3And yet another chapter of Soul of the Guardian comes into existence! Let me hear a "Whoop whoop!" XD
I think I'll leave the Poll open just a little longer. Another week perhaps? So, if you haven't voted, please do. I want to make sure I base whatever decision I make on a large number of votes instead of just a few, as that would be unfair to the other readers who may have another opinion but just didn't say anything.
Disclaimer: Nope. I got nothin' on the amazing Hiromu Arakawa. She gets first dibs, leaving us writers to use only scraps of material to write fanfictions with. Oh hey! There's one right in front of us! (looks down) o.O
Soul Of The Guardian
Chapter 3
Ed stayed up for another hour or so, reading over his Journal about their travels then added in that day's entry. After he was done with that, he tried to go to sleep but found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.
Instead he decided to take a look at the other Journal, the one where he wrote down everything he could remember about Amestris and the people of the World of Alchemy. He decided to add things to what he already had: Homunculi, the Philosopher's Stone and things about his and Al's journey, the State Alchemists and the entrance exams along with the annual recertification exams, his mother and his and Al's attempt at bringing her back as well as the price they paid and what happened in the end to get each other back to the way they were and what they had to do to make it so.
On the next page was more. All of the people he knew and met along their journey, the lessons they learned along the way, what lessons he taught to people (Ed laughed, rolling his eyes and smiled as he remembered Yoki's face after the gold reverted back into it's original coal form), and his various experiences with those people.
He had each subject divided into sections, each with a little extra room just in case he remembered something and wanted to add it or just got bored and wanted to add in some note.
After everything that transpired today, he couldn't help but realize the few things missing from the confines of bound parchment. He reached deep into his mind, clawing at his memory for flickers of his past, his face scrunched slightly in concentration.
Ed beamed as flashes of names, phrases, and pictures came rolling into his consciousness. Within seconds his pen was scratching the paper's surface, scribbling the bits and pieces that came to mind then and there. Alchemy, the Law of Equivalence, and the various arrays that surfaced from the far corners of his mind where he had taken note of them and shoved there for future reference.
With skillful precision, he drew each array, taking care to make each line straight and each angle no fraction of a degree more or less than it should be.
There was the basic reshaping array, an array so simple that even a toddler could use it without any backlash. Of course that was only because they normally didn't have enough energy to put into the array to make it have too much. That was the only way to make it rebound, by having too much energy circulating in the circle.
Though in his world it was illegal and forbidden, considered a taboo even, for a number of reasons, Ed knew the designs for human and animal transmutation from both his own research and when he was looking through Shou Tucker's notes.
For a moment he stared at the arrays, remembering the combination array that was used when fusing two creatures into one, just like the bastard had done to his own daughter and dog. 'Nina...'
Edward shook his head, blinking away the tears. Crying wasn't going to bring her back. Nothing was. Even if he had been back in his own world where the science of Alchemy existed instead of rockets, he wouldn't dare make the mistake of trying to play God and attempt to resurrect the dead like he and his brother had tried with their mother.
What was done was done. Nothing more to it. No matter how hard he wished for her to be human, alive, and safe, it would never be a reality. Life wasn't that nice.
The blond sighed, flicking the ends of his pony-tail behind his shoulder before pressing on.
A smirk found it's way upon his lips as he recalled the array stitched on the back of the bastard Colonel's gloves. Wait, last time he heard he'd been promoted. Bastard General.
Ed blinked. He let out a growl and ruffled his hair, trying to find another insulting name he could call Mustang and make it flow. After five minutes of glaring at the far wall and still getting no results, he finally gave up and made a note to think of a new name later for his own personal amusement.
After finishing the flame and various other alchemic arrays and symbols, he closed the journal and wrapped it. Lazily he placed it back on his nightstand and finally fell asleep.
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Ed woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon, something he hadn't eaten for a long time. He threw on some clothes and trudged downstairs, sleepily greeting the family and his brother.
When they were close to finishing their food, Ed looked down at the milk.
"Brother." Al began, getting his brother's attention. "What?" He asked, lazily looking at his brother. "I think you forgot something." Al said, pointing at Ed's placemat.
Ed looked down. "Hmm. Just my plates and silverware. Nothing I haven't touched." Al's eyelids drooped slightly and finally said, "You didn't drink your milk."
Ed's face contorted for a moment in disgust before he closed his eyes, folded his arms behind his head, and leaned back into his chair. "I don't see any milk."
Al glared at his brother, tired of his refusal to drink milk. Then a thought occurred to him. A grin replaced his frown and his eyes glowed playfully, "You know, Brother, not drinking your milk is why you're so...short."
Ed instantly pulled forward and slammed his hands onto the table, facing Al with an enraged expression. "Who are you calling so short you ca-"
Al grinned mischievously as he grabbed the cup of milk with one hand and held up the other hand. Before Ed could react, Al slapped the back of his head, making him stop mid rant, mouth wide open.
Perfect.
Al didn't give his brother a chance to comprehend what had happened, let alone what was going to happen next. Ed blinked as he stared at Al who pulled the now empty glass away from his open mouth. It didn't take long for both the white liquid to finish pouring down his throat and the realization of what had transpired to hit.
A growl of rage erupted from Edward's mouth as he tried to wipe off the taste of milk off his tongue. Waterfalls of tears poured down his cheeks as he tried desperately to make it go away, but to no avail. Al was on the floor laughing hard.
Teri couldn't help but join in too. An adult, whining over having to drink milk then trying to wipe it off their tongue. Definitely not something one sees everyday.
Ed finally got over having milk forced down his throat, after chasing Alphonse throughout the house and getting lost. The two brothers, once reunited thanks to the help of the maid from dinner, decided to check out the town. Even though they were on vacation, the urge to learn more, especially about the cotton machines used for harvesting loads of cotton at once, was hard to ignore.
As they were off on their little trip around the city, Teri stayed home, claiming she had some things to do but would try meet up with them later.
When they were out of sight, she ventured upstairs, looking for something when she came across Ed's wide open door.
Unable to help herself, she gave into her curiosity and looked around. Maybe she could learn more about those boys, or at least Ed.
She came across the two Journals on his nightstand. The first one she found was unsurprisingly in German, some of it in English. Since she had started studying German before the war started, she understood nearly every word.
Teri read about their journeys across the world and learned that their goal was to learn as much as they could about this world and put their knowledge to great use. As she read, she wondered what this great use could be.
She put that one down noticed the second one and picked it up. The contents shocked her and yet she couldn't help but read it several times over. She absorbed the information like a sponge and wondered, if all of this was true even at one time, why they don't use it anymore?
As she read on she learned about their "past" and learned that the reason why they couldn't use alchemy was that this side of the Gate's scientific discoveries had taken a different path then in the World of Alchemy. That explained why they decided to travel the world and learn everything they could about it, why they had turned their attention from studying alchemy to studying this world.
She heard the familiar laughing voices of Ed and Al as they approached the house and quickly put the Journals back the way she had found them. When she felt it looked like no one had been in his room, she quietly raced out.
That night she took out some paper and drew some of the arrays on the papers, labeling them and writing down the same descriptions as the ones Ed had in his journal.
There was something missing though. Alchemic energy. She didn't have that and she never did. But Ed, and apparently Al as well, had once held this power. In his journal he had also stated a quote from his father, "Within everyone lies the smaller version of the Gate. You must open the Gate that's inside you. Only then can you find your way back to your true home." and by opening that within himself, Ed was able to come back from this side of the Gate back to his world.
Maybe if they wanted to go back to their world badly enough they would help her learn more and maybe, just maybe she could somehow help them.
With a smile, she put her drawings away and went to sleep, hope and determination running high.
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"No." Ed bluntly answered. Teri's shoulders slumped in disbelief.
"Oh come on Ed! I want to hear those alchemy stories! Please?" She begged, even using her puppy dog eyes, but to no avail. Ed waved her off, walking back upstairs to his room after having come back from the stables where they kept the tractors. He had opted to fix one in exchange for their staying there.
"Equivalent Exchange." Ed had told them.
"Not now. Maybe later. I'm going to go take a shower. Maybe after dinner." Ed finally said as he climbed the stairs and disappeared out of view.
Teri quietly let out a small, "Yes!" before responding to Al's call coming from the kitchen.
Al was washing some dishes and got some others out as he prepped for dinner. Teri raced into the room and stopped next to him.
"Yes, Al?" He turned to her and smiled. It was then she noticed the black apron he wore, borrowing it from Mr. Hills, and the half peeled apple in his hands.
"Why are you making dinner?" She asked bluntly as she approached the counter. Al's smile widened as he resumed peeling the apple.
"I felt that I should, at least once during our stay. I mean, Brother is helping by fixing some of the broken down tractors and so I decided to earn my stay by cooking." Al looked from his finished apple to Teri who had a thoughtful look on her face.
"Equivalence?" She asked without thinking. She tensed slightly as Al glance up at her.
"Huh? Uh, yeah. Equivalence." He smiled, looking back down at the apple he was going to peel next. 'Does she know about Equivalent Exchange? Well, it is a well known idea in this world. I think it's referred to as the barter system...' Al thought to himself as Teri watched him.
'That was close.' She thought. 'Last thing I need to do is reveal the fact that I went snooping into Ed's room and read all about their world.' She sighed then blinked. 'Their world? Yeah, if only. It'd be pretty cool if someone from another world really did come here.' She added, a sad smile forming. 'That way, if they wanted to go back, they could hopefully bring me with them and I wouldn't be stuck as some Cotton Farmer.'
"Is something wrong?" Al asked, having noticed Teri's sad smile. She perked up a little and forced a happy smile. "No! No, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how cool your guys' stories are."
Al raised an eyebrow as he rested his arms against the curved corner of the counter, pausing his apple peeling. "You've already heard our stories? Did Brother tell you already?" Al asked, searching her face. It wasn't hard to tell she was nervous.
"Uh, no! I mean, I-I heard some stories from my parents ages ago. I was just thinking about how cool your guys' stories are...in comparison." She stuttered a little but pulled it off. Al blinked and finally smiled. He nodded and took back to peeling the apple.
Teri silently sighed in relief and stared out the kitchen window for a few seconds before turning around so her back was against the counter.
"Al?"
"Hmm?" He answered, concentrating on getting some stray pieces of apple skin off. "Do you and Ed really believe in those stories?" She asked, turning to him and added, "About Alchemy and stuff."
Al put the apple down on the sterilized wood cutting board and looked up at her. He let out a small sigh and looked around briefly before leaning in slightly, whispering, "Between you and me, Alchemy is real. It's as real as the sky, the ocean, the very air we breath. But because scientific progression on this side of the Gate is different than that of our side, rockets and steam powered engines progressed here while Alchemy did so in our world."
Al pulled away and closed his eyes, wiping his brow with his forearm with a smile on his face. Teri smiled, happy that at least one of the Brothers had told her something about Alchemy. Al had claimed it was real, but being a natural born skeptic thanks to her parents, she couldn't help but doubt its existence. Her creative sighed believed it, but her logical side shunned such a claim. Was it just some small story that was told to only those interested, or was it really true? Was it fact or fiction? If only she could get some proof.
"Al, I heard from my parents that your father was from the other side of this Gate. Of course I've always thought of it as just some joke, some story my parents joked about. But, if it were true, wouldn't that mean that you and Ed are from the other side as well?" Teri asked innocently, turning back to the window. She watched the younger brother from the corner of her eye and smiled slightly at his reaction.
The tension in Al's body quickly melted away as he turned to her, smiling.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's about right." Al said as he let out a sigh. "We came from a country called Amestris-"
"Sorry Al, but why don't we go up to your brother's room after dinner and both of you can tell me all about your world?" She turned to him and grinned. Al blushed slightly and nodded, turning his attention back to another unlucky apple.
"Thanks Al. I can't wait to hear all about it. See you later!" She laughed and waltzed out of the room, leaving a red faced Al to peel apples with lighter skins than his own.
He blinked then slapped his head. He was going to ask her something. If only he could remember what it was...?
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After Ed got out of the shower and got his clothes on, he went back into his room and closed the door.
He slowly made his way over to his bed and carelessly plopped down onto it and stayed there for a few minutes, staring aimlessly at the ceiling.
His thoughts drifted from tractors and rockets, to Alchemy and automail. Absently Edward lifted his right arm and pealed away the flesh colored material covering the automail underneath. This time he was taking more care of it, preferring it much more to this world's prosthetics.
Of course since he had a technology that didn't otherwise exist in this world, he had to keep it a secret. And, since it worked so well to be able to pass as just another human arm, getting the right kind of material to make it look like one was a breeze.
He stared at his fake arm, remembering how he had gotten it, how it had helped spark the four year journey to get back his brother's body and his right arm and left leg, how he'd been able to get his younger brother's body back but at the price of being on this side of the gate, and how two years after that they had been reunited.
"It's close to being three years since Al and I had found and disposed of that Uranium bomb and set off on our own journey to discover more about this world." Ed whispered to himself as he let his arm fall to his side.
After a few more minutes of aimlessly staring at the ceiling, there was a knock on the door. Ed sat up and quickly replaced the material before he yelled, "Come in!"
Teri slowly opened the door and walked in, closing it quietly behind her. Ed eyed her curiously, noting the reluctant, almost scared look in her eyes.
"Is something wrong?" He asked as he motioned for her to sit down beside him on the bed. She complied to the motion, sitting down next to him slowly.
"Ed, I was wondering..." She trailed off, not sure how to phrase her question. Ed looked at her, smiling. Gathering herself she blurted, "I want to learn more about Alchemy."
Instantly Ed's smile faltered. He folded his arms and closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. Looking back at her he asked, "Why would you want to learn about something that can't be used here?"
Her eyes became downcast, watching her twiddling fingers aimlessly before glancing back at Ed. "I don't know. I just love stories, real or not. All of my life I've been couped up in this small town with nothing but cotton fields and the same faces." She smiled and shook her head, getting up off the bed.
"I'll see you at dinner, Ed." And with that she left the room, leaving a bewildered Ed behind. He let out a groan and let his body slacken and fell back onto the bed, ruffling the satin sheets. Soon he found himself in another staring contest with the ceiling before a smile traced his lips.
He folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes for a short nap. "What's the harm in telling someone about our world? Now that the Thule Society is out of commission as far as going to our world, I guess it wouldn't hurt to share our knowledge with some girl in a small town. What could go wrong?"
With that final thought, Ed fell asleep, dreaming of the times he had spent on the other side of the Gate.
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"Thanks again for the dinner." Ed smiled as he picked up his dirty dishes and brought them into the kitchen.
"You don't have to do that Ed. We have servants for that you know." Teri's mother insisted, but Ed felt he needed to earn his stay so he and Al offered to at least clean and put away their own dishes.
When they were done, they headed out of the kitchen. Teri waited at the bottom of the stairs, having finished her dinner long before Ed and Al were done. "Could you tell me some stories now Ed?" Teri asked, a wide smile on her face. Knowing it wouldn't make a difference, he smiled and nodded. Al stared between them and scratched his head, confused. 'What stories?' Then it donned on him.
"Brother, you don't mean-"
"Yeah, Al, it's not gonna hurt any. We've already closed the Gate on this side so it won't make a difference." Ed told him before climbing up the rest of the stairs. Al quickly added, "Alright...but what if somehow someone gets a hold of this information and tries to open the Gate agai-?"
"No one's going to open the Gate, Al. Besides, who in their right mind would believe these ridiculous stories anyway? Let's just have some fun for once." Al nodded slowly and followed his brother up to his room, meeting Teri who was waiting on Ed's bed.
Al pulled out the desk chair and sat down on it backwards, resting his head on his folded arms which laid upon the top of the chair's backrest. Ed took his two journals and sat down next to Teri, holding up the one about their studies of this world.
"You know, instead of hearing some stories, why don't you go out into the real world and see everything for yourself, be free to travel and learn about the world you live in?" Ed asked Teri as he stared at the book. Teri looked at him for a moment before getting off the bed. Ed and Al watched as she walked over to the window and looked down at the cattle roaming and grazing, tractors being put away for the night.
"You see, I won't be able to travel like you guys." She told them with a sad smile that reflected clearly off the window's glass. She turned back around to face them. "I'm destined to stay here and run my parents' cotton farming business." She let out a sigh and slowly walked back to the bed. In a huff she let herself fall onto her stomach and rolled over slightly so she could see Ed. His sad smile reminded her of herself.
"Well, now that you guys know about why I like hearing stories, real or not, from travelers, could we lighten up the mood with some stories?" She grinned, brown eyes staring up at him with a hint of childish innocence. Al smiled and asked, "Well, where should we start?"
Ed looked up and gold eyes met gray. Both brothers smiled and thought about it for a moment. Suddenly Ed's smile became a frown.
"What is it Brother?" Al asked, curious and concerned.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about Mom before she died." Ed grinned, waving it off. Suddenly he became serious and turned to Teri who sat up on her knees and looked Ed in the eye.
"There's something I want to know before we begin our story." Ed began, his voice and gaze more serious than Teri had ever seen before. It was obvious he had been through a lot. She glanced at Al and noticed the same look in his eyes, though slightly more tethered yet holding an equal, silent warning. She turned back to Ed and nodded, ready to hear what he had to say.
"The characters of these stories have been through so much, seen so much in their lives. If you want to hear these stories now, we lay down the warning that these stories aren't all just fun and games. Their eyes have witnessed death and their souls have seen the Gate which not only keeps someone from going against the natural flow of life, but it is also the Gate between this world and our own. Their minds have learned so much from both sides of the Gate and I want to make sure you're ready for all of what we're going to tell you." Ed finished, staring Teri straight in the eye.
Al added calmly, "We don't mean to scare you, it's just that...if you want to hear our stories and the stories of Alchemy, we want you to be sure you can handle it before we go on a rant about our past-." Ed whipped his head around to face Al, narrowing his eyes. However, the damage had already been done.
"Wait, your past? You mean the stories you were about to tell me, about Alchemy, were really real? Not just some fantasy stories like the ones my parents have told me?" She asked, looking between the two Heiderich brothers.
"Of course not. Al was just kidding. He likes to pretend they're real. Hell, I'd like them to be real sometimes." Ed smiled as he opened his personal Journal.
"Um, Brother, before you begin, I kind of already told her that Alchemy is real and...stuff." Al grinned sheepishly as Ed slowly looked up from the Journal. Before he could ask how much he had already told her, Al leaned forward and realized it wasn't the one they both used to write down their findings.
"Wait, I didn't know you had another Journal." Al stated as he grabbed the Journal and started reading it.
"Hey, this is..." He trailed off as he began reading more of it. He had stumbled across the much more personal views of the people Ed had met in their own world. Ed's glare became worse and finally the older brother lept from the bed, wrestling to get it back.
"Give it back!" Ed nearly yelled as Al jumped off the chair just as the elder of the two tried to grab the Journal. Al started to read more of it, this time out loud. Teri couldn't help but laugh at their antics.
"Come on, Al! I said give it back!" Ed yelled as he instinctively opened his arms wide, palms flat as they faced outward. Teri's smile melted into a confused frown as a quick flash of blue/red sparked in Ed's eyes. The next thing she knew Ed slapped his hands together and touched his left hand to his right arm sliding down the length of it from elbow to past his fingertips.
She drew back slightly in fear as blue sparks burst from his hands and arm. Instantly a silver blade protruded from his supposed-to-be-flesh right arm.
As the sparks died down, she stared just as blankly and breathlessly as the brothers standing before her did. Ed looked from his arm up to his brother and back. Al looked from Ed's arm to Teri, noting her frightened look.
"We can explain-"
Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, Teri's face lit up and her mouth began spewing out questions."Is that Alchemy? How does it work? If it's not supposed to work on this side, then how'd you-?"
"Would stop with the questions already? I'm not sure how I did it when Alchemy isn't supposed to work here. All I did was..." Ed trailed off as he stared at his arm. Truth be told, he had no idea how he did it. One moment he was chasing Al around the room and the next he saw blue sparks dying down and his arm alchemically changed into his favorite instant weapon, the Automail Blade, as he had dubbed it years ago.
"Hmm...So that's what it does." A voice said thoughtfully from the hallway. Ed whipped around and hid his arm behind his back as Teri's father came into view.
"Uh, sir." Ed laughed nervously. Teri's father smiled, leaning to the left slightly. It was then his smile faltered a little. He walked over to Ed a little faster than comfortable for the young adult and before the nearly twenty-one year old knew it, the man pulled his right arm upward so he could inspect it, pocketing the dimly glowing tooth-shaped pendent necklace he had been holding in his hand.
"Hmm...That's some exquisite work there, young man." Mr. Hills stated as he inspected the blade. "When you said you were Hohenheim's son, I didn't think you would also be able to show such power and detail." Ed smiled sheepishly, still surprised about the man's unusual reaction when he realized something.
"Sir, how come you're not surprised that not only is my arm metal, but that I was able to transmute it?" Ed asked, raising an eyebrow as he awaited the answer. The man stood up straight, letting Ed's arm fall to his side and smiled.
"'Transmute', so that's what you call using Alchemy on something. He never told me about the specifics." Teri blinked and slowly got off the bed, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"Wait, are you saying that you knew about this Alchemy thing?" Teri asked, staring at her father curiously. "Well, when I said Hohenheim had told your mother and I stories, I didn't say they weren't about Alchemy." He told her, smiling. Mr. Hills remembered something and pulled out the small pendant and held it up to Ed's eye level.
In a serious tone he asked, "I wonder, does this look familiar to you?" Ed's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing. He had seen that pendant in a dream once. It had occurred on one of their train rides while traveling from Germany into France.
There was blood everywhere. People screaming in fright as they ran away from me. I didn't understand why. I just stood there, watching as their frightened forms retreated from my sight. Someone came up from behind me and tried to stab me in the back with a sword. He succeeded but for some reason I could only smile at the human's stupidity. I looked down and saw the sword sticking out of my gut, but somehow it didn't affect me at all. Sure I felt pain, but it didn't feel like I was going to bleed to death or anything like that. As I stared at the sword for a moment, I also noticed I had on some sort of scaly, green and black armor.
I glanced behind me, grinning as the human's face grew more fearful, slowly letting go of the sword's handle and backing up a few shaky steps. I could see wings large wings originating from my back and a scaled tail just like the armor I wore. I had no control of what happened next.
My tail gabbed hold of the sword and, with a bit of effort, pulled it out. The man's eyes widened when he realized what I was going to do, but I gave him no time to react as I grabbed the sword with my clawed hand and pierced his heart.
The feeling of blood lust lingered as I turned to my left.
There in the window I saw my reflection. My whole body was covered in scales like an armor, my tail thrashing quietly behind my clawed feet. Great, green scaled wings protruded from by upper back and my bloodied clawed hands held something.
There, in my hand, was a silver chain, a gold and red pendant dangling carelessly from it.
But it wasn't the pendent or even the form of which my body appeared that shocked me the most, it was the glowing pair of slitted blood red eyes that gleamed in the darkness of the abandoned alleyway and the wide, crazed grin that exposed large, sharp white teeth.
"No, no I don't recognize it. Sorry sir." Edward replied, staring at the pendant before forcefully looking away. Al looked it over and furrowed his brow as he tried to remember where he had seen it.
Ed subconsciously glanced between his brother and his Journal. Suddenly he realized that he had shared that nightmare and a rather detailed drawing of the pendent with Alphonse. The picture currently resided in his personal Journal, folded and slightly worn and weathered.
"Oh yeah! I remember now! I've seen it somewhere. Not really sure where. I think it was-" Al started only to be cut off by Ed's motioning for him to stop. The younger Brother's shoulders slumped but he said nothing more about it.
Mr. Hills eyed the boys carefully before placing the pendant back into his pants pocket. "That's alright. Just thought I'd ask." He smiled as he turned towards the door. Mr. Hills glanced over his shoulder and added, "Oh, Ed?"
"Hmm?" Ed replied, looking back from Al to Mr. Hills. "You might want to change back your arm." He finished with a friendly smile before he left the room.
Ed blinked and looked down to his arm. Without a second thought Ed clapped his hands together and changed his Automail Blade back into his regular automail arm. He fixed the flesh colored material on his arm so that it covered all of the metal.
"That was...interesting to say the least." Al barely stated before Teri pummeled them with story requests. After all, now that she had her proof, she wanted to learn all about Alchemy. Maybe there was hope in being able to use it. She squealed in delight at the thought.
Ed and Al glanced at each other before Ed swiped the Journal from Al, earning him a small whine, and began telling her their life story, "It all began in a small country town called Resembool..."
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From just outside the room, Mr. Hills stopped in the hall and glanced back to the slightly ajar door.
"So it seems that this is the catalyst for using Alchemy here." Mr. Hills whispered to himself as he held up the slowly dimming pendant.
"The Mistress will be pleased." He grinned wickedly as he quietly treaded down the stairs.
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Below the house was a secret basement that not even the longest working maid or butler knew of.
The single room was dark, a lone fire lighting up the room from it's center. Along the walls were various mythical objects, some over thousands of years old. On the far side of the dungeon styled room was an alter of some kind. The object above a demonic shaped alter was a dark green, almost black serpent shaped scale floating a few inches from the alter's black and red surface.
"The time is close that we will be able to return to our world and revive our long dead Master." A voice spoke from under a dark cloak as Mr. Hills made his way down the descending staircase. A wicked grin grew on his face as he took his final step from the stairs and bent onto one knee, bowing to the cloaked figure.
"Yes, Mistress. Our waiting will soon come to a close." Mr. Hills stated, his grin growing impossibly wider. He stood up and walked closer to his "Mistress" and pulled out the pendant from his pocket. It still glowed slightly, but not as much as it had when Ed had used his alchemy.
The "Mistress" turned around at the strange light, her black cloak spinning just behind her sudden movement. Quickly she swiped it from his grasp and turned back around, examining it closely. After a few moments she paused, glancing over her shoulder as she eyed her loyal follower.
"Who sparked the flame within this pendant?" Mr. Hills cleared his throat and answered, "It was the older brother, Edward Heiderich, who performed Alchemy, but," He added just as his Mistress was about to exclaim something. "It was the younger brother, Alphonse Heiderich, that seemed to recognize the pendant."
The woman stayed silent, merely nodding as she gave the pendant a quick look over once again.
"Very well, it seems we'll eventually need both." She began, turning to face the alter. Black high heeled shoes brought her to the alter just a foot away. A smile graced her lips as she watched a scale from her Master's armor float there above the alter, a slight red hue around it.
"Shall I prepare the...material?" Mr. Hills asked mischievously, awaiting his Mistress' orders.
"Yes." She answered, keeping her attention on the reptilian scale. "Can you be done by tomorrow night?" The Mistress asked, turning around to face her follower. He smirked and nodded, bowing before he left her presence.
When the sound of the door closing reached her ears, she turned back to the scale and grinned from beneath her hood.
Holding up her hands she hissed in delight, "Finally! Soon you shall be revived and we will once again rule that pitiful world, and perhaps even this one as well."
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