Full metal Melancholy

Written by Kagami and Syldoran

Chapter 4

With a slightly aggravated sigh, Edward pushed open the door to the apartment known as "home." His father seemed yet to be home yet, but with all his "teacherly" duties, that was hardly much of a surprise. It was most likely Ed would be on his own for the next few hours, which left him plenty of time to wrap up the minimal amount of homework he had left from a couple of his classes. He had no problems with this, however. Peace and quiet were nice.

Unfortunately, not even fifteen minutes into his work, an interruption came in the form of a knock at the front door. Though Ed hardly found himself even concentrating on the chemistry formulas, he was a little irate at having to get up. The blonde set down his pencil and set his hands down on his desk, pushing himself up onto his feet to answer the call.

To his surprise, the person at the door was a brown-haired woman who reminded him almost painfully of Gracia, Hughes' wife back in Amestris. Edward could remember her being around before, possibly a neighbor.

"Hi . . ." he said carefully, unsure of what this woman wanted.

"Hello, you must be Edward, correct?" the woman said pleasantly, a warm smile gracing her features. It was then Ed noticed she held a foil-covered tray in her hands.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," Edward replied with a slight nod.

"My name is Gachi, I live just a few doors from here," said the woman with a polite bow of her head. "I was baking some pies at home and had enough for an extra, so I thought maybe, since I've talked to your father before, that you all would like to have it."Grace held out the tray toward Ed, who took it gratefully.

"Well thanks, I'm sure it's great," Edward said, smiling lightly at the older woman. The aroma wafting up from the warm tray certainly

"You're welcome, of course," Gachi said dismissively, almost looking a little embarrassed. "Of course, I've heard a lot about you from your father, so I was hoping perhaps you could do a little favor for me."

Ed tilted his head a little curiously to the side. "I'll do my best," he promised.

"My husband and I are going out in about a week, but we don't have anybody to babysit my eight-year-old daughter," Gachi explained. "You seem like somebody I could trust to take care of her. Do you think maybe you could keep an eye on her that night?"

Edward thought about it for a minute. In all truth, he didn't enjoy the idea of being called on as a babysitter, when most likely he would, by then, have found something more important or interesting to be doing at that time. However, he didn't want to be rude, and besides, what could the harm in one night be?

"Sure, I can do that," Edward agreed, nodding to emphasize his agreement.

"Great, thank you," Gachi said, once again bowing her head. "It's Friday. Come about eight?" When Edward nodded one last time to say 'yes,' she smiled thankfully. "Thank you again, have a good evening," she said, turning to leave.

As Ed closed the door behind her, shifting the tray to one hand to do so, he wondered to himself why and how he kept getting into these situations.

Once school ended the next day, Haruhi took Edward by force to the 2nd floor of the next school building. They stopped at at a door that had an crooked name tag pasted on the door and since it was in Kanji, Edward couldn't read it.

"Why the hell did you do that for!?" Edward yelled at Haruhi who just opened the door and walked into the classroom. Edward rolled his eyes and was about to leave when Haruhi grabbed him before he left then forcing him inside.Edward noticed that the room contains a rectangular table, metal chairs, a bookshelf, and a girl sitting alone on a metal chair, reading a very thick hardcover book.

"From now on this will be our club room!" Haruhi announced formally with energetic smile. "This classroom used to the Literature Club. After all the third year students graduated this spring, the club had zero members. As no new members were recruited, the club was going to be canceled. By the way, she's a first year who's their only new member."

Edward rolled his eyes, he took a closely look at the Literature Club girl with glasses and short hair. He noticed that the girl didn't even lift her head once from Hauhi's loud energetic voice apart from occasionally flipping the pages with her fingers. She had pale skin and an expressionless face. Her fingers were moving rhythmically like a robot. Just covering her face, her short hair made one want to take off her glasses for a clearer view. She gave the impression of an inconspicuous puppet.

"What does she have to say about all this?" Edward asked Haruhi.

"She said it doesn't matter!" Haruhi said giving him a tumbs up.

"Really?" Edward blinked.

"I asked her already at lunch time. I said I need her to lend me the room and she said 'go ahead,' as long as she can read her book here in peace."

The l suddenly lifted her head and pushed the nose bridge of her glasses up with her fingers. They saw her deep-colored eyes staring at them from under those lenses. Neither her eyes nor her lips showed any expression at all, almost like a mask. She was different from Haruhi—her face is the kind that fundamentally shows no sign of emotion.

"Nagato Yuki."

Back in Edward's world in Resembool, Winry and Sheska were walking down the graveyard with Winry holding flowers. I has been three years ever since Edward has disappeared and Alphonse Elric joining the state military in search of a way to reunite with his older brother. They made it to the grave which had Winry's grandma's name on it and put the flowers in front of it. It was two years ago when her grandma died of old age leaving her alone with the house. Sheska helped her in any way she can and has helped her out of her shell.

"How's Al doing these days?" Winry asked.

"I see him around the national library alot," . Sheska explained. "He's always researching."

"I see.. he hadn't given up on Edward, I worry that he will end up like Edward..." Winry thought getting to her knee to get a good view of the grave.