Soul Alcemist Ch. 3
Sorry this took me so long *heh,heh* I've been kina busy the past few days. And that stupid heat wave made it hard to stay in my room because my room is the hottest in my house! I think you'll all like this chapter, things get revealed! *gasp* Hope you like!
Title: The Soul Alchemist Ch. 3
Author: Frankie_The_cat
Pairing: Elricest
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: The last thing Ed said to AL
Summary: "You're the one responsible for all of this! I should KILL you right NOW!"
"You don't get it Winry...it wasn't like any other dream." The long haired boy exclaimed, looking desperately into his friends face from across the shop counter. "It felt...real." That's all he could say to explain it.
His friend starred at him, sadness encompassing her. Ever since Edward barged into the shop, ranting about a dream he had of his lost brother, she had known something was wrong. "What do you mean Ed? It was just a dream, nothing more." She replied, almost pleading for the boy to accept her answer.
"But it wasn't like any other dream, it was like it was actually happening right before my eyes. I could almost feel the atmosphere." The dream had thoroughly surprised him. It had been six months since his brother had died, yet the dream made it feel as though it hadn't been no more than six seconds ago. Not knowing what to do, he stayed up all night thinking about it. Never before had a dream done so much to him, not even the nightmares of his mother.
"Ed..." Winry pleaded once more, "...that can't be. Alphonse is...dead, you know that." Edward's change in attitude had already been bothering her, but this was too much. She couldn't stand there and watch the man she regarded as her brother, last brother now, destroy himself.
He scowled, golden eyes looking away. For some reason he knew she wouldn't believe him, and honestly if he were in her shoes, he didn't think he'd believe himself. "I know what I saw Winry. Alphonse was alive, hurt, but alive. And I'm not going to rest until I find out what this means." he vowed, not knowing what he would do.
"Ed be serious, It could have just been some memory of Al you put together in your head. I know it's hard to accept but there's nothing more you can do."
"No, I won't let this happen." He whispered to himself.
"Won't let what happen! You can't bring him back! I won't let you go off looking for another philosophers stone or something, you know it won't work." Assuming that's what her 'brother' meant, Winry meant every word. She would tie him up to one of her repair chairs before she let him leave.
"Of course I'm not going to look for another one! Are you crazy!? I meant..." It couldn't be said, it hurt him too much to say it.
"What Ed...? What did you mean? Tell me!?"
He scowled even more, struggling to find the words. With a shaky voice, they were found, "I won't let the last thing I said to Alphonse be......'I hate you'."
Chapter 3: Revenge
The seat was uncomfortable, but he had grown accustomed to that a long time ago. At least he had the car to himself, he noticed as he listened to clitter clatter of the train tracks. The scenery was beautiful as the metal snake slithered through miles and miles of country side, headed north. But the single passenger couldn't say he enjoyed it, not without his companion.
The retelling of a small part of his story had profoundly saddened him, as he explained all the details to Winry. She listened intently, unblinking as he spoke on that uncomfortable bench. Of course he left out the details about his relationship with Al, he didn't want to lose another person he cared about. But not mentioning that piece of important information made it a bit harder to explain some things. Luckily the girl didn't question some of the inconsistencies, and focused on the overall plot.
The train bobbed and bumbled along as the thoughts of the sad man consumed him. It was time's like these that the loneliness he felt would make itself known. Not because of the emptiness of the car, no. It was because of the emptiness in Edward's heart.
The tree's began to appear less and less frequently, thus indicating that the train was nearing its destination. As a matter of fact, the small town was visible far off in the distance. "Grimrock. Finally."
Grimrock was the town Ed would never forget, for it was the very town in which Alphonse was last seen alive. To Ed, that last wittiness was more of a clue than anything else. But after interrogating the old woman, he found she had only glimpsed his brother on the way to the market. Nothing more, nothing less.
The town was where most of this search had been based. Ed would always come here once every few months, in hopes that someone had spotted the rebel group responsible for his brother's...well...the one's who did it. Yet every time he'd come, there would be less and less info on any rebel activity. It got to the point that he had stopped coming here, there wasn't any need to.
Stepping off the train car onto the platform, the State Alchemist could see that not much had changed since his last visit. Sometimes he thought he wouldn't mind coming here with Alphonse some day, that is after he found him. But even he had to admit, that his search was beginning to look grim. The town was small, named for the first man who settled there and made the town what it was today. The best thing about the place was the view, from almost anywhere you stood Mt. Briggs was clearly visible. That was why the soldiers that Al accompanied had used it as a base of operations, it made it easy to monitor the mountain side.
Pulling the small piece of paper that he had scribbled notes on from his pocket, Ed read them once more.
"Bastard said there was a group of heavily armed men near Grimrock. Don't forget to make your presence known, maybe people will think your him. Use the picture. Check out the "site" once more. Roy is a bastard. Try to verify if this is the same rebel group from before. Hawkeye said to enjoy the weather, so try too. Oh and don't forget....Roy is a bastard."
He read that last line over, "Stupid bastard Brigadier General." The last thing Roy had said to him before he left on this mission was. "Be careful Fullmetal, the rock face on that mountain has a 'small' tolerance to weight. Even a 'little' rock slide could crush and 'miniscule' objects in its way."
To every ones great surprise, that is all the people in the hallway that Ed and Roy happened to bump into each other in, Ed thanked the General for his advice and casually walked away. One soldier even went as far as saying hell had frozen over.
"Well better start looking." He decided to start by asking the townsfolk about any suspicious activity in the area. Pretty basic stuff actually, things he had gotten used to asking.
The entire days search had proved fruitless, no one had seen anything even remotely suspicious. "Ugh, another wasted day." The exhausted man said as he fell onto the cheap inn bed. "Spent all day on my feet for what...nothing. Well maybe we'll get a break tomorrow right Al..." Looking to the side and finding no one in the room with him, a surge of great sadness overcame him, causing his eyes to instantly water. Was he that tired? So tired that he forgot what he was doing there, or was he really going crazy like everyone thought? He didn't know, and he didn't care. He just wanted Al back.
*
A huge mass stood before him, dark and blurry and imposing. His brain raced, trying to figure out where he was and what he was doing there. Slowly the image cleared and he could make out his surroundings. It was Mt. Briggs, and he was standing at it's base. On further inspection he saw the same tents as before, but this time the men weren't setting anything up, it looked like they had been there for a while. In the center off all these tents was a small campfire, many men sitting around it starring into it's infinite light.
"Who are you?" He asked himself, wondering why he kept seeing these people in his dreams. That was one of the strangest things about it, Ed knew this couldn't be any normal dream. It couldn't be because before, he could never tell when he was dreaming, but in these...visions, he was well aware that this was just in his mind and that he was actually sleeping.
Upon further inspection of the area, he spotted what he knew would be there. Alphonse, was walking up a moonlit path behind him, carrying a bucket of what looked like water. Remembering that in his last dream, Al almost looked like he could see him, he wondered if he could hear him too. "Al!" He yelled at his brother, hoping his theory was correct. Suddenly the boy walking up the path stopped, and frantically looked from side to side. "So you can hear me. Here Al, I'm right here."
He tried to take a step forward, but couldn't. It was as though his feet were encased in cement, and no matter how hard he wanted to run right up to his brother, he couldn't. These visions were cruel.
And then, just as the younger Elric looked up the road and straight into his brother's eyes...
"Al!" He jolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily. Something had awakened him, but he couldn't tell what it had been.
Then the light rapping on the door accompanied by, "Room service." came through muffled, as it was said on the other side of his door.
"Dammit!" He cursed the cleaning lady under his breath, "...Uh...yeah I'm still here..." Ed yelled back.
"Okay, I'll come back later." The soft padding of the cleaning ladys foot steps anounced her departure.
Edward, who was still a bit hazy from his sleep, wondered as to why the cleaning lady would come so early? Then glancing at his pocket watch gave him the answer. "Crap! Why did I sleep in so late!? I must have been really tired last night."
He quickly fitted himself in his uniform, and headed straight to the streets of Grimrock. Losing the most part of the morning he figured he would bypass his breakfast and go straight on to his search. His stomach didn't agree with that idea after a short time though, growling loudly as he was questioning a young woman. After apologizing for the interruption he thanked her for her cooperation and soon found a small cafe.
As the soldier ate his lunch, quite visible amongst the small crowd around him due to the eye catching blue uniform and bright blond hair, he noticed an old man in the street starring at him. At first Ed went on eating his lunch, he remembered when he and Al were searching for the philosophers stone, there would always be someone who starred at the oddness of the two. But then he realized, there wasn't a seven foot suit of armor to catch anyones attention. Only a state alchemist, and to everyone who saw him, he looked like the Soul Alchemist.
Hastily leaping out of his chair, knocking various things on his table down, he made a B-line for the old man. Unfortunately Ed didn't think of how menacing a soldier rushing toward you would look like, so he was farily surprised when the man dashed in the other direction.
"Hey! Wait!" The Alchemist yelled as he gave pursuit, he wasn't going to let him go that easily. For all he knew this could be the opportunity he was waiting for. "Stop! Please! I just wanna talk!"
The elderly man gave it his all, but in the end it took less than thirty seconds for Edward to catch up. Cornering the old man he pleaded, "Please 'huff,huff' I just want to talk. 'huff, huff'"
"Oh please! I know what 'talking' to you military types really is. It always involves alot of pain and alot of bruises! So get away from me before I..." He raised his bony hands up in a fist warning the soldier to back off.
As much as Ed wanted to laugh at the gesture, considering who was making it, he knew he had to be carful if he was going to get what he wanted. "Don't worry old man, I'm not like most soldiers. I just want to ask you a few questions." He pleaded sincerely.
"Questions, eh? What kind of questions?"
"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to know...have you seen me before?"
The old man looked puzzled, confused by the question. "What are ya talkin about boy? Of course I've seen ya before. Don't ya remember me?"
Edwards heart leapt. Was this it, could this be the first step in finding his brother at last? "When, when did you see me, was it long ago, did I look like this, was I with anybody..."
"Calm down, calm down boy! Are you crazy or somethin? Don't ya remember? It was three years ago, just before you got in that big fight up on Briggs. I'm an old man and even I remember that!"
Then his heart fell, "...Oh..."
"Whats the matter? You get hurt in that fight or somethin? Don't look like you did, although, I thought you were dead." He chuckled.
"He's not dead!" The soldier demanded forcefully, confusing the old man even more than before.
"Who's not dead? Oh...wait you mean Isaac? Well of course he aint dead, not even your troops could handle him when he joined forces with that other Drachmian group."
Edward's eyes flew wide open, "Isaac? Is he the leader of that group of Drachmian rebels that killed...that wiped out my men?"
"Whats wrong with you? Did you hit you're head on something? Of course he is. Don't you remember, you kept askin me where he was and all that."
This surprised him, why was Al asking this old man questions like that? "Wait a minute, how do you know so much? How do you know me so much? Who are you?" Edward hadn't properly thought about that till that moment, he was too caught up in all the other info about this 'Isaac'. But now that he thought about it, no one else in this entire town new anything about the rebels on Mt. Briggs. No one except this old man. "Tell me."
The old man looked him up and down, inspecting him. "Now that I think about it...you do look a bit different. Weren't you taller or something? Are you sure you weren't hurt, did you hit your head or somethin?"
Thinking quickly the Alphonse imposter came up with an excuse, sensing he was losing his lead. "Y-yes, I did. I got really hurt and I don't remember anything. So just please...tell me who you are." He pleaded.
The old man looked at him strangely, with a crooked smile. "Well then, I don't really believe you. I don't think you really are that State Alchemist from before, but I don't want to get in trouble or nothing. So let me introduce myself. My name is Palmer, and I'm what you would call a...keeper of information. Now, I don't have a certain employer, so for the right price, I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"So then...that other Alchemist was paying you for information on the rebels lead by this Isaac?"
"Yes sir." The old man replied.
"But...you said you work for any one who's willing to pay the right amount. Right?"
"Mmm-hmm"
"So then, you were the one who told those rebels about my BROTHER! That's why those two separate groups joined forces." He snarled, grabbing the feeble old man by his collar and lifting him up against a wall. "You're the one responsible for all of this! I should KILL you right NOW!" Raising a metal fist hidden by a glove, only Edward knew how much damage he could inflict upon the man.
But still, the sight of an enraged State Alchemist was still pretty frightening to the old man, even without knowing that a metal fist could bash his face in. "WOAH! WAIT, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T LIKE MOST SOLDIERS!"
After a few long moments of silence, where Edward contemplated wether it was worth it to obliterate this man, he realized it wouldn't help him find Al. After slowly letting Palmer down, he moved in close, he eyes burning into the old man. "You are going to tell me everything I want to know, because if you don't, you'll find I actually do have alot in common with 'most' soldiers."
Some time later, Edward emerged from the ally he had questioned Plamer in, shaking with rage he wandered the street unsure what his next move should be. From what the old man had told him he found out that Alphonse had been using him to track the rebels led by this Isaac person. But since Alphonse was such a trusting person, he had no idea that Palmer was selling info to Isaac, which is why he was so easily ambushed. But the most important information Ed gathered from the old man, was that Isaac was here, hiding in the forest surrounding Grimrock.
It was his senses, that kept him from running into the woods searching for Isaac at that very moment. He knew that doing that would be pointless, probably even deadly. From what Palmer told him, Isaac had amassed quite a large following once the news of his massacre on at Mt. Briggs spread across Drachma. One thing was for sure, he wouldn't be able to take on an entire army of Drachmian rebels. Since the only back up he could get was a very long train ride away, Ed knew he was on his own for this one.
Edward returned to his room at the inn, and waited. He decided it would be best to wait till nightfall and sneak into the forest in search of the rebels. But that wasn't for another four hours, he would have to be patient. While waiting in his room, his mind wandered to the thoughts of his brother. The days events had caused memories of his brother to come rushing back to him, so for four hours Ed sat in his room, thinking.
*
Bullets ricocheted off of everything, as the three heavily armed mercenaries fired randomly into the warehouse. It had once been their base of operations, but was quickly turned into a war zone when two State Alchemist's had crashed the party.
Hiding behind a freshly transmuted wall, were the party crashers, Fullmetal and Soul. As the concrete wall disintegrated around them, they quickly devised a plan. "Okay, you got it Al?"
"Got it!"
Suddenly there was a bright flash of blue light, temporarily blinding the mercs. In the confusion a gigantic rock statue of what looked like a thin woman with braided hair, came rushing toward the men from behind the wall.
"What the hell is that!?"
"I don't know just shoot it!"
The bullets did nothing but chip the stone warrior as it gained speed, and quickly closed the distance between them. With bone crushing force, the statue slammed into one of the soldiers, knocking him unconscious instantly. But by the time this happened the statue had cracked and was falling apart rapidly. No worries though, it was only meant to be a distraction.
While the remaining two mercenaries focused their fire on the decaying figure, the duo came flying out of the darkness. "If you think that's scary!" Edward roared as he swiftly incapacitated one of the men.
"Then you should meet the real thing!" Alphonse yelled, just as swiftly knocking down the last remaining merc.
After looking around and catching their breath, the two leapt up in joy. "Not bad for your first assignment Al!" The older praised.
"What do you mean? I've been on plenty assignments with you." The younger asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah but this time you're a certified State Alchemist. Keep up the good work and maybe someday you'll be famous like you're brother the Fullmetal Alchemist." He gloated, raising his head into the air proudly.
"What are you talking about. People already know me, they still think I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist cause they can't believe the real Fullmetal is so short." Alphonse teased playfully.
"WHO YOU CALLIN SO LITTLE..." His ranting was quickly stopped when his brother suddenly grabbed him in his arms and hugged him lovingly.
"...I love you brother." Alphonse blushed, "Promise me you'll always be with me on my assignments. We're perfect together."
Taken by surprise by his younger brothers show of affection, Edward blushed furiously. "...I love you too Al, and of course I'll be with you on all you're assignments. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Edward backed up to look his brother in the face. Said brother was blushing madly, a small smile on his face as his eyes were averted elsewhere. Al was obviously embarrassed by his show of emotions, and Ed found him so cute. Slowly rasing Al's chin up so that he would look Ed in the eye, he softly planted a kiss on the younger's lips. "Come on Al, we gotta report back to headquarters now. We'll leave these idiots to the clean up crew."
"Okay." Alphonse agreed, as they started for the exit. "Um brother?"
"Yeah Al."
The Soul Alchemist gazed back at the stone figure lying on the floor, "Why did you transmute teacher?" he wondered.
Edward glanced back, "Well...I had to transmute something scary didn't I?"
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked it! Sorry if there are alot of spelling or grammatical errors, I was in a hurry when I edited this.
Title: The Soul Alchemist Ch. 3
Author: Frankie_The_cat
Pairing: Elricest
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: The last thing Ed said to AL
Summary: "You're the one responsible for all of this! I should KILL you right NOW!"
"You don't get it Winry...it wasn't like any other dream." The long haired boy exclaimed, looking desperately into his friends face from across the shop counter. "It felt...real." That's all he could say to explain it.
His friend starred at him, sadness encompassing her. Ever since Edward barged into the shop, ranting about a dream he had of his lost brother, she had known something was wrong. "What do you mean Ed? It was just a dream, nothing more." She replied, almost pleading for the boy to accept her answer.
"But it wasn't like any other dream, it was like it was actually happening right before my eyes. I could almost feel the atmosphere." The dream had thoroughly surprised him. It had been six months since his brother had died, yet the dream made it feel as though it hadn't been no more than six seconds ago. Not knowing what to do, he stayed up all night thinking about it. Never before had a dream done so much to him, not even the nightmares of his mother.
"Ed..." Winry pleaded once more, "...that can't be. Alphonse is...dead, you know that." Edward's change in attitude had already been bothering her, but this was too much. She couldn't stand there and watch the man she regarded as her brother, last brother now, destroy himself.
He scowled, golden eyes looking away. For some reason he knew she wouldn't believe him, and honestly if he were in her shoes, he didn't think he'd believe himself. "I know what I saw Winry. Alphonse was alive, hurt, but alive. And I'm not going to rest until I find out what this means." he vowed, not knowing what he would do.
"Ed be serious, It could have just been some memory of Al you put together in your head. I know it's hard to accept but there's nothing more you can do."
"No, I won't let this happen." He whispered to himself.
"Won't let what happen! You can't bring him back! I won't let you go off looking for another philosophers stone or something, you know it won't work." Assuming that's what her 'brother' meant, Winry meant every word. She would tie him up to one of her repair chairs before she let him leave.
"Of course I'm not going to look for another one! Are you crazy!? I meant..." It couldn't be said, it hurt him too much to say it.
"What Ed...? What did you mean? Tell me!?"
He scowled even more, struggling to find the words. With a shaky voice, they were found, "I won't let the last thing I said to Alphonse be......'I hate you'."
Chapter 3: Revenge
The seat was uncomfortable, but he had grown accustomed to that a long time ago. At least he had the car to himself, he noticed as he listened to clitter clatter of the train tracks. The scenery was beautiful as the metal snake slithered through miles and miles of country side, headed north. But the single passenger couldn't say he enjoyed it, not without his companion.
The retelling of a small part of his story had profoundly saddened him, as he explained all the details to Winry. She listened intently, unblinking as he spoke on that uncomfortable bench. Of course he left out the details about his relationship with Al, he didn't want to lose another person he cared about. But not mentioning that piece of important information made it a bit harder to explain some things. Luckily the girl didn't question some of the inconsistencies, and focused on the overall plot.
The train bobbed and bumbled along as the thoughts of the sad man consumed him. It was time's like these that the loneliness he felt would make itself known. Not because of the emptiness of the car, no. It was because of the emptiness in Edward's heart.
The tree's began to appear less and less frequently, thus indicating that the train was nearing its destination. As a matter of fact, the small town was visible far off in the distance. "Grimrock. Finally."
Grimrock was the town Ed would never forget, for it was the very town in which Alphonse was last seen alive. To Ed, that last wittiness was more of a clue than anything else. But after interrogating the old woman, he found she had only glimpsed his brother on the way to the market. Nothing more, nothing less.
The town was where most of this search had been based. Ed would always come here once every few months, in hopes that someone had spotted the rebel group responsible for his brother's...well...the one's who did it. Yet every time he'd come, there would be less and less info on any rebel activity. It got to the point that he had stopped coming here, there wasn't any need to.
Stepping off the train car onto the platform, the State Alchemist could see that not much had changed since his last visit. Sometimes he thought he wouldn't mind coming here with Alphonse some day, that is after he found him. But even he had to admit, that his search was beginning to look grim. The town was small, named for the first man who settled there and made the town what it was today. The best thing about the place was the view, from almost anywhere you stood Mt. Briggs was clearly visible. That was why the soldiers that Al accompanied had used it as a base of operations, it made it easy to monitor the mountain side.
Pulling the small piece of paper that he had scribbled notes on from his pocket, Ed read them once more.
"Bastard said there was a group of heavily armed men near Grimrock. Don't forget to make your presence known, maybe people will think your him. Use the picture. Check out the "site" once more. Roy is a bastard. Try to verify if this is the same rebel group from before. Hawkeye said to enjoy the weather, so try too. Oh and don't forget....Roy is a bastard."
He read that last line over, "Stupid bastard Brigadier General." The last thing Roy had said to him before he left on this mission was. "Be careful Fullmetal, the rock face on that mountain has a 'small' tolerance to weight. Even a 'little' rock slide could crush and 'miniscule' objects in its way."
To every ones great surprise, that is all the people in the hallway that Ed and Roy happened to bump into each other in, Ed thanked the General for his advice and casually walked away. One soldier even went as far as saying hell had frozen over.
"Well better start looking." He decided to start by asking the townsfolk about any suspicious activity in the area. Pretty basic stuff actually, things he had gotten used to asking.
The entire days search had proved fruitless, no one had seen anything even remotely suspicious. "Ugh, another wasted day." The exhausted man said as he fell onto the cheap inn bed. "Spent all day on my feet for what...nothing. Well maybe we'll get a break tomorrow right Al..." Looking to the side and finding no one in the room with him, a surge of great sadness overcame him, causing his eyes to instantly water. Was he that tired? So tired that he forgot what he was doing there, or was he really going crazy like everyone thought? He didn't know, and he didn't care. He just wanted Al back.
*
A huge mass stood before him, dark and blurry and imposing. His brain raced, trying to figure out where he was and what he was doing there. Slowly the image cleared and he could make out his surroundings. It was Mt. Briggs, and he was standing at it's base. On further inspection he saw the same tents as before, but this time the men weren't setting anything up, it looked like they had been there for a while. In the center off all these tents was a small campfire, many men sitting around it starring into it's infinite light.
"Who are you?" He asked himself, wondering why he kept seeing these people in his dreams. That was one of the strangest things about it, Ed knew this couldn't be any normal dream. It couldn't be because before, he could never tell when he was dreaming, but in these...visions, he was well aware that this was just in his mind and that he was actually sleeping.
Upon further inspection of the area, he spotted what he knew would be there. Alphonse, was walking up a moonlit path behind him, carrying a bucket of what looked like water. Remembering that in his last dream, Al almost looked like he could see him, he wondered if he could hear him too. "Al!" He yelled at his brother, hoping his theory was correct. Suddenly the boy walking up the path stopped, and frantically looked from side to side. "So you can hear me. Here Al, I'm right here."
He tried to take a step forward, but couldn't. It was as though his feet were encased in cement, and no matter how hard he wanted to run right up to his brother, he couldn't. These visions were cruel.
And then, just as the younger Elric looked up the road and straight into his brother's eyes...
"Al!" He jolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily. Something had awakened him, but he couldn't tell what it had been.
Then the light rapping on the door accompanied by, "Room service." came through muffled, as it was said on the other side of his door.
"Dammit!" He cursed the cleaning lady under his breath, "...Uh...yeah I'm still here..." Ed yelled back.
"Okay, I'll come back later." The soft padding of the cleaning ladys foot steps anounced her departure.
Edward, who was still a bit hazy from his sleep, wondered as to why the cleaning lady would come so early? Then glancing at his pocket watch gave him the answer. "Crap! Why did I sleep in so late!? I must have been really tired last night."
He quickly fitted himself in his uniform, and headed straight to the streets of Grimrock. Losing the most part of the morning he figured he would bypass his breakfast and go straight on to his search. His stomach didn't agree with that idea after a short time though, growling loudly as he was questioning a young woman. After apologizing for the interruption he thanked her for her cooperation and soon found a small cafe.
As the soldier ate his lunch, quite visible amongst the small crowd around him due to the eye catching blue uniform and bright blond hair, he noticed an old man in the street starring at him. At first Ed went on eating his lunch, he remembered when he and Al were searching for the philosophers stone, there would always be someone who starred at the oddness of the two. But then he realized, there wasn't a seven foot suit of armor to catch anyones attention. Only a state alchemist, and to everyone who saw him, he looked like the Soul Alchemist.
Hastily leaping out of his chair, knocking various things on his table down, he made a B-line for the old man. Unfortunately Ed didn't think of how menacing a soldier rushing toward you would look like, so he was farily surprised when the man dashed in the other direction.
"Hey! Wait!" The Alchemist yelled as he gave pursuit, he wasn't going to let him go that easily. For all he knew this could be the opportunity he was waiting for. "Stop! Please! I just wanna talk!"
The elderly man gave it his all, but in the end it took less than thirty seconds for Edward to catch up. Cornering the old man he pleaded, "Please 'huff,huff' I just want to talk. 'huff, huff'"
"Oh please! I know what 'talking' to you military types really is. It always involves alot of pain and alot of bruises! So get away from me before I..." He raised his bony hands up in a fist warning the soldier to back off.
As much as Ed wanted to laugh at the gesture, considering who was making it, he knew he had to be carful if he was going to get what he wanted. "Don't worry old man, I'm not like most soldiers. I just want to ask you a few questions." He pleaded sincerely.
"Questions, eh? What kind of questions?"
"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to know...have you seen me before?"
The old man looked puzzled, confused by the question. "What are ya talkin about boy? Of course I've seen ya before. Don't ya remember me?"
Edwards heart leapt. Was this it, could this be the first step in finding his brother at last? "When, when did you see me, was it long ago, did I look like this, was I with anybody..."
"Calm down, calm down boy! Are you crazy or somethin? Don't ya remember? It was three years ago, just before you got in that big fight up on Briggs. I'm an old man and even I remember that!"
Then his heart fell, "...Oh..."
"Whats the matter? You get hurt in that fight or somethin? Don't look like you did, although, I thought you were dead." He chuckled.
"He's not dead!" The soldier demanded forcefully, confusing the old man even more than before.
"Who's not dead? Oh...wait you mean Isaac? Well of course he aint dead, not even your troops could handle him when he joined forces with that other Drachmian group."
Edward's eyes flew wide open, "Isaac? Is he the leader of that group of Drachmian rebels that killed...that wiped out my men?"
"Whats wrong with you? Did you hit you're head on something? Of course he is. Don't you remember, you kept askin me where he was and all that."
This surprised him, why was Al asking this old man questions like that? "Wait a minute, how do you know so much? How do you know me so much? Who are you?" Edward hadn't properly thought about that till that moment, he was too caught up in all the other info about this 'Isaac'. But now that he thought about it, no one else in this entire town new anything about the rebels on Mt. Briggs. No one except this old man. "Tell me."
The old man looked him up and down, inspecting him. "Now that I think about it...you do look a bit different. Weren't you taller or something? Are you sure you weren't hurt, did you hit your head or somethin?"
Thinking quickly the Alphonse imposter came up with an excuse, sensing he was losing his lead. "Y-yes, I did. I got really hurt and I don't remember anything. So just please...tell me who you are." He pleaded.
The old man looked at him strangely, with a crooked smile. "Well then, I don't really believe you. I don't think you really are that State Alchemist from before, but I don't want to get in trouble or nothing. So let me introduce myself. My name is Palmer, and I'm what you would call a...keeper of information. Now, I don't have a certain employer, so for the right price, I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"So then...that other Alchemist was paying you for information on the rebels lead by this Isaac?"
"Yes sir." The old man replied.
"But...you said you work for any one who's willing to pay the right amount. Right?"
"Mmm-hmm"
"So then, you were the one who told those rebels about my BROTHER! That's why those two separate groups joined forces." He snarled, grabbing the feeble old man by his collar and lifting him up against a wall. "You're the one responsible for all of this! I should KILL you right NOW!" Raising a metal fist hidden by a glove, only Edward knew how much damage he could inflict upon the man.
But still, the sight of an enraged State Alchemist was still pretty frightening to the old man, even without knowing that a metal fist could bash his face in. "WOAH! WAIT, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T LIKE MOST SOLDIERS!"
After a few long moments of silence, where Edward contemplated wether it was worth it to obliterate this man, he realized it wouldn't help him find Al. After slowly letting Palmer down, he moved in close, he eyes burning into the old man. "You are going to tell me everything I want to know, because if you don't, you'll find I actually do have alot in common with 'most' soldiers."
Some time later, Edward emerged from the ally he had questioned Plamer in, shaking with rage he wandered the street unsure what his next move should be. From what the old man had told him he found out that Alphonse had been using him to track the rebels led by this Isaac person. But since Alphonse was such a trusting person, he had no idea that Palmer was selling info to Isaac, which is why he was so easily ambushed. But the most important information Ed gathered from the old man, was that Isaac was here, hiding in the forest surrounding Grimrock.
It was his senses, that kept him from running into the woods searching for Isaac at that very moment. He knew that doing that would be pointless, probably even deadly. From what Palmer told him, Isaac had amassed quite a large following once the news of his massacre on at Mt. Briggs spread across Drachma. One thing was for sure, he wouldn't be able to take on an entire army of Drachmian rebels. Since the only back up he could get was a very long train ride away, Ed knew he was on his own for this one.
Edward returned to his room at the inn, and waited. He decided it would be best to wait till nightfall and sneak into the forest in search of the rebels. But that wasn't for another four hours, he would have to be patient. While waiting in his room, his mind wandered to the thoughts of his brother. The days events had caused memories of his brother to come rushing back to him, so for four hours Ed sat in his room, thinking.
*
Bullets ricocheted off of everything, as the three heavily armed mercenaries fired randomly into the warehouse. It had once been their base of operations, but was quickly turned into a war zone when two State Alchemist's had crashed the party.
Hiding behind a freshly transmuted wall, were the party crashers, Fullmetal and Soul. As the concrete wall disintegrated around them, they quickly devised a plan. "Okay, you got it Al?"
"Got it!"
Suddenly there was a bright flash of blue light, temporarily blinding the mercs. In the confusion a gigantic rock statue of what looked like a thin woman with braided hair, came rushing toward the men from behind the wall.
"What the hell is that!?"
"I don't know just shoot it!"
The bullets did nothing but chip the stone warrior as it gained speed, and quickly closed the distance between them. With bone crushing force, the statue slammed into one of the soldiers, knocking him unconscious instantly. But by the time this happened the statue had cracked and was falling apart rapidly. No worries though, it was only meant to be a distraction.
While the remaining two mercenaries focused their fire on the decaying figure, the duo came flying out of the darkness. "If you think that's scary!" Edward roared as he swiftly incapacitated one of the men.
"Then you should meet the real thing!" Alphonse yelled, just as swiftly knocking down the last remaining merc.
After looking around and catching their breath, the two leapt up in joy. "Not bad for your first assignment Al!" The older praised.
"What do you mean? I've been on plenty assignments with you." The younger asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah but this time you're a certified State Alchemist. Keep up the good work and maybe someday you'll be famous like you're brother the Fullmetal Alchemist." He gloated, raising his head into the air proudly.
"What are you talking about. People already know me, they still think I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist cause they can't believe the real Fullmetal is so short." Alphonse teased playfully.
"WHO YOU CALLIN SO LITTLE..." His ranting was quickly stopped when his brother suddenly grabbed him in his arms and hugged him lovingly.
"...I love you brother." Alphonse blushed, "Promise me you'll always be with me on my assignments. We're perfect together."
Taken by surprise by his younger brothers show of affection, Edward blushed furiously. "...I love you too Al, and of course I'll be with you on all you're assignments. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Edward backed up to look his brother in the face. Said brother was blushing madly, a small smile on his face as his eyes were averted elsewhere. Al was obviously embarrassed by his show of emotions, and Ed found him so cute. Slowly rasing Al's chin up so that he would look Ed in the eye, he softly planted a kiss on the younger's lips. "Come on Al, we gotta report back to headquarters now. We'll leave these idiots to the clean up crew."
"Okay." Alphonse agreed, as they started for the exit. "Um brother?"
"Yeah Al."
The Soul Alchemist gazed back at the stone figure lying on the floor, "Why did you transmute teacher?" he wondered.
Edward glanced back, "Well...I had to transmute something scary didn't I?"
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Hope you liked it! Sorry if there are alot of spelling or grammatical errors, I was in a hurry when I edited this.