*

TELL ME, WHAT IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING TO YOU?

*

Ed was now laying on a bed in a futuristic hospital room, the place was all white and clean, making it look pleasant to the eyes. Ed slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he sat up, he looked at his surroundings, but there was no one there. He saw that his stomach and shoulders were bandaged, he remembered his last memories and thought to himself, ‘Did I win?’

But then Ed decided to put away the thoughts and tried to stand up, after a few minutes of trying, he eventually did, although with the help of a walking stick nearby. He then slowly walked towards the window, wanting to see where he actually is, he opened the curtain and saw a beautiful sight.

He saw flying cars passing by the window, he saw skyscrapers as far as his eyes could see, he saw weird billboards that were showing bizarre products. He sighed at the sight, ‘Will earth be like this in a hundred years in the future?’ he thought, he remembered his conversation with Flamel on how he wanted to see the generations that will come, he wanted to see how humanity will develop as a species, and he wanted to see the future of the planet.

“You should rest, nephew.” Suddenly said a voice, Ed turned around to see Alan with a bouquet of flowers in hand, entering the hospital room.

“Hello Alan.” Ed said in a neutral tone, “Bring any news?”

Alan chuckled, “Straight to business I see.”

Ed sighed tiredly, “All right, what is this place anyway, I never got a chance to ask last time.” He asked the man.

“It’s the city of worlds.” Alan said in a casual tone, “Where the council of worlds reside.”

“Really creative name there.” Ed said sarcastically, making Alan roll his eyes. “I’m not the one who named it you know.”

Alan then came closer, he stood beside Ed, in front of the window. “I was born here.” He spoke. “My father was a citizen here, and my mother was an Aldrich.”

Ed raised his eyebrow, “Really?”

Alan nodded, “My mother chose my father as her partner before the ban, so it’s still possible.” He said, “But I was born after the ban, making me uninitiated.”

Ed nodded weakly, “What led to the ban anyway? it seems so random that suddenly the council decided to ban unregistered world travel.”

“Greed of course.” He said, “The one who you killed was the one who enforced the ban. He wanted the artefacts so desperately, he started to bribe almost every councilman and enforced the ban.”

Ed sighed once again, he then decided to change the topic of the conversation, “What happens to me now?” Ed asked.

Alan raised his eyebrow, “What do you mean? You’re free of course.”

“So, I won?”

Alan chuckled, “The councilmen didn’t have any choice, especially that they’re scared that you will make another black hole in the middle of the city if they don't declare you free.”

“I won’t do something like that, too many innocents here.”

“True, but they don’t know that, and besides, the citizens supported you as well, they watched your fight after all, they know that the councilmen are corrupt, but unless someone wants to take a drastic step, they can’t do anything.”

Ed threw a questioning look at Alan, “The citizens supported me?”

“Of course, you’re just a boy, judged for the sins you didn’t even commit, and they already know that the Aldrich were targeted by the councilmen.”

Ed hummed, “Speaking of councilmen, what will happen to the council of worlds? I killed the head councillor after all.”

Alan sighed tiredly at the question, “What Sangrey did was incredibly stupid, he thought that he already had the suitcase in his hands, so he decided to play with you for a bit, but he miscalculated, badly, and now we have to sort his mess… we need to appoint another head council, which, mind you, will take a bit of time, and we need to undo all of the things he did for the last 5 months.”

“What kind of ‘things’?” Ed asked.

“He made rules on the assumption that he got the suitcase, such as the ban on specific knowledge, and the limited distribution of otherworldly knowledge.” Alan explained.

Ed nodded, “So what happens now?” he asked.

“Now? We wait.” Alan answered shortly.

“Again?”

“There’s nothing we can do, before we can search for your parents, a head councilman must be appointed to give you permission to travel to other worlds.”

“Then why didn’t you erase the ban?”

Alan shook his head, “I can’t, most of the councilmen agree with the world travel ban, so unless I could kill them all one by one, there’s no other way.”

Ed scratched his head in annoyance, “I was this close to start finding them, but now I have to wait again?! Are you kidding me!?”

Alan sighed in surrender, “I know you’re frustrated Ed, but bear with it a little bit, besides, you’re still a kid, enjoy your teenage years, find a partner, make some friends, and get more powerful. I will do what I can to speed things up, but I can’t promise anything.”

Ed hummed, then he went back to the bed, sitting on it, he pondered a while, and spoke, “Tell me, what is the most precious thing to you?”

Alan looked at Ed strangely, “That’s a bit random isn’t it?” he said. But Ed kept quiet, Alan noticed that Ed was waiting for an answer,

“I suppose, my family, my mother specifically.” He said, “She taught me many things that made me who I am today, and she never asked anything for me.”

Ed hummed, “And where is she now?”

“Dead.” Alan said in a neutral tone, “Killed unlawfully by Sangrey, that wretched man wanted to provoke the Aldrich by threatening to kill a family member, and they did come, but it was a trap, he killed my mother, and the Aldrich that came for her.”

“Thank merlin I killed him then.” Ed said with disgust, “Sorry for your loss…”

Alan nodded weakly, “Her last wish was for me to go to my ancestral home, the Aldrich Library, so once I climbed the ladders of politics, I started to search for it, and out of luck, I received a spell, it was a silver light in the shape of an owl, it spoke to me, ‘Prove yourself to the family and you shall be granted the initiation’ it said, I was ecstatic, but after that, nothing came.”

“Until I came with the note.” Continued Ed, which Alan nodded.

“Gilligan really likes to play riddles…” Ed said sarcastically, then he suddenly stood up, “all right, you pass I guess.”

Alan raised his eyebrow, “Pass what?”

“I consider you worthy of being an Aldrich.” Ed said, “Do you have any more business here? If not, let’s just go home.”

“What?” Alan questioned, not believing what he was saying, “So all of that was a test.”

“I’m the heir you know, you’re not initiated just yet, you have to go home first.”

“H-Home?”

“Yes, Home, the suitcase?” Ed said, looking at Alan strangely.

Alan smiled happily, “Yes, home.” He said, weirding Ed out, “I’ll pick up your things first, then we can get going.”

Ed hummed, and Alan took off, putting the bouquet of flowers on the table beside Ed. Ed picked the flower and said to himself, “Maybe I’ll give this to Hermione, she’d like this kind of thing right?”

A couple of minutes later, Alan came back with a bag of Ed’s things, it wasn’t really much, just the bloodied clothes, his wand, the ring, and the necklace. He wore the ring and the necklace, and put his wand in his pockets, readying himself for blinking.

“Are you sure you can do this? You’re still hurt, you know.” Alan questioned in worry.

“I’m fine, I want to try this, I can do it before, I can do it now.” He spoke.

Alan sighed in surrender, “All right.”

He then stood close to Ed, and Ed started to scan for the suitcase coordinates, he focused on that, and his surroundings suddenly turned black, but unlike normal blinking, he had to wait for about 5 seconds for the black shadow to disperse, and once it did, he was standing in the living room.

“Welcome to your ancestral home, Alan.” Ed said, introducing the place to him, “I know it doesn’t look much, it’s only the living room, it’s beyond that door if you want a sight.”

Alan nodded, he gulped, as this is the moment he was waiting for his whole life.

“Oh, wait, I probably should’ve called Gilligan first… Gilligan!” Ed called the owl, which appeared.

“Well, well, well, at least one of the lost Aldrich has come back.” The owl said sarcastically, he then looked at Ed, and his gaze suddenly turned soft, “I’m glad you came back safe Ed, truly.”

“Thank you Gilligan, now, I believe you need to fulfil a promise to this bloke right here.” Ed said while pointing his finger at Alan.

Alan laughed a little, “Don’t call me a bloke nephew, all right, see you later, you must rest, your wounds haven't healed yet.”

Ed nodded, “Wait, Gilligan.”

“What is it?”

“Did it succeed?” he asked, a bit nervous.

“It did.” Gilligan nodded his head, which made Ed sighed in relief, “She’s now outside in fact with her parents, she insists on staying here until you come home.”

Ed sighed, “That girl…”

“Who are we talking about here?” Alan asked suddenly, confused at the topic.

“None of your business.” Ed said, “At least not yet.”

Alan sighed, “Fine, no need to be salty about it.”

“I advised that you should talk to her, Ed.” Gilligan said, “She never leaves the suitcase unless it’s dinner and lunch.”

“What about her parents?” Ed asked, “We need to erase their memories of this place.”

Gilligan nodded, “Agreed, too dangerous for them and us.”

“All right, Alan, if you want a room, it’s behind that door, pick a room, the two closest to the entrance door is mine and someone else’s though, so pick something other than that.”

Alan nodded. The man and the owl entered the library, for Alan to be initiated.

Ed sighed tiredly and sat on the sofa, but he sat too quickly, making him wince in pain.

He groaned at the pain, “I forgot I’m injured…”

“You’re injured?” Suddenly a girly voice sounded from behind. Her voice sounded teary and full of worries.

Ed turned around to see Hermione, already in her pyjamas. Ed smiled softly at her, “Hello Hermione.”

Ed tried to stand up, but Hermione had already run around the sofa and thrown herself at him, making him stumble back to the sofa, groaning in pain, as her knees had hit his stomach.

“H-Hermione, stop, you’re kicking the wound here.” Ed said while wincing in pain.

Hermione released her hug quickly and checked on him, embarrassed of her lack of self-control. “S-Sorry, w-where’s the wound.”

“In the stomach, it’s found Hermione.”

“No, let me see.” She pushed, and he opened Ed’s shirt, looking at the bandaged wound.

“What happened?” she asked, worry filled in her face.

“It’s nothing…” Ed lied, not wanting Hermione to worry more.

“Ed…” she said his name softly, knowing that he’s lying.

Ed sighed in surrender, “I got stabbed in the stomach…”

There was silence for a minute, before she shrieked to the top of her lungs, “WHAT!?”

“Hey--- I’m not dead all right, calm down.”

But she wasn’t having any of it, she continued to ramble about the wound, worrying endlessly, she scolded him about not being careful enough, and demanded Ed to tell the whole story. Ed just sighed and agreed to tell, except the dying part of course, she then just snuggled to him closely, listening to Ed’s story, when he got to the fight, she grabbed Ed’s wrist and clenched it tightly, it already happened, but she can’t help but worry, in the end, she buried her head to Ed’s neck, and continued to berate Ed for his carelessness, albeit now she was crying, she now felt guilty to herself, after all, he was detected by the council of worlds because he wanted to revive her mother.

“Hey, it’s not your fault okay.” Ed comforted the girl, “It’s my fault in the first place that got your parents killed.”

“No, it’s not Ed, it’s Malfoy’s fault.”

“And there we go, let’s just throw all the blame towards the dead Malfoy all right?” Ed joked while caressing Hermione’s head, Hermione just chuckled in Ed’s neck, making him shiver from the vibration, then Ed asked, “How’s your parents by the way? No difficulties on their bodies?”

Hermione shook her head, “No, they’re outside right now, want to meet them?”

“No, perhaps later, I’m quite tired right now.”

“Okay,” Hermione said while reluctantly pulling away from Ed, “I’ll leave you then, just rest.”

Ed nodded, “Oh Hermione.” Ed added more, making Hermione turn around. “Here,” Ed gave the bouquet of flowers that Alan gave earlier, “I didn’t buy it though, a relative of mine gave it to me while I was at the hospital, I didn’t have the need for it, so I thought why not give it to you…”

Hermione smiled, “Thank you Ed.” she said and climbed the ladder, leaving Ed alone to rest.

Ed sighed tiredly and just lay on the sofa, “Fucking finally.”