Transmutation Circle
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. Not me.
"Granny, I'm bored!" little Winry Rockbell whined, kicking her legs energetically as she sat on one of the dining room chairs. She hopped off the chair neatly, her short blonde hair bouncing as she turned to look at her grandmother. Pinako Rockbell was busy tinkering with something – she'd been assigned babysitting duties when her son and his wife were suddenly called away for something urgent.
Winry liked it when her grandmother babysat. The old woman rarely dissuaded Winry from anything, and would agree to whatever the little girl said. At the same time, she didn't like it when her parents weren't at home – their absence made the house feel empty.
She didn't have the patience to play with puppy Den, nor with her numerous toys. The day was clear, the sun shining brightly outside. "Granny, I'm going out!" she called, skipping to the door. "I'm gonna find Ed and Al and play with them!"
"You do that," Pinako replied absently, tweaking some gears on her newest project. She knew her granddaughter would be safe with the two boys. Not that anything was likely to threaten the little girl in the peaceful town of Resembool. "Don't stay out too long, you hear?"
She turned to fix her granddaughter with a stern glance, only to find the girl gone.
"Ah, well," she sighed, turning back to her pottering. "They grow up so fast."
Winry ran towards the Elric household, her bare feet brushing against the grass. She giggled slightly at the ticklish feeling, pausing as the house came into sight. But something else had caught her eye.
He was squatting underneath a massive tree, drawing something. His brother sat next to him, watching quietly. His face was a mask of concentration as he slowly brought the chalk around to form a circle. He started drawing lines inside the circle, his brother occasionally pointing something out. Intrigued, she stepped a little closer, trying to be as silent as possible and hoping that they wouldn't raise their heads.
They didn't. The older brother finished his drawing and let his hands rest on the edge of the circle, closing his eyes. He furrowed his forehead, and the drawing of the circle lit up alarmingly.
She held back a squeak of terror, her blue eyes wide as she watched the light die away. In the middle of the circle was… something. She was too far away to see exactly what it was – but it was evidently a good thing, as Edward got to his feet and beamed at his brother. He bent down and scooped up the little thing – a figurine of sorts? – and set off towards the house with Alphonse behind him. They moved around the house and disappeared from her sight.
She walked closer, until she was under the shade of the tree and her feet were inches away from the chalky lines drawn on the ground. Grass had never grown under the tree, for some odd reason, and so the lines were still clear. She sat down, looking at the white lines curiously, wondering what exactly the Elric brothers had done. How had they lit up the circle?
She dragged a finger along the outline of the circle, careful not to come in direct contact with the chalk lines, in case the drawing lit up again. Her nose scrunched up as she tried to figure out what they had done – but after a few minutes, she gave up, content to just stare at the circle and the strange squiggles drawn around it.
After a while, she decided she wanted to try, too. So she placed her hands on the circle, as Edward had done, and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. She wasn't sure what she was aiming to create – but surely, something would pop up. She didn't feel anything, and she sat there for a few minutes, willing the circle to light up again.
After some time, she opened her eyes, eager to see what she had created. Her face fell when she saw nothing in the centre of the drawing. There was no change in the circle at all.
She tried again, and then a third time, determined to make something happen. Finally, she had to admit defeat. She sat back, a pout on her face, glaring at the chalk drawing.
It was then that she realized something. There were some places the Elric brothers could go, where she couldn't follow.
She'd learned that so many years ago. And yet, here she was, sitting under the same tree with a piece of chalk in her hands.
Winry sighed, brushing a tendril of pale hair out of her face. She didn't know what had come over her all of a sudden. She'd found a piece of chalk her grandmother used to note down adjustments on auto-mail pieces, and something had compelled her to bring it out, to the clearing beneath the tree.
So much had changed in those years, she thought sadly, staring straight ahead. A house had once sat there – a cheery, cozy house. But now, that was all gone. All of them had lost so much in those years. Sometimes it felt like too much had been taken away.
Her fingers tightened around the piece of chalk, almost breaking it. Startled, she looked down, seeing some pieces of chalk fall off the cylindrical stick.
How had that circle gone again…?
She dragged the chalk around the soil, making sure the lines were clear. She frowned as she saw the result – something that more resembled an oval than a circle. She rubbed it out, trying again.
This time, the lines were shaky. Winry sighed loudly and rubbed it out again.
The third time, the lines were steady enough to serve her purpose. She closed her eyes as she tried to remember the exact shapes and runes on the circle.
She started drawing again, her strokes slow and deliberate. Finally, the image in front of her resembled the transmutation circle she'd seen, all those years ago.
She looked at it for a while, oddly proud of her work. Although she'd always teased Edward about being an alchemy-obsessed freak, she found the actual science – or magic, whatever it was called – quite interesting. Alphonse had once explained the logic behind alchemy, but her brain still had difficulty grasping the concept. She chewed on the inside lining of her cheek, wincing as her teeth bit down on the tender skin.
"All right. Here goes," she spoke aloud, pocketing the piece of chalk. Tentatively, she let her hands rest on the circle, closing her eyes for effect. She concentrated on an image of a dog, trying to will the figurine into creation.
Something warm flickered on her fingertips. She opened her eyes in astonishment, half-expecting to see the little dog figurine formed in the middle of the circle.
Nothing.
Winry's shoulders slumped. She should have learned her lesson when she was young. What was the point in trying to do something beyond her abilities? She roughly swept the bottom half of the circle away, scrubbing at her face.
"Stupid…" she muttered, sighing and leaning back to rest her back against the trunk of the tree. "Stupid Elric brothers, who can do something I can't."
They made it look so easy. Especially now that Al had regained his memory of 'the Truth' and could perform alchemy without a circle. Clap your hands, lay them on something, and voila! You can create something new.
Then again, she could do things they couldn't. Edward couldn't fix his auto-mail with alchemy, after all. A small smile crept onto her face. She had something they didn't.
Still… it would have been something to be able to perform alchemy.
Winry frowned, shaking her head. She knew that she would always be one step behind them – all the better to catch them if they fell, she thought wryly. And to push them onwards if they faltered. She was their back-up crew.
And after all, the story eventually did have a happy ending.
"Win! What're you doing?" Edward Elric asked curiously as he saw his childhood friend sitting next to the transmutation circle he'd drawn. Alphonse looked inquiringly at the girl.
"I was trying to find you guys." She sounded grumpy. "And then I saw you do that." She waved vaguely at the circle, still pouting.
Alphonse wanted to laugh, but he didn't. "Did you try to do it, too, Winry?" he asked kindly, sitting down next to his friend. "It's okay if you couldn't. Not everyone can. We just started learning ourselves."
"How did you do it?" she burst out, looking affronted. "Why can you do it and I can't?"
Edward looked annoyed. "'Cause we know how to," he answered loftily. Winry stuck out her tongue at him, her cheeks slowly beginning to turn red with anger.
His features softened. "Okay, okay," he laughed. "I'll show you how to do it." He knelt down beside her, re-sketching the circle. "Okay, here goes. Watch carefully," he instructed the girl. Winry nodded eagerly, watching the circle.
Edward placed his hands on the circle and closed his eyes. A flash of light illuminated the circle, and Winry and Alphonse were forced to look away. When they looked back, something had appeared in the middle of the circle. It looked like…
"A wrench?" Winry asked blankly. "Why'd you make a wrench?"
Edward shrugged. "I always see you looking at your granny's tools," he replied nonchalantly. "So I made one for you. It's not very strong, though." He plucked it off the ground and offered it to her. She beamed as she accepted the gift.
"Is it made out of dirt? Feels like it," she spoke.
"Yeah," Alphonse replied. "But it's pretty, isn't it? It was nice of you to make it for Winry, big brother," he added, turning to his brother. Edward scowled.
"I just did it so she would shut up and stop asking questions," he said rudely. Winry's eyes narrowed with rage.
"Oh yeah?" And with one swift movement, she flung the transmuted wrench at Edward's head.
AN: Aww. I liked this. Give me some feedback, please?