Those Days After
Special thanks to: FullmetalFan16: Ah yes, yes he is :D
Raven of the Willows: Thanks for reviewing. And I'm not saying anything... 0.o And I don't plan on killing him no matter who he is or what he's done. At least, I don't think so.
St. Iggy the Pyro: Technically, yes he would. But, it'll only be on potentially life-threatening or extremely painful things that they'll be able to feel each other. And, that should be Thee, not Thy. Just letting you know :D Why do you want him to go away anyway?
rebbecca: Thank you :D
sakuravision: I knew that he was a Major, I was just thinking about something else or something when I wrote that. He's a Lieutenant Colonel. You know, he was promoted. 'Cause he's awesome. And thanks!
bronze andromeda shun: Thank you :D I tried. And thanks for that, I was feeling completely unsure about that. Sorry about your relative, too. Win.
Obsessive-Fan Number 1: 7: You just missed an H. Well, it can happen. Don't be afraid... I guess terrified is okay... And two months is nothing. And thank you :) I thought so too. 8: When you think about it, no, it wouldn't be. But they don't want him to die yet. Explanation later... And you're supposed to feel bad for him :D And if you were in Ed's position, with your hand being squashed, I'm pretty sure that you'd be feeling differently as well :D
Fireena: Whenever I read your review I have to giggle. :D Hello, Spiderman/ woman. :D And you should like Al. It should be, like, illegal not to. Not literally, of course. Thanks for reviewing!
A/N: I can't even begin to explain how happy and proud I am right now. I currently have over half what the story with the most reviews has, with half the chapters. I have over 4 reviews per chapter, and I can't even explain how much that makes my day every time I look at that review count. XD Thanks soo much for everyone who's reviewed! :') It'd be awesome if, for this chapter, we could get 5 reviews per chapter. That would make my day totally and completely. Love you all who've reviewed, especially the ones who review every chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Though, I can officially claim a few characters: My OCs. XD
Edward heaved into the couch in his office with a deep sigh. It had been a rough day. A rough week, actually. Nothing to go on with Al, and several accidents that distracted him to top it all off! He tried to do what the General did and pretend like all of these things mattered in the long run, but did they, really?
It'd been a month since that Rico guy had come in. And, though he'd kind of expected that having a new guy on the team would help- someone who could look at it with fresh eyes- things had only gone downhill. And Edward couldn't explain it.
The back of his head hit the couch innocently, and he nearly closed his eyes and fell asleep. He shook himself awake though; he still had a few hours to go until that could happen.
He glanced up when his door opened, expecting it to be the General with another lead to work on tomorrow. So when the new guy, Rico, came in and seated himself on the other couch, he was pretty well surprised. "Is…something up, Private? If there are any complaints you can take it up with Mustang, I don't handle that." He said.
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Lieutenant. I was just wondering… I'd heard from somewhere that you were on a search while in the military. For… your brother, I think?" Rico said. He sat back and crossed his arms softly. He looked his superior in the eye. He had a no nonsense look in his eyes. One that said, Answer me, you bastard.
That look sent shudders through his system. Sure, Edward had called the General a bastard several times, and he doubted that he'd stop any time soon. He had been, however, much closer in rank to the General than the Private was to him. "Um… yeah… it's going on 7 months now. Why?"
Rico stood. He huffed. "No reason. Just wanted to confirm what I was hearing. So yeah… see you later." He then left the room in rather a rush. Ed went to the door to watch him.
"…Strange."
"Very."
Edward nearly screamed. He spun around, only settling when he saw Armstrong standing there, his arms crossed, one single golden eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Hello, Edward Elric! I trust all is going well! Besides, you know…" came Armstrong's mostly joyous, thunderous greeting.
Edward grumbled. "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel." Edward found himself rolling his eyes at the sparkling man. He sighed to himself softly.
Armstrong waved to him and left. "Well, I send the best of lucks to you, my friend! You cannot be unsuccessful always!"
Ed's eyelids lowered in exasperation. His head fell. "Thanks, Lieutenant Colonel… thanks…"
Winry took hold of her wrench, twisting it tightly on the screw. She was fixing up a new leg for Ed (he did get himself into an awful lot of trouble).
Recently, she'd taken to visiting her and Ed's parents. There was no reason, but sometimes it was nice to be able to see them. She'd even started talking to them like Ed had that one time. Sometimes, just pretending that they were talking to her was enough to soothe her fears.
She'd pretended that her mother had voiced her worries for Al quickly and reassuringly, as though knowing that Alphonse would soon be back anyway. She'd pretended that her father had proclaimed extreme worry that whoever had Al would be going after her next. And she'd pretended that the boys' parents had just laughed and reassured him that such wasn't the case. After which, both Sara and Urey would demand how they knew that.
Winry sighed deeply. Her hand started wavering, and she set the wrench down before she hurt herself. Her shining blue eyes had recently taken on a frightened, worried hue; one that hadn't even been present when Ed and Al were scouring the country to find the Philosopher's Stone. After all, when they were out, both could at least call and reassure her of their safety and progress. Now…
She looked out to the blue sky and up at the mountains. They were beautiful, as always, and the very tips of the highest of them were snow-capped. Yet, they had become creepy.
To be honest, Winry had always thought that the mountains were creepy. Avalanches happened on mountains. Bears lived on mountains. No one could hear anything going on, on mountains. So yeah, they were creepy.
"Would you let me go? Dammit! Leave me alone, you bastard General!"
"You know, I don't think that I will. C'mon, you're not making this any easier."
"That's the point!"
Winry stood and went to her window. She poked her blond head out, and all of her features warmed when she saw what the commotion was. She rushed downstairs.
Just seconds before she reached the front door, the doorbell rang. Winry ripped the door open, smiling when she saw one Roy Mustang standing there, smiling at her kindly, holding Edward's arm tightly. He practically tossed the alchemist at Winry, still smiling. "Greetings, Miss Rockbell. I've arranged everything with Pinako; he needs to relax some again, so he's staying here. And he'd better relax." At that, Roy glared down into Edward's golden eyes, causing the blonde to wince and wave his hand, "whatever Mustang."
Winry smiled at him and Mustang. "That's fine. Granny just never told me. Uh… Where's his…"
Roy leaned over and lifted a suitcase from against the wall.
Winry nodded at him, "okay… Thanks for delivering him then, I guess."
Roy nodded as well, in reply. "I'll be back to pick him up in a weeks time. Of course, if he still hasn't relaxed, then you'll see me the same time next week, and so on and so forth." He lifted a hand in goodbye.
"What if he's relaxed before the end of the week?"
"…Then you can call me then. I'll come pick him up. I just don't think that that's possible."
"Would you two stop acting like I'm not sitting right here?!" Edward demanded, snarling.
The other two chuckled. "Sorry about that Ed." "Whatever Fullmetal. See you in a week."
"Wait, General. Do you want to stay for lunch? I'm sure that Granny would be glad to make something for you. If not, then I can. Granny always says that food tastes best when eaten with friends." Winry quickly called.
Roy chuckled and smiled at her. "Sorry, Miss Rockbell. As much as I'd love to take you up on that offer, I have to get back to the office."
"Yeah, or Hawkeye will kill you!" Edward taunted.
Mustang ignored him and turned back toward the train station. "See you in a week!"
"Bye!"
Edward sighed and collapsed on the ground- half inside and half out. His right hand bounced suddenly and he closed his eyes. He breathed deeply.
"Are you gonna come inside or should I close the door on you?"
Edward opened his eyes. He sat up and tugged himself inside, not even bothering to stand. He blinked up at her, and out of nowhere, said, "Hi Winry."
It was enough to make Winry snort in laughter and sit down in front of him. She smiled at him. "Hi Edward."
Ed fell backwards again, splaying himself out comfortably. "Bastard… didn't have to drag me all of the way out here. Gah… imagine- I could have found Al by the time that I get back if he'd just let me look… dammit…" he groaned. "uh… not that I don't want to be here or anything, just…"
"I know what you're getting at. But he's right and you know it. You need to relax so that you can keep your head on. Just try to relax or you'll never find him."
"…It's June…" Edward moaned.
"Yeah. Don't you like June?"
"June isn't bad. But it's June."
"What's wrong with June? You never used to complain like this before…"
"Well, it's already been eight months. June is eight months from October. Do you know what happened in October? Lots happened in October." Edward explained, sighing deeply again. He clenched his fists above his head and stretched his toes.
Winry raised her eyebrows at him. "You sound like a little kid again, Ed."
"Sometimes I feel like one too."
Winry chuckled. She stood and stooped to offer a hand to her friend. Ed gratefully took it and let her pull him up. "Come on, let's get you something to eat. You look pretty hungry."
Edward glanced down at his body. "Do I? I don't feel that hungry. But knowing you, you won't let me get away without eating."
Winry smiled at him softly. "Alright. You know, let's have a picnic. Picnics are relaxing! Let's go!" she quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed a basket, searching for food in the cupboards and shoving it in unceremoniously. She grabbed a picnic cloth, took her friend by the arm, and dragged him out, calling, "Granny, Ed's here! We're going out for a picnic, be back soon!"
She left as soon as she heard Pinako's call, "Alright, don't shirk, Winry!"
Sorry it was so short; I couldn't think of much. Next chapter will be better, I think. XD I hope. There's gonna be a cute scene between Ed and Roy next chapter! :D And it will be a near five month time-jump. Nothing happens. *Sigh...*
So yeah, that's all. Thanks for reading my little story! Please review!
~YAJJ :-)
