Chapter 9: Hot Spring: Hiking?
"So…. Why did you come here in the first place?" Ed asked.
"My question exactly." Roy pointed out.
Haruhi joined the conversation. "This is your Brother? But so much bigger then-"
"SAY IT! I DARE YOU" Ed interjected.
Everyone was looking at Alphonse, trying to find out all they could about his odd appearance. "Well" Al began, "I wanted to come here and see my brother, so I caught the first train, but the train was hijacked! By a bunch of thugs! I was able to stop the train and evacuate all the passengers. But they imploded the train with some dynamite, so the train wouldn't go any farther, obviously. I needed more money to get to Tokyo, so I got a job here. But it would have taken months to get enough, but I just had to get the money, because….because…. OH BROTHER!"
If suits of armor could cry tears of joy, that is what you would have seen Al doing as he clung on to his brother. "THAT'S ENOUGH!"
"Alphonse, I told you to stay in the city! If you are seen here, then it will only increase the chance's of the-" Roy stopped him self, glancing at the other people in the room.
Suddenly, Haruhi ran out of the room saying nothing but: "I have a brilliant idea!" That's when Yuki thought it was a good idea to get up and pull of Alphonse's helmet. Everyone jumped up, half of them were in shock, the other was,,, well in shock of a different sort. "Yuki!" Edward yanked the helmet out of her hand and placed it back on Al. "What are you thinking? What if someone sees!"
"Relax, no one else is here except us," Koizumi pointed out, "I can see now that your story is true, and you really didn't transmute your mother." A deadly silence filled the room once again. "But there is one more thing I need to know, I need to know if you can use Alchemy, I must be sure of this." Koizumi tightened the grip on his mug. why does he need to know that?
"Well…" Edward glanced around nervously, as if someone was watching they from the shadows. "Okay, but, I got one rule, you and Mikuru have to tell me what you are, and what Haruhi is as well." Everyone tensed. How did he find out? Kyon asked in his head. He's more cunning then he appears.
"So," Edward gave a darkish smile. "You do have something to hind. Let me guess, your not entirely human, like Yuki."
Koizumi smiled weakly, "You really are a odd one, to have picked up on us so quickly. Well you're correct, I might as well start us off. I'm what you would call an Esper."
"An Esper," Mustang said, getting interested, "You mean a psychic,"
"Somewhat, yes. An esper has many abilities that a normal human who not have. But my powers can not be activated right now. As for Miss Suzumiya, she has a certain…. Power.
"What kind of power?" Al asked, helping Mikuru make more tea.
"She…. Let me give and example. If Haruhi were to some how get upset about something. The pressure of he emotions would build until it creates a monster."
"A monster." Ed's voice shook a little as he said this.
"Yes, but it isn't created in this dimension, it is created in a similar version of this world. This world was created by Haruhi's imagination and is built just the way she wants it. That's were I come in, I have the ability to travel to this dimension and destroy the monster, before it can destroy this world as well as the other."
Edward took a moment to take it all in, what is she, some sort of god? After a few minutes, he turned to Mikuru, "And what about you? Don't you have some sort of connection to all this."
Mikuru looked up, startling Ed with he stern and serious expression. "I am what you would call a time traveler."
"Does that mean you can go to the future, and back again?" Alphonse asked, really getting interested now.
"Yes, in fact, I am originally from the future, and I was sent here to observe Miss Suzumiya. You see, a some time ago, it was confirmed that a time rift had been caused by her, so I have to observer her to make sure that this would never happen again. I have to keep everything else I know a secret, so that it will not endanger the operation, so please, no more questions." with that Mikuru glanced up at Edward, to see how he would react. Edward was staring down at the floor with wide eyes.
Time travel! Does that mean that she can travel back in time. I could stop myself from performing human transmutation. Hell, I could stop my father from ever leaving! None of this would ever have had to happen! I would-
He looked around the room. He remembered all the people he had meet, and all the adventures they had had. He remember something that he and Al had told each other one day on the train. This is our burden to bare. Edward smiled to himself at how childish he had been thinking, that everything would go away with one trip to the past. Al was right, this our burden to bare, and I will right are wrongs without any help from anyone but ourselves, were all we've got, and were all we need.
Ed gave a weak smile. "Alright, I guess it's my turn." he stood up and got a lamp from a side table. Before anyone could figure out what he was doing, he smashed it upon the ground with a loud crash. "What are you doing!" Kyon cried, they were already going to have to pay a fortune for everything else Ed had broken. "Calm down and watch," Edward clapped his hands together and put them in the middle of the pile of glass. The blue electric light of Alchemy eliminated the room. The SOS Brigade gasped as the light faded away and with a small boom, the lamp was good as new. Edward smiled with pride as he marveled over his accomplishment. "So, what do ya think?" Edward held up the fixed lamp to everyone.
Mikuru giggled happily and clapped her hands together. "That was incredible. Amazing!"
"Good show, good shoe." Koizumi clapped with that weird smile on his face. Kyon just stared at the lamp with shock, he was a regular human, remember, still discovering this stuff.. "H-How did you do that?"
"It's very basic." Alphonse told him. "Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return; to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That's the law of equivalent exchange."
Edward placed the lamp back on the table and plugged it in. It illuminated the corner of the room with a bright light. "Alchemy is basically the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter into the form that you choose."
"HUH?" The members of SOS Brigade were still confused, but they decided not to get to much more into it because at that moment, Haruhi barged into the room. "Alright everybody, we're going on a hike!" She held up a thumb of approval to herself. Mustang laid back. "You kids have fun with that."
"DON'T LEAVE US ALONE WITH HER!" They all shouted in terror.
"COME ONE ALREADY!" Haruhi walked over to Edward. "Come on Edo-Chan."
"I told you to not call me- Ahh!" Haruhi hosed him over her shoulder once again and walked out the door, everyone else following behind her.
"HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PUT ME DOWN! ISN'T THE POINT ON A HIKE TO WALK! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" (remember when I said he was getting used to being carried, yeah, he was just glad the colonel got kicked in the face.)
They were all standing outside and ready to follow Haruhi wherever she wanted them to go. Winry, Alphonse, Kyon, Yuki, Mikuru, Koizumi, and Edward were all coming along with Haruhi. "Now then, are first stop is an old temple. Follow me."
As they walked, Haruhi had plenty of questions for the Elric brothers. "So, how come you were that armor?"
Edward and Alphonse froze, looked at each other and back to Haruhi. "It's a hobby." They knew that if they told Haruhi the truth, she would get all sorts of evil ideas. "Oh, so, why is Edward's arm and leg covered in metal?"
"Ah! Um- another hobby." Edward involuntarily pulled on his shirt sleeve, as if the world could see his secret.
"Ah, so what about your father, you must look so much like him, Edo-chan."
"WHAT? NO! I DON"T!" Everyone looked at Edward with confusion. Saying you look like a family member is usually a compliment. But saying you look like your arch nemesis, is usually not a compliment.
"Um….okay, oh! We're here." Sure enough, they stood at the bottom of a long stair case. At the bottom stood a lady in a winter kimono. "Welcome, you can go to the top and see the temple, it's quite a sight."
Edward had never seen a Japanese temple before and was about to start climbing when Yuki grabbed his arm. Ed turned to look at her "Lets climb together." she said a little bit shyly. Edward smiled and held her hand in his and they started to climb. Everyone smiled as if they were watching a romance movie. But Winry glared at Yuki's back, she didn't know why she was so upset, but she knew she didn't like the way Edward looked at Yuki. "Ah, young love." The lady in the Kimono said. "They say these are the stairs of marriage, and if a boy and a girl walk up together, they are sure to get engaged."
Everyone jumped as Wirny let out a howl of rage and ran up to Ed and started pulling him away from Yuki, but Yuki had a strong grip. "OW! WHAT ARE YOU TO DOING LET GO! MY ARMS ARE GONNA FALL OFF. HEY!"
After the fiasco of climbing the stairs, Winry and Yuki had finally pulled poor Edward up all the stairs at the same rate. But as soon as everyone was up the stairs, and after everyone had a good look at the temple, the lady in the Kimono said that if you walk up and down the stairs together, you would have healthy children. Edward, hearing this, slid down the pole in the middle of the stairs before Yuki or Winry could grab him.
"Alright!" Haruhi called to everyone as they reached the bottom of the steps. "Are next stop is a special tree that is said to tell your future through messages left in the tree. Off we go!" So they headed to the tree, taking time to talk with each other. Walking in the back of the group was Winry and Yuki, they were trying there best to ignore each other. Winry glanced over at Yuki, she was holding the Kappa plushie. "That quite a doll." Winry attempted to make peace. "Were did you get it?"
"Edward-Chan got it for me." This made Winry even angrier at her. Yuki glanced at Winry, she was holding a large wrench in her hand. "A nice tool, were did you get it." Yuki tried to make peace as well. "Edward gave it to me." This didn't exactly make Yuki angry, but a flash of irritation passed through her mind. They decided that neither of them would want to talk to each other, so the merely stared at Edward's back. Edward, in the mean time, was happily catching up with his younger brother.
"So Al, is there any news about the homunculi, or the philosopher's stone, or anything?" Edward was hoping for big news, he felt like he had been away for years.
"nothing besides what I've already told you about. Everything seems to be getting back to normal, you might get to go back to central soon."
"Really, that's great, I've been dying to get my hands on a good book on Alchemy ever since I got here."
"Oh, I almost forgot! Here." Al handed Edward a brown text book, it read "Alchemy's science of life."
Edward gave his brother a giant hug, tears of joy in his eyes. "Thanks Al, you're a life saver!"
"I wouldn't say that." Al said bashfully Edward automatically opened the book, only to have it snatched away by none other than Haruhi. "What is this garbage?" she said as she flipped threw the pages not even bothering to read it.
"Suzumiya! Give that back!" Edward tried to snatch the book away but Haruhi was too fast, she raised the above the stretch of Edward's arm.
"Damn it, Haruhi! Why do you constantly try to irritate me? Give the book back!"
"No way squirt, this is a hike, not a reading section, I'm not giving it to you till were back at the hot spring."
"ARRRGG!"
"Okay! Here we are!" Haruhi announced.
They stood at the top of the mountain. They gazed with amazement at the glorious sunset that they saw. "WOW." Edward whispered. The rest of the hikers were probably thinking the same thing. It was a mixture of pink and orange that collided at the center to create a magnificent splash of color around the edges of what was left of the bright, burning sun. It was truly a moment for a perfect picture. Maybe Haruhi was for once a good tour guide.
"What are you all looking at?" Haruhi blocked the view of the sunset with her hands on her hips. "Your suppose to be looking at that." Everyone turned to the direction she pointed in. "AAHH!" Edward yelped and hid behind Alphonse. The rest of the hikers were probably thinking the same thing. It was a large creepy looking house with a dark shadow looming over it. There were cracked and broken windows, rusty metal hinges, and lots of dark vines growing on the inside. "Haruhi!" Kyon glared at her. "What do you expect us to do with this old house?"
"Were going to investigate it silly. It is the job of the SOS Brigade to discover the secret of this house."
"How do you even know there is a secret?" Edward demanded.
"Because the lady who runs the hot spring said that a family use to live up here until one day they vanished. Poof! I want to find out what caused it."
"Um… I'll stay out here…" Alphonse shuffled away from the house, shaking slightly. "What? You're not scared are you?" Ed smiled evilly at his younger brother. "Of course not!" Alphonse defended. "I mean if I went in… who would protect Miss Mikuru?" Alphonse put a protective hand on Mikuru's shoulder. "I-I mean, s-she doesn't look like she wants to go in either"
"Yes," Mikuru said glancing nervously at the house. "I much rather stay out here with Mr. Alphonse, if that's okay."
"Pff." Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Okay, it's time to choose teams," she held out her hand, it had six sticks in it. "You get into Teams based on what color you get." Haruhi pulled out a stick, it was red. Kozumi pulled out a stick, it was green. Kyon pulled out a stick, it was red. (This made Haruhi smile widely.) This was it. Winry and Yuki looked at each other with fire in there eyes. Time to see who would be in a team with Edward. They both grabbed a random stick and pulled it out. Yuki: Blue. Winry: Blue.
Edward: Green. "What the Hell? How did this happen!" Winry yelled in fury. "What the matter with you?" Edward looked questioningly at Winry, who looked like she wanted to hit something. He saw the same felling in Yuki's eyes. Looking at them made Edward shiver. So he turned back to Haruhi.
"Okay, lets get this over with." Edward opened the door to the mansion and stepped in, the rest of the explores following him. "Good Luck!" Alphonse and Mikuru waved supportively to them as they entered the mansion.
It was very dark on the inside, so Haruhi handed everyone a flashlight and told them which way to go. "Alright, Kyon and I will take the basement, Winry and Yuki, you take this level, Edo- Chan and Koizumi, you take the second floor. Lets go."
"Don't call me CHAN!" And so the went to explore the house, careful not to step on any of the loose boards in the floor. Most of the rooms revealed nothing, they were mostly sitting rooms or bedrooms with nothing in them except for a few pieces of furniture and clothes When they reached there fifth room, Edward and Koizumi had to break down the door in order to go any further. .When they got in the first thing they noticed was that this room belonged to one of the children, there were toys and coloring books sprawled all other the floor. The second thing the noticed made them freeze with horror. Blood was flooding most of the carpet and covering most of the walls. There was a trail of it leading into the ventilation shaft on the wall. "How horrible," Koizumi bent down and picked up a blood soaked doll. Edward stared around the room in horror, he hadn't seen this much blood since- No, don't think about her! Don't think about Mom!
Edward suddenly realized that everyone else would like to know, and called them from out in the hall. In a couple of minutes, everyone was staring in horror at the blood filled room. "Who could have done something like this?" Winry trembled on her words. "I don't know," Edward placed a hand on the wall covered in blood. "But this blood leaves a trail, so I think were about to find out." Edward followed the path of blood to the ventilation shaft climbed on to a large chest that stood under the shaft entrance. "And just were do you think your going?" Haruhi tried to grab him, but Edward pushed her back. "I'm the only one who can fit in there, and the blood is leaving a trail threw here, either are victim, or are attacker are through here, and I will not sit and watch a murder get away with his deed." Edward removed the barricade sealing the shaft and pulled himself up. They stared at him in amazement. Is this the same Edward as the on I meet at school, the small little guy who would throw a fit if you call him small, it has to be, but it can't be. When did he become so noble and prince-like? He's acting just like a knight you find in a fairy tale. Haruhi thought as she stared in amazement at Ed.. "Ed," Yuki shouted to him. Ed turned. "Be careful" Winry said, trembling. Ed stared for a second then smiled, "Right" He said and climbed through the shaft.
Jeez, this is probably the filthiest place I've ever crawled through, I just hope that, whoever that blood belongs to, I hope they're still alive. There's the exit. Sure enough, Edward jumped out of the end of the shaft and scanned the room. It was small, it looked like a small laboratory, with many books and a small desk on the far corner. His eyes fell upon a small open notebook on the desk. He walked over and examined it. He gasped and dropped the book. No…. It can be. It was, who ever was here, had preformed human transmutation.
He looked franticly around the room. He noticed a picture on the wall, he could see it clearly, but the engravement under it read. In memory of my dear son, Allen. "Allen?" Edward looked to see if anything else in the room had Allen's name on it, he saw nothing. He then looked at the stain covered ground.
This blood is slightly less fresh. So whoever was bleeding must have been leaving here, not coming in, but the blood stopped in that room, does that mean that someone took the body? Ed noticed that there was a door at the end of the room, that lead into a separate room, that is were the blood trailed into. Ed rushed over to the door and yanked it open. He froze, for two reasons. One, it was true, a human transmutation seal was drawn on the floor, blood covering must of it. Two. In the corner of the room, with the evil grin on his pale evil face, stood Envy!
"Well, well, well, what a clever pipsqueak you are to find my hiding place." Envy approached Ed an evil look still on his face. Edward took a step back. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, I'm just gonna kidnap you and use you as bait to capture Baneful."
"Why!" Edward dropped the flash light and transmuted him Automail into a blade. "Why does Baneful want to kidnap me so much."
"How should I know?" Envy shrugged his shoulders and tried to grab Ed, but He ducked and tried to stab the Homunculus, letting out a battle cry, but he flipped backwards and yelled. "NOW GLUTTONY!" Ed world around and tried to block the attacker, but there was no attacker. A trick? That was all he had time to think before he was stabbed threw the gut. Silence filled the room as Ed tried to cry out. Envy removed the knife in his hand for Ed and the young alchemist sunk to the floor, breathing hard.
Envy crouched down so that he and Ed saw eye to eye, "now," he lifted Ed's face so that is was facing him. "Be a good boy and go to sleep, so I can take you to Baneful" Edward glared up at Envy with a mixture of hate, fear and agony. He noticed some thing behind Envy and smiled and him. "I don't feel like it, as me tomorrow." Ed kicked him in the gut with the last of his energy and fell back, he hear a snap, a wave of heat, and a cry of pain. Then, he heard some one call his name, and he remembered no more.