Keiyou-I have seen hide nor hair of the internet for the longest time. Coming back after so long I became aware that most of the conversation in the second chapter went missing, which I assume left a lot of readers leave scratching their heads. So with battered pride and new hope; I re-edited the content within and decided to post it again.
So take the full benefit of enjoying the re-made version! I hope it's worth reading.
Disclaimer- Ah, yeah… I have yet to figure out how to go about twisting my way around the brains of Fullmetal alchemist's original creators from both the manga and the anime so that they will agree it belongs to me.
So, for the record, I DON'T OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!
Preemie warning: chapters four and five may or may NOT contain the lemon I had planned to add in the story, so don't expect there to be anything hard-core (just in case)
Do You Remember?
Ch.1, Epilogue
"Ouch!"
Winry Rockbell grimaced in pain as she bent to palm her bare foot after she had walked into a large wooden chest inside the basement of her home, where she had been given an exhausting assignment via her grandmother; Pinako Rockbell, to clear a space in the room so the automail parts her grandmother planned to pick up in town had someplace to go.
Although Winry hadn't planned on doing anything too important; the task was keeping her away from 'certain company' that she hadn't seen in quite some time and wondered curiously about what it was they had decided to do while she worked when the cause of discomfort had erupted in the form of an open wood box. She felt somewhat resentful that neither offered to help her as she shot daggers at the box for being in her way. The box held within it heaps of old articles of clothing and a few faded books that sat on them.
"Damn that smarts, she murmured soothing the hurt. After declaring it wasn't too bad of an injury she got up off the floor, not expecting that a real glance at the contents of the box would steer her to forget about the chore.
Not surprising. The words 'Rockbell Album, 1874' labeled on one of the books had that effect on her, so she let curiosity take over and picked up the book, sat down on an old dusty loveseat in front of a window and opened it.
The pages of the book were quite yellow around the edges, obviously because it hadn't been opened in a while. The inside was white like it never understood the concepts of aging. This included the photographs.Winry was quite surprised; her grandmother looked sturdy built and braced with a steely confidence that almost resembled herself. Years later that will was still visible but it was quite the physical contrast with how her grandmother looked now.
"I'd like to see Ed's face if he ever saw this..." she thought chuckling as the idea of the intimidating Pinako from the picture approaching a comically cowering Edward Elric surfaced in her mind.
She paged through a few more sections of the album; Winry noticed how strange it was finding this book of memories downstairs. Usually her Grandmother had no trouble sifting through her old albums she kept upstairs, so why was this here?
Catching two boys in some photos she didn't recognize, dawning realization hit her. She assumed them to be her late uncles because they had Rockbell features. Then some with a younger third child that looked absolutely like a less mature version of her father. Seeing him in them tore a bit at her heart. It was no wonder this book was left unopened, Winry figured it hurt her grandmother too much knowing that those kids in the album had grown up just to go before she did.
Stifling small of tears that perched dangerously at the edges of her eyes, she decided she would close the book. As she tried, one of the pages flipped over revealing a large photo that took up half the space on it. I was another with her father in it, but unlike the others; this one had a young girl in it on a swing.
"Who's that?" Winry mumbled softly. The smiling face looked almost familiar, but because of the child like features she didn't quite know who it was. The girl's hair was short milky brown that curled at a wisp on the bottom and her eyes were a brilliant blue that stood out in the old fashion summer dress she wore. Her father in the picture had a bright cherry smile as he stood next to her.
Too curious at the pair; Winry removed the photo from inside the plastic casing and read the back of the picture in hopes it would shed some light on who this mystery girl was.
It should have been obvious, but the results still gave Winry quite a stir. Her blue irises glossed over the writing on the back of the photo as she realized who the girl was.
Thomas Rockbell and Julia Foster, ages 14 and 13, June 14, 1884.'Mother...'She didn't stop the snake of tears that slithered down after fighting them.
"Wow, that's pretty neat."
Winry had been down in the basement alone for quite some time. She'd grown use to having only her voice in the room, so she jumped when this new one arrived. It was a voice that would seem like warm honey had it not also carried the quirk of a cocky attitude with it.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to look up at a young man she knew was her age although a stranger would assume him to be younger than seventeen as his height only reached 166 centimeters. Other than that bit of drawback he was quite good looking, with long golden blond hair he kept secured in a braid most of the time, and shocking amber eyes that resembled his locks. The only key difference about him today was instead of his usual 'I wear a red coat with black clothes and nothing complicated' style; he chose to wear a dark blue sleeveless shirt and sported his white shorts.
Like she could blame him, even in late winter the heat was a bitch in Rizembool. She was surprised how well she tolerated wearing a tee shirt with her khaki pants instead of her tube top.
"Oh! Hi, Ed" She said drawing her mind away from what they were wearing, putting the photo back in its place.
She decided maybe it was good she wore the tee. The thought of Edward's sudden appearance seemed to give her weird chills.
"Did you know your parents were childhood friends?" He asked her as he stood next to where she sat.
"I actually had no idea," Winry admitted "Granny never said anything about them knowing each other when they were kids."
"Ah, speaking of Old Lady, Pinako."
Winry elbowed him slightly.
"Fine, Granny Pinako." He said correcting himself "Where is she? I wanted to know if the upgrades were finished on my leg yet." He tapped at the replacement automail leg he used last time he visited in a gesture about his usual one.
Winry gave him a look that read of ignorance on Edward's part.
"Weren't you listening when she said she was going to town for that automail shipment earlier?"
Edward palmed the back of his head as he thought self consciously about the bowl of cereal he'd been too busy stuffing his face with while only catching snippets of conversation at breakfast.
"I... guess not." He answered, and then positioned his hand back down when he noticed Winry had began chuckling to her self.
In the galley of Winry's thoughts she realized that the last time she went to Rush Valley she had met a man named Dominic that had known Pinako... she wondered how the man would fare if he ever seen her grandmother there.
"What's so funny?" Edward asked, cutting in on her humorous thoughts.
"It's nothing important." She said catching breath she lost from laughing "I just remembered something from when we went to Rush Valley."
"Oh?" He suddenly got a curious look in his eyes. Allot had gone on during that escapade to the automail Utopia, and Edward deemed it to know what was so funny about that.
"Tell me about it," he asked moving forward to sit next to her. "I got all day. Al left to visit mom's grave this time; so let's hear it."