Heya! Wow, here we are again with chapter 2 (even though it says chapter 3 on this website)! I got this out in a matter of a day but editing is a biotch...just saying. I am still trying to work out the kinks of this new writing style for me. I think I am getting the hang of it.
So, in the last chapter, Ed found out his wife was missing; 6months later, Roy told Ed that Grumman called off the search, and a year later, Angel runs into someone familiar. :D This is were the time jumping pretty much stops. It levels out just enough, I think.
Songs: "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble (This song...felt so right as I listened to it)
"My Immortal" by Evanescence (This song has got to be Ed's song when he thinks about Andi...just sayin)
"Can't Forget You" by My Darkest Days (This song just felt right when I was listening to it. It just did.)
Edward watched as the girl walked from him. He stared at her. That looked like...But no... she couldn't be. Ed shook his head, trying to let himself get rid of any thoughts pertaining to his still missing wife. He sighed. Now everyone was starting to resemble her, excluding his daughter. He already knew she was going to. Within the year he found out that Grumman called off the search, Ed noticed that every girl he looked at had some resemblance to his wife. Gracia's soft look in her eyes when he'd drop off Mick to play with Big Sister Elicia, Riza's down-to-business attitude was just like his wife's when she was on a mission, Sheska's uncanny ability to recall anything she read was like his wife's attention to detail when she was looking for someone, and even Winry was starting to remind Edward of her.
"Ed, you alright?" Roy asked as he placed a hand on Ed's shoulder glacing from him to Maes and back. They were heading to lunch when that girl ran into him.
Edward hesitated for a moment, taking in what he just saw. "Did...Did she look like her, or is that just me?"
Roy sighed almost inaudibly. He'd been dealing with this for a year, why was this to change? He looked toward the girl who was wearing a red jacket and a black tank top and matching capris. Even he had to admit that seeing that girl made him think of Andi. "Yeah, she looked like her." It was a common lie Roy told to Ed. Seeing him so torn up was nearly killing him. Even when the girls didn't look like her, he'd still agree.
"Come on, Ed, you'd know if it was her, right?" Maes pointed out.
Although true, Ed would know Andi's face, her voice, and everything about her if he saw her again. He felt the sting in his chest when he saw the brunette that ran into him. He even went so far as to think it was her. But no, Andi was presumed dead.
Ed nodded. "Let's keep going. I want her image out of my head before I see Mickaela."
Roy and Maes looked to each other as they shared the same expression and rolled their eyes. Ed was being Ed again. He wanted to see his daughter, but couldn't see her right after seeing something that reminded Ed of Andi. There were times when Riza and Roy would offer to take Mick so Ed could grieve in his own way, or go out with the guys. Or it would be Maes taking her so Roy could make sure Ed wasn't going to attempt a Human Transmutation to bring her back.
That's what everyone was worried about, even Al: Ed attempting to bring back Andi through alchemy.
"How is Mick doing in school?" Maes asked, trying to change the subject from the girl who looked more like Andi than the others.
"Hates it," Ed said simply.
Roy shook his head. "Why?"
"Bores her," Ed said with a sigh. "I guess it's what happens when you start teaching her alchemy and school basics at a young age."
"Will they bump her up a grade?"
Ed shook his head. "No, they said she's still underdeveloped for the first grade." He sighed with remote frustration. "I think they're just pussies. Mick's smart enough to catch up. With her looking through alchemy books..."
"More like her Dad reading them to her," Roy finished.
Ed cracked a slight smile in spite of himself. That was one thing that never changed since his wife's disappearance: Mick's love for her dad reading to her. Especially the alchemy books. Even if the number of times he read to her had gone up, she was still running to him with an alchemy book in hand like it was a bedtime story. "Yeah, she does love alchemy."
"You should try seeing if you can get her into Central Academy like I did with Elicia," Maes suggested. It was a military academy where most of the students enlist into the military just after graduation and sometimes a mixture of military brats like Elicia Hughes, but it was a reputable academy where the teacher where well known in their areas and tuition wasn't cheap.
"You fucking crazy? I can't afford to send her there and keep living where I do," Ed said. Even without his alchemy, he was still a Major in the military's State Alchemist department. He was still the best in his field.
"You can get her a scholarship. That place would love to have the daughter of the Fullmetal Alchemist and Major Elric attend their institution. I am sure if they saw Elric on the application they'd find some sort of scholarship to make sure she's there," Roy added, having thought about making his kids attend if he were to have any.
Ed shuddered at the mere thought of Major Elric not being him. Everyone had avoided saying Andi's name around him, fearing Ed would break down right then and there. He already looked like he was going to.
"I'll...think about it," Ed said with a soft, low voice Roy and Maes had seen him use only a few times. One time was when they had first told him about Andi.
Maes felt the urge to change the subject. "So, the usual deli for lunch?"
Ed nodded as his mind went back to the smiling image of the girl that just ran into him. That has to be her, he thought as her image was burned there. No one else around here could look like she does.
"Angel," Envy called as he saw the brunette walk down the sidewalk. "Hey, kid!"
Greed looked to his friend. "Kid? She was twenty-three when she died. I think that hardly qualifies her to be a kid."
Envy shrugged. "She answers to it like that flamed bastard called her."
Angel turned around and saw them, instantly walking to them. She stopped just before them, silent as a star.
"Ready to leave for the mansion, Angel?" Greed asked, taking note of the day's paper still in her hand. When she nodded, he swung an arm around her neck, making Angel turn her head and look at his hand on her other side as he leaned against her. "Come on, Kid, let's get back." Envy rolled his eyes at Greed thinking, you bastard, you say that after you bitched me out for calling her kid.
Envy walked on the other side of Angel so she was in the middle. He looked to her, taking in her features like he'd done so many times before.
She was beautiful, he'd give her that. But he still needed her for his plan.
"Did you have a good time in town?" Envy asked. Angel looked to him and nodded, earning a smile from the Homunculous. "Good, little Angel."
Angel kept her gaze on her feet as they walked. Her glance went from her feet to her paper. She wanted to know more about Andi Elric, but feared Envy or Greed would deny her. They had always denied her to get more information about certain people. First it was the Binding Alchemist, one of the first victims of scar. Then it was the Flame Alchemist because, at the time, Angel was interested in fire. The last time she asked was to find out about Fullmetal Alchemist. That was met with a unison, "Oh hell no" from both Envy and Greed. She didn't understand why she couldn't learn about the Alchemist for the People since he was famous and all.
"What are you thinking about, Angel?" Lust asked as she walked out to the bench were Angel would constantly put her self when something bothered her.
Angel looked up to find Lust, not really having much recollection of how she got back to her bench at the mansion. Angel shrugged at Lust. "Nothing."
Lust knew better. She'd been with Angel through everything. She watched Angel as her Homunculous body rejected the stones like they were poison. She held her as Angel writhed from visions and dreams that plagued her as she developed. Lust was like a big sister and a friend to the young Homunculous.
"I promise not to tell Envy or Greed," she promised, knowing Angel would talk if that agreement was put into place. Lust knew she wouldn't tell either of those idiots. After they told her what they did, Lust started to hate them and pity Angel. She wasn't meant to be in this position.
Angel nodded. "I ran into someone in Central City."
Lust widened her eyes a little. For Angel to confess something like that was nothing short of fucking amazing. "Oh?"
Angel nodded, continuing. "Envy brought me into town, bought me a newspaper, and then let me explore the city nearby where he went went into: The Devil's Nest." Lust fought back the sigh of distaste. "I was rereading the article that interested me and that's when I bumped into him."
Lust nodded. "What did he look like?"
"Handsome," Angel said immediately with a small smile creeping on her lips. It was rare to find Angel smiling at all. "Blond hair, gold eyes, seemed sweet, but..."
Lust's smile faded a little. "But what?"
"It felt like I knew him from somewhere like how I knew who this Andi Elric was. He seemed so familiar and it's racking my brain." Angel buried her fingertips into her hair, scratching at her scalp with frustration.
Lust grabbed her wrists, pulling them from her soft hair. She knew how it felt to have vague memories that made no sense. She had felt the same when she saw someone from her human past. But Lust couldn't tell Angel that, she'd question everything. Best keep to letting Envy and Greed tell her about her human past, Lust thought as she pulled Angel into her arms.
"I know how you feel. For some of us, these feelings, like the ones you're feeling, don't get much more than that," Lust said. It was a vague enough truth.
"Did it happen to you?"
"Yes," Lust said without thinking. Of course she'd lie to Angel for her life's sake and Angel's. Who knows what Envy or Greed would do if they found out Lust told Angel the truth.
"We should tell Angel who she is," Greed said as he watched Angel and Lust outside the window.
"No."
Greed turned to Envy. "Why the hell not? If we tell her it was her husband that killed her and some alchemist who loved her that tried to bring her back, she'd buy it and hate who we want her to hate."
Envy sighed. "There is a reason we named her Angel."
Greed smirked, knowing the true reason he agreed to the name was because she looked like one. "Besides that, wouldn't it be nice to have her know that it was him who killed her instead of us?"
Envy sighed, walking to Greed and giving him a hard right hook to the face without giving him time to become the Ultimate Shield. "You fucking idiot, do you realize that would ruin everything? We want her to be the same as she is now. The more she thinks no one cared about her, the more she'd do what we want."