(no subject)

[soulmetal]

Who: Alphonse and Winry
Where: Violet City's Inn
When: Aug 17th - Nighttime
Summary: Alphonse is having nightmares. Big sister Winry is here to help.
Rating: PG
Log:

[Al wasn't surprised when he found himself having trouble sleeping. It made sense that when he spent years of being wide awake day and night it would take a moment for his mind and body to adjust to a sleeping schedule again. Usually it involved him becoming so exhausted that he'd just pass out on a nearby couch or bed.

But lately he's found a new problem that's been keeping him up at night. Nightmares that over time started to become more and more frequent - vivid memories of human transmutation and his mother's death. All the death they've seen in their travels. Things like that. But the one that kept popping up the most was the night they tried to transmute their mother.

And that happened to be tonight's nightmare. Late in the night when Alphonse finally goes to sleep, the memories of the night they lost their bodies come rushing back. Seeing the thing they created through transmutation, seeing Edward with his arm and leg gone. Their hotel room was small, and Alphonse muffled cries were getting louder the deeper into the nightmare he went.]

Comments

orz, tl;dr for the first tag - sorry

[usedwrench]

[Winry wasn't surprised by Al's more or less obvious sleeping problems either. It was kind of expected, when you were suddenly able to sleep after all those years and well, everyone had trouble sleeping sometimes. And she had been the one who talked with Al in armor on that one night when she realized that he was unable to sleep in it... Funny how she was used to Ed sleeping all around the place at home, now she saw the same behavior from Al. For different reasons, of course, but sometimes they really reminded her of each other with their sleeping styles.

Witnessing their nightmares wasn't new to her either, though usually it had been Ed and well, she hadn't really been in the same room with a sleeping Ed for years. But some memories just never faded away and some things she just knew. Anyone with a history like theirs would have nightmares... Everyone had nightmares sometimes, but having nightmares of things that actually really, really happened to you were the worst. Been there, done that. In fact, coming back to Johto brought some of her own nightmares back too, but she had avoided the subject with the brothers. Sure, she was more open with Ed now, but she hadn't told him much about things that she found out the last time they were here. Such as seeing his jacket when he had woken up in Johto after his so called fight with Kimblee... Yeah, Winry could have lived without the memory of it, but no such luck. She had tried to push it away from her mind. Ed was alive in Amestris, they both came here after everything that had happened in Briggs and ... And they had both been on that situation in her room, so yeah, she was sure that he survived from that thing alive.

But nightmares weren't the reason why Winry was still awake tonight. She was really planning to challenge Falkner for that badge soon. Sure, she didn't exactly need them because she was a breeder, but she wanted to get them. Or at least the badges that made traveling easier, and especially the ones that helped with flying on her Altaria. That's what independence did to her; she could have just borrowed the discs from other people, but no - she wanted to work for her own badges and not being forever dependable on other people like that. So, she was just lying awake, thinking that her electric types had kind of difficult personalities... Wondering if it could still work...

Hearing the voices in the room kicked the girl back to reality. She looked around.]

Al... [Her voice was quiet. It was pretty clear what this was about, well for the "having nightmares" part at least. She couldn't know what he was seeing in his bad dreams.

Hmmm. Winry knew at least two things that people could do to other people to wake them up from nightmares. Either just calling their name - or trying to shake them a bit while doing so, but that had its dangers. So... Well, she had to at least try the easier way first, right?]

Al... [no.] Al. [more determined voice for that one.] Al! [...] AL!

[She didn't want to yell too loud. Just... Loud enough to possibly wake him up, but not loud enough to wake up anyone sleeping in the rooms around them.]

[soulmetal]

[Al twitches in his sleep, a pained look on his face. He dreamt of a lot of things - the night of the transmutation, Nina, their mother. It was those kinds of memories that Alphonse couldn't escape from, not even in his sleep.

At the sound of Winry's voice, he jolts upright with a panicked look before realizing where he was and who was talking to him. He looks like he's about to tear up, and his voice comes out shaky.]

W-Winry...? Did I wake you?

[usedwrench]

[Oh, he's awake. She lets out a huge sigh of relief. She could have tried some other ways too, but ... Never mind that now.

Winry gives him a worried and sad, yet gentle, smile.]

No, you didn't. I wasn't sleeping yet and then you started ...having nightmares?

So I thought I'd wake you up.