70Yet another of my semi-dusty stories. Hope you enjoy and please don't hesitate to point out any mistakes that may have somehow gotten past both myself and my Beta. Please read through and tell me what you think. The more a story is liked/reviewed/faved/etc. the more often I'll be updating it. By the second, maybe third chapter of each of these new stories I'll be putting up a Poll to see which one of these is in most demand of updates and therefore attention. However, the Poll's sole purpose will be to help tip the scale. I won't be using those results only, I'll be adding them to the reviews/faves/yadda yadda. XD
Well, enough of me prattling on. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Like Ed is tall, I own FMA. Since we all know Ed is anything but tall (narrowly misses random flying objects), I regrettably don't own FMA. Like any other fan I wish I did. Poo...
~Aquamarine~
Prologue
"If you come with us now you won't get hurt!" a man shouted as he and the other three men ran after a petite figure. The woman several yards in front of them glanced over her shoulder, one light blue orb peering past her darker hood. Stormy winds whipped past them, making her instinctively pull her coat closer, not for herself but for her precious cargo braced carefully against her heaving chest.
"Never! You fiends will only use us!" came the yelled response, followed by a particularly strong, misty wind. It seemed to bypass the black-clad men's target and hit them full force instead, slowing them down somewhat. Gaining some distance, she took advantage of the distraction and raced around a corner, hiding in the shadows. For a few minutes she anxiously held her breath, watching, waiting for them to pass.
'Finally!' she thought as the men whizzed past in multiple blurs. Slowly, and as quietly as possible, she released her breath in a sigh of relief. They were gone for now, but neither she nor the little one in her arms was safe just yet.
Swiftly she traveled through the town, occasionally glancing up at the dark clouds gathered in the sky above the small town. It was a miracle to find such a lovely place, but these mysterious people had somehow found her. After a few months of solitude the chase was on once again.
Sea-foam bangs fell continuously in and out of her young face, shifting with each fluid step she took as she looked around. Lights were off and windows were closed to protect the interior from the oncoming storm. No one was awake this time of night. But—but there had to be someone here who could help!
Seeing as none of the houses seemed any more welcoming than the next, she gathered herself and approached the closest residency. Glancing around briefly for the thugs she was beginning to find quite the nuisance, a rush of calm flowed through her as she pulled out her free hand and knocked on the door.
FMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMA
Several knocks in rapid succession on the front door awoke the house's single occupant. A pair of exhausted, ebony eyes blinked open as the harsh sounds finally registered. He looked at the clock hanging on the opposite wall and wondered as he stood up who could possibly be at the door at such an ungodly hour.
Stretching, the man languidly made his way to the foyer. He fumbled for a coat on the coat rack and slipped it on before opening the door. The annoyed look on his face almost immediately melted into one of concern as he laid eyes on a young woman panting heavily with something in her arms.
"Please, sir. Help him," the woman pleaded.
'Him?' he thought in confusion as she pulled out the lump from beneath her thick coat. A sleeping baby boy wrapped up in a silver-lined baby-blue blanket lay cradled in her arms.
"I-it doesn't matter if you can't take care of h-him yourself, but if you can find someone who can, then—" Frustrated shouts echoed from a few streets over. The woman gasped, body tensing as she whipped her head around nervously.
When the voices died down again, she let out a shaky sigh and turned back to the one standing in the doorway, eying her not with suspicion but curiosity.
"Please. I need you to help my son," she pleaded again, her voice so soft and filled with despair. He could hear how much she didn't want to give up her child. However, he still didn't understand why. And even more so, why him?
"Ma'am. I'm not really...qualified to rais—"
"Sir." The man groaned and ran a hand through his short black strands of hair, rubbing his eyes as he tried to comprehend the situation at hand. He stood up tall and placed his hands on his hips.
"I'm afraid I can't take your child." Reluctantly he stepped out of his house a few feet, cursing himself for not at least putting on any slippers. The ground was pretty damn cold. With a storm nearly overhead he wasn't all that surprised. After looking around for a moment, he turned back to the woman and heaved a tired sigh.
"Ma'am, if you're in any danger, you need to tell me so I can help." He eyed her carefully. She kept her eyes hidden behind her hood, her child close and warm beneath the blanket.
Silence filled the air between them. The man shook his head and loosely put his arm around her shoulder, intending to lead her inside. If not for her sake, then for the sake of his frozen feet. As they approached the door she suddenly stopped and pulled away, turning so she was facing him.
"You don't even know me and yet you invite me into your house," she said slowly, as if testing the words.
He paused as he thought about it and finally replied with a shrug, "It's not my house. Wouldn't matter if you vandalized it." 'State'll have to pay for it,' he thought with a mental grin. Pushing that aside, though, he couldn't help but feel there was something very wrong with this situation.
What was a young woman, a mother no less, doing out in the cold at this time of night? From the looks of things she had been running. He frowned. But from what? His dark eyes narrowed. Or maybe from who?
"Sir," she said after a deep breath. "No matter what you do you will not be able to keep me safe. They know what I look like. They know who I am. To the ends of the earth they will hunt me and my people down and use us for their own personal gain." Her almost unnaturally blue eyes shimmered with emotion. "But they do not know anything about my son other than the fact he exists. If I could just..."
The man thought about the unspoken words and nodded. If he were handed over to someone, growing up where they wouldn't think to look for him then maybe he would at least be safe. Clearing his throat, he said, "I may know a few people who wouldn't mind raising a child."
Her eyes lit up but her breath caught in her throat when loud, urgent footsteps on the far side of a house to his left met their ears. There was no more time left.
The cloaked stranger carefully thrust her baby into his arms and whispered a few words into his ear before running off in the opposite direction. He blinked in surprise. That was certainly unexpected. Instinct told him to go after her, but the new weight in his arms and heart made him hesitate. She was out of sight before he could get himself to move.
Slowly his gaze fell to the child cuddling closer to his chest. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. There was a kid. In his arms. Holy hell. He wasn't cut out for handling kids. Never was. And now here he was being held responsible for a life so young.
Shadows fluttered across his vision, seen by only himself as he was caught in a string of memories still too fresh to be without the strain of emotional toll. Flames, red eyes, death...
The man blinked back to reality, becoming alert to his surroundings. Whomever those footsteps belonged to, they were after both that woman and this child. As much as he wanted, needed, to go after her and make sure she was going to be alright, he didn't have the energy to ensure both their safety. He sighed. The least he could do was call it in to the local authorities.
Making sure that no one was looking, namely the cause of the woman's distress, he closed the door with a bare foot and plopped onto the couch he had woken up on just minutes before.
'Please take care of my little Edward.' Her words rang through his mind and he couldn't help but smile at whom he now knew as Edward.
"Well, little guy." He chuckled at the small fist that lifted and came down abruptly from beneath the blanket. Already the beginnings of temper tantrums. Just about everything he knew did not include taking care of a baby. A frown pulled down the corners of his lips as he watched the baby sleep peacefully.
Without a care in the world.
As if he hadn't just been handed off to a random stranger in the middle of the night for because they were in danger.
He phoned in a report to the local police. For reasons unknown even to himself he left out the bit about having her child. It didn't make sense, but some annoyingly persistent voice kept poking him in the spleen, trying to convince him to keep the kid. Raise him as his own. He tried resisting the strangely tempting idea but it only served to strengthen his need to save the same innocence of a child that he had been stripped of in a brutal war.
"Guess I'll be taking care of you from now on," Roy Mustang murmured as he slid down until he was lying down so Edward was comfortably lying on his chest. Finally his eyelids drooped, and with a tired sigh, he felt the lulling pull of sleep.
'I'll call Maes in the morning.' And as an afterthought before he succumbed completely to the encroaching darkness, 'I hope that woman's okay...'
FMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMA
In the shadows of the night, below the crying sky, gunshots rang out followed by a scream and finally a sickening thud softened by the surrounding lush grass. The sky mourned for her and spilled tears of joy as her son rested safely out of the murderers' hands.
Please be kind and review! Tell me what you think and if you think there is anything that might need to be changed for a reason you'll be required to supply lest (did I use that right? O.o) I ignore the message. (smiles)