Sorry for the late update guys… either way! Here's the next chapter, I don't want to dawdle for too long so you can go read my long apology after this chapter is all read and judged!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist because if I did Roy and Riza would end up together in the end and would not stay only as Lieutenant and Colonel.
Chapter 11: Fullmetal Day
Jin's surgery went by smoothly, even more smoothly than what Winry expected to be, but it wasn't a first time for her. The boy did not scream or shout; instead he gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his left hand until it bled. But after the surgery Jin immediately went into a coma and happened to be asleep for 3 days without waking up.
As soon as Jin woke up he asked for water, his throat was as dry as sand paper due to the three days coma he was in earlier. And another thing that he noticed was that his right arm was dead heavy. No kidding really it felt like a ton, but he guessed it was to be expected since this is metal we're talking about…
"How're you feeling Jin? You were out for 3 whole days," Winry asked while handing the younger boy a glass of water.
"I feel like dirt," Jin answered noticing that every part of his body was aching with no mercy. What happened again? Do surgery make people have problems with their muscles this much?
"Sorry, it was the nerves that are needed to be connected," Winry said sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck "But never mind it'll go away in a few days," she added looking at the boy's unsatisfied features.
"So, does this thing act like a normal hand?" Jin asked looking at the new piece of limb that was inserted into his body.
"Yeah, it connects to the nerves and…" she was launched into her auto-mail geek talk and although Jin tried hard to listen to her paragraphs and paragraphs of mechanic stuff he zoned out a few sentences later.
"And that's how it works!" she finished.
"I see…" Jin said sweat dropping. That was when he heard the chatter going on outside the hospital. Behind the curtains e caught sight of colorful streamers and people dressed in every shade of gold, red and black. "What's going on outside?" Jin asked curious.
"Oh, today is Fullmetal day, or the Alchemist of the People day as some may know," Winry said looking at the boy's curious eyes, "Do you want to check it out?" Winry asked the boy.
"Can I?" Jin asked unconsciously, he immediately slapped inside his brain that was not like him, he could not be that childish!
Winry giggled "Of course you can! We need to wait for a minute though, I couldn't handle it if you stumble or something," she added. It was true, his nerves weren't fully connected yet and in these kinds of cases they don't have full control over their body, she'll get Roy or Meng to help her…
Immediately Jin felt like pouting, but kept the gesture inside of him, knowing that is was inappropriate of him to do so. But honestly was it necessary to have those two annoying bastards to follow him around, especially that Flame Alchemist, does he have that much time to spare?
As Jin pondered about what a General actually do I one day Winry have returned with both Meng and Roy at her arms, dragging them by the ear.
"But Winry-chan~ we need time to rekindle with each other, it have been forever!" Meng whined as he grasped his ear, which is beginning to redden.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Winry growled.
Roy didn't really care if he was being dragged to handle his most annoying subordinate, reincarnated or not. Besides he didn't have work to clear; it was his day off either way.
"Don't you have work to do?" Jin asked, interrupting Roy's thoughts with his irritated as ever tone of voice.
"It's my day off," Roy replied casually resisting the urge to glare at the boy's tone of voice.
Now," Winry said brightly, although her hand was itching to grab her wrench and just tell them to get along for once, "General, why don't you take Jin with you to your stand? I need to attend to some business," she said before leaving the three men to be.
"What stand?" Jin asked casually interested.
"A repairing stand; every day of the festival a new alchemist will help out with the citizens; although it's my day off I still need to attend to the stand for about half of my day," Roy explained with a twitching eyebrow, he didn't want to do this, he barely got any time off and here he was explaining something everybody knew to this clueless brat.
As said in the name of the festival "Alchemist of the People" day was a day where state alchemists would lend a helping hand to the citizens without charge; much like what Edward Elric once did even if his designs were slightly more exotic.
"Now~" Meng interrupted "Why don't we help Jin up and show us this stand you're talking about, Roy?" (I was tempted to write Maes)
"What could the kid do?" Roy grumbled, although knowing that this "kid" was Edward's reincarnation he didn't inherit the same information from the gate, "Besides his hand is still wrecked," Roy added before exiting the room… almost. As soon as Roy opened the door a gigantic wench fell down from the top of the door and almost broke Roy's toe nails, if he stepped a tiny bit further…
All the members in the room saw this and went wide-eyed… two second later a note peacefully flew down saying [You're taking him with you General~] with a chibi Winry holding a wench.
'She's serious,' Jin, Roy and Meng thought as the same time as the note innocently landed in the floor. The three male and agreed on one thing; they did not want to die by the wrath of Winry's wrench.
Much to their difficulty they ended up needing to dress the boy much to his irritation and Roy's utter disgust (really?). It was all due to Jin's right hand which is still unusable until after 2 months.
"So what can you do with a hand like that?" Roy asked as the three of them walked down the streets which were filled with colorful banners of red, black, and gold.
"I can draw alchemy circles with my left hand just fine," Jin informed them with a bored look on his face, "I didn't train both hands for nothing," he added.
"That's good, the stand's this way," Roy walked over to the center of town where multiple stands were set up and many state alchemists were already at their stands.
"What can I do Roy? I couldn't perform alchemy you know?" Meng asked the (now) older man as Roy casually strode down to his stand which was at the front of the row with the name "Roy Mustang" printed on it.
"You could do get the requests coming," Roy said "There's plenty of stuffs to eat too so you can be our food finder Ma- Meng," Roy slipped; he would never be able to get used to this reincarnation thing wouldn't he?
The day went on just as they planned out although Jin had some difficulty with coming up with designs that the people actually like, he himself thought that they looked incredible. And of course Roy was ordered to take of his ignition gloves or else he was sure he'll burn every single item that comes into his hand.
Time ticked by and already 2 hours have passed, and therefore it was time for lunch. But the line of people was still coming and they looked unwilling to just give up and hand over their space to the next person. Because of this Roy decided it was better to order their forever handy mailman.
"Maes, get us something to eat," Roy grumbled as he fixed a teddy bear for a cute little girl who squealed with joy when the fluff came into place and was sewn perfectly.
"Get drinks too," Jin muttered, it was in the middle of May after all, "And avoid getting milk, especially just to irritate me," he added as he fixed one of the broken radios. Seeing that radio gave him a stabbing pain in the back and he saw flashes of pictures but they were mostly blurred out.
To be honest, Jin swore the more he did alchemy the more he had flashes, he was tempted to ask Roy what was up with it but, as usual, he didn't want to communicate much with other people.
The both of them envied Meng who all he did was babble on and on about his girlfriend and what-not for the entire two hours, it was the same as it was in Xing. Speaking of Xing… Jin thought; he hasn't seen Lao Shi Dao anywhere ever since he arrived here, he'll ask Meng about it later on.
Meng traveled down the streets, looking everywhere for the assignments he was sent to get. But so far there was no such luck, if there were any food the line is as long as the Nile River itself and is absolutely impossible to get to.
As Meng was looking above the heads of the crowds he bumped into somebody and looked down, facing a women and a girl with the same beautiful emerald eyes.
"I'm sorry sir!" Gracia exclaimed giving an apologetic bow at the taller teen that was slightly younger than Elysia herself.
"No, its fine," Meng replied giving a feeble smile, he was freaking out, literally. How are people supposed to react when they meet their old wife from your old reincarnated self and she was way older than you and even your daughter is older than you? He doubted that anybody has actually been in that situation before so nobody can answer that question right now,
"Have I seen you before?" Elysia interrupted Meng's thought, and he swore he almost wanted to grab his camera and took pictures of her all grown up… but then he snapped out of his thoughts, she recognized him!
"That's impossible," Meng said a feeble smile still on, "Since I've come a long way from Xing," he added to support his point. Oh! How he wanted to scoop his two darlings into a hug and give them the kisses Elysia and Gracia used to love so, he already developed a beard and remembered that Elysia used to love how it tickles her.
"Oh, a visitor I see!" Gracia said a smile on her face her fragile lips curved into a tiny smile, "Where are you heading to? We are locals here so maybe we are able to help out," she offered.
"No, I'm just getting some food and I need to be returning to Rot…" he said too much, Meng panicked, he couldn't act right in front of these people he just couldn't!
"We're meaning to visit him, why don't we go together, I already have some apple pie prepared," Elysia said holding up a basket with a checkered red and white cloth placed onto it.
"Sure, why not," Meng said smiling a sincere one this time, if he had time to chill here in Amestris he better make the best of his time and spend time with his precious family, also pictures would be good, just make sure that his girlfriend would understand why he have them.
Jin was tapping his finger carefully listening to his growling stomach, usually he wasn't an eater but lacking three days of food really did have its effect doesn't it? He wished he ate that Apple pie that the two women gave him earlier… it must be delicious. He sniffed the air and scented the smell of apple pie, 'Great,' Jin thought, 'Now I'm hallucinating'.
"Everybody, we brought some apple pie!" Elysia announced as she entered Roy's temporary tent. She noticed the black haired boy and couldn't suppress a smile, she was worried that he was in a coma for three days but he seems pretty healthy in her point of view.
"Thank Goodness," Roy signed, he was starving like crazy too, and some wine would be good but for now this will do. "Thanks Elysia, Gracia you're a life saver," he exclaimed as he slowly nibbled on the apple pie.
"Thank you very much," Jin said with a slight bow, better keep his manners if he wanted some of those. Jin ate the pieces with happiness, slowly digesting its flavor onto his tongue, and somehow… just vaguely it tasted so familiar…
Gracia turned to face the young man that was the visitor from Xing. "I believe we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet," she said turning to face Meng, "My name is Gracia Hughes and this is my daughter Elysia," she said waving her hand to her daughter when she said her name.
"My name is Lin Meng, pleasure to meet you Elysia and Gracia Hughes," Meng said giving a small bow; it was Xing tradition after all. But then he stuck his hand out remembering it as Amestris' tradition.
"You are a very humble man, Meng," Gracia said shaking his hand with a smile on her face, it was a sincere one, Meng would know if his wife was forcing a smile.
"Pleasure Mrs. Hughes," Meng replied as he felt a sense of déjà vu as their hands connected. He also shook Elysia's hand but he felt more like cuddling with her. As he was supposed to before he gone ahead and died in front of them just like that.
"I still insist we have met before Mr. Lin," Elysia signed looking at the boy/man in front of her, of she didn't know better she'll think it was her father… except he was already dead.
"Why don't be silly Elysia," Gracia mused and patted her daughter's shoulder; a sign showing that they'll talk about this later, Meng noted.
"We need to take our leave," Gracia said an apologetic look on her face, "We have a shop to manage after all," she added with her warm smile.
"its fine," Roy said giving a small wave, "Enjoy the rest of your day Gracia," he said looking at the two mother and daughter disappeared into the crowd.
Meng gave a relieved sign, no, he couldn't say that it was a relieved sign it was more of a stressed sign. He wanted to tell the so badly, and yet he was unable to maybe the thing he was lacking was courage, but that really was the thing that led to his downfall… courage to face the truth.
"The pie's really good," Jin suddenly spoke up already on his third piece which left a gaping hole in the main pie, since Roy already took two.
"Oi, you guys are fast!" Meng exclaimed looking at the 5 remaining piece of pie, "I'm taking the rest," he stated hogging the basket.
"That isn't fair!" Jin started but then Roy placed a hand on his shoulder.
"No its fine, just take it," Roy said a sad smile on his face. He understood his friend really well, they survived a war together if he didn't take notice of these small details he wouldn't call himself a friend; Maes missed his family.
The following two hours were spent in burning items into pieces (courtesy of Roy), turning beautiful items into demon heads (courtesy of Jin), and annoying people with pictures of their girlfriend (courtesy of Meng). It was entertaining alright, but all of them were exhausted by the time Roy got to leave his job to be and have a nice relaxing evening.
They trailed down the roads looking exhausted; it wasn't good using all that alchemy, especially for their health. The only person that wouldn't quite his chatter would be Meng since he basically didn't do anything except stress over his previous family.
Suddenly when they were passing a nice café Roy's phone rang.
"This is General Roy Mustang," Roy answered his voice not as stern as before but still not as groggy as when he normally woke up in the morning.
"General? This is Winry, could I talk to Jin?" a female voice sounded from the other side, her voice frantic and just overall freaked out. Immediately Roy gave his phone to Jin who accepted it with a confused face.
"Hello?" he said into the phone.
"Jin, meet me at Central stations now. Details later but for now you're going to Resembool with me," Winry almost shouted into the phone. After that there was dead silence and Roy and Meng who heard her voice knew something was wrong if Winry had a change of plan, it was not good.
And immediately the three broke into a run.
Done! Yay, Jin's off to Resembool now! I don't know why I'm so happy but I just am because I really want to know what happens there; right the author doesn't know what is going to happen. Either way! I don't know if you guys count that as a cliffy or not but if you do gomenasai!
I'm so sorry for the late update! I was just so busy this week, you know that school doesn't ever let you off on vacation when it comes to the last quarter… I just can't wait for summer break. I guess the updates will come around this time from now on, once a week or so, but that's still not a guarantee.
Once again! I am addicted to a new anime, I'm a very fast watcher so I already finished Black Butler (one of you got that correct) in like 3 days… and currently writing a black butler fic too. But then again Free! Eternal Summer is now taking my time… a lot of it especially when there's so many songs to memorize. But I'm sad that it already ended and I could predict the ending even if I'm only on episode 11…
You guys did reach the 5 reviews goal last time! I'm so happy… I love those reviews to an enormous extent! I remember on Monday I was like "40 reviews please… just one more…" then now there's 41… happiness.
Don't Forget to Favorite Follow and Review (5)! Arigato!