Chapter 5—Twintles

Two small children sat next to a lake in the desert. The oasis was large, but the children were the only people there. One was reading aloud from a book, and the other seemed ready to rip it out of his hands.

"A man who has been wandering the desert for a few weeks and suddenly happens upon an oasis with a large amount of water has two choices: drink slowly or quickly. For health reasons it is prudent for the man to drink slowly. If he drinks too much water too soon, he will find himself prostrated on the ground with an atrocious stomach ache. For psychological reasons, however, the man may prefer to drink quickly. And so begins the struggle between body and mind—his psyche has had a grueling time trying to keep straight reality from mirage, but if he drinks as much as he would like his body will rebel against him and he will feel almost as ill as he had the past few weeks. In a situation like this, it becomes clear if a man values his body or his mind more. A man who feels his body is more important will, of course, drink slowly whereas a man who has given his mind top priority will probably--"

"Al, shut up. We've been wandering in this desert for days and I refuse to listen to any more of your stupid book's advice about what someone should do when they find an oasis. Just let me at the water."

"But Winry, we can't! We must consider the consequences of our actions! If we drink too quickly we might get sick--!"

Winry threw up her hands in frustration. "Al, I don't care! Honestly!"

"…and then we wouldn't be able to look for Ed."

The blonde girl was silent for a moment and fingered the large wrench at her waist.

Sniff.

"Al, don't cry."

"…."

"Aw, jeez, Al. I'm sorry! Is that okay?!"

Al wiped his nose on his sleeve before turning back to his book. "…I just think we should think about drinking before we drink."

"Well hurry up and think so we can drink it and get a move on."

"Well…which would you rather gratify—your mind or your body?"

"Al…"

"Answer the question, Winry."

"Come on, Al! Isn't there a way you can gratify both?"

"I don't know. I bet Ed would."

"But he's not here. Doesn't your book say something?"

"The book doesn't say. Wait—here's something. 'Gratifying both body and mind would be ideal, but unfortunately—.'"

"That doesn't sound good." Al looked up at Winry's comment and glared at her. He cleared his throat.

"—'unfortunately the way to gratify both body and mind has yet to be determined. A few methods have been researched, but so far they are inconclusive and'—," Al stopped as he turned the page.

Al's finger slowly moved to the side of the page. He lowered his head and choked out a laugh. Winry watched as he turned the book so she could see what amused him.

She leaned forward and squinted in order to read the words scrawled in the margin.

Water fight!!

Winry smiled. "Well, Al, I suggest we take Ed's advice and gratify both our bodies and minds."

Al grinned back, his eyes sparkling. He jumped up and his book fell to the ground, leaving more of Ed's note revealed.

Just as long as I win!

Ed was currently taking his own advice, but it was not water that he had found. It was a silvery powder that liked to wrap itself around his ankles. He was throwing it above his head, spinning around, and transmuting things into sculptures and back again. Oh, yes, he was gratifying both his body and his mind—but probably more his mind.

Ed had started simple—really, he had. Just a miniature wooden horse protruding from the top of the lab bench. Just something to prove the dust he had poured on his hands actually was able to induce the power of alchemy. But when it actually worked, when his powdery hands had glowed blue and lightning bolts had covered the lab bench, he had gone a little crazy and decided to try to see what he could do.

He could do a lot. He drew circle after circle and transmuted the floor of the lab into a gigantic pillar, the lab bench into a life-size sculpture of Al's armor, his automail into a sword, and many, many other various things, like trying his hand at turning lead into gold. He had stopped drawing circles and now was just clapping his hands to transmutate materials.

The silver dust intertwined itself around Ed, covering his arms and legs and face until he looked more like a ghost than anything else. Ed didn't care. This was his miracle. Somehow, in this alchemy-less world he had managed to find something that could give him his power back. Ed could not contain his happiness!

So it continued for a few minutes. It wasn't until he felt a timid hand on his arm that Ed remembered Luna. It was then that he also realized he had been laughing maniacally. He quickly silenced his laughter and turned to face her. She was looking at him with a mixture of fear, awe, and determination.

"I think," said Luna in a shaky voice, "that you owe me an explanation."

Ed stood motionless for a moment. Then he turned away and scooped up the rest of the silvery powder into a jar. Screwing the lid shut, he noticed that the powder was traveling across his body to create a glove-like form on his hands. He smiled, pocketed the jar, and turned to face Luna. He took a deep breath.

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to tell you a story."

"What kind of a story?"

"A true one."

Luna stared down at Ed's hands. "Are you one of the characters?"

Ed gave a grim smile. "Unfortunately, yes. Would you like to hear it?"

Luna grabbed his elbow and started to pull him towards the door. "Yes, but first let's get back to the clubhouse. I don't like it in here."

When they had levitated out of the stump, Ed was able to survey the damage he had done. He had almost destroyed the roof of the lab with his giant pillar. He was about to fix it, but Luna stopped him. "You can do that later. I need an explanation now." She stopped, sat on the ground, and looked expectantly at him.

"I thought we needed to get to the clubhouse."

"This is far enough. I want you to tell me what just happened."

Ed sighed. "Alright." He sat down next to her and pulled out his pocket watch. He hesitated, and then opened it. Don't forget 3. Oct. 10. "You know that story you started? The one about the man from Amestris who didn't think the Law of Equivalent Exchange was fair and tried to make it to this world?" Luna nodded. "Well, my story is kind of like that."

Luna's eyes widened and she leaned in, eager to hear more.

Ed drew in another breath. "Okay.

"You already know about the Law, so I'm not going to explain it to you. That is fundamental to this story. The Law governs everything in Amestris, not like you have it here. My story is one about a pair of brothers that tried to do that which is forbidden in alchemy….

Ed twirled a piece of grass around his finger. The night was winding down, but the sky was still dark. He had finished telling Luna his story, and she had told him that she was thinking, so he was to remain as silent as a Kreewee. What ever that was. Occasionally she would ask a question, and then go back to thinking. She had been silent for a few minutes now, and Ed thought her thinking must nearly be done.

"So," said Luna, startling Ed from his stupor, "is it possible for my mother to come back? Could she be restored to how she used to be?"

Ed thought he should have seen that question coming. He looked Luna straight in her big eyes. "No."

"But you came here to bring your brother back."

"Not my brother—my brother's body. I was able to save his soul the first time. The Gate doesn't give back souls. There is nothing that could be equivalent."

Luna looked disappointed, but also as though she had been expecting the answer. Now it was her turn to play with the grass.

They both heard the twig snap and muffled curse at the same time. Ed brought his hands up and whirled to face the noise while Luna pulled out her wand equally fast.

"Who's there?" called Ed.

No one answered. Luna's wand glowed and she raised it to reveal a group of people huddled together on the other side of the clearing. Luna smiled and lowered her wand slightly.

"Mr. Weasley! It's nice to see you again! And Harry! Ron! Ginny! Charlie! I didn't know you were home from Romania yet."

The group moved closer, traveling on the outer edge of the clearing—as far from the gaping hole the pillar was coming out of as possible. Ed was gradually able to get a better view of the group. He recognized the red-haired man—Mr. Weasley. Then the three red-haired people must be his children. And then there was a boy with messy black hair and glasses. The boy was looking at Ed with great suspicion, so Ed decided to ignore him.

"Luna? Is that you?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Of course it is," said Luna. "Unless some Glooveparidian had come and copied me down to the mole on my left pinky toe and taken my place." She paused, looking thoughtful, then turned to Ed while leaning down to untie her left boot. "Ed, you check."

Ed recoiled at the thought. "Please, Luna, keep your boot on!"

Mr. Weasley seemed to have noticed him for the first time. "You're the muggle boy that I met earlier!"

Ten points to the balding red-head! thought Ed, but out loud he said, "Yup."

The rest of the group seemed to take a greater interest in him at that, but Mr. Weasley turned his attention back to Luna. "Luna, what have you been doing out here? I thought I told you to keep him from learning anything more about magic! It's going to be more difficult to Obliviate him once we get authorization!"

Luna glanced at Ed. "I haven't told him anything about magic. We were just telling stories."

Mr. Weasley waved his arms in the pillar's direction. "Did you need props? Light effects? We could see everything from my house! Showing him magic is the same as telling him!"

Ed didn't like seeing Luna get in trouble on account of his actions, but there was nothing he could do without revealing to this man that he was from a different universe. Luna seemed to be aware that he didn't want to be found out, and for that he was grateful, but he wanted to try to see if he could take the blame off her a little. He put on an expression that he decided might look a little angelic.

"I'm sorry, Mr…um…Weasley. It's my fault. I was so…um…confused about the whole magic thing that I…uh…ran of into the woods! and…um…Luna ran after me because there are terrible things in here like…um…Ferrous Molkenbloders and…uh…Black Knee-skinning Beetles and…um…Grunbludge Trees that will rip your heads off and lots of other things, so…um…yeah." Ed glanced at Luna. She winked at him and started nodding in agreement. He continued. "So...um…she was telling me a story to help me feel better because I was…um…you know…scared…but I think things got a little out of hand. I'm very sorry."

Ed decided that, in the face of five possible hostile wizards, he wasn't a very good liar, but Mr. Weasley seemed to think it a suitable explanation. He sighed and looked from Luna to Ed. "Don't let it happen again, please."

"We won't," said the two together. They shared a glance.

Mr. Weasley turned to one of his companions. "Charlie, would you go back to the Burrow and tell your mother that we've handled the situation, and that there will be a few more for breakfast? And send Errol over to the Lovegood's to tell Mr. Lovegood that Luna and his—guest—will be at our house." The stocky red-haired man nodded and disappeared with a loud crack. Ed stared. The taller red head laughed at his expression.

"It's called Apparating, mate. It's how wizards get from place to place."

"Ron!" scolded his brown-haired companion. "Your father just told Luna not to tell him anything else about magic! That means you too!"

The one called Ron looked sheepishly down at her. "Aw, come on Hermione! If he's coming for breakfast, I don't understand why we can't tell him things. Apparating's how we're going to get to the Burrow, anyway. I'm Ron Weasley, by the way," he said to Ed.

The brown-haired girl walked forward and stuck out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger."

Ed shook her hand. "I'm Ed Elric."

"And he's Harry Potter!" breathed Luna into Ed's ear. It scared him quite a lot, and he jumped. Ed looked at the black-haired boy. He seemed sullen and a little distempered, and a little irked that Luna had introduced him, but he stuck out his hand just the same.

"Well, now that we've made introductions, shall we get going?" interrupted Mr. Weasley. "We might be able to get a few more hours of sleep before breakfast is on the table."

Ron yawned. "I could use a few. How're we going to go?"

"I think I should take Ed. The rest of you should be able to Apparate there on you own."

"I don't think we should Apparate there, Mr. Weasley," came a dreamy voice from behind Ed. Luna was watching Harry with a small smile on her face. She turned to look at Mr. Weasley and her face turned serious. "My mother always told me that when you Apparate you might disrupt the sleep of the Twintles that live in the darkness between Here and There." Her eyes grew wider. "Then they'll grab you when you're half way through and hold you there captive unless you can supply them with a lifetime supply of hair from a Seltniwt. Which, as everyone knows, is very hard to find," she finished.

Mr. Weasley looked as though he was trying very hard not to tell her that she was very mistaken and that there were no such things as Twintles, and how could Seltniwts have hair if they didn't exist in the first place. He gained composure and turned to his companions. "I suppose we'll have to walk, then."

Ron groaned and Hermione and Harry sighed. "So much for a few extra hours," muttered Ron as they shuffled toward Mr. Weasley. Hermione detoured to Ed and bent over to whisper to him.

"Ed, you really shouldn't believe everything Luna tells you." She glanced toward the topic of her discussion, who was currently picking a scab on her left elbow. "She's grown up believing the most ridiculous things and she parrots them like they're fact. Please be careful what you believe that she says." Hermione smiled at him and retook her place beside Ron.

Ed glanced over at Luna. She looked up and smiled brightly. I think I can choose who I want to believe, thought Ed. She's gotten pretty much everything right so far. And she doesn't talk badly about people. Except that Ministry thing. She really doesn't like that.

The group followed Mr. Weasley from the clearing. Ed and Luna took up the rear, but that didn't stop Ed from hearing Mr. Weasley mutter to himself,

"What kind of spell makes a giant pillar grow out of the ground?"

Ed smiled as Luna grabbed his non-metallic hand and stood on her tip-toes to whisper in his ear, "Alchemy, that's what." She tightened her grip. "But it's a secret." She smiled.

Ed bent slightly to whisper back. "A secret between friends."

Luna's smile grew wider until the corners of her mouth almost reached her ears and her eyes scrunched. Ed kept hold of her hand as they made their way slowly through the marsh. His powder-covered hands glowed slightly blue as the sky grew lighter. He smiled.

Maybe this world isn't all that bad.

Chapter five!! I got stuck at the beginning of this one. I couldn't figure out how to start. I've heard somewhere that if you change characters or points of view or something then it can help, so I tried that. I might end up deleting that part because it really does nothing for the story line and really has nothing to do with anything, but I needed it to help start me writing. I kept it in because I couldn't think of anyway else to start.

I have realized that when you add more characters it gets more difficult to write them all uniquely. Especially characters that people know as well as the Trio. Oh well. I'll get rid of them soon enough. heehee...

No, really. This story is about Ed and Luna, not anybody else. I may add Winry and Al in later, but it's mostly Ed and Luna. Yay! I wasn't able to show Luna's kookiness in this one, but I think the progression of their friendship was pretty good. Jeez, it feels like I'm reviewing my own story! That's for you guys to do!

Thanks so much for reading!

churu

PS. I just finished reading Fablehaven. Awesome book! I highly recommend it.