WOW, SO MUCH FEEDBACK AND IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN
I love you all /weeps you reviewers are what makes this great ;o; /hugs to all
Elena walks into the military cafeteria and gets herself a tray of food. Skillfully balancing it and her four books, she walks silently through the mass of blue-uniformed men and women until she finds an empty tale, where she sits calmly. She opens a book and starts to eat as she reads through the alchemic notes, quickly translating the code she's known since she was only seven.
It's not long before a tray is set on the table, right to her left. Immediately she shifts herself almost unnoticeably, blocking the book from the newcomer's view. "So you're the Stone Blood Alchemist, right?" The person asks, the smell of nicotine accompanying the male voice and making her eyes sting. It takes all her self control not to rub them, and to continue on as though she hadn't noticed.
"Yes, that would be me." She drones, not looking up from her book. She already knows that the stranger is male, and finds no great importance in his appearance, so she doesn't see any point in looking at him as she speaks.
"You're a lot cuture than I expected. I mean, from the rumors you sounded… dull." He says. "I mean—not that I think that, it's just—"
"I am not offended, sir." She says bluntly, interrupting his rambling before it can get too far.
He breathes out, as though relieved, and yet again the smell of smoke washes over Elena. She sighs and finally looks up at the man beside her. It's a short-haired, blonde male, grinning a smile that reaches even his bright blue eyes. A cigarette is balanced carefully between his teeth, and he's turned slightly towards her, as if that will cause him to have more of an effect on her or something.
"Sir, my apologies, but I am trying to eat, and the smell of cigarette smoke is quite unappetizing." She drones blandly, staring at him with her discomfiting, emotionless expression.
The man blinks and pulls out his cigarette, stomping it out under his foot. "Sorry. My name's Havoc, by the way. Jean Havoc." Again he gives her that friendly smile.
She nods blankly. "I am Elena Bloodstone." She does not say anything more, but rather returns to her book and continues reading.
Still, Havoc persists in his attempt to have a conversation with her, though by now he has grown hesitant, perturbed by her emotionless responses. "You and I should go get a drink sometime…" He says hopefully. "I'd love to get to know you better." Then he gives her a charming smile, though she does not see it, keeping her head turned to her book.
"I'm sorry, but I am very busy." She turns him down without a moment's hesitation, immediately shattering his confidence.
"B-but you must have some time off? You can't always be busy?" He splutters.
The female alchemist sighs and turns a page in her book. Without any sort of warning, she deadpans, "I have no interest in getting a drink with you, be it as a date or as friends."
"Wow, you really are stone-faced, aren't you." Havoc sighs in disappointment. He stands and lights a new cigarette with a shrug. "See you around, Bloodstone." He walks back to his friends, as Fuery discreetly hands some money over to Breda. It's a shame he chooses to leave when he does, because just moments later emotion crosses Elena Bloodstone's normally blank face: fear, as she finds exactly what she'd hoped not to see.
-.-.-.-.-
Elena Bloodstone lives alone, in a two-story house in one of the friendly neighborhoods of Central. Her house is as bland and lifeless as herself, inside and out. She takes care of her lawn, but never bothers to grow anything; no flowers or other plant life; it's all plain grass. Inside, it's contemporary and personality-less, with bland yellow walls free of decoration and dark wooden floors. The furniture, too, remains boring, the living room holding a yellow couch that matches the walls, with a few yellow and blue plaid pillows for comfort rather than style.
The same theme fills the rest of the house. Were anyone to visit, they would learn nothing more about Elena Bloodstone than they would by looking at her. Indeed, it might be possible to say that they would learn even less.
It is in this lifeless house that Elena sits by a fireplace, carefully burning the four books that she'd obtained only hours earlier. Each had contained the information she'd hoped not to find, and therefore she had to destroy the evidence.
Elena sighs, watching the pages curl up as they burn slowly. I'm going to take care of it, Mom." She mumbles to no one. "I'm going to get rid of this wretched alchemy, even if it kills me."
You did this, Elena." The dark-haired man grinned as he stood over me. My father had often claimed that we could be siblings; our hair and eyes match in color, and we're both naturally pale. "You killed her. Aren't you proud?"
Elena shakes her head, dispelling her thoughts; she refuses to think of him. "He's in jail now, he can't do anything." She says aloud, as though voicing her thoughts will comfort her more. She picks up the last of the books she'd taken from the library and sets it in the fire. Watching it burn, she can only hope that someday all of the journals will be gone, and she can finally resign from the military.
I was seven when I first used my alchemy, and I had no idea what I was going to do. My father had been training me in the basic laws of alchemy for the past two years, and now, on my birthday, he claimed that I was finally really to become an official alchemist. I was excited at the idea, being the naïve girl that I was.
I didn't know the man who answered the door when we reached the strange house, but my father greeted him like an old friend. He was a teenager; he couldn't have been more than ten years older than I was, and yet my father showed him respect, something I'd never even seen him give my mom. "Elena, this is Solf, my student. You are to refer to him as Mr. Kimblee." I nodded at my father's stern command, but something felt off. There was something too cold in this stranger's grin, something that set me on edge and made me want to go home. I should have run then.
Mr. Kimblee led us inside, and my father brought up the rear. Then, I didn't think anything of it, but now I know enough to tell that they were making sure I didn't try to back out. We went into a basement, and Mr. Kimblee started to whistle. The tune was creepy, and gave me chills.
He continued to whistle as we walked into this basement. My father locked the heavy metal door behind him, which I thought was strange.
The room was almost empty. There was a metal table, on top of which were books and a few notes. I could see alchemic symbols drawn neatly on some of the pages from where I stood. There was also a stool, and a second door. My father pointed at the stool. "Sit."
I turned to him; where moments ago, his voice had been cheerful and calm, it had suddenly grown cold and hard, and it frightened me. I was even more confused to find his expression was the same. "What?" I asked, confused. "Daddy, what's going on?"
His expression grew colder, and he didn't explain. "I said sit, and not another word, Elena!" He snapped.
I sat, confused. Had I done something wrong? I was intensely aware of everything; Mr. Kimblee's whistling, my father's muttering as he pulled on a leather bracelet with a transmutation circle, going through the notes, and even a strange sound coming from the second door.
And then my father came back to me, holding a jar of ink. "Hold out your hands." He demanded.
"Daddy, what are you—"
My father slapped me suddenly, surprising me into silence. "Did I say you could speak? Now hold out your damned hands!"
Teary-eyed, I obeyed. He smeared ink over them and activated the circle on his bracelet. The ink sank into my skin, stinging painfully, and took on shapes, forming a transmutation circle on each of my palms. I stared at them in wonder and looked up at my father. "Daddy—"
Again my father slapped me, yelling over Mr. Kimblee's whistling. "God damn it, Elena, I told you to shut up, now shut the fuck up!" He snapped, and gave an exasperated sigh. "I want you to go into that room." He pointed at the door I'd noticed earlier. "There's a person in there. I want you to concentrate on them and on the stone around you, and activate your alchemy. Understood?" I nodded, and he sent me in.
I should have refused. I should have realized what would happen.
Elena washes her empty plate, having just finished dinner. She puts the clean plate away and sighs, walking upstairs towards her rom. Four of the research journals containing her alchemy are now gone. As she goes to bed, she can't help but wonder how many more there are to find.