FMA Fic: "Brave New World" 25/?
Title: Brave New World - Dress Up
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Ed POV, mentions of Al, Winry and Roy
Words: 497
Rating: Gen
Summary: Ed's not sure about his new clothes.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
Part One: Through the Back Door
Part Two: Aftermath
Part Three: Reminders
Part Four: Under Any Circumstances
Part Five: Lost and Found
Parts Six-Seven-Eight: Cold Comfort, Equivalent Exchange and In the Hallway
Part Nine: Discussions
Part Ten: Telephone Call
Parts Eleven-Twelve-Thirteen: Simple Requests, Tell Me a Story, No Tears
Parts Fourteen-Fifteen-Sixteen: Similarities, Discussions II and Painkillers
Part Seventeen: Wake Up Call
Part Eighteen: Chance, 1,000 Yard Stare
Part Nineteen: Thoughts Of
Part Twenty-Twenty-One-Twenty-Two: Waking, Curiosity, Treasure
Part Twenty-Three: Differences
Part Twenty-Four: Discussions III
Part Twenty-Five:
X X X
Brave New World - Dress Up
X X X
Ed curled his lip at the sight of the clothes Winry had chosen. “Brown?” He shook out the jacket, holding it up. “This looks like something the old man would’ve worn.”
“Just put the clothes on, Brother.” Al made a face back when Ed sneered at him. “They’re nice clothes! Winry wanted us to look good.” He paused, glancing down at himself. “Well, you’ll look good. I’ll look like a scarecrow.” Grumbling, “And I have to ride in a wheelchair,” Al started unbuttoning his shirt.
“I heard Mustang’s driving us to the train station.” Ed tried to get Al’s mind off the wheelchair.
Al shrugged. “I’ve ridden with Colonel Mustang before.”
“That was back home, and he had two good eyes.”
He looked stricken. “Oh. Yeah. Do you think we can ask someone else to drive us?”
The door swung open as Al asked his question, Winry walking through. “Aren’t you dressed yet? And you hate the way I drive.”
Ed had to ask, “You drive?”
“Of course!” Frowning, she gestured at the clothes. “You need to get dressed, or we’re going to miss our train! Do you need any help, Al?”
“Brother can help me once he stops complaining about you buying him brown clothes.” The smug expression on Al’s face made Ed remember his little brother beaming as he got his big brother in trouble with Mom.
His body automatically flinched in learned response, and Ed was surprised when Winry’s brow creased for a second, then smoothed out. That haunted look vanished from her eyes when he caught her gaze and she gave him a glare instead. “Well, that’s what you’re going to wear. Now, get dressed, or I’ll strip you and dress you myself!” Spinning, she left the room, Al staring after her.
“Brother, what was that?”
“Something to do with her Ed and Al,” Ed sighed, realizing he’d blundered into it foolishly again.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Undercover Blues
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Ed POV, mentions of Al, Winry and Roy
Words: 497
Rating: Gen
Summary: Ed’s still not sure of these clothes.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
X X X
Packing to leave the hospital took very little time, considering. Relief flooded Ed at the release - he’d come to hate those pale green walls, and guards outside the door. He wished Al could’ve walked out of the building, but even with a pair of crutches and someone to steady him, he was too weak for a long walk, so he rode a wheelchair. Getting him from the train station to the Rockbell house wasn’t something Ed really wanted to contemplate. What if he got recognized? What if Al did? Right now, he felt edgy with the need to get out of Central City, to get back to that yellow house on the hill, where maybe he could take a few deep breaths.
If no one recognized them.
“It’s easy, Ed, just wear a hat. Tuck your hair down the collar of your shirt when we get to Rezembool.” Winry’s common sense approach made him twitch - but Mustang shoved a hat on his head and that was that. “I told Granny we’d need someone to pick us up at the station, so she arranged for the Nedobeck’s to bring their dogcart for Al.”
Another similarity - the Nedobecks raised sheep, like most of Rezembool, back home. And it’d be a two and a half day trip by train to get from Central to Rezembool. At least Mustang - or Hawkeye, someone - had arranged for a private room on the train. Ed knew Al wasn’t up to sitting on a bench for the entire trip, and Winry’d always complained about her butt falling asleep.
Hawkeye’d only assigned Mustang as a guard, and he was dressed in civilian clothing, but that huge-assed eyepatch made him stand out anywhere. Maybe people would notice him, instead of Al in a wheelchair. Ed wondered if Dr. Marcoh could repair however much damage that patch covered, and decided maybe he shouldn’t ask. Instead, he’d wonder at how polite Winry and Mustang were to each other. Winry was always polite to people older than her, well, to almost anyone who wasn’t an Elric, or a stupid Xingese prince, or a little pickpocket from Rush Valley. But even Ed could feel a tension between them.
One more weird thing to puzzle over. Maybe he’d set Al on it, to find out just how Winry knew Mustang, and why they acted the way they did. Al’d be good at it. Who could look at those huge eyes and not spill their guts?
Ed wrinkled his nose. No, no gut-spilling, even in the most figurative sense of the word. He’d had enough of that in Bashool.
“Are you done dressing yet?”
Mustang’s voice cut into his thoughts, and Ed nearly flashed him an obscene gesture - but they had a train to make. Tugging the hat down a little further over his eyes, he took one last look around the room. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready to go.” Reaching over, he bumped his fist against Al’s shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Leaving Central
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Winry, Sceizca
Words: 300
Rating: Gen
Summary: At the train station, things are said.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Foolish
X X X
“I wish I could go with you.” Sciezca glanced at the two young men, one in a wheelchair, the other standing next to him, with Corporal Mustang watching them. Captain Hawkeye had nixed Sciezca going to Risembool, and didn’t give a reason.
Winry gave her friend a hug. “I think you’d do them better staying in Central,” she said, again. “You’re the one who’s best able to find the books they need, to figure out a way to get them home.”
Disappointment showed in the slump of her shoulders and her lowered head. “But…I have so many questions I want to ask them! Aren’t you the least bit curious about the differences in their world and ours?”
Corporal Mustang shot them a sharp glance and Winry waved her hands. “Lower your voice!” she hissed at Sciezca, who panicked.
“I just get so excited…I’m sorry!” She bowed nervously.
Winry didn’t think any harm was done despite Sciezca’s foolish outburst. No one even turned and glanced their way. It didn’t mean people weren’t listening, though, and Winry had learned that all too well. “It’s okay.” She hoped. “Look…it’s better if you’re here, really.” It was going to be hard enough explaining it all to Granny. Ed…still looked like Ed, regardless. A little harder, maybe, and definitely taller. Al, on the other hand.
Sciezca hadn’t realized she wasn’t paying attention, rattling on about unique opportunities and embracing the strangeness and, lowering her voice even more, maybe this could prove her theory about aliens.
Winry was saved having to answer by the conductor’s shout of, “All aboard!” and the bell ringing on top of the train. Giving Sciezca another hug, she said, “If I need you, I’ll call.”
But deep down, she knew she wouldn’t.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Mistakes
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Riza
Words: 299
Rating: Gen
Summary: Riza’s not going to be late.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Foolish
X X X
Riza strode quickly through the train station, a military duffle thrown over her shoulder, despite her civilian clothing. She passed the bag off to a porter, showing him her ticket, and gave him a tip to make sure the bag got on the train.
Her leave approval had come in late last night, a phone call from Breda alerting her that the signed document was on her desk. “Seems strange, you going without us,” he’d said, and Riza couldn’t help but agree. She trusted Roy, up to a point. He had, after all, hared off to Briggs, taking a demotion when the country needed strong men and women to lead it. He hadn’t even had the decency to tell her to her face what he was doing, just left her with a note, and eventually, a terse letter outlining where he was, and hoping she’d forgive him. It was her own foolish pride that let him go, instead of hunting him down and dragging him off the mountain, pride and pain, and anger at him throwing away everything they’d worked so hard to build since Ishbal. She knew she’d played her own part in it. Even helping him recover didn’t quite make up for the shrapnel that took his eye, shrapnel she hadn’t calculated for when she’d shot Archer. So they’d both been fools. Rather than doing what they’d always done, draw strength from one another, they’d drifted apart, and wound up in this situation, not speaking, alone, when they could have been forging ahead together.
She’d made up her mind, not telling Roy, just requesting her leave. There had been too many foolish mistakes made over the past decade, and Riza wasn’t going to let the appearance of these Elric brothers be the catalyst for another one.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - The World According To
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Roy, Ed
Words: 293
Rating: Gen
Summary: Roy tells Ed about some of the differences in his role in facing the Homunculi.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Tutorial
X X X
“Let me get this straight.” Edward looked as if he wasn’t sure he could believe what Roy was saying. “You demoted yourself, and went to Briggs? Because of me. Rather than following your own ambition, and helping to fix the government and helping the citizens?”
When put like that, it sounded very self-indulgent.
“What did Captain Hawkeye say about this?” The expression the young man wore reminded Roy of someone who’d caught a whiff of a bad odor. “Tell me she tried to talk some sense into you!”
“She did. But after I recovered,” Roy said slowly, “I needed time to think. Briggs seemed the best place.”
Making a disparaging noise, Edward folded his arms. The jacket he wore hid the fact the right arm was weak, and not as muscular as the left. “Briggs is the best place to freeze your balls off. I don’t know about anything else.”
“I killed the Fuhrer. His son died in my arms. And then I faced Archer, who’d come back from what seemed like the dead in a nearly complete automail body.” Roy took a breath. He couldn’t say the bullet that took his left eye had ricocheted out of Archer’s metal body, and had come from Hawkeye’s gun. It wasn’t just that he’d gone to Briggs because of Edward, but also because Hawkeye had changed after his recuperation. They’d gone from compatriots, to living closely together during his healing period, to their realization he’d survive, and didn’t blame her - though she blamed herself. It seemed easier to take himself out of the picture for failing to save a child, and putting his adjutant in such straits.
Edward shook his head, saying almost to himself, “I need a tutorial to get through all these differences.”
X X X
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Ed POV, mentions of Al, Winry and Roy
Words: 497
Rating: Gen
Summary: Ed's not sure about his new clothes.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
Part One: Through the Back Door
Part Two: Aftermath
Part Three: Reminders
Part Four: Under Any Circumstances
Part Five: Lost and Found
Parts Six-Seven-Eight: Cold Comfort, Equivalent Exchange and In the Hallway
Part Nine: Discussions
Part Ten: Telephone Call
Parts Eleven-Twelve-Thirteen: Simple Requests, Tell Me a Story, No Tears
Parts Fourteen-Fifteen-Sixteen: Similarities, Discussions II and Painkillers
Part Seventeen: Wake Up Call
Part Eighteen: Chance, 1,000 Yard Stare
Part Nineteen: Thoughts Of
Part Twenty-Twenty-One-Twenty-Two: Waking, Curiosity, Treasure
Part Twenty-Three: Differences
Part Twenty-Four: Discussions III
Part Twenty-Five:
X X X
Brave New World - Dress Up
X X X
Ed curled his lip at the sight of the clothes Winry had chosen. “Brown?” He shook out the jacket, holding it up. “This looks like something the old man would’ve worn.”
“Just put the clothes on, Brother.” Al made a face back when Ed sneered at him. “They’re nice clothes! Winry wanted us to look good.” He paused, glancing down at himself. “Well, you’ll look good. I’ll look like a scarecrow.” Grumbling, “And I have to ride in a wheelchair,” Al started unbuttoning his shirt.
“I heard Mustang’s driving us to the train station.” Ed tried to get Al’s mind off the wheelchair.
Al shrugged. “I’ve ridden with Colonel Mustang before.”
“That was back home, and he had two good eyes.”
He looked stricken. “Oh. Yeah. Do you think we can ask someone else to drive us?”
The door swung open as Al asked his question, Winry walking through. “Aren’t you dressed yet? And you hate the way I drive.”
Ed had to ask, “You drive?”
“Of course!” Frowning, she gestured at the clothes. “You need to get dressed, or we’re going to miss our train! Do you need any help, Al?”
“Brother can help me once he stops complaining about you buying him brown clothes.” The smug expression on Al’s face made Ed remember his little brother beaming as he got his big brother in trouble with Mom.
His body automatically flinched in learned response, and Ed was surprised when Winry’s brow creased for a second, then smoothed out. That haunted look vanished from her eyes when he caught her gaze and she gave him a glare instead. “Well, that’s what you’re going to wear. Now, get dressed, or I’ll strip you and dress you myself!” Spinning, she left the room, Al staring after her.
“Brother, what was that?”
“Something to do with her Ed and Al,” Ed sighed, realizing he’d blundered into it foolishly again.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Undercover Blues
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Ed POV, mentions of Al, Winry and Roy
Words: 497
Rating: Gen
Summary: Ed’s still not sure of these clothes.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
X X X
Packing to leave the hospital took very little time, considering. Relief flooded Ed at the release - he’d come to hate those pale green walls, and guards outside the door. He wished Al could’ve walked out of the building, but even with a pair of crutches and someone to steady him, he was too weak for a long walk, so he rode a wheelchair. Getting him from the train station to the Rockbell house wasn’t something Ed really wanted to contemplate. What if he got recognized? What if Al did? Right now, he felt edgy with the need to get out of Central City, to get back to that yellow house on the hill, where maybe he could take a few deep breaths.
If no one recognized them.
“It’s easy, Ed, just wear a hat. Tuck your hair down the collar of your shirt when we get to Rezembool.” Winry’s common sense approach made him twitch - but Mustang shoved a hat on his head and that was that. “I told Granny we’d need someone to pick us up at the station, so she arranged for the Nedobeck’s to bring their dogcart for Al.”
Another similarity - the Nedobecks raised sheep, like most of Rezembool, back home. And it’d be a two and a half day trip by train to get from Central to Rezembool. At least Mustang - or Hawkeye, someone - had arranged for a private room on the train. Ed knew Al wasn’t up to sitting on a bench for the entire trip, and Winry’d always complained about her butt falling asleep.
Hawkeye’d only assigned Mustang as a guard, and he was dressed in civilian clothing, but that huge-assed eyepatch made him stand out anywhere. Maybe people would notice him, instead of Al in a wheelchair. Ed wondered if Dr. Marcoh could repair however much damage that patch covered, and decided maybe he shouldn’t ask. Instead, he’d wonder at how polite Winry and Mustang were to each other. Winry was always polite to people older than her, well, to almost anyone who wasn’t an Elric, or a stupid Xingese prince, or a little pickpocket from Rush Valley. But even Ed could feel a tension between them.
One more weird thing to puzzle over. Maybe he’d set Al on it, to find out just how Winry knew Mustang, and why they acted the way they did. Al’d be good at it. Who could look at those huge eyes and not spill their guts?
Ed wrinkled his nose. No, no gut-spilling, even in the most figurative sense of the word. He’d had enough of that in Bashool.
“Are you done dressing yet?”
Mustang’s voice cut into his thoughts, and Ed nearly flashed him an obscene gesture - but they had a train to make. Tugging the hat down a little further over his eyes, he took one last look around the room. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready to go.” Reaching over, he bumped his fist against Al’s shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Leaving Central
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Winry, Sceizca
Words: 300
Rating: Gen
Summary: At the train station, things are said.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Foolish
X X X
“I wish I could go with you.” Sciezca glanced at the two young men, one in a wheelchair, the other standing next to him, with Corporal Mustang watching them. Captain Hawkeye had nixed Sciezca going to Risembool, and didn’t give a reason.
Winry gave her friend a hug. “I think you’d do them better staying in Central,” she said, again. “You’re the one who’s best able to find the books they need, to figure out a way to get them home.”
Disappointment showed in the slump of her shoulders and her lowered head. “But…I have so many questions I want to ask them! Aren’t you the least bit curious about the differences in their world and ours?”
Corporal Mustang shot them a sharp glance and Winry waved her hands. “Lower your voice!” she hissed at Sciezca, who panicked.
“I just get so excited…I’m sorry!” She bowed nervously.
Winry didn’t think any harm was done despite Sciezca’s foolish outburst. No one even turned and glanced their way. It didn’t mean people weren’t listening, though, and Winry had learned that all too well. “It’s okay.” She hoped. “Look…it’s better if you’re here, really.” It was going to be hard enough explaining it all to Granny. Ed…still looked like Ed, regardless. A little harder, maybe, and definitely taller. Al, on the other hand.
Sciezca hadn’t realized she wasn’t paying attention, rattling on about unique opportunities and embracing the strangeness and, lowering her voice even more, maybe this could prove her theory about aliens.
Winry was saved having to answer by the conductor’s shout of, “All aboard!” and the bell ringing on top of the train. Giving Sciezca another hug, she said, “If I need you, I’ll call.”
But deep down, she knew she wouldn’t.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - Mistakes
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Riza
Words: 299
Rating: Gen
Summary: Riza’s not going to be late.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Foolish
X X X
Riza strode quickly through the train station, a military duffle thrown over her shoulder, despite her civilian clothing. She passed the bag off to a porter, showing him her ticket, and gave him a tip to make sure the bag got on the train.
Her leave approval had come in late last night, a phone call from Breda alerting her that the signed document was on her desk. “Seems strange, you going without us,” he’d said, and Riza couldn’t help but agree. She trusted Roy, up to a point. He had, after all, hared off to Briggs, taking a demotion when the country needed strong men and women to lead it. He hadn’t even had the decency to tell her to her face what he was doing, just left her with a note, and eventually, a terse letter outlining where he was, and hoping she’d forgive him. It was her own foolish pride that let him go, instead of hunting him down and dragging him off the mountain, pride and pain, and anger at him throwing away everything they’d worked so hard to build since Ishbal. She knew she’d played her own part in it. Even helping him recover didn’t quite make up for the shrapnel that took his eye, shrapnel she hadn’t calculated for when she’d shot Archer. So they’d both been fools. Rather than doing what they’d always done, draw strength from one another, they’d drifted apart, and wound up in this situation, not speaking, alone, when they could have been forging ahead together.
She’d made up her mind, not telling Roy, just requesting her leave. There had been too many foolish mistakes made over the past decade, and Riza wasn’t going to let the appearance of these Elric brothers be the catalyst for another one.
X X X
Title: Brave New World - The World According To
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Author: evil_little_dog
Characters: Roy, Ed
Words: 293
Rating: Gen
Summary: Roy tells Ed about some of the differences in his role in facing the Homunculi.
Warnings: Same warnings still apply: Crossover between original anime/manga; part of a larger story.
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
fanfic_bakeoff prompt: Tutorial
X X X
“Let me get this straight.” Edward looked as if he wasn’t sure he could believe what Roy was saying. “You demoted yourself, and went to Briggs? Because of me. Rather than following your own ambition, and helping to fix the government and helping the citizens?”
When put like that, it sounded very self-indulgent.
“What did Captain Hawkeye say about this?” The expression the young man wore reminded Roy of someone who’d caught a whiff of a bad odor. “Tell me she tried to talk some sense into you!”
“She did. But after I recovered,” Roy said slowly, “I needed time to think. Briggs seemed the best place.”
Making a disparaging noise, Edward folded his arms. The jacket he wore hid the fact the right arm was weak, and not as muscular as the left. “Briggs is the best place to freeze your balls off. I don’t know about anything else.”
“I killed the Fuhrer. His son died in my arms. And then I faced Archer, who’d come back from what seemed like the dead in a nearly complete automail body.” Roy took a breath. He couldn’t say the bullet that took his left eye had ricocheted out of Archer’s metal body, and had come from Hawkeye’s gun. It wasn’t just that he’d gone to Briggs because of Edward, but also because Hawkeye had changed after his recuperation. They’d gone from compatriots, to living closely together during his healing period, to their realization he’d survive, and didn’t blame her - though she blamed herself. It seemed easier to take himself out of the picture for failing to save a child, and putting his adjutant in such straits.
Edward shook his head, saying almost to himself, “I need a tutorial to get through all these differences.”
X X X