n.n Oh yay! You opened this up! Whoot! Well this is Shellshock! Well, during my S.S. class, we were watching this WW1 movie, and they mentioned something about shellshock, and how it affects people. Soooo, struck by this sudden idea, I started researching shellshock, and then voila!
Now as the story goes, Ametris and Creta had this major war. (Creta isn't made up btw, don't remember if it was mentioned in the anime, but it's slightly talked about in the FMA manga) I based this war they had on WW1, though thankfully not as long. I believe I made their war only about 6 months, which is I know, very short but oh well. XP
Disclaimer: Major props to Hiromu Arakawa!! I lobve you, you brought FMA into our lives!!
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"It's shellshock…when a person is subjected to continuous explosions and storms of bullets, his emotions might overload and his body could become paralyzed with fear…"
"You can't be serious! To send young children out in a war like this?! There's no need to have anyone under the age of 25 to join the war!"
"There's no need, but I want to win this war Major. They knew the risks when they joined the military…it was their choice to serve this country."
"Noo! Please, don't go!"
Voices playing over and over in my head…when will they stop? When will the pain go away? …come back…please, please, come back…I can't live without you…
Winry Rockbell looked out of her workshop window with hopeful, sapphire blue eyes. She's just heard the good news today. The war was over, and after only three months of being there, her friends Edward Elric, his brother Alphonse and their friend Ayumi Arumatsu would be coming home. All good timing, seeing as she had been stricken with terrible luck the week before. Aunt Pinako, it has seemed, had died, passing gently in her sleep. Winry was devastated, but her friends were sure to cheer her up.
She watched for only a few moments, when a small black car drove up the road. It stopped close to her house. She stood up and poked her head out the window, straining to see the people inside. Was it them?
The door opened, and a woman stepped out, her long black hair trailing behind her in a long ponytail, her skin pale. She was wearing an official looking, long black dress, thin against her bony structure. A man wearing a matching black suit was clinging to her arm, his face hidden, as he was staring inside the car. But his hair was shining in the sun, a beautiful golden color, and was also tied in a ponytail.
Winry gasped and smiled. "Ed! Ayumi!" She called excitedly, waving down at them.
The woman blinked, looking up and squinting up at her. Her amethyst eyes were shining…with tears? She lifted her hand and waved slightly, unsmiling.
Winry blinked. "I'll be right down!" She yelled down to her, quickly running from the window and down the stairs, her blonde hair flapping behind her. Skipping the final steps out the door, she rushed to meet them.
"Ed, Ayumi! I'm so glad to see you." She said, panting slightly.
"I told you before, we'd be fine…I said I'd protect them, remember?" Ayumi said quietly.
"Well yeah, but I couldn't help but be worried anyway." Winry said, trying to hide her confusion. Ayumi never acted this serious before, and Ed, he didn't speak at all. She didn't even think he noticed she was standing there, just kept staring painfully inside the car.
"Where's Al?" She asked, looking around. "Is he still inside the car or something…?"
Ed flinched, tearing his eyes away from the interior and now staring up at Ayumi. Ayumi stiffened, then looked at the ground.
"H…he's…he's gone…" He managed to whisper.
"Gone?" Winry repeated. "What do you m-"
Ayumi pointed inside the car, tears now flowing freely down her face. Puzzled, Winry craned her neck to look inside. "No…" Inside, was a single long black coffin…
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"Winry, I don't want you to ever mention Al's death, alright?"
"But…why not?"
"How do you think Ed feels? Don't you care?!"
"Of course I care…sorry…"
Ayumi sighed, covering her face with her hands. She slowly slid them off her face, to her hair, where she pulled her hair from its ponytail. "It was an ambush." She whispered.
"…do you mind if I ask what happened?"
"Fine…the Cretean army was closing in on our trench… naturally we tried to fight back, but they had gotten too close… we were told to stay put though, until every one of theirs was dead. But then…they started bombing us…and everyone was scared and…and pushing people away to try and get away, so that they could live…and I got separated from Ed and Al." Ayumi paused, wiping her eyes. "I don't know, I think someone kicked Al down or something…but he was exposed to the gasses from the bomb and…"
"…that's…" Winry choked.
"It was horrible…when I finally got back, Al was in Ed's arms, already dead…and Ed was crying, I don't even think he noticed that he was about to be attacked…" She put her head down on her folded arms on the table and cried.
Winry ignored the tears raining down from her eyes and looked into the next room, staring at Ed's form on the bed. "Ed…"
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Ed sat in his bed, hugging his knees tightly to his body, his hands trembling steadily. He stared out at the bright crescent moon outside which bathed the room in an eerie white light. He didn't seem to notice how he still had his funeral clothes still on, how his breath was coming in faster as time pasted, or the tears that fell like diamonds, glittering in the light. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying, his face paler then usual.
So many times he had almost lost Al, and all those times he had cheated his death and his brother's…but now. He was all alone now, while his brother was together with his mother. And he had been left behind…
"Ed, can I come in?"
He twitched at the sudden noise, glancing at his visitor, then back at the moon.
Winry nervously walked inside, and sat next to him in the bed, staring at him with a look of concern. "Ed about Al…"
Ed twitched again but didn't respond.
"I'm really sorry to bring this up but…things are going to get better, okay?"
"How…? He's gone, dammit!" Ed yelled.
"I…I didn't mean…."
"Just forget it." Ed muttered, looking away.
"You know, you never listen, do you Winry?"
"Oh! Ayumi, I was just"
"Forget it, okay?" Ayumi pushed her hair out of her face and frowned at Ed. "Winry, you're going to have to go now…I want to talk to Ed."
"O…okay…" Winry looked at him once more. "Night Ed." She said as she walked out.
"Ed, you're going to worry Winry…" Ayumi started.
"I don't care…"
"But she doesn't know that-"
"I don't care."
"You're going to have to care Ed." Ayumi said firmly, as she sat at the top of the bed, facing him. He twitched. She motioned him closer, tugging at his arm until he finally sat besides her. She then rested her head on his shoulder. "Trembling again, I see. How's your head?" She felt his forehead.
"Better." He muttered.
"Are you hungry Ed? 'Cause I have some-"
"Not hungry."
"You have to eat something though. You haven't eaten since we left…"
He twitched again, staring out the window.
"You know…you're not alone." She whispered after a long moment passed. "You have me, and you have Winry."
There was silence once more. Ayumi sighed. "You better sleep tonight." She mumbled, wiggling under the sheets. She stared up at him. "Hey…" She said, touching his arm slightly, feeling him stiffen even more. "Just…remember what I said, alright?"
"I will…"
She smiled. "Night." She said as she rolled over.
Ed watched her sleep, his breathing once again fast. Nervously, he called her name, making sure she was asleep, then slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out a small white bottle. Popping off the cover, he shook a couple of thin, white pills. He stared at them, then put them in his mouth, swallowing them quickly before shaking more from the bottle. 7 of them he swallowed, before finally a creeping feeling flooded into his mind, and he accepted the soothing darkness of unconsciousness.
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I hope you liked it! The update will be soon.
I think I have to do more research with shellshock, because I have this list of sympthoms and etc. It's not like I'm going to be giving Ed all of them, but like, yeah.
When my sister read this, she was confused. To take some confusion out, the car Ayumi and Ed (and Al ;.; ) as in was that car for the dead… what was that called again? Was it a morgue or…-shrugs- and after Winry sees the coffin and I leave it off and all, they have Al's funeral, then Ed goes straight to his room, and Ayumi and Winry talk. And another thing is that they're all like, about 19 or 20 during all this. And yes. Ed and Ayumi slept together…well, Ayumi slept and Ed well…-cough- They've been doing that when they were at war, and they're gonna keep doing it, so if you can't stand it, ignore it. XP
I'm sorry everyone for killing Al! I didn't want to, but the story would make more sense that way. Originally he would've never went to the war, and stayed with Winry but…I didn't like how that went. Too many characters to work with. (And yay, more character deaths will be found out later, myahah!)
Please review!