Author's Notes: This fic is for Beanclam, who called me crazy for associating the random songs on the cd I made myself with FMA; I swore I'd prove her wrong. So I'm taking a line from each song and making it a drabble. Because if I'm crazy, I'd better be crazy for more reason than that, dammit.
This is the first half of the drabble-set; each is 150 words exactly, and the songs are, in order: Alissa's 'Mamboleo', Tomokazu Seki's 'Naked Mind', Belinda Carlisle's 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', Buck Tick's 'Gessekai', Laura Branigan's 'Self Control' remix, Orgy's 'Dreaming in Digital', Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's 'He Mele No Lilo', Sophie B Hawkins' 'Don't Tell Me No' and Paku Romi's 'Asu e no Basho'. With the exception of the Hawaiian, all lyrics are translated into English by yours truly.
By Association
--Voice and Laughter--
I fell in love with your voice and your laughter/
And just one smile always made me believe
The streets were crowded, all noise and flashing motion. A local holiday of sorts, Alphonse had supposed to his brother as they'd made their way from the train station just after sunset.
And there was plenty here to celebrate, the boy thought fondly from where he stood watching on the sidelines; the pale soulfire of his eyes had found a place where, amidst the sea of delight, a toddler clutched the finger of a dirt-smeared little boy no more than seven, chubby hand closed tight and bright eyes adoring.
Almost, it made him think of another time- of warm golden eyes and an irrepressible grin, of the sensation, just beyond recollection, of his brother's hand closed about his own.
"Al!" called the voice, and he turned before regret could set in, confronted by the laughing, childish wonder in Edward's eyes.
Someday, he promised himself, and moved to join the boy.
owari--
--Light and Shadow--
Without sound, it's pouring rain/
Light and shadow are, I think, your faith
The rain streamed quietly down the windowpane, tiny glinting rivulets dim in the stormy light of the afternoon. Alphonse watched them fall with a fascination perhaps a bit too intent, caught up in the notion that if the weather relented, even for a short while, the day might not seem so lifeless.
Because with Edward lying pale and drawn beneath the sheets of the hospital bed, wound newly stitched, it seemed as though the boy's suffering had leeched the color from the world.
Alphonse had turned away the priest that came just after his brother left surgery, incensed enough not to care when the man cowered before his frightening bulk- because it was unforgivable to imply that Ed might need the help of a God in which he didn't believe simply to survive.
After all, his brother put faith in the world around him- and that, Alphonse knew, was enough.
owari--
--The World's Alive--
And the world's alive/
With the sound of kids on the street outside
The fading glow of twilight crept in under the curtains, falling across the blankets in a bar of brightness that made the boy's hair glow a burnished gold. He lay motionless atop the bed, but his body thrummed with an air of expectancy, every inch of him aware and waiting.
Outside, somewhere far below the tiny apartment, a child screamed; it was a shriek of joy, wild and unadulterated, loud enough that he missed the quiet click of the door opening.
The touch of fingers warm on his bare stomach announced another's presence, and the boy stretched, leaned into the caress, opened his eyes with a lazy smile.
Alphonse leaned in to kiss him, then- long and slow, lingering.
After they'd parted, words came: "Do you remember when we used to play tag, brother?"
"How could I forget?" And a hand of steel reached out to draw the boy nearer.
owari--
--See You Again--
I'll swim alone in the deep darkness/
Until I can see you again
Alphonse no longer slept in the bed he remembered, worn blankets soft and reassuring; that bed, they told him, had burned.
There were no photographs here, either- or at least, none that he recalled. The house was full of Rockbell photos, pictures in which Winry grinned out from the vast majority of the small, glossy squares, he and his brother only mentions on the sidelines.
Things had changed.
And Granny Pinako had explained to him, as many times as he'd wanted to hear, about everything he no longer knew- had told him, time and again, about the daring, brilliant, astonishing young man that his brother had become.
It wasn't enough.
Not without the familiar laugh that pervaded every memory of his childhood- certainly not without those hands, dirty and usually scraped raw from scrabbling for purchase on tree branches.
And so he left it all- for something much more important.
owari--
--Never Stop Myself--
Another night, another day goes by/
I never stop myself to wonder why
The feeling came more naturally than anything he'd known- a searing, bitter hatred, thick enough to taste when he breathed in, letting it fill up his throat and lungs and body. It burned on the way down, but it was a good burn; it made him dizzy with the rush of it, made him lose a bit of himself in the tide of fury hot and vicious just below the surface.
He'd stopped wondering why it came long ago- there was no logic involved, after all, but he honestly didn't care. Didn't care that it made no sense to punish the boy for the sins of his father, or that by the same standards he'd be guilty himself. He was not merely content but fiercely glad at the way the anger boiled all other feelings to nothing in its wake.
There was obsession in that rage, and Envy embraced it.
owari--
--Expose Yourself--
And don't be afraid- expose yourself/
Before I shut you down
"Brother," Envy said, and molded a face that wasn't his own into the parody of concern. "What's wrong?"
And oh, it was sweet to see the Fullmetal brat reduced to this; the naked vulnerability in those eyes was bliss, was the promise of things to come, was the knowledge that soon there would be betrayal in its place, shock and hurt and other things far too subtle to put names to.
"Don't worry about it, Al." The kid was a shitty liar. "It's nothing."
Envy forced down the nasty smirk that threatened to overwhelm him, fought against the impulse to bear teeth in an expression that would be not at all in character. Instead he placed a hand on Ed's shoulder, paid close attention to the little shudder that came in response.
This would not be quite so hard as he'd imagined, Envy thought- and leaned in to kiss him.
owari--
--Gentle Rain--
The arches of rainbows, beams of colors unequalled/
Creations of love, passing along within gentle rain
There really was no way to tell for sure- but they'd argued anyway.
Ed had claimed that it was just fog, groused that the extra care he'd need to put into his automail wasn't fair when it wasn't even a proper storm. And Alphonse had laughed at him, elbowed his brother in the side, told him that if it was heavy enough to leave puddles it most certainly couldn't count as mist.
The punches were as much in play as the traded words had been, blows too light to hurt- but they ended up on the ground anyway, rolling hard in dark, muddy soil and grass thick with rain.
It wasn't until the sun peaked through the faded steel of the clouds that they paused, two sets of eyes rising to the place where light filtered in through tiny drops of water.
Beneath a streak of blended hues, they smiled.
owari--
--Ask Too Much--
Don't I ask too much? You tell me/
Long as I can keep on yelling
It had been a game of boundaries from the very beginning.
How hard he could push without having life spring back to catch him in the face. Whether the military needed him enough to ignore code violations. What it would take to see an expression less smug on Roy Mustang's face.
So he'd edged a bit closer that point where the line became indistinct- and suddenly, the boundary Ed had always supposed was somewhere just a little further off had been crossed.
Too late to stop, though, and he'd waited instead for an opportunity: one of many lovely women visiting the Colonel in his office.
They'd been taking bets by the time Ed finished, unable to agree whether the shouting could be heard two floors down or three.
He'd stopped on the way out with a wicked grin, promised that if there was a next time, it would be five.
owari--
--Aim For--
I raise my hands above my head/
And only the faint light that spills over them is the place we aim for
There was something indescribable about rising before dawn, a sort of power in understanding that before light had even touched the world, he was awake and alive, preparing for a day that hadn't yet been born.
It wasn't something that Edward had always appreciated- wasn't something he'd even thought about, before six months ago.
But then, he'd tried a lot of new things lately, struggling to readjust to a world in which the most he had to worry about was whether Winry could be trusted to kitten-sit while they were away.
And this new life was staggering- more so, the feel of Alphonse's shoulder, warm and flesh beneath his cheek, as the train lurched out of the station.
But if every day began with the morning light spilling though the window, roar of the tracks bellow him and his brother nearby, perhaps, Ed thought, the future could be something astonishing.
owari--