Returning Home (Open to all)

[hohenheim]

The punch connected with the side of his face, metal to flesh, as Hohenheim crashed backwards into the ground. His left cheek now swollen, he waited a few seconds before sitting up and rubbing the wound, looking at Ed, still smiling.

"Its my home, too, Edward. Plus, I thought I might find you two here."

What a better place to look than the two boys' home? And even if it wasn't technically his anymore, it was the closest thing he had to one.

[Winry Rockbell]

Winry decided she should head back her place. She could just wait for them there as she always had. Besides she had an auto-mail to build. Nodding to herself, she turned and left back to the house. She just hoped everything would be okay.

Winry begin walking up the hill once again towards her home. She smiled as she reached the house, and made her way up the stairs, and began working on Tai's auto-mail. She was glad that Edward and Alphonse seemed okay.

[AG]

Ed became more infuriated as his father spoke, "your home?! You jackass abandoned us!" He screamed looking down at his father. "You left us to live through mom's death on our own! We were kids!" He continued yelling as tears started forming in his eyes. He then turned away from Hohenheim as a way to hide his tears, he did not want to show his father tears. He didn't even want to shed tears for his father, he felt as though Hohenheim was far from worth it. However, he couldn't stop these tears, so he let them come.

[hohenheim]

"You're right." he said, lifting himself up off the ground, an ashamed look on his face and in the tone of his voice.

He dusted himself off and looked at his elder son, who's back was turned to him. Hohenheim could tell the boy was crying, but he had every right to. He did leave them, yet he did it out of love for his family. It was too dangerous for him to stay and he didn't want to endanger his family because of his selfish past.

"You know, Edward, your mother knew that I was leaving. I told her before I left. Do you think I would have had any control over if she passed or not if I were here?"

[AG]

"At least we wouldn't have been alone...and we wouldn't...I wouldn't have felt the need to do what I did." Ed said through the tears still facing away from his father. He wanted to badly to blame his father for what they had done.

Ed reached out and pulled off his red coat revealing his metal arm. He said nothing more, and let the automail speak his words for him.

[hohenheim]

Hohenheim knew what the boys had tried to accomplish before Ed ever took off his coat. He had felt the metal fist against his skin, and Al's metal body spoke for itself, too. In context, however, it confirmed his speculation about his two boys. He turned to Al but spoke to Ed.

"I'm guessing you used a soul transmutation on Alphonse, then. Hm." he said, studying the suit of armor that now housed the soul of his youngest son.

"How are you Alphonse?" he said, smiling at Al.

His expression went blank again as he sighed.

"I guess I'm the one to blame for leaving those books around of my research... It wasn't human, was it...?" he said turning back to Ed.

[AG]

Ed simply shook his head. "I don't even know what it was...but it wasn't mom." He then turned to Hohenheim. Something had just occurred to him, "Do you know how I can fix this? We've been looking for the Philosopher's stone, but all leads have been dead ends." He asked painfully. This was not a person he wanted to ask for advice, but if he could help then why not? He almost regretted it as the words finished leaving his mouth.

[hohenheim]

Hohenheim's heart almost shattered in two for the thousandth time in his life. His boys were looking for the very bane of his existence. His face suddenly became very dark and very serious, his eyes hidden behind the glare of his glasses as he looked down at the ground in front of him.

"Boys. You must understand that the Stone is an object beyond your understanding. I will warn you once not to go after its power, but if you must, I am telling you that you might not like what you find."

He sighed long and deep, his gaze still serious, but returning to look at Ed.

"Tell me, Edward, what do you know of the Philosopher's Stone?"

[AG]

Ed became angry again as he heard Hohenheim tell him to stay away from the stone. What right did he have to warn him to not go after it. Didn't he want his sons to return to normal? Obviously he still didn't care about them.

"What do I know about it?" He restated. "I just know that it has the greatest power of all alchemy and that it can bring back our bodies." He said naively. "And that's all I need to know." he finished.

[hohenheim]

The look on Ed's face after he suggested they not go chasing after the stone had a look of resentment towards his father. He couldn't blame him and he gave them his warning, but he figured that Ed wouldn't listen to him. He was too blinded by his hatred to comprehend what Hohenheim had warned him about.

"Well if you want to find out about the Philosopher's Stone, Edward, then I would suggest that you ask your friends in the military about it. They know more than lead on."

He knew that Ed was a military dog now. His name was known throughout the region as a State Alchemist of the people, so even Hohenheim had hear of his son being in the military.

[AG]

Ed wasn't sure what to think. It seemed as though Hohenheim knew more than what he was leading on. But the question was, why was he not giving up the information. "ha, they don't know anything." He said to his father. It was true, the military knew very little about the philosopher's stone, at least the ones that he was close to. "Besides, as long as it brings our bodies back, I don't care about anything else." He stated again.

[akidasoren]

((um sorry it's so long, I had a lot to reply to >>))

As Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye left, Alphonse could only wonder whether this had been their true purpose of coming here, to put Edward through his certification, it seemed that it had been a façade, perhaps hiding some greater purpose, but he did not wish to think on that too much. As his brother spoke Alphonse jumped slightly, his mind awash with thoughts, but he pushed them back, they were not here to think about the military after all, this was supposed to be a visit to see Winry, and thus far there had been very little time to say much of anything to her, but he had promised, that they would not leave without saying goodbye, a promise he intended to keep, should they need to leave. “That sounds n-……” The younger Elric’s voice faded as he noticed the man approaching them, and he simply stared for the longest moment, somehow he was familiar, and yet….for the moment he was having difficulty placing him.

It all happened a little too quickly for him to comprehend and Edward’s fist collided with the mans face, knocking him to the ground with sheer force, Alphonse was about to shout, ask what the hell Edward was doing, before the man spoke again, and instantly he understood, knew why Edward had struck him….this was his father. It was no wonder that he could not remember him for a moment, he had been but a baby when his father had left, but there was some familiarity, and even though Edward was showing resentment and anger, Alphonse felt some elation…his father was here…for the first time in years. “Dad……” He whispered quietly, his voice sounding somewhat happy, and yet there was a slight hint of confusion to it, it was a lot to take in, after so many years, and now he decided to find them? Somehow he knew he should feel some anger towards that, much like his brother, but he couldn’t…he simply could not feel anger towards his father.

Edward was doing all the talking for now, expressing that long pent up anger, and perhaps it was best to allow him that, but still….it hurt somewhat, to be reminded of their mothers death, and to see his brother close to tears, there had been many a time, where he himself had wished he could cry, wished he could simply break down after everything they had been through, but of course, he could not, that in itself was a torture he was constantly living through. “…brother……” What else could he say? When Edward was so obviously in so much pain over this, it was something he had never thought would happen, seeing his father here, and especially now, like Edward he wondered, where had he been when they needed him? Why did he go away in the first place?

As his father spoke again Alphonse stared at him, watching his gaze studying him, learning, and thinking, it felt a little strange to be looked on in this way, but he stood as still as ever, silent and watching as everything moved around him. How did he guess that? That he was a soul, attached to this armour? It wasn’t exactly common knowledge….but then, their father was a great alchemist, one of the best, and perhaps, it was inevitable that he would be able to figure it out; still, it made Alphonse somewhat uneasy. “Fine…” he said in reply to his question, his voice somewhat shaky, even with the smile his father passed him, this whole situation was reaching an uncomfortable level.

The rest of the conversation seemed to meld into the background, being nothing but noise, indecipherable from everything else, perhaps if he did have his body, he really would be crying, but he felt so much either way, and all of his emotions were pent up, and that was usually how they stayed, rarely did Alphonse snap, or even shout at someone…he just wasn’t like that, no matter how he felt, he never wished to burden others with his feelings, let alone his problems.

[Winry Rockbell]

Winry wiped her forehead looking over what she had completed so far. She smiled at a full hand that was completed, minus a few screws and bolts. She looked at the original, again to make sure that the design wasn't too far off. She had to admit the mechanic who had made the auto-mail knew what they was doing.

She saw how it was a bit on the heavy side so she had used a slightly lighter metal. She didn't want it to break easily, so it wasn't too bad. But, she was sure he would be able to tell the difference. Nodding to herself she began working on the arm.

[AG]

Ed, who was never that good at keeping too much of an attention span, was bored of this conversation. He didn't want to talk to his father anymore, nor did he even want to look in his general direction.

Ed turned to Al, "Let's go back to Winry's, she's helping that other guy with the automail." He said, "We should say our goodbyes and head back to Central..." Ed said with a touch of sadness in his voice. But he knew they had to return to Central, they needed to get going on finding the Philosopher's Stone.

Ed started to walk towards Winry's house, and without turning around he spoke to his father one last time, "next time I see you, which I hope is never, attempt to be a little more helpful."

[taisky16]

Tai knocked on Winry's bedroom door lightly, the sound like a far-off echo in the big, spacey house. He let himself in, Dan running in under his feet as the door was pressed forward. Tai chuckled at the dog, enjoying the playfulness she gave off. Even with one leg replaced with metal, Dan was functioning like an other dog should.

"I brought you those parts you asked for," he said somewhat sheepishly. He had a plastic sack flung over his shoulder, the word 'Central' in bold black letters printed across the side. "I noticed you didn't have much of a selection here, so I took the liberty of calling a parts shop in Central City that I went to for oil once. I paid for all this with my own money, so don't worry about a fee or anything."

He walked across the wooden floor, a smile on his face and in his bright blue eyes. Setting the sack next to Winry's toolbox, he petted Dan for a few minutes before standing back up. He glanced out the window at the night-stricken sky and heaved a sign of content.

"Thanks for letting me stay here while you get my auto-mail fixed," he commented after awhile. "It means a lot to me, I really appreciate it. I know helping around the house with chores and stuff isn't much payment, so if you'd like I can go run some errands for you or something? It's really no trouble at all."

He looked down at Winry's work.

"Wow!" he exclaimed excitedly. "You really know your stuff! I can't wait to try it out!"

[ryuki]

The train pulled into Resembool Station in a cloud of dust and steam. The doors opened, but no one stepped out, or, at least, not immediately. The single conductor on duty waited for a few moments after yelling that they had arrived before giving a sigh and began to close the train doors. Few people seemed to stop in this little flyspeck of an Eastern town, and there were times when he truly wondered why it even had a station. It wasn't as if there was anything else there but hills and cows.

The doors were nearly shut when a hand slithered through the narrow crack, effectively keeping them open. The conductor blinked at the arm clad in a dirty gray sleeve, and was pushed back as the doors were then forced open again, leaving him staring directly at a grungy, dangerous-looking man. He seemed to be of far eastern descent, with almond shaped eyes, pale skin, and black hair, but aside from that, the only particularly remarkable thing about him was his glare.

"Keep yer pants on, I'm getting off," the man growled practically in his face, and the conductor quickly got out of the eastern man's face. The man flashed a ticket, showing that he was, in fact, supposed to be getting off here, before shoving it back in the pocket of his coat. He stalked away with the air of someone who was looking for someone to kill, but the conductor still managed a half-hearted, "W-welcome to Resembool!" as he walked away.

Lan Soro hadn't been this far east since he arrived in Amestris. The cool air and open space was nice in its own way, but this Resembool place was rather empty, which made it hard to work there. It was hard to disappear when everyone knew everyone. Regardless, this was only reconnaissance--he'd be completing the job later. After all, he never would have come to a little town like this without a very good reason.

It just so happened that that reason was money. He might be a mercenary by trade, but he could accomplish all kinds of things, assassination included. And as it turned out, there was a certain kid in this town who had apparently pissed off the wrong people. Said wrong people wanted him dead. The fact that the kid was a supposed State Alchemist didn't bother him much. He'd only had a few run-ins with alchemists in Amestris, and admittedly, most of them were a lot more fierce than the ones at home. But a kid? Seriously, he was only 17. How bad could this Tai Sky really be?

There would be no killing here, though. The place was too small, too open. If a murder occurred here, people would remember seeing a strange man in a coat lurking about. He'd just have to follow the kid to a better place where disappearing would be a lot easier.

[AG]

Haley's train came in shortly after Lan's. This train was busy with people but none of which were going to Risembool. She seemed to be the only one. The train pulled up to the station and she exited. Now, to find Ed. she thought to herself.

She started on her way hoping to find someone who knew this Edward Elric.

[izumicurtis]

Izumi saw that Ed didn't get along with his dad and decided to wait before she engaged in another conversation with him. When Ed started walking away, Izumi walked over to him "Are you alright Ed?"[/color] Even though she wanted to hit him, she held it in this time.

[AG]

Ed turned around to see his teacher standing before him again. "It's nothing, just...finally seeing my dad after all these years. I finally got to say to him what I have always wanted to say." He wasn't sure what to tell her considering she still didn't know about their taboo alchemy nor did she know that he was now a dog of the military. Or at least knew he was what they called the "fullmetal alchemist."

[izumicurtis]

Izumi grabbed him and hugged him "You don't need to act so strong all the time."[/color] She then let him go and her urge to find out about his arm came back to her, but she waited and planned to ask later. "Now shall we go ahead and leave."[/color] She looked over at Al and motioned her hand telling him to come on.

EDIT: (OOC: sorry for the short post, I have writer's block atm)