FMA fic: Swallowing Glass
Feb. 27th, 2005 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swordageTitle: Swallowing Glass
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: PG-13
Ramifications: Post-series, assuming Ed makes his way back. Angst warning.
Summary: The mission in East City had more long-term effects than expected.
Ed hid the blood away in handkerchiefs and tissues carefully folded and crinkled so only pristine white showed to other eyes. It took Al a whole week to notice, which was quite a long time for Al to not notice something about his brother. He didn’t know the full extent of it for another two weeks, when he mentioned his brother’s fascination with red water to Lieutenant Hawkeye, who mentioned it to Colonel Mustang, who remembered East City and the effects of the vapor from red water.
Ed tried to claim it was from the smog of Berlin and London, from the dead air beyond the Gate, even from losing some bit of his insides to the Gate. He refused to be examined by a doctor until Al burst into tears during one of his coughing fits, and then he roughly explained to the doctor that there was nothing to be done, it was a terminal disease, and yes his will and personal effects were in order - he wasn’t going to leave his brother with nothing.
Ed put up with Al’s mothering, and it even seemed to help a little when he had sweetened tea and drops of crystallized honey. Roy visited once, and then limited his interaction to the post, much to Ed’s relief. Riza and Jean visited quite often, though, usually bringing some kind of edible gift. It was only gradually that the packages stopped disappearing instantly, and only slowly that they began to build up on the counter. One day Riza stopped, looked at the piles of uneaten gifts, clenched her jaw, and started bringing only cards instead. Al kept them all, keeping five at a time on the mantel, packing the rest in shoeboxes in chronological order.
Havoc shot off the lock on the front door a month later, and they found Al curled up in a trembling ball on the floor next to Ed’s bed. It was summer. Roy remembered that smell from the war, and when they called him in he refused to enter the room. Al refused to attend the funeral, and Roy made sure there was always someone with him, and that he wasn’t to touch any of the brothers’ alchemy notes.
In the end Al didn’t need the notes, and Fury did recover from the concussion, and no one said anything about the stain of gore and blood on the basement floor. Winry cried when they told her Al had disappeared, and Roy developed lines under his eyes shortly after inspecting the array in the basement.
He was understandably upset a few years later when a violet-eyed man deposited Al’s body on Roy’s doorstep and then killed himself.
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: PG-13
Ramifications: Post-series, assuming Ed makes his way back. Angst warning.
Summary: The mission in East City had more long-term effects than expected.
Ed hid the blood away in handkerchiefs and tissues carefully folded and crinkled so only pristine white showed to other eyes. It took Al a whole week to notice, which was quite a long time for Al to not notice something about his brother. He didn’t know the full extent of it for another two weeks, when he mentioned his brother’s fascination with red water to Lieutenant Hawkeye, who mentioned it to Colonel Mustang, who remembered East City and the effects of the vapor from red water.
Ed tried to claim it was from the smog of Berlin and London, from the dead air beyond the Gate, even from losing some bit of his insides to the Gate. He refused to be examined by a doctor until Al burst into tears during one of his coughing fits, and then he roughly explained to the doctor that there was nothing to be done, it was a terminal disease, and yes his will and personal effects were in order - he wasn’t going to leave his brother with nothing.
Ed put up with Al’s mothering, and it even seemed to help a little when he had sweetened tea and drops of crystallized honey. Roy visited once, and then limited his interaction to the post, much to Ed’s relief. Riza and Jean visited quite often, though, usually bringing some kind of edible gift. It was only gradually that the packages stopped disappearing instantly, and only slowly that they began to build up on the counter. One day Riza stopped, looked at the piles of uneaten gifts, clenched her jaw, and started bringing only cards instead. Al kept them all, keeping five at a time on the mantel, packing the rest in shoeboxes in chronological order.
Havoc shot off the lock on the front door a month later, and they found Al curled up in a trembling ball on the floor next to Ed’s bed. It was summer. Roy remembered that smell from the war, and when they called him in he refused to enter the room. Al refused to attend the funeral, and Roy made sure there was always someone with him, and that he wasn’t to touch any of the brothers’ alchemy notes.
In the end Al didn’t need the notes, and Fury did recover from the concussion, and no one said anything about the stain of gore and blood on the basement floor. Winry cried when they told her Al had disappeared, and Roy developed lines under his eyes shortly after inspecting the array in the basement.
He was understandably upset a few years later when a violet-eyed man deposited Al’s body on Roy’s doorstep and then killed himself.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 07:33 am (UTC)Al kept them all, keeping five at a time on the mantel, packing the rest in shoeboxes in chronological order.
I love that detail. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 07:43 am (UTC)Detail is possibly the most lovely thing ever invented. I love details.
Why yes, it's 3am where I am and I haven't slept yet. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 01:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 02:53 pm (UTC)I like how that particular line has no breaks in it. I'm usually comma-happy, so having a line with that kind of impact made me very happy. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:03 pm (UTC)SEE?--^
Hmm, I think my idea would be him ripping out the stone from the middle of his chest.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:13 pm (UTC)Yeah, almost all my sentences in prose have commas. I have to exert conscious effort to stop the commas. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:25 pm (UTC)My stories are sentient too... It's how I have so many.
::nod nod:: I love commas... But you see the ellipses??? You see them? They're all over! I use at LEAST one a story.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:37 pm (UTC)Don't you love it when the muses toss themselves into stories where they don't belong? I'm just glad I don't have an Armstrong muse. In the middle of my Kimbley/Roy angst pr0n... XD Oh, the mental images.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:41 pm (UTC)YES! He went and made alternates of himself to drop into my roleplay and insisted I write a HoS arc with him in it! If you don't know what HoS is, it's an AU of the Alter!Series by hime1999... but I have an AU of HoS on there called Doubles... ::sheepish laugh::
Oh! Kimbley/Roy? I think I'm following that one. And you stuck Armstrong in there ANYWAY if you are the author of the story I'm thinking of... He just didn't get in on their porn
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 05:21 pm (UTC)Nono, I haven't written anything with Armstrong. I was actually referring to my pr0n, Salted Wounds, in which Kimbley is crazy and Roy is broken and there is smex. I was imagining Armstrong bursting into the middle and declaring something with tears running down his face, heedless of the fact that they're naked and having broken!smex. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 06:33 am (UTC)Then it was some OTHER insane author who's writing that. Armstong... plus that... NOOOOOOO
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 09:19 pm (UTC)I need to re-read all the HoS stuff before I remember who you are, but consider yourself loved muchly. Anyone that contributes to Alter!Series gets much loving, and Alter!Series smut gets even more. XD We're such pervs.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 09:26 pm (UTC)Ohhh... My stuff is rather new, but I wrote the first smut on the comm...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 09:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 10:18 pm (UTC)Oooh, I did read your HoS smut at some point. I was too shy at the time to tell you that it's insanely hot, though. XD Mm, I must confess, I have a total fetish for seeing Ed helpless, preferably with the automail off. Which is funny, because I cannot see him being uke, just as I can't see Roy being seme. But anyway, yes, the bondage was nnngh. Write more bondage!Ed pleaseomglove?
Now I have to read everything else on that comm. XD I suck.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 10:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 02:20 pm (UTC).. you hear that sound? That's the sound of my heart getting stomped on.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 02:55 pm (UTC)<3!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:18 pm (UTC)All the little, carefully chosen details... *wibble*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:33 pm (UTC)They're not so much "carefully chosen" as "somehow popped into my head", actually. Except for the lines under Roy's eyes. I'm fascinated with the idea of him getting old, for some reason.
*love*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:38 pm (UTC)*loves back*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:33 pm (UTC)-sits and rocks-
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 03:39 pm (UTC)...Yeah, actually, that's about the reaction I was looking for. ^^; It's good to know that the pacing didn't make the angst fall flat. (Um, thank you for your agony?)
*huggles more* Have a stuffed ficbunny? He's soft and fuzzy.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-27 07:36 pm (UTC)And the pacing was actually what I liked most about it. As a default, I have that particular style of pacing, and it's annoying to all hell. So it was beauteous to see someone pull it off so brilliantly.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 04:43 am (UTC)Don't tell anyone, but the taxidermist is my cousin Mario. The plumbing business didn't agree with him, see. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 04:55 pm (UTC)I have speculated on the side effects of the red water myself. *goes back to sobing*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 04:59 pm (UTC)*Roy jumps off a bridge*
...Dang.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 05:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 05:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 05:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-05 05:29 pm (UTC)*lays seige to the fandom* Accept Masuta as canon! You have no chance to survive make your time!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-17 07:24 am (UTC)that'll probably stay in plot mode for forever? The whole, Ed dies, Al brings him back, he becomes a homoculus part? Basically the ending. It wouldn't be the same just similar, it's why I'm asking. Is okay if you say no ^_^(Came here from HOS ^_^)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-17 11:25 am (UTC)That part of the idea is entirely not my own, so feel free to yoink.
They didn't post a link to me, right? forgottenlover or bard_linn sent you, right? They keep sending people over and it's scary. ^^;
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-14 08:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-14 11:14 pm (UTC)I delight in minimalistic angst. Every word punches a hole in your chest. Writing this was really an experience. XD But.. In awe? Of little me...? *blush*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-14 11:32 pm (UTC)Yep, in awe! <3 In my previous fandoms, I've often found myself trying to achieve this sort of punch-in-the-gut feeling in my writing, so I've got to admire it when somebody does such a shiny job of it.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-14 11:34 pm (UTC)Also, my icon molests your icon.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-15 06:25 pm (UTC)Ah, okay - you had me worried for a minute there. XD So it's just a rec I don't know about, probably. That seems to happen a lot. (Which confuses me, as I don't think I really write that well and I'm used to being obscure and unnoticed, but meh.)
My icon returns the favor. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-15 07:19 pm (UTC)But you do write well, silly! Look at all the literate people who seem to think so! ^_^
I wish I could remember who recced it. Arrghh.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-16 01:02 am (UTC)XP I refuse to fish for compliments, but I'd like an explanation. What makes it good? "Good" is this strange concept that's very hard to nail down. I call it whatever provokes a strong response in the reader, but then what does that? Is it possible to really learn to be a "good" author? Meh.
I wish I could remember who recced it.
I'm curious, but as long as no one's claiming it as their own, I'm cool with it. XD I catch a rec every now and then, but I think I'm missing quite a few.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-27 06:56 pm (UTC)My favorite was the third to the last paragraph. Love how it was Havoc who shot his way inside and how Roy refused to enter the room. Beautiful, succinct, angsty story. ^__^ *mems*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-27 07:13 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! It's still one of my favorites, all small and sharp-edged. X3 Also, zomg I got added to memories. Eeeee!
I'm pretty sure I recognize you. I've been meeting too many new people lately, though, so my memory got shot to heck. Sorry!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 06:12 am (UTC)...
...like, my HEART. Ow. I needed that, too. Bugger. Ow.
Something about the stark simplicity just sorta sets this apart - clean-cut. Very appropriate title.
I'll just curl up in a little ball of pain over here, shall I? This corner free?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 11:00 am (UTC)Seriously, thank you. XD It's good to know that even after all this time, I can still affect someone so much. I'm glad you writhed in agony because of my fic! ...Wait, that sounds a little off. But you know what I mean.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 11:27 am (UTC)(Sorry, I just read, like, four AUs in a row and they were all on the fantastic-but-depressing end of things. Seriously, you'd think AUs'd be trying to be LESS depressing!)
*cough* Well, at least my pain serves a purpose. Oh, and I linked a friend to this ficlet too, and her reaction was pretty much the same. Alas, she has no livejournal, but consider the writhing-in-agony doubled.
Nice icon, by the by.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 11:34 am (UTC)That icon is by
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-13 11:44 am (UTC)And I just browsed through your icons, being the nosy little rat that I am, and can I just say that your L icons are awesome? I haven't seen many good Death Note icons 'round here, but those are great.
Mmm, crack.