Happy Halloween, everyone, although I can't say I'm too happy. I'm not feeling too well. The only reason I'm going out into the cold tonight is to get a buttload of candy to last until next year. It always does.
Review.
Jealousy, Breeder of Hate~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Winry had hated Sylvia from the start, but her hate rose to a crescendo when she saw Ed and Sylvia cuddled up in a warm little ball in Ed's bed.
She found she couldn't blame them. It was winter, and a very cold one at that (Winry was surprised there hadn't yet been a snow). That, however, didn't stop her from being angry.
Al was walking down the hall, looking for something to do, when he saw Winry. She was peeking through a crack in Ed's door, green with… envy?
"Winry?" he asked tentatively.
"WHAT." She snarled- it was more a statement than a question- whirling around. Al jumped with a squeak.
"Oh… Al," she said, the greenish-red mix fading from her cheeks.
"What are you…" Al began to ask, then hesitated, confused by the look on Winry's face.
"Nothing! Uh, nothing," Winry blurted, blushing madly.
"Hm," Al said, and Winry scuttled downstairs.
As soon as he was sure Winry was gone, Al peered through Ed's cracked door. And then, suddenly, he began to see exactly what Winry's problem was.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Days passed. A week. Every member of the household seemed to be avoiding each other- minus Pinako. She dismissed the others' strange behavior as normal teenage problems, and she wasn't very intent on getting involved with any of it.
She stirred to pot of stew she stood over (with the help of a step stool). Winry had been holed up in her room for quite a while, and since she'd started doing that, the upstairs had taken on a very strange, rather annoying scent. Pinako wondered what it was occasionally, but most of the time, she ignored it.
Ed had been very fidgety. Pinako thought it normal; Ed wasn't one to stay still for very long. But it was a different type of twitchy. It wasn't Ed's "caged animal" fidgets. Almost like someone in love who didn't know how to propose the right way.
Pinako chuckled at that. If Ed wanted to say something, he'd come right out and say it. He was just restless.
Al, like Winry, had been quiet, but he ventured from his room more and was a bit more talkative. He still insisted on helping Pinako do odd jobs around the house. Pinako wondered if that was just in his nature.
Sylvia was polite, but silent. She stuck around Ed most of the time- Pinako hardly ever saw the two apart- but she scribbled madly in a book half the time. She refused to let anyone, even Ed, see it.
"These kids are the strangest I've ever met," Pinako murmured. "But perhaps that's allowed. After all, they've all had some pretty burdened, strange lives, haven't they?"
Pinako lifted to wooden spoon she'd been stirring the stew with out of the pot and laid it on the counter. Turning off the eye, she cried, "Dinnertime!"
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
"Dinnertime!"
Three pairs of feet pounded down the stairs, and cheers of joy filled the Rockbell home.
"Alright! Stew!"
"Smells delicious, Granny."
"Oh, I can't wait to have some, Ms. Rockbell!"
"Pinako, dear," the old woman reminded the girl gently. "Hm?" she said suddenly. "Where's Winry?"
Al opened his mouth slowly and said carefully, "She was in her room. I think she was asleep."
"That's the third time today," Pinako grumbled. "I swear. I wonder if…"
As Pinako drifted off into the wonderful world of women, Al offered to serve his brother and Sylvia. Just as he was filling the ladle with warm soup, a rough-looking Winry straggled in, eyes red and puffy. Al bit his lip, Ed refused to look at her, and Sylvia looked genuinely concerned.
Crossing the kitchen in two quick strides, Sylvia reached up to put a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Winry, are you…"
Winry slapped the shorter girl's hand away. "I'm fine," she said gruffly. "Just hungry."
"Your eyes look awful," Sylvia winced. "Did you get something in them? Is it pink eye? If it's pink eye, Cook Taylor- that's my cook, you know- has a wonderful remedy that will…"
"I'm not sick!" Winry barked. Sylvia seemed to shrink, and Ed glared at Winry from where he stood on the other side of the room. "I don't need any 'remedy'. I'm just fine."
"Sorry," Sylvia squeaked.
"She was just trying to help," Ed muttered.
"Whatever," Winry said. Her eyes, narrowed angrily, burned with hatred.
And Sylvia saw it.
Sylvia's eyes grew cold, but something in their depths still shined brightly- was it hurt?
"Well, sorry," she spat. "I didn't know you want anyone to care about you. Sorry for my concern."
"Don't get smart with me, shrimp," Winry hissed, leaning close.
"I'm not hotheaded like Ed," Sylvia snarled ("Hey!" Ed cried). "I'm not going to fly into a rage like him, either. Jeez." She stood on her tiptoes until her nose almost touched Winry's. "But don't call me out of my name again."
"Oh, yeah?" Winry taunted. "And just what are you-"
"Ladies, ladies," Ed cried, leaping between Sylvia and Winry before fists could start flying. "C'mon. It's dinnertime, and we're all hungry. Let's sit down and eat-without starting a war."
Sylvia and Winry backed away from each other, only a bit surprised at Ed's being the peacemaker. It was evident that they now shared somewhat of a mutual hate for one another.
They both had their reasons.
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Perhaps I'll get more reviews, please? And I don't mean you, Backer. You know who you are.