Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost in You ❯ Chapter 1

"Ghost in You"

 

 

Sometimes I wonder about what sensei taught us. Sensei- it isn't that she is unique. That's the thing Al and I have discovered. She is more like other women than most women are. Any that us two know of.

 

But, they are all like that. In some amount. It varies.

 

As most parts to a whole do. Hm. Women.

 

I throw a rock into a concrete ditch.

 

“That water's stale.” Al's not very resonant. His visor must be so hot that the air inside expands just enough to press the vibration in it back. Once I asked him how he made it move, with no bodily tissue to push the air around and make his voice.

 

You just don't get the idea of something standing still. I shake my head. I laugh. Because it's funny, sometimes, how fractal answers can become. Scary, even more.

 

I feel your hand on my arm. We're metal against metal. I know how that feels. I guess that's why Sensei is so full of compassion for people she can figure out. To feel so much and know you're got to feel even more. Just to be sorry.

 

Answers. There are so many to understand. Sometimes simple words seem so backwards. You have to unjumble them. Whisper. How, with no body to make the sounds with?

 

Sometimes I think you won't tell me, because you don't want me to know. What you know, Al. I think sometimes this feeling inside this body is amped up: Not just to want to get back what you had, but to feel all the feelings you would have had. If I told you that, would you say how you talk, with no body?

 

“What are you thinking about?”

 

I twist out of your grip, I shrug, I throw another rock in that water. It's green. “At this temperature and humidity rate, I'm willing to bet you'd get an infection walking through it, barefooted.”

 

“Heh.”

 

“Well, maybe not you, Al.”

 

You tilt your lid, so you can catch the sunlight on it's rim and rotate your neck. Somehow you've learned to articulate your movements and manipulate the light to give your audience the impression those are the glowing pupils. You are the most subtly funny guy.

 

“I was thinking, big brother.”

 

“About?”

 

“I'm thinking about what to buy for Winry, when she comes to visit.”

 

You've gotten fond of that. “I bet.” Then I laugh when I think about how mad she got when the white swimsuit we got her turned out to be see-through. “Maybe something less obvious when we take her to the waterpark.”

 

“I think we're obvious, already.”

 

I throw another rock into the water, on the far end to break up the oily top film more evenly. “I guess you've got a point. She knew we wanted to see her in a swimsuit. I mean, even Winry could figure we weren't exactly there to swim.”

 

You manage the sunlight into some sarcastic effect, the light in the socket rim rolls in the bevel. It's like you've just rolled your eyes. “Obvious?”

 

Yeah. “Obvious.” I grimace.

 

“And she goes along with it.”

 

“Wow.” We both say it at the same time, nod in unison, and turn to watch a pair of dragonflies. Smaller male mounting the female, mid-flight.

 

“You got any ideas?” I ask you.

 

“Sunscreen's thoughtful, isn't it?”

 

You make the armor groan, to punctuate the way you drop your jaw. I swear I can see eyebrows going up when you make those faces. Like any typical, horny guy.

 

"Putting sunscreen on her?" I can't help snickering. "Pervert."

 

You hold up your hands and pretend to squeeze something nice, round... in a two-pack. Like you could ever feel it if you got that far. That's what makes it so intense. I'm going to. And I'm gonna make it count, for the both of us.

 

"She's hot, huh?" I slap the metal knee.

 

I swear I see eyebrows wriggling. The things I think I can see, sometimes. Ah... But, Winry and sunscreen. Greasy, in a good way- for once. And all those curves.

 

Women. There's something about women.