Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Hands of Time

"Time out, let's stop and think this through,

We've all got better things to do,
talk in circles run in place,
Answers inches from our face."

- Behind Closed Doors, Rise Against

______

The hotel room was quiet, the hands of a clock filling the silence.

I remained reading, sitting on the couch with both legs tucked underneath myself. Uncomfortable, especially for a long period of time, but the pain building from the position made me focus a little harder. Balancing the selfishness with the weak attempt at help I was offering both of them.

At the opposite side, Ed lounging on the couch, one leg hanging off the seat's edge, the other stretched out. His socked foot was relatively close to the leg nearest to him, my right one. I felt nervous about this; did he want us to touch? No probably not. Not with Al so close, but why would he be lounging like this if he didn't want us to be close? Just enough to act casual? Like there was nothing between us? Was there anything between us?

Al suddenly spoke, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I clenched the book in my hands a little harder, feeling Ed's stare go to me. Around us, Al's voice rang out.

"I... I just felt something?"

Ed sat up. "What?! What're you talking about, you felt something?"

Al stared down at the paper on the table. "I... I don't know. I just felt... An emotion, I think."

I searched his face, his paper. "What... What were you doing, when you felt it?"

"I... I was just writing a letter to May," he responded. He bowed his head a little, becoming embarrassed. The hand holding the pencil tightened a little bit. "I was just telling her how much I love her."

Ed was already trying to figure this out. He picked his other foot off from the floor, pulling both legs in to a loose sitting position, fanning out slightly. Face concentrated, searching the line in between the cushions like the answers were in between the darkness in the crack.

"You remember that idea I had," he began quietly, "about your body getting human experiences?"

Al nodded, hesitant. "Y-yeah."

"Maybe... That one was powerful enough for you to feel it."

Al looked back down to his paper. "M... Maybe... Why would it only work now, though? We've been writing that for months now."

Ed looked away, down to the floor, away from me. Still concentrated. Still trying to figure this out.

"I'm not sure, Al," he replied. "Whatever it is, we should keep our eye on it."

Al nodded, and before I could ask anything, a slight giggle came from him.

"I forgot how great it was to feel something!" he exclaimed. "It really is something you take for granted!"

Ed shifted around, arm resting on the back of the couch and hand holding his wrist. "Speaking of weird things..."

He paused, looking down for a moment with golden brows furrowed.

"I've been thinking about that Homunculi again," he said, speaking in Al's direction but regarding both of us. At least that's what I fooled myself into thinking. He turned, stare moving over to me, nearly sending me out of my own skin in surprise. He didn't seem to notice, continuing to talk about something I didn't pay enough attention to hear.