When I grow up…
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor ever will, Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters within.
Speech
Alfons Heiderich looked out the window and smiled. It was still amazing to him. Out there he could see the sky, he could watch the clouds go past and sometimes he had seen birds passing. For someone who had expected to be dead by now, every moment he lay here was a miracle.
The door creaked open and he turned his head to meet the bright green eyes of the small girl peeking around at him. His smile widened and he lifted his thin hand to beckon her in.
"Are you feeling better, 'fons?" Elysia Hughes asked as she came closer, a book tucked under one arm and a small bear under the other.
"Much better, liebchen." His blue eyes were bright as he watched her put her book and bear on the bed before clambering up as well.
"I've come to read to you again." Her face was serious and he shifted carefully so she could sit beside him and the book was opened across their legs.
Alfons listened, propped against his pillows as she read. Fairy stories and legends of this strange new world he found himself in. Two weeks. He had been here two weeks and conscious for the last ten days. Edward had tried to explain just how he was here and alive, but talk of Gates and alchemy had not really made much sense to him. Even knowing everything Ed had ever told him had been true, even having seen it, it was still hard to realise that this was real and not some dream he was in.
He was alive. He wasn't dying any more. He was recovering from passing through Edward's Gate and his strength was returning. He kept his worries well hidden and his guilt as well. Prices paid, Edward had said with a shrug. But the price had been high and Alfons knew his coming here had cost Edward the one thing he had always wanted.
"You're sad again, aren't you?" The small voice brought him back and he tried to smile but it didn't quite work.
"Sometimes people get sad." He spoke softly, not wanting to upset her too much.
"I've been sad too."
"I don't want to make you sad, liebchen." His smile came easier as he felt her nestle into his side.
"You don't make me sad, 'fons." Elysia pursed her lips as she thought about it. "I likes reading to you."
"I like having you read to me, Elysia. Maybe I should read to you one time."
"That'd be fun. I like the way you talk."
"The way I talk?" Alfons stared at her. "My accent?"
She smiled so brightly. He hadn't been around small children before. He didn't understand her easy and complete acceptance of him and his being here. She trusted him. She read and talked to him constantly. He had heard all about her father and how he had died, he had heard all about her friends, not just at school but the ones from the military too.
Elysia did what nothing else could have done for him. She got him through the culture shock. She kept him occupied while the world around him sorted itself out. She kept him from being lonely, from feeling worthless. More than anything else, she kept him alive.
"When I grow up, I want to talk like that too."
-
Author's Note: For the demon… she moves today - well the 13th, which it is for me already...lol - to start a military career that makes me glad the position of Fuhrer is not in the Canadian Military… I know you, demon, you'd find a way… grins… a long time ago I said I'd write a fic with Alfons in it for you and here is part of it… I have another couple of parts of it done, but it's not finished, so instead of waiting for the bunnies to give me a complete oneshot, you can have it in chapters… good luck Spirix…
The title may/will probably change, you know how bad I am at them, demon...lol...
silken :)