Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ The Journey Within ❯ Red Handed ( Chapter 2 )

~I do not own our favorite pint-sized alchemist or any of his friends, but I certainly wished that I did. That way, I wouldn't have to put up any disclaimers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Journey Within

Chapter 2- Red-Handed

 

 

 

`Oh…holy…shit…'

 

Ed was frozen in place, mouth agape, eyes wide as saucers, because before him stood the object of his most hidden and obscene fantasies. Winry had her back to him, golden hair free of any ties, and cascading down her back. As Ed let his eyes travel down her body, he could feel the saliva gathering in his mouth as he noticed the way her waist curved into her hips, and how the tie of the robe seemed to make her hour glass figure more noticeable. Gulping, his eyes kept roaming further down her curves, and he noted how the robe flared out again over the smooth roundness of her tight ass. Since she was facing into the moonlight, he could even make out the delicate curves of her body through the thin blue fabric of her mid-thigh length robe.

 

`She's gonna kill me if she catches me staring at her like a horny dog…'

 

Ed flinched as he saw Winry start to turn around, but quickly came to the conclusion that being caught red-handed was much less of an offense as being a coward about it. So Ed stood his ground and braced himself for what the thought would be the inevitable backlash from the sharp-tongued automail mechanic.

 

`Ok Ed, you can do this, just be cool, be cool. Shit, I hope she doesn't have a wrench on her.'

And instead of the tongue-lashing he expected to receive all he got was a gentle smile as Winry turned to face him, arms protectively closed around her middle.

 

“Hey, Ed. What are you doing up so late?”

 

Fumbling for words, all Ed managed to come up with was a very profound, “Uh, I…er, um…so hot…water…”

 

“Either you're still half asleep, or your prolific sense of speaking is shining again,” Winry replied, which earned her a glare and an open-mouthed gape from her childhood friend. “Well I was on my way to the kitchen; how about you join me and we can catch up a bit?”

 

And as she daintily stepped past a still fuming and slightly bewildered Ed, Winry gently closed his mouth with one finger and proceeded onto the kitchen.

 

Ed turned and watched her leave, all traces of his rage gone, and shook his head.

 

`I swear, I'm never gonna figure her out.'

 

As Ed followed her, he could hear the clattering of Winry puttering around the kitchen. When he stepped into the room, there was a glass of water waiting for him at one of the seats at the table, and Winry seated at the opposite end, slowly sipping a glass herself. Sitting across from her, Ed couldn't look at her, hell he couldn't even breathe; his recent embarrassment and his present hard-on both making it impossibly difficult to not throw her onto the table and screw her senseless.

 

`I will NOT try and see through her robe, and I will NOT think dirty thoughts. First and foremost, Winry is my friend.'

 

Determination filled his soul, but was quickly snuffed out when the twitch in his groin made him stifle a moan.

 

`Ah shit, I'm fucked.'

 

As Winry set down her glass, the two locked eyes; icy cerulean blue meeting heated molten gold. The seconds dragged on, marked by the gentle ticking of the clock on the wall. And all the while, Winry kept up her mantra.

 

`I will NOT look at Ed's defined chest and abs, I will NOT look at Ed's defined chest and abs…' She paused her mind rambling long enough to collect her thoughts. `But I will ask him what's been on my mind all these years. And I won't do it by screaming at him like usual. Yes, that is the new plan.'

 

Taking a deep breath, Winry folded her arms under the table and placed her clasped hands in her lap, her now questioning eyes never leaving Ed's.

 

`Go on girl, it's now or never. You can do this.'

 

He jumped as her voice asked, in a soft and soothing tone not fit for the question, the one question he hoped to never answer.

 

“Ed, why do you shut me out?”

 

Panic shot through the elder Elric brother as he digested her inquiry, letting his gaze flicker away for an instant. But then his eyes softened, and Winry let out a small gasp as his eyes met hers once again. The anguish was clearly evident in his shimmering eyes, seemingly to pour from their golden depths.

 

`So, that's what he keeps locked away. Oh, Ed, please don't shut me out again, you don't have to do this alone…'

 

`Winry, you could never understand…'

 

Ed could feel the tears threatening to fall, and he furiously blinked them away as Winry's look of shock turned to one of concern. Slowly righting herself, she tried in vain not to let her own tears of compassion shimmer across her eyes.

 

`I can't let you feel this pain. First my dad left, my mom… then Al, and the countless of other people that have been hurt along the way because of us… I can't let it touch you. You deserve better than this,'

 

A shuddering sigh escaped his lips, `you deserve better than me, but you deserve to know the truth…God I just need to answer her! That's all! FUCKING SAY SOMETHING, ELRIC!'

 

And the seconds dragged on.

 

Soon a few minuets had passed as Winry and Ed struggled to grasp the thousands of emotions that held the room in a static electricity. Finally, when it seems that the walls of the small kitchen would crash down around them from the tension, Ed's eyes fell to the tabletop as he spoke in an uncharacteristically small voice.

 

`I can't do this anymore. I just need to fucking tell her how I feel!”

 

“Winry, I…”

 

“Ed, you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to tell.”

 

Her words fell like bricks onto a tile floor. A few more gentle ticks from the clock, and then Ed could hear the soft scraping of her chair against the wooden floor. He felt his shoulders slump as he drew his conclusions.

 

`Shit, I scared her away. Way to go, Elric. The one time I think I can force out something, anything, and I wait to long because I'm such a chicken-shit, and she gets frustrated and leaves. Way to be cool.'

 

And that's when he felt the gentle tug on his shoulders as Winry pulled him into her embrace from her position behind his chair.

 

Disbelief flashed through his eyes as he let himself be drawn to her, and felt her arms slide across his chest in a protective hold. And when he felt her lay her cheek on the top of his head, Ed felt as if his heart would burst with not only sorrow, but also joy.

 

`Maybe, just maybe, someday I can be good enough for you, Winry…'

 

Winry almost jumped when she felt the cold automail of Ed's right arm reach up to secure her arms around his chest, but when the realization hit her of what he was doing, she almost lost it. `Keep it together, girl, you're just comforting a lonely, hurt, depressed friend who needs someone to show him some kindness right now. Just because he's returning the hug doesn't mean anything. Well, not like I WANT it to mean anything.'

 

A light blush spread across her cheeks as her thoughts continued.

 

`Yeah, a friend who you saw coming at you in the reflection of the glass in the front room but let him stare and drool all over you anyways because you hope deep down inside he loves you too… you are hopeless, Winry Rockbell. Completely hopeless.'

 

She sighed, and let her eyes slide closed.

 

`Ed, if this is all you can give me right now, then I'm never letting go.'

 

Ed heard her sigh, and for the first time since he was an apprentice with Teacher, he completely relaxed into the embrace of someone. Letting his cheek rest on her forearm, he inhaled and exhaled deeply.

 

`Winry, if you could only understand how much this means to me, how much YOU mean to me...I promise, I'll tell you. Someday.'

 

And as they remained there in each other's company and embrace, the ticking of the clock seemed to fade away, and the only sound was the combined breathing of Ed and Winry, each lost in their own thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As dawn broke over the hills that surrounded the sleepy town of Rizamboul, Edward Elric sat on the front stoop of the Rockbell's house, chin in metal palm, staring off into the purplish pink haze of the early morning. Long after he and Winry had broken their embrace, said hurried goodnights, and she was back upstairs, Ed had stayed glued to the kitchen chair he sat in, still reeling from the feeling of Winry pressed up against him. Comforting HIM. Ed shivered as the crisp morning air blew through the yard, ruffling his boxers a bit before dying back down. Sure, Ed was a bit chilly from the early morning air, but the Fullmetal Alchemist had chills mainly from remembering the events of night before. However, he remembered most of all her sweet voice calmly saying, even though it must have hurt her like hell,

 

“Ed, you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to tell.”

 

His golden eyes slid shut, and Ed heaved a sigh large enough to creak the rickety steps he sat on.

 

`Way to be cool, Elric.'

 

Staring down at his metal limbs, the image of the little girl from the train floated into his mind's eye. `Ah, Myrah…I did make a promise didn't I? Al trusts that I won't break it. But how can I trust myself that I won't? What if that's what it takes to make Al whole again? Pain comes in so many forms, and not just physical pain…'

 

Another sigh.

 

`Some promises are just not meant for this world, little Myrah.'

 

The shadows from the dawn began to hide Ed's eyes beneath the fringe of his bangs.

 

`And if it means that I have to sacrifice myself for Al, then at least he can be whole again…and I don't have to hurt Winry anymore.'

 

The rhythmic clinking of metal steadily grew louder behind him, and Ed knew that his little brother had come looking for him.

 

“I was worried about you, brother. You left late last night and didn't come back.” When Ed made no move to turn around or acknowledge him, Al raised his voice a bit and tried again.

 

“Brother?”

 

Ed's only response a sigh as the gentle early morning breeze blew his unkempt braid in the wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that day, in the workshop…

 

 

 

 

“FUCK!”

 

“Ed? You'll let me know if it hurts, right?”

 

“Sure, Winry, sure.”

 

Winry worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she continued the work on Ed's right arm and shoulder. `He's normally so good about pain tolerance…this must really hurt him a lot…'

 

As he lay shirtless on his stomach in front of her, every so often she would throw him a glance, but as always his eyes were focused on some distant, far off place.

 

`Certainly no place he'd share with me, I'm sure, well at least not after last night. Why did I have to hug him? And he was only in his boxers! He probably thinks I'm such a weirdo. God, I'm such a fuck up!'

 

Ed's sharp intake of breath brought Winry out of her daydreaming, and a mumbled “Sorry, Ed” found it's way out her mouth as she moved her hand, which had somehow slipped onto the open nerve-endings protruding out of the back of Ed's shoulder.

 

Winry's brows furrowed as she concentrated on repairing Ed's shoulder.

 

`I don't know how he's been managing his pain. This damage is so extensive I almost had to replace the entire nerve system! But after all, he IS the Fullmetal Alchemist.'

 

Her nose screwed up as her hand with the screwdriver stilled,

 

`They should've called him Fullmetal Jerk-I-can-deal-with-it-all-on-my-own, if you ask me.'

 

“Hey Winry?”

 

“Oh, I'm sorry Ed, did my hand slip again?”

 

“No.”

 

Ed turned his head as best as he could to see her over his right shoulder. And the look that he gave Winry made her shiver from head to toe. `God why does he have to look at me like that? Doesn't he know what it does to me?!'

 

Calmly she wet her lips, but her voice betrayed her as it cracked slightly.

 

“Well, what is it then?”

 

“I never thanked you for last night.”

 

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and Winry felt her heart melt right out of her chest.

 

“Thank you.”

 

The blush that had been building up her neck flushed in full force across her face, which made Ed's small smile grow just a little bit wider. And a very flustered Winry quickly got back to work, but not before a “your welcome” reached Ed's ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much love,

The Cerulean Alchemist