Learning To Fall
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I REALLY hope you enjoy this, and I only want positive feedback. If you don't have anything nice to say please keep it to yourself. Also if I hear a single short comment about Ed I will DESTROY you! Kisses! xoxoxoxoxox Taylor- :)
Sarah-Taylor-Rockbell's POV
I readjusted my dress over my knees for the hundredth time and gazed out of the window of the train that left from Central. I was meeting my cousin Winry at the station about half an hour from
Resembool, where she lived. I used to spend a lot of time there as a kid before Winry's parents died. She changed so much when we were little.
She grew up in a matter of months and by the time we were both around 12 she was already acting like my mother. So eventually I stopped going to see her. But about 2 days before today, Winry had called me in a panic. She needed something from the automail shop across the street from my house in downtown Central and I felt we were due for a visit. She seemed reluctant to tell me why she needed what she asked for, but I hadn't questioned her. I wondered if she still talked to those boys.
What were their names?
Alphonse and... my thoughts were interrupted by the whistle of the train approaching the station. I immediately stood up and lugged my heavy suitcases towards the door and waited. As the doors slid open I heard a high pitched squeal. "Sarah!" I heard Winry yell. I stepped onto the platform, dropped my suitcase and carefully set down Winry's supplies and opened my arms with a smile.
We hugged. Winry buried her face in my shoulder and I did the same. One thing I noticed I had missed about Winry was that she always smelt like automail oil, lemons and soap. I found myself taking in everything about her, in case this was the last time we'd see each other.
"God you look great. Is that a new dress?" Winry said, her bright eyes taking in my outfit. It was new but I didn't want to brag too much. My parents worked for the Führer so I always had a lot of nice things. I smiled at her and shook my head.
"I got it at a second hand shop on my way in. Isn't it just adorable?" Winry nodded enthusiastically and eyes the heavy metal case beside me. "is that my..." she trailed off as her eyes grew with excitement.
I laughed. "Yes, I got everything that was on your list. Titanium, steel alloy. It's lighter and stronger than the usual stuff you order. So what exactly are you doing with it, if you don't mind me asking?" she glanced behind her and I followed her eyes. A blond boy with golden eyes sat on a bench beside a big suit of armor. His red coat looked a little warm to be good for this weather but I noticed that when he stretched a glimmer of silver peeked from underneath the blood red fabric.
"Oh Win... Is that Ed?" I said looking down at my feet. I suddenly felt sick. She put her arm around me. "Sarah, don't worry about him. Sometimes your hearts too big for your own good." she laughed but it felt hollow and forced. I shrugged her arm off and picked up the bags and started to drag them toward the exit of the train station. "Let me help you with that." said a kind voice. I looked up with a smile and realized I was staring at the suit of armor that had been beside the boy in the red coat. My mouth formed words but no sound was really coming out. "Don't scream please!" said the suit of armor.
I just blinked and cautiously poked at the suit of armor. The metal was cool and smooth against my fingertips.
"This is Alphonse." said Winry.
Suddenly a picture came into my head. Two little blonde boys running around with Winry and I in granny Pinako's yard. One boy had been shorter and shy and another a bit taller and a tad obnoxious.
"Oh Alphonse, do you remember me? Wow you got big!" I said happily. I gave the suit of armor a hug.
Winry made a choking noise of surprise. I smiled up at Al, I couldn't tell if he was smiling, the armor was completely expressionless. After a moment Al spoke again sounding happy. "I remember you Sarah." I grinned.
"And where's Ed?" I said glancing over at Winry, noticing the bench where he had been sitting was now vacated. Suddenly there was a tap on my shoulder. I spun around and was face to face, well more like nose to chin with Ed.
"Hey Sarah." he said. "Hey." I said lamely, trying to think of something to say. "The oldest Elric, I can tell." I said smiling. Ed looked at me with surprise. "I knew you when you were a kid. I never forget a face." I pulled him in for a hug.
Ed stiffened and when I pulled away he had a slight flush to his cheeks. "Lemme take that." he mumbled and took the heavy case from beside me. I nodded and linked arms with Winry and motioned for Al to follow us. "Common guys! I wanna see Resembool before the sun goes down please." I teased.
Ed's POV
Sitting in the back of Winry's beaten up old truck beside Al I could vaguely hear Winry and Sarah talking. Sarah was interesting.
How her and Winry could be related was beyond me. One thing is she immediately hugged Al after her little freeze up then she hugged me. The last person to hug me was... Well probably my mom. Maybe Winry but if that happened I was having a memory block.
I peeked into the cab's window and saw Winry with a huge smile across her face. Sarah was completely animated when she was talking and apparently told a funny story because Winry laughed so hard she almost let go of the wheel.
"Brother." Al said quietly. I glanced up at him and grinned, "What's up?" I said.
He seemed to be staring off into the distance. "I can't believe she hugged me..." al said softly.
I reached over and patted his metal arm making a hollow clanging sound. "Don't worry about it. It's been a while since I got any kinda loving like that either." I chuckled and tried to pass it off as nothing but Al seemed focused on that moment.
What struck me as interesting was how she knew I was the older brother. Either Winry had told her or something else... I had vague memories of a curly haired girl clinging to the back of Winry's dress at the tea parties Winry dragged us to. I didn't really remember being introduced to her or anything either.
I looked up at the sky and watched the clouds race past us as we sped down the road towards Pinako's house. "I like Sarah." Al said after a while. I rubbed my nose and stretched out my good leg. "As long as she stays out of our way I'll like her too." I mumbled. Al protested but a huge bump in the road interrupted us and we were almost thrown from the truck.
I banged on the cab window and yelled. "Watch it Winry! I thought you were supposed to fix my automail, not break the rest of me!" she stuck out her tongue at me through the glass and Sarah covered her mouth and giggled.
I turned back around and faced the receding train station. I wondered if having Sarah around could be good for Winry. I dunno, maybe make her less violent. I was still recovering from being hit with a wrench. I was praying it wouldn't scar or bruise so I wouldn't have to explain my mechanic abuses me when I abuse her automail. I leaned back and let my hair fall over my eyes and settled in for a short cat nap. Hoping I wouldn't become airborne with Winry's bad driving.
Winry's POV
Granny Pinako sat quietly on her stool in the work shop hunched over an automail arm, screwdriver in hand and a pencil piercing her grey bun. I watched her as she twisted and turned each screw making the mechanic limbs twitch and move as if they were real.
Automail always amazed me. How despite Ed having only one arm and one leg still made of soft vulnerable flesh, his automail parts still reacted the same as the rest of his body. Ed sat (well kinda was propped up) on the couch while granny and I worked on his limbs.
The new ones I asked Sarah to pick up for me in central were just a work of art. The way the screws were barely even visible to the naked eye, the way everything was welded together, almost like it was in one piece but still had a huge range of movement. I started to daydream when I heard Sarah come in.
I glanced up at her and smiled. She was carrying a tray of lemonade and some sandwiches. "I got bored. I know Ed doesn't like milk so I made something we can all drink together." I peeked at Ed who seemed to have somehow managed to sit up a bit straighter despite his absent limbs. Sarah all at once noticed his condition and almost dropped the tray.
She quickly recovered and placed the tray on the table across from Ed and plopped herself down beside him. I could never get in his little bubble of space like that unless I had a wrench either to fix him or threaten to hit him with. Sarah just seemed to have a calming effect on the boys. For the past few days neither Ed nor Al had been fighting at all or had taken off on some crazy mission for whatever they were looking for.
Sarah picked up a glass of lemonade and held it up to Ed. He started to push himself up into a more comfortable position so he could take the cup when she held the cup to his lips.
"Go on, I think you'll like it. I put lots of sugar in it." her easy smile was contagious. I couldn't help smiling too.
"Well Ed, don't be rude!" I said shaking my wrench at him. Ed gulped and tilted his head up so Sarah could help him drink. His face bloomed into shades of pink and red as he tried to remain calm.
"Thanks." Ed said looking out the window refusing to make eye contact. "I would rather do it on my own from now on thanks." Ed's tone wasn't angry but tinged with a bit of embarrassment. I could detect it but I wasn't positive about Sarah. And sure enough Sarah's smile disappeared and her face became blank. "I'm sorry then Edward. I overstepped. I was just trying to help." her head fell forward and I heard her take a shaky breath.
"oh great!" I said under my breath and collected up Sarah, guiding her out into the yard. "Sorry win." she said sniffling. Big tears had already started to well up.
"Sarah you have no idea how many tears I have shed for that boy. You didn't do anything wrong at all. Ed just is too proud to accept help." I said as reassuringly as I could. She wiped her eyes with a hanky I held out to her. When she looked up at me with a weak smile she had a grease stain across her nose. I started giggle.
Sarah looked confused then went to rub her nose, an when it came back black looked surprised. We both started laughing hysterically until our faces were streaked with a different kind of tears. We laughed for the stupidity of Ed, not knowing when to be nice, we laughed that little Alphonse Elric was now a hunkering suit if armor taller than his brother, we laughed about our lives being so different yet we could come together every time. Soon the laughter died and we lay on our backs staring up at the stars, heads leaned towards each other.
"Sarah, do you believe in heaven?" I said quietly, the crickets sang in the background as I stared into the never ending blackness if the sky. Sarah propped herself up in her elbows and her curly brown hair fell over her shoulders.
"Win if there's a heaven, you're parents are there. I promise." she whispered as she put a reassuring hand on top of mine. I squeezed her hand and squeezed my eyes shut too. The word and everything around me was swallowed up by blackness. 'what if they did bad things?' I thought to myself. Sarah laid out on the porch until Alphonse (somehow) quietly stood over us and asked us if we were coming inside.
As we stood up Sarah gripped the back of my overalls and looked at her feet. I sighed a little. Ed had kind of pushed Sarah back into her shell. It was going to take a he'll of a lot of coaxing to get her out again.
Sarah's POV
I woke up to the sound of metal crashing together. Immediately I jumped up and ran to the window. Al and Ed were on the lawn sparring. I sighed in relief. A knock on my door made me turn around. Winry's long blonde hair was braided over her left shoulder and she was rubbing her eyes.
"Don't freak out. This is a normal occurrence. I'm sorry about last night. Ed should seriously apologize." I shook my head and tucked a loose curl behind my ear. "It's no big deal Win. I just had a bit of a rough time before I came down and I hadn't let myself get really upset." Winry sat on the edge of the guest bed where my blankets were still rumpled from the restless, fitful sleep from the night before.
I had only dozed off against around dawn as the sun was rising. Then the boys decided to start a loud fight at around 8. 'So much for a good night sleep'. I thought to myself yawning. Winry let herself fall into the blankets and pouted her lips. "Are you ok?" she asked without looking at me.
I nodded and rooted through my suitcase for a pair of sock. The floor was cold. "What would you like for breakfast?" I asked cheerfully. Winry looked up at me then. Her stomach growled and she frowned. "Damn. I forgot about food." she laughed. "I'll ask the guys." she said as she padded out of the room.
She messed up my hair with her fingers and smiled. "Sunshine, pretending to be ok and being ok are two different things." she whispered with a kind smile, then stepped out into the hall. I listened as her footsteps died away and I was left alone in the room. I groaned inwardly. Those damn nightmares again.
Every night since coming to Resembool I had this same dream about the worst day in my whole life. I closed my eyes and let the haunting nightmare flow back into my mind. I was standing in the back alley behind the bakery where I worked part time. My boss's son and I had been dating for about a month or two.
He was extremely sweet then, he bought me flowers every week and called whenever he wanted. But he had been going through my purse and found a letter from my old friend Matt and lost his mind. He beat me mercilessly that night. I remembered limping all the way home to find my house empty.
My mother was working late again and my father was traveling somewhere. I collapsed on the floor and blacked out. When I woke up the next morning my kind neighbor had bandaged me up and promised not to tell anyone what happened. I was so shamed. My head started to swim in memory and I reflexively brushed my hand against my side where my rib had been broken. I was still a little tender there and I winced.
"I heard you scream last night." I spun to face the voice so fast I almost lost my balance. Ed was sitting on the edge if my bed where Winry had been before. "How did you..." I started to say and Ed just grinned. Window was open. You should be careful. Some creep might end up coming in and..." he never finished that train of thought. He just looked up at me.
"You screamed last night. And I've heard you cry in your sleep these past few days." I looked away from him. "Ya well I had a nightmare." I said defensively. Ed continued. "Who's Tom?" He said softly. I shook my head. I wasn't going to get Edward involved.
"He was my cat." I said through gritted teeth.
Ed sighed. "Sarah if we're going to be friends you're going to have to start telling me the truth." I took a deep breath, "Ed, I can't do this right now." Ed looked out the window, where Den and Alphonse were playing amongst the grass and Pinako was smoking her pipe. "Sarah, you think the military wouldn't be altered when the daughter of the Führer's assistant was assaulted?" I inhaled sharply.
So people did know about Tom. I started to feel dizzy.
"Sarah, if we're friends now, that means I'm going to protect you. I'm going to protect you like I protect my own brother and Winry." I swallowed hard and slowly extended my hand to touch Ed's exposed automail arm. It responded to my touch like a human arm but remained ice cold and unyielding.
"Thank you Edward." I said with, for the first time in a long time, a touch of happiness to my words. I ran my fingers down his arm until I reached his hand. Then I gingerly took and squeezed. He slowly squeezed back and he leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes.
We stayed like that for a moment until Ed exhaled. "I should probably go. Winry's going to wonder if I got eaten." We both laughed and I opened my eyes to find a red faced Ed. I followed his eyes and noticed my shirt's top two bottoms were undone a little bit of my cleavage.
"Oops, I keep forgetting to fix that." I said laughing. Ed turned his face away as I attempted to button my shirt back up. Suddenly a crash from the door made both me and Ed look to the door. Winry stood there her hands now empty and a tray full of toast and fruits were scattered at her feet, along with a shattered pitcher of orange juice.
"I didn't realize I was interrupting anything." she said in an empty voice.
Ed moved away from me immediately andstood up. "I'm going to train with Al." Ed said to nobody in particular.I watched Winry's face twist into a forced smile as Ed passed. When Ed left Winry started to collect the abandoned food. I joined her and started to collect rogue grapes.
"I didn't realize you and Ed were so close." Winry said after a few moments of silent cleaning. I laughed.
"Win there is NOTHING going on there. It was totally an accident; no matter how bad that looks I'd never do that. You're my best friend in the world and I know how you feel about Ed." I said as I poured my handful of grapes onto the tray. I glanced up and saw Winry was totally frozen.
"Sarah I have no idea what you are talking about." she said in a hollow voice. I smiled to myself. "Of course you don't dear." I said as we scraped the last bits of food onto the tray.
Winry straightened up. "I'll get a broom." she said. I just nodded and started to pick up the bigger pieces of glass. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my hand. I flipped it palm up and inspected the damage. The cut wasn't deep but it was long. The blood was already starting to well up and drip onto the floor. "Hey, you better put pressure on that." Ed said. I looked up to see him holding a handkerchief out to me. I took it and pressed it against my hand. It stung.
"Winry's mad." he said softly and he tried gently as he could to tie the handkerchief around my hand. I shrugged. I knew she was upset but she had to know that I wasn't messing around with Ed, didn't she? I winced as he tightened the cloth around my hand. He stood up and patted my head.
"Watch it, don't hurt yourself anymore." He waved over his shoulder and he left and I tried to follow him. I had seen something in Ed, like a big brother, protecting me. And in this weak moment I wanted that more than anything. But instead of getting to Edward I ended up just stepping on more glass. I yelped in pain and fell backwards. Winry barreled in, wearing shoes and wielding a broom.
"Sarah you idiot." he swept the glass out of the doorway and she crossed the room to me. She gently slipped off my sock and I had to bite my lip to hold in a screech. I had bled right through the sock. Three large pieces of glass stuck out of my feet and I watched as blood dripped off the jagged edges and onto Winry's lap. She sighed. "Hold still this going to hurt." she said. I braced myself. Quickly Winry yanked out the first piece of glass and I screamed. Winry looked up at me with a little concern. I couldn't help thinking that maybe she enjoyed this a bit if she didn't believe me about Ed.
"Just rip the last two out at the same time." I said through gritted teeth and I scratched my nails against the floor. Winry took hold of glass gingerly then swiftly yanked both pieces out and I only let out a small moan. Windy quickly left to get me something to stop the bleeding with. I leaned against the foot of the bed, feeling pathetic and stupid. I could vaguely hear Edward and Winry whisper shouting down the hallway about what was the best way to help me.
I smiled to myself amidst the pain. I thought to myself, how much my parents really knew about what happened with Tom. I had assumed there had been no witnesses and the only person who knew was my neighbor. Winry came in then, interrupting my evil plans of revenge involving a catapult and a barrel of grapes. She wrapped some gauze around my foot and smiled at me. "I'm sorry if I snapped at you before." I just waved her off.
"Win I get it, it was a little sketchy wasn't it?" She rolled her eyes at me, "No, you think?" she stuck her tongue out at me.
"What did you guys talk about? And don't think you can take off because that cut in your foot was worse than it looked. You're gonna have to stay off it for at least three days. So we have time to talk. I sighed and patted the space beside me. Winry and I made ourselves comfortable on my bed while I told her my story.
Ok readers, I'm sorry for some speling mistakes. But this entire story was typed up on my ipod and my autocorrect isn't really working. please tell me where the misakes are and I'll fix them. But I'd prefer to have no rude comments that I can't spell please and thanks you. Hugs and kisses! -Taylor