Hello everyone!

This is a fanfiction in which the Gate morphs Ed into a girl (gasp) for metaphorical reasons (double gasp) that will be explained at the end of the fic (HUMONGOUS GASP OF INFINITY). I already have four chapters written with many more planned out. I have not been writing fan fiction ( for anyone who follows any of my other stories) for a long time now because I was working on an actual novel. However do not despair. While some of my stories are abandoned (sorry :/) others I WILL FINISH.

Anyway. ON WITH THE SHOW.

Chapter 1

The Gate ominously bore down upon him. and seemed to stretch as the doors creaked open slowly. Eyes stared out before receding and turning inward to look within the depths of the darkness. A white figure strode out and came to stand before Edward's prostrate form.

"Give him back," Edward panted. He was bleeding profusely from his right side. The transmutation which had brought him here had ripped into his stomach. He knew it was fatal but he didn't care if he died here. This was it. They'd managed to finally get their hands on a stone and he had one chance to get Alphonse back.

"And what will you give me in return," the Gate said, bending down.

"Take whatever you want," Edward grit out. "Just give Alphonse his body back."

The white form reached down and touched his wound. "All you ever wanted to do was create life," the Gate whispered. Suddenly, it smiled in a way that reminded Edward too much of how Gluttony grinned right before trying to eat you. He shivered and resisted the urge to flinch away. This thing could kill him if it wanted. He was going to die here but it would be worth it if Alphonse got his body back. That was all that mattered.

"I'll give you what you want," the white form said and reached down and pressed into Edward's wound. He cried out and thrashed in pain as the creature reached inside. He was dying. He was…was…

Edward groaned as he sat up off the hard ground. His head hurt and he felt funny but he seemed altogether okay. He was still in the basement of their old house. The rafters were burnt and the ceiling was gone to let in the morning light as it crept over the hills of Risembol. The stone was gone, having been destroyed in equivalent exchange, and in its place lay a pale body.

"Alphonse!" Edward yelled and scrambled over to his brother's still form. It seemed that within the Gate his body had matured to the right age. His hair was long and his body was so thin his ribs were showing. He rolled Alphonse over and placed his ear to his chest.

"Thank god," Edward sighed when he heard the faint rhythm. He gave his brother a shake and after a few minutes of coaxing Alphonse opened his eyes.

"Brother?" Alphonse sat up and a huge grin broke out on his gaunt face as he held up his hands. "I'm back!" he cried out. "Edward it worked!" His eyes were tearing up from sheer joy when he finally looked up at Ed.

"Oh my god."

"What is it?" Edward said. He'd been so focused on making sure Alphonse was okay he hadn't checked his own body. He looked down to see his stomach was healed, his arm was back, and…

His breath caught in his throat. Just below his collar bones two bumps had formed. In a panic he ripped his shirt off and gasped at the sight. He had grown breasts. But not just that, he also had a thinner form. His muscles had toned down into strong feminine curves. In a panic, he pulled the waist band of his pants out so he could look down at himself.

"Is it gone?" Alphonse asked. Edward nodded slowly.

"That son of a bitch," Edward swore as he lay back on the ground and covered his face with two flesh hands. He was a woman. The gate had taken the stone, restored their bodies, and changed him into a god damn woman. He started to hyperventilate.

"Hey," Alphonse said softly as he hugged his brother…sister. "We're alive. I have my body back. This is just something else we'll have to fix. We'll get you back to normal."

"NO!" Edward yelled so violently Alphonse flinched back. She yanked her shirt back on over her head. "No…I am never dealing with that Gate again. You are back and I have my arm and I am not risking losing that again. I will just have to…deal with this. It's no different than when I lost my arm and leg. I'll adjust."

"But…"

"No and that's final!" Edward cut Alphonse off. She stood up and swayed as her automail leg buckled under her. The leg had been fitted to match her right, but it seemed the transformation had changed her thighs just enough that the original masculine cuff no longer fit. She braced herself on the wall and did her best to help Alphonse to his feet. She reached down to retrieve her red jacket and draped it over his nude form.

Seeing them both standing there against the wall, Alphonse limping like a newborn calf and she transformed and unable to move her automail, caused her to start giggling. It was an altogether foreign sound that was more high-pitched and light than her normal laugh. But she couldn't help it. All of the stress and anxiety had finally cause a part of her to snap.

"All this work…and now we can't even…get back to Winry's house," she giggled. "We can never win." Alphonse started to laugh now too. "Yeah." He agreed and they both kept laughing loud and hard. "My stomach hurts!" Alphonse panted so enthralled at being able to feel anything. They both finally gave up standing and slumped back down to lean against the wall.

"You think they'll come and find us?" Alphonse asked as his laughing finally started to subside.

"Yeah they will," Edward confirmed. "I left a note for Granny Pinako about where we were going. She'll send Winry when she realizes we snuck out."

They settled in to watch the sun creep up and shine down onto the ruins of their childhood home. It was several hours before Winry showed up.

"Alphonse! You're body…" she cried upon finding them. She reached down and hugged him as a huge grin broke out over her face. "And Ed…your arm…and…" Her smile fell as Winry realized something felt off. She'd always been attracted to Edward even if he drove her crazy. It was a crush that had grown as they'd both matured, but now she looked at Ed and felt nothing.

"I was changed into a woman," Edward explained. Winry gasped and Ed pressed on. "I'm not going to try to fix it, but I think I need new automail. The old one doesn't fit this new body."

Going into mechanic mode, Winry reached down and checked Edward's leg. "Yeah…I think I see what the problem is. We should be able to salvage most of it but I'm going to have to re-measure and you might need to have some surgery again." She stood up swiftly. "But for now let's get you both back to the house."

It was awkward, with Winry acting as a crutch between them, but they slowly made their way back to the Rockbell home. Pinako ran out to meet them with much the same reactions as her granddaughter when she realized what had happened. She smacked Edward over the head with her newspaper. "Don't you ever take off like that again," she scolded before helping Edward and Alphonse into the house.

The first week was a busy one. Alphonse was incredibly sensitive to everything. His sense of smell seemed almost superhuman, and he was having so much fun just experiencing everything. One afternoon, he spent three hours just lying in the grass and letting the sun warm his skin with a huge smile on his face. He was also eating with gusto which with time would help to fill out his emaciated body.

And then there was Edward. The first week she had spent much of her time in a wheelchair. Her old leg had been removed and she had shut herself off in the bedroom to read. Alphonse would often go in to try and coax her out, but Edward was stubborn as a bull.

"What is he…she reading in there anyway?" Winry asked one day when Alphonse had tried and failed once again to get Edward to come outside with him.

"I don't know," Alphonse said. "I think she's trying to figure out how she's going to live ya know. I wish she'd just let me try to fix it. I mean I lived in armor for five years. I know what it's like to be left in a body that's not mine."

"Well that's stupid," Winry said dismissively. "You can't learn to be a woman by reading about it. I should know." She opened the door to Ed's room.

Edward was sitting next to the window flipping through Winry's copy of Julian Ashton's A History of Women in Automail. Winry stomped over and yanked the book out of her grasp. Ed tried to snatch it but Winry danced far enough away that she couldn't reach.

"This is getting ridiculous. You get your brother back and you lock yourself in your room all day," she griped. "Why don't you go out with him? Alphonse needs to get his strength back. You two can go down to town and buy some groceries. Anything as long as you aren't sitting here anymore!"

"I can't," Edward huffed.

"And why not."

"Because I can't be Edward Elric anymore," Ed snapped at her. "This…" She gestured to her breasts which were filling out a black tank top. "It would be considered human transmutation. If the wrong person found out, the military would be here in hours. Alphonse and I could disappear into some laboratory."

"Ed…" Winry started but Ed continued.

"The man known as Edward Elric died in a horrible accident when the rotted ceiling of his childhood home caved in. We can have a funeral and bury some ashes from the fire. I was thinking I could be a distant cousin named Edna who came for the funeral and decided to stay. I was trying to figure out who I could get to falsify a birth certificate for me."

Alphonse was leaning against the doorway. "And what about me?" he asked.

"You were in your armor when the ceiling fell. It protected you although it damaged the armor beyond repair and you threw it away," Edward said. "I know it's not the best lie but if enough people believe it, we can make it true."

Winry let out a long sigh. "Okay. I'll make some calls and we'll set up this fake funeral." She smacked Ed over the head with the book before handing it back to her. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Winry asked grimly. "There are a lot of people who'll be devastated by your death."

Edward nodded. "I'm sure. This is the best way to keep us all safe."

The funeral preparations took several weeks. Alphonse sent out a few letters to several people out of town and ran an obituary in the local newspaper. They had an offer for a military funeral but they declined. They wanted to keep it small, quiet, and unobtrusive. The less people, the better.

The day of the funeral, Edward had been fitted with a new leg and was standing in the kitchen as Winry argued with her.

"Wear the dress Ed," she said to her. "It's you're funeral…literally. The least you can do is look nice for it."

"I am not wearing that. I will wear a suit like Alphonse," Ed ground out and crossed her arms over her chest. She growled when she couldn't figure out whether to put her arms above or below her breasts. "I hate these boobs! Why couldn't I have little ones?!" She never in her life thought she'd wish for a part of her body to be smaller.

Winry rolled her eyes. "Well get used to them Edna. Alphonse help me out here." She looked over at Alphonse who was munching on an apple at the kitchen table. The month since he was back in his body had filled out his features nicely. His hair was cut short and his body was getting stronger and growing to a healthier weight.

"You're on your own Winry," he said with a grin. Despite her anger, Ed's features softened, as they always did at the sight of her brother whole and happy.

"Ed be reasonable," Winry insisted. "Women wear dresses to events like this. You can get away with pants other times, but it will seem suspicious if you go in a suit." She held up the floor length dress again. It was a simple black one that had a split that went up to the knee and short frilly sleeves. The collar was cut shallow so it didn't show much cleavage and had some pretty white embroidery along the edge.

"This whole funeral is to protect you and Alphonse. You can't give yourself away just because you don't want to wear a dress," Winry tried to explain one last time.

Edward sighed and finally snatched the clothing out of Winry's hands. "Fine…I will wear the dress," she ground out, exasperated. "But I don't want to hear a word out of either of you when I come out."

She stomped into the bathroom, slammed the door, and started to strip. Ed wore exactly what she had always worn as a man: a black tank top, leather pants, and big black boots that fit nicely over her flesh and auto mail feet. However a few things had changed. In addition to the tank top she now had on a bra which Pinako had bought after Ed had come out one cold morning with her nipples practically popping out. She also had gotten Ed some generic white panties which she absolutely refused to wear. Instead she kept her blue boxers, arguing they were more comfortable.

Once she stripped down to her boxers, she noticed something sticky running down the inside of her leg. She pulled the waistband out and looked down at her crotch. The disappearance of her penis in exchange for several folds of skin still weirded her out, but she was slowly coming to accept it as just another part of her body. It reminded her too much of what it had been like to lose her limbs and have them replaced by automail. At first the metal had felt foreign but with time they had grown on her.

Edward reached down and felt between the folds and brought up her hand to find blood coating her fingers. She was a scientist and as such had read quite a bit about human anatomy, both boy and girl, so she was aware of menstrual cycles. But she still felt a moment of panic at seeing evidence of her own.

"Winry!" she yelled. In a moment the door flew open and Winry and Alphonse were seen standing in the door.

"What is it!?" Alphonse asked obviously thinking Ed had gotten hurt to yell like that.

However, Winry took one look at the blood on Ed's hand and immediately realized what was going on.

"Out!" she said and shoved Alphonse bodily from the room. She slammed the door in the poor boy's face. "Sorry Al. Girl stuff," she called through the door.

"What do I do?" Ed asked, her voice taking on an uncommon note of worry. Winry moved to the tub and turned on the shower. "Take off the rest of your clothes and get in. You're going to need to have to wash up first. I'll get you some fresh underwear," she said in a calm tone.

Edward went to remove her boxers and then stopped. "Um…shouldn't you leave first?" Winry turned around so her back was to Ed. She heard Ed start to disrobe behind her.

"Hey Winry," Ed said softly.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I wish you didn't have to see me like this." She climbed into the shower and closed the curtain. "Okay you can turn around now."

"It's okay," Winry said as she turned around and went to pick up Ed's dirty clothes.

"I promised you I would give you half of my life…and in this body…" Edward trailed off as he looked down at her naked female form.

"Ed we made that promise a long time ago. I loved you. I still love you, but you're a woman now." She paused as tears came to her eyes. "There was a part of me that was always planning on you not ever coming back anyway."

Edward stiffened at that confession. It was true that at the time there had still been too much at stake. There was no guarantee their search wouldn't kill her. As it was, she had almost died a handful of times.

Winry went on, her voice breaking into sobs. "I'm not attracted to you now, ya know?" she admitted. "You're always going to be my family, but um…"

"I know Winry," Edward said through the curtain. "I know."

Winry wiped her eyes. "I'll have Granny come in and help you okay," she said before opening the door. Alphonse was standing outside it and reached out to her when he saw the tears.

"Leave me alone Al," Winry snapped angrily before darting around him and running towards the laundry room with Ed's clothes.

Edward stayed in the shower feeling wretched for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, she heard Granny Pinako come in. The little woman pulled back the curtain and glanced in at Ed sitting on the bathtub floor with the cooling water pouring over her.

"You and I both knew that conversation had to happen eventually," the older Rockbell said. "Winry is a strong girl. She had to deal with her parents death and you two leaving. She'll move on and so will you." She smiled softly. "Now c'mon. I'll show you how we women deal with this troublesome thing."

Alphonse stepped into the laundry room quietly and closed the door behind him. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened between Winry and his sister, but he had heard enough to know it had to do with Ed's gender change.

She was hunched over the sink scrubbing at some of Ed's clothes. Once she'd removed the stains she put them in the laundry basin to be washed later. Alphonse came over to stand behind her and he saw her stiffen.

Winry had always been beautiful in his eyes. Ever since they were children, Ed and he would challenge each other to contests with the winner being the one who would marry her. He had, as the younger of the two, lost many of them. In his mind Winry had always been more his brother's girl than his. Even though many times he'd wished it was the other way around.

"Alphonse, tell Ed and Granny I'll be out in a minute," she said, trying to get him to go away. He knew she didn't like him listening to her cry.

"No," Alphonse said. Winry glanced back at him. "I'm not going anywhere." Before she had a chance to push him away, he reached down and pulled her into a hug. She tensed before hugging him back. "I'm sorry," she cried into his shoulder.

"You have no reason to be sorry," Alphonse said and brushed her hair with his hand. "When I was in armor, I could never do this for you. I'm glad I can now."

"Thank you," Winry said as she started to calm down. "Thanks Al."