#''These are things Ed and Envy would say while fighting each other to try to throw each other off'' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gareleia · 2 years

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FMA plot-heavy royed AU with Lust!Ed going undercover to influence Roy and make him commit human transmutation.

• Homunculi come to Resembool to check out Hohenheim's house and find his son, short on two limbs and a brother. They decide to just take him in to lure out his father and make sure their sacrifice doesn't kill himself - that's how bad off he is.

• Ed is basically catatonic from trauma and guilt, so he doesn't even try to fight or correct them on Al's situation - he might as well have killed him, after all. Besides he's pretty sure these guys are a threat, and though he doesn't care about himself he still wants to protect his brother.

• Lust is tasked with looking after him as the only one who somewhat understands humans (because Greed ran off and Envy only does quick impersonations).

• Her motherly disposition resonates with Ed and he starts to get attached. Lust uses it to gain his trust and manipulate him into becoming her apprentice, since she still has work to do.

• She teaches him to blend in, disguise/flaunt his age and features, and basically uses him as a bait for predators/whores him out to important government figures.

• Except... She does get attached. Maybe not as a friend or family or a mentor, but at least as a pet owner (or that's what she tells herself). So when a mission goes south and Ed ends up gravely injured far away from anyone who could help, she gives him her stone to save his life.

• Without her stone Lust dies and Ed is now a homunculus (which makes his limbs grow back at least). Father is furious, but lets it slide, since he at least didn't lose both a sacrifice and a stone; Sloth doesn't give a damn; and the rest of the homunculi hate Ed and blame him for everything. Especially Gluttony.

• Ed steps up to become the new Lust. He is, like Bradley, a former human, so he ages. Since the ouroboros gang is now down a sacrifice, it's up to him to find a new one, and to do that he's ordered to keep an eye on their most promising candidate: Colonel Roy Mustang.

• With military's assistance Ed creates a life for himself complete with a fake name, documents and personal history, gets a job and sets up a 'mugging' so Roy can 'rescue' him - except Ed is really crappy at the whole 'damsel in distress' thing, but it somehow works out???

• Instead of Cornello Ed gives the stone to Rose and convinces her that she's a saintess and that if she 'helps' enough people with it she'll get her boyfriend back. After the stone runs out the rebound kills the person Rose was trying to heal, people lose faith and start rioting. She gets burned at the stake as a witch.

• Ed and Gluttony aim to kill Scar before he gets to Mustang. Scar survives, but he loses a leg and has to get automail.

• Ed is the one who gets Envy to kill Hughes, because 1) he knows too much (his secret lab 5 investigation), 2) it would hurt Roy and it would make him more susceptible to manipulation, 3) to commit human transmutation one needs a loved one to resurrect. Except afterwards he for the first time feels guilty for what he does. Before dying Maes asks whether or not Ed is with Envy, because he has suspected him all along.

• Ed opposes using Ross as a scapegoat because Roy is way too smart to fall for that. That's when Ed realizes that he genuinely respects (and is offended on behalf of) his target. But it's not like he likes him or anything.

• Instead of Lust, Roy fights Envy who, while wearing Hughes' face says that he only killed Maes because of Roy. Havoc dies and Riza is in critical condition. Ed is supposed to play on Roy's guilt and self-loathing to plant the idea of committing Taboo into his head, but he hesitates. He realizes how easy it would be to break Roy right now, and the fact that he doesn't want to scares the shit out of him.

• Both Ed and Roy start to avoid each other for their own reasons and the ouroboros gang grows impatient. Ed leaves to check out two other potential candidates, the Tringham brothers, and finds out that while he was focused on Mustang Fletcher died and Russell lost half of his body trying to bring him back. He takes their new sacrifice to Father and gets praised, but that only makes it all so much worse.

• The whole thing reminds Ed of Al, so he breaks down as soon as he comes to their house. Roy's been waiting to tell him they're breaking up (for Ed's protection), but ends up trying to calm him down. Ed realizes that Mustang is probably the only person alive who actually cares about him and that he's going to die because of it. Because he followed his asshole dad's evil twin and forgot what it was really all about: protecting Al. Protecting his loved ones. And holy fuck, does he love Roy.

• They split up, officially - because of Roy's work and Ed's crazy family's bullshit, and Ed deflects. The last thing that Lust has ever taught him, right before shoving her stone in him, was that if he was ever in trouble with the family he should visit that one bar in Dublith.

• Ed meets Greed and offers his stone in exchange for help in stopping Father. He also decides that it's finally time to check up on Teacher, Winry, Pinako and Al.

• Izumi doesn't recognize him in disguise, but feels that there's something wrong with him, so she's reasonably hostile. It hurts to see what grief has done to her, but at least she's alive. For now.

• Winry is in Rush Valley studying under Dominic, who took her in after his daughter-in-law and grandson died. She seems okay, but she's just pretending. Ed also meets Ling, who starts following him around because he's obviously not human. It's the first friend he's ever made besides Winry.

• While stalking Pinako and Al Ed meets Hohenheim. The latter thinks he's with Father, treats him like a monster in his son's skin and threatens that if Ed so much as comes near Al again he'd die a horrible death.

• Meanwhile Bradley threatens Team Mustang, so Roy rushes to check on Ed but can't find him. While digging, he finds some small inconsistencies in his cover story and realizes that something is wrong. Envy gets torched and before dying reveals that Ed was a spy and that he orchestrated Hughes' murder.

• Ed goes to Briggs to prevent the bloodshed, but fails. He kills Kimbley and Gluttony, but his stone takes a hit and Ling gets impaled.

• Greed makes contact with Curtis and Mustang, telling Izumi that Ed isn't dead and Roy that he's risking his life to protect him.

• When the four sacrifices (Izumi, Hohenheim, Russell and Roy) get dragged into Father's den Ed, Greed, Ling and their minions follow. Ed throws himself at Roy to protect him, and Pride drags Ling through the Gate instead, which costs him his tongue.

• There are now four sacrifices without Roy, but before they can do anything Sloth comes back from his latest mission with unconcious Al. Turns out, Father knew about him all along, but deemed him useless as an agent and non-threatening.

• Roy and Ed face down Pride, the alchemists face Sloth and Greed engages Wrath, but fails horribly.

• Al is the one to finish off Sloth while using alchemy for the first time in years.

• Greed, Scar and Riza manage to finish off Bradley, but Greed's stone almost runs out of souls - it's not enough to sustain him, but can still be used, so he gives it to Ling.

• Ed is also running low on souls, but keeps protecting Roy. When it gets so bad he thinks he's going to die, Ed confesses that it was his idea to kill Hughes, so Roy doesn't mourn him and fights harder in his rage. Except Roy already knows and it's just a confirmation that Ed both actually cares and still tries to manipulate him - which, to be fair, Mustang is exactly the same.

• They manage to kill Pride, but Father still grabs the souls from Amestris. They manage to reverse it and engage Father.

• Father tries to take Hohenheim's stone, but Al sacrifices himself to protect him. Enraged, Ed beats Father to a pulp but then loses. His stone is taken and he's back to being human again.

• Hohenheim finishes Father off and makes a move to restore Al, except his stone is down as well and he only has his own soul. Ed tries to stop him, saying that he's the only family Al has left, but Hohenheim disagrees. He's finally admitted that Ed is his son and how proud he is of that. Besides, his soul, like Greed's, is too old and isn't going to last long, so he might as well use his life for something worthwhile.

• When Al comes back he already knows what their father did. He's angry and sad, because he thinks he's alone now - since he never had a good look at Lust. Ed just stands there awkwardly and says something really dumb to alleviate the tension, and that's what makes Al and Izumi finally recognize him. And his disguise is trashed (make up washed off, glasses broken, golden roots visible, etc.) so he can't even deny it.

• The Rockbells have found his wheelchair near the river and all this time everyone thought that Ed had drowned himself, unable to deal with the guilt for his brother's condition. That's what made Al swear off alchemy and why he didn't even try to get his original body back, instead staying in Resembool and later joining his father on the road.

• Al is confused but happy, Izumi is that and angry and Roy is like "Edward, huh?" Tearful reunion ensues.

• In the end Ed and Roy make out, then agree to take a pause (for Ed to spend time with his family and for Roy to clean up the military mess) and then try and start from scratch, this time for real.

#fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #roy mustang #royed #homunculus ed #lust!ed #angst #greed/ling on the side #I actually only remember like half of both shows #so there are probably plot holes #oh well

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fma03envy · 3 years

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Envy (treating Ed like a little kid as a way of joking about Ed's height): Swearing's a sin. You're going to h-e-double hockey sticks. I'm gonna tell my mother. >:3

Edward, not missing a beat: My dad has pictures of your mother naked.

#this audio has been in a lot of tiktoks lately #idk what it's from but my first thought hearing it was:#''These are things Ed and Envy would say while fighting each other to try to throw each other off''#so yeah #um #ask to tag #incorrect quotes #fma #fma 03 #edward elric #envy #adrien says stuff

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glumspell · 3 years

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I know some Anime-Only’s have some questions with Beastars’ second season finale, so I wanted to clear up some questions and offer some reasons as to why I don’t think anyone was out of character. Spoilers below:

Why did Ibuki have to die?

Ibuki died because it’s a mafia trope that you don’t just leave the mafia, and they had already let Louis leave once. Ibuki obviously cared about Louis & didn’t want Louis to leave, so he took him on a drive to talk him out of it. He also did not want to be a part of the mafia without Louis because Louis had saved him and the mafia. When Ibuki realized he couldn’t change Louis’s mind, he gave Louis an ultimatum: “kill me or i’m going to kill you,” knowing full well that it was suicide either way.

He would either die by the boss he respected and cared for, or he would be killed by Free honoring Ibuki’s word. The official ED music video elaborates on this scene, but Ibuki realizes Free followed them, and stopped the car to let Free catch up and kill him. Ibuki attacking Louis was a facade to facilitate his death. If Ibuki had killed Louis, he would also have been killed by Free. Either way, Ibuki did not want to live in a world without Louis, and he belonged to the mafia, so the only solution he saw to this was death. Free honored Ibuki's word by killing him, and let Louis go for the last time.

Why didn’t Legosi call the police?

Theres two big reasons I see why Legosi didn’t call the police. First, there’s a specific scene in season two with Legoshi & Gohin where a carnivore comes to Gohin’s office and Gohin gives her a prescription. Gohin says she had eaten two ferrets, but he did not turn her into the police, because he didn’t believe punishment would help her. Gohin’s main job is essentially kidnapping carnivores who had committed murder and treating them, not turning them in. He is a vigilante doctor, and his job is not exactly legal. If Legosi won, he would have brought Riz to Gohin, had Pina not called the police. That’s why Legosi had been training to capture carnivores meat-drunk in alleyways through out the season.

And second, Legosi wanted to confront Riz about their ideals, as the primary theme of this season is their clash of ideals. Riz was a character who was lonely, pumped up on government issued suppressing drugs, and desperately wanted a herbivore to understand him. In order to cope with brutally murdering the only herbivore who reached out and tried to understand him, Riz deluded himself into believing the greatest act of friendship between a carnivore/herbivore was a herbivore understanding the carnal nature of a carnivore, and allowing Riz to eat him. He sugarcoated his memories of Tem as if Tem wanted to be eaten as a sign of their friendship. This is why Louis apologizes to Riz for not realizing how lonely he was. Not to take blame off of Riz, but Louis implies that perhaps if someone had reached out to Riz (& ultimately, if herbivore and carnivore societies could try to reach out and understand each other instead of segregate) this tragedy might have been avoided.

Season 1 focused largely on trying to understand the herbivores' struggles, through Legosi & Haru's point of view. Season 2 largely focuses on trying to understand carnivores' struggles, through Legosi & Riz's point of view.

Why did Legosi eat Louis’ leg?

Legosi proved Riz's ideals wrong by showing him what true friendship was. Louis, a herbivore willing to allow a carnivore to eat a part of him as a sign of their friendship and closeness. And Legosi, a carnivore who was so resolute in never eating flesh, giving into his nature to uphold his beliefs. This is why Legosi told Louis that he wouldn’t accept eating Louis’ foot just because he told him to, because that would be an excuse. Legosi would eat Louis’ foot because as a wolf, he hungered for it. And that was the true act of friendship: a carnivore giving into his instincts of craving flesh, yet subverting it to protect a herbivore, and a herbivore willingly giving him a piece of himself to give him the strength to survive. The moth metaphors throughout the season also serve Legosi as a reminder to value life you consume- from larva to Louis' leg. While the moths weren't really there in the fight, Riz saw Legosi's unwavering ideals and was blindsided in the fight.

That is why Riz gave up. Riz saw a true bond between carnivore & herbivore with Legosi & Louis, a bond he had been deluding himself into believing he had with Tem for a year, knowing that it wasn't true. Riz realized he was lying to himself, that killing Tem was one-sided murder, and he couldn’t live with that.

Why did Louis offer up his leg? Louis wanted Legosi to eat his leg to break his curse. Throughout the entire show, Louis envied the strength of carnivores. He always saw himself as weak. That’s why he leaned so heavily into his role in the mafia. He was told by his father growing up never to cry, because it was a sign of weakness in herbivores. He was top in school to be above carnivores. When he killed the lion boss in the season 1 finale, he felt like he had finally achieved real power as a herbivore over carnivores, and not just any carnivores- lions. He did heinous things in the Black Market, betrayed himself as a herbivore by eating meat, all in order to maintain a semblance of control over carnivores. He felt power controlling those that had victimized him as a child. But after spending time with Legosi & Ibuki (and being told by both of them that Louis had saved them), he realized his own strength. He could be strong as a herbivore, so he asks Legosi to take away the symbol of his oppression as a Black Market victim that had been marked on his body since he was born.

---

I think most of the problem with this episode is that it felt a bit rushed, trying to fit so much of the manga into one episode, so they had to leave out a lot of internal dialogue and backstory out to compensate with keeping pace to the season's conclusion. One more episode would have helped a lot, but I assume there were certain guidelines for specifically 12 episodes they had to follow, and I think the studio did well translating a 50+ chapters arc into only 12 episodes. Overall I think they did a pretty good job, especially with no confirmation of a season 3, and were pretty faithful to the manga. I would recommend folks to read the manga to expand upon and understand some of the character choices a bit better if they felt like this episode was underwhelming.

#beastars #legosi #louis #louis the red deer #ibuki #this blog is for art and random meta now

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meggannn · 3 years

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Riza x Roy ofc!!!

What made you ship it?

i shipped royai coming out of the womb, next

no, i think the first thing that attracted me was the maturity of it, because when i first watched it i guess i was used to relationship-bait either having a firm “yes” or “no” by the ending, so royai was a nice disparity. there are a few couples that get together officially by the end of FMA, ed/winry and al/mei, but roy/riza were such a big ship that has so much subtext, support, and narrative emphasis, that it seemed odd to not canonize it... until i went over episode 30 again (the ishvallan war of extermination) and realized, oh, that’s the point of it. these are two adults who have decided to commit their lives to something more important than themselves. because they did awful things, and if they were to get together the way they clearly want to, it would jeopardize their careers, and therefore their goals, and therefore other people’s lives, and after what they’ve done, that’s unthinkable to them. if i want them to be the characters i think they are, their pining/“forbidden” love angle is a necessary part of the story to show how far they’re willing to go to try to restore ishval.

plus, also, sometimes a relationship just doesn’t happen in real life. sometimes you circle someone else for ages but neither of you makes the first move. sometimes they’re your best friend and they feel the same way but just nothing ever comes of it. of course, we can pretend what we want to happen post-canon because arakawa never set it in stone. but i did like that royai didn’t have a “happy ever after” for them because in one way, they couldn’t—they feel they don’t deserve it—so in a way the way they left off just feels more realistic and practical. roy mustang and riza hawkeye will keep going to work, day after day, and keep doing their best to right the wrongs they made (you cannot "fix" a genocide, but it doesn't mean they can't work to make things better). it’s not a happy ever after, but it is a fitting ending for them, because it’s an ending they chose for themselves years ago, and they must keep doing it if they truly believe in a better future.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

THE PARTNERSHIPPPP

one of my favorite quotes to describe them: “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

i like that we’re introduced to them as a professional, competent team, and no matter what else we find out about them, that understanding never changes, it only grows. even when roy is shown to be a moron, OH turns out that was a front, so even if he’s a goofball sometimes, he is still an ambitious man with goals who trusts his right hand to straight-up murder him in cold blood if he ever steps out of line.

i like that they also find themselves looking out for two vulnerable kids (while they continue doing their very dangerous work that would get them both executed if they were found out, a juxtaposition that would be funny if the kids weren’t also wrapped up in the mess). and even as roy argues with ed, even as he and riza disagree on having ed, a literal teenager, join the military, both he and riza would be willing to take a bullet for those kids. one interesting disparity between them is how roy was willing to sign this boy up into the service, but even though he recognized ed had “fire in his eyes,” he still ultimately views him as a kid, like when he tries to cover up hughes’s death; but riza understood exactly what ed was getting into and knew they couldn’t hide him from it. she told ed what happened at ishval when he asked and didn’t shy away from the fact that she’s a war criminal who expects to eventually—and wants—be put on trial. she gives ed a gun to defend himself when he runs off to fight gluttony and envy with ling and al. and the thing is that roy knows she’s right to do these things, he just doesn’t have the volition sometimes to follow through, but that’s why she’s there, to make sure he follows through on the things he signed up for.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

hm, i’m not sure! maybe the opinion that i’m fine with them never getting together for the reasons above? lmaoo that’s not to say i’d be opposed to arakawa writing them happily married at 80...

#sanjuniperose #megan does memes

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calangkoh · 3 years

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You think ed would've traded himself for al at the end if al hadn't successfully brought HIM back just before? When his only prior knowledge of what the attempt would yield was the homunculi (who he was trying Really Hard to know as monsters and nothing else)? I mean, yeah he couldn't face life without al and an end to their journey where mom was dead twice over and his little brother gave himself for him and hey lil kicker is ed has all his lost limbs that he never really cared about returning in the first goddamn place. But would he have basically tried to kill himself in this SPECIFIC way if he himself hadn't been resurrected, albeit with the use of a Philosopher's Stone ie thousands of human souls concentrate versus his Literally Only One?

Like what was going on in his head, that he was able to after sloth? Did he fear bringing back his younger brother as a homunculus like their older brother long before them? On the other side of the gate, not knowing if Dante is still out there, if roy killed pride or died trying, if his attempt worked and al returned, did he ever worry that al might have returned or if Ed had brought another homunculus into his world in his place?

I hope im understanding your ask correctly. Suicide tw regarding Ed’s final sacrifice.

If Ed had not died and so Al had not brought him back and was instead used successfully by Dante (whichh eugh horror story right there, i rec’d a Bad End dark horror fic a while back about if Dante succeeded and tbh I think its the most plausible outcome as fucked up as it is) then i quite honestly think Ed is completely doomed. (This isn’t just me being angsty, this is legitimately what I think would happen, like, logically.)

He’s traumatized beyond all hell and the situation is not in his favor: he’s a wanted criminal blamed for everything in Liore and he definitely blames himself as well, his worldview has come crashing down and even if he had that resolve of “even if its not true ill still believe that hard work and suffering pays off” in London, it would be blown to bits as soon as he finds out Al is gone, and that he failed him, and his last moments with his brother were them fighting each other on killing Sloth. Envy is also there, and can overpower a distraught Ed with ease. Any taunts that didn’t work on Ed in the original fight scene would probably be very effective. And Dante is there in Rose’s body because Ed failed her, too.

Al would have been turned into a Philosopher’s Stone, so Ed’s only shot is getting his hands on that. But again, if he fights to get a hold of it, he’s fucked. Dante and Envy combined and with Envy’s “im Hoe’s son” reveal still in his back pocket I think Ed would get killed before he could do anything with the stone.

Hypothetically if he got the stone, I don’t think separating Al is possible (assuming Al’s soul is even There) and I like to think Ed wouldn’t throw out all the lessons he just learned and use it anyway. No matter how broken he is he still has grown up a lot and I don’t think he’d backtrack on his conversation in the car about not using the stone. I think he would drive himself crazy trying to figure out how to get Al back, but because of his growth throughout the series he’d eventually accept the shitty outcome and move on. In CoS, he was left without any closure on his brother too, and he was hella depressed but still surviving. In this scenario he’s at least in Amestris with tons of people who love him and who will advocate for his innocence and help him process his grief like he has never been able to properly before.

So with this hypothetical situation where he gets away from Dante and Envy and is able to defeat them, no I don’t think Ed would do what he did in the OG end (sacrificing himself to bring Al back) if Al had not sacrificed himself for Ed. Mainly because I like to believe Ed has grown enough to move on and that there’s still hope for him even in this sucky scenario, and the circumstance in the og to cause him to NOT do that were just...very specific.

So why Ed makes the decision to die and not accept death despite his growth: the crucial part in my opinion is that Al sacrificed himself and used the stone (and Ed was successfully brought back). Both things they agreed they’d never do. I can only speculate exactly what was going through Ed’s head, beyond what he tells the audience (“this might not work but i have to at least try”). I think Al proved human transmuation is possible under the right circumstances (a body, the soul not having completely left yet, and a proper payment). So Ed knows it’s possible, and is willing to sacrifice everything, even if it goes against his development of accepting death and loss and not fighting the flow of the world because it causes harm when you selfishly pursue what you want, because Al had gone against everything they learned as well. And Al is Ed’s moral compass and everything he does is for Al.

If Al died, Ed would not do something morally questionable (sacrificing himself or someone else, defying the flow of the universe and turning your back on the world and the consequences of your actions to get what you want) to bring him back. But since Al himself did something morally questionable that even Ed would disagree with and say is wrong (which btw I bet Ed was like “shit how badly did i fuck up my little brother to make him do something like that”), I think standards are out the window and Ed is really just gonna pull the uno reverse card since Al played dirty so he’s gonna play dirty. At least that’s how I personally interpret Ed’s decision.

Ed also in general has a LOT to blame himself for in that moment, including EVERYTHING that happened to Al. So...I don’t think he’s thinking clearly enough to truly consider the possibility of making a homunculus. He really intended to die there and was content with the possbility of failing. It WAS an act of suicide imo (because honestly...how was he going to live with himself at that point...everything that happened to him and to al he could easily justify as his fault. he was well aware that sacrificing himself could amount to nothing but was fine with dying), just with an excuse that he might get something out of it.

I don’t think he ever considered that he made a homunculus, because he says he saw Al’s body get put together at the gate and I’m just gonna assume he saw the soul as well with how he worded it as “put together.”

You can also argue that by going through the gate three times by that point (and two of those times just recently) he had extra knowledge and more control over the transmutation to make it successful.

Or you could say my conspiracy theory that Al at the end of the series/CoS IS a homunculus that was just made really really well djsjd but that’s something I refuse to actually believe and I doubt the writers want us to believe that.

I hope I made sense and that I answered your question! This was a fun think piece here.

#ask #meta #suicide tw

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the-lonely-tree-original · 4 years

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Green With Envy (FMA Oneshot)

Just kind of thought about what would happen when Roy got a new alchemist under his belt and...

When all is said and done, Edward Elric doesn’t want much. He wants a good life, that’s true. He wants to go to sleep in a warm bed and be able to put food on the table and have other necessary comforts, of course. There was that obvious desire not so long ago to get his and his brother’s bodies back, but he had succeeded. By all accounts, he should be perfectly content for at least the next couple of months, still running off of that dream-come-true high.

But he isn’t.

How could he be when that was happening right before his eyes?

It had been childish to curl his lip at the new Major, to refuse to shake his hand, but how could he pretend? Was he supposed to lie and act like everything was fine when it wasn’t? Is that something that he should just be able to do?

Try as he might, Ed couldn’t stop the hurt that clawed at his heart when he saw him, greeted by the team like an old friend.

The new Major is kind. He’s all smiles and laughter and Ed even saw him give his coat once to a civilian who’d been caught in a storm. He should be happy that the military is finally accepting people who aren’t complete bastards.

But he isn’t.

And he hates him.

Major Braddock was one of the many new recruits hired by Fuhrer Grumman after the fight with father. He’s young - not younger than Ed, of course, but young enough to not have started a family yet. He probably just got out of school.

So really, Ed should have nothing against this 20-something-year-old boy who only wants to secure his future in a steady job, but he does. Because he was assigned to them. Mustang’s unit. Right after Ed had resigned from duty.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt so bad if Braddock was older. If he didn’t have a little brother just like Ed. Because, for all of their differences in appearances, it did nothing to stop the feeling that he was being replaced.

He watched Braddock’s exchange with his team (his old team), feeling like a band was tightening around his chest. Alphonse - sweet, genius Alphonse - noticed the way his hands were clenching into fists and teeth were digging into lips and guided him away with a soft, flesh hand on his back.

When they got to their room, Ed looked at the final resignation documents on his desk, lying so innocently on the carved wood. He’d have to go in tomorrow, or else some time soon, and turn them in. Back then, before they’d gotten their bodies back, Ed and Al had talked about what they would be doing after. Resignation had seemed so simple. They’d hated the military, so why would they stay?

He’d never thought it would be this hard

***

He walked up the steps of central command alone. His brother was meeting up with the doctor to check in with his physical prowess, and Al had gotten bored of his pestering, so he told Ed to make himself busy. Obliviously, he phrased it better, but the message was all the same: give me space. So here he was, marching awkwardly up the steps while trying to pretend he didn’t feel like the building was going to eat him alive.

Seeing the team should be happy. It really should. But what if he’s inside?

Ed clutched the papers tight to his chest, using them as some sort of stress-reliever. How would Mustang react when he saw the crumpled up sheets? Would he joke about Ed’s penmanship as usual? Or would he accept it with a nod and send him on his way? Just the bare minimum of acknowledgement before sending him off to the rest of his life. Without them.

It was irrational, Ed knew, to feel like this. It wasn’t like he was useful to Mustang anymore. Without alchemy, he was a dog without fangs. Their whole relationship was founded upon using each other and now he was nothing more than a broken toy.

He needed a new toy. A shining gold star to add to his resume when climbing up the ranks. With Ed he only had a desperate kid who defected not even five years into the job. He knew it wasn’t fair to Mustang, who’d shown on countless occasions that he cared deeply about those who worked under him. It wasn’t fair to label him as some heartless, power hungry bastard that only cared about his own gains.

But.

But it was the only thing that could ease the pain he was feeling.

“It’s the Fullmetal Alchemist!”

“Edward Elric!”

Ed smiled abashedly. After the whole father fiasco, Ed had become somewhat of a celebrity in the military ranks. Those who were there seemed to go out of the way to make him feel a little more welcome, smiling at him when he walked down the halls and occasionally going out of their way to get him coffee or something like that. Even those who weren’t looked at him somewhat in awe, not quite understanding the treatment he was getting since the event was kept on the down low, but also trying to fit in with the crowd.

Even Mustang’s team treated him differently. It just wasn’t the good different. Walking into their office proved as much.

He was still greeted warmly by Hawkeye, addressed as “Chief” by Breda and Havoc, saluted by Falman and Fuery - that much was true. But it was different. Hawkeye didn’t linger to ask him about his day, instead going straight to Mustang’s office to announce his arrival. Havoc didn’t playfully rough up his hair or Breda make fun of his height. Even the more resigned members of Team Mustang seemed to be holding back more than usual.

It was like an invisible force was driving them apart. Home isn’t supposed to be a place, it’s supposed to be a people, and this small home he’d made felt unfamiliar and cold. There was a distance there that there wasn’t before.

“Edward, the General will see you shortly.” Ed nodded politely at Riza’s words, surprising himself by nodding at all. There used to be a time when he would just barge into Mustang’s office, completely uncaring of the audience in the room. Now it felt wrong to even knock.

“What’s with that look on your face, Chief? You about to fight a homunculus or something?” Breda’s joke fell flat. Ed would probably prefer that right about now. At least then he’d only have to worry about himself.

The door to the office opened. “Or something,” Ed murmured. Joyous laughter came tumbling out of the room alongside a pair of boot-clad feet. Accompanying it, was the rare, genuine chuckling he only heard once in a blue moon. Ed could never make him laugh like that, but a new, unfamiliar recruit could. Right there, a stone slammed into his stomach because how else could he explain the lack of air and the agonizing pain and the-

“Edward, you wanted to see me?” Ed should be happy, Mustang’s talking to him in the same tone as always. But he called me Edward. He’s always called me Fullmetal.

“Y-yeah. I’m here to finalize my resignation.”

Mustang looked down at the papers in his hands, eyes harding into obsidian pools. “Ahhh, yes, I can take those from you.”

Ed handed over the forms, not oblivious to the way the whole team was silent at his statement. Were they waiting for something to happen or what?

“Step inside for a moment Ed-” he bit his cheek “-I just want to make sure everything’s correct.”

He sat down silently and waited for Mustang to finish examining his papers. From the tensing of his shoulders, Ed could tell the other man felt just as out of place as himself. After a few minutes, the General shuffled the papers and piled them into a neat stack.

“Everything checks out.” There was a long silence in which the two stared at each other, searching for something but not knowing what. After a while, though, it all became too much and Ed stood to leave, only stopping because of Mustang’s voice calling out to him. “Anything the matter, Ed? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“I’m fine.” You aren’t, but it’s nothing he needs to trouble himself with.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” No, you don’t even know why you’re feeling this way.

The other man sighed, before relaxing back into his seat. “Okay, if you say so. Visit us soon, okay?” Ed nodded and began walking towards the door. “I’ll miss you.”

Those three words were what did it. He didn’t cry, per say (after going through so much it just became hard to cry), but there was something lodged in his throat causing him to choke. He heard Mustang’s chair push back - he was probably getting up out of concern more than anything - and felt the man’s presence hover behind him, unsure of what to do.

“Edward?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the door was closed, which meant that no one else would see him break down. It was a weird train of thought to be having at the moment, but he’d been feeling so detached lately that it wasn’t that much of a surprise to him.

“Edward,” Mustang repeated.

“Fullmetal.”

“What?”

“You used to call me Fullmetal.”

“...Oh… of course… Fullmetal, what’s wrong?” The way he acted like that mistake was nothing… and to him it probably was, but...

With a clogged throat, Ed said, “I’m going to miss you too, you know… but it feels like I already missed my chance to say goodbye.”

Even without looking at the man, he could see the confusion on his face. “What do you mean?” he asked. The confusion was evident in his voice as well.

“You just- it just-” Ed paused, trying to get his words straight. “It just isn’t the same anymore, whenever I talk to you. Or the team. It feels like I’ve lost whatever connection I had.” He finally looked up at Mustang. The man was silent, only looking at him with very sad eyes. “And, with Barddock here, I feel replaced.”

That snapped Mustang out of whatever trance he’d been in, obsidian eyes dark with anger, arms latching onto his shoulders. “You listen to me, Fullmetal. No one, and I repeat, no one, can ever replace you. If you actually think that then you’re a lot dumber than I thought. Because, for the four years I’ve known you, I’ve never met anyone so brave, noble, and kind.”

Ed chuckled, eyes watering a bit at the praise. “Are you sure that you’re not talking about yourself, Bastard.”

Mustang didn’t laugh. “I want you to know that you’re the most remarkable person I’ve met. I will never forget how much you changed this country - you changed me - I could never replace you. I’m sorry that you feel this way - that I’ve made you feel this way. I was under the impression that you wanted nothing to do with the military once you and your brother got your bodies back, but I see now that the way I was going about doing so was wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Being called Fullmetal is just as big a part of your identity as being called Ed. Furthermore, the bonds you made here run much deeper than work associate, and it was cruel of me to distance myself as both your friend and your-” He cut off abruptly, pulling Ed into a hug. “And I’m sorry. I must have influenced the behavior of the team, and for that, I am sorry as well.” Squeezing gently, he said, “We all care about you so much, kid. And you have no idea how much they’d beat themselves up if they knew we made you feel this way. If you’re going to take one thing away from this, Fullmetal, please remember that you are irreplaceable in our eyes, okay?”

Ed nodded against his shoulder, returning the hug even tighter than the Flame Colonel. Smiling, he said, “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Mustang shifted in order to flatten his hair - when it got messed up, he didn’t know, but the action was so soothing and caring that Ed was finally able to let go of a few of his tears. The sound he let out was a choked sob, but it was a lot happier than before.

“Just because you’re no longer part of our team on paper, does not make that true. We still want you to visit us and talk to us and tell us about your day. We still want to be a part of your life and watch you grow up. You are, and always will be, part of our family.”

~El Fin~

#fma #fullmetal alchemist #fanfic #fanfiction #edward elric #roy mustang #parental roy #parental royed #angst #hurt/comfort

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theshadowedqueen82 · 3 years

Text

what you’ve kept hidden (i’ve always known), 7.2k words, Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Jim Lake Jr.

My Jimari Secret Santa gift to Aly (let me know if I should tag you!) combining the prompts for a confession with angst and a cute first date. Also on Ao3.

The video is blurry, filmed from a cellphone camera just behind a nearby building, but it's the best they have. There aren't any news crews in the area, but Toby is diligently looking for any other coverage on his phone. Jim doesn't think he could be watching this without him.

The camera is shaking as it shows the back of a man in a purple suit, holding up a girl with one hand and reaching for her earrings. Ash falls from the sky around them, and there are sirens in the distance.

It can’t end like this, is all that Jim can think. Ladybug's too strong, too skilled, too smart to be caught like this. She must have some sort of plan, some kind of power that can fix this. He’s seen her do it before.

Reports of magical heroes in Paris had slowly made their way to Arcadia a year ago. While most people had thought it fraudulent or some kind of publicity stunt, Jim was far less likely to dismiss claims of magic these days. He’s followed her rising career through a few blogs and home videos, watched a couple of newscasts, and found some comfort in the idea that he's not the only hero out there. He almost envied Ladybug for being able to go public with her identity, being able to see and communicate with the public she was protecting. At the moment all he feels for her is cold dread.

Hawkmoth makes a quick movement, and there's a shimmer of pink light. Jim wants to look away, grant her the privacy he knows is being violated, but can't seem to make his eyes move. As the costume falls away revealing a very familiar looking face, his jaw drops.

“Marinette?”

—

Jim doesn't quite remember when it started. Somewhere on the forums for one of the many games they both played, teaming up to defeat virtual monsters and chatting only through text. Over the years they’d grown closer, started voice chatting and then video chatting, beginning to share a little more of their lives and themselves. Their relationship had lasted far past the usual expiration date of online friendships and they were still going strong. She was the only reason he still spoke French, and he helped her with her English homework. They had fallen into an easy pattern of late night gaming marathons in middle school and homework sessions in high school, calling each other to chat during the time zone window where neither of them were sleeping to chat and swap baking tips and laugh over bad jokes.

She was the first person he’d told about Claire, back when he had time for things like crushes. She’d encouraged him to ask her out, and Jim had countered asking when she was going to do the same for Adrien. He wanted to tell her about the amulet, but knew that there wasn’t a chance. Besides, what would she be able to do? She was an ocean away, and even if she was here it wasn’t like she could grab a sword and fight Bular for him. Or so he’d thought.

“Is it Steve again?” she’d asked one afternoon, when training had gone rather poorly and he’d signed into their video call exhausted and with the beginnings of a rather sizable bruise on his shoulder. She couldn’t see it, but she was perceptive enough to notice the wince every time he moved.

“It’s not him,” he promised. “I’m doing some… extra curriculars. After school credit stuff.”

“Oh?” Marinette asked, her eyebrows rising. “Like what? I thought you had to turn down culinary club.” It felt like almost a lifetime ago, when he’d been occupied with trying to keep his grades up and take care of the house, when the fee for participation had been enough to make him put off joining until he could find a summer job and pay for it himself.

“Yeah, I joined… wrestling,” he decided, racking his brain for what kind of extracurricular could involve physical injury. “Trying to get my phys ed mark up, I haven’t been doing so great.” Which was true, due to a lack of attendance rather than ability but Mari didn’t need to know that.

“Wrestling?” she echoed, confusion in her expression. Jim had wondered if she was going to press, felt a cold knot form in his stomach at the thought of lying more to her. But to his relief she’d only frowned and accepted it, saying that it sounded dangerous and she hoped he’d try to be safer before changing subjects.

Now his mind is running through those old conversations, wondering if he’d missed any of the same signs from her. Any sprained ankles or healing cuts, any sign of a burden they could have shared.

“Marinette is Ladybug? Your Marinette?” Toby is saying, but Jim can hardly hear him over the buzzing in his ears.

Hawkmoth has dropped her, and she's coughing. Jim realises that he’d been strangling her, that she’d have a necklace of bruises marring her neck tomorrow. If she makes it that far, a nasty voice in the back of his mind whispers, one Jim immediately shoves away.

“Come on, Marinette,” he whispers, leaning closer to the screen like he could reach her through it. Hawkmoth has grabbed her arm and is starting to drag her away, but another figure strides forward and stops him. Chat Noir, Jim thinks with a rush of relief, and then anger, because how dare he let this happen to her? How could he let it come this far, let her be unmasked on live video, let her stand up to a supervillain by herself?

He redirects that anger, since Chat Noir has been trying to protect her, is probably taunting Hawkmoth right now trying to get him to release her. They're too far away for the video to pick up on their audio, but not far enough to keep Jim from seeing how he raises a hand, threatens to slap her. And how she flinches.

Then Chat Noir moves, lunges forward and there’s a flash of light that turns the video into a blur of static. They sit there in horrified silence for a moment before the feed shuts off completely, leaves them staring at a dark screen with an error message.

“NO!” Jim screams, and Toby’s scrolling through his phone but he’s not fast enough, Marinette is in danger RIGHT NOW and Jim doesn’t know what’s happening. Can’t see if she’s hurt more, can’t see if she’s gotten free, can’t see if she’s even still alive and nothing matters in this moment except the fact that there’s an ocean between them keeping him from helping her and he’s terrified.

It’s the longest two minutes of his life until they find another video, but this one’s only Rena Rouge. “-all okay,” she’s saying to the reporters who have finally showed up, far too late to catch anything other than a repaired and empty street with their cameras. “Hawkmoth has been defeated and turned over to the proper authorities, and everybody is safe.”

The reporters are falling over themselves asking questions, most about Ladybug ( what’s her name , like it’s not going to be all over the internet within the hour), and Rena declines to comment. “There will be an official statement released in the future,” she says before leaving, a pale and shocked reporter taking her place in front of the camera. She can only repeat facts Jim already knows, so he turns off the television and sits there in silence.

“She must be okay,” Toby finally offers, and Jim nods. Marinette has to be okay, not because of the reporters’ questions or Rena’s composure or even because she’s Ladybug, but because the alternative is too terrible to think of.

“Do you ever feel like you need to be perfect?” Marinette had asked him once, when Jim had noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the flat tone of voice, dulled from her usual vibrancy. “Like everything’s depending on you, and if you aren’t enough then people will get hurt?”

All the time, was his answer, but he couldn’t say why so he didn’t say it at all. “Do you feel that way?”

“Sometimes, yeah,” she said, and he knew that she too really meant always. “It’s just a lot, you know? With school, and the bakery, and…”

“And the akumas,” Jim guessed. The previous day had been a particularly drawn out fight between Ladybug and an akuma, and while he’d been confident Ladybug would win he still worried. This was Marinette's home, her friends, her school. And although they hadn’t discussed it in detail, Marinette trying to change the subject whenever he asked questions until he figured she simply didn’t want to discuss it, he knew the akumas fed off emotion. What was that like, being unable to let yourself be truly angry or afraid, with the constant threat of being weaponized hanging over your head?

“You don’t need to be perfect,” he’d told her. “You just need to be you. That’s all anybody can expect.”

“And what if I’m not enough?” Mari had asked, and Jim had wished that he could place a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re always enough,” he’d said.

Now he's wondering how many other conversations they’d had that were really about Ladybug, and wondering if there was anything he could have said that would have been better. Encouraged her more, made her job the tiniest bit easier. He can't remember saying anything monumentally stupid like let Ladybug handle it, but he wouldn’t put it past his memory to be a bit faulty on this matter.

How had he not known? How had he missed all the signs? Him of all people, who knows exactly what it's like to be fighting evil in between classes, how it feels knowing that you're the only person standing between genuinely evil beings and your home, what it's like keeping everything secret as you attempt to live a double life without either side crumbling.

He’d messaged her as soon as he got home, a quick are you okay before he realised that her phone was probably turned off if she wanted to have any peace. If Jim was exposed as the Trollhunter, everybody would be too busy with the underground secret society of trolls to really bother him. Ladybug was a national figure, and she’d just been unmasked on live television.

So Jim starts stress baking, because while he can’t make sure that Marinette was okay he can make sure that this pie crust stays perfectly golden brown. It doesn't help much, Marinette and baking being permanently linked in his mind after too many nights spent on the phone trying out new recipes together, but at least he’ll get some muffins out of his anxiety instead of just a sleepless night.

“What happened?” his mother asks when she comes home to a kitchen filled with assorted baked goods. She knows him too well for him to pass it off as nothing, and besides he’s tired of lying, but he doesn’t want to tell her about Ladybug. Maybe she’ll find out, but it’s not his secret to give.

“Marinette’s in trouble,” he says. “I haven’t heard from her, and I can’t...” he trails off, unsure what to say. Can’t stand not knowing, can’t help her from here? Can’t breathe properly until he hears her voice, hears from her that everything will be okay? All true, but saying it won’t change it.

“Oh honey,” his mom says, and she’s hugging him and Jim lets himself fall into the embrace. He hopes Marinette has her parents with her right now, hopes they’re hugging her and letting her melt like he is now, hopes more than anything that she’s safe and happy because she deserves to be.

If she were here nothing would keep him from getting to her house. He’d scale the wall and meet her on her balcony, wait by the back door until somebody let him in, do whatever it took to see her. But all he can do is wait for her to reply.

His phone is ringing. In the moment it takes for his half asleep mind to register the noise he’s already reaching for it. The ringtone is a familiar rock song, one he associates with Marinette before Jagged Stone, and a shot of adrenaline clears all the remaining drowsiness from his mind when he remembers why this call is so important.

“Marinette?” he says, the words tumbling out of his mouth as soon as he presses the button and lifts the phone to his ear, and he hears ragged breathing on the other side.

“Jim,” she gasps, and he feels as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

“Are you okay?” he asks, standing and starting to pace.

“I’m fine,” she says, and then she’s crying. “I wanted to tell you. I’m so sorry.”

“Mari,” he says, wishing that he could be next to her, wrap an arm around her shaking shoulders and hold her close. “I don’t care about that, I’m just glad to hear that you’re safe. You don’t know how worried I was.”

“I didn’t mean to,” she replies, and he can still hear the tears in her voice. He hates the sound, hates her choked gasps as she cries, but would take them any day over not hearing from her at all. “I wanted to tell you, I just couldn’t. Hawkmoth... “

“I know,” he says. “I understand.” And he does, more than she knows, and a knot of guilt forms in his stomach. He knows how it feels to want to tell, to share this incredible burden with your best friend, and he understands exactly what prevents that. “I’m just glad you’re okay. You don’t know how scared I was.”

“I know,” she says, and she sniffles. Her tears seem to be running out, and Jim takes a deep breath.

“What happened?” he says, and then it all comes spilling out. She talks about the plan they had, how she was going to be the distraction, how it all went wrong when they found Hawkmoth’s identity (and something in his chest clenches at that, the scar of an old betrayal aching again), and how the ladybugs repaired all the physical damage but they couldn't undo the unmasking. All of Paris knows who their hero is, after she’s worked so hard to keep it a secret.

“I was so worried you’d be upset,” she says. “It’s been such a big part of my life, and I wanted to tell you, but… ”

“I understand,” he says. “Superheroes always have a secret identity.” She gives an embarrassed laugh at that, and he could picture the blush spreading across her face. “Marinette, would you promise me something?”

“What?” He had been sitting down but now he stands, walking over to the window as he decides how exactly to make his request.

“Please, don’t do this again,” he says. “I know you’re a hero, I know you’re smart and capable and strong, but please. Don’t put yourself in danger like that again.”

“Jim… I don’t think I can promise that,” she says, and Jim nods. It’s part of the job, and he can’t make the same promise back. Though she doesn’t know it he's been as much danger as she was, if not more. And he probably will be again.

“I know, I know,” he sighs. “Just… be careful. Seeing you in danger, and I was too far away to do anything, and I… I haven’t even gotten to tell you…” he trails off as his mind catches up with his words. Tell her what? That she makes him smile more than anybody else, that hearing from her always makes his day better, that when he thought she might have been killed the world felt wrong until he heard her voice? All true, but not what he’d been about to say.

“Jim?” Marinette prompts, and he mentally shakes himself.

“We haven’t even gotten to meet,” he says. “In real life. And you’re not allowed to be hurt before that happens.”

“Right,” she says, a bit of a smile returning to her voice. “But all bets are off after, right?”

“It’ll be different after we meet!” A smile begins to tug at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll be able to protect you.”

“Which one of us is the superhero again?” And just like that they fall back into their usual easy banter, and it feels like nothing has changed. It’s like he always knew, like no secrets have ever hung between them, because more important than her being Ladybug is her being Marinette. Yet woven through it all is a pattern of relief, a whispered we’re here and we’re safe as steady as a heartbeat carrying their conversation.

They talk well into the early hours of the morning, and when his alarm wakes him Jim finds the phone fallen on the pillow next to him. They must have fallen asleep talking, as the phone informs him they spent far more hours on call than he remembers, and there’s a text from her. Goodnight Jim! Thank you.

He holds his phone to his chest and stares at the ceiling, eyes stinging from not enough sleep, and wonders just what he had been about to tell her.

—

They parked a news van outside her house. She kept the curtains drawn and couldn’t go out, communicated to her friends and other heroes over phone calls and video chats. The official press release had been delivered by Rena Rouge and Carapace. Chat Noir had vanished; Marinette told him that his identity wasn’t her secret to share, but he was safe and recovering. But Paris still wanted to hear from Ladybug, and she just wanted to be left alone.

Chloe had surprised both of them by hiring a full bodyguard detail to guard the shop. Marinette thought it was her way of apologizing for some of her earlier behaviour at school, but she was mostly grateful that she hadn’t asked any questions. Her parents were trying to run the shop but kept getting people who just wanted to meet her, and had ended up resorting to mainly doing deliveries to keep gawkers out of their house. Marinette couldn’t leave, and although she tried to stay positive Jim knew she was feeling trapped.

“Come stay with me,” Jim had said, the words out of his mouth before he could think them through. But it made sense. In America less people knew or cared about Ladybug’s secret identity; she could take a vacation and wait out the media storm, return when she could take a walk outside without needing to worry about paparazzi.

It had been a whirlwind of planning, dates and phone calls from both their parents, but the day has finally arrived. Chloe lent Marinette her private jet; her parents will follow in a few days once they can close down the shop and move into a small condo they’ll be renting. So Jim has prepared a spare bedroom, given what little Ladybug memorabilia he has to Toby with threats to keep him from showing her any of it, and warned the trolls that he’ll have a houseguest. He has not informed them that he’ll be telling her about being the Trollhunter. It’ll be easier to ask forgiveness than permission, when they don’t know Marinette like he does. She can keep a secret, and she deserves to know.

He had thought about bringing a sign, but was worried it might call unwanted attention so refrained. Now he wishes that he brought one, if only to have something to hold. What’s he supposed to do with his hands? It’s ridiculous, this is Marinette, but it’s also the first time they’ll be seeing each other in person and he can’t help but feel suddenly uneasy, like something will go very wrong the moment she steps off the plane. What if he steps forward to greet her and steps on her foot? Or trips and falls into her? And that breaks her nose? Or maybe he’ll knock her over completely, and...

His catastrophic thoughts ground to a halt the moment he sees a flash of hair so black it’s almost blue, and suddenly he’s running forward and so is she. They have never met each other before but they’re flying into each other’s arms, and she fits so perfectly it’s like they’ve done this a million times before.

“Hey,” he says, a little breathless as he pulls back to look at her in the eyes, and he’s smiling so broadly that his cheeks hurt. Marinette’s smile is even more beautiful in person.

“Hi,” she replies, and they stand there for a moment in each others’ arms only to jump apart when his mother clears her throat.

“Marinette, it’s good to meet you,” she says, pointedly ignoring the blush spreading across Marinette’s face. Jim can feel his own cheeks heating and suddenly finds the floor very interesting as he attempts to gather himself, to concentrate on all the words he was planning to say instead of only thinking of the way she felt in his arms.

“It’s lovely to meet you too Ms Lake,” Marinette says, composing herself quickly and holding out her hand.

“Please, call me Barbara.” His mom shakes her hand with a warm smile. “How was your flight?”

“It was good, thank you,” she says.

“First class treatment! What was it like?” Jim asks, and she grins at him.

“I saved you some of the pretzels,” she says, pulling out a package of them from her pocket.

“And this is why we’re friends,” he says, and she laughs.

“Because I give you food?”

“No other reason,” he says.

“Glad to hear your friendship is so easily bought,” she teases. “A single pack of stale airline pretzels?”

“Private jet pretzels,” he says. He returns her grin and then their smiles soften. “It’s really good to see you.” The words aren’t enough, can’t convey the sense of rightness he feels at having her here, but she seems to understand anyways.

“You too.” Marinette blushes and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. The moment is broken by a man clearing his throat, somebody who looks like he just walked out of a Men in Black movie which is contrasted by the pastel pink suitcase and duffel bag he’s holding.

“Excuse me ma'am, we can bring your luggage to the vehicle,” he says, and they’re both stepping forward in tandem.

“Oh, thank you but that’s okay,” she says, while he’s saying “I can take that for you,” and thankfully the man doesn’t fight as they pull the luggage from his hands (her with the duffel, him with her suitcase) because even with his Trollhunting-obtained muscle Jim’s not sure he would win a tug-of-war with him.

“Shall we?” his mom says, leading them out to the car, and Jim feels a rush of excitement as it begins to sink in that he can finally show Marinette his home.

“It’s not a limo, but I hope it’s fancy enough,” he says, and she rolls her eyes.

“I’m sure I’ll manage.” Then her mouth quirks up in a grin that he recognizes, and she takes off after his mom. “Race you!” she calls.

“You don’t even know which one is ours!” Jim shouts back, while trying to convince the wheels on her suitcase to maintain a pace they were never built for. They fall into the backseat with flushed cheeks and racing heartbeats, and he spends half the drive home pointing out things for her to finally put an image to and the other half admiring how much better she looks in person compared to a video feed.

—

The creaking floorboard wakes him up. Not that he’d been sleeping too well anyways, his dreams a confused muddle of anxiety he's thankful didn’t break out into a full nightmare. He considers rolling over and trying to go back to sleep, but then remembers that Marinette is here and there’s a chance Draal has ignored all of his warnings and decided a midnight snack is appropriate right now. It takes a moment to locate his house robe and shrugs it on over his pyjamas before creeping into the hallway. Marinette’s door is also open.

He finds her in the kitchen, softly opening cupboards. She’s already located a mug and it’s waiting on the kitchen island, and her eyes go wide and she winces an apology at him when she sees him.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” she says, and he shrugs as he heads for the drawer where they keep their tea bags.

“It’s fine,” he says, holding them up for her to inspect. “Chamomile?” She nods and he starts the kettle boiling. “Jet lag? Or something else?” She looks away, and the dark rims under her eyes are too pronounced to come from one night.

“I don’t think I want to talk about it right now,” she says, and Jim nods. He pours them both a cup and beckons her over to the couch.

“If we use subtitles we can watch something,” he says. “Unless you’d rather be alone.”

“No,” she says, sitting down next to him. She’s wearing a blanket over her shoulders and pulls it up, tucks it around her until only her head and her hand holding her tea are poking out. “Company is good.”

They don’t say anything else as Jim pulls up Beauty and the Beast (the Disney animated one, she’d told him years ago it was her comfort film) and sets the subtitles to French. They’d been speaking English all day with only occasional slips into French, but he thinks she might need something familiar right now. Halfway through the villagers singing about how strange Belle is she shifts and her free hand creeps out of the blankets to the couch cushion between them.

“I keep seeing their faces,” she whispers, the words solemn and heavy. “There were casualties when we fought him.” He hasn’t heard anything about casualties, probably because Lucky Charm always fixes everything at the end of the battle. Everything but the guilt in her voice, the fear in her eyes, the way she flinches when he reaches out and takes her hand in his.

“It was his fault,” he says. “Not yours.” Her breath hitches a little, and he knows she’s on the verge of tears. “You saved them. You did everything you could, and you won.”

“Are you disappointed?”

“What?” He turns and looks at her, the movie forgotten as he tries to figure out what on earth he has to be disappointed about.

“I know you admired her,” she says, her eyes flicking over his face. “Ladybug, I mean. And to find out that it’s just me, and that I’m…”

“Marinette, you’re amazing,” he says honestly, squeezing her hand. “You’re brave and selfless and kind, and the only difference between you and Ladybug was that she had superpowers. You’re a hero with or without them. I could never be disappointed.”

Maybe she moves towards him or he moves forward first, but however it happens they’re bundled together in a hug. She’s shaking, and Jim wishes more than anything that he could take this from her. She doesn’t deserve this burden even if she is strong enough to carry it, and it’s a tragedy she has to.

She pulls back a little and they watch Belle sing about adventure, still wrapped in an embrace made mostly of blankets, and when Maurice heads into the castle he shifts slightly and reaches forward for the box of tissues, silently offering it to her.

“Thank you,” she says, grabbing a few.

“I wish I could help more,” he says, and they both know he’s not talking about the tissues. She looks at him, eyes still a little too wet, and gives him a smile.

“You did,” she says, quiet conviction in her voice. “Jim, you were my rock. Some days the only thing that kept me sane was knowing that I’d be able to talk to you afterwards, even if I couldn’t tell you the details.” He tightens his arm around her shoulder but says nothing, and her face scrunches up in a frown. “It’s true, you know,” she says. “I didn’t need you fighting beside me. I just needed a friend. And you were always there, no matter what time it was or how little I was saying.”

Their minds are likely both flashing over other midnight conversations, texts sent in the middle of classes and calls made by sneaking out of study hall, and although they were sparse on some details like names and events they certainly hadn’t hidden how they were feeling.

He still feels guilty, still wishes that he could have been next to her in that final battle and all the previous ones, but he has to trust that whatever little he was able to offer was enough.

The movie goes on and he feels something in his chest tighten at the library scene, as all the characters sing about something there that wasn’t there before. But was it really, he wonders? He always wants to protect his friends, always wants to help people, but sometime when he wasn’t looking Marinette quietly claimed a piece of his heart that he only just realised was missing. Falling in love with her was so easy, so natural, that the landing was soft enough to go unnoticed.

“I think I’m in love with you,” he whispers as Beauty and her Beast dance through the dazzling ballroom, and his stomach falls at her silence until he looks down and realises she’s drifted off to sleep, head using his lap as a pillow and hands curling around the blanket.

I’ll tell her soon, he promises himself as his own eyelids start to droop. But they have time, and right now they both just need to rest.

—

It was an awful fact that whenever one promised to do something tomorrow the fated day never arrived, forever shoved aside in favor of endless todays until it's suddenly Marinette’s last day staying with him. She still likely has a few more months in Arcadia, but the packed suitcase in the hallway makes him feel like his window's closing. It was so easy to let their conversation be light and easy, to spend their days biking through the town and introducing her to his friends, that he’s managed to put it off until now. But today would be the day.

They’d planned a picnic. Just the two of them, and if he’d actually had this conversation before this could be their first date. She’d insisted on finding a red checkered blanket to spread on the ground (they’d eventually found one in a thrift store) and they’d made each other weird sandwiches (peanut butter, bacon, and banana for him, pear walnut for her), and everything was loaded in his picnic basket. The amulet was in his back pocket.

Maybe it’s better this way, he thinks, staring at his bike like it'll offer some sage wisdom for the situation. If she doesn’t feel the same it would be awkward if she was still in the same house. Or if the trolls freak her out he supposes she won't mind moving, but he can’t help but feel that confession will be the easier out of the two. After all, he’s met Tikki, and kwamis seem a bit more shocking than trolls.

“Ready to go?” Marinette asks, closing the door behind her, and Jim nods and smiles as she mounts her bike.

“No earrings?”

“I think Ladybug deserves a day off,” she says, and he wonders if Tikki knows some of what he wants to say and has decided to give them alone time. “Let’s go!”

She’d memorized the layout of the town very quickly, something she credited to years of biking being her main transportation through Paris. She also had a bad habit of looking for cars driving the wrong way while crossing the road, and he was trying to at least get her to look both ways before darting out into the street. His caution has sadly not yet caught on, and she’s quickly outpacing him as they ride towards the woods.

They dismount and leave their bikes behind a bush before walking further into the woods, Marinette admiring the surroundings with wide eyes.

“No forests in Paris?” Jim asks, and she shrugs.

“There’s some parks, but nothing this size,” she says. “And this is just here. You can walk in any direction and run into more forest.”

“Maybe we can go camping,” Jim suggests. “When your parents have gotten settled in, we can spend a weekend at Yosemite or something.” He hasn’t gone camping in years, but he’s learned plenty of wilderness survival skills from Blinky. Granted he was fairly certain only a few of them applied to humans, but it would still be fun. He’d probably find trollish lessons fun if he was doing them with Marinette.

They plan their camping trip as they cross a river, and Marinette’s laugh distracts Jim enough that his foot slips off a rock and ends up drenched in river water. She’s concerned at first but soon enough they’re both laughing over it, and they finally reach the clearing. Buttercups and daisies dot the grass between dandelions, and they spread the blanket and lie down, looking up at the cloudless sky.

“I bet the stars out here are beautiful,” Marinette says. “We have to come back some time at night and stargaze.”

“I can try and borrow Toby’s telescope,” Jim agrees. “Have you gone stargazing before?”

“Not really,” she says. “You can’t see too many in Paris from light pollution, and my nights were usually too busy to stop and look. You?”

“Same,” he says. “I’ve tried to pick out constellations a few times, but I’m terrible at it. They all look the same to me.”

“You just have to start with what you know!” Marinette says. “Find Orion’s belt or the Big Dipper and go from there.”

“So you have gone stargazing!” He props himself up on an elbow to look at her, and she shakes her head.

“No, I’ve just used star maps,” she says. “I was making a skirt design that used constellations and I wanted it to be accurate!”

“You know you could probably just make random dots and nobody would know the difference, right?”

“I would know the difference!” she says, sitting up. “Haven’t you ever taken pride in your work? Done it right for the sake of doing so?”

“Of course! I used to drive my mom crazy by insisting on making pie crusts from scratch.”

“They taste better that way!”

“Exactly! But I never had time to make them, so we went without pie for a while until I caved and went store bought.”

“Jim!” she gasps, her hand covering her mouth in faux horror. “Never let my parents hear you say that, they’ll never let us speak again!”

“Scandalous, I know!” he agrees. “But if I have you to ask for help I won’t need to resort to such desperate measures in the future.”

“You can spend all day baking with my dad, he’ll love it,” she says. “He thinks that’s the best way to get to know somebody, so expect an interrogation while making a layer cake.”

“An interrogation? Don’t they already know me?” Marinette blushes and looks away.

“They do, but not as well as they want to,” she says. He sits up, but she still refuses to meet her gaze. “After all, they think… well…”

Tell her now, his mind screams at him. This is the perfect time! But suddenly his tongue is made of lead. “Marinette,” he says, and it’s a wonder she can hear him over the sound of his suddenly too loud heartbeat. But hear she does, and her head turns towards him maybe a little too quickly.

“Yes?”

“I…” And despite how much he wants to tell her, for whatever reason the only words he can force out of his mouth are “Would you like a sandwich?”

“Oh,” she says, deflating a little. “Yeah, sure.” His hands tremble a little as he opens up the picnic basket and passes her the food. He grabs his as well; the plan is for them to take the first bite at the same time, but he’s not sure if he can manage to eat anything from the way his stomach is twisting. “Ready?” Marinette says with a grin, but it’s not as wide as it was before.

“Wait,” he says, and she wrinkles her nose at him.

“This is a bad time to tell me you’re allergic to peanut butter,” she says, and he smiles.

“Not that,” he says. “I was actually going to tell you… well, I…” She doesn’t say anything, just stares at him with eyes bluer than the sky, and Jim wonders why this moment is harder than leaping into the Darklands.

“Marinette, you’re a great friend,” he says, and he wants to kick himself as he sees her face fall. “That’s not what I meant!” he says, and now she just looks confused. “I mean, I wanted to say that while I love our friendship, I also… I might think of you as more. More than a friend.” HIs cheeks are ablaze and he can’t meet her gaze, instead choosing to focus on his sandwich. The pickle juice will make the bread soggy, but eating it is the last thing on his mind.

“Jim, is this a date?” Marinette asks, and her voice is soft enough that he can’t discern her feelings.

“Maybe,” he says. “It can be, if you want it to be.” And he’s so ready to hear her gently turn him down (he knows she likes Adrien, and he’s just Jim! He can’t hold a candle to an actual model) that he almost misses her reply.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, I’d like this to be a date.” He looks at her, and he’s never seen anybody look as happy as she does in that moment.

“You mean you-”

“Yeah,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think I’ve liked you for a while now. I just wasn’t sure how to bring it up.”

“Me neither,” he says. “I thought Adrien-”

“We’re friends,” she says. “And Claire?”

“Friends,” he says. They went on a date once and it was terribly awkward, and at the end they agreed a platonic relationship was better. But he doesn’t want to think about Claire right now, not when Marinette is there and she apparently likes him too. “I figured it out when I was watching the battle,” he confesses.

“Because you learned I was Ladybug?” she asks, and he shakes his head.

“Because I realised I couldn’t lose you,” he says. “It was more of a catalyst than a deciding factor.” It’s not Ladybug he fell in love with, it’s Marinette and all the little things about her that make her extraordinary.

“I figured it out on the plane ride over,” she says. “Alya told me to tell her all the details about ‘my new boyfriend’ and I spent the whole flight thinking about that.”

“Oh,” he says, and his cheeks are beginning to hurt from his smile. “I should have told you sooner, shouldn’t I?”

“Yes!” Marinette agrees with a laugh. “We could have been dating this whole time!”

“It’s only been a few days,” he says. “And besides, I don’t think we would have done anything too different.” Now that he thinks about it a lot of their excursions around the town could have been dates: going to the museum, petting the dogs in the pet shop, eating at his favourite cafe, visiting the library.

“I could have done this sooner,” she says, and she leans forward and kisses him. It’s a quick peck on his cheek, but he feels as though a shock of electricity has gone through him. “Sorry,” she says, pulling back. “I should have asked first.” But he puts down his sandwich and reaches out for her, slowly cupping her cheek.

“May I?” he asks, and she nods. And he lowers his lips to hers.

It’s not like a dream, or something magical. It’s better than that because it’s real, he’s really and truly here with Marinette and they are kissing, and when he finally pulls back he can’t help but marvel at the flushed and beaming expression she’s wearing because of him.

“You’re lucky I did that before I ate the sandwich,” he says, and she laughs.

“I’d let you even with pickle breath,” she says, and not even the strange food combinations they’ve made can cause their smiles to dim. They eat and exchange the second half of their sandwiches, and drink lemonade and eat apples and toss the cores as far as they can (he’s got more strength, but yo yo throwing has made her accuracy unbeatable). And as the shadows are beginning to lengthen he doesn’t want to leave, exit this perfect afternoon and go to the next moment where he’ll have to let the rest of the world into this new and wonderful thing, but decides that since the future will hold second and third dates and hopefully many dates after that it won’t be so terrible letting this one end.

“I'm really glad that you finally told me,” she says as they pack up the picnic, shaking the crumbs off the blanket before folding it. “Despite how hard it was to get the words out.”

“Next time I’ll just use Romeo’s speech,” he says. “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Marinette is the sun.”

“I’ll need to brush up on my Shakespeare if I want to keep up,” she says, and he shrugs.

“If you want, but I can’t think of anything better than you,” he says. “The words you speak, I mean. And the way you say things.” His cheeks are burning again, but she smiles at him and gives him another kiss.

“Sometimes you talk too much,” she says, and he nods and kisses her again. All good things must come to an end, as kisses are limited by lung capacity, but he can’t bring himself to mind now that the prospect of many more kisses await both of them in the future.

“If this is the result, I don’t think I mind being unmasked,” she tells him, and he nods. “Plus, we don’t need to play the awkward secret identity game this way.” With a flash he remembers that there were two things he wanted to tell her about, and while he doesn’t think this will be a dealbreaker he’d much rather get it out of the way sooner rather than later. He’s learned his lesson about hiding things from Marinette.

“Actually, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you about,” he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the amulet.

#my fic #jimari #jiminette #ml fic #trollhunters fic #jim lake jr #marinette dupain cheng #trollhunters #miraculous ladybug #today on fics that turned out much longer than i thought they'd be #'i can write fluff!' i say 4k words into this. 'it just takes some time!'#i don't think i'm capable of writing about these characters without thinking about the implications #jimari secret santa 2020

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splendidshinobi · 3 years

Text

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 11-15

LETS GO ROUND 3

episode 11: the other brothers elric part 1

yeet this thing edward

ok who r these so called other brothers

“METAL FATHER”

this girl’s uncle is sus. he’s now known as uncle lemons.

THE STONE???? WHOS MAKING A STONE

oh shit they got kicked to the curb

“THE REAL ELRIC BROTHERS???????” WHOSE ASS

i bet “alphonse” is the taller one

never mind

this twink is annoying

on your knees???????????????????????

ed plz

oh twink doesnt need a circle but doubtful he’s opened a portal of truth

he’s got philosopher’s juice instead i suppose!!

wheres mugear or whoever

oh found him

LUST <3

girly looks hot

anyways

oh its uncle lemons

these townspeople are annoying as shit

wow what a parallel tragic backstory

operation mole hole

what is the cough sub plot

i have questions

hmm there we go thx fletcher

ugh the twink is back

and now he’s an attempted murderer

OH FUCKKKKKKKK

great going twink your brother is gonna die

his villain origin story

uhhh what? part 2 i guess

episode 12: the other brothers elric part 2

fletcher is a homie

ed’s window dive was so dramatic

i literally cannot tell you what the twink’s name is

he is just twink

mugear is suspicious

he’s not even an alchemist??? bro

who is nash tringham

is he important other than in this specific episode arc

nash tringham and uncle lemons definitely got naughty back in the day

to be fair what is uncle lemons’ name? i do not know

like i cant be expected to remember every one bit character’s name? especially when i have all this other fma knowledge floating around in my head

MARCOH!!!!!!!

why is ed sitting in the tree like that

ed: “google earth...always taking pics”

what is this stone making process with pregnant ladies who thought of this

lets all throw mugear in a septic tank

sussssssss

edward is so unimpressed by this mans

HAHA yes edward my son

“it’s been a good while since i killed anyone. i kinda miss it.” EDWARD YOU KILL ME LMAOOO

uh oh he’s got a red water gun or somethin

so fletcher is the plant alchemist i see

twink’s name is RUSSELL????? how did i miss that

wooooooof sucks to suck mugear

thats A LOT of red water

fletcher’s alchemy is so weird

from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waterssss

what in tarnation is this boy doing

i guess we have another prodigy on our hands okayyyy

why do i feel like we’ll see the tringhams again

uncle lemons strikes again with LEMONS

whats in the letter????

from russell??? why r u so embarrassed edward

thats mighty homosexual of you good sir

episode 13: fullmetal vs flame

so this one is called fullmetal vs flame which makes me think theyre animating that bonus chapter??!!!??!!! yes!!!!!

colonel sarcasm?? nice ed

i too enjoy mocking roy toy

al found a cat

he definitely did

yup

um who’s yelling

probably mustang that dumpster fire of a man

BREDA!!!!!!!!!

black hayate!!!!!!! baby!!!!!!!

FUERY!!!!! he’s so small

breda is a mess omg

havoc is a mess too

kitty! “he called to me” precious al

these boys are a trainwreck

oh sad kitty flashback

mustang is such a freak

yeaH i wondER if mustang knows marcoh hmmmmmm HMMM

“names not familiar” yeah sure baby all yall ishval war criminals know each other

ARMSTRONG!!! hey!!!

ummm wtf fuhrer bradley

UM WHO IS THE LADY UM

hughes is a mESS

ed’s gremlin face gives me life

roy with hayate...im scared

take that dog away from him

yayayay bonus chapter fight scene!

shut up miniskirt man

oh no take the mic away from hughes

“you just want a promotion!!!” “give back my girlfriend!!!” im dying

i too would love to put a fist in mustang’s face

“too slow” damn idk that was kinda hot

but no im still gonna kill him

he’s so stupid

this is so chaotic

oooh cut the glove yessss

ope never mind

oh great he’s getting flashbacks... well shit happens when you commit war crimes

“ehhh???”

oh hmm theyre saying ishBal in this one instead of ishVal

ill probably still write ishval im more used to that

oh no black hayate she’s gonna pop a cap ive seen this clip before

she did it

“strict mommy” oh um ok

poor kitty cat

scar IS heather

episode 14: destruction’s right hand

back in liore with some more amestrian war crimes on the docket for today

ayyy envy our favorite morally corrupt they/them

gluttony’s snack time

new op lets gooooo

im not vibing as much but hey its kinda poppin

oh hey armstrong what up baby

to be fair ed did meet marcoh with armstrong in manga canon so

hahaha no thats not the fullmetal alchemist...thats alphonse!!!

marcoh’s voice sounds different hold on

yep different VA

dr marcoh’s alchemical oobleck

oh hey basque grand u sexy mustachioed bootlicker you shouldnt be here

what the FUCK he’s a weapon of mass destruction

i wish so hard netflix let you screenshot so i could add pics for added value!!!

if philosophers stones fall under grand’s jurisdiction then he is VERY SUS

he aint it

ope hey scar

this is an odd amalgamation of plot points

oops boy bye

ive always enjoyed scar’s CLEARLY adidas brand track pants

ummmm why did scar’s brother have BROWN hair

i- ok

i miss j michael tatum

ooooooh armstrong baby i was wondering where you were!

rose!!!! tell him!!! fuck u hakuro!!!!

trying to help?? dont make me laugh you’re a general in the amestrian military

episode 15: the ishbal massacre

kinda early for the ishval talk imo?? wonder what we’ll learn

armstrong is literally the buff rasputin trope on tiktok rn

“accidentally” shot an ishvalan child. hmm yeah no

envy just sneezed

HEY KIMBLEE YOU LITTLE SHIT

kimblee looks like christmas came early

they gave roy a stone??????? sounds noncanonical but ok

basque grand is literally wildin out fuck that guy

yuriy and sara’s skeletal remains just sneezed in the ground

wait a damn minute

wait a fucking minute

did roy

shoot

yuriy and sara

ROY SHOT WINRY’S PARENTS

and now hes gonna shoot himself

im taking a lap around my apartment OH MY GOD WHAT IN THE HELLLLLLLL

IM NEVER GOING TO RECOVER FROM THIS

FINANCIALLY OR OTHERWISE

im texting my sister about it right now and just SCREAMING

OH NO NO NO MARCOH DO NOT TELL ED WHO KILLED THE ROCKBELLS

oh good he ran away

i literally CANNOT handle them finding out about this

ahaha roy shoots the gun in the air again

roy take that glove off its raining

riza’s leg sweep was way less funny this time

WAIT IT JUST OCCURRED TO ME THAT ROY WAS AT THE HOUSE AND SPOKE TO WINRY AND PINAKO

i mean hes no idiot he knew

what did marcoh just do to scar im confused

nothing will ever make sense to me again after what ive just witnessed

feral al lets gooo

so this episode’s events were pretty similar. other than marcoh.

AND THE FUCKING ROY MUSTANG ISSUE...,...........

OH NOOOOOO

MOMS VOICE???

MOMS VOICE????

episode 15 said hey bitch lets watch your world come CRASHING The FUCK DOWN

#carol watches fma03 #fullmetal alchemist #carol's remaining brain cells #im honest to god six feet under #IF YOURE IN THE 2003 TAGS AND SEE THIS POST #SLIDE INTO MY ASKS SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT EPISODE 15 #IM GOING #TO SCREAM

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fatefulfaerie · 4 years

Text

Coming Home

So people are starting to self-isolate for their health, and of course that means I’m going create content to make their lives just a little better! Whether you are separated from friends or family and/or sick I hope my content makes things a little brighter.

Here’s some Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood for now. Three tiny one shots. Can be taken as one or three. So...a three-shot? Post-canon but before that one picture :). Will maybe try to get some Zelda stuff out ahead of “schedule” but we’ll see. She says as if she had a schedule in the first place.

Stay safe, be kind and considerate to others, all that good human being stuff.

“Rockbell Automail, how can I help you?”

“Um…”

Ed snickered away from the phone.

“Yeah, I’d like to make an appointment,” he continued with his signature smug smirk.

“Are you a returning customer?”

“…no.”

What a lie.

“So, a consultation then?”

“A week from today,” Ed said. “Three o’clock.”

Winry was surprised at how forward he was, yet she scheduled it anyway.

“Okay, you’re in the books,” she said, closing the pen while holding the phone on her shoulder with her head.

“Oh, I almost forgot! What’s your name?”

Ed smiled and leaned back in his chair, placing his right foot on his left leg in a relaxed position. With a casual tease, he started,

“You might know me as the Fullme—”

“ED!” She exclaimed, Ed leaning away from the loud noise with a chuckle.

“You jerk!” He heard her say once he returned to the transceiver. “I wrote that in pen!”

“Wait,” she heard, just right before she was about to cross it off.

“Keep it,” he said before hanging up abruptly and bursting out in laughter, Winry simultaneously letting out an excited inhale with wide eyes.

“Alphonse!”

——————————————————————————————————

Winry clasped her hands as the train came to a stop, puffs of steam billowing around the steel plating until they cleared.

Her long, blonde hair had been blown by the exhaust, yet now it settled, dangling upon her shoulders.

She stood right where she last saw him, the exact spot that he disguised a proposal as a desperate exclamation of the “laws of equivalent exchange”. She wondered if all alchemists were so set in their ways and words.

Then again, Edward Elric likely didn’t know of any other way to say it.

She maintained the anticipation in her heart as people started to step off the train, greeting them with a soft smile while still leaning her head left and right to get the first glimpse of him.

And, of course, he was the last to appear, his flamboyant nature to make every entrance his and his alone not quite lost.

Edward beamed a great big smile at the sight of Winry.

He stepped off the train and didn’t stop, his bag releasing from his fingers as he walked to Winry like only she mattered.

His bag could fall to the tracks for all he cared.

Winry giggled as he approached, Edward bringing both his hands to her cheeks.

“How’s your le—mm…”

With a downward tilt of his neck he had captured his lips with hers, Winry returning the gesture by going in her tiptoes and placing a hand on the back of his head.

She withdrew as she came back down, Winry pursing her lips with a gaze angled slightly downward. It was as if she was trying to contain a laugh.

“What?” He asked with a chuckle.

Ed looked to his right, doing a double take before he registered their audience in his mind.

“Oh,” he said, his face bluing and paling as he seemed to shrink down, hunching over with his arms hanging down.

Before the couple was Pinako Rockbell, Mei Chang, and Alphonse Elric, all with mouths popped open in shock.

“Who knew that two months in the West would make Edward Elric such a romantic?” Winry asked, running her fingers through his hair before rearranging it the smallest ways.

“Only for you, my dear,” he grumbled.

“B-brother…” Alphonse stammered.

Ed perked up immediately, scratching the back of his head.

“H-hey, Al.”

“How come we never do that!” Mei exclaimed pointedly at Alphonse with her hands on her hips.

“Whoa,” Alphonse said, holding his hands out. His face was burning red. “H-hold on.”

Pinako paid them no mind, pacing towards Edward and Winry.

“It’s about time you came home,” she said. “I don’t want to see you and your brother continue your father’s nasty habit of staying away.”

“You know I couldn’t stay away for long,” Ed replied as Winry took notice of his bag, grabbing it before returning to his side. “I guess you could say that my life is here.”

“I see,” Pinako replied before starting a walk off. “Come now, Mei, let’s finish teaching you how to make that pie.”

“Alphonse’s favorite pie!” She exclaimed as fisted hands squeezed her cheeks, the light in her eyes so big that it almost washed out her surroundings. “Are you coming, Al?”

“Yeah, I’ll catch up in a bit,” he said, prompting Mei to walk along the path with Pinako.

He looked to his brother with a warm smile, both with golden eyes that teased tears.

All this time and Edward still knew to treasure how lucky he was to have his brother. After everything they had been through, to hold him in the flesh was something he hoped he’d never take for granted.

So, no words needed to be said as they hugged each other, the presence of the other such a familiar comfort even when they let go.

“I hope you didn’t have to much fun in the East without me,” Ed said.

Al gave a small laugh, his shoulders going up and down with a shrug.

“Nothing I can’t recall.”

“Good,” Ed said.

Winry handed the bag to Ed before they started walking along, Ed slinging it over his shoulder.

They watched Alphonse run to catch up with Pinako and Mei, Winry surprised by the sensation of Ed’s left hand entangling with hers.

She looked to him, yet his focus was on the horizon, that determined gaze he would get when he knew he would win a fight or when he was about to clap his hands together to perform alchemy.

Only now it was softer, his eyes brightened by the sunny day, those golden eyes catching light in such a mesmerizing way.

“Granny has been calling me Winry Elric ever since you left,” Winry said as they strolled along the path. “She refuses to address me by anything else.”

Ed smiled to himself.

“Why would she call you that?” He teased.

Ed’s smile released further when Winry purposely and playfully bumped into him.

“That’s all you’ve got?” he retorted.

“I didn’t bring my wrench.”

“You might need a whole stash if we’re getting married.”

“Already taken care of, pipsqueak.”

——————————————————————————————————

Winry grabbed a wrench from the tray beside her, running her thumb up and down its’ edge with a smile.

This was the wrench she had used when she first built his automail appendices, the arm and the leg that were taken because he loved his mother and brother so much.

She looked to him now, laying on his bent arms with his hands clasped behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

The strength in him was truly in his care for others, how that never faltered, never degraded due to fear. His love, all love, is what makes humans greater than their sins, their lust, their greed, their gluttony, their envy, their sloth, their wrath, their pride. Edward knew well that to forget love and compassion was the greatest sin of them all.

So, to have his love was the greatest blessing Winry could ever hope for.

Perhaps young and naive to some, that young boy he once was knew little of the world and its’ rules, performing the taboo with only one consequence in mind. Some might warrant him a monster for attempting human transmutation, damning his brother’s body and his own limbs just to see the life in their mother’s smile.

Yet, there are far worse monsters than those who value, above all else, life.

There was, after all, no equal trade for life. Unparalleled are the bounds by which it portends, for miles and miles, infinite reaches to foreign places. The truth is, that life could only come from love, and vice versa.

Winry shook her head, pulling her out of the trance.

Using the wrench, she tightened the mechanisms, Edward repositioning his head to comfortably look at her.

“You’re beauti—AAH!”

He sat up straight at the sensation.

“WINRY, I SWEAR TO TRUTH!”

“Sorry,” Winry said. “I may have gone too far.”

Edward’s head fell back onto the pillow with a sigh.

“You were saying?” She prompted with a smirk.

“You’re a real piece of work,” Ed said, grumbling, his forearm on his forehead.

Winry’s expression grew into a smile as she adjusted his automail’s tightness.

“And,” he started, blushing. “You…y-you’re beautiful.”

Winry started to blush as well.

“As beautiful as any human can be, n-not that there are laws to dictate—”

“Do male alchemists know anything about talking to girls?” Winry interrupted, replacing the wrench in her hand with a screwdriver

“Probably not,” Ed replied, relieved that he was stopped from blabbering on.

“If our Flame Alchemist is any indication,” she said. “I’d have to agree.”

Winry sat back in her chair.

“How does that feel?”

“Better,” Ed said, sitting up completely and testing slight movements of his leg.

Winry stood up, collecting her things.

“If I don’t get to my room soon, Granny will tease me for the rest of my life.”

“You mean the rest of her life.”

Winry chuckled.

“Sometimes I feel like she’s going to outlive us a—EEK!”

Edward had suddenly grabbed her by the waist, giving her no choice but for her to surrender to his hold, them both falling to the bed.

“Ed!” She yelled, laughing as he tickled her with a mischievous grin. “Ed, stop!”

He stopped immediately, her back now flush against his chest, his hands hugging her waist.

“I love you, you know that, right?” He asked near her ear.

She turned herself to face him, cupping her hand at his cheek.

Winry kissed him deeply and passionately, Ed matching if not surpassing the desperation.

“Does that answer your question, pipsqueak?”

“Will I ever live that down?”

“Not until you drink milk.”

Edward grumbled indistinguishably as Winry stood up to leave.

He sat up with a thankful smile as she neared the door, his eyes full of love. He couldn’t stay mad at her long.

Winry opened the door only to see Alphonse about to knock at it, Winry raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Hi, umm,” Alphonse said, lowering his arm. “Could you keep the noise down? Some of us still have sleep to catch up on. You know, being a suit of armor and all.”

“It’s been two years, Al,” Ed said dryly, unamused.

“Still…”

“I was just about to leave anyway,” Winry said, assuring him.

“Yippee,” Alphonse said unenthusiastically as he walked off. He did sound tired.

Winry gave Edward a peck on the lips where he sat on the foot of his bed.

“Goodnight,” he said out of the kiss.

“Goodnight, Fullmetal Alchemist,” Winry said, closing the door behind her and departing.

#fmab #fma brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #winry rockbell #edward elric #alphonse elric #edwin #edward x winry

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missbrewrites · 4 years

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>this was made in 2018<

Keep that in mind while reading

Love you no matter what

(Envy x reader)(fma/fmab)

What happens when someone falls in love with one of the worst people in the world? Well they fall in love, but poor Y/n didn't know what she was getting herself into.

Y/n sits by the river, thinking of a certain sin. Now, she's not the one to tell someone how she feels for them, no, she's to shy to even say hi! So all she does is think. Think about saying hi, and think about what would happen. But today, her crush would say hi. The one, the only, envy!

Envy sees Y/n sitting by the river, lost in her thoughts. He thinks of a way to go and talk to her, then gets an idea. He turns into a kitten, a cute black kitten with envy's beautiful purple eyes. He gently walks up to her and very cutely meows

"Meow~" he says and rubs up against her leg. Y/n smiles at the kitten "hey little guy" she says and picks him up lightly. Envy blushes slightly and meows again.

Y/n, smiling at the cat, starts to pet it, causing him to purr. "Your so cute" she says and looks into the cats eyes

"And your eyes....just like his" she says. When she says this, envy gets confused 'who is she talking about...?' He blinks at her, making her giggle.

"There's a boy I like and I know I shouldn't like him, but oh well. Anyways, his eyes are purple, a beautiful shade of purple! And his hair" she stops and giggles "his hair looks like a Palm tree! But, I could never talk to him...." she finishes.

Envy, looking more confused than ever, has a strong feeling shes talking about him. I mean, who else has palm tree like hair that she knows? Unless she's talking about a real palm tree...is she? ....Nah!

"Of course, even if I did have the courage to talk to him my friend Edward would kill him. Anytime they see each other they fight.. Guess that's just boys being boys." Y/n says and sitting criss cross with the cat, envy, in her lap.

'She has to be talking about me....does this mean...she likes me..? There's no way! I'm not even human!! How could she love a monster like me..?' Envy thinks and meows as a cat making her giggle.

"Your such a cute cat! And I still can't get over how your eyes are just like his...." She says with a smile, looking down to the cat. "Just like Envy's..."

And that confirmed it. She was in love with envy and just told him. Of course she still didn't know it was envy. She didn't know she had just confessed her love to the sin, but she did and there was no going back. No taking back what she had said.

Envy was shocked, happy, but shocked. One of things with being 'envy' was that he was envious of lots of things and people. Mainly Edward for more then one or two reasons. Ed was always with y/n and normally never let her out of his sight. Envy has had feelings for y/n ever since he first saw her. He loved her. The first person he ever could say he had true feelings for and not just fake ones.

He loved her hair, her smile, her laugh, her everything! This was his chance to tell her. With that, he meowed one more time as a cat and then transformed back into him. Into the palm tree sin. He turned back into himself. Him on top of her lap, sitting on her, his legs around her back and his face close to hers.

"Is that really how you feel about me?" Envy, now himself, ask her in a low voice. Y/n looks shocked and scared at the same time, yet, in her eyes there's a hint of happiness. She was happy to she him.

She blushes, now knowing she told him all of that. She conferseed her love for him to him. She was so embarrassed

"E-e-envy....y-you were the cat...? The whole t-time..?" She ask him, even though she knew the answer "mhm" he replies, "now please answer me......I need to know" he tells her.

She hesitates. "Well um...I uh........" She sighs "I guess there's no use trying to hide it anymore.........y-yes, that's really how I feel......I....I l-like you envy....no...l-love you......" Y/n says, blushing darker.

Envy smiles slightly, knowing she's telling the truth. Know someone really does love him and he loves them. Then he frowns, "but...don't you know what I am? What I've done..?" He ask her

"Of course I do...but.....I really don't care....its all a matter of what you act like when your being yourself...I'll love you no matter what envy" she says and looks into Envy's eyes. She stares into them

Envy , blushing slightly "are you sure...you want to love me?"

"Of course I do! Besides, the heart wants what it wants" she smiles at him.

"Y/n..." He says, leaning in ever so slightly. "Envy..." She does the same. Soon enough there lips meet into a sweet, loving kiss. Something they had both thought of before. As they slowly pull apart, they both smile.

"What about ed?" Y/n ask "forget the pipsqueak, he's just gonna keep us apart and try to kill me. I mean, of course I'm not letting him do either if those things but still." Envy tells her

"Ok" she says and peeks his lips lightly. "Now then...can you get off me? Your a heavy palm tree!" She says with a giggle

"Hey!" Envy says

After that day envy would visit y/n every day as a cat. Al found him once and gave him a bath. Let's just say envy will never think of Alphonse the same again.

#anime #writers #writing #oneshot #xreaderoneshot #xreader #envyfmab #envyxreader #envy fma #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #fullmetal alchemist #fanfic

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wheremytwinwatches · 3 years

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 51

Last Time: The Bus Came Back, Al really needs to learn Morse Code, and the Golems woke up. Onwards!

Oh snap, new opening. Soft music as Ed and Al stand together in Central, looking at the lit-up castle until Ed looks away to blue pictures of Roy’s Crew wait I just saw Hughes in there. Oooh no. That’s not a good sign. Ok it’s including everyone from Armstrong the Great to General Grumman so unless this show’s heading towards a Total Party Wipe (which is not as unlikely as I’d like) it must just be stylistic. Wait what that was a white Truth outline that looked a heck of a lot like Winry. Please tell me she’s ok. Aaaand now it’s all red and black as someone (Ed?) screams and other flashes of red souls oh it’s the Goths. Aw hell it’s the Goths! And Uncle as well looking annoyed until GAH it’s one of those freaking Golems. Ok back to calming blue pictures of the Good Guys, then Al’s Soul still sitting at the Gate of Truth with his empty armor behind him, and Truth laughing like the jerk he is. Winry! Wi- wait why are you standing in a white dress at the edge of a cliff? Young lady that’s far too close, step back right now. Also stop crying and/or point me in the direction of whoever made you cry. We get a title for this song (“Rain”) as townspeople and villagers look up at the storm clouds in concern, and Military soldiers run out alongside tanks whaaaaat is that? What is that there’s a hunched figure standing in flames, zoomed in to show glowing white eyes and very big teeth. Now it’s Bradley in a bloodied white shirt sitting in the rain acting all calm and collected, switch to complete opposite of Scar tossing aside his jacket ooooh are we gonna get Scar fighting Bradley in this arc? Yeah I know that the trailers always lie but there tends to be elements of truth like the arms that grabbed Al coming up in a later arc. Now it’s the Chimera Army (sadly not under the command of General Al), and the Armstrong Siblings standing alongside each other and Mrs. and Mr. Curtis! Good to see you guys again! Wait Roy why do you look so upset? Riza why are you crying in an alleyway with your dog? And now Ed and Al are standing on opposite sides of a tree damnit are they gonna get separated again? Ok finally the sun’s broken through NOPE NOPE DEAD PERSON ALERT THAT LOOKS LIKE MAMA ELRIC BUT IT PROBABLY ISN’T EITHER RUN OR PUNCH IT ED. Nevermind he was just dreaming. While being watched over by Winry. Kinda cute, but kinda creepy too. Episode 51 - “The Immortal Legion” Oh great, this episode is gonna focus on those creepy Golems. Just what I wanted to start the new year with, yay. So a bunch of pipes are disconnecting from the gasping artificial zombies who land kneeling on the floor, before standing GREAT they’re in that uncanny 3D modeling that Titan!Envy used. Officer laughs at the labcoat’s insistence that they needed more tests, pointing at the undying, obedient, invincible soldiers. [Officer]: “We have our Title Drop, at long last!” Now he’s ordering the Golems (“Papa” NO) to deal with the renegade ele- Uh What So… One of the Golems walked forward and just… tore out his throat with its teeth. And a bunch of other Golems have pounced on the screaming Officer. Who’s no longer screaming. Aaaand now they’ve stopped, and turned with bloody mouths to the labcoat. … … … How fucking stupid are these guys? I mean really. REALLY. How has Amestris lasted as a country this long if this is what its leadership and researchers are like? How could the labcoats have failed so spectacularly to create Zombies when the goal was to create Golems? What kind of shoddy “tests” were they running to not figure out that their supposedly obedient soldiers were mindless killing beasts? Was there no prototype? Did they literally build an army of these things just assuming that they would all work? You fail, my good sirs! You fail at Science! And you, Officer! You completely ignored the guy whose job it is to know things, who told you that the weapon wasn’t ready, and you just set it off? You were so blinded by your arrogance and desire for command over others that you unleashed this army of Zombies without any assurance that they wouldn’t kill you for standing in front of them? Uncle. I get that you’re a bad guy. I get that you view humanity as a lesser species, no better than fuel for yourself and your Goths. And frankly, after seeing this Kimblee level of incompetence, I can see your point. But you have to have seen this coming. You had to have known that your minions were this stupid, this incredible level of dumbfuckery that has me storming around my room, ranting at the utter failure of this Officer and researcher. Clearly this is the reason you made your Goths, because if this was the level of ability you led before you made more competent henchmen? It’s a miracle that the whole country hasn’t gone up in flames without even the slightest effort by the Conspiracy.

Ok. Ok, we need to move on. So while that whole mess is kicking off, Ed’s reached the Door beneath The Third Laboratory. Oh hey, Barry’s still there! Miss you, you were funny when you weren’t killing innocents or trying to flirt with Riza. Giant door, check. Now how to open it. Actually, do we want to open it? Is it connected to the Transmutation Circle, is opening it playing into Uncle’s hands? Ah well, Ed’s gonna try anyway, struggles for a bit pulling at the seam (maybe it’s a push door?) until Scar gets bored and prepares to HoD it oh hey it’s opening CLOSE IT CLOSE IT CLOSE IT ZOMBIES CLOSE IIIIIIIIITTTTTTT Oh hey Armstrong the Great. Still haven’t killed the second General? Yeah he’s more useful as a bullet shield right now, and he’s still a General so he can order the Central Forces to stand down. Only he’s not giving the order? Huh. I’m actually kinda impressed here, guy’s been stabbed multiple times and has a gun to his head but he still gives an order to seal all entrances to Central. Still a bad guy and Armstrong the Great’s absolutely going to kill him now, but still. Ooor instead of Armstrong the Great, it’ll be Sloth literally crushing him. Ouch. Oooh dear, seems Sloth’s been ordered to kill Armstrong the Great for interfering, and she doesn’t have a tank or a snowstorm this time. She’s still laughing though, thanking the Goth for opening up another General seat, and brandishes her blade. [Armstrong the Great]: “This sword was passed through the Armstrong Family for generations. Now I don’t have to sully it with his filthy blood!” Adventure Strings continue as Ed’s fighting the Zombie Horde, the Chimera’s are throwing punches and Scar’s breaking out the HoDs to kill… oh dear. Scar’s One Hit Kill isn’t killing. That’s not good. The Zombies groan and shuffle around them- [Zombie]: “Big Brother!” NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU, WHOEVER WROTE THAT LINE YOU DO NOT TARNISH ONE OF THE SADDEST MOMENTS IN THIS SHOW WITH THESE MONSTERS SCREW. YOU.

Ed’s reacting in shock, realizing that they used human souls to make the Zombies, even somehow poor Nina’s. And for all the Zombies already, more and more come pouring through the door. Scar’s right, if these things escape outside to where civilians are just standing around wondering at all the Military soldiers running around, it’ll be a slaughter… Oh. Ok, I get it. Uncle deliberately set this up so the Officers (who are still IDIOTS) would set off a slaughter of the Central populace, probably to fuel the Transmutation Circle like Kimblee orchestrated the Drachman’s destruction up north. Back inside, Ed seals off the exit to keep the Zombies in ok sorry I have to say something, did the animation budget get cut for this episode to focus on the Zombies? Because for whatever reason Ed just seems off-model today, his face keeps looking rounder and younger. Anyways, the Chimeras are eager to let loose in a fight and transform, the group charges towards the Gate to plow through the horde and reach “that bearded bastard”. Outside Military forces are trying to close off roads and keep the Armory Ice Cream Truck from escaping, until a certain Briggs Officer arrives to express his displeasure. [Central Officer]: “A- a bear! A bear with a mohawk! Aaaa-” So Roy and his Crew are safely out of town, but now they’ll have some trouble getting back in. Although the Military are looking for an ice cream truck specifically. Almost makes me wish Ed was here to Transmute up a disguise for the vehicle. Almost mind you, things aren’t so desperate we need that just yet. Lion’s still at the Dome, wondering how things are going with the others. With nothing better to do he goes to talk to Al, ask what that annoying tapping noise is FINALLY thank you so Al didn’t know but Lion with his military experience was able to identify the dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot and realize that Al needs to shut Pride up, NOW. He’s been broadcasting your loca- Uh oh. Kimblee’s here. And as much as I insult the guy, I think he’s probably strong enough to brush past an injured Lion and break Pride out- Or straight up kill Lion while knocking a hole in the Dome. Damnit. Pride is loose. Mid-ep pictures of Zombies (“Mannequin Soldiers”) doing the See-Speak-Hear No Evil poses, and Alphonse Elric looking pissed. Aw shit May’s getting chased by Zombies in the tunnels! Run May! Run Shao May! Screw Envy, leave him to get eaten by the monsters! She screams at Envy for tricking her while he yells that her source of Immortality is still further inside, then she takes a moment to lay a beautiful if ineffective beatdown on some Zombies before catching oh shit I was joking about Envy getting eaten nobody deserves- Uh oh. [Envy]: “I’m baaaack!” Soooo, Envy’s kind of… melded with the Zombie, who ate another Zombie and then melded with all of the other Zombies to make Titan!Envy, who shrunk down into standard Envy. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Goth back in play. Crap. In the village near the Dome, Yoki’s panicking at the Military presence, trying to persuade Marcoh to stay quiet and not draw attention to themselves. But Marcoh’s upset at not doing anything. Also, what’s that smoke coming from the Dome? Pride’s sauntering out, Kimblee actually sounds a bit unnerved at the news that Pride ate another Goth. Pride’s justifying it as them coming from the same father, they’re just in a combined form again. Oh hey, Lion’s still alive! Kinda. Not looking or sounding too good, though. Al rushes forward damnit he just got grabbed by Pride’s shadows, he’s gonna get possessed again and Ed’ll have to fight him damnit. But Al transmutes the ground for a Big Boom, ok so dust to block out the shadows? Or not, Pride still has Al’s feet… aha! He only has Al’s feet! Al pulled a Lan Fan! Back to Battle Drum music as Armstrong the Great’s fighting Sloth, who’s smashing up the room with his chains. Armstrong the Great, honey, don’t waste your bullets on Sloth, it’s doing nothing. Maybe your sword? Damnit Military grunts, stop bothering Armstrong the Great by threatening to shoot her for treason. See, that’s what you get for threatening Armstrong the Great, she just dodges so you take the hit from Sloth. Thanks for the grenade, btw! So that’s not going to do much to Sloth (besides be funny as he “Huh?”s at the grenade right in his face, but maybe Armstrong the Great can use the smoke to- [Sloth]: “Hey, look! I caught you! And this time, I won’t mess up.” Well that aint good. Sloth’s got her trapped against a pillar and is squeezing her to death, Armstrong the Great’s actually in pain and-

YES [The Mighty Armstrong]: “HEELLLOOO, SISTER! AAAARRREE YOOOOOU ALLLRIGHT?! HAH HAH!” *sparkles and explosion because AWESOME* He’s back! The Mighty Armstrong is back, and after sending Sloth flying with a single punch is ready to fight alongside his snarky sibling! Armstrong the Great updates The Mighty Armstrong on the plot (that’s a Goth, bullets are useless, I want my tanks back). [The Mighty Armstrong]: “You don’t say? *sparkle* Fortunately dear sister, that is my specialty! Why don’t you let your brother have a crack at it! I’ll take this atrocity down! Come on, you monster!” [Sloth]: “Ugh. What a pain.” Hey! Hey hey hey don’t you skip away from the Armstrong Fight! Go back to Best Characters! Ugh, ok fine Al’s current situation of trying to drag a grievously wounded Lion away from the dome while his own legs are stumps is sufficiently dramatic enough I’ll accept the scene switch. This time. But yeah, Al and Lion are in a tough spot. Lion’s even telling Al to leave him behind, which Al is having none of. But really now, Al’s down a few limbs, when the dust clears they’ll be facing Kimblee and Pride together, and Lion’s coughing up blood. Now Al’s knee has blown out and he’s resorting to beating the crap out of it in frustration. [Lion]: “You brothers… are really something else… You’re still determined to help another person, even when you’re falling to pieces yourself.” Now Al’s talking about his promise, to never let anyone else die. So now the show’s going to either force Al to break his promise abandon Lion at the Chimera’s insistence, or he’ll keep trying until the dust fades and Pride walks up and kills Lion before repossessing Al’s armor anyway. This sucks- wait, what’s Lion have in his pocket?

HOLY LETO IT’S THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE! I completely forgot that Lion pocketed it ages ago after Ed’s injury. Has the dude been carrying around one of the setting’s most prized MacGuffin’s in his pocket this whole time? Dude. Also, is this going where I think it’s going?

So they’re discussing the dilemma: with their own Stone they might be able to fight against the other guy armed with one and the ��kid’ powered by two, but if they use the Stone they’ll be using the souls used in making it. And if I remember, this was Kimblee’s first stone, the one made with Ishvalan Sacrifices. Lion talks about Ed’s conviction to not use Stones on their bodies. Instead, he says to “use it to save the entire world instead”. [Lion]: “You deserve it. Because even if they’ve been put into that Stone, you still recognize them as people. I know… those people… even though they’re trapped in Stone, they still want to fight to protect what matters to them. Let them fight. They deserve the chance!” I’m picturing the Ishvalans in the stone cheering. “Heck yeah let’s kick some ass! That jerk in the tacky suit used us to murder our own people, we want to tear him apart!” Al agrees. They’ll fight together. Thank you. For all my ranting at not using the Stone to heal Ed back then, I can appreciate this take. Using a Stone is Wrong, and it cannot be something that our Protagonists ever truly accept. But when faced with no other options, and using it specifically to help others, not themselves, it is acceptable that Al uses the Stone to fight back. Outside the cloud Kimblee asks if he should blow it away, but Pride’s overconfident and says they’re trapped without Al’s legs- BOOM! Flash of red, Kimblee loses his hat in the windblast, and Al strides out on newly-Transmuted legs. Kimblee smiles. New Outro! We’ve got… I can’t tell if it’s Beardless or Al, going by the stonework I’m going to assume Beardless. Still Beardless, hair blowing in the wind...still Beardless...still Beardless...what is the whole Outro just Beardless never mind it just switched to Mama Elric’s grave, then a crowd of Xerxes folk hey it’s that picture Keaton used to show Xerxians have no black outline to their hair. Then either Beard or Uncle walking through the desert in a white cloak, and the Elric Household complete with the swing that Beard nearly broke his back setting up. Whoop speaking of we have a grumpy Beard surrounded by white light and shattering stone, then Homunculus sulking in his flask. Also, A+ on putting the only credit this screen (Mixing Engineer Adrian Cook) right in front of the one-eyed circle monster.

Ooh, but now we’ve got an orbital view of the planet, with a giant circular shock wave coming off of it. Implying the Nationwide TC is activated? Now Ed looking serious in his red coat, and poor skinny Al’s soul smiling in front of the Gate. Now it’s his armor form standing in front of a sunset (Ending Theme “Ray of Light”), and a final shot of the road leading to the Rockbell home.

#wmtw #where my twin watches #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemist brotherhood #fmab #fmab 51 #ranubis

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wyrdify · 4 years

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season 5, episode 2 of FMAB:

This got long because hey, guess what, I have a lot of feelings. So I put all of it under a readmore for length.

I've watched this scene several times, but this is the first time I noticed something: Roy is actually tearing up when he says he finally ran Envy down. It's a very small detail, but we can see it as his voice also breaks.

Something else: after we see that flashback sequence, we don't see Roy's eyes. They're obscured. The only ones who can see his face are probably Ed and Scar, and I have to wonder what went through their heads.

Another detail I didn't notice previously: when Envy is trying to get the group to fight each other, Roy is smiling at him. He figured out what Envy's trying to do. But, when we see Envy start to cry, Roy's grimacing. He's pissed. In his eyes, Envy caused so much pain to the humans he appears to be jealous of. What right does he have to cry over that? When Envy finally dies, Roy comments that he took the coward's way out, but he's also covering his eyes.

Roy wears many masks. He's a good actor who can show others what he wants them to see. But, when he's vulnerable, his eyes give away every bit of emotion he's feeling. So he covers them. Doesn’t let anyone see.

Which of course makes him losing his eyesight even more poetic.

One last thing: what about Riza's words to him got him to stop? Ed and Scar contributed to breaking through that anger, but Riza did one thing different: she acknowledged the pain he was in. She knew how important it was to him personally that he tracked down Hughes’s killer. This wasn’t just about going after the senior staff for corruption. For Roy Mustang, it was about finding the one responsible for killing his best friend. Riza acknowledged that, and she made it clear that she would take care of Envy for him, and not let him do something reckless.

I don’t think she could have done that without Ed and Scar’s help. Roy needed to see that his actions hurt more than one person. Ed (and Al) are people he’s protected all this time, and doing this would hurt them. For Scar, he can’t very well help rebuild Ishval, the place he helped destroy, if he’s letting his anger control him. Those two pave the way for Riza.

“I know you’re hurting. I know you’ve been hurting. I understand why this hurts, and why this is important to you. But, this won’t take away the pain. It’ll just make the pain spread to people you care about, and I know you would never want that.”

Brotherhood left out one important detail when ending this scene that the manga does: Roy takes off his gloves before lowering Riza’s weapon. He disarms himself before asking her to. Riza asked him to lower his weapon, and him taking off his gloves is him listening to her.

Something else I found interesting: Scar tells Ed that if Roy succumbs to this, he doesn’t think he’d recover. This is coming from a man who made it his mission to kill the people responsible for the loss of his home, his family, and everything he knew. Over the course of the manga/Brotherhood, we see Scar work through that anger, and see that this isn’t what he shouldn’t be doing with it. Multiple people show him this: the Elric brothers, his fellow Ishvalans, Winry, and May. It takes time. It’s not an overnight sort of thing.

So, when he says he doubts Roy would recover from following that same path, that statement carries a lot of weight.

It’s excellent writing on Arakawa’s part: two characters switch places the further the story progresses. In the end, Scar started on his path of revenge because he was hurt just like Roy. He was in so much pain after losing everything and everyone he loved. He wanted that pain to stop, so he went after the parties responsible for causing it. Only after months and months of him reflecting on his choices, and having input from others, was he able to put his revenge aside.

Which leads to the big question: why does he believe that Roy might not recover like he did? He started down this path because he was hurt, and lost someone he loved. There’s a key difference between the two of them, though: Scar was alone when he started down this path, but that changed as time went on. Roy started down this path with others, but we saw him gradually isolate himself. Some of it wasn’t his choice--Wrath took away his team, his family. But, he also did it to himself. He’s doing the exact opposite as Scar, and he’s not realizing that he’s hurting people by doing so.

That’s why it’d be harder for him to recover. It took Scar a while to see how his actions affected others. Before Hughes died, Roy was painfully aware of how one person’s actions could affect the lives of everyone else around him. Killing Envy, and succumbing to all that hatred, would just further isolate him, and he’d be blind to the pain he’s causing because he thought what he was doing was right.

I really want to know what Scar and Ed said to each other. Someone give me that.

Lord, Arakawa did such a good job with crafting this story and these characters. This is just masterful. Big props to her.

#thewriter; meta #let the flames begin; hc #hc; personality #hc; relationships #[ tldr: Arakawa knew what she was doing and holy hell do I respect her ]

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kpopgirl1234bl · 5 years

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If you don’t mind can I get Fullmetal Alchemist envy x fem reader with smut? ;w; But of course she a human and she’s his enemy so he’s sneak to her (house) (she’s also Edward childhood friend)

I’m sorry it took me so long to write this, but it took me some time to come up with something.

I really hope you like this.

-------------------------

Being a childhood friend of the Elric's was... Interesting. Your families had known each other way before any of you were even born.

You had been there for them for as long as you can remember. You were there when they tried to get their mother back.

You saw the aftermath of the transmutation.

You were there when Ed got his automail.

You were there when they burned down their house and took off.

And you still miss them very much.

TIME SKIP

Ed had called you one morning telling you in a few days he had some days off and asked if you wanted to come to Central to catch up.

Well, of course, you said yes and began packing immediately.

DAYS LATER

You finally arrived at Central station. You stepped off the train and began looking around for Ed and Al since they said they would be there to pick you up.

'' Hey y/n! Over here! '' You heard a familiar voice shout. You turned around and saw Your blonde childhood friends and a full-body armor standing next to him.

'' Ed! Al! '' you yelled as you ran over to them and almost tackled them as you hugged them.

'' Woah I'm glad to see you too y/n. '' Ed said as he hugged you back.

'' It's good to see you again after so long y/n. '' Al said.

'' It's good to see you too Al. '' You said and hugged him too.

'' Do you guys know any good hotels in the area? '' You asked them.

'' Yeah, come on There's one right near the station. '' Ed said and took your hand in his and pulled you along.

Even though none of you knew, but from the shadows someone Ed knew all too well were watching all three of you.

'' y/n huh, I'll remember that. '' The person said.

TIME SKIP - a FEW DAYS LATER

You, Ed, and Al were hanging out. Since the city was so big, Ed and Al were showing you around. Showing you their favorite places.

You were all laughing and goofing around when all of a sudden there was a loud explosion. Dust and small rocks flew around so you couldn't see anything.

All of a sudden you felt someone grab you from around the waist. Ed noticed this.

'' Y/N! '' He shouted and ran after you, but someone jumped in front of him and Al and began attacking them.

'' Looks like we took something from that little pipsqueak. '' A raspy voice said. You turned and looked at who had kidnapped you.

He had pale skin, dark green hair, and a smirk on his face. Even though he was Handsome, you couldn't forget he had kidnapped you and attacked your best friends.

'' Let me go! '' you shouted and began to struggle against his grip around you.

'' Oh you're a feisty one, I like that. '' He said. You both landed, but he still had a tight grip around your waist.

'' Name's Envy. '' Envy smirked at you.

'' I don't care! Let me go! '' You shouted and began to struggle and hitting him, but nothing worked.

'' LET HER GO!!! '' You heard Ed yelled. Ed attacked Envy with his alchemy, which made Envy let you go.

Ed kept fighting Envy as you looked on.

'' y/n! Are you all alright? '' Al asked you.

'' I'm... Fine, but Who is he? '' You asked and pointed toward Envy.

'' That's Envy He's a homunculus. '' Al told you.

'' Homunculus? '' You said confused and looked at Al.

'' We don't know much about them yet, but let's just say we are not friends. '' Al explained to you.

'' Lookout! '' Al Suddenly shouted and grabbed you. Just then, huge boulders flew right by where you had just been standing.

'' Hey! Get back here! '' Ed shouted after Envy who escaped. Ed ran after him, but you stopped him.

'' Edward!!! '' You yelled after him. He snapped his head towards you and ran over to you, totally forgetting about Envy.

'' Are you okay y/n?! '' Ed asked you holding both of your arms looking at you with worried eyes.

'' Ed I'm fine Al protected me, and thank you for saving me from this Envy guy. '' You smiled at him.

After you said that, Ed hung his head and looked at the ground.

'' Ed? '' You asked him. Suddenly Ed pulled you into a tight hug. At first, it surprised you, but a few seconds later you hugged him back.

After that, you all decided to go home. Ed and Al walked with you to your hotel.

'' Thank you for walking me, home guys. '' You thanked them and smiled.

'' It nothing. '' Ed said and smiled back.

'' It's the least we could do after the attack happened. '' Al said.

'' Well we better get going, try to get some sleep tonight. '' Ed said and patted your head just like he did when the three of you were little.

'' I will, Goodnight you two. '' You said.

You entered your hotel room and got ready for bed.

You got into bed and turned off the light and got comfy and soon you fell asleep. But even though you were asleep, you couldn't forget about Envy.

You knew he was Ed's Enemy, which made him your enemy. There was just something about him you couldn't comprehend.

Was it the way he held you?

Was it the way he looked at you?

You didn't know.

Suddenly you were woken by sounds coming from inside your room.

' What is that? ' You thought. You slowly opened your eyes. You were soon met with a beautiful pair of violet eyes.

'' Hello y/n. '' You recognized the voice immediately. You quickly sat up in bed.

'' What are you doing here, how did you get in?! '' You exclaimed.

'' How I got in here doesn't matter, it's what I'm here for that matters. '' He said as he crawled closer to you.

'' And what are you here for? '' You asked him as you backed away from him as he crawled closer to you.

'' You. '' Was the only thing he said before he kissed you. At first, you struggled and pushed against him. but soon you kissed him back, giving yourself to him.

Then he broke the kiss and looked into your eyes.

'' Heh,'' he smirked and kissed you again, but this time his tongue glided across your bottom lip.

You hesitantly slowly opened your mouth to let him in, but as soon as you open your mouth a little you felt his tongue shot inside your mouth and began to explore the inside of your mouth.

'' Mmm. '' you moaned and put your hands on his shoulders. He broke the kiss again and a string of saliva connected the two of you.

But Envy didn't waste any time and began attacking your neck. That's where you couldn't hold it in anymore.

'' Aah~ '' You moaned, you quickly covered your mouth, shocked at the sound you just made.

'' I guess someone has never touched you like this before. '' Envy purred into your ear and began sucking on your neck again and began to massage your breast.

Envy continued to attack your neck, while his other hand slowly made it way down to your wet core.

His hand made it's made into your pants and pressed a finger against your wet core through your underwear.

'' Aaah~ '' You moaned loudly.

'' You're already so wet, have you been waiting for someone to do this to you. '' Envy smirked and moved your underwear to the side and slowly slid two fingers inside you,

'' Hyaah- N-no wait... '' You whispered.

'' You want me to stop~ '' Envy purred in your ear and bit your earlobe.

'' Hah- No... D-don't stop. '' You moaned.

'' Good girl. '' envy said and licked your ear. Envy continued to pump his fingers in and out of you. Soon you felt your insides tighten like a knot was tieing itself inside you.

'' I- I'm C-C-cumming. '' You moaned.

'' Ah ah ah, Not yet. '' Envy said and pulled out his fingers. The feeling of disappointment took over you.

'' Why... Did you pull out. '' you panted and looked at him.

'' Because now begins the real fun. '' Envy smirked. He removed his clothing which revealed his erection. Your eyes widen at how big he was but quickly looked away.

'' Oh be shy now. '' He teases you and rubbed his hard member against your folds lubricating himself in your juices.

'' Aah~ J-just put i-it in a-already. '' You pleaded him.

'' Oh you want me inside you already~ '' Envy smirked at you.

'' Yes! '' you answered trying to hold back a moan as he continued to rub himself against you.

'' Then beg for me. '' Envy said smirking at you.

'' Please Envy I want you inside me so bad, I want you to fuck me! '' You said.

'' Alright then. '' He said. He shoved himself inside, filling you with his manhood.

He didn't wait for you to adjust to his size, instead, he began thrusting hard into you.

'' W-wait Envy Aah~ I- Mnn I can't- Ngh. '' You moaned and pleaded, but Envy didn't stop thrusting into you.

After a moment you grew used to his size, and the pain grew into pleasure. The only sound between the two of you was moaning, grunting, and panting.

'' Aah~ Oh god! Oh~ Yes! Envy go faster! Faster! Ngh~ '' You moaned. Without saying anything, Envy began thrusting even harder into you hitting your G-spot.

'' R-Right there! Fuck me right there Envy! '' You said. Envy lifted your legs over his shoulder and began ramming you G-spot.

'' Aah~ '' You moaned loudly.

'' Ngh~ y/n '' Envy moaned after you.

Soon your walls began clenching around Envy's member.

'' Envy I'm G-Gonna c-cum. '' you moaned

'' Me too. '' Envy grunted and began ramming into you with inhuman speed.

You felt your self release all over his member, he came at the same time as you. You felt his fluids fill you to the brim. He slowly pulled out and you could feel the fluids flowing out of you.

'' You know y/n, you make a cute face when you cum. '' Envy said while panting a little.

'' Shut up. '' You said and blushed.

'' Well I better get going before your little friends finds out I just fucked his best friend. Hopefully, we can do this again. '' Envy said and got dressed and jumped out the window.

'' Hopefully. '' You whispered to yourself.

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hellosweetsmuppetrumpus · 4 years

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Full Metal Worm Hole I don't own any of the characters they belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I just own the plot and the few friends names I used enjoy this story! Our story begins in a laboratory somewhere on the east coast of the United States. My name is Mike. This is my story of strange and weird things. It had been four years since my partner, D'Vante (who goes by the nickname "Neji"), and I began working on a machine that would allow us to create an alternate world and a pathway (worm hole) that would allow us to travel back and forth between our world and another. After months of experimentation, we had finally created a prototype. We created a world based on the stories and writings of a Japanese writer and artist by the name of Hiromu Arakawa. Our world was the world of the Full Metal Alchemist. For the prototype test runs, we invited a few of our friends, which in included Joice, Alyssa, Beyshon, and Katie. We kept survival gear in our lab for when we had extra time to relax and going hiking in the mountains which surrounded our laboratory. Each one of us had, in one shape or form, studied the ancient art of Alchemy (an ancient tradition, the primary objective of which is the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, capable of turning base metals into gold or silver, and acting as a universal medicine). Little did we know, we would be in for the ride of our lives. The machines started to buzz and beep with lights and sounds. The portal started to open. D'vante and I looked at each other with smiles, as our hard work was coming to fruition. "It's working! It's working!!!" we yelled. The high energy around the worm hole was making it very unstable. The computers started flashing warning signals. The power from the worm hold lifted everything into the air, causing our plexi-glass barrier to shatter as the worm hole began to collapse. All of us blacked out from the enormous drop in air pressure in the room. We all woke up in a very strange place. After a few seconds, we all noticed we were in a back alley in an unknown city. Scattered around us were some of our supplies. We found our survival bags, hooded cloaks, weapons, food, water, and books. As each one of us was putting on our cloaks, we heard two men yell down the alley at us. They were wearing some sort of uniform with rank. They pulled out their firearms and aimed them at us. Trying to escape, we ran around the corner. As they followed, we got the jump on them and knocked them out. After subduing the officers, we took them to an abandoned warehouse by some train tracks to interrogate them. We dumped a bucket of water on the two men to wake them. We had tied them together sitting on chairs to make sure they did not escape. One of the officers barked a threat, stating that one of the military's top alchemists would come to save them. During the interrogation, unknown to us, shadowy figures entered the warehouse. All of a sudden, the Shadows attacked us. The military officers broke free from their restraints and yelled to the Shadows, trying to scare them away. "I see you two have friends that hate everyone!" I yelled. One of the officers replied "What are you talking about? We thought you were on their side." " I guess the old saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' is true in this predicament," stated D'vante. "Guess we should introduce our selves" cackled the figures. A slim looking woman walked out "I'm Lust." A fat guy crawled out "I'm Gluttony." A slender looking guy walked out and crowed in a laugh "I'm Greed." And another person walked out and stated "I'm Envy." Each one had a tattoo of an alchemy symbol on different parts of their bodies. After beating the living snot out of the four, the Shadows retreated. We helped up each of the officers and they gave us their names. The tall one was Havoc and the short one was Furey. They both worked for a man called the Flame Alchemist. Both, however, were hurt in the fight and we had to get them to a hospital. Once at the hospital we made our way to the waiting room. I thought it strange, though, that on our way, we saw a dark haired man followed by two blondes and someone in a suit of armor. While in the waiting room, my friends and I discussed what had happened and why we felt so strong. Physically some of us had changed…in my case, my size. I had grown to about 6'7-6'10! And the others had gotten smarter. But, we didn't know why. Once the doctor came out and told us that Havoc and Furey could have visitors, we went back to visit them in their room. Once we walked into the room, we were confronted by the dark haired man and his entourage. One was a young woman with short blonde hair who had two pistols aimed at us. The other two appeared to be using alchemy to create weapons to use against us. That is when we got a good look at the short blonde kid. Alyssa couldn't believe her eyes and she fainted. Havoc shouted for the dark haired man to stop, that we only wanted to help them. The dark haired man stopped and introduced himself and his group. He spoke first. "I am Colonel Roy Mustang. This is Lieutenant Hawkeye, and these are the Elric Brothers, Edward "Ed" and Allophones." "So that's the full metal alchemist? He's so short…" I said. Just as I said that, I saw something coming towards me. I ducked out of the way and slammed Ed to the ground. "I don't think so boy!" I growled. Mustang gave Ed a glare and he stopped. Mustang began to ask questions about where we came from and what had happened to us. We explained about what happened with our lab and running into Havoc and Furey, then the fight with what they called "Homunculi." "It was strange! I slammed my hands on the ground and the ground beneath those we were fighting just collapsed! I don't know how I became this strong." I muttered. A shadow of a large man appeared. "Armstrong, is that you?" questioned Mustang. A man entered the room who was even bigger than me. After he nodded, he looked at each of us. He looked me in the eyes. After that, he bent down and whispered something into Mustang's ear. The expression on Mustangs face told a story…he was getting an idea. Mustang invited us to stay in his military guest quarters. After a few days we were summoned to King Bradley, the head of the military. He praised us for saving Havoc and Furey and offered each of us the ability to be alchemists or officers in his military. The next day we each chose what we wanted to do. I, D'vante, and Alyssa chose to become State Alchemists. A State Alchemist is a military worker that uses alchemy to fight people. Katie and Bey chose to be military sharp shooters. We knew the military frowned upon members living together unless they were married, and before we received our official rank, we decided to marry so there would not be a problem. Joice and D'vante married, while I married Katie. Yet Bey and Alyssa stayed single for whatever reason…they never really did say why. Although, most of the group knew why Alyssa stayed single…she was chasing after Ed. Everywhere he went, she followed like a stalker. With joining the military, we were each put under a different "teacher" to show us the ropes. D'vante was put under the tutelage of Scar, a former murderer who killed military members, but was now helping the military find and maintain peace. Bey and Alyssa were put under Mustang, to train with two different types of alchemy. (Let me say a few words about Alyssa. She is very spastic...especially when it comes to the brothers. Every time they came around the office, she fainted.) The two also were trained by Hawkeye and Havoc, since each was an expert with firearms. Katie was taken in by Ms. Olivia Armstrong, in order to toughen her up physically and mentally. Olivia was renowned for being a slave driver and a taskmaster, while always being a headstrong leader. The Armstrong family was the most powerful in this world. They were also the richest! As for me, I was placed under Major Alex Armstrong, Olivia's little brother. After a while, we started to act alike. After a few days of working with Armstrong he gave me a pair of gantlets. While we all were placed in good places, we felt like things were just getting started here and our adventure was just beginning. I remember thinking we had not seen the last of the Homunculi and whoever was leading them. We had just joined a war for the right to survive. Hopefully we can win this war and become free, all the while getting used to our new home. Each new adventure, we will take head-on with our new friends and "families." Together, and not alone. As the old saying goes "United we stand, divided we fall". However that is for another story and another time. To be continued…. let me know what people think about this since this is my first story I'm working on. this is the beginning of a funny jump into a few of my favorite manga's. please give some feed back on how this sounds.

#full metal alchemist

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thedeevirus · 5 years

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NYGMOBBLEPOT FICLET: ‘Broken Looking Glass’

‘I have a suggestion for a ficlet. I would love to see something involving Jervis Tetch hypnotizing one of the two of them (or both, I'm not picky). It's a concept I haven't seen played with before, and if anyone could do it well, it's you’

Thank you for the lovely message @spoonsthatareominous This one’s for you :) Enjoy!

***

‘Greetings Edward!’

Ed closed the Iceberg Lounge’s door him, pocketing the key that Oswald had given him. He turned slowly, recognising the cheery voice that had saluted him but completely baffled as to the reason for its presence.

‘Tetch?’ he asked, plastering on a fake smile.

It was difficult to do. Oswald and he had both agreed to maintain a skeleton staff until the Lounge opening the next night. Ten people seemed like more when their corpses were propped up on chairs as grisly party guests. Blood seeped from beneath ghastly rabbit masks that Tetch appeared to have stapled to their faces. Ed’s forensically trained eye told him none of them had put up a fight. He tried to push the thoughts of them shrieking silently inside their own hypnotised heads as Tetch had dressed them for the occasion and focused on Oswald, who was still very much alive. He sat to Tetch’s right, dull eyed and still as stone. He held a tea cup in his hand complete with saucer, his pose stiff and unnatural. Tetch had rearranged nearly every table in the Lounge to form one long table replete with teapots of all shapes and sizes and dishes full of cakes, cookies and pastries. The food had been raided from the Lounge’s kitchen but Ed was at a loss to explain the origin of the tea sets. Tetch must have supplied them himself. The large ice sculptures of penguins set into the walls that Oswald had commissioned to decorate the club from Victor Fries had been given hats of their own and the coloured spotlights designed to create a subdued blue light for the diners had been changed to multicoloured as they whirled dizzily. The mad tea party brought to life.

’Never fear! Penguin is under my command’, Tetch said, spreading his arms wide, ‘Welcome to my Winter Wonderland!’

‘I wasn’t expecting to see you’, Ed said politely, noting the loaded gun in Tetch’s hand.

‘And I had not expected you to be late’, Tetch said, wagging a finger in mock reproach, ‘Late! For such a very important date!’

‘And what important date would that be?’ Ed asked.

Tetch laughed as he placed a decidedly unhealthy amount of sugarcubes into a teacup. Ed watched with a mixture of disgust and unease. Arkham had not been kind to Tetch. He had always been jittery and disturbed but his fingers were shaking so badly the teacup was rattling on its saucer. His fingernails were torn and bloody outside his fingerless gloves. His soiled long coat seemed to have been borrowed from a homeless person and the ever present top hat looked as if it had been sat on more than once. His laugh was shrill and odd, compounded by his clenched jaw and dry, chapped lips. The only pristine elements of his appearance were an immaculate white card in the top hat’s band inscribed with ‘In this style 10/6’ in impeccable, looping calligraphy and a delicate, white rose set into his buttonhole.

‘Your unbirthday silly!’ Tetch said. Tea spilt over his fingers from the cup. Despite the obvious heat, Tetch didn’t even flinch. ‘I had prepared a party in Arkham complete with centrepiece but Jeremiah wrecked my plans by arranging your release’.

‘This is very thoughtful of you. But why here?’ Ed asked, accepting the teacup.

He made a show of blowing on the cup, pretending it was too hot to drink and set it on the table. He looked down at the unappetising white sludge floating on the liquid’s surface as the sugar dissolved while Tetch espoused his vision.

‘Because we will take revenge in this traitor’s lair. His death will tell all of Gotham to beware! I remember how Penguin treated you dearest friend. What better gift could I give you than his head? Tonight, your stalemate ends and Riddler and Hatter will ascend!’

Ed walked around the table and waved a hand in front of Oswald. Oswald didn’t blink.

‘How did you get close enough to hypnotise him?’ Ed asked, feigning admiration.

Tetch giggled like a child and produced a greeting card from inside his coat like a magician producing a rabbit. Ed was baffled at the continued contrast between Tetch’s clothes and his discerning taste in stationary. Like the card in his hat, the card was white and embossed with silver etched flowers. Ed took it and read the contents.

‘A fake missive from yours truly insulting him rudely’, Tetch said in a loud stage whisper, ‘A plan perfect in its simplicity! He wanted to kill you badly he didn’t doubt your signature’s authenticity!’

Ed saw that Tetch had indeed forged his signature at the end of a litany of petty insults about Oswald’s appearance. Ed could see why they had ignited Oswald’s infamously short temper but he was insulted that Oswald could have thought such childish slights could have come from him. No doubt he had raged at Ed’s sudden verbal savagery and hastened to the meeting point outlined in the card. Ed was forced to begrudgingly admire Tetch’s plan as well as how perfectly his signature had been duplicated.

‘You seem to have a talent of gaining his attention’, Tetch sighed, stroking Oswald’s head like a docile pet, ‘I almost envy the strength of your connection’.

He snatched the monocle from Oswald’s eye. Oswald didn’t even blink. Tetch held it up to the light before dunking it into a cup of tea three times.

‘Why he ever thought you could be friends was bizarre’, Tetch said airily, using Oswald’s own pocket square to dry the monocle, ‘You two could never be true friends…like we are’.

There was a sharp noise which made Tetch blink. His grip had suddenly tightened causing the monocle to crack in half. Tetch looked down at it then flicked the handkerchief, unconcernedly scattering the former monocle’s pieces onto the floor. Ed slid his fingers along the seam of the card and imagined a knife sliding across Tetch’s neck.

‘Will he do anything you say?’ Ed asked, careful to keep his tone light as he returned the card to Tetch.

‘Ooh is that a suggestion I hear?’ Tetch beamed, ‘I’m all ears!’

Ed walked to a nearby music system and clicked a button. A smooth waltz began to play over the lounge’s speakers.

‘What’s a tea party without music?’ Ed smirked.

Ed held a hand out to Oswald, inviting him to dance. Jervis tittered at the conceit and waved a hand permissively. Oswald rose slowly and took Ed’s hand. Ed led him to the dancefloor as Jervis began to waltz with a teapot. Ed began to dance with Oswald. He was careful to keep his back to Tetch; his height would obscure Oswald and Tetch would be unable to see him speaking.

‘Oswald, listen to me’, Ed said, ‘You’ve been hypnotised-‘

He stifled a gasp as Oswald interrupted.

‘No I haven’t. Keep your voice down’.

‘How do I know you’re not just saying that?’

‘Because does that look like a man capable of long term planning?’ Oswald deadpanned.

Ed risked a glance at Tetch and saw that the hatter was not paying the least bit of attention to them. He seemed to be trying to balance a spoon on the tip of his nose. Ed conceded the point.

‘I don’t understand’, he asked, ‘How are you not hypnotised?’

‘If you don’t understand, then what chance do I have?’

‘Clean cup! Clean cup!’ Tetch yelled suddenly, ‘Move down, move down!’

‘Is it just me or has he gotten worse?’ Oswald asked, watching in confusion as Tetch hastily began to move the table settings one place down while muttering myriad apologies to invisible guests.

‘It’s not just you. They increased the ‘persona indoctrination therapy’ to keep him under control’, Ed explained, hating the treacherous touch of genuine sympathy in his voice, ‘Why they used the personality of the most famous literary madman of all time I will never know’.

‘Nice to see Arkham’s standards of care haven’t slipped’, Oswald observed drily.

‘Surprisingly, the treatment actually did something useful. Tetch needs eye contact to hypnotise people now. No more commanding anyone to jump off buildings over the radio’.

‘Still seems like a useful friend to have’.

Ed fought the urge to laugh at Oswald’s sulky tone. They were technically in a hostage situation and Oswald was choosing to focus on that?!

‘We weren’t friends’, Ed corrected, ‘Our association was a science experiment’.

‘He seems to think otherwise’.

‘He also thinks a dormouse is living in that teapot. I didn’t have the luxury of choosing my cellmate in Arkham’.

‘You think I did?’

‘I’m pretty sure yours didn’t gouge out a guard’s eye with a spoon when they confiscated the top hat he made out of newspaper and macaroni’.

‘I didn’t have a cellmate’.

‘You were alone?’

‘For my “own safety”. Or so they said. I thought about you a lot. It helped’.

‘I thought about you too. Sometimes, it was the only thing that kept me going’.

‘How did you even start a conversation with him?’

‘I wanted to learn more about his hypnotism so I indulged in his psychosis and wordplay to get him to open up’.

‘Did you learn how to resist it?’

‘Turns out there’s no need. Do you remember the chip in my brain?’

‘I thought Lucius Fox removed it?’

‘He had to leave the casing to avoid permanent damage. It made the metal detectors in Arkham go nuts all the time. I think it acts as a barrier to whatever signal Tetch is sending out’.

‘My eye. He doesn’t know it’s fake’.

‘Credible theory’.

‘A theory’s one thing’, Oswald said, eyes darting towards the music system as the music began to die away, ‘We need a plan’.

Tetch applauded as the song ended. Ed and Oswald broke away from each other, Oswald’s face resuming its mask of blank indifference.

‘And now a game!’ Tetch said, clapping his hands, ‘We must have a game!’

He indicated the chairs to his right and left as he settled into the chair at the top of the table. Ed took the chair to the left and Oswald assumed the seat opposite him.

‘What say you to a riddle or two?’ Jervis asked Ed eagerly.

He didn’t wait for Ed’s affirmative reply before turning his attention towards Oswald. Ed admired Oswald’s restraint at Tetch’s physical familiarity. Oswald hated to be touched and Tetch was leaning on his shoulder as hard as a drunk struggling to stay upright.

‘In our cell, we did so while away the hours exerting our deductive powers’, Tetch reminisced, ‘The perfect game to keep us sane! When you left I missed that fun the most’.

Tetch’s face darkened. His smile grew brittle as his lips drew back, the corner of his mouth twitching. His fingers adjusted on the grip of the gun. Ed knew that look. Tetch was looking at the gun like an addict looking at a needle. Ed tensed but then the moment passed and Tetch was his cheery, manic self once more.

‘No matter! As usual, first turn goes to the host!’

Ed nodded obligingly.

‘How is a raven like a writing desk?’ Tetch asked, rubbing his hands.

‘Because Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both’, Ed replied without missing a beat.

He knew Tetch would never accept the answer even thought it was obviously the most logical solution to the riddle. Tetch physically couldn’t.

‘Oh my, I’m sorry but that is the wrong solution’, Tetch said sadly but then brightened, ‘Now then, shall we proceed with Penguin’s execution?’

Ed placed a hand on the gun, keeping his grip light so as not to arouse Tetch’s suspicions. He would have to play things smart as always.

‘Wait! Don’t I get a turn?’

‘Now Edward, there’ll be time later for fun. Aren’t you keen to make a dodo out of this penguin?’

‘But, what’s the answer?’

‘Beg your pardon?’

‘You and I both know there is no official answer to that riddle’.

‘Yes there is!’

‘Then what is it?’

Tetch looked lost. The silence dragged. Tetch’s fingers opened and closed reflexively like dying spiders.

‘You can’t think of anything that’s not in that book, can you?’ Ed asked softly.

‘Book?’ Tetch asked, a shaking hand straying to his hat as he stared at his reflection in a metallic kettle.

‘The made up story that they jammed into your head’.

Ed swallowed hard at Oswald’s interjection. His patience with the charade had reached its limit. Tetch’s head swivelled slowly, his eyes widening at Oswald’s cutting words.

‘Wind up words so they could make you tick the way they wanted you to. Reshape you into a predictable madman. The book that made you a cliché Tetch’.

‘Silence!’ Tetch yelled, covering his ears, ‘How dare you speak out of turn?! How?! Look into my eyes!’

‘Good. I have your full attention’, Oswald said, clasping his hands on the table, ‘Here’s a riddle for you Tetch. Why would Ed ever associate with a twisted, diseased maniac like you? If the automatic answer in your head isn’t ‘he wouldn’t’, then you’re more deluded than I thought’.

Ed carefully watched the gun as Tetch flailed. If he could just make one quick move he could disarm him. If Tetch would just hold still!

‘Lies slip from your slithey lips!’ Tetch screamed, ‘What do you know about our relationship?! You only know how to lie and betray and abuse others’ trust! Your pathetic manipulations fill us with disgust!’

Ed recognised Oswald’s smug look. He was about to merrily tap dance on Tetch’s jangled nerves. It was a gamble and Ed knew Oswald knew it. But Oswald had obviously worked up an immunity to the psychological experience of being threatened with a gun.

‘Your lack of perception is becoming aggravating’, Oswald pronounced metrically, pausing slightly before continuing, ’I’m not the one manipulating’.

Ed stifled an amused grin as Tetch’s eye twitched incredulously, riled by Oswald throwing his peculiar compulsive speech pattern back at him.

‘Ed didn’t befriend you out of kindness or concern’, Oswald continued, ‘He only talked to you because of what he could learn’.

Tetch’s gritted teeth morphed into a grin as he shook his head. He scratched his temple idly with the barrel of the gun.

‘You’re trying to tear our friendship apart’, he said knowingly, ‘Nice try Penguin but you’re not that smart. Only I am on Edward’s equal. Equally cunning, clever and cerebral. You think I’ll listen to his arch enemy when he and I are on the same page mentally?!’

‘The page of what book exactly?’ Oswald taunted.

Ed could see Oswald had pushed too far by how still Tetch became. His eyes narrowed, their nervous twitch obliterated as he stared Oswald down. All wistfulness was gone from Tetch’s voice. It now belonged to a man in utter, terrifying control of a too long suppressed craving for violence. Quiet and detached. The voice of a hunter finally dispatching long hunted prey.

‘I have another riddle for you Edward’, Tetch said, raising the gun, ‘What’s black and white and red all over?’

The gun drifted until it was aimed squarely at Oswald’s chest. There was a click as Tetch disengaged the safety.

‘You’, Oswald snarled.

The movement was so fast at first Ed wasn’t sure what had happened. Then he heard Jervis scream and the clatter of the gun as it fell to the floor. Jervis stared, wild eyed at the purloined knife Oswald had stabbed into his wrist then wrenched it free. He glared silently at Oswald for a moment, his shock overwhelmed by sheer, tranquil, fury at Oswald’s audacity. Then something finally snapped inside his mind and he leapt at Oswald howling like an animal. The table overturned with the force of Tetch’s lunge and Oswald’s chair toppled over. Oswald cried out as his injured knee was badly jarred from the impact. He tried to rise but his ankle failed him. Tetch crawled on top of him and held Oswald down, blood slipping down his glove as he raised the knife.

‘Off with your head!’ Tetch hissed through a savage grin, eyes feverishly bright.

Oswald saw the flash of the knife and his eyes closed reflexively as it plunged down. There was a gunshot and Oswald felt Tetch’s weight lighten. He opened his eyes and saw Tetch had fallen off him. Tetch lay on his side, one hand clutching his left shoulder. The white rose on his chest began to turn crimson as blood seeped through his jacket and his top hat rolled away. Oswald saw crude stitches interlacing across Tetch’s scalp, barely hidden by his wispy hair and was startled to feel a pang of sympathy as Tetch groaned in pain, curling into a foetal position.

Ed walked past him, throwing the gun away, far from Tetch’s reach. Tetch tried to reach for him but flinched at the pain as he tried to stretch.

Ed helped Oswald to his feet and held his face. His eyes were worried and questioning. Oswald smiled and patted his hand. The two embraced, squeezing each other tightly. After a few seconds Ed released him. Oswald adjusted his stance shakily and Ed passed him his walking cane from where it had been propped beside the table.

‘You lied to me’, Tetch whispered hoarsely, eyes glittering with tears of pain.

‘I said Oswald and I weren’t friends’, Ed said pointedly, ‘You made up your own story’.

He felt his tie tugged and suddenly found himself pulled into a deep, loving kiss. He relinquished control to Oswald willingly, letting and savouring his tongue ravishing his mouth. Tetch as an unwilling witness only incited Ed’s desire. The thought of Tetch’s assumptions being shattered in such a graphic way was immeasurably exciting to him. He loved how Oswald loved him without a single thought for how others might feel about it. After far too short a time, Oswald released him and turned his attention on Tetch. Ed knew Oswald had timed it perfectly; enough to make Ed long for more. Beg for more. Ed felt his spine tingle and cock pulse at Oswald’s proud bearing as he advanced on the helpless man.

Oswald stepped on Tetch’s hat, crushing it, as he idly tapped the head of his cane against his palm. The bird’s metal beak shone in the light. Ed wondered if Oswald was going to use the hidden blade in the cane. Oswald favoured knives. He liked intimacy. Oswald surveyed Tetch from on high, the cane akin to an executioner’s axe. Tetch’s eyes were wide, sweat beading on his brow, the realization of the depths of his mistake written all over his pallid face.

‘See? He didn’t lie’, Oswald said and knocked Tetch out with a single blow.

#nygmobblepot ficlet #nygmobblepot #edward nygma #Oswald Cobblepot #Jervis Tetch

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