The Wind Alchemist
The Beginnings of Love
"Sara? It can't be…"
"But she left so long ago"
"Indeed, it is! Look, the one who strayed is returning! Oh miraculous Ishbala, you have brought young Sara back to us!"
"Hmm, I see. She returns. She must want her power back. I won't give it to her." Scar said, turning away from the Ishbalan women's happy remarks.
Sara had put on an Ishbalan robe, ditching her modern clothing. Her red eyes shone with happiness, though she was tentative as she entered the camp.
"Sara!" she was toppled with hugs from Ishbalans of all ages. As Sara managed to escape all the people anxious to see her, she noticed a girl of 9 or so standing away from the crowd.
"Telina!" Sara called. The girl's expression of uncertainty dropped as she ran to Sara's arms.
"Sister!" she cried hugging her sister as tears ran down both Sara and the small girl's cheeks.
"Sister…I missed you so much! Where were you?" Telina cried pulling away so she could look her older sister in the eyes.
"I'm so sorry Telina…I missed you so. I wondered if I would able be able to see you again." Sara cried, the tears continuing to flow from her eyes.
"So much has happened…" Telina said softly. The murmuring crowd died down as Telina said this.
"What do you mean?" Sara asked, wiping away her tears, a concerned look on her face. Telina looked down.
"Follow me." she said latching onto her sister's hand tightly, not letting go for anything. Sara knew her parents were dead. She had seen them die before her very own eyes during the massacre. The then 14-year-old had tried with all her might to protect the young Telina, but she was unable to defend her parents, also. But she had hoped that he had made it out alive.
He was young and strong, he had to have survived. He just had to. Telina led her sister an area away from camp where a man and a woman were weeping on the ground. Littered around on the ground were small stones. Telina pulled her sister past many of the stones, to one specific one. Sara didn't even need to look at the stone, she knew what it said. Sara's knees sunk deep into the ground as her tears flowed freely once more.
"Telina! You should have showed her later!" An older woman chided.
"She would have asked. I can't lie. She loved him…" Telina trailed to the woman. Sara pounded the ground angrily.
"NO! You said we'd grow strong together…you said we'd always be there for each other…you said…" she trailed off, sobbing madly.
"How…we trained so much…you were always best…no…this isn't supposed to end like this!" she cried falling forward onto the ground crying wildly.
"I didn't get the chance to tell you…how could Ishbala do this"
"Don't blame this on Ishbala!" a voice yelled but Sara didn't listen."I've lost so much…why, WHY, Ishbala? Why! Why me…why take so much from me…" she said though her tears continued to pour from her eyes.
"I went to Central for you…for you and Scar…why is he here and not you? Oh Parry…" Scar stood from her tent and looked out on the sight.
"Pathetic. Parry was always pathetic. Why she took interest in him I'll never understand." Scar grumbled entering his tent again. The old man was sitting there shaking his head.
"Scar…you must understand some things! She loved him not for his strength, but for his heart. You know why he died. I will tell her if no one else does. He died nobly, protecting Telina and the other children. An honorable death, if I do say so myself."
"I wonder how Sara's doing." Al sighed lazily as he laid on his bed, next to Ed's.
"I dunno, after the funeral she left in the direction of Ishbalan camp. I suppose she was ready for Scar. She said something about having someone waiting for her. I'm sure she's fine." Ed sighed as he gazed upwards.
"She can handle herself…but without her powers…" Al looked away as he imagined a horde of angry Ishbalans attacking the young girl.
"She'll be fine, Ishbalans never harm their own kind, let alone kill them." Ed reminded Al.
"I suppose so, but still…."
"Go to sleep Al. If it makes you feel any better we can go see her later on this week." Ed said, making Al giddy with delight.
"After we go see Winry, anyhow." Ed grumbled afterward. When Sara had thrown him up against the wall in their battle he had nearly destroyed his automail. It was being held together weakly by only a few screws.
"Go see Winry? That'll take to long!" Al moaned.
"Shut up, Al and go to bed. We're leaving for Resembool tomorrow and when we get back we can go to the Ishbalan camp." Ed said rolling over.
"Goodnight, brother"
"Night."
Sara lay curled on the patch of grass by the stone which served a reminder of her lost loved one. Telina had been escorted away to rest for the night while Sara lay there in mourning.
"Pathetic." Sara looked up to see Scar's hulking mass looming over her.
"Go away!" Sara scowled trying to hold herself back in a mix anger and remorse.
"He always was pathetic. Just like you are now." Scar said beginning to turn away.
"You bastard! You have no right to say that!" she cried, grabbing onto the back of his long jacket.
"Oh really? Why is that?" he sneered as desperately tried to restrain herself from delivering a punch.
'You'll lose yourself like you did on the Elrics. If you hurt an him I'll be killed for sure.' Sara said forcing herself backward.
"Good girl." Scar muttered with a laugh.
"How can you be so cruel?" She called as he stepped forward.
"You have no clue what I've done for you…how I could killed you long ago if I had pleased…" she said blinking back hot tears.
"I
know the story. Save your breath. I was going to give you back you
powers but I'm not so sure now." he said eyeing her warily.
Sara growled angrily.
"You never should have taken them in the first place!" She said glaring at him as she rose.
He
stuck out his hand which emitted a glowing white light.
"Take it Sara." he said indignantly.
"How do I know it's not a trap?" she questioned. In his hand appeared her Kaze Katana, the weapon only her powers could summon. She hungrily grabbed it from his hand, swinging it around with joy. Scar began to leave but Sara put a hand on his shoulder.
"What made you change?" she asked, still trying to hold back her urge to punch him.
"Thanks." was all he said before brushing her off and walking to his tent. Sara stood frozen for a moment before dropping to her knees and crying her heart out. Was it confusion or was it another unnamed feeling that had stirred her up when Scar appeared?
Telina opened her eyes softly, letting her eyes adjust to the hot sunlight slowly.
"Sister?" she questioned as Sara leaned over her.
"Oh good, your awake!" she said cheerfully.
"Where…are we?" Telina asked looking around.
"I remember falling asleep at the orphanage…" Telina said as Sara piped up.
"We're in Wela's tent for now, until we can get one of our own. And about the orphanage, I took you out while you were asleep, you were out like a light last night!" Sara said as Telina flung her arms around her sisters neck.
"I'm just glad you're feeling better, Sara." Telina said, referring to her sister's breakdown the day before.
"I'm fine, don't you worry. Why don't you go play with Rick for awhile? I'll have breakfast made soon." She said, patting Telina on the head. Wela, Sara's childhood friend approached her friend.
"She's adjusting well. I haven't seen her smile in years, Sara." Wela said as Sara nodded.
"I'm glad, I hope everything goes well from here on out."
"EDWARD!" A huge wrench came flying in the blonde's direction by an angry young woman. Winry ran out the door and nearly tackled Ed over in a hug.
"Are you ok? Are you alright? Are you hurt? Your automail! What happened Ed? I told you-" Winry began, looking all over Ed's body to see if he was injured anywhere.
"I'm fine, My automail's just banged up a little." He said, cutting her off.
"A LITTLE!" She ranted as she grabbed his right arm.
"A little isn't exactly a good description!" she cried as his arm nearly fell off in her arms. Suddenly something in her face shifted. She lost her angry glare and almost looked remorseful at what she had done. She then sighed and looked up at him,
"C'mon, let's get you fixed." Winry said as she walked into the house.
"Winry…why were you so worried about us?" Al asked, following his brother and Winry into the Rockbell house.
"I was in town yesterday running an errand and I saw a paper which said an alchemist from Resembool was in a fight with an another alchemist, Scar, and another Ishbalan. I was worried…I remember what Scar did last time you battled." Winry looked away from the brothers. Ed eyebrows furrowed.
"Winry…why are you crying?" Al asked as Winry closed her eyes tightly and looked down.
"I'm not…crying!" she said as Ed put a hand on her shoulder.
"Winry…you never could lie." he said as turned around and looked at him.
"Ed…the paper said one of the alchemists in the fight had died! I thought you were dead! But now…seeing you here…I guess I'm just so happy you're alive!" Winry cried throwing her arms around his neck in a hug.
Ed glanced over at Al and mouthed 'Girls…' with a roll of his golden eyes. Winry, realizing that she was being too girly, quickly pulled away.
"Uh, sorry Ed…" she said, wiping away the last of her tears.
"It's ok Winry. It's nice to know someone cares about us so much!" Al piped up as Ed nodded his head in compliance.
"Ok, ok, let's get to work. This automail needs a lot of help…" she said grabbing Ed by his metal arm and dragging him to the garage.
"So, what can we do about getting a tent of our own? Wela and her family is getting sick of us already." Sara sighed as she said this. It had only been a day and a half and Wela was urging them out of the tent.
"We don't have any extras, Sara, I'm very sorry. We only have so many tents, most of them house whole families. Although there is one with only one person…" the old Ishbalan man said as Sara's eyes lit up.
"A tent with only one person? Please, please can we move in!" Sara exclaimed as Telina shook her head excitedly.
"I'm not sure…I suppose he wouldn't mind." Sara froze as the man said 'he.' There was only one man in the camp who wasn't married with a family. Sara began shaking her head.
"No, no, no, not with him. I can't bare to be around him let alone live with him!" Sara said turning away from the man. She walked right into Wela, her husband, and children.
"Go Sara. You're becoming a burden!" Wela exclaimed as Sara became confused.
"I just moved in, how can I"
"GO!" Wela commanded, leaving Sara hurt and confused.
"Come Telina, let's get our things." Sara said, grabbing Telina's hand and glaring at Wela. Things sure weren't getting off to a good start.
Edward Elric winced in moderate pain as Winry lowered a flaming torch to his metallic arm.
"Hold still Ed, you're squirming to much. I'll burn you're real flesh if you don't quit!" Winry groaned as the two sat in the deserted garage. Al had gone off to run errands for the Rockbell family and Pinako was in the upstairs of the house caring for a recent patient.
"Almost…done." Winry said as Ed grunted in pain as she dimmed the flame of her torch.
"There, the new parts are welded together, everything should be back to normal." Winry said, as Ed flexed his arm.
"Nice job, Winry." he said as he began to get up.
"Edward…I was wondering. Are you looking for danger just to make me fear for your life or because you find it fun to have near death experiences every day?" Winry said, as casually as she could muster. Ed froze, he wasn't expecting a question like that.
"W-Winry…what do you mean? I fight because I have to…" Edward said stumbling back as Winry came forward.
"Oh really…I see how it is. Fighting because you 'have to' and only coming to see us when your automail is broken!" Winry said, backing Edward up into a corner which made him fall to the ground. Edward couldn't read Winry's emotion, she had become angry with him in a mere moment.
"Edward…don't you miss me?" she said, suddenly beginning to sob. Edward's eyes widened when she said this. How could he not miss her? She was his childhood friend and, despite that he tried to ignore it, he felt something between them that was unexplainable.
"Winry…of course I miss you!" he said, getting to his feet. In an attempt to be comforting he placed his left hand on her should but she only brushed him away.
"Don't tell me that…I know you don't mean it." Winry said looking down.
"Winry…what's up? You're mad, glad, normal, angry, upset…are you feeling ok?" Edward asked as
Winry turned around to face him.
"No Edward, I'm not alright! I'm not alright because…I think I may be falling in love with you."
A/N: Yay, chappie two! I had to throw in a little Ed/Win smut, as give of a fan of them as I am. And there's another ocuple sufacing, if you haven't guessed it already. And the infamous Roy/Riza will be in here somewhere. Riza already hinted at it in chap. 1. Hah.
