Notes Woot! I gave myself until the end of Wednesday to finish this chapter, and I made it with a whole minute to spare XD Of course, I know that this is being posted technically on Thursday, but I did technically finish writing it on Wednesday, so, yay for me! Especially considering it's only two days later, as opposed to the week I'd originally given myself. It probably took longer than it should have, but I kept getting distracted by silly little things like where exactly I'd wanted to take the plot, and then having to rethink it 'cause I'd accidentally gone and messed with Roy's story without asking when I probably shouldn't have. But the plot still works this way, and it actually ended up not really effecting the story at all anyways.
Okay, so, yes, please note that Winry's parents are alive, but I couldn't have them around just because I don't have a very good idea of what they were like and, for some reason, it just felt wrong to try and come up with something for them, besides that the Elrics seem to have been closer to Pinako than Sarah and...well, whatever her father's name was anyway. So, the explanation is that they are in Ishbal (I know, so original, right:O). They probably weren't there as long as I'm making them be in the original series, but, hey, it's an AU fic so XP Besides that that would also have made the Rockbell residence very crowded indeed.
Be warned that there will only be one more part after this, and it'll probably be longer than both the first and second chapters. After that there will be the RP, though I can't say when that'll be done, but I don't think I'll post that here, just 'cause it's going to be smut-ful and is weird about that. So, instead I'll remind you now, in the next chapter, and I'll even make a seperate chapter directing any readers to my greatestjournalwhose link you can find in my profile here.
Expectthe final chapter out soon:)
Also, CreamyMimi thanks so much for the review :) Short and sweet can sometimes be just as ego-boosting as the long drawn-out ones ;) And, I must say, I'm glad that this apparently works as an independant fic instead of just random backstoryness sweatdrop
Chapter Two: Older Brother, 15 Younger Brother, 11
"Edward! Time for dinner!"
His concentration broken, Edward Elric blinked towards the source of that voice, mid-kick, and frowned a little, unable to follow through, and he just finished out the spin and let his leg fall lazily to the ground.
"Edward!"
"Alright, y'old hag, I'm comin'!" Ed shouted, turning back towards the house and muttered under his breath. "Stupid old bat."
"I heard that, pipsqueak!"
"Who're you callin' a midget so small he can't even reach the doorknob!"
A sharp chuckle that was one step away from being a cackle was the boy's only answer and Ed rolled his eyes, turning back towards the nearby fence and grabbing the towel he'd discarded over it. "Stupid old bat," he muttered again, carefully polishing away the sweat and grime from his metallic prosthetic limbs and making a note to take a shower after dinner or Winry might have a fit. Sometimes it seemed as if the older girl cared more about her precious automail than any actual person; he knew it probably wasn't true, and Al always assured him it wasn't, but sometimes...
It didn't matter, he supposed, as long as she built and attached his arm and leg properly, he didn't really care. With a quiet sigh, Ed wiped the sweat from his face and neck, draped the towel over his shoulders, and then pulled on his pants over his boxers before heading back inside.
The second he walked through the door, the boy was nearly toppled over by a blonde with a scowl nearly as intimidating as his own.
"Is everything alright?" Winry demanded, tugging at his right arm and examining it carefully.
Ed immediately tugged it back, rubbing slightly at the seem where flesh met steel. "Geez, Winry, lay off!" he reproved, brushing past her once he was sure the girl hadn't caused any serious damage to him when she was checking for any damage to the prosthetic. "You act like I was just beating it with a rock or something."
The girl's cheeks burned slightly and she fixed Ed with an ugly scowl. "You're always using it so roughly though, what if-"
"'What if' nothing." Ed retorted, cutting her off as he spun to poke at her shoulder a bit roughly. "The way you fuss over my automail over little things like this just makes me think that you didn't build it properly."
"What!" Winry flushed in anger. "How dare you accuse me of something so careless! Granny and I build the finest automail in the country; it's perfect in every way and you're just lucky that we even accept your business, you ungrateful little shrimp!
"Who are you calling a super hyper mega shrimp who could use splinters for arms and legs! I'm your best customer, so you better just watch it! I could always bring my business to someone better qualified and who'll do things right the first time around!"
"Hey, I only messed up that one time and it was a year ago! Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal!"
"'Wasn't that big of a deal'! My arm stopped working! I was in the middle of chopping wood! I could've killed myself!"
The bickering abruptly stopped as both blondes suddenly found themselves sopping wet, and they both turned to the pint-sized woman hovering over them with an enormous bucket which had, just a moment ago, held the water that was now soaking into the youths clothes and the floor beneath them. "Now go dry yourselves off and sit down. Dinner's ready." With that, Pinako Rockbell dropped a towel over both of their heads with a smirk and hopped off of the chair, dragging it back over to the table before going to put away the bucket.
Winry blinked after the woman in slight surprise, her former anger completely forgotten. Ed just scowled, thrusting the towel at the girl with a soft growl as he tugged his hair out of its braid (it had already been coming out anyway) and wrang it out, not at all caring about whether the floor got wet or not; it was already soaked anyway. He saw Winry beginning to do the same, only with the dry towel, and he headed for the workshop, stealing a towel from in there to dry himself off and he deposited both the new towel and the one he'd already had over the handle of one of their toolboxes to dry.
When he returned to the dining room, rebraiding his hair, Ed saw that the older blonde had seemingly dried completely, but only shrugged and figured that she must have gotten changed as he took the seat at the table across from Al. "Was that really necessary, Auntie?" he asked, not a little irritated.
"I know you two better than I know my own son," Pinako replied, still with that arrogant smirk, "If I'd have let you keep on you'd be strangling each other right now."
The blonde just snorted and turned back to his dinner; they all knew very well that, no matter how loud he and the older blonde's shouting matches went, they'd never seriously hurt each other. Well, no, that wasn't entirely true -- Ed was still plotting a way to get that damned wrench away from Winry before she gave him a concussion.
The group ate in silence for a while, Ed noticing that his brother kept sneaking glances at him between forkfulls of corn. "Something wrong?" the blonde asked, "I don't have something growing on my face do I?" The change in demeanor was immediate, and Ed quickly began searching his face frantically with his hands, eyes crossing to find the disgusting growth that he was obviously convinced his little brother must have seen to have been looking at him like that; he didn't even notice the warm smiles that Winry and Pinako were gazing at him with.
It had the desired effect, and Al was soon clearly trying very hard not to giggle at the older boy's antics. "Brother." he chided with a smile that was trying not to be. He was eleven, after all; much too old to be amused by such things.
"So I don't then?" Ed blinked over at the younger boy and then heaved a dramatic sigh of relief. "Well, okay then."
"I was just thinking," Al murmured, his expression turning slightly hesitant, and he turned his attention back to his plate, dragging his fork through his mashed potatoes. "It's been three years...and I was just wondering if you'd come to see Mom and Dad with me after dinner."
He didn't need to say what it had been three years since; everyone at the table knew, and Winry abruptly turned back to her own dinner, while Pinako simply just gazed at the older brother expectantly. She wasn't disappointed though, and Ed just smiled softly at his brother and nodded. "Of course I will," he answered, as if the mere idea that he wouldn't was laughable. Though he knew, just as well as anyone at that table, that it had taken a lot, at first, to get him to calm down after even suggesting that he go and visit their parents' graves those first few months after the accident.
The blonde had fallen into a depression, and understandably so. He hadn't wanted to be around anyone; the only presence he'd even consider suffering was that of Al's, but everyone could see the pain in the elder brother's eyes, even when he could pretend that he was happy. Every time Ed had caught a glimpse of the scars running down Al's legs, or the younger blonde mentioned something that would remind him, even vaguely, of the accident. He blamed himself; Pinako could see it plain as day, but she just couldn't understand why, and she wasn't sure she ever entirely would. She knew that Edward considered it his responsibility to take care of his little brother, but this was hardly something he could have prevented.
There was something else though; something very strange that had...she wasn't entirely sure. There was something different about the older boy, that couldn't entirely be explained away by what he'd been through. It wasn't just the fact that Edward had quite suddenly acquired the ability to perform Alchemy without using a drawn array, though that was a bit worrysome in and of itself. But the blonde seemed...not quite more intelligent, but more knowledgable. Edward was no smarter than he had been before the accident, he'd always been able to take in massive amounts of information at the drop of a hat and he still could; however the amount of what he knew seemed to have increased. Though, of course, there was no way she could possibly prove this.
But, what really bothered Pinako Rockbell, even more than the unexplainable increase of knowledge, were the nightmares that had plagued the older blonde's sleep for the months after the accident. On many occasions, the woman had awoken to Ed's screams and moans and, when she went to wake him up, she would find him thrashing in his bed against some unseen foe, crying for them to let him go. It was the same thing night after night, and it had gotten to the point where Ed wouldn't even sleep at night, the only reason she really knew this was that he would often drift off during the day, though the dreams didn't let up any, even with the sun to chase them away.
The decline of those nightmares seemed to coincide almost directly with his lifting of spirits, however, and, nearly half a year after the Elric brothers' world had been pulled out from beneath them, Ed had finally been able to visit Trisha andHohenheim Elric's graves, though he had gone alone. Not even Alphonse knew what exactly had gone on there, but when his older brother had finally come back, he seemed nearly his old self again. Well...no that wasn't entirely true; there was still a heavy weight that seemed to have permanantly settled on those all-too-young shoulders, and he still didn't particularly care for the company of anyone that wasn't the younger Elric. But he was atleast being civil to other people, suffering their company, and he wasn't brooding anymore.
"So, Edward," Pinako asked conversationally as she began clearing the dishes from the table, "You're getting to the point where you ought to start thinking about what you're going to do with your life. In just three years you'll be eighteen. Not that I mind putting you boys up," she added, "You know you'll always have a place here."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," the blonde drawled, a slight smirk twisting up his lips as Ed helped the woman clear the table. "Just come out and say it, you don't want us mooching offa you any longer than is necessary." He knew that wasn't true, and he knew Pinako knew he knew that wasn't true, either. "I've already decided what I'm gonna do, but I have to wait until I'm eighteen anyway, so I guess you'll just be stuck with us until then."
"Oh really?" Pinako raised an eyebrow at the boy and regarding him thoughtfully for a moment before finally asking, "And what have you decided?"
"I'm going to get my State Certification and join the Military as a State Alchemist."
Pinako frowned, stopping as she was placing the leftover pork chops on a plate to save. The woman's eyes slid closed and she carefully put down the plate and forkshe was holdingand hopped down from the step stool she used to reach the counter. "Winry, Al," she called out to the dining room where the two other youths were finishing cleaning up. "You two finish cleaning up, Edward and I need to discuss something." That last she directed at the boy himself, and she quickly left the kitchen, heading through the dining room and up the stairs to her own bedroom, without even glancing back to make sure the blonde was following.
Ed knew better than to go against Pinako when she was serious like this, however, and he pointedly ignored the curious and vaguely worried looks he got from Winry and Al as he followed her up to her room. "So what's this all about?" he asked once he'd closed the door behind him. Though he couldn't say he didn't have some idea as to what had gotten the woman so upset.
"I know very well that you will do what you want regardless of anything I have to say about it, Edward," the woman began, chewing patiently on the end of her pipe, "But I can't, in my own mind, let you do this without saying something."
The blonde simply sighed and waited for the lecture to begin, but, instead of speaking, Pinako simply turned and walked towards her closet. She opened the doors and turned to Ed. "Do you see that hatbox on the shelf up there?" He nodded. "Take it down."
He hesitated a moment, but did as he was told, pulling over one of the stepping stools that were scattered around the house, and he carefully pulled down the box so as not to disturb any of the other boxes and trinkets and old clothes that were sitting up there. There wasn't a lack of dust, as if it had been lying there untouched for years, and the blonde nearly choked as a cloud of it enveloped his head. "Here," he coughed, handing Pinako the box and trying to wave the dust away so he could breathe properly.
"Sit down." the woman ordered without preamble, hopping up to sit on the bed and opening the box. Ed could see what looked like photographs in there as he sat down, and a few letters and scraps of paper. Pinako sifted through them before finding the one she was looking for, without even letting Ed see any of them clearly, though he'd thought he'd caught glimpses of his parents. He was proven correct as he was handed the photograph Pinako had plucked from the pile.
It was, indeed, Trisha and Hohenheim Elric, much younger than he'd ever remembered them, so he could only assume this had been taken before he or Al had been born. Although Trisha was younger than he'd ever seen her, the boy's mother still looked exactly as the last time he'd seen her -- smiling kindly at the camera, hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, and arm entwined with her husband's. Hohenheim, however, while he also was far younger, there was also something else about his appearance that struck Ed. That familiar blonde hair had been cropped off into a short and very neat style, he was clean-shaven, and he was wearing a Military uniform, with a silver chain just barely visible sticking out of his pocket.
"That was taken...oh a little under thirty years ago." the woman began once she was sure Edward knew what he was looking at. "Your mother was sixteen at the time, and your father was eighteen. He'd just taken the State Exam, and obviously passed. He was presented with his uniform and silver watch the very same day and was only waiting on his title. His specialty was decomposition, so he eventually became known as 'The Sealing Alchemist.'"
The blonde's eyes widened and flicked up to Pinako, but she had already moved on.
"The Military decided that his abilities would come in useful to them in the small rebellions going on in the East, and so they shipped him off there. When he came back, about two years later, he no longer worked for the State and he'd given up his Certification."
"What happened?" Ed asked quietly, regarding the seemingly happy man in the photograph.
Pinako just smirked as if she'd been expecting the question the whole time. "It had taken your father about a year to realize just what the Military had in store for him, and when he tried to fight it, they threatened to take away his Certification. He was trying to save up enough to eventually propose to your mother, so he decided she was more important and he followed his orders without anymore question. Until they began asking questions."
Ed's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he knew the answer to his question before he even asked it, "What kind of questions?"
"They wanted to know how he did it. How he was able to break things down so thoroughly, because they couldn't figure it out for themselves, and they thought it prudent to teach their other Alchemists the technique as well. That finally did it, and your father gave up his Certification and his rank and left the Military for good. He took over his father's farm and earned the money that way; it took longer, but he still accomplished what he'd set out to."
The two sat on the bed, Pinako gazing at Edward, and Edward gazing at the photograph in his hands, and the woman just remained silent, letting this new information to sink in.
The blonde finally rose from the bed and tossed the photo back into the hat box as he headed out of the room.
"Edward?" Pinako asked softly after him.
"Thanks for the warning, but now that I know, I'm not gonna make the same mistakes my father did."
"Brother?"
"Yeah, Al?"
"Do you really want to join the Military?"
Edward glanced down at his little brother, squatting in front of their parents' headstones, wondering if he'd been listening outside of the kitchen when he'd told Pinako. "I'm not sure," he answered honestly, "But I know that I really want to be able to take care of you like Ishould, and this is the best way, I think." The older blonde crouched down beside his brother and, when he saw that uncertain expression he got whenever he was about to point out that he didn't like his older brother doing things just for his sake, Ed reached out and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "You just let me worry about it, okay Bean Sprout?" he teased, dropping his hand to Al's and tugging him up as he stood. "That's my job, remember? I take care of everything, and you just sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor."
Alphonse gave him that uncertain look again, but Ed just bent down and started tickling his sides and the expression melted away in a fit of laughter and they began racing each other through the cemetary and towards the main road. The brothers stopped there, leaning their hands on their knees a few moments, trying to catch their breath, before Edward turned his back to the younger blonde and dropped to one knee.
"C'mon Bean Sprout," he murmured, "Let's go home."
In the fading light of the evening, the two brothers made their way to the house they'd called "home" for the last three years, Edward holding up the younger boy's legs as Alphonse clung to his back; and, while they laughed and teased and joked with each other, anyone who knew the older blonde could tell he was already planning to change that.