Songs For The Soulless (A FullMetal Alchemist AU Fan Fiction)

Chapter Four

A month had passed, and Edward could easily say that he sometimes hated his brother.

Right now was one of those times. He was so going to get his brother back for this.

He was dressed in his casual clothes, guitar tucked away in its case and slung over his back as he made his way towards one of the busier streets in Central City.

"I don't want to do this..." He grumbled to himself. People gave him curious glances, recognizing who he was but wondering why in the hell the Fullmetal Alchemist was carrying a guitar.

Alphonse had very easily locked him out of the apartment, firmly telling him that he couldn't come back until he played for at least an hour for the citizens of Central. He currently despised his brother.

With a huff, he found a rather busy corner, plopped himself down for a moment, and took his guitar out of his case. He took a moment to give each string a testing pluck, making sure they were all in tune. The case lay open in case anyone wanted to give him money which he didn't need but wouldn't refuse. Besides, he doubted anyone would.

He sucked at the guitar, finding it more of a treasured memory of when he was young, before the transmutation that had taken Al's body from them for so long, as well ad his arm and leg had even occurred.

He sighed, absently strumming faintly at the strings before shaking his head slightly, clearing his mind from insidious thoughts of times now passed.

His fingers moved along the strings surely. Anyone could tell him honestly that he in no way in the world sucked at guitar and he wouldn't believe them.

"Send away for a priceless gift
One not subtle, one not on the list
Send away for a perfect world
One not simply, so absurd
In these times of doing what you're told
Keep these feelings, no one knows."

Despite the feeling of embarrassment he felt from singing in front of all these people, playing for them, he was able to block them out.

Block out the stares that were quickly focusing on him.

Block out the fact that people were gathering around him.

"What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart," He was so getting Al back for this.

"And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45,
Swimming through the ashes of another life
No real reason to accept the way things have changed
Staring down the barrel of a 45."

Maybe wake him up with a nice, ice cold bucket of water dumped over him for the next week?

"Send a message to the unborn child,
Keep your eyes open for a while.
In a box high up on the shelf, left for you, no one else
There's a piece of a puzzle known as life
Wrapped in guilt, sealed up tight."

Yeah, that would do.

"What ever happened to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart."

Maybe.

"Everyone's pointing their fingers
Always condemning me
And nobody knows what I believe
I believe!"

He may have to publicly embarrass them too.

"And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45,
And I'm swimming through the ashes of another life.
There's no real reason to accept the way things have changed,
Staring down the barrel of a 45."

Yeah, that sounded good. Except he would be nice and keep it subtle.

"45,
Staring down the barrel of a 45."

And there was...applause?

He opened his golden eyes, quite sure that they were a bit wider than normal with shock —Why were they applauding? He sucked at this shit!

He hated his brother right now.

Edward closed his eyes and continued to play, a newer, lighter song.

--

When the last note of his final song faded into nothingness, Edward was met with applause, more than the other songs.

Maybe they realized it was the last one?

Who knew.

He opened his eyes again, eyes scanning the crowd.

Oh god no.

First, there was Alphonse, looking smug as hell.

Then there was a shit ton of random civilians, Mustang, Fuery, Havoc, and Hawkeye.

"Alphonse," He said simply, almost pleasantly.

"Uh-oh..." He heard his brother say, starting to back into the crowd.

"I am going to kill you later, I swear." He said, and Alphonse vanished.

Because of course Al would have only added to his misery and told the bastard and their team that Ed would be making a fool of himself.

"I think you're being a bit overdramatic, Edward." Hawkeye said, the small quirk to her lips marking her as amused.

"Yeah, you're really good at that!" Fuery piped up, before realizing that he had and falling silent with a blush.

Havoc took a drag of his cigarette, exhaling and blowing the foul scented smoke towards Ed with a grin. "They're not lying, boss. You're good at playing. No reason to kill your brother."

"It would be a shame if you did, actually." Mustang commented. Ed huffed, quickly packing up. He just wanted to sleep, for fucks sake!

He noticed that there was a rather...larger, he supposed, pile of cenz in the bottom of the case than he had ever expected there to be.

Huh.

And with that, he hightailed it home and promptly fell asleep as soon as hr plopped down onto his bed and set the guitar down.

--915 Words--

Guess who should be doing homework that's due in a few hours but is instead writing? Me! I hate life :D The song is 45 by Shinedown. ~The_Sin_Pride