Talking Through The Mouth of an Angel

A Chapter by Emunah June.

I eyed him for a very long time, but he didn't seem to recognize me. He stared at me for awhile. "What's wrong?" he asked, but my mouth only remained open. "Ed....Ed...is that really you?" I asked in disbelief. Ed stared for a moment or two. "My name is Ed. Edward Elric to be exact," he said in a matter of fact tone. I only teared up and smiled. My feet fell from under me, and I fell to my knees on the floor. The tears finally spilled, and I was laughing. "I found you....I finally found you!" I muttered happily as I sobbed. With that, I stood up and sped out the door, sniffling as I ran down the stairs. Finally, I burst down and ran out the front door. Al was still standing there, and I grabbed his hand. "What's wrong Koda?" he asked, but all I did was pull him inside and thrust him up the stairs.

As soon as Al stood in the doorway, facing his brother, I could feel the tension building.

Finally, Al got a smile that spread like wildfire across his face. "Nii-San.....it's really you!" he cried, and with that he grabbed onto Ed and hugged him as hard as he could. "Al?! Al is that you?!" he asked, hugging his brother back. I smiled, happy to see Ed and Al back together again. Then, my heart sank as I realized that Ed didn't even recognize me. He didn't know who I was.

He didn't care. Nothing had changed.

But as this theory was turning in my head, Ed looked up at me. "Oh! Koda! It's you! Duh, I should have gotten that when you introduced yourself! Come here!" he cried happily, and I blushed as I inched closer to him. Seeing my sheepish behaviour, he grabbed me and hugged me. I felt my face go red as I dared to place my hands around his back and hug him too. "I'm so happy to see you guys!" he said, hugging me just a little tighter.

"Who would have thought?" a voice from the doorway called.

Ed let me go as all three of us turned to see Alfons standing in the doorway, his arms crossed. "Who would have thought that Edward-the-hermit was the one you two were talking about?" he said, obviously joking. Ed scruntched up his face. "Very funny Alfons," he rebuffed, and Alfons laughed. I only smiled and turned away, so nobody could see that I was still crying.

To see that I was way too happy.

I covered my mouth. "Excuse me, Alfons, but where is your bathroom?" I asked. Alfons pointed out the door. "The next door down the hall," he said calmly. I nodded, and walked out the door.

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After I was done getting sick, Alfons sat all 4 of us down at the table. Al and I were both excited to get aquainted with Ed again. Al was, I believed, more excited than I was. I looked over at Ed, who was sitting next to his brother. I blushed, noticing that he was MUCH more different than the picture Winry showed Kirrah before. His skin was a touch darker, and his blonde hair was no longer in a braid, but a ponytail. The clothes he wore was a white shirt with a green vest, brown pants but no shoes (this made me assume the shoes and coat on the rack I had seen earlier belonged to Ed). His eyes were still a golden colour, but now that he was older, they seemed to shine....like the stars in the Resembool sky (a little clitche? Yes. But there is no other way to put it!) I realized I was staring. I lowered my head, facing the plank of the table. My mind (which was in several different places at once) traveled back to that one day in Resembool 2 years ago. Ed was leaving the Rockbell household after a week long visit, and just as he was leaving, he smiled and said to me:

Don't worry. I have your locket with me.

Did he still have it? Just as I was getting hopeful, I had remembered where my locket REALLY was. It was inside the secret compartment on the back of Ed's pocketwatch.

The one Al had.

Pushing these sad thoughts aside, I perked up. "So, Ed, are these the two you've told me so much about?" Alfons asked playfully as he began to pour us each a cup of tea. "Yep. My little brother, Alphonse, and one of my childhood friends, Koda," Ed said, pointing to us as he said our names. I smiled. "We've met," Alfons said, looking over at me. I blushed. "Nii-San, tell us what you've been up to! We wanna hear about YOU!" Al jittered out, smiling away. I didn't say anything as I picked up my teacup. "Well, I've been doing alot here in Germany. I've been researching a way to get back home.....I've been shopping....and that's it," he said before he started laughing. "Sounds exciting," Al said sacastically. Ed sipped his tea and looked over at me. "So what have you guys been up to? Two years in the land of alchemy are two exciting ones, I bet," he asked, leaning back in his chair. I smiled, and so did Al. "Where to begin? Alright let's se....oh! I got lots of alchemy training from this woman named Izumi! She's very scary though. Very very scary," Al said, and I froze.

Oh boy.

"What are you talking about Al? I know. I met her before. I was her student too," Ed said, laughing a little. "Um, Ed..." I said, and Ed looked at me. "What?" he asked, obviously confused. "Whatever happened in that place two years back caused Al to lose his memories past the time you were 11," I revealed, and Ed's face was one of shock. "Al?" he whispered, but Al shook his head sadly. "It's true. I don't remember much of anything. Sorry Nii-San," Al said, looking away from the three of us. Ed looked upset, but he didn't touch the subject anymore. "But there's alot of positive things that have been going on!" I said, trying to cheer Ed up. "Like what?" he asked, looking relieved that I was helping him out. "Well, I'm a well known mechanic in Resembool...Al joined the military, an--" I began before Ed cut me off. "What?!? Al joined the military? Al!" he said, shifting back to Al. Al looked scared, as if I had just unleashed a wild animal that was going to pounce over the table and kill him. "I-I did it to find you! Now that we're together again, I can leave! I'll leave, I will! Don't hurt me!" he said, guarding himself from his potential attacker. Alfons laughed, and I shook my head."Mustang will work you like a dog! Don't you ever think ahead? Gah," Ed proclaimed, tapping the table with his fingers. Al gulped. "In my defense, Koda said it would be a good idea," he said, and my face got red.

The animal thus turns on his owner...

"Koda? You told him to do it?" Ed asked in a low voice, looking over at me. "Well, I thought ahead. I was thinking about the library. It has an extensive amount of information and I thought there had to be a book about you, right? I mean, you don't just overlook the youngest State Alchemist in history, right? There was a book about you, and I thought that could help Al restore some of his memories," I said calmly, and Ed seemed satisfied."But Ed...Teacher died," he said sadly. Alfons perked up at this moment. "Oh? I'm so sorry to hear that. What happened?" he asked, sounding sympathetic. "Well, I was getting ready for training one day when a man from the hospital said that Sig had gone back to Resembool and Teacher had died. I knew she was at the hospital, but Sig said that she'd be coming back that day, so it was a shock to me. So I called Auntie Pinako to meet me at the train station. Hey, home is better than nowhere, right?" Al said. I was sad, remembering what Sig had said to me. How Izumi's last words were whispered in a hospital bed. It scared me to think about that. What if it was me in the hospital bed? Would someone lay by my bedside as I was dying? Would anybody cry for me when the doctor said I was dead? This brought me back to the time I did die. I remember just how it happened.

Envy, a boy that was something called a homunculus, was trying to lure Ed to him by taking his pocketwatch, but I wouldn't give it to him. So he took me AND Ed's pocketwatch to Dante's lair. Ed came and tried to save me, but Envy was stronger. Envy was about to pierce Ed's heart when I pushed him out of the way and let Envy take my life. What had Ed done then? I remember he was kneeling beside me right as I let the pain swallow me. Had he cried? I wasn't sure.

"What do you think, Koda?" I heard a voice ask me. I pulled myself out of my thoughts. "Hmm? I'm sorry, I was spacing out," I admitted. Alfons (the one who had asked me the question) sighed. "I had asked everyone if they wanted to go out to eat. Want to?" he asked. I nodded.

"Sure, why not? I guess we can get more aquainted there."

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