Disclaimer: … Already stated in first chapter…
A/N: Wow! I know it took me a helluva time to update but I finally got around to it through my school schedule and all. Going into detail on why it took so long would cause this chapter's word count to shoot through the roof so I'll leave all of that to my Livejournal. Anyway, sorry for the stall in updating and here's the next chapter, enjoy!
Chapter Ten: Fallen Interlude
Al would leave the next morning to Central to complete a last assignment requested by Colonel Mustang before resigning. Ed had argued, of course.
"Why not drop from the military now?" Ed had said, almost pleadingly.
"I told the Colonel I'd do this assignment and it would be rude to just drop from the ranks the day I was due back." Al looked away from his brother a moment, getting a distant look in his eye slightly, as if concentrating on another subject, "Besides, we owe the military, don't we?"
"We sure as hell don't!" Ed yelled after a curt scoff.
"How many years had the military funded our research, hm?" Al turned to him then looked back up at the cloudless sky again, "Winry told me that we joined the military so to gain access to confidential information and funding support on our research. Colonel Mustang could have very well told us to do our military duties and give us no extra time to research and search for the Philosopher's Stone." Al leaned back all the way now on the blanket Winry had supplied and sighed before looking back up at his brother who had crinkled his nose in defiance. But Al was right… Damn it all. "I owe Colonel Mustang at least this last assignment."
"If it was up to me, I wouldn't give that egotistical maniac any of my time."
"Yes, but it's not up to you." Al took a bite from a sandwich Ed had left on a napkin as Ed huffed a breath. It took him a moment to realize Al's thievery, but he didn't say a word; he just took Winry's unprotected half.
"Anybody tell you that putting your hands on other people's food is rude?"
"Does it look like a care?" Ed took a bite from her sandwich for emphasis. He grinned only wider when she reached for her wench that she suspected was next to her, only to find that it wasn't. Brows furrowed, she shot her hands into the pocket of her now dry skirt (Ed and Al had dried off themselves and Winry with quick alchemy) only to find that there, too, lay no such wrench.
"Where is it?" she barked, placing her hands on her hips and lifting her rear from her legs and kneeling so that she towered over Ed's reclining figure. He looked at her in pure question,
"I don't know, I don't keep track of it." Ed said truthfully, "But I'm not complaining that it's gone."
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" she said shrilly and got up to full height now, searching around the grass and shrubs for a gleam of metal where she stood. "Do you realize that I won't be able to adjust anything without it?" she jumped slightly as if the prospect had just occurred to her as she said it. "Edward! Where is it?"
"This conversation is going nowhere…." he grumbled under his breath before yelling, "Didn't I just say I didn't have it!"
"Then help me find it!"
Al folded the blanket neatly before draping it over his arm that held the now empty wicker basket by it's withering handle. He looked over his shoulder, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips at the site near the river's edge, not ten feet away from where they all had sat.
Winry wasn't pummeling Ed with her wrench, but was jabbing it painfully into Ed's chest as she yelled. Ed yelled over her, or tried to and swatted the wrench away more than once as she ranted. Al looked down at Den who heeled at his feet,
"Let's go home." he said as he shook his head.
Winry and Ed had eventually, after seeing that Al and Den had left them, showed up through the front door of the Rockbell home; Winry livid and Ed cursing, the side of his skull now adorning a small goose egg while rubbing his bruised chest. Winry simply huffed and gripped her wrench tighter in her hand before sitting next to Al on the couch.
"You find it?" Al asked the obvious with an amused air. Winry lifted her arm, brandishing a gleaming wrench and her lips pushed to the side in a disgruntled frown as Ed walked passed them, still cursing beneath a nervous whisper. Al couldn't help but notice that Ed had stuck out his tongue childishly at Winry's turned head as he walked by.
"I found it alright." she sighed before placing the said wrench on the coffee table in front of her and then leaning back into the couch. A silence filtered between the two; not a awkward one, but a soft sense of content. There was a loud thump in a room upstairs; Ed.
"He's so… Argh! He gets my blood boiling so much… but…" Al turned his head toward her before looking off in another direction when she continued to stare up at the ceiling. He wasn't real sure where she was going with this… Granted, she didn't know exactly where she was going either, which was why she let the words slip somewhat. How could she possibly see him that way? How…? And When?
…Possibly before she could remember she knew that much…
"Well, that's Ed for you." Al said in a matter-of-fact tone, making Winry turn to him abruptly. She had been in such a haze of her own thoughts, she had practically forgotten Al was sitting right there, oddly enough. She placed her hands in her lap and looked down at them,
"I wouldn't want it any other way." Al, who had been staring ahead and out of the window at her sudden silence, blinked before giving her a sideways stare as she stood. She looked down at him and smiled before she, too, looked out the window that let orange fluids of light drift into the large room as the sun began it's descent behind the hills in the distance. Had the day really passed so fast? She turned to him again,
"You staying up?"
"It probably wouldn't be very wise, I have to catch a train in the morning." Al answered, not losing the window's view in his vision and staring into the sun's orange light. Her shoulders sagged,
"Do you really have to leave so soon?" she fell back beside him, palms on her knees as she stared at his side. He turned to her, his face changing quickly to a weak smile despite his helpless resolution,
"I'll be back after this last assignment for good. I promise." Winry took in a slow breath before looking down at her hands that rested on her knee caps, "Don't worry, Winry." she nodded with lost enthusiasm, but the smile she gave him wasn't. She'd wait, like she always had for him. For them. It seemed, almost, that she was waiting to cease waiting… It was a viscous cycle, but it was bittersweet when they came back, for the cycle started once again after they left.
Al looked out the window again, his face slacking as he thought of leaving again; he hated to make Winry and Pinako worry, but this assignment was something he'd promised Mustang he'd do, and he wasn't backing out now. Mustang had helped him too much while Edward had been missing to do such a thing. Besides, once he was finished, he would come home and live happily with his family, and nothing else would drive him away.
But, Ed still had his auto-mail, something Al had promised to release Ed from, and the fact that he hadn't, nagged at him, even if Ed seemed to not care. Ed was good at that. He felt as if he'd let him down, but he didn't say anything about it yet, not until he was sure that Edward was still bothered about it.
The weight of the spot next to him slacked and Al stared up at Winry as she smiled down at him, hands on her hips,
"I should probably get dinner ready." She changes tunes faster than radio stations. Al thought, smiling as he got up to help a offering hand.
How come she had to be so damn violent all the time? What a shitty way to end a "together outing"!
Ed lay on his back, arms folded behind his head, careful to place his flesh hand between his head and auto-mail hand to avoid being uncomfortable, and ankles crossed. He tapped the soles of his boots together leisurely to a inconsistent rhythm, nor to any particular beat.
One thing was for sure, though, he wasn't apologizing; he didn't have anything to apologize for, in his mind. She had lost that damned wrench on her own, without his help, so why should he? He shouldn't, point made. But, he'd received a bash in the skull with her wrench because he made the point that she had misplaced it, not him, so what was the point in making a point? Damnit! Trying to decode her reasoning is like talking to that Colonel; it goes NOWHERE! he thought. A grunt came from somewhere in his throat and he rolled over on his bed, facing the wall.
He eventually found that his thoughts became more irrelevant and his mind drifted into a silent paralysis as he let his eyes close, taking in a long breath as he relaxed. Funny, he hadn't been tired a moment ago, and now it seemed like a nap was top priority. Maybe he'd rest just a moment, just to relax…
Spoke too soon.
"Brother?" it had only seemed like a few seconds ago that he'd found a peace, and now, as he let his voice roll in his throat, it was broken. "Brother, dinner's ready." he heard his younger brother's footsteps thud softly from his heel and then stop somewhere beside him. "I know better. If I count on you to wake up on your own, our food would get cold." Ed opened his eye closest in view to Al and gave him a groggy sideways stare.
"Alrgiht…" he yawned, "Alrgiht, I'm up." he swung his legs over the side of the bed, feeling is head spin from his sudden head rush and closed his eyes momentarily as the room began to tilt. Al turned and left, Ed following not too soon afterward, scratching the side of his head as his exhaustion began to wear.
Dinner that night was talkative, conversations that lasted a little over three minutes before it moved on to more slack subjects. That is, until Winry fell silent and emotionally recoiled. Ed gave her several qualities glances and even bumped his knee against hers to catch her attention. She only looked up at him, seen his face and looked away, turning to her food again and looking upward toward the conversation in mock interest. Something was bothering her, and Ed had a inkling suspicion of what it was. Al was leaving and Ed had been a bit abstract on what exactly he planned to do; follow or stay and Winry hoped it was the latter, placing all selfishness of the idea in regard.
He made a mental note to tell her what exactly he planned to do later, but not now.
"So? When should we expect you to return next time, Alphonse?" Pinako spoke up. Winry looked up and made it so as she could see Ed out of her peripheral vision but still face Al as if in interest, but she already knew what he planned to do. Al gave a glance at the elder Elric before answering.
"Ed's back, so I plan to resign from the military after this last assignment." Al set his palms atop the table's surface, "I dunno where I plan to stay, afterwards." he stated and inwardly flinched at how pleading it may have sounded to Pinako. She was giving, granted to a point, but he didn't want to ask anything of her.
"Don't be ridiculous! You and your brother are family to us, no need to even ask." Pinako smiled to Winry who smiled to Al in reassurance. Al looked to Ed, smoothing out the table's cloth beneath his palms nervously, and he sighed once seeing that Ed was being, as always, stoic about the matter and turned to Pinako.
"Thanks, granny, but are you sure-"
"No more of this talk. You're modest to a fault, Al." Al let a ghost of a smile come forth, unable to burgeon with enthusiasm by his said modesty.
"Thank you."
"Yeah, thanks, grams." Ed spoke, sporting that trademark crooked, yet boyish grin. Pinako simply nodded and continued with her meal, getting up shortly after to place her plate in the sink.
"Are you planning to work anymore tonight, Winry?" she asked, stopping in the doorway, arms folded behind her back. She was referring to her current work in progress now in the workroom, and Winry put down her fork and nodded shortly,
"Yeah."
"Very well," she said, letting her sentence hang in the air momentarily as she ascended the stairs before saying, "but don't work for too long"
OOOOOOO
Winry sat on the wooden workbench, screwing tight parts of the exterior frame of what would soon be a metal hand. A middle-aged man had requested a auto-mail ligament that extended from the elbow to finger from a constructing accident . The skeleton of the outlining interior still poked out from several places from being incomplete, but she was vigorously, destined to pull a inevitable all-nighter. She was determined to say the least.
Placing the unfinished arm on the table along with her wrench, she stiffened the muscles in her legs as she stretched in a attempt to rid herself of the ach that throbbed and stabbed at her back, rear, and upper thighs from sitting on a unmerciful wooden seat. She sighed as a small pop came from her tired knee caps and elbows as she extended her arms above her head. Her half-lidded gaze fell upon the clock; 12:04. Had it really been that long? Al would surely be asleep by now, possibly the other sibling as well.
Her palm came to rest on the back of her neck as she lulled it to the side, pressing messaging motions into the muscles with aching fingers. Time to turn in. She let her feet pitter and patter on the wooden floor, her shoulders slumped as she walked into the hall, eyes darting around in a attempt to adjust to the black nothingness she had walked upon. It was to be expected, but she hadn't really bothered to care for she had walked around in that house in the dark too many times in the past to not know where every turn and door was. Unfortunately, the staircase railing was still a obstacle she hadn't thought of.
She succeeded in stubbing her toe at the beginning of the incline's railing, stifling a whimper by biting her lip as she involuntarily grabbed at the injury.
"Tsk, that smarts." she whispered to herself as she blinked a few times to try and avoid making another blunder.
A soft noise filtered from the living room and Winry cocked a brow in a curious and silent query. It didn't take much to figure out what it was as she made her way to the doorway; soft yet audible snores, Ed's snores to be exact.
She stealthily tip-toed where he lay upon the couch, clutching something black to his chest in a loose grip. As she got closer, the corners of her lips curved upward into a unsurpassable smile.
A photo album.
She, Al, and Pinako had collected pictures and memories on their own after Ed's disappearance, coming after the more older snapshots, where her family and the brothers' mother and themselves huddled into the small frames. She'd hoped, before his sudden arrival, that one day she'd show it to him, let him see what he missed. Not to wiggle in his face what he could have witnessed after Al regained his life with a human body, but to possibly just show him how happy Al and everyone had really been, before Al, too, left to Central. But then again, the matter seemed to have been personal to Ed if he had chosen to look for the album and then observe the new content by himself.
Had it really been so long ago? Time seemed to slow then pick up it's pace in different intervals, and at some instances, repeat itself, the slow down again. Life sometimes felt like a fallen interlude.
Winry, not wanting to waken him, gingerly curled her tired fingers around the rim of the hard-covered album. He gave a disturbed groan and knitted his brows together as she yanked her hands back after a failed tug on the book. Heart pounding from the sudden surprise, she let the ambition of retrieving the book from him so as he could get more comfortable if wanted, wane.
His auto-mail arm hung lazily over the edge of the couch, and Winry bent down to place his hand upon his evenly rising and falling chest. His nose crinkled at first, but eventually went lax.
Smiling down at him in hidden admiration, she let a soft "goodnight" escape her lips before making her way to her own bed.
She'd finish looking at the album of lost reminisces with him tomorrow.
A/N: Gah, I'm soooo sorry you guys, for taking such a ungodly amount of time to update. I think I already mentioned my apologies in the Author's Note above, neh? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you didn't, look for the next chapter sometime soon, hopefully.
Now to reply to reviews! (pops fingers)
HealerAriel: You have to love Al for that. n.n
Plum: Thanks!
Fanactic: I feel so bad for not being able to update! Thanks for the reivew. ;3
Inu-Baby18: (smile) thanks.
Winry: Thanks for the congrat's. I still think that I need improving a bit and I'm working on it. Anyway, thanks for the review, hun! ;3
God-ROCKS: Thanks! (glomp)
Remyko: Gah! Sorry again for not updating and here's a extra cookie for the wait!
Deynaz: I'm hoping to update a lot sooner now that I've finished with a rather difficult part in my life… thanks for the review! ;3
LaBabyJoker: Yes, I emailed you (hope it got to the right place?) and I hope that I didn't lose you as a reviewer because of the delay?
Toki1: I've always thought of Al as the adorable brother as far as his personality goes. Trust me, Ed is going to be stubborn, because THAT is what he is. ;3 Unfortunately, updating on my computer about this story as soon as I can sometimes isn't necessarily soon… I'll continue to try to update ASAP!
RobinRox13: Thanks for the review!
WildfireDreams: Hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter!
C.A.M.E.O1 and only: lol, thanks for the review, hun. ;3
Indome: Lol, glad to know that the last chapter made you so happy. (smile) It made me happy too, no doubt.
Lolo: Yes, I received your other comment on my lj as well, and happily replied! Thanks for the words of praise and thanks for the review(s)!