Chapter Text
“The Book of Death is believed to hold the secrets of eternal life, or so the sources say.” Ed scoffed and snapped the book shut. Carefully. Because it was a book, and a scientific relic, and precious. And a book. He carefully slid the book into its place between two other nonsense but just as useful for knowledge books in the tallest bookshelf in the world, probably.
“There’s no such thing as eternal life and anyone who says otherwise is definitely trying to sell you something.” He muttered to himself as his eyes traced over the next book in his arms and frowned. “What the- what are you doing here you belong...yes! Over there,” he looked behind himself at the other same height, tallest-bookshelf-in-the-world and then back to the books in his arm, “it’s not... too far. I could probably make it.”
He tilted his head and judged the books in his arm and the distance to the opposite bookshelf, and then looked down to the ground, which was much farther than it really had any right to be, because these were the tallest bookshelves in the world and then he shrugged, and started to lean backwards.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Too much.
He started to tip backwards and his arms cycled beside him, dropping the books. He grabbed the very tips of the ladder he was on and barely managed to keep the balance. On the very tiny pinpoint bottoms of said ladder.
He breathed a sigh of relief, well, at least that wasn’t as huge of a disaster as it could have been! Edward 1, gravity nil!
Then he started to tip. Again. His shoulders tensed and he braced for impact.
Ed would be the first person to fight if anyone else were to so much as think he was small in his direction, but in the darkest corners of his mind he could admit it. He was below average on the vertical scale. Even if his extra appendages made the weight to height ratio out of balance, he shouldn’t have had that much extra mass to knock over a dozen giant, heavy, stocked to the fucking brim bookcases.
Edward stared at the absolute carnage around the poor, beautiful historic library and felt a portion of his heart crumble. Then the door opened and he felt what was left roll slowly out of his body as he lay splayed on the bookcase that started it all.
“What have you done?!” Yoki yelled, the stress emanating off of him so powerfully Ed could see his mustache tremble, “How can one small person cause so much damage just stocking the shelves!?”
Ed stared wide eyed, taking a moment to process the words, “It’s not like I did it on purpose! It was an accident! I’ll clean it up eventually!”
“Oh I don’t even know why I keep you around!” Yoki yelled, throwing his arms in the air before covering his face to block the damage Ed had wrought.
“Cause I can read, write and speak ancient Xerxian, I know all these books inside and out. I am your filing system, no one else would put up with you, and if I go, Alphonse goes with me.” Ed counted each point on his fingers, eyebrow raising higher and higher each point he lists off.
The sound that Yoki makes Ed thinks he’s heard before coming out of a very small, very fluffy dog in some lady’s purse.
“Just get this cleaned up!” He yells and picks his way across the carnage to the office where he does Nothing all day.
Ed rolls his eyes dramatically for his audience of none then slowly does a 360 turn, “Guess I should start by pickin’ up and organizing all the books…then I can worry about the bookcases...maybe Al will help.”
___
Al did not help.
As a matter of fact, Ed didn’t know where Al even was. He spent the next ffew hours just gathering the books that had fallen and making little piles- alphabetical piles- beside where each bookcase would be stood once again. Luckily a lot had stayed in their rows so it wasn’t too daunting, but by the time he finished making those piles his left arm and shoulder felt like jelly and his back felt like one wrong move and he’d snap in half.
“I’m calling it, that is it for the day,” he sighed as he stood and stretched his arms over his head. His left shoulder popped, his right whirled in compliance he could almost pretend it popped with its companion. “Alright, now to find my brother.”
He made sure the main rooms were locked and the lights were off before he traveled to the Artifact Room. It smelled wonderfully musty, but it was already pretty dark.
Was anyone here?
“Fletcher? Russel? Anyone still here…?” His footsteps were light as he looked around, ignoring any feeling of unease. Did they all just leave him without saying anything?
He stepped near a sarcophagus, or at least a box that had a dead thing in it to take another look around.
“Brother! There you are!” Al popped up from the other side of it, and Ed screamed and knocked his hand against the box, ready to fight the undead.
“Al! You can’t do that! What the hell?! Why are you just crouched there!?”
Al just smiled like he hadn’t just shaved a few years off his big brother’s life, “I must’ve gotten caught up reading some engravings! But that isn’t what I wanted to tell you! Something interesting happened!”
Ed sighed and leaned against the Box between them, eyebrows raised in wait.
Al smiled more and held out a...thing. Ed felt curiosity fill him so fast it left him dizzy as he reached out and took it.
“What is it?” He asked as he carefully turned the thing around. It was circular and almost looked like a little box itself, if only it had some form of opening…
“I’m not sure! I was in the markets earlier, just looking around and someone in a real hurry bumped into me, and dropped this. I tried to give it back and get their attention, but they were very rude and told me they didn’t have the time to entertain foreigners, they had to get to the prison. So I thought I would hold onto it until they inevitably realize they’ve lost something and go back to ask the market stall owners, which will lead them right here!”
Ed made a face, “Screw that, finders keepers.”
Al frowned but the moment he did Ed’s finger brushed something, maybe a little switch or the like that caused several triangles to spring open from the circle, leaving a space with a folded bit of paper in its wake.
The brothers stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment before Al carefully took and unfolded the paper. Ed leaned in to look and they both felt breathless.
The Valley of Death.
A map to The Valley of Death.
Maybe those books weren’t so silly afterall…