DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't have the creativity to make FMA
To be honest, my determination from last night wore off with the after effects of sleep. I was freaking exhausted, starving and in desperate need of a nice, long, relaxing shower.
In low spirits, I exited my small room rubbing crust from my eyes and grimacing as I flicked it away. The hallways were empty, which wasn't too surprising. From the way the sun streamed through the windows, it looked like it was later in the morning. Which, again, wasn't surprising. I had a massive tendency to sleep in as much as I could.
As my stomach grumbled, I tried to find my way back to the kitchen. It was a pretty large house though, even more complicated than the dirty, messy halls of my country school. After many minutes of cursing and grumbling, I stumbled into the disorganized room that was the kitchen.
No one was there, which made me feel awkward and out of place. I didn't want to touch anything in fear of accidentally burning the house to the ground, which admittedly is something I'd probably do.
So ignoring my rumbling stomach, I sat down and began to flip through an alchemy book.
It was disheartening. I couldn't understand the words at all. The elements and equations hurt my head, my eyes not quite being able to focus on the words. It was frustrating and I was too stubborn to merely close the book.
"Oh! Madison!"
Mr. Tucker's voice broke me from my self-pitying thoughts, croaky from sleep. I slammed the book shut, smiling at him to hide my anger. "Good morning."
He smiled back pleasantly. "Good morning."
He asked if I wanted breakfast, which my growling stomach answered. My face was still flushed from embarrassment. Before long, the smell of blueberry waffles wafted through the air, a plate of the golden-brown goodness placed in front of me, maple syrup on the side, just the way I liked it.
Once I had gulped down my meal, he handed two plates for the brothers to bring with me to the library. I had to balance them in my arms carefully, but thankfully I had somehow made it there without dropping the food.
The brothers were deep in their studying, nose buried deep in books. I wondered how long they'd been up.
Alphonse was the first to notice my presence. He perked up, exclaiming, "Madison!" cheerfully.
I smiled, setting the plates down on the floor, sitting down beside him. "Morning!" I replied, with far more enthusiasm than I felt. Edward didn't even seem to notice I was there, causing me to chuckle. Perfect opportunity.
I sneaked up behind him, holding a finger to my lips at Alphonse. He shook his head, letting out a small snort of amusement. Trying to hold in my own laughter, I suddenly poked my hand right on the back of the blond's neck letting out a shout of, 'Boo!'
It was safe to say his reaction was priceless. He let out a scream, hunching in on himself as he slapped the back of his neck. He whirled around to face me with incredulous eyes. I was too busy laughing.
"Did you seriously just do that?" he croaked out in shock. I nodded, still giggling. "That wasn't funny!"
"It was pretty funny, brother," Alphonse replied, letting out his own laughter. Edward grumbled in response, none too happy with the way his sibling was treating him.
Before long, we were dipped back into peaceful silence. I tried to focus on the words in front of me, but they were just so complicated. Science was never my forte. It had too many theories and equations and things to figure out. Not that math wasn't any different, but it didn't have things like freaking physics and elements mixed in.
I gave up after 30 minutes. It just wasn't happening. Instead, to relieve myself of stress, I took one of Edward's papers, along with a pencil. It was different than the ones that I was used to, but it would have to do.
I got lost in the lines I created. I may not be great at science or anything to do with it, but I excelled in the beauty of art. Kate said I had a knack for it, and while I tried to deny it (she herself was quite the exceptional artist), I did know that my art was something to be proud of.
"What'cha drawing?" Alphonse's voice yanked a startled yelp from me. I whirled around, tightly holding my drawing to my chest. Alphonse knelt behind me, curiosity just oozing from him.
"N-nothing!" I replied, stuttering from my embarrassment. "Psh, what made you think I was drawing? H-heh..."
He would have raised an eyebrow if he could. "Really?"
"Yup."
"Uh-huh..."
"Mhm."
"... You're not fooling me, Madison."
I held on tighter. "Well, even if I was drawing, I wouldn't show you." Childishly, I stuck my tongue out.
"What? Why?" he inquired with a bit of hurt. Oh well.
"'Cause!" I shouted, hiding the page behind my back. "Just because you're somehow great with the puppy dog look, does not mean that I'll-"
"What's this?"
"Eep!" My drawing was ripped from my hands, and a little giggle followed. Nina was looking at my drawing, entranced by it.
"It's so pwetty!"
"Hehe, thanks, but could you give it back now?" I stuttered nervously, not used to people looking at my art.
"Hmm, I dunno, it'd be a shame to."
I groaned in embarrassment, hiding my face with my hands as Edward joined in on the fun. He was snickering, which displeased me greatly.
"It looks great! Why are you so embarrassed?" Alphonse inquired, ever the mediator.
"I'm not used to letting people look at my drawings," I mumbled, refusing to look at any of them.
"Big sister, can you draw me another pretty picture?" Nina asked curiously, and I peeked through my fingers almost melting at her grin.
Her nickname for me made me give in, not being able to resist such a cute face either. "Fine," I sighed.
She giggled in excitement. "Yay! Big sister's gunna draw me another pretty picture!"
Before long, Nina was seated before me, laying on her stomach, chin held in her palms. Her eyes never left my page, watching carefully as I drew for her. My face didn't stop it's flushing. I wasn't used to little kids paying attention to me since Kate was much more equipped for it. But I didn't seem to be doing too bad, since she loved the mermaid, unicorn and other mystical creatures I drew. The brothers didn't join in on our giggling, too focused on their reading, but I didn't mind. It was peaceful.
Before I knew it, a week passed by in a blur. Days came and went, filled with attempted studying, the occasional rant of frustration, lunch, more reading, occupying Nina, dinner, then bed. To be honest, the constant schedule was getting to me. My hands were fidgeting, I was twitching, and I just wanted to do something. I missed my Ipod already, with all its apps and equipment that was able to entertain me.
I growled for the umpteenth time, glaring heatedly at the small circle I had made in a small patch of dirt. It was the beginning of January apparently, so it had snowed just a few days prior. It was cold, but not unbearably so. "You're not doing it right."
I huffed stubbornly, glaring at Edward from the corner of my eye. "Fine. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, since you're such a prodigy." Crap. That was a terrible comeback. He was a prodigy.
He scoffed, thinking the same thing I was. Our relationship thus far consisted of witty banter and teasing. He was just so easy to rile up, and, if I'm being honest, so was I.
"Well, first of all, you drew it wrong," he said, crouching down beside me. "The circle is all crooked, and you don't have the correct amount of circles surrounding the edge."
I sighed, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "Yes, Edward, I'm quite aware of that since this is my thirtieth time failing! Do tell me more!"
He narrowed his eyes at me with a glare, my yell obviously not pleasing him. "You don't have to snap at me."
I let out another sigh, plopping down in the snow. "I know. Sorry." He shrugged, his temper somehow holding in despite my very, very petty attitude.
"I can help you-"
Immediately, I replied, "No," harshly, glaring down at the stupid circle. "I don't need your help."
Edward let out an exasperated growl, obviously getting more and more annoyed with me. I was surprised he hadn't already left.
"Look. You can pout and snap all you want, but unless you try, you're never gunna learn, or find a way back home. You're just going to give up that easy?"
Anger welled up in me. How dare he. How dare he even suggest that. He didn't even know me, how could he even assume that I would do something as terrible as give up? Even if deep down that was exactly what I wanted to do? How could he even assume I would?
A choked laugh escaped my lips, my hands shaking at my sides griping tightly at the snow as I gave him a fake, sickly sweet smile. "Mhm, you just said exactly what I'm thinking. This is too hard, I'm just going to give up. Yup. Never going to see my parents, my sister, or my grandma again. Never going to go home, or laugh with my friends. Instead, oh! I'll just stay here in this stupid place forever! Is that what you thought I was going to do?! Huh Ed?!"
In my anger, I just wanted to lash out, hit something. My arm swung, and as I breathed deeply from my shouting, I realized...
I had thrown snow into Ed's face.
I huffed, turning away, hiding my red face as I scowled. "You deserved that..."
He didn't answer, and my scowl dropped, thinking he had walked away. I sighed, not particularly blaming him.
That is, until something cold and wet was thrown to the back of my head
I whipped around, giving an incredulous look towards Ed who was somehow able to pull off a serious expression with all the snow covering his face. "First rule; never turn your back," he said, earning a well deserved confused look from me. "Second rule; never underestimate your enemy." What the hell what he rattling on about? He scooted closer, and poked my head with his automail finger despite the glare I threw at him. "Third rule; never, ever give up."
"What's that?" I asked, glaring at his finger as he retracted it.
"The rules you need to follow if you want to stay with Alphonse and I," he replied, giving me a small smirk as he pat my head. I ducked, avoiding his gaze as my anger from earlier faded away. His words were able to stir something in me. I wasn't going to give up, even if the path ahead was hard.
Ed barked out a laugh, before turning around to head back inside, but I wasn't about to let him walk away without any repercussions. I may have forgiven him, but he still had to pay for what he said.
So, with a devilish laugh under my breath, I grasped a patch of snow and hurled it in his direction.
Somehow, it hit it's mark, and I was able to hit it hard enough to make him stumble. He turned to look at me, and I whistled innocently, avoiding his narrowing eyes. "I should tell you," Ed began, kneeling down to scoop up some snow making my laughter cease immediately. "That once you challenge me to a snowball fight," he smirked, "I ain't backing out."
I squeaked as he flung the snowball at me, haphazardly diving out of the way of the projectile. I faced him, laughing. "Ha! Missed-" Another was flung into my face.
His laughter replaced mine, holding his abdomen as he snorted in mirth. "That's it!" I shouted, standing up and bolting over. Abruptly, his laughter ceased as his eyes widened, wisely moving away from me.
"Come back here you blond pipsqueak!" I yelled, knowing that it would set him off. He took the bait, like I thought, whirling around to yell back in anger but was instead greeted with a snowball to the gut. He wheezed in slight pain, drowned out by my snickering, glaring at me.
He then began to chase me, and because I wasn't the best in P.E, he easily caught up to me and stuffed snow in my hood while cackling. In revenge, I tackled him into the snow.
"Hey, Ed. I don't think we've seen this book- what are you two doing?" Al deadpanned, walking in the middle of my stuffing snow in Ed's hood as he yelled in protest. We were both frozen, staring at him with wide eyes.
"He offended me so I threw a snowball at him," I answered without hesitation.
"And then I stuffed snow into her hood," Ed continued.
"Yay! A snowball fight! A snowball fight!" Nina giggled, coming from behind Alphonse, tugging on a hat. "I wanna join! I wanna join!"
"Well, you best prepare yourself then," I snickered, packing a bunch of snow into my hands. "Cause I ain't gunna go easy on ya!"
She squealed as I hurled a snowball at her, strategically dodging behind a very tall and unfortunate Alphonse. He gasped in surprise as the snow hit him square in the face, effectively making me laugh. His exclamation of, "What'd I do?!" only made me laugh further.
"How could you?! I will avenge you Al!" Ed shouted, throwing a well-aimed snowball at my stomach, cutting off my laughter that turned into a wheeze.
Their laughter effectively made me quite angry, so I gathered snow in my hands, and with a shout of, "Goute du neige, vous paiens!" I pelted them with snow.
Thus ensued a terrible, terrible snow war, filled with pain and death and laughter. Nina and Ed ganged up on Al and I, so I suggested we start an alliance. Which, if I were being honest, was kinda unfair since Al was able to block me and I was able to assault the other two with snow.
"Wait- where'd they go?" Al questioned, whirling around.
I narrowed my eyes with a nod. "They fear our combined power, dear general. Most likely they have fled. Those cowards!" Al seemed to enjoy my deep, very convincing military voice, as he promptly burst into laughter.
"Now, Nina!"
"Wah!"
Al was tackled from above, sent tumbling to the ground, and, unfortunately, bringing me with him.
With a face full of snow, my ears caught the series of laughter from Ed, Nina and Al. I joined in, their joy completely contagious. I rolled over, my stomach hurting from my giggles and snickers. "Merde, c'est la premiere fois j'ai rigole comme ca depuis que nous savons arrives!" Ed rolled over to face me, his laughter dying down enough to say, "You spoke like that earlier. What does it mean?"
I sat on my elbows, calming down just a bit. "It's a language from where I'm from. It's called french."
Alphonse hummed, sitting cross-legged as Nina climbed up his armor to sit on his shoulders. "I've never heard of it. You must be pretty far from home." I nearly scoffed. You don't know the half of it.
Nina yawned, and I was able to muster a smile. "Looks like little etoile is tired." We walked back into the warm house devoid of any cold snow, and gave Nina to Mr. Tucker to tuck in while we unwind-ed for the night. It was back to more studying tomorrow.
AN: Uh... hey guys.
You have no idea how sorry I am. Life got really rough these past few months and a lot has changed. It was hard to get the motivation to even write. But here it is. It's probably not too good, and also probably has a lot of mistakes (I know older chapters have them). Also, please forgive my french. I'm not the best at it unlike Madison.
Speaking of. You know how I mentioned things have changed in the past few months? Yeah, well, uh... Madison and I are now dating! *Confetti* Don't ask me how I did it, cuz like I don't know myself. I have the qualities of a beaver, so. Anyway! I wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't important. It won't change the story drastically, besides the fact that I may have to fite Edward over my girlfriend.
Also, timelines! In this story, Madison and Ed will be about 14 by this chapter, 15 when they take the exam. They'll be with Tucker for perhaps a year. I really want to establish Madison into this universe, and have her prepared for the rest to come. Plus I felt they were too young to have it begin when they were 12. A lot of who Madison is occurred when she was 13-14, so.
I'm gunna try my best to update more, but it'll be pretty sporadic. Please don't hate me
If you have any questions or comments leave a review. I also have tumblr and discord if you ever want to reach me! :3
-Adios!