Hello, and happy first day of March! I hope everyone enjoyed their extra day in February, because I didn't realize it was leap year until the day was almost over. But hey, I got my next chapter written XD Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Book and The Girl

Hoenhiem watched as the wooden door closed, the crude metal door lock ringing out. He then took a deep breath and nervously walked over to his master's study, each footstep heavy and reluctant. What the hell was he thinking?

He stood there, his toes digging into the grout of the worn out tile. This could change his life forever, or doom it to uncertain hellish consequences. But was it as bad as being a slave forever?

Damn... here goes.

Van grasped the handle and pushed the door, its old hinges creaking in protest. There was darkness. But despite the uneasy feel of the room he kept going, slowly opening the door until it was wide open. Hoenhiem reached in the doorway as he grabbed a small oil lamp, his feet still planted firm on the ground.

"Your really are scared aren't you?" teased the flask as he watched the event unfold. The blonde slave took a deep breath and light the oil lamp, its rays lighting up the room in an instant. There was an old desk against the far wall and bookshelves full of all kinds of study material. It was small but functional.

"Whoa,"

With a deep breath Van took a single step in, freezing as if he had just committed a terrible sin. He then took another step and slowly made his way to one of the bookshelves, the lamp revealing the titles on the worn out spines.

Beginners Alchemy... I just have to find it.

His finger ran across each book until the shelf ran out. No dice. Hoenhiem turned around and walked to the next shelf, inspecting it as well. It had to be in here, well he knew it was, it was just a matter of finding it.

Advanced Alchemic Recipes... Human anatomy... The Make up of the World... The Sexual Reproduction of Flowers?

"Wait... What the hell?" Hoenhiem lingered on the out-of-place title, shaking his head as he resumed the search.

"Ah, there you are you little bastard." The nervous intruder griped the book and stood up, quickly making his way out of the study.

"Did you find it?" inquired the dwarf in the flask.

"Yeah, got it." Hoenhiem shut the door and walked over to the desk in the main room, sitting down and opening the book. "This better be worth it."

The dwarf chuckled and flashed his famous smile. "Don't worry! You'll find all your answers in here. Trust me."

Van looked up and gave a weak smile. "Hope so."

Day 3,

Damn dream. Whoever the hell Edward Elric is I'm sick of dreaming of him. If this doesn't stop then this entire journal will be filled with this jacked up dream. But I need to get it off my chest, so yeah. I decided it was best to journal at night when my master is asleep, that way I cant get caught. Besides, I'm not sure how upset he would be to find out that I can read and write. Well, here goes.

This time me and my brother saved some town called Youswell. To be honest I don't really understand how that was important for me to dream about, but whatever. All we did was save it from some crooked military guy and gave it back to the residents. And why was its called Youswell? I don't get how these things manifest in my mind. Speaking of which:

This time I figured out that I'm in a country called Amestris, and apparently its a militarized state. Now I'm not sure if its a real place or just something my imagination concocted last night, but apparently that's where me and my armored brother live. So yeah...

Oh, also I'm apparently a state alchemist called the Fullmetal Alchemist... Wait, well I guess I figured that out in my last dream but whatever.

The really weird part about all of this is that when I'm dreaming, I forget who I am. Its only when I wake up that I remember I'm not this Edward Elric person. In the dream I show genuine concern (especially for Al) and feel scared, or threatened, or mad. Yeah, this guy gets pissed off real easy and real fast.

Side note: I took that alchemy book and hid it somewhere safe, but to be honest It wasn't as bad as I thought. Really it was simple enough to try, although I never did. The weirdest part is that I remember that stuff when I'm in my dream. When I preform alchemy in the dream it just happens by slapping my hands together (which is probably fake)

What I don't like is that when I'm Edward... its like... How do I explain this? When I'm him its like everything is scripted, like it all happens without me wanting it to... As if it was written or made that way. If I think about it now, I don't understand why I did what I did, In my dream it just... happens.

Weird right?

Well anyway, after the Youswell part of the dream I ended up on a train. And guess what? I had some crazy ass battle with some hyped up train robbers who wanted to take the train or something.

Now, remember when I said things just happen? That I don't control the outcome? Well Edward decided to kick their asses and beat them up and stuff. To be honest I wouldn't have risked my life, but for some reason I did. But to tell you the truth I kind of enjoyed it. The whole thing was an adrenaline rush and made me feel awesome in some way. Dumb as that sounds...

So anyway, me and Al end up at a train station where a guy named Roy Mustang scorched the poor bastard. Oh, he also called himself the flame alchemist and was with the military. So yeah, that happened too.

After all that I ended up waking up to find my master in his study. Damn I cant tell you how nervous I am. I hope he doesn't notice the missing book.

That reminds me! What the hell does flower reproduction have to do with alchemy?! The asshole probably gets off on reading it, yeah I bet that's why its in there.

Weirdo.

Well I better finish up and hide this thing before he comes out. I have to run an errand for him today which is nice. It gets me out and what not, so it'll be good.

The sun was bright and the heat of Xerxes was unrelenting. Nonetheless Van made his way through the market as he enjoyed the time outdoors. It felt good to have the sun bake on his skin and to feel beads of sweat on the back of his neck.

"Ok, lets see." Hoenhiem fished out a list and began scanning over it. "Medicinal herbs of any kind... Some bone marrow... New seeds for the garden, make sure to grab more than one kind... Some salt... Some sulfur..." Van finished rambling off the list as he sighed and shoved it in his pocket, fingering the coins that shared the space.

"Ok, Herbs." The blonde made his way through the open market, trying to ignore the various sales pitches that rung in his ear. The market was in an open space that held many various stalls that sold an array of goods, every one of them singing out a sales pitch to attract customers. In a way it was orderly chaos.

He made his way through, eventually ending up at a stall that housed many different herbs. Upon approaching the counter, Van was welcomed by an attractive girl. She was a smidge shorter than him and had skin that was tanned by the sun. Along with her beautiful features he noticed she had a small portion of her hair dyed pink.

"Hello sir!" the woman greeted cheerfully. Hoenhiem smiled and pulled out his list, taking another glace at the girl. Why was it she seemed familiar?

"Uh, yeah. I need some medicinal herbs if you have them." Van shoved the list back in the pocket, feeling stupid for even pulling it out. All his master wrote was 'medicinal herbs' so it wasn't very much help.

"Sure! What kind do you need?" she prompted.

"Uh..."

The woman giggled and smiled, it was obvious he had no idea what it was he needed. "Here, let me see that list." she held out her hand as he placed it in her palm.

"So, medicinal herbs? Looks like whoever gave you this list wasn't good at elaborating."

Hoenhiem gave a weak smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, he probably does that on purpose just to screw with me."

The girl giggled again. "Well, let me see what I have okay?" she disappeared behind a curtain that represented a backroom, leaving him to his thoughts.

Why do I know her? I've never seen her until today, but for some reason she strikes me as a vague memory. Where did I meet her? It cant be a memory If I never seen her before? But then why?

Honehiem's eyes widened as a realization struck him. She's not from a memory... but a dream.

"Here you go!" the woman announced as she laid a pile of herbs on the counter. "These are the best medicinal herbs I have, it should do the trick for whoever gave you that list."

Van smiled and placed several coins on the table. "Will this do?"

The girl nodded and scooped them up as she placed them in some sort of container. "Thank you, and I hope to see you soon!"

Hoenhiem turned to leave, but he couldn't. There was something he had to ask her first. "Excuse me."

She turned around and smiled. "Can I help you with something else?"

"No, it's just... would your name happen to be Rose?"

The girl flashed a smile and shook her head. "No, but you were close! It's actually Violet. Violet Amethyst Rose to be exact. So I guess you were close enough, have we met before?"

Van shook his head and waved. "No, just an intuition I guess."

Violet waved back as she watched him take off, sighing as he faded out of sight. "How strange..."

The market was still as busy as ever as Hoenhiem made his way through the sea of sharks, trying to keep his head straight as he looked for the next item on his list.

So Rose was her last name then? Violet Amethyst Rose? She wasn't exactly like the girl in my dream, but she sure was close. What was it I said to her... Get up and walk, you have two good legs? Or... or was it Get up with your strong legs and... Ugh! It doesn't matter. How the hell is it that I dreamt of a girl I never met before? It was probably just a-,

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as he plowed into the ground, the herbs spilling out of his arms.

"Grab them!" cried a nearby voice. Hoenhiem picked himself up and rubbed his head, looking around to find several guys looting the coins he had dropped.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing! Those are mine!"

The thieves shot Van a look as they flashed a wicked grin. "Not today mate!" said one of them as they took off.

"Ah Shit." sighed Hoenhiem as he took off after the robbers.

Today is just not my day...