fic found in a dark, forgotten corner of my hard drive

[emwitchwood]

In the process of trying to declutter I found old, old fic. I think there was once a time where I meant to go somewhere with these. Not sure if I'll pick them back up again or leave them as is.


Fullmetal Alchemist

(Roy/Ed-ish)
 

“Ed.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Was there something you forgot to mention?”

 

Ed twirled the pen in slender, nimble fingers, deliberately Not Looking at Roy where the man stood, wearing the expression of no expression that came from being too shocked to know what expression to settle on.

 

“Edward?” Roy prompted, a little desperately.

 

Gold hair slipped over slender shoulders as Edward bent down, carefully inked in the last few lines of the array. “Well, there were... a few minor, unexpected side effects.”

 

“Minor side effects, hm?”

 

Demonstrating that the ‘side effects’ had in no way effected dexterity or resident attitude problem, Edward threw the pen unerringly at Roy’s forehead, shouted, “Who’s so flat-chested you’d never even know they’d been turned into a girl?!?!?!?”

 

Roy examined the far from flat additions to Edward’s chest, and couldn’t think of how to answer that.

Fullmetal Alchemist
(Ed/other!Winry)

Irina was not Winry. Winry never stared at his false arm with such pity. Winry never squealed and leaped away when he touched muddy hands to her face. Winry never looked so soft or smelled like perfume and books. She never wore her hair in elaborate curls and twirled around, laughing, with her skirts flaring out around her, a vision in blue lace and sunlight. Winry had never held him so uncertainly, kissed him so nervously. Winry never cried herself to sleep in his arms because her baby sister was dead and it just wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t Winry who had looked bashful and unsure as she said, “He asked me to marry him, Edward.” and waited for him to reject her. Winry wasn’t the girl he danced with at the wedding. It wasn’t Winry’s son he’d held so carefully, in awe of the tiny bundle in his arms that had his best friend’s eyes and a stranger’s smile. Irina wasn’t Winry at all. He knew that, because Winry was alive but Irina was dead.

Fullmetal Alchemist
Some Things Are Free snapshot

He stretched numbers and crunched them. Juggled and compressed them. Tried to make them do what he needed them to do and got nothing but a vicious headache for it. No matter how he rearranged them, the facts remained the same.

 

“Ed?” Esta called quietly from the doorway. “Ed, it’s late. Come to bed.”

 

He set down his pen, sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. She was there almost instantly, her arms sliding around his shoulders and her cheek pressed against his. She squinted down at the papers spread before him.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Our finances.”

 

Written word she might not have been able to read well, but she could read every nuance in his voice. “And?” she asked.

 

“I… I can’t see how we’re going to make this work.”

 

They both knew how to stretch out a handful of cash. Even before he had come to this new, strange world, he had known what it was like to have to scrape up money. There had been some hard years when he was a boy and his mother had not wanted to dip too deeply into their savings- knowing, he knew now, that she wouldn’t be around to provide for her boys in the future –and had picked up laundry and done work as a seamstress to make ends meet. His mother had been resourceful and creative, and they had never felt like they were going without. Then when he had arrived in Munich, he and Alfons had always been cutting corners, eating only what they had to and doing a mad scramble to find the money for the rent each month. Esta had never had much money. Her family had been dirt poor, and then they’d been gone and she’d wandered aimless and rootless, stealing and conning until she found herself a family of thieves and cons. They knew how to cut their expenses down to the bone, were used to going without, but it had been easier when it was only themselves they really had to worry about. They had Anya now.

 

“Maybe…” Esta stopped, thought out her words carefully. “Maybe we should leave.”

 

“Munich?”

 

“Germany. Maybe we should head to Madrid. Or London. If we went to Madrid, maybe I could find work, too.”

 

“And London?”

 

“My sister lives there, now. She found work, her and Jal both. I could find work, too, and … and you could ask your father for help. You said he has connections there. He could find you good work.”

 

Just two years ago, Edward would have snarled out that he was not going to ask that bastard for help. Ever.  But he had still been so angry, then. He had been so angry and had still half believed he would get home. He hadn’t had to watch his closest friend die by inches. He hadn’t had a baby to think about, and that made such a difference. What was his pride when compared to his daughter’s wellbeing?

 

“I’ve thought about it.” Ed admitted. “He’d help me. He wouldn’t even rub it in my face that I needed his help after all.” Ed sighed. “I don’t see another way.”

 

“Don’t you want your father to meet his grandbaby?” Esta asked softly, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

 

Because she could read it in him anyways, it was easier to say, equally soft, “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Inuyasha
(Kagome/Ayumi)

She had thought that after all she had been through, all she had experienced- getting sucked into the past through a dusty well, meeting a dog eared demon, learning she was the reincarnation of a powerful priestess, and so on and so forth- that there was nothing more that could surprise her.

 

She had been wrong.

 

She blinked at the press of soft lips against hers, raised a hand with the intention of pushing the unwanted advance away but ended up simply closing her fingers around a delicate wrist.

 

“Ayumi…” she said when the girl pulled away.

 

Her friend just smiled at her, sweet and sad. “I just wanted to know what it would feel like. Just once, I wanted to know what it would feel like.”

 

Kagome nodded. She could understand that. “Okay.”

 

Comments

[bella-eve.livejournal.com]

How much more? (Rin might not be willing to clean for fic, but I am. XD)

I've only ever read, like, two girl!Ed fics that I liked. But I bet I'd liked yours.

As much as I like Some Things Are Free, of everything you've written, Sink to the Bottom is actually my favorite. I really think you should clean it up and post it. (You got an A++ from Mrs. Satan. How the fucking hell did you manage that? Even Demi got a B.)

I knew she sounded familiar. She was the one shopping with Esta and Ed, right? And are you making any progress with chapter 7?

[emwitchwood.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Depends. (Coming this Wednesday I am going to have a whole week of peace an quiet where the only things I have to worry about are feeding the dog and watering the damn plants.) Some of it sucks. :[

Hm... I might consider fixing up and finishing Sink to the Bottom. (What do you mean how did I do it? I bribed her, obviously.)

Yeah, she was the one shopping with them in London.

[emwitchwood.livejournal.com]

Chapter 7 is, well, this:


They stopped at the corner store on their way home, and Anya and Ed both agreed they had far too little junk food in their house, a problem that needed to be remedied immediately. Forty minutes later, arms full of groceries, they were walking up the stairs of their porch. Ed executed an impressive balancing act that involved momentarily resting a paper bag on Anya’s head and got the front door open. Anya grumbled and hauled her share of their purchases towards the kitchen while Ed set his own down just inside the door so he could take off his boots and his jacket.

Just as Ed picked up the groceries, Anya shouted. “Papa! We have… a guest.”

Ed hurried down the hall, panicking for the second time that day despite the fact that Anya didn’t sound worried. He entered the kitchen to find a familiar girl sitting at his table, eating his leftovers. He froze for a moment, bit down his initial anger and the rude words that tried to make their way to his lips. Settled for, “Switching to burgling houses now?”

She shrugged. “I ain’t stupid enough to burgle you. You’re the Fullmetal Alchemist. They say…” she trailed off, obviously not sure if she should repeat what they said. “Well, I ain’t stupid. You don’t burgle a guy who can take out cities with a clap of his hands.”

So he could take out cities with a clap of his hands now? Well, it was probably true. He’d just never tried it. Ed put the groceries on the counter, and went about putting them away. “So, what do you want? Besides food.”

She gave him a shit-eating grin that reminded him uncomfortably of his wife. “This is really superior food, by the way.” She bit into her chicken sandwich with relish.

Ed rolled his eyes. “Lana, was it? This is my daughter, Anya. Anya, this is the girl who tried to pick the General’s pocket.”

Anya smiled at Lana. “Hello.”

Lana mumbled something that might have been a greeting around the food in her mouth.

Ed and Anya put everything away and Ed got out the ingredients to make dinner. He looked to Lana. “Are you still going to be hungry when you’re done with that? Because you can stay for dinner if you want.”

Lana looked at Ed almost suspiciously, and Ed could understand why. She’d broken into his house, raided his fridge, and he was now inviting her to dinner? “Why?”

Ed shrugged. “We have enough for three.”

“What are you getting out of feeding me? What did you get out of sending me to that damn shelter?”

“So you did go?” Ed asked, curious. He had only half expected her to.

“It’s getting colder, and the military’s been rousting us out of the warehouses.” She said, her tone trying to convey that it was not because Ed had suggested it. “Why did you tell me about it?”

Ed shrugged again. “Why not? I know the man who runs it.”

“He said that you… that you helped him make it.”

He shook his head, directed Anya to fetch him the butter. “Nah. I just fixed the building after I blew it up, and then forgot to mention that to my superiors, so they sent him a check for the damage. He made it what it is on his own.”

“Why did you let me go?”

Back to that. Ed wasn’t sure how to answer. Because you looked hungry. Because I was in a good mood. Because for a moment, just a moment, you reminded me of my niece. I couldn’t save her. Couldn’t help her. But I can help you, can’t I? “I told you. I was too hungry to bother with you. Besides, you gave back what you stole. No harm done, the world spins on.” He looked at her over his shoulder. She had finished the sandwich and her gaze was darting between Ed and Anya. “So, what possessed you to track me down- and how did you do it?”

Lana crossed her arms and sat back. “It wasn’t that hard to find you.


... but I am probably going to scrap it. (Like, 99.9% sure I don't want to use it.)

*pulls at hair* It's all the RL stress! It is eating away at my ability to write something that isn't total crap!!!

[bella-eve.livejournal.com]

Ed executed an impressive balancing act that involved momentarily resting a paper bag on Anya’s head

That image just cracks me up.

Hm. For being very rough (this feels a lot like your 'outlines'), it's not so bad. Of course, you never like anything you write, so you won't believe me. *sigh*

[lust-sama.livejournal.com]

Not agreeing with you that it's crap, here, but I can see why you want to scrap it. I mean, I like the scene. It has potential. (I like anything with your grown up Ed, though, so, *shrugs*.) But maybe as another snapshot scene, as above. Not as a part of the chapter. Plus, this takes place before the end of chapter six, right? After Ed and Anya leave Roy's office? You use the jumping back and forth through the timeline in Magpie, and that works, but with STAF you've just plodded steadily ahead. Unless what Lana says is important to the overall plot, I'd cut this out.

[sarunotoki.livejournal.com]

ok, well, I love the image of Ed balancing groceries on Anya's head (I love your daddy!Ed, I really really do), and the little tidbit about Ed rebuilding the building but not telling the military so they sent the guy a check (and how he says he destroyed the building in such a blase tone - so Ed, so much love).

In saying that: I think you're right in scrapping it FROM THE CHAPTER (unless Lana has some bearing on something later). It feels like one of those snippets you write because the idea niggled at you that is for your own gratification/experience rather than the fic's... does that make sense? I've got similar pieces of fic sitting around everywhere on my harddrive, so I understand ^-^

Thanks for sticking it up, though!! I did enjoy it immensely :D

[emwitchwood.livejournal.com]

I have so many little scenes like this that I am considering posting them as little snapshot stories. I mean, gee, I only have a document labled Death Row (since most of it ends up either in the recycling bin or forgotten) that's 76,345 words long. And all of it is either STAF or STAF AUs. *scratches back of head sheepishly* I do have a life. Really. I just ignore it to write until my brain leaks out my ears.

What Lana says is important, but, yeah, I don't think I want this scene in the chapter. *dumps in Death Row with all the other false starts* Starting Wednesday I am going to have an entire week to myself. So, hopefully peace and quiet and not having to worry about anything but watering the damn plants (and feeding the cats, but we don't like each other much so that's low on my priority list) will equall getting chapter 7 done. Hopefully.