Leave A Scar

I was bȧrėly two steps into the living room when Al spoke. He held out the phone, momentarily interrupting his conversation with Ling.

"He wants to talk to you!"

I felt my eyes go wide. "Me?"

Al nodded, and I leaned over, taking the phone from him. I pressed it against my ear, sitting back against the couch. The healing wound on my leg thanked me for the lack of weight.

"Hello?" I tried to ignore the bite of shock that nipped at me. What a stupid greeting...

"Ah!" A smooth, incredibly happy voice came from the other line. "You sound just like I imagined you to! Your voice is that of an angel's!"

I couldn't fight down the blush, but I was thankful it was only a little bit of heat that rose to my face.

"You're very kind," I returned. My eyes curved in a smile. "I've heard a lot about you!"

"And I've heard almost nothing about you, my queen!" Ling gushed. "Tell me, where have the brothers been hiding you away all this time? In Al's armor? Perhaps your delicate enough to fit in Ed's suitcase?"

I grinned at that, casting my stare to the elder Alchemist sitting across the room. He looked up, whatever tension occupying his face before fleeing. I replied to Ling, curving the bottom of my eyes as I saw a similar expression come to Ed.

"No, I'm not small enough to fit in his suitcase," I said.

"I see, I see! Well, we have lots to catch up on! I see you've been traveling with both brothers for a number of months now! I wonder..."

I moved the phone away, looking to Ed and mouthing "I don't know what the heck he's talking about" with a plastic grin.

Ed's smile, however, was genuine and for a moment I skipped whatever thoughts were in my brain. Ling's voice sounded on the other line, more distant than before, but I still escaped into it, immediately putting my ear back to the piece.

"Yes! That sounds fantastic!" I chirped, hoping he didn't just propose to me.

"Yes, it is very delicious!" Ling replied, and the sound of him quickly chewing cut into his words. "Incredibly sweet, but I bet you are even sweeter, my dear."

I gave the shortest giggle I could. Laughing behind my hand like always. I saw Ed's face fall, expression relaxing into that subtle state of sadness. And I wanted to wave it away, dismiss it in a gesture like he would do for me. But I didn't; I didn't move, not knowing how he would react to me treating him like that when Alphonse was here.

My stare drifted towards the other Alchemist, almost getting completely to that giant suit of metal before my attention was ripped back to the phone. Ling gushing about something, and for a moment a face flashed into my mind. Hughes, both hands on his face, palms pressing photos against his cheeks, body swaying and hearts dancing in his eyes.

I smiled at the analogy, expression soft as my gaze traveled downwards. Watching my legs cross and trap my skirt between them in a fold of darkness.

I noticed Ed, too, how he was pretending not to pay attention to the conversation. Stare on the table below him, one palm resting his jaw and the other hand picking at some spot on the edge of the wood. Fingers clipping against shreds and adding to that roughness.

A sweeping pŀėȧsurė shivered into my gut, my stomach and shoulders. Dried my mouth a little, too, and I could only taste the dėsɨrė of tasting him. Tongue reviving mine, that rough hand running against my bȧrė side, gripping my ȧss until I was grounded against throbbing—

"My delicate princess!" The voice on the other line jarred me out of my thoughts. "Have I scared you? I truly didn't mean to! Please accept my deepest apologies; I'll send a gift with Xing's finest sweets!"

As much as I WANTED to see what Xing culture and cuisine was like, I instantly shook my head.

"N-no," I said, waving my hand in front of my self. Feeling Ed and Al perk up in alarm, in interest. "That's okay! You don't have to do that! I... I think I'm just tired, that's all."

"Ah of course!" Ling said, seeming astonished that I suggested something like that. "Yes, that makes perfect sense, as beautiful as you are, it's a wonder you're ever awake at all."

I'm not. I didn't dare demolish the conversation, the bridge between us already on its last rope. I just grinned as brightly as possible.

"That's very kind of you to say!" I replied, thankful my eyes were curved so I wouldn't have to see Ed's stare again. I could imagine it, though, through the darkness my lids created. Soft eyes staring at me from a slightly lowered angle; like a dog that was almost wary of its master.

My throat went dry again, and I crossed my legs a bit tighter for an entirely different reason this time.

I was disgusting, a pure whiff of something putrid.

I looked up to Ed, peering up from my eyelashes. Staring enough to catch his shadowed eyes, put a smile back on his face. A small one, but a smile nonetheless. I'd take it.

I soon left the call, saying I needed to prepare for the day, and Ling was returned to Al's hand, Ed's smile more than infectious.

The scars burned, as I hit them with the hottest shower-water possible.

My hand turned the knob again, stuck at the end of the wheel. I sighed, steam all around me.

I expected him to slip inside the bathroom; I focused on pushing my fingers through my hair and dragging back in brief reversing movements; I did what I usually did with a quarter of my mind. The rest was waiting to hear the door creak open, or feel the air slip just enough from my body to let me know some of it had left the room. But nothing changed, and I wondered if he was thinking finally. If he realized what a whore I was; maybe he was getting himself examined.

I stepped out of the shower a moment later, a towel surrounding me. Capturing the heat and the droplets of water streaming from my hair and body.

Ed's voice came to me, quietly floating from the living room, growing closer with every word.

"Think I left that book in the suitcase again... You'd figure I'd learn to get my stuff by now..."

I padded out into the bedroom as Ed came in from the other door. He looked over my clothes, studying how my hair was still a little wet. How it draped over my brėȧsts and perked them through the clothing. He swallowed, and I saw the hand he had in his pocket tense into a fist.

I smiled, sly as my eyes curved again. I didn't want to see him see me this way. His eyes were enough.

"I thought you would join me," I said, voice low enough to only reach this room's walls.

I heard him breathe, the floorboard creak slightly as his feet tipped upwards, weight raising to the balls. And he spoke, murmured voice matching the volume of mine.

"I wanted to, believe me," he said. And I forced myself to open my eyes, take in the sight of his stare drifting over me, throat bobbing as he swallowed.

And just like that, so suddenly my eyes widened, his teeth sank into my bȧrė shoulder, shirt peeled back. Marking me, branding me. I stared at the empty doorway, a space Ed had filled not even a second ago, and I contemplated on the indentations my body would have.

I felt him breathe, shaking the exhale against his mouth like he was saying something he'd been wanting to for a long time. I stood there, shocked, and felt his other arm wrap around my waist, forcing my hɨps closer to his. And it was there I felt that heat, that firmness...

He stayed like that for a few more moments, long enough for me to touch a hand to his hair. Brush my fingers slowly along the strands his braid captured, tightly condemning that gold into a shape of twists and an inevitable narrow disappearance.

His teeth released, slowly retracting from my skin and emptying the marks he had just branded me with. His hand retraced the movement it had mad, setting my shirt until it covered me properly and his other hand unwound from my waist. He stared at the covered marks, eyes wide and blinking, speaking softly into the air between us.

"Sorry." he said. "I'm not totally sure where that just came from."

It was enough to make me laugh, giggling behind my hand. And before my eyes curved I caught sight of the soft smile on his face, that gold never straying from my eyes.

When I had stopped, his hand came to mine, fingers wrapping around the shield I held against my mouth. Gently lowering as his other hand picked up my chin, allowing our lips to meet.

Warmth sparked in my ċhėst; a flicker, a glimpse I had only gotten for moments before. I didn't want to keep feeling it.

I broke away, enough for my lips to simply drop from his, upper grazing against lower. And then quietly, softly, kissing him back. Feeling his returning movements rise in pressure, never becoming harsh but simply re-affirming his presence. And I could only think of how much I would hurt both of us, in the end.

His hand came to the back of my head, pressing enough to deepen the kiss. Trying to wipe those thoughts away from my mind, probably; like he knew the demons that floated along the empty space of my head , through the desolate veins in my skin. I returned the hold on him, trying to let him know he shouldn't be worried. I would never be worth the energy of such precious energy, such royal time.