Chapter Thirty-Six: Strange Faces

A Chapter by Emunah June.

My body slammed against something, and that's when I opened my eyes.

I was in a dark forest, staring at a girl with dark skin sitting in a wooden wagon. "Wh....where am I? What's going on?" I asked her, hoping she'd be able to tell me what was happening. "Ah...you're stuck here too? Oh well," she replied, and I felt myself sweating. I ran my hands along my body, and I could tell I wasn't me anymore. I was in a different body entirely. Both my arms were flesh and blood, and so were both my legs. My hair was much shorter (so much for cooling myself off during showers) and I was wearing unfamiliar clothes. In fact it was kinda itchy. "What? Where are we? How did I...." I asked, playing with my shirt. "The other side of the Gate. Or, as Hohenheim called it, Germany," the woman answered.

Germany? What? And Hohenheim? Who's that? Can't be who I think it is...

"G-Germany? Never heard of it," I replied, running my hands along my face. "Where am I? Why am I not me?" I asked again, probably sounding annoying. The woman was about to open her mouth when we both heard a loud explosion. I lost my balance and fell flat on my face while the girl fell back into the wagon. "Edmond! Something tells me we need to leave!" the girl called to me as I lifted my face from the dirt.

Edmond? Who names their kid THAT?? But whatever. Guess my new name is Edmond.

Another explosion rocked the world around us, and I looked up to see smoke smothering the skies. "Go where?!" I screamed, scared and annoyed at the same time. "As much as it pains me, we need to go back and save Hohenheim," the woman said, and that name sent shivers down my spine. Sure it probably wasn't who I was thinking it was, but it was still so weird. The woman sweetly extended her hand to me, offering to help me jump onto the wagon. "C'mon. I've got an idea."

Wow, I take "hopping on the bandwagon" a little too seriously.

I took her offer and jumped in beside her. "Hold on tight! This could be a bumpy ride!" she said excitedly as she leaned over the wagon and pulled something up. Then I realized what it was:

The stake holding it in place.

The wheels started rolling as she fell to the floor of the wagon and held her head. It wasn't long before the wagon sped down the side of a hill. I held onto the side, my stomach screaming "DO NOT WANT!!!" at me. "Edmond! We're going to crash into something to stop, so I would advise ducking!" the woman said to me over the loud noise of the wheels slamming against the rocks in the road. I stared at her, registering what she said, then going "oh yeah" and ducked. Suddenly, the temperature around us got much hotter, and the road got bumpier.

CRASH! The wagon crashed against something, just like the girl had predicted.

I screetched (like a girl, I'll admit) the second the wood began to fly. The wood still intact started to burn, I jumped out of the wagon. I was helping the lady off when the back of her dress caught fire. "Edmond! My dress is on fire! Do something!" she screamed, panicking about the burning fabrics behind her. Scared and uncertain, I went behind her back and (stupidly) started patting on the fire.

Fire=hot. Hot fire=Edward getting his hand burned.

"Ow! What the...oh yeah. No AutoMail," I said, and if anyone was around me who knew me, they'd know how stupid I had been at that instant. "Miss, the fire is out. Let's go!" I said, feeling even more stupid for not asking her name yet. "Don't call me Miss! Call me Noah," she demanded, and I nodded.

Thank you Edmond for putting out the fire. Lets go and save

Hohenheim! I'll show you where the house is!"

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