To Move A Soul
To Move A Soul
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Hello
everyone, the name’s Fuuzaki, aka
the Great Fuuza-Chan! this
is the first fanfic I’ve attempted in a very long
time, and definitely my first go at Fullmetal
Alchemist. I have a lot of friends that write, and
they are VERY good so I have a high bar for myself, so hopefully this won’t
turn out too bad! I’ve only seen eps
1-26; I will spoil for these episodes when I
feel like it. Otherwise, I’ll call this AU since I
happily have NO idea what happens after 26. Have fun,
review, rate me, and please be SUPER HONEST! Thanks go
to Spooty-chan for beta-ing
for me and SM for the awesome pics and
listening to me rattle even though she doesn’t watch the show.
And as for Jase.. *delivers
Riza-bot* You happy now?
By the way,
Al has gotten his body back, but Ed still has his automail
limbs.
Disclaimer:
I don’t own FMA, yada yada
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Soul
lifetime, for a soul will never stand still. In these
days, we learned what it meant to move a soul. When
these days had passed, we feared where our souls would move to next.
The
afternoon sun blazed; waves of heat swirled the scents of warm summer rain and
grass into that aroma always associated with youthful romps and fun
open window, bringing a smile to the lips of one Winry
Rockbell. It rained often in
green Rizenbul, so this smell was not uncommon to
of her mouth. The smell of summer reminded her of a
young boy with sandy brown hair and his older loud-mouth brother
beautifully crafted, as always, and would soon be worn by a young girl
who had lost her arm in an accident on her family’s farm.
Arial\'>Winry
sighed and looked out the window at the green pastures of her home
blissful, but now it seemed that there was something missing.
The two missing persons that kept this little town from being perfect
were off again on yet another mission from the State. She
didn’t understand why they still took them. The search
was over, after all. Al’s body had been recreated, and
Ed… well, for whatever reason, Ed still had an artificial arm and leg attached
to his human torso. That had always been a question in
the back of Winry’s mind. Why
had he kept the automail?
her way of life, but she personally enjoyed having her real limbs much more.
That would
probably be a question that the older Elric brother
would never answer. He always kept everything so
private. Winry had held a
silent affection for him for several years, one that he had never taken the
time to notice, much less reciprocate. No, affection
was not Ed’s strong point. Always the expert at
running blindly into whatever dangerous situation fell in front of him, the
amber-eyed alchemist never seemed to take the time to glance at the goo-goo
eyed mechanic he left at home.
Like any
other childhood crush, the warmth and flutter she felt whenever Ed
not just the platonic invitation to dinner as they had seemed at the time
the adorable red color Al’s face had turned when she had come to him with an
invitation. Sure it really was not supposed to work
that way, but it had seemed right at the time
had fallen for Soul Moving Alchemist and never looked back.
Arial\'>Winry
tore herself from her reverie and looked down at the piece of
Her eyes widened when she had gotten
carried away with the polish and now the arm glinted harshly in the strong
light of the sun. At least a little over polishing
won’t do anything other than hurt people’s eyes for a while… better than
hammering an “extra” hole like last time, Winry
thought to herself as she reached for the lid to the polish.
Arial\'>Winry
hurried as she heard the little bell that announced the arrival of a customer
sound. She quickly grabbed the can of polish, yelping
as it slipped through her fingers, hitting the ground with a metallic thud causing
grabbed a rag that sat on the table, slipping down onto all fours to clean the
mess up.
“Stupid
polish, never staying where it’s supposed to be… Just
a moment!” she called, groaning as her back complained at the abuse and her
mind complained of the possibly disgruntled customer.
“Now since
when has the Fullmetal Alchemist waited for anything?
golden braid stood at the entrance of her workshop, leaning against the
doorframe. Covering his muscled body was the same
black outfit he had worn years ago when he first became a State Alchemist
absence of a woman’s touch. Those boys never could do
laundry very well. The pants seemed to have survived
the barrage of danger, or perhaps he had just gotten new ones.
This was a much more likely answer, since it was obvious that Ed had
finally grown a few inches. Edward Elric
had been a cute boy and now he was an attractive man, the years aging his face
and blessing him with a slightly softer attitude than the smart ass loud mouth
that had inhabited his body in his early teenage years. He
never had cut his hair so now it was well down his back; something also was
different about his eyes, something Winry could not
put her finger on, but surely it was just Ed’s maturation over time.
“Ed
flung herself at her old friend, knocking over the stool she’d previously
occupied. Surprisingly, Edward winced as
“
came over his face. “My good arm would like a little
courtesy. It’s just a bit broken, after all.”
Arial\'>Winry
gasped and backed away from Ed, taking a closer look to see that his left arm
was indeed set into a cast. She had not realized it
before since the ever present red coat currently hung over the injured arm
failed to notice. She glanced over Ed’s shoulder,
looking for the man with sandy brown hair whose soul had once resided in a
massive suit of armor. He was no where to be found
her stomach suddenly feeling extremely upset.
“Edward
get out of this story. There were so many stories
recording his brilliance in alchemy that she had had to hear through the
grapevine or in the papers. Neither of the
moments in their lives were conveniently left out of conversation when they
came home. It never occurred to them that she might
get to these moments another way. Lies, half-truths,
and complete absences of information aside, Winry had
always looked forward to their weekly letters. Through
them she knew that Ed and Al were at least alive. The
downside was that in those letters everything was fine. Al
was always perfect and happy and fine; usually this was at least somewhat true
case this time.
Edward
stared back at her for a few moments before he lost the contest of dominance
and his eyes fell to the floor. He swallowed and
slipped his automail hand into his pocket, his eyes
staring out the open window to the green pasture so perfectly lit by the summer
sun.
“We were on
another quest, Winry. We’d
heard that Basque Gran had conducted multitudes of
experiments on human soul fusions long before he looked into red water
unable to move on their own like pitchers, water glasses. Some
of them weren’t even full souls, just pieces of people’s minds
this sick world. When Al heard about this…he was
outraged. He demanded that we find these people, help
them, at least transfer their souls to more appropriate
vessels so they could move on their own.
“It
should’ve been me, Winry… they found another
laboratory in a town just east of the Xing boarder. Apparently
Basque Gran used it for his human experiments
objects, holding onto this world by one tiny drawing of blood.
They screamed; all they did was scream
like 48 and 66...they caught us off guard
that never aged, never died, and never felt pain. They
fought us, broke my arm…I went unconscious..” Ed’s
voice fell away. Surely the rest was obvious.
Arial\'>Winry
felt her knees grow weak and she grabbed onto a nearby table to keep herself
from falling. The loneliness that had almost
permanently slept in her heart ever since the two of them had left awakened and
blossomed into a rage that burned and scorched everything it touched, including
the part of her that cared if her words hurt her childhood friend
spill over, tears that, in her mind, could have been
prevented.
“And he had
to save you… he had to get his brother out of yet another stupid fight
to follow you on your adventures even though everything was over and done with
Arial\'>Winry’s voice
started off soft, but with anger, but by now her
throat ached from screaming.
“He was
your little brother! You’re supposed to protect him
but now he’s dead and you’re standing here with a broken arm!
And what about me! You knew he loved me, how
could you do this to ME!”
Arial\'>Winry
reached out, grabbing Ed’s clothes and clutching them, her blue eyes reflecting
the frenzy in which her mind was immersed. Ed glared
at her and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands off of his clothing and
holding her a distance away from him in case she decided to try something
violent.
“
wanted to help those people, I couldn’t have stopped him even if…
her up more.
“Even if what,
Ed? Even if you’d wanted to? Is
that what you thought of Alphonse, just… just a piece of metal you could use to
get your dirty work done so you would only get a broken arm? Is
that all he was to you just another person you could use when you needed and
then abandon?!”
Ed stared
in horror at the words that came out of her mouth. He
gulped and tightened his hold on her wrists until she was writhing in pain.
“Ed…Ed
unable to break his grasp.
Ed’s eyes
widened as he pushed Winry away from him, the sobbing
girl falling to her knees with a thud. She stayed
there, unable to believe the words she had said. She
didn’t mean to scream like a misbehaving child, but she felt as if part of her
very being had been ripped from her
the dead man she loved, sobs tearing at her throat
Edward just
stood there and stared at her, as if he didn’t know what should be his next
move. Finally, he
decided and he knelt beside her, the artificial arm Winry
herself had created reaching around her and holding her close.
“
everything for you... and I know it means not near as much to you, but I’m
here.”
The
trembling woman fought him for a moment before she simply fell against his
chest and sobbed into the faded black jacket beneath the ever-present red coat
man who was her brother in everything but true blood.
“Ed, I’m
sorry…I didn’t mean what I said, it was unfair and stupid…Forgive me
least for a while. I need someone to be here with me
shop without her. And now that…that Al’s…”
Ed nodded
and automail fingers slid through blonde hair
bursting in and telling her Alphonse was dead without any sort of preparation
its facts.
“Forgiven,
save him. He was my little brother and I would’ve done
anything in my power, even given my life to save him. You
of anyone should know that. And…I will stay with you,
need me, I will stay. I won’t leave the last piece of
family I have so easily this time.”
She looked
up at him and made an attempt to smile. It turned out
to be an impossible task.
“Thanks,
pip—I mean, Edward.”
“You better
be glad you didn’t finish that word… Just because I’m
going to be living here doesn’t mean you can start calling me short again…”
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A young man
with a long golden braid and a red coat sighed as the train whistle blew
damn Mustang.
Almost Fuhrer and he still wasn’t satisfied unless he controlled the
lives of hundreds of underlings. It was strange,
though, being pulled to this city and that by Al instead of being the puller
the two of them would always be looking for something and never knowing whether
or not they found it. Ed rolled his eyes at his own
brooding. He figured he must be
getting old.
Ed sat up
in his seat and sighed, casually pulling an envelope from inside his coat
before finally reaching the brothers Elric
back of the envelope, that unmistakable grin made its appearance on his face.
“What do we
have here? A letter? Seems
pretty thick, too...”
Across from
him sat another man with sandy brown hair and a slight blush on his face
nothing to him. The truth was that Al had been
particularly waiting for this letter. It had been a
long time since they had been back to Rizenbul,
making every letter that actually got to them all that much important
angel since phones had not yet become popular in their home
town.
“Oh, really
with an added dose of ‘nonchalant.’
His brother
removed two pieces of paper from the envelope, giving a cursory glance to the
heading of each. Something seemed to pique the blonde
amber eyes glinted with mischief as he held up the two pieces of paper,
skillfully hiding the beginnings of each.
“Well,
well, we don’t even get the same letter anymore… is there something in these
letters I might need to censor, Al?”
Ed set down
on of the two letters, careful to not let Al see which one. He
then opened the letter marked with “My Darling Al,” not actually planning to
read it. He was nosey, and also determined to fulfill
the “annoy to the utmost fullest” aspect of his brotherly job description…but
reading his brother’s mail just seemed a little bit past the line
I miss
you. Your last letter seemed terribly chipper, and I
can’t help but wonder if you are really alright or if you’re trying to sound
that way to keep me from worrying. You haven’t told me
what you are chasing after this time and I really would like to know
want to talk about what you mentioned in your last letter.
It’s… it’s a serious idea, but aren’t we a little young?
Ed stared
at the letter not wanting to go any further. Had Al’s
relationship with Winry gotten farther than he had
realized? He had not meant to give himself away so
easily, but the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“Wow, Al, this
is kind of deep…wish I got letters like this…”
The younger
man gasped as he realized what fate had befallen his letter and jumped for his
brother’s hand, only to have it wrenched away.
“Hey, I’m
reading this! Leave me alone!” The
grin on the older brother’s face progressed to a smirk as he dodged his
brother’s hands. Al grabbed and lifted his older
brother, still being a bit stronger physically,
and he was definitely the taller of the two.
“That…is…my...LETTER!”
“And I’m
reading it!” Ed squirmed in his brother’s grip,
determined to not let the letter go without a fight.
“Brother
ground with one hand and tried to catch the letter with the other.
to start now!”
Ed paused,
knowing the one thing he had been made fun of for since he was a boy, the thing
his younger brother had never used against him.
“Al…you wouldn’t
And in Ed’s
hesitation came his fall. Al snatched the letter away
and dropped his brother on his ass, the letter safely in the hands of its
intended owner at last.
“I’m sorry,
Ed, but it’s…important…” Al fell silent for a moment,
suddenly feeling guilty for using the worst weapon in the arsenal against his
brother. “I’m going to uh… check on the luggage…
he headed for the rear of the train.
His brother
only continued to smirk as he picked up his own piece of paper, opening it up.
“Yeah
be a better bet…less messy.”
Al turned
and stared at his brother with a mortified look on his face. How
dare Ed suggest that he of all people would do… do normal\'>that? To
one of Winry’s letters?! The
blush was already rising on his face, for more reasons than what Al was willing
to admit.
“Brother,
that’s horrible! I will not be needing the cleanliness
of the bathroom this day! I am going to go read my
letter and I’m not coming back until I think you’ve cleaned your mind out!”
paper in hand, leaving his brother to his own thoughts. After
watching to make sure Al was safely out of the car and into the next, Ed looked
down at his own letter.
It’s
good to know that you and Al are safe. I never know
whether to believe it or not, but I will trust that you both are alive
is good. Speaking of that, you need to come in soon so
that I can measure you. You grew an entire inch last
time, and you might have done the same again or even more this time.
And so the
letter went for about another couple paragraphs, ending with a plain “Take care
of yourself, Winry.” What
had happened to long letters full of worry and care he used to get
space was filled with her curly, feminine writing? Ever
since they started discussing something they might be “too young” for, Ed
thought to himself. He’d always thought there was an understanding,
that once he and Al could finally settle down, he would sweep her off her feet
and be the man she had always wanted instead of the man always throwing himself
into the way of another lunatic or tyrant. Apparently
he had waited too long to become that man, and she had found one willing to
care for her now, settled or not. But why his own
brother?
Despite the
pain Ed felt when she came to his mind, he could not help but miss her
heart belonged to his brother now. But maybe there was
a way? Somehow Ed doubted it. He
put his letter down and stared out the window, seeing her in his mind’s eye.
How Winry moved him. A very
glance from her moved his very being, his very soul. How
long would it be until they returned to her? How long
would it be before he would stare at the woman he loved, seeing the way she
looked at his brother. How could he go on knowing that
she would always be that? His sister
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Thanks for
reading. Feel free to review or rate or whatever.