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She had promised him she'd wait for him, just as he had promised her he would come home. He said he'd only be gone 6 months, a year at most. But then he has never come home on time. He was always early or late, give or take a few months. So, when it'd been a year and a half, she didn't give up.
She kept on waiting.
After 2 years, she started to get worried. What if something had happened to him? She began to have nightmares, some of them causing her to wake up in a sweat. But she was determined to keep her promise.
She kept on waiting.
After 3 years, the nightmares got so bad that she would have multiple sleepless nights in a row. The nightmares of the man who still hadn't returned being killed or starting a new life without her. She gradually let herself fall. She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, all she could do to keep her mind off of him was work on her automail, only stopping to go get more parts from the station. She couldn't let herself dwell on unpleasant subjects. She refused to cry, as that was another promise that she intended to keep.
She kept on waiting.
By the time she was 22, she was hardly recognizable anymore. Her normally bright cobalt eyes had sunken in her pale face and turned dull. Her smooth porcelain skin became splotchy and ashen, the blush completely gone. Her vibrant wheat-colored hair became lifeless and dirty from lack of care. Her clothes, which used to flatter her curves, now hung off of her bony frame like rags. She slowly went senile, imagining him there by her side, holding her, kissing her, loving her, their glowing blond children running all around them, smiling and laughing. His brother was there too, with his Xingese girlfriend, all of them so happy together. A happy family.
She kept on waiting.
It was 5 years after the day he left when someone finally discovered her, and the state she'd gone in. It was a young man who was around a year older than her with kind gray eyes. It was this man who'd brought her back from the dead. She thought she could never live happily again, but he proved her wrong. He had given her the one thing that she had given up on long ago.
A family.
A loving, functional family is all she'd ever really wanted. She hadn't had one since her parents left her to go to Ishbal.
One day, when she was 28, her 3-year-old daughter came running back from her escapade to the park, squawking about a strange golden man. Golden man? Could it be? She squinted and saw this "golden man" climbing the hill in the horizon. He had long golden hair held back in a ponytail, flowing freely in the wind, and shining like the sun. Yes, it was him. He had finally returned to her. But yet, she didn't feel as jovial as she would've 10 years ago. It had been far too long since then. Rather, she just felt cold indifference and slight anger at seeing her old friend. Friend? It'd been so long. Did that term still apply? The blond came trotting up to the house that he grew accustomed to as a child. His eyes widened at the little sandy-haired girl on her lap and he frowned. The little girl's sapphire eyes met his with curiosity.
She, herself, was shocked at his appearance. He was mostly the same, except his eyes were tired and his face unshaven. He looked like he hadn't properly slept in months. This sight was eerily familiar. It was how she had looked 5 years ago, before she had been brought back down to Earth. She tried to read his expression and was slightly surprised to find that even after 10 long years, he was still an open book for her to read. She could see the hurt and betrayal in his amber eyes as he stared at her daughter, but found that she felt no guilt. She had no reason to. Yes, she'd broken her promise, but he had broken her. He'd broken her and left her for someone else to fix. Equivalent Exchange. It's not such a fair concept when you're at the receiving end. He finally spoke.
"You got married?" he whispered in horror. She stared at him coolly and said the words that had been haunting his nightmares for the past 10 years. The five words that had caused so many sleepless nights.
"I was tired of waiting."