Edit: Ohmigosh I did NOT realize that the format was so wonky! I'm sorry!
CHAPTER TWO: THE CARNIVAL
Ed woke up the next day to find Winry standing over him holding a wrench. He yelped, sat bolt upright, and slid backwards until his back his a tree trunk. Winry sighed and sat down in front of him.
"Relax, Ed. I'm not going to hurt you." Ed's eyes widened when she muttered "As much as I'd like to" so softly that he barely heard her. She looked at him suddenly, then at the ground, "Have you been here all night then?" Ed looked around, realizing that he was still sitting under the tree that he had lay down under the night before. He must have fallen asleep.
"Yeah," He said, " I guess I have. Why do you care?" He added, almost bitterly, and saw her flinch at his words. What had her so sensitive all of the sudden?
"I came back for my wrench," She explained, hefting the large tool up for him to see. "I forgot it here when I left last night." She stood up, "I'm going to go back to the house." She said, and, when he didn't say anything, set off down the dirt path that led to the house.
Ed sighed and leaned back against the tree. Listening to Al had, for once, gotten him into trouble rather than out of it. He resolved to give his brother a serious talking-to about meddling in other people's affairs when he got back.
Winry had left abruptly to conceal the blush rising in her cheeks. Last night, instead of walking back to the house right away, she had lingered a little a bit away from the tree. After a while of watching the sunset, she had turned to go back, and heard Ed's voice.
"I don't think you're pretty, Winry; I think you're beautiful."
She had thought, for a moment, that he had realized she was there, but she had eventually figured out that he was just talking to himself. Or to the universe. She had no idea what he'd meant by it and wasn't about to ask him.
Nice of him, she thought, but why did he say it like it was such a big secret? She shook her head and pushed all thoughts of Ed from her mind. The first night of the annual spring carnival was tonight, and so Winry thought instead of the young man she had met the previous day, and wondered if she would see him there.
"Al. could I talk to you for a moment?" Winry asked once she got back inside the house. She shot a furtive glance at Pinako. "Alone?" Not waiting for a response, she proceeded to herd him up the stairs and into her room, and shut the door behind them.
"What's wrong, Winry?" Asked Al, looking slightly frightened.
"Al, you know that note Ed wrote me?" he nodded, and she continued. "Well, he told me that you told him what to write, and I was wondering if maybe," She paused for a moment, wondering how best to phrase it, "if maybe you were trying to make it sound as though Ed likes me as more than just a friend." Al held her gaze for a moment, and then looked down at the floor.
"I'm sorry, Winry," He said, "It's just that even though we finally found the stone, brother hasn't seemed happy lately. I thought that maybe, if you guys loved each other, everyone would be happy." Winry smiled, and hugged him warmly.
"I'm sorry that things didn't work out the way you wanted them to." She told him, "but I don't love Ed – at least not like that – and he doesn't love me." Al nodded.
"I understand." He told her. Winry released him, and ruffled his hair before leaving the room. Al shook his head sadly, "I understand that neither one of you is brave enough to admit it."
Winry always loved the spring carnival. She loved the dancing, games, and all the people that were there just to have fun and celebrate the end of winter.
She stepped in front of the mirror and eyed her reflection critically. She was wearing a pale pink sundress, and had left her hair down – something she rarely ever did – and had tucked a pink rose behind her left ear. It was a tradition for women and girls over the age of about thirteen to wear a flower behind one of their ears – the right ear for women that were married or in a relationship, and the left if they were single.
Winry grinned at her reflection before leaving her room and walking down the hall to Al's room. She knocked on the door, and was surprised to hear Ed say "Come in." She walked into the room to find Ed sitting cross-legged on the bed, while Al fought with the buttons on his shirt.
"Hi guys," Winry greeted them, "Al, are you almost ready to go?" The boy nodded, and finished buttoning up his shirt.
"I'll be right back," he said, "I think I left my shoes downstairs." He walked out the door to retrieve them, and Winry sat down on the bed to wait.
"Are you sure you don't want to go?" She asked Ed, "It's a lot of fun."
"I don't like those kinds of things. Too many people." Winry shrugged.
"Ok then." Ed opened his mouth to say something else, and hesitated.
"Maybe – maybe I'll show up later." He said. Winry turned around and looked at him incredulously.
"You will?"
"I said maybe. " he looked away, and Winry wasn't sure – the light in the room wasn't very good – but she thought he was blushing. "I do owe you a dance, after all." Now it was Winry's turn to blush. She looked away as well, just as the door opened.
Al walked in to find them both red-faced and staring resolutely at anything but each other. He smiled – so far, things were going well. Ed was even going to the carnival with them, albeit a little later. Al had left his shoes under a table in the hall about an hour ago, and when he had left the room, he had retrieved them quickly, and snuck back to eavesdrop.
"Ok, Winry – I'm ready." He said, and Winry practically leapt off the bed.
"Come on then. Bye, Ed." She added. As she seized Al's arm and pulled him out the door. Ed sat staring at it for a long time after they'd gone.
The park in the center of the small town had been decorated beautifully. There were boquets of flowers everywhere, and a band playing music on a small hill. The flowers were mostly bright colors, such as yellows, and oranges, because tonight's theme was 'youth'.
When Al and Winry had arrived, Al had been immediately accosted by every single girl in the town between the ages of fourteen and twenty, partly because he was so handsome – and a new handsome boy, at that – and partly because he was The Alphonse Elric. So he had shortly been dragged off to a spot near the band where people were dancing. From the looks of it, he was having fun.
It was already dark by the time Winry headed over to the refreshment table for a drink. All of the beverages were non-alcoholic, because the majority of people here were too young to drink anything with alcohol. She was weaving through the crowd of people surrounding the dance area when she suddenly spotted someone she knew.
"George!" She called. At the sound of his name, the blonde boy turned around and grinned at her.
"Hi Winry." He said brightly, "I was hoping to see you here." They were out of the crowd of people now, and standing off to the side, by a barn surrounded by trees. It was darker over here, because the lights from the tapers didn't reach very far at all. "Stay right here," he told her, "I'm going to go get us drinks." And with that, he waded back into the crowd and towards the refreshment table. Winry leaned against a tree casually, and waited for him to return.
Ed was bored.
He had already organized his sock drawer four times, before going into Al's room and organizing his sock drawer three times. That got boring after about half an hour, and so, for lack of something better to do, Ed went into Winry's room to organize her sock drawer.
Once he got there, however, it occurred to him that Winry just might kill him if she every found out that Ed had been anywhere near her sock drawer. He was just about to leave when he saw the corner of a book peeking out from her pillow. Curious, he poked at it a bit until it fell and landed on the floor. It was a pink book, with a white ribbon bookmark.
What's this? He thought, picking it up and looking through it briefly. His eyes widened as he realized what this must be. Winry's diary? He turned to the latest entry, and – though he knew that if she found out, he was dead – he began to read.
March 19,
I woke up this morning to find Ed and Al in the guest rooms! It was very surprising, as they haven't been back here in at least two years. It was so strange seeing them again – Ed is taller than I am now, and Al has his original body back! He looks so much like Ed, but also like himself, like I remember him. Ed's automail arm and leg are gone too. I'm very happy for him, but it also makes me a bit sad, because I can't be his mechanic anymore. I think that was the only reason why they visited me at all during the past seven years – Ed needed repairs. Now he doesn't, and he won't, and there's nothing to stop them both from leaving forever.
I don't know what I'd do if they did that.
The Spring Carnival is tomorrow – and it will be the first time that Ed and Al will be here in town! Al has said he'll go with me, but I don't think Ed will. It's a pity, because he needs to have fun once and awhile, but he seems like he has trouble just relaxing enough to have a good time. Oh well, I'll try and convince him to come along anyway.
Ed closed the book and shoved it back under Winry's pillow.
I wonder what else she's written about me? He thought as he left. He knew that he could just go comb through the diary for any mention of himself, but he didn't like reading her diary. It made him feel incredibly guilty, not to mention in grave danger. He also found himself wondering what was going on at the Carnival. What were Al and Winry doing?
He began rifling through his dresser for something to wear.
(Michi: Ready for a whole succession of intense scenes, folks?)
George handed Winry her drink, and she thanked him and took a sip.
"So, what brings you to Risembool?" she asked him. The punch tasted kind of funny, and, oddly enough, only seemed to make her thirstier. She drained half the glass as he replied.
"Nothing in particular." He said, "I grew up in East City, and so I thought it would be nice to stay here, in a small town, for a while." Winry nodded.
"Well, you picked the perfect place to visit." She informed him, "Risembool is a great place." He nodded, and grinned at her.
"I noticed that. It's really a nice place, especially the people." Winry nodded, and drained her glass.
For the next three-quarters of an hour or so, they talked, danced a bit, and then talked some more. Winry quite liked George – he seemed like a well-mannered guy, not rude or overbearing at all. There was something in the back of her mind that bothered her, however much she tried to ignore it. It was as though all of her instincts were screaming at her to leave, or something. She knew this was ridiculous – there was nothing wrong with George, except – sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the way he looked at her. It resembled the way that a hungry wolf looks at a wounded rabbit – as though it knows the rabbit doesn't have a chance, and it's only a matter of time.
Gradually, she noticed the she began to feel odd. Like her mind wasn't working as fast or as well as it should. Her senses were dulled slightly, and that only kept increasing. The tiny part of her brain that protested her being around George had seemed to shut down completely, which, frankly, worried her a bit. Suddenly, the world spun, and Winry clutched at a tree for support. George noticed, and looked at her with concern and . . . something else. It was hard to tell.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"I – I think I need to sit down for a moment." She said, and noticed that she was slurring her words together ever so slightly. "I feel . . . kind of funny." George seized her arm – and not entirely gently. The voice in the back of her mind gave a final scream and then fell silent.
"Let's go somewhere more . . . private." He suggested, and pulled her behind the barn.
"George, wait, I think maybe I should just go home…" she said plaintively. George turned suddenly, and Winry tried to back up, and realized that he had her backed up against the barn wall. He put a hand on either side of her, and smiled down at her.
"Don't worry," he said, in a tone that made the hair on the back of Winry's neck prickle, "I'll take good care of you."
Ed couldn't find Winry anywhere, and it was beginning to worry him. He had found Al nearly the moment he had arrived, surrounded by a mob of girls, but Winry was nowhere, it seemed. He climbed up a tree to get a better view of the park, and scanned the carnival for Winry.
He could see quite a lot from up in the tree. There was Al, surrounded by at least a dozen girls, all vying for his attention. Ed chuckled, and continued to survey the area.
What was that – behind the barn? He leaned forward, and strained to see out into the darkness. It looked there was some sort of struggle going on. A fight? No, it didn't look like any sort of fight he had ever seen – more like a game of cat and mouse, or something. Suddenly, one of the figured moved out into the open, and, silhouetted by the moonlight, could be seen clearly. Ed would recognize that silhouette anywhere.
Winry!
In no time at all, he was out of the tree and sprinting towards the barn.
Even through the haze that threatened to overwhelm her, Winry was terrified. Tears of fright flowed freely down her cheeks, and she couldn't seem to focus long enough to get away. All she could do was thrash around as much as possible – and even that was mainly just because of reflexes. She knew that it couldn't last much longer, and soon whatever he had drugged her with would render her completely helpless.
The really horrible part was that George seemed to be enjoying this immensely. He was like a cat who had caught a mouse, and was playing with it for a bit before he decided to kill it. He would let Winry go long enough for her to run a few feet, before either hitting or tripping her, causing her to fall, due to her lack of balance, and then it would happen all over again. The entire time he had a smile on his face, which frightened Winry more than anything else.
Sure enough, her concentration flagged for a moment, and George took the opportunity to pin her up against the wall of the barn, with a hand on her neck, squeezing her windpipe, and holding her there. With his other hand, he hit her hard across the face.
"Enough playing hard-to-get." He growled, his face only inches from her own, "It's been fun, but it's beginning to bore me." With that, he leaned in and kissed her viciously, so roughly that it hurt. Winry whimpered, and he bit her lip. Hard. She felt a trickle of blood run down her chin, and tried to move away. He hit her again, and began to undo the buttons down the front of her sundress . . .
He was only on the second button when Winry felt him being violently ripped away from her. Her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground. She shut her eyes against a world that would not stop spinning, and listened to the sounds around her.
The sounds of someone being hit repeatedly; Winry had a feeling that it was George. She could hear the sickening thuds as he was hit again and again, and grunts of pain. Above all of this, however, she heard a voice. A familiar voice. A familiar, angry voice.
"YOU BASTARD! IF YOU EVER COME WITHIN TEN MILES OF HER EVER AGAIN, I'LL KILL YOU!" Wham! "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" Wham!
"Ugghhh." Wham!
"Get out of here, before I change my mind and kill you right now." There were more scuffling noises, as George stood up, and as he hobbled away as fast as possible. His footsteps faded, and all was quiet. Then, more footsteps as her rescuer walked over to her and fell to his knees in front of her.
"Winry?" The voice that had been so strong and full of anger moments earlier now wobbled slightly. "It's me. It's Ed." Winry opened her eyes, squinted, and a pair of golden eyes slid in and out of focus. Eyes that were brimming with tears.
"Ed…?" She smiled in relief, "You did come to the carnival after all …" she said weakly, still slurring a bit.
With a stifled sob, he reached forward and pulled her into his arms, and hugged her so fiercely she thought her bones would snap. She was startled to realize that he was crying, and vaguely wondered why. Ed never cried. It just didn't happen. She tried to hug him back, but her limbs wouldn't cooperate.
It was several minutes before he pulled away and surveyed her critically, as though taking inventory of every bruise. He gently reached forward and wiped the blood off of her chin, before standing up, and gently pulling her to her feet as well.
"Can you walk?" He asked her, and she giggled a bit in response – she had no idea why, but everything seemed funny when the world was doing back flips around you. It occurred her that she might be slightly in shock, but the thought flitted away before she could make sense of it. "I'll take that as a no." He said, "I'm going to have to carry you, then, ok?" Winry nodded, and he gently scooped her up and began walking. Winry yawned; she was dizzy, and wanted to sleep. Ed seemed to read her mind.
"Don't you dare fall asleep." He warned her, "Not until we know what he drugged you with."
"Mmmkay." She muttered, burying her face in his chest. He smelled nice. "Ed?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. I don't even wanna think about what would have happened if you didn't show up. I owe you one." She was slurring still, but he could still understand her.
"I'll always be there for you, Winry." He replied.
"You're sure she's going to be all right?" Ed asked anxiously. Pinako nodded; for once there was no gleam of amusement in her eyes. She was tight-lipped, and clearly worried.
"She just has to sleep it off. Speaking of which – take her up to her room and put her to bed, will you? I'd do it, but she needs to be carried." She patted Ed on the back, "And thank you. For caring about her so much." Ed's only response was to be very, very red, and walk over to Winry.
Winry, still conscious but obviously in a drug-induced haze, was just barely managing to sit upright on one of Pinako's examination tables.. Ed walked over, and she looked up at him with slightly unfocused eyes.
"Come on, Winry, time to go to bed." He said gently. She nodded slightly, and he scooped her up off the table and walked up the stairs and into her room, where he deposited her on the chair next to her bed for a moment so he could turn down her bed. Once that was done, he helped her into bed and – after checking to see if anyone was around – tucked her in snugly. He turned to go, but a call from the bed stopped him.
"Ed?" he turned around.
"Yes?"
"Don't go yet. Please." Ed sighed, and sat down in the chair next to her bed. She was half-asleep already, so it wouldn't be long. Once he sat down, Winry seized the hand closest to her, and held it securely with both of hers. Her eyes fluttered closed, leaving Ed to wonder if she was asleep, and when he would be getting his hand back.
"I always feel safe when you're around, Ed." She muttered, Ed leaned in a little to hear better – though it was, of course, just senseless ramblings. She sighed slightly, and rolled over. " 'S one of the reasons why I love you."
Michi: Ooh, that chapter was longer than the last one, wasn't it? And the plot twists!
Ed: Painfully long.
Michi: poke and the plot twists? What about those, eh?
Ed: YOU HORRIBLE WOMAN! I can't BELIEVE the junk people let you get away with!
Michi: The reminds me; ahem to the readers The whole part about the date-rape drugs is horrible inaccurate, I know, but please keep in mind that I had no references for the subject and chucked this chapter together in about two days. So don't flame me, please! If you have any issues, please just tell me what I got wrong, and I'll be sure to correct it! Thanks!
Ed: YOU DESERVE TO BE FLAMED!
Michi: SHUDDUP!