Only Natural
"Edward!"
". . ."
"We thought you were dead!"
". . ."
"What happened to you?"
"Mmmmm . . ."
"Edward-! Are you listening to me?"
"Mmm?"
He stops- albeit reluctantly- and moves away a little, peering at her through dishevelled golden hair. His eyes open, and blink at her with curiosity.
"Where were you?"
He groans impatiently.
"Don't start . . .!" she says immediately, as his face begins to move towards hers again.
"Why'd you have to ask such a boring question?" he demands, putting his hands flat against the floor on either side of her and taking his weight on his elbows.
"It's not boring- it's important," she insists, taking the opportunity to slide backwards away from him.
He sighs, realising she is serious, and sits back on his heels. "Remember how I told you that Al and me were going away for a while?"
She nods.
"And that I thought we were onto something?"
Another nod.
"Well," he says, with the air of a person delivering a spectacular conclusion to a tale of momentous proportions, "we were."
This time she has to physically restrain him as he begins to crawl towards her again. "Wait a minute. What does that mean? Is Alphonse . . . are you . . . ?"
He just looks at her, pulls the glove off his right hand and wiggles the fingers at her.
Slowly, she takes his hand between her own and squeezes it silently for a moment, as if trying to warm it; as if it is hopelessly cold. She lowers her face until her breath skims over it, but says nothing.
Something small and wet splashes down onto his skin; he jumps violently. "Scieszka!"
"I'm alright," she says in a choked voice.
He scrambles over to her and puts his arms around her.
"I'm sorry. . ." she mumbles as he holds her. "I'm happy for you, really, it's just . . . I'm sorry. Carry on with what you were saying . . ."
"Al's in Risembool," he says, nose in her hair, looking at the wall over the top of her head, "with Winry. I'm sorry, but I . . . I stayed there for a bit, too. To . . . make sure he was okay."
She nods, although she knows that in all likelihood he too was resting and recovering whilst staying there. It is only natural.
"But I came back here as soon as I could, I swear I did. I wanted to see you."
She gulps in response.
It is as though his suppressed, numbed shock and relief is draining out of the room along with her tears; he lets out a long breath, and simply sits; they are quiet for a while, and he rocks her gently back and forth as she cries.
Until, a long time later, she shifts, sighs, moves away a little and looks up at him. Her eyes are red and her face still damp, but there is a certain sort of glow in her expression, and he cannot help it: he kisses her again, with a strange energy.
". . . Edward?" she says after a substantial pause.
"Mmm?"
". . . Never mind."
Author's notes: Yay.
The last chapter of this series. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. :3