Hope ꨄ Male Reader x Edward Elric

ꨄTrip to Dublithꨄ

Chapter 14
"Rush Valley!"
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M/R's pov

Edward began explaining what happened at the lab and sketched a mini portrait of Envy. I snickered at the attempt, and he glared, "Hey." He frowned.

I chuckled, "S-Sorry. It's not bad but-" Then I burst out laughing when I looked back at the drawing.

Edward sighed, facing back to Hughes, Armstrong and Alphonse. "So, I don't remember anything that happened after this guy kicked me."

He discreetly left out my presence and the whole fight, which I was thankful for. There was a table with pictures of the Ouroboros tattoo and the transmutation circle for the philosophers stone. The circle that I had once mistaken as the Human Transmutation circle.

Armstrong thought to himself, "Soul guardians...Precious sacrifice...Allowed to live...A...A person named Envy..." He looked towards me, "And according to Dr Marcoh, the stones were used even at the East Area Civil War."

I tilted my head to the side and looked at Ed; he had his eye on me for some reason. Armstrong continued, "A tattoo of the Ouroboros. The transmutation circle for the Philosopher's Stones."

Edward pulled me next to him and came close to my ear; I flushed red and the closeness. "Do you have an Ouroboros tattoo, too?" He whispered, pulling back and looking at me with a questioning look. I shook my head.

"There are many mysteries concerning the experiment on the stone. Even if we try to investigate this any further, the research institute is a pile of rubble." He finished, sighing.

We all hummed for a long minute. I slightly giggled at the sync.

The door opened revealing President King Bradley. "Excuse me." He said while everyone gawked at the sight of him. I sat there unfazed, annoyed at his presence.

"President King Bradley!" They all said at the same time in astonishment. He gestured them to calm down with his hand, a smile on his face, "Ah, be quiet." They followed his order and he nodded, "Yes, just like that."

Hughes bowed and kept his gaze down, "Mr President, what brings you here..?"

I didn't listen in to the conversation, I just kept a hateful gaze at him and that was all. He gave Edward some melons whilst acting very cheerful, Edward being extremely uncomfortable and confused at his sudden appearance.

The whole mood then tensioned as the President's eyes narrowed down at the mention of the 'Philosopher's stone'. A quick conversation went by and he said his goodbyes. Making his way to the window-

Wait- wtf, who leaves through a window?

...oh wait...We did. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go back and check Chapter 7, 'Hope'.

Yeah, bad memories, but let's not go back to that shall we? :)

Not even a minute later, Winry walks in with tickets in her hand. "Huh? What's wrong with you guys? Even the two people outside are acting weird."

Edward coughed out, "Nothing. A storm just passed through."

I rolled my eyes, "Someone unimportant came through the door just to waste time."

I obviously didn't waste any of my time displaying my hatred towards him. It was obvious that he up to something. And that's coming from someone who knows him for who he really is.

I didn't trust him one bit. My worry for Ed almost instantly grew as I continued to think of the schemes he could come up with. However, the President was someone who they looked up to and took any and every order from. Any suspicions and they'd have me dead.

Winry shook her head and waved the ticket around in the air towards Edward, "I bought those tickets you asked for." He said a quick 'thanks' as Armstrong looked at him questionably.

"Your wounds have not completely healed yet, must you rush?" The tall, muscled man asked.

The Alchemist sighed and placed his hands on his hips, "I can't stay in a place that smells like disinfectant forever! I'm leaving tomorrow."

A frown formed on my face, "Edward. Still. Your wounds."

He glared at me, "Oh, I've had enough scolding coming from you. Shut it, N/N."

(A/N: N/N means nickname. Just thought I'd let you know if you couldn't figure it out, lmao).

A huff escaped my lips as I crossed my arms, looking away whilst pouting.

Hughes leaned next to Winry and looked at the tickets she held, "Where are you going this time? Dublith?"

"Where's that?" The girl asked.

Alphonse looked at the map on the table and moved his finger around, trying to pinpoint the area. "Uh." He mumbled, placing his finger on an area south. "Right around here. In the middle of the Southern Region."

A huge gasp escaped from Winry, causing us to look towards her direction. I cocked my head to the side confused at her sudden reaction.

She shrieked whilst pointing to the north of Dublith, "Look right over here! Before Dublith!"

"Rush-Valley? Is something going on there?" I questioned, placing a hand under my chin.

She squealed and began to daydream, "Rush-valley, the automail engineers' mecca! I've always wanted to go there!" Roses seeming to blossom behind her as she stretched out her 'a'.

"Oh, right. You like automail, don't you?" I asked her, smiling.

She nodded vigorously and took my hand into hers, "Like? Oh, M/R. I LOVE automail! After all, I'm an engineer myself!"

The excited Female then turned to her childhood friend, "Take me! Take me! Take me! You better take me!" She began to chant.

Edward scoffed and removed her hands from mine, dragging me next to him, "Go there by yourself."

She glared at him, "Who's going to pay for my travel-expenses?!"

"Are you planning on mooching off of me?!"

I hummed, "I mean? What's the harm in bringing her along? I'm coming, too."

"Of course you're coming, M/R. You're part of our team now, remember?" Edward smiled at me.

I returned the gesture, "Thanks, Ed."

Alphonse chimed in, "I mean. Exactly what M/R said, what's the harm? It is on the way."

The short male sighed and groaned, "Oh, all right."

Winry cheered and began to dance around, saying that she's going to go and pack her belongings. She left and the room became silent.

A thought jumped into my head, 'Oh right. I need my own belongings.'

My hand squeezed Ed's. He looked towards me questionably, as if asking 'what's wrong?'.

I sighed, "I need my own belongings, Ed. Can we go and get them whilst we're on the way? If it's not too much trouble."

He nodded and rolled his eyes, "We're already bringing Winry along. Another thing on our to-do list wouldn't hurt." He said sarcastically.

His eyes lingered on my face for a while until he realised that I was actually being serious. He sighed, "You told me about the situation with your mother, right? You sure you want to go to your home?"

I nodded, "It's only for certain belongings. I carelessly left my stuff back at Winry's and I also forgot somethings at home."

Alphonse placed a hand on my shoulder, "I'd actually like to see where you live! Didn't you say you lived in (Country/City name)?"

"I did. But my mother and I had moved to the South of Central not too long ago."

"The South, huh? That'll be fine, it's also on the way."