Kiomi & Éclair Destroy the World (A FMA Fan-Fic) [With AnimeNerd_36]

Closer

The two had left the train car into the next one, Éclair yawning and stretching after they entered the next car. "Geeze this is exhausting dealing with them again. I remember why I couldn't wait to come back to Amestris now."
"How did you deal with them for so long anyway? Especially Shan Li, he keeps calling you Eclair bear, it's just creepy."
"He's calling me what? Ugh I only dealt with it so long because I was invested in trying to figure out how to get my arm and leg back. I guess I kinda tuned out much of the other stuff so I could actually study."
"Well he keeps claiming he knows you like the back of his hand and I don't appreciate that I-" Edward stopped himself before rambling on.
"Uh--I--well--he doesn't know me that well. I mean it's not like we've seen each other anytime recently. It's been nearly four years now too. Honestly, part of me wishes we didn't run into him." Éclair shook her head, "I guess he's just excited to see a familiar face. Either way, he's taking us to those merchants and that's all that matters. He'll probably fake on us as soon as we get there anyway. Stupid princes."
"I just I dont know if I trust that he thinks it was merchants Eclair. It's just fishy to me."
"The only other leads were have are finding the deadbeat dads again...but we have to take this lead while we can, you found that stone fake...I don't want others starting to show up either..."
"No I get that it's a lead El, but...we just saw Mei—er Envy—before you woke up...they mentioned a few things about Shan."
"Wait, Envy's here too? Why does everyone keep showing up randomly it's like they're tracking us...this is more than one coincidence..." Éclair rested her forehead against a wall, "You sure this isn't all a set up to make us suspicious by like Bradley or something? Although Shan Li's a big flake he can't plan out anything to save himself. He wouldn't even got as far as he did in the training academy had I not tutorted his ass every night...ugh all this makes my head hurt...the likelyhood that Shan Li can plan anything is highly unlikely. That's why Ming-Na is traveling with him. She was assigned by his father to basically watch over him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid when I left. Part of the reason I was in Xing was to work as kinda a bodyguard for a little while since a few weeks after I got my certification I got into a little alteration with some Xingese officials. It wasn't anything too bad, they just got in my way after someone thought I was some defenseless child and took my coin pouch with all my money in it. I got my pouch back but apparently calling Xingese officials including Shan Li's father stupid good for nothing asshats is a bad thing."
"That's what we should be calling Shan Li. Either way, Envy said that he's using you for your princess status and he's trying to lure you to Xing for that reason. On top of that Kiomi said she senses traces of a stone on him and everyone else is suspicious of him."
"Eww, gross. Either way no one can use that status, after all, all official records say I'm just the Halfmeal Alchemist. And considering our relations with Bradley, he wouldn't even pay to get me back at this point. He'd rather me infiltrate and then get more people under father's control. So he wouldn't even call me princess unless he wants to actually lose me for good and he wouldn't do that because 'I'm a very important ingredient' and whatever.  He acts suspicious, I'm not surprised, but if there's a lead there we have to follow it, no matter how suspicious he is. I'll just need to keep myself safe. Can't be that bad, I've managed before, and now I have all you guys here too."
"Well I suppose but I'm telling you the minute he pulls anything we're gonna send him through a portal and make him disappear." Edward shook his head before grabbing a plate of food, handing it to Eclair and then grabbing one for himself.
Éclair shook her head, "I highly doubt he'll try anything, he'll probably just flake on us and vanish as soon as we get to the station, which means it's up to me to get to his family's other manner. I'm sure they'll let us stay there. His grandfather was a nice person, just wish he learned some of that from his Grandfather."
"Are you sure his family wasn't using you either? I mean you did befriend them when you were like twelve."
"Before I owed them after kinda destroying a bunch of stuff while trying to get my coin purse back. Now is different. Look, if you're worried about him, don't be. Let him say what he wants. There's no way I'm letting him use me for anything. I'm Éclair, big bad scary state alchemist. There's no way that I'm letting an idiot like him use me. We've got a mission to do, and I'm not letting him interfere with anything."
Edward huffed after taking a bite of some food. "I'm sorry for being paranoid, I just don't wanna trust the bastard. I'd trust Ling over him, and that's saying something."
"You don't have to trust him, honestly...I can't trust many people anymore anyway, so I'm not surprised if you don't trust him...I'm not sure how much I can trust him or really anyone else either...with the fake stones floating around and Regret and Bradley being awful as normal...I guess I'm lucky that I know you'll never rat me out to them." Éclair looked down to her food, "If you're so worried, it'd be best if you work with Kiomi and Al to keep me safe too."
"What do you mean by that El?"
"Look, my list of people I can trust I can count on my hands right now, if you're worried about what might happen, then I want you to watch out and protect me. If anything is ever making you think that this is a trap or something bad while we're here, then I want you to tell me and we can leave. I've gotta investigate this, I need to make sure another one of these stupid stones doesn't come back to haunt me."
Edward shook his head, "That's what I'm trying-" he then looked at Eclair before sighing, "Of course I'll watch your back..I'm just not leaving you like I said I wouldn't.."
"Good, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about, you'll make sure nothing happens to me, and I'll figure out what's going on with these weird stones, I think it's perfect we can solve this mystery and hopefully this isn't all connected back to father and Bradley." Éclair threw her hair back behind her shoulders, "Then we shouldn't have any problems, yeah." She gave Edward a small smile, "Just don't let anything Shan Li says to you get to your head. He tries to convince you of random stuff. When I was thirteen he was trying to convince me that I was an indentured servant to his family for life, thankfully I just got his grandfather to put an end to it. Half of what comes out of that stupid mouth of his is just a load of crap."
Edward nodded with agreement clenching his fists under the table, "I just wish he wasn't so stupid..." he shook his head, "Anyway, did it feel better that you got some sleep for once?"
"Yeah, I'll just be happy when all this mess is over. Find those fake stones, knock some sense into whoever did it, then we can go take some time off and just not deal with those idiots. I could use some rest for a moment."
"Then we can actually get some decent food and not have to take dreary train rides."
"Right? Ah, some nice fresh air and nowhere to be for a little while, that sounds wonderful. Can get some training in, run around in a nice open area and not be trapped inside a tiny metal box on a train." Éclair smiled, "You know, I wonder what it's like on the roof..." She then looked to the window and the door of the train car, "hmm we could find out..." Éclair stood up before heading to the door, "Bet I can get to the roof first!" 
Edward chuckled before standing up, "Nope bet it will be me slow poke!"
"Betcha I won't!" Éclair ran out of the car and as quick as she could up to the roof. She had sat down on the roof, watching the landscape in the background with views she hadn't seen in a while. Edward joined her not seconds after jumping up to the top before sitting down next to her. "It's views like this...had we not come out here or traveled this far...we would never have got to see all of this..."
"You're right, the only nice thing about going to Xing is getting to see someplace new." Edward crossed his legs
"Oh that's right, you've never been out here before, have you?" Éclair looked off at the horizon, "I mean it's not that bad of a place, it's super pretty in some places. Nothing compared to Resembool though...something about that place just feels so familiar and welcoming...I just can't get it out of my head how nostalgic it is."
"Resombool has always been that way ever since me and Al were young. It's crazy we never thought we would be away from home so much when we were older. Freemont is pretty welcoming too though," Edward added.
"Yeah, but there's not much there. No nice luscious green grass, no fluffy sheep just rocks crabgrass and bears and stuff."
"Hey but you have to admit bears are pretty cool even if they're kinda scary. You enjoy Resombool so much it's like you were originally from there."
"Hey, I've been spending a lot of time there thanks to you. It just feels nice there. Like Freemount but more nostalgic you know? Besides we go there so often it's kinda relaxing you know? Whenever we go there it's peaceful, quiet for the most part and whenever we go there nothing happens and we can relax for once. It just feels like a safe place."
"Maybe after weal with the xingese idiot in there we can go to Resombool instead for a few weeks to settle down and relax for a while."
"Really? We could do our studying there too without being disturbed too! It's perfect!" Éclair smiled, "all those fluffy sheep too they're so soft, that wool is so warm..." Éclair held her coat up to the sides of her face in warmth and nostalgia before she noticed Edward was watching her. Her face then turned red as she quickly turned away. "Don't go telling people I like fluffy sheep!"
Edward tried to make it less awkward with a laugh, "No I think you pretty much tell them that yourself, just don't scare the poor sheep like you did to the goat." he chuckled.
"I don't scare them, but they're super soft to sleep on..." Éclair turned slightly back, "They're really friendly too..."
"I'll have to introduce you to a friend of Winrys grsndmothers, he herds those sheep and has a bunch of them  just running around in his backyard. Maybe I'll take you there if we go back."
"Really? Wait, no, as long as no one else finds out they don't need to know I like the fluffy sheep wool."
"El I'm not going to tell anybody no one will know I swear."
"Good you better because otherwise I...I'll....I'll....I'll throw you off the roof!" Éclair struggled with her words, struggling to come up with a good insult. "And you better not because I'm counting on you to watch my back because since I know you're gonna do it I'm gonna focus on figuring out this stuff with these stones and I won't be watching my own back because I need to focus on the details and being observant if you want me to figure this out!"
"Well, I will! I'll watch your back and make sure your are alright.!"
"G-good and you better because I-I've never had anyone watch my back before..."
"Well now you do and you'll watch mine right? Because I've never had that either. Well besides Al but that's different." Ed adedd.
"Yeah, I can do that, yeah!" Éclair nodded.
"Great! Then that's what we'll do!" Edward shouted with a goofy grin.
"Then let's do it!" Éclair agreed. Edward smiled before suddenly getting an idea in his head, "What if we trained up here before we got to Xing?"
"Betcha I won't lose!"
"Betcha I wont lose!" Edward laughed before standing up.
Éclair stood up, fixing her hair that she tied back, "alright let's do this!"
Edward smoothed back his own hair getting ready to fight. "Sure you can take me on?" he chuckled.
"Never doubted it, I can do it easily, just like all those times before. Do it once, I can surely do it again!" Éclair smiled back, removing her gloves from her hands and stuffing them in her coat pockets.
Edward did the same before setting his hands up in a fighting stance. "Your call when we start,"  he challenged.
"Aww, you're giving me the advantage, how sweet, I guess you can be chivalrous after all." Éclair smiled, "Alright then, let's do this!" Éclair got her footing set before she clapped her hands and ran towards Edward, changing her arm into a dagger, "You asked for it!"
Edward dodged her attack before slipping underneath her and grabbing her leg. "No, it was you who asked, not me!"
"You just wanted to say that didn't you?" Éclair asked back, using her other leg to swing her knee up to kick Edward just hard enough to get him to release her leg and allow her to jump back into a handspring away.
"Very clever." Edward tumbled to his feet again, changing his own hand into a dagger. "Maybe I don't know messing with you is pretty fun though." he did a backflip before kicking her legs out from underneath her. "You really should watch your feet more though."
"You should watch yours too." Éclair spat back as she spun around to kick Edward in the back of the knees, causing him to fall backwards on the train car as well, "Knock me down and I'll just get back up again or bring you down to my level. Seems fair. Besides, I find it very entertaining to mess with you too. Maybe it's because you're like a little red riding hood with that red jacket of yours, just waiting for the big bad wolf to come up and scare ya." Éclair stated as she launched herself at Edward who managed to sit up, "we'll surprise I'm no wolf but I'm the big bad Éclair in purple!"
"Oh, so does that mean you got big stinky breath like the big bad wolf is supposed to have?" Edward jumped to his knees, "I'll gladly take you down stinky breath." he stated before cartwheeling around and behind Eclair he then launched himself at her and pinned her down.
"Stinky breath? Nah, I think it's the scary sharp teeth, and the scary eyes, are you scared little red? Scared because I'm bigger and scarier than you?" Éclair laughed as she was able to flip the two of them over, however she miscalculated and flipped Edward over, and her nearly off the edge of the train car.  Edward laughed hysterically as he grabbed in to the side of the train and pulled himself back up. "Really funny but I wouldn't be scared of you if my life depended on it. He went to strike at her with his dagger arm but they both hit at the same time.
"I think I'm scary enough, perfectly scary." Éclair smiled, attempting to put enough pressure on her dagger arm to get Edward to back up initially, but instead she ducked below and grabbed Edward by the waist before throwing both of them back down to the floor. "Damn are you actually getting stronger?"  Edward teased before rolling over. He grabbed Eclair's arms to keep her pinned.
"Maybe, beating you all the time's been helping a lot. Gotta get stronger to keep ahead, you know?" She smiled, "It's quite a challenge sometimes, but it's worth the training."
"You do know that I let you win sometimes right?" He chuckled before they both rolled over but this time Eclair had ended up dangling from the side by the window. The only thing keeping her on the train was Edward who had held her leg.
"Oh hey look I see Kiomi! Hey Kiomi!!!" Éclair pounded on the window before looking back up to Edward, "mmm no you don't and I know you don't!"
Shan Li looked out the window, "Éclair!"
"Leave her be she's fine, she's smiling and waving." Trevor responded, "Besides she's keeping the fight outside not in here, let's keep the peace."
"Plus they do this stuff all the time normal. Well for them at least." Kiomi added before waving at the window Eclair had pounded on and then resting her head.
"But isnt she in danger? It's not safe for a princess of her sort to be up there." Shan Li said, beginning to stand.
"She's no princess, not one at all. She's crazy and ruthless and that's actually normal for her. You get used to it, otherwise she's destroying the place in here." Trevor responded.
"Or Trevor's shop or her sister's wine glass." Ayumi nodded. "I'm just glad those two are finally making progress, look at them Alphonse!"
"I hope she's not going to fall..." Alphonse sighed.
Vapor shook her head, "She'll be fine, look at how happy she is!" They saw as Eclair's face changed as she was pulled back up on top of the train car.
Éclair was pulled back up on top of the train where she sat for a moment, "I saw everyone, Ayumi waved back."
"They're probably all laughing and joking about how we would be destroying the place we were inside." Edward laughed.
"Yeah, probably, wouldn't be that hard to do it anyway." Éclair noted.
"Eh, we could have fixed it later. It's just more free out here."
Éclair agreed, "Yeah, more fresh air too. Easier to focus." She smiled, "And everything's more open..." She looked to her dagger arm then back to Edward.
Edward smiled back and brushed his fingers through his hair before putting his hand on his waist, staring at the land ahead.
"Not a lot of people would agree, but it's just not the same experience inside that's all.''
"No, you don't get to see any of this, where we're going or where we've been."
"There's no one I would rather see it with than my ...best friend." Edward laughed nervously.
Éclair's face shaded over a lighter red color as she perked up a little bit before settling back down where she was sitting. She was working at trying to change her dagger arm back to normal. She clapped her hands before running her right hand along the top of her left forearm, but instead of changing her arm back to normal, she lost focus and instead made the dagger face the other direction, going off behind her elbow. "Y-yeah! I-I like being up here with my...partner too!" 
Edward's face shaded over slightly as well but he continued to smile goofily before taking her hand. "Ah, look what you did, you dork." After a short nervous laugh, he continued, "here, let me help." He transmuted her arm back to normal from the dagger.
"H-hey I never mess up--I-" Éclair looked down at the ground, "Why did I screw this up I must have done that same transmutation about a thousand times?"
"It was probably just the wind! That's what it must have been, don't be nervous, uh here you can do my arm and it will  prove you can do it without messing up!" Edward held out his dagger arm trying to stop the awkwardness.
Éclair nodded, "Yeah, yeah I can do this..." She clapped her hands again, performing her alchemy properly once again, "yeah, just like that it worked again." 
"See, You can do it! You're one of the strongest alchemists I know! Of course you can do it!''
Éclair gave a worried weak smile, "Yeah..just like all the other times, I did it."
Edward smiled back before scratching the back of his neck nervously, "can I ask you something El..?''
"I did the alchemy right, right?" Éclair asked back, just as nervous, moreso that she failed to do something she was confident she had the proficiency to do earlier. 
"Yes Eclair! You always do good at your alchemy. It was probably the stupid wind's fault is all. Don't get down." he showed her his arm perfectly back to normal and metal. "See? You're fine. You did great, Eclair. I just have to ask you... Do you just think of me as a...pawn...Or have you ever thought of me as just..a  pawn..?"
Éclair turned as she shook her head rapidly, her eyebrows furrowed in fear and astonishment, "No! Never! Where did you ever get that idea?! You're my partner, we're stuck in this together, everything we do is equivalent, it has to be! I can't do this without you, you know the stuff I don't know in this, and I know the stuff you don't know, and I'm watching over your back now since you're watching mine since it has to be equivalent! Equal! Everything has to be, right?"
Edward stared at her blankly before hugging her tightly. "Good—good to know!" he nervously spattered.
"Y-yeah!" Éclair responded, rather embarrassed and slightly confused. She did however take comfort in Edward's embrace. She decided her best move was to embrace him back, since it seemed like both of them were rather confused about something. And feeling his presence, warmth, and comfort was exactly what she needed at the moment to slow her racing heartbeat and mental anguish and confusion. She wasn't into hugging people normally, but something about him was different, better, and it made her feel better.
"Yeah..." Edward nodded back before pulling away slowly. He noticed Eclair's flustered face and the way she kept looking down at her arm and averting her gaze from him. She even seemed somewhat hesitant to let go of him a moment ago too. "Uh...wanna just stay up here and watch the sunset and then go back inside..?"
"Sure, yeah...sure..." Éclair responded as she looked back down to her hands. She was haunted by her actions and inactions. They were eating her from the inside out.
"Sounds good..." Edward chuckled before plopping himself down on the top of the train car waiting for her to do the same.
Éclair sat down next to him, looking back off at the horizon once more, trying to calm herself a little to clear the confusion. She hadn't bothered to even put her gloves back on, instead she just sat there, keeping the horizon in her sights.  Edward and her stared at the sun as it set in silence. Their faces still covered in a pinkish red color that neither of them would admit was present if anyone had noticed.
Every once in a while the two would look over at each other and share a common glance, however it seemed as if neither of them could find the words they were searching for. They just would look at each other. Both seemed as if they had something to say, they just didn't know how to say it to each other.  Edward noticed the sun was finally going down as he looked to Eclair he was ready to say something but he stopped himself before sighing, "We should probably get inside and get some rest then we can wake up tomorrow and figure things out."
Éclair nodded, "I did promise you I'd figure this out, so I guess you're right I do need more rest." She stood up and stretched, "We'll figure it out, we just have to." Even now she still wouldn't admit that she was tired, just using many words to make it seem like she was untouchable, unflinching, and tougher than she really was. She had put the stone wall back up around her heart.
"I'll figure it out with you, we'll figure it out together." Edward nodded, standing and opening the hatch he had crawled through earlier.
"Yeah, we will. I know we will. There's no way we won't, together." Éclair smiled as she followed Edward down the hatch.