Who is she?
I wrote this story cause I found that there really wasn't a person in the entire show that Al could love like romantically. Really, Ed had Winry, Colonel Mustang had Riza Hawkeye, and even colonel Hughes (may his soul rest in peace) had his wife (and the daughter he wouldn't shut up about lol).
"Do you mind?" Al said as another person shoved him in the streets. Germany was definitely different from Resembool but he was going to have to get used to it someday.
"Just keep pushing and shoving," Ed laughed scratching the back of his head as people nailed him in the arm but in turn only hurt themselves on the metal. "I thank God for the arm and leg Winry gave me."
"At least when I was metal this wasn't such a big deal," Al said moodily as he was pushed again. "And I can't remember a time where we ever lived in a place like this."
"These people live there daily lives without alchemy," Ed said as if it were the most extraordinary thing in the world. "This place is like it is filled with Isbalians!"
"But now we have to live that life," Al yawned as he was shoved hard enough that he fell to the ground on his butt. "And it's going to take me a while to get used to this. At least when I fall down all I have to do is clap my hands and the ground will push me back to my feet."
"But then again it made life lazy and not really fun at all," Ed said offering his hand to Al who took it thankfully. "Where's the thrill in the adventure of it all? Where the happiness that you get after doing a hard days work and all? You can't substitute that with alchemy."
"But at least my butt wouldn't be as sore," he said wiping the dirt of the back of his brown trousers. "And I hate this clothing. It's so uncomfortable and stiff. Why do we have to wear this again?"
"Because if you haven't noticed we are trying to fit in around here," Ed said. "And I let you wear that red alchemy sweater of yours so think of it as a blessing."
"I guess your right brother," Al said looking at his brother. When he saw Ed for the first time in 2 years it was weird for he wasn't at all the same as he remembered him to be. He wore clothing that was strange beyond belief and his hair that used to be short was long and tied into a ponytail. When he got his memories back he was remembered all the times that Ed wore his hair in a braid and he much preferred it over the ponytail. When he had told Ed this, Ed had laughed his brotherly laugh then said, I kind of miss that braid too. After that day he wore his hair in the same braid that Al always remembered him wearing.
"Of course I'm right," laughed Ed as people stared at him and Al weirdly. Al knew why they all stared. Ed tried to explain why Al wasn't supposed to wear his normal clothing but Al still didn't understand why until Ed let him wear his alchemy sweater out. People thought him strange and unusual as they had seen Ed when he first arrived in Germany but even though people ridiculed Al because of his jacket he still wore it even to this day. Ed did the same thing with his braid that people thought was a hairstyle only meant for girls to where. Al could still see the traveller's faces as the walked through the town.
"What did Noah want us to get again?" Al asked looking down the street at the open market when he saw a girl in a brilliant coloured skirt dancing happily clapping her hands as people walked by. Her hair flowed out gently instead of being pulled back like all the proper girls and her skirt rested just above her knee which was dangerously high for a girl in the society. "Who is she?"
"I don't know," Ed smiled at his entranced younger brother. "She comes here around this time of year to dance. Why don't you go ask her for her name?"
"I can't do that," Al said flustered as his cheeks went pink with embarrassment.
"It's easy talking to girls," Ed laughed. "You just have to be sincere about everything you say."
Al didn't step forward but just watched the girl spin and sway wildly to the sound a drums that were coming from a younger boy behind her with the same style shirt on as she did which was a loose tan coloured shirt.
"Is she a gypsy like Noah?" Al asked watching the bracelets clash together making a beautiful chiming sound from her wrists and her ankles.
"I do believe she is," Ed said as people threw coins into a hat by her feet. She looked so happy dancing there with nothing to hide. Her blue eyes scanned around excitedly until they stopped, meeting Al's which made him blush bright red. She stopped dancing and people who had surrounded her clapped lightly then walked away.
"She was looking at you," Ed teased as he started to walk in the other direction. "I'll meet you at the apartment in a few hours so don't be late!"
"Where are you going?" Al asked turning to watch his brother disappear into the crowd. Curse his shortness, he thought to himself which made him laugh for he knew exactly what Ed would have said about that comment.
"You over there!" yelled the girl down running towards him with a smile on her face. Al couldn't help but stare at the girl with her bracelets jingled mesmerizing him.
"Sari," the boy who played the drums yelled out following the girl with a scared expression on his face. "Sari, wait up!"
"Hey," she said stopping right in front of Al with a sweet smile on her lips. "Your jacket is very beautiful. You aren't from around here are you?"
"I-I…" Al tried to say something…anything but no words seemed to pass through his lips except mumbling.
"Sari, dads gonna be mad if we don't bring home at least 3 dollars," he said pulling at his sisters arm. Al looked down at the little boy who he had just noticed look a lot like the girl. He had to be at least 8 years old and was frantically looking around at the passers by.
"One minute," the girl said a little annoyed. "Sorry, this is Nada and I'm Sari."
"I'm Alphonse," Al said scratching the back of his head nervously. "But everyone calls me Al. It's nice to meet you."
"Sari!" the boy said tugging away at her wrist.
"Here," Al said with a smile passing the boy a small gold coin. This made the boy brighten up excitedly. "You are really good at drumming."
"Sari this is worth at least 10 dollars!" he jumped up and down excitedly.
"Thank you so much," Sari said with thankfulness in her eyes that made Al feel really good about what he did. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Don't mention it. Well see yah later!" he turned around to walk away when Sari grabbed his hand. He looked down to see Sari walk up beside him.
"Looks like my afternoon is free," she said as the boy ran the other way towards where his there home must be. "Let's go!"
"Sure," Al said scratching the back of his head even more. He looked down at his fingers that were intertwined with hers.
"Then lets go!" she said running through the streets quickly. She was fast on her feet which he just noticed were bare. She didn't seem to where much clothing at all which made Al blush just at the thought of it all. They ran fast for a good twenty minutes until they saw a chicken cart driving out of the town. Sari jumped up on the back of it with a smile and Al jumped up after her last minute huffing and panting for air.
"What a run," Al said holding his stomach tightly. He looked at Sari who was swinging her legs back and forth excitedly. Although she was sweaty like he was she was also still full of energy and he couldn't believe it especially since she was just dancing in the town moving quickly to the beat of the drum that her brother had played.
"I guess so," she said looking worriedly at Al. "That took a lot out of you didn't it?"
"Yah well I don't exactly run for through the town with a girl that all the sudden told me her name and asked me to go with her," Al laughed a little calmer then before.
"Well it was really the spur of the moment," she laughed along with him. "But I like to live life to the fullest and do crazy things just because I can. I don't want to sit and be normal all my life. I want to dance and sing. I want to live on a few pennies a day just because that's enough to get me through the day."
"Life is short," Al said staring at the girl with almost appreciation in his eyes. "Live it to the fullest for it is the only one you have." He remembered being in the medal body and all the people that wished they could have been sealed to one for then they would have immortality but Al only wanted to feel and touch again. He wanted to be alive more then anything in the world. "But then again if I was given the choice between immortality with not being able to feel or touch then I would choose a life with death."
"Your right about that," she said lifting herself up with her arms. "Looks like we made it to the meadow."
"Your right," Al said jumping off the cart and onto the grass in one powerful leap. He turned around to see Sari cartwheel off the cart with a smile on her face as the wind whipped through her hair.
"I cartwheel off a cart," she laughed grabbing his hand again then running towards the field. Al followed running after the girl. She was truly the weirdest girl he had ever met but then again it made her more interesting then any other girl he met in town. She was truly weird.
"Right here," she said sitting down in the grass.
"Why right here?" Al asked looking down at the girl.
"Because I have never sat on this part of the meadow before," she smiled. "But then again I haven't sat over there or over that way." She pointed in many different directions. "I have a lot of ground to cover don't I." she laughed lying down in the green grass. I lied down beside her and stared up at the clouds above.
"That one looks like a starfish," she said pointing to an extremely pointy looking cloud.
"Why a starfish and not a star?" Al asked looking at it confused
"Because stars are balls of gas burning for millions of years and then they eventually end," she said laughing. "That cloud is too pointy to be a star."
"Well if you put it in scientific terms," laughed Al with a smile. "You definitely are a weird girl."
"Most people say that," she said frowning. "But I'd rather think of myself as interesting. Weird is a harsh word really. It's like your stereotyping someone for being themselves which may be different then what everyone else does. To be different is to be you. To be you is to be different. Live by your own boundaries and you will find people a lot like you."
"You definitely are interesting," Al said turning to Sari who was staring up at the clouds with a smile across her lips.
"I guess I'd rather see the side of people that they normally don't show," she said turning towards him.
"Interesting," Al said. "Very interesting and what in your life makes you very interesting?"
"Doing things because I can," she said. "Acting on the terrifying instincts that most people try to forget. Doing things that people think are unladylike. If I like something then I will try to get it without caring of the obstacles that I would have to face."
"Keep moving forward and never look back," Al said looking back up at the clouds. "I would love to be able to do that but fears from my past haunt my every movement judging everything I do telling me what's right or wrong. Sometimes it's a blessing but sometimes it isn't,"
"Hmm?"
"Oh I said too much," Al said scratching his head a little embarrassed.
"Sometimes the best way to forget is to get your feelings off your chest," she said calmly. "You can tell me about your past even if it is dreadful."
"You wouldn't understand it," he said turning towards her again. "My life is more complicated then it seems and most would think it was total garbage my brother and I dreamed up for attention but really we did not. You and I live in separate worlds or so it seems."
"You don't know how understanding I can be," she laughed. "I'm not them you know. I don't always need proof to believe. I keep going on thoughts that after this life there is something better for me so I try my best to enjoy the life I was given. Even my own home thinks me strange for believing in things that aren't of their own beliefs."
"Something better…" Al thought to himself. For all he knew, human's that dies here just became energy to fuel alchemy back home but then again she didn't know much about it so she could believe if she wanted to.
"Yes," she said smiling happily. "Something better even though science has physically proven that our bodies rot and decompose, our souls cant be accounted for not in any theory except that they go somewhere better if we live a good life and somewhere worse if they live a bad life."
"I don't know," he said.
"So…" she said with a grin. "Your name is Alphonse. I saw an Alphonse here once but that was many years ago and although he looked a lot like you his eyes were different and less mysterious."
"My brother knew him too," Al said a little sad. "He died a week ago. He was shot protecting my brother."
"Shot?" she said amazed. "But who would have done a thing like that and for what purpose for surely they didn't shoot him just because they had an extra bullet."
"It is a long and complicated story and I would rather keep moving forward then travel to my past just yet," Al said remembering the other Al's face that had gone pale and white like a ghost with blood running from his lip to his chin in a long thin line dripping his precious life away. Al shook his head trying to forget.
"So this brother of yours…" she said thinking about earlier. "Was he the cute one standing by you today?"
"Ed? Oh yah that was him," Al said with a chuckle. "Just walked right off when I tried to talk to him but that's just Ed for yah."
"He's a lot like you," she said with a smile on her dark lips. "You have the same eyes like molten gold that will never cool."
"I never thought of them that way before," Al said who had just noticed the girl was staring into his eyes entranced by something. He looked into her soft blue eyes sending shivers down his spine. "I didn't know that Roma's had blue eyes. My friend Rose had deep brown."
"A blessing and a curse really," she said turning away to break her eyes from his gaze. "Very few of the Roma's have what our people call the water sight. It's just an old saying meaning that we are of the water children as the brown eyes children are children of the earth and green eyed children are children of the forest. The water and the forest are the two rarest and are not likely seen. This makes our standings in our families a little different."
"How?" Al asked curiously.
"The male Roma's of higher class seek the water children for marriage," she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "The water children are to hold themselves high and not to be as wild as the earth children who are of lower class."
"But you don't follow those rules do you?" Al asked.
"Not really," she said putting her hands behind her head lazily. "I am already judged as a pick-pocket by people other then my family so I rather not be judged by the colour of my eyes either. Sometimes it's hard to live the normal life of a gypsy for there are men out there who are contaminated with perverted thoughts who do unmentionable things to us gypsy's and that just gets multiplied as my eyes are brighter."
"Unmentionable things?" Al said surprised.
"I have gotten myself out of situations with only minor bruising," she said with a weak smile. "I have been beaten before but it is nothing I can't handle. I am sorry if I have bored you with my trials."
"Why do you dance?" he asked. "Why do you dance and get beaten mercilessly when you could get married and have a better life then this."
"Nada needs me," she said simply. "He is my brother and was unfortunately born of the earth children so I protect him with all I have and all I have is my body so if I am beaten then so be it."
"You are a caring soul," Al smiled remembering all the times that Ed had saved him using his own body as a tool. Ed would have killed a hundred criminals on his behalf just to make sure he would still live. Ed would get cut and scratched over and over again blocking me for attacks that normally I wouldn't feel but Ed was more protective over me then any I had ever met. "You remind me of someone."
"You have been distant with me," she said putting her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I can understand why you wouldn't trust me this early but I want you to remember that you can talk to me no matter what."
"That is nice to know," Al said with a smile.
"After I have finished dancing tomorrow would you like to meet me here again?" she asked hopefully. "I would really love it if you would."
"Tomorrow is the last day of the carnival and I promised Ed I would go to see the fireworks for they might be the last we see in a long time with this war bucking heads with us all. "Would you like to come with me?"
"It might be weird going," she said twiddling her thumbs. "I haven't really been to a carnival where I wasn't supposed to dance. Don't you think that you would be judged for being with a gypsy?"
"Don't worry about it," Al laughed lightly. "A Roma is already accompanying my brother to the carnival and people in this town have a little more respect for Roma's now. Please come to the carnival!"
"Fine," she said with a smile. "I guess if you put it that way but I still want to dance some point in time."
"Deal," Al laughed as he stood up. "It's about time that I should be leaving home. Ed and Noah will be wondering why I haven't showed for dinner."
"Noah?" she asked.
"Oh Noah is the Roma that lives with me and my brother," Al said with a smile. "I think that she likes my brother Ed but she won't admit it. Well see you tomorrow around noon-time at the place where you danced?"
"That would be great," she said as Al turned around to leave but before he could she grabbed his wrist. "One more thing." And with that she stepped in front of him and kissed his cheek then ran off through the field towards the town. Al felt his cheek which had turned bright red from his blushing. She was truly and interesting girl.