Chapter 7: How to Go After a State Alchemist

Wow. I am so terribly sorry. It's been months, hasn't it? Between projects and exams (groans loudly), surgeries (cries), my uncle's death, the USA presidential election (shudders) and bed bug paranoia (shudders violently), I've had no time or energy to continue. I apologize. Bed bugs are still in the apartment and we're planning on moving into a house in a few weeks, so the next few updates will more likely than not be very spaced out. I hope that you guys can forgive me, though. This story is not canceled and, as you can see, I'm not dead yet. This chapter is about half the amount of a regular chapter and probably is riddled with a lot of errors (like all of my chapters are, heheh), just because I didn't want to make you all wait any longer. I'll probably revise it when I have time.

Now leaning over the side of a carriage, heaving up my guts, I was starting to think that maybe this whole idea to have Mei teach me alkahestry wasn't my best.

Sure, it seemed like a flawless idea at first. When Scar and Yoki stole a horse carriage and some necessities from town and they all had set off for Central, Mei had decided to begin training right away through a boring lecture. I'm not really the type to be able to hear things once and remember it, and so I had opted to take notes in the back of my notebook, but that didn't make things any less confusing. She also talked about how meditating a certain way will help me unlock chi, which turned out to be a good way to pass time, calm myself, and get rid of headaches brought by trying to understand alkahestry.

That was basically how my first day was spent. Half of the rest of the week was spent meditating and trying (but failing) to draw a perfect circle with chalk. (How to people manage to do this? Shouldn't it be physically impossible to do without some assistance?) But that wasn't even the worst of it, because the other half of the rest of the week was spent sparring. I had asked why I needed to learn how to fight if I just wanted to learn how to heal, and she had brought up some good points on how, since I'll be traveling with them, it'll be useful to know. Sure, I had been on the soccer team at school so I wasn't really out of shape, but that in no way could have ever prepared me for something like hand-to-hand combat with a kid half my size and a panda bear beanie baby.

It wouldn't be the first time that I had thrown up during or after a match, regretfully. Between limited food and water, getting my ass handed to me whenever the horses had to take a break and becoming immensely frustrated when I think I've finally drawn a perfect circle but it turns out to be a very, very subtle oval, my week has been beyond tiring. Even so, I decided that it was all going to be worth it when I'm finally able to do alkahestry, even if right now it all seemed like hoodoo mojo.

When we got close enough to Central, we abandoned the carriage and walked the rest of the way. All I really wanted right now was a nice, long, hot, perfectly pressured shower and a real bathroom. Camping had never been that bad back home... Home...

What are Lauren and Riley up to right now? As time even passed by over there? Maybe they're both in their 80s, and life has just moved on with me. How's Dad doing? Hopefully, I will make it back home before it is too late, most preferably with a philosopher's stone in hand. That stone is my best shot of getting back home to a happy ending...

That train of thought was (thankfully) interrupted when I suddenly realized that we were all walking into a motel. Letting myself smile from ear to ear, I assumed that Scar and Yoki had also robbed whoever owned the carriage (though that probably wasn't too much of a good thing—I was just overjoyed to see a proper bed and bathroom). When we walked into their two-bedroom motel space, I immediately began searching for rodents and bed bugs as Scar talked.

"I will be out for the night. Stay here until I get back."

Everyone nodded, all knowing that the man probably wasn't going out to go frolic in the daisies. When the door shut, I let Mei take a shower first, and Yoki jumped onto one of the beds with his back up.

"Finally, I get to sleep on a bed!"

I momentarily paused my search to glare at Yoki. "What makes you think you're sleeping in a bed tonight?"

He suddenly jerked up and glared right back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that there are only two beds, and Mei, Shao and I are going to be the ones sleeping on them tonight. You can get a bed tomorrow."

His face was slowly starting to change color. "What makes you think that you're the boss of me?"

"I'm just saying that we've been sparring all week, I'm sore all over, and I think we deserve the beds first. Tonight, you can sleep on the couch, and to make things fair, tomorrow night you can take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

It was hopeful wishing that something like logic would get through his thick skull. "Sure, but what if we're not here tomorrow? I've been keeping the horses on track all week, so I'm the one that deserves a bed the most!"

I stomped my foot in anger. "Listen here, you twat! I've been training all week with these two! If you want to spar both of them when Mei's out the shower to take my bed, fine by me, but then you'll be sore all over and I won't be checking your bed for your long-lost rat family living under the mattress!"

His face went straight from the shades of Clifford the Big Red Dog to Snow White in three seconds. "F-fine! But you're checking the couch, too!"

Feeling my body relax, I nodded. "Sure."

After Mei got out the shower, I walked in (the pressure was too high, but besides that it was basically heaven), put on my pajamas, put my dirty clothes in my bag and walked out with it to find a laundry mat. Washing my clothes in rivers, streams, and lakes didn't really cut it for me.

I spend the rest of the night searching every inch of the room, talking with Mei, and writing down more notes before sleep became too tempting to ignore.

"—news, breaking news in Central—"

I sat up, simultaneously nursing a headache, wondering what on Earth woke me up when I finally noticed the radio on the nightstand in between the two beds. Mei was already up and listening in while Yoki was just beginning to stir, too.

"It seems Scar has appeared in Central once again. Three casualties, all of whom are State Alchemists. Several others wounded. According to witnesses, he has a large cross-shaped scar on his forehead. An Ishvalan with tattoos all over his right arm—"

The door slammed open, revealing none other than the main man himself.

...I'm not one-hundred percent sure why, but it suddenly struck me one again that the guy in front of me, stained with blood that didn't seem to be his, was a murderer, and possibly a little psychotic. When did I become numb to this? It was a scary thought, that I had either separated the murderer and the man standing in the room or that I've become completely unbothered by the fact that his goal in life is to kill as many State Alchemists as he can. Does this make me a felon, semi-willingly sticking with a killer and not turning him in?

Maybe.

Shaking the thought out of my head, I checked over the few injuries Scar had with Mei, although I couldn't do anything but watch her heal them after that. He was supposed to rest after his wounds were cared for, but the radio had continued.

"In other news, a State Alchemist—" Scar jolted up from the bed "—has been doing charitable work by repairing the damaged property of citizens for free in Rejo—"

Apparently, he'd head all the information he needed, because he slid off the bed and began walking back to the door, Mei right on his trail.

"Wait, you need to rest! And your wounds—"

"Stay here," was all he said before he closed the door, once again leaving us.

So Elric has successfully lured out Scar. I let out a small sigh and lightly shook my head. "Why is every guy I meet in this place so damn stubborn?"

Mei turned towards me and Yoki, a determined look on her face. "I think we should follow him to make sure he stays safe."

Not really wanting to bring a gun to a magic fight but also not wanting to mess up the plot, I shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Let's go before we lose him and—"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Yoki screamed. "He'll be perfectly fine on his own! He didn't need our help with those other three State Alchemists, so why would he now?"

I couldn't hold back the urge to roll my eyes and cross my arms. "He's barely gotten any sleep, so I'm sure he's running low on energy. If you want to stay here, that's fine, but we're heading out. Capiche?"

He looked like he wanted to argue so badly, but kept it in, angrily muttering to himself as we quickly gathered what we thought we may need (although my flower crown probably wasn't what many would consider to be a necessity) and headed out.

As much as I wanted to hide from the brothers, considering how our last exchange wasn't exactly what one may consider a heart-warming Hallmark moment, I knew that it was probably inevitable and that I should maybe start thinking of mentally preparing myself for the yelling and screaming that would definitely come.

In the meantime, following Scar without him noticing was difficult, to say the least. Yoki kept sneezing or making comments at the most inconvenient time, but we haven't been caught yet. We finally got to Rejo, and watching Scar and the Elrics fight was somewhat mindboggling. Even though I've been in this crazy country for, what, a few months now maybe, it was like I was watching a live action movie, but way more terrifying. Later on, Winry came into the picture (I'd never actually seen her before this moment, had I?) and the fight moved to some sort of huge train loading station.

It was just the Elrics and Scar for a while until Gluttony appeared (goddess, I wish I could get the image of a body exploding and reforming out my head). Ling then showed up and tied Gluttony so that he was immobile.

And then Scar got shot in the leg.

I forgot that part.

Why did I forget that part?

Hawkeye came driving in, gun smoking, and drove Ling and Gluttony away from the scene.

And now Scar is leaning against the train cargo that Mei, Yoki and I were hiding behind, naturally in pain, and what does Edward do while he's down?

He punches his face, obviously.

Now, I in no way blame him for doing so, but the man's down. He's tired and he has a bullet in his leg.

Despite this, Scar starts swinging back. Edward jumps back to Alphonse to get ready for some sort of super combo alchemy attack, but in a split second Mei and Shao are on the scene, kicking the brothers down before jumping to Scar's side.

"Are you alright, Mister Servant?" Mei asked him before pointing accusingly to the eldest brother without a reply. "How dare you do something like this to the servant of my savior, Yoki, you pipsqueak?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!" As expected, Edward suddenly got his energy back by being called small, and I couldn't help but chuckle and roll my eyes as his antics.

But then suddenly, all eyes were on me, and I knew that I couldn't retreat behind the cargo fast enough, so I stayed there. It didn't take long for the brothers to recognize me.

Maybe it was the flower crown that sold me out.

Damn.

I braced myself for the rant that was to come from them, but Edward's expression held a lot less anger than I was expecting and more... shock.

"You're not..." He looked really confused. "Are you Campbell?"

I frowned and stepped out fully from behind the cargo. This wasn't at all what I was expecting. "Um, yeah. Why do you look like I just set your pet rabbit on fire?"

There was a short period of tense silence before Alphonse spoke up. "We... We thought you had died, back there."

...Oh. Oh.

"Wait, what?" Are they serious? "You told me to run off with my, if I remember correctly, 'homicidal friend,' and so that's what I did to survive."

Alphonse took a step forward and extended an arm out. "Are you okay? Is isn't safe to be with Scar. Come with us."

I saw Edward's confused expression turn to surprise as he started furiously whispering to his brother. Meanwhile, anger was boiling in me.

"Come with you?" I spat. "Your brother practically killed me because I was trying to keep you guys safe." No, I wasn't. I can't remember why I didn't tell you guys. "I'm sorry if traveling with him to reach my goals may make me somewhat uncomfortable."

Edward gave me an urgent look. "About that, there's something we need to tell you about the phil—"

"I'm sorry to break up the reunion," Mei interrupted, "but there are soldiers coming. We need to retreat, now." She shot ten kunai, making two circles on the train's cargo behind the Elrics. The soldiers moved in.

Alphonse took another step forward. "We're sorry! Come with us, he's not safe!"

Mei created a perfect circle with a five-pointed star inside and a kunai at each point into the dirt.

I felt a little guilty, but not guilty enough. "I can't. I have things to finish."

Mei kneeled down and shot her alkahestry into the drawing. Blue electricity flowed from the drawing to the two circles on the cargo and exploded them, creating a black smoke screen. Everyone was coughing, including me, and man is whatever that stuff is stinging my throat and eyes.

I felt a little hand grab mine and Mei's voice whispering, "Grab Yoki. I'll lead you guys out of here."

I nodded, only afterwards forgetting that she couldn't see me, before straining myself to whisper. "Hey, Yoki, where are you? Take my hand so that we can get out of here." I waved my hand around before it connected with something warm and solid. I grabbed onto what was probably his wrist and tugged on Mei's hand.

Ignoring Edward's shouts for Scar and me, we made it to a mostly empty storage shed, away from the smoke but still in the train loading station. Yoki went out on watch while I watched Mei use alkahestry to take the bullet out and close up the hole. Scar was being eerily silent through it all, occasionally staring at his tattooed arm...

Mei finished wrapping the bandage around his leg. "That should have stopped the bleeding."

Scar snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "Thanks."

Just then, footprints came running in our direction and I reached for my gun when it turned out to be Yoki. "Master! The military police are just around the corner! We should run!"

He offered to help Scar up, which Scar obviously declined, and led him to the outside ("Master, hurry, hurry!") as Mei seemed to be looking around for something...

"What's wrong?" I asked her. "Lose a kunai?"

She stopped and looked up at me, teary eyed. "I... I don't know where Shao Mei is!"

A/N: I'm sorry the chapter was so fast-paced. The next update should be a better-written and normal-sized chapter.