Tears Like Rain
S J Smith
Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa owns it all.
Rating: Anyone can read
Summary: Winry's not taking Ed and Al's joining the military too well.
Written for mjules for the Under 400 ficathon, my prompts were: knife, rain, a nature setting
The rain fell through the trees, pattering softly against the leaves and sliding to the ground. The boy trudging up the hill thought that it could rain forever but it still wouldn't wash things clean; not anymore. He paused at the top of the rise, sweeping his dripping bangs off his forehead, sighing when he spotted the girl.
"Winry, what are you doing?" Edward's voice rang out, relief transmuting to anger as he stomped up to the tree and the girl beneath it.
She didn't even look up at him, just hunched her shoulders a little more. "You're going away," she said quietly.
He huffed impatiently, folding his arms across his chest. The cold of the metal against his flesh arm was something he'd become accustomed to. "You knew we were. That was the whole point of me getting automail, so Al and I could try to find a way to get our bodies back to normal."
"But I don't want you to go." Winry's voice cracked a little, enough to let him know she was crying.
Her tears had always cut into him like a knife, had since they were little kids. Ed glowered, hating that feeling. "You know I've already accepted the military's position. I'm a State Alchemist now. I have to go where they want me to go and do what they want me to do. I'm their dog now."
"Yeah," Winry whispered, that little breath of a sound barely reaching his ears. Finally, she tilted her head up to look at him. "But all I know is when someone leaves for the military, they don't come back."
He started, a little surprised that Winry would compare their going away to her parents' death. "Winry, nothing's going to happen to us!" Ed dropped to the ground next to her, his knees squelching a little in the mud. "There isn't even a war going on." And winced, realizing how that might sound as the words left his mouth but they were out there, hanging in the rain-soaked air.
Winry leaned her cheek against her knees. "I just don't want you to go," she said.
Ed's impatience built again, didn't she understand? "This could be the best chance for us to get our bodies back, Winry." Scowling, he pushed up. "I promised Al I'd get his body back," rapped his knuckles against his metal thigh to make it boom, "that I'd fix this." Turning on his foot, his metal foot, the one she helped make for him, he started to walk away. But the rain that fell like tears, like her tears against his skin, made him stop. Shoulders sagging, Ed knew he couldn't leave Winry that way. He trudged back to her. "Come on," he said, offering her his hands, "You'll get sick sitting here in the rain." And when she slid her fingers into his palms, he had to smile at her as he helped her to her feet.
Equivalent exchange, after all - she'd helped him stand up when he needed her.
