Looking Out
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fic by Elise
Spoilers for characters introduced up to episode 30 or so. Anime continuity.
Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine, making this a fanfic. Therefore, there is no profit being made. Enjoy it for free!
Izumi and Winry reflect separately on children, and bond a little over a son long lost.
They stood inside the house, at the window, looking out. Winry watched the town kids running around outside, playing games. "It's nice to see you again," she said to the woman next to her. She glanced over and saw Izumi's smile.
"Thank you for visiting, Winry. It's good to see you too."
She noticed that Izumi's gaze followed that children, her eyes dark and sad. Winry frowned. She must be thinking of that boy. The one they'd found on the island, with the wild black hair and the purple eyes.
Winry felt a pang. Izumi cared so much for Ed and Al, like they were her sons. But they were all grown up, or nearly so, and Izumi could never have a real baby of her own. She could only watch the townsfolks' children play from her window.
She didn't want a child of her own, not yet anyways. She had other, bigger priorities. Learning all she could about automail, of course, and taking care of those Elric brothers. But she understood, a little. Sometimes she wanted a little body to snuggle and care for, someone to call her Mommy and need her more than anyone else in the world.
The blonde girl didn't know exactly how it felt, to lose the only baby you'd ever be able to have, the only life you'd ever be able to bring about with the one you loved. But she imagined it was kind of like losing her parents, or watching Ed and Al run off to some dangerous place they'd refuse to tell her about.
It was a pain in your heart that made tears swell in your eyes. Your whole body stiffened and lost it's strength. It felt like that and more and less all at once. It seemed to go away, or get better at least, until it came crashing back around your head and the tears started all over again no matter how hard you tried.
At least Ed and Al always came back, eventually. The thought made her smile.
"Izumi?" she said softly, thinking again about the children outside. "Do you mind... if I ask you about about Wrath?" She shook her head, making her hair swing into her eyes. That wasn't right. She didn't want to know about the homunculus. "No. What I mean is, do you mind if I ask you about your son?"
The older woman looked startled at first. Her eyes went wide, her mouth parted a little, and she had turned abruptly toward Winry. She relaxed with a slow smile, though, and Winry let the breath she'd unconsciously caught out. "Go ahead."
"Did he have a name?" Not "what is" or "was". But "did he". He'd been just a tiny child when he died. Winry wanted to know, had Izumi swelled with pride while he was growing inside her? Did she and Sig sit together, planning what to call the child if it was a boy or if it was a girl?
She wanted Izumi to remember the hope and the joy she'd felt back when her son was still under her heart. Like she did when Ed and Al came home to her. Izumi looked back out the window, her dark hair falling over the mark on her chest. She stared out the window at the playing children for a moment longer.
"Lif," she said finally. "Lif Curtis."
Notes:
Wrath's real name was never really given in the original version, and I haven't watched the dub, so I'm taking liberties.
Lif- According to my book of baby names, Lif is derived from the Old Norse "lifr", meaning "life". Pronounced "leef", so I think it's a rather attractive name. Lif Curtis.