Heh, I'm back with chapter 2! Whoop-de-doo. ;D Anyways, I'd like to thank all of my reviewers and anyone who read the fic thus far. (I'll acknowledge the reviewers at the end of the chapter.) Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter 2: Hauntings in the Night
Winry wiped the familiar cold sweat off her forehead, still trying to recover after yet another ghastly nightmare. It was another dream which depicted Ed, as well as herself, dieing in the hands of the same hooded murderer by the same weapon.
At first, Winry just thought it was coincidence, but then again maybe it wasn't just plain luck that caused these two consecutive dreams. However unlikely, maybe these dreams were trying to send a message to her. Either way, she had to tell Ed about her prophetic nightmares, seeking even the slightest reassurance from him. But should she really bother him with such petty things? He was on vacation after all, so dreams of murderers would probably be one of the last things he'd want to discuss.
A cold breeze swept over her body as she tried to fall back asleep, sending chills up her spine. Something was definitely going on, something bad. Well, either that or she had finally snapped. Winry decided to go ahead and shut her bedroom window as the breeze was starting to become irritating after a few moments.
Just as Winry opened the twin curtains, she noticed something strange about her window. Scribbled in messy, red writing on the interior glass was a short passage, which read: "You will be the first..."
For a second, she stood there simply dumbstruck, fear paralyzing her entire body. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the message. The red substance, which was used to write out the entire sentence, oozed down the glass, pooling on the window sill. It was almost sickening to observe, as the substance quite obviously was blood. Winry didn't dare dwell on the subject of who's blood it could be. She instead continued to simply goggle at her window, her mind and body not responding to the world.
Soon enough, however, her human instincts took over and she did the only logical thing: scream. She bolted out of her bedroom without another thought, her mind trying to process what was just seen. Not knowing what came over her, Winry rushed to Ed's room and pulled him forcefully out of bed.
"Winry, what the hell are you doing?" Ed asked with sleep still lingering in his voice. She didn't answer, and instead dragged him into her room and over to the window.
"Look over there," she commanded, "There is something written on my window!"
Ed, who was still half asleep, trudged over and took a look. Winry froze as she realized that the writing in blood wasn't there anymore, and she could have sworn that it was there just a few seconds ago. Frankly, the glass showed no trace of anything being done to it, not even a smudge. The alchemist didn't see the problem, and came to a conclusion. "I think you were hallucin-"
"I wasn't hallucinating!" she finished for him, "I swear that there was something on it!" Ed didn't buy it, and instead started back for his room. "Where do you think you're going!" Winry called after him.
Ed replied with a huge yawn, "Back to bed, and so should you. Why don't you sleep in late so we don't have another one of these 'I-saw-something-in-the-window' episodes, ok?" The sleepy alchemist didn't wait for an answer and instead dragged himself back to bed.
Winry was furious with him for disbelieving her, but who wouldn't? Her tale seemed completely ludicrous without any proof. She had no right to be angry with Ed, but she hoped that he would at least consider it with some importance, however little that may be. Winry tried to put that incident behind her as she curled up in her own bed. Her thoughts, however, involuntarily continued to linger on the message. How the hell was it possible that the writing was gone within a matter of seconds? No one could have scaled her house to the second floor in that much time, let alone initially write the message from the inside.
What troubled her even more was that she didn't understand the statement. What was this all about? What was going to happen and when? Perhaps the person had her confused with someone else. After all, she didn't do anything that would cause harm to anyone recently, with the exception of smacking Ed with her wrench of course. So what was this person's motive?
It was all becoming very confusing. The blonde mechanic made an attempt to avoid the topic altogether, regardless how difficult that might be. The lack of sleep was detrimental to her body, and keeping her mind on these unpleasant subjects wasn't much of a help. For now, it would be best to pursue some rest and deal with all these troubles some other time.
(Later that night)
Winry awoke once again several hours later. Glancing over at her clock, she discovered that it was now five in the morning. With a frustrated moan, she shut her eyes and attempted to drift back to her unusually quiet rest. It was all for naught, however, as she heard a series of abnormal sounds coming from elsewhere in the house. At first, she dismissed the erratic noises, believing that they were probably caused by the wind gusting outside.
Indeed, the weather had took a turn for the worse over the hours that elapsed since she first encountered the peculiar writing on her window. The storm's winds were now powerfully gusting against the house's walls, and the precipitation had picked up. Yet, those noises seemed unlikely to be a result of the outside conditions. Knowing that those sounds would keep her up, Winry commanded herself out of bed to go investigate the cause.
Right off the bat, she knew that this was probably going to be an unproductive trip, but her curiosity wouldn't let her be. Upon arriving downstairs, she traced the banging noise to the living room. There was a flaw in her approach, however, as there was nothing in this room that could be causing the racket. Then again, wandering around in the darkness wouldn't prove too much of a help anyway.
The auto-mail mechanic went over to a nearby lamp and turned it on. As soon she gained some visibility, Winry's eyes landed on the table that stood in the center of the room. Written on the wooden surface was another message, similar to the one on her window. However, this time it presented her with what appeared to be a continuation of the first.
"And your friend will be the next," Winry whispered to herself, reciting the messy statement.
She didn't know what to do at this point. There was no reason to fetch Ed considering that the message might somehow disappear, just like last time. But what if Ed actually did see this message? Knowing the alchemist, he'd probably sit up all night guarding the entire house, looking for even the slightest excuse to go after someone who might be responsible for these cryptic passages. That would really spoil his break, not to mention that she would be unable to enjoy spending this rare time with him.
This, however, all depended on whether or not he actually would see the message in the first place. Winry forced herself back to the real world, and darted into the kitchen as quietly as she could. After a moment of looking, she grabbed a cloth that was lying near the sink and soaked it with water. She was determined to erase that message off the face of the earth, hoping that Ed didn't wake up yet. She returned to the living room with the moist cloth in her possession, though she promptly dropped it in shock.
The message that was previously scribbled on the table had vanished without a trace. Winry's eyes widened in disbelief as she now stood observing a regular coffee table, free of any obscure writing. She could now safely conclude that someone must be doing this. After all, writing doesn't vaporize by itself.
'What the hell is going on here?' she questioned, walking over to the table for a closer examination. A quick scan of the wooden surface revealed nothing, and so she proceeded on to check the windows and doors, which were all securely locked before she went to sleep, to see if they showed any signs of forced entry. Winry sighed in defeat as her efforts ultimately turned up nothing.
After yet another hour of searching, Winry gave up on trying to locate where the person might have entered the house. Dawn would come in only a few hours, and having no intentions of trying to get further sleep, Winry resorted to resuming work on Ed's auto-mail for the remainder of the time.
(Early that morning)
Ed stretched out his arms as he grabbed an apple from the kitchen shortly after waking up. Apart from the little incident that happened last night, he had to admit that he got some long deserved rest.
Just as he was about to absorb himself in another book, a series of noises coming from the workshop triggered his curiosity, and naturally he went to investigate. Upon entering, he discovered that Winry was already up and finishing some minor details on his replacement arm. He was actually rather surprised to see her awake and working this early in the day.
"I see someone's up bright and early," Ed said as he approached Winry.
She acknowledged his presence and silently replied with a shrug. This left the alchemist baffled. "Are you feeling alright?" he interrogated.
"I'm fine," she replied simply, in an unusually low tone.
Ed assumed that she still had her mind on that thing with the window. "Look, I'm sure that you were just imagining what you saw last night," he tried to console her, "It was late and you probably were very tired, which caused you to see things that really weren't there." He thought his theory would calm her, but his plan backfired.
This instead sparked Winry's nerves, quite the opposite of what Ed hoped for. "But I did see something," she replied, slightly annoyed that Ed didn't believe her once again, "I woke up in the middle of the night and there on my window was... oh, never mind!" She got up from the chair she was sitting on and stormed away to the living room, leaving a confused Edward behind her.
'Maybe she did see something,' Ed thought after seeing her previously truthful face. He chanced a look over at the unfinished auto-mail arm, trying to see how much more work it needed. His thoughts, however, were disturbed when he heard a crash from somewhere within the house. 'Aw great, she probably wrecked something in her anger,' Ed pondered with a chuckle.
His assumption proved wrong when he found Winry sprawled out on the floor, near the stairs that led to the upper floors. Her limp form wasn't moving, but he could safely tell that she was breathing.
"Uh, Winry?" the alchemist called out as he went over to her, initially assuming that exhaustion had taken its toll on her body. Seeing that she wasn't coming about, Ed gently lifted her in his arms and carried the snoozing Winry to her room. "You seriously have to get some more rest tonight," Ed said as he placed Winry on her bed, pulling the covers over her.
He scratched his head as he left her bedroom. 'Heh, I'll never understand her...' he thought in amusement, forging on to his alchemy studies.
(Sometime in the afternoon)
Winry slowly opened her eyes to find that she was in her bed. Upon glancing out the window, she could tell that the storm from the night before came back with full force, which wasn't the type of weather that she had hoped for. Groaning in annoyance, the blonde mechanic slowly lifted herself out of bed and stepped out of the room.
As always, Ed was making himself comfortable on the living room couch, with an apple in one hand and an alchemy book in the other. She tiredly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and proceeded downstairs, eager to continue on with the auto-mail she was supposed to be constructing.
Ed noticed that Winry was awake once more, and waved happily to her. "Good morning!" he called out, "Or rather, good afternoon."
Winry gave him a strange look. "What do you mean, good afternoon?"
The alchemist rolled his eyes. He responded by pointing at a clock, "It's at least three in the afternoon by now."
Any lingering sleep immediately drained itself from her body. "It's already three o'clock!" she exclaimed, checking a clock that hung in the room, "How am I going to finish all that work now!" Winry went on to yell out random sentences, blaming herself for oversleeping.
Ed sighed at her current state. "Winry!" he hollered, trying to bring her back to reality, "You practically collapsed from exhaustion today. Take it easy, you have plenty of time to get that auto-mail done. And if it makes you any happier, you can put my auto-mail aside for now and finish that other auto-mail for your customers first."
"Seriously, Ed," she replied, declining his offer, "You know I can't just ditch your auto-mail and keep you waiting."
"You can and you will," he said, determined to prevent her from forcing herself to work overtime again, "I'll make sure that happens, even if it means having to guard that workshop with my life." Ed put on a broad grin, signaling that he was going to stick to his plan.
Winry gave a sigh and trudged off to the workshop. "Fine," was her simple reply before disappearing from his view.
Ed, pleased with his victory, resumed reading the complicated text from the book that was now propped open in his hand.
The storm outside intensified as the remainder of the day turned into dusk. Gale-force winds blasted against the house's sturdy walls as buckets of rain fell from the dark clouds looming in the sky. One quick glance outside told Ed that he wasn't going to be enjoying any outdoor time very soon. He actually wished that some decent weather would be present during his break, but apparently his wish would remain unanswered. Then again, he had another free week following this one, so hopefully things would clear up by then.
Ed noticed that Winry finally left the workshop and was now washing her hands in the bathroom sink. 'About time,' he thought to himself.
"Hey, Ed?" Winry called out, emerging from the bathroom.
"Yeah?" the alchemist replied, wondering what task she would request of him this time.
"Thanks for letting me finish my other auto-mail beforehand," she said sincerely.
This caught Ed off guard, as he wasn't expecting any gratitude from her. "Um, sure. No problemo," he acknowledged.
"Really! I'm just about done with..." she failed to complete her sentence because a series of loud banging on the front door interrupted her.
"I really wouldn't want to be the person standing out there right now," Ed said with a laugh.
Winry rolled her eyes and went ahead to answer the door. However, upon opening the door, she discovered that there wasn't a single person there. She even tried to see through the pouring rain if the person had perhaps went on his or her way. Sighing, Winry was about to shut the door when she noticed a small note pinned to the outside of the door with a knife.
Her eyes went wide in horror as she quickly snatched the note and pocketed it. She removed the knife, which was jammed fairly well into the door, and tossed it somewhere outside.
"Who was it?" Ed inquired as he went over to her.
Winry slammed the door shut, her heart pounding heavily in her chest. "I-It was no one!" she replied, rather too hastily.
The alchemist suspected that she was trying to hide something from him. By the look of her nervous face, she obviously wasn't innocent. "Alright, what is going on?" he questioned.
"What do you mean?" Winry replied with a question of her own, trying rather unsuccessfully to conceal the note she found. Seeing that Ed wasn't fooled, Winry sighed and gave up. "Ok, I might as well tell you. There wasn't anybody there, but I found this stuck to the door." She handed Ed the note, deciding to keep the knife a secret for now.
Ed's eyes quickly scanned the piece of torn paper, and his interest seemed peaked. "It says that both of you will pay. Do you know to whom this thing is referring to?" The alchemist handed her the note back, letting Winry read it for herself.
"Ed, I think it's talking about us," she replied grimly. If there was any better time to disclose her nightmares, then it would be now.
"W-What do you mean? It could be referring to anyone in the world! Why would it be us?" Ed didn't see where Winry was coming up with her thoughts, but he point-blank refused to believe her claim.
"I guess I have no choice but to tell you about something," Winry said, slowly walking back into the living room with Ed close behind her. She took a seat at one end of the couch as Ed sat nearby. "I've been having nightmares over the past two nights. They weren't normal, so to say. It's almost as though they were trying to tell me something." She went on to tell Ed about her nightmares, leaving out anything that had to do with the writing in blood for the time being.
"And last night, I dreamed that we were sitting and talking just like we are right now," she continued, remembering her previous nightmare, "Then someone knocked on the door, so I went to answer it. But when I opened the door, I saw that same guy standing right there. You came in to check who it was, and then that murderer pulled out his gun... and he..." she had difficulty finishing what she said, tears threatening to escape her eyes.
"And he did what?" Ed asked softly, trying not to provoke her emotions.
Winry managed to reply in an almost inaudible voice, "He... he shot you clear in the head. I ran over to you, but then I heard him fire another shot. That's... that's when I woke up," she found it hard to bring herself to say that last sentence. Winry hung her head low, avoiding Ed's eyes at all costs.
The alchemist himself didn't know what to say. She described her dreams down to every minor detail, painting gruesome pictures in Ed's mind. At first, he involuntarily rejected what she said, but there was no denying it that apparently there was someone behind this whole situation. However, he couldn't figure out anyone who he ever met that would match her description of the murderer. It could be one of the Homunculi, but he couldn't rush to conclusions just yet.
Her second nightmare troubled him the most. It seemed to almost predict what was going to happen, with the exception of the murderer showing up. It couldn't be a coincidence, but what if it wasn't? More unanswerable questions rushed into his mind the longer he pondered about those dreams.
After a few tense moments, Ed broke the silence. "Winry, why didn't you tell me any of this before?" he questioned.
She looked up at him, eyes glistening with tears of pain. "Because you never tell me anything!" she practically yelled, burying her face in her hands.
Her words hit him hard. It never dawned on Ed how his constant secrecy was affecting his best friend, and just by looking at her broken state told him exactly the pain he was causing. Regardless, he couldn't risk her safety by revealing information that might ultimately lead to unfavorable consequences.
"The only reason I keep you in the dark is so you can live a life without worries, unlike the one I am forced to lead," he replied, careful not to bring up any sensitive information.
"Oh really? I worry about you and Al everyday when you leave! And believe me, that is not such a worry-free life," she said, "Why can't you just tell me what is going on?"
"Because if I do, then I'll be putting your life on the line," Ed explained, trying to stress this as his main point.
Winry didn't reply right away. To a degree, he actually had a good reason to hide that information from her, but she was having a difficult time accepting this fact. She didn't understand exactly what harm might come to her, but she felt it was best not to discuss any possible situations.
"Winry," Ed gently said, causing her eyes to meet his, "If there was no danger, then I wouldn't be this secret. I know it must be hard on you to not know what's going on, but trust me for now. In the end, it will all make better sense." He actually wondered how the subject of their conversation managed to transfer into this one.
"I-I don't understand," Winry replied, wiping any stray tears from her face.
Ed reached over and placed his flesh hand on her cheek, an action that surprised even himself. "Just trust me. Once Al and I get our bodies back, then I'll tell you everything that I've been hiding."
Winry slowly nodded her head in agreement. She would have to be patient, but she finally saw that this was for her own sake. "Thanks, Ed," she said, accepting his comfort.
Ed realized that his hand still lingered on her face moments later, and so he slowly pulled it back. "Don't mention it," he said, a very faint blush fabricating itself on his face, as well as Winry's.
"But what do we do about that note?" Winry asked, bringing up the subject of the note.
Ed thought about that strange piece of paper for a moment. "I say we just forget about it for now, since we can't be sure that whoever wrote it is being serious. Nonetheless, we still should be careful."
"Alright then," she replied with a slight yawn, seeing that her troubles for the day had mostly been cleared up.
"It's getting rather late. We really should go get some nightmare-free rest," Ed pointed out, looking over at a nearby clock. It was now quarter to eleven, and both teenagers were unusually tired and longing for sleep.
"Well then, I guess I'll call it a day," Winry said, standing up and stretching her arms, "See you in the morning. Good night," the blonde mechanic said as she ascended the stairs to her bedroom.
"Night. Oh, and Winry?" Ed said, stopping her midway, "Seriously, try not to think too much about those nightmares and that note." She nodded with a smile, and climbed the remainder of the stairs.
So there you go. Liked it? Hated it? Please drop a review and tell me how it's going. ;P Time to acknowledge the reviewers:
dbzgtfan2004: Thanks, glad you like the fic. :P
Yugata Tenshi: Lol. ;D Thanks for the review!
SugarHigh: Heh, with Ed and Winry, the possibilities are endless. xD Thanks!
Brickwall847: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it so far. ;)
C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only: Revenge will actually form the backbone of this fic, but that's gonna take place later on. ;)
Inu-KagomeFan: Thanks!
EdxWinry: Thanks. I'll try to get updates in quicker, but I can't guarantee that though. ;P
Meo: I'll reveal the man's identify later on, but for now I'll leave it up to the readers to figure out. ;) Thanks for the review!
mustang24: Thanks!
Apathetic Empath2: Thanks for the informative review! It's been a long while since I got a review like yours. Thanks. :)
Anyway, regarding the person who Winry assumed was Ed in the previous chapter, I should have added some more detail about him before actually revealing his appearance later on. I overlooked pointing out the fact that his cloak was similar in shape and structure, not necessarily color. Sorry for the confusion. ;(
As for the rest of the nightmare, I intentionally made it rather inconsistent for the purpose of making it seem fast-paced and unexplainable. I'm not too sure if I succeeded in that completely. As you pointed out, I once again didn't properly describe the scene as I should have. I'll be on the look out for those finer details. ;)
I actually have to admit that I indeed rushed Ed and Winry's relationship for the sake of keeping the story simple, though I now see the weaknesses of doing that. I was actually planning on writing a chapter that would have detailed what would have come before chapter one, but I decided to scrap it. Now that I think about it, that extra chapter would have come in handy. ;D
At first, I had thought about setting off specific times in the story by placing the time after a break in the story. It would have made more sense to leave it out in the first chapter, but now I see that timestamps are just going to get in the way later on. I guess it was a bad move to try out a new idea this early in the story. xD
That other inconsistency with the whole Rush Valley business is partially thanks to my fear of the return key. ;) You see, Pinako was the one to originally say that business was great, and she talks again after Ed's comment. If I broke those paragraphs apart, then it would have been clearer to read. Sorry bout that. :P
And finally, I don't plan on giving Al a very large role in the fic, but I should have gave him something more lengthy than just a sentence or two. He may have a more important role somewhere towards the end.
I'm actually considering someone to beta read the next chapter. Thanks for the suggestion by the way. ;)
Anyways, thanks for the great review, and hopefully I improved when writing this chapter. :)
Aight then, until next time. :P
