Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist > Separation and Reunion
Separation and Reunion
Chapter 5: Give up the Fight
----
Listening to: "Rain" - Patty Griffin
----
Ed didn't even say hello to his father when he returned to their small house in Munich, his excitement about the journal overwhelming his thoughts. This could be the information he needed to get back home.
He sat down at his desk, hastily pulling out a pen and paper and flipping the ancient book open. The image of the transmutation circle and the familiar terms around it made Edward tap his foot in anticipation. Calm down... he thought, You need to really think this through.
Slowly he read through all of the definitions, oblivious to the sound of sleet beginning to fall on the roof. It would be a cold night...and Ed knew that he wouldn't even notice. This was too much for him.
After he'd carefully analyzed the first page, he turned it again to see old notes written in script on the paper, and he began to read.
"Now that I know I will probably be here for a while, I've taken the name of the man who tried to intercept me when I arrived: Hugo Caspar..."
----
Al woke to a strange crashing noise outside of the house. He had no idea where it could have come from...but he decided to investigate. Winry had told him to go back to bed, but if there was something outside he definitely thought he should get up and see what it was; he also knew that if he didn't go and check it out, he wouldn't get back to sleep for a while.
With that thought in mind, he carefully pulled the covers off of himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed, dropping silently to the floor. It vaguely reminded him of a time when he and his brother would sometimes sneak out of bed at night to go for a swim in the pond, throwing rocks at Winry's window to get her to join them. It hurt to know that he wouldn't do that again...it seemed like everyone had grown up without him.
He walked down the hall, checking every room for signs of an intruder. He didn't see anything.
And that's exactly what worried him.
"Winry?" he asked, walking into her room and looking at the bed. She was gone...but where could she be? Ah, of course, she was probably back in the guest room. He'd probably disturbed whatever she was doing there and had gone back to it.
The wooden floor creaked under his feet once again as he made his way down the hall. The house was deathly quiet, and it made him shiver a little. He almost wanted to go back to bed, but knew that if he did, he would be even more scared than he was now. Steeling himself, he opened the door to the guest room.
Of course nothing was in there. He sighed, sweatdropping, before he noticed that the doors to the porch were open. "Winry?" he called quietly again, looking outside. The lamp...where was it? He had a brief image of Winry floating off towards the moon with the lamp in her hand, calling Ed's name, before he shook it out of his head. That wasn't possible...but if that wasn't what had happened, where were Winry and the lamp?
He looked around carefully. No, not there. Not there either. He looked down, thinking he saw a flash of light in the inky darkness below the porch. What was all that red?
The ten-year-old boy let out a scream, running to get Pinako.
----
The journal was fascinating.
Ed read through the first page thoughtfully. Who could this man, Caspar, be? Apparently he'd come from Amestris as well; but how had he gotten here? It didn't seem to be explained anywhere else, because the rest of the journal was dedicated to researching the alchemy of this world, or magic. Caspar had arrived about thirty years before Ed; that meant the late 1800s. The man was a complete mystery, but Ed supposed he'd never know who he was.
He couldn't unlock all of the book's secrets in one day, so he'd put it away that night with high hopes for the future. After skipping ahead to the end, he'd found that Caspar had found a method for return to Amestris, but hadn't recorded whether it worked or not. It must have been that he'd gotten back...
That night, Ed's dreams were hopeful...but there was some sense of loss. Something was going on at home, he was certain.
Just like usual, there was blood. There was always so much blood. It made everything red, made everyone blurry and dark. He'd died for the first time in so much blood. He could remember it pooling around him as his heart came to a stop, as the pain in his chest faded away. He could hear Rose screaming.
And suddenly, Rose wasn't the one screaming anymore; he was the one screaming. And he wasn't the one bleeding.
It was Winry.
----
Rose held her baby lovingly after getting out of the old-fashioned taxi back at the Rockbell house. She'd just gotten back from a visit to the people of Lior, telling them how she was and what had happened. Many of them had escaped to other parts of Amestris, and were living safely. It made her happy to know that her people were safe.
A scream brought the baby closer to her, making Rose's eyes widen as she saw the sight in front of her.
Blood. So much blood.
And in the middle of the mess was Winry.
In just an instant, Pinako was running out of the door, Alphonse crying in the doorway. "Dear God..." she said, running over to Winry. She was most definitely unconscious. Rose gasped when she saw shards of glass sticking out of her skin...
Pinako turned towards her. "Rose! Did you hear me? GO AND GET THE DOCTOR!"
The young mother nodded and ran inside with her crying son. "Rose...is Winry OK?" Al stuttered.
"I've got to get the doctor, Al," she said quietly, putting the baby carefully in his crib. "Take good care of Daniel while I'm gone." She opened the door again and ran through the coming light to get the doctor.
----
What was that noise?
Go away...not now...
Riza rubbed the sleep from her eyes and picked up the phone next to her bed. "Hello?" she said groggily, looking around. It was the first night that Roy had been authorized to sleep in his own home again, and Riza was feeling a little lonely.
"Lieutenant? It's Czheska."
She sounded abnormally sad. The same way she'd sounded when Hughes had died.
"What's wrong?" she asked. It was just seven o'clock, and ever since the new government had taken over, Riza was out of a job.
"Lieutenant, I'm in Rizemboul..."
"Just call me Riza, please...I'm not a lieutenant anymore."
"Alright, well...Riza...I'm in Rizemboul, and...well...Winry attempted suicide last night."
Riza's hand shot up to cover her mouth, stifling the gasp. Wasn't Winry...? "The baby..." she breathed out.
"The baby...the baby's dead," Czheska said quietly, her voice cracking, "She's still unconscious. She pulled herself off the balcony with this humongous lamp...and it broke...and..."
"No more!" Riza cut her off. It was too much...she was too young!
"Alright...well, I thought you'd want to know...and...uh...maybe you'd like to come visit? You and the colonel? Gracia and Elysia are here with me, and so are Rose and Al and Pinako, of course...they called last night and we took the first train here."
"Right," Riza answered, "I'll tell the colonel. Uh...thank you for telling me, Czheska. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Riza put down the phone, a sick feeling in her stomach when she imagined how it must feel. To lose him and then to lose the only thing she had left...
Riza quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up.
----
Winry blinked her eyes open, but she couldn't see anything through all the blood. Pinako's worried voice cooed little comforting words to her, but she couldn't really understand. Everything stung. She felt empty.
"I don't know if she'll make it through this..." the doctor said.
To be honest, she didn't really want to.
----
She didn't want to wake up. Ever. She wasn't supposed to wake up when she started this, and now she didn't want to.
This wasn't happening. If everything had gone according to plan, she could be done with this by now. But she wasn't.
"When is she going to wake up?"
"She should be conscious soon. If she isn't...then we'll just have to wait."
A baby's cry cut through the air, and Rose's voice soon followed, singing a sweet lullaby to the child.
That's when it occurred to Winry what she'd done.
----
Author's Note: I figured that since you kept on asking for longer chapters, I'd try to do one...and it worked! Kind of. So there it was: a long chapter.
I know it was really depressing again, and maybe a little vague, but this is still really the beginning. I'm really excited about writing about the journal more...I know something you don't know! Mwahahahahaha...
Sorry I didn't update sooner! I'm having major writer's block...tomorrow I'm going to try updating my Inuyasha story, and at some point I guess I'll also have to work on my sCRYed one. I'm also thinking of taking a challenge that someone gave me on Mediaminer...but that will be happening when I'm done with Breaking Ties.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!
--Brynn
Chapter 5: Give up the Fight
----
Listening to: "Rain" - Patty Griffin
----
Ed didn't even say hello to his father when he returned to their small house in Munich, his excitement about the journal overwhelming his thoughts. This could be the information he needed to get back home.
He sat down at his desk, hastily pulling out a pen and paper and flipping the ancient book open. The image of the transmutation circle and the familiar terms around it made Edward tap his foot in anticipation. Calm down... he thought, You need to really think this through.
Slowly he read through all of the definitions, oblivious to the sound of sleet beginning to fall on the roof. It would be a cold night...and Ed knew that he wouldn't even notice. This was too much for him.
After he'd carefully analyzed the first page, he turned it again to see old notes written in script on the paper, and he began to read.
"Now that I know I will probably be here for a while, I've taken the name of the man who tried to intercept me when I arrived: Hugo Caspar..."
----
Al woke to a strange crashing noise outside of the house. He had no idea where it could have come from...but he decided to investigate. Winry had told him to go back to bed, but if there was something outside he definitely thought he should get up and see what it was; he also knew that if he didn't go and check it out, he wouldn't get back to sleep for a while.
With that thought in mind, he carefully pulled the covers off of himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed, dropping silently to the floor. It vaguely reminded him of a time when he and his brother would sometimes sneak out of bed at night to go for a swim in the pond, throwing rocks at Winry's window to get her to join them. It hurt to know that he wouldn't do that again...it seemed like everyone had grown up without him.
He walked down the hall, checking every room for signs of an intruder. He didn't see anything.
And that's exactly what worried him.
"Winry?" he asked, walking into her room and looking at the bed. She was gone...but where could she be? Ah, of course, she was probably back in the guest room. He'd probably disturbed whatever she was doing there and had gone back to it.
The wooden floor creaked under his feet once again as he made his way down the hall. The house was deathly quiet, and it made him shiver a little. He almost wanted to go back to bed, but knew that if he did, he would be even more scared than he was now. Steeling himself, he opened the door to the guest room.
Of course nothing was in there. He sighed, sweatdropping, before he noticed that the doors to the porch were open. "Winry?" he called quietly again, looking outside. The lamp...where was it? He had a brief image of Winry floating off towards the moon with the lamp in her hand, calling Ed's name, before he shook it out of his head. That wasn't possible...but if that wasn't what had happened, where were Winry and the lamp?
He looked around carefully. No, not there. Not there either. He looked down, thinking he saw a flash of light in the inky darkness below the porch. What was all that red?
The ten-year-old boy let out a scream, running to get Pinako.
----
The journal was fascinating.
Ed read through the first page thoughtfully. Who could this man, Caspar, be? Apparently he'd come from Amestris as well; but how had he gotten here? It didn't seem to be explained anywhere else, because the rest of the journal was dedicated to researching the alchemy of this world, or magic. Caspar had arrived about thirty years before Ed; that meant the late 1800s. The man was a complete mystery, but Ed supposed he'd never know who he was.
He couldn't unlock all of the book's secrets in one day, so he'd put it away that night with high hopes for the future. After skipping ahead to the end, he'd found that Caspar had found a method for return to Amestris, but hadn't recorded whether it worked or not. It must have been that he'd gotten back...
That night, Ed's dreams were hopeful...but there was some sense of loss. Something was going on at home, he was certain.
Just like usual, there was blood. There was always so much blood. It made everything red, made everyone blurry and dark. He'd died for the first time in so much blood. He could remember it pooling around him as his heart came to a stop, as the pain in his chest faded away. He could hear Rose screaming.
And suddenly, Rose wasn't the one screaming anymore; he was the one screaming. And he wasn't the one bleeding.
It was Winry.
----
Rose held her baby lovingly after getting out of the old-fashioned taxi back at the Rockbell house. She'd just gotten back from a visit to the people of Lior, telling them how she was and what had happened. Many of them had escaped to other parts of Amestris, and were living safely. It made her happy to know that her people were safe.
A scream brought the baby closer to her, making Rose's eyes widen as she saw the sight in front of her.
Blood. So much blood.
And in the middle of the mess was Winry.
In just an instant, Pinako was running out of the door, Alphonse crying in the doorway. "Dear God..." she said, running over to Winry. She was most definitely unconscious. Rose gasped when she saw shards of glass sticking out of her skin...
Pinako turned towards her. "Rose! Did you hear me? GO AND GET THE DOCTOR!"
The young mother nodded and ran inside with her crying son. "Rose...is Winry OK?" Al stuttered.
"I've got to get the doctor, Al," she said quietly, putting the baby carefully in his crib. "Take good care of Daniel while I'm gone." She opened the door again and ran through the coming light to get the doctor.
----
What was that noise?
Go away...not now...
Riza rubbed the sleep from her eyes and picked up the phone next to her bed. "Hello?" she said groggily, looking around. It was the first night that Roy had been authorized to sleep in his own home again, and Riza was feeling a little lonely.
"Lieutenant? It's Czheska."
She sounded abnormally sad. The same way she'd sounded when Hughes had died.
"What's wrong?" she asked. It was just seven o'clock, and ever since the new government had taken over, Riza was out of a job.
"Lieutenant, I'm in Rizemboul..."
"Just call me Riza, please...I'm not a lieutenant anymore."
"Alright, well...Riza...I'm in Rizemboul, and...well...Winry attempted suicide last night."
Riza's hand shot up to cover her mouth, stifling the gasp. Wasn't Winry...? "The baby..." she breathed out.
"The baby...the baby's dead," Czheska said quietly, her voice cracking, "She's still unconscious. She pulled herself off the balcony with this humongous lamp...and it broke...and..."
"No more!" Riza cut her off. It was too much...she was too young!
"Alright...well, I thought you'd want to know...and...uh...maybe you'd like to come visit? You and the colonel? Gracia and Elysia are here with me, and so are Rose and Al and Pinako, of course...they called last night and we took the first train here."
"Right," Riza answered, "I'll tell the colonel. Uh...thank you for telling me, Czheska. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Riza put down the phone, a sick feeling in her stomach when she imagined how it must feel. To lose him and then to lose the only thing she had left...
Riza quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up.
----
Winry blinked her eyes open, but she couldn't see anything through all the blood. Pinako's worried voice cooed little comforting words to her, but she couldn't really understand. Everything stung. She felt empty.
"I don't know if she'll make it through this..." the doctor said.
To be honest, she didn't really want to.
----
She didn't want to wake up. Ever. She wasn't supposed to wake up when she started this, and now she didn't want to.
This wasn't happening. If everything had gone according to plan, she could be done with this by now. But she wasn't.
"When is she going to wake up?"
"She should be conscious soon. If she isn't...then we'll just have to wait."
A baby's cry cut through the air, and Rose's voice soon followed, singing a sweet lullaby to the child.
That's when it occurred to Winry what she'd done.
----
Author's Note: I figured that since you kept on asking for longer chapters, I'd try to do one...and it worked! Kind of. So there it was: a long chapter.
I know it was really depressing again, and maybe a little vague, but this is still really the beginning. I'm really excited about writing about the journal more...I know something you don't know! Mwahahahahaha...
Sorry I didn't update sooner! I'm having major writer's block...tomorrow I'm going to try updating my Inuyasha story, and at some point I guess I'll also have to work on my sCRYed one. I'm also thinking of taking a challenge that someone gave me on Mediaminer...but that will be happening when I'm done with Breaking Ties.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!
--Brynn
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