Chapter Four of "The Omega Stone" by Melinda-chan
I couldn't believe what I was seeing- the man that told Brother and I to leave earlier was in the shack with Sarah!
"You said that they sent the boy…you mean…?" the man said. I then saw the man look at me. It was too late for me to hide myself.
"Oh! This is Alphonse Elric, he's not a State Alchemist," Sarah said. "Alphonse, this is my father, Roger Somers."
"Uh hi" I said. I then saw him go toward me. I felt myself go nervous- I hate it when people do this.
"You're not the Fullmetal Alchemist?" the man said in disbelief. I really hate it when this happens.
"I'm Alphonse Elric," I said. "My older brother's the Fullmetal Alchemist."
"I see…" he said. " Where is he then?"
"Asleep," I said. I decided not to say anything more.
"How long are you planning to stay here?" he then asked me. I felt like I was being interrogated.
"Father! They're my guests!" Sarah said. "If you want to speak to them, please don't talk to them like they're criminals!" I was taken aback by her change of attitude- she seemed very upset right now compared with her calm demeanour yesterday.
I then saw him look up at me again. Now I really felt self-conscious. He then looked back at Sarah.
"Do you really want to go with them?" he asked her.
"I'm not going with them…yet," Sarah replied.
"Sarah, you're too young to even think of such a thing!" he told her. I had the feeling that he was going to make all kinds of excuses now.
"But Father, I'm not going to become one right away!" Sarah said.
"Sarah, do you know what ruckus you've raised because of this?" he asked.
"Father, you know that I have to start my own path, and that I cannot be Salama forever-" Sarah started to say when her father took a step forward.
"AND I'M SAYING THAT YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Roger shouted. I decided to step in or there might be a big argument soon.
"Excuse me, but if you're going to be loud, Brother is still sleeping," I said. He then looked at me for a few seconds, and then looked back at Sarah.
"I'm warning you!" her father said. "I can't control them if they decided to do something to you!"
"If they do, then the military will come again for sure," Sarah said. She then put her right hand on her chest. "Please, Father, I have to do this! I don't know the full reason myself, but you must believe in me!"
"I hope you're right," her father said. Without saying another word, he then left. I saw her become very sad.
"I'm so sorry-" I started to say when she dismissively waved her hand.
"It's not your fault," Sarah said. "In fact, I should've been more careful. I should've just went to Central myself-"
"NO!" I yelled. I then realized what I did. "I mean, you did fine. This is the way State Alchemist candidates are assessed…I think."
"I'm more worried about your older brother now," Sarah said. "If he still is too sick to leave, I'll have to protect him somehow."
"You really think that they would-" I started to say when she moved her hand back and forth.
"I think you should see Edward now," Sarah said. "He's likely still too weak to go anywhere, but don't tell him anything right now, do you understand?"
"I do," I replied. I then went to her study room. I was surprised to see Brother up on the cot, reading a book
"Brother!" I said, very happy to see him up. "How are you? Are you feeling better?"
"She'll pass" Brother said.
"What?" I said.
"Almost every book has that code of hers in it," Brother said. "She must've studied hard." He then closed the book and looked up at me. "She could really do it."
"So what are we going to do?" I asked. He then looked at the other side of the room. I seldom think about the great responsibilities Brother has as a State Alchemist, but right now I could really see the weariness on his face.
"If I gave you the password, will you call the Colonel?" Brother asked.
I soon found myself at the post office calling Central HQ. I was very nervous, not only because it was my first time that I phoned Central HQ, but a lot of people were starting to stare at me. I had no idea whether it was because of my suit of armour or that I was making a phone call. I decided to be very discreet when talking to Mustang.
"Central HQ, hello?" a woman's voice said.
"May you get Colonel Mustang?" I requested. "I'm speaking in behalf of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."
"I'm sorry, but we don't allow calls from outside-" she started to say when I interrupted her.
"Ma'am, I'm calling from Easterlin Post Office," I said. "Brother is too sick to make a phone call right now. He was supposed to call Colonel Mustang. Please let me through!" I started to sound desperate.
"May I have a code please?" the woman said. If I had a pair of lungs, I would have taken a deep breath.
"Alright, it's uncle-sugar-oliver-eight-zero-zero!" I said as fast as I could.
"Code confirmed. One moment please," the woman said. I waited for a few minutes. I started to feel a bit impatient. It was just him to leave the desk when I had to call.
"Colonel Mustang, hello?" I heard him say.
"Colonel!" I said.
"Who's this?" I heard him ask. I was taken aback until I realized this is my first time talking to him on the phone.
"It's me, Alphonse! Edward Elric's little brother!" I said.
"Alphonse? What are YOU calling me for?" I then heard him ask. Oh oh. Did I get Brother into trouble?
"Uh, um, sir, Brother, I mean Edward is sick and can't call you-" I started to say.
"Sick with what?" the Colonel asked.
"I suspect it's a cold," I answered.
"Fine. Did you arrive in Easterlin?" the Colonel asked.
"Yes sir!" I replied.
"Did you find Sarah Somers?" the Colonel asked.
"Yes sir!" I replied. "But she's not 21 years old!"
"Ah yes," the Colonel said. "I had a feeling that the information wasn't totally accurate."
"Sir?" I said.
"Anyway, tell your older brother I expect a full report once you both get back here. Don't stay any longer than you have to. Do you understand?" the Colonel was starting to bear me down.
"Yes sir!" I said.
"And tell Edward to prepare for a little talk with me. You will tell him that, will you?" the Colonel said.
"Sir-!" I never had the chance to finish.
"Good! Go back to Central as fast as you can! That's an order!" the Colonel said. He then hanged up on me. To say I was upset would be an understatement.
"He didn't get me to say what I wanted to say!" I said. I then looked at the phone. "I could call him again but he would probably say the same thing. I guess I just have to tell Brother what he told me." I then saw a little girl looking up at me. "Do you want to use this phone?"
"Uh huh" the girl then nodded.
"Sorry about that," I said. I then moved away. "I'll be going now." At that, I left the post office. Everyone that was outside turned to look at me. I was used to this, but the stares were a bit colder than usual…
If I knew what would happen next, I would've put Brother upon my shoulders and got ourselves out of there as fast as I could. But of course I didn't know.
I found Brother topless on the cot with Sarah atop of him. I did what most people would've done I'm sure.
"I'm so sorry, Brother!" I blurted out. I then waved my hands in panic mode. "I'll leave you two to do whatever you're doing!" I was about to leave when I heard Brother's voice.
"What do you think we're doing, Al?" he asked.
"I'm just putting a poultice on his chest," Sarah explained. I then saw the cloth on Brother's chest. A bit of yellow was coming out of the cloth.
"Oh!" I said. If I could've blush, I would've done it.
"What do you think we were doing?" Brother asked me again.
"Oh nothing!" I said. I would be red all over if I had my skin back on.
"You went out, didn't you?" Sarah asked.
"Yes" I replied. She then got off Brother, which relieved me.
"I'll go out and make some more tea," Sarah said. "I'll also get another blanket as well." She then left, rather quickly, in my opinion.
"Brother, what did she put on you?" I asked.
"Mustard," Brother answered. He then peeled the cloth off himself. I couldn't help putting my iron hand to my mouth (or at least where my mouth should be) as I tried not to laugh.
"Brother, you got yellow all over your chest!" I said. Brother then sat up.
"She told me that a mustard poultice could help my cold," Brother said. He then wrapped the cloth. Yellow came oozing out of it and onto his hands. I wished I could smile.
"So tell me, Al," Brother said, looking up at me. "What did the Colonel say?"
"Well…" I started to say. I then recalled what the Colonel told me. As I did so, I saw Brother's face distort in fear.
"I'm in real trouble now!" Brother said, sweat coming down his face. He then sneezed.
"Brother, you're too sick to leave this house!" I said. "I know that you usually make the report, but there was no other choice! I'm sure that the Colonel would understand!" 'At least I hope so,' I thought.
"I hope you're right, Al," Brother said, inadvertently rubbing his face with the poultice cloth. "I hate to be lectured by him as if I was a little kid!" His face was tinged with yellow. I couldn't help myself.
"Brother, your face…it's all yellow!" I said, pointing at him.
"Yeah?" Brother said. He then threw the cloth on me. "Now you got yellow too!"
"Brother!" I said. Just then, we heard Sarah's voice.
"I got more tea!" Sarah said, coming into the room. She then saw the yellow on Brother and me and screeched.
"I'm so sorry! I thought you had jaundice!" Sarah apologized to Brother a few minutes later. We were now outside walking. "Now I'll give you a bath!"
Brother was wrapped in a blanket but was still topless. Sarah was carrying a small tub with soap, washcloths and a few other items. She was ahead of us, since we had to follow her.
"Is it a real hot spring?" Brother asked.
"Oh, I can make it hot if you want," Sarah said.
"Well, not too hot" Brother said. She then stopped.
"This is it" Sarah said. Brother and I both looked down and saw a big water hole. A few trees were by it, giving us some privacy. We then saw Sarah put her hand into the water.
"It feels a bit cool," Sarah said. She then looked back at Brother. "Do you want it to be warmer?"
"You can do that?" Brother asked.
"Oh yes!" Sarah replied. "Do you want me to demonstrate?" Brother and I looked at each other. Why not?
"Sure!" Brother said. Sarah then turned to the water hole.
"I shall do it then," she said. She then took her staff from the tub and put it into the water. She then turned it left three times and then clapped. All of a sudden, the sky turned very, very dark.
"The air just turned warm. What is-" Brother started to ask when a bolt of lightning came out of the sky.
"Eep!" I yelled instinctively. I should have known that unless the lightning cracked the blood rune inside of me, I would be safe, but the human side of me cringed.
Of course, Brother was terrified. Having a metallic arm and leg probably made him more nervous than he would normally care to admit. As it was, he jumped back away from Sarah, whose staff was struck by the bolt of lightning.
"There, it's heated," Sarah said. She then looked back. "I hope it's not too warm, um, Edward?" I then realized that he was now behind me.
"Brother, the lightning's gone," I said. I should've done something else at his expense, but I felt more surprised than amused by Brother's reaction.
"How-how did you do that?" Brother asked. Sarah blinked.
"The same you do," Sarah replied. "Though I used a different method." I thought Brother was going to say something, but he didn't.
"You should take a dip and see if it's alright," Sarah suggested to Brother. Brother went down and touched the water with his left hand.
"Hey! It is warm!" Brother said. I then looked back at her.
"You can summon lightning?" I asked.
"I can control all the four elements," Sarah replied. "This staff I used helps me to direct the power to the appropriate target."
"You mean fire, air, earth and water" Brother asked.
"Yes," Sarah said. "As you may know, lightning is caused when clouds carrying opposite charges come in close contact with one another, and then gets attracted to the charges in the ground."
"So in order to do that, you need both cold and warm air to meet," Brother said. He then placed his left hand into the water again. "This is about right."
"I got soap and towels and washcloths and a change of clothes for you" Sarah said. She then looked up at me. "I'm sorry but I don't know how to remove mustard from your armour, Alphonse."
"That's okay," I said. "Brother and I will find a way to get rid of the mustard somehow." Sarah then smiled.
"I'll leave you for half an hour" Sarah said. "I need to do more research for my alchemy examination."
"You don't have to worry," Brother said. "All you have to do is transmutate something. You don't have to spend too much time on that."
"But I do have to take a written examination, don't I?" Sarah asked.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that," Brother said. He then looked down again. "Do you mind leaving now?"
"Oh yes!" Sarah said. "Excuse me then!" She then left us. Brother then took the rest of his clothes and put himself into the water.
"Oh that feels nice!" Brother said. I wished that I could smile, because Brother really did look better.
"I wish that I could go in with you," I said.
"You could, but you could rust" Brother said. I never thought anyone would say that to me five years ago.
"You can rust too, Brother," I teased. I then saw him cough. "Are you okay?"
"Just a cough. I actually feel a lot better now," Brother said. He then lowered his eyes. "Al, do you know why she wants to become a State Alchemist for?"
"Didn't she already told us?" I asked, hoping that he would change the subject.