I wrote this last month and really wasn't planning on posting it here, but then I decided to anyway. Yay. C:
This was written for fma_fic_contest over on Livejournal for the prompt, "Billow". I couldn't think of an appealing title, so it's ripped off of one of Explosions in the Sky's song titles. Anway… Enjoy!
The wind whipped through her hair as she waited.
She huffed. The train was late. Apparently, seven months hadn't been enough. Now it would be seven months and 10 minutes. She bounced on her heels, getting as close to the edge of the platform as she could.
And then she heard it. The blessed, blessed sound of a train whistle, followed by the sound of wheels on the track. She felt like crying she was so happy, but there was no need to embarrass herself in front of the entire train station. Yet.
She sniffled, stepping slightly away from the tracks.
A voice came up behind her. "Has it stopped yet?"
"No," she pouted. I can hardly see it…" She peered into the distance, but the tiny dot on the line had become larger now, a clearly visible stream of smoke trailing it.
"It's almost here!" The girl's friend smiled, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.
"I'm so glad you came with me," she said. "See, I'm a mess already, and he's not even here yet."
"But he will be soon! And you're not a mess; you're just a little emotional."
"Ha… yeah," she said, wiping at her eyes. Some smoke must've gotten in them or something.
The train screeched to a halt.
A sudden thought crossed the girl's mind.
"How do I look?" she asked her friend. "My hair probably looks terrible, doesn't it?"
Her friend laughed. "Who the hell are you? Jeez, you look great! Just relax!"
She knew her companion was only trying to make her feel better, and she did realize how silly she was being, but she felt it wasn't really all her fault. If he hadn't left for so long… well, at least he had written a few times. And anyway, hadn't she told herself and others repeatedly that men who stayed still were boring? Because they completely were.
Most of the time.
"Hey, isn't that him?"
She looked over to where her friend was pointing. And there he was, brown coat billowing behind him, golden bangs and ponytail flapping in the tunnels of wind created by the train's stop.
He saw her and waved. Her heart fluttered.
"Hey, Winry," he said coming up to her, smiling broadly.
This time it was Winry who stepped forward to embrace him, just as he had seven months before.
"I missed you," she mumbled into his shoulder, still holding back the tears that were certain to come.
"Me- me too," he stuttered back.
They broke apart and Winry wiped her eyes, this time accepting that it was not only the train's fumes making them itch.
While he greeted Paninya, she felt the first few drops run down her cheeks, but they were quickly brushed away. She and Edward definitely had a few things to talk about before he left again; one of those being that he would not be travelling alone again for a long, long time.