Summary: Ed has difficulties sleeping so Al forces him to make a phone call to someone who can help. (Pre promised day)
Characters: Ed, Al, Winry (EdWin)
A/N: Another contribution for the FMA day, because why not! Please let me know what you think!
Genre: hurt/comfort/bits of fluff
Words: 1080+
Warnings: None
”Ed? Is something wrong?”
The older
Elric brother had been squirming in his bed for quite a while now, and Alphonse,
who had been reading in the corner of the room, had naturally noticed.
“I… No.” Ed
didn’t want to worry his brother anymore than he already did. He didn’t need to
know that he was squeezing his silver watch under the sheets to keep his mind
in control. He didn’t need to know every time he closed his eyes that day, he
saw a house, their house, burning down just like it had exactly 3 years ago.
Sometimes
it felt like they hadn’t progressed almost at all since starting their journey
to get their bodies back. Al was still just a soul in a suit of armor, and he…
well, he didn’t really care if he had to spend the rest of his life with his
metal limbs, but he knew Al cared, so he was pretending he wanted them back as
well. In his opinion, they were a small price to pay compared to what had
happened to Al…
“You’re lying,
brother. Just admit it,” Al noted matter-of-factly.
“Fine,” Ed finally
sighed. “Do you know what day it is?”
“It’s
October third… OH!” Al exclaimed when he understood what it meant. “It was
October third when we…”
“Burned our
house down. Yeah. I was just wondering… it’s been 3 years since we left. We’ve
seen and experienced a lot, but have we really gotten any closer to our goal?”
Ed asked.
“Of course
we have! We know so much more knowledge than before! What, are you saying you’re
having doubts about us being able to do this?”
Al didn’t
know how he expected his brother to react, but he wasn’t expecting the honest
answer he got:
“I… I DON’T
KNOW, AL! All I know is that I can still hear the crackle of the flames and
Winry’s sobbing, feel the heat, see our past disappear with the fire. I miss
home!”
“Brother, I
miss it too. But you gotta calm down, you’re making me panic when you act like
that.”
“I know.
Sorry. I promise to be back to my old self tomorrow. Today’s just tough.” Ed
buried his head into his pillow and groaned.
“Hey, I
know what might cheer you up,” Al said suddenly. “How about we call Winry?”
“W-winry?
Why Winry?” Ed asked, wondering what Al’s motives were.
“Because I’m
sure she’d love to hear from us.”
“But isn’t
she sleeping already?” Ed tried to change Al’s mind. “It’s late…”
“You know
just as well as I do that’s she’s probably still working on someone’s automail.
And she’s always said we can call her even in the middle of the night if we
have to.”
“Whatever.
Let’s get over with it then,” the older brother finally gave up and got up from
his bed.
“You are
saying that like you don’t want to call her, brother,” Al snorted as they
started walking towards the phone booth near their hotel room.
“But I don’t!”
“Keep saying
that… There might be someone in Central who believes you.”
“Since when
you are such a brat?” Ed glared at Al.
“Since forever
because I have you as my brother. Try to be in my shoes. OK, here’s the phone
booth. You know their number, right?”
Ed dialed
the Rockbells’ phone number and listened. It took 5 beeps for Winry to answer.
“He-hello?
Who’s this?”
“Winry, it’s
us!”
“Ed! Why
are you calling at this time?” she asked, surprised to hear Edward’s voice. “Don’t
tell me you’ve…”
“No, I have
not broken my automail!” Ed hurried to defend himself. “Damn it, woman, you don’t
need to yell right away when I call you!”
“Sorry. I
got ahead of myself. But why are you calling then? It isn’t like you to call,
especially not this late.”
“We… I…
needed to hear a familiar voice.”
That caught
Winry off guard. “Oh.”
“Yeah. So,
how are you doing?” Ed asked, pushing Al farther from the phone.
“I’m fine, just
kinda tired because I’ve been drawing blueprints and testing different
materials for a new automail the entire day. Mr. Garfiel is more demanding than
you’d think at first…”
“You’re
really working hard to achieve your goal, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Ever
since I saw that watch of yours… I haven’t forgotten, Ed. And I know what day
it is. It’s the real reason why you are calling, right?”
“Yeah,” Ed
admitted quietly.
“You know, I
was really upset that day,” Winry said unexpectedly. “Mostly because I had no
idea when I’d see you guys again, or even, if I was going to see you again. And
I was worried. But you know, I’m no longer worried.” It was a lie, but she knew
he needed to hear this.
“You aren’t?”
Ed asked in disbelief.
“No. Because
I know that you can get your bodies back. As a matter of fact… I think you are
closer to doing it than ever.”
“Oh? And
how would you know that?” Ed was genuinely curious now.
“Woman’s
instinct. I just do.”
“I see.”
The boy was smiling now. “Well, I guess you should start baking those apple
pies then because if what you said is true, we will be coming home soon.”
“You can count
on it! But before you do, remember to take care of your automail because I will
not be sharing my apple pie with anyone who ruins my work!”
“Stop
nagging, woman!”
“I will
when you stop breaking my automail!”
“You really
have to get the last word in everything, don’t you? Hey, Win?” Ed suddenly
changed his tone.
“Yeah?”
“It was
good to talk to you. Tell Granny and Den hi from me and Al.”
“Will do.
And Ed?”
“Mm?”
“I’m glad
you called.”
“Me too.
OK, bye now. Oh, and just so you know, I may have to murder my brother.”
“Hey, don’t
end the phone call like that! What did Al do?!”
Winry didn’t
get to hear the rest because Ed hung up and started yelling at his giggling
brother.
“You should
have seen your face. You were like a whole different person after bickering
with her a bit.”
“I was not!”
“Brother,
you can deny it as much as you want but you will never convince me.”
Ed
pretended to be sulking when he returned into his bed and pulled the covers on him,
but in reality, he was feeling lighter than he had felt in a good while.
FMA appreciation life 