Hi. I'm still here and steadily writing short but, hopefully, good chapters. I enjoyed writing this quite a bit so I hope you guys enjoy reading it! Other then that, don't expect me to update very often as I tend to lack motivation most times but holidays are the times when I write out of boredom and edit. I should add in that I'm really sorry if you were looking forward to it being updated often but this is the best I can do as who I am.
IMPORTANT NOTES: Drunk people, Ed yelling, and I don't own Akame ga kill and Fullmetal Alchemist.
Enjoy!
On the way to the capital, Ed had accidentally gotten lost and had ended up on a different route to the one he had planned before he left. He was glad that he had decided to memorise any other roads near the route he was on just incase he had gotten lost. He was lucky that whichever way he went he would either end up in the capital or a nearby village or town so the most it could cost him were a couple of days at max.
He dismissed the thoughts of taking longer than planned as he hadn't thought to bring more than what was needed for the trip. He knew Seiji was going to shove it in his face when he returned because he had insisted that he should bring extra food and water incase he got lost but he trusted his ability to find a way out of any situation. He focused back on his surroundings to check if there was anyone in the distance that he might be able to get help from when he started imagining the kind of transportation people would use to get to the Capital. He thought more along the lines of posh carriages or maybe just a cart when he was brought back to reality by a roar.
The roar had come from an Earth Dragon which was a first-class Danger Beast. The Danger Beast raised its claw and brought it down towards the people in the horse drawn wagon. They screamed in fear of the dragon while Ed's mind raced with ways to save them. Shit! I won't make it in time! Ed thought and clapped his hands, the electricity dancing between his fingers before dying down to nothing when he slammed them to the ground. As he did, a dirt hand rose out of the ground in front of the wagon to stop the beast's attack. The beast never had the chance to hit the dirt hand as it's whole arm had been sliced off not a second later. Undeterred by the loss of an arm it roared again and raised its other hand at the attacker. Whoever had sliced it's arm off was on the other side of the beast so Ed couldn't see who it was clearly. Dust rose into the air as the beast took a swipe at the ground where Ed assumed the attacker had been and hopefully wasn't anymore.
Ed saw a tiny figure climbing up the beast's arm as the beast roared again. "They're pretty good," Ed said to himself, transmuting his arm into his signature blade, cutting the beast across the back. He looked at the beast as the cut started spurting blood at an alarming rate, but it wasn't first-class for nothing. This time the beast didn't roar but instead turned and charged at Ed with its remaining arm. Ed dodged with ease and watched as a figure jumped up into the air and slashed the beast all over before landing gracefully. The beast fell to the ground in a pool of it's own blood, finally dead.
The men in the wagon ran over to Ed, who was currently transmuting his arm back to normal and hiding it in his pocket, and the figure as soon as the beast was slain. "That was amazing! I never expected people like you to be able to take down a Danger Beast!" The man praised.
"What do you mean 'people like you'! Are you calling me a child the size of an electron that even if the Danger Beast tried to hit me it wouldn't be able to because of how miniscule I am!?" Ed yelled, trying and failing to contain his anger. At least he didn't attack the man. The figure next to him, now known to be a young man in his teens, tried not to laugh but failed miserably and had to hold his knees for support.
When the boy managed to stand up without support he put gave his input of the situation. "It was to be expected of us!" He said wrapping his arm around Ed's shoulder and pulled him in close. Ed wriggled out of his grip then glared at the boy.
The men awkwardly laughed to somewhat ease the atmosphere. "If we're heading in the same direction we can give you a ride but we don't have much money so that's all we can offer," said one of the men. Ed and the boy nodded and asked where they were going. "The Capital," The man replied shortly.
"I'm going to the Capital as well so I might just take you up on your offer," Ed said and was led to the wagon. There, he was shown a spot where he could comfortably sit for the rest of the journey. He got comfortable but not before he thanked the men and made sure that his gratitude was shown. It wasn't because he was too tired to continue walking after he had fought the beast but more because this would be a lot faster.
"Is it alright if I come along too?" asked the boy. The men nodded and smiled at him encouragingly. The boy almost literally jumped into the wagon and sat next to Ed.
Not even five minutes after the wagon began moving, Ed had already became very bored. He looked over to the boy. He had light brown hair with an antenna that wasn't sticking towards the sky but towards the side and downwards as if sad. He had a bright eyes and smile which showed that he hadn't faced much in his life. Let alone bad things. The worst was probably his training, Ed thought and went back to staring outside at the passing scenery.
Soon after doing nothing but sitting and staring he got bored again. Ed turned to the men sitting and started some small talk to get rid of his boredom and hopefully gain knowledge about what the capital was like.
"Why are you two going to the Capital?" he asked nonchalantly.
One of them turned behind and answered him. "We're getting supplies for our village. The harvest wasn't enough this time and we also need some new equipment." He eyed Ed for a minute before returning the question. "Why are you going to the there?"
Ed replied with ease, "My village is poor and we need money to pay our taxes so I was going to the capital when I got lost and ended up on the wrong route. I'm planning on becoming rich and famous, which I don't think I'll have trouble with, then send money to my village!" He finished with false excitement. The men shook their heads at his big dreams. Big dreams like that ended up nowhere.
The other man spoke up this time. "The Capital isn't a place for hopes and dreams as you think it is. It's definitely lively but it's home to monsters even worse than the earth dragon."
"Why are there danger beasts in the Capital? Shouldn't it be a lot safer there?" said the boy in confusion. Ed knew what the man meant after years of working in the military.
"I mean the people," The man said clarifying what he meant. "They may be human but their hearts are monstrous. The Capital's crawling with them." The boy nodded in response and sat back in the wagon. I wonder if the kid will be okay if the Capital is like what the man said, Ed thought before going back to staring at the changing scenery.
Ed and Tatsumi stepped out of the wagon and they thanked the men. One of them told them that if he went straight ahead they would be close to the barracks. Ed thanked them again and briskly walked in the direction of the barracks with Tatsumi trailing behind him. At the barracks, there was a long line of about twenty people but he waited in line to prove that he wasn't some no good hick from the country. Tatsumi went straight to the front and demanded that he gets ranked up immediately before Ed went to stop him. In the process of stopping Tatsumi, Ed had been called a short girl and hadn't wasted a second in punching the man. It was no surprise that they were kicked out as quickly as they had been.
"Why did you have to punch him! He was definitely going to promote me right away!" grumbled Tatsumi.
"You wish," Ed replied before they decided that it was time to eat something and went to the nearest bar. Ed and Tatsumi had become friends after the boring wagon ride that they both endured. Ed had learnt that Tatsumi and him had very similar reasons about going to the Capital. He also heard the story from Tatsumi about how he and his friends, Ieyasu and Sayo, had been attacked by bandits and were separated on the way to the capital and about how hard they had all trained for their journey. Ed hoped that Tatsumi was able to find them quickly before anything happened to either of them. Ed also hoped for himself that he'd be able to return to his world and Al soon.
They sat down and had a look through the menu when a girl plopped herself down next to Ed. She was a bit too old to be called a girl and was more of a woman at this point. The woman smiled widely and crossed her arms. She had long blond hair and golden eyes a little brighter than Ed's. She wasn't wearing much other than a tube top that he had seen Winry wear for days on end and pants that didn't leave much for the imagination. Tatsumi was having a hard time concentrating on anything but her boobs and looked at Ed for help. He shrugged in response as they were having little to no effect on Ed. Years of living and being taught under Izumi seemed to have this effect on people.
"So what are you country hicks doing here?" She asked nonchalantly.
Ed didn't reply and didn't have a chance to when Tatsumi replied immediately, "How did you know we were country hicks?" He was so loud that Ed could've sworn he lost some of his hearing. The girl chuckled and stole Tatsumi's drink. She chugged it in one go and looked into Ed's eyes, weighing him up. He didn't say anything and quietly sipped at his drink. She slammed her drink on to the table with a satisfied sound.
"It's easy to tell who's what after you've lived here for a while," She said, "Are you two going to answer my original question or not?" Ed put his glass down and nodded to Tatsumi to go first. While Tatsumi explained, Ed stood up and went over to the bar to order some snacks for his table. He returned quickly with pizza and chips and placed them on the table.
"...Then Ed and I got kicked out of the barracks and ended up here," Tatsumi said as he finished his story. The woman whistled, as if impressed.
"Sounds like you two are quite the adventurers," She said. Ed smiled at her and started on the pizza while Tatsumi was positively beaming because of the complement. She smile softly towards Tatsumi and became serious. "To get to the top you need two things," She held up two fingers, "money and connections." Tatsumi listened intently while Ed silently devoured the pizza and chips already knowing the information she presented.
Tatsumi struggled with his bag a little before pulling out a small bag of coins. "Is this enough?" he asked unsure. Her smile widened and nodded quickly.
"I'll take this and have a talk with them to get you two up there," She said grabbing the bag and was about to get up when Ed clasped a hand around her shoulder.
"Since you'll be talking to them and rising us up the ranks, why don't we have a celebration for our new found friend?" Ed asked mischievously. She sat back down and dumped the bag of coins on the table. She looked over at Ed with a curious look. He could tell whatever he was about to suggest she would do it with no hesitation.
"Let's celebrate!" said Tatsumi with enthusiasm. He seemed to be hyped about what was about to happen.
Ed smirked and turned to the woman. "How about we have a drinking contest between you and I," he said with a confident smile.
She grinned back at him and answered wholeheartedly, "You're on." Ed wasn't completely sure if he was going to win or not but he couldn't really care. All he needed to do was get her drunk. Not for those reasons but to ask her what she was actually going to do with the money and to prove to Tatsumi that he shouldn't be so trusting of everyone around him.
Ed called the bartender over and ordered a few drinks and convinced Tatsumi that they needed someone to count so he shouldn't drink with them. Tatsumi disagreed at first but went along anyway, probably too excited to see who was better. Tatsumi poured their first two drinks and did the countdown for them.
"3… 2… 1… Drink!" Ed and the woman took a shot. They both looked at each other defiantly smirked at each other before turning to Tatsumi who was starting to become spooked at this point. Tatsumi poured them their next shots and did the countdown again and again and again.
By the twelfth shot, the woman had started to sway a little and had a wide smile on her face. Ed, on the other hand, had been staring at Tatsumi without any knowledge of how uncomfortable he was making him. Their faces were completely red with the effects of the alcohol. The woman sloppily pushed her drink towards Tatsumi again and demanded another round. Ed was slightly better job; he slowly passed it to Tatsumi in a straight line - off the table.
The glass shattered against the floor and the bartender glared at them from where he was. The people in the bar didn't even pause, seemingly used to the sound of breaking glass. Tatsumi panicked and bowed his head to the bartender while Ed laughed.
"Why are youuuu apologising? We cannn fix it quickly," Ed said slurring out his words. He leaned over to the ground, clapped and touched the glass. The alchemy crackled in his hands until the glass started to come together into a perfectly repaired cup with grotesquely formed wings. Ed smiled proudly at his newly made glass. He put the glass to his lips and tipped his head back expecting alcohol to empty into his mouth. Instead, he made a strange slurping noise with the glass.
Tatsumi didn't ask why Ed thought there would be alcohol in it but decided to ask him about how he repaired the glass to perfection and also why he decided to add freakish wings to it. Tatsumi personally didn't like stealing things but he knew that if he didn't have proof of what Ed had done he wouldn't get answers and slipped the glass with wings into his backpack. He poured more alcohol into his own glass and the woman's before handing it back pretending that it was Ed's not his. Ed didn't notice and Tatsumi counted down again to make it to the thirteenth shot for both of them.
This time Ed turned to the woman and said, "Weren't you gonna steal his monay earlier?" The woman looked at Ed with a smile that said he was right.
"Yesss and it was going to be sooooo easy." Tatsumi was shocked and was showing it clearly when the woman started laughing at him, "Country hicks are always the bessst!" She laughed a little more before getting up and stumbling out of the bar. Ed and Tatsumi could still hear little bursts of laughter coming from outside.
Ed went back to staring at Tatsumi before he said, "Am I makinng you uncomfortable?" Tatsumi nodded quickly and Ed mirrored his nodding and kept nodding even after Tatsumi had stopped. Ed slowed down thankfully which kept Tatsumi from bursting out laughing. He didn't want to have the potential of pissing off Ed and changed the subject.
"How did you know she was lying? She didn't seem like it," said Tatsumi curious about Ed's answer. Ed stared at Tatsumi quizzically before a metaphorical light bulb went off in his head.
"My boss in the military was an asshole and loooooved to send me and my brother on wild gooose chases around and around and people like to scam others for money and you're a country hick and everyone loves scammming country hicks," Ed slurred. Tatsumi was tempted to ask about who this military officer was when Ed answered it for him. "He was an asshole and assholes like screwing with little kids who donnn't know what they're doing and, and, and, that asshole was named ass-Roy-hole. A Roy boy toy the size of an ass," Ed finished resting his head on his hand.
Tatsumi didn't say anything and watched as Ed stared at the glass in front of him. Tatsumi wasn't sure if Ed was anywhere near sober at this point but couldn't do anything and just hoped that he would be more 'awake' the next morning. Ed finally opened his mouth but then closed it. He opened and closed his mouth again before frowning.
"Can you puths me de gl-" Ed slurred as he swung his arm towards the glass. His head, now rid of all support, slammed into the table in front of him with the grace of a whale in the sahara desert.
How was it? Were there any mistakes that should be fixed? Any way I can improve? Let me know in the comments!
(please let me know if there are any mistakes cause I tend to not notice and end up crying myself to sleep when I notice a mistake I haven't fixed in 6 months)