Mother's Day Special!
(Age 16)
Elizabeth sighed as she slipped a single blanket on the two sleeping men. They had fallen asleep on the porch, never once even trying to get inside, even though the door hadn't been locked at all. She wondered to herself, were they trying to give her space, or just stupid enough not to check the door? She bit her lip and tip-toed past them, wondering why Bradly still liked her and what Jean felt.
Bradly is kind and affectionate. And not to mention chivalrous and agreeable. He hardly ever fights with me, because he picks his fights so well. He's hard-working and mature, never petty like Jean. Jean. Jean. He's something else.
Elizabeth's mind warred with itself, trying to figure out the man named Jean Havoc and how he felt about her. She didn't even attempt to figure out what she felt about him, she already had a strong feeling that she was falling- if not fallen- in love with him.
He's warm and affectionate one minute, and reclusive and cold the next. He's told me I'm childish and petty, and implied I need to grow up. Then he turned right around and tucked his tail and ran the moment I mentioned confronting my brother. Does he care that little for me? Is he that scared of Edward? Or maybe, he's fallen in love with that Solaris woman and I was just a passing fling. Oh, who am I kidding? He probably was teasing me about the birthday kiss, and just got caught up in the moment the other time he kissed me. That's why he regretted it so much.
Warm water slowly rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away fiercely, not wanting to think about how he had been acting towards her. She forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing down the road.
(Age 16)
Edward sighed sadly, eating a bit of lunch with Alphonse. It was mother's day, a day he and his siblings used to spend with their mother, picking flowers and baking goods. They would skip school, wake up extra early, and be in bed extra late. Nearly eleven hours straight with their mom. Even though it was the third-or was it the fourth?- year without her, this day always hit him hard.
"Well," A Xinese voice cried happily, "I'm revived!" Edward cringed and cast a glare at the Xing Prince's savior, Alphonse.
Elizabeth was sitting in a field of Periwinkles, picking as many as she could, just like she did as a child. Only now, she was silently apologizing to her mother for trying to bring her back, for abandoning Resembool, for being a lovesick girl, for not visiting her grave, for not visiting anyone, and mostly, for forgetting what her voice sounded like.
"Mom." Elizabeth whispered, picking another light purple flower, "I'm sorry." Her eyes watered, "I'm sorry I'm forgetting you."
(Age 19)
Bradly was waken up by a sharp smack to the head. When he opened his eyes, he found himself tangled in a blanket with the ash tray. He wasn't sure what his name was, though. He rubbed the sore spot the ash tray left, and snapped, "Hey! What was that for?"
The blonde in question just kicked the younger boy away from him, untangling his legs from the covers in the process. The heat was stripped away and replaced with a cool, refreshing, morning breeze. "For getting me tangled up in the blanket, kid." The ashtray snapped right back, with his lip curled up in a nasty snarl.
Bradly slung the cover off of himself as well, sick and tired of this guy. Jean, Bradly suddenly remembered Elizabeth calling him. He stood up, towering over the still-sitting man, and defiantly grabbed a fistful of his crumpled tee, "Damn it, Jean. I don't know what your problem is with me, but you're upsetting Elizabeth and it stops now." He ordered gruffly.
Jean blinked in surprise, wondering if the kid had a death wish. He grabbed the wrist of the hand that held his shirt and he yanked it away. He flung Bradly off of the wooden porch and into the dusty dirt road, rising as well. He was at least two inches taller than Bradly, and he was more intimidating than the country boy. Before the younger of the two stood up and finished brushing off the dirt, Jean sauntered over to him and grabbed him by his collar like he'd done earlier. He didn't lift the boy, but he had him pulled up and clawing at Jean's hand. "My problem?" Havoc spat, "My problem?" He pulled Bradly closer and hissed in his face, "My problem is your fucking proposal to a sixteen year old girl." Tossing him once more, Jean landed the boy in the ditch this time.
"Oh." Bradly replied with a smirk, "So it's not me you have an issue with," he stood up again, dusting himself off again, "it's the fact that I have one hell of a shot with Beth!" he sneered, spitefully using the nickname that pissed Jean off the most. He took a few steps towards Havoc, "And what's wrong with a proposal from me? I've known her as far back as I can remember! She grew up with me. She may not love me romantically, but there will always be something there." He chuckled at Jean's anger, "You don't just get rid of the memories of a childhood friend and love."
Though his anger had been visible, Havoc had kept his emotions in check very well. Until Bradly crossed a line, calling Elizabeth- Havoc's Beth- his childhood love. He roared with anger, snarling hatefully, "You bastard!" and charging after him with fist raised. He tackled the boy, straddling him. The punches flew until he felt his gun move. The moment his hand moved for it, though, a shot rang out. The fence post next to Havoc's head splintered from the force of the bullet, causing the two men to duck and cover.
Havoc sprang back up to face the shooter, snapping, "Damn it, Hawkeye! You could have hit me!"
Her icily angry eyes cut at him, as she replied, "You know damn good and well I missed on purpose. The next shot will be at you," She paused and flicked her eyes down, "and lower." Even dirty, split-lipped, and bruised, Bradly managed to scoff at the threat toward's Jean's privates. Riza cut her eyes at the younger man as well and added, "I have plenty of bullets to go around. Don't test me, boy."
Pinako's door opened and creaked shut, revealing the old woman herself. "Now Bradly Jones!" She scolded, "What on God's green earth are you thinking, riling up an armed military man on purpose?" The nineteen year old opened his mouth to speak, but she continued, "And don't you think it'll upset Elizabeth, seeing you beaten up? You know Mother's Day is hard enough on those three, and you're adding to her worries by picking fights!"
His head snapped up at the mention of Mother's day. "What?" He breathed, "That's today? Where's Ellie?" he quickly stood and began frantically searching for her around the house, only to stop minutes later and declare, "She must have left earlier this morning." with a heavy, worried sigh.
Havoc swore loudly, kicking the splintered fence post. "I'm her guard. I'm going looking for her." He grumbled, "Besides, we still don't have any leads on the whereabouts of Scar."
Bradly shot a glare at Jean, and remarked, "I'm going looking for her. You don't know this town like I do," He narrowed his eyes at Jean, "Old Man." He sneered spitefully, trying once again to piss him off.
Havoc just shot him the bird and started walking down the road. Bradly figured he had enough time to wash his face before Havoc got anywhere close to where Beth would be-The periwinkle fields- so he an inside to clean the blood off of himself.
Smirking, Jean glanced once at the closed front door before picking up his pace a bit. Elizabeth said her mother's favorite flowers were periwinkles, right? Jean thought he saw a big patch of purple periwinkles on the way here.
(Age 16)
Elizabeth had stopped crying now, simply picking the flowers methodically in silence and bundling them as best she could in the large, flowing sun dress she borrowed from Winry's closet this morning. She must have picked hundreds of them by now, and she was ready to go to her mother's grave.
Carefully clutching the skirt of the dress so that no flowers were lost, Elizabeth began the walk to her mother's grave. She vaguely heard footsteps behind her, but paid no mind to them, even as they were rapidly approaching.
"Elizabeth!" Jean called, suddenly beside her. Or so it seemed to the girl, whose mind was elsewhere. She jumped violently and dropped her entire skirtful of little purple flowers. "There you are," He exclaimed in relief, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, damn it, did I scare you?" He asked, worried by her lack of speech and reaction.
Elizabeth just stood there, staring at the flowers. She was sort of in a daze still, but when reality caught up to her, the sight of the flowers she'd spent hours picking for her mother's grave made her eyes well up with tears. She spoke something in a soft, dejected voice, but Havoc only heard the last part, "...Mother's grave."
Jean could have slapped himself. He ran up here and scared the girl half to death and made her lose the flowers she'd picked for her mother's grave on mother's day. Did things that horribly ironic happen in the real world? To him they did, anyway.
"I-I'm sorry Beth." Jean caught a glimpse of the unshed tears in her eyes and he dropped to his knees and began picking up the flowers. "Sweetheart, please don't cry. He pleaded, moving her hands to hold her skirt once more. He began putting the flowers back in her skirt, until every single one was back.
The girl blinked at the flowers, the few tears in her eyes sliding down her face. Then she did something that almost scared Havoc. She giggled. "Thank you, Jean." She said whimsically, continuing on her way.
He froze for a few seconds before following her. What was up with this girl?
They slowly approached her mother's grave and Elizabeth lowered down to her knees and just let the periwinkles roll out of her skirt and onto the top of the grave. She sat in silence, trying to remember everything she could about her mother, and then stood, still in silence.
Another set of footsteps found the two of them, and Bradly appeared on the other side of Beth. He nodded at the headstone respectfully and started subtly pulling Elizabeth away from it.
Once they exited the small, town graveyard, Elizabeth somewhat returned to her normal personality. The moment she snapped out of her daze, she tilted her head and looked thoughtfully at Bradly before rushing to his side.
"Bradly Martin Jones." She scolded harshly, "What did you do?" She gestured to his split lip and bruises. Unlike what Jean expected, Bradly just gave Elizabeth a lopsided grin and a carefree shrug. It made Jean feel sort of guilty.
Jean hung his head and Beth understood instantly. "Havoc!" She cried, outraged, "You hit him? Why?!"
He gritted his teeth, unable to lie to the girl, "I lost my temper." He replied vaguely. She shot him an angry look and he elaborated, "Because of his proposal."
Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock and she turned to face her childhood friend, "That was a serious proposal?" She asked, pink brushed across her face. A single nod from Bradly turned even the tips of her ears scarlet red. "Wait," She snapped, the color fading away as she turned to Jean again, "Why would that make you lose your temper?"
Havoc clenched his jaw and looked to the ground. His silence angered Elizabeth to the point of turning pink again.
"You're kidding, right?" She barked out, laughing humorlessly, "You have a girlfriend. And to be honest," She glanced back at Bradly, "I did like him when I was younger."
Jean's jaw only tightened more as he realized there was no way in a frozen hell he was winning this argument. Not with that smug-ass bastard hanging around his Beth.
Bradly smiled back at Elizabeth, "So will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, holding a hand out for her if she agreed.
Resisting the urge to glance back at Jean, Elizabeth took Bradly's hand with her left hand and they began walking back to Pinako's. Jean trudged along behind them angrily, cursing Bradly Martin Jones in his mind the whole way.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
And, on a plot-topic, I've gots me a plan with this whole Bradly-Jean-Elizabeth-Edward issue going on:)