The Silver Rose
By Demonica!
Hi people! This is another one of my lovely fanfics! In fact its my first time doing a fanfic other than Inuyasha, hahaha, anyway this story will be a little weird since I'm not going to have anything to do with the original full metal Alchemist episode line! Nope! But they do still live in the same place…so in essence this will be a weird fic with an even weirder author! And yet I still don't own FMA but I will give props to Arakawa-san for coming up with this!
Chapter one! I know hurry it up already!
Edward and Alphonse Elric stood watching as their train rolled into the station, this was the last time they would be seeing Resembool for a long time if Central had any ideas in store for them.
"ED!" A female voice called as a young blonde boy turned around. Winry was running towards the station her platinum hair flying. She was carrying a heavy looking bento box as she managed to catch up with the brothers. "Here, Granny made you some lunch to take with you" she said offering the treat to the two boys. Al's armour clanked as he turned around.
"Thanks Winry! Even though I can't eat it, it's the thought that counts." He said as Ed looked at the ground, Winry watched the emotions flicker in his eyes before a steel barrier went up making his golden eyes turn to a flat yellow. The subject of Al's spirit possessing a suit of Armour and the fact that Ed had a mechanical right arm and left leg had always been a wound they brothers would never forget.
A train whistle blew loud and clear as the train pulled into the station, Ed and Al started forwards to get on.
"Do you really have to go?" She asked as Ed stopped and turned back towards her.
"Winry-, I-" Ed stuttered as al boarded the train. He looked down at the poor girl, they had only been home for a day to get his auto-mail checked and repaired, and she seemed so deflated by their leaving. "You know I have to go back" was all he managed to get out before the train's whistle blew and Al called for him to get on the train.
"It's too bad you can't stay longer, just try to come back once in a while or call or write!" Winry called as ED made a mad dash for the train that was pulling off of the platform.
"Bye Winry!" The brothers called, and then they were gone.
(&&$$.
Winry sighed, stubborn boys they never had the decency to at least give her a call or write a letter! It had been six months since she had last seen the brothers, SIX!
She kicked off her boots as she entered her house, Pinako stood at the stove stirring some stew for dinner.
"Those boys never stay long do they?" she said as Winry flopped down into a chair, peeling her coveralls off of her shoulders and arms. Pinako turned around and waved her wooden spoon around as she began to talk "Really! They should at least let us know where they are!" Winry tuned her grandmother out as she looked at her left arm.
A few months ago she had been in an accident; coming back from a neighbouring village they had been attacked. There had been two people a strange man in what appeared to be a spandex top and skirt and a divinely beautiful woman, all she could remember was screaming before whiteness and then, it was the gates.
"Winry are you even listening? Your foods up" Pinako stared at her oddly across the table as the girl in question smiled and picked up her spoon. Pinako continued to stare at her for a few minutes before returning to her own supper.
"I've decided to go to Central for that internship with that auto-mail mechanic, hopefully he will know someone that can get me to Rush Valley" Winry said quietly as her grandmother shrugged.
"It's your life do as you please. Just promise me one thing Winry." Winry looked at her grandmother. "Don't go chasing Ed and Al, they have set their path, you need to set your own and it has nothing to do with the philosopher's stone." Pinako stared at her granddaughter, a young woman of 16 with a vile temper and unmatched wit. Some days she worried about Winry but if she had made up her mind then so be it.
Winry looked at Pinako,
"I will not chase the Elric brothers but I am still Ed's mechanic so I will be seeing him from time to time and of course sending you half of all of the money I make off of the pair" Winry smiled as Pinako finally felt her heart ease a little bit. The girl had sense, and wouldn't run off into dangerous situations, but that was the last thing on Winry's mind. "Well, thank you for dinner but I'm going to go and begin packing so I can catch the late train tomorrow afternoon and hopefully be in Central by Saturday morning." And with that Winry flounced off upstairs, her silver auto-mail arm glinting against the black of her tube top.
()&$#&$#.
"Are you sure you want to go Winry?" Pinako asked as the pair stood on the train platform, watching the train bound for Central roll in.
"Yes, I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about me too much" She smiled and hugged her grandmother one last time before boarding the train. She waved to the fading figure of her grandmother before the train rounded a bend and she was gone.
Winry had been on a train before and knew the long, boring ride would take an overnight stay and probably well into the next day before they would reach central even though the train made no stops along the way.
She sat at a window and stared out of it at the green countryside flashing by at lightning speeds. She remembered a trip with Ed and Al once where they had taken a train, but it was pretty boring since all Ed did was stare off into space and ignore her. While Al read and kept quiet, but this time it was even more boring since she didn't even have someone to sit next to, to annoy.
She might as well get a head start on sleeping that would kill most of the trip. Winry lay across the seat and drifted off into snooze land as the train continued to rattle along its dusty track.
()&(&&$$ (sorry for jumping around so much but who wants me to ramble about someone sleeping?)
Winry awoke when the train pulled into the station at central, Tumbling out she looked around the platform finding the exit. There wasn't much to say about Central other than it was huge and littered with people. Winry walked down towards the river where hopefully she would be able to find the Mecha guild markets and the guy she was supposed to be working with Shane.
She asked a few people in the market if they knew which shop was his, they all pointed to a dingy shop with grimy front windows. She thanked the men and opened the shop door; a little bell over it rang clearly as she stepped into the gloom. The shop itself wasn't dirty but it was messy, littered with metal, screws, bolts, and tools.
She set down her gear and stood waiting. No one came.
"Hello? Mr. Shane? Are you here?" she called; a muffled sigh came from a small work table as a mound of rubble moved. Winry jumped as a tall wiry man with ancient looking glasses turned to look at her.
"Oh! Yes you must be Miss Rockbell! What a pleasant surprise. I take it that you want the internship am I right?" he fired off questions quickly. Winry nodded as he showed her to the room she would be staying in. It was at the top of the old rickety house and looked over a good section of the city including the Military staff's dormitories which were only a block away.
Shane left and told her that she would start her training when the shop opened later that morning. Winry sighed and looked out over the city in its morning gloom, there wasn't much to behold in its dingy alleyways and cobble stoned streets yet her mind drifted to that of a certain pale haired boy more than likely asleep in his room or reading at the library again. Shaking the thoughts from her head she decided a sandwich was in order as she marched back downstairs.
The kitchen was immaculate, as if someone had cleaned it a hundred times over but not dared to ever cook in it. After checking all of the cupboards and finding only instant noodles and half a jar of pickles, she decided that it would be her job to cook for not only herself but also for Shane.
He had no qualms about what she wanted to do; he even gave her some money and pointed in the direction the food market was. She thanked him and set out on her quest for groceries.
The market was only a few blocks over as she made her way through the crowded streets, only occasionally getting sidetracked by interesting pieces for auto-mail. Eventually she made it to the market; it was beside the docks where sweaty sailors called to each other as they unloaded freighters or yelled at people to view their wares.
Winry loaded up on everything from apples to zucchini, just as she was paying for some fresh trout a red coat caught her eye. She thanked the shop keeper and pretended not to see the Elric brothers as they stepped out of a café.
Panic flooded her, she had to hide! They couldn't know she was here! Looking around she spotted a dusty bookstore and ducked inside, quickly she went to the back of the store and pulled a dusty volume off of one of the shelves. Quickly thumbing through it she heard the bell over the door tinkle as it opened. Glancing over she noticed the Elric brothers had entered, if Ed found out she was in Central he would drag her back to Resembool kicking and screaming if need be.
Winry dove into the book, reading the first couple of pages to find that she had picked out a basic manual to Alchemy! Her face blanched as she continued to read, dammit just her luck she ran into an alchemy bookshop! A plump old woman with fiery hair talked with the brothers as they made themselves comfortable and took a seat at the front of the shop as the lady brought tea and cakes forward.
But, strangely Winry didn't notice as she finished the book. It was like something had been stirred inside of her; she hastily reached for the second volume and quickly read through it, memorizing circles and patterns.
"Hey isn't that Winry?" Al's voice floated over the shop as she pretended to ignore him.
"don't be stupid Al, Winry is back home in Resembool" Ed said as he glanced up from his tea and looked up at the similar girl that he knew was safe and sound in Resembool not in the crime capital of the world. Besides, she had an auto-mail arm and both boys knew Winry didn't. Both boys left it at that and returned to questioning the shop keeper.
Winry finished reading the fifth volume and grabbed the sixth before she remembered she needed to get back to the shop. Looking at the price of the books she nearly dropped her groceries, they were so cheap! Which was the exact opposite of what she had been expecting. Each book was only two sens, amazing considering even her cheapest books at home had cost her 30 sens each.
She carried the stack of 15 volumes to the cash, paid and left, both Elric brothers stared at her as she left. Both trying to decipher if she was some Homunculi or not, but she passed as she marched out of the door and quickly back to the shop.
When she entered Shane was already busy with his first customer, repairing a piece of faulty wiring in an auto-mail shin.
"Ah! Winry you're back! And you have groceries I see! Go set them down then come give me a hand!" Shane waved her off as she set the heavy grocery basket down on the kitchen table and removed her stack of alchemy books. She stashed them in her room before pulling on her coveralls and marching downstairs.
Work with Shane was nice, he was quite friendly and all of his clients seemed to think Winry was adorable in her baggy coveralls and gloves.
'If they only knew why I'm here they wouldn't think I was adorable' she thought to herself, as she continued to work on a piece of childes auto-mail that he had dented running around a cement fish pond. Why did most of the auto mail seemed to be made for the male half of the population? She shook her head the reason was obvious, they were too rash and ended up making poor decisions leading to the loss of an arm or leg or worse.
But that was not the reason she had come to Central. Winry calmly breathed through her nose as Shane chatted to the client's auto-mail she was repairing. The reason she was in Central was to keep a tab on Ed, she wanted to make sure that he wouldn't get himself killed within the next couple of months. After her accident she was hell bent and determined to make sure nothing else happened to Ed or Al. But them almost catching her today was enough to drive her into super secrecy, what would happen if Ed found out that she wasn't in sleepy Resembool? He would definitely be angry and want to take her back, especially if he guessed the next part of her master plan.
To become a bio-mechanics engineer for the military.
Sure she would indefinitely be called to action when a war came, but at least she could keep track of her brothers.
"Winry? Shall we get that refitted?" Shane asked as she finished screwing the plate back onto the ankle. She nodded; the kid was already unconscious so that he wouldn't feel any pain. They reattached the leg and put the boy into the recovery room, where his father waited for him to awake.
Shane took the next client as Winry began supper, it wasn't anything great just some rice and chicken. She threw the rice into a timed cooker and the chicken into a frying pan with some BBQ sauce( sry I'm really hungry and haven't eaten in 12 hours) She finished just as Shane entered the kitchen, drooling as she laughed and set out the food on the table. Winry swore she had never seen someone eat so fast except for Ed when he came home. By the time she was halfway through her first helping Shane had gone back for thirds.
"So Winry are you planning on going into the military for engineering?" Shane asked as Winry nearly choked on her rice.
"Why do you say that?" she asked her voice giving nothing away as he shrugged.
"You just seem like a girl on a mission, plus the fact that I have some serious connections into the engineering facility and this is the first time anyone's ever accepted my offer for an apprenticeship" He had finished he helping and was reclining in his chair. Winry shook her head and smiled.
"You're a smart man Shane I do want to get into the Engineers Guild but I also want to be able to get to Rush Valley and to get an apprenticeship there." Winry calmly explained as Shane watched her carefully as if he were sizing her up. Winry returned to her dinner, but funnily didn't seem hungry.
"I have a deal I can make you. You can become my apprentice and I will try to get you into the Engineers Guild, But you have to help me get to Rush valley. I don't like living in the city, there's too many thugs around and plus I would make a killing if I could sell some of the parts I have hidden around here." He waved his hand at the house. Winry considered this; he would be able to get her into the military where she could keep an eye on Ed and Al. Yet, she would have to get money to send him to Rush valley. Would the military give her that kind of money? It was worth a try.
"Deal" she said sticking out her hand as Shane shook it firmly. Step one of her plan had come into action.
&(&&$#&$#&&.
Over the next couple of week's business picked up, everyone wanted to see Winry's eastern designs and the strange mixtures of compounds she made them out of. Her secret Alchemy training continued as well, she returned to the old bookshop quite a few times in order to attain new books and some advice from the elderly shop keeper.
She never once ran into Ed or Al until the day the military showed up outside of Shane's door one morning.
Bang, Bang, Bang
Winry heard the door knocker clang noisily against the wooden door to the shop.
"Were closed!" She yelled as more banging ensued. Shane shook his head and got off of his chair and opened the door. Winry looked around the corner of the kitchen door as two men in their royal blue military suits walked into the small shop. They talked in hushed voices before Shane nodded and turned towards the kitchen.
"Winry? Could you come here please?" Shane called as she scraped her chair back and walked out to the front. Both military men seemed surprised to see such a small girl walk towards them.
"Yeah Shane, what would you like?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow at the military men.
"These guys are here from the military, Today was my inspection day and unfortunately it means that you also have to show them something since you're my apprentice" Shane seemed slightly embarrassed by this as One of the military men rubbed his eye behind his thick glasses and yawned as his buddy gave him a nudge.
"Sure, I've been working on something for a while now anyway. It was for a friend of mine but I can always give it to him later" She trotted upstairs to her workbench where she had been creating a light Titanium arm and leg for Ed. The parts were hard to come by and were very expensive but she had managed to do it. Even though she had cheated slightly and changed some iron bolts to titanium. Plus it had taken her two whole weeks to readjust the suspension of the joints so that they could handle a hard collision and so that the wiring didn't become ensnared as ripped she had encased them into different titanium tubes like arteries and veins.
Overall it had taken her forever to make it and it was the equivalent if not better than she had make for her own arm.
She brought them downstairs, still carefully placed in a spare suitcase that she had found in the attic. Both men seemed sceptical but after she showed them the contents of the suitcase, they were eating out of the palm of her hand.
Shane seemed impressed as well before both men nodded to one another and one excused himself from the shop. The other man busied himself with inspecting the shop, the day before they had cleaned it from within an inch of the old buildings life, even the grimy windows now shone as clear as a mirror. A few minutes later the bell over the door tinkled and another officer came along with the first.
"Ah! Winry! So nice to see you again!" Officer Hughes said as he walked into the shop. Winry smiled, as she bowed to the officer.
"Nice to see you again as well Mr. Hughes" she said as he looked over at the auto-mail she had created.
"I see, well Ed will like this present very much. Isn't his birthday coming up in a few weeks?" Hughes scratched his beard before returning to the matters at hand. "Well, we like your work and want you to work for the bio-mechanical engineering guild with the military. What do you think?" He asked, Winry honestly thought she had died and gone to heaven. She would be working with the best of the best bio-mechanical engineers!
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before Hughes answered for her.
" Send Hawkeye over to help her collect her stuff and then put her in um… a dorm room… then I'll okay this with Mustang! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hughes laughed manically as he hauled the two officers out of the door with him, leaving the two auto-mail mechanics in the dust with the jaws almost to the floor.
Shane was the first to break the silence.
"You did it Winry! You impressed Hughes! You did it!" he cheered as Winry jumped into the air.
"Yes! Yes! I did it!" She jumped around in a circle doing her patented happy dance. Before long she stopped and ran upstairs to get packed, a couple of minutes later Lieutenant Hawkeye walked into the small shop and helped Winry pile all of her gear into one of the military's cars.
She waved to Shane and told him what was in the fridge that he needed to cook soon or it would spoil and he reminded her of the deal. She flashed him a smile before climbing into the car behind Hawkeye.
O(&&(&&.
The military head quarters were not what she expected them to be, except for the enormous buildings and enormous offices she was overall amazed by the architecture that had gone into creating all of the buildings.
"Winry, look at the ground or you'll fall" Hawkeye had told her a dozen times but never once did she listen. Finally they made it to Colonel Mustang's office. He was a man of power and he damn well liked it from what Winry saw, Hughes stood next to mustang's desk as he smiled when Winry entered.
"I see" was all Mustang said as he leant over to confer with Hughes. After a moment he spoke again. "Let's see this amazing auto-mail Hughes won't stop raving about" He waved his hand as Winry opened her suitcase again. Mustang's eyes widened slightly as he traced a finger over the delicate basic transmutation circle that was etched into one of the fingers on the auto-mail arm.
Mustang's head shot up as he stared at Winry with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Do you know any alchemy?" he asked as Winry stared him down.
"I've read volumes 1- 50 on basic Alchemy by R.K Stones and a few other books that explain the basics other than that... I have no experience using it" She said as she watched Mustang's face betray astonishment and then amazement before he coughed into one of his gloves.
"Well, the military could use you. You would be the first Female to enter Bio-mechanic engineering but hey we let a kid become a state alchemist. So I guess I'll put your papers through to the Fuhrer for processing. In the mean time you will be assigned to um… Dormitory number 379 in building M." He said no more as everyone saluted, including Winry before they left.
Winry was ecstatic, not only had she been able to manage to get into the military but her room was 379 M, but Ed and Al's room number at the residence was 382 M so that meant that they. Would. Be. On. The . Same. Floor… crappers.
That meant she would have to confront Ed with the truth before she had finally managed to get a firm hold in Central, and possible devastating her plan before it even took root. Hawkeye turned to look at the now strangely quiet girl.
"Is something bothering you Winry?" she asked as Winry looked up at the lieutenant.
"Can we try to keep my arrival a secret from Edward and Alphonse Elric? I don't want them to know I'm here until I give the okay. They think I'm still back home in Resembool not cavorting around Central." Winry finished as Hawkeye nodded.
"well the good thing is, is that they left two days ago for a mission and won't be back until next week so I think that will give you enough time to get the papers worked out so you will be firmly rooted here. May I ask what your plan is?" Winry hesitated before explaining the fact that she was tired of working for seniors and people who became caught in silly accidents in the country and didn't have the money nor the need of two auto-mail mechanics out east. So she came here for an apprentice ship for a month or two and had tried to aim for getting into the military so she could keep a closer track on her surrogate brothers whereabouts.
Hawkeye listened intently, like only a woman can adding in the right comments in the right places, her only question came at the end.
"You want to sacrifice your freedom to protect your brothers even if it may mean not only your life but crawling through some hard spots and nasty slime to figure out that in the end it was a waste of your time and they died anyway?" Winry took her time to answer thinking the question through.
"It doesn't matter what I have to go through as long as I can keep them relatively safe, and know that they're okay, or even going with them just to make sure nothing becomes too damaged or they are hurt too much. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss them I wish I could help them more but I know Staying in Resembool is a waste of my talents." Hawkeye seemed pleased by this answer.
"You and I have the same motif to keep going. We have to protect the ones we love, even though it may mean sacrificing ourselves in order to do so." And with that the lieutenant left. Leaving Winry to ponder over her words.
()&)(&)&&$$$#!$&(.
Word travels fast around a military campus, Winry found out, since by the next day everyone knew who she was. The 16 year old girl that managed to get into the bio-mechanical engineering guild. Some said she was impressive, some thought the military was getting desperate that now they were even hiring women and young girls into the military. A single well placed shot that knocked off the offenders hat and trimmed his sideburns ended that theory.
But most of the time Winry locked herself in either the library or her room, working away on either a new fusion of titanium and chrome auto-mail, or reading more about alchemy and its basic fundamentals.
Within a week, her papers returned giving her the code name Silver Rose, and a state alchemist pocket watch except whereas Ed's was silver, Winry's was a deep emerald green the colour of the bio engineers.
What Winry found most depressing though was the fact that Ed and Al had been gone a solid two weeks and hadn't returned. Winry wandered the old back alleyways of the city, still continuing her apprenticeship and giving Shane the money he needed to transfer his shop to Rush valley if needed. She had received a horde of cash after the Fuhrer had seen the auto-mail she had created.
Yet, that night she had an unexpected phone call from Pinako.
"Hello?" Winry said as Pinako's crackly voice came over the receiver.
"Winry, Ed and Al are here at the house. Where are you?" She asked as Winry came up with something on the dot.
"I'm at the smithy in the next town over so that we can get some more steel and aluminium for the auto-mail" Winry concluded as she heard shuffling from the other end.
"So how are you dear? Are the parts done yet?" Pinako's voice crackled over the receiver. Obviously Ed or Al was behind her.
"Sadly not yet. The Steel it taking longer than normal to smelt. I think the boys here are getting lazy or there're too many girls around to keep them focused" Winry answered playing along. Pinako's voice cackled as She handed the phone over.
"hey winry!" Al voice said as she faked surprise.
"Al! wow I haven't talked to you in forever! This really sucks that I'm not home for one of your yearly trips" She said as she heard more shuffling.
"I know Winry we're sorry about the fact that we don't come home much" Al seemed sad but she knew what would cheer him up.
"Hey Al, isn't Ed's birthday coming up soon?" She asked as Al's voice ducked down to a whisper.
"yeah Next week but we'll be in Central then" he said as Winry's grin widened (tongue twister)
"I think we can work around that besides I have a present I think he'll like if he wants to be taller" she laughed as did Al.
"Well Ed wants to talk with you so I'm going to go" he said as she said goodbye to Al.
"Hello? Winry?" Ed's voice rang clear over the phone as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey Ed! How the short guy doing?" she stifled her laughter as his curses grew over the phone. "you know I'm kidding right" she said after he finally calmed down enough to reason with him.
"Yeah, you are so not cute" his statement threw her through a loop.
"Um, yeah, well Ed I wanted to wish you a happy birthday even if I don't see you for another six months but I bet you will" she smiled at the hidden truth behind her words.
"thanks its too bad we came here when you're not considering I broke my auto-mail again" he held the phone away from his ear as Winry's own tirade started. "Shut –up for a minute! It's not completely broken, I just lost one of the bolts and can't left my arm at all. It's fine, Granny fixed it for me and were heading back to Central in the morning" Winry smiled at this.
"well then, its getting late here and most of the family is asleep so I better go, tell Granny and Al I love them." She said as Ed told her that he would.
"well goodnight Winry. See you when we see you" he said as Winry closed her eyes and smiled.
"Night Ed, remember I love you too" and with that she hung up leaving Ed standing rooted with the phone pressed against his ear.
)(&(&&$&$&()(&(.
Winry put her hands over her flaming face, why had she done that! She shrugged it off as just letting her mind take on its own cruise control at a bad time.
Crawling under her thin covers she curled herself into a ball and glanced at the clock on her desk 1:23 Am said the red block numbers as she thought about what was to happen in the next few days.
Ed was coming back to Central, She was in the bio-engineers Guild, Ed's birthday was in four days, She had an awesome present to give him. Not to mention she was going out tomorrow to get something for Al since the poor guy's birthday was still another 5 months off. But what really scared her was the confrontation she would have to have with the brothers, especially Ed and his temper.
Sighing she closed her eyes and let her mind drift as she found herself sound asleep within minutes.
)(&)()&($#&#$&&)&.
Hahahaha! First chapter done and the next, well if I get a review I will post another but if you all say my story sucks nya nya then fine! Ill go back to writing Inuyasha.
Well then until later!
Demonica (click the review button, it's the purple one on the left)