Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa does.
Claimer: I do own Vaan, Padma, and Gillian.
Four reviews? Yes. Glad someone likes this!
Gillian: I don't. I have so many issues! What the hell?
You should know that the main protagonist has to have some kind of issue!
Ed: Yeah! I have a lot of problems...
Gillian: Shut up you don't anymore.
Ed: But the author will change that, duh.
Gillian: Good point.
(Gillian)
Guuuurgle
"Shut the hell up stomach," Gillian sternly told it.
It complied.
Padma was still sleeping, and since Vaan's door was closed he was probably asleep too. It was actually a little later in the morning than she hoped it would be; more people would be in the streets.
She stretched and packed her belt, remembering that last night was the fifth successful time she had moved the necklace and put it on herself. It was weird, but she felt like she was already partly disconnected this morning.
She just hoped she wouldn't get an attack today, as she had work to be done.
"I'll be back," She kissed Padma's forehead and tucked her into the worn blanket a little bit more than she already was. It was a little chilly down here for such a warm looking day.
She traded her orange tank top that stopped above her belly button for a black one, throwing her brown coat on once more. The coat was many years old, about 5, if she remembered correctly.
As old as her boots, brown like her jacket. They had large holes in the bottom and patches on top. She tied the laces as tight as they could go, and brushed off her jean shorts.
She went to the bathroom and then brushed out her hair(or at least what was there) quickly.
She had blonde hair, although it was quite dirty. She had a lot of bangs, most of them sweeping to the right. Two larger tassles hung to her shoulders, and the back was very short, only just reaching the top of her neck in a sort of bob cut.
It was easier to manage, plus it looked cute.
She looked at her caramel brown eyes once before leaving the mirror's sight and walking to the door.
She made sure she didn't forget anything, and left the small apartment, walking down two short alleys to the beginning of what one would think was a plaza.
In fact, it was a plaza, a large one. She went to this one every other week, spreading her stealing between four or five plazas as to not completely run them out of business.
She casually walked along, smiling to each passerby if they smiled first. She didn't show teeth, but at least she wasn't being a douche bag. The air felt different today, she realized as she walked by a stand grabbing a peach and pushing it up her large sleeve quickly with her middle and pointer fingers.
It was lighter- wait no. It was more of a.. It was.. Whatever, she decided, it must just be a very dry air today. Central could get quite muggy sometimes, you know. She walked by a military officer, which didn't bother her, they never caught her anyway. She wanted to sit and enjoy her small breakfast, and walked through a curtain to a ramen shop-
"Oof-" She grunted and fell back. The peach rolled out of her sleeve and she grabbed it quickly, casually holding the peach in her hand as if she bought it already.
"Watch it, kid." A tall woman(or was it just because Gillian was on her ass?) told her. She was in the military, wearing the new women's uniform. It was an extremely short miniskirt and a low cut v-neck jacket. Of course, the men still wore pants. The new Fuhrer changed it about a year ago. He claimed it was 'helping the feminist movement' and differing them from the men.
More like exposing them to rapists, if you asked Gillian.
"Sorry ma'am," She mumbled, taking the woman's hand and cleverly ignoring her calling Gillian a kid. She had dark green hair, it was kind of wispy, and wavy. It curled a lot at the tips and all but her bangs were tied back by a small grey bow. (1)
"It's alright." She looked behind her at another military officer. It looked like he was eating five things at once. "Not like it made my day less exciting."
"How much can one guy eat?" Gillian asked, glad she didn't notice the fear that was in Gillian's eyes for a minute there.
"That much." She stated as he finally seemed to stop, looking mortified. He had eaten too much.
Sure Gillian could eat that much, but that was because she barely ate anything. Plus she wouldn't scarf it down, no wonder the guy looked like he was gonna barf.
"Come on Colonel!" She called to the man with light blonde hair. You would almost think it was white.
He mumbled something incoherent and stood, holding his stomach and walking out ahead of the lady.
"See you around," She told Gillian and walked out, the curtain falling back into place.
"Damn." That was close. Good thing she was stupid, Gillian snickered. She sat in the corner of the shop, a few others taking the owner's attention. She bit down on the peach and had to hold back a moan of pleasure.
God it was so good. So good that the whole thing was gone in a minute, and she decided she would need more food.
And so Gillian left. She looked at clothes, almost got some new socks, but even she knew to only take what she needed. She wouldn't die without socks, would she?
No.
So she let them be, stocking up on two bananas, some bread, cheese, water, and another peach from a different vendor. This was half time. She would drop off lunch and go back out for a shit ton of other things for the rest of the week.
"Hello?" She called, knocking on the door. "Helloooo?" She called louder. She might have to use the broken window to get in.
Why weren't they answering? Vaan is always home at this time. God damnit! She silently cursed and kicked the door. It didn't budge.
(Edward)
"Wait!" He called. "Winry!" He leaned back against the outside wall of the inn they stayed at last night. Alphonse walked out of the building and looked at him. Ed began to walk towards a nearby plaza.
"What'd you do this time?" He asked, walking to Ed and falling into step beside him.
"Winry got mad at me because I forgot to remind her to bring her favorite wrench." Ed lied. She was actually mad at him because he hadn't changed. He may have been taller, but he just didn't meet Winry's expectations. He wasn't enough of a man for her tastes. She had expected too much out of his little trip to Germany, and now she turned the fault onto Edward.
"I see." Al commented. Ed couldn't see her anymore, but knew she would come back eventually.
It was early morning and no one could sleep. It was Ed's first time back in Central since he defeated Eckheart. He was here to see Mustang, to be reinstated as a State Alchemist. Al had suggested that he become one too, but Ed wouldn't allow it. He knew how dangerous it was to even be near a state alchemist, much less be one.
He couldn't risk losing Al again after all they'd been through.
They walked down the aisles of shops, vendors, and restaurants looking for something to do until Ed found it.
"Hey Al, come here." Ed slowed and walked into a clothing store.
"Why are we in here?" Al asked.
"I figure in order to start new, we should get something new." His eyes were locked on a Grey jacket. It was like his black one with the white stripe, or at least the collar was. The material was thicker, and it had two pockets on either side. It would look good with a black shirt and pants. Al already had his red jacket, so why not get a new one himself.
"Oh," Al was surprised at Ed's new found excitement for something. "I see what you mean!"
"Hm." Ed smiled and looked at it in a cracked mirror. He was never one for clothes, but it looked nice. There was a white lining inside. He looked older. His face more grown out, all of his baby fat gone. He was as tall as the average man, being 19. And not only that but he had ditched the braid. It seemed childish, and so he kept his hair in a ponytail that was slightly higher than eye level. Even his hair was changing, he realized.
"I like it!" Al exclaimed, grabbing the jacket's arm.
Ed shrugged it off and bought it. And as they were walking out of the store, a girl walked by, her shoulder brushing right below. She was a dirty blonde in a brown jacket, and he couldn't help but feel a chill when she looked back. It was a feeling he hadn't gotten from someone in a while. It was inviting yet something he feared.
She turned away thinking nothing of it, it seemed.
And Al just looked at his confused brother as they walked away. 'What does that feeling mean?' He asked himself, replacing the new jacket on his shoulders.
(Gillian)
"Ungh." Gillian grunted as she pulled herself up and out of the broken window and back to the alley. She placed the dumpster back in front of it and brushed off some dust.
Now where the hell are they? She asked herself.
(Vaan)
And so for the third time in the chapter, another random meeting ensues.
Vaan was out of it. He was upset and mad. He had left the apartment last night and had been walking until he passed out behind a store. He woke up feeling crappy, and was just plain annoyed.
"Ouch!" A high pitched voice said as she stumbled back. Vaan caught her by her waist before she could fall over, their eyes connecting for a second before she looked down again. She had platinum blonde hair, a high ponytail, and more spiky than not bangs.
"I'm so sorry," He told her, letting go. Her cheeks were red. Was she just crying? "A- Are you alright?" He asked carefully. All of his previous anger dissipating.
"Not exaclty." She looked back up at him with big blue eyes.
"Here, Let's go sit at the park." He would have offered to get her food but he was broke.
"I-It's fine. I don't want to be a nuisance."
"No, you're fine. Really, I wan't to." He reassured her. He didn't have anything better to do.
"Alright.." And so he reached around her shoulder and they walked in a comfortable silence to central park, which was only ten minutes away.
'Wait..' He thought to himself. 'Since when was I such the ladies man?'
"Hey-" The girl started "Do you mind if I ask who you are?" She looked up at him, not shying away from his gaze. He could see something hidden behind her eyes.
"Uh- Vaan." He looked at her expecting a reply to his silent question.
"Oh- Oops! Winry." She stopped walking and held out her hand. "Winry Rockbell."
'What a pretty name.' He thought. "Nice to meet you." He shook her hand and within two minutes they reached a park bench, and were sitting down to talk.
"So what brings a pretty girl like you out alone in Central on such a nice day?" Vaan began. Again, he was confused at how easy it was to flirt with her.
"I.. I had a fight with my friend." He could practically hear her blushing.
"That's all?" Vaan raised his eyebrow.
"Well it was a bad one. You see, i haven't seen him in two years..." She looked at her thumbs and twiddled them. "I called him out for not changing enough. It- I know it's wrong that I expected him to change so much I just-"
She stopped talking. "I think you used to love him." Vaan decided.
If Winry had water in her mouth it would be everywhere. "And why do you find that to be something you tell a girl you just met?"
"Are you denying it?" He questioned her.
"Well.. No.." She looked away.
"I think I know what happened, though." Vaan started. "When he left did you cry?"
"All the time.."
"Did you know if he was coming back?"
"N.. No.." She was wondering if lying would help her case here, Vaan could hear it in her voice.
"When did you realize you loved him?" He asked.
"About a year after he left.." She sighed. "I felt so dumb to not have done anything about it sooner."
"And here's your problem." Vaan concluded. "You didn't even consider liking him while he was still with you right?"
"Maybe once, but-"
"But nothing. When he left, you didn't know if he was going to come back, you didn't have any closure. You had no way of knowing if you'd ever see your friend again." He explained, placing his arms behind his head and leaning back. "Your mind has a funny way of making you blame yourself for everything. And the way you blamed yourself was convincing you liked him more than you actually did. Because if you did love him you could blame yourself for not stopping him from doing something, or you could have kept him from leaving. But you didn't, and that's how you know you didn't love him. Or, at least in the romantic way."
"So why did I get mad at him?" She seemed to want to know very badly.
"Because you thought you loved him. Over those two years you made him seem so much more important, a better person, you might have even changed his looks. And by the time you saw him again, all that pretending crashed down on you when you realized he wasn't the saint you thought he was."
She sat there for a minute, contemplating if Vaan was bullshitting her or not. "It.. makes sense."
And at that moment Vaan broke out into a small fit of manly(they really weren't) giggles. He didn't have half a clue to what he just said even meant. It was pure luck that it made sense by the end.
(Gillian)
"Padma!" She called, waving her hand up in the air to alert her.
Padma turned on her heel and her eyes lit up. She jogged the rest of the way to Padma and got a serious face. "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry! Vaan disappeared and I just had to look for him! I couldn't be content not knowing where he was, could I?" She looked tired.
"Here come sit down with me." Gillian patted a spot next to her in an alley. "So how long have you been looking, where did you look, and what do you think happened?"
"Um well I started looking after you left because I realized he wasn't in his room.. I looked all over south Central, I haven't checked north or west parts of the city.. And I think you know the answer to that last one." Padma looked at me expectantly.
"Lilypad.. You can't expect me to-" Gillian stopped and saw Padma's angry face. "Fine. The fight last night was worse than usual, I guess. He might have left in the middle of the night.. Or even last night."
"Gillian!" Padma cried. "What happened?"
"He's just worried that I might not come home one day, or something.." Gillian pretended to not know as much as she did.
"Or something?" She looked at her like an angry mother that was about to spank her for lying. "I honestly don't know! He's confusing me!" Gillian looked distressed, although it was all part of the show to get Padma off of her case.
"Let's head back home. I want lunch." Padma suggested to break the silence.
"Alright."
Thirty minutes later they reached the hideout. They entered through the window since Vaan was out(they had decided he just went to blow off steam) and stopped when they saw something move in the hallway.
"Come out!" Gillian warned. "Or I'll have to hurt you!" She turned the corner with her fist raised, ready to punch-
"Lia?" Vaan called. "Lily pad?" They saw him step out into the main room.
"Where have you been?" Gillian demanded.
"What, no welcome home?" He asked.
(Vaan)
"It's getting later in the day. Vaan pointed out. "We should probably get moving towards our homes."
"Listen, Vaan." Winry started. They had been talking for two hours about little adventures with family and friends. Small talk it was, but it was nice. Vaan never got outside or met new people. Gillian always had him on his guard. "Do you think we could, um, hang out again?" She was blushing.
"Yes, for sure!" He insisted. She was fun to talk to, much less beautiful. "But when? I don't have a phone."
"Why don't we set a date now?" She suggested, linking arms with him as he began to walk her home.
"Y-Yeah." He thought of a good time. Probably closer to night, when Gillian went out for dinner runs. "How about we meet at your place?" He suggested casually.
"And then we'll see where it takes us from there?" She asked.
"So.. Thurdsay?" He suggested. That would mean two days since today was Tuesday.
"Sounds good." She agreed. He smiled at her and she smiled back.
Once they reached her inn, he quickly and awkwardly hugged her and sent her on her way, the last thing he thought before sprinting home was, 'I wonder what Gillian and Padma did today?'
(1)- You can see a picture of her on my profile; it's my profile picture.
Ten bucks everyone can guess who the Fuhrer is...
Ed: Ummmm-
You don't know anything about Amestris anymore so you can't participate
Ed: Damnit!
Hehe!
Anyway thank you to Lefay Strent, BakuBachiBan, GapuPaku, and YourSecretStalker and for reviewing.
Vaan: Don't forget to leave us a review telling us what you liked, didn't like,-
Winry: I know what I liked. *winks*
Ed: ummmmm
Padma: And we'll see you next time with more surprises!