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 Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:49 pm
It had been awhile since Edward had dreams about his past... but overnight, they returned to him. Memories of his brother, when they had both been human. Good memories... bad memories... all of them.
The Fullmetal awoke, at first disoriented and still quite sore. But he soon came to realize that his dreams had been just dreams. He was a Kitsusagi now... and while part of him wanted to be human again.. to go back to the world he came from. Edward knew that he belonged here now.
Stirring, Edward sighed and turned over... deep in thought as he started to think about what happened yesterday. Alphonse had been acting rather strange, and he had to wonder what was going on. "I should find Al" he muttered to himself, pushing himself up to his paws...determined to go and find his brother himself.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:11 pm
As busy as her thoughts were before bed Liliana would have expected to dream. But she was more worn out from the emotional strain of the mis-adjusted automail and how it had hurt Edward -how close he might have been to... Liliana did not dare think about it- much less the physical exertion of pursing Alphonse than she could have realized. Of course, Trelweny would have told her that she probably had dreamed only she could not remember them.
Not that it mattered much. The crimson furred female felt her mate stir, woke enough to feel & hear him sigh & pressed her eyes tightly closed before she had even opened them. He moved, she waited. He spoke, she nodded. When The fullmetal sat up Liliana lifted her head and opened red-rimmed green eyes. "Yes. Yes you should. Do you want me to... should I came too?"
The little potions witch looked uncertain. She wanted to go, that was clear. But more than that... she wanted the brothers to clear up whatever had happened... for them to be happy & together & if that meant staying behind... she would.
Of course, how she should know Alphonse was not still in the house was not something she thought about. Logically, she should be thinking of finding Myranda and asking what room he was in. But somehow, Liliana suspected that with the way Al had run yesterday... he had run again. It made no sense, and yet it did not touch her thoughts as being irrational. Why was that?
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:29 pm
Edward had no idea that Alphonse had left the house, so he just shoke his head. "Naw.. I should talk to him alone." Although he turned and gave his mate a smile, also leaning down to nuzzle and kiss her. "I love you.. but there's just some things that should be between brothers, you know?" Alphonse already seemed upset over Lilianna's presence.. and well, it might make things easier if she wasn't there.. as much as he hated to admit.
Jumping off the bed, Edward grimaced at how sore his muscles were. His limbs were stiff... and his automail didn't respond as well as he would like, but he would be alright. He wanted to talk to Al, and Rikku didn't need to be bothered with any more of his automail problems anyway.
"I'll be back" he told Lilianna, before moving for the door and exiting their room. Whoever the first person he saw was the first to get his question, "Hey.. have you seen Alphonse?" Perhaps his brother was already up and eating breakfast.. or still sleeping somewhere.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:48 pm
Liliana's purr was soft and faint as she nuzzled and kissed him back. "Of course." Her eyes held a soft sadness behind their love, and also a bit of understanding. Laying her head back on her paws, Lily folded her wings comfortingly around herself as she watched Edward hop off the bed and leave the room.
The atmosphere of the house was subdued Theron played with his cars and trains on a track just his level in front of the TV, Relm Kirin leaning over and asking him pointless but cute questions about each one. Not many seemed to be about actually, which in itself was odd. Myranda came down the hallway from Trelweny's room with Alphonse's -now clean- coat over one arm and gave a greeting nod to the fullmetal kitsu. "He's not in his room. Your brother."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:56 pm
Seeing Al's coat, Edward blinked. Oh yeah.. he should probably go get his too... wait what? "He's not? Where is he then?" he asked, ears turning back as he tried to think where Alphonse might go. The elder Elric started to get a bit of a sinking feeling. Things had not been normal with his brother since he got here... surely he hadn't run off, had he? Edward waited for the Gaiacom's response, hoping that she would tell him he was just in the next room or the kitchen or something.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:14 pm
Myranda shrugged. "I only know he wasn't in his room when I went in to return his coat. I was heading back to plug myself in when I heard you." A few steps and she handed the coat to its owner's brother. "We don't imprison our guests."
"Someone left in the middle of the night." The kirin spoke up, hardly looking up from the egg she guarded and Theron as she did. "I thought it was just Amaryllis, sneaking out to check on the night-blooming plants again. She does that often enough. But now that I think about it... it was bigger. Heavier sounding. I hadn't bothered to get up to check."
A perfectly designed brow arched. "I'll tell Seifer to let you confirm with a look at the security cameras if you want." Without waiting for a response, she left. Moving past the alchemist to enter the door behind him.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:21 pm
Edward took the coat, looking a bit stunned as the kirin told him someone had left in the middle of the night. If nobody had seen Al this morning... and he wasn't in his room... that had to be him. Without answering Relm, Ed slung the coat over him... being just slightly too big and then took off in a run. The door being slammed shut behind him.
"DAMMIT!" he shouted to no one in particular, moving as fast through the forest as he could go. He had to find his brother, before he did something dumb and he ended up never seeing him again.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:36 pm
Atae had wandered back toward the HQ. She wasn't sure why... it was just like with Riku. She knew Al wasn't going to be there. But she still felt like she had to make sure.
But the room was, indeed, empty. No sign of life... it looked like Al had put the books back, probably to cover his tracks. It made sense. She sighed and headed back toward the exit, heart feeling a lot heavier than it had in... a long time. Sure the pain wasn't as bad as it had been during the love triangle issue, but this was worse because... she felt like it was her fault. Not that there was really anything she could have done differently. Not without causing Al more strife. He'd said he would be around for a few days yet before he was ready to leave; she had to trust that it would be enough time.
Enough time to find Ed, tell him what happened, and hope he could fix things. Ed was the only one that could at this point. She'd tried; Al was too heartsick to allow himself to believe her. For all that he seemed willing to accept her friendship, he didn't know her. Probably couldn't trust her that much. And while she felt bad for not going after Ed last night... it hadn't been right then. She didn't know why. But now it was. None of it really made sense...
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:42 pm
Edward ran the entire way from Trelweny's house and back to the HQ. His muscles feeling like they were on fire, and adding to the fact that they were still stiff and sore from yesterday's incident. Chest heaving with each breath he took as the alchemist stumbled around the HQ, calling out desperately for his brother. "Al! Aaaaal!" He slumped against a wall for a moment, trying to catch his breath and holding a paw to his automail shoulder. Damn this stupid piece of junk... it had caused him so much grief in the past couple days.
Although he probably should be resting and regaining his strength, Ed had to find his brother before he did something stupid. His imagination running rampant at what might happen to him. Not to mention there were homunculi out there that might want to get their claws on him. He ended up passing Atae by, not even noticing as he franticly checked rooms, still calling out his brother's name. Where could he have gone?
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:57 pm
Atae was startled when Ed barreled by. She'd been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't heard him until he'd nearly run into her in his haste to get by. It didn't take long to figure out what he was calling... and who he was looking for so frantically. She sighed again and padded after him.
"He's not here Ed. I already looked. He said he was going to leave so you wouldn't find him." She'd just sat down right in front of him when he started to turn around at the dead end of one of the hallways. "Seeing you and Lily together and you two not explaining anything... He said you didn't need him anymore and that Lily was trying to take you away from him, and... that he was going to find a way to go back so he wouldn't be in the way."
She could feel the fire running along Ed's abused nerves. It certainly didn't help her own state, and she couldn't help grimacing after a few moments. "I tried to tell him it wasn't true. But he doesn't know me, so I guess it didn't mean much. He said it would take him a few days probably before he'd be ready to go, so maybe you have time to find him. And before you yell at me, I couldn't have forced him to stay. It's not in my nature or my physical capability. Especially in the state he was in, I doubt it would have taken much to send his emotions back over the edge. I could tell they already had been once." She paused. "He said he pushed Lily. But that was all he'd tell me."
Blink. Wait... Ed's nerves were fried... he was taller. "...You're as tall as I am now..." Well... that was irrelevant. "Bah... and no, I don't know where he went. I tried to talk him into staying at my place, but he didn't want to be anywhere you might find him." Another pause and she tensed up, squeezing her eyes shut stubbornly as some tears leaked out and down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Ed... I tried... I guess I failed both of you."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:09 pm
Blink. Edward skidded to a stop and turned around to look at his friend. "Atae?" Her words hit his heart with an aching pain that even his body couldn't match at the moment, and it reflected in his eyes as he listened to her.
"How could he think that... he hadn't even been here a day. I didn't want to overwhelm him." His paws clenched, trying to hold in his emotions. Eyes then widened, "He's trying to go back?!" But if she was expecting him to yell, she was wrong. Instead... Ed placed his paws on Atae's shoulders. "Its not your fault, but Al's putting himself in danger. I told him there was no way to go back. We can use alchemy here, but things are different from the world we came from. I -must- find him, Atae. I can't lose him again."
And yeah... he was taller, but that didn't matter to him at the moment. A thought then came to the Fullmetal's mind. If he was trying to go back... Edward got up and moved into his room, finding a mess of alchemy books. One in particular caught his attention. Flopped on the floor where the reader had left it, a page torn out. A quick glance over the material and he knew... "Dammit."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:27 pm
She cracked her eyes open. Not her fault? Maybe. Not all of it, at least. She padded after him into the room, noticing a mess of books off to the side she hadn't seen before. "...He's gonna try and open the Gate, isn't he? Like how he got here."
She sat down, staring at the book and the torn page. "I know you were doing what you thought was right Ed... but you know how I feel things, right? Useless. Cast aside. Maybe betrayed. That's what he was feeling. His life while you were gone revolved around you... your circumstances were different. You wound up building an entire life here while we were waiting for him, but when he got here, he couldn't find where he was supposed to fit. Like he was closed out. When he said you wouldn't tell him anything... He didn't think you wanted to include him in your new life. You probably know all that... I don't know... I guess I'm still trying to sort out everything I picked up from him myself. It doesn't feel like anything makes sense right now..."
She shook her head. "He said it would take a few days... and I'm going to guess he might come back here at some point. He knows there's food here, at least. But you'd have a better idea of what he might do than I would. I... I'm sorry I can't do more. Couldn't do more..."
Atae just felt so tired right now. "He's really nice... I told him I'd been reading the beginner stuff on alchemy... He said he'd have been happy to teach me more if he wasn't leaving." She tensed again and gritted her teeth. This... on top of everything that had happened over the last few months... and even if she'd only known him for all of fifteen minutes she liked Al, dammit. But she didn't want to cry. She was tired of being a cry baby.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:38 pm
Alphonse had changed so much... how could he think that he would just not care about him anymore. Ducking his head, Edward tried to think what to do next... all the while listening to Atae. It hurt him to the core of his being that his own brother felt that way... and that Al thought he would do that to him.
"This is all my fault.." he said quietly. Edward loved his brother, that would never change. Al would always be a part of him... that part having been missing until recently. And it hurt him immensley that his brother would just give up on him and run away. True there was Lily in his life now, and while he loved her deeply... there was no comparing the love he had for her and the love he had for his brother. He had responcibilities to both of them. If only Al would be happy for him, he wanted so badly for his brother to share in his joy. He finally fell in love, and the only thing Al could do was think he was being replaced.
"I'm going to keep looking for him" Edward told Atae, and naturally he would come back here occasionally to see if Al stopped by. He had to stop him before Alphonse made a big mistake. One that could cost him his life.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:46 pm
Atae nodded numbly. "I'll... let you know if I hear from him or anything. I think... I need to go sleep right now. My head feels like someone rolled a boulder over it a few times. Though... your whole body feels like that, doesn't it?" She shook her head. "I'll have to ask about that... later... after everyone is safe and everything's sorted out again..." She gave him a rather inscrutable look. "Yeah... we all probably need to talk. We're all family... sorta... He needs to know that..." And she needed to ask about the human transmutation... and their mother, and Sloth, and about Al being a "tin-can". But that was for later. When she wasn't about to break down or black out.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:50 pm
Smiling wearily at Atae, he nodded, "Thanks." He sighed lightly as she mentioned how they both felt. This pain was nothing... he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Alphonse. "Yeah... we probably do..." Edward moved to give his friend a quick hug, before pulling back and taking his leave. Moving out of the HQ and heading out into the forest to continue his search.
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