Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Disaster or Destiny? ❯ Training ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The next morning Al went to get us breakfast and asked me to help Ed change his bandages. Someone had to ask, because Ed sure as hell wasn’t going to. I walked inside to find him struggling with the bandage around his shoulder. He looked up and told me he didn’t need any help.

“Don’t be stupid. You’ll never be able to do that on your own.

“Yes I can.”

“Stop being so stubborn! You have too much pride and too big of an ego, you know that?” I tapped a finger to my chin in thought and added, “You know who you remind me of?”

“Don’t you dare…”

“Mustang.”

“I’ m nothing like that lazy, smart ass, arrogant jerk! Don’t compare me to him!”

“Then stop acting like him!”

“I’m not!”

“Yes you are!”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are. Now shut up and let me help you. Unless you want blood all over your clothes.”

Whatever happened to the sweet, grateful Ed from the car ride? Oh well, I guess it was a good sign that he was back to normal.

He finally gave in and let me undo the bloody bandages. I tried to be careful but I could tell Ed was trying to hide his pain.

“I’m sorry, I’m being as careful as I can.”

He looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Don’t worry about it.”

I started rubbing the ointment that the doctor had hurriedly thrown at us as we were leaving the hospital on the wound. Ed stiffened but made no sound until he asked me the same question I had been asking myself all night.

“Marie, do you think it was our fault that all that stuff in Haden happened?”

I had to come to a conclusion the night before that would allow me to sleep, and I told it to Ed. “No. If we weren’t around the homunculi would have found another alchemist to do it. It would have happened no matter what. We just happened to be the lucky ones they picked, probably because they know your abilities and know you’re capable of creating it. Ironic that the very thing they picked you for was their downfall.”

The answer seemed to satisfy him and he brightened up a little. He had probably been up all night worrying about it like I had. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

As I was re-wrapping the wound with fresh bandages, Ed said, “I’ll tell you one thing, I know not to get on your bad side.”

I gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the way you attacked those chimeras. They’re no pushovers, and you defeated them like they were nothing.”

I shrugged. “I don’t think I could do it again. I was running on pure rage and adrenaline. And I felt really bad about it afterwards.”

“Don’t. You did them a favor, they were suffering.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I wanted to change the subject. The memory of killing those creatures, their faces filled with pain and their blood spraying all over me made me sick. “Speaking of which, how’s your leg?”

“Hurts like a bitch. Not as bad as the shoulder though.”

I finished wrapping the bandages and bent down in front of him. “Let me see.”

He lifted up his pant leg and revealed another bloody bandage wrapped around the middle of his calf. I took off the bandage, revealing deep fang marks in his flesh. I gave him a worried look. “How can you even stand up?!”

“It’s not as bad as it looks. I got damn lucky though. Doctor said both wounds missed any nerves and that my arm and leg would both make a full recovery.”

“What a relief. That’s all you need is to lose the only two limbs you have left.”

“Well I very well could have if you hadn’t fought like you did.”

I put more ointment on it and wrapped it up again. “What, did you think I was just gonna sit there and watch you get chewed up by chimeras?”

“No, I just didn’t know you had it in you. Teaching you some combat skills is going to be easier than I thought. By the way, we’re starting that as soon as the two of us are able. After what happened I’ll be uneasy until I know you can defend yourself.”

I tied off the bandages and stood up. “About time, you’ve been promising me lessons forever.”

“I know, I know I’m sorry. Don’t rub it in, I feel guilty enough.” He stood up and nodded toward my shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask sooner, but are you okay?”

I smiled and, to my surprise, blushed a little. I turned to the side so he couldn‘t see. “Yeah I’m fine. Mine wasn’t nearly as bad as yours.

“Besides that though, they didn’t hurt you before I got there, did they?”

Once again, I was surprised at the amount of concern. Not that it wasn’t welcomed. “Nah, just that and a few scratches from the chimeras.”

At that moment Al walked in with breakfast, and I surprised myself again when I found myself wishing he hadn’t.

Between Al, Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye, Ed and I couldn’t do much of anything. For some reason Mustang seemed especially eager for us to recover quickly. We read, played chess and did a little research, but mostly we talked. As much as I thought I was going to hate sitting around and waiting to recover, I really enjoyed that week. I learned a lot more about Ed and Al‘s situation, and he also told me about some of their earlier experiences in the military, before I arrived. But what I really enjoyed was talking about deeper stuff and sharing our opinions on God, science, religion, people and the world in general. I was happy I found someone who was intelligent and open-minded enough to discuss things like that.

After the first week was up we decided we had healed enough to start my combat lessons. The pain in Ed’s leg was gone. His shoulder wasn’t healed as much as mine, but he insisted he was ready to start. I was pulling my shoes on the morning of the eighth day when I heard a knock on my door.

“Go ahead.”

Ed walked inside and grinned at me. He was wearing his usual outfit minus the black jacket and red coat he usually wore; black pants, black combat boots and a black tank top. The white gloves he usually wore were also missing. “You ready for this?”

I stood up and followed him outside. “I’ve wanted to learn this stuff since before I even came here. I was thinking about taking Jujitsu or something back home.”

“You’ll learn more with me anyway.”

We walked into a clearing surrounded by trees and stretched out. I was stiffer than I thought from sitting all week. He wasted no time in getting started.

“Let’s go over a couple guidelines first. They may seem simple enough, but if you don’t know them you learn the hard way; in the middle of your first fight.” He looked at me to make sure I was paying attention. “If you know that a fight is inevitable, be decisive and do everything you can to get the first move. Doing so can help you stay on top of the fight from the start. Try to plan a quick strategy in your head. Figure out what you need to do to end the fight as quickly as possible. Use your energy wisely. Don’t just throw wild punches, but focus on attacking body points that will restrict, or better yet eliminate, your enemy’s ability to continue fighting. The legs and abdominal areas are good motor points to aim for. When you hit, hit hard, and don’t assume that a pause in the fight means that it’s over. Most importantly, do NOT let your guard down at any time and don’t get overconfident. I learned that last one the hard way. You may think you have the upper hand, but judging your opponent too quickly is one of the worst mistakes you can make.”

He assumed a defensive position and told me to do the same. “Izumi taught Al and I pretty much all we know about hand to hand. She always said that to train the mind, you had to train the body as well.”

Izumi was Ed and Al’s alchemy teacher. She was an excellent fighter and alchemist. From what I’d heard she was a good person but you did NOT want to get on her bad side.

Ed continued. “This is a good stance because it enables you to guard yourself effectively from all sides. Try it.”

I assumed the same stance, feeling like an idiot. Ed apparently thought it looked good enough though, because he told me to attack him.

“What? But you haven‘t even taught me anything yet!” I protested nervously.

“Just run at me! I told you, It’s better to attack first. Hesitating is another one of the worst mistakes you can make. I just want to see what you can do. Punch, kick, do whatever you want.”

All the time I thought about lessons, I never actually thought about fighting him. I felt really stupid now and I didn’t want to go on with it. I guess I was a little embarrassed. Hell, I’d never punched anyone in my life!

“Missed your chance!” Ed charged at me and I panicked. Didn’t he realize that I wasn’t ready for this yet? He threw a punch that was way too fast. There’s no way I could’ve dodged it. I just closed my eyes and waited for impact.

But it never came. I opened my eyes and Ed’s fist was inches away from my face. I cursed myself for being stupid again. Of course he wouldn’t actually hit me, he was way stronger than I was and this was just training.

He looked much angrier than I thought he would. “What the hell was that? You just stood there!”

It was difficult to meet his gaze. “That wasn’t fair! I wasn’t ready for it!”

“It doesn’t matter! Most of the time you have to fight you’re not ready for it! You can’t just stand there like an idiot hoping someone else is going to save you, because chances are that they’re not. If you’re going to hold back and be timid like this then I’m wasting my time.” He turned his back to me. “That was pathetic. Not only wouldn’t you hit me but you wouldn’t even dodge. Just stood there looking stupid.” He started to walk away.

I hated him at that moment. I wished we never would’ve come out here. I felt a lump form in my throat, and felt even worse than before because I wanted to cry. But I couldn’t let myself do that, couldn’t let Ed see me in such a pitiful state. I thought about what he said, how unfair he was being, and turned my humiliation and sadness into rage.

I couldn’t let him walk away thinking those things about me. I had to prove to him that I could do this.

I ran at him as fast as I could and threw a wild punch at the back of his head. He stepped to the side and I stumbled as my fist met air instead of the solid object I had been prepared for. I turned around and glared at him, ready to strike again.

He closed his eyes and shook his head at me. “How predictable. Attacking out of anger and dishing out wild attacks without even thinking about what your opponent might do. I should’ve known, based on your earlier performance, that you’d resort to something tactless like this.”

Why was he being like this? I was only a beginner! I charged at him again. “SHUT UP!” I screamed, my only goal at the moment to beat him to a pulp.

I threw another punch at him and he blocked instead of dodged. I watched him closely, and did the same when hurled his fist at me. I noticed the corners of his mouth turn up slightly in a smile. We kept this up, punching and blocking, until he finally hit me on the side of the face. Not as hard as he would have in a real fight, but hard enough. The impact put me off guard and the kick he aimed at my side found its target; I flew to the ground.

I started to wonder why I was even bothering to do this, there was no way to beat him. But then I thought about every insult he‘d given me, and knew that he was expecting me to surrender. A new determination took over just in time for me to roll to the side, avoiding another jab from him. I stood up only a second earlier than Ed turned back up to face me, but it was enough. His head turned to me just in time for his face to meet my fist. Before he had a chance to counter I hit him again in this stomach, as hard as I could. I was too pissed off at him to hold back. Besides, he told me himself not to. He doubled over slightly and I kicked him as hard as I could in the side. He caught himself on one knee.

I stood staring down at him, panting. He slowly stood and met my gaze. I shot him the most evil glare I could muster.

He simply smiled at me. “Not bad. I knew I could get you to do it, you just needed some motivation. Didn’t know you’d go that far though. That stuff I said must have made you pretty mad.”

I was going to kill him. “You asshole, do you have any idea how that made me feel when you said that?!”

He just kept on smiling. “But it worked, right? I had to make you want to attack me or you never would’ve done it. Probably not the best way to teach, fighting out of pure rage can lead to recklessness in battle, but sometimes it’s the only way. Of course I still let you win, but you put up a good fight. Now I know what we need to work on.”

I looked at him doubtfully. “So you didn’t mean any of that?”

His expression turned more serious. “I was serious when I said you shouldn’t hesitate and that you needed to be thinking about what your opponent’s strategy might be as well as what your own is going to be. But that’s all I meant.”

His frown turned into an apologetic smile.

I turned my head to the side. “You’re a jerk.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Get used to it. I never said this would be easy and you should’ve known that much on your own.”

I shoved his hand away. “Well did you ever think that maybe you could tell me what I did right instead of just pointing out all my mistakes?”

“You need to know what you did wrong.”

“But I need to know I’m doing something right or I won’t even know if it’s worth it to keep going!”

He smiled calmly at me. “You need practice, but I can already see that if you really want to beat your opponent, like you did me, you’re capable of a lot. That was quick thinking when you caught me off guard and kept hitting until I was down. That’s exactly what you need to do in a real fight. You‘re blocking was good, too.”

I was starting to feel better, even a little proud of myself until he had to go and ruin it. His smile reverted back to a serious frown. “But you still let your rage drive you too much. You need to calm down and act rationally, not rush blindly into an attack.”

I scowled at him. “Well you know what? It was my first try and I think I did good! You can say you let me win, and you probably did, but I want you to know right now that I can already see a bruise forming where I hit you and I know you weren’t faking it when you bent over from that punch in the stomach. So stop acting like you’re so much better than I am!”

Ed completely ignored what I said and proceeded to move behind me. He pressed his chest against my back and placed his hands on my arms. My heart beat quickened and I was already forgetting the anger I had felt when he ignored me. “When you jab, you need to stand like this. It makes it easier to keep your balance and to transition into different positions quickly if you need to.”

He held me so close to him that when he shifted his body to the new position, mine shifted along with it. “See? This is better. Now for an uppercut, I always found it easier to move forward on your dominant leg like this - ” He pushed my right leg forward with his - “And jab upward with your fist like this.” He took my fist in his hand and showed me the most effective way to position it in order to release the most force and cause the most damage.

I was a little disappointed when he let go and started showing me kicks instead.