Alphonse Elric looked at his sister as she sat on their stacked cases leaning forward to gaze at the other side of the tracks. The sun lit up the long golden tail as it lay flat on her back. A deep blue coat covered the snug jeans and long sleeved top but she was still drawing furtive glances from the other would-be passengers.
He had been a bit worried about how Ed would react to being in public after four weeks of seeing no-one but family. So far she seemed calm although she was studiously ignoring everyone around her, hiding beneath her bangs. As he walked over with their tickets in his hand, she turned her head and smiled at him.
"All done?"
"Yes and the train is due in five minutes."
Ed nodded and leant back, her gloved fingers reaching behind her to curl over the edge of the cases for support. She looked up at him.
"Two months isn't so long, Al."
"I know, but…" Al sighed. Leaving was harder this time. And he was unsure of what waited for him in Central. He hadn't said anything to Ed yet but he knew he would have to soon. He wasn't going to be able to avoid it when they started their research.
"If Granny hadn't pushed us out Al, it would've been harder to leave later on." Ed remarked. "And it's only a day earlier than we planned." Al nodded in agreement although he still wished they could have stayed just a little bit longer.
"Are you ok, Ed?" Al asked as he noticed Ed looking out across the tracks again, avoiding eye contact with any of the people around them.
"Yeah, I'm fine Al. Sort of." Ed knew what her brother was asking and she was feeling a bit unnerved by the attention she was getting but she was well aware of how anything remotely out of the ordinary became a matter of great importance in a small place like Resembool. "I'm not sure if they're looking at me because of how I look or because I'm with you." She grinned. "You realise that half an hour after we leave some well-meaning old biddy is going to be knocking on Winry's door saying…" and Ed pushed her voice up into a higher register, "'I saw that Alphonse Elric of yours getting on the train with a strange blonde, I always warned you that your tomboy ways would scare him off.'"
Al groaned. He knew Ed was right. Gossip was nearly as important as food and air to the people around here.
The train's arrival saved them both and they quickly boarded with the ease of long practice. After tossing their cases under the window between their seats, Ed automatically sprawled along one, folding her arm behind her head as a pillow.
"These seats are as comfy as they ever were," she said as she wriggled slightly. Al laughed. This routine was so familiar; Ed lying on the seat while he watched from the other side. In the old days Ed would spend more than half the trip asleep and the rest cheating at cards, eating, reading or looking out the window.
Both of them heaved matching sighs of guilty relief as they realised they were finally on their own again. This was how it had always been. Just the two of them on a train travelling to who knew where. As nice as the last few weeks had been, this is what they had missed.
"Hey Al." Ed suddenly said as the train began to move. "Have you figured out what you're going to tell Mustang yet?"
"No. I can only tell him the truth. You know what he's like, you can't hide things from him." Al paused, not totally surprised at Ed's question. "We haven't talked about this since you got back, why start now?"
"Because this is the first time we've been on our own, Al. You know what Winry would've done if we'd talked about this back there. And let's face it, neither of us has been wanting to discuss this. But we've run out of time now. Come Thursday and we'll be in Central and it'll be nothing but questions and recriminations." Ed paused and looked at her brother. "And you know it, Al."
"And what about you, Ed? What are you going to say?" Al threw the question back to Ed rather than admit to being worried.
"I'm not about to pretend to be a long lost cousin or something, Al. You're my brother and that's all there is to it." Ed frowned thoughtfully. "Since you brought me back we've been kept safe in a little cocoon, Al. It's been good and we… I needed it. My arm and the whole female thing, I needed to have the time to adjust and adapt. And lets be honest I'm still not totally adjusted. But we couldn't stay there forever and we know that. We're out now, Al and we have to face up to what's happened. If we hadn't left, you can bet they would've come looking."
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