By Lady Addiction
DISCLAIMER: Full Metal Alchemist is someone else's brainchild. The anime was someone else's idea – for which I heartily thank them. This fic is my baby, so please don't take and repost any part of it anywhere without permission.
WARNINGS: GEN, PG-13, angst?, OOC?AUTHOR NOTES:
1. Part of a Divergent Timeline Arc in the making
2. A writing experiment inspired by all the wicked drabbles and shortfics in the LJs of FMA fans. Unlike HP, most fans of FMA seem to like doing character sketches or short dialogues and skits with the characters. Very interesting and entertaining.
So goal is monthly fic updates. Since my muse is rather vapid with a Dory-like memory capability, the fics updated will be random. But an update is an update, right? Right?
And now, for my first FMA fic. And if you're considering writing GEN FMA fics, please do. There are not enough of them out there!
Lady A.
REVISION: October 5, 2004 – Changed place names (in accordance with canon) and major details in the second vignette. Was unhappy with it.
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I. BRAIDS
He was letting down his hair when he noticed a shadow at the corner of his eye. He started, turning swiftly.
Gracia Hughes was a couple of feet away from him, startled. Then, she relaxed and smiled, holding up a wide hairbrush. "Let me," she offered quietly. "Alicia's sleeping and you look like you need a break."
Alphonse Elric smiled back tentatively and slowly moved towards one end of the couch. There were only the three of them in the house, with Gracia's husband at work. The young blond matron settled behind him and skillfully undid the rest of the braid. She put the leather tie onto the coffee table and then began running the brush through the thick, light-brown strands.
Though he tried not to, Al found himself sagging into her comforting warmth. He seemed to attract women who loved to mother him, he thought with a wry grin. First there was his mother, then Izumi-san, and now Gracia-san.
"Your hair is very beautiful," Gracia complimented, admiring the way the well-treated locks shone and sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the open windows. Without the travel dust and grit that had created a tangled and dusty mop, it was astonishingly silky to touch. She smiled humorously as she saw the crinkles made by the constant plaiting, giving the tall, light-framed youth a somewhat effeminate air. "And it's the longest I've seen men grow their hair," she continued, "living in a military settlement like the East City, all the men never wear their hair long. And even most of the military women wear it short. It's such a shame sometimes, I think. Maes has beautiful black hair. And so does Roy."
Al blushed. He had let his hair grow out in the year since he left Dublith, as a reminder of the promise he had made to himself. Now, his customary braid reached all the way down the middle of his back.
Feeling soft, tingly, and fuzzy, basking in the sun-warmed atmosphere, he decided to open up. After all, the Hughes family had taken him in without demure a month ago, when he had first arrived in East City. He knew they wondered at why he was here, at where he had come from. He had only told them that he wanted to be a State Certified Alchemist because he was looking for something.
"It's for my brother," he said, feeling his heart clutch as he remembered loud voices, golden hair, and golden eyes. "He used to want to have his hair in one of those braids by the tribal warriors of Xing." Xing was in the eastern border of Amestris, whose powerful military and trade connections made its western neighbor cautious.
Gracia was surprised at Al's sudden garrulity and fascinated with what he was saying. "Are they the people who fight wars on horseback with spears and swords along with guns?"
Al nodded then winced as the motion knocked his head against the brush. Gracia gasped and apologized. "I'm okay, it's alright. It wasn't your fault, Gracia-san, but yes, that's them. I read a little about them." He read about their culture and language for his brother. Closing his eyes, he recalled the first time he had heard about them.
"Al, Al! Look!" A widely-grinning boy was thundering down the stairs, hands flailing, a picture book in one hand.
"Niisan! Watch out!" But the younger need not have worried. The elder nimbly jumped from the third to the last step, avoiding the orange spill of juice. He landed solidly with a thump and skidded his way towards Al, who was coming from the kitchen with a damp washcloth.
"Look! Look!" Ed was yelling as he yanked open the book. Al stared down. It was a picture of dark-haired men in strange, flowing clothes. Their pants gathered at the ankles, and their high-necked jackets had sleeves longer than their arms and closed at the front with enormous, diamond-shaped buttons. They were all bearing arms and drawn as if they were in one-to-one battles. The most astonishing thing was that all the men were bald, except for a long rope of braid.
"What is this, Niisan?"
"It's a book about the warrior traditions of Xing," chattered Ed, "they look much cooler than all those stupid soldiers! And look, it says here that the 'men of Maren keep their hair long in respect for their horses, which were the only true companions in a battlefield'. I'm going to grow my hair and have a braid too! Look at this, you can attach a knife at the end and use it like a whip!" Ed was jumping from foot to foot as he stared down the book in excitement.
"Niisan, we don't have a horse."
"That doesn't matter! Idiot!"
Al scowled. "Well, are you going to shave the rest of your head too?"
Ed flinched. "Of course not! But I think it would look cool if I have a braid, wouldn't it?"
"I think it would look girly," retorted Al, wanting vengeance for the 'idiot' jab. "Winry would like that! Another girl to play with! Girly Niisan! Girly Niisan! Niisan wants to be a GI--IRL!!!"
"Al! Shut up! Come back here! I'll show you who's a girl!" Book and washcloth fell to the floor as the two boys ran off, one chortling, the other yelling. He snuffled quietly at the memory.
"I didn't know you have a brother," Gracia said. She had put down the brush and was now carefully separating Al's hair into three parts.
Al swallowed and lowered his head. He drew his knees to his chest and hugged them, his bare feet poking out of his pants. He had worn denim and a gray cotton tunic because of the sunny spring warmth. Gracia paused as he resettled himself, then resumed her slow movements. "Yes. He's my older brother. We were together all the time until . . . until our father came back and took him away."
The woman hid a gasp and forced herself to keep working. She said nothing.
"We were studying alchemy and I think my father took him away because he was better at it," the boy continued on. That had been an initial source of resentment and jealousy, until he had realized that he was never seeing his older brother again. "Niisan loved reading. I only learned to like reading because he did. He found the books our father left behind and we began to experiment with it."
"What intelligent children," she murmured, amazed. Al couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen, but Maes had told her confidentially that from what he'd seen, he was more proficient than half of the Alchemists already certified by the government. He had said seriously that alchemy was a mixture of talent and dedication --- for Al to be so good, he must have learned very early. "Didn't you find it hard to understand the books?"
"Well, we managed somehow," he replied, unconsciously echoing his and Ed's response when their mother had asked them the same question. "Niisan had great talent in it. Right away, anything he did came out perfectly even though we started at the same time. I was not as good." He brought up his left arm, staring at the beautiful metal arm Winry had made for him. Chills ran down his spine as he remembered why he needed it in the first place. "I am terrible at it. At alchemy, I mean. If I had been as great as Niisan, if he had been with me . . ." he whispered. Then maybe his attempt to transfigure their mother back to life wouldn't have failed so badly.
Gracia finished plaiting his hair, tying it off with the leather thong. Then, aware of his rising distress, she leaned closer and hugged him affectionately. "You are a great Alchemist, Alphonse Elric. And I know you'll find what you are looking for." She had a very strong suspicion of what that was.
"You know," she said chattily, still holding him, "I've always wanted to have a little boy. A baby brother for Alicia-chan. But maybe, while he's not here yet, you can be Alicia-chan's big brother and take care of her like your big brother took care of you."
Al's eyes watered. His mind was filled with mixed emotions, a whelming flood of them that he didn't know how to think and act. All he could say was, "I'll take care of Alicia-chan, Gracia-san. Then when my brother's here, we'll both be her big brothers."
"I hope that day'll come soon," she answered.
"I hope so too," he whispered.
-FINI-
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Minor changes to this chapter. Hope it doesn't detract.
Please review and let me know what you think.
Lady A.