" Land ho!" The lookout yelled. Edward ran to the front of the ship, holding on to the railing as he leaned forward, trying to get as close to the island as he could.
" Don't fall." Bill said. " You dont' want to be eaten by sharks."
" Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ed said, not really listening. " Leave me alone, Bill."
They dropped anchor about a quarter of a mile away from the island. Edward, Sam, Bill, and Roy got in to a small rowboat that would take them there. When they got to the island, Roy and Ed went inland to find the man with the book. Sam and Bill stayed near the beach to look for bananas and rambutan for the crew to eat and probably finish in three days. Everybody loves rambutan.
The alchemist was nervous as he raised a hand to knock on the door. What if he couldn't get home? The door opened, and a familiar person greeted him.
" Al!" Ed yelled, almost tackling his brother. " Why aren't you at home?"
" Because I followed you here! I missed you, big brother!"
" And you got your body back," Ed exclaimed, getting off his no-longer-armor-bodied brother.
" Excuse me?" Roy said with an eyebrow raised. " My question? Where's the guy with the book?"
" He died yesterday," Alphonse replied. " I'm taking his place."
" What?" Edward said.
" Hey, you wait your turn, shorty!" Roy said.
" I'M NOT SHORT!!" Ed yelled, trying to attack the captain, but his punches fell short as Al held him back.
" Brother, stop!" Al yelled. THen he said to Roy, as if he had just read the book: " The girl of your dreams dosn't live in a port, but on your ship. You see her every day, but she's in disguise."
" That's it?" Roy said, dodging a close kick. " Nothing else? Dosn't the book say who she is?"
" No, you have to figure it out yourself!"
Ed stopped his mad swings, realizing that it was futile. He pulled the back of his coat out of Al's hands, and said:" So what does your book say about us getting home?"
" That alchemy dosn't work on water, but you can do it here, if you want to go home and leave me behind to answer people's questions."
" But..." Ed was astonished. " Thats' why I wanted to go back! So we could be together in our world with Winry, and Granny Pinako, and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and everybody else!"
" But I have to stay here!" Alphonse said. " Nobody can read the book but me!"
" So what, we're just going to answer people's stupid questions for the rest of our lives?"
" No, just until the right person comes to take my place."
Edward screamed. He just couldn't help himself.Suddenly he noticed that Roy was tapping him on the shoulder.
" You can always come a-pirating with me and the crew you know. " He said. Thats' when Ed realized what he really wanted. A smile grew across his face, and he gave his brother one last hug before he left. " I'll be back as soon as I can, Al. I promise."
" Whatever. You just have fun." Al waved as the pair walked back down the path and to their ship. " BYE!!"
Author's thoughts
God.
I dont' know why I'm not happy with this one. As I was putting it up I completely redid the ending (it would have been the same anyways...) so that it would be less " Al's here. Awesome. Let's go home." to more of a " AL!! OMG it's AL!" Now I have to put the original one up as an alternate ending, making more work for myself!
Mary, I hate you.
Still, I'm really happy with the beginning half of this(before the chimera dude. yppedia./AdmiralFinius ) Especially the transmutation bit. It really shows how Ed is, you know? Willing to give up anything for his brother.
The second half, with the book, it is actually based on Good magician Humphrey from Piers Anthony's Xanth novels.
Shoot, I have to go now, but you don't have to comment if you fave this time. I dont' really care.
This is for a contest .forums./community/mvnforum/viewthread?thread106451