FIC: Old Bridge, New Bridge
Banner courtesy of m14mouse
Title: Old Bridge, New Bridge
Author: drummerdancer
Verse: First Anime
Characters/Pairings: Ed, mentions of other(s)
Word Count: 486
Prompt 268: Bridge
Rating: T
Summary: Ed had fond memories of the old bridge. The new one...not so much.
There was a bridge on the west side of Central. Ed remembered it well-he, Al, Nina, and Alexander had all had to cross it to get to the practicals for the State Alchemy exam, and then cross it once more when Ed had finished and passed.
He remembered telling his brother on that bridge that he’d get his body back one day, the setting sun casting shadows from his armor all across the stone slabs and paved road as Nina dozed from atop his shoulders, the wreath of flowers still slung around her head like a halo.
He remembered coming across it again, years later, as a man twice his age lectured him about his childish ideals while he, himself, planned to carry out his own against the leader of the country-all the while, the sunset flinging black in the corners of the vehicle, an impending sign of death in its presence.
But what he didn’t remember were the looming cracks in the foundation, or the way the bridge sagged in the middle like a taunt string let loose, with rain water collecting in a small ocean in the indent during most of the spring.
He offered to fix it with alchemy but alas, the bridge was apparently over two hundred years old and needed to be replaced anyway. It would generate money for a local construction company, they’d said.
So Ed watched as the bridge came down, piece by piece that afternoon, the drink in his hand tasting like lake water as masonry and stone were carried off to be disposed of appropriately. The road was closed, with people standing around, watching and taking pictures and telling stories like this was the beginning of something instead of the end. Ed sipped his drink quietly.
The new bridge took a little more than a month-they did end up using alchemists, though they pretended otherwise. Ed wasn’t invited, but after the bridge finished ahead of schedule, a certain general coughed up some suspicious documents for him. And boy, were they shitty alchemists. Probably saved a couple hundred thousand cenz going with amateurs like them.
Ed didn’t say anything about it, though. They would learn their lesson-five, ten years maybe? A good flood and it’d be gone, a stack of cards in a heavy wind. They’d learn, one way or another.
Until then…Ed kept away from it. More than anything else, the bridge was harsh steel that blinded drivers when they crossed it midday and caused far too many mishaps to be worth risking anyway. There were other ways across the lake, though their view of the sun at sunset wasn’t quite as scenic. But Ed could remember the old bridge just fine, and the sunset was always beautiful, glazing every stone slab with a warm yellow and red that never quite faded from memory.
Yeah, he remembered that old bridge quite nicely.
Double posted @ fma_fic_contest || Fake cut @ fm_alchemist & fma_gen