1. Scars

It had been two months since Edward and Alphonse had arrived back in Resembool. Four months since the promised day, since Ed had beaten the living shit out of the bearded bastard, since he had almost lost his brother in the heat of it all. Man, were they crazy.

That was all behind him now, though. Now he could finally relax. Ed had nothing else to worry about; all the homunculi were gone, no impending doom was looming over the country, and he could just... sit back. It was new to Ed, not having to be on the run, not moving forward towards a new goal. New, but kind of nice.

It was a hot summer afternoon. Ed was lying on the couch, a book covering his face. He was in a white t-shirt and some khaki shorts. A bead of perspiration dribbled down his face.

"Ed," a bossy voice asked questioningly, "What are you doing?"

"Uh?" Ed peeled the book off of his face to see Winry standing at the table with a bottle of water, wearing nothing but a blue bikini top and short shorts. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and she had only one pair of gold studs in her ears. Ed blushed slightly. "Well, I was reading, but it's too damn hot to think right now."

She nodded agreeingly, taking a swig of water from her bottle. "Gah, I know." She set her bottle down, then got a gleam in her eyes as an idea came to her mind. "Hey, here's an idea to cool down: why don't we go to the river and swim?"

Ed raised an eyebrow. Swim? They hadn't done that since they were little, maybe eight or nine. Besides, swimming wasn't exactly a walk in the park for him now-he'd just sink to the bottom with his automail leg. Al hadn't even fully recovered yet, so he was in no condition to swim, either. Why the hell did she think it was a good idea for them to go swimming?

Winry could see the skepticism in his face. She frowned. "Come on, Ed, please? For old times' sake?"

Ed grumbled. "Fine," he said reluctantly, "but only because you said 'please'."

She smiled at him. "Awesome! I'll go get my swimsuit on."

Ed's eyes followed her as she left the room. Ed had to admit, for a crazy gearhead, she could be cute sometimes.

Ed marked his place in his book and stood up, stretching. He might as well go put his swim trunks on, too. "Hey, Al!" He called.

Al peered in from the kitchen. "What is it, brother?"

"Go grab your swimsuit; Winry's taking us down to the river."

Al furrowed his eyebrows. "Brother, I'm not sure I'm well enough to-"

"Just stick your feet in the water or something," Ed cut him off. "And what are you going to do here, anyways? It's too freakin' hot." Ed just wanted the three of them to be normal again for a change. Because now things could finally go back to the way they were.

Al was a bit confused by his brother's behavior, but he decided not to protest. Besides, if Winry wanted to go, he didn't really see the problem. He and his brother both went upstairs to change. Boy, brothersureisweird, Alphonse thought, observing his brother fussing with his shirt, his hair, his shorts, gettingallworkedupoveralittleoutingtotheriver. Of course, Al knew that Ed had some specially reserved feelings for Winry, though Ed would never admit it. He would be way too embarrassed. And he knew Winry was exactly the same way. Alphonse was especially keen at knowing how other people felt. But boy, those two seemed so childish, even to Al! Acting like there's absolutely nothing between them, even though they both knew there was so much.

Al just rolled his eyes at his older brother. Ed noticed and looked at Al. "What? Did I do something?"

Al just laughed. "Come on, brother, let's go to the river now."

The three of them walked down to the river. It was hazy, and the town was silent because no one wanted to be out in this kind of heat. Winry brought a cooler with drinks and sandwiches.

Alphonse was the first to jump into the water, actually. He ran (well, joggedwas more appropriate, because he was still weak) right into the water, not even bothering to take off his shirt. He was about waist deep in the water when he turned back to Ed and Winry, who had both stopped in surprise at Al's sudden burst of energy. "What are you guys waiting for?" he called. "The water feels great!"

Ed smiled, glad to see his brother was happy. Then he dashed after him, pulling his shirt off mid-stride. He jumped into the water, making a huge splash. "Brother!" Al shouted, spitting dirt and grass from his mouth. Ed laughed.

Winry set the cooler down on the grass and stripped down to her swimsuit. She turned to find Ed gaping at her with a stupid face on, slightly bushing. "What are you looking at?" She snapped.

Ed snapped out of his entranced stare and blushed harder, not making eye contact with Winry. "Uh, nothing, what would I be looking at, there's nothing there!"

Winry raised an eyebrow, not buying it. Surelyhedoesn'tmeanthat, she thought. Even she had acknowledged that she had grown significantly over this past year, when none of her old shirts or bras fit anymore. She now had double Ds, and they were a pain in the ass. So surely Ed at least realized there was somethingthere, unless he was stupid. And, for a genius, he kind of was.

Ed quickly turned and dove under the water, probably to hide his ridiculously red face. Al rolled his eyes, and ushered Winry into the water. She followed his orders and ran in towards the two brothers.

They stayed in the water for quite some time. They were laughing and playing-just like old times. You could hardly tell that they had changed at all over these past several years while they were in the water.

But the water masks the scars.

"I'm so tired," Al panted, "Let's get out." He almost fell over walking out.

"Woah," Ed called, picking up his younger brother and swinging him onto his back. He trudged out of the water and dropped him on the grass.

"Thanks, brother," Al said, sitting up in the grass. He reached for a sandwich in the cooler.

Ed sat next to Al, grabbing a sandwich for himself and taking a huge bite. He laid out on the grass, staring up at the sunset. Winry walked up to the two of them, smiling. She really enjoyed her day with her two best friends. Her smile quickly left her face when she noticed something about Ed's appearance-his scars. He had so many. They were all over his body-some she had seen before, others she didn't recognize. There was one particular scar that stuck out to her-one that stretched across the left side of his abdomen, and there was also one directly across, on the left side of his back, too. The scar was gruesome looking; the skin was all white and marred. Whatever had happened, it must have been painful, and, judging by the location, possibly life-threatening.

Ed raised an eyebrow when he noticed the slight distress in Winry's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Winry fell to her knees, staring at Ed's torso. She rested a hand on his abdomen and said, with a quiet voice, "Your scars..."

"Hm?" Ed followed her gaze and noticed what was troubling her. He had never really paid much attention to his physical features, but he figured with all the fights he'd gotten into, he'd have at least take a few souvenirs. But he could see why they bothered her so much. "Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I picked up a few. It was inevitable." Ed shrugged, trying to blow it off like it was no big deal. The way he always did.

Al noticed, too. "Brother, you have so many." Since his body had been at the gate all that time, he didn't have any. He had never really realized... just how much pain his brother had gone through.

Winry's fingers traced the outline of the scar he had gotten while fighting Kimblee in the mineshaft. "What's this from?"

Ed hid his face behind his hair. "It's nothing, just a scratch."

"Just a scratch?! Ed, It looks like something ran you through here!" Winry yelled. Doeshereallythinkhecantrythatonme? I'madoctor, Iknowmystuff. "There are vital organs here! What happened to you?"

Ed huffed and turned away from her. "It's not that important. I'm fine now, so it doesn't matter."

Winry pouted, angry. Same old Ed, still not telling her things. God, when was he ever going to grow up? What was it with him?!

"Brother," Al noticed how scary the scar looked too, "I don't ever remember a fight where you got hurt like that. How did you get that wound?"

Ed looked up at his younger brother. His face expressed a look of genuine concern. Ed frowned. "Why the hell does it matter?"

Winry turned to look at Ed straight in the eyes. "That wound was no accident, Edward." Ohno, Ed thought, sheusedmyfullname. "And knowing you, you were being reckless and stupid when you got it. Now tell me how you got that scar!"

Damn, she'spersistent, Ed thought glumly. He sighed, sitting up. She'snotgoingtolikewhatItellher. "It was a fight with Kimblee. He was going down into the mines to chase after you guys, so I went to go stop him. But it turned out that he had two philosopher's stones and he blew up the mine, nearly killing me and his two chimeras, Heinkel and Mr. Gorilla. I ended up with a pole in my side." He saw the look of shock on both Al and Winry's faces. "But they pulled it out and I managed to heal myself with alchemy, don't worry!"

Al was shocked. "How did you manage to do that? What did you give up in exchange?"

"Oh, yeah, uh..." Ed looked down and played with his ponytail. "Well, I was kind of all out of options, so I some of my own life in exchange. It took a few years off of my life."

Al's eyes got wide. He was more stunned than upset with his brother, impressed that he was capable of doing something like that. How had he managed to pull that one off?

Winry however, was not impressed. She jumped straight to the yelling, slamming a wrench in Edward's head. "You idiot! How could you do something so rash?!"

"It's not like I had any other choice, Winry! It was either die then or die later! What else was I supposed to do?!"

"How about you don't risk your life in the first place?!"

"It's not that easy, you know! I couldn't let him get to you or the others!" Ed growled at her. Then, with a much quieter tone, he said, "Besides, I couldn't die there. I didn't want to make you cry. I promised you."

Winry lowered her wrench, staring at Ed with the utmost interest. Soitwasme, she thought quietly, with surprise. Iwasthereasonheneededtokeepliving.

Ed blushed slightly. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

Without warning, Winry hugged Ed, wrapping her arms around his bare torso. Ed's eyes widened in surprise as she, the girl he had known for practically all of his life, did something she had never done before-honestly, truly hugged him, just him, without any tears or fear or any other bullshit. Just a hug, a sign of pure affection. As she buried her face in his chest, Ed looked to Alphonse, confused. Al just shrugged, not knowing what had gotten into Winry for her to be so nice all of a sudden.

Ed looked back to Winry and her long blonde locks. He did the only thing he felt he needed to, what his instincts told him to do-hug back. He wrapped both of his arms around her, placing his right hand on her head, curling her hair around his fingers. Although neither of the two saw, Al gave a nod of approval, a silent yes! in his mind. Maybethereishopeforthemafterall.

Things had changed after all. There was no denying it, Ed pondered. So much about the three of them had changed, there was probably no way they could ever be normal. Old times were just what they were-oldtimes. They had grown out of those days now. They had too many scars, both physical and mental, to go back to being the young, innocent children they were.

So, no, this trip wasn't for old times' sake-it was for new times to be born.