A/N: well, I wasn't QUITE planning on this, but I've been motivated to continue this fanfic a bit! woooh, beware the GERMAN WORDS! feels special in here, we have a small flashback to the alchemic world, then returnage to Munich bwah!
Edward slumped back in his chair, sighing heavily as he plopped his coat haphazardly onto the table.
"What's the matter with you, Ed?" Alphonse asked, in his usual kind smiling tone. "You've been weird since this morning. I didn't see anything happen to you."
Edward gave him an apologetic grin. "You know how often I see people" He stated, "Who remind me of old friends."
"Do you mean that Amee girl?" Al said curiously, starting to prepare a kalteplatte for their dinner. When there was no response, he looked over to see Ed staring glumly at the table, spacing out. "Edward?"
Ed blinked several times and looked up at him. "Huh? Oh! Yeah. Yeah, Amee was… A really, very close friend of mine. She was the daughter of my boss's secretary, back then…"
Al's face was suddenly very close to Ed's. "Edward! You hadn't mentioned a girlfriend before!" He was smiling widely. It was true, all he knew about Ed was those unique stories that he constantly told of 'where he was from,' his little fantasy, alchemic world. Now this juicy information was something!
Edward flushed and looked agitated. "W-Well what is there to say?! She was a friend, she was a girl, so that makes her a girl - friend! Yeah? Yeah!" he crossed his arms, stubbornly looking the other way and jutting out his lip in an embarrassed pout.
Al grinned, setting the plate of food on the table. "Sure." He said gently, patting Ed's shoulder. Ed stabbed moodily at his food with his fork, still looking rather pouty.
Maybe I can get him to tell me more some other time, Al thought.
Amee rubbed her eyes softly, still slightly drowsy in the early morning time as she carefully sorted some potted plants, setting them in a proper display in the window.
"I see you're hard at work." said an approving voice. Amee jumped and looked up, bewildered to see Mr. Alphonse from the day before. But the other one isn't here, Amee noted to herself. His name was.. E...Earl...Ernest? E.. Edward! That was it!
"Herr Heidrich!" she said, giving a small bow. "I didn't know I would see you this early in the morning. Are you headed to work, jetzt?"
"Jetzt?" Al responded with a raised eyebrow and teasing smile. Amee flushed and avoided his eyes in embarrassment.
"Sorry!" She said, trying not to sound as embarrassed as she was. "I still need work on mine English…"
"It's alright, I knew what you meant, hübsches Mädchen." He said kindly. Amee flushed a little more. "And well, I'm out to buy things for breakfast before Edward wakes up. He doesn't have any work today, so he's sleeping in."
Amee smiled. So this meant she would see him again.
Herr Alphonse was just soooo handsome….
"Well, have a wonderful day!" Amee said pleasantly, smiling with her hands behind her back.
"Oh, Before I leave," Said Al as he turned away. "Edward told me you remind him of someone."
""It certainly seemed that, yesterday." Amee admitted, wondering why he was telling her this.
"You remind him of his girlfriend," Al continued, winking. "Don't tell him I told you, though." He grinned and pressed a finger to his lips in a hushing gesture. Amee felt incredibly awkward, and didn't say anything. "I'm just pointing out," Al continued, "That he might visit you a lot. Don't be concerned… Just be a good friend to him, for me, please?"
Amee nodded hesitantly, blinking in wonder.
"I'll see you later, then."
Amee retreated back into the shop, sighing dreamily.
"Herr Heidrich is quite handsome, isn't he?" Gracia asked, appearing behind her sneakily.
"KYAH!" Amee squealed, jumping and blushing hard. "W-w-whaaat? Oh! Uh… J-ja, I suppose…" she said, avoiding Gracia's eyes and trying to sneak away. Gracia laughed and left her alone, watching silently as an officer walked across the street, paused and looked over, then hurriedly continued on his way.
Amee sat eagerly at her little table, watching from just above the edge of her menu. She watched his shimmering blonde hair moving towards the little food place she was now seated at. She'd noticed that he frequented this place on his lunch break.
EEK! He's gunna walk right by my table… she thought, scrambling to hide her face with the menu, so as not to seem nosy.
"You're Miss Hevn's daughter, aren't you?" said Edward Elric's voice from nearby. Amee slapped the menu down on the table, trying to look casually surprised.
"Ed!" She said. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Are you on your lunch break?" like she didn't already know
"Yeah," he said, his hands in his pockets. "I usually come here, it's cheap and not too far away from the library."
"Oh!" said Amee on a sudden inspiration. "Since you come here a lot, what would you recommend for a lunch?" she indicated the menu, smiling hopefully at him. Please sit down with me, please sit with me, pleeease?
To her delight, he took the empty chair and tugged the menu gently from her hands. He went on, explaining what he thought was good, and she nodded, watching and listening. After a while, they started idle chat, waiting to order, finding out more about each other.
"We're so lucky mister Colonel Mustang gave Mum her job," Amee explained, sipping her drink every now and then. Daddy died in the Ishbalan war, see? He was in the military too… But without him we were dirt poor…" she smiled, trying not to make it seem as bad as it was. I don't wanna spoil the conversation already!
Ed nodded sagely. "One of my best friends had parents who also passed away in the war…."
Amee sighed quietly. "It sucks doesn't it?" she asked bitterly, assuming that his parents had died in the war as well. She decided to ask, not wanting him to have any reason to leave. "Anyway- what is it you research? You're always so busy – and I hear your alchemy is simply outstanding. I'm really curious! I've never seen any alchemy before."
Ed grinned, waving a dismissive, metal hand. "It's just a bunch of study on alchemic materials and theories," he explained, avoiding detail. Amee shook her head.
"Not what I hear" she said, winking. "You have all kinds of dangerous adventures, yeah?" He shifted, chuckling a little embarrassedly. Amee pressed on. "It sounds like so much fun… you travel all kinds of places and… Well, tell me, please?" she asked, leaning forward on the table.
Ed smiled again. Well… she's kinda cute… a little pushy, almost spaztic… But… He blinked and shook his head a little.
"If I tell you anything, it might end up being dangerous for you," he admitted, looking serious.
"Then I'll always be with you," Amee answered pointedly. "So you can protect me." She giggled at his blankly puzzled face. "Okay?"
Ed blinked, and looked out the window down at the bustling street of Munich through a daze.
That was how I met her in the other world… He thought with a soft sigh, feeling a little sick in the pit of his stomach. At that moment, Al marched in through the door, carrying groceries.
"So you're up, Ed." He said pleasantly, setting the bags down on the table. He went on to explain something a little bitter about the dang prices and how outrageous inflation was getting. After a short while, it became apparent Ed was not listening. Al grinned and said in that soft voice of his, "So I was saying to Amee…"
Edward's head snapped up, watching Al attentively.
"She said what?" Ed said, blinking eagerly and looking confused. Al snickered.
"No, I just saw her as I was leaving," he explained, watching in mild amusement as Ed's expression fell. "Why don't you tell me about her?"
Ed raised an eyebrow. "You finally believe my so-called fabled stories of the alchemic world?" He said shrewdly. Al shook his head.
"I mean, tell me about your old girlfriend."
"She is my old-!" Ed stopped short, flushing agitatedly. "She's the parallel version of someone I once knew!" he corrected himself, a little too late.
"Yeah?" said Al. "What was she like?" he decided to play along, as long as Ed 'fessed up.
Ed started putting groceries away, avoiding eye contact in silence for several moments. Finally, he started talking.
"Her mother was the Colonel's secretary. She'd gotten the job all thanks to the fact that he'd been good friends with her husband who had been killed in a war a decade before. I was a state alchemist, as I've told you, and I Mustang was my boss as well." There was a small pause. "We met by chance, and became friends." When Ed didn't continue, Al turned around to see him gazing out the window, a faint smile trying to pry its way onto his face. "I think, right about now…" He trailed off, lost in thought. Al rolled his eyes slightly.
There he goes again, back to his fantasy land.
"They what?" he prompted after a minute.
"Come to think of it… Their wedding is soon, isn'it?" Ed said blankly, looking at al as if he would know. "Er- anyway… Once she found out about what my brother and I were researching, the safest thing to do was have her travel with us. In those days, you knew too much, you got killed…" his expression saddened a little. "You know Officer Hughes?" Al nodded vaguely, and Ed continued. "Back in my world… He was killed because he was helping us…" He sighed heavily, leaning his arms on the window sill. "He and his wife Gracia had a little girl…"
"Frau Gracia?" said Al in surprise. "The one Amee works for?"
Ed nodded. "Everyone in this world had an exact copy… Mine died in an accident…" He trailed off again. Al thought for a moment.
"What about me? Who do I resemble?"
Ed chuckled. "If my brother survived my transmutation, I just know you'd be identical."
A/N: Hmmm, okey dokey!
So here is where I decided to end chapter 2. Mostly, it's a bit o background on why Ed is so shocked to see Amee here. Maybe the next chapter will be completely in the alchemic wurld? Hmmm, hmmm maybe, maybe not…..