When you love someone...

[equalexchange]

For days, Edward Elric had been silently floating on his own personal cloud. For the first time in what felt like ages, he'd had restful nights sleep. He'd been able to focus. He felt as if the weight of the world had been, momentarily lifted off his shoulders. And for the time, he kept it to himself, reveling in the wonder of this new,

Comments

[wutaiheart]

Yuffie just happened to be the sort of girl who went tree to tree as exercise and training. Also, there were sometimes houses, and that meant either meeting people or getting a chance to rifle through their things.

She didn't expect to see that guy again. Wow, poor bastard.

"Edward?"

[equalexchange]

Edward looked up slowly, almost hopefully. Of course, the split second it took him to register the voice, he knew it wasn't Winry. By then, he was looked directly at Yuffie. Apparently, this girl had a knack for finding him was he was feeling low.

"...You swing through trees for fun?" he asked, his voice flat.

At least this time he wasn't shaking like a mad-man.

[wutaiheart]

"Keeps my skills intact," said Yuffie. "You look like hell, my friend. Can I ask what happened, or should we just go steal some booze?" She punctuated it with a charming smile.

[equalexchange]

Booze. Damn, that actually sounded really good at the moment. Something, anything to dull his senses.

He was still holding the wrench protectively when he spoke. "Someone I was ... that I cared about very much ... she used to live here."

[wizard_errant]

Dairine has stars on the brain. She's been working on the non-glass parts of the telescope, and it's nearly time for the lens, which is why she's swinging up the trunk to Winry's treehouse.

"Winry!" she calls, to announce her presence. "How's that lens coming--"

She doesn't quite finish, because it's the wrong blond ponytail greeting her when she reaches the top, even if the wrench might be misleading. "Ed?" she asks, confused. "What's up?"

[equalexchange]

Edward looked up, but didn't move from his place on the bed. The half-rusted suit of armor loomed in the corner by the blowtorch.

"Winry's not here," he said, as if it were merely that simple. It was only the slump of his shoulders and the tone in his voice that betrayed the seriousness of the situation. He ran his thumb over the wrench handle.

[wizard_errant]

"Well, no kidding," Dairine begins, her brain beginning to catch up with his dejected look. "Wait, you mean like, really not here?"

[equalexchange]

"I got here mid-afternoon, and the ladder hadn't been dropped down. I called out, but didn't get an answer. I got worried, so I climbed up here..." he murmured.

He laid the wrench in his lap, both hands still wound tightly 'round it. He stared down at it, rather than looking at Dairine.

"She's gone, Dairine. Just... gone."

[quench_love]

Freshly scrubbed and smelling like soap, Sandy decided to take the long way home from the compound. It didn't bother him that the dark had settled over the trees because he knew the island now like the back of his hand. He couldn't possibly get himself lost.

... Or could he? "Stupid," he murmured under his breath as climbed over a fallen log and continued in the direction of his hut. "That's what you get for not bothering with the path, and look, now you're talking to yourself. Just great..." he trailed off when he caught sight of a boy climbing down from a treehouse. "Oh, hello," he said with more cheer than he felt.

[equalexchange]

When Edward finally touched the ground, there was an odd sort of clanking sound. What it was exactly was hard to tell, especially in the oncoming darkness. Gold-Hazel eyes were red rimmed, his face slack with an odd sort of grief as he turned toward the voice.

"...Hey." he replied, nowhere near Sandy's false cheer. As he moved forward, he stepped into just enough light to catch on him -- though shaped like normal limbs, his arm and left leg were both cast out of a cold, grey steel.

"You lost or something?" he asked, with very little interest, and he gestured in a vague direction. "The compound's that way."

[quench_love]

Sandy normally would have replied right away but he faltered at the sight of... was that some sort of robotic arm? ... And leg? He blinked and then set his eyes back on the boy's face, at once apologetic. "What? Oh, no. I'm quite fine, I think," he managed something of an easy smile and wiped his newly cleaned hands off on his shorts.

"I was just coming back from the compound, actually," he explained, wandering a little bit closer. "I live not far from here in a hut, and it's not bad living. But there are two things the compound's got that we don't, and that's free food and running water."

[equalexchange]

Edward paused. "Mm." he replied, a noncommittal sort of sound. Normally he would have agreed whole-heartedly; he spent enough time himself raiding the kitchen, and making use of the showers. Hell, he probably could have used a shower right then, but it was the farthest thing from his mind.

"I'm headed home, myself. My brother's probably wondering where I got to." He wasn't sure exactly how long he'd been up in that treehouse. He did know that he'd missed dinner, though.

[armoredboy]

Al didn't really know what a six sense was, and if he did, he wouldn't have though he had one, even though it seemed as though he could tell across boundaries of counties, miles, oceans, or apparently dimensions, when something was going on with Edward. That was a brother thing, as far as he was concerned, part and parcel.

So he didn't like the weird feeling racing along his collarbones and shoulders, and deeper in the pit of his stomach, as he approached Winry's treehouse. He'd had a feeling that his brother and his other best friend since childhood had been having...discussions, lately, of the same nature as the one he'd had with O-Ren. He would have bet money they'd ended the same way.

Except for this feeling.

"...Hey!" he called up, after standing at the base of the tree and listening to silence save for the jungle noises for about five minutes. "Anyone home?"

[equalexchange]

When Edward opened his eyes, he wondered just when he'd wound up this way -- lying across Winry's bed, clutching a wrench to his chest, his head sunk deeply into the pillow. For a moment, he'd forgotten how he'd gotten there. He'd been swallowed in dreamless sleep, and then something in the darkness...

He sat up slowly, setting the wrench on the bed, and rubbing his eyes. They were dry, and oddly crusty at the edges.

Oh. Right. He remembered now. I'm a mess... he though, running a hand through his hair.

And when Al's voice broke through the relative silence, his heart sank all over again.

He wasn't ready to tell Al. He was barely able to accept it himself. Still, he rose slowly from the bed, nudged the trap door aside, and threw down the rope ladder.

[armoredboy]

Al peered up at the trap door, feeling his stomach twisting around. This was not a good sign. He grabbed the ladder and climbed with no hesitation, and hauled himself easily up to kneeling on the floor. He looked at Ed directly, first, for a long moment, then glanced around the treehouse. After a moment taking it all in, he looked back to his brother from under knitted brows and a fall of his bangs and said, very quietly, "Where is she?"

[equalexchange]

Edward rose slowly, his automail creaking. He walked to the table, and ran his hand absently over the lamp that usually sat in the window. He flipped the switch -- on, off, on, off. From the corner, Al's half-rusted armor loomed, as menacing as a trash heap. Edward searched for the words, his eyes veiled by long, disheveled bangs.

"...Gone," was all he managed, before he had to stop.