DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross, Sheska, etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Shukaku © Masashi Kishimoto / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

Italics - thoughts

bold italics: - jutsu

Ch 14: Don't Dream It's Over

"Is she not here?" Brosh questioned, after having knocked on the door several times without a response.

Ed peered through a crack between the door and the wall. "The lights are on inside. Let's open it."

"No, you mustn't!" Lieutenant Ross blurted out, but the young state alchemist opened the door anyways. Doing so revealed a house filled to the brim with books.

"What are these mountains of books?!"

The sergeant was stupefied. "Does someone really live here?"

"Oi, Sheska!" I shouted. "Sheska?!"

A muffled "Help me!" came from under a pile of books somewhere in the vicinity, and I waded my way over to where I thought the bookworm's voice was coming from. I clapped my hands together in order to uncover Sheska by using alchemy, but she was extremely protective of her books. "Don't you DARE transmute my babies!"

"If you have enough air to yell like that, you're fine. I don't have to dig you out if I don't want to." I teased.

"Marina, when I get out of here, you and I are going to have a long talk."

"Yeah, yeah, but I have to get you out first."

The rest of the gang had inched over while I was talking with the former librarian, and Ed and Al started moving some texts around. "Don't worry, I've got it under control," I said.

"Sheska-san won't let you perform alchemy, so how are you going to dig her out by yourself?" the blond demanded.

"You'll see." I grinned and formed a cross-like seal with my hands. KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! Once the giant cloud of smoke had dissipated, Ed saw seven Marinas in various places around the house.

His jaw dropped to the floor. "What the hell?!" While Ed was busy gawking, I gave my clones the go-ahead to begin liberating Sheska from her papery prison. Within minutes, she was free, and my clones vanished in 7 puffs of smoke shortly thereafter.

"Thank you so much! I accidentally knocked over one of my book stacks." She pointed an accusatory index finger at me. "You went and disappeared for a couple of days! Where were you?!"

"I was in the countryside with these two." I motioned in the Elric brothers' general direction. "Anyways, I––Ok, well, we––came here to ask if you saw anything written by a Tim Marco while you were working at First Branch."

"I think it's a really thick, hand-written research report," Ed added.

Sheska racked her brains for anything that remotely resembled Ed's description. "A really thick, hand-written research report......Tim Marco?" Suddenly, I saw the proverbial light bulb appear above her head. "Oh! Yes, I remember; handwritten, and on top of that, it was violently shoved onto a bookshelf of a different field."

A collective gasp was drawn. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. I remember all the books in the First Branch."

Ed's jaw dropped once more. "It really WAS there! Meaning, of course, that it was completely burned up after all." Both brothers started to exude doom-and-gloom.

"Did you want to read that manuscript?"

"That's right, but it was burned........" The blond began to exit the house.

Al was as polite as ever. "Thank you, and please pardon the intrusion."

"But I remember all of its contents....."

Ed and Al froze in their tracks for a moment, and shot back inside the house. "HUH?!"

"No––I mean––I remember all the contents of any book that I've read once. It'll take about four days, but shall I duplicate it?"

"THANK YOU BOOKWORM!!!"

I'm a worm? "Though I'm holding Marina hostage for that period of time."

"What?! Why?"

"I can't rewrite an entire manuscript all by my lonesome now can I?"

".............."

I gave my boyfriend a smooch. "It'll be fine. You can live without me for four days, right?"

"...................Right." He pouted and resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to see me at all for the next four days.

"I'll call you when we're done, OK?" I pushed Ed and Al out of Sheska's house, our escorts not far behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Four days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thanks for waiting! There was a lot to write, so that's why it took so long." Sheska and I proudly showed off the results of our work; a table piled high with typed reams of paper.

Ed stared at it. "This is Marco-san's research report? Are you guys sure?"

"Yep! It's Tim Marco's 1000 meals for daily living."

"Huh?" Ed, Al, Ross, and Brosh were flabbergasted.

Lieutenant Ross picked up a ream and began reading the first few lines out loud. "To a tablespoon of sugar, add a small amount of water..........It really is 1000 meals for daily living."

"Marina-chan, are you ABSOLUTELY positive this is what Marco wrote, word for word?"

"Yes, 150 percent positive."

"........You can't be more than one hundred percent positive, Marina."

"I can if I want to be." I stuck my tongue out at Ed.

"Anyways, thank you Sheska. All right, let's get these to the Central Library." The short blond looked at me, the replicated research document, and back at me.

"...........I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no."

"Awwwww, why not?"

"Because I'm plumb out of chakra, and Shukaku is too darn lazy. That's why not."

Ed kissed me gently. "Please?"

"No!"

"PLEASE???"

"I said no! Geez!" I returned the kiss and nudged him in the stomach with my elbow.

"Oh, a thank you, a thank you........" He retrieved a small notebook from his coat pocket, wrote a couple lines, and tore out the page concerned.

Looking over his shoulder, I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to give her that much?!"

"With the state alchemist organization paying me, I earn way more money than I can spend. Lieutenant Ross, this is my registry code and my silver watch as proof of my status." The female officer was given the watch and torn piece of paper............which were then entrusted to the Sergeant. "Withdraw that much from my yearly budget and hand it over to Sheska." Ed walked out, laden with typed reams of paper.

"It'll be fine if I go to the State Alchemists' office in the presidential prefecture, right?"

"That's right! Well then!" Ed waved good-bye and he, Al, and I took the manuscript to the Central Library.

"What's he planning to do with those books?" Brosh decided to see what his charge wrote down, and Sheska peered over his shoulder. "From research expenses........."

The bookworm freaked out at what she read. "What's with this amount of money?! To give up this sum just like that.........What kind of kid is he?!"