Beneath The Sky So Blue
Chapter One
"Sounds fun-filled beyond belief..."Edward Elric, Full Metal Alchemist (Episode 13)
Portobello Road was a bit busier than the rest of the city outside of its defined marketplace, as it seemed as though everyone and their mother happened to be crowding themselves into the small narrows in hopes of finding a treasure of some kind or an item of use that they were in need of. About twenty minutes ago, the Elric Brothers – Edward and Alphonse, entered the marketplace place with their young friend – Rae Hawthorne. The reason for their little outing was actually an attempt to both celebrate Rae's seventeenth birthday and to keep her mind occupied with something else for the day.
"Rae!" Ed snapped rather quickly as he had lost sight of the girl for the seventh time already after entering the marketplace. Growing a bit more annoyed with each time he had to frantically look around for her, Ed could already feel his brow twitching after hearing the casual 'what?' from behind him. Spinning about quickly, he glared at the staring girl who seemed to have never once left where she had been standing for the passed five minutes with Al. The curious look and lifted brow was enough to cut the older Elric brother's anger by half as he coughed to clear his throat and bite off his annoyance. "Yes, well, just making sure we didn't loose you again."
"Loose me?" The left corner of her mouth twitched with the early signs of a smirk that had yet to fully appear. "You didn't actually loose me, so much as I wandered off to look at something else." She replied, a rather pointed look taking over her expression and refueling Ed's annoyance right back to its original level.
Looking quickly between his brother and Rae, Al felt a sense of slight unease as he could see the two inching closer to another argument. "Come on guys, do you really need to start another argument?" He asked while frantically trying to direct their attention elsewhere.
"I'm not starting anything!" Ed hissed while shooting a quick narrow-eyed stare at his brother. "She's the one who keeps disappearing and freaking me out!"
"I didn't disappear, I've been standing next to Al the whole damn time!" Rae shot back in her own defense and brought Ed's attention right back down to her. "Maybe you should pay better attention to me than on whatever you were doing!"
"I have been paying attention!" Ed growled.
And once again, the two were up in one another's faces trying to stare the other down and claim victory in the new argument to prove that they were right and the other was wrong. This left Al to exhale a long defeated sigh and hang his head as it was painfully obvious that his brother and Rae were just not going to go the rest of the day without exchanging blows one way or another. That part became very much apparent as Ed had grabbed Rae in a headlock and was now trying force her into submission. Those two have an incredibly weird teacher-student relationship.
"Let go of my head!"
"Not until you start listening to me!"
Ten minutes later...
Both Ed and Rae sulked as they walked with Al in between them. Both refused to even look at the other, or even so much as say a single word. The two of them are so much alike it's scary. Al muttered to himself, eyes casting a glance to his brother and then Rae, noting that they both had their arms tucked back behind their heads and held pursed looks on their faces. Very scary.
As they made their way through the marketplace, Rae happened to casually look over towards her right where the other half of the vendors on the street had set up their stands and carts to display their goods. Something in a window wedged between a fruit vendor and an older woman selling clocks caught her eye immediately. It had caught her attention so much so that Rae had come to a complete stop on the street and allowed her arms to come down to her sides slowly.
Her green eyes were glued to the window, and before she was even aware of her own actions, Rae had taken a few jogging steps over to that window and continued to stare. Fortunately enough, Al had noticed Rae wandering off and stopped, which caused Ed to stop as well and look back over his shoulder to where Rae was currently standing.
"What's that girl doing now?" Ed wandered aloud in a mutter, hands still firmly tucked back behind his head, a slight scowl still prevalent on his face.
Shrugging, Al started off towards the window that had pulled Rae to itself, curious to see what had her so entranced. Mumbling something under his breath, Ed followed after his younger brother, mildly curious as well but not showing it at the moment. Coming up behind their young friend, the brothers stared in through the four squared window and felt their brows lift in response to seeing what it was being displayed on the bust of a slender neck.
Hanging from a thin silver chain a beautifully worked mini wire sculpture of a Monarch butterfly. The wings were carefully shaped in the basic outline while inside it held a web pattern that curved and interwove over itself to resemble the patterns on the real insects wings. At the center of its thinly wound body was bound a small piece of Lapis lazuli. The whole thing was completely flat and looked as though it could easily fit in the palm of one's hand. It glittered nicely in the dull afternoon light.
"It's pretty." Rae mumbled quietly as she stared at it with a near blank look on her face, but her eyes reflected the glitter of the necklace with her own personal excitement.
Al grinned. "I almost forgot that you like butterflies, Rae." He mused while glancing over at his brother. Ed shrugged at him in response.
"It's not so much that I like butterflies, than that they remind me of my dad." Rae replied, a bit of a small smile pulling at either corner of her mouth as she set a hand to the window pane. The small amount of dust on the glass smudged easily beneath her open palm.
Both brothers fell silent, their heads just starting to hang as Rae had brought up one of the few things they were trying to distract her from that day with their outing. Somehow they felt as though they may have just failed.
I miss him. Rae quietly winced at her own thoughts before pulling her hand from the glass and shook her head for reasons only known to her. "Well, we've spent enough time window-shopping here," She announced while quickly spinning about to the face the street, and in the process startled her two companions, "ON TO THE NEXT WINDOW!" Rae jabbed her fist into the air with only her index finger pointing out as indication to her want to move on. Thus she followed through with her own statement and marched her way back out on to the street.
Setting foot in the middle of Portobello Road, Rae expertly turned herself back into the direction they had been going (turning to the right) and then shot the Elric brothers a commanding look for them to follow her...Now. Ed exhaled a sigh while shoving his hands into the pockets of his brown coat and followed after Rae.
"Uh, brother?" Al hesitated, his gaze changing between Ed and the necklace in the window as if he were torn about something.
"Forget it Al. She just had a moment, and now she's over it." Ed replied while not even giving his younger brother a second look. "Let's just catch up with her before she disappears on us again."
Al frowned in response to Ed's rather nonchalant answer. Looking back at the necklace again, Al could feel his stomach twisting into a knot over the argument he batted about within his head. However, the fact that neither Ed nor Rae were going to wait for him at this point, Al swallowed down whatever it was that nagged at him and hurried to catch up with them before they vanished amongst the still milling crowds.
For a better part of the afternoon the trio browsed the marketplace, stopping here and there to look over the antiques and other sorts of odds and ends put out for sale. Although he had originally been animate over the fact that he wasn't going to buy Rae anything from the market, Ed ended up buying his student a few small trinkets that he acted none to pleased about, but found a great amount of amusement out of watching her grin and fiddle with her new possessions. Luckily enough for Ed, Rae was easily entertained by the smallest and least inexpensive things one could find in a place like Portobello Road.
The end of the marketplace was starting to appear now as the crowds seemed to be a bit thinner at this point down the street. Stopping at another trinket and knick-knack filled table, Ed hung back this time as Al and Rae crowded about the small vendor table to pick and pry like curious school children. Breathing a small laugh through his nose, Ed felt his attention being drawn elsewhere suddenly. That elsewhere was up towards the sky that was still grey with overcast and promising either the usual drizzle or an all out down pour. Although the sun was never fully seen these days, it was still simple to tell what time of day it was by the mere indication of either the lightening or darkening of the grey overhead.
It's gotta be close to dinner. Ed mused to himself, but the color of the sky itself hadn't been the reason why he looked up...was it? His golden-eyed gaze narrowed for a moment as if focusing in on something or other he couldn't quite make out at the moment.
"Ed-sensei...Oi, Ed-sensei!"
Snapping down out of his own trance by the sound her voice calling out to him, Ed's brows lifted as he noticed the rather curious look on Al's face and the irritated scowl on Rae's. "What?"
Al flinched at the question, mainly because he could already see Rae fuming at his side in response to Ed's rather oblivious state-of-mind. "Um, Rae...?"
Holding up a hand in his direction, Rae cut Al off before he could finish and took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. Straightening her posture and holding her shoulders back, Rae gave her teacher a rather brief but blank look, turned to her right, and walked off down towards the end of the street.
For nearly five seconds the two brothers watched her leave and only then did they exchange looks with one another before breaking into a run to catch up with her.