Children of Alchemy Chap. 4

Children of Alchemy

(A Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic)

Chapter Four: Flowers and Cigarettes


The next morning as the suns rays, cooled by the whiteness of the clouds, began to peep through the window, I silently carried Elicia to her room and tucked her into bed. I hadn't slept after the nightmare, instead I had lain awake for the rest of the night, listening to my little friend's melodic breathing. Hearing noises from down the hall, I crept back into my room and began to gather up my things. I clipped my suspenders to my belt, allowing one to dangle as usual, and fastened my belt. I slipped my arms into the cold sleeves of my dark purple shirt, over the soft black tank-top that I wore beneath.

I whistled quietly to Splutch as he slowly blinked awake at the head of the bed, right where I had deposited him last night. I slipped into my boots, lacing them tightly around my thick black socks. Splutch stood clumsily and mosied over to the edge of the bed, and then with more alert gracefulness, he leapt onto the carpet and stretched in that way that is the fashion of cats to stretch.

Pocketing my belongings, I tiptoed out the bedroom door with Splutch on my heels. I made it to the top of the stairs before a strong and energetic arm threw itself around my shoulder and I sighed resignedly.

"Good morning Elli! You're up early!"

"Morning Mr. Hughes." I said, smiling and awkwardly walking down the steps with his lanky arm dangling on my shoulder.

"I thought you'd be an early riser! Well, Gracia's already started on breakfast! She's making pacakes! I'm sure you love pancakes! Hers are the best."

"I'm sure they are." I said, turning to look at him when we reached the bottom of the steps. I blinked in surprise at him. His tall form was clad in pink pajamas, with little yellow chicks patterned all over them. Two furry pink slippers added to the shock and I shook my head, trying not to laugh.

"Something wrong? Oh well, come on to the kitchen! I smell coffee! Oh Gracia!" He called out and strutted forward, and I followed, my original plan to sneak out lost in my bubbling mirth.

Gracia was wearing a simple green dress and her short cut pale-brown hair framed her kind smile as she kissed her husband good-morning.

"Good-morning Mrs. Hughes." I said, muffling my laughter in my hand as the pink swathed Hughes plopped down at their kitchen table, propping up his feet on it and picking up a newspaper, he proceeded to vanish behind it. He began humming and picked up a steaming mug of coffee that had been set out on the table.

"Please, just Gracia." She watched her husband with amusement in her twinkling eyes.

"Gracia." I nodded at her, and pulled out a chair opposite from Hughes.

"Coffee?" She asked me, gesturing at a pot on the counter beside her.

"No thank you, I don't drink it." I said politely, leaning back, and then after watching Splutch sitting at my feet for a second said, "Although, a saucer of milk would be wonderful."

"Of course." Gracia retrieved a saucer from a cabinet and went in search of milk.

"A saucer?" Hughes poked his head over his paper with an odd look, " That's an interesting way to drink milk. Wouldn't a cup be easier?"

"It's for my cat." I said, laughing at his assumption. The laughter felt warming and I liked it, and I reached down to the floor and picked up a mewing Splutch.

"Oh! That makes much more sense!" Hughes disappeared again as Gracia set a saucer of milk down on the table. I set Splutch down beside it and after a few moments of dissoriented looking at the saucer, he began to lap it up.

Gracia busied herself with pouring pancake batter onto a pan, Hughes continued to hum and sip his coffee, and I listened to the sounds with an odd feeling beginning to blossom. I considered possibly staying again tonight, possibly playing with Elicia for several hours and helping out Gracia around the house. It sounded absolutely wonderful. This was the first time in a long time that I had actually found something that I really wanted to do.

I must have been zoning out for a minute because the next thing I knew, a plate of steaming pancakes had been set before me and Gracia was watching me with the same amusement that she had watched her husband earlier.

"Having a nice daydream?" she said warmly, with a soft laugh.

"Yeah, haha, you could say that! Sorry! Thank you!" Hughes was now digging in to his own plate of pancakes, still humming.

"I better go get Elicia! She wouldn't want to miss breakfast." Gracia patted me on the shoulder as she passed by me and exited the kitchen. Splutch rolled over onto his back and mewed contentedly as he finished the last lick of milk, and I began to dribble syrup on my pancakes.

"Cute cat you've got there!" Hughes said through a mouthful of pancake, "What's its name?"

"Splutch." I said, rubbing Splutch's upturned belly.

"Interesting name." Hughes continued eating and then said, " I happen to know a boy who likes cats. He's probably only a couple of years younger than you. How old are you anyway?"

"Fourteen." I said with gritted teeth, and Hughes stopped chewing for a brief moment.

"Really? You look more like..."

"Sixteenish? Yeah... I get that a lot..." I said sadly, staring at the syrup slowly diffusing into the fluffy pancakes on my plate.

"Well, fourteen then! That would make you and him the same age." Hughes started eating again, and then my ears were filled with a high pitched squeal of joy.

"GOOD MORNING!" Elicia ran into to kitchen and leapt into her father's lap.

"Good morning precious! How's my darling angel today? Did you sleep well?" Hughes descended into devoted father mode and his entire attention was now directed at Elicia, who was giggling and wiggling.

"Looks like he enjoyed his milk." Gracia said, removing the saucer from beside the rather lazy looking cat.

"I think he did. Thanks. These pancakes are delicious!" I forked the sweet food into my mouth with a grateful look and Gracia went to get her own breakfast.

Following this, Gracia and Hughes talked while Elicia jabbered on to me about the good dreams she had last night. Then, Hughes disappeared to get ready for his job, which was apparently a Major in the military. I helped Gracia do dishes, and we had a conversation about different types of flour, and then I helped her bathe Elicia. It was around lunchtime that Gracia requested that I run a couple of errands for her.

So, now I was following a hand drawn map across the streets of central. The sun was bright today, no longer obscured by fog. More people were out today, less sullen and more talkative. I still got a few glances, but not as many as the day before. I was in a good mood as I wandered from shop to shop, whistling for the first time in ages. I stopped by a small market, and then the bakery where I had suddenly been thrust into the Hughes' hospitality. Next and lastly, Gracia had requested that I pick up a bouquet of flowers from a little shop on the corner of Tappings and Arlight.

On my way out of the colorful shop, clasping a bunch of purple lilacs, I stopped both my whistling and my cheery pace and looked into the alleyway at the side of the shop. A figure, dressed rather nicely, was slumped over on the ground and muttering to himself.

"Hey, you alright?" I called out to the figure and he looked up at me.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about winning a woman's heart would you?" The man's hair was short and brown in the back, and his bangs were blonde and stuck up in odd directions, despite the fact that they appeared to have been smoothed back with gel at one point. There was a smoking cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Not from experience, no." I said , walking over to him, " Why?"

"Oh nothing...." He said sadly, looking away and then suddenly he whacked himself in the head. "Stupid stupid stupid..."

"Hey, what's up with the self-deprecating gestures?" I set down the basket of items I had picked up for Gracia, placing the flowers in it as well.

"There's no way I can win her! She's smart and beautiful...." His voice trailed off longingly, the smoke from his cigarette swirling around his head.

"Who's she?" I asked with a bemused smile, beginning to understand this man a little bit better.

"Sarah... She's amazing... She works in the flower shop..." He looked sadly at a bunch of colorful flowers he had clasped in his hands and moaned, " I can't give a girl who works in a flower shop a bunch of flowers! She practically lives with them! What was I thinking?!"

"You mean the brunette in the pink dress?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips, "Snap out of it!"

"What?" The man blinked at me in surprise.

"Snap out of it! She's never going to notice you if you just sit here moping in this alleyway!" I said sternly, " Now stand up!"

He stood up rather quickly and clumsily, using the brick wall to balance himself.

"A girl always loves flowers! I think that Sarah will absolutely love these!" I told him, pointing at the lilacs and smiling, " Now you need to get in there and make your move! Get your head out of the gutter!"

"But I always have the worst luck with women...." He muttered, slouching against the wall, and I narrowed my stare. This resulted in the man's immediate straightening of posture.

"There's no such thing as luck! Now get your wits about you and get in there!" I was finding this little endeavor into matchmaking quite amusing, "What's your name?"

"Second Lieu- I mean, Havoc, Jean Havoc." He said stammeringly, and I raised my eyebrows.

"Well Jean, come on! Put out that cigarette and get in there!" He protested as I strutted forward and practically peeled him off the wall, removed the cigarette from his mouth, and pushed him in the door, " Don't be shy!"

He shook in the doorway for a moment, but then seemed to gain confidence and he pushed open the door. I waited outside, amused and in a very good mood that I had caught from Hughes this morning. Several minutes later, Jean burst out the door again in a flurry of excitement.

"She agreed to go to dinner with me!" He gushed, positively glowing and standing with a new confidence, "And she didn't throw a dictionary at my head!"

"I'm not going to ask....." I said with raised eyebrows, and then with a smile I said, "See, I told you so."

"Of course I could have done it with out your help... It just would have taken longer." He said with a typical male air of self confidence, and I didn't mind it.

"Of course you could have." I said, and handing him back his cigarette, I picked up my basket and said, "Well done!"

"Hey, you aren't going to leave me just now are you? You need to help me out!"

"Oh, but you're doing so fine on your own!" I winked and started walking back to the Hughes'.

"Come on! What's your name anyway?" He asked me, catching up and following.

"Elli, Elli Harlan." I said, wondering at the sudden change in my own personality that this day had inspired in me.