The story itself is 666 words, without Authors Notes. THE DEVEEL'S NUMBER!

Thanks to: JoPo08, for beta reading and Camille for dealing with it and not getting mad (I hope). Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed anything of mine! You helped me reach 1000 reviews, without a single flame, and I'm very grateful!

Now, enjoy!

Doll

There are times when you remember little things from your childhood; small, unimportant things that make no difference in your life. A note, passed when the teacher wasn't looking. A butterfly, landing on your arm and allowing you to examine it with awe for only a few seconds before going on it's way again. A single earring, found old and broken in the road, never to see its match.

A doll.

A doll that broke.

It had been a warm day, the sky devoid of clouds. The perfect day, a day when Winry would sit outside and play with Ed and Al.

That day, she had a doll.

"Look," she said. "It's a doll. Isn't it pretty?"

Al nodded. "Uh huh." Ed said nothing. Winry knew that neither of them cared. None of the boys in the town cared about dolls. She didn't know why, though...they were so pretty and fun to play with. How could they not love them?

At least Al pretended.

They played together, her doll joining in. It was a simple doll, a rag doll, really. But she loved it; it was beautiful, adorable, smiling- broken.

It was an old doll, she knew that. She had found it in the attic a few days ago, covered in dust and falling apart at the seams. Pinako had sewed it up for and told her to be extra careful, in case it broke again.

So she expected it.

But she was still sad.

She felt Ed's hands in her as he took the doll and the arm, with the fabric scraps that had been used to stuff it trailing out. "Watch," he said, etching a circle into the ground with a stick. He placed the doll on it, gave Winry a gentle smile, and pressed his hands to the ground.

There was blue lightning, but not like the kind in storms, the kind that scared her so much that she hid under her pillows all night until she somehow willed herself to fall asleep. It was beautiful, even more so than the doll.

The lightning subsided to reveal the rag doll, good as new. No, better. She looked up at Ed and beamed.

"Thanks!" she said.

"It's not the same as before."

She shook her head. "I don't care," she said. "It's good."

He was broken.

It wasn't right, that a human being could be taken apart like that. His limbs removed and torn up, only to be repaired and replaced. It wasn't right. He should stay in one piece. She TOLD him to come home in one piece, and she meant it literally.

He never listened.

Although, she supposed it wasn't his choice.

Things break all the time. Like that doll from however-many-years ago, that he had fixed.

But that was a doll, not a person.

It wasn't the same.

"There," she said, examining the connections as he groaned and rubbed his neck, wincing whenever she poked the nerves.

"...Thanks," he said quietly. She stopped, confused at the word.

"Huh? For what?"

"For fixing me. For giving me an arm and a leg so I can walk and do stuff on my own."

"It's not the same as before," she replied quietly.

He shook his head. "I don't care. It's almost the same. I can still do most of what I could do before. I don't have to depend on people," he said. "It's great."

He had fixed her doll all those years ago, and she realized now, she had repaid him, a million times over.

"You're welcome."

The End