The Waters of Lethe
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. I just like to play around in it's world and torture Ed for awhile
Author's note: Post movie and slightly AU.
Warning: may contain movie spoilers. Has and will contain violence and death, possibly sex.
Beta: Moi
45: Down To Earth (Nüchtern)
Dublin, Ireland. October 30, 1934
When his alarm clock rang, Edward awoke with a start before his left hand fumbled around on the bedside table to silence the insistant clanging. He lay quietly for a a few minutes and tried to wake up. This is useless. He would fall back asleep if he stayed where he was. Couldn't be late for work today.
Edward sat up, threw the covers back and shivered when the chilly air touched his bare right foot. But he kept moving until his legs dangled over the beds side. He stretched and yawned, then stretched some more. Ugh. Today was his first day back at work after the latest bout with malaria. He had been out for nearly three weeks - first eight days flat on his back in a hospital bed - followed by another eight at a convalescent home to regain his strength.
He hadn't been in a hospital for years, but the experience hadn't changed since the last time. White sheets, white walls, brusque nurses, the smell of disinfectant, a thermometer stuck in without so much as an excuse me, would you please open your mouth? He tried not to remember the embarassment of the rectal variety. It simply re-inforced his dislike of hospitals. And doctors.
Plus all the questions about his prosthetic limbs made him nervous. He was always afraid too much of a fuss would eventually get back to certain people. That fear made it impossible to stay in one place for too long. The constant moving around made it hard for Edward to save enough money for his new goal: America. The one place he would be safe from pursuit
Six and a half years ago...
Edward hunkered down in the cockpit, closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But the persistant engine noise, and the even more persistant cold made it impossible. Harry hadn't been kidding when he said it would be cold ten thousand feet up. It penetrated through Edward's coat, the sweater, his clothes, and through his skin right to the bones. His face and head were already so cold he couldn't feel his jaw. Not even after his teeth began to chatter. It took a very special kind of man to endure the rigors of flying. And it was clear to Edward he wasn't one of them.
His heart flew up into his mouth when the plane began to descend. But the air gradually warmed and Edward thawed out in time to enjoy the sights of animals he'd never seen racing along beneath the plane. He smiled in delight when he saw several massive grey beasts ambling along in a parallel course. Elephants! Edward watched until they fell behind, he then gulped and grabbed his harness when the "Flying Nefertiti" was suddenly buffeted by errant winds. The plane crossed a line of low hills and a shallow valley spread out below. The plane dipped lower and seemed to be aimed towards a cluster of low buildings the same color as the ground.
Sketched out in the dirt next to them was a runway, and a nearby pole with a windsock barely attached showed the wind was blowing at roughly a right angle. The plane yawed and pitched as it came closer and closer to the ground, before the wheels made contact with a hard thud!, then bounced back up. The "Flying Nefertiti" came down a second time, then bounced twice more before slewing off the runway and into some scrub brush. Harry fought the controls and the plane rose high enough to miss a pile of rocks, the nose then dipped abruptly and a tremendous crash announced the end of the flight.
Edward had closed his eyes after the first thud, and kept them closed until a ringing silence told him the engine noise had stopped. He opened them and looked. The propellor of the "Flying Nefertiti" was smashed to bits, and the engine half buried in the dirt of Africa. The wings weren't straight any more,most of the struts were snapped in two (or three), and the plane was oddly bent between the two cockpits. This resulted in Edward being nearly vertical in the air, only the straps of his harness preventing his plummeting to the ground.
Harry turned about in his seat, pulled up his goggles, and waved at Edward. "Welcome to Africa! A bit of a cock-up about the landing, sorry about that, wot!"
Edward ground his teeth and growled low in his throat. If I survive this, I'm going to kill him!