the ghost of you
- a fullmetal alchemist multichapter of idealistic fantasies and realistic tragedies. oh, and ed is a girl from the beginning. yeah, i went there.
(X)
- CHAPTER 001 : old ends and new beginnings
Power corrupts the greatest of man.
Roy Mustang knows he should have never stepped foot in Resembool. The fact that when he fell asleep on the train and had nightmares of a war he hadn't dreamed about in months should've been enough of a premonition. He was there to look at a potential female state alchemist, which would boost the military's reputation with the general public, having a female alchemist in their ranks, and then in turn boost his own reputation with the higher-ups. Though when he realized that Edith Elric was in fact an abnormally-small eleven year old girl with no arms, he should have left. It was just a pile of paperwork and nights of headaches waiting to happen.
But the moment she turns golden eyes to him, oddly wide and bright and young, and says she wants to join the military, he knows he's doomed. He is aware that he is an adult, and if she joins he will be responsible for her, but there's no arguing in her tone. He should tell her no, if not for the fact that she is still a child and there are some cruel men out there, then for the fact that joining the military is a dangerous path he wouldn't wish on anyone. Hawkeye would kill him if she were here.
But he gives in, and tries to ignore the tall suit of armor sobbing in the corner.
When Edith first gets the automail, she is self-conscious, which is to be expected. But she takes it to an extreme which Winry has never seen before. It takes her a week to actually get out of bed, and nearly three to actually step out of the room besides bathroom trips. It takes about two months for her to feel comfortable just wearing a simple cloth tank top without a blanket or jacket covering her arms. But once Ed gets going, it takes a lot to stop her. After she starts working out with the metal arms and training, Winry has to stay up late to make sure Edith doesn't overwork herself and start coughing up blood or strains her shoulders.
The taller girl doesn't understand, not really, but she pretends to, because Ed is like a sister to her. She runs her hands through Ed's shaggy hair, nearly as golden as the girl's eyes, and not an ugly yellow like her own. She comforts her with empty words and hugs the small girl when she cries. She tells her that the automail is actually kind of cool and hey, she can beat up anyone who calls her short. Edith smiles at that, which is progress, really.
Winry asks her grandma why Ed lost her arms in the first place, but old grannie Pinako just gives her a sad look and says she'll find out when she's older. She tries to ask Alphonse once, but he just isn't the same. She wonders if anything will ever be the same.
Edith had nightmares at first. She dreamed of blood and transmutation and Gods, and Alphonse why are you crying? She dreams of a monster that was once upon a time her mom, She dreams of soft brown hair and childhood, all disfigured and turned morbid by the blood splatters and screams. She dreams of a small toddler version of her crying out for her father's attention, and Alphonse tugging at her shirt. She gets used to them after a while, and learns to stop waking up gasping for air.
She continues to study and practice alchemy, and decides to grow her hair long and start braiding it. She finds it symbolic in it's own way, a coming-of-age type thing. As another coming-of-age act, she gets a flamel tattoo on the side of her left thigh when she turns thirteen, and ignores granny Pinako's dissapproving looks.
She is glad that she has both legs, so she can wear shorts at her leisure, but still covers her arms with a red coat that reached just above her thighs. She would rather hide the proof of her failure from outside eyes.
Speaking of failures, Alphonse seems to be getting happier too, almost. He is still a seven-feet tall suit of armor, but he's talking more and making those crying noises less. She hopes he doesn't resent her, although there is no blaming him if he does. She is waiting for him to yell at her, be furious, but she knows that is not in her kind little brother's nature. He still calls her sister and spars with her for training, and she wonders if he is holding back. In everything.
"So, what are you guys, like street performers or something?" The vendor says, absently wiping his sleeve on his forehead, sweating because of the sweltering heat. He can't believe these crazy kids, wearing armor and jackets in this kind of weather.
The small girl is gobbling down food in a way he's never seen a girl eat before, and the boy in armor sits there politely speaking to him and apologizing for his sister's table manners. But apparently what he's said has offended the girl, because she gets up to leave along with the taller boy. Although he is clumsy, and knocks down the radio, smashing it into pieces.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry, here I'll fix it!" The young voice of Alphonse Elric says apologetically. The vendor is skeptical, but he sees the girl's wide smirk and is suddenly unsure if these are just normal kids. The armor-clad boy bends down and he draws a circle with strange designs and markings, and holds his hands over the shattered radio. It all looks sort of ridiculous, but then the radio is fixed.
He exclaims that they've been blessed by the Sun-God, but then they start speaking of alchemy.
"We're the Elric siblings!" the girl, Edith, he finds out, says with pride. The crowd gathers around them and everyone suddenly feels a rush of excitement. These two children are basically celebrities in their own right.
"So you're the Fullmetal Alchemist! I can see why!" one man shouts with a delighted chuckle to the tall suit of armor. He looks almost sheepish, if it's possible for armor to show emotion. He points to the girl shyly.
"Um, my older sister is actually the Fullmetal Alchemist," the young girl looks furious, and starts shouting random obscenities into the air.
Crazy kids. He doesn't think he'll forget them so soon.
an; i know some people are going to hate me for this and oooohhh i just really wanted to try it. i'm probably gonna go with the brotherhood series, instead of the '03 one, cause i'm a sucker for ling. don't worry, there will be changes. maybe not sp much at first, but they will come. hopefully.
i named ed, edith, since there are a lot of religious themes in fma and i thought, why not add more. although i'm not all that knowledgable in religion or alchemy, so i'll probably be doing a lot of research during the course of this fic. sorry if you see any glaring mistakes.