Ficlet - The Sharp Knife of a Short Life

[cornerofmadness]

Title The Sharp Knife of a Short Life
Author- cornerofmadness
Disclaimer All rights belong to Arakawa-sensei
Rating PG-13
Characters/Pairing Trisha/Hohenheim, Trisha pov
Series - I guess it could be any but it’s definitely slanted more toward the manga
Timeline/Spoilers if you know what happened to Trisha, you’re good for this
Word Count 575
Warning implied adult situations
Summary As she’s dying, she thinks of him.
Author’s Note written for fma_fic_contest's 'canon pairing' prompt. This is a slightly longer version than the one in the community. This was going to be Gracia/Maes then I heard the song If I Die Young by Band Perry on the radio and thought this titular line to this story was really perfect (the rest of the song doesn’t really fit and rather creeped me out to be honest). This story popped into my head immediately after hearing it. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta.


XXX

Trisha gazed out the window, watching the sun dapple the grass. Somewhere out there, her sons were playing with Winry while Trisha gave Pinako her final message for Hohenheim. Trisha knew it wouldn’t be long now. She could feel her body shutting down and she didn’t want her last thoughts to be bitter and sad. She would miss so much of her sons’ lives and if she lingered on that thought for more than a heartbeat, she would weep. She didn’t want their last moments with her to be tainted with anguish.

Instead, she thought about the early days with Hohenheim. He had been so different from the boys she grew up with. He was obviously a little older than her and so much more studious than Bobby Kirkwood, the first boy she had ever kissed. Hohenheim didn’t smell of sweat and manure like the boys she knew. He smelled like old books and Trisha could never say why the scent attracted her but it did.

He’d been aloof and that alone intrigued Trisha. He seemed such an unlikely friend for Pinako, who had assured the much younger girl Hohenheim let his hair down once you got a few beers into him. Still, there had been an odd hesitancy in Pinako’s voice, as if she weren’t telling Trisha everything but it hadn’t registered. All Trisha had been thinking was Hohenheim would look so prime with his hair down. She wanted to lie him down in the grass and run her fingers through that gold-silk hair while gazing into his unusual, wonderfully sexy eyes.

Trisha got her wish. She loved the feel of his hair tickling over her skin when he was above her; the way his beard scratched and burned the insides of her thighs; the way she had to stretch just to get her arms around his broad, strong shoulders. She missed that so much over the last years now that he was gone. No, she wouldn’t think of missing him, either. No sadness, not now. The remembrance of his hands on her body was so much happier to think about.

They had been so happy. Trisha hadn’t dreamed that the man she would fall for would be a bookish alchemist but love had its own ideas. Her childhood girlfriends didn’t quite understand her choice in men; she wasn’t even sure they liked Hohenheim. He was a city boy and that was always looked upon with a hint of disdain in places like Resembol. It didn’t matter to Trisha. She loved him and he treated her like a queen and that’s what made her smile.

Even his fearful confession as to what he truly was hadn’t shaken her faith in him. Trisha only ever doubted Hohenheim’s choices when he felt he had to leave when the boys were so young. She didn’t see him as too monstrous to hold the boys, to play with them. He did try but his humanity was tenuous at best. Hohenheim wanted to find a way to circumvent the affects of the Philosopher’s Stone. Trisha wanted him to wait until the boys were older, so they’d understand why he had to go. Neither she nor Hohenheim were delusional about the ease of his quest. He desired his lost mortality and might need to search for years to get it. Years she wouldn’t get to spent with him.

It didn’t matter now. Her promise was broken. She was going first.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I still like this a lot. It's very bittersweet.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you. it i s

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Poor Trisha.

[ishte.livejournal.com]

This is really sad, but so poignant.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes it's definitely sad. thank you