Disclaimer: I only own Bella.

Chapter 1

I sighed, deeply as I stared up at the house I had once known, but now it was foreign to me. It hadn't changed much, true, but there was no doubt that its occupants had. I was almost afraid to go up to the door, knowing the temper of the young woman inside. And, from what I heard, she wasn't afraid to throw a wrench or two.

Wincing with each step I took, clutching my small bag so tight my knuckles turned white, I stepped up to the front door and knocked, hesitantly. I waited, holding my breath. There was a crash from the inside and a curse. I frowned, not quite able to make out the voice of the person inside.

Then, the door opened. My eyes widened in shock and the person in front of me raised an eyebrow.

"May I help you?" She asked. I gulped.

"Winry?" I asked, in shock. She looked confused for a moment, before it dawned on her.

"Bella?" She asked. I nodded. She stared at me for a second, before slamming the door in my face.

I blinked. That was not the reaction I had been expecting. Sure, I hadn't been expecting a warm welcome, full of hugs and apologies and food. But I had been expecting something like a fist in my face. An automail foot, maybe? Even a wrench to my head. But not a door slammed in my face, denying me entrance to their home. There was another crash from inside, then the door opened again. Winry stood in front of me, once again, tears streaming down her face. I stared, wide eyed.

Suddenly, she was hugging me and we were both crying.

"I've missed you, Bella," She cried. "You have no idea how hard it's been, not talking to another girl for all these years." I nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry, Winry. It was hard for me, too." She sighed and pulled away from our hug. She looked at me before smirking.

"Ed would sure love what I'm seeing right now." I blushed.

"Winry. I just got back. Can we not start on the Ed jokes, yet?" She laughed and pulled me into the house. "So, you're still making automail, I see." She nodded.

"Yeah. That's really the only reason Ed ever comes back. He's always breaking his arm." I sent her and odd look and she gasped. "You don't know?"

"Know what? Winry, what happened to Ed?" She looked down and I noticed tears streaming down her face again.

"Come, sit down, Bella. There's so much you need to know."

And, for the next hour, she told me the story of the Elric brothers. She told me about how Trisha died and Ed and Al attempted to bring her back to life with alchemy. She told me about how Al came to their door in a suit of armor, carrying a bloody Ed with missing limbs. She told me how Ed had begged her to give him an automail leg and arm. She told me about how a Lieutenant Colonel had come to offer Ed a place in the military as a state alchemist and about how Ed accepted. Finally, she told me about how Ed and Al were searching day and night, restlessly, for the philosopher's stone so they could get their old bodies back.

When she finished, I sighed and leaned back in the chair, stretching.

"Well, that settles that," I yawned.

"Huh?"

I smirked before saying, "Now, here's a little story of my own." She frowned, and I knew she was paying full attention.

"After I was dragged away from here- from my house, my friends, my town- my father began getting sick. We told him to hang on, that he'd get better soon, but my father was not one to believe in such foolishness. He knew it was his time, and he knew he was dying.

"Well, he began teaching me alchemy. It was his dying wish that I would become a great alchemist, better than even he was. He wished for me to become a state alchemist and become Fuhrer. He wanted me to end everything horrible in this country and make it a better place. My father- he loved peace. He was a very peaceful man. Never began a fight, never wished to be in one.

"Anyway, he died. After everything, the medication from the doctor, healing alchemists from the west, nothing could save him. He died.

"We held a small funeral, me, mum, and my father's closest friends. After he was buried, I packed my bags and set off. I was going to fulfill my father's dying wish." I looked down at the table, feeling myself crying. I had spent so much time by myself, on the road that I hadn't talked about any of this with anyone. It was a nice change, no matter the fact that it was bringing back memories I wished I could have forgotten.

"Father was… a state alchemist, did you know that?" I asked, looking at Winry. She shook her head.

"No, I didn't."

"No matter, he wished for me to fill his place. And I plan to do just that. I had heard a name of an old friend of his numerous times. Does Roy Mustang ring a bell?"

"Actually, it does! He's the one who came to offer Ed that spot." I smiled.

"Good. Then I should have no trouble finding him." She sent me an odd look and I pointed out her window. She turned around in her seat and glared at the figured walking up to the house.

"Damn, I told them to call!" She strode out into the hallway and picked up a wrench. Flinging open the door, she threw the wrench at the two figures, which ducked it with practiced ease.

"Damn it, Winry! Do you want to kill me?!" The smaller figure yelled.

"I wouldn't if you came to visit more and not just because you broke your arm again!" She yelled back. The boy opened his mouth to respond, when he spotted me. He stared at me for a second before blushing bright red. I knew he recognized me.

"B-Bella!" He said, turning away. I laughed, happily, before running toward him and pulling him into a hug. He hugged me back with one arm, as the other, automail one, was busted up. I pulled away, smiling.

"My, Ed. You haven't grown much since I last saw you."

"Who did you say was small like a grain of rice and doesn't show up in your eyes?!" He yelled. I giggled.

"Aww, Ed. I didn't mean it like that," I said, smiling at him. He blushed again, before walking to Winry to talk about his arm. I turned to the large suit of armor that had accompanied Ed.

"Hello, Alphonse," I said, smiling sadly.

"You recognize me, Bella? Even in this armor?" He asked, his voice sounding shocked.

"I never would have if Winry hadn't told me what happened." I placed a hand on the metal and sighed. "I'm so sorry, Al. You and your brother, you went through so much more than you had to."

"Bella, it was our choice to do the transmutation, not anyone else's."

"Maybe not, but still… Your bodies are different. Ed's got the leg and arm and your whole body… I feel terrible."

"Why do you feel terrible?" He asked.

"I feel as if I could have stopped you two idiots if I was here."

"You never would have known," He said, trying to comfort me.

I smiled. "I might not have known at first, but you know Ed. He would never be able to keep a secret from me if I asked him about it." Al laughed. It sounded metallic.

"You're quite right there. He's madly in love with you, you know," Al told me and I blushed.

"Oh, come on, Al. It's only a silly crush. It'll go away soon," I answered, looking away trying to not let him see my bright red face. "So, where'd Ed and Winry go?"

"Probably to fix Ed's automail. Stupid brother, always busting it up."

I laughed at this and inspected Al's armor. "And I assume you never bust your armor up?"

"Er…well…" I laughed again.

"Such a hypocrite, Al. You have a dent right here," I told him, pointing to a spot on his side. "And a scratch here and another dent, much bigger this time, right here." Al scratched the back of his helmet and, I knew if armor could, he would be blushing right now. He pulled away from me and coughed.

"Well, um…where have you been for these past years? You haven't been to visit or anything. We've missed you," He said, hesitating before slyly adding, "Especially Ed." I blushed again, before turning my back on him and saying, "Stop it, Al. I'm not ready for those jokes yet. And it's somewhat of a long story, so I don't feel like telling it two more times. Hence, I think I'll tell you later, when your brother is around."

Al nodded, understanding, before I went on. "By the way, I'm looking for a man by the name of Major Mustang. Winry said you knew him?" Al sent me a confused look, or, as confused as a suit of armor could get.

"Don't you mean Colonel Mustang?" I sighed, deeply.

"Well, he must have gotten promoted since the last time I'd heard of him. Actually, come to think of it, I think he was colonel at the funeral." I thought, out loud, ignoring Al.

"What funeral?" Al asked, but I was still deep in my thoughts and didn't hear him. Suddenly, there was a crash from inside the house, and then the loud voice of Edward Elric floated down to us.

"DAMN IT WINRY! THAT HURT!"

"SHUT UP! IT'S YOUR FAULT YOU BUSTED YOUR AUTOMAIL! I'M NOT THE ONE WHO TOLD YOU TO GO LOOSE A SCREW!"

"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO LOST IT! YOU FORGOT TO PUT IT IN, BITCH."

"SHUT UP AND LET ME FIX IT, SHRIMP!" And so the argument went. I looked at Al, who shrugged and sighed.

"They go through this everytime we come here."

"Oh," was the only thing I could manage to say, before turning to the house and saying, "I think we'd better go in and make sure they aren't killing each other." Al nodded and followed me. I walked through the house, trying to find where Ed and Winry were. Upon finding the room, I knocked, sticking my head through the doorway. Ed sat on the bed in his boxers, gritting his teeth against the pain of the automail. He looked up and saw me, flinching away from Winry.

"B-Bella! W-what are you doing up here?" he asked, automatically pulling on his pants. I rolled my eyes and said, "I figured I'd come up here and make sure you weren't killing each other." I narrowed my eyes before saying, "You weren't, were you?"

Winry laughed. "No, I was just installing the arm into the port, which just happens to be the most painful part." I nodded and stood against the wall.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to watch." Winry nodded and Ed looked horrified.

"Do you like seeing people in pain?" He questioned. I laughed.

"Maybe a bit. But, no. I just think automail is interesting."

He sighed, giving up. So, I watched in interest as Winry attached the automail, going slow, as to point out certain points to me and enjoy Ed's facial expressions.

When she finished, Ed stood up and tried out his new arm.

"That took forever," Ed whined.

"Shut up, alchemy freak."

"Automail geek." I rolled my eyes at their bickering and clasped my hand over Ed's mouth before he could go any farther.

"You know, you two fighting like that is really annoying," I told them. Winry laughed, putting away her tools.

"Just go down to dinner. I'm sure granny has it ready."

"Granny Pinako?" I asked, in shock. "I haven't seen her around, yet."

Ed sighed, and grabbed my hand. "Well, go say hi to her, than," He told me, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then, he pulled me out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Still clinging to my hand, he pulled me down the stairs into the kitchen where Al was standing, talking to a small, old woman. She looked up when we entered the room, and stared at me.

"My, my. Is that- it must be," She said, talking to herself more than anyone else, walking up to me and circling Ed and I. "Bella?"

I smiled. "Hello, Granny."

She laughed, loudly. "Bless me buttons, Bella Avery is back!"

A/N: The random thing Pinako says at the end? Something my grandmom says and I couldn't think of another thing to put there, so I decided this should work.

My first ever attempt at a RoyXOC fanfic. And, actually, the first ever RoyXOC fic I've ever seen.

So, please be nice. Any quetions, please ask. Any mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them. And if there's anyone out there who's seen a RoyXOC fanfic, I would be eternally grateful if you would tell me, or lead me to the right story, so I know I'm not the only one out there. XD

Thanks, and don't forget to review!