First Steps

The young blond boy took a deep breath, braced himself, then stood up and prepared to try again.

His pants had messy green stains on the knees now, evidence of the many many falls he had already had that day. Most of his lower half also ached painfully. But that wasn't going to stop him. He would not let it.

He could hear the two taller individuals, one male and one female, behind him. They were making encouraging noises but made no move to help him. He didn't care, he wanted to do this himself. He could do this himself!

Edward ignored the pair in favor of taking a hesitant and wobbly step forward. And, for only a moment, he was upright. Standing tall and proud on his admittedly weak and short legs, the way he should.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground again, his backside smarting even as his face burned a bright red. Failure had struck yet again.

"Ed..." Her voice was concerned as she took a step forward.

The boy waved her off with a look. This pain didn't matter to him, after all. With a deep sighing breath, Edward Elric, age eleven, stood up to try walking again.

He wondered, distantly, if it was this hard the first time around.