Bedtime Stories
Disclaimer: I don't own, FMA, ever, grow up. Nor do I own Rapunzel.
Pairing: EdxWinry
"Winry, it's time for bed!" Mrs. Rockbell chided at the playful girl who was currently waving her hand furiously at the two brothers that were leaving with their mother in the late night.
"Come on Win-Win, I'll tell you a bedtime story. But you have to hurry, or I won't." Her father said, laughing at his blonde daughter as she rushed up the stairs to her bedroom to get dressed in her night dress.
"Andrew, I think you enjoy those stories almost as much as she does sometimes." Julia gave a sigh as she draped her arms around her husbands neck, smiling.
"DADDY! I'm ready, hurry up! I wan Hercules tucks!" Winry's voice shouted from the upstairs, they could hear her jumping from the living room.
"I'm coming, ready or not!" Andrew gave a quick kiss to his wife before he rushed up the stairs, to the squeals of their only child.
Winry had been peeking out into the hall when she saw her father approach, quickly darting back into her room and jerking the covers over her head.
"Oh, it seems my daughter has disappeared. Is she..." He opened the closet, "here? No, then is she…" He moved to the desk, "Under here? No, oh well, seems like she went missing. No stories for her tonight."
"Silly daddy! I'm here!" Winry squealed, ripping the covers from over her head, giggling hysterically.
"Oh, there she is. Now I can tickle her!"
Many squeals ensued, with giggling and laughter on both sides as desperate fingers clawed playfully at ticklish spots for revenge. In the end Winry was in a small ball, laughing so hard the stern voice of Mrs. Rockbell had to stop them.
"Andrew, stop, you are supposed to be putting her to bed."
"Mommy! You're no fun!" The young vivacious girl pouted when her father obediently pulled away, tucking Winry into the soft cotton sheets.
"Now, now, Win-Win, don't say that to your mother. So, which story should it be tonight? Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White?" Her father was flipping through the books on her shelf that had been read over and over again over her five years. Winry smiled and snuggled her precious doll the Elric's had given her a month ago for her birthday to her chest, her cheeks red thinking about the elder.
"I wanna fairy tale, one with a princess and a handsome prince, but don't make the girls stupid. Like Sleeping Beauty is really dumb, who touches a spindle anyways?"
Her father gave a laugh and itched his nose, none of the stories on the shelf quite fit with what his daughter had just requested. "I know, how about Rapunzel?"
"Who's that?" Winry inquired, looking up to her father with anxious eyes."
"Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who had long, but to no avail, wished for a child. Finally the woman came to believe that the good Lord would fulfill her wish. Through the small rear window of these people's house they could see into a splendid garden that was filled with the most beautiful flowers and herbs. The garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared enter, because it belonged to a sorceress who possessed great power and was feared by everyone.
One day the woman was standing at this window, and she saw a bed planted with the most beautiful rapunzel. It looked so fresh and green that she longed for some. It was her greatest desire to eat some of the rapunzel. This desire increased with every day, and not knowing how to get any, she became miserably ill.
Her husband was frightened, and asked her, "What ails you, dear wife?"
"Oh," she answered, "if I do not get some rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I shall die."
The man, who loved her dearly, thought, "Before you let your wife die, you must get her some of the rapunzel, whatever the cost."
So just as it was getting dark he climbed over the high wall into the sorceress's garden, hastily dug up a handful of rapunzel, and took it to his wife. She immediately made a salad from it, which she devoured eagerly. It tasted so very good to her that by the next day her desire for more had grown threefold. If she were to have any peace, the man would have to climb into the garden once again. Thus he set forth once again just as it was getting dark. But no sooner than he had climbed over the wall than, to his horror, he saw the sorceress standing there before him.
"How can you dare," she asked with an angry look, "to climb into my garden and like a thief to steal my rapunzel? You will pay for this."
"Oh," he answered, "Let mercy overrule justice. I cam to do this out of necessity. My wife saw your rapunzel from our window, and such a longing came over her, that she would die, if she did not get some to eat."
The sorceress's anger abated somewhat, and she said, "If things are as you say, I will allow you to take as much rapunzel as you want. But under one condition: You must give me the child that your wife will bring to the world. It will do well, and I will take care of it like a mother."
In his fear the man agreed to everything."
"That was awful mean, giving up their own daughter to an evil witch. You would never do that; you'll stay with me forever and ever, right Daddy." Winry started to sit up, very angry at Rapunzel's father for being so cowardly.
"Shush," he consoled, pushing her down again, "let me continue.
When the woman gave birth, the sorceress appeared, named the little girl Rapunzel, and took her away. Rapunzel became the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the fairy locked her in a tower that stood in a forest and that had neither a door nor a stairway, but only a tiny little window at the very top.
When the sorceress wanted to enter, she stood below and called out:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
Rapunzel had splendid long hair, as fine as spun gold. When she heard the sorceress's voice, she untied her braids, wound them around a window hook, let her hair fall twenty yards to the ground, and the sorceress climbed up it.
A few years later it happened that a king's son was riding through the forest. As he approached the tower he heard a song so beautiful that he stopped to listen. It was Rapunzel, who was passing the time by singing with her sweet voice. The prince wanted to climb up to her, and looked for a door in the tower, but none was to be found.
He rode home, but the song had so touched his heart that he returned to the forest every day and listened to it. One time, as he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw the sorceress approach, and heard her say:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
Then Rapunzel let down her strands of hair, and the sorceress climbed up them to her.
"If that is the ladder into the tower, then sometime I will try my luck."
And the next day, just as it was beginning to get dark, he went to the tower and called out:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
The hair fell down, and the prince climbed up.
At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man such as she had never seen before came in to her. However, the prince began talking to her in a very friendly manner, telling her that his heart had been so touched by her singing that he could have no peace until he had seen her in person. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him as her husband, she thought, "He would rather have me than would old Frau Gothel." She said yes and placed her hand into his. She said, "I would go with you gladly, but I do not know how to get down. Every time that you come, bring a strand of silk, from which I will weave a ladder. When it is finished I will climb down, and you can take me away on your horse. They arranged that he would come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day."
Winry snorted. "She's awfully dumb, long hair is a bother anyways, why not chop it off and nail it to something, you can use it then."
"Rapunzel didn't have scissors or a knife, that's why her hair was so long-"
"But a prince always has a sword, why couldn't he-"
"Quiet Win-Win, questions after the story. Now can I continue?" Mr. Rockbell said, exasperated at her questions.
"Okay!"
Andrew gave a sigh and continued.
"The sorceress did not notice what was happening until one day Rapunzel said to her, "Frau Gothel, tell me why it is that you are more difficult to pull up than is the young prince, who will be arriving any moment now?"
"You godless child," cried the sorceress. "What am I hearing from you? I thought I had removed you from the whole world, but you have deceived me nonetheless."
In her anger she grabbed Rapunzel's beautiful hair, wrapped it a few times around her left hand, grasped a pair of scissors with her right hand, and snip snap, cut it off. And she was so unmerciful that she took Rapunzel into a wilderness where she suffered greatly.
On the evening of the same day that she sent Rapunzel away, the fairy tied the cut-off hair to the hook at the top of the tower-"
"See! She was dumb-"
"Let me continue Win-Win."
With a snort, the drowsy Winry gave him permission to continue.
"When the prince called out:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.
She let down the hair.
The prince climbed up, but above, instead of his beloved Rapunzel, he found the sorceress, who peered at him with poisonous and evil looks.
"Aha!" she cried scornfully. "You have come for your Mistress Darling, but that beautiful bird is no longer sitting in her nest, nor is she singing any more. The cat got her, and will scratch your eyes out as well. You have lost Rapunzel. You will never see her again."
The prince was overcome with grief, and in his despair he threw himself from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell poked out his eyes. Blind, he wandered about in the forest, eating nothing but grass and roots, and doing nothing but weeping and wailing over the loss of his beloved wife. Thus he wandered about miserably for some years, finally happening into the wilderness where Rapunzel lived miserably with the twins that she had given birth to."
"Wait Daddy, did the stork visit Rapunzel in the woods? Your medical books say weird stuff too, which one is right? And Daddy-"
"Another time dear." Her father said shortly, continuing the story.
"He heard a voice and thought it was familiar. He advanced toward it, and as he approached, Rapunzel recognized him, and crying, through her arms around his neck. Two of her tears fell into his eyes, and they became clear once again, and he could see as well as before. He led her into his kingdom, where he was received with joy, and for a long time they lived happily and satisfied. The end."
Winry gave a yawn, stretching her arms. "All these princesses are really impractical. I want to be able to help my prince in whatever way I can. If I was Rapunzel, I would have made him automail eyes, or something. You just don't tell someone you love them, you sjhow it, that's what you say when I don't wanna do chores, right? Does it work here too Daddy?"
Andrew Rockbell smiled as his daughter while she drifted into slumber.
"Yes, indeed it does."
THE END
Authors Note: Okay, brief Bibliography here. I fot the Rapunzel tale from http/ I did not write that, the Brothers Grimm did. So there blah.
Anyways, I wanted to make a story with foreshadowing, and if you read Rapunzel, you can find some similarities to Winry and Edward's situation now and again. We have been studying literature symbolism in class, so it's fresh in the brain. Not the best again, but I am happy none the less. Also, I made up the names Andrew and Julia, I have no idea what their real names are. FANMAIL!
Brickwall847: From what I have read of the scanlations, I can safely say indeed Ed found Sciska first. But in the manga, Hughes hires her for re-writing the documents, but does not hire her into the military. She is at that time a civilian employed by the State. The next time you see her though, she is in uniform, so I assumed that she joined, and thus I added my own little reason. Thanks for the info though! And for the compliments, I really feel so touched when you readers give me reviews.-tear- I love you guys!
Wow, 10 one-shots now, coolness. And no end in sight, so keep reading! I love you all!
Tata!
Gabby the Great