In the cold rain, I was trembling. Alone, afraid. I heard the soft clanking of a familiar living suit of armor. Alphonse. He was coming. I was no longer alone. I had a beloved friend here with me.
"Winry," Came his child's voice, forever ten years old in the body that was not a body; Was not his. A hand touched my shoulder, and I turned. I had almost expected to see Ed with him, but he was nowhere. "Are you alright?" He asked, gently, and I nodded. He took me up in his arms, refusing my struggles to walk on my own, and I noticed for the first time since that night, just how cold his body of armor really was. He was freezing. Just so cold.
Had I not been so relieved that Al had found me, I would have been angry that Ed had not cared enough to come with him. I would have wished for him never to return.
And not long later, my wish would be granted.
I watched, both sad and happy, Al running with Den in the grass. His flesh body I recognized, despite having seen him as metal for the past four years, knowing then, that he knew nothing of the years I would remember. He could grow again, he could feel again, but once more, he would take these things for granted, having no memory of the times which he could not do such things. Times he wished for nothing more than the warmth of a body, the beating of a heart.
"Al," I said, standing. He looked up at me with a smile. "Come here," He did as I had asked and I gathered my friend in a hug. He was warm now, and I knew he felt me, too. And it felt good in more ways than one. It felt good, not only at the surface of my skin, but in my heart to know that I had him back, and I thought again of his brother, who had helped him to be the amazing person he was today. Just like Edward, I thought, missing the other boy I had known all my life.
"Winry," He began, hugging me tighter. "When is Ed coming back?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "But he's coming. I feel it."
"So do I."