Winry inhaled sharply as she and Kain entered the small bookshop. It was unlike anything she'd expected. The tall bookcases were lined up neatly in three rows down the middle of the shop, with the smaller ones tucked snugly to the side of every wall. There were several piles scattered on top of the smaller bookcases, and several stacks scattered all over the shop, some of their spines torn from use. Every bookcase had what seemed to be a hundred multicoloured books of earthy colours tucked neatly into every row. Some were left by organized readers who left them with the spine visible and others left by more lazy readers shoving them in with only the fore edge standing out as white blocks, sometimes yellow for the older and worn out books. Over top on the ceiling, there hung several astral mobiles and floating angels, faux pocket watches plastered on with their chains dangling by about 3 inches, and finally a sepia tinted world map plastered on the background, stretching all the way across over head. The walls were made of wood, and tinted a beautiful brown colour (it reminded Winry of Noah). The air felt exceedingly warm and comforting, granting a sigh of relief to anyone who entered this sanctuary. The scent of sweet caramel and chocolatl danced through the air, planting butterfly kisses all over Winry's mouth and nose. She'd soon forgotten all about the feast Noah had prepared for breakfast, and longed for a bite of whatever it was emanating the aroma.
All in all, the best word Winry could conjure in her mind to describe such a haven was magical. It was absolutely magical. Everything anyone would need to take a break from living, without taking unnecessarily drastic measures.
Her eyes scanned the entirety of the bookstore once again; afraid she had missed any details of her new comely 'home away from home'. The shop window displayed their current bestsellers, propped up on vintage looking book stands. If it were possible for inanimate objects to look proud, those novels would have been prime examples. Their titles were printed on in beautiful calligraphy. The book on display on the right side window was entitled 'The Great Gatsby' and the book on the left side window entitled 'The Outsiders'. Winry had never heard of such books before, but assumed they must be popular, considering they were on display.
Kain pressed a small bell on the counter, a tense look on his face that didn't quite seem annoyed, but more concerned as to why such a beautiful shop had been left unattended. The first ring hadn't even finished before a young boy, who looked to be no older than seventeen years, stumbled out of the back room, hastily fumbling around with his name tag. His impressive height was the first thing Winry noticed about him. He was easily three heads taller than her, and had quite an impressive build. But his intimidating physique stopped there, as he had a head of short, curly brown hair, and modest eyes in the form of two round emeralds. The poor boy nearly sprinted to the counter, apologizing again and again while doing so.
"It's just rare to see people here so early in the morning..." He mumbled sheepishly. Kain held up a hand to stop him.
"You're working up a sweat, kid. It's alright don't worry about it." The boy flashed a shy smile at the two.
"What can I help you with? An order, a particular book...?"
"Actually, we're looking to apply for a job."
The boy's eyes nearly leapt out of their sockets. "Really? Here? Both of you?"
"Actually," Kain began, glancing at Winry. "Just my friend here. She's from London, you see, and she just moved here and is currently living with me and my wife. She wanted to find somewhere quiet to work for a while, just until she can settle down back in London with another friend of hers."
"How do you do?" Winry smiled at the boy. He averted his eyes with a quick reply, his cheeks tinting pink slightly.
"You do have positions available, I hope?" Kain asked. The boy's head shot right back up, as he nodded hastily.
"Yes, yes! Of course, we needed employees, actually!" He reached under the counter, bringing out a pale sheet of paper.
"I'll just... Err, we'll just need her name – I, I mean your name," He said, turning from Kain to Winry. "And your current residence. A phone number would be nice to have as well, Ms., um..."
"Call me Winry." The blonde smiled, taking the piece of paper from him. The boy nodded, scratching the back of his head, and handing her a quill pen. Winry gazed at the pen with amazement.
"Seems like your store has lots of surprises," She breathed. The boy blushed once again.
"That's kind of you, miss. This isn't actually my shop, its, um, my Aunt's."
"I figured it wasn't yours." Kain said, as Winry began scribbling on the paper. "You look old enough to still be in school. Any reason why you're not?"
The boy looked at him, puzzled.
"It's Wednesday, boy."
"Oh, is it?" The boy scratched the back of his head again. "I suppose I lost track of time, being here all the time. I'm homeschooled by my Aunt, sir."
"So you are." Kain nodded. Winry glanced at the spectacled man.
"Um, Kain, I'm not quite sure what your address or phone number is." She mumbled, handing him the paper.
"Here, let me."
Winry nodded, placing the pen down and continued her scan of the store. She felt eyes peering at her, and turned to see the boy's glued gaze. He nearly jumped out of his skin when her face met his. Winry smirked.
"What's your name?" She asked.
"Allan, miss. Like Poe."
Winry nodded, although unsure of whom this 'Poe' person was. "Nice to meet you Allan."
The boy nodded shyly. "Um, miss, may I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Err; this man said you're from London. But you haven't an accent at all. Why's that?"
Winry blinked, and felt Kain tense with a pause, and continued writing again. She smiled warmly.
"I come from far away, Allan."
The boy nodded several times. "I see." is all he said, clearly understanding that such matters weren't of his business. Kain finally placed down the pen, and handed the paper with Winry's information to Allan. The boy's lips slightly parted.
"Rockbell? That's a musical surname, miss." He said enthusiastically.
Winry giggled. "Thank you!"
"We'd be glad to have you whenever you're ready. I'll just need some time to let my Auntie know about our new employee. I'll give you a call by around 6 o'clock tonight, miss."
Winry and Kain nodded in unison. "Thanks for all your help, kid." Kain said, tipping his hat. Winry blinked in confusion.
"You're... hiring me on the spot?"
Allan nodded. "We're in need of some help. See, Auntie's been running this bookshop for a long time now, but she's always had this venous ulcer below her left knee, and it hurts her to walk too much. She insisted on making errands today. The grocer next door offered to help before he opened his store, bless him. Other than Auntie, I'm the only other employee. We'd be glad to have you."
Winry placed a hand over her heart. "And I'm glad to help, Allan. I'll be looking forward to your call, then."
The duo bid the teenager goodbye with warm smiles. Winry didn't stop to look back at the shop until they had crossed the street over to the stop sign where the traffic officer stood, a flask of coffee in one hand, and the other covering his mouth with a yawn. She had realized she had forgotten to check the name of the small bookshop. Squinting, her eyes traced each letter to erect the clean image of 'Pinako'. Winry chuckled to herself quietly; pondering who in their right mind would dare name their child or anything else for that matter, 'Pinako'. That bookshop really did have lots of surprises.
The night fell in gloom over the small bar. Alphonse flipped the sign over on the door, dragging his feet down to the kitchen to begin cleaning the beer glasses once again. It was evident that Edward wasn't picking him up tonight either, and Spencer had been oddly quiet all evening. But Alphonse didn't bother asking, the man was like a rock. When anyone would show a hint of concern for him, he'd reply with a measly grunt that raised hairs at the back of all their necks. His eyebrows were always arched, even when the gin was laughing for him. There were sickly creases in his forehead, and wrinkles that made his eyes look stretched. The moustache he bore had grown so long, it draped over his upper lip in a curtain of light brown and white streaks. At least he had the muscle mass of a giant, enough to scare away the drunks and the rejects.
And luckily for Alphonse, Spencer actually liked him. Edward, not as much. But regardless of the favours Spencer had done for him, Alphonse couldn't help but believe he deserved better than the less-than-provincial life he'd lead up to this point since leaving Amestris, not to mention he deserved better respects from his brother. He had been a somebody back in his own world, an alchemist of souls. He'd saved his country, his brother and quite possibly his whole world.
The one problem lay in the fact that he hadn't been able to save his brother's whole world, which lay in the bosom of the blonde they'd both seen be torn in half.
He wouldn't lie to himself; his brother cared deeply for him. He had been the whole reason Edward had ended up in this world to begin with. But when worst comes to worst, and you've saved one of the people you love, one would more than willingly want more than that. You'd take all you could be given, and soon, you'd realize you want more than what has been given. They'd been careless for a split second. That second was more than enough.
Alphonse shook his head fiercely, averting his attention back to wiping the thick glass in his hand. I just wish I could stop thinking about that. Blaming ourselves isn't doing anything for us...
Alphonse was almost relieved upon hearing two heavy fists pounding at the kitchen door.
"'Ey, Elric... Ye got company..."
Alphonse let out a huff of frustration, turning the tap off and shaking the water droplets off his hands. "The bastard shows up now? Thanks for nothing..."
Spencer placed a heavy hand on the young man's shoulder. Alphonse nearly leapt out of his skin, and barely forced himself to suppress the small squeak that was daring to escape his lips.
"It ain't that jackass brother of yers... Some lil' lady. She got quite the bust..." He mumbled, walking towards the sink while releasing quiet chuckles that sounded more like growls than anything. Alphonse shuddered.
Making his way to the front, the amber eyed man peering out from behind the bar, to find himself staring at a familiar doctor's back.
"Dr. Harriet?!" Alphonse exclaimed, quickly making his way out from behind the bar counter. Bunny turned to him with a smile. "What are you doing here at this time of night? It's a dangerous place for... for... um."
The doctor raised her eyebrow at the boy. "For a woman? I don't need that from you, Al..."
"Y-yeah, sorry... That was uncalled for." He mumbled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He motioned towards a table nearby; furnished with the two most stable chairs in the entire bar that Alphonse was at least half sure wouldn't break under their mass. "Come, let's sit down. Do you want anything to drink?"
Bunny shook her head, placing her purse down on the table. "No, thanks, Al. How are you doing?"
Alphonse wanted to say the usual 'I'm great! How are you?', but when he opened his mouth to speak, the only thing that escaped his lips was air. He stared at the doctor for a few seconds before dropping his eyes to the ground in defeat. "I'm alright."
"Al?"
The amber eyed man exhaled slowly. A silence hung in the air for several short moments. Alphonse began counting the phalanx of his fingers one by one, subconsciously trying to avoid the subject, but when he still felt Harriet's eyes on him, Alphonse straightened his back and cleared his throat.
"My brother and I..." He began, trailing off for a few seconds. "I don't know what's happening anymore, Harriet."He finally finished, slumping once again.
Bunny swallowed before replying. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we fight about everything. His whole presence just pisses me off. And vice versa, I think. He seems so distracted lately." Alphonse replied calmly, tracing the edge of the wooden splinter-bound table.
Bunny cleared her throat, feeling a sympathetic twinge in her stomach. "W-Well, our jobs are quite stressful, Alphonse. You understand, don't you? And besides, he's a new doctor. It'll take him a while to adjust. He just needs some time, Al. Don't take it personally."
Alphonse chuckled with a nod. "You're correct, Dr. Harriet. I suppose all I can really do is give him his space. Well, anyways, enough about Edward and I. Did you need anything in particular? I mean, it's odd seeing you here."
Bunny fidgeted nervously. "Wah- No, no, I just... Was on my way somewhere and thought I'd pop in and say hello."
"This late?" Alphonse raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!"
Alphonse blinked and shrugged. "That's kind of you, then. Thank you for your visit. It was very thoughtful" Bunny nodded with a chuckle, and began fidgeting again.
"Uh, so, um... You said you and Edward have been arguing?" she asked. Alphonse paused for a moment before nodding.
"He hasn't said anything... Odd to you, has he?"
The sandy haired man rubbed his chin. "Well, no, not really. Nothing I haven't expected, really. Why? Was he supposed to?"
"Not at all. Well, it was good to see you again, Alphonse. I'll be going n-"
Alphonse held up his hand, stopping her mid-sentence. Bunny mentally kicked herself.
"Was he supposed to?" Alphonse asked again, his eyes piercing through her this time. It was the long pause in which Bunny didn't answer, when Alphonse finally understood and narrowed his eyes at the woman. "What are you two up to?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Bunny said her face emotionless.
"No disrespect... But I know for a fact that you aren't dumb, Dr. Harriet, so don't act like you are, please."
Bunny turned her back to the boy with a nod. "Goodnight, Al. I'll take that advice to heart."
Alphonse nearly leapt in front of her, blocking her way with a sour expression written over his face. "Please stop this. I don't like all this secrecy, Harriet."
"Nobody does, Al." She replied with a stale chuckle. "Secrets don't make friends."
"So why keep them?" Alphonse fumed.
"Because it isn't my place to speak."
"But you clearly want me to know." Alphonse said, unmoving. "You came here, knowing I didn't know, and now you expect me to go home and pester Ed about it until he tells me, isn't that it?"
Bunny blinked patiently at the man. "I don't control your actions, Alphonse." She replied.
"If it isn't your place to speak, then why even come here?! You're just butting into everyone else's business and causing more tension between my brother and me! I'm getting sick of this!" Alphonse snapped, clenching his fists tightly. Bunny's expression finally cracked, and Alphonse almost immediately regretted his harshness.
"I'm doing this because sometimes, somebody's decision affects other people as well." Bunny replied, her voice growing coarser with each word. "You Elrics need to realize that. Your idiot brother has a hard time understanding it, and so do-"
The doctor stopped herself midsentence, realizing she'd said more than enough. She glanced at Alphonse on more time, an unfathomable expression on his face. Swallowing the nervous pit in her throat, she turned on her heel and walked out of the bar.
A.N: I'm sorry this chapter is so short! I'm trying to work on a schedule regarding the chapter updates, and I had a ton of homework to do this week and I'M SORRY! OTL.
Anyways, the quality isn't my best, I know, and I'm really sorry! ): Regarding the question I asked you guys last time, it seemed like most of you aren't comfortable with that sort of material so I'll stay away from it. Just a heads up, though, that there WILL still be some violence later on. Not enough for it to be rated M, but... Well, it's a T rated story, guys. You've got to expect SOMETHING right?
Anyways, I'd like some reviews! What do you guys think of Allan? He's a sweetheart, ain't he? (: