Alright.
First of all. Explanation. The reason I didn't update for so long in July was because I lost my hard drive and everything on it. Which included all of my stories. That and family problems..
Second. I apologize for taking so long to update. I'm a very slow writer, and I've just started high school. I know that as a writer I shouldn't be making excuses. But it's just the way I am. I'm very sorry.
Alrighty then. Chapter eight!
Chapter 8
~Tara's POV~
Again. She had had the dream again. Tara mentally cursed to herself. Nothing was worse than waking up to your friends looking at you with worried expressions and telling you that you were crying in your sleep. It was humiliating. But at the same time, she couldn't help the fact that she had been scared. It was too much. The screams, the sirens, the explosion.. No, She growled to herself. Don't think about it.
Grabbing a hairbrush, Tara tugged at the knots in her hair, making it slightly straighter and less messy. Could this day possibly get any worse?
BANG, BANG, BANG!
Tara's hand jerked from the shock, and she held back a gasp of pain. The hairbrush was now stuck firmly in her hair. Tugging gingerly at it, she soon figured out that it was stuck on quite a few knots that she had been trying to brush out earlier. Firmly, she grasped the handle of the brush and wretched through the knots. Putting the brush away, she turned and walked out of the bathroom briskly. Whoever had the nerve to pound on someone's door as hard as that was certainly strong, maybe stupid. Possibly even both. Tara opened her mouth to ask what was going on, when she stopped short, for there were now shouts coming from the other side of the door. Very loud shouts, at that.
"Elric Brothers, I have found you at last! Open this door, I know you're in there!"
Oh no. That voice.. Tara stared at the door, her eyes widening slightly. If that voice belonged to who she thought it was, then that meant-
CRASH! The door came right off its hinges, wood splintering all over the floor. A burly man with a blonde mustache ducked through the doorway, the door handle still grasped firmly in his hand. The man that Tara now recognized to be Major Armstrong dramatically raced over to Ed and grabbed him, embracing him in a tight hug. "Edward Elric!" He drawled. "How great it is to see you again! I was starting to wonder if you would ever meet up with me as you said!"
Edward groaned a reply that sounded something like, "Major! You're squishing me!" He attempted to free himself, but it was a wasted effort. Armstrong had him too tightly in his arms.
After a few minutes of Ed struggling to get away from the Major and Al saying his greetings, Armstrong let go of Ed and turned towards the door."Come, Elrics," He announced. "Central is waiting for us!"
Tara walked up to Al. Deciding to play dumb as to not blow her cover, she asked, "What's going on? Who is that?"
Al looked down at her. "That's Major Armstrong," he responded. "He's an alchemist like Brother is, and he's in the military. We were supposed to be going along with him as an escort to Resembool and back to Central, but Brother wanted to try to get to the library. Then when Colonel Mustang called about a mission for Brother, he took that opportunity and snuck away from the Major. I tried to tell him otherwise, but.."
Tara finished for him. "Ed wouldn't listen, and now here you are, right?"
Al nodded. "Yep. That's pretty much exactly it. So I guess we're headed back to Central with the Major now that he's found us.. I just hope that he doesn't tell the Colonel that we were trying to run."
Colonel Roy Mustang. Tara almost grinned. What Kaira wouldn't give to meet him. She couldn't help thinking of her best friend on the other side. She too was in love with FMA, and absolutely loved the Colonel. She would have killed to get a chance to meet him. Come to think of it, any of her few friends would have killed to meet any of the Fullmetal Alchemist characters for real. For the first time since her arrival, she realized how lucky she was just to be here, in Amestris. Then she cursed at herself. "No. Stop that."
"Stop what?"
Tara jerked her head to the side to see Ed staring at her, an eyebrow raised. There you go again, saying your thoughts out loud. "Nothing. Just... thinking." Way to make someone curious. Tara mentally face-palmed.
Ed glanced at her, not convinced. He must have decided to drop it, because he simply sighed. "Guess we have to go catch up with the major. Come on, get your stuff and lets go."
Tara backed up and grabbed her bag and the few things she had with her. Then she ran out the door ahead of Edward, eager to get outside and into the fresh air, when she nearly slammed into Armstrong himself. She cringed slightly as he turned around, gazing at her with his intense eyes. He was much taller than she had imagined. And, she had to admit, a lot more muscular as well. Tara could almost swear that she saw sparkles surrounding his face as he smiled and leaned down next to her as well. He grinned. "Well, who is this pretty young miss?"
Tara laughed nervously and introduced herself. "I'm Tara.. I'm traveling with the Elrics. They mentioned you're a major."
Tara expected what was next, but she wasn't at all prepared for the actual thing. She squealed in a very high voice she never knew she had as the major ripped off his shirt and flexed his muscles in front of her, smiling brightly. He offered a hand to her. "Alex Louise Armstrong. How great it is to meet you, Tara!"
Whimpering slightly, but at a loss as to what else to do, Tara reached out and shook his huge hand. "Nice to meet you too," she whispered. How do his soldiers do it, putting up with this every day!?
By this time, Ed and Al had packed up and come out of the room. Al rescued Tara by saying his greetings to Armstrong, which gave Tara enough time to slip away and hide behind Ed. As much as she hated to look so cowardly, the major was enough to make anyone frightened at the sight of him.
Needless to say, she hid behind Ed's coat until long after they reached the train station.
Yes. Its short. I'm starting to figure out that no matter how much I try to make them longer, my chapters are all going to be short.