Midnight Illumination
By Lightning Rain
As the sun disappeared earlier, the sparse street lights flickered into life to combat the blackness and quiet that settled over the city. The night was moonless. It was one of those thick central nights when the only light came from the weak street lamps that lay at interval down the main drags. A few people were hurrying home or meandering down to one of the city's numerous bars. But soon as night settled into place the city became quiet in earnest.
For a brief instant the dark and quiet broke. A blinding flash of blue illumined the sky, but only for a second, dying with a hiss of pain and a soft curse.
"Damn" a lone figure gasped clutching his leg.
Staggering to stand, a young man slowly emerged from a faintly glowing ally to traverse the ill lit streets. The damp silence was only broken by the thump of his heavy, wet boots. Thump, thump, thump. One boot trialed behind leaving glistening red foot prints on the damp gray pavement.
As he trekked on the man became overcome by a bout of fatigue. He gave up on his onward march and settled down on a nearby bench to stop the slow tickle of blood coming from his left calf. Carefully, he rolled up his dirty pant leg to see the damage. The deep puncture wound glowed deep red in the yellowish light. He grimaced slightly as he looked, if only he had landed slightly more to the right to avoid that piece of stupid scrap metal, or better yet, hit his other leg. Sighing, he tore a strip from the muddy white shirt and warped it tightly around the wound. After the bleeding was sufficiently stifled, all adrenaline left him and pure exhaustion settled in; his vision faded as he slumped back.
Riza felt her hand drift towards her holster slung around her waist, as she heard more rustling from the dark alley. Black Hayate let out a sharp bark into the blackness. More rustling. The dog was now fully orientated towards the entrance of the alley as Riza gently slipped her gun free. A few minutes of silence passed before Hayate let out another bark and an orange cat streaked out of the alley.
As her heart returned to its normal rhythm, she shook her head. She was being silly. It may have been altogether too late to be out on the deserted streets for her peace of mind, but one look at the happily tooting pup in front of her eased her paranoia a little. After all, it was him that caused her to be out so late, him and his big sad puppy eyes. When she returned from headquarters after staying late to deal with Mustang's procrastination, she had faced an overly excited black dog: tail swinging and leash in mouth. She couldn't resist. So there she was on the midnight streets of Central with a happy dog and a paranoid state of mind.
Fortunately the walk went on without further incident as she rounded the corner on to her street. She could feel the tension leaving her shoulders as her apartment building came into sight. Though as she passed the park, she stopped short as she caught sight of a lone figure slumped in one of the benches. The man seemed to be passed out.
"Probably just a drunk" she whispered to Hayate.
Deftly taking hold of her gun, she gingerly approached the shadowed figure. Bathed in yellow light, the man came into full view. Riza's heart dropped, a large glistening blotch was visible on the man's pant leg and she spotted red-brown footprints disappearing back into the darkness further down the street. Swiftly, with her hand still on the trigger, she closed the distance between herself and the stranger.
"Sir?" she asked with concern coloring her voice.
"Sir, are you OK?"
The man's head lifted and dim, bleary gold eyes met hers. The gold-hazel color pricked at her memory. She had only known one person with that exact golden eye color and he was…
"Hawkeye?" Edward said bemused. His face was pale from exhaustion and blood loss.
"Edward?" she questioned. Her eyes grew wide and she slowly lowering her gun, as disbelief sunk in. The man nodded and gave her a small painful smirk.
"In the flesh…mostly..." he said lifting his right wrist slightly. The metal gleamed in the weak yellow light.
Fullmetal was back. Riza dropped her leash in shock, freeing Hayate to rush at Edward and lick his face.
He was back.
.
.
.
This is just a short scene I had in mind if Edward return to Amestris before the movie in the original series. I loved to hear comments or complains or views or any other random thoughts you may have.
~Lightning Rain