Categories > Anime/Manga > Full Metal Alchemist > Separation and Reunion
Separation and Reunion
Chapter 14: Left Behind
----
Listening to: "Here is Gone" -Goo Goo Dolls
----
Rush Valley had prospered since Winry's last visit there, and Winry supposed that it also looked more beautiful because she wasn't sunk in depression anymore. The last time she'd gone was when she was a couple months pregnant...with little Trisha...and she'd been too upset and unhappy to do much. She hoped that Paninya and Dominique could try and forget about that last visit in order to make her husband more comfortable.
The hotel was nice too, an oasis in the middle of such a dry area. Granted, it was artificial...but it helped to show how much Rush Valley had improved. People walked in the streets happily; the houses had all had renovations...it was wonderful. Winry complimented herself on this wonderful choice of a honeymoon.
It was nice to have to look up at Ed too...she'd always thought that he would get tall eventually, seeing what a big man his father was, but it had seemed like an escaped dream before he got back. And now everything was OK...
...but was it really?
The other happy couple, Mustang and Hawkeye, had gone out to the field where Ed had appeared several times, and they kept on coming back with more and more suspicious looks and whispered theories. Winry hadn't heard any of them, but she guessed that they weren't good...and that the older couple was hiding it from them so that they could have their happiness for once. Of course, she was forgetting that Roy and Riza weren't even married yet. Why were they working on Ed's problem when they should be finding happiness themselves?
All of those thoughts were wiped from her mind when they got to the hotel room.
Bags were quickly thrown on the floor before lust blossomed in the two of them, Ed nearly throwing Winry down on the bed and kissing her passionately. One thing led to another...and they ended up asleep. And that was how their first day of married life went; they didn't leave the room the entire time.
----
Annaliese took a deep breath as she and Emmat walked down the road that led to her home. Snow had begun to fall down on them, and the streets were coated in a thin sheet of ice, making her shiver and wrap her arms around herself for relief from the cold. Emmat just walked beside her, none of the usual charming and intriguing comments coming out of his mouth.
She shuddered and Emmat's hand was suddenly on her arm, a concerned frown on his face as he stopped her. She thought she saw a trace of confusion there too - at what, she didn't know - but it quickly disappeared. He got a bit closer to her, facing her, and she found her breath quickening at the near proximity of such a wonderful, attractive man. "Anna...you're cold," he said. She wondered at the nickname he suddenly used for her, but she just shook her head, shrugging.
"Oh...I'm fine. It's nothing Emmat."
It was just a few agonizing seconds before he drew her closer slowly and then pressed his lips against hers. It was desperate and longing...as if he'd never kissed in his life. A tingling sensation shot down her spine just before he slowly pulled away, his gloved hands still grasping her arms.
Annaliese had kissed boys before...but that was nothing compared to Emmat. If she didn't know any better, she would think that he had never even touched a woman...but he was such a charmer that she knew that couldn't be so.
Her train of thought broke into a thousand pieces when he kissed her again with renewed passion. This was not like kissing any boy...this was a man.
"Anna..." he murmured against her lips, his voice strange and strangled before his lips were locked with hers again.
She began to get carried away despite herself when his tongue just barely flicked out along her bottom lip, and she responded by opening her mouth and tilting her head, wanting him so badly that she could taste it. Her mouth was getting numb from the pressure - her lips tingled with...was it desire? She couldn't tell.
A car drove by and Emmat quickly pulled away from her, taking a deep breath and trying to regain his poise. Annaliese was sure that she looked exactly the same.
His breath hit her face...and that's when she realized that something was terribly out of place.
Emmat's mouth...his lips...everything.
They were like ice.
"My God, Emmat, if I'm cold, then you're freezing," she said suddenly, bringing a worried hand to his face. The cold of his skin bit through her glove and he pulled away quickly.
"It's nothing, Annaliese...I would like to walk you home now. It would probably be appropriate to get you in and out of the cold."
Her heart froze.
He was definitely hiding something from her.
"Emmat...what...what's wrong?"
He turned and walked away. "We should really get going."
Annaliese knew she had to do something quick or he would walk away and then it wouldn't be addressed again...and she wasn't alright with that. She had to stop him.
"No, Emmat..." She walked quickly after him, trying to keep her feet on the thin ice, and as luck would have it she slipped just in time for him to turn and catch her, putting him in a position where he wouldn't be able to leave. She searched his blue eyes for anything...and emotion whatsoever...and she found it.
Confusion...anger...love.
She took off her glove, ignoring the snow, and placed her fingertips on his cold, porcelain skin, frowning. "Emmat...who...who are you, anyway?" She bit her lip before continuing. "I don't believe that you are really looking out for Edward...I don't even think that you're really his brother...but I know how I feel, and I think I know how you feel too." He continued to look at her, his brow creasing. "You can trust me."
"I...I'm not supposed to be able to...damn it, you wouldn't understand..."
If she was going to tell him what she knew about Ed...now would be the time to do it. Maybe he would believe that he could trust her if she revealed Edward's secret...no...no, she couldn't tell him...
But how long was she planning on hiding these things from him? And how long would it be before she knew his own secrets?
"I'll take you home," he said softly.
The time for confessions was over.
----
That night, as Winry lay in her lover's arms, she had a dream.
In her dream, she was still pregnant. And Ed had never disappeared...but he was gone anyway. She was going into labor, and Granny and Rose were there cheering her on...and when she asked where the father of her child was, Granny just said, "He's out on business again."
In her dream, she knew that he was gone all the time...that he was too devoted to alchemy and his brother to stay with her.
She jerked awake, her eyes wide, to see Ed's peacefully sleeping face, his metal hand resting on her waist. She examined his face: long black eyelashes brushed against pale cheeks; his mouth was just barely open as he took deep, sleeping breaths. Winry put her hand out and pushed a strand of hair back from his brow with a smile.
Would she be able to do that every night? Would he lose himself in alchemy again? Maybe it was just the dark and Ed's mental absence from the spot...but she suddenly had the revelation that he'd never devoted himself to her before. Could she really trust him to do that? Was that dream more prophetic than she could've suspected?
She jumped when his golden eyes opened, shining in the crack of light from the window, and he smiled at her. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," she whispered, "I just...I missed you. I miss Trisha."
Ed didn't wait for the tears in her eyes to fall onto the pillow, but pulled her close to him instead, putting a comforting hand on her scalp as her shoulders shook and she sobbed into the crook of his neck. "Winry...don't cry...you don't need to cry anymore...I'm here now..."
"It just...it doesn't...seem...seem possible that...that we could be..." she trailed off as a new wave of sobs racked her body, and Ed held her close, trying to keep himself from crying as well. They'd both hurt too much...would it ever stop? How were they supposed to get over this grief? It was always there...nothing could make them forget. Because although they hadn't been trying to make a child when they made love that first time, little Trisha had been something that was theirs together...a symbol of their love and their future together. Now she was gone, and he understood why Winry couldn't forget. He hadn't even been there - he hadn't even known, and he was grieving - he couldn't imagine how Winry felt.
"I'm so sorry Winry," he whispered suddenly, "Maybe...maybe we shouldn't have jumped into this so quickly...we should've taken time to grieve for Trisha."
Winry shook her head, pulling away to look at him. "What better way to stop the grief, Ed? But I just...I just can't forget..."
"You don't have to forget," Ed soothed, stroking her hair, "I won't forget, and I don't want you to forget either. I just want you to come to terms with it, and if it takes time to do that then we'll do it together."
She smiled, sniffling again. "Thank you...I'm glad."
"Me too...now go back to sleep."
She kissed him once, snuggling into his arms, before letting herself drift off again.
----
Jean Havoc yawned and stretched back in his chair at the library in Central, pulling his arms above his head. The itchy security guard uniform he was wearing scratched at his skin and he shook his head again; he couldn't believe that he'd been lowered to this after his higher position in the former military. Nothing was the way it should be anymore, damn it.
Small black and white cameras showed every room in the large library, and though Havoc could think of any piece of information that wasn't contained in the large building, he didn't find it likely that his services would ever be needed. He could have been out at a strip club with Breda and Falman...but no, instead he was holed up in this dusty old tomb, lacking the ability to even watch some porn or smoke a cigarette. He held a toothpick limp in his teeth - this was his last one - and about five others lay chewed into pieces in the trash can.
He honestly missed the lazy days doing paperwork back at the office; Mustang sitting at his desk in front of the window; Riza at her small desk next to the colonel, a pistol in her hand at all times so that she could whip the men into shape; the other guys making plans to go out with the ladies and making fun of Havoc...OK, he didn't miss that, but it was better than being all alone.
A trace of movement caught his eye on one of the screens and he watched carefully. The rooms were all dark, so he couldn't see much, but he could have sworn he'd just seen a flicker of light. And a person would need light to get around in there.
Another flicker of light and Havoc felt himself tense up. There was definitely someone in the library. He grabbed his handgun and stood up, prepared to face off with whoever had broken in. OK, that would be in section B, 3rd floor. He had to wonder how someone had gotten up there, but that wasn't the problem right now. He needed to worry about what they were doing and if he needed to use force or not.
The dark aisles were spooky at night...there had never before been a break-in, and Havoc wasn't accustomed to these rows and rows of shelves and darkness and all the silly superstitions that would pop into your head when you would see the red light from an exit sign. He was reminded briefly of Warehouse 13...which hadn't even existed anyway. Of course, that didn't really help much. The sick feeling in his stomach remained.
OK...there was the light. Havoc walked slowly towards it, finally pulling his gun up to face the light and opening his mouth to ask who they were.
"Ho...holy shit!"
There was a gluttonous man - if you could call it a man - standing over a glowing book, a sadistic grin on his face. Havoc backed up slowly as the creature turned around, starting to cackle.
Havoc felt like he couldn't run fast enough - he could hear it behind him, walking slowly and then beginning to run. It moved on all four limbs, he noticed, its arms flying it in front of its feet. Havoc turned briefly to see if it was there - which it wasn't - and ran right into someone.
He bellowed right into the guy's face before he recognized him.
"Crap, colonel..." he muttered, his voice hoarse, "I thought we were being broken in to...by pirates. But I guess that thing back there...it must have been one of your little alchemy creations, huh? God, that scared the shit out of me..."
"Very funny...but I have no idea what you're talking about. Creation?"
It was at that moment that it burst around the corner.
Mustang shoved Havoc out of the way and a burst of flame went flying out of his fingertips. Havoc looked up to see Hawkeye right next to Mustang, just like always, shooting off rounds at the thing headed their way.
It let out an ear-piercing shriek.
And then it ran back the other way, jumping out of the window at the end of the hall.
"What the fuck was that!"
Mustang looked down on the blonde man, a smirk on his face as if he hadn't just gone up against a terrifying creature, and Havoc frowned. "You're not gonna help me up?"
Mustang rolled his eye. "You called me a pirate."
Havoc grinned as best he could. "Ooooh...sorry, man."
"It was a homunculus," Hawkeye cut in, putting out a hand to help Havoc up. He gladly took the help, hoping that Hawkeye didn't have too much of a strangling grip and quickly letting go of her while he dusted himself off.
"Haha...wouldn't want to make the colonel jealous or anything," he said, winking exaggeratedly. The couple didn't laugh, and Mustang was soon back to business.
"Where did you see that thing?"
"It was just around the corner...here, I'll show you."
Havoc led them to the book, which was still open and glowing, and both Mustang and Hawkeye's eyes widened when they saw the symbol. Havoc supposed it was some kind of transmutation circle...but he really couldn't say.
"What's wrong?" he asked them, frowning.
Roy waited until the book stopped glowing and then he closed it softly so that he could see the cover.
"The journal of Hugo Caspar..."
----
A/N: EEEEP I'm proud of this plot! I've got it all figured out now...it's finally coming together.
I was really happy with all of your reviews, and they made me feel much better. I've been completely swamped with homework and my other fanfics lately though, and even though this is my baby, I've been completely uninspired. I just decided to write this...and I guess I did a good job.
But I want to know what YOU think! Please review: )
--Kat
Chapter 14: Left Behind
----
Listening to: "Here is Gone" -Goo Goo Dolls
----
Rush Valley had prospered since Winry's last visit there, and Winry supposed that it also looked more beautiful because she wasn't sunk in depression anymore. The last time she'd gone was when she was a couple months pregnant...with little Trisha...and she'd been too upset and unhappy to do much. She hoped that Paninya and Dominique could try and forget about that last visit in order to make her husband more comfortable.
The hotel was nice too, an oasis in the middle of such a dry area. Granted, it was artificial...but it helped to show how much Rush Valley had improved. People walked in the streets happily; the houses had all had renovations...it was wonderful. Winry complimented herself on this wonderful choice of a honeymoon.
It was nice to have to look up at Ed too...she'd always thought that he would get tall eventually, seeing what a big man his father was, but it had seemed like an escaped dream before he got back. And now everything was OK...
...but was it really?
The other happy couple, Mustang and Hawkeye, had gone out to the field where Ed had appeared several times, and they kept on coming back with more and more suspicious looks and whispered theories. Winry hadn't heard any of them, but she guessed that they weren't good...and that the older couple was hiding it from them so that they could have their happiness for once. Of course, she was forgetting that Roy and Riza weren't even married yet. Why were they working on Ed's problem when they should be finding happiness themselves?
All of those thoughts were wiped from her mind when they got to the hotel room.
Bags were quickly thrown on the floor before lust blossomed in the two of them, Ed nearly throwing Winry down on the bed and kissing her passionately. One thing led to another...and they ended up asleep. And that was how their first day of married life went; they didn't leave the room the entire time.
----
Annaliese took a deep breath as she and Emmat walked down the road that led to her home. Snow had begun to fall down on them, and the streets were coated in a thin sheet of ice, making her shiver and wrap her arms around herself for relief from the cold. Emmat just walked beside her, none of the usual charming and intriguing comments coming out of his mouth.
She shuddered and Emmat's hand was suddenly on her arm, a concerned frown on his face as he stopped her. She thought she saw a trace of confusion there too - at what, she didn't know - but it quickly disappeared. He got a bit closer to her, facing her, and she found her breath quickening at the near proximity of such a wonderful, attractive man. "Anna...you're cold," he said. She wondered at the nickname he suddenly used for her, but she just shook her head, shrugging.
"Oh...I'm fine. It's nothing Emmat."
It was just a few agonizing seconds before he drew her closer slowly and then pressed his lips against hers. It was desperate and longing...as if he'd never kissed in his life. A tingling sensation shot down her spine just before he slowly pulled away, his gloved hands still grasping her arms.
Annaliese had kissed boys before...but that was nothing compared to Emmat. If she didn't know any better, she would think that he had never even touched a woman...but he was such a charmer that she knew that couldn't be so.
Her train of thought broke into a thousand pieces when he kissed her again with renewed passion. This was not like kissing any boy...this was a man.
"Anna..." he murmured against her lips, his voice strange and strangled before his lips were locked with hers again.
She began to get carried away despite herself when his tongue just barely flicked out along her bottom lip, and she responded by opening her mouth and tilting her head, wanting him so badly that she could taste it. Her mouth was getting numb from the pressure - her lips tingled with...was it desire? She couldn't tell.
A car drove by and Emmat quickly pulled away from her, taking a deep breath and trying to regain his poise. Annaliese was sure that she looked exactly the same.
His breath hit her face...and that's when she realized that something was terribly out of place.
Emmat's mouth...his lips...everything.
They were like ice.
"My God, Emmat, if I'm cold, then you're freezing," she said suddenly, bringing a worried hand to his face. The cold of his skin bit through her glove and he pulled away quickly.
"It's nothing, Annaliese...I would like to walk you home now. It would probably be appropriate to get you in and out of the cold."
Her heart froze.
He was definitely hiding something from her.
"Emmat...what...what's wrong?"
He turned and walked away. "We should really get going."
Annaliese knew she had to do something quick or he would walk away and then it wouldn't be addressed again...and she wasn't alright with that. She had to stop him.
"No, Emmat..." She walked quickly after him, trying to keep her feet on the thin ice, and as luck would have it she slipped just in time for him to turn and catch her, putting him in a position where he wouldn't be able to leave. She searched his blue eyes for anything...and emotion whatsoever...and she found it.
Confusion...anger...love.
She took off her glove, ignoring the snow, and placed her fingertips on his cold, porcelain skin, frowning. "Emmat...who...who are you, anyway?" She bit her lip before continuing. "I don't believe that you are really looking out for Edward...I don't even think that you're really his brother...but I know how I feel, and I think I know how you feel too." He continued to look at her, his brow creasing. "You can trust me."
"I...I'm not supposed to be able to...damn it, you wouldn't understand..."
If she was going to tell him what she knew about Ed...now would be the time to do it. Maybe he would believe that he could trust her if she revealed Edward's secret...no...no, she couldn't tell him...
But how long was she planning on hiding these things from him? And how long would it be before she knew his own secrets?
"I'll take you home," he said softly.
The time for confessions was over.
----
That night, as Winry lay in her lover's arms, she had a dream.
In her dream, she was still pregnant. And Ed had never disappeared...but he was gone anyway. She was going into labor, and Granny and Rose were there cheering her on...and when she asked where the father of her child was, Granny just said, "He's out on business again."
In her dream, she knew that he was gone all the time...that he was too devoted to alchemy and his brother to stay with her.
She jerked awake, her eyes wide, to see Ed's peacefully sleeping face, his metal hand resting on her waist. She examined his face: long black eyelashes brushed against pale cheeks; his mouth was just barely open as he took deep, sleeping breaths. Winry put her hand out and pushed a strand of hair back from his brow with a smile.
Would she be able to do that every night? Would he lose himself in alchemy again? Maybe it was just the dark and Ed's mental absence from the spot...but she suddenly had the revelation that he'd never devoted himself to her before. Could she really trust him to do that? Was that dream more prophetic than she could've suspected?
She jumped when his golden eyes opened, shining in the crack of light from the window, and he smiled at her. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," she whispered, "I just...I missed you. I miss Trisha."
Ed didn't wait for the tears in her eyes to fall onto the pillow, but pulled her close to him instead, putting a comforting hand on her scalp as her shoulders shook and she sobbed into the crook of his neck. "Winry...don't cry...you don't need to cry anymore...I'm here now..."
"It just...it doesn't...seem...seem possible that...that we could be..." she trailed off as a new wave of sobs racked her body, and Ed held her close, trying to keep himself from crying as well. They'd both hurt too much...would it ever stop? How were they supposed to get over this grief? It was always there...nothing could make them forget. Because although they hadn't been trying to make a child when they made love that first time, little Trisha had been something that was theirs together...a symbol of their love and their future together. Now she was gone, and he understood why Winry couldn't forget. He hadn't even been there - he hadn't even known, and he was grieving - he couldn't imagine how Winry felt.
"I'm so sorry Winry," he whispered suddenly, "Maybe...maybe we shouldn't have jumped into this so quickly...we should've taken time to grieve for Trisha."
Winry shook her head, pulling away to look at him. "What better way to stop the grief, Ed? But I just...I just can't forget..."
"You don't have to forget," Ed soothed, stroking her hair, "I won't forget, and I don't want you to forget either. I just want you to come to terms with it, and if it takes time to do that then we'll do it together."
She smiled, sniffling again. "Thank you...I'm glad."
"Me too...now go back to sleep."
She kissed him once, snuggling into his arms, before letting herself drift off again.
----
Jean Havoc yawned and stretched back in his chair at the library in Central, pulling his arms above his head. The itchy security guard uniform he was wearing scratched at his skin and he shook his head again; he couldn't believe that he'd been lowered to this after his higher position in the former military. Nothing was the way it should be anymore, damn it.
Small black and white cameras showed every room in the large library, and though Havoc could think of any piece of information that wasn't contained in the large building, he didn't find it likely that his services would ever be needed. He could have been out at a strip club with Breda and Falman...but no, instead he was holed up in this dusty old tomb, lacking the ability to even watch some porn or smoke a cigarette. He held a toothpick limp in his teeth - this was his last one - and about five others lay chewed into pieces in the trash can.
He honestly missed the lazy days doing paperwork back at the office; Mustang sitting at his desk in front of the window; Riza at her small desk next to the colonel, a pistol in her hand at all times so that she could whip the men into shape; the other guys making plans to go out with the ladies and making fun of Havoc...OK, he didn't miss that, but it was better than being all alone.
A trace of movement caught his eye on one of the screens and he watched carefully. The rooms were all dark, so he couldn't see much, but he could have sworn he'd just seen a flicker of light. And a person would need light to get around in there.
Another flicker of light and Havoc felt himself tense up. There was definitely someone in the library. He grabbed his handgun and stood up, prepared to face off with whoever had broken in. OK, that would be in section B, 3rd floor. He had to wonder how someone had gotten up there, but that wasn't the problem right now. He needed to worry about what they were doing and if he needed to use force or not.
The dark aisles were spooky at night...there had never before been a break-in, and Havoc wasn't accustomed to these rows and rows of shelves and darkness and all the silly superstitions that would pop into your head when you would see the red light from an exit sign. He was reminded briefly of Warehouse 13...which hadn't even existed anyway. Of course, that didn't really help much. The sick feeling in his stomach remained.
OK...there was the light. Havoc walked slowly towards it, finally pulling his gun up to face the light and opening his mouth to ask who they were.
"Ho...holy shit!"
There was a gluttonous man - if you could call it a man - standing over a glowing book, a sadistic grin on his face. Havoc backed up slowly as the creature turned around, starting to cackle.
Havoc felt like he couldn't run fast enough - he could hear it behind him, walking slowly and then beginning to run. It moved on all four limbs, he noticed, its arms flying it in front of its feet. Havoc turned briefly to see if it was there - which it wasn't - and ran right into someone.
He bellowed right into the guy's face before he recognized him.
"Crap, colonel..." he muttered, his voice hoarse, "I thought we were being broken in to...by pirates. But I guess that thing back there...it must have been one of your little alchemy creations, huh? God, that scared the shit out of me..."
"Very funny...but I have no idea what you're talking about. Creation?"
It was at that moment that it burst around the corner.
Mustang shoved Havoc out of the way and a burst of flame went flying out of his fingertips. Havoc looked up to see Hawkeye right next to Mustang, just like always, shooting off rounds at the thing headed their way.
It let out an ear-piercing shriek.
And then it ran back the other way, jumping out of the window at the end of the hall.
"What the fuck was that!"
Mustang looked down on the blonde man, a smirk on his face as if he hadn't just gone up against a terrifying creature, and Havoc frowned. "You're not gonna help me up?"
Mustang rolled his eye. "You called me a pirate."
Havoc grinned as best he could. "Ooooh...sorry, man."
"It was a homunculus," Hawkeye cut in, putting out a hand to help Havoc up. He gladly took the help, hoping that Hawkeye didn't have too much of a strangling grip and quickly letting go of her while he dusted himself off.
"Haha...wouldn't want to make the colonel jealous or anything," he said, winking exaggeratedly. The couple didn't laugh, and Mustang was soon back to business.
"Where did you see that thing?"
"It was just around the corner...here, I'll show you."
Havoc led them to the book, which was still open and glowing, and both Mustang and Hawkeye's eyes widened when they saw the symbol. Havoc supposed it was some kind of transmutation circle...but he really couldn't say.
"What's wrong?" he asked them, frowning.
Roy waited until the book stopped glowing and then he closed it softly so that he could see the cover.
"The journal of Hugo Caspar..."
----
A/N: EEEEP I'm proud of this plot! I've got it all figured out now...it's finally coming together.
I was really happy with all of your reviews, and they made me feel much better. I've been completely swamped with homework and my other fanfics lately though, and even though this is my baby, I've been completely uninspired. I just decided to write this...and I guess I did a good job.
But I want to know what YOU think! Please review: )
--Kat
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