Travelers

Damn, it's been awhile since I looked back at this. Thank you wild seven for reminding me to get back to it.

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"The Human whose name is written in this note shall die." --Death Note
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Fletcher did not stop in Rizenbool when he received Russel’s letter. He cut cross-country, hitching rides and taking a train. He was no longer the timid boy he’d been. He boldly went through the forests, pausing when he lost his sense of direction, but always able to pick it up again.

He unfolded Russel’s letter for the umpteenth time, checking out his brother’s slightly slanted instructions. There was no return address on the letter after all. Russel explaining that this house didn’t really fit in any city or county he could think of.

He’d taken a train outside of Rizenbool (Russel informed him explicitly not to go to Winry) and hitched a ride on what seemed to be a correct road (which he confirmed by studying the dirt and finding that the sandy earth had moved, proving that Ranen had been there).

It still took him the better part of a week to arrive and when he walked up to the eerie house he paused outside of it, feeling uneasy.

“Maybe I’ve got the wrong place…” But Fletcher sighed. No turning back, after all. Trighams weren’t cowards. Right?

So Fletcher put on his poker face, strode up to the door and knocked.

The door opened almost immediately, making Fletcher jump. A strange man stared out at him. “Are you the other Trigham boy?”

Keep an eye on Crane. Don’t let him touch you. Be wary.

Fletcher smiled, nodding.

“Come along then, your brother is downstairs.”

Fletcher followed him silently. The man gestured for Fletcher to go first and the little hairs on his neck tingled, but he went, feeling Crane’s eyes on him.

Behind him, Crane smiled. “Nothing to worry about, Mister Trigham.”

Russel looked up, studying a cask filled with red liquid. “I think we should turn up the heat a little.”

Al tongued his cheek. “Whatever you say.”

Russel laughed. “Sometimes I forget who I’m talking to. I think you’re Fletcher and not Al.”

Across the room, leaning back in a chair with her arm hooked around the back, Ranen sniggered.

Russel rolled his eyes. “You could help us, you know.”

“And what could I do?”

“You’re just lazy,” Al told her.

“You’re just ugly.”

Russel snorted, turning away. Al glared at her.

“Mister Trigham. Your brother has arrived.”

Russel set the cask down. He smiled. “Fletcher, you made it.” He walked around the counter to shake his brother’s hand. “How was the trip?”

“Long,” Fletcher said. “Next time you wanna run off like that, you should give me more warning and some details would be nice. What’s going on?”

Russel smirked and glanced at Crane. “I’ll tell you later. Did you only bring the one bag? Let’s put it in with our stuff.”

Crane nodded to them, looking around the room. “How goes progress?”

Al didn’t smile. “Just fine. Now that Fletcher is here…we may be able to work faster.”

“Excellent. You’re only a short time way from getting your brother back, Mister Elric.” He turned away and went back up the stairs.

“I could kill him,” Russel muttered, coming back in the room with Fletcher. “He shouldn’t be baiting you like that, Al. Asshole.”

Fletcher was gazing around the lab, suddenly looking horrified. “Wait a second. What is all this?!”

So Al and Russel laid down most of the story and by the end of it, Fletcher was glaring daggers at Ranen and most likely silently swearing vengeance.

For her part, she looked away and stared at the ceiling as if it were most interesting.

“So we have to do this all over again?”

“I purified it, Fletcher. It shouldn’t make anyone sick. We’ll do this and get it over with. We can delay as long as possible but it’s going to come down to it eventually.”

“And the possibility is…” Al looked at the ground. “He can give me my memories. And, Ed…”

“Why didn’t you want me to stop at Winry’s to tell her what’s gong on?”

Al’s shoulders hunched. “I don’t want her near Crane. The man is too creepy. I don’t trust him.”

Fletcher glared around the room. “We shouldn’t be doing this, either way.”

Russel sighed. “I know…but we have to now.”

“Why? Why can’t we just drop it?”

Russel snorted. “You think I’d expect Al to drop a chance to get Ed back? If it was you, I wouldn’t. Would you if it were me?”

Fletcher looked into a vial of red liquid. He took a deep breath. “I guess not…”

“Let’s just continue. Get this over with.”

“How long do you think it’ll be?” Fletcher muttered.

Russel looked at a plain, white calendar near the stairs. “ Today is October fifth. We could delay about a month,” Russel murmured, suddenly quiet.

Al glanced at Ranen, who was still staring at the ceiling. “Okay. Tell me what I can do.”

“Just distract Crane. Be annoying.” Russel whispered.

“You’re good at that,” Fletcher told him.

“Shut up,” but Al grinned.

“And do what you can to get Ranen out of our hair. She hasn’t left us alone since we started. I don’t want her spying on us.”

Al nodded. “Okay, I can do that.”

“We’ll take care of the rest,” Russel muttered. He looked at Fletcher, raising his eyebrows.

His little brother reluctantly nodded. “All right. Although you keep saying you want to get it over with. Why the delay?”

Russel drew him and Al over to the counter. He pulled out a random book and put his elbows on either side of it, as if he were showing them something. “Because I don’t want Crane to think we can do this quickly. We’ll talk about getting it over with, but we’re delaying on purpose—it’s better for him to think this is as fast as it goes.”

“I want to find out more about him too,” Al put in. “We can’t just hand that Stone over.”

“That’s what I don’t get. Why are you doing that?”

Russel gave him a hard look. “We’ll explain that later.” His voice was barely audible.

Fletcher nodded. “Well,” he said in his normal tone. “Let’s get started.”

“Good, now I can finally do something else.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing anyway,” Russel smirked.

“That’s not my fault. Maybe you were just a bad instructor.”

“It’s not my fault if you’re an idiot.”

Al laughed. He folded an arm behind his head and stretched. “I think I’m going to go outside and practice. Hey, Ranen, you wanna come?”

Ranen let her chair come down with a thump. She yawned. “Oh, I s’pose. Dunno why you’d wanna practice with me.”

“I haven’t practiced with anyone in a long time. It’ll be fun.”

Ranen scratched her nose, looking completely indifferent. “M’kay.” She yawned again, stretching, but followed him up the stairs.

Russel followed them out with his eyes. “Good. Now. Let’s get all this shit out of here and start at the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

“Yeah, tell ‘im I messed it up and we had to start over.”

Fletcher smiled. “All right.”


Al stretched again, taking off his black jacket and tossing it into the grass. “You ready?”

Ranen yawned again. “You gonna use alchemy?”

Al shrugged. “Why not?”

Ranen shook out her hands. She tongued her cheek. “Okay.” She took her gloves off and tossed them aside. She dug her cigarettes from her pocket and tossed them on her gloves and then pulled out a rubber band and tied her brown hair away from her face. “Ready when you are.” She slipped her left foot behind her.

Al didn’t give her a chance, he moved. He ran full-blast at her and slid, knocking her right off her feet. She flew up, landed on a hand and flipped over. “You’re fast,” she told him.

Al crouched low. He couldn’t help but smile. She changed sides this time, slipping her right foot behind her. Her eyes didn’t lose the sleepy look.

This time, she made the first move. She clapped her hands together, activating her tattoos and slammed them into the ground.

A great mound of earth reared up like a monster. Al skipped away, only to see the mound dissolve, and the sand wrap itself around him. He clapped his hands together, slamming them into the ground

Suddenly, she was in front of him, dealing a stinging fist that rammed into his cheek. He flew out of the sand and she dropped it immediately. She ran at him. Al leapt up, flipped over her and swept her right off her feet. She jumped up, barely blocking a kick to the face and ducked, lunging into Al and nailing him right in the stomach.

He jumped back and slammed his hands into the ground again.

A cage formed itself around Ranen. She looked around at it. “I’m impressed.” Indeed, she looked delighted. “This is neat.”

Al grinned.

She clapped her hands, placing one on the floor and one on the bar. Her sand flowed from the earth and she slowly raised her hand from the floor. A plain rod followed her. Not much more than a pole. It was condensed sand and metal from the cage.

Al laughed and did the same, only all condensed metal. He felt a jolt of excitement. This was fun! He’d have to do this with Russel and Fletcher sometime!

Ranen stepped out of the cage from the bar she’s transmuted. And she was off, shoving on the dirt. She flipped over Al the moment she reached him. He ducked under her lunge and made to stab her legs.

“Dammit,” she muttered, jumping back. “Always the legs.”

“Why the legs? Why does that always get you?”

“Because it’s my point of least focus. The sand it the main point and my secondary focus are my hands and arms, since they’re what’s holding the rod.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

She snorted, grinning. She started to flip her rod away.

Al jumped at her. He clapped his hands and grabbed her rod…

And suddenly, something pushed…he jerked from the sensation.

Ranen paused. “What’s wrong with you?”

Al stared at the spear in his hand and tried to grasp the feeling again. A tiny strand in a rushing river. He held the two weapons before him.

He pushed. He blinked and stumbled.

“Hey, you okay?”

And suddenly, his spear flipped in his hand and stood on its own. Ranen took a step back.

Al stared at it, tilting his head sideways. “Well, that’s weird.”

“What are you doin’?”

“I dunno…I just…felt this strange….I dunno. I can’t describe it.” He glanced at her. “Come here.”

She grinned. “Fuck you.”

He laughed. “Just come here. Look.” He threw her weapon down and poked his. As his finger touched the metal he felt something pull. Like his finger had a suction on it all of a sudden. The rod tipped over.

Ranen cocked a sleepy eyebrow. She snorted and walked towards him warily. He examined her, gave his hands a quick clap and laid one on her shoulder. She flinched from it and suddenly froze.

Al’s brain seemed to be firing everywhere. He could hear thoughts, voices. He could hear himself think. And other thoughts…

getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout!!

Blinding pain smashed into his skull and he felt the pull again. He stumbled and fell to the ground. Ranen sat down hard, clutching the sides of her head. “What the hell was that?!”

The pain began to subside. Al breathed hard. “I dunno…that’s never happened before.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “I could hear you, in my head.”

“I could hear you too. Telling me to get out. But…I wasn’t in your head. Not here…not physically.”

“Are you a mind-reader?”

Al shook his head. “I felt…my head felt like it exploded. And I…pulled away and it was gone. And when I touched you…I…sort of…pushed…and then I dunno.”

“What, like…we were sharing brains?”

“I dunno. Maybe I’ll test it on Russel.”

Ranen snorted. “You do that. I ain’t doin’ it again.” She walked away from him, picking up her gloves and cigarettes and yanking one out. She turned from him, scowling.

Intrigued, Al ran back into the house and down the stairs. “Russel! Russel!”

The elder Trigham brother looked up. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just need your help for a minute.”

Russel shrugged and smiled. “All right. Come on, Fletcher. This can wait.”

Fletcher snickered.

So they left their work and went outside. When they stood in the grass, Al said, “Now, just relax. I’m going to try something. Make sure you relax.”

Russel cocked an eyebrow.

“Seriously, just relax.” He clapped his hands together, touched him and pushed. He heard Russel shout with pain.

And just before the blinding white-hot throb hit him, he heard—

Youdonotbelonghere!

And when he opened his eyes, he was lying on the grass. Fletcher loomed over him. “Are you okay?!”

Russel was just sitting up. “What the fuck was that?!”

Al shoved himself upwards. “I don’t know,” he said, breathlessly. “I just discovered it. I could hear your thoughts or something…”

Russel nodded, putting his palm against his temple. “I could hear yours too. But damn, that hurt!”

Al crossed his legs and put his chin in his hand, considering this.

“Wait a second,” Fletcher murmured. He knelt down in the dirt next to Al, drew a Circle, and transmuted some water to make mud. He took the mud in his hands.

Russel gave him a funny look. “What are you doing?”

“Just gimme a minute,” Fletcher told him, waving a hand but not looking at him. He formed the mud into a little…well….mound of mud that vaguely resembled a person—like a snowman with his head lobbed off. He gestured to it. “Try it with that.”

Al cocked an eyebrow. “Try it on the mud?”

Fletcher shrugged. “May as well.”

Al nodded. He scooted over to the little mud-person, touched his fingertips together and laid them on it. He pushed.

This time, there was no response, no pain—just a slight humming in his ears. Someone gasped and Al opened his eyes.

The little mud-person was moving. It sluggishly pulled itself from the ground and stared up (er…did it stare? It had no eyes…) at Al, as if awaiting instructions.

All three of them stared at it.

“Well…now what?” Russel asked.

“I don’t know,” Fletcher answered.

“Hey, look.” Al pointed.

The little mud-man started to quiver and suddenly, dissolved.

And Al felt the pull from his skin as something seemed to whisk into him. It made him gasp and his skin tingled.

Fletcher put a hand to his mouth, considering this.

Russel nodded to a discarded stick. “Try it with that.”

And when Al did, the stick stood on its own. But soon after, it quivered and toppled over.

“Here Al, touch me—see what happens.” Fletcher pushed his bangs away from his forehead.

Al hesitated.

Russel started to shake his head. “We’ve already seen—“

“Just do it, Al.”

“Why?”

“Oh, c’mon! We’re scientists, aren’t we?”

Russel and Al couldn’t argue with that.

Al reached out a hand and pushed.

And he heard:

staycalmfletcher! staycalmfletcher! staycalmfletcher! staycalmfletcher!

But the blind pain was still like a club hitting his temple.

When he and Fletcher recovered, they both sat cross-legged.

“Okay,” Fletcher stared hard at his knees. “When you did that—whatever you did—with me, Russel, and Ranen—it hurts a lot and you can hear them, right? But when you did it to the mud and the stick—there was no pain, right? So…this…whatever it is….can only be used, without pain, on things that aren’t technically alive?”

Russel blinked. “What? Like…things with no souls?”

“Well, that’s kind of my question,” Fletcher squinted, still confused.

Al sorted this out. “If we’re talking about souls then you mean the stick and the mud don’t have souls. But humans do….so….what I’m pushing with…is…” he paused. “Soul? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, it would give an explanation for the panic. Someone in someone else’s mind.”

Al nodded. “Let’s test that theory.” He got up and picked up his jacket. Getting on his knees, he touched it and pushed. The shirt went stiff as if someone were in it, arms wide out and clasps unruffled.

Move your left arm.

And it did.

“That right there,” Fletcher said, leaning back on one hand. “You’re controlling its movements. It doesn’t have a soul. So it doesn’t hurt.”

Al stared at the shirt. He touched it again and pulled. The shirt slumped back to the earth. Suddenly, it was clear. “Oh…that makes sense.”

“What?”

Al half-smiled. “My soul…if it’s my soul….I feel a little pull when it comes back…it’s my soul.”

“How can it be your soul?” Russel crooked his eyebrows.

Al chuckled, feeling weird. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s easily detachable?”

“That’s ominous,” Russel muttered.

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