hc_bingo challenge: postage stamp
Okay, so that regular writing thing didn't exactly work out, did it. Life happened and we're moving and DBSK making me ultra-depressed by being idiots have made things harder than they should be. Still trying, just not really succeeding. Have a challenge fic in the meantime.
Title: Dreams
Fandom: FMA
Pairing: none (perhaps pre-Ed/Winry if you squint, but not really)
Prompt: Homesickness, Tentacles, Food Poisoning, WILD CARD (Fever/Delirium)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 654
Summary: Ed dreams of the world and his family and nothing.
AN: Written for the hc_bingo February challenge.
WILD CARD
homesickness
tentacles
food poisoning
The first thing that was wrong was that he had two arms and two legs.
Wait. No. That wasn’t supposed to be wrong. That was right. Wasn’t it?
He wiped sweat from his forehead before it could drip into his eyes. It was hot. That was wrong, too. All around him the trees had large, ripe fruits hanging from their branches but the heat felt more like the height of summer than well into fall. The road stretched out ahead of him into the distance, far enough that he couldn’t see where it turned or ended. Home was that way. He didn’t know the road, but he knew that. Why would he be on this road, otherwise?
Without thinking about it, he found himself standing under the trees instead of on the path, the branches hanging low and heavy, as if inviting even a child to pick what they held. So he did. The fruit was heavier than it looked, a shiny, red apple the size of his fist. He realized he was hungry, possibly hungrier than he’d ever been. He didn’t remember starting the journey, but it had to have been a long time ago.
He took a bite. And immediately spit it out. It was rotten. He looked back at the fruit in his hand and dropped it in shock. What had been bright and ripe a moment before was ruined and shrunken, as if it had been there for weeks. Startled, he turned to find Al. Even if he’d never admit it, his younger brother was smarter than him about a lot of things. If he didn’t know the answer, Al definitely would.
Except Al wasn’t there. He turned in a circle, sure that he must have just missed his brother going to pick his own fruit, to test a theory, because he’d been there at his side a minute ago. He was sure of it.
He called Al’s name but got no answer. Panicked, he turned back to the trees, thinking maybe he’d gone on ahead. The next shout died in his throat. Whatever was in the place of the large trees, with their heavy, ripe fruit, they were like no trees he’d ever seen before. The branches groaned and snapped under the press of no wind he could feel. Where the fruit had been now hung... things. Twisting, snake-like things that snapped and grew and moved in ways that made him sick just watching. They drew closer, although they shouldn’t have but he was sure he never moved. He was sure he couldn’t move a step forward toward those things. He could run from them, though, and he did, once he really saw what they were.
Hands. Millions of tiny hands at the ends of long, boneless arms. He ran and they followed, searching for him. He stumbled and fell, crying out when the hands should have reached him.
He opened his eyes when they didn’t.
~
Edward Elric woke up with a crushing headache and searing pain over his entire body, but the desert heat that had plagued him was gone. He felt disgusting, like a wadded up, used dish rag.
He tried to move and failed. He had two arms and two legs, but only one of each bothered to listen to him, and even then only barely. He heard a sound and somehow, through some Herculean effort, managed to turn his head to face it.
Winry leaned down to smile at him, relief bright in her eyes. “You’re awake! We were starting to worry. Not that anything could have gone wrong during surgery, considering who did it, but you never know.”
So he’d been home the whole time. He closed his eyes, giving in to the pull of exhaustion. It thankfully felt nothing like a million small hands. “Thanks, Winry.”
He thought he felt a hand on his forehead, brushing his hair back. That was definitely right.
This entry was originally posted at http://envious-muses.dreamwidth.org/14499.html.
Title: Dreams
Fandom: FMA
Pairing: none (perhaps pre-Ed/Winry if you squint, but not really)
Prompt: Homesickness, Tentacles, Food Poisoning, WILD CARD (Fever/Delirium)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 654
Summary: Ed dreams of the world and his family and nothing.
AN: Written for the hc_bingo February challenge.
WILD CARD
homesickness
tentacles
food poisoning
The first thing that was wrong was that he had two arms and two legs.
Wait. No. That wasn’t supposed to be wrong. That was right. Wasn’t it?
He wiped sweat from his forehead before it could drip into his eyes. It was hot. That was wrong, too. All around him the trees had large, ripe fruits hanging from their branches but the heat felt more like the height of summer than well into fall. The road stretched out ahead of him into the distance, far enough that he couldn’t see where it turned or ended. Home was that way. He didn’t know the road, but he knew that. Why would he be on this road, otherwise?
Without thinking about it, he found himself standing under the trees instead of on the path, the branches hanging low and heavy, as if inviting even a child to pick what they held. So he did. The fruit was heavier than it looked, a shiny, red apple the size of his fist. He realized he was hungry, possibly hungrier than he’d ever been. He didn’t remember starting the journey, but it had to have been a long time ago.
He took a bite. And immediately spit it out. It was rotten. He looked back at the fruit in his hand and dropped it in shock. What had been bright and ripe a moment before was ruined and shrunken, as if it had been there for weeks. Startled, he turned to find Al. Even if he’d never admit it, his younger brother was smarter than him about a lot of things. If he didn’t know the answer, Al definitely would.
Except Al wasn’t there. He turned in a circle, sure that he must have just missed his brother going to pick his own fruit, to test a theory, because he’d been there at his side a minute ago. He was sure of it.
He called Al’s name but got no answer. Panicked, he turned back to the trees, thinking maybe he’d gone on ahead. The next shout died in his throat. Whatever was in the place of the large trees, with their heavy, ripe fruit, they were like no trees he’d ever seen before. The branches groaned and snapped under the press of no wind he could feel. Where the fruit had been now hung... things. Twisting, snake-like things that snapped and grew and moved in ways that made him sick just watching. They drew closer, although they shouldn’t have but he was sure he never moved. He was sure he couldn’t move a step forward toward those things. He could run from them, though, and he did, once he really saw what they were.
Hands. Millions of tiny hands at the ends of long, boneless arms. He ran and they followed, searching for him. He stumbled and fell, crying out when the hands should have reached him.
He opened his eyes when they didn’t.
~
Edward Elric woke up with a crushing headache and searing pain over his entire body, but the desert heat that had plagued him was gone. He felt disgusting, like a wadded up, used dish rag.
He tried to move and failed. He had two arms and two legs, but only one of each bothered to listen to him, and even then only barely. He heard a sound and somehow, through some Herculean effort, managed to turn his head to face it.
Winry leaned down to smile at him, relief bright in her eyes. “You’re awake! We were starting to worry. Not that anything could have gone wrong during surgery, considering who did it, but you never know.”
So he’d been home the whole time. He closed his eyes, giving in to the pull of exhaustion. It thankfully felt nothing like a million small hands. “Thanks, Winry.”
He thought he felt a hand on his forehead, brushing his hair back. That was definitely right.
This entry was originally posted at http://envious-muses.dreamwidth.org/14499.html.