Chapter 4: Plans and Libraries
Authors Note: Oh, cruel, cruel teachers, who drown me in homework and keep me from updating! Forgive me faithful readers for succumbing to their evil intents! (Sorry, feeling melodramatic today. Emphasis on DRAMATIC) SilverMoonNymph has changed her name (again) to Little Miss Actress, my chemistry and math teachers are giving me hours of homework and my little brothers are being adorable pains in the ass. Not much different from every other day of my miserable existence. (Jk, I'm actually quite happy, but I felt the need to put that in there. More drama coming up) Oh, lamentable woes! When will I be able to spin the lustrous, shining thread of this whimsical tale to my poor, abused heart's content? When will I be able to repay you oh so faithful followers of this dark and misty scroll to my fullest abilities? I repent; the time is far from upon us! Merely a glimmering ray of hope in the unforeseeable future! The darkening sky that promises the dawn of a new age is only a dream that dwells in our unsuspecting minds! Patience, we must wait, for that day may yet come! It may not be soon, alas, but eventually our patience will be repaid! If you read all that, thank you for staying with me in my overly dramatic rant. I think I've been reading too much Shakespeare. Or poetry, that might be it. Enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I tempted Colonel Bastard with a date with my sister if he would steal me ownership, but my brother let slip that I didn't have one. At least, not by blood. Grrr…
Normal POV
Ed was logging hours in the Library, he'd just returned to Central and was making full use of its extensive research material. There had been a jolt of Alchemical energy recently, not much, barley perceptible in fact, but there all the same and he wanted to know why. It was late, nearing midnight when he heard the hushed whispers,
"Shhh! Do you want to be caught?" The voice was obviously feminine and barley audible, it had an odd accent, not Amestrian- slightly Drachman maybe? It did have some of the rougher tones to the words, but none of the gutturalness that went with it. No- slightly lilting, like the speaker was performing poetry in just everyday speech. If anything, it sounded more Xingese. A new voice interrupted,
"You're the one who wanted to find out where we dropped in on the story line! So quit whining, idiota!" it hissed. The voice was still female, but this one's accent was MUCH more pronounced, it sounded Cretan. It also sounded like she would cheerfully kill him if he ticked her off.
"Both of you shush! It was an excellent idea, but you two are being too loud!" Another girl. She sounded annoyed, she was also the only one who's footsteps he could hear. They were stumbling and slow, and dragged slightly, like she was supporting herself on some thing. What were three girls doing in a restricted library? And what did they mean story line? Coming to a decision, Ed stood up, leaving his trademark red trench coat draped over the back of the chair he'd been sitting on. He quietly rounded a corner, and stopped dead. In front of him was the oddest, but strangely beautiful, bunch of people he'd ever seen. They were three girls, like he'd thought, but they seemed rather… odd. For one thing, they were all dressed in styles he'd never seen before. Actually, it looked kind of cool. Tough and rebel like, 'Good taste' he noted in his head. For another thing, they were all his age, but one had an auto mail arm. He'd never seen another person with auto mail younger than twenty. Even most adults were terrified of the pain. Vaguely, he wondered how she had lost the arm. The second one was being supported by the two on either side of her, seemingly incapable of standing by herself. Her red/brown hair changed to a pale blond part way down, 'kind of like Winry's coloring' he thought. When he saw the third girl, he caught his breath for a moment. She wasn't like the other two, her skin was darker, her hair was too, she had no obvious physical disabilities, her style was much more out going than the other two's and her frame was obviously more muscular. All he could think about was how gorgeous she looked. Ed would have stared except for the third thing that made all of them seem strange. They were looking at him as if he'd dropped out of another world.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" he growled, uncomfortable with the attention. There was a pause, and then
"Just the midget, fucking bastard. No need to be an ass." It was the voice with the heavy Cretan accent, now he could identify her as the one with the auto mail arm.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY MINISCULE ANT WHO CAN GET A BOOK SLAMMED ON HIM AND BE FINE 'CAUSE HE CAN FIT BETWEEN THE PAGES?" he shouted, rage at being called short blinding him. He felt a sharp pain at the top of his head and held it, eyes watering as he glared at his attacker. It was the girl who seemed so different from the other two.
"Shut up hair-trigger. We're in a library." So she was the owner of the voice with the lilting quality. He glared at her then answered in a hiss
"Shut up. She called me short. You're all just abnormally tall." She rolled her eyes,
"I'm only a few inches shorter than you, AND I'm done growing. I'm sure that in a few years you'll be taller than me. Which means you just called your future self abnormal. Now will you hush?" She then added in a defensive tone "and there's nothing wrong with being different. I like being a non-conformist." Ed felt his respect for her shoot up, even if she had hit him. She understood that he was still growing! No short goddamit, just… on his way to being tall.
"Don't comfort the midget," the Cretan girl chastised, "he'll mess everything up." The girl in the middle rolled her eyes,
"Yea, but if he shouts, the guards will come and everything will get worse. Plus, he can help us better than the books." The girl who had the lilting voice nodded, and then turned to him, determination in her eyes.
"What were you researching here?" she asked. He gaped at her, that was NOT what he'd been expecting. She poked him and he closed his mouth.
"Searching for the philosopher's stone" he mumbled, expecting her to laugh and tell him it was a fairy tale. However, she only nodded.
"Have you found anything?" she asked.
"Why?" Ed was suspicious, why did she want to know. She rolled her eyes,
"I have no interest in the stone itself, but your answer will tell me and my sisters something we need. Equivalent exchange, you answer my question, I'll answer one of yours." He thought it over, he really had nothing to lose, and he was curious about these girls. He nodded decisively, missing the girl's triumphant grin,
"I just found a lead in Liore. I was planning to look into it in a month or so, and use the time to gather more info."
"So we're before the series," the one in the middle grimaced, "we have to live through that whole thing?"
"Brotherhood or original though, that's what I wanna know." the Cretan one mused. Ed looked on in confusion; he didn't understand any of this! The girl with the lilting voice turned to him again,
"How did you earn your State license?" she asked. He stared at her blankly, "It's worth another question" she bribed.
"I made a stone spear." He answered, confused. The girl turned back to her 'sisters'. He didn't see how that worked, the three looked nothing alike.
"Brotherhood." She told the Cretan girl, "ask away." She told Ed. Ed thought for a moment, so many questions! He remembered- she had mentioned equivalent exchange…
"Are you an alchemist?" he asked.
"Yes." Was the calm answer. There had been a moment of hesitation at first though, she was probably a beginner and unused to the thought of being an alchemist Ed concluded. He thought again, what should his second question be?
"Why did you ask those questions?" he found himself asking. She smiled,
"It told me what to expect in the coming years. Hopefully, anyways." He was taken aback for a moment, how had two completely random questions told her that? She was already turning around though.
"Tell Al hi for me!" she called, "and you'll reach your goal eventually!" He blinked in shock, and when he looked up again, the three girls were gone. How had she known Al? It was common knowledge he had a brother, but not his brother's name. And how could she know about his goal? Or that he'd achieve it. Belatedly, he thought that he should have asked her name.
(Line Break! I had to punch it 'cause it worked for Truth)
"So what are we going to do?" Brann asked her sisters as they sat in an alley. Niki looked up, grinning,
"Well, we have no supplies, no home and no money." Niki began; "So I say we use alchemy to make a place to stay and then-" she paused for dramatic effect, "We'll just have to steal from the ridiculously wealthy!" there was a pause as her sisters stared at her. "What?" she asked defensively, "You have a better idea that won't mess up the economy?" They shook their heads. "Then it's decided!" Niki exclaimed, "We'll need cool code names, and the equipment to pull it all off, but don't worry! Technological genius here to help!" She cried as she pointed to the sky in her usual theatrical manner. The other two rolled their eyes but smiled at their sister's antics. 'Well', Brann thought, 'for better of worse, we have a plan of action.'
"Hey," Niki asked, a bit curious but mostly excited, "You think we'll meet Envy?"
Ooh. What's going to happen? You tell us what you think. So REVIEW!