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Post by LadyRiona on Nov 19, 2005 0:09:38 GMT -5
Whoopee, another FMA fic. This was my first one...not horribly popular on FF.net for some reason...it took a lot of work to get where it is now!! lol Okay, I'll shut up.
Disclaimer: Don't own FMA, but Hiromu Arakawa does an excellent job on it.
Summary: Someone unexpected shows up. She holds some significance in Ed and Al's life. Why did she come back after all those years?
A Forgotten Memory By: LadyRiona Prologue Rating: K+ with extra guidance maybe“Didn’t you care? Didn’t you care about me and Al?” Those words stopped whatever retort was working in her mind. His words were so full of hate and loathing. Was it possible for him to hate her so violently after seeing her for the first time in years? She guessed so from Ed’s actions and words towards her. But she refused to let her hurt show to him. The last thing she would do was let Ed see her tears and the distress in her eyes. So she mustered up all she could to reply. “I did care, Edward, I still do.” God help her, her voice was shaky. She opened her mouth to speak more, but Ed cut her off. “Then why didn’t you come back to us? Why didn’t you come when you heard about Mom’s death?” he shouted at her. Her vision blurred. No matter how much she tried to keep the tears from coming, the stinging in her eyes only increased. “I wanted to,” she said unsteadily. “Why didn't you?” The distaste and abhorrence in his voice devastated her, tearing at her soul. Why hadn’t she come, she asked herself. She had convinced herself she hadn't cared then, that she had her own business. If she told Ed that it hadn’t bothered her, that she hadn't taken time to look into their mother's death, he would never forgive her. There were reasons other than that. She really had cared about their mother. She had only convinced herself otherwise then, selfishly. What had been those other reasons? What were they? “I was afraid, Edward,” she whispered. She looked up at him through her teary eyes and pushed her blond hair back with a shaky hand. “I was afraid of coming back and no one would be here. I was afraid that no one would welcome me.” He started to say her name, but she cut him off. “I was afraid you would hate me for leaving you, but you hate me now just for coming back.” Ed sighed audibly. He walked over to her and put his arms around her, one flesh, and one metal. Luckily, she was his height so it wasn’t too awkward, but she could still feel his stiffness and unfamiliarity of the action. “I don’t hate you,” he told her quietly. She cleared her throat a little so she wouldn’t sound too pitiful when she spoke. “I’m sorry, Edward. I’m so sorry.” She returned the embrace and leaned her head on his shoulder. Something told her to look up, though, so she did. Immediately upon doing so, it was purely her reflexes that reacted. Before the thought occurred, she had pushed Ed out of the way and taken the bullet. She jerked when the hot metal came in contact with her stomach. Unusual warmth washed over her, starting from the pit of her belly. Things became hazy. Ed’s cry sounded a little distant, and the clank of Al’s armored body was merely a quiet creak to her ears. Her mind was blank. What had happened? She fell to her knees and touched her stomach. There was a dull ache there. When she brought her fingers back to her line of vision, her fingertips were coated in warm blood. A panicked chill quickly replaced that warm feeling from only a few seconds ago. Her hands began to shake violently before her. Everything else blurred away as the moment set in. Someone had tried to kill Ed. She’d shoved him out of the way on instinct. She’d taken the bullet in her stomach. She was going to die. Then her surroundings came back to her in one sudden slap. Her cheek stung where Ed’s flesh and bone hand had flown across it. She blinked a few times and touched her face. He was kneeling before her, shouting. How long had he been there? “Can you hear me?” he asked her loudly, desperately. She responded with a faint nod. “Brother, what happened?” Al asked his brother. Ed ignored the question. “Go get Auntie and Winry, now,” he ordered. Al seemed to hesitate a moment, but she heard him run back into the house. Then Ed turned his attention back to her. “Why did you do that?” She wondered if the moisture in his eyes meant he was he beginning to cry. She swallowed hard. Everything hurt to so badly now. She lifted her hand to Edward’s cheek and smiled painfully. “I love you, Brother,” she whispered. After that, everything faded into nothing as consciousness left her.
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Post by Anime Monster on Nov 19, 2005 0:41:38 GMT -5
Ah...you already know what I think. Can't believe that ending, you have a gift for twist, my friend.
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Post by LadyRiona on Nov 19, 2005 0:48:03 GMT -5
Aww, thank you Animon. -blush- I have no clue what was going on when this was written....
hehehe
The Elric brothers have a sister! OooO...
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Post by chibinaru on Nov 29, 2005 17:03:20 GMT -5
Ooh, such a twist! I loved the ending. Very sad yes, but I enjoyed it. Good job!
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Post by LadyRiona on Dec 4, 2005 18:37:10 GMT -5
I'll, ah, post the next chapter sometime soon...I"m such a slow updater when I don't have a deadline! ^_^x
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Post by LadyRiona on Feb 12, 2006 13:16:25 GMT -5
Ooooh, bad Ri....taking two months to update. Ehe....well, I had like...two people read through it and they still didn't nitpick at this chapter. *sigh* Ah well. If anyone is willing to be an editor and deconstruct my stuff and hesitate putting it back together, please let me know. I need an editor who is as mean as Simon Cowell on American Idol. >.>;; Chew it up, spit it back out in nasty little slobber-covered pieces. haha Anyway, here's chapter 1.
A Forgotten Memory Chapter 1: Reports
Ed sat up in his bed, gasping for breath. His left arm was shaking, but he didn’t feel any movement in his right. His heart was thudding against his chest. The breeze coming through the open window hit him in the face and woke him up fully. Why had Al left the window open again? Ed swung his legs off the side of the bed and leaned his face against his hands, groaning a little.
How many times had he dreamt that? How often had he seen her face while he slept? The guilt that plagued him was so great still; it was hard for him to sleep. But it hadn’t been his fault, really! She was an independent girl; what she'd done to save him told him that. Even if he’d had a choice in the matter, he wouldn’t have been able to change her mind from taking that bullet for him.
For him.
That was why he was so guilty. That bullet had been meant for him. If it hadn’t been for her, Ed would probably be dead now, or paralyzed. Countless times he’d replayed those few minutes in his head, thinking about what it would have been like hadhe been hit, instead. They were the same height, and it hit her in the upper abdomen. Making himself think about it again, as punishment, he could imagine the pain in his mid-back, where he should have been shot.
Punishment.
Yes, he was punishing himself. If he had been more alert and hadn’t let his guard down, then he would have sensed that other presence. It had been his fault in so many ways that she had been taken away from him. Time and again, Winry had tried to convince him that it wasn’t his fault; that it was just the way she had chosen to go. Ed hadn’t listened. It was his fault she had been taken and he refused to believe otherwise.
But it didn’t follow the Law of Equivalent Trade! She had been taken from him, just like his arm and leg, but what had he been given in return? For his leg, he had been given that thing he’d transmuted with Al. For his arm had been Al’s soul, transfixed into that armor. But for her, what did he have? Grief, shame, and self-loathing. But none of those were equal to her! What else had he received in return?
“What else?” he said angrily to the wall. “What else did it give me?”
“Brother?” Al asked from the other side of the room.
Ed took a deep breath to calm himself. “Yes, Al?” he replied evenly.
“Are you thinking about her again?” the younger boy asked.
The eldest—no, second eldest—fell back down onto his bed. “Yeah.” He let out a long sigh. “Don’t mind me, Al,” he said softly. “I’ll be fine.” A yawn escaped his lips.
“Good night, brother,” Al murmured, but Edward was already asleep again.
~~~~~~
Isabel stared out of the window lifelessly. Why? That was the only thought, the only thing that processed in her mind. Why had things ended up like this? Just as she had been given another shot at happiness, it had been taken away ruthlessly. Her happiness and her brothers both, all in one fell swoop. Why hadn’t she been permitted to go back to them? It had been six months since they’d been reunited for six hours. Why did she have to live in a mental health facility? She hadn’t done anything wrong, and she was sure she wasn’t crazy.
“You’re answering your own questions again, Isabel,” her psychiatrist said.
She spared him a quick glance then gazed back out at the rain. She didn’t care. She didn’t care about this place. She wished it would just burn down and turn to cinders. She just wanted to get back to her brothers. What were they doing now? Did they even care that she had “died?” Did they think about her still? Or had they forgotten her after that day to go on living their previous life? Were they depressed because their elder sister had been taken away from them again?
“The only way you’ll ever get out of here is if you start talking to us, Isabel,” the man, who was shorter than Ed, told her. “Now, what’s on your mind?”
She ignored him. Why did he even try? He knew she wouldn’t say anything to him. She hadn’t spoken one word since she’d woken up in the building. She’d written plenty of things in a journal, but the psychiatrists read it so she never put too much detail in them. No sense in them getting under her skin and knowing what she was thinking.
In fact, if they knew how much she thought about using her alchemy to get out of that place, they’d probably have put her on so many medications, she couldn’t tell which end was up. So she left everything about alchemy out of her journal. Mainly, she wrote about how much she hated the food there, and what the other people in her wing talked about. Nothing of great importance.
“Very well, your hour is up anyway.” The man stood up and closed the very nearly empty folder. “Tomorrow afternoon, I want progress. Don’t make us have to influence you to speak.”
That was an empty threat. They would never do anything to her that involved taking her hands out of the stockholders. One second out of them would be their demise. On her wrists were tattoos that allowed her to perform alchemy without needing to draw an alchemic circle. Lucky for her all the doctors were too stupid to think of removing them. Or were they smart for not even attempting?
Isabel was led out into the hall and then escorted back to her room. There, she was under heavy surveillance. Her walls were made out of a material that resisted any marking at all. There were guards watching her, they would know if she tried to perform something on the walls or on the bed. She had no furniture in her room except for her bed. Even with that there was no way she could form a transmutation circle. Maybe they were smarter than she gave them credit for. They’d covered all the bases of keeping an alchemist from using their ability.
She was tired, for the past few nights she hadn’t slept. She hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of sleeping, not while there was a chance of escape. She'd heard a rumor of a military official coming soon for some reason. The people working in the ward would be too flustered to notice what she drew during her journal entry. If she had enough time, then she could transmute the bonds over her wrists into something easy to break. Then, she’d do as she pleased.
What she wanted to do was get out of this ward and find her way back to Resembool to find her brothers. She’d stop at nothing to do that. God help whatever stood in her way.
There was a knock on her door. She said nothing still. Let them think she was asleep. Better yet, let them think she was dead. Then they might just throw her out into the street. Yeah, that’d be good. A smooth getaway, that was just what she needed. Or maybe they’d just start leaving her alone when it wasn’t time for a meal or an appointment.
“Miss Elric, you have a guest,” the guard outside her door said.
A guest? She sat up in her bed, alert. She placed her hands on her thighs and watched as the door opened. It creaked on its hinges as the gap slowly widened. The clicking of booted feet echoed in her empty room. The blue pants looked so familiar she could gag. Her eyes trailed up to a face. His black hair was messily cut and scattered everywhere. The dark depths of his eyes pierced her. But what made her lose the gasp in her throat was his scowl.
God, he was good at that.
She couldn’t believe who it was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Edward?” Edward heard Winry walk out onto the balcony. He sighed, and leaned against the rail more. The wind ruffled his unkempt hair and blew it in his eyes, but he didn’t mind. “I brought you something to drink.” She held out a cup to him.
It took a moment for life to come back to Edward, somewhat, but he finally looked at her. “Thanks,” he murmured and took the glass. He didn’t drink, though, only held the mug between his palms and continued to stare at the sunset. The sky looked almost exactly how it had that day, six months ago to the day. There were purple, pink, and orange clouds lazing about on the horizon. The sun was just dipping below some hills in the distance and was blood red. It reminded him of Isabel’s blood staining his shirt as he’d carried her into the house.
Winry stood next to him and leaned on the rail as well. “So,” she murmured.
After Isabel had asked him to forgive her, Ed had picked her up and ran inside. He met Al, Auntie Pinako, and Winry at the door. Pinako had immediately turned to phone for someone to pick Isabel up and drive her to the small hospital in town. Edward had told them there wasn’t enough time and turned around. He’d started running away from the house, away from what had happened. He would make it in time, much quicker than it took for someone to drive to the house and then drive back. But tears had blinded his vision. About twenty meters from the house, he’d stumbled, but Al had helped him stay afoot. Edward hadn’t even noticed or heard his brother running beside him.
When they’d reached the hospital and demanded that someone see Isabel that second, the doctor had taken her back. He and his brother were almost the only ones in the waiting room, Ed had stood facing a window. His mind had been assaulted with thoughts and reasons why. Why she'd done that, why he hadn't been able to keep it from happening, why he had to lose her again so soon after she'd come back. Not one answer he'd come up with had satisfied him.
Why had she been taken away from him so soon! “Why?” he asked the air.
“What?”
Ed looked down at his cup and shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it,” he mumbled.
“You know, you need to start thinking more about what you’re doing to yourself, Edward Elric! You’ve been so depressed lately that you’ve lost weight! You’re even more of a bean now!” Winry yelled. Edward didn't respond to her calling him a bean. He heard Winry sigh. “Edward, it was six months ago. You need to get over it.”
Very carefully, Ed set the cup on the edge of the rail. He turned a steely glare on Winry. “She was my sister, Winry. I hadn’t seen her for nine years. We only saw each other for less than six hours before someone killed her right in front of me! I don’t even know who did it!” he said harshly.
Winry took a couple steps back. “Edward—”
“My sister was taken from me by a stranger like that and you want me to forget her?” He took a few deep breaths, but his shoulders began to shake. “It was my fault, too,” he murmured. “It was all my fault she was killed. If I had been paying more attention to what was around us, then she might still be alive. But I was more focused on my fury than the person only a few yards away.” Ed turned back to the rail and looked down at the contents of the cup. He vaguely registered the sound of an engine approaching.
“Ed, I didn’t know you—”
“Forget it, Winry,” he growled.
“But—”
“I said forget it!” he shouted and knocked the cup off the rail. It hit the ground with a shattering crash. Ed focused on it finally and then saw a familiar form looking back up at him.
“Miss Winry, does he normally greet guests like that?” Major Armstrong asked.
Winry shrugged and left. Edward scowled again. He would have scowled at the ground, but he couldn’t see anything for the tears in his eyes. Finally, someone else knew the truth of what he felt, but he was too proud to admit he wanted help to deal with it. He didn’t want Winry to get more involved in this than she should. He couldn’t take it if something happened to her, too.
“Edward Elric,” Armstrong said when he came outside again. Ed ignored him. “I have news for you from Colonel Mustang.”
“Great,” Ed mumbled sarcastically. More mocking remarks about his absence, probably. The man never seemed to know when to stop. One of these days, he was going to get a beating from Ed that would scar him for life.
“You may want to sit down somewhere,” Armstrong advised sagely before saying more.
Ed continued standing, but he turned to face the Major. “Go on. Let me know what Colonel Mustang wants to mock me about now.”
Armstrong shook his head. “ ‘There is a chance your sister is alive’,” he quoted. “ ‘I’m going to confirm that now.’ ” Edward looked at Major Armstrong in shock before he fell back onto the floor. “ ‘Report to Eastern Headquarters as soon as possible. And Edward? Don’t fall.’ ”
He couldn’t believe it. Isabel was possibly alive? Where had Colonel Mustang heard that? Edward had been there when they’d proclaimed her death. He’d seen her pale form, touched her cold skin. He’d denied the papers to allow the government to take her body. He’d wanted her to be cremated and have her ashes buried near their old house so she would always be there. He had been the one to bury her remains! And now he was hearing there was a possibility of her still being alive?
“What kind of sick joke is this, Major?” he demanded from his spot on the ground still. “Because if it’s the colonel being a jerk, then he’s going to regret this!”
Armstrong looked down at Ed understandingly. “This is not a joke. I saw the reports myself.”
“R-Reports?”
“There are records of an Isabel Elric in a Dublith City Psychiatric Ward. Why they were holding her there, we don’t know yet. But it probably has something to do with the people that are after you.” Armstrong folded his beefy arms over his equally beefy chest. “I suppose you’ll want to read them for yourself.”
“Where are they?” Edward finally stood up and glared at Armstrong. “Where are the reports?” he asked angrily.
Al had come out just then and looked a little taken aback by the tone in Edward’s voice. “Brother?”
“I don’t have the papers, Edward,” Armstrong said apologetically.
“Where are they, then?” the Fullmetal Alchemist yelled. He appeared to be on the verge of hysteria.
Armstrong inwardly smirked at the reaction he would receive for the answer. “Eastern Headquarters.”
Edward’s jaw dropped as the realization came quickly. “That—He—”
“Colonel Mustang knew that if you had all the facts now then you would go to Dublith by yourself. He wanted to talk to you in East City, so he made me leave the papers there,” Armstrong explained. “There’s a train that leaves tomorrow morning for East City that we can take if you like.”
He shook his head vigorously. “Now, we go now,” Ed growled. “Come on, Al!” He headed inside, past Al, past Auntie, and past a very teary Winry. He spared her a quick glance before he stomped to his room. Aware of Armstrong and Al following him, he began shoving clothes into his suitcase. There had to be a train leaving very soon for East City. If not, then they would walk to the next station. He couldn’t just sit and wait around for something to happen.
“Brother,” Al said from beside him. “Are you sure we should leave now?”
“Alphonse,” Armstrong said from the door. “Colonel Mustang has found documents of an Isabel Elric in Dublith City Psychiatric Ward.”
Al looked at Armstrong, then at Ed, and then back at the Major. “But Isabel died, Major. She was burned and I watched Brother bury her ashes,” Al pleaded. He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself rather than Armstrong.
“Al,” Ed said lowly. “This is a second chance, a possibility of getting Isabel back again. I don’t want to pass it up, even if it is a hunch. What if she really is alive and we ignored this? I would never forgive myself, Al.”
There was a moment of silence before Al nodded. “All right, but don’t you think we should wait—”
“No! We need to go now to East City. I want to find out as soon as possible.”
~~~~~~~
It was him, coming to rescue her. Right?
“Colonel Mustang?” the guard outside the door began. “She hasn’t said a word s—”
“I know,” Mustang snapped.
“And she’s under high surveillance b—”
“I know! Leave us,” he growled. The guard finally understood that Mustang knew what he was up against, and the door clicked shut quietly. When Mustang looked at Isabel finally, he shook his head and muttered a few choice words about the guards. He walked over to her and looked down at the girl.
She couldn’t believe it. Her existence was known to the outside world? Did Ed know? Did he care? What about Al? Even though they hadn’t spent as much time together, he was still her younger brother. Isabel missed them both sorely. How she’d been able to stay away from them for so long was beyond her now. But what did the colonel have to do with her? Well, besides those years in her past she would rather forget.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Mustang asked. When she only stared, he added, “Anything you tell me will not leave my confidence.” Isabel pointedly looked around the room. In every corner were cameras. “Very well, then. Nod or shake your head for yes or no. I repeat: do you know why you’re here?”
Isabel thought a moment then shook her head.
“Do you know how long you’ve been here?”
She nodded.
Mustang pulled out a small notebook and scribbled something. “Do you remember what happened before you were here?”
She winced. All too well, she thought. With a little bit of a nod, she could feel the tears stinging her eyes. Mustang was still questioning her, but she was only listening with half an ear. Her mind was elsewhere at the moment. It was back at the day she’d seen her brothers again for the first time in years. She’d been so happy to be with them again, despite the obvious hurt and frustration Edward had felt. Al didn’t seem to remember much of her, though. The more Isabel thought about it, the more she felt like crying. She couldn’t help the first few tears that spilled over her cheeks. Finally, the colonel asked her a question that caught her full attention.
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked. If it had been in her to speak, Isabel would have pledged life and limb if he could get her out of this place.
Silently, with tears streaming down her cheeks, Isabel nodded. He had no idea how much she would like that.
How soon? her mind screamed. She wanted to ask so badly. Her mouth formed the shape of the words, but no sound. The colonel seemed to notice her attempt to speak and waited patiently. ‘Come on, you can do it. You can ask. It isn’t so hard,’ she told herself.
When Mustang felt like she wouldn’t say anything, he nodded, dismissed himself, and started to leave. From the time he crossed the room from her bed to the door, Isabel was building up the energy to speak. Just as his hand was on the doorknob, she felt something within her change, like a switch had suddenly been hit. She squeaked when she tried to speak first. Colonel Mustang turned around in surprise but stifled it easily. Isabel cleared her throat and spoke for the first time in six months.
“How soon until you can get me out?” she asked quietly.
Either Mustang was thinking or he was taken aback in shock since he didn’t say anything for a few moments. Finally, he said, “As soon as I can get permission, Isabel,” he told her confidently.
She smiled at him. “Thank you.” And he left, left her alone in her room. Even though the time that he could gain permission might be a long while, she was very glad to have the prospect of getting out of the psych ward.
A wave of fatigue washed over her. Even though it would be mealtime soon, she lay down on her bed again and stared up at the ceiling. Just as blessed sleep was about to claim her, a thought reached her.
What if Mustang was lying to her?
Before she could answer for herself, she rolled over and fell into slumber.
Ahahaha....a long chapter. Hope you enjoyed!
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Mar 6, 2006 15:19:13 GMT -5
Oh wow, I don't know why I missed this story. It is really good Ri. Hmm. I might sneak over to ffnet and see if you've got anymore posted over there. I can't wait to see more.
M.
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