang, what does it matter?" She called back, and looked over at Richard, "Sorry, he's not usually like this."
"Sounds like you could use a little break from him," Richard said.
"You can say that again." Amelia sighed.
"Well… your train won't leave for another half hour. Maybe we could take a little one?" He asked, and Amelia looked over at him curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Just for a little while, I know this great sweet shop down the road. It'd be a quick visit." Richard offered, "But, uh, we might have to ditch your teacher for about fifteen minutes. Would that be okay?" Amelia's eyes widened and she glanced back at Edward before looking back at Richard, who was smiling at her.
"Well… I think as long as we come back, that would be fine." Amelia said, and Richard grinned, holding out his arm to her again, and she took it. "Just fifteen minutes, right?" Edward couldn't be that mad if she was only gone for fifteen minutes and back in time for the train. "He won't let us out of his sight easily, though."
"Don't worry, I've gotten to know this city pretty well for this conference." Richard gave her a conspiratory wink, "Just follow my lead, and we'll be fine." Amelia's heart raced a little. She hadn't been unsupervised since her escape attempt at the Tucker house, and even if that was only for a little while, she had appreciated that time away from all those soldiers. Now, obviously, this wouldn't be the same thing, but fifteen minutes with a friend unsupervised seemed like a nice memory she could make with him, and a well-deserved break after everything she had done and learned alongside the Elric brothers and the craziness that was going on with their corrupt, homunculus-run government.
They walked together in silence for a little bit longer until they came to an alley, and Richard quickly dashed off with Amelia running alongside him. "Hey!" Edward called out, immediately running after the pair. They ran through alleyways one way and another, and Amelia was struggling a little to keep up with Richard, who ran surprisingly fast for a bookshop worker. They went down one turn, then another, all the while Edward was screaming profanities at them to get them to stop, and Alphonse's armor clunked along behind him.
Richard suddenly turned a corner and pulled Amelia with him, pressing the two of them into a little crevice in the wall, and he pressed right up against her in the small space. He put his finger to his lips to signal her to be silent, and she was, with her heart racing in her chest from their closeness as well as the running. She watched and listened as Edward and Alphonse ran right past them down into the next street, rushing whichever way they thought they had gone. When Alphonse's armor could no longer be heard, Amelia stuck her head out to look and the brothers were gone.
"Oh my God, that actually worked!" She said excitedly. Richard let out a chuckle and he held out his arm to her again, and she gladly took it. "I can't believe it! This is so exciting! I haven't been able to be on my own in forever!"
"Hey, I'm just glad I get to have a moment alone with you," he said, and Amelia smiled, her cheeks turning a little red. She found herself really liking Richard, he was so genuine and sincere with her… she hardly ever had someone like that, someone who seemed to genuinely and openly like her the way he seemed to. "Shall we find that sweets shop?"
"Yes, please!" Amelia said happily as the two of them started walking back the way they came.
"You know, I'm really curious about your alchemy training." He said as they started to weave through the different spaces they had just run through, "I mean, working with someone like the Fullmetal Alchemist must be interesting, right?"
"Oh, sure." Amelia shrugged, "But it's not all that different from working with the Major, like I said, he's a pretty disciplined guy."
"Hey, is it true he can perform alchemy without a transmutation circle?" Richard asked as they walked through one pair of buildings and across an empty, snow-covered street that didn't have too many people nearby.
"Yeah, that's true."
"That must be incredible to see, just doing transmutations without having to take the time to make those circles." He said, and Amelia nodded. "How many alchemists can do that, anyway?"
"Uh, not many. Ed's the only one I know of for sure, and his brother can, too." Amelia said, "Otherwise, I think they just have circles on gloves or tattoos or something."
"Oh, I see."
"Yeah, that's apparently the thing that got him to pass the alchemy exam." She said, "He's been helping me improve my alchemy a lot, so I appreciate his help."
"Is that so?" Richard asked, "Do you want to take the exam? I mean, you have to so you can get your pardon, right? Getting certified?"
"Oh… uh, yeah." Amelia couldn't help but blink a little bit as she noticed something, "I… I told you about that?"
"Yep, you did. At the reunion, remember?" Richard asked as they continued walking.
Amelia was fairly certain she never did. In fact, she hadn't told anyone at the reunion exactly why she was a student with Armstrong, just that she was his student. She hadn't told any of them she had been arrested, and she was positive that none of the family had told anyone else about that. They wouldn't have done that because they know it would have reflected poorly on her, and they wanted her to make a good impression on their extended family. It was now that she was starting to notice that they had been weaving in and out of quiet, snow-covered buildings for quite some time, and she couldn't recall seeing any other people nearby. She started to grow a little nervous and tried to slow down, but Richard kept up his brisk pace.
"Um… where did you say this sweet shop was, again?" She asked, starting to wonder why they hadn't found it, or if there was something else going on.
"It's nearby," Richard answered vaguely, taking another turn down an alleyway and right past one that led to the road.
"Hang on, maybe we're a little lost." She tried to stop and pull her hand away from the crook of his arm, but his other hand stayed on top of hers and he continued walking down the near-silent alleys, the snow seemingly muting their surroundings. She started to grow a little nervous, "Richie, maybe we should stop?" She tried again, and he just grabbed her hand and held it tighter, "Richie, you're hurting me…!" She tried to pull her hand away, to stop and get him to let go, but he just yanked her harder. "Richie, stop! If you don't stop, I'm going to scream!" She threatened, growing more scared the further they went.
"Go ahead and scream." Richard said over his shoulder, the look on his face one of cruel sadism, and he gave her a wink that would have seemed playful and mischievous in any other situation, his voice changing as if he was another person entirely as he spoke again, "We're far enough now that no one will hear us." Amelia watched in horror as red lightning started to spark around Richard's face, and his short dark hair started to change into long, dark-green locks. His blue eyes changing to a deep purple color and his boyish grin changing to a sadistic one that she had undoubtedly seen before.
He grabbed her and threw her down a dead-end alleyway, landing on her side from the rough throw. She looked up in wide-eyed terror as the boy she knew changed into the shape-shifting homunculus she and Edward had fought not too long ago. He grinned widely as he saw the shock and fear on her face, "Wow, did you not read any of my letters? I would have thought you'd have figured out how fake I was by now." He jeered at her.
"Envy…!" Amelia scrambled up to her feet, her hands raised defensively as Envy started to step closer to her, "You… you were Richard this whole time?"
"The whole time." Envy answered, and Amelia watched as he brought up his right hand, changing its shape into a blade, not unlike what she had seen when he was fighting Ling not too long ago, "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised that an idiotic human like you wouldn't have caught on to such a simple ruse. Really, it's almost pathetic."
Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Amelia couldn't fight him, not by herself, not if she wanted to win! She started to walk backwards to try and put some space between them, but Envy kept walking forward to close that space.
"What are you doing here? The deal was the brothers can keep looking for a way to get their bodies back so long as they went along with your plan…!" Amelia said.
"Yes, yes, I heard all about the little agreement he had with Wrath." Envy said.
"S-So then there's no reason for you to be here…!"
"Actually, there is." He held up his bladed arm, "You see, their plan doesn't include you. Wrath said you're nothing more than dead weight to them right now, and you're not of much use to us." Amelia's hands shook.
"You're going to kill me…?!" She could feel the blood draining from her face as her heart pounded in her chest. She stumbled as her foot hit the wall of the dead-end alley and she froze, looking up at Envy as her back pressed up against it. She had to do something! She had to move! Run! Fight! Something!
"Don't worry, the first strike will be quick," Envy promised, "We just need to make sure those boys remember who's in charge around here." With that sadistic smile, he started to laugh, "It'll be so entertaining to see those brothers wailing over your dead body!"
Amelia's hands trembled, her eyes wide, and her body froze as she watched him raising the hand that had become a sword getting raised higher. She couldn't be still, she couldn't stay still. Move! She had to move now!
She just barely made it, dodging Envy's arm as it came down, and rushing to the other wall to her right. He raised it again, and she dodged once more, her mind trying to recall what Edward had taught her about hitting him back, she couldn't just dodge and defend the whole time, she had to fight back! Her hands were shaking and she tried to run around Envy. If she could make it out of the alley, she could run and get help, the homunculi couldn't afford to be seen in public! She didn't get very far before something reached out and grabbed her, yanking her back with a shriek as she was thrown against the wall, grunting as her head hit the bricks, and her teeth slammed down on her tongue. She could taste iron when she landed and she spat it out onto the snowy ground. She rolled out of the way, but the blade caught on her coat sleeve and she cried out as she felt it cutting down her arm. The sleeve was torn open, exposing her arm and the blood to the freezing air.
She quickly tried to push herself to her feet, but Envy's hand came down again and she cried out as she moved her other arm away. She found herself on her back, fearful and terrified as Envy raised his hand to strike her down through the fog of her panting breath that floated up in front of her. There was no way she was going to dodge this now, and Envy knew it too, with that wide grin on his face, eyes wide in what cruel joy he had at the idea of killing her and showing her body to the brothers. She had to act now, she had to do something! Transmute! She had to transmute now!
She clapped her hands together, touching the brick wall as spikes shot out and thrust themselves into Envy's slim body. She watched them go through, Envy spitting up blood as more spilled out of him where he had been hit. One in his chest, another in his side, in his stomach, three in his left leg and two in his right, with two in each arm. There was a moment of silence where his body twitched, dripping blood onto the snow and turning it red. Amelia just sat there, panting and shaking as she looked up at the body of the homunculus in front of her, eyes wide in agonizing pain.
Red transmutations lighting shot up around his body, and his blade hand changed to a normal one as he reached for the spikes that were holding him and pushed himself off with a grunt, "Damn! That really hurt, you know that?!" He snarled at her, blood dripping out of the corners of his mouth as his body started to heal, the holes made in his body quickly sealing themselves up, and Amelia was pushing herself back more against the brick wall, the snow pushing up around her feet and hands, ready for him to come back again, but he didn't. "Ugh, I was hoping I'd actually get the chance to do what I wanted this time, but you just had to go and transmute." He sighed, his hands on his hips in an exasperated stance while Amelia pushed herself back further against the bricks, her feet scraping against the snow-covered stone ground as she tried to figure out why her own transmutation had suddenly made him stop.
"At least Father will be happy to hear that the Fullmetal pipsqueak's taught you how to open the portal." He grinned at her again, "Welcome to the club, little sacrifice."
Amelia's stomach dropped as she realized what had just happened. Her only advantage, the one thing she knew they wanted to know about her that she had kept hidden… and now he knew. The whole point of following them here… had been to check and see if she had opened the portal? "Gluttony mentioned he saw you transmute without a circle, but he sees a lot of things that we don't, so I just had to come and make sure." He continued explaining, and that sadistic smile was still on his face, "I can't believe that was all it took to make you scared enough to attack me! Honestly, it was really sad, you hardly fought me at all!" He cackled, leaning on one of the spikes that had just impaled him casually as he talked, "But now that we know we have some use for you, you should be grateful that I'm letting you live. I would have loved to throw your corpse in front of those boys, but I suppose that'll have to wait for another day."
He sighed and stood up straight, stretching out his arms and legs, "Well, see you around Amy." The name spilled from his lips the same way that a sweet-tasting poison might slip from an overfilled container. The transmutation light sparked again, his body shrinking down to a bird that quickly took off into the sky, leaving Amelia alone in the alleyway, surrounded by the spikes she had used to protect herself.
Her breath rose in little clouds as she panted, looking at the red stains in the snow from Envy's blood in front of her, and some of her own. The world around her was quiet other than the frantic pumping of her heart and her breathing. She… had survived. She was alive. She moved her uninjured hand to her chest, feeling her heart beating through her coat. She was alive, but… she had almost died just then.
Now that it was over, and relief was flooding through her, so did all of her fear that she hadn't shown at the moment. Tears welled up and overflowed out of her eyes as she started to cry, having been terrified for her life at that moment, pulling up her legs as she brought her hand around her injured arm, feeling that it was wet from the blood that was staining it from her own cut. It stung, and it hurt, and she was sure she had a bump on her head from when she had been tossed against the wall, but she was too afraid to even think about it now. She almost lost her life, and now that she was alive, she could cry about it. She sobbed into the silence of the alley, processing all that had happened, her body still shaking from fear, but also from relief and knowing that she was mostly alright.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, crying into the freezing silence of the slowly-falling snow until she had calmed down enough to feel her blood wasn't wet anymore. She felt tired, and she knew that she probably shouldn't stay out here. The cold was seeping in through her coat, and her arm felt like it was going numb. She sniffled and stood up, which was more effort than it should have been, cradling her injured arm that still stung as she started to walk away, undoing her transmutation and letting the spikes crumble into the snow on the ground. She stepped over the slowly-fading stain of red in the snow as she started to walk out. She felt tired and relieved, but she was alive and alone and she needed to find the boys so they could get out of there, and she could tell them what happened. Hopefully, they wouldn't be too mad about her taking off without them. She walked until she found the alley that led to the road and stood on the sidewalk, still cradling her hurt arm and destroyed sleeve. There wasn't really anyone around, but she saw a sign directing people to the station, so that was where she went. Ed and Al would probably be looking for her around there if they weren't still in the area where she had run off to begin with.
What time was it, even? It must have been close to 2:00 by now. What if they left without her? Briggs was only a train ride away, and they did really need to find Mei. Hopefully, she could meet them at the station before the train left and they continued on their journey without her. She continued to walk down the street, not seeing as someone came from around the corner across the street. She was slowly coming into the more populated area, and a few people that passed her looked on in shock and horror at the sight of her arm. It was still bleeding, but her focus was on finding Ed and Al and getting out of there. She didn't want to spend any more time in North City than they had to, and she wanted to just get out with them.
"Hey! Stop there!" She looked up as a woman came up to her, "Sweetheart, your arm! Are you alright? We can call a doctor for you?"
"No, I'm… I need to find my friends…" She said softly to the woman, her voice cracking. Was she still crying? She was still sniffling, she could feel that much.
"It's alright, we'll find your friends, we can tell them where you are at the doctor's." The woman comforted her, "Here, sit down for a minute, I'll call a cab for you." She tried to direct her to a bench.
"No, our train is leaving, I have to go…" Amelia protested as the woman sat her on a bench, and she started to get up when the woman pushed her shoulders back down.
"You need to get that looked at, or at least covered up. I doubt it's good to lose that kind of blood in this cold." The woman insisted, "Stay here, I'll call you a cab, we'll get you to a doctor, okay?" She didn't really have the energy to argue anymore. She looked around them, seeing a few people were looking her way, whispering and staring at her arm. She looked further down the street and saw a large clock standing tall that read the time.
2:03
The train had left by now. They would have to wait for the next train to Briggs… She would be in for a very long chewing out by Edward for that, she was sure. She could already picture him exploding on her for delaying their trip to Briggs and their work in finding Mei and getting her to teach them alkahestry. And in the middle of his yelling, Alphonse would say something to get him to calm down, and he'd probably make her run a bunch of drills to make up for the delay. That wouldn't be very fun to do, but she'd put up with it…
She looked down at her arm as the doctor began the last of the stitches down her forearm. The cut was apparently deep enough to call for it, which she hadn't realized at all. They had numbed her arm after making sure her body was warm enough to handle it without getting frostbite, and she had told them who she was looking for and gave them what little contact information she had so they were on the look-out for the Elric brothers. She sat on one of those chair-beds that they used to examine people as she was stitched up. She jumped as the door to her room suddenly burst open, and the doctor almost stopped mid-stitch to see Edward in the doorway, panting and holding it open with one hand. He had a crazed look in his eye and was clearly frustrated from his search on top of the fact that they missed their train to look for her. Alphonse was quickly coming up behind him, putting one hand on his brother's shoulder to hold him back since he knew how angry he was, and a nurse rushing up behind them.
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU-" He was about to get into that rant that Amelia had been expecting when he saw her arm and cut himself off. The doctor finished up the last stitch and pulled away, Amelia's numb arm resting beside her limply as he started to ready the gauze, "...What happened?"
"It's a long story," Amelia answered, giving a pointed look at the doctor that said she couldn't explain it completely because he was there.
"I'm sorry, Doctor." The nurse said, "I didn't think he would come barging in like this."
"It's alright," he said, going back to finishing his work, looking up at Amelia, "These are the ones you came with?" Amelia nodded in confirmation, "Then you boys can come in. I'm almost finished." Edward trudged in, and Alphonse followed, the nurse closing the door behind them. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence where Amelia couldn't look Edward in the eye, and Edward kept looking between her and her arm.
The doctor decided to be the one to break the silence, "It's Edward, right?"
"Yeah?" He watched as the doctor finished dressing Amelia's wound and stood up, turning to face him.
"I'm Doctor Smith, your friend said that she was attacked. She's ultimately fine, and we're waiting for the MPs to arrive to take a statement about her attacker, but she'll need to make use of her other arm until this one is healed more." Amelia watched as he walked around the exam bed to a cabinet, pulling out a sling and she moved her arm so she could help him fit her limp limb inside of it. "There we are, you should feel the numbing agent wear off in about an hour or so." He said, "After that, you can take your arm out of the sling. Just be careful about your stitches, no stretching or exercise with that arm until it's completely healed, you understand?"
"What about alchemy?" Amelia asked. The doctor grimaced.
"I wouldn't recommend it, either. I'm not sure how that kind of energy would affect your stitches, but I would say it's better to rest that arm for as long as you can." He said, and turned to Edward, "I'll be back when the MPs arrive for her statement, just make sure she's resting that arm for the next week or so." Edward nodded and when the doctor left, he closed the door, leaving the three of them in the room.
Edward looked over at her, his expression was deadly serious. "What happened?"
Amelia frowned, her uninjured hand going over her sling, fiddling with the shoulder adjustment as she didn't answer right away, "...I was really stupid."
"Did Richard do this?" Edward asked, "I swear if I find that little weirdo, I'm gonna-!"
"It was Envy." The name of the homunculus caused both of the boys to freeze up, she hung her head as she started to explain, "It was Envy the whole time, there never was a Richard. He tricked me." She gripped at her sling a little tighter, "And I was so stupid, I just let him take me wherever he wanted!" Edward was quiet as he listened to her, "He took me through all these alleys and I didn't even notice there weren't any people, I was so stupid! He cornered me and he threatened to kill me and I freaked out!"
"Hey," Edward tried to speak, but she continued.
"I didn't fight back, I just tried to run away, and of course that didn't work because he's a goddamn homunculus! He just grabbed me and pulled me back in, and I froze up! I couldn't fight him or counter him or anything like that because I was so fucking stupid and I couldn't think! All those lessons for fighting were a fucking waste!"
"Amelia,"
"And it turns out the whole thing was just a set-up to see if I had opened the portal, and now they know! God, I fucked up and I-"
"Hey," Edward's hand reached her uninjured shoulder and she stopped talking, looking up at him. "It's okay. You're alive and right now, that's what matters most." Amelia felt her shoulders slumping down as she relaxed, "You're not stupid, Envy tricked you, his shapeshifting means he can be anyone. You're okay and that's what matters the most right now." She sighed and hung her head again, her good hand reaching for the sling and squeezing it.
"...I'm sorry I made you guys miss the train." She apologized quietly.
"We'll catch the next one," Edward said.
"We were really worried about you," Alphonse said, coming over to Amelia's other side, "We thought maybe Richard had kidnapped you or something when you guys just ran off like that."
"What?" Amelia looked up at him, surprised they thought she had been kidnapped.
"Well, when you run off like that, what are we supposed to think?" Edward replied, "We're supposed to be keeping an eye on you, and we barely knew this guy. At least we know he just tricked you into going with him. Where did he say he would take you?"
Amelia felt her cheeks turning a little red as she realized how stupid of a reason it was to go with him in hindsight, and it was a little embarrassing to admit it, "...A candy store."
Edward was quiet for a second, and then he asked, "A… A candy store?"
"Yeah."
"He said he was going to take you to a candy store?"
"Well, we were talking about sweets and it sounded like a good break so…" She shrugged. Edward was quiet for a second, and she looked up to see both of the brothers staring at her, clearly trying to decide what to do with this information, but to Amelia, it just looked like they were trying to hold in their laughter, "Shut up! I know how it sounds, okay?!"
"We didn't say anything!" Alphonse quickly defended.
"Yeah, but I know what you're thinking!" Amelia snapped, "I just wanted a fucking break, okay?!"
"What do you mean?" Edward asked.
"You have any idea what it's like to be forced to have a chaperone everywhere you go?!" Amelia yelled at him, "You know what it's like to know you're not allowed to do anything on your own because you don't have rights?! I just wanted fifteen minutes to myself where I could just-! Just pretend that I wasn't some criminal for a crime I didn't commit and didn't have to have someone watching me and breathing down my fucking neck! It's bad enough I barely know anyone here, but now I'm in the middle of some fucked up conspiracy theory with my life on the line for reasons that I can't control! Everything that's happened to me since I got here has just been one fuck-up after another because of someone else, and I'm fucking tired of it! I just wanted two minutes to breathe, maybe eat something and pretend none of that mattered and it was over!" At the end, her voice felt raw, and she could feel her eyes stinging as she vented. She panted in silence as the two brothers stared at her, Edward's golden eyes were wide and he glanced over at his brother, the two of them meeting each other's gazes before looking back at her.
"We know, Amelia," Alphonse said gently
"Oh, you know?" She shot back sarcastically, "Do you, Al?"
"Of course we do," Alphonse continued, speaking in a soft voice to try and calm her down, "Brother and I are in the same boat you are."
"No, you're not! You're free Amestrian citizens that can go wherever the fuck you want!" Amelia snapped, "I can't do jack shit without someone else!"
"Amelia," Edward's voice took on a stern tone, "We get it. What you're going through sucks, but you put yourself at serious risk. You just said he threatened to kill you! We're not just here to make sure you don't run away, we're here to keep you safe." Amelia couldn't deny that, and she was silent as Edward went on, "You can barely fight for yourself, and you made a bad decision - big fucking deal! I've made a ton of bad decisions, but you know what I do instead of pissing and moaning and acting like it was someone else's fault? I take responsibility, own up to it, and move forward instead of lashing out at the people that are trying to help!"
"Brother, that's too harsh!" Alphonse admonished him.
"No, Al. She needs to understand this." He turned back to Amelia with a determined glare, "If you're going to sit there and blame us for what happened with Envy, instead of owning up to the fact that you left with a virtual stranger and nearly got killed for it, then maybe we should just pack up and take you back to Central where you can sit in the prisons and then you can sit in a cell and whine some more!"
"Brother!"
"I know what I did was stupid, you don't have to rub it in!" Amelia hurled at him.
"I think I do because you don't seem to learn otherwise!" Edward barked back.
"Fuck you, Ed! I didn't ask for this!"
"You think we did?! You think I wanted to lose my leg?! Or my brother?!" Amelia was stunned into silence, "We fucked up! We made a huge mistake and now we're trying to make it right, and it's hard, and it sucks, and there's not one day that goes by that I wish I could have changed my mind at the last second and decided what we were doing was the dumbest fucking thing in the world! But we did, and we're fixing it, and in comparison to that, I think you have it pretty fucking nice! So, you can sit here and whine, or you can get up on your two perfectly good legs and walk!"
Amelia was quiet as she listened to him, and Alphonse put a hand on Edward's shoulder to get him to calm down, getting him to step back from Amelia. The older brother let out a sigh, relaxing his tense shoulders, "Look, the point I'm getting at is… We all make mistakes. We're not faulting you for what happened, but you need to understand that your situation is ours too, now. We're responsible for you, and it's not just because we have to look after you for money from the state, it's because you're our friend and we want you to be okay. You can rely on us because that's what we're here for. We're not just watching you all the time to make sure you don't screw up."
"We were really scared when you ran." Alphonse said, "What happened wasn't your fault, and we know that you're upset about being in custody. We're all kind of tangled up in the same mess now, and we want to make sure we all come out of it together, alive. We don't want to lose anyone else."
That struck Amelia harder than anything, and she hung her head guiltily. She remembered Hughes, she knew the boys were closer with him than she ever was. She had no doubt his death affected them harder than anything, and probably just furthered their resolve to stop the homunculi and everything else they were planning on doing. She was one more piece in that mess that was this relationship and this country, but she was one piece they wanted to make certain would stay in one piece. She hadn't realized just how much of their relationship she had taken for granted, or taken advantage of. She reached for her sling, holding onto the strap a little tighter as she processed everything in silence for what felt like a long while, but was really only a few seconds.
She lifted her head, "You're right. I know you're right, I just… I wasn't really thinking, and I guess… I guess I was just desperate for things to feel like they were normal again."
"Weeeell… Technically, this is normal." Edward said, "I mean, getting attacked by homunculi, nearly losing our lives, that's kind of our normal." He chuckled and Alphonse let out a short laugh, "So… I guess this is the new normal for you?"
"Sorry, but I guess that's kind of our fault, too," Alphonse said.
"I absolutely blame both of you," Amelia smiled as she looked up at them. Edward grinned and while Alphonse's smile was more felt than seen, it was enough for the three of them to feel more at ease. "I'm sorry for causing this trouble."
"Trouble's always following us around," Edward said, "It's like that annoying kid that won't stop bugging you." He held out his hand to Amelia and she took it, letting him help her off of the exam chair. She straightened up, feeling a new energy despite her injuries.
"So, when's the next train?" She asked.
"It's not going to be until tomorrow." Alphonse answered, "So we have a little time to walk around North City and see a few sights."
"I guess that's as good a way to kill time as anything." Amelia said, following the two brothers out, "Um… I guess that means we'll have to get a hotel for the night, doesn't it? I'm sorry."
"Quit apologizing," Edward said, "You can't change what's happened, but we can at least make sure we all have a nice place to sleep tonight. We'll do that before we go looking for any tourist traps."
"Fair enough." Amelia smiled as they made their way out of the hospital and back into town, hopeful for tomorrow and their trip onwards.