This did not come out anything like I wanted it to. Oh well.

Winry Rockbell adored Edward Elric, it was as simple as that.

Loved him, in her own funny way.

How could she not? It was Ed! He was amazing. She knew he wasn't perfect but at the same time he was. Everything about him was, quite simply, stunning.

Of course, he loved her back.

Of course he did.

At least that's what she told herself. But really, was her assuming this really so bad - was the idea of him returning her love that farfetched? She'd didn't think so. They'd been friends since they were kids, they'd grown up together, and he and Al had actually fought over who was going to marry her (although admittedly that had been years ago).

The mere notion that he didn't love her was ridiculous.

He'd broken her heart repeatedly over the years, albeit unintentionally. He'd put himself in so much danger. There were so many times that he should have died, that he nearly did - he kept putting himself in so much danger, and there was nothing she could do about it. Every time that happened, she felt her heart break a little more.

Then he'd gone through the Gate. He'd been gone for a long time, but Winry refused to believe he was gone for good, and never stopped loving him. Ed wouldn't let that happen, she told herself. Ed wouldn't let himself die so easily... he couldn't.

And sure enough, two years later, he came back through the Gate. It wasn't for long, but Winry then knew that she was right. He hadn't died. He hadn't let that happen! He went back through the Gate, with Alphonse, after that, but somehow that wasn't so bad - Winry realised that this time it was not necessarily the end, and could more easily believe that he would come back and stay alive.

Over the five extra years they spent on the other side of the Gate, Winry never gave up hope. Others around her told her she was being stupid, that after five years they were not going to come back even if they were alive - that they couldn't if they succeeded in their quest to seal the Gate from their side. But she wouldn't listen.

The day the brothers came back for good... that was the happiest day of her life. Both Alphonse and Edward had changed so much, matured, but that didn't change how she felt about the two of them - particularly Edward, who had remained the object of her affections even in his absence.

She waited for a month so they could settle back in and get used to life back in Amestris. She didn't want to overwhelm him, after all. After that month, she finally decided that she would pluck up the courage to tell Edward how she felt. She could hardly wait.

But she couldn't find him.

She hunted around for a little while, but she really could not find him. He wasn't at home - Alphonse had told her that his brother had gone to Central and hadn't specified how long he'd be gone for.

Winry hadn't let this faze her. She'd waited for so long, why would she let this stop her from confessing her love now?

So she'd gone to Central the next day. It had been a long search lasting over a day, as Central was a big place and she didn't know her way around, but she stubbornly kept searching (stopping only for food and to buy an assortment of tools she just couldn't resist) and she finally spotted Edward.

But... it hadn't been what she had been expecting.

He wasn't there alone, for one thing... he was with someone.

And there they were in the middle of the street. A tall man with dark hair and an eyepatch bending to kiss a short blond, arms wrapped tightly around each other.

It was the man Winry hated for taking her parents (and now Ed, it seemed) from her, and the man she'd loved for years, and they... they were kissing each other?

She stared for a while, trying to work out whether she was seeing things. It couldn't be true! Roy Mustang and Edward Elric hated each other, didn't they? Surely she was the one Edward liked?

But as the two men broke apart, her fears were confirmed. It was them.

Winry didn't notice that tears had started spilling from her wide blue eyes or that she was shaking uncontrollably, attracting the attention of the passers-by.

All she could think of was how just as she thought her broken heart might finally be healed, it had been shattered again. Just like that. And this time, she didn't think it could ever be mended.

Liked it, hated it? Review and tell me. I'm not pleased with the outcome of this at all. I actually started writing it fully intending to make it EdWin, but then it went a totally different way. *sigh*