/AN/ wowzer look at that another chapter and half of the next one finished as well. I'm on a roll (even though this is kind of short). Magical stuff will be happening very soon but not in this chapter so if that's what you came here for, hold out a bit longer- I'm trying my best but Ed likes to create plot holes that I need to clean up. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter and if you feel like it please review :)
Ed woke up the next morning feeling utterly sick. Still aboard the boat, he felt every little rock and sway of the cabin as the little boat was thrown about on the swirling water. An early morning downpour, which was only just settling now seemed a likely culprit for the river's angry state- which aggravated Ed's stomach more than he would care to admit. He supposed the dirty salt water he had swallowed yesterday wasn't helping much either. The cabin floor rolled with the current, sending his gut churning but Ed managed to groggily manoeuvre himself into a sitting position so that he could peer through the window next to the bed. A quick peek between the crooked paper curtains gave him a rough estimate of the time; around six o'clock by the looks of it, an orangey blush beginning to creep slowly across the horizon. The boat was silent. None of the residents were awake yet, which suited Ed just fine- the alchemist spent all of about three seconds deciding that now would be a perfect opportunity to do a runner.
He didn't want to be rude, especially after these people had saved his ass just a few hours earlier, however Ed knew that it would be for the best if he left as soon as possible. Wherever he went, trouble was sure to follow and he didn't want to start dragging random fishing families into his problems. Also, despite everything, Ed was excited. He was in an entirely new world filled with a staggering amount of technology he had never even seen before. Perhaps even alchemy was more advanced here as well? The more Ed thought about it, the more he realised the endless possibilities of this new world- maybe it could even hold the key to restoring Al's body!
This single thought spurred Ed into action. Ignoring a niggling feeling in the back of his head, he leapt up off the creaky bed with all the bravado of someone who had definitely not nearly drowned the day before and quietly clunked his way over to the cabin door. It was a small relief to realise that his automail was still functioning normally and Ed made a mental note that he would need to clean the joints at the next opportunity.
Flakes of dried paint crumbled and fell to the floor where Ed's hand brushed the door handle. A sense of deja vu suddenly washed over him as he peered cautiously behind it but to Ed's relief there was only a single sleeping figure on the deck of the boat. The man who had pulled him from the water was sprawled uncomfortably in a fold out chair, his head lolled to the side at an awkward angle. Ed silently prayed for the man's neck as he snuck past. It would definitely hurt when he woke up.
It was easy for Ed to slink past the dozing man and he hastily made his way off of the boat before he could feel guilty about leaving. Despite his best efforts a small stab, a pinprick really, of guilt settled in Ed's stomach as he allowed himself to get lost in the rapidly growing crowds on land. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Al berating him for leaving without thanking the family properly but Ed just chuckled at the familiar memory of his brother and managed to convince himself that that stab of guilt was just a hunger pang because hell, he was hungry. He hadn't eaten for over thirty-six hours. With the thought of food now occupying the majority of the Elric's mind, he set off along the river front in search of sustenance.
It was nearly noon by the time Ed had found something edible. Whilst this city was certainly not lacking in places to eat- there was at least one café visible wherever he went- Ed knew that he wouldn't be able to buy anything. He had no money after all. Back in Amestris, his mission hadn't called for cash so he hadn't taken any with him, and anyway, he could just charge any restaurant bill back to the military if necessary. That way, Mustang would be the one to deal with the finance. Needless to say, all Ed had on him were the clothes on his back and his ever present pocket watch. This left him with little choice, so when he came across a small hot dog cart with the owner turned away he took his chance and swiped a couple. This city was full of thousands of tourists it seemed, so Ed was pretty sure he hadn't robbed the man of a meal by stealing two measly hot dogs.
With his food needs taken care of (for now), Ed set about with his next important task. Finding a library. He had a whole new language barrier to overcome before he could start with any meaningful research and Ed knew that the only way he could get back to his own world would be if he found his own way there. His first step would have to be learning this new language and that would all start at a library. That being said, finding one would be a lot easier said than done in an enormous city and there was no guarantee that it wouldn't be guarded by military personnel like the Central Library in Amestris. Ed seriously hoped that that wasn't the case because it had been one hell of a job to actually get into the military and that was not the kind of time he had right now. Luckily, it seemed that there was little military presence in the city at all. In fact, Ed hadn't seen anyone even remotely military-looking since he had arrived. He wasn't sure whether that was reassuring or worrying.
Ed's search for a library lead him wildly across the city, from one alleyway to another. It seemed hopeless. Every building looked like a variant of the same thing to Ed, with high walls made more of glass than brick and every road leading down another identical street. It was dizzying and alienating and totally different from anything Ed had ever seen during his travels back home. The people were just as peculiar. Everyone wore strange clothes and carried around little boxes. For now, Ed couldn't bring himself to care what they were but he made a mental note to find out in the future. They would surely have interested Winry.
What seemed like hours of aimless walking later, Ed felt no closer to finding a library. He was lost in a maze of concrete, dipping in and out of any building which looked public, some of which were not. His automail joints were aching and he was sure he looked like a mess but he trudged on regardless, ignoring the wary glances of passers-by. He was so focused on looking for this damn library that when he eventually passed the innocent looking entrance, he almost stormed straight past it. Ed's mind took a few seconds to catch up with his feet and he skidded to an abrupt halt in the middle of the pathway. A collection of muffled angry voices drifted up from the crowd behind Ed but he ignored them and instead bolted back to the small staircase. He stuck his face against the glass door to peer inside and confirm what he thought he had seen. Books. Hundreds upon hundreds of the things were neatly stacked on shelves as high as the ceiling.
The receptionist- a middle aged man with barely a single hair on his head looked rather shocked as Ed flounced inside after aggressively kicking the door open hard enough to make the glass panels rattle. A hurried greeting of "good afternoon" was lost on the petite blond who spared the bewildered man less than half a glance before making his way towards the first shelf of books.
Ed quickly dismissed the entire front section of the library. It was filled to the brim with shiny new fiction novels which were of absolutely no use to him. He didn't even need to be able to understand the language to be able to tell that they were fiction. The covers were enough.
He made his way meticulously down each isle after that, scanning each book for a single word he might recognise and shoving them onto the trolley he didn't remember picking up. By the time he decided he had enough books, he was barely a fifth of the way through the expansive treasure trove. His trolley had at least sixty books, ranging from small novella to full on medical dictionary sized books. Somewhere along the way a few maps had hopped on for a ride and Ed made plans to copy them up for future reference in case he got lost. Again.
After that, time stopped for a while as Ed became consumed within his pile of literature, studying anything he could understand. For now he wasn't too concerned about finding alchemy books specifically and was more focused upon deciphering this new language- he was glad that he at least didn't have to learn a new alphabet. Ed was barely surprised that Amestrian didn't even seem to exist here. He had found a number of thick, worn books sporting various words which were strikingly similar however and Ed noted down the title "Latin Dictionary" in his little notebook. A while later, he found another book sporting more familiar words- "German for beginners." Along with another few books which were written in a similar language to Xingese, Ed was finally able to decipher some meaning from this strange new language he now knew to be called "English".
All too soon, a gentle but firm hand on his flesh shoulder rudely pulled Ed out of his study-trance. He whipped round violently to face whoever had disturbed him, armed with his best death glare which was somewhat diminished in its intimidation when his braid decided to slap him in the eye. Ed was defiant however, and kept glaring despite the fact that his left eye was now red and watery. Behind him stood the middle aged librarian, still looking frazzled. Ed wondered if he always looked like that or if it was just the effect he had on people. He decided on the latter.
Ernie, whose name was now clearly visible on a small name tag, seemed clueless to the fact that Ed did not speak his language and was speaking in a hushed tone. Despite not having even a slight grasp on the language yet, Ed decided that this was the perfect time to test out a couple of the new words he had literally just learned. He quickly held up a finger in Ernie's face then turned back to his papers and found the phrase he had concocted and assumed was appropriate.
"Uhh... I not the English."
Ed was genuinely surprised when the older man's face suddenly softened with understanding. A cheesy grin plastered the teens face at the realisation that he had actually said something understandable and Eric returned the smile easily. The moment soon vanished as he resumed trying to communicate with Ed, this time through gestures which mostly involved vigorously tapping his wrist watch.
Ed frowned at him slightly then looked out of the window, barely surprised to see that it was now dark despite the fact that the sun had been high and bright when he had arrived at the library. He was irritated that he had to leave his work so soon but he took the hint and gathered his stuff to leave without too much fuss. He still piton his usual theatrics though. It was still warm outside, perhaps a bit humid, but Ed was no stranger to sleeping rough -he and Al had done it numerous times before. Ed would just wait until the library opened again and resume his studies in the morning.
It was two weeks later that Ed realised that something was wrong. Up until then, he had been too busy adjusting to life in this new world to realise that something was amiss and of course, it was only when he ran into trouble that he suddenly became aware of his inability to perform alchemy. He had been on his way back to a quiet spot in an alley behind the library late in the evening. At the time, it had seemed like an ideal spot; secluded and shadowy, near to the library, away from the majority of the tourists, and Ed had slept there the previous night with no trouble. This night however, he arrived to find two men who were obviously drunk stumbling out of the entrance. Ed paid them no heed and slunk past them, assuming that they would continue walking away. A moment later however, Ed felt a rough tug on his hair then found himself roughly pulled back by his braid and flung against a wall. The blow was not too forceful fortunately, but Ed still had to take a moment to comprehend what had just happened. Before Ed could retaliate, the man violently pushed his forearm against Ed's chest, effectively pinning him against the wall and proceeded to shout slurred words in the boy's face.
Ed had no idea what the man was saying but could tell that he was angry. Unfazed but still confused, Ed looked at the other man and saw him rifling through his pockets in obvious distress then turn to glare at Ed. Oh great, they think I stole his wallet.
Ed began to panic slightly when the pressure on his chest suddenly became painful and reminded himself that his lungs were still recovering from their swim in the river. An array suddenly popped into his head, nothing fancy, just a simple transmutation which would get the man off of him, and Ed clapped his palms together out of habit. A feeling of gut wrenching dread buried itself in Ed's stomach the moment his hands touched to form the circle. It was a feeling he had felt only a few times before- when he was still a novice alchemist and when he had tried to transmute his mother. Something was wrong and the transmutation was going to fail. Ed's hands were already on the wall behind him, intending to send a signature pillar of brick into the man's face by the time he registered the feeling and by then it was too late. A sudden burst of light crackled and sparked from the wall, not unlike a normal transmutation, then an uncontrollable flood of energy seemed to pour from the point where Ed's hands touched the wall. Sulphur-yellow light burned his flesh but Ed couldn't make either of his hands move. He had heard the horror stories of people transmuting with an error in their array and their life force being consumed until they burned out. But Ed knew that his array was perfect, it was the standard one he used every time he transmuted a brick wall.
Ed weakly registered that the two drunk men had now left, scrambling away the moment they saw the blinding light. He supposed they had decided that their wallets were not worth the trouble of confronting a glowing boy so in a way, he had achieved what he intended, just in a very different way. Just when Ed felt like he was about to pass out, the light dimmed then blinked out with a final explosive surge of power which flung Ed against the opposite wall. He was left in complete darkness. White spots swirled behind his eyes for a few seconds as he slid slowly down the wall, exhausted and shaky from his close call. He sat with his knees drawn close to his chest and tightly gripped his forearms in an attempt to stop the slight tremor in his hands. Never before had something like that happened. The only time Ed had come that close to death from his own transmutation was on that day and even then, this felt completely different. This was completely different. At least back then he had known the risks and was aware that it was a dangerous transmutation. Never before had his alchemy felt so foreign.
It made Ed feel empty and vulnerable to realise that something he had always relied on to be there could now potentially kill him. He shuddered to think of what might have happened if he had attempted something bigger or more intricate like erecting a wall or transmuting his automail blade. And now he realised, getting back to Amestris would be even more difficult without alchemy. Ed let out a groan and let his head fall to rest on his knees. There had to be a way to get his alchemy back under control. He wracked his frazzled brains for an answer, meticulously dissecting the array he had used, searching for an error in his calculations. He even ran his hand across the wall but it looked exactly the same as regular brick if not slightly singed. No matter how hard he thought, he came up with no reason as to why his alchemy should have failed. All variables were the same…except one. This new world. Dammit! Mustang will pay for sending me on that mission.
Sirens in the distance interrupted Ed's tumbling thoughts. At first he thought nothing of them as they had recently become a background noise that he heard every day. Moments later blue flashing lights appeared a few streets away and were rapidly closing in. It dawned upon Ed that the people of this world might not appreciate random bright lights and explosions and just by looking around it would be obvious where it came from. Debris and brick lay scattered across the floor and small splatters of blood accompanied them. Ed was confused as to where the blood came from- he was certain he hadn't injured either of the two men, but right now he had to skedaddle. It would take the police mere minutes to find him and although Ed's English had improved over the past few weeks, he knew he wouldn't have a chance of talking himself out of this situation.
Painfully slowly, Ed uncurled and staggered upright, swaying and leaning heavily against the wall for support. He battled a sudden wave of nausea and began shuffling into the alley, away from the crime scene. He knew this place fairly well and there were a number of small side roads and other alleys which he could use to lose the police on his trail whilst staying away from the main roads. This proved to be a good plan when after just five minutes of walking a police car flew past on the parallel road. Ed was only just hidden by a low wall.
Ed must have walked for an hour by the time his legs gave out. He had no idea where he was and the only shelter in sight was an entrance to the underground train station Ed had discovered a few days prior. He knew it was a bad idea but he was exhausted and couldn't keep walking much longer, so he limped his way down the stairs and settled down a small distance away from the entrance where he could still watch the outside world. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled that sleeping would be a bad idea if he was potentially concussed but at that moment he couldn't bring himself to care.