Sorry that I took so long to update. My life's kind of been topsy turvey lately, but I hope that you can all forgive me for that, heh. At least I get these chapters out at all in spite of it. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Oh how I WISH I owned them...but only when I astral travel... and then they argue about whether I own them or not. ((Thanks to Gaia's Song for the disclaimer.))
"Stupid Edward," Winry ranted as she walked down the road toward the train station. She kicked a pebble out of her path in a desperate need to take her frustration out on something. "Stupid Alphonse too. They're both idiots, running around the country, completely oblivious to what's happening." She stopped and straightened her bag strap that was starting to dig into her shoulder and let out a sigh. "Those two are in over their heads. I hope that they'll be alright until I can find them."
The rest of the walk to the station was for the most part quiet, except for the sound of her feet crunching against the gravel road. Somehow, talking to herself for too long made her nervous, as she was sure she'd get funny looks from passers by if they overheard her. It was better in her opinion to keep her thoughts inside her head while out in public.
At last she arrived at the station and she walked up to the ticket booth. Winry reached into her pocket and pulled out a picture she had brought with her of Edward and Alphonse and showed it to the lady behind the counter. "Did you see this boy come by the other day?" she asked as she pointed to Al.
The woman leaned forward and squinted as though trying to recall whether she had or not and then slowly shook her head. "I'm…not sure…I see a lot of faces each day. Do you know what he was wearing then?"
Winry scratched her chin in contemplation for a brief moment as she tried to remember what it was that Al had on that last day. Suddenly it clicked. As soon as Ed had disappeared, Al had pretty much taken over everything related to his brother since he had missed him so much. He had even been sleeping in Ed's bed. Naturally, in that state of mind, the clothes he last wore would have been Edward's particularly since Ed hadn't taken any of his clothes with him. Strange.
"The last time I saw him," said Winry, "I'm pretty sure he was wearing black clothes, white gloves, and a red overcoat."
The ticket lady's eyes rolled, back into her head as she thought, and soon a smile spread across her face. Oh yes, she remembered. Who could forget THAT getup? "I do seem to remember a boy dressed like that, actually. What about him?"
Winry could barely contain her excitement. Was it too much to hope that this woman would remember more? She prayed not. "Where did he go? Do you remember?"
"Heh," the woman shook her head and let out a slight chuckle, "That was another weird thing about him. He'd asked to go as far west as the line would take him."
Hmm…Al had said something about Ed going west. It made sense in that case that he'd buy a ticket to take him to the end of the line in the hopes that he'd catch up with Ed. Winry turned and looked up at the lady. "Give me the same thing please."
The woman smiled as she began to process Winry's order. "Got to go catch a runaway?"
"Two," said Winry, "Two idiots."
"Hold still, Edward!" Sylvia yelled as she grabbed a fistful of golden hair and jerked his head back under the streaming water coming from the bathtub faucet. "You're a terrible patient."
"Ouch!" Ed yelled and tried to turn his head around so that he could glare at the girl and chew her out. He didn't get very far though, because Sylvia just jerked his head under the water again and told him to hold still. There was no saying no to a person with a Winry personality, so he figured that he might as well give in. Did fate hate him, surrounding him with Winrys? Yeah, he felt pretty sure that that was the case. The price for his sins wasn't just an arm and a leg, but also that he'd be haunted by Winry everywhere he went. He shuddered to think what would happen when Winry died and actually COULD haunt him everywhere he went. Well…he'd make sure to die before her, then he wouldn't have to worry about it. He could haunt HER!
"Calm down, Mr. Impatient. This'll be over before you know it. Edward sighed and shook his head a little, but not enough to make her pull his hair again. Why did she always have to come up with all these nicknames for him? It was okay if his mother had called him things, or Auntie Pinako, or Winry, even Al…no, wait, having Al call him things was just too creepy. Better just stick to "Ed" and "Brother" for him. He'd seen the kinds of nicknames that came from Al, and he didn't want to be his next victim. After that time that Al had called Major Armstrong "Mr. Sparkleyman" Ed had resolved to not let Al call him anything…unusual.
Ed finally exhaled and resigned to Sylvia's care. The water cascading down the sides of his face actually did feel quite nourishing, though he couldn't help but squirm a bit every time Sylvia's hands would touch his inflamed gills. She was obviously just trying to get water in them as well as getting them clean, but it hurt all the same.
At last, the water stopped, and Ed breathed a sigh of relief. No more torture. Sylvia playfully slapped him on the back which caused him to turn around. "Come on, it couldn't have been THAT bad." Ed pinched his eyebrows together for a brief moment as he looked at the girl. How would she know how bad it was? She didn't have gills. He rolled his eyes at her. It was pretty much the same with Winry and her auto-mail.
Sylvia picked up a towel and carelessly threw it over Ed's head, obscuring his vision. A cry of protest later, she said, "Here, dry yourself off. I'm going downtown to do some shopping. You stay put here, got it?' The boy raised his hand in a resigned gesture, apparently satisfying the girl, so she spun on her heels and left. Of course, Ed was notorious for not keeping that kind of promise.
Downtown in this particular town was breathtaking in that it had wider than normal cobblestone streets, large, bustling crowds, and an over surge of street vendors. This looked to be quite a successful endeavor shopping here. Sylvia, with her limited travel experience during her lifetime, had never seen the likes of it.
She hurried towards the nearest produce cart and took her time scanning over the merchandise. There had never been an opportunity in her previous life to be as picky as she was now being, and she was going to take full advantage of it.
Suddenly, a hand fell on her shoulder, and she spun around in fright at the unexpected touch. Her eyes fell on a man that she could tell by the uniform that he was from the military. Sylvia felt her mouth go dry and she licked her lips to try and relieve the awkward feeling the dryness brought on.
The man almost seemed amused by Sylvia's nervous reaction and chuckled a bit, and then finally spoke. "Pardon me, ma'am, are you Sylvia Bowman?"
Sylvia tensed, but tried not to make it look visible how she felt. One thing that her father had instilled in her from an early age was not to give the military any more information than they needed, especially your name. In such a corrupt government as Amestris had, it was best not to help them if one could get away with it.
"No," Sylvia said, regaining her composure with practiced ease, "I'm Elina Darren."
The man before her smiled in a way that told her that he wasn't a bit fooled by what she said, but was willing to play along with it. "Well, Elina, do you happen to know Sylvia? Could you get a message to her?" Sylvia swallowed again and said that she hadn't yet met this 'Sylvia', but that she'd be happy to carry a message for her. The man smiled again and spoke. "Please tell her when you find her that we know she's protecting the runaway State Alchemist Edward Elric, and would she please bring him to the military headquarters to avoid legal trouble on her part."
Sylvia's mouth went numb; she couldn't think of anything more to say. The military man took his cue that his mission here was complete, so he spun on his heels and took off in another direction. It was a good thing too, because the girl suddenly felt herself being overcome by sickness. Her legs gave way, and she soon had a personal meeting with the cobblestone walk.
Upon entering the river, Al's first reaction was simply an overwhelming sense of dizziness, kind of like what one would feel if they drank too much oxygenated water too fast. But this was ordinary river water, not more oxygen than the average river, so his reaction must have been due to his new ability to pick up oxygen from the water. He wasn't at all used to it.
After finally getting his bearings, he kicked his legs and once again found his head above water. His heart was racing from all the adrenaline pumping through his system, and he found himself hyperventilating, which he found quite odd, since he had supposedly been breathing underwater. A throbbing at the back of his ears answered in part that last mental question of his. It seemed that his gills weren't used to being used, as well as the fact that the newly open cuts were still quite painful, and these both contributed to the inefficiency he experienced in breathing underwater.
Al shook his head to get his hair out of his eyes. His brother needed his help, and needed to be warned of what was happening behind his back. His own discomfort would have to be forgotten about for now. With new resolve, he took a deep breath and then plunged back below the surface.
Fortunately, he didn't experience the same kind of dizziness this time as last time. That must have come from the mad pace at which he'd entered the water in the first place. He consciously began kicking his legs, hoping that he'd be able to figure out how to breathe while he was going.
As much as he tried to hold that last breath he had taken in, he watched as the air bubbles slowly trickled out of his mouth until his lungs were completely empty. Suddenly, he felt a mad need for air seize him, and he turned to swim back to the surface when he felt some sort of switch flip in his mind, and his body went calm again. Why, of course! It would make sense that both gills and lungs couldn't be used simultaneously, so he had had to expel all the air from his lungs before his gills took over. He was now breathing like he'd been underwater all his life. He hadn't even had to learn it. Then again, that made sense too. A human's first breath was as a baby. It just wasn't something that one had to think about, as it was part of their programming. Maybe Sea People weren't much different.
Al boredly continued kicking his legs to help the current carry him along for he didn't know how long, hoping that he'd reach his destination soon. If only he'd brought along something to eat or something to read…then again, what could he have brought with him underwater?
All at once, a sharp tension flooded Al's chest and brought him out of his thoughts. He wanted to scream from the pain, but felt that that would just make it worse. The pain increased and Al knew that he needed to breathe, so he tried consciously working his gills more than normal, but to no avil. He had to get to the surface, and fast. Almost without instruction, his legs sprung into action and propelled him upward until his head broke the surface of the water. With great relief, Al gasped for breath several times, each time making the pain decrease, until it was gone. That was really strange that he would suddenly need air after having been under the water for several hours. Maybe that guy's comment about him being a half-breed had something to it.
Finally, calming down and breathing normally, Al looked around. The sun was now on the other side of the sky, making it somewhere between late afternoon and early evening. He knew that the train wouldn't reach the stopping point until after dark, so he still had some time, but he wasn't yet sure about how much. Looking ahead, he saw the sun reflecting off of some irregular surface. That wouldn't be a city, would it? Could he dare to hope that he was already so near to his destination?
A chance side glance caught someone walking beside the river. It would be risky, but Al needed to know. He raised his hand up and waved to them, completely forgetting how ridiculous it looked for someone to be swimming fully clothed in the river in the middle of winter, even if it wasn't that cold. "Hey!" he called, getting their attention immediately, "I'm kind of lost. Is that a city up here?"
The person nodded back in response and said that yes, that was indeed a city up there. Al thanked the person and promptly went back under the water, totally perplexing the poor individual as to his odd behavior.
What seemed only a few minutes later, Al found himself lying on his back, gasping for breath, on the bank of the river within his destination city. He had made it, with plenty of time to spare. Now if he could only get his bearings about him again so that he could try and find his brother and get out of here before either one of them got caught.
Al flopped over onto his stomach and positioned his hands so as to push himself up onto his feet. He didn't have his hand legs back yet, but he didn't have time to wait until they kicked in on their own. Shakily, he forced himself to stand, though it was quite difficult, considering how heavy his clothes had become now that they were wet. He would have to find a way to get them dry.
Awkwardly making his way over to a nearby tree, he leaned against it while panting for a few moments, and then he carefully peeled off a piece of bark. Looking around, he spotted a nice, soft stone, and with it, drew a simple transmutation circle on the piece of tree bark that he had peeled off. Satisfied with his work, he pressed the bark to his chest and closed his eyes as a warm energy erupted from the array inscribed on the bark, and the water in his clothes began to vaporize off of him.
Within minutes, he was dry again and could walk like a normal human being without stumbling. Thank goodness for alchemy. Before taking off, he replaced the rock where he had found it and buried the bark at the base of the tree, thanking the tree and the stone for their help. He didn't know if trees and stone actually had consciousness, but there was no one here to laugh at him right then, and he figured that he owed them his gratitude.
Al wandered aimlessly through the streets for several minutes, trying to find some trace of his brother, all the while aware that he himself could be captured any minute as well. There had to be a better way. Suddenly he remembered the necklace that the old fisherman had given him. It was meant to help him locate sea people, wasn't it? Quickly, he took it off his neck, and held it in his hand, just looking at it.
It disturbed him that it didn't seem to be resonating with the same living energy as it had when he had first held it. Maybe he needed to wake it up, but how? He tried prying the clamshell open for several minutes to no avail. It must not have been meant to be opened. This was getting quite frustrating, and he dropped his arms to his sides in a full body sigh.
Al was so frustrated at this moment with having come so close and yet still being so far away from his goal that he began to hum an old tune to himself. His mother had sung it to him and his brother when they were little, and he still sang or hummed it whenever he needed to calm down.
All at once, the necklace began vibrating in Al's hand. In wonder, he stopped singing, and lifted it up to his face so that he could look at it. Its vibrational pattern was already slowing down, but Al guessed that that was simply because he had stopped singing. It seemed he had found the key to using this thing. All the same, it was odd, because hadn't it been filled with this same energy when he had first touched it? He hadn't been singing then. Of course, it could have just been reacting that way because it had just found a sea person, but now that that same sea person was wearing it, it didn't vibrate on its own anymore.
Al slipped the necklace over his neck and once again started to hum. The vibrations picked up, and he felt himself walking through the streets, completely oblivious to what was around him, just following the influence of the necklace.
Eventually, Al stopped singing, and he found himself having trouble deciding what his next step should be. Heck, that had been WHY he'd stopped singing. He guessed that it was probably because he was too close to where Ed was for the necklace to get a precise reading on him. Oh well, as long as he was close by, he was sure he could find him.
As strolled down the block a way when he chanced to glance up and see an inn. That was probably where his brother was staying. It made sense that he'd be staying there, at least. He quickened his pace and soon found himself standing in the front room of the inn. He walked up to the receptionist at the desk and asked if they still had any rooms available, since he honestly didn't know how long it would take to find his brother, even if he was in this building, and he certainly wasn't going to ask for Edward Elric by name.
"We don't have any completely empty rooms, no," said the woman, pushing her glasses up onto her nose, "We've been cramming multiple people into the various rooms because of all the trains getting stopped here."
Al placed his hands on the desk and leaned in to look at her. "I can deal with that if that's all you have. My train was stopped too…I'm just the first one of the group to get here." Well, that much WAS true, technically.
The woman pushed her glasses up again, as they seemed to have a problem with slipping down her nose, and said, "Very well, may I please have you voucher?"
Voucher? Al didn't know anything about that. "Uh…I was the first one off the train…so I guess I didn't get one. I'll just pay in cash if that's alright."
The woman gave Al an odd look for a moment and then resigned herself back to her duties. "Very well," she said, and proceeded to hand a book to Al to have him sign, "Just sign right here please."
Al took the pen and was about to sign his name when he suddenly remembered how much danger he and his brother were in. He couldn't risk their safety by revealing his name. It took him a moment to think, but he soon came up with a suitable alias and wrote 'William Anderson' in place of his name. He stared at the name for a moment to commit it to memory and then handed the pen back to the receptionist.
Without further ado, she handed Al his key, so he headed straight for his third floor room and went inside. There was no one else there at the moment, though it was obvious that he had a roommate, since one of the beds was messed up and there were towels and water strewn about in the bathroom. Al shrugged. It was no big deal. He would just have to meet his roommate later, but right then, he was tired.
Without bothering to take off any of his clothes, he climbed into the unused bed and fell asleep instantly. His sleep was so deep that he wasn't aware some time later of a certain blond-headed teen entering the room, seeing someone in the other bed, and running out of the room in a panic. He was that tired.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed that chapter! Leave me some reviews if you will, and I'll try to update again as soon as possible. Take care, and have a nice day!