larks' water

"Two dead larks, pressed against eachother among the wet pebbles."

Rated: T – For language, and because that's the rating I give everything!

Disclaimer: I'm not cool enough to own Fullmetal Alchemist, that belong to Hiromu Arawaka.

I blinked across the stream at the two dead larks, pressed against each other near the water. I furrowed my eyebrows and wiped away the droplets clinging to my chin and lower lip.

Larks? Larks' Water… where have I heard about that… a book?

I pursed my lips in thought, eying the birds.

Larks' Water, seemingly innocent… something about witches… drives you mad, supposedly... but in some… specific way.

I gave a small hum of thought.

Something about girls…

I glanced to my left, where Winry was still sipping the icy cold water from her palms.

Oh, right! Larks' water, supposedly innocent, tackle even the ugliest girl, something about witches and bringing out what's really in your heart… wait, wait… tackle? … girl?

I glanced back at Winry, who stared back at me from my side. "What, Ed?"

Fuck.

I literally pounced on the blond, bowling her over and roughly forcing my mouth against her's. My left (flesh) hand shoving it's way into her hair. She squeaked in surprise, giving me—no, the animal controlling me an opportunity to shove my tongue into the mechanic's mouth. Her posture stiffened once again. She seemed confused, unwilling almost, though she was moving her mouth back and leaning against the pressure.

Can't breathe... Ugh, Dammit, Ed! Get a hold of yourself! She'll castrate you later for this!

The animal yanked away gasping for breath, before it forced me to attack Winry's neck with rough kisses.

"Ed…" Her voice was a mixture between a gasp and a growl as she rose her hands to push against my chest.

Now, I assure you, If I could control myself I would've gladly scrambled away and hid under a rock for a week, but my mental state at the moment seemed to convince me that if I didn't do this, I'd die somehow. Despite how much I tried to pull myself away, the animal simply growled and nipped at her neck madly, pushing her back down from her small attempt to sit up and push me off with—oh shit… that was my Automail…

She squeaked and growled back, instead lifting her leg in what I would assume would be a rather well deserved kick to the crotch—but my left hand pulled itself from her hair and pushed her leg back down by the thigh, in the process making the blond blush wildly.

"Brother!" an alarmed voice shouted behind me.

Shit, I forgot about him—What am I thinking? Thank god! Al get me off my mechanic!

Elric brother telepathy never fails (except, you know, that one time), Al shot forward and grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me back harshly.

I panted, looking over my shoulder at my brother. "Thanks, Al." I laughed sheepishly.

"What the hell, Ed?" Winry shouted. "What's gotten into you?" I jumped slightly and leaned away as she marched right up to punch me in the chest. She seemed to be suppressing a smile, or a smirk, though- Just the water.

I put my hands up. "Sorry! Sorry! It was the water, I swear!"

Winry huffed, "Lame excuse, Ed—"

"The… Water?" Al blinked, looking over to the small stream we'd been drinking from. He spotted the larks and realization came across his face. "Oooh! It's the water that makes men drunk—for the most part—with lust, in a way, right?"

My eyes narrowed. "Nice definition, Al, but yeah—for the most part."

Winry's face almost fell, slightly, but… I'm just going to assume that's the water thinking that…

Then I spotted something else. A deep purple bruise on her left arm, a small cut right above what looked like a… thumb print…

My eyes widened. "Holy shit… Winry…" I reached my hand out carefully to take her arm and lightly brush over the cut, blood followed my digit as it crossed the now-purple skin. "I-I did that?" She recoiled slightly—almost as if she expected me to tackle her again…

"Winry…" I mumbled, despising the hurt tone in my voice. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the cut—but she tugged her arm back sharply.

"It's okay, Ed. You didn't mean to—"

"That's no excuse!" I snapped. "Did I hurt you anywhere else?"

"Ed, It's fine—"

"No. It's not fine. I hurt you." I growled, inspecting her other arm, then moving to her neck and rubbing my thumb over the bite marks. I found no reason to mask the self disgust that no-doubt took over my features.

She snorted. "You hurt me every time you left for the train station…"

I froze before dropping my head slightly, hoping my bangs would shadow over the possibly obvious guilt that I felt. "I… I know…"

I dropped to my knees and pushed her skirt up a tiny bit (I'm not a pervert) to confirm that my left hand didn't do nearly as much damage as my right before standing back up and running my fingers over the small blue spots forming on her neck—then moving to wash the blood off her arm with a bit of water that remained on my left hand, miraculously, through the whole ordeal.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled.

"You shouldn't be, I should- I am," I replied simply, gently letting her arm go and biting my lip slightly. I backed up and looked to Al, who witnessed the whole scenario and still managed to glance between us with sympathy. "We should go find something to make sure any rust that was on my hand—doesn't infect her cu—t." I winced as my voice cracked by covered it up, if only slightly, by moving toward the back-pack we were keeping supplies in and rummaging through the pockets. "Where'd you put that first-aid kit, Al? That'll save us the trouble of looking for plants out here. We don't even know the area that well—"

"Ed?"

I momentarily froze again before continuing my search for the small box. "Yeah, Win?"

"That… was a low blow. I'm still sorry."

"I deserved it, really, you were right anyway," I pulled the box from one of the pockets and zipped it back up before standing and moving carefully toward my mechanic (as one would move toward a injured, untrusting cat), opening the box as I walked the short distance.

"You don't deserve everything anyone throws at you, Ed. You didn't mean to hurt me, and you had to get Al back."

I didn't say anything in response, instead extracting a small bottle of disinfectant and a small cotton-ball. I dampened a small spot on the white, fluffy wad before taking Winry's arm with my left hand and rubbing the liquid over the cut with my right.

"Ed…"

"Yeah?" I pulled the wrapper from a band-aid and placed it over the cut, rubbing my left thumb over it afterwards to make sure it stuck.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." I replied shortly, digging in the box again before pulling out a roll of gauze. I wrapped it around the bruise gently. "Just to make sure it doesn't get any pressure put on it—branches or something…" I mumbled, glancing back at the trees briefly. "I'm going to make us a fire and find some dinner—It's getting dark."

A / N : Well, that was FUN! :D

I got the idea from the same concept in this book called Reckless, by Cornella Funke. It's epic, checkitout.

Honestly, best book I ever read. :3

So, Comment and stuff, okay? :3