Fullmetal Alchemist's
Let the Second Time Around be Better
Little Japanime Girl
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of it's characters; other than the originals I've created. Nothing major however (oc I mean). I don't claim any rights whatsoever.
A/N: This is the first FMA story I've written and it was a five second inspiration from the movie. So let's see how things go. I've seen the eps and the movie but have not read the manga. This is a post movie fic with the main pairing of Edward and Winry – although there might be other pairings implied. It's yet to be decided.
I'm using my own timeline because I want this is to be after WW2. So its two years after the movie as well. Though I must admit I might not use historical references, its undecided.
Translations will be at the end of the chapters– if I were to use any foreign languages. XD
Okay on with the fic! Please read and leave reviews. Critique is appreciated as well. Enjoy!
St. Petersburg.
February 12, 1947.
0347 Hours.
Alphonse Elric abruptly woke from his slumber releasing tears and a strangled, "No...!"
Still recovering from a nightmare, he looked around in the dark, small hotel room trying to come to senses. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and noticed Edward sitting up on the other bed to his right. Alphonse swallowed the last trace of his sobs and looked back at his eerily quiet older brother. Thin lines of very dim moonlight peeked through the closed window blinds and landed on the elder. Edward sat with his right side against the wall; eyes focused on his automail hand. It seemed like an hour before Edward roughly spoke.
"Couldn't sleep, could you, Al?"
Al considered whether he should answer his brother; he knew that when Ed was this quiet meant something had or will happen. He was also slightly upset that if Edward knew he was struggling so much in his sleep, he had not tried to wake him like he usually would have. After a moment's thought, he let it go and asked something instead.
"Brother, did you have a nightmare too?"
Alphonse carefully observed his brother knowing how introverted Ed really was. Every sign of body language was important to note in case Edward did not feel like sharing; which Alphonse had guessed might be the case tonight. The older Elric rested his head against the wall, his long hair disheveled and loose down his back with wisps of his bangs stuck on his moist cheeks.
A frown easily forced itself on Al as he concluded, So he did. Could that be why he didn't wake me?
"I heard you, Al. For a moment I thought it was just me, but... you were saying everything I saw in my own dream."
Al slowly sat up and wiped his tears in confusion, "We shared the same dream?"
His voice was so strained, so scratchy; "Mo-" he cleared his throat and tried again, "More than that."
"...Brother?"
"You felt it too, didn't you?"
The question was more for himself in some kind of confirmation than for Alphonse.
"What...?"
Al decided to leave the question unfinished and dry. He was a smart boy and he refused to follow his brother on this one--not this time. He could not. The silence stretched for what seemed forever between the two with the occasional post-tear sniffling from the younger brother.
Ting...
Ting...
Something fell and hit Edward's metal hand. They were soft of sound, but it was more than enough to make his little brother's heart stop.
Ting...
Ting, ting...
At first, there were one or two after a pause in between. Alphonse was far too confounded to look over at his brother's state of weakness.
You aren't one to react like this. Please...
Ting...
The drops continued on. Now the sounds slighty more dull since the density has increased with each drop.
Ting, ting...
Ting, ting, ting!
Ting, ting, ting!
Edward had given him an answer he would have never been prepared for. Al swung his legs over the side of his bed and anger ignorantly seeped through his lids in the shape of hot droplets.
"No! It can't be! How–"
"I don't know. It's just..." Edward forcefully swallowed the lump in his throat, "Just a part of life."
His last sentence was placed in such a neutral way that angered Al more. He gripped his bed sheets into tight fistfuls and childishly argued with suddenly dry eyes.
"But not for her. Not her!"
Ed tiredly faced his brother and Al finally got to see the obvious sorrow building in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.
"Alphonse, just... Don't. Don't do th-this," he almost choked on the last words, not caring how he looked or sounded at the moment.
When their mother died he was similar; but after all they've been through, witnessing his tears now was daunting. Al concluded that this was the last straw for them; especially for Edward.
"Brother," he continued softly, "I think it was just a dream."
Ed stiffly stood up and quietly explained to him, "Alphonse, you dreamed of this world while you were home. And while you were dreaming it, the events were live. So it is perfectly possible for us to see our home-world through dreams here."
The younger furrowed his brows and snapped in reply, "I will not accept that."
Al then bolted up from his bed to look him at eye level, "Not this time!"
There was a brief second of vulnerability shown in Ed's eyes before he glared at Alphonse and roughly spoke.
"Winry is dead. End of story."
And with that, he grabbed his coat and barged out the room; slamming the door behind him leaving Al to mourn in solitude for the only other family he had left.
After Edward slammed his door shut, he bumped into Noah almost knocking her on the ground.
"Edward–"
"I can't talk right now," his words were angry and choked.
Noah had felt his heart the moment they bumped into each other and her very own eyes clouded with tears. She understood why he hid his face from her right now.
"I saw–"
"All the more reason to leave me be," was all he muttered before bumping into her again on his desperation to leave the hotel--away from the people who knew him. He ran through the corridors and down the back steps grateful to be exiting out the back door into a private alley. He looked up at the still-dark morning sky.
"All I can do is wait..."
A soft sob escaped his dry throat.
"Oh Ed, why can't you stop being so reckless?!"
"You make me worry too much."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"Don't forget to write me, Edward!!"
He leaned his back against the wall and tried to settle his crying with deep breaths.
"Drink your milk!"
"Promise me? Promise me that you'll come back."
"I'm sorry... So sorry. So, so, so..."
"Don't we count? Aren't Granny and I important too?"
Yes. Yes you are. Very much...
Edward dropped down to the ground crying harder, "I should've been there. Being here, I couldn't..."
"You're leaving again, aren't you?"
Now I know how it feels... It hurts to be left.
"I couldn't protect you! Forgive me, Winry... Oh... Win'... Christ!"
Alphonse ignored Noah's knocks as he listened to his brother out the window with silent tears flowing down his own pale face. He sat below the window with his back against the wall, part of him regretting his decision to come to this world.
A small bright shaft of light pierced the sensitive closed eyelids of a dormant Edward. Squeezing his eyes tight from the small ray, Edward stirred and groaned. His head ached and his sinuses felt jammed.
"It hurts! Stop it! OH MY GOD!! HELP, EDWARRRRDDD!!"
Edward immediately opened his eyes and cried out, "Win'!"
I didn't see that earlier!
His eyes teared up again from both the invasive ray hitting his eyes and memories of his loss. A cold draft that crept through his coat made him quite aware that he had fallen asleep outside.
Last time I fell asleep from crying I was only ten...
Edward used one hand to shield the ray and the other to help himself get off the damp floor. Once he was up, the ray barely reached his waist. His eyes quickly focused to the early signs of a sunrise and he followed the path of the beam. It reflected off of a car that was presently parked at the mouth of the alleyway. Just as Edward yawned a hiccup of a sob escaped with it and he heard a cautious whisper above him.
"...Brother?"
Edward didn't need to look up to know that Alphonse fell asleep at their bedroom window and woke with his cry out to their beloved.
"Don't worry, Al. I'm just going to take a walk."
"But... Ed, you stayed out all night!–"
"Feh. From the looks of it, it was only about two hours. No big deal," he shrugged to emphasize his supposed nonchalance.
Alphonse leaned further out the window; "Brother please, at least freshen up and eat something warm. It's deathly cold out there. There's snow everywhere!"
Edward finally looked up at this brother and regretted looking into eyes that mirrored his own. Eyes which reflected a broken heart. He soon looked back down and buttoned his coat up.
"Don't worry about me. I wont take long. You understand, right?"
"I do, but..."
Edward took a deep breath and replied as secure as he could manage, "Nothing will happen. I wont leave you too."
Al did not reply but his silence was loud and clear.
After a moment, Edward brokenly said, "I'm sorry."
"Stay warm and I will prepare hot chocolate the way you like it."
Edward was so surprised to hear Alphonse's cheery response that he looked up to study his brother's face--as best as a couple stories high above him he could see. Alphonse merely grinned through teary red eyes and Edward was more than grateful.
Edward mock reprimanded, "No milk in that damn chocolate!"
"Haha of course not! You know I'll use water."
Even though the grin didn't reach his brother's eyes–understandably so– Edward returned the gesture as best he could. Suddenly, a couple windows within the alleyway-- including other windows from the hotel they were currently residing– opened and several yells of protest for the noise they caused filled the area and both boys genuinely laughed. With a short wave, Edward walked out of the alley.
Alphonse sheepishly apologized to whomever could hear him before closing the window after hiding back inside. A shudder ran through his being as he thought of earlier that morning.
"I pray that you didn't die like that... I miss you so much, Winry... I love you."
With a deep sigh, Al went back into his bed. As if on cue, soft knocking was heard on his door. He merely turned his back to the door and closed his eyes. He knew who it was but it wasn't the right time...
Edward trudged through the city for just about an hour when he found himself in a reserved neighborhood where the homes were in a neat row, people seldom walked it, and the sun had yet to properly set light in it this morning. Throughout his walk, he kept his mind blank and solely focused on the crunching sound of snow beneath his foot steps. A shriek startled him just as he was about to cross the small street.
Wonder where that came from?
Another cry was all he need to spring into action and press his nose onto the house's window behind him. Shadows befell this row of homes and this particular house was second to the corner with a small walkway to the back yard in between this and the neighbor's home. The lights where off and he could not see inside. As he moved from one window to another, he ignored the impolite stares of passer byers.
What? Can't they hear the fight inside?
Edward could not shake the heavy weight of anxiety in the pit of his stomach as he went around the house into the private walkway and finally spotted a warm glimmer of light peek from a small window at his feet.
They must be in there.
A muffled thud that Edward recognized (through experience) as a dead body hitting the floor resounded in the silence of the early morning outside. He quickly laid flat on the snow and cursed the cold slosh rubbing against his clothing as he struggled to quietly look further into the basement through such a small window.
All color drain from his face and his heart literally skipped two beats when he sighted the unmistakable drawing on the ground where the now dead woman lay.
Candles traced the infamous transmutation circle in the dim basement laboratory of Gluttony's look-a-like.
To be continued...
A/N: That's it for now! How do you like the start of the story? Let me know if you liked it or not or if you have any suggestions. )
Much more is to come so don't jump to too many conclusions already! Ah alright, if ya want to then go ahead. P But I warned you lol.
Thanks for reading and now please review.
Onegai shimasu!
LJG
P.S: I understand that Ed is too scientific for mourning cause of a dream but I just milked the fact that it already happened between the brothers so convincing was something Ed would not asked much of this time.
And the italics with quotes are someone remembering someone elses words, be it dream or thoughts. Bold words are emphasized whereas CAPS words are shouted specifically.Um I think that's all I had to add ;
Ok now you can R and R
LJG