Alright here it is!
Enjoy!
Chapter 14: One is All, All is One
"Mom?" Edward asked. Saying he was confused would have been a bit of an understatement.
After, Izumi released you. She then began to walk back the house, while you looked towards Edward. You sat down where you were as he came by to sit next to you.
"Izumi and Sid aren't my real parents. They're more like my foster parents. They took me in and helped me get some automail." You explained to the blond as the sun set over the horizon. He looked at you with questions in his eyes.
"How did they find you?" he asked. You lay down as you began to answer him.
"A train station. I was living under the train station in Resembool. By then I had made make-shift limbs in order steal things, I'm not proud of it, but I had to do it in order to survive. What? Don't judge me." You told him. He was giving you a look.
"I only did it out of necessity." You sat back up as he put his arms up.
"I'm not judging." He replied. Now you gave him a look as you laid back down. Edward also laid down.
"Anyways, the only reason they found me was because I was dumb enough to try to steal from them." You said with a smile.
"What!?" he shot up, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yeah. Stupid, huh?" you looked at him with a smile.
"Needless to say, I got to crap beat out of me." You moved to lean on your right elbow as you looked at him.
"Still… I'm glad that I did. If it wasn't for them…" you looked up at the stars. "… Who knows if I'd even be alive right now?" You close your eyes wondering what would have happened if it wasn't for them. Ed just looked at you, taking in the sight of you. Without realizing what he was doing, he sat up and let his left hand land on your right one. You opened your eyes and looked at him. A small blush on your face's.
"I for one, am glad that they found you." He had a genuine smile on his face. Your blush darkened, as your heart began to race. You smiled back shyly.
"Thanks." You said. And without letting go of your hand, he got up and pulled you up with him.
You let go of his hand and hugged him. Wrapping you arms around his neck, Ed froze.
"Thank you. That's…" You said in a whisper, your voice breaking a little.
"You don't need to say anything." He then wrapped his arms tightly around your waist. You could have melted. Instead you just let your heart beat pick-up and a blush stain your cheeks.
"Come on. We should get back now." He said as he let you go. You didn't want to let go, so you went to grab his hand, and to your surprise, he interlocked your fingers with his.
Island, Middle of the Lake
"For crying out loud… Why is she telling us to cool our heads for?" Edward said out loud, before continuing.
"Leaving us alone in a place like this won't be any trouble for us anymore."
"Forbidden to use alchemy, it's like when we were training here that one time, huh?" Al added.
"You guys too?" you asked
"So, I'm taking it that you did some training here as well?" Why did Ed just answer your question with a question, you wondered.
"Yeah." You told him
"Do you guys think that Sensei doesn't feel like we've made any progress at all?" Al asked
"That couldn't be." Ed replied
- - - - Boat - - - -
"Wait! We can't just leave them there!" Winry shouted out as she leaned over the side of the small boat. She was about to fall in, but Sid caught her by her neck.
"Don't move so much, you'll fall in." he told her
"Okay…" she replied, before asking Izumi a question.
"What do you plan by doing this?"
"That's a good question." She answered her, while looking off to the side.
"Yeah." Sid also put in
"Don't just, 'Yeah,' me! I don't understand the reason why you're leaving them on an uninhabited island all of a sudden!" Winry exclaimed.
"It's a good question." Izumi repeated herself
"Yeah." Sid also repeated himself
"Geez! What on earth are you thinking?!" Winry complained as she stood up.
"This is good to do every once in a while." Izumi told her, still looking off to the side.
"It's good to stop and think things over once in awhile. It's something Ed and Al need more to do now more than (_y/n_)." She added. Winry just stood there pondering what she was just told.
- - - - Island - - - -
You three were currently just walking along the water's edge before Ed suggested an idea.
"Hey."
"Huh?" Al replied
"Yeah?" you asked
"Should we run away?"
"We can't!" Al told him
"You do realize that we can't swim right." You told him, with a dead panned look on your face. You tapped his automail with yours.
"You're right." He said, as you all walked to the edge of the water and looked at you reflections.
"Yeah, when Sensei first brought us out here we thought we were going sightseeing." Al said
"Why would you think that?" you asked them
"Who knows." Ed replied as he shrugged.
"All she did was give us a knife and told us to survive for one month without alchemy. And if we did, she would teach us alchemy." Ed remembered
"And I'm guessing she told you to figure out, 'One is All, All is One,' right?" you asked
"You did this training too?" Al asked
"Yup." You answered him
"We understand it now, but that time…" Al began. You all then processed to move into the forest. Ed leading the way with the knife, cutting the foliage that was in your path.
"Yeah. We didn't have any clue what she was saying… not at the time…" Ed began, before Al cut him off by questioning you. Ed stopped to look back at you two.
"What's wrong (_y/n_)?"
"I thought I heard someone." You told him
"We're the only ones here." Ed told you
"Yeah, no one else should be here. Maybe it was an animal." Al put in. You sniffed the air, but it all smelled the same. You gave up, and continued walking. Before long you three came to a small clearing. There were large leaves covering the middle of the ground.
"I remember how hungry we were that first night." Ed began
"And how scared we were when we were attacked." Al added
"I guess Mom's teaching doesn't change." You told them
"How so?" Al asked
"The same thing happened to me. I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified." You told them
"It's brutal no matter who you are." Ed put in
"Oh yeah." You said. Then the bushes behind your small group moved. You all turned to look as a pair of foxes appeared. To your surprise both the brothers started to laugh. With a smile on your face, you just looked at them like they were crazy. Somehow, neither of you three noticed that you really weren't alone on this small deserted island.
"Come on, I'm hungry." You grabbed them by an arm and dragged them back to the water.
- - - - Water's edge - - - -
As you reached the water you took your shoes and socks off and went into the water.
"Come on guys! The waters great!" you yelled back. Al continued walking to where you were and sat down.
"What are yo- Oh! Nice!" you told Al. Getting what he was doing; he was going to let the fish swim to him. You felt as if the younger brother was blushing, as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ed, come on!" you called to the older of the two brothers.
"I'll stay here." He replied.
"Lame!" you called back and he just shrugged his shoulders. You turned back to the water to look for some fish. You walked a bit deeper to where some fish were and guided them slowly and tediously to Al, and sometimes, clawing at some when it didn't do as you wanted. This resulted in you either catching it, or, scaring the fish.
After some time you both walked back to where Ed was waiting.
"How'd it go" he asked. You raised the three fish in your hands as Al unclasped the font of his armor. Releasing a good amount of water and three fish as well.
"Dinner has arrived." You said. Al picked up the fish and you all headed back into the forest. Once at the clearing Ed started a fire as you and Al stuck the fish with sticks. You and Ed walked off as Al was watching the fish. All unaware of the eyes watching what Al had just left behind as he walked away to look for his brother.
"Brother…" Al called
"What's the matter?" Ed replied
"Come with me." He told him as he grabbed his older brother's ear and started to walk back to the fire. You just laughed slightly at this, as you followed behind the two. When you reached the fire, all but two bitten fish were left with a burnt out fire.
"What is this?" Ed asked, you were a bit mad at this.
"Don't give me that. Just because you're hungry, doesn't mean you should have left this like that." Al told him
"Al, it couldn't have been Ed. He was with me." You came to Ed's defense.
"But his hand print is right there." Al said
"Take a closer look. That's a right hand print." Ed told him as he leaned down and put his right hand next to the print, leaving his hand print as well.
"See, they're different." You told him
"So, that means you were right back there when you said you heard someone." Al told you
"It's possible that Sensei brought them here for the same reason." Ed stood up as he gave a reason, then he turned and started walking back into the forest.
"Brother, where are you going"? Al asked
"Let's go look around. We'll find something to eat while we're at it." Ed replied
"Hell yeah. I'm hungry!" you said. You and Al following Ed into the forest.
"This seems good." ED said out loud, as you and he began to climb some trees.
'Where is he? This guy…?' he thought to himself as he looked around.
Meanwhile Al was searching around on the ground.
"Some food for (_y/n_) and Brother." Al said, as he spotted some mushrooms. He moved towards them and picked them up. As he turned to continue looking he spotted someone off in the distance.
"Brother! Look! Look!" he shouted. And the person took off.
"Brother…? I wonder what's the matter…" Al said
"Yo." You said as you landed next to him and Ed hung on a branch and the other side of his younger brother.
"You called, Al? Ed questioned
"Brother! Then, who was that?" Al replied
You guys made your way back to the clearing as the sun began to set. The three of you were all now sitting by a fire that Ed had made.
"I guess that guy isn't here after all." Al said
"We'll be fine." you told him.
"Yeah. We more or less got what Sensei was trying to tell us." Ed added
"Back then, we arrived at the answer. But still, that alone wasn't enough. The truth is back then, we should have realized that transmuting Mom was a mistake." He added
"It could be that everything we're about to do is, as well. I'm sure Sensei would agree." Al put in
"Well, whatever the path, we'll do it together." You told them.
Both brothers nodded in agreement.
Then, Al gave his older brother a quick sly look. You barely caught the ended of it, how does that boy pull off those looks?
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a bit." Al said as he got up and walked away. Not giving either of you a chance to say anything.
"Oooookaaay." You said as you watched him disappear into the darkened forest.
"Well, I guess there's not much we can do now." Ed told you. You raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" you replied
"It's hard to see in the dark." Ed told you, as he laid down.
"Maybe for you." You said with a smirk on your face.
"You think you're stronger than me?" Ed asked sitting up.
"Dear, I know so. You see, I have advantages being a chimera and all." You told him, a matter-of-factly.
"Like what?" he asked
"Just to name a few; physical strength, better hearing, and…" you lowered your voice "I can see better at night." You told him, the smirk still on your face.
"Strength, huh?" he asked. You could hear something a bit different in his voice.
"Tch, yeah." You said smugly.
Then, without noticed, Ed pounced on you. Landing with his hands on either side on you and his lower half to the right of you.
"I would have thought that you'd be able to see this coming." He told you
"Oh, and what if I just chose to let it happ-" You stopped mid sentence when your right hand flicked up and made contact with his chest. It felt like a spark went through the both of you. Ed shot up and just sat next to you somewhat stunned.
You both just didn't move. Not knowing what to do right at that moment.
"I'm… I'm just gonna… go ba-" you stopped him from moving by grabbing his right metallic arm.
"No!" he looked at you worried.
"Last time I was here, I was alone… I kinda don't want to be alone." You told him. Not looking him in the eye. He gently grabbed you right hand with his left.
"I'll be here." Was all he said as he moved to lay next to you. Never letting go of your hand.
"Thanks." You smiled at him
"Anytime." He smiled back
You bit your lower lip as you tentatively let go of his hand and moved to lay closer to him. He froze when he felt your head gently lay on his left shoulder and you left metallic arm rest of his chest. He woke from his slightly frozen state and wrapped his left arm around you as his right hand came up to hold your hand.
Words didn't need to be exchanged. You feel asleep before Edward did, which gave him a chance to just look at you. Since during the day, all he could do was steal glances when he could.
'I could get use to this.' He thought as he began to fall to the call of sleep.
- - - - Morning - - - -
The three of you were sitting at the beach with Izumi standing in front of you three.
"Have you remembered?" she asked
"Yes." The three of you replied back.
"Do you realize it?" another question
"Um, Sensei, what you're trying to tell us is…" Al began, before being cut off by his brother.
"It's true that we did try to transmute our mother. The way we are now, is the outcome of that." You looked over at them with wide eyes. That was something that either one of them had yet to tell you.
"However, that is precisely why we want to get everything back." Al said again
"You intend to get back through error, that which you lost through error?" Izumi asked them. Al gasped at what she had asked them. He just looked at the ground after.
"Maybe it's wrong of us… But, if that's the case, what are we supposed to do?" Ed asked her. You looked at him as he clenched his fists.
You were going to say something but stopped at the look that Izumi sent you.
"We're going to move forward. We are… still alive after all." Ed continued as he looked up at her.
"And that's enough?" she asked them
"Yes!" both brothers answered in unison.
"In that case…" she looked down, and as her head looked up again something caught her attention in the background.
"Is someone there?"
"What are you talking about?" Ed asked, as you three got up and turned around.
"Hasn't there been someone living on this island for years now?" you asked
"You think it could be that masked man from before?" Al asked you and Ed.
"That couldn't be. I was that masked man."
"What!" the three of you yelled
"I had him keep watch, just in case. I couldn't let you die on me." Izumi told you.
"S-So then…" both brothers began but they were cut off
"Apparently, that doesn't seem to be the case here…" Izumi said. You gave a small growl as you turned at hearing the bushes rustling.
Someone was beginning to emerge from the tree line.
'A kid' you thought.
Well, tis all for now my peeps. Take care.