Kairi Angel: I'm starting this one, Damnit!
Ed: Oh crap…
Kairi Angel: Chibi.
Ed: Nani?!
Frodo: I don't understand a word you two are saying!
AdventureAddict: Get used to it. Even though Kairi Angel doesn't have a drop of japenese blood in her, half her vocabulary is made up of Japanese words. (yawns) I don't know what else to say. Go ahead and take control of this Author's note, Kairi.
Ed: NOOOOO!!!!
Kairi Angel: (Evil stare)
Frodo: Sam! Save me!!!
AdventureAddict: Ugh, I feel brain-dead…ugh…I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist…ugh…
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Chapter Seven – Crash, Bang and Boom
Roy was sitting calmly at his desk. He was supposed to be doing paperwork, but paperwork was so…blah. Besides, why do paperwork when he had someone like Riza? He smiled at the thought of Riza. Riza would look so great in a mini skirt. Then, as if in answer to his thoughts, Riza walked in the room with a grim expression on her face. (As she always does)
"Lieutenant Colonel," she said curtly. He nodded to her, signaling for her to continue. "There's been some bad news concerning the Elric brothers," she said, jumping right into business.
Roy rolled his eyes. "I don't hear bad news about anyone else," he said with a sigh, "What is it this time?"
"They've disappeared, sir."
Roy sat up in his seat. "Disappeared?" he asked, puzzled.
"Yes, sir."
Roy slouched back in his chair, deep in thought for a few minutes. Was this just the Elric brothers being themselves, or were they actually in trouble? "Could it be the work of Scar?" he asked.
"We couldn't find any trace of him nearby where the Elrics were last seen," Riza said, flipping through some notes on a clipboard, "No other dangerous criminals were found around the area either."
Roy thoughtfully clasped his hands together. "Where were they last seen?"
Robyn nervously stood outside Ed and Al's house and rang the doorbell, her knuckles turning white from the tight grip she held on her suitcase and her backpack slung over her shoulder. Soon a woman with long red hair came to the door.
"Hi, you must be Robyn," she said pleasantly. "I'm Sherry Elliott." Robyn just stood there with a 'I really don't care' expression on her face, but the woman didn't seem to notice. "Come on in," she said, opening the door wide enough for Robyn to pass. Robyn walked in and set her suitcase on the floor.
"Edward!" the woman yelled down to the basement, "Come say hello to our guest!" Robyn heard a muffled "What guest?" and the familiar clomping sound of Ed walking up the stairs.
"We just got Guitar Hero the other day," the woman explained to Robyn. "And Ed just can't seem to get enough of it."
'It's probably more hanging out with his brother than playing what he would consider a silly game,' Robyn thought with a grin. Ed appeared at the top of the stairs and stopped suddenly when he saw Robyn standing there nervously.
"Ed, this is Robyn. Her father is on a business trip, so she's going to be staying with us for a week," Sherry explained to Ed.
Ed looked at Robyn with a bored expression on his face. "We've met."
"Oh good," Sherry said happily. "Well, you show her around the house, then. I'm going to get dinner started," she said, walking off to what Robyn assumed was the kitchen.
Robyn grinned at Ed. "I heard you got Guitar Hero." Ed turned back towards the basement and shrugged carelessly.
"Yeah. Al likes it," he said, clomping back down the stairs. Robyn grinned happily and followed him. This was going to be an awesome week.
"Hey, Brother. So who's the guest?" Al asked as Ed walked down. Ed just took a step to the side. "Oh, hello!" Al said happily as he saw Robyn.
"Hi Al," Robyn said brightly. She couldn't help but be happy around someone as polite and sweet as Al. Robyn looked down at Al and saw a light transmutation circle on the ground in front of him. "Oo, Alchemy," Robyn said, walking down the rest of the stairs to kneel by Al's side.
"Yeah, I was trying to re-teach brother," Al said happily, glad to have someone else to talk to about alchemy.
"That's so cool!" Robyn said, gazing down at the circle as fondly as a mother would a child. "Could you give me a demonstration?" she asked, turning to look at Al with big puppy-dog eyes.
"Alchemy doesn't work here," Ed interrupted. "We learned that the hard way."
"Oh," Robyn said sadly, absently picking up a piece of chalk from the floor and tracing the circle on the ground, darkening the faded lines. Al watched with interest as she silently traced the transmutation circle. Once she had finished that, she looked around for something else to trace, and seeing none, started drawing the one circle she knew by heart – the one at the beginning of every Fullmetal Alchemist manga, underneath Hiromu Arakawa's picture. For a few minutes, Robyn just lost herself in the patterns and the smooth scrape of chalk against the cement floor of the basement. Ed and Al both hovered over her, watching in amazement as she carefully scratched the pattern out on the floor.
When Robyn finished, she looked around, and seeing nothing else to draw, tossed the chalk to the side and wiped the excess chalk dust on her jeans. She looked up at the brothers, who were staring down at her and her freshly drawn transmutation circle.
"What?" she asked innocently, standing up to look at them. Ed bent down and examined the circle, tracing his finger in the air above the perfect lines.
"Was that your first time drawing a transmutation circle?" Al asked, his voice a slight pitch higher than normal.
Robyn thought for a moment, then answered, "Yeah, I guess so." Al swayed slightly on the spot and Ed let out a low whistle from his spot on the floor. "What?" Robyn asked, still confused at their amazement.
"It took me hours to get that one so good," Ed said, motioning to the other circle. "And I've already learned this stuff once. And you probably can't see it now, but it was still a little wobbly," he looked back at Robyn's circle. "Yours looks like a computer drew it."
"What's a computer, Brother?" Al asked, confused by the new word. He shook it off, realizing that the answer would take too long and could be answered later. He turned back to Robyn and calmly explained, "It normally takes a long time to get a transmutation that steady, and even longer to get it drawn quickly. Even though people said we were extremely talented, it took us months of studying the theory, and then even longer to practice drawing the actual circle."
"Well, that was because you were kids," Robyn said, looking down at the circle. "Besides, I already know a bit of the theory from reading Fullmetal Alchemist."
"No," Al said simply. "It takes most people much longer, and some people never get it. That's why not everyone is an alchemist. And you can't have possibly learned as much of the theory as what's in Beginner's Alchemy."
It seems that you have a gift for alchemy," Ed said, standing up and brushing any extra chalk off his pants. Robyn gulped and looked back down at the circle. She had always had such perfect handwriting, and an extremely steady hand. Almost unnatural, some people had said. And back when she was little, she had carried around a small sketchbook just to draw all the different geometric designs that popped into her head. Adults thought it was cute, and said that she would probably grow up to be an architect, but what they didn't know was that Robyn had to draw the designs. If she didn't, all the different patterns and shapes swirling around in her head would give her a headache. She looked over at Ed. Maybe that had been what Ed had been experiencing when he had drawn what looked like a million transmutation circles on his chemistry notes.
"That actually explains a lot," Robyn said softly. She looked up at Al. "Start at the beginning and teach me everything. I need to learn." She chuckled softly, "But I'd prefer it if you didn't teach me quite the same way your teacher did."
After four solid hours of studying without breaks, (Except for a very quick dinner) Robyn and Ed both had cramps, and were both a little cranky and short-tempered. They were about ready to scream if they didn't get a break. After finishing off their newest transmutation circles, they both stood and stretched out their joints, Robyn realizing that her foot had fallen asleep. She cursed and grabbed it, rubbing the foot to try and stop the little sparks of pain shooting through her foot. Unfortunately, she didn't have very good balance doing this, and ended up hopping around the room in circles on her good foot.
Al watched with a slight hint of jealousy. He would love to have any of the pain they were complaining about just to feel something. Robyn saw his head drooping from across the room, and realizing her mistake, gently put her foot down and limped back to where Ed and Al were standing, her foot feeling about three times as big s it normally did.
"So do you really have Guitar Hero?" Robyn asked, trying to distract Al. It seemed to work a little, since he picked up his head and looked at Robyn.
"Yes," he said brightly. "There's nothing like it in Amestris." Robyn grinned up at Al and shook out her foot, the pain finally gone. "You up for a game?" she asked and Al nodded happily. Ed rolled his eyes as Robyn and Al both walked over to the TV.
"You're rotting your brains," he told them, as he slouched onto the sofa, but they just ignored him. Robyn flicked on the PS2, then picked up one of the controllers and started scrolling through the songs. Al held the guitar lightly in his hands, his fingers hovering over the buttons. Robyn could tell that one of his fingers would take up the entire space of the button. He had obviously had practiced how to hold the guitar lightly enough so he wouldn't break it, but in a good enough grip to play.
"The easier ones are at the top," Al told her. He could tell that she had never played before. Robyn just shrugged, then abruptly stopped scrolling through the songs, the cursor highlighting 'Iron Man." Robyn grinned mischievously up at Al.
"Oh come on, there's no way we can't play this," she pleaded.
Al shrugged. "Fine. Go ahead," he said, know that this was one argument he wouldn't be able to win. Robyn grinned and shook her fist in the air triumphantly.
"What? How could I lose?" Robyn said, looking in bewilderment at the screen. "I actually play guitar! How could I lose?" Al looked at her sympathetically. He did have practice, and Robyn had chosen a slightly harder song for the first time she played it. Ed was over to the side; laughing so hard he was almost rolling on the floor. Robyn spun around to glare at him, but Ed didn't pay any attention to her. His face was almost blue from lack of air.
"Brother, calm down!" Al said in a worried tone, afraid of Ed suffocating himself. Ed took in deep gulps of air, still slightly laughing at Robyn. Robyn just crossed her arms and frowned.
"Brother, you're not being very nice," Al lectured, but Ed couldn't wipe the huge grin off his face.
Robyn sat on the couch, carelessly flipping through a book called Guitar Gods. It was early Saturday morning, and she knew the house would be stumbling awake soon. She knew she would probably go up to her room and change out of her pajamas soon, but she just felt like lying around right now. She sighed and laid back on the sofa, enjoying the cool morning air that tickled through her tank top and shorts.
Ed laid on top of his bed in just his boxers, his unbraided hair fanning out on the pillow behind him. (Down, fangirls, down!) Saturday morning felt good. It was a warm September morning, and since he wasn't going anywhere, he wouldn't have to wear long sleeves to cover up his automail. He took a deep breath, enjoying the silence of the house. He decided to get dressed and see if Robyn was up so they could start their alchemy lessons early. He slowly got up and walked to the closet, pulling out a pair of shorts. Maybe he would try kicking Robyn's butt at Guitar Hero today. He smiled at the memory of last night. The best part about that was that he had heard her play before, and she was a pretty good guitar player, but Al had about four times her score. He had just finished zipping his fly and was about to grab a shirt when he heard a scream from downstairs that made the hairs on his arm stand straight up. Robyn's scream, he could tell. At least now he knew she was awake. He quickly raced out of his room, his still unbraided hair flying out behind him. He ran towards the stairs and was about to go down them two at a time when he tripped and fell.
Al looked up from the transmutation circle in front of him. It sounded like someone had taught a pile of bricks how to swear and then pushed them down Mt. Everest. 'Brother…' he thought with a sigh.
The world was a muddy mess of colors, all twirling and spinning before Ed's eyes. He felt like he had been tossed in a blender at the highest setting. The worst part was that he had lost any control over his body, and every now and then he would feel a sharp kick from his own automail foot. He didn't even consciously think about the stream of swears coming from his mouth, they just all started tumbling out. Surprisingly, it did make Ed feel a little better. Not much, but a bit. Suddenly, the world stopped turning and Ed laid in a jumbled heap at the bottom of the stairs, moaning. His head hurt terribly, but Ed couldn't tell whether it was from the spinning, or being hit multiple times. He laid there in pain for a few minutes, wishing the day had never started when he remembered Robyn's shriek. He quickly stood up and stumbled into the living room, still dizzy.
Robyn wasn't in the living room, so Ed quickly made his way to the kitchen, using the furniture as supports. Robyn was standing by the sink in the kitchen, holding her thumb under the faucet. She seemed fine, but Ed could somehow smell a faint trace of blood, though he didn't wonder how he knew what blood smelled like.
"Are you okay?" he asked Robyn. She turned to look at him from the sink, her thumb cradled in her hand.
"I got a paper cut," she said pathetically. She expected Ed to yell at her or make some comment, but instead he just fell to the floor.
"Could someone please stop the world? I'd like to get off," he mumbled, cradling his aching head in his hands. His hair was rather frizzy after being tossed around so much and was sticking out at a few odd angles. Robyn quickly got a Ziploc bag and filled it with ice. She zipped it closed and offered it to Ed. Ed gratefully took it and held it to his head with his right hand so that the cold wouldn't bother him.
"Brother are you all right?" Al asked, coming in and looking in surprise at Ed on the floor and Robyn bending over him.
"He's all right, I think he just need to be taken back to bed," Robyn said as Ed laid there quietly. Robyn looked up at Al. "Could you," she started, know that Ed would be much too heavy with his automail for her to carry. Al gently placed his arms underneath Ed and slowly lifted him up. Robyn trotted ahead of the two opening any doors in Al's way. It took a bit of maneuvering with Al's large body, but they finally managed to get Ed back up in his bed, Al wrapping the sheets gently around him. After that, Robyn quickly ran to her room to change out of her pajamas, embarrassed that both Ed and Al had seen her in them.
Ed woke up in his bed with a huge headache. His sheets were tangled around his feet; probably from the usual tossing and turning he did during the night. He quickly untangled them with his right hand, holding his left hand to his head.
'What happened?' he thought as he gently slipped a t-shirt over his head. Suddenly he remembered how he had fainted in front of Robyn. Without a shirt on. And her hanging above him in just her pajamas, or at least, he thought they were pajamas, since Robyn never wore anything that short normally. Ed blushed angrily as he remembered what had happened in the kitchen.
'That girl is going to get it,' he thought as he ground his teeth and reached back to braid his hair. 'A paper cut!' He grabbed his hair in a rough ponytail and realized with a sigh that his hair was too tangled to braid, and too messed up to untangle with his comb. He needed a brush, and he didn't have one. He mumbled a few choice words under his breath, and then walked out of his room to find Robyn. First he would get a brush from her, then he would kill her. After all, it would be much harder to kill her with hair falling in his face. He walked out into the hallway and knocked twice on her door before slowly pushing it open.
The room didn't show any signs of life except for an open suitcase on the floor and the tank top and shorts Robyn had been wearing earlier tossed on the bed. Ed walked over to the suitcase, hoping that Robyn would have a brush near the top, and any girl items near the bottom. He carefully shifted his hand through the different piles of long sleeve shirts and jeans. His fingers brushed against something hard and Ed curled his fingers around it and pulled it out.
It wasn't a hairbrush, or even something that resembled a hairbrush. Ed grumbled as he stared at the picture frame in his hands. He was about to throw it back into the suitcase when he took a second glance at it. It was a picture of a dark-haired boy with his arm around Robyn. Robyn was wearing a breezy dress and had long hair tied back in a ponytail. Both the boy and Robyn were grinning happily when the picture had been taken. Ed stared at the picture with a dumbstruck look on his face. That girl couldn't be Robyn. He wouldn't have thought it was Robyn if he hadn't recognized the face, along with her purple eyes glinting in the sunlight when the picture had been taken. If this was Robyn, what had happened to make her change so much?
"Look who finally woke up," a voice said from the doorway, "Enjoying yourself?" Ed turned to face the voice and saw Robyn leaning against the frame of the doorway, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Robyn noticed the picture clutched in Ed's hands and a flash of anger danced across her eyes.
"Who's the guy?" Ed asked, holding up the picture innocently. Robyn had never mentioned a boyfriend. 'Of course, she didn't have a reason to mention a boyfriend,' Ed thought bitterly.
Robyn walked up and snatched the photo from Ed. "Luke. Now get out," she said with venom and finality in her voice. Robyn walked to the other side of the room, her back facing Ed and the door. Ed stood up and stared and Robyn angrily.
"Hey, I live here! You think you can-" he was cut off as she whirled around to face him, her eyes flaring with an anger Ed had never seen before.
"GET OUT, ED!" She yelled, flinging the picture towards Ed. It grazed the side of him and then hit the door with a sound thud, shattering the glass into a million pieces on the floor. Ed's eyes widened, and he slowly backed out the door, shutting it behind him as Robyn turned back around.
Ed was scared of this Robyn that he had never seen before. The two of them had yelled at each other before, but Ed realized now that those times Robyn had been playing. This was her when she was really, truly angry. He wondered what was so special about that picture that could make Robyn so upset.
"Hey Al? Did Robyn ever mention an old boyfriend?" Ed asked casually as he crouched on the floor of the basement, scratching out transmutation circles with a piece of chalk. Al sat a little farther away, scrubbing at the old transmutation circles with a wet sponge. He seemed thoughtful for a second, then said, "No, I can't remember her ever mentioning one. Why?"
Ed just shrugged his shoulders. "I saw this old picture of her with this guy," he said. Al looked up at his brother. Ed was bent over his work, carefully drawing a curved line of his circle. He seemed thoughtful, and then he said, "She said his name was Luke, but-"
"Oh! She told me about Luke," Al interrupted. Ed's perfectly curved line went into a series of squiggles and he looked up at Al with a surprised look on his face.
"What?! You know about Luke?!" he said, almost yelling. His chalk laid abandoned on the floor and he was now holding onto Al's every word.
Al innocently held up his hands, "Of course I know about Luke! While you were asleep this morning we were busy talking about our big brothers."
Ed stared at Al, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Big brothers?" he repeated faintly.
"Yeah. Luke is her older brother," Al said calmly. Ed seemed to relax a little and breathe a sigh of relief. Al just stared at his older brother. Had he actually been jealous of a boy that he thought was Robyn's boyfriend?
Ed was just starting to relax when he heard a door slam at the top of the basement. All the muscles tightened in Ed's body and he scooted up against the wall, remembering the glass-throwing Robyn. He quickly buried his face in his hands as she clomped down the stairs.
"Hey, Al! Can we start the lesson now that sleeping beauty is awake?" Robyn asked in a cheery voice. Ed opened his fingers wide enough to look at Robyn. She seemed normal now, not angry at all. He cautiously pulled down both of his hands entirely and looked closer at Robyn. Was it just his imagination, or were her eyes slightly red and puffy?
"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, standing up slowly. Robyn turned to face him.
"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?" she asked in a falsely cheery voice.
"Well," Ed said slowly, "There was the whole thing with your brother…"
Robyn whirled around to face Al. "Brother?!" she yelled, "I never told him I had a brother!" Ed cowered and whimpered pathetically. Robyn glared at Al and stomped her foot, trying to get out some of her anger. Ed thought he saw a faint glimmer pof a tear running down her cheek. Robyn glared at Al for another second, then turned and ran up the stairs with a frustrated grunt.
Al stared at Ed. "You had to do that didn't you? Keep pushing and pushing until she snaps," Al sighed. "When will you learn to control yourself, Brother?" Ed rolled his eyes and headed upstairs, planning to go up to his room, where Al couldn't bother him. Al seemed satisfied, thinking that Ed was going to talk to Robyn.
Ed stopped at the top of the stairs when he saw Robyn in the living room. She was sitting on the sofa with her knees pulled up to her chin, tears flowing freely down her face. She didn't seem to take any notice of Ed. For the first time since Ed had met Robyn, she actually looked like she could be the younger sibling who needed protection. Ed slowly walked over and sat next to her on the sofa. He looked over at her uncertainly. He had never encountered this type of situation before, and if he had in Amestris, he certainly couldn't remember what he had done. Suddenly, Robyn just collapsed onto his shoulder. Ed looked over at her in surprise, then realized that he wouldn't be able to move her. He sighed and slowly tried to relax so she would be more comfortable.
"Luke Edward Davenport," Robyn whispered. Robyn felt Ed tense slightly at his name. "Yeah, Edward. He was the reason I first got interested in Fullmetal Alchemist." Robyn slowly sat up and rubbed at her eyes.
"After he turned eighteen, my brother wanted to go fight in Iraq." Robyn carefully explained. "Our father was strongly against it. One night, Luke and my dad got in a fight – a big fight. The next day, Luke was gone." Robyn looked down at her knees. 'We haven't heard from him since.
"My brother meant the world to me. After my mom died and he left, I was desperate for something to cling to. And then I found a story about a boy named Edward who joined the military. To help the younger brother he loved." Robyn hugged her knees. "Fullmetal Alchemist gave me hope. By obsessing over a fantasy character, I was able to forget my past for a little while.
"Fullmetal Alchemist kept me from killing myself," Robyn finished softly. Ed looked over at Robyn. Tears were streaming down her face as she hugged her knees to her chest. Unsure of what to do or say next, the two of them just sat there silently.
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Kairi Angel: Yay! I helped with this chapter!
Ed: (in a sling from stairs scene) I feel like a puppet.
AdventureAddict: That's right! I'm the author and I control your puny lives! Muahahahahaha! Now dance like a monkey!
Ed: I don't wanna…(Starts magically dancing) Hey! Cut that out!
Harry Potter: Can I stop now?
Kairi Angel & AdventureAddict: (Eating popcorn) NOOOO!!!
Frodo: Harry made me taller!
Ed: WHAT?! (he looks up at Frodo, who is about 6") COME HERE YOU LITTLE BRITISH TWAT!!!