Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Friend or What? ❯ Discovering... ( Chapter 1 )

"Ouch!"

Winry Rockbell grimaced in pain as she bent to palm her bare foot after she had walked into a small wooden chest inside the attic of her home, where she had been given an exhausting assignment via her grandmother; Pinako Rockbell, to clear a space in the room so the automail parts her grandmother planned to pick up in Rush Valley had someplace to go.

 

Although Winry hadn't planned on doing anything too important; the task was keeping her away from 'certain company' that she hadn't seen in quite some time and wondered balefully about what it was they had decided to do whilst she worked when the cause of discomfort had erupted in the form of a wood box with a heap of old articles of clothing and a few books that sat on them.

 

"Damn that smarts,” she murmured soothing the hurt. After declaring it wasn't too bad of an injury she got up off the floor, not expecting a chance glance at the contents of the box would steer her to forget about the chore.

 

Not surprising. The words 'Rockbell Album, 1874' labeled on one of the books had that effect on her, so she let curiosity take over and sat down on the floor and opened it.

 

The pages of the book were quite yellow around the edges, obviously because it hadn't been opened in a while. The inside was white like it never understood the concepts of aging. Including the photographs.

Winry was quite surprised; her grandmother looked sturdy built and braced with a steely confidence that almost resembled herself. Quite the contrast with how her grandmother looked now.

 

"I'd like to see Ed's face if he ever saw this..." she thought laughing slightly as a mental image of the intimidating Pinako from the picture approaching a comically cowering Edward Elric surfaced in her mind.

 

She paged through a few more sections of the album; catching two boys in some photos she didn't recognize although she assumed them to be her uncles because they had Rockbell features, and some of her father as a child. Seeing him in them tore a bit at her heart. It was no wonder this book was left unopened, Winry figured it hurt her grandmother to know that the kids in the album were hers and all were dead.

 

Stifling small of tears that perched dangerously at the edges of her eyes, she decided she would close the book. As she tried, one of the pages flipped over revealing a large photo that took up half the space on it. I was another with her father in it, but unlike the others; this one had a young girl in it on a swing.

 

"Who's that?" The smiling face looked almost familiar, but because of the child like features she didn't quite know who it was. The girl's hair was short milky brown that curled at a wisp on the bottom and her eyes were a brilliant blue that stood out in the old fashion summer dress she wore. Her father in the picture had a bright cherry smile as he stood next to her.

 

Too curious at the pair; Winry removed the photo from inside the plastic casing and read the back of the picture in hopes it would shed some light on who this mystery girl was.

 

The results gave Winry quite the stir, her blue irises glossed over the writing on the back of the photo as she realized who the girl was.

 

Tom Rockbell and Julia Foster, ages 14 and 13, June 14, 1884.

 

'Mother...'

 

She didn't stop the snake of tears that slithered down after fighting them.

 

"Wow, that's pretty neat."

 

Winry, use to having only her voice in the room, jumped when this new one arrived. It was a voice that would seem like warm honey had it not also carried the quirk of a cocky attitude with it.

 

She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to look up at a boy she knew was her age although a stranger would assume him to be younger than seventeen as his height only reached 166 centimeters. Other than that bit of drawback he was quite good looking, with long golden blond hair he kept secured in a braid most of the time, and shocking amber eyes that resembled his locks. The only difference about him was instead of his usual 'red coat black clothes, nothing complicated' style; he chose to wear a dark blue sleeveless shirt and sported his white shorts.

 

"Oh! Hi, Ed." She said drawing her mind away from what he was wearing, putting the photo back in its place.

The thought of Edward's sudden appearance seemed to give her weird chills.

 

"Did you know your parents were childhood friends?" He asked her as he knelt next to where she sat.

 

"I actually had no idea," Winry admitted "Granny never said anything about them knowing each other when they were kids."

 

"Ah, speaking of Old Lady, Pinako."

 

Winry elbowed him slightly.

 

"Sorry, Granny Pinako." He said correcting himself " Where is she? I wanted to know if the upgrades were finished on my leg yet." He tapped at the replacement automail leg he used last time he visited in a gesture about his usual one.

 

Winry gave him a look that read of ignorance on Edward's part.

 

"Weren't you listening when she said she was going to Rush Valley for that automail shipment earlier?"

 

Edward dolefully palmed the back of his head "I... guess not."

He answered, and then positioned his hand back on the floor when he noticed Winry had began chuckling to her self.

 

In the gally of Winry's thoughts she realized that the last time she went to Rush Valley she had met a man named Dominic that had known Pinako...

 

And she wondered how the man was faring with seeing her grandmother there.

 

"What's so funny?" Asked Edward cutting in on her humorous thoughts.

 

"Nothing." She said catching breath she lost from laughing "I just remembered something from when we went to Rush Valley."

 

"Oh?" He suddenly got a curious look in his eyes, allot had gone on during that escapade to the automail Utopia, and Edward deemed it important to know what was so funny about that.

 

"Tell me about it," he asked getting out of his kneeling position so he could fully sit on the floor next to her. "I got all day cause Al left to visit mom's grave this time; so let's hear it."