He hadn't told her he loved her. Why? Why didn't he just say it? He still remembered the exact moment when they first met…
"I was thinking the diner down the street. What do you thing, Al? Al?" Ed asked. He turned away from the map to find Alphonse spacing out. "Alphonse!" he shouted to snap him out of it. "Look." Alphonse said. Edward looked. There was to truck and two men shouting to each other. They were lifting cages onto the truck. But it was what was in the last cage that surprised them. It was mostly animals, except one. A girl. She had straight purple hair and a short frilly top and a skirt with a frilly necklace to match. She had dog ears and a tail. She was sitting cross-legged in a small cage. "Hey!" Edward shouted. The men looked up. "What're you doing with that chimera!?" he asked, running over angrily. Alphonse followed. "If you want ta see her fight, you're two late. We're moving to another town." The man said. "Fight!?" Edward shouted. Alphonse remembered hearing about illegal chimera fights. "Yep. She's beaten a jaguar and two wild boars. She'll be fighting another chimera in the next town." The man said, "Hope she wins. It'd be a shame to lose her." Edward's mouth dropped. "To the DEATH!? Are you insane!?" he shouted. "Well, it's not like you could stop me!" the man said. "Fine. If you won't treat her like a human, I'll buy her." Ed said. "Buy her! Ha! That's a good one. She hasn't lost a battle yet. A kid like you couldn't afford her food." The man chortled. "Who're you calling a kid!? I'll have you know I'm a state alchemist!" Edward shouted, pulling out his watch. The man turned pale as a sheet. "An al-alchemist!" he croaked, "T-Take her!" He promptly pulled her out of the cage, attached a leather leash to her necklace, and drove away before anyone could blink. Edward cursed, taking the leash off the confused chimera.
It turned out she couldn't remember anything before being in the zoo, including having a name, so they named her Zaida. It turned out she learned a few words from the "zookeeper", so Al taught her grammar and how to speak properly. It was a blur, usually ending with, "I don't understand because I'm a dog!" and her shutting herself in her room and crying. He remembered how much that hurt him. It always surprised him how well she could fight. Once she came home with a huge gash on her arm because she tried to pet a frightened kitty, but she didn't complain of pain once. She claimed she hardly felt it. Also, the man was wrong about Edward not being able to afford her food. She rarely ate. She truthfully told Alphonse she was never hungry. Ever. He also remembered her telling him she loved him.
"Good job, Zaida!" Alphonse cheered. They smiled at each other and Zaida wagged her tail. "Alphonse…Thank you. You've helped me so much…I love you." Alphonse looked up. He got tongue-tied. So, he just kissed her. When they parted, she asked "What was that?" "A kiss." Alphonse explained. "A kiss! A kiss!" she sang, dancing around the room. Alphonse laughed.
Then, it happened. It was all so fast. He didn't see it. He stayed home, helping Winry with Ed's automail. He sent her out to get some groceries. She walked right into the street. The doctors couldn't do anything. They said it would be slow, but painless. That didn't stop it from hurting him. He was sitting with her in the hospital room. She was fighting, he could tell. Her eyes opened. She motioned for him to remove the breathing device. He told her she needed it. She insisted. He hesitated, but removed it. "Goodbye. I love you." She said breathlessly. He stood there for a second. Her eyes closed. "Wait! WAIT! No! Zaida, NO!" he shouted, suddenly realizing what she meant. The monitor let out a long beeeeep, echoing his despair. The doctors had to drag him away. He hadn't told her he loved her. Why? Why didn't he just say it…
…
Ah…Hi. HYPA gal here. Just to let you know, I haven't died. Zaida has…T.T I almost cried when I wrote this, yet I didn't cry for my longer stories…Well, no one died in them. After I showed it to PGS (my sister) she said "I didn't know you could write that sad!" or something to that effect. I actually have more to say for this one than my other stories. See, her "I don't understand…" quote is from Guru-Guru Pon-Chan. This sort of grew from a discarded idea from my quizilla story. I decided to write it in religion (I actually started wanted to have Al convert to Christianity because of Zaida seeing angels or something, but I was worried about offending people…). I actually wrote it in homeroom/lunch. It took about an hour. Oh, here's some irony. Zaida means prosperous and increasing. Well, that's all I can think of. Hope you liked it! Reviews are luffed!