The Time Machine

Chapter One

Felicity Smoake was a physicist in a hurry.

'Come on!' She urged, cycling furiously through Oxford. Felicity glared at pedestrians through her large, steel rimmed glasses as strands of hair escaped her messy, barely put together ponytail. She turned off the high street by the church, into the square beyond, pedaling past the compact, circular form of the Radcliffe Camera. Sunlight coloured its sandstone columns gold, casting shadows beyond the balustrades and parapets. Like a mini Saint Paul's, its domed, lead roof shone sliver in the crisp morning light. She was going to be late. Which was ironic, considering what she would be late for...

'Look out!' Felicity shouted. A blond boy with ... a metal arm (?!) stepped off from the pavement in front of her, concentrating intently on a handheld device. She swerved to avoid him. Texting!! She thought, as she stopped her bicycle at the side of the pavement to check if he was alright.

Edward didn't like to stand out, even though he knew he would never fit in. He was no muggle, yet he was no wizard. He kept himself to himself over the years, becoming much of a hermit yet never truly alone. It took a great deal to get him out into the public of the world and every time, there were stories made about an ancient, red cloaked figure who hid in the shadows and snatched people off the street. Some claimed for the cloaked figure to be immortal, others claimed that it was the ghost of a medieval knight, haunting the people of the world. He tended not to read them, they weren't anything of a bedtime story.

As Edward made his way through the centre of Oxford, his ancient red cloak billowing out behind him, he froze as a familiar sound of a cry.

'Look out!' Edward spun awkwardly out of her way and curled his hand into a fist, looking up through his bangs at the young girl with golden, furious eyes.

'Watch where you're going, dammit.'

Felicity gave him a disapproving look and dismounted her bicycle.

'Watch where I'm going?' She asked, her galaxy-blue eyes radiating with intelligence, her soft eyebrows raised.

'I'm just cycling in the, uh...cYcLiNg lane. You walked out in front of me looking at your phone or whatever it was.' She said, smiling at him wryly. She straightened her glasses and took in his red cloak.

'Subtle choice of clothing,' She commented ironically. 'Very inconspicuous.'

Edward didn't move.

'Whatever.' He shuffled past her, not sparing her a second glance.

'Hey wait!' She caught him by the arm. 'I didn't mean to upset you..' Her demeanour had changed completely. Her expression going from mocking and ironic to soft and kind. Her eyes were full of concern for him, worried that she'd hurt him. 'Sorry. I was just... oh, I don't know. I'm sorry.' A mischievous smirk played on her lips. 'You pull it off well so I'm not complaining.'

He stiffened, but continued walking away from her, towards an abandoned park, at the edge of the town. Felicity bit her lip. She really needed to be at Professor Chivers' office in ten minutes but this guy seemed genuinely upset and Felicity detested the idea of being the cause of that and not trying to set things straight. She followed in his wake, wheeling her bicycle alongside her.

Edward quickened his pace, noticing the strange girl following him. He wove his way through the overgrown park and made his way to his "home". No solid structures sat on the grass of the small meadow. Instead it was as if the earth and the grass rose up to make a small hill for the house that they were trying to find. A couple of old, weathered windows with rusted hinges, a beautiful oak door and a small clay chimney seemed to be ingrained into the hill, as if to welcome anyone into the depths of the earth. However the craftsmanship put into it was very sophisticated as simple designs seemed to have etched their way into the wood itself. It was looked to be a woodworkers dream as all of them seemed to be hand carved and flourished. Any Alchemist or Wizard could have opened the door with magic or blasted their own somehow but Edward unlocked his door for normality. He would like to pretend at some points that magic didn't exist. Though he spent a decent amount of time learning it in his years, he still couldn't forget the horrors that came over him the first few years in this world. Seeing witches and wizards around again was like a slap in the face, bringing back old nightmares that he spent years trying to suppress. 'Calm down, Edward. The crusades are over,' He heard Hohenheim tell him as Edward realised his hand start to shake uncontrollably. He held onto his wrist with his stiff automail hand and forced himself to calm down. He quickly reminded himself that it was the 21st century.