The Multiblood Alchemist

Remember

    "Okay, you've looked lost for the past three weeks, what's up?" I glance up at Mustang, startled.
    "Oh, um..... Nothing, I guess," I mutter, biting my lip.
      I had caught up to Mustang and Hawkeye to avoid Ed and Naomi. I knew that Ed would get nosy and try to find out what was wrong with me.
     As for Naomi, well, I couldn't bring myself to tell her that someone who she treated like her son was either left behind or dead.
     "Are you sure you're fine?" Mustang asks.

"Yes, I'm fine," I say, turning away from him. I dismount my horse, and sit under a tree, distancing myself from the others. My eyelids droop from the sleep that I had wasted while I waited and hoped Mason would show up. Eventually I surrender myself to the sleep that was biting at me.
     "Cassandra! Come on!" Mason shouts, teasing me. He ran ahead of me, and hid behind a tree.
  "Mason! I don't want to play!" I see myself shout. I must be dreaming a memory, I think as I watch my seven- year-old self shout after my brother.

    "Okay, but one day you're going to regret not playing with me," Mason said in disappointment as he shuffled away.
    I shoot upwards, my chest heaving as a pain shoots through it. I clamp my hand over my heart while my eyes burn.
    Tears start to flow out of my eyes without me blinking. I gasp for air as my throat constricts from sobbing. I didn't understand why this memory had come to me at this moment. "You're going to regret not playing with me," the young Mason's words replay in my head. Over and over again, and I hate it. Was this some sort of karma? I know I didn't appreciate my brother much, but this didn't seem like the most appropriate punishment.
     The sun sets and the tendrils of the night snake over the horizon, blanketing the landscape with itself. Now the land was its domain.
   I curl up in a ball and reach out and draw tally marks in the dirt, twenty total. These were the amount days that Mason had been missing. He might as well be dead, I pessimistically think as I close my eyes.
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     Tonight another memory came back into my mind. This time Mason was laying on the ground, cowering in the shadow of one of the village boys. I remember that this happened recently, maybe two or three years ago.
     "You'll never be tough. You'll always be a skimpy little wuss that cries to mommy every time something happens," the boy spat.
    "That's where you're wrong," I had piped up in a defiant tone. My past self took two long strides over to the jerks. I got in his face, pointing an accusing finger centimeters from his neck.
     "How am I wrong, Bean?" he sneered. I winced at my nickname that I had earned because I was lanky like a string bean.
     "Because he doesn't cry to 'mommy'. Believe it or not, behind a crazy brother is a crazier sister. I'm the one who responds to this crap," I said.
     The boy rolled his eyes and stepped away from Mason. "If you're so crazy," he said. "Put them up," he finished while raising his fists. I repeated him, and we circled each other sizing the other opponent up.
     He lunged first, and I dodged the punch and made a swift kick to the side of his head. He staggered back, and with a cry of fury, raced at me again.
     I shielded my face when he tried to land a punch. The impact of his punch sent a shock down my arm as I regained myself to continue fighting.
     When we had finished the duel, I walked over to Mason and offered my hand. "Thanks," he mumbled as I hoisted him to his feet. He helped me walk back to our hut, ending the dream.
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    As I did before, I woke up crying. An undying want for my brother to return brewed inside of me as I lay back down, looking at the stars.
     I think back to our small village where we'd stare at the stars, intrigued by the sparkling dots in the sky. Mason would identify every constellation, and I would listen, absorbing every bit of information.
     I reach up, and with an extended finger, trace the Big Dipper. Then Cassiopeia, and after that, Leo. With a sense of ease, I rest my arm at my side, and go to sleep.
     My rest didn't last long. It was interrupted by the familiar voice of Ed. "Hey," he says, sitting next to me.

      "Hi," I wearily say, sitting up. He gazes at the sky, his eyes dancing among the stars. "I saw you looking at them. Do you know the constellations?" Ed asks. I look at the sky.
     "Some, but not all," I say. He looks at me, and I glance at him, but turn away when I feel my face heat up. "Think you could teach me them?" he asks. I smile and nod.
     "Do you see that really bright star?" I ask, pointing to a large star. "Yeah," he responds. "That's the North Star. If you ever get lost, just look for it, follow it, and you should get home," I explain. Ed nods.
    "Then if you go down here," I say while I move my finger down. "That constellation is the Big Dipper," I finish telling him about the constellation.
"Is it significant?" he asks. I smile and respond, "not really. It's just kind if cool to see. It always looks like a soup ladle. Onto the next constellation," I say.
     "That one is Cassiopeia. The story behind it goes something like this. There was a queen, and she was very vain. Then it continues on about something. I can't remember," I say with a laugh. "You can always tell that it's her because it looks like a perfect 'W'," I say.
     Ed looks at me with an impressed glint in his eyes. "Wow," he says, and I turn red. "Who taught you all of that?" he asks. I look at the ground, up to the sky, and to the woods.
    "Mason, actually. It's just a nice piece of him to keep with me, you know? We were really poor, so we couldn't afford much. That's why I prefer memories and information over clothes and other items," I say with a whimsical smile on my face.
      "Anyway, I just came to give you a blanket. Night," Ed says while walking away. I gratefully cover up, and lay down. My eyes close almost immediately, but no memories come to mind this time.
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     From the outline of the woods, he spots the camp. The camp that the girl he was searching for was in. Battered and exhausted, he limps towards the camp, knowing that she was there.
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   Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while, I had a severe case of writers block. Now I'm pretty confident that I have something to branch off of. Anyway, who do you think the stranger in the woods is? You get to find out in the next chapter!! Alright, thanks for reading! Please comment (it's always great to get feedback) and vote. Bye guys!!!!!!