Resembool was nice.
Julliana Hong simply groaned when she realized the fact that the train ride was quite the opposite. "I miss how conventional modern train had been." The scientist muttered under her breath, wondering when the train would stop.
She had been to Central and not even ten minutes in, she left just as the girl arrived. The military patrolling around got on her nerves quite fast and since she couldn't stand the idea of being in the same vicinity as those people, she got on a train that was leaving in a few minutes.
And that train was headed for Resembool.
The seat was uncomfortable like hell. The seats were hard and there was barely any foam in them, making the journey quite annoying. Instead of thinking in comfortable silence, all Ana could think about was how every trip she would make would be like this every single time.
She did not look forward for that.
On the other hand, despite her annoyance, Ana was quite satisfied with her accomplishments. The items she made from the island she woke up in had gathered quite the money. With those, she managed to buy some clothes— c l o t h e s!
The scientist salvaged her lab coat though, some odd miracle it was considering how the pristine white coat became unrecognizable when she left the island. She found some black trousers and gray croptops. She bought at least two pairs and some undergarments.
Her backback, thankfully, wasn't heavy and bulky with the clothes and other necessities she bought. Of course, she couldn't forget her precious lab coat. The girl received several odd looks when she had walked around the place— she didn't get the name of that first town she'd been in.
Ana stretched her legs and arms, back arching accompanied by several popping sounds. Peering out the window, she saw the station coming close, urging her to pick up her backpack. "I wonder what's out here." She muttered to herself, the scientist getting off the train as soon as it stopped completely.
All at once, the scent of moist soil and fresh air hit her. A smile graced the lips of that girl before a grinning. "I already like this place." Being a scientist, one would have imagined that they love being cooped up inside their lab to work on their project.
Ana wasn't like that.
The young scientist loved being outside as much as she loved her field of study. Something about the fresh air, the sky, and simply Mother Earth made her happy. Maybe it was the sense of being free but Ana was not certain what it was that she loved.
One quick hike down a miniature hill, Ana was ready to keel over. "Stupid, stupid hill you should just burn and crumble and just d i e—" a flash of gold and yellow stopped her from ranting. Three kids looked at her with big wide eyes. Two boys and one girl, to be specific.
"Ah, hey..."
If it weren't for the fact that there were children, Ana would have cursed at herself for being so fucking awkward. "Are you okay, big sis?" The blonde girl asked in curiosity, approaching her in little steps when the blond boy (who was just a tad bit taller than the o t h e r blond boy) grabbed the girl.
"Oi, Winry, what if she's a bad person?" Ana assumed that the boy whispered but in reality, she heard him loud and clear. The scientist acted as if she didn't hear anything though, finding some amusement in her own predicament.
"C'mon, Ed, don't be silly. Big sis doesn't look like a bad person."
"Well, she does to me."
... Ana took offense to that. She didn't look too bad... right?
"... uh, guys, I think she can hear you. You guys aren't really whispering."
The youngest (well, to her the shortest boy definitely seemed like it) of the three pointed out at last and laughter escaped Ana's lips when the arguing children blushed in mortification. "S-Sorry about that, big sis!" The one called Winry apologized. "Ed can be such a meanie anyway!"
"H-Hey, I am not, you automail freak!"
"Alchemy freak!"
As this Winry and Ed continued arguing, the youngest approached Ana and bowed, flustered and embarrassed by his companions rudeness. "I-I'm sorry about them, big sis! They're actually pretty nice!" Ana smiled, reaching out to pat the boy's head, startling said child as he glanced up at her.
"It's fine, it's fine. Kids will be kids. They'll grow out of it." She paused before saying, "Actually, by the looks of it, those two won't change." Ana muttered in exasperation, making the boy snicker a bit in silence as they watch Winry and Ed tackle each other into the grass.
"I'm Julliana Hong, by the way, but you can call me Ana since you're a better kid than those two. In fact, from now on, you'll be my favorite kid." Ana winked at him, grinning quite like a child which he mirrored back at her. "I'm Alphonse, Sister Ana!"
"Nice to meet 'ya, Alphonse!"
"No fair, Al!"
And all of a sudden, Ana found herself in the middle of a 'war' where the three kids argued which one should be her favorite kid... the fact that they just met over ten minutes ago made it look so adorable for Ana and made her horrified how these kids could be so comfortable in the presence of a stranger.
Having had enough, Ana clapped her hands, shutting up the trio. "Alright, alright, you brats, stop fighting." They had frozen midfight. The one called Ed had a handful of Winry's hair, said girl was sitting on Alphonse's back, and poor little Alphonse was... in the process of biting Ed's leg.
"For kids your age, you three are pretty violent, aren't you?" Ana gave them rather fond looks. She might not be fond of children in all honesty but these three were adorable. "Alright, on your feet, you three." As fast as they could muster, the blond trio got om their feet, almost falling over each other but they managed.
"Like I told my favorite little kid here, " she gestured at Alphonse, who smiled in triumph whereas the other two pouted. Ana just couldn't resist teasing them. "My name's Julliana Hong but call me Ana, alright?" All of a sudden, Ed raised his hand. "Edward Elric! And hey, are you an alchemist?!" There was an impatient eagerness in his eyes for her answer.
His question stumped Ana. Alchemy? He does mean Chemistry, right? "Uh, well, no." He practically deflated in disappointment, making her eye twitch in annoyance. "I am a scientist though." His disappointment was clear as crystal and this served to further annoy Ana.
Seeing that she was going nowhere with the shrimpy brat, she turned to face Winry who smiled as bright as the sun. "I'm Winry Rockbell, Big Sis Ana! I'll be the best automail mechanic!" Automail? As in e-mail? What does she mean by mechanic though? Is she planning on becoming a techie?
Their words confused her to no end. Alchemy? Automail? Ana wasn't at all familiar with those words. "Ah, well, just do your best, Winry. I'm sure you can do it." Ana wasn't about to kill the kid's joy though so she would just go along with them. The blonde beamed up at her with a pretty smile.
"Hey, big sis?" Ana hummed at Alphonse. "What are you doing here in Resembool? I've never seen you before." At his question, the other blonds looked up at her. The scientist opened her mouth to speak before closing it. In all honesty? She just disliked Central with all the military people milling about.
"Well, I'm traveling, I guess? I have no where to go, really." The scientist smiled at them. It was true. She lost everything dear to her a little over some months ago. She doesn't even know what happened. "I wanna travel, too!" Alphonse declared for some reason, making Ana blink in surprise.
Edward looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why so sudden, Al?" His brother shrugged his shoulders in response. "It sounds fun, don't you think so, brother?" The older brother rolled his eyes. Before any of them could speak, a voice had called out the names of these three kids Ana just met.
A woman with thick luscious brown hair arrived, a little out of breath from jogging where she had been. The woman stopped in front of them before giving the kids a stern look. "Ed, Al, Winry, where have you been?" The trio started sweating in nervousness, giving the woman a shaky smile.
"M-Mom!" Edward exclaimed in surprise.
"W-Well, we were, uh..." Winry started but got tongue-tied in the end.
Alphonse remained quiet at the side.
"Sorry, ma'am, I was telling them a story."
Ana finally got the woman— the boy's mom— to acknowledge her presence. It seemed like she had been way too focused on scolding the kids. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you!" The brunette already looked timid but even the way she apologized was timid. "I was just worried that something happened to them." She gave the kids a pointed look.
"They were supposed to be back twenty minutes ago."
Ana laughed a little, causing all of them to glance at her in confusion. "Sorry, I never really had this kind of family dynamic before so it's kind of refreshing to see." There was a few moments of silence before the woman broke it.
"I'm Trisha Elric." Ana blinked at the sudden change of topic before blushing a little upon seeing the motherly smile on Trisha's face. Ana had seen far more beautiful people in her years of living but Trisha Elric seemed to have the most beatiful smile she'd seen. "J-Julliana Hong, Ms. Elric."
After that, Ana found herself sitting in a table at the Rockbell household. It had been a long while since she had some good home cooked meal. The scent of stew, fresh morning bread, and several other mouth-watering dishes invaded her senses.
Without meaning to, Ana dug in like a rabid dog and devoured the food laid out in front of her. Several pairs of eyes stared at her in surprise and some in amusement as not even five minutes later, all the food in her plate disappeared, leaving only a few stains and grains of rice.
Edward snickered at her while Alphonse nudged his brother on the side. "That's kind of rude," The younger Elric said. "You're way worse than big sis Ana, though." Ana watched with amused eyes as the Elric brothers began arguing in hushed tones. She failed to notice the look Trisha was giving her with a contemplative expression painting her face. "Ana?"
The siblings stopped to look at their mom while Ana gave her full attention to the brunette... but was still taking a spoonful bite of her stew. "What is it, Miss Elric?" The look thrown at the scientist's way made her chuckle in sheepish. "Right, right, sorry, Aunty Trisha." No matter how Ana looked at it, the woman in front of her managed to con her into calling her Auntie of all things. "Well, Ana," the brunette started with a thoughtful look, her sons taking small bites of stew while listening in.
"Why don't you stay for the night? You said you're traveling, right? There's not really any inns here in Resembool."
"I was planning on camping out—" the look of disbelief Trisha thrown her way made Ana grin a little. "— but since you offered, I'd gladly take it." The scientist reached across the table to ruffle Alphonse's hair in a playful manner. "Besides, that way, I can spend some time with my favorite little kid." Said favorite giggled while Edward crossed his arms and pouted. Ana noticed this and grinned. "Well, him and this pipsqueak, too."
Edward blushed in embarrassment and was about to go on a rant when Trisha raised an eyebrow at him. Ana snickered a little but quietened down when she got the same look from her self-proclaimed auntie.
After breakfast, the siblings had dragged her out in the yard after making a stop in a study room to get some books and a piece of chalk each for the boys. Ana failed to see where this was going as they settled down on the dirt ground, books sprawled around them as they started talking about... Chemistry? Her eyebrows shot up in astonishment. She knew a lot of people who just couldn't comprehend some of the things these boys talked about.
They have a pretty good in-depth understanding of the basics; especially for their age. Ana dubbed Edward and Alphonse as prodigies in her head when she noticed them drawing a circle on the ground. "What are you guys doing?" Edward gave her a grin and Alphonse mirrored his brother's expression. "Alchemy!" They declared and that made Ana confused even further. It's that term again. That word hasn't been used in a long time in the field of Science since it's been replaced by the term Chemistry.
The next thing she knew, the boys had slammed their hands on the circle— where they had drawn symbols inside— and a flash of blue light greeted her. Her years in the field of Sciences helped her stay composed. But what the hell?! After it died down, she saw figures at the center of their circle; a figure that's supposed to be... a dog? At least, that's what it looks like on Alphonse's side. Edward's... looked like some kind of deformed version of a dog.
"What... How did you do that?" Edward threw her an incredulous look. "Alchemy..? We just told you, didn't we?" Ana tried to wrap her mind in this new... phenomenon she just witnessed. The boys watched her analyze their creation. She noticed how there was a miniature crater just underneath their figurines. Some sort of exchange? Something can't be built from nothing, after all. They used the dirt as prime material. What about the circle? It served as the medium— the catalyst for this Alchemy they keep blabbering about.
Edward and Alphonse glanced at each other, waiting for Ana's reaction. It was obvious to them that wherever she had come from, Alchemy had never been a popular topic at all.
But what did they use? The circle is only a medium; a focal point for something to... deconstruct? I mean, for the dirt to move, it had to be broken down to its base material or maybe on an atomic level? And then they've reconstructed it back to its original state but in a different shape. Ana, too deep in her thoughts, had her fingers touch subconsciously as she analyzed, her chin resting on the webbing of her index fingers and thumbs, the latter of which resting below her chin.
From what I remember, Alchemy from medieval times was considered a branch of Science among other things. It's probably most popular about how 'alchemists' sought the process of turning metals to gold. What I don't understand is how these brats did what they did. Ana eyed the circles and figurines again before diving back into her thoughts. It wasn't proven that Alchemy could be used like that but here... Alchemy is a Science everyone knows and has its uses. It is real. It can be done.
Her sudden realization pulled her out of her head as she looked at the Elric siblings. "Ed," the older blond snapped to attention. "From what I gather, this Alchemy—" she gestured at their work. "— works by deconstruction and reconstruction by using a medium; that circle you've drawn."
"Er, yeah, that's the basics of Alchemy."
"What's the source then? The energy required to perform this? That circle is only a medium. It's not enough to do... that." Edward blinked in surprise. He honestly thought that their big sis Ana was awesome for deducing so much after looking at their worka; especially for someone who had no idea about said science. Alphonse spoke up when Edward was too in awe. "Um, we use the energy from the moving tectonic plates."
Ana blinked at this. "The energy from the plates?" Things still confused her but the scientist was determined to figure things out. If Alchemy can be done in this world, then what happened to that man could have only been caused by Alchemy. And I vowed to help people who might be in the same state as him. The memory itself made her grimace. It wasn't going to be easy, after all. "Hey, my favorite little munchkins," Edward pouted at that while Alphonse giggled like the adorable brat he was.
"Think you can teach me how to use Alchemy?" Ana grinned right after, the boys mirroring her expression. "Of course, we will, big sis!" Alphonse exclaimed in excitement. Edward simply puffed his chest out. "I, Edward Elric, would gladly help you!" Ana rolled her eyes in response with an amused smile but they were cute.
oooOooo
Not even two weeks in and Ana already performed a basic transmutation that bested even Alphonse's. Edward gaped at the finely detailed sculpture of Den— who they've introduced to Ana a few days back— while Alphonse fawned over it. "How—" he choked on his own saliva as he turned around to give Ana, who seemed to be looking a little smug over her victory, a betrayed look. "How can you be so good at this?! It took Al and I a month!"
Ana blinked in surprise. "Munchkin, that's actually impressive if you ask me." Edward blinked back, a little taken aback by the praise. "I've already had a good grasp of Chemistry and a few laws concerning Alchemy. All I needed was bury myself in books about alchemical theory and the symbols. Two weeks is still a long time for that. Besides, I've always had an eye for detail." The scientist crouched down with a smile on her face.
"For you and Al to have grasped the fundamentals of Chemistry, the alchemical theories, laws, and the symbols required for Alchemy; I'd say a month is pretty impressive." He blushed a little at her compliments, suddenly feeling a bit shy because of his outburst earlier. "You may not have an eye for detail like your brother but the both of you are awesome at what you're doing. Especially someone at your age. Most adults don't even try and understand Chemistry unless it's in their line of work, you know?" Ana reached out and ruffled his hair.
Edward grumbled incoherent things under his breath before slapping her hand away for messing his hair. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, big sis." Ana just grinned at his pouting expression. Now, she wondered why kids she met before dropping in this world couldn't have been as cute as the Elrics and Winry. "Wah, big sis, can you make another one? A bunny? Or a horse!" Ana shook her head, laughing softly at Alphonse's enthusiasm. "Now, now, other munchkin—" the younger Elric giggled at the nickname.
"— why don't you and your brother show me how much you improved in the two weeks you taught me? A teacher does not only teach, they also learn things in the process, after all." The brothers looked at each other and began preparing their work. Ana watched as they work deeply on their transmutation circle. Now, all I need is to further the knowledge I've gained. The basics aren't enough to reverse the complicated process of making that chimera.
A yawn left her lips just as two idental flashes of blue light came from their transmutation. Once again, Alphonse's looked best while Edward's... looked better than it did before but was still a little deformed. Ana laughed softly as Edward sulked a bit. "Why don't we show them to Auntie Trisha?" The brothers perked up, picked up their sculpture, and ran back to the house while calling for their mother.
The scientist shook her head in fondness. The heat was getting to her so she might as well go inside, too. As she opened the back door, she heard Alphonse scream, "B-Big sis! Help!" and she rushed inside in panic. What she saw made her blood run cold. Ana found herself kneeling down beside Trisha in haste. "Ed, Al, go and get Granny Pinako!" The two hesitated but one look from Ana, they left for the Rockbell House.
The scientist picked up the brunette with a bit of difficulty and laid her down on the couch. Trisha's breath was fast and shallow, she broke into uncontrollable sweating, her body heat high than it usually was. "Auntie Trisha, stay with me, the brats are already calling for help, okay?" She was a scientist, not a doctor, and she couldn't do a single thing. Trisha grabbed her hand out of the blue, startling Ana. "Sweetie," Ana froze a little at the endearment. "If I... if I don't make it... please... please take care of the boys..."
"I will," she snapped out of it, squeezing Trisha's hand in reassurance. "But you're going to make it, auntie, so stay with us." The Elric woman smiled, though a bit shaky, and they waited for help to come.
Ana didn't know what to think of everything. She was traveling for the sake of knowledge; to help people who might be in the same situation as that chimera man. She didn't think she would be getting attached to people she just met for not even a month. They grew on her like some sort of annoying fungus and she liked them. Loved them even. The duration didn't even matter to her; she fell in love with this family because they made her feel like she was a part of it.
The next few days became dark for all of them as Trisha struggled with her illness. Ana kept true to her words; she took care of the brothers. Their mother fought until the end but Ana could see how exhausted she was and one morning, Trisha never woke up. The funeral was held the next day and even though it was too fast for Ana's liking, she couldn't do anything about it.
The scientist watched over the brothers as they sit in front of their mother's grave. From what Trisha told her, their father had just walked out on them and then, this happened. Granny Pinako had said that she would Ana look after the boys and that made the scientist grateful. She had never taken care of anybody else so it was a relief to have someone there to back her up.
"Munchkins," she called out after getting a shiver from the cold. "Let's go back. It's starting to get too cold." Neither of them moved which caused her to sigh. The scientist approached the two and knelt down behind them, resting a hand on their head. "I don't fancy the idea of you two getting sick so let's go home. We can visit again tomorrow, I promise. We can even stay here all day." Silence greeted her before Edward glanced at her with a blank look.
"... promise?"
"I promise, Munchkin."
"... Al fell asleep."
Ana gave him a small smile before she picked up the younger Elric in her arms. After making sure that Alphonse was comfortable, she held Ed's hand as they walked back home. Night had fallen as they walk through the dirt road leading to their home. It wasn't until the house was in sight that Edward spoke up again. "Big sis..." Ana hummed softly under her breath.
"... you won't leave, too... will you?"
The question made her pause in her steps, the frantic expression on Edward's face broke her heart. She knelt on one knee, resting Alphonse on her propped up leg before she pulled Edward in a tight hug. "I won't." She whispered. "I don't plan on going anywhere, Ed."
Ana decided then and there.
She could still work on Alchemy here in Resembool.
She refused to leave these brothers on their own.