Same, But Different (A Fullmetal Alchemist fan-fic)

The Contents of the Short Kid's Home

Eclair

After a few hours, the train finally pulled up to the station and came to a halt. Winry had given up for now on my arm because she needed to replace some parts and fix some others with her better tools.

"We're here! Ed wake up!" Winry woke Ed up from his slumber, however he seemed as if he didn't want to be awaken.

We disembarked the train and were out walking through the bright countryside. Although it was late afternoon, this place was still bright and lively, full of color. There were green rolling hill, nice clean dirt roads, brick bridges, a bright light blue sky. I never lived out in the country like this, but I loved this place. It was beautiful. 

"Wow, I wish I lived here, it's pretty, I would love to just run around, this place is amazing!" I smiled at Winry. She smiled back as we continued to walk on. 

"Yeah, it is" Ed replied in a low depressed tone. Something must have happened to him here. 

Winry however changed the mood quickly, "Come on! We have to show her around you two! It's no time to be depressed Ed! El has so much to see!!" Winry slapped Ed aside the head with a wrench, which I swear she pulled out of nowhere. 

"Fine, but we better not go there," He said there with extra emphasis as if it there was a place that he really truly dreaded. 

"Okay fine, but come on!" Winry whined, grabbing my by my right wrist and pulling me behind her. I was stunned she had the nerve too. People usually tried to keep their distance from me—especially other girls. None liked to get even get relatively close—so touching was out of the question. The only people who ever typically touched me were the ones trying to kill me.

"Is something wrong El? Your eyes are wide." Al noticed as I was half frozen.

I shook my head, "oh no, nothing's wrong. I'm just not used to people near me that's all."

Winry ignored my small comment, "Now where should we start? Hm, maybe meeting my dog, Den! He even has a metal front leg, and he's really nice!" Someone needs to take a chill pill. 

Ed and Al followed, just because I think they were avoiding something. I didn't know what, but I was soon to find out. 

"Hey Winry, you're back!" Some boy said as we walked by them on the road. He and his father were working on fixing a shed that must have collapsed in a storm. I could tell because I've fixed many buildings that storms thought they had the best of. "Could you help us fixing the barn?"

"Sure, or I think Ed might..." She stopped. Ed just stood there looking at me. Al looked at Ed, who was deep in thought. 

"What?" I ask, walking over to them. I slapped them both in the face at the same time, although I didn't know why I even bothered with Al. 

"You did it twice" Ed stated, looking straight into my eyes.

I knew exactly what he meant, however i decided to play dumb as if I didn't know what he was talking about. "Did what twice?"

Ed just glared at me while I mouthed 'not now' to him. He then shut up and looked at the barn. "Last time I did this I needed Al's help. Now I probably can do it-" He was cut off by the sound of alchemy.

Ed's monologue bored me, so I decided to just fix it myself. It was a barn. I fixed dozens of them when I was younger.

As I watched the Alchemy finish, I noticed my gloves were tearing. I didn't understand why though. They've never torn like this before. Perhaps it was because I was annoyed by all the questions that Ed was hurling at me. Whatever it was I didn't care. It's not like this was the public.The people out here probably thought I was one of Winry's 'customers' anyway. 

"Woah, she did it faster than Edward!" The boy exclaimed. He looked at me with bright eyes. I stood up from my crouched position on the ground in front of the barn. I picked up a stone and chucked it at it with all the force I could.

"There. That should hold. I strengthened the foundation so it would stand up to harsher conditions." I said, dusting off my hands. 

Ed balled his fists and started to growl at me as his eyebrows stood nearly straight up in anger. However Winry carelessly (but I could tell aiming) threw her wrench (accidentally) at Ed. It hit him in the back of the head, making him faceplant into the ground. 

The boy's father nodded in gratitude, "Thank you miss, what is your name?" 

"I'm Eclair, nice to meet you," I say as a dog comes running up to me. He matched the description of Winry's dog Den exactly.

"Looks like things are about to get interesting," the boy's father chortled to himself as him and the boy leave back to their house. And sure enough, things were about to get interesting, because followed by the dog was a short old lady. Ed's angered face returned. 

"So Den was right, you all were here," The lady said as Winry greeted her. Apparently it was Winry's grandmother, although I couldn't see the resemblance whatsoever. 

However that didn't stop me from making my introduction, "Hello, I'm Eclair Elanie. It's a pleasure to meet you" I told Winry's grandmother politely. I normally didn't have much manners, but I saw how Winry acted towards Ed, and to be honest I didn't want my head taken off by a wrench so I just played Mr. Nice Guy.

The six of us (seven counting Al's cat) walked back to her house because she invited us for dinner. This was very kind and considerate  considering I was a stranger from out of town and have only known Ed for about a day now. 

"It's so nice to see someone who has manners," She said, glaring back at Ed. He looked as if he was about to burst from anger swelling up on his insides.

I just couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

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Artwork in this chapter done by meckablaze-alchemist on DeviantArt, link below!

https://www.deviantart.com/meckablaze-alchemist