Last chapter! I got everything up on time, which is an achievement for me. Hooray for working from home!
No extra warnings for this chapter.
"Are you nervous?"
"Nah."
"You should be."
Sarah grinned, showing far too many teeth. It reminded Winry a little too much of Ed. "Sounds like you're the nervous one here, Dad."
Ed crossed his arms. "I'm not. I've done worse."
"Exactly! So don't worry about it. Wouldn't want you to go grey or anything."
Winry couldn't hide her own smile. Ed hadn't quite gotten over the fact that grey hairs had started showing, even though he was into his forties. "Come on Ed, let's go get some seats," she said, tugging his elbow. "Stay safe, sweetie, we'll see you at dinner."
Sarah gave a half-wave and sauntered off while Winry towed Ed in the opposite direction. Some wooden seating had been set up to watch and they slid into an empty slot. There was quite the crowd, and Winry wasn't surprised. Most of the film studios in Amestris worked out of South City, but one of them had started filming their stunt scenes in Rush Valley.
Sarah had jumped on it the second they started hiring and had been in training for weeks for the auto shop she'd been working at had signed up to do a good chunk of the modifications for the stunts, so she'd had her hands all over the projects since the start. Winry was honestly surprised she wasn't sleeping at the garage.
A good crowd had turned out, and Winry wasn't surprised. While automail was the face of Rush Valley, anything scientifically innovative was likely to get attention. And stunt work, with the hidden wires, modified automobiles, and trap doors, grabbed every engineer's interest. Winry would be lying if she said she was only there to see Sarah work.
"All of our kids have death wishes," Ed grumbled as they watched one of the stuntmen get hooked into a harness. Edith had left for Briggs earlier that month, while the roads were still passable up north, and Xander's state alchemy exam was at the end of the summer. "Addy nearly cut her hand off in the shop, and now Sarah's going to jump off a roof or something."
"You're being dramatic. Erich's studying history."
"To be a politician, Winry! That's almost worse!" They lapsed into silence as the film crews worked. Two of the stuntmen were having a fight while one dangled out a window. The scene ended with one losing their grip and falling to the street - except that the harness caught him in time and he bounced safely to the ground, well off-camera.
"I'm going to die of stress," Ed declared to nobody in particular. Winry gave him a reassuring pat on the leg.
Several more scenes went by. Most involved fighting on roofs, or someone being stabbed. There were a couple scenes filmed on stationary rail cars.
And then came Sarah. She and three others piled into cars and there was a good hour of chase scenes up and down the road, along with a couple takes of shoot-outs. One of the drivers did a series of spinouts, one of which involved an explosion. Even seeing it from behind the scenes, Winry could tell it would be an impressive scene.
The crew came out and cleared the road, only to roll out a large ramp. Sarah drove her car to the other end of the street and several people came up to the car. Some looked it over, but one leaned into the car. From their spot, Winry could see him and Sarah gesturing back and forth at the car and the ramp.
Winry's brain connected the dots. "She going to jump that?"
"I'm going to die," Ed repeated, head in his hands, but fingers splayed so he could still watch.
For a moment, Winry seriously contemplating marching over there and dragging her daughter out of the car. But before any real plan could form, the crew scattered and Sarah started revving the engine. Several hand signals were given, and she floored it, tires screeching down the road.
Okay, Winry thought as Sarah's car hit the ramp and went airborne. Maybe Ed wasn't being so dramatic about the stress.
There was a collective gasp as the car went soaring, past a full block, before landing on all four wheels and sliding to a stop. A round of applause went up from the crowd and several of the movie crew members patted each other on the back. Sarah stuck a thumbs up out the window and drove the car off the set.
Ed groaned and Winry let out a breath she'd been holding. "We're going on vacation. Somewhere quiet where the most dangerous thing is the breakfast bar."
Later that night, Sarah showed up for dinner, still covered in sweat, but all smiles. "They loved it! Apparently it takes forever to get a good take for jumps. The director was super impressed, wants to talk to me tomorrow about doing takes for some other films!"
Winry forced a smile on her face as the fork creaked dangerously in Ed's grip. Yeah, a vacation was in order.
I don't know how action-y movies in the 40s were, but hey, if you've got alchemy, you can make things dramatic. Now that I think about it, "practical movie effects alchemist" would be a rad job. I'd do it.
Hope you all enjoyed this fic! Thank you for all the reviews, it's good to know other people are into this particular headcanon. See y'all around!