Long Winding Road

EdXOC &AlXOC

Edited: 8/3/12

[Michelle]

I had sunk to a new low - I was going back to Dr. Jethro and his "children".

"You're going to reconsider Miss Kimblee?" He asked.

I scowled and tipped my hat to hide my embarrassment, "I'm bored."

"Well, let me fix that for you. The task that I have given you still stands, but with a slight tweak."

"How so?"

"Because you are in the military so you can get to official documents and anything else I might need. You and your partner-"

"I don't need a partner." I snapped, lifting my hat.

"Once I tell you about him I think you'll reconsider."

The door of the study room opened and a boy around my age walked in. He had shaggy black hair that was pulled into a small rattail in the back and sharp green eyes. He stood a couple of inches taller than me (which doesn't say much because I was five feet) and had a cocky look on his face.

"Hm, this is her? Not very cute and could use new clothes." He muttered.

My face flushed with anger as I shouted, "Shut up! No one asked for your opinion!"

Since I spent most of my time on the road I didn't really care about my looks. My leather pants, black boots, and red camisole were enough for me.

"Zack here knows all about our target. He will be a great asset to the mission and will be able to lead her here," Dr. Jethro explained.

"Selling out your friend?" I asked.

Zack smirked, "She was never my friend."

I shrugged and turned to Dr. Jethro, "When do we start?"

I might hate Zack's guts but he's needed for this mission and I wanted my pay.

"Today," Dr. Jethro replied.

[Mikayla]

I woke up at 6:45 the next morning and trudged to the bathroom. After getting dressed, I looked through the cabinets until I found a single box of cereal.

"Well it ain't Lucky Charms but I guess I'll live." I muttered.

I turned on the coffee maker so Kane could have his caffeine fix when he woke up while I settled for chai tea. I knew Reena wouldn't be up for a while so I didn't bother fixing her anything. It wasn't until around 7:30 when Kane came into the kitchen ready for the day.

"I'm surprised you're up," Kane said, pouring himself some coffee.

I looked up from the book I was reading, "Why?"

"I heard you're not a morning person."

I shrugged and looked back at my book, "I've gotten use to waking up early over the years."

At eight sharp we went outside into the warm July air and started our training.

"Show me a fighting stance," He said, putting down his mug of coffee (which was his second helping, might I add).

I spread my feet apart and put my arms up.

"Weak." He muttered. He walked next to me and shoved me hard so that I fell over.

"Ow! What was that for?" I demanded, standing back up and dusting off my pants.

As an answer he brought his leg up to kick me. I barely had time to bring my arms up to block, causing me to roll back on the ground. I quickly got back on my feet.

I think the coffee got to his brain.

He charged towards me again but this time I was ready. I clapped my hands and put up a barrier only to have it shot down. I rolled out of the cloud of smoke coughing.

"How did you do that?" I coughed, getting back to my feet.

He brought up his hand and I saw that he held a silver gun. Engraved on the side of it was: Kane Grandich the Silver Bullet Alchemist.

"When I shoot this gun I can control how much fire the bullet will produce," Kane explained.

"So that's why you have them specially made?"

"Exactly."

Kane apparently heard something I didn't because he turned so he was looking down the dirt path that led up to his house. At first I only saw the top of someone's black hair, but as they walked up the hill I noticed it was Nami.

"Nami?" I questioned.

"I thought I saw smoke," She muttered.

"Oh, you saw this." Kane said, shooting off a bullet to the side.

When the bullet left the barrel a small fire erupted and smoke spilled out, "Sorry if it scared you."

Nami narrowed her eyes and replayed the gun shot over in her head. "Are you Kane?"

"Yes, what do you need?"

"Flame alchemy," she replied. "Can you teach me and show me how to control it?"

Kane looked at her for a moment as if remembering something. What he was remembering I wasn't sure.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Nami Clark."

"You're the girl from two years ago," Kane said, "You saved me from bleeding to death."

Nami blinked and examined him before grinning. "I remember now!"

Kane smiled slightly, "Well I guess I need to pay you back for that."

He put his gun in his holster and gestured for us to go back a few feet.

"What do we do?" I called to him.

My answer was him charging towards us.

Not again…

We spent the next four hour training in hand to hand combat. It was fun but exhausting. By this time Reena had woken up and was sitting on the porch watching us.

"I think that's enough for today." Kane replied, wiping his forehead with the collar of his shirt, "Good job for your first day."

"Thanks," Nami and I sat in unison.

"Well meet again at 8 sharp tomorrow. We'll talk more about fire alchemy tomorrow Nami." Kane said before going back into the house for a shower.

"I feel so gross," I muttered, putting my hair in a messy bun. Though this is not the first time I've felt incredibly gross.

Nami shrugged. "You get used to it," she turned and started towards the hill, calling over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow!"

"See ya."

I walked over to Reena and sat next to her on the porch.

"Is Ed coming over today?" She asked.

I shrugged, "Dunno, I'm focusing on my training."

A few minutes went by and Kane walked back out the house.

"I'm going to go get some food," He stated.

"Okay."

I took a quick shower and pulled on my Chicago Bear's jersey and black shorts.

"I'm bored~" Reena sang, crashing next to me on my bed.

"That sounds like a personal problem." I yawned, "Go visit Al or something."

"That's a good idea!" She smiled, running out the house.

Nap time…

Poke.

What is this nonsense?

Poke.

Whoever the hell is poking me needs to stop.

Poke. Poke.

"Stop…" I groaned, turning onto my back.

The person then poked my stomach.

"I told you to stop!" I shouted, blindly kicking out my leg.

"Ow! Damn it Mikayla!"

I opened my eyes and sat up to see Ed. "Hey Ed, why are you on the ground?"

Ed sat up rubbing his head - glaring at me viciously, "Why do you think?"

I shrugged, "I dunno, I remember someone poking me and then I kicked my leg out - it was you!"

Ed chuckled and stood up, "Took you long enough."

I rolled out of bed and stretched, "Is Reena at Pinako's?"

"She went into town with Al to help him go grocery shopping for Pinako." He replied.

"I see." I murmured, "Well, I guess we should go meet up with them."

"Well they might be back by now, why don't we head over there?" Ed asked.

"Probably because your ex-girlfriend is over there."

Ed sighed, "She probably left for Rush Valley by now."

"Oh," I said, "I hate to ask this but… did you let her off easy?"

"I'd like to say I did. I told her that I still thought of her as one of my childhood friends and the best mechanic ever. I just couldn't be with her the way she wanted to be with me." Ed replied, "She said she understood but it still hurt. She's still going to be my mechanic."

I decided to go back to Pinako's with him to pick up Reena who was happily helping with dinner - which was chicken and mashed potatoes.

"Are you joining us for dinner Mikayla?" Pinako asked.

"Only if it's not any trouble." I replied with a smile.

"Of course not!"

We sat down and had a nice dinner, afterwards Ed walked Reena and I home.

"Bye Ed!" Reena grinned before going back into Kane's house.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Ed asked.

"Training," I replied, "Probably till noon but possibly longer than that."

"Come over to Pinako's when you're done, okay?"

I nodded, "Sure."

He smiled and kissed my forehead before walking back down the dirt path.

[Michelle]

"How much longer are you going to take?" Zack asked, poking his head back into the records room.

We had made our way to Central Command and knocked out some of the guards that were there.

"Shut up and keep guard." I snapped.

He grumbled something under his breath before getting back to work.

Let's see Mikayla, Mikayla, here! Mikayla the Silver Katana Alchemist.

I pulled out her file and ran my finger down the document.

Risembool, eh? This is gonna be easy.

I snapped the manila folder shut and placed it under my arm.

"Let's get going Zack." I said, casually walking out of the records room.

"Where are we headed?" He asked.

"Risembool."

Author Corner:

~How was that? :D