Winry liked the evening. During the day, she was always holed away in her granny's basement. But as dusk started to fall, it was safe for her to be outside, when the fading light could hide her presence. Although, now that the promised day had come and gone and they were all still here, she supposed that it really didn't matter. Ed and Al must have succeeded if Amestris was still complete, or Resembool was at least. But as usual, they hadn't called her and there'd been no other contact from the military in the last three days. Or from anyone for that matter, but after all the time in the basement, she was used to not having anyone but Granny and Den to talk.

With all this on her mind, Winry was not in the greatest mood as she stomped down her back steps and made for the woods behind her house. The sun was just above the horizon, and everything was tinged tangerine and fuchsia. The was a stream that ran pretty parallel to the road that passed her house and Winry found herself following it, heading more or less in the direction of the old Elric house. Pine needles crunched under her feet, and she could hear the occasional patter of wild feet somewhere out in the forest. It was darker in the forest than it was out in the open. After her fourth or fifth time tripping over a root, Winry decided that perhaps it would be better to head back to the edge of the forest where the light would be better. As she reached the edge she discovered that the sun was now just a half disk, she would have to head home soon.

But something about the night air made it easier to forget her worries, if she went back to the house, she would probably just sit by the phone waiting for a phone call that, if history was any witness, would not come. Ed and Al would probably just show up on her front porch one day or she'd hear about what happened from one of their more reliable friends. Or…or something.

That jerk, he could at least call after everything. It's not like it would take that much time to let me know they're okay.

Something winged flew out from behind her, making her jump. She sighed, it was probably time to head back home. The sun was barely visible now and what was left of the light would be following it soon. Winry decided to take the road home, no one was ever out at this time of the night. Most of the town was probably sitting down to dinner and none of them would have business traveling this far out.

Kicking up little clouds of dust, Winry trudged past the scarred remains of the Elric house and heading up the hill towards the graveyard where her parents and Ed and Al's mom were buried. The tombstones stuck up from the darkening ground like uniform, dull teeth. But one tooth stood taller and less rounded than the others. The girl's first reaction was to duck her head and hurry past, something about the way the figure stood, made her slow and really look at him. The set of his shoulders, the ponytail at the back, the dim light may have been uncertain, but she knew who it was. She didn't have to look to see that the grave he was standing before was Trisha Elric's grave.

Ed.

She started to run towards him, almost calling out his name, but as the distance between them quickly closed she realized that he was too tall and his hair, despite the dusty sunset overtones, wasn't quite the right color. It wasn't quite Ed, but he was close.

"Al?" she whispered, slowing to a stop just behind him. The boy that turned toward her wasn't quite like the ten year old she remembered, but the eyes, they were the same. "Al!" she cried, throwing her arms around the boy. The body that her arms wrapped around was thin and fragile, but it was flesh and blood and human.

"Winry!" he said excitedly, giving her the best bear hug he could manage in his not quite new body. She was already pulling away before the hug was finished, looking around for his brother. But there was no one else in the graveyard, only a fresh bouquet of flowers sitting on Trisha's grave. She didn't quite understand that, Al looked like he could barely stand, let alone protect himself. Ed wouldn't have let his little brother get very far from him—unless something had happened to him.

"Al, where's Ed?" She didn't even give him a chance to answer before she asked again, grabbing the collar of his coat. "Where's Edward? What are you doing out here all by yourself? Did something happen to him? Is that why you haven't called? Where is your brother?!" Winry shook him, as though it would rattle the answers out of him faster.

"Winry…calm down, Winry," he managed to slip in. "It's okay, he's okay. He's probably still at your house." Al nearly fell as Winry let go and darted off towards her house, her heart already pounding. It's okay, he's okay…she kept running his words through her head. For a minute she'd been so afraid, but no, Al said he was okay, so he had to be alright.

Oh, that Ed, when I get my hands on him I'm gonna…Didn't even have the decency to call, and made me worry. Just you wait, Edward Elric, just you wait. Am I gonna pummel you…

And she did…or rather, she barreled right into him as they both crested a hill. He grabbed her, trying to keep both of them upright as the force of her body at a less than sedate pace hit him. He failed. Both of them ended up on their butts in the dusty, little road to Resembool.

"Oi, Winry, what's your problem?" he asked.

"What's my problem?" she bellowed, picking herself back up. "What's your problem Edward Elric? You go off to some climatic, future deciding battle and you don't even call me when it's over to say that you guys are alright and…" she stopped. Ed hadn't moved from his spot on the ground and he sat looking up at her with a patiently aggrieved look on his face. Something inside Winry broke. She lurched forward and down, throwing her arms around the neck of yet another Elric. "I'm just glad you're okay," she sobbed. "I'm just glad you're okay." Ed grabbed her, pulling her tightly to him.

"Hey, I thought we had a deal," he whispered. "Only happy tears." Winry pulled back and gave him a look.

"I am happy," she replied, whacking him across the back of the head.

"Ow! Winry, what's your problem?" She just sat there smiling at him, and scrubbing the tears off her face.

"Are you two gone sit on your butts all night? Or can we go home and get something to eat. I'm starving." The two looked up at Al, who was standing imploringly, his hands in his coats pockets, doing his best begging dog expression.

"You're always hungry," Ed said standing up. The young man offered his hand to Winry. When he helped her up, Winry started to walk away, but Ed still had ahold of her hand. "So, will dinner include that apple pie?"

"Yes," she said. "It will."


Okay...I admit it, I'm slightly EdWin starved. I understand that it's slightly impossible right now but, I miss watching him get hit in the head with the magnetic wrench (lol, that was a funny story). This was conceived two months ago on...not enough hours of sleep, and it's just now getting put down. I had a whole bunch of good ideas that I can't remember anymore and sadly it's hard to write them down when you're hiding backstage trying to not be seen. I promise, I'll get back to SOTF soon, but I needed a break from those two.

Please lemme know what you think.