Chapter 6 : Right here in my arms
Ed woke up feeling better than he had in days, he was warm and comfortable and he really didn't want to get up. Definitely not what he'd expected when he'd lain down on the bumpy mattress yesterday night. Now however there were no bumps to be felt, only the oddly soft yet hard contours of his slowly moving pillow and the sheets that were securely wrapped around him. Only…those didn't really feel like sheets and…did he just think his pillow moved? Startled a pair of sleepy golden eyes blinked open only to be met with the pale and leanly muscled expanse of his pillows chest. His pillow…which wasn't a pillow at all. Slowly Ed looked down at the 'sheets' that were so comfortably wrapped around him only to find, to his growing horror, that the sheets weren't sheets either, they were arms. Very nice arms, he observed objectively, but arms nonetheless. And those arms were holding him.
Breathing in deeply Ed tried to think about things logically. He was in a bed. With another person. In their arms. Sleeping on their chest. And he was so warm and comfortable and this person made a really good pillow and he wanted to-No! No, no, no , he was supposed to figure out how to get out of this situation, or how he even got in it for that matter, not return to sleeping no matter how wonderful that sounded to his sleep dazed mind.
Right at that moment the person shifted and pulled Ed a bit closer, murmuring something softly. Startled Ed looked up, he recognized that voice! And sure enough what greeted his eyes were soft, light green hair and the peacefully slumbering face of Ivy. Not that that made him feel a whole lot better, he still didn't know what had happened to have caused this, he was sure they hadn't- Ed halted that train of thought as an uncharacteristic blush took over his face and he unconsciously buried his face in the other boy's chest. He was acting ridiculous! For now it didn't matter what had happened, he needed to get out of this!
Carefully he reached a hand out and shook Ivy's shoulder, when this didn't have any effect he tried pulling out of the other boy's hold. The other's arms were like steel bands, if a whole lot more comfy, however, and he couldn't get them to move even an inch. Or an inch in the direction he wanted anyway, because as soon as he started pulling the other boy rolled over in his sleep and tightened his grip on the little alchemists waist. Now Ed was not only caught in his arms, but also stuck under the taller boy's weight, just great. At least he wasn't completely crushing him, for such a tall boy he weighed surprisingly little.
Ed shivered as he felt Ivy's warm breath ghost over his neck, close to his pulse point. The little hairs on the back of his neck raised as another shiver came over him. This had to stop, now.
Foregoing all caution Ed kicked out with his automail leg while simultaneously giving a hard push with his metal arm, still not at full strength of course he didn't want to hurt the boy after all, but enough that it should get him off of him. The grip on him tightened impossibly before it let go and Ivy fell of the small mattress. A small yelp came from the floor next to the bed and Ed chanced a glance over the side getting a glimpse at smoldering gold before he was once again pinned to the mattress.
Startled once more he stared at the pissed visage of Ivy and barely registered as a low growl came from the boy above him. He tried moving his arms only to find he was unable to and a quick glance up confirmed that the older boy was holding them down by the wrist. Another warning growl made him look up again and he was relieved to see a bit of clarity making its way into those golden eyes again.
The boys just remained like that for a moment, staring at each other, before Ivy finally managed to snap out of his sleep induced haze and snarled out, "why the hell did you throw me of the bed like that?"
Ed however, was not all too happy himself and it showed in his response, "why the hell were you even in my bed in the first place?"
Ivy glared down at him, "I couldn't sleep, nightmares." The response was short but Ed could see the hurt in his eyes when he mentioned his nightly terrors.
"Oh." He answered, as eloquent as only a just awoken person can be.
"Yes, oh." The other boy mimicked mockingly, "are you gonna tell me, why you threw me of the bed now?"
"Ehm," Ed flushed a little and looked away, missing the calculating gleam that appeared in the other's eyes, "I panicked." He finished lamely and tried to rub the back of his neck with his hand only to realize he was still trapped. He cleared his throat lightly and the blush darkened some more, "can you let me go now? My wrists are kinda starting to hurt."
Ivy looked surprised for a moment, before glancing down at where he still had the boys wrists in a tight grip and quickly let go.
"I'm sorry." He said, as he saw the alchemist rubbing his reddened flesh wrist, " I'm not really a morning person and you startled me."
"It's alright," Ed said with a grimace as he tried to get his circulation going again, the guy was a lot stronger than he looked, "I shouldn't have kicked you of."
"You shouldn't have," The other agreed and if Ed's hand didn't still hurt from the impromptu wrestling session he would have hit him for being a jerk. He was about to hit him anyway when the door flew open.
"Brother!" Alphonse worried voice came from the opened doorway, "I heard screaming what's going…on." Al finished lamely as he saw the position his brother and current traveling companion were in. If he could have the armor would have blushed a bright red. "Oh, ehm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I mean I'm sorry, I'll just…" Al stammered out and before Ed could fully comprehend what had just happened the door was slammed shut once more and Al was gone.
Looking up at Ivy who was still seated on top of him, currently trying to keep in his laughter (and failing spectacularly), Ed realized what his brother thought had just happened and, for the second time that morning, Edward Elric, the fullmetal alchemist, panicked and blushed a bright red.
He hurriedly shoved a still laughing Ivy of his chest and this time the boy didn't even complain when he hit the ground, too busy trying to breath, too care.
With a wry look at the snickering boy on the ground he quickly transformed his pajama's into some more suitable outside apparel, before hurrying after his younger brother.
He had some explaining to do.
After a very awkward conversation and even more awkward breakfast during which Ivy kept making inappropriate comments just to see the looks on the brothers faces (which were hilarious by the way) the three finally left for the scene of the crime.
The mayor had given them the directions yesterday and explained what had happened. Apparently there had been animals disappearing for weeks now, but the citizens had just shrugged it off as some larger predator taking the poor things. They had tried to hunt for it but nothing had come of it and eventually they had just accepted that their pets might keep disappearing, though they had filed a complaint to Central Headquarters. Central had just dismissed the complaints, believing it to be some superstitious nonsense.
That had changed two weeks ago when finally a human had gone missing. The human in question had been a young boy, named Marco. Marco liked to play outdoors and stay out late, so it was a while before people noticed him missing. When they did though, all hell broke loose.
The mayor had managed to calm the panicking populace down a bit, but only a bit and many still stay indoors most of the time, believing they won't be taken if they did. The only reason so many of them had been outdoors yesterday was because of the weekly market, the only time the townsfolk still considered it to be safe outside, believing there to be safety in numbers.
That most of the citizens were locked inside became obvious as they traversed the empty streets. Sometimes they saw a head peek from behind drawn curtains but most of the time it felt like they were walking through a ghost town.
Now that they had left the safety of the inn they'd stayed at, Ivy had also become withdrawn once more and he stuck close to Ed. Ed knowing about his trauma just let it go, even if he was still feeling a bit annoyed because of that morning. Alphonse just walked silently by their sides, still refusing adamantly to look at them and murmuring something about it being 'too soon' when Ed asked why.
After an awkward half an hour walk they arrived at scene of the disappearance. It was a small street branching of from the main one about halfway. The buildings on either side were small, but cozy looking houses all with a small garden out front. According to the mayor Marco had been playing outside in just such a garden when he'd been taken.
Looking at the numbers of the houses Ed quickly found nr. 14 and walked over, Al and Ivy following his lead. The small alchemist took a deep, steadying breath and knocked once. Soon the door was opened and the tearstained visage of a middle aged woman came into view, Marco's mother.
Ed showed her his pocket watch and she stepped aside silently, allowing the odd group entrance into her home. Ed nodded his thanks and passed through, as did his companions, Al offering the woman a sympathetic smile.
In the hallway they were met by a man, obviously the woman's husband. He offered them a tight smile and led them to the living room. The woman disappeared into the kitchen, probably to clear the tearstains from her face.
Clearing his throat to try and dissolve the awkward silence that had fallen Ed figured they might as well get started,
"My name is Edward Elric, the fullmetal alchemist. I'm here to ask you some questions about the disappearance of your son."
"Thomas Coulson, and my wife and I will both be happy to give you any assistance you may require to get our son back." The man's voice was tired, worn down by the hard times he was going through, but there was an underlying strength to it, and Ed knew he wasn't lying when he said they'd do anything.
"Well then, could you tell us what happened?"
The man released a shuddering breath and nodded, steeling himself before beginning.
"Marco was playing in the garden when it happened. It was a normal evening, nothing special had happened lately and we felt confident he'd be safe as long as he remained near our home. Betha and I were sitting here and we could hear him play…Then he suddenly started talking to someone, thinking it was just one of the neighbors out for a stroll we ignored it, but suddenly he screamed," Thomas paused, obviously trying to gain some courage before continuing, "there was so much pain in that scream…"
The man took in a couple of deep, shuddering breaths,
"We rushed outside then, tried to find him. We looked everywhere! He was nowhere to be found though. At that point we panicked and woke up the whole neighborhood, asking if they had seen him, but no one knew what had happened…"
"Eventually we found some blood splatters near one of the bushes in the garden…and we feared for the worst….we still do." The man trailed of, having nothing left to say.
"Thank you," Alphonse said softly, "we know how hard this must have been for you, but we needed to know."
"I understand," Thomas nodded and swallowed heavily, seemingly thinking something over, "shall I show you?"
No one needed to ask what he wanted to show them.
"Please." Again it was Alphonse who spoke up and with another tense nod Thomas rose and beckoned for them to follow him.
Silently the group made their way outside again following the distraught father to a bush in the corner of the little garden. The man chanced one look down before paling and turning around, walking back inside with a hurriedly murmured, "I'll be inside if you need me."
Ed almost didn't notice though, he was kneeled near the little pool of dried crimson life, eyes focused on one nearly invisible irregularity near the middle. He reached out one trembling hand and picked it up, rubbing it between his gloved fingers to remove the blood, before holding it up to the light.
A shocked breath left his lips in a rush of air as he stared at the little red stone gleaming innocently back at him. A philosophers stone…
The homunculi were here.
Besides him Envy smiled.
An/ Hmm don't got a whole lot to say this time.I don't really like the second part, might redo that some time. Actually I just don't really like writing lengthy OC conversations. Maybe I should just kill em all off, would save me the trouble...and add some nice gore to the chapy., hmm yeah I might just do that...
Anyway thank you all for the reviews, faves, alerts and just for plain reading :) and till next time, xXx~64