Chapter Two

Chapter Two

 

"You damn idiot!" Alphonse turned his head to his left as he herd the merchant yelling at him, only to get punched on his right cheek and fall to the tracks. "Next time, learn to mind your own damn business!"

Gesturing his hand to his gang to follow him, the merchant and the other men ran behind the train in search of the young girl who stole the apple. Al didn't mind getting hit as it was for a good cause. With his kind heart, he couldn't deny someone who’s hungry and wanted to eat.

"You dumb a*s! What the hell are you thinking!?" Hearing what his brother would of most likely said to him, Alphonse smiled and gave a slight soft chuckle as he got to his feet with his beg and walked off into the city with the bruise on right cheek.

Walking past an inn, Al herd a familiar soft voice as he stopped where he stood.

"Wow, that must of hurt." A lovely voice came from behind him.

Turning, he saw that it was the girl that he just saved from the merchant and his men.

"Sorry about getting you into all that mess." She said as she walked closed up on him, to where he could smell her perfume. "Does it hurt?" She asked as she looked at his enormous bruise.

"It kinda hurt, but it's okay."

"You sure? It looks pretty bad."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"So what are you here in town for?" Al looked to his left as he saw the same ten kids from earlier still playing soldiers and gave a kind hearted smile as his eyes glowed.

"To become a state alchemist."

"What?" She said as she took a step back and continued. "Why a state alchemist? Why a state... dog?"

"You sound like my teacher." He said with as he chuckled.

The young girl kept quiet as she waited for an answer from Al as she then glared at her.

"I can't tell you why, it's just something that I believe that I must do."

She nodded her head then pointed in a direction, making Alphonse turn his head to look as he saw nothing. Turning his head back towards her, he noticed that she was gone once again.

"Who is that girl?" He said softly as he took two steps back and bumped into a civilian. "Oh! Sorry!" He said as he turned his head and saw a large man looking down at him.

As Al stood still, scared from the look the big man was giving him. The big man snorted like a bull and walked on about his business. Putting his head down and letting out a sigh of relief, Alphonse knew that his safest bet was to go straight to the Alchemy Academy before he got into any more trouble.

Seeing the tall and wide building from three miles away, Alphonse began walking towards his sites until a kid who appeared to be about nine years old bumped into him, causing him to spin around once.

"HEY IDOIT WATCH IT!" The young kid said as he gave a sneaky smile to Al and continued running.

Feeling like something wrong just happened, Al reached into his left pants pocket and felt nothing in it.

"HEY YOU!” Al shouted. “GIVE ME BACK MY WALLET!"

As Alphonse ran through a crowd looking for the little kid, he then saw the kid looking directly at him and ran behind a dark back alley. Not in visual sights anymore, Alphonse quickly dashed towards the ally and stopped in front of it as he herd quick footsteps getting fainter and fainter, and saw water gripping from the top of the buildings.

Quickly continuing his pursuit, Alphonse reached the middle of the alley and herd nothing but the drips of water hitting the concrete ground. Seeing two large garbage cans, one to his right and the other to his left. Al slowly creped over to the garbage can to his right and placed both his hands on the lid, waiting for the right moment to open it. Quickly opening the garbage can lid only to see actual bags of garbage, the garbage lid on his left suddenly exploded open with the young kid jumping out from it. As Al turned around, the young boy was coming down from the air. With an idea in mind, Alphonse grabbed the garbage can that he opened and pulled it a few feet out. Moving out of the way, the young boy landed into the other garbage can. As the boy landed inside, Alphonse grabbed his wallet and closed the lid back and kicked it back to the wall. Hearing a young girl giggle, Alphonse looked up to the top of the building and saw the young teenage girl from earlier. As she gave him another smile, she took a few steps back to get out of visual sites.

"HEY YOU IDOIT! THAT REALLY HURT!" The little kid said while still shut inside the garbage can.

Looking down to the ground, Al spotted a rock the size of a baseball and picked it up. After analyzing it for a moment, he then whipped it towards the center of the garbage can, creating a loud banging noise, hurting the kid's ears.

“OOOOOW! OKAY OKAY! YOU WIN! YOU WIN! I'M SORRY!" The young kid cried out.

Giving a soft laugh, Alphonse turned around and went on his way, once again trying to get to the academy without any trouble.

Finally making it out of the ally and back to where he first started next to the train, Al kept his hand in his left pocket with his wallet and continued walking to the academy.

Walking for fifty-four minutes, Al finally made it to the front of the thick black steel fence to the academy and saw a group of thirty people crowding the front gate. Pushing his way into the crowd, he reached the front of the gate and saw a boarded sign placed on it.

“Tryouts are now postponed until tomorrow at noon. Sorry for the inconvenience. LT. Hawkeye.”

 Sad after seeing the sign with all the work he had to go through just to make it to the building from the train station, Al dropped his bag and placed his right hand on his forehead.

"Sucks, don't it?"

Turning his head, there Nyce stood with a sad look on his face as well.

"What a drag." Nyce sighed

"Why did they postpone it until tomorrow?" Al asked

"Don’t know, But no matter, none of us are getting in until tomorrow." Nyce replied and continued. "Might as well find an inn to stay for the night."

"It’s not fare!"

The crowd continued to chatter amongst each other, as all except Alphonse and Nyce walked away. As Nyce looked at Alphonse, he saw Al staring directly at the academy building without taking his eyes off of it. Standing paused where he stood with determination, Al wouldn't take his eyes off of the remodeled building, yet alone blink.

"Hey Al, blink your eyes before they dry out."

As Al blinked his eyes, he turned his head and looked at Nyce, then turned his attention back to the white tall and wide building that stood right in front of him. Nyce placed his left hand on Al's right shoulder and gave a sigh.

"Don't worry Al, this just gives us time to rest and be ready for tomorrow. Let's go find an inn. I saw one called Blizzard's Inn a few minutes back, let’s go get a room alright?"

"Blizzard's Inn? I'll check it out in a while, I just want to stay here for a while."

As Nyce took his hand off Alphonse's shoulder, he nodded and went on his way to the inn. Picking up his bag, walking to his left and stopping under a nicely shaded oak tree, Alphonse gently placed his bag on the ground and sat in the grass as he leaned his back against the tree. Staring through the fence directly to the academy building, he then thought about what his teacher told him, about how his brother passed his test on his first try. Smiling as he closed his eyes, he then tilted his head and fell asleep, not knowing how tired he actually was.

As he slept, a man and a woman holding a baby walked within the fence and saw Al sleeping under a tree.

“Huh?” A deep vibrant voice spoke. “Hawkeye, look. Who is that kid? He looks familiar.”

“Yeah he does. But I don't know who he is though. He must really want to become a state alchemist if he's not leaving from in front of the building.”

“Should we give him a blanket?” The male voice asked.

“That's up to you Roy, you are the one in command you know.”

“Well then, so lets get him a blanket.”

As they walked away heading towards the Alchemy building, minutes later Roy came back out with Hawkeye as she continued to hold onto the infant child and a blanket.

Placing a bottle of water and a wrapped up ham and cheese sandwich next to Al's beg, Mustang then reached for the blanket that Hawkeye held in her hand then placed it over Al's body right under his jaw. As Mustang stood up and walked away with Hawkeye and the infant, he went into a deep thought.

"That kid, who does he remind me of? He looks like a kind hearted person. I wonder does he have what it takes to become a state alchemist. I guess there's only one way to find out." Roy Mustang thought to himself.

Finally making it to the building, Mustang opened the door and let Hawkeye enter first and received a kiss on the cheek for being a gentleman. He then took one more look at Al before he went inside, wondering who he was, then went inside, closed the door, and locked it behind him.

As Al slept, he had a dream with the sound of metal moving, as if someone was in a large amount of suited armor. As he looked forward, a white fog appeared hiding the object, only showing a transmutation circle symbol on the armored arm. As the footsteps stopped, the symbol disappeared as so did the fog.

"We shall soon meet." The armor spoke with Al’s voice.

As Alphonse herd his own voice, he took a step forward and saw something moving fast to his position. As it got closer and closer, Al saw that it was a giant sword speeding his way.

Letting out a loud scream, Al woke up as he quickly opened his eyes and quickly sat up. Feeling something sliding off his shoulder and down his legs, Al looked down at himself just in time to see a blue sheet with a picture of a white mustang fall to the ground.

Looking over to his beg, he saw a bottle of water and a sandwich next to it and then sat back on the ground while leaning against the tree.

“Did Lt. Mustang bring this out here to me? Must have been him” Alphonse thought to himself. “It must have been him, there is a mustang on the sheet.”

Looking at the water and sandwich, his stomach then growled as he reached for the food. Twisting the top of the bottle of water, and then unwrapping the sandwich, Al began to eat and drink.

“You know, it’s not a good idea to sleep out here if you can stay at an inn.” A lovely soft voice came from above him.

As Alphonse stopped chewing his food, he swallowed then leaned his head back to look up into the tree and saw the girl from yesterday sitting on a thick branch.

“Are you stalking me?” Al asked her with a slight smile.

“No, I just thought that I would repay you that for what you did for me yesterday.”

“Repay me, how?”

“By watching over you, to make sure nothing happened to you while you were sleep.”

“Well, thanks.”

Al then took a sip of his water and asked another question hoping you get a response.

“What’s your name?”

“My name? It’s...” She paused as she herd quick footsteps rushing near.

“HEY Al!”

As Al turned his head to his right, he saw that Nyce was headed his way. Quickly making it to Al's position, Nyce began catching his breath.

“Man, what you do? Sleep out here?”

Instead of replying, Al looked back up into the tree, only to see that the mystery girl vanished again.

“Huh? Where did she go?” Al though to himself, believing that he would of herd her leave or even saw her leave.

“Hey Al, You okay?” Nyce asked Al in concern.

“Yeah, I just sat here to get some rest, and the next thing you know, I fell asleep.” Al gave a soft chuckle as he smile as he dusted the bread crumbs off his hand.

“Your something else you know that?” Nyce laughed.

Just smiling instead of responding, Al stood up and looked at the academy, ready for any test they throw at him.

“There you go again. What's up with you and that building?” Watching as Alphonse just stare at the building and not responding, he continued. “Hey Al, we have two more hours until they'll let us in. Don't you think you should take a wash up or something before you go in there?”

Al took his eyes off the building and looked at Nyce as he nodded his head.

“Well, you can take one in my room at the inn. I think that I'm gonna take a walk around before I go back to the inn. Here's the key.” Nyce said as he gave Al the key with the number 009 engraved into it. “I'll be back their in thirty minutes.” Nyce continued.

As Al nodded Nyce turned around and took a few steps forward just before Alphonse stopped him.

“Hey Nyce!”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Nyce took another step away then stopped. “The inn is two streets down that way, past the fruits and vegetables shop." Nyce looked back at Al as Al nodded, then continued walking.

Watching for Nyce for a moment, Al then picked up his bag and went on his own way towards the Blizzard's inn. Reaching the fruits and vegetables shop, Al turned his head and saw the guy from yesterday that punched him selling a bucket of fruits and vegetables to a middle aged lady. After receiving his money from the lady, the merchant stopped Alphonse as he pointed and spoke to him.

“You better mind your own damn business today kid!”

 

Reviews

[Nicole (Carpe Diem)]

the story is progressing nicely -- i hope you continue with it...

[JC Fox]

there are some spelling problems but that's fine, good chapter again shades of episodes they had. I enjoyed it

[Antony]

So now you are introducing more characters into the story, which is good, I would have put in more of a description of each new charater you introduce, especially if they will continue to play a major roll in the story, coming along fine Johnny. Always keep your plot in the storyline as it progresses, it is sometimes easy to lose it as a story unfolds.
Antony