The Last Straw
Jun. 19th, 2009 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twilight_lamentSummary: Ed and Al return to Rizumbul for a stint. However Ed has once again gotten himself in hot water with everyone's favorite mechanic.
Story Status: Complete/Oneshot
Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: PG
How many injustices had she forgiven him? How many times had she slumped her shoulders over and said: It's all right; Ed. or I forgive you, Ed? Did they even bear counting? But as she searched through the drawers of her tool rack, various pieces hitting the back with angry clangs, she did indeed count them. Edward watched the petite blonde with growing trepidation. She hadn't hit him yet, which made him all the more nervous. Instead she had internalized her rage and was probably making herself even angrier from the increasingly loud clatters and clangs coming from that end of her work bench.
"Ed, you're such a jerk," Even though the older Elric lay spread out over the road along with the two hustlers in Rush Valley, Winry struggled to hold back her tears. He'd cheated. He didn't have enough faith in her and the automail that she'd built for him, so he'd cheated. It left a tight feeling in her chest and such a deep seated sadness. And he never even said he was sorry, so she'd walked away, leaving Al to tend him.
“Why do you always shut me out?” She shouted at him in the hospital. Sure she couldn’t take on the world the way that they did, but she could help them carry it. If only they’d let her….
“I’m crying for you and Al, because neither one of you will.” With her hands to her chin, Winry watched Ed and wished that just once he’d allow himself to be human again and not the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Even now, over a year later, she struggled to maintain her composure. Sure Ed had never thought much of automail, always wanting his real limbs back, but his callousness had hurt her greatly. 'Stupid jerk,' She wipes at her eyes before tossing another screwdriver onto her workbench.
So many times he'd broken the beautiful automail she made for him. She, sappy idiot that she was, had forgiven him for it. He did dangerous work afterall and automail could be rebuilt. But he was so reckless sometimes, pushing the arm past any conceivable ability. Winry worked furiously, even paying less attention to other customers to build him stronger and better automail. Never once did he say thank you or ask about the dark rings under her eyes. Sometimes she'd get a smile of appreciation and at first she'd cherished each one.
Clang, Clang. Two more tools hit the wooden surface. She reminded herself that he's driven, that he's so focused on Al that sometimes he forgets about the rest of the world. And she can't blame him. But it didn't make it any better for her, because this time he really had gone too far.
He'd done the unthinkable.
He'd crossed into the unforgivable.
He had ripped her heart out and stepped on it cruelly.
Edward Elric had.....
Gone to another mechanic.
"Winry, I don't understand what the big deal is it was just a maintenance check up." In retrospect, Ed realized his mistake. His tone shouldn't have been so cavalier. He should have seen the depths of her anger. Hell he should have seen her grab the wrench that hung, ever present, at her side. But Edward Elric missed all these tell tale signs: the narrowing of her eyes, the vein throbbing at her temple. Why? Because he was too busy reclining in the chair with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. However when said wrench pinged against his cranium, Ed no longer ignored the irate mechanic seething pure fury in front of him. Bouncing to his feet, Ed glared with equal venom at Winry. "Damnit you mechanical monster, what in the hell was that for!?!?!?"
Ed soon found himself very up close and very personal with one Winry Rockbell. Her blue eyes narrowed on his golden ones, and Ed knew fear. True mind numbing fear. Homunculi weren't as scary as Winry in a real fit. In fact Ed didn't think he'd EVER seen Winry quite this mad. With a sheepish grin Ed backed up a step only to find himself trapped between a wall and Winry.
"What was that for?" She seethed. "You let another mechanic touch my work. Someone who isn't familiar with the design, or the suspension system that I used?? I'll probably have to spend an entire day just undoing the damage they caused!"
"Winry, really it's worked fine since she chec......YEOOOOOOOOOOUCH!" Ed had given the wrong answer and for his trouble, Winry had pulled his arm from the docking port without any warning. Fire raced along Ed's nerves when the wire connected to said nerves were suddenly disconnected. "Ow damnit. WINRY! That hurt!" Ed fell back against the chair, clutching the docking port. Winry took in his pale countenance and the way the sweat beaded before running down his forehead and along his cheeks. She felt a momentary pang of guilt. 'Humph, serves him right.' She thought before laying his arm down on her work bench. Really the nerve of some State Alchemists who happen to be vertically challenged. She glanced over her shoulder only to be rewarded with Ed's glare as if he'd heard her thoughts.
"Why don't you go outside, Ed? The fresh out might help you grown a few inches." Her tone was as nasty as the sneer on her delicate lips. Ed prepared himself to toss back an equally vitriolic salvo at his long time friend and personal mechanic. Somehow though, perhaps through a personal epiphany, Ed wisely got up and left. Slower than normal due to the fact that his arm was gone. It left him off balance, usually Winry or Pinako fitted him with a spare just so he wouldn't have to adjust to having only one arm. He didn't think Winry was feeling so generous through.
With a large sigh, Ed headed outside. He figured Al would be around somewhere, and being with Al certainly was preferable to the company of a temperamental mechanic with the aim of a fastball pitcher. Once outside, Ed inhaled deeply. His eyes closed while he filled his lungs with the air of home. Cut grass, a cool breeze breaking up the heat of summer, the smell of food cooking, the sound of kids playing through the streets, all the things he and Al had left behind. He told people that he never thought about home, that home didn't matter until he got Al his body back. It was all a lie though. Ed missed home, the sights and smells and sounds that made Rizumbul home and the one place he hoped he'd be able to come to one day.
A clang of metal rubbing against metal drew him from the near peaceful thoughts. Slowly Ed opened his eyes and his head turned in the direction of the sound. Next to the big tree in the back yard was Al. Leaned up against the bark, Al watched the as the sun set over the hills.
“Hey Al,” Ed flopped down next to his brother. His head resting on the tree truck as he moved his eyes in the same direction as Al. Perhaps it was weird that Ed no longer saw the hunk of armor that harbored his brother’s soul. To him it was just Al. The same little brother who rolled his eyes and hid Ed’s notebooks when Ed got a little too arrogant. Then again sometimes he looked at his brother who was still trapped in the hulking steel armor and Ed could feel nothing but black guilt that reached up to strangle him.
“I told you we should have come here for your checkup,” Al’s voices echoed through the empty steel and Ed hid a wince.
“She was that loud huh? I mean really why can’t she understand that coming all the way from Aquorya to Rizumbul just for a checkup wasn’t smart? It’s not like I had my arm rebuilt.” Ed released a long and pained sigh for his abused person. “She’s just overreacting.” Winry tended to do that, overreact, quite a lot where her precious automail was concerned, and he, Edward Elric was all too often the unfortunate target for her misplaced aggression.
It occurred to Ed that he could practically feel Al rolling his non existent eyes.
“What? What did I say now? You can’t honestly tell me that you agree with that mechanical menace?”
“For a genius, Ed, you really do miss the smallest things sometimes. I’d explain it to you, but I think Winry has told you enough times already.”
“Oh sure she yells a lot about her automail this, her automail that, but it’s MY damn arm and leg. You’d think I could get the springs oiled without her throwing a wrench at my head.” Ed groused and let his chin sink to his chest. “And now my own brother is conspiring with the enemy.”
About the time Al smacked Ed upside the head, Al guessed that between his and Winry’s, erm, gentle prodding, Ed might need an automail skull before too much longer. Of course it’s all Ed’s fault for being so very, very stubborn and so very, very dense. While Ed’s eyes spun in his head, Al decided to get a few words in before Ed recovered enough to start yelling at him.
“She’s more than just a friend, Ed. Winry and Aunt Pinako are family. The only family we have left. Remember that time she came to fix your arm in the hospital, after we had that fight? Or in
“What you’re saying I betrayed her somehow? That’s a little overboard, Al.” Winry couldn’t be that attached could she?
“Think about it, brother. What if it had been Winry where we are now? Wouldn’t you want to do everything you could to help her, even when she didn’t want to let you?” Finally Al turned to look at his brother. It was either the setting sun reflecting in Ed’s eyes, or the light bulb of realization had just gone off in Ed’s head. “She cares about us, especially about you.” Al cut himself off there for fear of making Ed realize more than he could handle.
Al loved his brother, more than anything, but he also knew that in some areas, Ed had the emotional maturity of a rock. Granted Ed had a lot to think about, and a mission that he wanted to complete before thinking of anything else at all. His imposed goals had made things like growth in normal relationships unrealistic. Deep down though, Al could still see the little boy who had fought with him over which one of them was going to marry Winry Rockbell one day.
“I guess you’re right, Al.” Alphonse counted to three quietly, “But that doesn’t mean she has the right to hit me so hard!” Because Ed rarely admitted being wrong without still finding fault with the other party.
“Boys!” Pinkako’s voice booming from the porch broke the contemplative silence. “Dinner is ready.”
For the first time in recorded history, Edward Elric found that he didn’t have much of an appetite. Al’s words (and the bells from getting smacked in the head) kept resounding in his head. Quietly, Ed got up from the table and carried his untouched plate back to the automail shop attached to the house. He knew she would be there and his assumption proved well founded.
Hunched over her work bench, Winry worked on his automail with all the fervor and zeal that he performed alchemy with in the field. She didn’t hear him come into the room and Ed had to clear his throat twice before she even looked up at him.
“What now, E….” She paused when she saw the plate and for the first time since he’d told her about the other mechanic, Winry’s blue eyes softened, and she actually smiled a little. “Thank you. I guess you want to know about your arm huh? It should be ready tomorrow, but I’ll need to take a look at your leg too before you go and….” The tumble and rush of words was interrupted by the last thing she ever expected: Ed hugging her. A big bear of a hug that threatened to squeeze the life out of her. His head touched her shoulder and he mumbled.
“I’m sorry, Winry,” Winry wrapped her arms around him and found herself forgiving him one more time.
The End.