It's been ages. I'm so sorry!! Forgive me, Please? Anyways, I won't make you wait any longer, so get reading!!
.:. Chapter 3 .:.
Ranfan stepped off the train and scanned the area, realization hitting her on what she'd done. She was in Resembool. Where Edward lived. Not that she was sure he'd even be home or anything, and she would need to get changed somewhere, since her current attire was gaining weird looks. Ranfan smiled slightly, as she continued to look around. It was so beautiful in Resembool and she couldn't help but feel nervous. Then her eyes landed on a familiar looking blond and she felt her entire face light up. Ling must have told him she'd be there.
Ranfan walked towards Edward, feeling like someone who'd lived in a cave all their life and not seeing the sun until now. He was taller, about her height now, if not a centimetre or two taller. And he was smiling sweetly at her.
"Edward?" She said, her voice coming out timid and posing the statement like a question. She took another step towards him, feeling like this was all a dream.
"Yeah, Ranfan, it's me." He said, still smiling.
She found herself having the urge to wipe her eyes, she was so happy. She took another step forward and Edward looked hesitantly at her dress. Of course. That's why he wasn't approaching her. She probably looked crazy, or worse, married. She wanted to glare at the dress, annoyed at how poofy and girly it was. It would've been quite a sight she imagined, as she firmly grabbed some of the material and ripped it. It had been designed rather well in the respect that it was easy to rip most of the bottom off and still have it come off as a half-decent dress. She bundled the now unattached fabric from her dress into her arms. She now looked less like a bride and more like someone trying to make a fashion statement. Luckily, there was a bin a metre away, so she dumped the fabric in there, before looking back up at Edward.
He looked half shocked and half confused. "Don't you want to keep your wedding dress?" He asked.
So he thought she'd gotten married. That was the implication of the dress.
"No, I'm not married." She said, proudly - like she was confessing she'd never taken drugs.
"Then why are you?"
"So Ling didn't explain to you then. I'm assuming he called you, and told you I was coming."
He nodded. "He didn't mention weddings though."
"It's a long story. I didn't want to get married, but my guardian practically forced me, so Ling bought me tickets to here, and I escaped."
"On your wedding day?" Edward asked.
"I think Ling has a flair for the dramatic."
Edward laughed, completely relieved. So she wasn't married. That was possibly the best news he'd had all day, or year for that matter.
"So, do you want to stay at my place?" Edward asked.
Ranfan smiled, pulling the clip out of her hair and letting in fall down her back gently. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble." She replied politely.
Edward started to lead the way.
"Do you live with the Rockbells?" She asked, remembering the automail mechanics once saying something about his house burning down.
He shook his head. "Nah, Al and I built our house, so it's just us together. But he mostly spends his time with Winry since they started going out."
Well, that crosses out Ed being with Winry at least. Ranfan decided. "What about you? What do you do with your time?" She asked, subtly hoping he'd tell her he didn't have a girlfriend.
"I mainly just work in Central, as a free lance alchemist. What about you? Still a guard?"
"No, I was made to quit. My guardian want me to act more like a lady, so I had to learn how to cook and other awful things like that."
Edward laughed. He felt it was actually a good thing that Ranfan had done that, because now she had learnt to be more open and less serious.
Ranfan looked around were they were, realizing she'd been staring at Edward the whole time they'd been walking. He could've led her off a cliff and she would of followed. There were trees scattered about. To one side, was a long river, but it was calm and still currently. And to the other side was the main shops, which basically announced that this was nothing more than a sleepy little village. But Ranfan liked it. It was so normal and casual, no girls were running around, trying to escape their weddings.
"It's pretty hot today." Edward said, looking around. Yeah, that's it Elric, you haven't seen her in two years, so you talk about the weather, Ed scolded himself mentally.
Ranfan smiled, looking towards the river. It would be nice and cool in there. And the water was nice and clear, so it looked swim-able. Ranfan's smile grew more pronounced as she looked at Edward.
He looked back at her and almost gasped. God, she was so beautiful. Enough to make Edward actually believe in angels. He didn't even notice when she threw her bag ahead of them, as she was still smiling at him.
"Oops." She said, grabbing his hand as she pretended to lose her balance and pull him into the river with her.
All he really noticed was that she was holding his hand. Then the cold, refreshing water hit him. When he came up from under the water to breathe, the first thing he heard was her delighted laughter. It was beautiful, heavenly music to his ears. He stared at her in awe for a second. This was Ranfan? She was acting younger than she did two years ago. Then he joined in with her laughter, blushing slightly as he noticed she was still holding his hand.
She grinned at him. "Still hot?"
Hot? He was pretty sure his face was on fire and they were only holding hands. Imagine if she actually kis- Gah. Edward blushed even more and dunked his head under water for a second, then he shook his head as he came above water again, water splattering from his drenched hair.
"Mm. Just what I needed." He said, smiling as he noticed she was blushing too. But she still hadn't let go of his hand.
She dipped her face in the water and rubbed at it with her automail hand. Then she brought her head back up and scowled slightly. "I hate make up." She pronounced.
Edward could've hugged her. She's like my fucking dream girl. He thought, amazed at how perfectly she fit his criteria. Hell, she'd beaten his criteria. She was more than perfect for him.
Edward realized after a moment that he was staring at her, and she was smiling back, as if patiently waiting for him to realize such. They were both treading water, since the river was rather deep.
"Uh...We should probably get back." Ed said, trying to hide his blushing.
Ranfan smiled and nodded, letting go of his hand and swimming towards the edge. She was actually rather amazed at her own actions, she would never usually do something like this. It was like just being with Edward made her more free. Or maybe she was just feeling more childish now that she had no real responsibilities any more.
They both climbed out of the river, dripping water everywhere. Ranfan looked back to the town, where a girl was staring at them, wide-eyed. Edward followed her gaze and they both started laughing, they probably looked insane or like twelve year olds.
They walked forward and Edward picked up her bag for her, before she even had a chance to grab it. "Race ya?" He asked, playfully.
Ranfan grinned. "You're on."
"Ready?" Ed asked
"Set." Ranfan replied, smiling childishly.
"GO!" They both said simultaneously and started running. They also discovered how truly hard it is to run in wet clothes. Ed slowed down before Ranfan did, as she'd had more endurance training than he had, but after a second, she slowed down too, so they could run together.
Both of them laughed as they continued to run, and Ranfan took Ed's hand again, pulling him ahead. "I don't even...know...where I'm going." She said breathlessly, as they ran.
Edward laughed. "That's it!" He said pointing to a house. The house was obviously fairly new, but it had been built to the same style it's former would've been. It was cute, in a cottage-y kind of way.
They arrived and Edward watched as she looked in awe of the house. She turned to him. "You built this?" She asked, sounding impressed.
"Al and I did, yeah. Like it?"
She smiled. "It's beautiful."
Edward tried the doorknob to see if it was unlocked. It was. "Al's home, meaning Winry probably is too." He said, holding the door open for her. It was really amazing how she felt like she'd been friends with Edward for the past couple of years. He managed to make her forget about all her past angst. She looked back at him, as he entered, still pretty soaked, and the sun was right behind him. She took a step closer and probably would've kissed him, if she hadn't been interrupted by a voice.
"Brother, is that you?" Alphonse Elric walked into the front room and smiled when he saw them both. "Did it rain?" He asked, looking at their wet hair and clothes.
"No." Ranfan answered, before Edward could. "Your brother is very clumsy and fell into the river and dragged me in with him." She said smiling.
Al looked kind of shocked at her friendliness, but was sidetracked when Edward started laughing. "Lies!" He said.
Ranfan laughed too.
"Ah, so do you want me to show you to your room?" Edward asked, and Alphonse grinned.
"Yes, please. I need to change." Ranfan said, politely.
"Okay. This way." Edward said, clomping up the staircase. Ranfan followed and Al walked off to another room downstairs.
"Here." Edward opened the door and revealed a nice little bedroom with an ensuite. They both walked in and Edward dropped her bag at the foot of the bed. "You can shower in there." He said, pointing to the ensuite. "There's fresh towels and soap. And then just come downstairs and make yourself at home. I'll be showering out there." He pointed out of the room.
Ranfan nodded. "Thank you."
She showered quickly and was glad to be rid of her awful wedding dress. Wrapped in a towel, she walked back into the bedroom and opened the back with some worry, not trusting Ling's sense in female clothing.
She was rather relieved to find it was all relatively normal, a bit too feminine for her taste, but still better than what she had expected. She chose a black dress, that went to about mid thigh and pulled it on, then looked through the bag at the other things in it. It even had things she hadn't thought of, like a hairbrush which she took out and pulled through her freshly washed hair. Next, she packed everything away again and hung up her wet towel and clothes on the towel rail in the bathroom.
Ranfan left the room and walked down stairs hesitantly. She could hear that Edward was still in the shower by the sound of the water pumping through the pipes. She got to the bottom floor and turned through the doorway she had seen Al turn down on her way upstairs. It was the living room, where Alphonse and Winry were sitting on the couch talking. Ranfan stood awkwardly at the door, not wanting to ruin their moment, but Winry looked up straight away and smiled.
"Ranfan. Hiya. Woah, you look so pretty, not that you didn't already, but you look fantastic. I love that dress, it really suits you." Winry managed to get out in one breath. Ranfan smiled and walked into the room slowly.
"Thank you." She replied, softly.
Winry grinned then turned to Alphonse. "Aaaaal?" She drawled, smiling sweetly.
He smiled back at her. "Yes?"
"Would you pleeeaase go get the apple pie I made today, from my house?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.
Al blushed slightly and nodded. "Okay, I'll be back soon." He said, giving Winry a peck on the lips before leaving.
Winry smiled and turned to Ranfan. "So Ranfan... How was your trip?"
"Rather long." Ranfan replied, sitting down on one of the armchairs.
"Yeah, I bet." Winry said, then smiled, obviously leading up to something. "So, why'd you decide to come back?"
"Um." Ranfan started. "I promised Edward I would see him again, one day."
Ranfan must've told the right answer, counting on the look on Winry's face. "So do you love Ed?"
Ranfan was definitely feeling her usual shyness creep back in, as she ducked her head embarrassed.
Winry giggled. "Fine, Do you like him? In a more-than-friends way?"
Ranfan smiled timidly.
"Taking that as a yes." Winry said, watching with joy while Ranfan blushed.
"You know, Ed really missed you while you were gone, and when he found out you were coming back, he was so happy." Winry said softly. She looked like she was about to say something else, but stopped as she heard footsteps on the staircase.
Winry leaned back and smiled. She was definitely going to make sure Ranfan and Ed were an item before they knew it.
Yeah, I can't write Winry, I know. Hehe. So that was kind of OOC for Ranfan, but whatever, she's changed, that's my excuse.
REVIEWS PLEASE, They are my inspiration and I will write so much faster if you review. ~ Little-Miss.
