The Cookie Fairy (
alcesverdes) wrote2006-10-29 01:35 am
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Entry tags:
[FMA] Sir Herm the Hermit
Title: Sir Herm the Hermit
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters: Ed, Al.
Rating: PG
Words: 1965.
Summary: The Elric brothers meet an interesting character. Ed/Winry.
Spoilers: Happens at some point of chapter 64.
Notes: The plotbunny didn't let go since, last Wednesday, I read the text that's the epigraph, so here you have it.
...ni todos los que se llaman caballeros [andantes]
lo son del todo en todo, que unos son de oro, otros de alquimia...
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
It wasn't easy to persuade Edward that the train hadn't stopped in the middle of nowhere because the conductor had something against him, nor that the young State Alchemist's moral obligation was to personally punish the maintenance people in Central City's Station. Still, Alphonse managed to keep his older brother in sulking-mode only since they got down along with the other passengers —who didn't dare to approach to them, if only because of Ed's face— to stretch their legs while the engineers worked on the train.
"I tell you, Al, you'd see nothing of this if a true mechanic were in charge," Ed said while climbing to the top of a huge rock that was couple of hundreds of meters away.
"You're thinking of Winry again, aren't you?" Al said, teasingly.
Ed blushed and turned aside. "Well, she's a proper mechanic, isn't she?" he managed through his teeth.
"He! Well, that's true." After answering, Al looked around. The northern landscape was beautiful; they were within a forest of tall pine trees, whose ground was covered with their fallen, brown needles. Looking above, Al could see the wonderful patterns shaped by the branches, and the way the sun shined through them, falling into the ground, forming roads of light.
"We're wasting a lot of time," Ed said, suddenly, arms folded.
"But there's nothing we can do. Unless you want to walk what's left."
Ed scratched his chin. "How long would that be?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we're half way through."
"Huh..." Ed sat down. "I think we'll have to wait, then."
"Hey!" someone screamed from down the rock. "Hey! You! Sir knight!"
At the same time, both brothers turned their heads to where the scream was coming from. They saw a thin, middle-aged man who was smiling and waving his arms at them. He was wearing an opaque, worn plate armor, sans helmet. He also had a scabbard on his side.
"Who are you?" Ed asked.
"Ah, young squire," the man replied, "have you not manners? That is not the way to address someone who is your master's equal."
"Squire? Master?"
"Excuse us, sir," said Al, "but you still haven't told us who you are."
"Here you are, uncle!" said a short, chubby man approaching the first one. "Please, stop bothering this good people!"
"I am not bothering them," the first man said, firmly. "I was just paying my respects to a fellow knight."
"You can do it later, in tonight's party."
"This sort of things cannot wait."
"Yes, they can," said the chubby man, trying to push his uncle away.
"What's going on?" Ed asked. The Elric brothers had already gone down the rock.
"Nephew! Introduce me properly!" the man ordered.
The chubby man sighed and straightened up, becoming resignation personified. "Gentlemen, I, Tobias Acker, have the pleasure to introduce you to Sir Herm the Hermit, the greatest wandering knight that has ever lived upon this land!"
"Nice meeting you," Al said after a pause.
"We're the Elric brothers," Ed said. "The renowned alchemists."
Sir Herm opened his eyes as much as possible. "Alchemists? How can a noble knight such a yourself be an enchanter?" he asked to Al.
"Well, I—" Al began, but was interrupted.
"Alchemy. Is. Not. Magic!" Ed growled. "It's science!"
"Maybe I heard wrong and, after you defeated him, you took as your servant this little sorcerer—"
"WHOAREYOUCALLINGLITTLE?"
"Brother!" Al hurried up to grab him before he could hurt anyone. While in Al's arms, Ed kicked and punched the air for a few seconds. After that, he just breathed heavily, like an angry bull.
"Please sirs, I beg you patience," Tobias whispered, leaning toward the brothers. "My uncle's not all that well up here," he said, tapping the side of his head.
"We can tell," Ed said, straightening his jacked now that his brother had let him go.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Al asked.
"Tell him you'll be in our town's party this evening. That'll calm him down enough to make him come with me."
"Fine."
"Either way," sir Herm said, "since the enchanter is under your protection, sir Elric, you can rest assured that I won't touch a hair of his head, unless it's for self-defense."
"Thank you, em, sir Herm."
"Don't mention it, it's just common courtesy."
"Well," Al said. "We, um, have to go now, but it'll be a pleasure to see you again in tonight's party."
"Oh, you'll be there, then," sir Herm said.
"Certainly," Al said.
Sir Herm's face brightened. "I'll be waiting for you, so we can drink to health of the most beautiful maiden ever to grace the world, the peerless lady Margaret."
"As long as she's not as crazy as he is..." Ed muttered.
"What did you say, you little scoundrel?" sir Herm asked, his face suddenly red and swollen with anger.
As soon as he heard the word 'little' for the second time in one evening, Al prepared himself for the explosion that was bound to happen. He didn't notice Tobias behind him until his brother answered to sir Herm. Yet, Ed did it so calmly that Al worried as he had never worried before in the years they had been wandering all around Amestris.
"I said that we'll drink to her health as long as she's not as crazy as you are, sir Herm."
"Take that back, you dirty dog!" sir Herm yelled. "Lady Margaret is saner and more intelligent than anyone else in this world!"
"Oh, yes?" Ed snorted. "I know someone who's surely a lot more intelligent than your lady Margaret. And she's probably prettier too!"
In different circumstances, Al would had made a mental note to remember Ed's words to tease him mercilessly for months to come, but now sir Herm had unsheathed his sword —a real sword— with rage-trembling hands.
"Enchanter, I swore not to touch a hair if your head unless for self-defense, but you've insulted the fairest maiden ever to be born, and for that, you shall pay!"
"D'you want to fight, old man?" Ed asked, transmuting his right arm into a blade.
"Uncle!" exclaimed Tobias.
"Brother, please!" Al asked. "Stop! Don't hurt him!"
"I won't hurt him, Al," Ed said, grinning like a maniac, "I'm just going to make him regret calling me small!" With that, Ed charged. But sir Herm was prepared for him, and stood his ground. Then, he struck back; Ed had to leap backwards to avoid being hit. "He, you're better than I'd expected."
"I'm not called the greatest knight for nothing, brat," sir Herm said. He was panting now, but he raised his sword over his head and tried to cut Ed's. The young alchemist ducked right on time.
Al knew that, all in all, sir Herm was no match for his older brother, and that the fight would not last much longer. Still, he felt sorry for the man, specially since he wasn't in what one could call good health. As Ed made a somersault over sir Herm, Al wondered what he could do to stop the fight without hurting —too much— his brother's ego.
"Is your brother really not going to hurt my uncle, sir?" Tobias asked.
"He will not," Al answered, pressing his hands together. He intended to create a big wall between the fighters, tie up Ed and then help Tobias to drag his uncle back to their home. But before he could move, sir Herm ran out of breath; he buried the tip of his sword in the ground and rested his chin on the handle, trying to regain his breath.
Ed remained where he was, a couple of meters away; even if he was angry, he wouldn't step so low as to attack someone who couldn't defend himself —at least not the way he had been doing it so far.
"Young enchanter," sir Herm said, "clearly, you are cheating."
"Am I?"
"Yes! You are using your dark arts to take my strength away from me!"
"That would be Time, old man."
"I may be older than you, but also far more experienced in the battlefield!"
"Somehow, I doubt it."
"Are you admitting that you take away the life force from your victims to keep yourself young?" Sir Herm stood up. "That cannot be tolerated!"
"You, sir, are a loon."
Sir Herm didn't seem to hear Ed's final retort; he just held the handle of his sword with both hands, raised it again over his head and, with a fierce battle cry, charged once more against the insulter of Lady Margaret and life thief.
Ed readied himself for sir Herm as Al thought that this one had to be the final clash. The younger Elric, sighing to himself, dashed to push his brother away from sir Herm's way in order to prevent the chance of the latest being hurt by the former, when a net came out from the woods and trapped the noble —yet somewhat insane— knight, making him fall on the ground, and leaving him unable to move.
Then, voices came out from behind the trees. "Oh, oh, oh!" they cried.
"The infamous Freste has done it again," said a tall man, dressed in black from neck to toe, gesturing wildly.
"He has cursed the brave knight, sir Herm the Hermit!" said another one, whose back was broader, and was dressed with blue pants and a white shirt. "What could we do to release him from it?"
"What could you, indeed," said sir Herm from the floor, "for I cannot move but my fingers and not that much!"
"Maybe my mother will know what to do," said Tobias, finally coming from behind Al.
"Oh, yes!" said sir Herm. "How could I forget it? My sister is an excellent sorceress! She'll help me. Nevertheless, she'll require a payment. Nephew, ask sir Elric a lock from the enchanter's hair; that should be enough."
"What?" Ed exclaimed.
"Brother, please, give them the lock. I don't think they'd be able to take sir Herm to his house peacefully otherwise," Al whispered.
"I guess I should be glad he didn't ask for my head," Ed growled while cutting the lock with his blade, which then gave to Tobias.
"Thank you very much, sir. I'm really sorry for what happened, and I apologize in my uncle's behalf," said the chubby man while the other two produced a stretcher in which they put sir Herm, who was still tangled in the net.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Ed said while transmuting the blade back into his automail arm.
"I'd ask you to join us for supper, but I don't want to risk you triggering him again."
"It's fine," Al said. "The train should be ready to go any minute now, anyway."
As in cue, the train whistle sounded, calling the passengers back.
"We'll be going now," Ed said. "Let's go Al."
"Yes, brother." Al bowed in their new acquaintances's direction. "Nice, uh, meeting you, all!"
"Likewise," Tobias said, waving his hand. "Though I would've like it to happen in other circumstances."
-
"That had to be one of our craziest adventures ever, don't you think so, Al?" Ed said about ten minutes later, when they were on the —now moving— train.
"I'd say. Though... There's something I really, really want to talk with Winry about," Al said, scratching his metal chin.
"What? About this fiasco of a train? She'd love to hear it!" Ed said, seeming truly oblivious.
"Not quite," Al said. He was glad, for once, that he didn't have lips to betray him while he toyed with the idea of saying 'lady Winry' aloud. Finally, he decided against it, at least at the moment; there'll be enough time for that when they were on their way back to Resembool.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters: Ed, Al.
Rating: PG
Words: 1965.
Summary: The Elric brothers meet an interesting character. Ed/Winry.
Spoilers: Happens at some point of chapter 64.
Notes: The plotbunny didn't let go since, last Wednesday, I read the text that's the epigraph, so here you have it.
...ni todos los que se llaman caballeros [andantes]
lo son del todo en todo, que unos son de oro, otros de alquimia...
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
It wasn't easy to persuade Edward that the train hadn't stopped in the middle of nowhere because the conductor had something against him, nor that the young State Alchemist's moral obligation was to personally punish the maintenance people in Central City's Station. Still, Alphonse managed to keep his older brother in sulking-mode only since they got down along with the other passengers —who didn't dare to approach to them, if only because of Ed's face— to stretch their legs while the engineers worked on the train.
"I tell you, Al, you'd see nothing of this if a true mechanic were in charge," Ed said while climbing to the top of a huge rock that was couple of hundreds of meters away.
"You're thinking of Winry again, aren't you?" Al said, teasingly.
Ed blushed and turned aside. "Well, she's a proper mechanic, isn't she?" he managed through his teeth.
"He! Well, that's true." After answering, Al looked around. The northern landscape was beautiful; they were within a forest of tall pine trees, whose ground was covered with their fallen, brown needles. Looking above, Al could see the wonderful patterns shaped by the branches, and the way the sun shined through them, falling into the ground, forming roads of light.
"We're wasting a lot of time," Ed said, suddenly, arms folded.
"But there's nothing we can do. Unless you want to walk what's left."
Ed scratched his chin. "How long would that be?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we're half way through."
"Huh..." Ed sat down. "I think we'll have to wait, then."
"Hey!" someone screamed from down the rock. "Hey! You! Sir knight!"
At the same time, both brothers turned their heads to where the scream was coming from. They saw a thin, middle-aged man who was smiling and waving his arms at them. He was wearing an opaque, worn plate armor, sans helmet. He also had a scabbard on his side.
"Who are you?" Ed asked.
"Ah, young squire," the man replied, "have you not manners? That is not the way to address someone who is your master's equal."
"Squire? Master?"
"Excuse us, sir," said Al, "but you still haven't told us who you are."
"Here you are, uncle!" said a short, chubby man approaching the first one. "Please, stop bothering this good people!"
"I am not bothering them," the first man said, firmly. "I was just paying my respects to a fellow knight."
"You can do it later, in tonight's party."
"This sort of things cannot wait."
"Yes, they can," said the chubby man, trying to push his uncle away.
"What's going on?" Ed asked. The Elric brothers had already gone down the rock.
"Nephew! Introduce me properly!" the man ordered.
The chubby man sighed and straightened up, becoming resignation personified. "Gentlemen, I, Tobias Acker, have the pleasure to introduce you to Sir Herm the Hermit, the greatest wandering knight that has ever lived upon this land!"
"Nice meeting you," Al said after a pause.
"We're the Elric brothers," Ed said. "The renowned alchemists."
Sir Herm opened his eyes as much as possible. "Alchemists? How can a noble knight such a yourself be an enchanter?" he asked to Al.
"Well, I—" Al began, but was interrupted.
"Alchemy. Is. Not. Magic!" Ed growled. "It's science!"
"Maybe I heard wrong and, after you defeated him, you took as your servant this little sorcerer—"
"WHOAREYOUCALLINGLITTLE?"
"Brother!" Al hurried up to grab him before he could hurt anyone. While in Al's arms, Ed kicked and punched the air for a few seconds. After that, he just breathed heavily, like an angry bull.
"Please sirs, I beg you patience," Tobias whispered, leaning toward the brothers. "My uncle's not all that well up here," he said, tapping the side of his head.
"We can tell," Ed said, straightening his jacked now that his brother had let him go.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Al asked.
"Tell him you'll be in our town's party this evening. That'll calm him down enough to make him come with me."
"Fine."
"Either way," sir Herm said, "since the enchanter is under your protection, sir Elric, you can rest assured that I won't touch a hair of his head, unless it's for self-defense."
"Thank you, em, sir Herm."
"Don't mention it, it's just common courtesy."
"Well," Al said. "We, um, have to go now, but it'll be a pleasure to see you again in tonight's party."
"Oh, you'll be there, then," sir Herm said.
"Certainly," Al said.
Sir Herm's face brightened. "I'll be waiting for you, so we can drink to health of the most beautiful maiden ever to grace the world, the peerless lady Margaret."
"As long as she's not as crazy as he is..." Ed muttered.
"What did you say, you little scoundrel?" sir Herm asked, his face suddenly red and swollen with anger.
As soon as he heard the word 'little' for the second time in one evening, Al prepared himself for the explosion that was bound to happen. He didn't notice Tobias behind him until his brother answered to sir Herm. Yet, Ed did it so calmly that Al worried as he had never worried before in the years they had been wandering all around Amestris.
"I said that we'll drink to her health as long as she's not as crazy as you are, sir Herm."
"Take that back, you dirty dog!" sir Herm yelled. "Lady Margaret is saner and more intelligent than anyone else in this world!"
"Oh, yes?" Ed snorted. "I know someone who's surely a lot more intelligent than your lady Margaret. And she's probably prettier too!"
In different circumstances, Al would had made a mental note to remember Ed's words to tease him mercilessly for months to come, but now sir Herm had unsheathed his sword —a real sword— with rage-trembling hands.
"Enchanter, I swore not to touch a hair if your head unless for self-defense, but you've insulted the fairest maiden ever to be born, and for that, you shall pay!"
"D'you want to fight, old man?" Ed asked, transmuting his right arm into a blade.
"Uncle!" exclaimed Tobias.
"Brother, please!" Al asked. "Stop! Don't hurt him!"
"I won't hurt him, Al," Ed said, grinning like a maniac, "I'm just going to make him regret calling me small!" With that, Ed charged. But sir Herm was prepared for him, and stood his ground. Then, he struck back; Ed had to leap backwards to avoid being hit. "He, you're better than I'd expected."
"I'm not called the greatest knight for nothing, brat," sir Herm said. He was panting now, but he raised his sword over his head and tried to cut Ed's. The young alchemist ducked right on time.
Al knew that, all in all, sir Herm was no match for his older brother, and that the fight would not last much longer. Still, he felt sorry for the man, specially since he wasn't in what one could call good health. As Ed made a somersault over sir Herm, Al wondered what he could do to stop the fight without hurting —too much— his brother's ego.
"Is your brother really not going to hurt my uncle, sir?" Tobias asked.
"He will not," Al answered, pressing his hands together. He intended to create a big wall between the fighters, tie up Ed and then help Tobias to drag his uncle back to their home. But before he could move, sir Herm ran out of breath; he buried the tip of his sword in the ground and rested his chin on the handle, trying to regain his breath.
Ed remained where he was, a couple of meters away; even if he was angry, he wouldn't step so low as to attack someone who couldn't defend himself —at least not the way he had been doing it so far.
"Young enchanter," sir Herm said, "clearly, you are cheating."
"Am I?"
"Yes! You are using your dark arts to take my strength away from me!"
"That would be Time, old man."
"I may be older than you, but also far more experienced in the battlefield!"
"Somehow, I doubt it."
"Are you admitting that you take away the life force from your victims to keep yourself young?" Sir Herm stood up. "That cannot be tolerated!"
"You, sir, are a loon."
Sir Herm didn't seem to hear Ed's final retort; he just held the handle of his sword with both hands, raised it again over his head and, with a fierce battle cry, charged once more against the insulter of Lady Margaret and life thief.
Ed readied himself for sir Herm as Al thought that this one had to be the final clash. The younger Elric, sighing to himself, dashed to push his brother away from sir Herm's way in order to prevent the chance of the latest being hurt by the former, when a net came out from the woods and trapped the noble —yet somewhat insane— knight, making him fall on the ground, and leaving him unable to move.
Then, voices came out from behind the trees. "Oh, oh, oh!" they cried.
"The infamous Freste has done it again," said a tall man, dressed in black from neck to toe, gesturing wildly.
"He has cursed the brave knight, sir Herm the Hermit!" said another one, whose back was broader, and was dressed with blue pants and a white shirt. "What could we do to release him from it?"
"What could you, indeed," said sir Herm from the floor, "for I cannot move but my fingers and not that much!"
"Maybe my mother will know what to do," said Tobias, finally coming from behind Al.
"Oh, yes!" said sir Herm. "How could I forget it? My sister is an excellent sorceress! She'll help me. Nevertheless, she'll require a payment. Nephew, ask sir Elric a lock from the enchanter's hair; that should be enough."
"What?" Ed exclaimed.
"Brother, please, give them the lock. I don't think they'd be able to take sir Herm to his house peacefully otherwise," Al whispered.
"I guess I should be glad he didn't ask for my head," Ed growled while cutting the lock with his blade, which then gave to Tobias.
"Thank you very much, sir. I'm really sorry for what happened, and I apologize in my uncle's behalf," said the chubby man while the other two produced a stretcher in which they put sir Herm, who was still tangled in the net.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Ed said while transmuting the blade back into his automail arm.
"I'd ask you to join us for supper, but I don't want to risk you triggering him again."
"It's fine," Al said. "The train should be ready to go any minute now, anyway."
As in cue, the train whistle sounded, calling the passengers back.
"We'll be going now," Ed said. "Let's go Al."
"Yes, brother." Al bowed in their new acquaintances's direction. "Nice, uh, meeting you, all!"
"Likewise," Tobias said, waving his hand. "Though I would've like it to happen in other circumstances."
-
"That had to be one of our craziest adventures ever, don't you think so, Al?" Ed said about ten minutes later, when they were on the —now moving— train.
"I'd say. Though... There's something I really, really want to talk with Winry about," Al said, scratching his metal chin.
"What? About this fiasco of a train? She'd love to hear it!" Ed said, seeming truly oblivious.
"Not quite," Al said. He was glad, for once, that he didn't have lips to betray him while he toyed with the idea of saying 'lady Winry' aloud. Finally, he decided against it, at least at the moment; there'll be enough time for that when they were on their way back to Resembool.
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"Young enchanter," sir Herm said, "clearly, you are cheating."
"Am I?"
"Yes! You are using your dark arts to take my strength away from me!"
"That would be Time, old man."
"I may be older than you, but also far more experienced in the battlefield!"
"Somehow, I doubt it."
"Are you admitting that you take away the life force from your victims to keep yourself young?" Sir Herm stood up. "That cannot be tolerated!"
"You, sir, are a loon."
♥♥♥♥~
En general me encantó, pero lo mejor fue lo señalado aunque me reí demasiado con todo. Bien divertido XD.
Ah, Don Quixote...
Re: Ah, Don Quixote...
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--
He was glad, for once, that he didn't have lips to betray him while he toyed with the idea of saying 'lady Winry' aloud. Finally, he decided against it, at least at the moment; there'll be enough time for that when they were on their way back to Resembool.
LOVED the Ed/Win parts XD great work! you've really captured Ed's character, haha. lovely writing, i can't wait to see more of it!
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Also, one typo - I think: "Please, stop bothering this good people." Shouldn't it be: '*these* good people'? Just wondering...
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But, then again, English is not my first language, so I could be wrong. ^^U
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If I remember the explanation right (I have a memory comparable to Dory from 'Finding Nemo' ^^; ) it's something like this:
You're right that 'people' can be seen as a group - a population - then it would be 'this people.'
However, if you're refering the individuals in said group (as I believed to be the case here: you're referring to Ed & Al, but not to them as the whole of Amestris' population) it would be 'these'.
Did that make sense or was I rambling too much? ^^; Either way, sorry for the fuss - just wanted to help.
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Nah! Don't worry about it. ^^ I like the English language, so the more I learn about it, the better.
And thank you. I'll copy that explanation for future reference.