Hello everyone!
So, sorry for the wait! Please enjoy this next chapter of Brotherhood, it's a bit longer than the others have been. In fact, I think it's the longest Brotherhood chapter I've ever written! (3,000 words!)
Oh, and I didn't get a chance to really edit this.
"So how long does it take to get to Talla-whatse?" Sheska asked while she munched on her handful of potato chips.
"It's Talla-hassee." Riza corrected.
"It takes about sixteen hours to get there by the direction Google Maps gives." Winry said from her computer chair.
"And that's without rest, food, and gas stops." Ed muttered in a slightly angry tone.
"Not if we Paper Towns(1) it." Maes said, causing most of the people in the room to stare at him.
"Paper Towns?"
"What's that?"
"It's a book by this guy John Green (2)." Maes said with a small sigh. "In the book they have to get from Orlando, Florida to New York in like twenty-four hours. And they actually make it in the time window so we could do it too if we really wanted to."
"Why would they be in such a hurry to get to New York?" Jean asked.
"I'm not going to explain the entire book to you! Just go and read it yourself. (3)"
"Mngg…I think I'll wait for the movie." Jean said, causing Maes to let out an annoyed noise.
It was Thursday night. Today was their last day of exams at school, leaving the friends almost entirely free to do as they pleased until school finally ended for the summer, something that irked Ed to no end. The teens now sat in Winry's room, discussing how and when they would get down to Florida. With Winry's grandma out of town for the weekend, everyone in the group happily agreed to stay there and skip school tomorrow (except for Riza who had to be convinced for almost three hours to do it) so that they discuss the problem fully.
"Does it really take sixteen hours to get there?" Ed groaned from his place on floor. "Isn't there a faster route there?"
"Ed, I've been looking at different routes for almost an hour! This is the fastest route that I can find takes sixteen hours and unless you can find the hundreds of dollars it takes to fly there, you'll just have to deal with it."
"Let's not worry about which way we're going to get there for right now," Roy said, breaking up the fight that was soon to come. "Let's think about how we're going to get there. Whose care are we going to take?"
Everyone exchanged glances but no one spoke up or offered to take their car.
"We can't take my car." Winry said, breaking the silence. "It really only fits two."
"My Jeep holds four, five if we squeeze in there." Roy said.
"Maybe we should take two cars." Ed reasoned.
"Well unless we get hold of a seven passenger car, we're going to have to."
"Anyone got a minivan we can steel?" Jean asked with a small grin.
"Wait!" Winry exclaimed, standing up fro her chair. "I think I know were to find one! Ugh, why didn't I think of this before?"
"What's she rambling about?" Roy asked Ed, who shrugged.
"Come on! I know a place were we can probably find a van to use."
Everyone looked at each other for a moment once Winry rushed out of her room. They only moved from their places when Winry reappeared at the door, telling them to get off their asses and move.
"So where are we going?" Ed asked as he stared out the car window.
Ed didn't know this area as well, manly because it's rumored to be home to several violent gangs, and with the sun going down, Edward couldn't recognize anything at all.
"To my friend Paninya's (4). Or at least to where she hangs out."
"And your friend is in a gang?" Ed asked as he stared down a darkened alley way that screamed Gang Trap.
"No. She's a fellow mechanic." Winry said happily.
"So when we get there I should expect rude comments and a wench in the face?"
"Only if you piss her off."
"Well if she's anything like you that won't be too hard." Ed muttered.
Winry turned down a series of shady alley ways that made Ed more and more nervous. Finally, Winry pulled into a parking lot, turned off the car, and got out.
"Aren't you coming?" Winry asked to Ed with a small smile on her face.
"Are you sure this place is safe?"
"Yes. No come on you big baby."
As Ed was getting out of his car, Roy's Jeep pulled up next to them. Ed could see, even in the darkness, that the others were just as uncertain as he was about this place.
The group followed Winry across the parking lot and up to the dark, garage-looking building. The lot was surrounded by a chain-linked fence and everything smelled of oil. Behind the building, Ed could barely make out the dark shapes of things. Winry knocked on the door once everyone was there.
"Who's there?" asked a voice from inside.
"It's me, Winry."
There was a clatter of metal on metal and then the door opened, revealing a Hispanic teenaged girl. She had short brown hair, pulled back into a stubby pony tail and was wearing a navy blue tank top, tan, military pant, and black combat boots.
"Winry!"
"Hey Paninya." Winry said before she gave the girl a hug.
"So what's up?! I haven't seen you in forever? How's your grandma?"
"Oh, Granny is as crazy as usual. She's actually out of town for the weekend."
"Well I'm glad to hear she's doing well. So what are you doing in this neck of the woods?" Paninya asked, looking around at the crowd of teens standing behind Winry.
"Yeah, well I was kinda wondering if I could talk to Dominic. (4) I have something to ask him."
"Alright. But may I ask why you have your little crew behind you?"
"Oh, these are my friends. Guys, this is Pininya."
There was a collective group of mumbled 'hellos'. Paninya's dark eyes flashed to Ed's right arm that was sticking out of his black t-shirt. She rushed forwards and pulled at Ed's arm to get a better look at it.
"ACK!" Ed exclaimed as Paninya tugged on his arm.
"Ooooh!This is that kid then! That kid that got your first automail. Nice work." Paninya added as she twisted Ed's arm so she could stare at the place were his hand and arm met.
"Are you done now?!" Ed yelled, his face reddening as he tried to block out his friends childish snickers, when Paninya tried to pull down Ed's shirt so that she could get a better glance at the port of the automail.
"Yup." Paninya said as if practically ripping off a stranger's shirt was the most normal thing in the world.
Paninya moved out of the way so that she could allow the others to come inside. The inside of the building looked like any other mechanics shop, reeking of oil and sweat.
"Hey! Dominic! Winry's here! She wants to ask you something!"
"Winry?" said a voice from another room.
There was another clang of metal on metal followed by heavy footsteps and low grumbles. In another doorway appeared a muscular, middle-aged man.
"What do you want?" Dominic grunted.
"Um, I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Winry said with a small smile.
"What kind of favor are you asking for?"
"A van." Winry answered boldly. "I just need to borrow one for a few days. A week or two max."
"Hmm…why do you need one?" Dominic asked, eyeing all of the teenagers that stood behind Winry. "What's wrong with that truck I gave you?"
"Oh my trucks fine! And thank you again for giving it to me. But we need to get to Florida once school's out. And none of us have a car that can hold all of us so I was wondering if you could-."
"You were wondering if I'd stick my neck out for you again on such short notice even though you are well aware of how busy I am. Is that what you were wondering?"
Oh my God this guys gonna kill us! Ed couldn't help but think as he exchanged nervous glances with his friends who all looked extremely scared.
"Yes. I'm sorry but it's really important. My friend Ed here-," Winry turned around and pulled Ed out from the group of friends, much to his displeasure, "he really, really needs to get to Florida. I can't wait. Say hi Ed."
Ed opened his mouth to say hello to the man, but nothing came out of his mouth. Instead he waved his hand at the man, something he regretted the second after he had done it.
"Automail…so this is that kid you helped out?"
"Yes sir."
"Let me take a look at it." Dominic growled, sending chills up Ed's spin.
After a hard shove on the shoulder blades from Winry, Ed stumbled forward and allowed the large man to inspect his arm and poke slightly at his leg.
"So you need a van?"
"Yes, if you can."
"I can. Follow me."
They passed by several rooms as they followed Dominic, all containing machinery and mechanics would were working too hard to pay attention to them. Finally, they reached a door that lead to the outside and went through it.
It appeared to be a large junk yard. Several skeletons of cars lay here and there along with piles and piles of oily machinery parts. They weaved in and out of the piles until they finally stopped in front of several beat up cars.
"Here." Dominic said while motioned to an old red van. "Will this do?"
Winry walked forward and began inspecting the van. She opened up the rusty door and began crawling around the seats.
"Could we take it today?" she asked from inside the van.
"Not today. We're still working on the engine but it should be done in a few days. When do you need it?"
"Oh, in a week."
"It'll be done by then."
"Well this is perfect! It looks like it could hold ten people."
"Yup. So does anyone want to buy it or are you runts just borrowing it?"
"Hmm…" Winry mumbled as she hopped out of the van. "How much would you really want for it?"
"One…two-hundred for it. We weren't really going to do much with it. Just seemed a damn near shame to leave it lying here."
"We might buy it. But should I come back to get it once it's done?"
"You said your Gran's out of town for the weekend?"
"Yes."
"Well then I'll drop it off at your place once it's done."
"Well thank you very much Dominic."
"Yeah, yeah. Just try not to bring so many runts the next time you decide stop by."
"Right, bye then."
"Where did you meet that guy?" Jean asked once they were back in the parking lot.
"He was an old buddy of my Granny."
"Well he's a fucking psycho." Roy said with a small shudder as he unlocked his car.
"No he isn't. He's just a little…scary looking. But really he's a very nice man once you get to know him. You should see him when he's with his grandson. Completely different person."
"Well I'll take your word for it."
It was almost morning. The sun was beginning to shine across the city, turning the sky a beautiful orange-pink color. After a long night of thinking and planning and more planning, everyone had been tiered out and collapsed an hour or so ago. And yet, Ed now found himself sitting out on Winry's balcony, staring out into the morning sun, completely awake.
All the talk of planning to go find his brother had given him an energy boost that kept him awake far longer than his body thought capable. Once most of the trip was planned out, Ed wanted to get into a car and drive there, not caring the slightest that there was still another week of school left.
Seven days. I can't wait that long! I'll go crazy by then. Why can't I just skip those days? It's not like we do anything during that time accept waste money on electricity and water.
"Seven days…" Ed repeated to himself.
It would be the longest seven days of his entire life.
Seven days left.
Edward left Winry's house later that day, around the same time that school got, feeling excited but extremely annoyed at the same time. He would have to do as Winry said before and just deal with it. But how the Hell could he? How the Hell could anyone relax when they knew that there was a sibling out there, knew where they were, and had to wait a week until they could leave? It was insanity!
"Brother!" Kyle exclaimed when Ed entered through the front door.
"Hey Kyle."
"Where have you been?" Sammy asked as she rushed forward to hug Ed.
"Sorry, I was out."
"I haven't seen you since you left for school yesterday! I tried to call your cell phone but you wouldn't pick up! Why didn't you answer your phone? We were all worried sick!" Sammy admonished Ed as she tightened her grip around his abdomen.
"Geez let him breath Sammy." Terry said.
"I can't let him breathe until he fessed up and told us exactly where he's been! Where have you been?"
"Sorry." Ed said sheepishly. "I was out with my friends. We were doing some important things and well…I had to put all of my focus on it. Sorry."
"So you were so focused you couldn't take thirty second to call and say you weren't going to be home?"
"Ya'know Sammy, You should really start acting like your age." Terry said as he flopped down onto the couch. "I think you would find it rather pleasant."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint but I can't when I have to look after you three! If it weren't for me, you boys would be living in gigantic pigsties and living off of hotdogs and crackers!"
"What's wrong with that?" Kyle asked innocently. "I like hot dogs."
"What's wrong with that is-!"
Sammy," Ed said, cutting her off mid-rant, "I'm sorry I couldn't call you guys."
"Well can you at least tell us why you were so busy?"
Ed stared down at the three kids. Should he tell them? What was he going to say when he randomly left for a week or two?
"Uh, yeah…I guess I'll have to." Ed muttered, causing the others to stare at him, confused.
"So what's the reason?" Terry asked.
"Well you see…you know how I'm practically a brother to you guys?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it turns out that I'm…"
"You're what?"
"It turns out that I'm actually someone's brother. Blood and all."
"What?!"
"Really?! Oh that's so cool!"
"I wish I had a real sibling! You're so lucky Eddy!"
Ed stared at the cluster of kids who now stood as close to him as possible while they fired question after question at him, a completely different reaction from what he got from his friends.
"Uh yeah." Ed said as he tried to stop their excited flow of questions. "But here's the thing. He lives all the way down in Florida-,"
"Whoa, Florida!"
"-and so I have to go drive down there and find him. But that could take a few days or maybe a week so once school's out, I'll have to go."
"So you'll be gone?"
"Not for too long but, just a heads up. I promise I'll be back though. Not longer than a week. If I am going to have to take longer than that, then promise I'll call you guys."
"Okay."
"Are you gonna leave the day school's out?"
"Who's going with you?"
"Can we go too?"
"Why can't we go too?"
"Will Kimblee let you go?"
"Are you going to ask him if you can?"
"Don't be thick Kyle, of course he isn't. That bastard would never-."
"Watch your language Terry!"
"Oh relax Sam, he's not here."
"Well you still shouldn't say that."
"Why not? Even you say it."
"Yes but it's still bad."
"So what? Kimblee's a bastard and everyone knows it."
"Eddy, when you go, come back as soon as you can, okay?"
"Yeah, please don't leave us alone for a long time. I don't want to be stuck here with Kimblee."
"Forget about Kimblee, what's brother like?"
"Yeah! Is he like you?"
"Does he know you're coming to see him?"
"What's his name?"
"Do you have a picture of him?"
"Do you know where he lives?"
"How old is he?"
"Is he older or younger than you?"
"Eddy! Speak up! Just answer our questions already! You're driving us insane!"
Okay relax, relax. I'll answer all of you're questions if you give me a minute to breath."
"You promise?"
"Yes, now let's go upstairs to talk."
"Okay!"
"Hey Eddy, when you find him, can he come and visit us?! Want to meet him!"
"Forget visit, do you think he can move in with us?"
"Why would he want to move in here?"
"Well then maybe he can move in somewhere close to here!"
"Wouldn't that be fun Eddy? To have your brother living right here? That would be fun!"
Ed let out a small sigh as he sat down on his mattress while the Sammy, Terry, and Kyle continued to babble away question after question. This week would defiantly be a long one, but thinking about the kids and how he would miss them, Ed thought that a week to wait wasn't as bad as he originally thought.
(1) Awesome book by the amazing, Nerd-Fighting John Green.
(2) Awesome author.
(3) Seriously, go read it. Now.
(4) The people from Rush Valley.
So, what did you think? Since Reviews are like drugs, I say you should give me tons and tons of reviews so that I can get over my cold and finally enjoy my Spring Break before it's over! :P
-FSK