HOME | DD

Description
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ISFw… Please listen while you read!)

“There, that should do it.”

“Stop tugging at it, Edward.”

He chuckled, eyes glinting. “Hey, you don’t want the automail falling off, do you?”

You scoffed, the sharp breath lifting a strand of hair. “Yeah, but your constant yanking hurts like hell.”

His thumb lightly brushed over the rim of the metallic arm. “Well, at least that means those nerves are still working.”

You lowered your gaze to the grass. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”

Carefully cradling your arm, Edward bent your arm from the elbow, making sure the joint suffered no catches. You watched him, his nose slightly wrinkled, his golden eyes narrowed with concentration. You could not help but smile a little, not from amusement but simply from the love and admiration you hold for him. He had always been serious minded in regards to his work, even as a child. Seeing him like this brought back happy memories of the Elric brothers teaching you the ways of alchemy.

Growing up all these years with him, you heard nothing but tales of the Philosopher’s stone and facts about alchemy. Even when you and Winry decided to wander and play on your own, you still absorbed those pieces of information, that strong curiosity growing more and more. It took very little time for you to finally build the courage to ask them for their teaching.

They accepted the challenge, Edward especially, with greatest of enthusiasm.

It took grueling hours of work and toiling for you to truly understand the mechanics of the science itself. They helped you every step of the way, and soon, you were able to work on your own. You loved it. You never felt so powerful in your short, little life. The more your practiced, the more you improved. As you aged, and you continued to grow physically, mentally and emotionally, so did your abilities as an alchemist. Soon, you were ready to set your goal as an alchemist of the state.

It seemed as though the fates planned it all too differently than you imagined.

Slowly but surely, you worked your way into becoming a state alchemist, unlike the brothers, being the prodigies that they were, having been accepted immediately. You felt no jealousy towards them. After all, with talent like theirs, the state would have been stupid not to accept them into their ranks. You, on the other hand? You still failed to decide whether or night it mattered. Either way, you reached your intended goal, and once again, the Elric brothers accepted you into their little world. Despite Edward’s missing limbs and Alphonse’s new body, they had not changed. They were just as you remembered. You spent every waking minute together, so it seemed. They shared their knowledge with you. You exchanged stories amongst each other. You joked and mocked coworkers in secret.

It was everything you hoped it would be.

It was not until the appearance of the Homunculi that you were denied these privileges any further.

The fates turned against you as they shoved you into an unexpected encounter with one of them. Which one it was, Greed, Envy, Lust, you cared not to remember anymore. It was all a blur in your mind. But, you distinctly recall your mind completely shutting down, allowing only instincts take over, your heart beating so fast, you were sure it would burst. You remembered a moment in which your feet seemed glued to the floor. You could neither run nor fight, just stand there your air passageways to clogged, you couldn’t even muster one breath.

Then, you felt it: a burst of sudden energy, adrenaline fueling you to survive. You shouted. You screamed so loud your felt went raw. You gathered every bit of strength you could to conjure some weapon to fight. It could have been something stupid in your hands like a toothpick or a piece of bread and you still would have fought.

Before you even processed what occurred, you collapsed to the ground. A strange stinging and ache shot throughout the entirety of your body, yet you felt no urge to cry. With the loss of blood, your heart slowed, fighting to keep you alive, fighting to keep your blood circulating. Your eyes dimmed and flickered, while your ears muffled every sound of the outside world.

Suddenly, everything went black.

It seemed like a century passed by when you finally awakened. Your eyes muscles strained at the appearance of the cheerful sun, greeting your return. Every part of you was like led, pinned to the bed.

At least, almost everything.

You turned your head to find your right arm completely missing, the only part remaining being a stub, covered in a thick gauze. For a second, you didn’t even realize it was gone. In fact, you were so exhausted, you weren’t sure what exactly you thought at first.

It was as if just the tiniest movement, a twitch or a blink, was a hefty burden for you to process.

Then, it hit you.

Your arm, your precious right arm, was gone.

You were handicapped, crippled.

You were a freak.

Finally, the door to your emotions break free, and all you knew to do was sob.

Thankfully, someone heard your cries, someone who understood exactly what you currently undergoing. The door to your room creaked open. Soft pools of gold observed you for a little while, and a heart, one that loved you for so many years, ached for you.

And at last, when you decided to lift your bowed head, you finally saw him, the man you were so hoping would come to you.

Wiping your face with your sleeve, you managed somehow to force a weak smile.

“Hey, Edward,” you whispered, voice trembling.

Since then, he never left your side, unless his duties required him to do so. He held you in his arms when you needed to cry. He told you everything going on with the outside world. He still somehow, even with your seemingly hopeless situation, brought a smile to your face. At night, he slept in the chair closest to your bed in case you needed him.

You were so certain you loved him as much as your heart would allow, but after these weeks with him, you found yourself latching onto him completely.

You were certain you almost wouldn’t survive without him.

He had become your lifeline, your guardian angel.

Overtime, after your shattered emotions had been pieced back together, Edward took you to his hometown, your hometown, where you reunited with Winry. Just as she had done with Edward, she created a special arm composed of automail, a light, sturdy and flexible metal. It wasn’t flesh and bone, but it was better than nothing.

You could remember so distinctly lying on that table, connecting the new limb to those broken nerves. You couldn’t even describe the pain. Sharp? Burning? Aching? An overwhelming mixture of all the above? You were thankful they gave you a piece of wood to bite down on to prevent your shrieks from traversing over the entire town.

But, he stayed at your side. He gripped your hand until the discomfort subsided, until you could breathe again. When all was said and done, you managed to look at him with blurred eyes, sweat dripping down he contours of your face. Lightly cupping your face and lip trembling, he whispered with a smile,

“You did it. You’re gonna be okay.”

Despite the lingering aches, you believed him.

For whatever part of life was denied to you that night, it was given back through his love, replaced tenfold with him at your side.

“Ah, there we go,” he said, gently placing your arm in your lap. “No kinks, no hint of rust! You’re good to go!”

“Ah, thanks so much!” you lightly rubbed the joint. “That was getting almost dangerous in battle.”

He nodded. “The slightest malfunction can claim your life in the heat of battle.”

A twinge pricked your heart just for a moment. “Right...”

With a slow sigh, you laid back in the crisp clean grass. The breeze cooled the throbbing skin around your arm. Granting you a gentle smile, Edward rested against his arm, bending close to you. Your gazes locked, soft and full of love. Delicate fingertips brushed aside pieces of hair threatening to tickle your eyes. Then, he leaned in to press his lips against the corner of your mouth, his hair brushing against your cheeks. Such a tender gesture, yet one that set your heart racing with joy and excitement.

“Edward,” your voice was no louder than the breeze.

“Yeah?”

You took a finger of silver pushing behind a lock of his yellow locks behind his ear. “You knew I loved you, right?”

A soft chuckle resounded in his throat. Taking his own arm of metal, he intertwined those burnished fingers and interlaced them with yours. “I did. And I love you, you moron.”

You rolled your eyes. “Good job ruining the moment, you doofus.”

“What are you talking about?” he pursed his lips and flipped his hair dramatically. “I am the epitome of romance!”

“Yeaaaah, keep telling yourself that.”

Catching you off guard, his free hand reached for your waist, tickling you mercilessly.

“Edward! Knock it off!”

“Take it baaaack!”

“You’re just proving my point right here!”

“Take it baaaaaaack!” his voice was obnoxiously sing songy. Adding to his assault, he covered your neck with kisses.

“Damn it-!!” your voice cracked in between fits of laughter. “Okay, okay! I give!”

However, instead of releasing you, he pinned you back again, and encircled your mouth in a soft kiss. You froze a moment, allowing the warm, tingling sensations to process and spread through you. What more needed to be said? Parting lips just slightly, you breathed into the kiss and laced your arms around him, both your artificial and your real.

Life had denied you both joys and given you suffering in return.

Nonetheless, as you lay here in the sunlight with your childhood friend and sweetheart, immersing each other in your love, you realized that life gave back something that was worth it all.

Description
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ISFw… Please listen while you read!)

“There, that should do it.”

“Stop tugging at it, Edward.”

He chuckled, eyes glinting. “Hey, you don’t want the automail falling off, do you?”

You scoffed, the sharp breath lifting a strand of hair. “Yeah, but your constant yanking hurts like hell.”

His thumb lightly brushed over the rim of the metallic arm. “Well, at least that means those nerves are still working.”

You lowered your gaze to the grass. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”

Carefully cradling your arm, Edward bent your arm from the elbow, making sure the joint suffered no catches. You watched him, his nose slightly wrinkled, his golden eyes narrowed with concentration. You could not help but smile a little, not from amusement but simply from the love and admiration you hold for him. He had always been serious minded in regards to his work, even as a child. Seeing him like this brought back happy memories of the Elric brothers teaching you the ways of alchemy.

Growing up all these years with him, you heard nothing but tales of the Philosopher’s stone and facts about alchemy. Even when you and Winry decided to wander and play on your own, you still absorbed those pieces of information, that strong curiosity growing more and more. It took very little time for you to finally build the courage to ask them for their teaching.

They accepted the challenge, Edward especially, with greatest of enthusiasm.

It took grueling hours of work and toiling for you to truly understand the mechanics of the science itself. They helped you every step of the way, and soon, you were able to work on your own. You loved it. You never felt so powerful in your short, little life. The more your practiced, the more you improved. As you aged, and you continued to grow physically, mentally and emotionally, so did your abilities as an alchemist. Soon, you were ready to set your goal as an alchemist of the state.

It seemed as though the fates planned it all too differently than you imagined.

Slowly but surely, you worked your way into becoming a state alchemist, unlike the brothers, being the prodigies that they were, having been accepted immediately. You felt no jealousy towards them. After all, with talent like theirs, the state would have been stupid not to accept them into their ranks. You, on the other hand? You still failed to decide whether or night it mattered. Either way, you reached your intended goal, and once again, the Elric brothers accepted you into their little world. Despite Edward’s missing limbs and Alphonse’s new body, they had not changed. They were just as you remembered. You spent every waking minute together, so it seemed. They shared their knowledge with you. You exchanged stories amongst each other. You joked and mocked coworkers in secret.

It was everything you hoped it would be.

It was not until the appearance of the Homunculi that you were denied these privileges any further.

The fates turned against you as they shoved you into an unexpected encounter with one of them. Which one it was, Greed, Envy, Lust, you cared not to remember anymore. It was all a blur in your mind. But, you distinctly recall your mind completely shutting down, allowing only instincts take over, your heart beating so fast, you were sure it would burst. You remembered a moment in which your feet seemed glued to the floor. You could neither run nor fight, just stand there your air passageways to clogged, you couldn’t even muster one breath.

Then, you felt it: a burst of sudden energy, adrenaline fueling you to survive. You shouted. You screamed so loud your felt went raw. You gathered every bit of strength you could to conjure some weapon to fight. It could have been something stupid in your hands like a toothpick or a piece of bread and you still would have fought.

Before you even processed what occurred, you collapsed to the ground. A strange stinging and ache shot throughout the entirety of your body, yet you felt no urge to cry. With the loss of blood, your heart slowed, fighting to keep you alive, fighting to keep your blood circulating. Your eyes dimmed and flickered, while your ears muffled every sound of the outside world.

Suddenly, everything went black.

It seemed like a century passed by when you finally awakened. Your eyes muscles strained at the appearance of the cheerful sun, greeting your return. Every part of you was like led, pinned to the bed.

At least, almost everything.

You turned your head to find your right arm completely missing, the only part remaining being a stub, covered in a thick gauze. For a second, you didn’t even realize it was gone. In fact, you were so exhausted, you weren’t sure what exactly you thought at first.

It was as if just the tiniest movement, a twitch or a blink, was a hefty burden for you to process.

Then, it hit you.

Your arm, your precious right arm, was gone.

You were handicapped, crippled.

You were a freak.

Finally, the door to your emotions break free, and all you knew to do was sob.

Thankfully, someone heard your cries, someone who understood exactly what you currently undergoing. The door to your room creaked open. Soft pools of gold observed you for a little while, and a heart, one that loved you for so many years, ached for you.

And at last, when you decided to lift your bowed head, you finally saw him, the man you were so hoping would come to you.

Wiping your face with your sleeve, you managed somehow to force a weak smile.

“Hey, Edward,” you whispered, voice trembling.

Since then, he never left your side, unless his duties required him to do so. He held you in his arms when you needed to cry. He told you everything going on with the outside world. He still somehow, even with your seemingly hopeless situation, brought a smile to your face. At night, he slept in the chair closest to your bed in case you needed him.

You were so certain you loved him as much as your heart would allow, but after these weeks with him, you found yourself latching onto him completely.

You were certain you almost wouldn’t survive without him.

He had become your lifeline, your guardian angel.

Overtime, after your shattered emotions had been pieced back together, Edward took you to his hometown, your hometown, where you reunited with Winry. Just as she had done with Edward, she created a special arm composed of automail, a light, sturdy and flexible metal. It wasn’t flesh and bone, but it was better than nothing.

You could remember so distinctly lying on that table, connecting the new limb to those broken nerves. You couldn’t even describe the pain. Sharp? Burning? Aching? An overwhelming mixture of all the above? You were thankful they gave you a piece of wood to bite down on to prevent your shrieks from traversing over the entire town.

But, he stayed at your side. He gripped your hand until the discomfort subsided, until you could breathe again. When all was said and done, you managed to look at him with blurred eyes, sweat dripping down he contours of your face. Lightly cupping your face and lip trembling, he whispered with a smile,

“You did it. You’re gonna be okay.”

Despite the lingering aches, you believed him.

For whatever part of life was denied to you that night, it was given back through his love, replaced tenfold with him at your side.

“Ah, there we go,” he said, gently placing your arm in your lap. “No kinks, no hint of rust! You’re good to go!”

“Ah, thanks so much!” you lightly rubbed the joint. “That was getting almost dangerous in battle.”

He nodded. “The slightest malfunction can claim your life in the heat of battle.”

A twinge pricked your heart just for a moment. “Right...”

With a slow sigh, you laid back in the crisp clean grass. The breeze cooled the throbbing skin around your arm. Granting you a gentle smile, Edward rested against his arm, bending close to you. Your gazes locked, soft and full of love. Delicate fingertips brushed aside pieces of hair threatening to tickle your eyes. Then, he leaned in to press his lips against the corner of your mouth, his hair brushing against your cheeks. Such a tender gesture, yet one that set your heart racing with joy and excitement.

“Edward,” your voice was no louder than the breeze.

“Yeah?”

You took a finger of silver pushing behind a lock of his yellow locks behind his ear. “You knew I loved you, right?”

A soft chuckle resounded in his throat. Taking his own arm of metal, he intertwined those burnished fingers and interlaced them with yours. “I did. And I love you, you moron.”

You rolled your eyes. “Good job ruining the moment, you doofus.”

“What are you talking about?” he pursed his lips and flipped his hair dramatically. “I am the epitome of romance!”

“Yeaaaah, keep telling yourself that.”

Catching you off guard, his free hand reached for your waist, tickling you mercilessly.

“Edward! Knock it off!”

“Take it baaaack!”

“You’re just proving my point right here!”

“Take it baaaaaaack!” his voice was obnoxiously sing songy. Adding to his assault, he covered your neck with kisses.

“Damn it-!!” your voice cracked in between fits of laughter. “Okay, okay! I give!”

However, instead of releasing you, he pinned you back again, and encircled your mouth in a soft kiss. You froze a moment, allowing the warm, tingling sensations to process and spread through you. What more needed to be said? Parting lips just slightly, you breathed into the kiss and laced your arms around him, both your artificial and your real.

Life had denied you both joys and given you suffering in return.

Nonetheless, as you lay here in the sunlight with your childhood friend and sweetheart, immersing each other in your love, you realized that life gave back something that was worth it all.