Disclaimer: I'd rather jump off a building than ruin this series.
A/N: Ah, sorry for not being able to update this story yesterday! This new anime named 'Kyoukai no Kanata' came up and I decided to watch it and just wow, badass cute megane girl who fights monsters with blood! There's only one episode out but I recommend that you guys at least watch the first few minutes.
For the people who are confused on what happened at the last bit of the last chapter, basically when Del turned around to head to the living room everything turned to black and she fell on the floor, she panicked and began banging her fists on the floor and flailing about, Winry came in along with Pinako and two other people(cough cough you should already know by now), Del heard a voice saying "School time is over." And if you remember the first chapter, Truth said that to her and then she fainted.
Anyways, here's the new chapter.
Music written to: Arrival of the Birds(The Cinematic Orchestra), Forbidden Friendship(How to train you dragon OST), We Bought a Zoo(Jonsi), Paperman(Cristophe Beck), The blue umbrella(ft. Sarah Jaffe), Flying(James Newton Howard), Remember Me(Thomas Bergersen) and a shit ton of other music.
Chapter 3
Breaking Rotterdam
"There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."
It was black and cold and dark and small, she couldn't breathe and bubbles of white blotches stained her lungs. She could feel water—a whole gigantic body of water—surround her and she flailed her limbs yet she couldn't open her eyes in fear of salt water stinging her eyes. She was in a fish tank and she was a human out of air rather than a fish out of water, she kicked and reached and choked on her nonexistent breathe but nothing ever came.
A cold metallic hand reached down below, it was a gauntlet of some-sort, and then another hand—though it looked more of muscle and bone than a gauntlet of armor, and at last—a warm, flesh, blood beating, vein filled, wonderful and natural; arm.
She gasped and breathed in sweet air, the frightful dream was nothing more than a dream and Del was forever thankful. But leaves of no colors flew past her eyes, they touched her lashes and lips yet none awoken her eyes and she found herself blind; again.
A door creaked and the rush of one gasp and millions of footsteps thundered towards her, a sudden delightful warmth grasped her and held her close but all the blind girl could do was sit in shock, still trying to register what had happen in her brain.
"Del!" The voice cried out, "Oh you worried us sick! Are you alright? What happened back there?"
Del could only lift her shoulders and let them sag back down, her body felt heavily weighed by sandbags and all she wanted is for the sandman to visit her, give a kiss to each of her eyelids and be on his merry way, leaving the poor girl to sleep.
"Well then," the voice paused and Del recognized it, Winry it was, "Are you feeling alright now?"
With only a shake of her head, she could tell that Winry was growing impedingly worried, "Please say something at least then, Del, tell me you're alright—" The blonde's voice shrunk to a squeak from a mice as she whispered the last word, "—please?"
Now Del's head sank low and she pulled her knees to her chest(albeit awkwardly) and buried her nose in the sheets that were covering her knees, she shook her head again and raked her earthly hair softly, wincing every now and then at the twisted knots.
"A whisper, anything. Is it because your throat hurts? Does it feel hot? We have medicine with us if you need it, oh! How about some honey for—" Stopping Winry from going any further, the shaking girl raised a shaking hand and motioned for the mechanic to stop but failed and only succeeded in stalling the blonde, "… Or is it, because you just… can't?"
Del shook her head and began shaking, her hollow eyes shielded from Winry as tears began to well and soak her blanket.
"Del, look up, at least look up." And the brunette did so, expecting herself to see Winry's worried face but instead was replaced by a frizzy mocking black.
There was silence before voice, "… How many fingers am I holding up?"
Del wanted to laugh and slap Winry's shoulder then answer the correct number, but alas; she could not. Darkness clouded her stormy eyes and she could see only black. The brunette shook her head and let it fall back on her knees, she wept softly as Winry joined in, embracing the girl and whispering sweet comforting words into her tangled hair.
A knock was heard which was followed by a male's voice, "May I come in?" It was sweet like honey, caring like daisies but laced with anxiety, dread, experience and worry.
Winry lifted her head and motioned for the mystery man to come whilst Del mused over who this person was, he sounded familiar and the sound of clinkity-clankity metal was heard and suddenly the bed was shifted to one side as if a giant had sat on its side.
"Al." Winry had said and Del noticed immediately, Al—as in Alphonse Elric who is and will forever be the younger brother of Edward Elric, Al was taller than Ed as kids and has always been the more calm person in difference with Ed.
Suddenly, the black which was in front of Del frizzled and popped, colors exploded and a huge orchestra played the blues in the backdrop as the stars shrieked rainbow and evolved.
"Winry," Al had responded, "How is she?"
"She's alright, for now—says she can't see anything," Winry held the frozen girl tighter to her body, "Can't speak anything either."
The colors beyond Del's eyelids fitted itself into an arrow, it shot itself to the ground and Del could see colors morphing into shapes and buildings as the smell of pumpkin and fall became noticeable once more.
"Is there anything me and brother can do to help her?"
"I think maybe yes, if it isn't too much of a burden will you—"
Knock knock, "May I come in?"
Al laughed, "Wow brother, you never knock! What's the occasion?"
"Oh shut up, Al." The man referred to as 'brother' scoffed as he leaned against the door frame as it creaked.
Del groaned and felt her head sag to Winry's lap, she rolled her head to the side so that the tip of her small nose faced upwards toward the ceiling.
"Del?" Winry whispered, their activities drowned out from the two brothers as they bickered and teased each other.
The brunette groaned and squeezed her eyelids shut, she shifted her body and slowly opened her eyes. And to Winry's surprise, she could see the pupil and color return to Del's eyes, "Del!" She gasped and grasped the half-asleep half-awake girl's cheeks, "Can you see me? Nod if you can!"
Sweet grunts of annoyance slipped her lips as she answered with a stiff nod, how tired she felt.
"Speak! Speak! Say something!" Winry had begun slapping her cheeks and I swear, if you were there to witness this you'd be laughing as hard as my grandmother would when she saw my brother come back home naked from the airport.
Del groaned and murmured inaudible words to which Winry shrieked with all her might, "Speak you idiot!"
"Fifty-percent off on books…"
"What?!"
"FIFTY-PERCENT OFF ON BOOKS!"
The mechanic grinned wildly and embraced the brunette, "I have no idea what you just said but thank gears you're back to normal!"
Awkwardly returning the hug, Del patted the other girl on the back softly, "Books, you know, discount? Half price and all that, Mum used to tell me all about them when she went out with the maids, used to always buy too many books and papers for me."
"Your mum sounds like a very nice person, miss." Del looked up from her embrace to see a metal armored man(or was there a man?) looking at her with what seemed to be a smile, she could see it—yet not physically.
Detaching herself from Winry, Del suddenly grew shy and began rubbing her right forearm, "Thank you."
"My name is Alphonse, and over there is my brother, Edward, it's nice to meet you." Al's warm voice filled the room as he outstretched his gauntlet.
Warily taking his gauntlet in hand, Del shook it and replied, "My name is Delamine Wright, but please call me Del or Lami."
"Call me Al then." Alphonse grinned merrily from his eyes but it soon dropped as a cough ensued from Edward.
"So, what was up with that?" The blonde haired man asked impatiently, "You worried her sick—especially her grandmother."
Del cringed at this and looked down at her lap, how cliché, "Sorry, but I—I really have no idea."
Ed frowned and sighed as he walked over to her; albeit a bit smugly as he saw her flinch, he inwardly grinned at the feeling of towering over the girl, nobody could call him a shorty now!
"So, if you can't answer that, then explain to us," He paused for emphasis and crossed his arms above his chest, "—just how in the hell do you know about us and our certain…" The alchemist paused and tapped his chin, "What's the word?"
"Qualities?" Al chimed.
"Handicaps?" Winry offered to which the blonde haired alchemist glared at her.
"Certain properties?" Del spoke.
"Yeah all of them, except for Winry's." Ed nodded as said blonde-haired mechanic glared at him, Ed turned his attention back to Del and narrowed his eyes, "So? How do you know them?"
It was different than telling Winry about it, the mechanic was more open and more trusting than Ed(minus Al). It was easy to tell Winry but not Ed and Al, would they call her a liar? Laugh in her face? Kick her out of the house? Sure, it was Winry's grandmother's house and they seriously couldn't, but could they persuade? Del doubted that they'd go to such lengths.
"Well?" Ed was already tapping his foot, a vein mark was pumping up and down on his forehead and Del found this quite comical. She wanted to laugh but held it in and replied solemnly.
"You guys wouldn't believe me."
"Oh? Try me—us, Winry's convinced so why wouldn't we be also? But this better be the truth."
Rolling her eyes and feeling annoyed, Del answered, "Fine. I used to be blind and mute—"
"I said don't lie!"
"—shut up, squirt. Anyways,"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP WHO'S TOO SMALL TO GET INTO THE MILITARY?"
"ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME CONTINUE OR WHAT?!"
"Psh, fine."
"Seriously. Where was I? Oh right, I used to be blind and mute—not joking here—and I used to have a few safety objects to keep myself company, like a pillow and a few papers which I have to read in order to—"
"How can you read if you're blind?" Del was prepared to slap Ed this time but refrained from doing so as she realized that it was Al who asked, she smiled at him and answered his question with a voice full of warmth.
"With braille, of course!"
"Braille?"
"Yes," Del paused and scratched the back of her neck, "You guys don't know what braille is? Don't you have it?"
"I don't think so." Ed intervened, but there was no mocking in his tone, there was no false-sincerity in it either, just complete curiosity and Del loved it, she's always loved curiosity, whether from herself or from somebody else. She respected it.
"I'll explain it quickly for you guys, also for Winry since you asked me about what it was before, right?"
Said mechanic nodded, "Yeah."
"Braille is basically a tactile writing system used by the blind, braille characters are small rectangular blocks called cells that contain tiny palpable dots called raised dots. So we basically read and learn by using touch, tracing fingers along wood, walls, books, papers and others."
"How do you memorize them?" Questioned Winry.
"Years or for some, months, of practice." Del grinned, "It took me a year and a few months, it's a bit hard I have to say."
"Complicated, who made it?" Ed whistled as he teetered back and forth on his feet.
"Louis Braille, he went blind after a childhood incident. He developed this language when he was 15 for the French alphabet in 1824, though it was published in 1829."
"French alphabet?"
"Uh, somewhere I know, French as in for France."
"Where is it?" The blue-eyed mechanic questioned curiously.
"Somewhere I know."
"Is it nice there? I wanna try and visit." Ed mused.
"I don't know—look, can we please get back to my story?"
"Fine by me." The alchemist shrugged and leaned onto the wooden wall.
"Good. Anyways, I have a pillow and a few papers which served as my safety object. So one day I went over to my desk where the papers were and began feeling them over—"
"Pfft. Feeling them o-over!" Ed guffawed, clutching his stomach as he bent over.
Winry's snickers and Al's surprisingly cute little snorts soon followed his chorus of laughter as Del turned an ugly color of embarrassed red, she scowled at them and barked, "Can we please get back to my story?!"
Their laughter eventually died down leaving Ed to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes, "C-Continue."
Del wrinkled her nose and huffed out a breath of impudence, "As I was saying," A glare was thrown at Edward, "Then I felt a strange pattern on it, it was like a circle with another circle inside and then other shapes inside it," Del paused as the male blonde and man of armor froze, "I began patting it and looking at it with my fingers, then I heard an odd voice telling me to clap my hands and pat it again, more forcefully this time. I then felt my body hurting all over, but then you see, I started seeing colors and shapes and much more than black."
"I blacked out and woke up in this really strange room with these," Gesturing to her current dark and light contrasted outfit, "really strange clothes." Ed scoffed, and this time, Del whacked him.
"Ow! What was that for?!" The blonde man barked as he rubbed the spot where he had been hit, which was apparently the bottom of his chin.
"For being a jerk!" Del growled.
"Brother, Miss Del, please don't fight." Alphonse reasoned as he extended a palm to stop the brunette and blonde, which was sadly ignored.
"What do you mean by jerk?! I didn't even insult you!"
"You scoffed at me!"
"At your clothes!"
"You agreed that they were ugly! You're not supposed to say that, you jerk!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"You implied it!"
Winry sighed tiredly and began massaging her temples, "Oh God…"
"I scoffed because it wasn't ugly! I disagreed because it didn't look bad! Heck, it actually looks pretty good on you!"
Suddenly, it was as if time froze.
Alphonse, Winry, Delamine, and Edward were completely frozen. It took a good one-minute for their brains to finally register what Ed had said.
Del and Ed turned as bright red as Ed's coat as Winry broke into snickers and Al guffawed just as Ed had, they were two of a pair afterall.
The mechanic's small snickers turned into big and long laughs(including occasional snorts), "Air! Air!" Winry doubled over in laughter and quickly rushed to the door, "I need Air! Oh my God!"
"No! Wait! Winry! Don't leave me here with him!" Del had protested loudly as her face turned into another shade of bright red as Ed covered his face with his hands, Winry had just left her! The nerve of that girl!
Al was slapping his thigh as he chortled and spurted out laughter, "W-Winry! Pfft-Bahaha! I'm coming with you!" He rose from the bed and walked out the room, and just like that—
"Al! No! Don't leave me here with her!"
—the door slammed closed.
The room was taken by a heated silence, the only sounds which were evident was the soft chirps of birds and breaths that came from the two.
Burnt charcoal met mined gold and their cheeks turned pink. Del's pale face was no excuse for this since she was so pale and neither was Ed's, who was a bit more tanner than she was but alas; his skin was not enough to hide his rosy cheeks.
They quickly looked down. Del at her lap and Ed at his shuffling feet.
"So…" The brunette cleared her throat and looked up at Ed from her long lashes and bushy eyebrows, her voice was childish as she continued, "Story time?"
Ed also looked up and he grinned, the rosy color still stained on his cheeks, "Yeah, story time."
A/N: The ending was fun to write! God I hope I didn't screw up anybody's character in this. As expected, this chapter is far more longer than the last one and much more eventful.
Also, to clear up any confusion, the reason why Del didn't recognize them by their looks and only recognized them by their voices was because she couldn't watch the show and could only hear it, hence the voice thing.
Anyways, since that's cleared up, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review, it gives me more inspiration for chapter and what not!
Thank you and have a nice day! c:
Special thanks to: Wikipedia for the definition of Braille and who made it.