"Hey, Maya, are you gonna be at the party tonight?" Bard asked me. Bard was one of my favorite people in the military. He had silver hair that went to his shoulders, and he was at least 22. Despite that, he only stood about 8 inches above me. He had very, very light blue eyes, and had a great sense of humor.
I grinned. "Wellllll, I dunno..."
Bard pouted at me. "Please Maya? The parties are a million times more fun for everyone when you're there."
I put my finger to my chin pretending to think. "Well... I'm a pretty busy person, but I could probably make time to come for a bit."
A bright grin lit up Bard's face. "Awesome! Hey, I actually gotta go right now, but I will definitely see you tonight. See ya!" He walked away waving and turned around a corner. I shook my head before walking in the opposite direction. Ya, I'd go to the party... that is if the higher ups let me go. Last time I went to one of these parties, I ended up getting drunk and running around outside yelling the lyrics to 'I Believe I Can Fly'. Then I got jumped, and I ended up beating the shit out of the guys with only a piece of rope. They were all hospitalized. and I was saved from getting arrested by Mustang.
Good times, good times.
Before I knew it, I was at the cafeteria, where the party was going to be held that night. I looked around and saw a bunch of people setting up chairs and tables with alcohol. I restrained myself from going over and grabbing a drink, and walked over to the person running everything. I believe his name was Bo.
"Hey Bo, do you have my stuff set up for tonight?" I asked, bouncing up and down slightly.
Bo gave a slight smile and looked down at his clipboard. "Ya, your stuff shoul- Oh, look, there it is now." I turned around and gave a little squeal as I saw them wheel in my equipment. In came several guys carrying different instruments. One wheeled in a keyboard, while another carried in a guitar. One brought an amp for the guitar, and another dude brought in a microphone. I smiled brightly and ran over to hug my guitar.
"Oh Tom, how I've missed you." I continued hugging the red and black guitar, ignoring the confused stares of the people in the cafeteria eating lunch. I turned to them. "What? You've never seen a girl hugging a guitar named Tom before?! Jeez, you people are in the military, I thought you would have seen weirder things than this." I shook my head in disappointment, before grabbing Tom and skipping out of the room.
I ran to my room, and sat on my bed. I held Tom up and checked to see if my fingers were on the correct strings. With my other hand, I strummed the cord. I let out a sigh of pure bliss. Oh how I missed this.
I sat in there strumming more chords and practicing for the party, when I heard a knock at the door. I sighed and got up to check the door. "Who the hell is it, and what do you want?" I yelled as I opened the door. The open door revealed a short blonde with an annoyed look on his face. I groaned and walked back to my bed, sitting down. "Whaaaattttt?" I groaned.
Ed walked in, and crossed his arms. "Ok, first you complain about us making too much noise, and now you're in here playing a... is that a guitar?"
I gave him a look. "No way, dumbass, I thought it was a potato. Of course it's a guitar!" I yelled, wacking him over the head with a pillow. He frowned and reached, grabbing the pillow from my grasp.
I rolled my eyes and absently strummed another chord.
Ed eyes the guitar. "What that for, anyways?"
"The party tonight," I answered simply.
A confused look crossed Ed's face. "Party? What party? Since when do you people have parties?"
"Since Mustang started throwing them several years back."
"What!? No, there is no way that Colonel Bastard organized a party."
"Well, he did. And there is one tonight. Maybe if you're not too busy being a killjoy, you can come hang out for a bit."
I walked out of the room, Tom still held under my arm. Ed followed, and I slammed the door shut, walking towards the cafeteria. I was dimly aware that Ed had gone back to his own room, but I was more focused on Tom.
I hid Tom and crawled around the vents for a while, to pass the time. After spying on several people, I got out of the vent and grabbed Tom, before running towards the cafeteria. The party must have started, for when I walked into the room, there were a lot of people in regular clothes, walking, talking, and drinking. I put Tom down by the rest of my music stuff, and went to go get a drink. I grabbed a giant container of cranberry juice, and walked away from the table, planning on drinking the whole thing. Although I did like alcohol, nothing could come between my love for ju-ju.
It was a lot like other parties; I walked around, socialized, drank, ate, tripped a drunk person or two. You know, the usual. Then finally, finally, it was time. I ran up onto the little makeshift stage and grabbed my guitar, before sitting down. I turned off the music that was currently playing on the radio, and everyone turned towards me, grinning. I looked around and saw Bard, holding a beer in the air as a sort of salute. I grinned and turned towards everyone else.
"Ok, I think it's my turn now. I don't like waiting, and besides, I think you're all drunk enough for a little singing, huh?" Laughter came from my last statement, and I gave a chuckle. "Ok, so I'm going to play the usual. I know for a fact that you all know this song, so you sing the chorus with me, ok?" Nods of agreement. "Good, now, i'm going to play, for those of you that don't know, Ain't No Rest For the Wicked."
Cheers came after my announcement, and I took a breathe before strumming the first chord.
-NEUTRAL POV-
Ed and Al had heard all the noise from the party all the way from their room. Usually they would be out investigating leads about the Philosophers stone, but there were no recent ones that were solid. "Brother, you've been reading that book all night, why don't we go to the party for a while?" Al asked.
Ed huffed. "Not that that doesn't sound tempting, but I would rather read."
Al sighed. "Please brother? You need a break."
At the tone in his brother's voice, Ed sighed and closed the book. "Fine, but only for a couple minutes."
3 minutes later and they were standing in a large crowd, with loud music on. "Remind me, why did we come here again?" Ed yelled, attempting to be heard over the music.
Al was about to shout a reply, when suddenly the music turned off. They both looked up to where everyone else was looking. And what they saw was very unexpected. There was Maya, sitting on a stool, a guitar in her hands with a giant grin on her face.
"Ok, I think it's my turn now. I don't like waiting, and besides, I think you're all drunk enough for a little singing, huh?" the crowd laughed and the two brothers continued to watch. "Ok, so I'm going to play the usual. I know for a fact that you all know this song, so you sing the chorus with me, ok?" Nods of agreement. "Good, now, i'm going to play, for those of you that don't know, Ain't No Rest For the Wicked." There was cheering as the Elrics looked on in confusion. What was that supposed to mean?
As the cheering died down some, Maya looked at her guitar, and strummed a chord. Not a second later, she was moving her hand up and down, continually strumming the correct notes. The crowd started clapping along to the beat Maya was creating with her tapping shoe.
"I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye I saw a pretty little thing approaching me. She said I never seen a man who looked so all alone, could you use a little company? And if you pay the right price, your evening will be nice and you can go and send me on my way. I said you're such a sweet young thing, why'd you do this to yourself? She looked at me, and this is what she said."
Suddenly everyone from the crowd, except for the brothers, started singing along.
"There ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, there ain't nothing in this world for free. I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back though you know I wish I could. Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good."
Cheers again rang out through the crows as she continued to play. Ed and Al stared on curiously.
"Not even 15 minutes later I'm still walking down the street when I saw the shadow of a man creep out of sight. And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head, he made it clear he wasn't looking for a fight. He said 'give me all you got, I want your money not your life, but if you try to make a move I won't think twice.' I told him 'you can have my cash, but first you know I gotta ask, what made you want to live this, kind of life?'"
Then everyone was singing again.
"There ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, there ain't nothing in this world for free. I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back though you know I wish I could. Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good."
Everyone cheered as Maya continued strumming chords, tapping her foot to the beat. She let out a laugh, grinning down at her small audience.
Finally she started the last verse. "Well now a couple hours passed, and I was sitting in my house. The day was winding down and coming to an end. So I turned to the TV and flipped it over to the news, and what I saw I almost couldn't comprehend. I saw a preacher man in cuffs he'd taken money from the church, he'd stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills. But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same, oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills.
"There ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. We got bills to pay, we got mouths to feed, there ain't nothing in this world for free. We know we can't slow down, we can't hold back though you know we wish we could. Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good."
At the end of the song, everyone was very happy, very cheerful, and in fact, very drunk. Maya smirked at the group through her bangs and stood up as people started applauding. Maya hesitated for a second, before giving a ridiculous bow. She put down her guitar and walked off the stage, being greeted by people clapping her on the back and giving her compliments. Her face was as red as a tomato, but no one could tell how much the praise effected her.
~ Two hours later ~
"Honestly Al, what are we still doing here?" Ed asked, bored. He was never one for large crowds of people. However, somehow Alphonse had convinced his brother to stay for a while. Ed stood up from his chair and stretched, before starting towards the door. "Eh, why don't we just go. Not like anyone's gonna miss us."
But before the two could make it to the door, a tall guy with silver hair stepped in front of them. He eyed them warily before giving a bright smile. "Hey, you're the Elric brothers, right? The two weird dudes Maya was telling me about?" That caught their attention.
"Oh really?" Ed drawled. "And what exactly has she been saying?"
The guy shrugged. "Nothing really important. But I have a favor to ask of you two."
Ed raised an eyebrow while Al answered. "Sure, what is it?"
He turned around and pointed behind him. "Could you take Maya back to her dorm? She's pretty drunk and it is NOT a good idea to let her go back on her own. Last time, it... didn't end well." He shuddered before leading the two brothers over to the drunken girl. She was sitting at a table attempting to play chess with another guy who was way past drunk. Suddenly out of nowhere, the dude playing took Maya's castle. She stared at the table trying to comprehend what just happened.
Then her glare turned towards the guy. Her eyes were unfocused and seemingly covered in a hazy veil. "You... you shit!" she slurred, pointing an accusing finger at her giggling opponent. "You... you took Joel. How on Earth, could you be so cruel! HE WAS SO YOUNG!" she exclaimed, making the other guy giggle harder and fall out of his chair.
Ed and Al sweat dropped as she continued to yell at him. Bard walked up to Maya and lightly poked her arm. "Hey Maya? I think you're a bit drunk. Why don't you let Ed and Al take you back to your dorm?"
But Maya just pulled away and turned towards the table. "Nooooo, I gotta fix this... I gotta... gotta get Joel back."
Bard smiled, before leaning down and picking her up. She yawned and weakly pounded a fist on his chest. "No- nooooooo, Joelllllllll. I'll come back for youuu!"
Bard put Maya down on her feet next to the brothers, who were both unsure how to respond to this. He gestured for each of the brothers to grab onto one of her arms. "You might want to hold her, there's no way that she'll walk all the way back."
The two nodded and Bard grinned. "Thanks for taking her back. I'd do it myself, but I got a shitload of stuff to do." He walked off towards his own dorm, and waved at Maya who didn't quite register what was happening. And so the slow process of half helping and half dragging Maya to her room began.
Ed grunted as he shifted Maya's weight. "Damn it, can't you just walk, like a normal person?"
He looked down at Maya who was occasionally taking a step or two forwards, but was otherwise being dragged across the floor. "Nooooo, i'm to tireddddd."
Silence took over after that. It was horribly awkward, but Maya seemed only dimly aware of it. "Soo, Maya, what made you join the military?"Al asked, attempting to make conversation.
Maya's head kind of tilted to the side and she closed her eyes. "My mom... made Mustang promise... to... um... oh ya.. promise to give me a... job in the military... Kind of an old favor that he never returned." Maya yawned and stopped walking altogether, just letting herself be dragged across the floor.
"Well.. where's your mom now? I haven't seen her around here." Al stated.
"... Hm? Oh... my mom... Not quite sure really... left a few years ago... haven't really seen her since."
Both brother's froze, and exchanged a glance. "Well... what about your dad?"
"Dad? The dude who was always... gardening, right? Eh, I'm pretty sure... that he died several years back... Mom... got mad... Then shit happened..."
The two still stood there, looking down at the drunken girl who was, unknowingly, telling them both about a past she wanted no one to know about.
Maya's eyes squinted slightly. "Hmm... they always did like... them better... July 18... Baaadddddd day. Bad day. Fucking... assholes... nooo, the vase isn't expensive enough... 'give us something more valuable' they said...every... fucking... time..."
She trailed off from speaking her gibberish, and her head drooped. Ed thought that maybe she was reliving a horrible memory or something, when suddenly a loud snore was heard. She was asleep.
Shaking his head, Ed motioned for Al to hand over Maya's other arm. Once he had a firm grip, he lifted her sleeping form up, and carried her bridal-style to her dorm. In her sleep, the girl unconsciously snuggled closer to the nearest heat source, which in this case, happened to be Ed. He blushed, and shot Al a scathing glare, swiftly stopping the younger brother from making a remark. Finally reaching the room, they opened the door and deposited her on her bed, making sure she wouldn't fall off.
Maya snuggled closer to her blanket and promptly started snoring again. Ed rolled his eyes, before he and Al left the room, turning off the light and closing the door. Once they were both in their own room, they sat in silence, both pondering the words that Maya let slip, and wondering what her gibberish could possibly mean.
Though they didn't know now, they would be sure to ask Maya what she meant, and find out more about her past.
Hey guys. Another chapter up. Yay! I just keep getting new ideas for this story. By the way, I don't own that song. That is Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, by Cage the Elephant. Well, thank you all for reading, and please review to let me know what I could do to improve the story. Thanks for sticking around! Peace out.
