Meh, got nothing to say about this chapter. Enjoy.
I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.
"Oh, come on, Fullmetal. Don't tell me you forgot how to write," Roy said as he shoved the pen in Simba's face. Simba growled at him and swatted it away. They'd been playing this weird game for hours, and all Simba wanted was to understand what they wanted from him.
"Um, he might not be able to do it that way, sir," Al said after a while.
"Do what?" Simba asked for about the fifth time. He found that trying to speak, though not always successful with these people, did tend to have a better result. This time wasn't an exception.
"Here, brother, let's try this," Al said, picking up the pen and moving a piece of paper towards him. He began moving it along the paper, and finally, Simba saw what its purpose was. It was to make marks.
Al drew a bunch of unrecognizable symbols on the paper, and Simba stared at them for a moment before looking up at Al.
"Just point at the letters and I'll spell it out for you," Al said.
Okay… Simba looked at him for another moment before grabbing the pen with his mouth. Since he knew what it was for now, he had no problems with drawing. He started out by drawing, with difficulty, a very basic version of Ed, including the way he wore his hair, and then he drew a small version of himself. When he saw that he'd gotten both humans' attention, he drew a circle around the lion and scribbled out the picture of Ed. Then he sat and looked at the two expectantly.
"So… you really did get turned into a lion?" Al asked nervously.
Simba smacked his forehead. "No!"
"Oh… did I get something wrong?" Al asked again.
Simba nodded and looked at the paper again. There wasn't room to draw anything else.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" Roy asked, placing a new piece of paper in front of Simba. "Would you rather use something else to draw?"
Simba nodded. Maybe if he could use his paw, he could make it more clear. He watched as Roy stood, walked over to his desk, and returned a minute later with something in his hand. He twisted something off the top and placed it on the table in front of Simba. Simba stuck one of his claws in the opening, and smiled when he saw that his claw was now covered in the same black substance that came out of the pen.
"That better?" Roy asked.
Simba nodded and began sketching a picture of Pride Rock. Then he sketched a picture of a building, and he drew some humans in front of it before drawing lions in front of his own home. He made sure to draw a human that looked like Ed, and a lion that looked like him.
"Okay, so you have humans in front of a building, and lions in front of a… giant rock?"
Simba nodded. Then he circled Ed and himself, and on a new piece of paper, he drew Pride Rock again, with Ed and himself on top. Finally, he drew one last picture, identical to the first one except that Ed amongst the lions, and Simba was with the humans.
"A… a switch?" Al asked.
Simba nodded, glad that he was finally getting through to these people.
"So you're not really my brother?"
Simba took one look at Al and groaned. The armor just looked so sad, but he couldn't do anything about it. He shook his head regretfully before placing a paw on Al's leg.
"Is… is he alive, then?"
Simba nodded.
"Is he okay?"
Simba stared at Al for a moment before regretfully shaking his head. Al looked even more sad now.
"Can you take me to him?" Al asked, although to Simba it sounded more like a demand. Simba blinked and took a few steps back, not realizing that he was at the edge of the table until his back leg didn't connect with the wood. He fell back and hit the floor with a thud, and as soon as he pushed himself back to his feet, he noticed that nobody was paying that much attention to him at the moment. Instead, Roy was frowning at Al.
"You sure that's such a good idea? If someone's making chimeras like this…"
"He's probably the only one who knows where to go, though," Al replied. "Shouldn't someone check it out before you make a decision?"
Roy looked at Al with a smile. "I see your point. I'll have Lieutenant Hawkeye get a ticket to Fullmetal's last known location."
"Thank you, Colonel," Al said before looking back down at Simba. "So… you do remember where to go, right?"
Simba gave a confident nod. If they were going back to wherever Al had found him, he was sure he could find his way back.
"Okay, then. Sorry for the mix-up."
"It's okay," Simba replied.
Al reached down and patted his head. "It's too bad I don't know your name."
Simba tilted his head curiously before jumping onto the couch and sitting next to the armor. When he looked up, he noticed that Roy was looking at him with interest.
"You know, maybe we can find a way for him to tell us," the human said. "You up for that?"
Simba nodded. As long as he had a way to get back, he felt like he was up for anything.
"Okay, we'll start, then," Roy said, picking up the paper with the funny symbols on it and pointing to the first one. "This is an 'A.' Does your name begin with that sound?"
Simba groaned. This was going to be a long night…
I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS!
It was darker than usual that night. Ed lay in his little space, his back to the rock, and stared out at the cave. The lions were all asleep, even his 'guard,' and he noted that there was enough space for him to leave if he wanted to. It was a good thing he wasn't in the mood to leave, otherwise he'd probably have made a break for it by now…
He looked up when he heard a noise, and found himself looking at Scar. The lion was at the entrance to the cave, and he was padding back and forth as if he were waiting for something, or holding a debate with himself…
Ed sat up a bit and crept as far out of the alcove as he could without actually leaving it, trying to hear what Scar was saying. He kept his head down, trying to avoid being noticed. He kept his breathing to a minimum, and stopped moving in order to hear what Scar was saying. After a moment, he noted that he could hear the lion fairly clearly.
"That stupid brat, getting in the way of my plan," Scar muttered. "Humans are slow; they're slow and stupid, but that boy isn't. What now, what now…"
All of a sudden, Scar stopped, and Ed quickly shoved himself back into the space, accidentally brushing against his 'guard' as he did so. The lioness woke up at this, and she let out a deep yawn, which caught Scar's attention. Ed quickly lay down and shut his eyes, hoping nobody would notice he was awake.
"You're up late," the lioness remarked; Scar was probably approaching.
"I have a lot on my mind," Scar replied. His voice was closer, so Ed managed to confirm that he had approached.
"About this thing?" she asked, poking Ed with a paw. Ed grimaced, but he refused to open his eyes.
"What else?" Scar replied. Ed had to admit, he was a pretty smooth talker. "You have to wonder what he has planned."
"What do you mean?" the lioness asked.
"He's a human. They're incredibly greedy by nature, especially the light ones. I've heard they capture lions and put them on display in distant lands."
Ed decided he'd had enough of playing dead for the moment. This was pissing him off. He opened his eyes and sat up, gaining the attention of both lions.
"Some people also kill each other off just to gain power," he added. "And I'm sure something like that would never happen here," he said sarcastically.
"Who gave you permission to speak?" Scar snapped. "You should be grateful you're still alive."
Ed snorted. "Yeah, I've heard that one before. By the way, you don't need to tell me what's wrong with humans. I think I know the basics by now." And without another word, Ed turned his back to Scar and lay back down.
He heard Scar let out a derisive snort before walking away, and after a few minutes, Ed felt a paw poking at his back.
"You really need to stop doing that," his 'guard' said.
"Doing what?" Ed asked.
"Scar hates you enough as it is. You shouldn't give him any more reasons."
Ed grunted. "I'll work on that."
"By the way, were you serious when you said you've heard that before?"
Ed sighed. "Yeah."
"Oh." It was quiet for a while before Ed felt a familiar warmth pressing against his back. "See you in the morning."
I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.
"Okay, back to the start again. Is the next sound an 'a' sound?" Roy asked.
Simba shook his head halfheartedly. Two more sounds, he was going close…
"How about the 'b' sound?" Roy asked next.
Simba nodded, realizing that they were coming to the end. Just one more sound…
"Okay, so far we have 'Simb…' are we getting close?"
Simba nodded again.
"Good," Roy muttered. "This is getting old. Okay, let's start from the beginning of the alphabet again. Is the next sound an 'a' sound?"
Simba nodded excitedly.
"Simba?" Al asked.
"Yes!" Simba exclaimed, once again forgetting that they couldn't understand him.
"All right, Simba, why don't you and Alphonse stay with me for the evening? There won't be any trains until tomorrow morning anyway."
"Right," Al said.
It wasn't long before Simba found himself being ushered into that space in the armor again, though this time he didn't mind so much. He would be going home tomorrow, and that was all that mattered.
I HATE CHAPTER BREAKS.
Roy's apartment was pretty small compared to what Simba was used to, but he didn't much care at the moment. He was let out of the armor and given a small tour of the place, though most of what Roy said went over his head. In the end, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table – Simba jumped up on to one of the chairs – and discussed a few plans for the next day. Well, at least, the humans did that. Simba just nodded in agreement, or shook his head in disagreement, every once in a while.
After a while, Simba realized that he hadn't eaten in a while. Thankfully, it wasn't a problem, as it was only a few minutes before Roy stood. "I don't suppose you care if your food's cooked."
Simba blinked and looked confusedly at Roy for a moment before shaking his head. As long as it wasn't something gross…
To his dismay, he had to wait a while for food. Finally, though, Roy brought some back to the table, and after they ate, Simba was allowed to go to sleep in the living room. Al sat nearby and read a book.