Summary: "Do you ever think there's something more out there?" Winry had been content for so long it surprises her when she began to want something more. To travel and explore. To find her worth outside of being a mechanic and automail engineer. So, when the chance comes her way she wants to say no, but saying yes might just be what she needs.

Pairings: Hints of EdWin, but mainly focusing on friendship between characters.

Note: I don't own FMA. I do own my OCs though.

Searching For More

Winry set aside the metal leg she was working on—stretching her arms above her head. She always had something to do in Rush Valley. Whether it be an arm or a leg—there was a project for her to work on. She enjoyed it. Working with metal limbs and gears is what she had been trained to do for years. So whenever the phrase: "there has to be more" passed through her head she ignored it. She was doing what she loved so what else did she need to do?

"Winry there's someone here to see you!" Mr. Garfiel called to her.

"I'm coming!" She replied, standing up from her work station. Retying her hair into a ponytail she walked into the shops main area—stepping over discarded materials and half-finished limbs. "Oh, hey Marie!"

Marie grinned at her mechanic, pushing her sunglasses up to rest on top of her head. "Hey girl, do you mind looking at my leg? I think I may have gotten to rough last night."

Winry frowned as her client took a seat at her bench. "Are you fighting again? I thought you quit!"

"Yeah well, I needed the extra cash." Marie replied, propping her leg up to the blond could see. "I'm sorry you have to look at it again…"

Winry sighed, inspecting the damage. "It's just a few dents, nothing I can't fix in an hour."

The two young women sat in silence—the sounds of the town and the scrapping of metal consumed the room. Winry worked diligently—buffing out the dents and reconnecting a few wires that had come loose.

"Do you ever think that there is more to life? That maybe there's something more out there?"

Winry paused, looking up to see her client gazing out the window. "More to life?"

Marie shrugged, slouching deeper into her seat. "I don't know. I just…I feel that there has to be something out there. This town is great, but there has to be something more."

"Well, there's Central and East City. I've been to Central before and it's pretty fun," Winry reached over to her tool box to switch to another wrench. "What up? You seem to have a lot on your mind. Especially if you're fighting again."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Are you saying that I fight when I'm in emotional turmoil?"

"Oh, so this is emotional turmoil?"

"Winry!"

The mechanic laughed, patting Marie's flesh leg. "I'm sorry! I saw an opening and I took it!"

"Thanks," Marie pouted. She let her gaze go back out the window. It was a sunny and warm day. Children were running around and mechanics were trying to bring in customers. When she first settled in Rush Valley it took her awhile to warm up to the people and find her bearings. For weeks she hobbled around on crutches, not trusting any one to give her a leg. But then she found Winry. The blond mechanic had a welcoming attitude and a passion for her work. She had watched her fix up multiple people until she decided to give the girl a shot. She wasn't disappointed.

"If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to," Winry said softly.

Marie crossed her arms, trying to find the words to describe what she was feeling. "You're not wrong. I do tend to fight more when I get emotional. I guess lately, I feel trapped. I like working at the restaurant, but afterword's I go home to an empty house. Who wants to sit alone with their thoughts?" She brought her gaze to her lap, staring at the tanned skin. "I want to explore and learn more. I want to travel across the country."

"Why don't you?"

"I'm a coward. I'm don't want to go by myself," Marie replied. She then pointed to her eyes: "Also, hello, do so see the parting gift my mother left me? There's not many places I can go."

"Well, how bad do you want this?" Blue eyes met red.

"Bad," Marie replied. "I just want to get away for a bit. Hell, I'd go to Ishval just to get out."

"A trip to where you came from might not be bad. Maybe they're starting to rebuild. You could even hit a few tourist attraction on your way." Winry encouraged, twisting the screws of the legs outer-panel. "There you go all done."

Marie stood up, testing the weight of her left leg. "Feels awesome. Thanks!" She grabbed her wallet from her back pocket and counted out the money. "Rates changed for a tune up?"

"Nope!"

Marie handed her mechanic the money and placed her wallet back in her pocket. "You know you're welcome to come. You work so much that I'm sure you could use a break."

"As much as I'd like to I've got a few appointment and projects to do over the next couple of weeks," Winry replied.

"Well, I won't be leaving for a few weeks," Marie grinned. "Just think about it! Or are you waiting for your boyfriend to give you a call?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Winry rebuked, throwing a screwdriver in her toolbox.

"Right, so I was imaging things that last time he were here." Marie snickered. Her laughter turned into a surprised yelp as she dodged a wrench. "Hey! I'm a customer, not your alchemist boyfriend!"

"Alchemy-freak is not my boyfriend!"

Marie ran for the door, grinning at her flustered mechanic. "The offer still stands! Let me know if you want to go!"

Winry sighed, taking her gloves off and throwing them on the bench. She walked to the second floor where her room was and flopped down on her bed. Great, now she was the one in emotional turmoil. Marie wasn't wrong—sometimes she did wait for Ed to call or expect him to come by, but only because he had a tendency in destroying his automail. As his mechanic she needed to be on standby. Aside from that, she felt content with her life. Sure, she was busy a lot and worked hours on end, but that's what she was trained to do. In a way she felt connect to her parents—her automail gave people around her life and the ability to keep moving forward. So she couldn't just up and leave. She had to stick around to give tune-ups and give the gift of automail to those who desired a new limb.

Her mind circled back to Marie's question: "Do you ever think that there is more to life? That maybe there's something more out there?" Winry hadn't really thought about it at the time, because she was more worried about Marie's thought process, but in a way it rang back to thoughts she had once in a while. But she pushed it to the back of her mind. She was content. Everything was fine. So she got to her feet and moved to sit at her workstation—burying herself in projects until her next appointment came around. Yes, this is what she was meant to do.

[Two Weeks Later]

Winry's day was going pretty good. She tuned up a few clients, ordered some parts, and was currently setting up to meet with her last client of the day. Marie had wandered in a few times that week to spend her lunch breaks with her, but the half-Ishvalan had been keeping to herself. Marie was one of the few girls her age and she found a trusted friend in her, and her near silence worried her. But, she decided to push these thought aside to finish her work. When Marie wanted to talk she would. The sound of the workshop door opening alerted her that her next client was in.

"Hi Rick, please take a seat and I'll be with you in a moment," Winry greeted her client, moving to the side of the workspace to pick up her tools.

"Hey Winry, no need to pick up your tools I just came to chat," Rick replied, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Rick was in his twenties, his left arm replaced with steel prosthetics and humor that seemed to make you forgot about your troubles for a while. But today, Winry noted, he seemed on edge.

"Oh? What do you need?" Winry questioned, turning to face him.

Rick's green eyes wouldn't meet her gaze, choosing to look across the room. "I wanted to let you know that I won't be seeing you anymore."

Winry blinked, tilting her head to the side. "Huh?"

Rick inhaled, then exhaled slowly. "I won't be needing you as a mechanic Winry. I've found someone else."

Winry stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was joking. He wasn't. "Is there something wrong with your arm? Is there something I can fix for you?"

Rick scratched the back of his neck nervously. "No, I just enjoy seeing this other mechanic more. Not that you're not good, I just feel that he is more knowledgeable and more experienced."

Winry stared at the arm she spent days crafting—putting her sweat and blood into it. "Do you not like it at all?"

Rick gazed down at his metal hand. "No…not really. I'm sorry, you're great and you never turn me away when I need a tune-up no matter how busy you are. But, I just feel that this is the right move for me."

Winry crossed her arms against her chest, trying to keep herself from shaking. "Who is this mechanic?"

Rick paused before replying: "George Winston."

Winry almost punched a wall. Of course it was George Winston. The man had been after many of her customers since she moved to Rush Valley. "I see. Well, thank you for telling me. I'm glad you have found a mechanic to your liking."

Rick sighed, placing a money in Winry's hand. "This is the rest I owned you. I'll see you around town?"

Winry clutched the money, trying her best to smile. "Yeah, I'll see you around."

She watched him leave—she flipped the front door sign to close and locked the door. Stomping to her room, her eyes filled with tears. Though it hurt, she could deal with someone choosing another mechanic. What pierced her was that fact he didn't even like what the made for him. She put so much work and effort in creating her automail, and her clients really seemed to love her creations. Now she found herself questioning her skills and her work. What if people really didn't like her automail? She needed truth and there was only two people who could give it to her: Ed and Marie. Ed was out of the question—who knew where the he was (though with Ed she realized it was more like half-truths, because getting full truths out of the guy was like pulling teeth). Marie—Winry glanced at the wall clock—was probably just getting off work.

Winry pulled a blue sweater over her tank top, keeping on her work pants and boots, and headed out the shop. The cool wind played with her hair as she waved through the crowd of people. She found the restaurant in the middle of town and looked around until she found wavy black hair pulled into a messy bun.

"Hey girl, what's up?" Marie greeted, smoothing out her burgundy dress uniform. "Want something to eat?"
"No I'm fine, I just ate!" Winry lied. "I was wondering when you were getting off work."

Marie looked down at her brown wrist watch. "In about ten minutes. Wait for me at the entrance?"

"Will do!"

Winry impatiently sat near the entrance of the restaurant—losing herself in thought. What if Marie didn't like her automail? Would she really walk around with a limb she didn't like? Her thought process was broken when a metal hand tapped her shoulder.

"So what's up?" Marie asked. She had changed out of her restaurant uniform and into a grey hoodie and black pants.

"Just looking for fresh air and good company," Winry replied, standing up.

"We'll let's go for a walk," Marie suggested. "There's a park not too far from here."

"Sounds like fun."

The two girls walked in silence. Marie glanced over at the blond every so often—Winry seemed upset, but she decided she would poke into her business until they were somewhere comfortable. No need to make the girl cry in the middle of town. When they arrived at the park they sat on a pair of swing—watching the stars in the sky.

"So," Marie started, pushing her sunglasses into her hair. "How was your day?"

"It was…okay, I guess."

Marie bit back a smile. This was when the poking around began. "Why just okay?"

"It was busy as usual, but…" Winry took a breath. "Rick came in and said he was going to see a new mechanic."

"Who the heck is he going to see that won't charge him a crap ton and actually give him quality automail?"

"George Winston."

"Hmm," Marie muttered. She had seen the man's work when she was looking for someone to give her automail. He was a decent man. He knew his stuff and had good work to show, but she just didn't feel a connection to him. His work was standard and his rates where high. "Did he say why he was changing?"

"He feels that Winston is more knowledgeable and more experienced."

"…and?"

"And he doesn't like my work." Winry sighed, running a hand through her bangs. Tears pricked her blue eyes and she was determined to keep them from pouring down her face. "I don't know why I'm making such a big deal about this. It shouldn't matter this much."

"Winry, you put a lot into your work. You build automail to make your client happy and try to give them a second chance at life. Of course it's a big deal! This guy just up and left with a crappy excuse!"

"He's allowed to not like my work!"

"While this is true, that's still allowed to hurt you. You're not just some newbie trying to give people half-done prosthetics. You're an engineer trying to give people a chance to keep going."

Winry kept her head down—trying to wrap her mind around what her friend was telling her. She wanted to find truth in Marie's words, but now she felt that any of her clients could lie to her. But this isn't just a client, this is Marie. She's my friend. She thought, desperately trying to believe her friend.

"And Winry, I like the leg you made for me," Marie continued, placing a hand on her right metal leg. "Without this leg, I wouldn't be able to work or fight. After my accident, you gave me a second chance to keep going." Marie reached a hand out to pat her crying mechanics back. "So thank you for giving me amazing automail. You're a great mechanic now, and I can't wait to see what you do in the future."

Tears flowed freely down Winry's pale face, her head still resting on her hands. Through tears she muttered: "Thanks that means so much."

"You're welcome. I wouldn't BS you about something like this."

Winry believed her. Marie might not be the most emotional person, but she was honest. With a weary sigh Winry tried to relax her shoulders and get a grip on her emotions. Feeling hurt made her feel weak, but she might as well get the teary part out of the way.

"So, how are you feeling now?" Marie asked with a gentle smile.

"Hurt," Winry admitted. "But better."

"Good," Marie replied, standing up from the swing to stretch her back. "You know what could also help? A good round in the ring!"

"I really don't think fighting will help me!" Winry protested. "I swear you and Ed would be best friends, since both of you can't stop fighting people!"

Marie laughed. "Maybe, but I don't plan on becoming part of the military anytime soon."

The pair left the park in a much lighter mood then they arrived. They crossed town and ended up in front of the Garfield's shop.

"Thanks again for today," Winry smiled.

"That's what friends are for!" Marie replied. "Oh, and by the way the offer still stands."

"Offer?"

"Next week I think I'm going to head out. I've got a few destination on my list, but nothings set in stone. I think it will do you some good to get away for a couple of weeks."

Winry sighed. "I don't know Marie."

"Well, just give it some thought. I'll check back with you in a few days."

Winry spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. For the first time she was actually questioning her path as an automail engineer and mechanic. This was ridiculous. She loved her job. But maybe, just maybe, it was time for a change of pace.

Well, I have finished up most of my tune-ups and I don't have anyone signed up to have one made. She thought, going through a mental check list. What harm could a few weeks of vacation do?