Calcifer's New Spark

CHAPTER ONE: ITALY

Edward walked through the vineyards, breathing in the fresh scents that were Verona, Italy. The Elric brothers had arrived there with the others two days previous and were greeted by a storm. It poured those two days while he and Al had watched despairingly from the windows of the inn. Here they were in a new city and all they could do was wait in a stuffy room. Noah tried to make it better. She told them tales of the Romans, she taught them games she learned as a child, and read Al his fortunes. On the third day, Noah had awoken them early in the morning and led them to the vineyards through the cool fog that enveloped Verona's streets.

"Nii-san!" Al ran up and down the columns of grave vines, "It's beautiful here!" The sun had finally come out and the grapes glimmered like rhinestones in the light.

"You should see it in the winter," Noah said. She walked slowly behind Ed.

"Don't go too far, Al! Wait for us!" Ed called to his younger brother, and trotted a ways to catch up. It wasn't that he didn't want to frolic and prance in the sun, he was just taking it all in slowly, unlike Al who wanted to take it all in at once. If sightseeing was like sweets Al was sure to have a stomachache by noon.

"He'll be tired by the time we get back to the road,' Noah chuckled. "We could have used his energy to set up for the festival."

Ed sighed and scratched his head. Oh well. "I guess we'll just have to tour the rest of Verona tomorrow." He was thankful that Noah was there. She had been everywhere and knew all the history and languages. At least they would never be completely lost.

"Nii-san come look at this!" Al waved from around a corner and disappeared.

"Al! Ugh." Ed ran to catch up. Noah followed close behind. Sometimes he wished Al was still in the armor. He wouldn't have to run so fast. "Al when we said sightseeing we meant one bit at a time—AAAGGH!" Ed slipped on some wet leaves before he had a chance to stop himself and screamed as he cascaded into a fence of grapevines.

"Edward! Are you all right?" Noah bent down to look through the hole Ed made when he crash landed. Al's head appeared too.

Ed spit out a mouthful of leaves and crawled out, glaring. His clothes were muddy and stained by smashed fruit. "I'm perfect," he growled.

"Well, while you're here," Al said, "look over there!" He pointed to a small yellow garden shed in the middle of an opening. It had a white roof on which vines were growing, and in the front it had a prim little door. It leaned slightly as if it were sinking into the ground.

"It's a shed," Ed stated the obvious.

"No, there's something else." Al got up and ran around it. "It looks very small from out here, but inside it looks much bigger!"

"What?" Ed stood up and flicked a grape peel off his shoulder. He went over beside Al who was peering inside the small side window. His alighted smile turned to a disappointed frown. "What's wrong?"

"I could have sworn there was more inside." Ed pressed his head against his brother's to try and see inside the tiny window. It was hard to see through such dirty glass, but what he could see was a rake, a large wooden tub and shears hanging on a wall covered in spider webs.

"It looks like an ordinary garden shed tome," said Edward. He crossed his arms and gave his younger brother a strange look.

"But there was an entire house: a table and a fire place and stairs and a dog sleeping on the rug!"

Ed stared at him. "You can't go out early anymore," he said jokingly and walked away, but Al stayed firm and defiant.

"Nii-san!" Al screamed. "Noah, you believe me, don't you?"

Noah shrugged and smiled at him.

"You! Over there!" A portly old man with a gray moustache and a gray cap stomped towards them waving a rag, his sleeves rolled up and covered in dirt. "What you think you doing here, uh?" His accent was heavy and he eyed the two blonde boys suspiciously. Noah immediately turned to him and began to apologize. He yelled at her in Italian and marched away.

"We had better go," Noah said. "He says if we come back around here he'll call the police."

"What did he say when he shook his fist at me?" Ed asked.

"You don't want to know."

That night, Al sat on his bed by the window, staring at the night sky. A warm breeze was blowing in and it soothed him. All day Ed had teased him about the "imaginary" house in the shed and in return he had been bitter and short. He felt bad for being that way, but he wasn't lying! He had seen it with his own eyes!

Ed sat in the other corner polishing his auto mail. It was taking forever to get the stains out of the metal. He saw Al from the corner of his eye, solemn as ever. "You're not still upset about this morning, are you?"

"Hmph!" was Al's solid reply.

"Oh come on, Al."

"Never."

"This is almost as bad as that time we fought about the homunculus."

"Which time? I can't remember." Al lied through his teeth. He had regained most of his memories, and that one was a particularly easy one to remember, but he wouldn't recall it. Not if it gave Ed satisfaction.

"You remember, I know you do," Ed said just as angrily. "And it's almost as bad as that time when you thought I created memories for you! And that other time when—"

"Okay, okay! Yes! It's just as bad as all those things!" Al pulled his covers up and threw himself down onto the bed. Out of all the arguments he had with Ed, this was one that he knew would not end peacefully. He refused to let it go. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I was imagining it." Okay, so secretly he wouldn't let it go.

Ed smiled, turned off the lights and climbed into bed. Al turned away and faced the window. "Nii-san?"

"Hm?"

"Are you happy here, in this new world?"

"Why are you asking something like that?"

"It's nothing… you just seem different somehow."

"Different?" Ed sat up.

Al could feel his brother's eyes burning into the back of his head. "Good night, Nii-san."

"Good night Al."