The Golden Alchemist (An FMA Fanfic)

Chapter 12

I follow about two paces behind him, struggling to keep speed. My leg hurts like someone just stabbed knives throughout where my knee locked up, and where the metal collides with skin. Every step hurts worse, and each step is harder to take. As I follow Edward and Alphonse, I try to memorizes where we are going, so I can get back to where I need to be. I sort of have a job as a babysitter for a married couple, and I'd like to keep my job. It works out okay, because I'm looking for landmarks on roads instead of unimportant details. We arrive at the destination, which appears to be a house.

He walks inside as if it is his own, and I follow. It's not like I have anything important to do. Just like I'm never ever sarcastic.

And inside, I see... Winry. As soon as I see her, I yell excitedly, "Winry!" She turns her head towards me in confusion at first, and then her once confused expression turned into one of shock and bliss.

Her lips curl up into a huge smile as she starts walking towards me. "Kate! Oh my God; I haven't seen you in like... how long?" she questions herself.

I answer for her, "It's been five years."

"Wow," she says, "I can't believe it's been that long!" I give a small chuckle. It's been five years since I've seen her, but she's still the upbeat Winry I knew then.

"Oh! I have those books that I had borrowed from you. Just... not with me," I remember out loud, rubbing the back of my neck as I say the last part. Winry looks at me in disbelief. I just give a shy smile in response.

"Well, you can give them to me some other time." She smiles, then looks at Edward and Alphonse, "I'm not trying to imply that I don't want Kate here, but why'd you two bring her here?"

Edward looked like he was going to answer her before I had cut him off, "My auto mail locked up, and pipsqueak over there told me to follow him." I gesture to Edward as I say 'pipsqueak.' He starts to get upset again, and I giggle at his reaction. I didn't know it'd be this much fun to piss him off.

Winry gives a small laugh before showing me to, what I assume is, her little station for auto mail. "Sit," Winry gestures to a type of bench that's similar to the one that was in the Rockbell's household. I do as I'm told and sit on the bench. "Where did it lock up? When was the last time you had it repaired?" she sounded deathly serious, which kind of scared me.

"Knee. The last professional time was from you," I say in a monotone. She looks at me with a look I can't decipher. She simply just sighs, and starts to get wrenches and other things of that nature. "I usually had to fix it up myself," I mumble.

Winry stops what she's doing and looks at me, "What?"

I shook my head, "Nothing." She continues to get things ready.

As she starts to meddle with parts of my auto mail, she says, "You shouldn't work on your own auto mail. It's harder that way."

I shrug, "Didn't have any one else to." Again, I had mumbled, but she understood it.

She rolls her eyes, "You have me. I can fix your auto mail. Don't risk hurting yourself when you know that someone's there. You understand, Kate?"

I'm a little taken aback. Definitely wasn't expecting that... I nod in response and say a simple "Sorry." Winry fixes up my leg without another word. Once she's done, I look up at her, "I don't have any money." I hadn't thought of payment before now...

She smiles, "Don't worry about it."

My jaw drops a little, " Are you sure? You spent a while working on it, and I know it's not easy to do."

Winry stops my short ramble with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Kate, don't worry about it! It's fine," she chuckles a little.

"Okay..." I say, not really wanting to leave without some sort of thanks. I start walking towards the door. "Thank you," I stop in the door frame, not turning to face them, and give a small wave. Now that I think of it, I did something quite similar when I left them five years ago. I mentally shrug and start walking to my 'house.'

"Kate, wait!" A voice stops me. I turn to see Alphonse running toward me. I give him a questioning look. "Why don't all three of us go together to become state alchemists?" I give him yet another questioning look, this time cocking my head to the side a bit.

I sigh, "Sure, why not? Just... Give me a few days, okay?" Alphonse nods, and I begin walking again. I just hope I don't regret it. I'm going to have to see him, and, frankly, I'm not looking forward to it. She loved him, but I hate him.

I shake the irrelevant thoughts out of my head and walk towards the house I babysit at. I figure that I can just go 'home' later. I knock on the door of the family who was kind enough tho take me in, even if just for work. The door swings open, "Oh, hello, Kate." He smiles at me.

I smile back, "Good morning, Mr. Hughes."

He gives a lighthearted laugh. "How many times do I have to tell you, you can call me Maes?" he asks jokingly, moving so I could come in.

"How have you been?" I ask. I haven't been here to watch her for a few days, due to extra training and such.

His smile grew, "I've been good. But Elicia... She's missed you a lot! But she's still my cute little Elicia, even when she's pouting a bit." He began to show me pictures, which I happily looked at. I love this family so much! Elicia's so cute, Maes is a great dad, and Gracia is an amazing person. I'm also eternally grateful that they took me in so easily. One day, I was walking around their house. When I say walking, I mean more like crawling. I hadn't eaten in days; seeing me, they came out and helped me. After having at least some suspicions, I assume. Anyway, they let me in, gave me new clothes and food, and offered me a job. Ever since then, I've been trying to help them in any way I can.

His little rant was interrupted by Gracia asking who it was at the door. "It's just me, Mrs. Hughes!" I called back to her. As soon as I started to talk, Elicia came running into the room.

"Kate!" she yelled, coming to give me a hug. I bend down to pick her up, twirl her around, and give her a hug. All the while, she's a giggling mess.

"Hey! How have you been, Elicia?" I ask putting her down. I giggle a bit with her. She's so cute!

"Why haven't you been home?" she asked, quite adorably.

I give a small smile, "I've been busy. I'm sorry if I worried you." She shouldn't worry at her age, and I doubt she did, but I said it more towards her parents than her. I really don't want them to worry.

Once I had said that, I just know Maes was looking at me with, probably, a look I can't decipher. His expression can change easily, especially during a talk that's serious, and I've never been able to decipher that look of his...

She gives a big smile and says, "It's 'kay!" I put my hand on her head and ruffle her hair. I seriously love this little girl.

I straighten up and look towards Maes, "You work in the military, right?" He looks confused for a brief moment but nods. I don't normally ask about the military. Ever. "I might be there soon. I'm going to try to become a state alchemist. I just wanted to let you know, though." His face turns oddly normal. He's usually cheerful. This is the freaking face I was just thinking about!

"You do know that you'd become a military dog, right?" he asks in a deeper tone then usual. I nod.

"I have a good reason to do this."

"Good. Then I guess we may be working together," he says, sort of bringing back his cheery mood.

"I hope so," I say quietly, fearing the worst.

Elicia grabs my hand, pulling me away from the grim conversation with her father. She pulls me to their backyard, where there's a tree beginning to bloom. We sit under it and watch clouds pass by. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes will probably leave soon. If not, then they'll either let me know, or just stay inside and discuss things they can't around Elicia. I know this because it's happened before. Either way, it's fine with me.

Elicia and I watch clouds and talk for a while, which we usually do. Only, this time, Elicia fell asleep. I pick her up and bring her inside so she can sleep more comfortably.

A/N: FINALLY got chapter 12 up!! I'm really sorry for the delay. Also, what do you think of Kate babysitting Elicia??

-Anna-Marie :))