Fic - "Delay"
Title: Delay
Author: colonel_bastard
Characters/Fandom: Kain Fuery. Fullmetal Alchemist [manga].
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The memory fades but the impact remains.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide, spoilers through chapter 52.
Notes: I kept noticing how often Fuery seems to inexplicably burst into tears over the most mundane things. Especially in all the artwork for the manga--- the poor little guy can't seem to stop crying! I figured I could try and give him something to cry about it. Written for the prompt "train" at fma_fic_contest.
Kain Fuery is five years old when he sees a man jump in front of a train.
He’s waiting with his mother on the westbound platform, heading out to visit his grandparents. He notices the lonely stranger but doesn’t think anything of it until the wail of the whistle catches his ear and drops the man into a runner’s crouch. The timing couldn’t be more perfect--- he runs and leaps at exactly the right moment. Blink and he’s gone, no proof of his existence except the shoe that was ripped off by the impact of the locomotive. Kain stares, open-mouthed, as the platform erupts in screams.
Then his mother falls to her knees in front of him, blocking his view. She’s white as a sheet. Her hands dig into Kain’s shoulders and she shakes him, frantic, insisting, “You didn’t see it, you didn’t see it, baby, please tell me you didn’t see it.”
He manages to meet her eyes and promises, “I didn’t.” For her sake, he forces himself to be still. He swallows his terror and pretends it doesn’t exist.
Two days later, when he loses a game of checkers against his grandmother, he bursts into hysterical tears and cannot be consoled.
- - -
He wills himself to forget. His youth works to his advantage, and by the time he is a teenager, he is convinced that the whole incident was simply a bad dream. The memory fades but the impact remains, buried so deep that even he doesn’t understand his behavior.
When he receives the phone call that his grandfather has died, he is a portrait of calm.
The next day, when he spills a glass of water, he cries for an hour.
When a training exercise goes wrong and a friend gets his hand blown off, he’s the only one who doesn’t flinch.
A week later, when he finds a spelling error in his report, he has to cover his mouth to muffle his sobs.
At the funeral for Brigadier General Hughes, he stands quiet and reserved.
Almost two weeks after the service, when he drops his keys, he nearly chokes on the wave of grief that slams into him.
- - -
Kain Fuery is far from five years old, but it’s another platform and another cloudy day, waiting for the southbound train. When he received the transfer orders, he accepted with a nod and even thanked the officer who brought them. When he packed up the office with Breda and Falman, he observed their discontent but felt strangely separate. When he calmly said goodbye to Black Hayate, Hawkeye caught his arm and said, “Kain, are you all right?” He smiled at her and said he was fine.
It’ll be a long ride down to Southern Headquarters, down the iron tracks and into the unknown, separated from his unit and his commanding officer. He doesn’t think anything of it until the wail of the whistle catches his ear and drives him to his knees.
_____end.
Author: colonel_bastard
Characters/Fandom: Kain Fuery. Fullmetal Alchemist [manga].
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The memory fades but the impact remains.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide, spoilers through chapter 52.
Notes: I kept noticing how often Fuery seems to inexplicably burst into tears over the most mundane things. Especially in all the artwork for the manga--- the poor little guy can't seem to stop crying! I figured I could try and give him something to cry about it. Written for the prompt "train" at fma_fic_contest.
Kain Fuery is five years old when he sees a man jump in front of a train.
He’s waiting with his mother on the westbound platform, heading out to visit his grandparents. He notices the lonely stranger but doesn’t think anything of it until the wail of the whistle catches his ear and drops the man into a runner’s crouch. The timing couldn’t be more perfect--- he runs and leaps at exactly the right moment. Blink and he’s gone, no proof of his existence except the shoe that was ripped off by the impact of the locomotive. Kain stares, open-mouthed, as the platform erupts in screams.
Then his mother falls to her knees in front of him, blocking his view. She’s white as a sheet. Her hands dig into Kain’s shoulders and she shakes him, frantic, insisting, “You didn’t see it, you didn’t see it, baby, please tell me you didn’t see it.”
He manages to meet her eyes and promises, “I didn’t.” For her sake, he forces himself to be still. He swallows his terror and pretends it doesn’t exist.
Two days later, when he loses a game of checkers against his grandmother, he bursts into hysterical tears and cannot be consoled.
- - -
He wills himself to forget. His youth works to his advantage, and by the time he is a teenager, he is convinced that the whole incident was simply a bad dream. The memory fades but the impact remains, buried so deep that even he doesn’t understand his behavior.
When he receives the phone call that his grandfather has died, he is a portrait of calm.
The next day, when he spills a glass of water, he cries for an hour.
When a training exercise goes wrong and a friend gets his hand blown off, he’s the only one who doesn’t flinch.
A week later, when he finds a spelling error in his report, he has to cover his mouth to muffle his sobs.
At the funeral for Brigadier General Hughes, he stands quiet and reserved.
Almost two weeks after the service, when he drops his keys, he nearly chokes on the wave of grief that slams into him.
- - -
Kain Fuery is far from five years old, but it’s another platform and another cloudy day, waiting for the southbound train. When he received the transfer orders, he accepted with a nod and even thanked the officer who brought them. When he packed up the office with Breda and Falman, he observed their discontent but felt strangely separate. When he calmly said goodbye to Black Hayate, Hawkeye caught his arm and said, “Kain, are you all right?” He smiled at her and said he was fine.
It’ll be a long ride down to Southern Headquarters, down the iron tracks and into the unknown, separated from his unit and his commanding officer. He doesn’t think anything of it until the wail of the whistle catches his ear and drives him to his knees.
_____end.