Disclaimer: Though I do officially own my life, I do not own those of Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, and all relating characters of FMA. If I did, their lives would turn out like fan-girl induced mush. Thank you kindly.
Chapter 8
Those Simple Conversations
--That Take Place Under Unusual Circumstances
(Germany, 1923)
Edward felt his eye twitching almost involuntarily. Not wanting to produce a scene in front of the girl, he held his breath for a moment and mentally counted to ten.
Forcing himself to smile, he suppressed whatever emotion had him wanting to argue with his father no matter if in company or not.
"Roommate?" Was all he could squeeze past his tightly held lips. Hohenhiem, seeming more amused then anything, replied.
"That is what I said, wasn't it Noah?"
Noah?
"…." Not answering directly, she looked up from the ground to Edward. Something in her pleading look caught his eye.
"If it's too much trouble…" She started, nervousness creeping over her face.
"Nonsense, Edward and Alfons don't mind at all."
"Of course not." Edward had had enough of his father's commanding approach on the abrupt 'invite'. "We couldn't be happier then having a stranger welcomed into our apartment without knowing what the hell is going on." Trying to keep a smile on his face, he noticed Noah's turned down in embarrassment.
"An explanation would help." Edward finished his rant off with a sprinkled ounce of partial understanding; he was trying to keep an open mind.
"I figured that much." Hohenhiem smiled. "It's not a long story, but you might want to sit." He waved a hand calmly over to the couch Noah was sitting at, as he himself took a seat on the chair opposite of it. Holding back his discomfort, Edward seated himself parallel to the girl, Noah.
"It's not exactly a favor of generosity, son." Edward made a note of his father's relaxed but serious voice.
"Right. Nothing's ever that easy."
Smiling at his son's growing attempt to access his sarcastic self, Hohenhiem looked out the window beside him in a moment of thought.
"I'm trying to stop a pursuit."
This caught Edward's slowly dwindling attention.
"A pursuit? Who"
"No one in particular."
"Targets at random? That's nothing unusual…"
Edward had trailed off to the point of ignorance. Hohenhiem paused, taking the moment to choose his next words carefully.
"It is….troublesome, though."
"How?" Edward caught an interest again.
"The bodies aren't always in one piece, in truth, hardly ever."
Edward shuddered slightly at the thought. It was like this world was repeating his past. That day back in Central was still clear in his mind, when Barry the Chopper had kidnapped Winry, and nearly killed them both in the process of explaining his motives.
Trying to sound uninterested, Edward made sure he seemed unaffected by it.
"It's unoriginal, who would want to and why?"
"That's another troublesome point. At the scene's, the--"
The phone intervened, and Edward sighed, watching his father put little effort into rushing. It didn't look like Hohenhiem would want to explain himself further for his abrupt demand to house Noah.
Edward sunk further into the seat.
(Ishbal, 1917)
The shadows of the flame wove patterns onto the stone wall. Night had fallen over Ishbal, and Rose was watching the stars with fascination.
"You should watch them for a bit Alphonse, they're amazing." She said, pulling her eyes away from the scene to face the younger Elric, who had found a seat atop the broken stone wall, isolated from everyone as he watched the fire at the center of their camp glisten with radiance.
Watching his inattentive stare at the fire, she pushed herself off the ground and rose to her feet, walking over to the crumbled wall as she sat next to it.
"It's alright, you know." She too, began to focus on the hypnotic glow of the fire's flames. "I wasn't too worried to begin with, Rick and Leo don't care much."
Alphonse's eyes hadn't moved except for a few blinks and his expression hadn't changed. He sat unwavering upon the stone, obviously thinking about something other then Rick and Leo.
Rose lowered her head, as she turned to look for a reaction, but found nothing and readjusted herself as they waited under the night sky.
"Was it what Wrath said?" She asked, the innocent question caught Alphonse's attention, but he refused to answer with anything except his interest.
Rose continued to watch the fire shudder in the wind.
"I'd forgotten how long it had been. Two years now, right?" She didn't have to wait for Alphonse's reply-it wouldn't come. "I know it hurts Alphonse, living without your brother, no memories of the past four years…it's difficult. I know what it feels like to be alone."
Alphonse looked down to her with cautious, saddened eyes. She didn't look up to see his reaction as she brought her knees to her chin, resting her head on folded arms that lay across them.
"You can't go on like this though, looking to alchemy as your only hope. That's why I brought you to Ishbal." Alphonse was alarmed to hear how shaky her voice sounded. "Edward wouldn't want that, you of all people should know." She sounded upset, and Alphonse looked at her curiously.
Wrath's speech, if anything, should have made him more determined to find his brother. It had the opposite effect instead and Rose was beginning to tire of his introvert-ish state.
"He told me to 'get up and use my legs'. No matter what." She drew her hands closer to her heart. "And I've never forgotten that. It's helped me through so much."
She pulled an arm away to wipe a tear that had found it's way to the corner of her eye.
"Rose?" He was shocked by his own voice, it sounded almost dead.
"Edward never sulked. He hated self-pity. If you really want to find him, you need to do more then drown your emotions in alchemy and lay an excuse across the science that 'it's helping you find your brother'. The Alphonse I used to know would never let something like this stop him." She stopped, looking down at the sand, her hair hid her face, but Alphonse could see her shoulders shaking.
Neither of them noticed the quiet footsteps in the background of the fire's crackling.
Alphonse took in a breath, praying his next sentence would sound just like he wanted it too. "The old Alphonse…was different. He's suffered more then I ever hope too."
Rose looked at him unsteadily, tears still running off her chin. "Please don't say that…" She shook her head briskly. "Even if four years changed your outlook on life, and now that you've forgotten them you no longer view the world that way. It doesn't change who you are. So please, we're all worried, we all care. Please don't keep shutting us out like this."
"I hope we're not interrupting anything…" A voice broke the through the tense, humid air.
Rose turned, startled, by the interruption.
"General. Lieutenant." She sounded relived and disappointed at the same time. She tilted her gaze away from them. "No, we were only talking."
Alphonse flashed a small, rough smile at them. Riza looked up at him with uncertainty.
"Rose, why are you crying?" Roy asked, not a hint of sensitivity in his voice.
The dark-skinned girl wiped a final tear away from her drying eyes. "It's nothing important…we were only talking."
"General." Alphonse seemed nervous, and Rose was surprised to find he had leapt down from the stone wall. "I…have a question."
Roy turned his attention to Alphonse with a raised brow. "Yes, Alphonse"
Glancing at Rose, who looked at him with question, Alphonse flashed a quick smile, carrying it as he turned to the officers.
"Did my brother and I…ever meet someone named Wrath?"
(Germany, 1923)
Edward, still trying to wrap his head around the entire situation, didn't notice his father hang up and walk up the stairs in the other room. It took a moment to register that the phone call had ended.
Edward shot up, surprised. "What?! Where's the old man?!"
Noah, startled by his outburst, answered solemnly. "He's upstairs." Edward plopped himself back onto the couch again, sinking lower into the cushions.
"He better finish his story, or you'll have to be the one to tell me later."
Noah, not showing her surprise, took the statement as an encouragement to her staying over their apartment, saying as how she would 'have to tell him later'.
She still sat quietly beside him, feeling completely intrusive on him. She felt as if she was forcing him to let her stay. Although, Hohenhiem hadn't given him much choice.
As the stairs creaked with Hohenhiem's footsteps, Edward brought his head down to watch his father, whom had two small brown suitcases in his hands.
"These are Noah's things. Be a gentlemen and carry them out for her, will you?"
"Hold on a second." Edward stood up from the couch; Hohenhiem immediately tossed one suitcase to him, and Edward caught it, though off guard.
"It's not that I mind having her stay with us." Noah hoped he meant it. "I just want a valid reason why she can't stay here."
Hohenhiem simply smiled, as if expecting something to happen. To his son's dismay, the phone rang again.
"Ah, I'm popular tonight."
"So it would conveniently seem." Edward's smug expression was full of disapproval.
He made one last comment before his father answered the call.
"This better not be another thing to push off on me."
The phone still ringing, Hohenhiem shielded his eyes with the light reflection of his glasses.
"You know I'm not responsible."
Edward grabbed Noah's other suitcase and opened the front door, leading her to the car parked in the street.
Opening the door for her on the passenger side, he moved to the driver's and got in, sighing all the while.
He had no clue how he would explain this to Alfons.
Putting the key in the ignition, he realized his original reason for the visit had been unintentionally avoided completely. He also had stayed longer then he intended too, it was already late into the sunset.
"Don't mind this piece of junk, it's all we really have." He told her with a smile, referring to the car.
She shook her head. "Don't say that. It's really nice."
Hohenhiem watched them drive away with a grave expression, leaving the curtains to the small window open, the older man left his spot to answer his impatient caller.
A figure walked down the street, a heavy hood covering it's face. Passing into the light on Hohenhiem's porch, the dark form looked to the car that was waiting by the street corner for passing traffic.
Making it's way out of the light, the figure walked into the shadows of the night again. Pushing the hood of it's coat back with a delicate hand, revealing the face young woman, who watched the quite street which seemed to be deserted. As the wind whipped her blonde hair around, she caught a glimpse of the car and with a sly, knowing gleam in her eyes, watched in turn the corner.
Haha, all will be revealed later, and yes, I just thought about the entire "Al should know about Wrath considering Rose must've dragged them both to the surface." But --rawr-- this is my story…so it's going to go my way, and things like that.
REVIEWS!
Rainpelt: Thanks bunches! I'm sure I'll think of Rose's baby eventually, it's just going to have to hold for a bit, before actually I get to the part where he actually comes into the story. (Aww, poor Rose's baby, he's nothing more then an extra character.)
Hm…Chapter 9. I'll get to it eventually, soon, sometime, you get the point. I feel like Shikamaru...cept, I don't have a 200 level IQ, because if I did I would be writing about the fading difference between reality and fiction rather then a crappy, little FanFic. --huge smile--
Peace,
--An Angel's Wings