DISCLAIMER: Hiromu Arakawa, says wikipedia.
WORDCOUNT: 1572
SUMMARY: post-anime. post-'Conqueror of Shamballa' (with a complete denial about its ending). I wiki'd the movie, so I'm sorry if there are inconsistencies - but I mostly kept possible spoilers vague. ((Ed didn't acknowledge her presence; but he didn't stand and walk away into further solitude either. As far as Winry was concerned, that was progress.))
FEEDBACK: Please?
DEDICATION: Feliz cumpleaños a ti! Feliz cumpleaños a ti! Feliz cumpleaños, querida Sharon... y que los cumplas FELIZ! smooches evillittledog You said 'actions louder than words'; this is what came out.
CHANGE MY WORLD
by Leni
Winry closed the front door behind her with one hand, using the other to prop the tray against her midsection. Immediately, the light in the porch dimmed considerably, as well as the sound of animated voices coming from her living room – currently Havoc telling a story about his newest would-be-conquest – was drowned behind the wooden door.
She glanced around searchingly, half expecting not to find any sign of her quarry, but he was right there, sitting in the dark steps of her porch. His back rested against the rail, and his automail leg was bent so that he could wrap both hands about it. Ed didn't acknowledge her presence; but he didn't stand and walk away into further solitude either. As far as Winry was concerned, that was progress. "Hey there." She put a smile on her face and thought to start with a light comment, "Al could use our help. Sheska won't stop until he promises to become a librarian."
Ed finally craned his neck to look at her. "Al wants to be a librarian?"
No, he did not. But it was a running joke among them, given Al's zeal for knowledge and Sheska's enthusiasm. A running joke Ed obviously wouldn't get – yet? "No." Winry shook her head, a little angry with herself for reminding him how disconnected he was from their present lives. Especially Al's life. "But once Sheska mentioned he had potential and…." she strayed off, suddenly aware that his attention wasn't focused on her but on what she was carrying. "This?" She repositioned the tray, taking it by it handles, and bent to offer its contents to Ed. "It's just some fruit. So you can be sure you're safe from my cooking skills. Not even I can ruin apples." It didn't get her the smile she expected; but Winry didn't give up. He was too pale, something she'd anticipated despite his protests that adapting himself to the automail couldn't be harder than the first time. "Oh. Just eat something, Ed."
"I'm not hungry."
"You never are," she retorted, unable to help the bitterness in her voice. Two years ago she'd have simply marched back into the house and slammed the door. Or thrown the apples onto his head and waited for the resulting storm. But now she grabbed her tray stubbornly and sat down two steps above him, setting the fruit in the space between them. "You know, maybe I should take Riza's offer."
Ed's eyebrow arched up.
"She offered to re-train you," she explained. "Says there's nothing a man can't learn that her dog hasn't."
That got her a snort. It even seemed a honestly amused one. "So Black Hayate did survive his training." He chuckled. "What am I saying? No one would dare leave Hawkeye without her authorisation." Without warning, the amusement faded and his voice darkened. "Not even for her own good."
Winry thought she had a good idea what he was remembering, but those were exactly the kind of memories they didn't need. "Personal experience?" she asked lightly, ignoring the darker nuances of his comment and palming the apples instead. She finally found what seemed the juiciest one and picked it up, showing it happily to Edward.
He shook his head. "Second hand, really," he answered as he eyed her actions, obviously waiting for her to put that apple back with the others. "I didn't understand it until much later, but in retrospective it was most curious how Mustang kept –" He cut the sentence and reached out to grab her wrist. The bit of skin she'd managed to peel before he stopped her fell onto her lap. "Winry," he said tiredly. "I'm okay. Really."
"Edward." He better remember that she never used his full name unless it was important. Apparently, he did. He freed her and didn't say another word as she returned to her task. Winry almost smiled to herself, helpless against the sudden surge of pride that, in the end, she still knew Ed better than anyone else – bar Alphonse. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Really, it was. Because Riza Hawkeye may know how military alchemists ticked, but Winry had grown up knowing Elric boys like the back of her hand. "They are all glad that you are back," she continued the conversation, putting the skin in a corner of the tray. "So nice, too, coming all the way to Risembool to say hi now that things have calmed down."
"To check on me, you mean."
She sliced the apple in half. "Sometimes you are impossible, Ed."
He looked away mulishly.
Winry let him, keeping silent as she cut smaller pieces and arranged them onto a small plate. Then she picked a second apple and started again. Whatever Ed needed to get out, he eventually would. Once, she'd have pressed him but the years had taught Winry to be patient. Not that patience had ever been her forte, having always been too busy immersing herself into Grandma's automail shop to learn of social graces. But if anyone had been busier than her, it was one Edward Elric.
Ed, Winry thought, had no clear idea of how patience worked. He'd always been the out-going one, the one who held nothing back. He may have needed to learn how to keep his thoughts to himself; but not with her. Never with her.
"I'm sorry."
In sheer surprise, she almost nicked her own fingertip with the knife. "What?" She stared at him, confused. "Sorry about what?"
He looked at her searchingly for a long moment, and finally sighed. "You really are okay?" he said slowly, as if he couldn't fully believe it. Meanwhile, Winry couldn't think of a reason not to be okay. "I thought…." He turned his body around and caught her eyes with his. "With Mustang here…."
Ah.
Winry stopped her work and unconsciously mimicked his earlier position, leaning back against the rail and bending a leg at her knee. But instead of placing her hands around it, she tapped the knife's tip against her kneecap. "That is what's been bugging you?"
Ed shrugged.
She should have guessed. Ed's sombre mood had been slowly lifting since his return. The last couple of weeks, especially, Winry had been able to glimpse back to happier days where she and the brothers had few cares. Today's sudden shift in Ed's mood had been a surprise, but one easily explained away. He had been gone for two years; it couldn't be easy to see all his old comrades again and witness the changes time had brought.
To herself, Winry had even been relieved that it wasn't as hard to watch as when he'd finally assimilated the news about Izumi. Ed had been withdrawn during the dinner conversation, and excused himself as soon as the last plate had been cleared. That'd been three hours ago, and until now, Winry would never have considered that he'd be upset in her behalf.
"You were gone for a long time," she began her explanation and placed her free hand on his shoulder to keep his attention on her. Since Hohenheim left all those years ago, Ed had been slow to trust; the search for the philosopher's stone, with all the lies and manipulations in its way, had only exacerbated that wariness. Right now, Winry needed to make sure that he knew she wasn't lying – neither for his sake nor Mustang's. "It'll never be easy. Every time I think of him, well…." Their eyes met. Orphans the both of them, Winry knew he understood all the 'what if's plaguing her life. "But I respect him now. I even learned to trust him."
"You did?" He hadn't sounded so sceptical when he found out about the automail she'd been carrying around in his absence.
She poked his shoulder. "Well, it helped that you did." He smiled. Dimly, but it was still a smile. Winry picked back the half-finished apple and focused on it as she spoke, "He is a good man. And he was… what? our age?... when he went to Ishval. I don't know. I think…. I think that he needed to be that soldier, to follow all those horrible orders, so he could become the leader he is now."
Ed looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "When did you grow up, Winry?"
"Estimates would say, at the same time you did, silly." She laughed. "I'm not so mature, really. The clincher was that Mustang tried to protect you and Al through it all – that really helped put things in perspective."
"Not mature, she says." He shook his head in amazement, raising his left hand to rest it over hers. "He does seem more at peace now."
Winry nodded. "We've all changed, Ed." Both of them looked at their joined hands, a soft smile mirroring in their faces. "Everything is changing." Then, taking Ed by surprise, she snatched hers away and used it to present the plate of sliced apples to him. "Hungry now?" When he shook his head again, Winry frowned in displeasure. "Edward Elric, don't think I've forgotten how to apply a wrench to that stubborn head of yours."
Golden eyes widened slightly at the threat and then he shocked them both by throwing his head back and laughing freely. "I thought you'd changed?" he asked once the mirth subsided. More importantly, he took the fork and lifted two slices to his mouth.
Winry smiled and took a piece herself. "Not where it matters."
The End
12/04/08