Ugh. Unlucky number 13. Though I shouldn't be the one worried, since I'm the one controlling all the puny little lives!!! Muahahaha! I love having complete control…
I had fun thinking of this chapter too. Ed and Robyn get to show off their rock star side! XD And if you don't think Ed could be a good singer, then you have to listen to Brother. (Actually sung by Vic Mignogana!) Meep! Rockstar Alchemist!!!
As you all know, AdventureAddict does not in any way own any part of Fullmetal Alchemist.
On wit' da show!
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Chapter Thirteen – A Mother's Secrets
Robyn tapped her pencil against the pages of her open Chemistry book. She could easily solve the problem, but she didn't want to. Today was Saturday. Saturday was meant to be spent sleeping and relaxing, not doing homework. She sighed and dropped her pencil and looked out the window. It wasn't like she was actually going to get any work done.
Robyn smiled as she realized that Ed had left his window open. It was understandable though, since today was the warmest day they'd had in weeks. Which was also lucky, since it was Halloween. Moms wouldn't be trying to force kids to wear a winter coat over their costumes.
Robyn rested her chin on one hand and started snapping with the other one. It was a surprisingly relaxing action. Every now and then, Robyn had been scolded for snapping in the middle of a test.
Robyn stared through the window into Ed's room. It was completely empty, except for a few research notes scattered across his desk and some clothes crumpled on the floor. He was probably down with Al, trying to figure out a way to go home. Robyn sighed. If only their home was just another country instead of a whole different world. It was fun living next door to the Elric brothers.
Robyn looked up as she heard soft humming and the creak of a door. He didn't seem to have noticed her yet, so she quickly stopped snapping and ducked her head down. If Ed ever found out that she had heard him singing, she probably wouldn't live to tell the tale.
She peeked her head up slightly to look at Ed. He must have just come out of the shower. His hair was still wet and stuck to his bare shoulders. In fact, all he was wearing was a pair of loose pants.
"Summer has come and past," Ed sang softly as he sat down at his desk and started shifting through the papers. "The innocent can never last."
"Wake me up when September ends," Robyn sang under her breath. Ed really did have a nice singing voice, but she knew he probably wouldn't want to admit it. A sudden, evil idea crept into Robyn's head and she softly crept over to her guitar and picked it up.
"Like my fathers come to pass, seven years has gone so fast," Ed sang a little louder, not realizing that Robyn was listening.
"Wake me up when September ends," Robyn sang with him, strumming her guitar gently. Now she was glad that she had figured the notes out before Ed and Al had mysteriously arrived.
Ed looked out the window in surprise and stopped singing as a blush crept across his cheeks. Robyn motioned for Ed to keep singing, but he furiously shook his head.
"Come on Ed, keep the song going!" Robyn shouted through the window as she kept strumming at the guitar.
Ed's blush deepened considerably, but he meekly continued, "Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars."
"Drenched in my pain again," Robyn sang along, trying to boost his confidence. "Becoming who we are."
"As my memory rests, it never forgets what I lost," Ed sang a little louder, and Robyn grinned.
"Wake me up when September ends!" they both sang loudly. Then they both looked out the windows with a challenging look. Now was the part in the song where it switched to a more rock sort of song by a beat being hit out. Robyn and Ed looked at each other and started stomping and clapping in unison with wide grins. Robyn turned back to her guitar and started playing again rather loudly.
"Summer has come and past, the innocent can never last," Ed sang loudly, trying to drown out Robyn's guitar. Robyn grinned up at him, but then looked back down and focused on the notes.
"Wake me up when September ends!" they sang together loudly. Robyn wondered if neighbors would start yelling at them soon. She didn't care. She was having the most fun she'd had since before her mom died.
"Living out the bills again, like we did when spring began," Ed continued.
"Wake me up when September ends!"
"Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are."
Robyn listened to Ed carefully as he sang. She had never realized before how the song actually kind of fit with the Elrics.
"As my memory rests, it never forgets what I lost."
But any song could fit with a story if you looked at it hard enough. And it wasn't like it was depressing Ed or anything. After all, he was hopping in circles around his room. So Robyn's confidence boost had worked. Maybe a little too well.
"Wake me up when September ends!"
Robyn looked back down at her guitar and started playing the solo she had spent weeks memorizing. She wondered if Ed was watching her, or if he was still jumping around. Either way, it was nice to see him actually acting happy for once.
"Summer has come and past, the innocent can never last." Robyn looked up at Ed. He looked like a complete goofball, singing into an empty fist since he didn't have a hairbrush. Robyn had never seen him acting like this before, not even in any fan art.
"Wake me up when September ends!"
Robyn found herself starting to wonder if years from now he would ever tell anybody about the day he and a girl in another world had started singing as loud as they could at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning.
"Like my fathers come to pass, twenty years has gone so fast."
Probably not. Ed wouldn't want to make himself look like a complete nutcase. If he ever told anyone, it would be Al, or maybe even Winry. But every teenager had to do this sort of thing sometime or another, right?
"Wake me up when September ends!"
Robyn sighed. Now this was the way to spend a Saturday morning. Waking up all the neighbors with the loudest music you could possibly muster. She smiled to herself. She knew she would remember this Saturday for a long time.
"Wake me up when September ends!"
"Wake me up when September ends!"
Ed looked up at her after the last line of the song and gave her the rock on sign with his automail hand. Robyn grinned as Ed reached a hand back to comb through his unbraided hair.
"Hey Robyn, could I borrow a brush or something?" Ed called through the open window. Robyn nodded and walked over to her vanity, pulling open one of the drawers.
She didn't see her brush in the front, so she reached her hand back into the drawer. She fumbled around a bit and when she found something that felt like a brush handle, she pulled hard.
Much to her surprise, the bottom of the drawer popped up instead of a brush coming out. A false bottom? Robyn stared at it in surprise, longing to pull out the papers hidden underneath it. She looked over at the window. Ed was standing by his window, waiting for the promised hairbrush. Robyn reached back and grabbed the handle of the hairbrush and then closed the drawer. The papers would wait.
"Go long!" Robyn shouted, holding the hairbrush up high. Ed bent his knees and Robyn tossed the hairbrush beautifully through the window into Ed's open arms. Ed held it firmly and started brushing his damp hair.
"You're going trick or treating tonight, right?" Robyn asked, leaning up against her window. A light breeze blew through the window as she said it, ruffling Robyn's hair.
Ed nodded. "Al needs to get out of the house," he said. "He's starting to drive me crazy."
"How?" Robyn asked curiously as he finished brushing his hair.
"Catch," Ed said, holding the hairbrush up. Robyn held up her hands and Ed tossed it lightly across.
"Well, he's really interested in school," Ed continued as he grabbed a rubber band off his desk and started braiding his hair. "Brother, you're so lucky! You get to go to school! I wish I could go to school! What's school like in this world?" Ed said in his best imitation of Al. Robyn laughed as Ed grabbed a shirt off the back of his desk chair and slid it over his head. "Yesterday he even offered to do my homework for me," Ed told her as he pulled his braid out from underneath his shirt.
Robyn felt her mind drifting back to the papers in the vanity. She really wanted to see what they were, but she wanted to read them privately, without Ed reading over her shoulder.
"Anyway, I better go see what he's up to," Ed said as he headed towards the door. "We were going to watch the Harry Potter movies today."
"Okay, great," Robyn said quickly, glad that Ed had provided the excuse to get away rather than her. "I'll see you later tonight, then." She quickly walked away from the window and pulled open the drawer again.
Robyn slowly reached down and pulled out the papers with trembling fingers. They were written in her mother's handwriting, which made Robyn's neat handwriting look like a scribble.
Robyn carefully flipped through the yellowing pages curiously. What had been so important that it made her mother work so hard to hide it?
Robyn stopped flipping through the pages suddenly. The page she had stopped on was completely covered with a large transmutation circle with a few notes to the side. But…Alchemy like that didn't even exist in this world. The only Alchemy close enough was Chemistry. So how did her mother know about transmutation circles? Robyn flipped the paper on its side and carefully read one of the notes her mother had written.
I have been trying for years to figure out a way to make a Philosopher's Stone without human sacrifices, but so far I haven't had any luck. And now I am trapped in this world without Alchemy. This is the farthest I think I will ever be able to get my research, but I don't even know if this one will work.
If my research is right, then this transmutation circle should cut down the needed sacrifice of the Philosopher's Stone drastically. Hopefully down to about one limb, which might even be able to be restored with the stone once it was complete. But I do not know whether this will work or not, since I have been performing all my experiments without any Alchemy at all. And I do not think I will ever get a chance to test it either…
Robyn stared at the paper in disbelief. A Philosopher's Stone? For just one arm or leg? She flipped back through the papers and started reading frantically. What other secrets had her mother kept from her? Then a sudden thought came to her.
Was that why she was so good at Alchemy? Her mother had also mentioned how she was 'trapped in this world without Alchemy.' Did that mean that her mother really came from Ed's world? And if she did, which world did Robyn qualify as a citizen of?
Ed silently walked down the sidewalk with Al on one side and Robyn on the other. He and Al were dressed as themselves, and Robyn was dressed as a pirate. Ed glanced over at Robyn. She had been quiet ever since she had showed up to go trick or treating. Ed hadn't known Robyn very long, but he'd known her long enough to know when something was bugging her. Her eyebrows would get all bunched together and she would just nod silently whenever someone said something.
Ed looked over at her a little more closely. Yep. Her eyebrows were creased in concentration.
"Look! A dead puppy!" Ed yelled loudly, trying to get Robyn's attention.
"What?! Where?!" Al screamed in horror while looking around wildly.
"That's nice," Robyn murmured softly while nodding her head. Ed stopped walking and stared at her.
"There's no puppy," he told Al, who was still searching for the poor critter. Ed then turned to Robyn. "Robyn, look at me," he commanded sternly.
"Mmhmm," Robyn said while nodding her head.
"No, really look at me," Ed growled, grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her around to face him. Robyn looked at him with wide eyes.
"Geez! What?!" she yelled angrily at Ed, not enjoying being disturbed out of her thoughts.
"What's wrong?!" Ed asked, slightly shaking her shoulders. Robyn was silent as she looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?!" Ed repeated angrily. Robyn was silent for a moment, and then suddenly snapped.
"Do you really not have any memory, Ed?!" She asked angrily, and Ed dropped her shoulders in surprise. "There are too many connections for them all to be just coincidences!"
"What are you talking about?" Ed said with a confused expression. Robyn sighed and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.
"This is what I'm talking about," she said with a sigh as she handed it to Ed. "It was my mother's." Ed slowly unfolded the paper and then stared at the transmutation circle. Noticing the writing on the side, he turned the paper and slowly read it.
"What is it, Brother?" Al asked, trying to read over Ed's shoulder.
"The Philosopher's Stone…" Ed said softly as he handed the paper back to Al. "It was your mom's?" he asked Robyn.
"That's what I just told you!" Robyn said angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. "It turns out I might not even be from this world at all," she said with a sigh. "So do you really have no memory?" she asked Ed again.
"None," Ed said with a sigh as Al handed the paper back to Robyn. "How many times have we been over this?"
"Too many," Robyn said with a bitter laugh. "Al, do you possibly remember why you guys are here?" Robyn asked. Al was silent for a moment as he thought.
"No, not really," he said at last. "I just remember that we were talking to some guy and then the world went black. The next thing I remember is when Brother woke me up."
"Well, isn't that convenient?" Robyn grumbled. 'Now I'm even more interested in you getting your-" she stopped suddenly as a thought came to her. "What if I'm related to Rosé?!" she said suddenly, part horrified, part thrilled.
"Rosé?" Ed asked, suddenly confused. "Why Rosé?"
"She has purple eyes!" Robyn said excitedly. "And if my mom was her…second cousin, or something like that…and she suddenly disappeared, and if Rosé called you guys for help, you probably would help her!" Ed and Al both stared at her.
"It does kind of make sense," Al said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I guess…" Ed said, trailing off. "But her skin is pale, not tan like Rosé's."
"That's because I was born here and kept inside more often!" Robyn said excitedly. "Oh, it all makes sense now!"
Ed watched Robyn twirl around with the paper clutched in her hands. Maybe it did make sense now, and he was happy that she was really from their world, but…Rosé?
Ed sat silently at his bedroom window, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked through the clear glass and stared at Robyn's house.
He found himself starting to think about what she was doing now. They did have to go to school today. Maybe she was waking up, eating her breakfast getting dressed…
Ed groaned.
"Stop doing this to yourself," he muttered under his breath. "She said herself that she wasn't coming with you, so just forget about-"
Ed stopped his train of thoughts suddenly. She had said she wasn't going with them, but that wasbefore she started thinking that she was related to Rosé.
Rosé, of all people!
But if she thought that she was really from their world, would she actually go with them? Maybe-
Ed stopped himself again. He had seen the kind of situations he put himself in, and they weren't pretty. As much as he cared about Robyn and wanted her to come along, he didn't want to put her in danger.
Ed sighed and rested his head on his hand. She was right; if she went with them to their world, she would end up following them all over the country like a little puppy. So as much as Ed hated to admit it, she would be safer here.
There was the sudden sound of engine slowing to a stop, and Ed focused his attention back out the window. A military vehicle had stopped in front of Robyn's house, and two young men wearing uniforms were walking up to her door. Ed stiffened and sat up. He could tell just by the color of their hair that neither of them was Robyn's brother.
This wasn't good.
Ed looked closely at them as one rang the doorbell of Robyn's house. One of them was holding a flag that had been folded into a triangle.
This definitely wasn't good.
Robyn came to the door fully dressed and smiling happily. But as soon as she saw the men, her smile instantly vanished and she looked at them in shock. Ed watched as the men said something he couldn't make out, but he knew what they must have been saying.
First they would ask if her father was available. Robyn looked down and shook her head. Her father was never available unless it was for work. Then the men both gave her a look of pity and one told her the horrible news. Once the man's lips had stopped moving, the other one presented the flag to Robyn, who silently took it while staring at the ground.
And then the men were gone.
Ed looked at Robyn as she silently watched them drive away, and then sank to her knees on the porch with the flag clutched to her chest. Ed stood up and hurriedly got dressed. He didn't know how he would comfort Robyn, but he knew he couldn't leave her out there like that.
He started wondering if that would be him someday. Would he ever have to be the bearer of bad news for some poor family?
Or would Al be in Robyn's place?
After all, Ed was in the military, and someone would have to tell Al if he…
Ed shook the thought away impatiently as he quickly walked outside. After all, Al was always by his side, so if he did die, then Al would be the first to know.
But Ed couldn't shake away the thought of some stranger telling Al that his brother was dead.
"Robyn?" Ed said softly, sitting on the steps to the porch. Robyn looked up at him with puffy red eyes, and Ed felt a part of him feeling sorry that he had come. If there was one thing that could get to him, it was a girl crying.
"Luke," Robyn sobbed, clutching the flag as if it was a teddy bear. Like it could somehow absorb all the pain she was feeling.
"Luke," Robyn moaned again, and then collapsed onto Ed's chest, letting the sobs come quickly. Ed looked down at her as he felt her hot tears on his shirt, and he softly patted her on the back. He felt like he had to say something, something that would help Robyn feel better.
"Robyn, I-" he stopped as she looked up at him, her beautiful purple eyes shining with tears. He had been considering saying the usual 'I'm sorry,' but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Robyn looked up at him silently.
"Stand up and walk. Keep going forward," Robyn murmured softly as another tear slid down her cheek. Ed looked at her, trying to place the words that sounded so familiar.
"I said that, didn't I?" he said finally, and Robyn nodded with a bittersweet smile.
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Meheheheh…and the plot thickens…Well, I was thinking of doing 'American Pie' for Robyn and Ed's duet, but then I started thinking about When September Ends and how Ed was much more likely to hum that, and how it related to Robyn too, since her mom died in September…Heh? I liked it…but I always like doing stuff with double meanings like that…and it gave me a chance to make Ed a shirtless wet singing fiend! XD