Wandering Girl (Edward Elric story. Fullmetal Alchemist)

Central Library ch. 7

Chapter 7: Central Library

Well, three days are over and Ed finally got his automail repaired and replaced. We were seated on the train, making our way back to Central after we had left Pinako and Winry earlier that morning.
I had gotten used to Winry and her company, and didn't feel that much dislike towards her anymore. I still got a tad bit jealous whenever she was with Edward, but that's a totally normal feeling for a fangirl like me. Plus I always felt like strangling her whenever she threw her wrench at Ed, and he was in pain. I was just protective like that. Also the sound of his skull breaking under the force of the metallic object had something to do with the feeling of pity as well.
The train ride had started out pretty loudly and energetically (mainly by Armstrong), but it soon died down after a while, thankfully.
The train slowed down to a stop, and Edward and Alphonse ran out, obviously excited that we were all in Central. I looked around the train station in amazement. It looked incredible and was extremely spacious. Two soldiers walked up to us and saluted.

"Major Armstrong, we're here to see you".

"Good work second Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh", Armstrong walked towards the duo.

They both walked towards Al with wonder clearly showing in their eyes.

"Oh! Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist? I'm Danny Brosh. Your outfit matches your name, I'm impressed".

"I'm Maria Ross! It's an honour to meet you"!

Armstrong, Alphonse and I both pointed towards Edward who practically had steam coming out of his ears. He would have nearly attacked the two if Armstrong hadn't stopped him. They had both profusely apologized for their mistakes, and Major Armstrong stated that he must go to report to Central HQ. Edward was clearly ecstatic when he heard those words, but to his dismay we still had escorts.

We all squished inside the small car and soon we were off to the National Central Library. Because of Al's immense armour, only Ed could fit in the seat next to him, I had to sit next to Maria Ross. Talking filled the car and I slowly begun to listen.

"Wait he's your younger brother? Why is he wearing that suit of armour"?

Edward and Alphonse looked at one another and turned back to face the soldiers. I looked at them expectantly, waiting to see what excuse they could possibly create in a short amount of time.

"It's a hobby".

Facepalm. I looked at the brothers through the spaces between my fingers, and gave them my biggest sarcastic "Wow" look. Surprisingly, the two soldiers actually believed them and started arguing amongst themselves about why is wearing armour a hobby.

I leaned against the door and looked at Ed with amusement showing in my face. Lieutenant Ross averted my attention away from Ed to focus more on her.

"And who are you"?

I glanced at the brothers and back to Maria. "My name's Avril Flinn. I guess I'm a friend of these two", I shrugged my shoulders.
I noticed her eying me suspiciously so I quickly added- "We've been traveling for awhile, and though I'm not a state alchemist I've become very intrigued by their research".
That last answer seemed to satisfy her more and Danny looked a bit surprised that such youngsters could have an amazing interest in alchemic research.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and smirked in Edward's direction, sending him a "my-excuse-was-better-than-yours" look with my eyes. He in turn only rolled his eyes until they landed on an unidentified monument outside of the car. His golden eyes lighted up like a little boy's eyes on Christmas Day as he pointed outside the car and shouted.
"I can see it"!
I had forgotten what had happened to that library, and like a cold wave of water, it hit me in the face. Lust had burned it to the ground.
Edward's face showed a flash of dismay and horror, but he soon clenched his jaw in a look of determination. That's really what I like best about him; his will and determination to continue the journey no matter how many obstacles are put in his path. That's a quality that many of the male students in the real world need to learn.
After speaking with the woman at the information desk, we got the directions to Seska's house. She was a bit of a klutz, but she managed to rewrite Tim Marcoh's research for the Elric brothers. Marcoh, being smart, decided to put his research in code.
It was two hours after we stopped by the library that I begun to get fidgety.
"Oi, Ed. How long are we going to be here? It's so boring", I whined, resting my chin on the wooden desk.
Ed was too engrossed in the script that he didn't even look my way.
"Just hold on. We just got started and I want to decode this as soon as possible", he replied.
I stared at his hunched figure and made a face.
"We just got started? We got here like two hours ago"! I got up and waltzed over to his desk. "C'mon Ed, lets go somewhere. You need to stretch out a little bit".
"I can't leave now, I'm so close to figuring this out", Ed clutched the papers tighter.
"Ed, please, it's going to take you at least a week before you figure this out", I snorted.
"Tha- Wait how are you so sure"?
My eyes widened slightly. "Uhh... Because this is way too hard..and that's the first estimated time that came to my head. Anyway, just shut up and let's go", I grabbed his arm.
"No. I need to stay longer".
I gently pushed the papers onto the desk and looked Edward in his bright golden eyes.
"Ed, please"?
He hesitated a bit before looking at his brother who nodded his head.
"It's fine brother. You look like you need to take a break anyway", Alphonse said from his spot near the bookshelf.
Edward huffed and slowly got up from his seat.
"Fine. Ten minutes".
I smiled, grabbed his wrist and was about to exit when lieutenant Ross interrupted us.
"Do you need any escorts to ensure your safety"?
Before Ed could reply, I spoke up. "Nah, he doesn't need any escorts. We're only going to be gone for a short while".
As we exited the door, I waved bye at Al.

The streets of Central were bustling with citizens. The architecture was a little too old fashioned for my taste, but it gave me a sense of security and serenity. The lack of technology was still taking a lot to get used to, and I found myself getting bored quicker here than in the real world.
Ed and I walked side-by-side past the markets and the shops, stopping occasionally when I wanted to look at the outfits in the windows. He seemed a little impatient and clearly showed that he wanted to get back to decoding those papers. I felt a little bad for carrying him out of the library for my own selfish reasons.
"Hey Ed"?
"Yeah"?
He looked at me and an image flashed past my mind; all of the insane and crazed things he's going to encounter after he figures out what Marcoh's "recipes" mean.
"Are you sure you're prepared for the road ahead"? I asked quietly.
He seemed a little taken back by my question. "I don't know what to expect. Anything can happen, but no matter what, I'll find that stone and get Al's body back. I'm ready to take on any challenge for his sake".
I smiled at him. "Good, just know that if you run into any problems, you can always count on me to be there for you".
Ed smiled back at me. "Thanks, but I don't want you getting too involved before you get hurt".
I playfully punched him in his arm. "Too late. I'm staying whether you like it or not, no matter what".
Ed rolled his eyes and continued walking.
There was a silence that followed as we walked shoulder to shoulder. We were strolling on the sidewalk, making our way back to the library. The cars whizzed past us and the birds that were perched on rooftops sang a tune.
"Hey, Avril"?
"Yeah, Ed"? I looked at him questionably.
"Remember when you said you weren't from this world? Can you elaborate on that"?
"Oh um yeah.. Sure", I replied. "Any specifics"?
He paused. "Just... Anything".
"...Well like I said, I was sitting in my room and the gate opened in my room. How it opened? That's beyond me, I didn't do it that's for sure. As I said before, alchemy can't be performed in my world so either someone from this world opened it or Truth opened it himself. I get sucked in it and these hands come grabbing at me, pulling me in. It was so painful; all that information just getting crammed into my brain at once... The gates are very mysterious", I finished, nodding my head in agreement with my own statement.
Edward was staring at me the whole time, his interest obviously piqued.
"What's your world like"?
I looked at him with my eyes shimmering excitedly at the opportunity to talk about my home.
"Oh my world's a very advanced place compared to this", I gestured around me. "Technically, I can also be referred to as a time traveller as well as a dimension traveller. I came from the year in the 2000s whereas I'm assuming this time era is somewhere in the early 1900s".
His eyes widened slightly when I mentioned that.
"Also, my world is filled with technology. IPods, iPhones, laptops, televisions, modern cars; my world is filled with the stuff. The fashion sense is also different, it's more... eccentric if I should put it that way".
Edward looked at me eyes filled with wonder and amazement.
"Wow.. Your world sounds completely different".
I pulled down my backpack and opened the zipper. "I could show you what I mean", I said pulling out my iPod from the bag. His eyes widened in fascination and surprise at the small device in my hand.
"Woah. What's that"?
I smiled happily at his signs of fascination. "It's an iPod. You can take pictures, go online, listen to music and a lot of other cool actions. The Internet is useless here though, since there's no wifi-", I looked at the puzzled look on his face. "It's a long explanation".
I allowed him to hold the object in his hands and he continued to stare at it.
"Can I ask another question"?
I grinned at him. "You just did, but go ahead".
"If you came from so far in the future and even if you can't perform alchemy there, maybe there were books about alchemy from my time there. Did you know anything about the stone before you came here"?
My grin faltered slightly at his question. I did happen to find that alchemy did exist back in the 1800s (much to my surprise) from Wikipedia. Though the concepts and alchemic equations were different from the anime, it still existed. Even homunculi existed, though they were made very differently, and the philosophers stone was said to be the elixir of life. But I knew he wanted the anime's alchemy and even though I knew EVERYTHING he needed to know, I couldn't just tell him. I just can't. He needs to fix his mistake with his own effort.
"Not much.. Alchemy's not really a big thing back in my world. Though there are a few articles that I found about it being the elixir of life and stupid scientists drinking mercury, there's not much information", I bit on my lip to try and prevent myself from saying anything else. It failed.
"I do know, however, that the stone is created in a horrible way, though I can't quite remember", my voice trailed off when I begun to lie.
"It's created in a horrible way", Edward repeated, musing to himself.
"Just keep on trying and I'm sure you'll find all the necessary answers", I said encouragingly and I flashed a smile.

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A/N:: Ok, sweet peas I'm finally done!! Took a reallllyyy long time on this one... like at least a month. Sorry if my writing style might be different at one point, I stopped writing for awhile and then continued weeks later. also if Ed seems to be OOC in this, it's the tiredness taking over me that caused that. I just finished exams today and my head is still throbbing from taking biology and geography and IT in one day.. Anyway I wanted to write one chapter before my trip to Disney world! (yay!) so I prob won't be on for like a week.. But I promise that I'll have a Christmas special chapter as your Christmas present. As a matter of fact I'm gonna start that chappie now. so yeaahhh (does anyone even read these author notes?). Anyway bye-nee!