"We're broken again, aren't we, Brother?" Alphonse's voice rang out through the stillness. The world had fell so silent that Edward found the beating of his heart was louder than the slight pounding of the rain against the streets.
Once again, he'd let them both get caught up in a wild chase that led to them sprawled out in a dark alleyway, lost and alone in the world.
Not that that was anything new.
"Looks like it." He mumbled thoughtfully. He wasn't sure if he could move his leg. He felt the sharp scrape of metal against cobblestone when he tried to inch himself forward, but he couldn't feel anything at all. Just a sharp pain in his thigh that threatened tears he was so used to holding back that he knew he wouldn't cry.
He found his fingers drawn to his pocket watch. He pulled it open, scowling at it.
He ran his thumb over the letters etched on the inside. Those sharp, clumsy letters that seemed to mean everything in the world. His own words reaching out to him from all those years ago. Memories of the fire that sparked his determination splashed across the dreary swirls of gray that colored the alleyway.
He'd forgotten what day it was. It was almost a shock to the system. Broken again on the very day he'd set out to be whole.
A raindrop hit the glass covering the slowly ticking clock. Soon more came with it, splashing across the glass and sliding down. There was no way to stop those teardrops that smelled like rain. It was as if the rain were determined to drown the message in a sea of tears. The little hand moved slowly across the black numbers, sliding its fingers across time. He lifted it up to his ear, listening to the heartbeat of metal gears turning. Sometimes he wanted to smash the clock, to stop it from ticking. So they could have all the time in the world.
But the clock's heart was made of steel. Just like his. Killing it would mean abandoning his dreams and living with a heart of steel forever. And nothing felt right when you were a wandering soul with a broken heart.
He could see almost see the fire flickering on the surface of the glass. He'd snapped his pocket watch shut quickly that day. He didn't want to see the reflection of the flames rising up into the clear blue sky. He couldn't look because his heart would burn in that fire. It would have surely broken him. Even the reflection would be too much. There was no need to look back ever again. Over his shoulder were merely the ruins of an empty world.
He did just the same thing that moment, shutting his pocket watch with a snap. But not before he read the clumsy scratches stark against the steel inside. The words swam before his eyes as he pulled himself up slowly and painfully to stand on his broken limbs.
"We'll make it. I'll drag the both of us up if I have to," Edward's hand shook a little, clutching at the silver moon caught on a chain. He could barely stand, so he leaned against the wall. As an afterthought, he sputtered out between breaths, "No matter how long it takes."
He pulled his broken brother along with him, slowly across the streets. He could hear the way their steps screeched across the pathways.
A woman froze mid-step and stared straight at them, her mouth and eyes fighting for space on her face. She muttered something about dreaming or seeing ghosts to herself, but stopped as she caught the golden glint in that young boy's eyes.
Perhaps the two were more alive than she was.
Edward could not stop now, not with those words burning before his eyes.
Don't forget 3. Oct .10.
Writer's woes: Just a quick, lame, poorly written one-shot drabble failpile for FMA day! I wrote this at ten at night! Wooo! I should be reading the Scarlet Letter. I'll do it later. I wrote this on the spur of the moment. I really wanted to get something up today. :D OMG I was writing this at 10:03 :D. Nerd...I don't know...This sucks...I should have written something better. Ignore the piles of run-on sentences and lovely the lack of background information or general detail...:D I'm so epic. This is, in essence, the rough draft. I just posted it on the spur of the moment. It will be edited...I hope...