March Prompt: Story Continuation || "A Tenuous Thread"
Title: A Tenuous Thread
Author: capnhoozits
Series: Brotherhood Episode “Backs in the Distance”/Manga Chapter 46
Word Count: 1604
Rating: T for brief language (Ed, of course)
Characters: Winry, Ed, Al, Scar, and a few MPs.
Summary: A continuation of September Prompt “Canon Change”, First, Do No Harm, because I wanted to figure out how that change would affect the rest of the story. I will probably continue this idea in other entries.
The chatter in the marketplace was like chatter anywhere else, until Winry heard one voice that immediately caught her attention.
“I hear the Elric Brothers are fighting!”
Winry’s heart sank. “Why are they fighting this time?” she sighed to herself. “Geez!”
“Apparently they’re fighting that guy who only goes after State Alchemists,” someone called out as if answering her.
Other voices joined the first. “They haven’t caught him yet?” “What is the heck is the army doing?”
This was not good. This was very, very not good. She sped up her steps. The memory of her parents’ backs flashed in her mind, then Mr. Hughes, followed by her last sight of Ed’s back.
“No…” she thought tensely. “What am I thinking?” She couldn’t bear the thought of that being her last sight of him alive.
She had no plan in mind, but that didn’t stop her. She hurried down the first alleyway that she came across. Soon she could hear shouting and rumblings. She nearly darted past another alley between two tall buildings, then she stopped. The pavement along this way was torn up in chunks, and there were two men in military police uniforms lying on the ground, unconscious or possibly even dead. She figured it was likely that Ed and Al had come this way so she headed in.
“It’s true, alchemists have done wrong,” she heard Ed say with a heavy, angry voice, his breathing labored. “But that’s no excuse for what you’re doing!”
He’s still alive was her first relieved thought. She looked down at the other end of the alley where it opened onto the street. There she could see Ed and Al, but also the broad back of a tall man. Was this the one everybody was talking about? The alchemist killer?
Not if she had anything to do with it.
The tall man spoke, his voice deep and harsh. “I told you in East City. There are ones like you, who create, and ones like me, who destroy.”
“That’s shit logic!” Ed shot back. “I’m done talking!”
All three of them tensed to spring, and Winry ran up closer than she probably should have. “Stop!” she screamed out. She directed her order to all three of them, because it was a good bet that Ed would do something stupid, but she particularly wanted to get the attention of their assailant. “You hurt them and you’ll have to answer to me!”
It was kind of a silly thing to say. What could she do, after all? That didn’t make it any less true.
The three combatants froze and then turned toward her. The tall man, the Ishvalan with the scar slashed across his face, regarded her with annoyance and a look like she would be the next one he would deal with. Al’s armored visor didn’t show emotion, but it was plain from his stance that he was startled. Ed looked horrified, then angry.
It was the Ishvalan who spoke, or growled, first. “Stay out of the way, girl!”
Amazingly enough, Ed echoed the man’s words. “What the hell!” he cried frantically, trying to keep one eye on his foe. “Winry Rockbell, are you nuts! Get outta here!”
The Ishvalan flinched and stared at her. The anger suddenly disappeared from his burning eyes, replaced by a wary intent. “Rockbell?”
Winry stared back at him. “What?”
Ed and Al, still poised to fight, stared as well. Ed was the first to recover. “That’s right, Scar!” he snarled at the Ishvalan. “Rockbell! Winry’s mom and dad! They were doctors who helped your people during the war! And they got killed for it! They said some Ishvalans did it! Talk about gratitude!”
Scar still stared at Winry, and it seemed to take a moment for Ed’s words to register. The shock on his face mingled with dismay. “They’re dead?”
Winry studied the man for a few moments. The atmosphere of conflict and peril were forced aside by a new, almost bittersweet yearning. “You knew them?” she asked in a small voice.
Scar gazed at her. He still held himself with wary tension, but his attention was riveted on her. “They treated my injuries,” he said, his voice losing its harshness. “They were alive when I left.” He paused and added quietly, “Your father showed me your picture.”
Winry felt a tug in her chest. It almost seemed like everything and everyone else had disappeared except for the two of them. “He did?”
Scar nodded. “He told me that he knew you didn’t understand why he had to go away or why he hadn’t come home, but when you grew up he wanted you to be able to look back and be proud of what they had done.”
Tell me more! Winry wanted to cry out. Tell me everything! But when Scar spoke again, his voice was harsh and he was replying to Ed.
“I can’t believe Ishvalans would have harmed them!”
“They had Aerugan bullets in them,” Ed countered. “The Aerugans were smuggling weapons to the Ishvalan resistance.”
“That doesn’t prove anything! Anyone could have used Aerugan weapons!”
Ed opened his mouth to argue, but Al spoke up, “He’s right, Brother. It could have been anybody.”
Winry was only half-listening. What difference did it make anyway? All that mattered to her was that her parents never stopped thinking about her, even with battles raging around them. Of course she was proud of them.
They could hear distant, urgent voices shouting orders. They were growing louder. Ed glanced toward the sound, then turned back to Scar, shaking his head decisively. “That still doesn’t justify what you’re doing!”
“Don’t talk to me about justice, boy!” Scar growled back, but his attention was also on the approaching voices. His crimson eyes fell intently on Winry’s. “I’ll do as you ask, for your sake and for your parents’ sakes, but not for theirs!” He jerked his head in Ed’s direction.
Before the brothers could react, Scar’s right arm crackled with blue light, and he quickly stooped down to slap his palm on the pavement. The ground lurched and ruptured and produced a thick cloud of choking dust. Winry gave a cry and staggered back, covering her face against the dust and the bits of gravel that flew everywhere. Around her was the sound of coughing and booted feet running and men’s voices shouting.
After several moments she peeked through her fingers. The cloud was beginning to dispel, revealing a number of uniformed figures turning this way and that with their pistols, trying to find something to aim at. Ed and Al gazed around, waving away the dust that still drifted before them.
“Fullmetal Alchemist!” one of the policemen called out, pausing to cough. “Where is Scar?”
Ed looked around. Scar was nowhere to be seen. “How the hell should I know?”
The officer let out an irritable huff, as though Ed was somehow responsible. He turned to his men. “Right! Get a message to command. Scar is still at large! The rest of you, spread out! Keep searching!”
As the MPs charged off, the officer turned and pointed to Winry. “You should get this young lady someplace safe!” he ordered and then jogged after his men.
“No kidding?” Ed scoffed. “Jerk!” He planted himself in front of Winry. “That was stupid and dangerous! You could have gotten killed!”
“So could you!” Winry shot back. “Especially if I hadn’t showed up!”
“That’s not the point!”
“We still have work to do, Brother,” Al interrupted calmly.
Ed shot one more furious glare at Winry, then let it melt into weary relief. “We can take care of ourselves, Winry. We’ll be okay.”
Winry jabbed a finger in the direction of his arm. “You can’t take care of your automail by yourself! Why don’t you just stay out of that man’s way! He said he wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, that and a hundred cenz’ll get me a cup of coffee,” Ed sneered. “We still have to find him. We need to-“ He waved his hand impatiently. “Look, just get back to the hotel and stay there! Okay? Like Al said, we still have work to do and the trail’s getting cold! Come on, Al!”
“Wait!” Winry reached out her hand and the brothers began to jog away. “What-“
Al turned back and waved. “Bye, Winry! We’ll see you soon!”
They ran down the sidewalk and disappeared around a corner. Winry let out a frustrated huff. Left behind again, she thought glumly. Without a clue about what’s going on. She turned and walked slowly back toward the hotel. Her feet felt heavy, as though they were unwilling to go this way. She knew why. As worried as she was for Ed and Al, she couldn’t stop thinking about the Ishvalan man, Scar. Her father had gotten friendly enough with this man to show him family photos. Sure, Dad was likely to whip them out at the drop of a hat, but a connection had still been made. This man could have been one of the last people to see her parents alive, and here he was, telling her about them. She wanted to know more. She hungered to hear every detail of every moment.
It wasn’t likely that she was ever going to get that chance, not with the military hunting the man down. That tenuous thread that had suddenly formed between them would snap and disappear. If there was any possible chance that their paths might cross again, any chance that she could find her way to the other end of that thread, she would take it.
Author: capnhoozits
Series: Brotherhood Episode “Backs in the Distance”/Manga Chapter 46
Word Count: 1604
Rating: T for brief language (Ed, of course)
Characters: Winry, Ed, Al, Scar, and a few MPs.
Summary: A continuation of September Prompt “Canon Change”, First, Do No Harm, because I wanted to figure out how that change would affect the rest of the story. I will probably continue this idea in other entries.
The chatter in the marketplace was like chatter anywhere else, until Winry heard one voice that immediately caught her attention.
“I hear the Elric Brothers are fighting!”
Winry’s heart sank. “Why are they fighting this time?” she sighed to herself. “Geez!”
“Apparently they’re fighting that guy who only goes after State Alchemists,” someone called out as if answering her.
Other voices joined the first. “They haven’t caught him yet?” “What is the heck is the army doing?”
This was not good. This was very, very not good. She sped up her steps. The memory of her parents’ backs flashed in her mind, then Mr. Hughes, followed by her last sight of Ed’s back.
“No…” she thought tensely. “What am I thinking?” She couldn’t bear the thought of that being her last sight of him alive.
She had no plan in mind, but that didn’t stop her. She hurried down the first alleyway that she came across. Soon she could hear shouting and rumblings. She nearly darted past another alley between two tall buildings, then she stopped. The pavement along this way was torn up in chunks, and there were two men in military police uniforms lying on the ground, unconscious or possibly even dead. She figured it was likely that Ed and Al had come this way so she headed in.
“It’s true, alchemists have done wrong,” she heard Ed say with a heavy, angry voice, his breathing labored. “But that’s no excuse for what you’re doing!”
He’s still alive was her first relieved thought. She looked down at the other end of the alley where it opened onto the street. There she could see Ed and Al, but also the broad back of a tall man. Was this the one everybody was talking about? The alchemist killer?
Not if she had anything to do with it.
The tall man spoke, his voice deep and harsh. “I told you in East City. There are ones like you, who create, and ones like me, who destroy.”
“That’s shit logic!” Ed shot back. “I’m done talking!”
All three of them tensed to spring, and Winry ran up closer than she probably should have. “Stop!” she screamed out. She directed her order to all three of them, because it was a good bet that Ed would do something stupid, but she particularly wanted to get the attention of their assailant. “You hurt them and you’ll have to answer to me!”
It was kind of a silly thing to say. What could she do, after all? That didn’t make it any less true.
The three combatants froze and then turned toward her. The tall man, the Ishvalan with the scar slashed across his face, regarded her with annoyance and a look like she would be the next one he would deal with. Al’s armored visor didn’t show emotion, but it was plain from his stance that he was startled. Ed looked horrified, then angry.
It was the Ishvalan who spoke, or growled, first. “Stay out of the way, girl!”
Amazingly enough, Ed echoed the man’s words. “What the hell!” he cried frantically, trying to keep one eye on his foe. “Winry Rockbell, are you nuts! Get outta here!”
The Ishvalan flinched and stared at her. The anger suddenly disappeared from his burning eyes, replaced by a wary intent. “Rockbell?”
Winry stared back at him. “What?”
Ed and Al, still poised to fight, stared as well. Ed was the first to recover. “That’s right, Scar!” he snarled at the Ishvalan. “Rockbell! Winry’s mom and dad! They were doctors who helped your people during the war! And they got killed for it! They said some Ishvalans did it! Talk about gratitude!”
Scar still stared at Winry, and it seemed to take a moment for Ed’s words to register. The shock on his face mingled with dismay. “They’re dead?”
Winry studied the man for a few moments. The atmosphere of conflict and peril were forced aside by a new, almost bittersweet yearning. “You knew them?” she asked in a small voice.
Scar gazed at her. He still held himself with wary tension, but his attention was riveted on her. “They treated my injuries,” he said, his voice losing its harshness. “They were alive when I left.” He paused and added quietly, “Your father showed me your picture.”
Winry felt a tug in her chest. It almost seemed like everything and everyone else had disappeared except for the two of them. “He did?”
Scar nodded. “He told me that he knew you didn’t understand why he had to go away or why he hadn’t come home, but when you grew up he wanted you to be able to look back and be proud of what they had done.”
Tell me more! Winry wanted to cry out. Tell me everything! But when Scar spoke again, his voice was harsh and he was replying to Ed.
“I can’t believe Ishvalans would have harmed them!”
“They had Aerugan bullets in them,” Ed countered. “The Aerugans were smuggling weapons to the Ishvalan resistance.”
“That doesn’t prove anything! Anyone could have used Aerugan weapons!”
Ed opened his mouth to argue, but Al spoke up, “He’s right, Brother. It could have been anybody.”
Winry was only half-listening. What difference did it make anyway? All that mattered to her was that her parents never stopped thinking about her, even with battles raging around them. Of course she was proud of them.
They could hear distant, urgent voices shouting orders. They were growing louder. Ed glanced toward the sound, then turned back to Scar, shaking his head decisively. “That still doesn’t justify what you’re doing!”
“Don’t talk to me about justice, boy!” Scar growled back, but his attention was also on the approaching voices. His crimson eyes fell intently on Winry’s. “I’ll do as you ask, for your sake and for your parents’ sakes, but not for theirs!” He jerked his head in Ed’s direction.
Before the brothers could react, Scar’s right arm crackled with blue light, and he quickly stooped down to slap his palm on the pavement. The ground lurched and ruptured and produced a thick cloud of choking dust. Winry gave a cry and staggered back, covering her face against the dust and the bits of gravel that flew everywhere. Around her was the sound of coughing and booted feet running and men’s voices shouting.
After several moments she peeked through her fingers. The cloud was beginning to dispel, revealing a number of uniformed figures turning this way and that with their pistols, trying to find something to aim at. Ed and Al gazed around, waving away the dust that still drifted before them.
“Fullmetal Alchemist!” one of the policemen called out, pausing to cough. “Where is Scar?”
Ed looked around. Scar was nowhere to be seen. “How the hell should I know?”
The officer let out an irritable huff, as though Ed was somehow responsible. He turned to his men. “Right! Get a message to command. Scar is still at large! The rest of you, spread out! Keep searching!”
As the MPs charged off, the officer turned and pointed to Winry. “You should get this young lady someplace safe!” he ordered and then jogged after his men.
“No kidding?” Ed scoffed. “Jerk!” He planted himself in front of Winry. “That was stupid and dangerous! You could have gotten killed!”
“So could you!” Winry shot back. “Especially if I hadn’t showed up!”
“That’s not the point!”
“We still have work to do, Brother,” Al interrupted calmly.
Ed shot one more furious glare at Winry, then let it melt into weary relief. “We can take care of ourselves, Winry. We’ll be okay.”
Winry jabbed a finger in the direction of his arm. “You can’t take care of your automail by yourself! Why don’t you just stay out of that man’s way! He said he wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, that and a hundred cenz’ll get me a cup of coffee,” Ed sneered. “We still have to find him. We need to-“ He waved his hand impatiently. “Look, just get back to the hotel and stay there! Okay? Like Al said, we still have work to do and the trail’s getting cold! Come on, Al!”
“Wait!” Winry reached out her hand and the brothers began to jog away. “What-“
Al turned back and waved. “Bye, Winry! We’ll see you soon!”
They ran down the sidewalk and disappeared around a corner. Winry let out a frustrated huff. Left behind again, she thought glumly. Without a clue about what’s going on. She turned and walked slowly back toward the hotel. Her feet felt heavy, as though they were unwilling to go this way. She knew why. As worried as she was for Ed and Al, she couldn’t stop thinking about the Ishvalan man, Scar. Her father had gotten friendly enough with this man to show him family photos. Sure, Dad was likely to whip them out at the drop of a hat, but a connection had still been made. This man could have been one of the last people to see her parents alive, and here he was, telling her about them. She wanted to know more. She hungered to hear every detail of every moment.
It wasn’t likely that she was ever going to get that chance, not with the military hunting the man down. That tenuous thread that had suddenly formed between them would snap and disappear. If there was any possible chance that their paths might cross again, any chance that she could find her way to the other end of that thread, she would take it.