Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.
Chapter 37
Needless to say, both Ed and Winry were in high spirits as they walked back to the gym. Who knows how long they might have continued with their…activities…if their friends had not interrupted them, and now they were being thoroughly questioned by all as they made their way to the gym for the final alchemy competition of the year.
For the most part though, Ed and Winry weren't answering questions. They were too busy trying to look at each other without letting their friends see, as their hands intertwined with one another.
However the moment that the group entered the gym, Ed and Winry were pulled apart by their friends as the girls headed toward the stands and the guys headed out to the middle of the gym floor to where the officials and the other team was already waiting.
Ed couldn't help but look back over his shoulder at Winry, just as she did the same and they found their eyes meeting only to have Ed flash her one of his trademark grins as she blushed slightly.
As Winry sat down in the bleachers between Riza and Ella, she felt a variety of feelings come over her. Her heart was beating rapidly between the bliss of finally kissing Ed and her nervousness about this competition. Sure that kiss or two probably was one of the best moments of her life, but all the same, he hadn't officially asked her out yet and it wasn't like her to be so pessimistic, but she had this feeling in her gut and she just knew that something bad was going to happen, that's probably why she was so nervous.
She watched, nervously bouncing her leg, as the members of the two teams were paired up for their matches. She listened carefully as the judge began to announce the matches.
"Okay, I want nice and clean battles from all of you today," the judge said smiling as if he didn't need to worry about that. Winry immediately tensed up at his words though, something about them just made her even more nervous.
"And the matches are," he announced pulling the names as he announced, "Mustang v. Lust, Armstrong v. Greed, Al v. Sloth, and Ed v. Envy."
The audience couldn't help but stir slightly as the names were announced. The names slightly disturbed them, but then again the competition was slightly disturbing as they were all clothed in black with some red trim, as well as each of them sporting a strange tattoo that was the color of blood and could almost be mistaken for a transmutation circle of some kind. They certainly were an interesting bunch of alchemists.
As Roy and the one called Lust took the floor, their team began to rack their brains for the information that Hughes had given them earlier that day on each of the members of the Ouroboros team.
Each of them seems to be named after one of the seven deadly sins; Mustang quoted Hughes in his mind. All of them are surprisingly fast and resilient. It seems like all other alchemy teams didn't stand a chance against them. Not to be pessimistic but these guys are going to be a challenge to beat.
Then Roy began to go into the specifics in his personal competition, the one called Lust. She is supposedly more passionate than some of the others, although what she is passionate about remains a mystery to me. It wasn't often that Hughes didn't have all the information on someone, but there was a certain point that he would not be able to truly find certain facts pertaining to specific people. She doesn't appear to dodge attacks very well, as one of the times she was fighting she took a blow head on, but strangely enough it seemed as though she wasn't even affected by the hit.
Mustang looked curiously over the beautiful girl that stood in front of him. He could understand immediately why she had been dubbed "Lust." Her pale complexion and midnight black hair was a strange combination but it suited her well. That and the strange tattoo in the center of her upper chest, made it hard not to notice her.
However, there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes. A look that Roy had only really seen in the Elric brothers' eyes at times when they were thinking about their parents who had died. It was a look of hesitation mixed with some sadness as well. It intrigued Roy but he shook off the thought, trying to remember the rest of Hughes advice against this "Lust" character.
Her alchemy seems to be something with extending her fingers as if they were bullets or knives. It is suspected that she has transmutation circles on the inside of the sleeves of her dress. Although this is unconfirmed because whenever any of their alchemy team members are questioned, they remain silent.
Roy mentally sighed at the lack of information that he had on their competition. Then again he was sure that they could beat them, after all this was the moment they had been training for all year.
As the signal was given for the competitors to start their match, he didn't waste a moment and snapped immediately, starting off the battle with a bust of flames.
However, Lust didn't seem bothered by it really and dodged off to the side quickly before any true damage could be done to her. Damn she was fast. But before Mustang had a chance to do another transmutation, she came running directly at him slashing at his face when she was still meters away.
Mustang didn't react quite fast enough and ducked off to the side, meaning that her now extended fingers that had probably been meant to finish him off, had only made two scratches on the side of his face. He could feel the blood starting to ooze out of them, and it hurt like hell.
He lifted his hand up to his cheek and then looked at his now blood soaked glove. This was bad, obviously the cuts were deeper than he originally had thought. Probably needed stitches, bad news for him and good news for Lust. After all, only bad enough for stitches wasn't a bad enough wound for Lust to be given any sort of penalty. Anything worse than probably would have meant a penalty for the girl. Damn her.
Roy didn't have time to worry about his wounds though, Lust was already running at him ready to make another injury and probably take him out this time. Quickly he dodged, this time ready for her assault, and in return sent her an attack of his own, snapping and causing some flames to begin to form around her. Too bad she was quick, although Roy could have sworn that he had gotten her partially on her arm. However when the smoke had cleared she was unmarked. Once again he mentally cursed.
She immediately attacked again with those long fingers of hers that cut like claws. At least now he knew what to expect and dodged quickly, attacking back whenever he was able to. It was almost like a dance the way they kept dodging and striking each other, adapt not a very enjoyable dance.
None the less, as they kept this up Roy noticed any time she was able to draw blood she seemed to almost get excited. She was no longer swiping at him as if to cut him, she now had changed her tactics to that of almost a stabbing motion. He knew that if she caught him with one of those attacks that she would definitely obtain a penalty… if she didn't happen to kill him. A plan quickly formed in his head.
The next time she stabbed at him he made sure to dodge… for the most part. Instead of hitting him in the heart or one of his other vital organs, he managed to move so that her fingers instead pierced completely though his left shoulder.
He groaned slightly at the attack but didn't try to escape it. He could already tell that the judge wouldn't be happy with this attack and the damage it was doing to a student. But that wasn't the most important part. Now he had her within his grasp.
Roy looked directly into Lust's smug eyes. She twisted her two fingers that had pierced though him just to see his pain. She smiled when a small gasp came from his mouth and he glared at her. It didn't matter that she was playing dirty though; it was just going to make her defeat even greater.
He couldn't resist smirking slightly as he managed to lift his left arm and grab her extended fingers to keep them in place. She was surprised at his action, he should have been trying to shake her off and instead he was keeping her in place.
"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents," he said remembering back to earlier that year when he had fought with Riza.
Up in the stands, Winry couldn't help but overhear Riza's gasp as he said those words. Looking over at Riza, she was surprised to see her friend looking so worried. Hawkeye obviously didn't like the way the battle was going, and had her hands clenched grabbing her pants almost as if it was the only thing keeping her from running down to where Mustang was battling.
"Are you okay Riza?" Winry asked worried about her friend seeming so upset.
"He's such an idiot," Hawkeye hissed under her breath, staring at how Roy was getting himself hurt just to win a match.
A part of Winry wanted to disagree and remind her friend that winning meant everything to these guys sometimes. Then again, she also knew that if that was Ed down there getting hurt just to win… suddenly she felt the urge to go smack Ed upside the head. Yeah, she definitely agreed with Riza, boys are such idiots.
"Now that I have a hold of you, even if you are doing damage to me, you can't dodge my attacks any longer, so give up or be burned," Roy said tightening his grip on her extended fingers.
Lust started to smirk right back at him and then remembered the crowd all around them. She knew better than to let herself get burnt very badly in front of them and keep going. She was at the disadvantage and there was nothing she could do about it. However she didn't get a chance to forfeit before the judge stepped in.
"This match is over," he said loudly drawing everyone's attention. Roy dropped his hands to his side and Lust immediately withdrew her fingers back to their original size before turning and walking back to her teammates who were all glaring at her, probably because of her recklessness in the battle.
Mustang grunted slightly and felt a slight relief at having his shoulder free again, although now it began to bleed heavily and he clenched his teeth trying to ignore the pain for the moment and listen to the judge's announcement of who won, although he already knew, now it was just how large the win was.
"And the winner is Roy Mustang…" the judge paused until the audience calmed down. Most of the audience was oblivious to how important the size of wins could be in this competition and therefore kept screaming and cheering, just at the simple fact that they had won.
Finally after a few minutes of frustration, for everyone who was on the alchemy team, the judge continued. "Large," he announced.
Another cheer erupted from the stands and this time the rest of the alchemy team joined in. They had expected it to be small or maybe a medium, but guessed that with the damage that Lust had done that was against the rules, it must have made the win larger than expected. However, it
probably wasn't too wise to have Roy wait to go to the hospital. The school nurse had already been called down to the gym, but it was pretty obvious that he just needed to go and get his shoulder checked out.
Winry and Ella screamed at the announcement and stood up along with the rest of the crowd to cheer. A moment later, Hawkeye stood up but not to cheer. Her face contrasted with the rest of the crowds and worry was apparent in her eyes when Winry noticed her movement.
"I have to go," she said to Winry and Ella still staring at Mustang as he held his shoulder that was still bleeding badly as he walked over to his teammates.
Winry stopped cheering and turned to Riza confused, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer.
"Mustang is supposed to be my ride home and most likely he will have to go to an actual doctor for those wounds so I will probably have to go to," she explained still staring at Roy as he was examined by the school nurse while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.
Winry followed Riza's line of sight and watched at the nurse shook her head in disbelief at Roy's injuries. It was plain to see that he wasn't going to get to stay to watch the other battles. Those holes in his shoulder were going to have to be patched up and kept that way for quite a while, from what Winry could tell. She just hoped that they didn't get infected or something worse.
Next thing she knew, Riza was down with the other alchemy team members and Roy. She hadn't even noticed her leaving.
"That Hawkeye is a sly one alright," Hughes made a comment from his seat behind Winry and Ella who had been listening to Riza's statement as well.
"What do you mean?" Ella asked Maes, not understanding what he was trying to say about her friend.
"She was lying," he said pushing his glasses back up on his nose.
"What!?" Winry exclaimed as Ella tilted her head slightly to the side still confused.
Hughes smiled slightly and looked down at Roy as the school nurse bandaged his shoulder until he could go to the hospital as Riza and the rest of the team watched. "Hawkeye was worried about Roy so she said that she was supposed to get a ride home with him so that she could go with him, she'll probably tell Roy the same story and he'll believe her thinking that he just forgot about it."
Winry was at a loss for words, so Ella decided to ask the next question, "But how do you know that, I mean maybe she really was supposed to go with Mustang."
"Well, I overheard her talking to my Gracia this morning and asking for a ride," he answered while leaning back slightly in his seat and putting his arm around Gracia who was sitting right beside him.
Ella and Winry both looked at Gracia who gave a nod of the head admitting that Hughes was telling the truth. They then glanced at each other wide-eyed in response before breaking out in giggles as they watched Riza stand seemingly annoyed at Roy.
"She just needs to admit it already," Winry said sighing lightly.
"Not like you're any better," Ella teased her friend who blushed slightly at the comment before stealing a quick glance at Ed who was laughing with Al about something as Armstrong and Greed made their way to the floor for their match.
Wow, so I wrote probably over half of this chapter today and yesterday. I was having some major writers block. Oh well.
Warning: I might not be getting the next chapter up on time, I'll try my best but college for me starts next week and there are lots of things I'm supposed to be doing such as moving into my dorm room. Plus now that I won't be living at home, editing will take longer because I have to send it to my sis to edit and so that may take a little longer from now on. Sorry.
I'll try to update soon though, keep writing.
FFG- Jo