DISCLAIMER: I don't own FMA. I only own my own OCs and this particular fic. I also own the socks on my feet. Woo. *wiggles toes* /I'm tired don't judge me.
Eighteen
That night, Izumi had Delilah privately tell her of her afflictions, and the woman frowned in thought before giving her a fair amount of food to eat for dinner. Afterwards, she told the girl to get a good night's rest, and to have Edward or Alphonse get her in the morning if she didn't feel better by then. Delilah even went to bed earlier than the others did. With the help of her medicine, she fell asleep relatively quickly.
Consciousness seemed to return all too soon, and the first thing she noticed was the stiffness of her muscles. She let out a small groan and shifted, trying to get comfortable—she was still sleepy, maybe she could get some more rest—but then she felt some unfamiliar, sticky substance on her skin somewhere. She opened her eyes.
She saw Edward in the other bed, still asleep, and Alphonse was sitting against one of the walls, a book in his hands. She didn't really take this into account as she was still dazed with sleep, and she was confused by the feeling on her legs. Hesitantly, she slipped a hand under the covers and touched the inside of her thigh. When she brought her arm back up, her fingertips were red.
…My period?
She was stunned silent for a moment and hid her hand back under the covers. "A-Alphonse?"
"What?" He looked up from his book and noticed her expression. "Are you feeling all right?"
"C-could you get Izumi for me?"
"Okay," he said, a little uncertainly, before standing and leaving the room. Now, the only sound was Ed's light snoring.
Delilah stared at the ceiling. Her period. Her first period. She knew about periods, obviously, but she didn't really know about periods. She could list off all the parts of the female reproductive system and the symptoms of a period (how had she not been able to tell that she was having it, anyway?), but beyond that, she didn't know what to do. She had never had a woman in her life to teach her.
It was at that moment that Izumi came into the room. She took one look at Delilah lying in bed and turned to the sleeping State Alchemist.
"EDWARD ELRIC!" she hollered, and the boy shot straight out of bed, his eyes wild with fright. Before he could protest—or make any kind of movement, for that matter—Izumi grabbed him by the collar of his nightshirt and dragged him out into the hall with his brother before slamming the door.
"B-but Teacher!" Ed cried, finally finding his voice. "W-what about my clothes?"
"Go ask Mason for something to wear!" Izumi snapped as she locked the door. "And don't even think about using your alchemy to get in here."
Delilah could practically hear Ed's gulp of nervousness.
Izumi, adopting a kinder disposition, turned to Delilah and came to her bedside. "It came, didn't it?"
Delilah nodded, still dazed.
"Is it your first?" Izumi asked, though she sounded like she already knew the answer. She knelt beside the girl.
"Y-yes."
Izumi nodded. "Well, shall we see what the damage is?"
Delilah didn't really want to—she would have to accept the fact that she had actually had her period if she saw the undeniable proof, and she wasn't sure if she was ready. But there was no other option, so she sat up and pulled off the covers, exposing her nightdress and bed sheets, both of which were reddened.
"I-I am so sorry," she stuttered, horrified by the sight.
Izumi gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. "It's all right, dear; it's just blood. It's not hard to get out, especially for an alchemist." She stood. "Here's what we'll do: I'll clean these while you get yourself a shower. And don't worry; I'll make sure the coast is clear of those boys, so you won't have anything to worry about, okay?"
Delilah nodded, still feeling awful about bleeding all over the bed. Izumi went to make sure that the boys had left, and then beckoned Delilah to get a change of clothes, and the girl followed her to the bathroom.
"Take as long as you like, okay? I'll come back when you're done and show you how to put on a belt. Nowadays they sell special padded underwear, but unfortunately we'll have to go buy them later since I don't have any."
Delilah realized why Izumi wouldn't have any, and that didn't help her mood.
Izumi left her for a moment while Delilah undressed and hopped into the shower; the woman only came back in to collect Delilah's soiled clothes before leaving again.
The girl's thoughts stewed as she washed herself. She felt more disgusting and embarrassed than anything else. She didn't want to inconvenience Izumi, especially since she had only met the woman yesterday. She felt like a burden.
When she was completely clean—she even washed her hair, and she was so nervous about her period that she washed her legs several times—she dried herself off with a towel and put on one of her dresses, although for the moment she disregarded her underwear.
Izumi came in a few moments later with an odd-looking belt that had a strap hanging down from two points. She explained how to put it on and tighten the belt and strap, which went between the legs. Delilah didn't like the best; it looped around her hips well enough, but the strap felt rather uncomfortable.
"It's only temporary," Izumi assured her when she noticed Delilah's expression. "In the afternoon we'll go out and buy you that underwear I mentioned earlier."
Delilah nodded mutely, her eyes trailing toward the floor.
Izumi studied her for a moment before letting out a small sigh. Somehow, she sounded affectionate but still somewhat exasperated. "Come with me," she said, and led the girl to the bedroom that Delilah was sharing with the boys. Izumi motioned for Delilah to take a seat on the freshly-made bed, and then she closed sat on the other mattress.
"I'm assuming you know about what comes with a period?"
Delilah nodded. "Several days of bleeding, cramps, irritability…"
Izumi smiled, but she wasn't entirely happy. "It is a burden, Delilah, I won't say it isn't. But it's actually a wonderful thing. Without it, women couldn't bear children. You helped that woman give birth, didn't you? And I'll bet that she was very happy to have her baby."
Delilah put a hand on her abdomen. "Then it is kind of like…equivalent exchange."
Izumi shook her head, but she was laughing. "Those boys sure have gotten to you, huh? Things in life don't work that way, though," she went on, sobering her tone.
Guilt flooded through Delilah. "I…sorry. I-I did—"
"It's okay, dear," Izumi said. "I haven't had my period for years. And just because I can't have children doesn't mean that you should feel bad because you can. You are who you are, Delilah, and I am who I am. You should cherish your ability. But I won't tell you to cherish it for my sake; you should cherish it for your own."
Delilah nodded, but she fidgeted a little. "I just…do not know if I am ready, though."
"You're still young; of course you don't feel ready. This is all a part of growing up. But one day you'll have someone who you know you'll want to bear children for, but ultimately it's your decision when you want that to happen—unless you like surprises," Izumi added, although Delilah had trouble understanding the woman's tone. "Do you want kids?"
"Yes, one day." Delilah smiled, but then it fell slightly. "I have never really thought I would have any, though. Back at home, no one looked at me. Only the doctor ever cared about me…."
Doctor Ma…
Tears started to leak out of Delilah's eyes. She missed the man so much. She thought about him every day and worried about him whenever she went to sleep. She couldn't stand not knowing if he was even alive.
Before she was aware that Izumi had even moved, the woman had embraced her, and Delilah began to cry harder. Izumi gently shushed her, but otherwise patiently waited for the crying to subside, something that took several minutes.
"You've been holding that worry inside for a while, haven't you?" Izumi asked.
Delilah nodded, finding it hard to speak, but she managed a few words. "I-I do not want to burden E-Edward and Alphonse."
Izumi frowned. "You're not a burden. I'm sure Ed and Al agree."
"But I…have only even been pitied, a-and even though I am not sick anymore, I felt sick, when I was at home, and…and…" Her crying made her hiccup. "I try not to think about it, but I always do. I thought about it back how, but I have not thought about it as much as I have been recently. Edward and Alphonse risked everything for their mother; the LeCourts adore their baby, and Mister Sig told us about what y-you did for your child. And…I am sure I know why my parents abandoned me, but how…
"I…must have been a burden."
As Delilah struggled not to outright sob again, Izumi patted her hair. "There, there," the woman soothed. "I'm going to be honest with you, Delilah: if I'd met you then, I would have pitied you, too. It's an emotion that people can't help but have. But that wouldn't have stopped me from respecting you. You've worked so hard to be a kind, respectable person, and you're not a burden. But that doesn't mean that you can't rely on other people to help you with your problems. This sort of thing can hurt you if you keep it inside. And I'm sure Edward and Alphonse wouldn't like it if you kept things from them.
"And do you know what, Delilah? Blood doesn't define a person or their bonds. Ed and Al aren't my children, but I like to think of them as part of my family. And sometimes, biological parents just aren't good parents. A parent is actually someone that takes care of a child and loves them. It doesn't matter about blood."
Delilah nodded shakily and fought for several minutes to keep from crying. "I just miss the doctor a lot."
"He's like a father to you, isn't he?"
"…I would not know."
"Oh, I'm sure you know. And I have a feeling he misses you too, like his own daughter."
()()()()()
Once Delilah had calmed, she helped Izumi prepare lunch (thankfully there was nothing that could be burned), and the brothers and Sig came in to eat while Mason manned the shop. It turned out that Ed had borrowed Mason's clothes, which were rather oversized for the Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Are you feeling better, Delilah?" Al asked concernedly as they settled down to eat.
"Oh—yes, I am," she replied, busying herself with her sandwich so that she wouldn't have to explain anything,
"She and I are going out shopping later," Izumi stated before anyone (namely Ed) got too nosy about Delilah's personal business. "Sig, honey, would you mind writing a list of anything special you want?"
"Do Al and I get anything?"
"No."
"Brother and I are going to the library tomorrow, Delilah," Alphonse said as Ed was knocked back by Izumi's words. "Do you want to do with us?"
Delilah nodded as she swallowed. "That sounds nice," she said, already imagining the multitude of books.
The group chatted idly until they finished eating. Al offered for him and Ed to clean up, so Izumi and Delilah wasted no time in heading out.
()()()()()
The next day, Delilah felt exceptionally better. Now that she knew what was going on with her body and had a way to deal with it, her mood had skyrocketed. At breakfast, not only did she laugh with Ed and Al, but with the members of the Curtis house, too. It was almost funny how easy they were to get along with now that she was used to being around them.
After the morning meal, the brothers led her through Dublith toward the library. Along the way, Ed and Al couldn't help but share a few stories.
"We used to play hide-and-seek in the abandoned factory over there," Ed said, pointing west as they walked.
"It was easy. All I had to do was call him little and he'd come right out," Al said.
"Cheater!"
Delilah and Al laughed. "Your temper always gets you in trouble, Brother," he teased.
"If it is any consolation, Edward," Delilah said, trotting up beside him, "I do not think you are short."
Ed stopped walking and looked straight at her. Without warning, he sprang at her and grasped her shoulders. "You really think I'm tall?!"
Delilah nodded.
Ed positively glowed.
"She only thinks that because you're about the same height," Al muttered.
"Shut up, Al!"
"Well, at least I don't constantly tease you like Colonel Mustang does."
Ed muttered obscenities under his breath, and Delilah said, "I think you have mentioned him before. Is he your supervisor?"
"Well, commanding officer," Ed corrected in a dismal tone. He lowered his voice as they arrived at the library and went inside. "I'll admit he's got interesting alchemy, but beyond that, the guy's annoying. He never shuts up; he's sleazy and cheap…"
All the complaints drained Delilah a little. "What is his alchemy like?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
"Well, he's the Flame Alchemist," Al explained. "He has these gloves that can emit a spark when he snaps his fingers, and with the transmutation circle on his gloves he can control a flame."
"Gloves?" Delilah repeated.
Al nodded. "Yup."
"That might not be a bad idea," she said, taking a look at her own hands. Drawing a circle could be tedious and sometimes impossible if there wasn't time or materials to draw. "I could make gloves and stitch a healing circle on the palm of one and a basic circle on the palm of the other."
"It's a good idea," Al commented as Ed disappeared into an aisle, looking for books (he had grown tired of the conversation as soon as they started talking about Roy, actually). "I mean, you should still practice drawing your circles, but with gloves you'll be able to use alchemy immediately in case…"
He trailed off, but she knew what he had been going to say. In case you're attacked again. She remembered that night with perfect clarity, aside from after Envy had left and she had dissolved into tears. She remembered the detail in his tattoo, the way he had spoken, the cuts he had put in her skin and made her heal. And it terrified her to think that Envy and whoever he worked with wanted to use her and the brothers. It terrified her to think that they probably had the doctor hidden somewhere.
She tried to give Alphonse a smile. "Well, with gloves, I should have less to worry about."
He didn't seem to know what to say for a moment, so she suggested that they take a look around, and he agreed to show her where everything was.
()()()()()
"I did not expect you two to lose track of time, too," Delilah said as they left the library late that afternoon.
"It happens," Al replied.
"C'mon, you guys, we gotta get back to Teacher's house before she kills us," Ed urged, picking up his pace.
"Why don't we take a shortcut?" Al suggested, pointing down an alley. No one objected; the penalty for being late affected them quite a lot. They went down one or two turns before they came upon a beggar standing at the side of the alley. His face was baggy and his nose was bulbous, but he seemed normal enough.
"You there," he said, looking to Ed. "I'm talking to you. Spare some coin for a poor beggar?"
"Shut up and go get a job," Ed snapped, continuing along hurriedly. Alphonse went with him, but Delilah stopped.
She turned to the man—he was rather ugly and stinky, but she paid no mind—and reached into her pocket, but she only had a couple hundred-cen coins. "I am sorry that I do not have more," she told him as she handed over the coins.
"Ah, come on, Del," Ed said in irritation. He and Al had stopped. "If he really needed the money he'd get a job."
"But surely you have some extra cens to give him," Delilah replied. She remembered all too well the time before she had had Marcoh to pay for her. Her orphanage had provided the essentials, but not much else. She knew what it was like to not have much money.
"I see that you have a silver pocket watch there, Mr. State Alchemist," the beggar said. "You wouldn't be the famous alchemist who transmuted his brother's soul, are you? Am I right?"
Something about his tone made Delilah hesitant, and she backed away a little as Ed said dangerously, "You're starting to get on my nerves."
The beggar paid his words no mind. "You, sir, in the armor. You don't have a body, do you?"
Ed's immediate response was to put his boot in the man's face.
"Come on, you guys," he said, turning away from where the beggar lay in a pile of trash.
As unnerved as Delilah was about the man now, she couldn't just let what Ed had just done slide. "But Edward—"
"Y-you broke my nose!" the beggar yelped, leaping to his feet. "You jerks! You can't treat me like that just because I guessed right! I'd like to see your parents' faces if they knew just wh—"
Ed picked up a nearby trash can and hurled it at the man, knocking him to the ground again. "You don't know when to quit, do you?" Ed snapped.
"E-Ed—"
"Be quiet, Del," he said, glaring at the man.
She closed her enough and watched, unsettled by what was happening.
The man laughed, a little weakly at first because of his dazed state. "Judging by how angry you're getting, I'm guessing I was right about that suit of armor, too. It's not human, is it?"
This time, though, Delilah wasn't upset by Ed getting angry. He yelled at the man, and Delilah felt the need to yell at him, too; of course Alphonse was human. He was one of the kindest people she had ever met, the first person to call her a friend, and to say that he wasn't human was blasphemy.
Ed looked like he was about to pounce on the man, but Al finally stepped in and put a hand on Ed's shoulder to stop him. The armor boy took a few steps toward the man and picked him up by his dirty cloak.
"Mister, give it a rest, okay?"
The man seemed startled by Al, but he managed to stutter a few apologies before something whipped out from under his cloak and knocked Al's head off. Al dropped the man and stumbled backward while the beggar chuckled gleefully.
"There's no mistaking it now!" he cried, twisting his body through the air and landing on all fours. He swished a long, thick tail back and forth. "You're the ones who transmuted a soul!"
The sudden movement had startled Delilah, and she fell down onto her butt. She remained silent in shock as Ed rushed at the man, who nimbly dodged and began to run away. Ed tried to transmute a tall wall to prevent the man's escape, but the man simply climbed straight up and over the barrier, calling a cheerful goodbye as he left.
"What was that?" Ed sputtered. After a moment, he sighed and transmuted the wall back into what it had once been while Al collected his head and put it back on.
"Here." Al held out his hand to Delilah and helped her up.
"Thanks," she told him, still a little dazed from what had just taken place.
"I hope you're happy, Del," Ed said agitatedly, clapping away the dust off his gloves. "You're short some cens now."
"He probably still needed it more than I did," Delilah said. She shook her head a little. "…Did he have a lizard tail?"
"…I think he did," Al said.
"Well, whatever. We can talk about it later. Let's get back, before we're late," Ed urged, and together the group headed back to the Curtis household.
They were late, though.
a/n: Well, for one, happy Turkey Day for those who celebrate it. And let me just say, I'm really sleepy (which means this A/N probably won't make sense or something), so I only spellchecked this chapter. I'll read it over in the morning or something. I DO feel proud of myself for updating...relatively quickly.
Um, what else did I want to say... Let me give a shameless plug-in for myself and say that I made my first *real* amv, you can find it on my YouTube channel (RoseblossomWarrior) and yeah. It's about Hohenheim and Homunculus. I think I did okay for my first one... XD;; OH AND ALSO GUYS GUESS WHAT. My parents got me the FMA manga box set for my birthday, it's so fucking amazing omg. I haven't finished it all yet but I have to say it's even more fantastic than the show, in my opinion.
Anyway. In this chapter, Del had her first period. That's why she didn't feel well. So, bonding time with Izumi and some development for Del. And some of this development should be important for later chapters, too. Not saying what or what for, though~ Anyway, have a good day/night/whatever~ Don't forget to leave a review!