Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but if i did the show would be a lot more romantic and dramatic but unfortunately no I don't own it...
Ok guys, I know what you're thinking, Ed and Winry are destined to be together! Yes, I know and I got to say that I feel the same but this story just wouldn't leave me alone and I'm totally in love with pairings who will (sadly) never have a future. About the story... This was supposed to become an one shot but my mind kept playing so I let my imagination run wild and now more chapters are coming in the future! Just relax and enjoy reading it, oh and don't forget to review if you like it!
Chapter 1: War and winter farewell
Central, the centre of the country of Amestria. It's been a while since Winry last came to this city. The last time she came was to fix Ed's arm and she remembers how damaged her beautiful automail was and how upset she got over it. This time she came, to check up on Ed and Al.
She was walking around town with her heavy tools bag, looking for new pieces to buy for her automail before going to look for the two boys. The shops weren't as good as the one's in Rush Valley but there was always a chance to find a rare piece. After visiting every shop that sold mechanical parts and literally drooling over them and buying a lot of spare screws and wrenches, she headed to the Headquarters.
When she arrived at the Headquarters' hallways, she turned her head from left to right, trying to spot a familiar face. The atmosphere was filled with a slight scent of gunpowder and a busy aura appeared all around the people who were rushing back and forth. Suddenly she felt a tap from her shoulder.
"Winry Rockbell?" She turned around and saw Lieutenant Riza in front of her. "Ah and it is you! How are you? Did something happen?" Riza wore a concerned look and Winry shook her head.
"No, nothing happened Lieutenant. I just came to visit Ed and Al." "Please call me Riza and about the Elric brothers, I think they went on a mission but if you want more information you should go see Colonel Mustang. I'll lead you to him." Riza motioned for her to follow behind.
Winry walked past many rushing officers and wondered why all of them were running all over the place like this. Even Riza was walking really fast so that Winry was almost running behind her. Finally they reached Mustang's office and Riza opened the door.
"Sir, Winry Rockbell is here to ask about the Elric brothers." Winry entered the room and Riza stayed behind closing the door saying she had to return to her unfinished business.
"Why is everybody rushing things? I have a bad feeling about this." Indeed, she had gotten this feeling the moment she stepped on this city's grounds. A feeling of threat was lingering in the air even if the population was oblivious to this. Winry had always had a sixth sense to this type of situation. The same went for her automail; she always got this chilly feeling running through her spine whenever she felt that her automail was being badly damaged. But this feeling wasn't just a badly scratch on an automail it was something bigger than that. Something involving wrath and blood.
"Oh so you are the famous Fullmetal's automail mechanic, Winry Rockbell? Please have a seat." As great of a gentleman Roy Mustang was he had already risen up his chair to greet her with a handshake. His gloves were cold and collided with her warm hands. On top of his gloves she could see a transmutation circle, information about alchemy that Ed taught her were starting to kick in her head. With them came information about a certain fire alchemist too. She flinched at the cold and Roy let go of the hand, motioning for her to sit down.
"So, I heard you'd like to know where Fullmetal and his brother are." He asked with a very casually voice like he was speaking to someone he knew for ages. Winry nodded.
"Since we didn't get introduced to each other properly, I'll introduce myself first. Colonel Roy Mustang. Fullmetal probably talked to you about me." Roy sat up again to bow and Winry did the same.
"Winry Rockbell, an automail mechanic in Resembool." She paused to sit down. "If I remember correctly he did tell me about a stupid Colonel Mustang who's useless in the rain." She said it very innocently, without implying any agreement to Ed's words.
Roy's eyebrow twitched. "Just you wait you little runt!" He mumbled to himself, trying to keep his anger locked inside him.
Winry tilted her head to the side and Roy cleared his throat, a serious expression returning to his face.
"About the Elric brothers, they went on a mission up to the north and they won't be back until about a year or two. They are really in need of people out there."
She gasped, "A year or two? What am I supposed to do during that time? I was really starting to miss them." Her gaze fell to the ground, she missed them and the time they spent together but they were doing what they do because they want to get their bodies back. Winry just wanted to spend some time with them, like in the old days.
Roy noticed this and tried to comfort her. "Don't worry, they're alright. I keep on getting information about their situation and I could let you know about them whenever you wish." He spoke with care, always keeping his words in a certain tone. Winry admired this ability to speak in such a manner; it was nothing like Ed's.
"I would be grateful if you did, thank you." She thanked him and stood up to leave, but was stopped by Roy's sudden call.
"If you'd like I could take you out to have tea sometime, how does it sound?" He smiled at her gently. New information just came into her mind and she stated it out without thinking any longer.
"I heard from Ed that this same Fire Alchemist had the famous reputation of being a skirt chaser. Do you think it's true?" She teasingly looked at him while he desperately tried to deny that fact. Suddenly Winry wanted to ask something that's been bugging her ever since she arrived at this city.
"There's something I wanted to ask since the beginning of our conversation", she paused, thinking if it was a good idea to continue any further but her sixth sense didn't permit her to stop. "Why is everybody rushing and busy in here? I mean they aren't always like that are they?"
Roy closed his eyes for a minute just to open them with a very sternly look. "We are preparing for a war." Winrys's eyes widened at the word war. "Again? Why does this country only think of war?"
"We are planning a war in the East but we are waiting for the orders to start it. If the other country gives in then we don't have to declare war but if they don't then we won't have any other choice but to fight. I know what you're thinking now, are Ed and Al going to be alright? Don't worry they aren't going to be called over to the East. It's easy to see through your Elric brothers' complex." He chuckled at the last sentence.
"I don't have a complex!" Winry whispered to herself.
"I suppose you are going to stay at Major Hughes place right?" She nodded and Roy resumed, "Then I know how to find you if something new happens, stay well." They parted but not without a wink from Roy who was surely awaiting a tea date soon.
Days passed and Winry already felt herself at home in Hughes' house and tomorrow she was finally going back to Resembool. Even though she got good materials for her automail, she had to go back or her grandmother would scold her for being away such a long time.
"Winry! There's someone for you at the door!" Hughes' wife called from under stairs. She immediately ran down the stairs, hoping to see her two childhood friends, although it was a little too early for them to be back. The only person she wasn't willing to see was the "famous" skirt chaser.
"Ed, Al you-"She didn't have the chance to finish when she caught a glimpse of black short hair. "Oh, if it's for the tea date then sorry Colonel, it's a no."
He laughed at her "kind" manner to decline an invitation but insisted that he had something important to tell her. They left together and Roy brought her to a classy tearoom.
"So what was this important thing you wanted to tell me?" The real question would be "Is Ed and Al alright?" but she would seem really obsessed with them in Roy's eyes and she wouldn't like him to tell her she had a complex again.
Roy was stirring his coffee for the last 10 minutes and looking at the brown fluid circling with his spoon. He brought the coffee to his lips, took a sip and then put it gently back down.
"War has been declared to the East." He said these words very calmly without looking away from his coffee.
"War?" Winry looked down to her rose flavoured tea. She didn't know that roses could be consumed in teas until she saw it on the menu. Roy had recommended it to her and had said that roses suited her the most. A flush had appeared on both of her cheeks; it had been a long time since anyone complimented her. Even if the compliment came from this womanizer, she still felt good about receiving it as a woman. Roy nodded.
"Are you going to participate in it?" The question came out with a shaky tone. War was always something she hated and seeing how people, she considered as friends or close acquaintances, would maybe take part in the war was frightening her. It was not because she didn't believe in their skills; it was more the scary thought of losing them forever like her parents. If that were to happen again, then she would never forgive herself for letting them go to this war in the first place.
"Yes." Roy looked at her as she looked back at him worriedly. He smiled to reassure her, "Don't worry about us. I believe that my team and I will surely come back home safely."
The smile Roy gave her did help, calming her a little bit but the uneasiness was still there. She managed to get out of the tearoom with Roy. She had wished to herself to never be able to reach the exit and say goodbye but they still made it.
They were standing next to each other, the cold winter wind brushing against their recent warm cheeks. Winry clutched to her own jacket, it was the only near thing she found to hold onto. Roy brought his gloved hands to his mouth and blew them to warm them with the last warm breaths he had stored. Winry finally spoke when she felt Roy slightly wriggling beside her, he probably wanted to say goodbye already.
"Are you leaving tomorrow?" Her voice was muffled by the thick scarf she had wrapped around her neck.
"Yes, at 5 am. They want us to get there as soon as possible." Suddenly she felt the urge to just wrap her arms around him and never let him leave. She lost count of how many times she wanted to do the same to Ed and Al but she never actually did it because she would have to let them go, sooner or later. She didn't do it this time either, the only thing she was able to do was to tug at his black coat with her freezing pinkish uncovered fingers.
"Come back alive. I don't want to lose another important person." She whispered through her scarf and for once she thanked her hair for being untied and messy today. As she spoke those words, she felt tears lightly being formed in the corner of her eyes and she instantly lowered her hair so that her bangs covered the half of her face. Her hair sure had grown out long and nicely but sometimes she just felt the desire growing up of wanting to cut it. She never did and her hair was reaching all the way down to where her kidney is located. Even if her hair was annoying sometimes it reminded her of her mother who had always said she would love seeing her daughter with long hair.
Roy looked down at her and was unable to read her face expression because she had hid her face so very well with her blonde golden bangs. "So, I'm an important person to you?"
Still with her face hidden she answered quietly, trying to hold her sobs in her as long as he was still next to her, "You're a friend so that makes you an important person. Of course Lieutenant Riza is also as important." Roy smiled at the first sentence but his smile immediately vanished as he heard the second one. "Aha, I'm at the same level as Lieutenant Riza…?" He whispered quietly enough to not let the blonde girl hear.
"Well, if someone wants me to come back alive then I will do everything to accomplish this duty. Especially if it's for an important blonde girl I met recently, then I will not let myself be killed and make her sad." At that moment she really wished to cry but instead of doing what every girl would do she distanced herself from him so that they were three footsteps away, turned herself to face him and smiling brightly, waving energetically she shouted, "Then I'm counting on you!"
With that said she ran into the direction of her current "home" at Central, leaving a speechless and smiling Roy Mustang behind.
The next day, she woke up, feeling a little dizzy and ill from yesterday. Her eyes were tinted with red spots here and there. She hadn't cried enough to make her eyes swollen but just enough to feel a little calmer. Her tears weren't for skirt chaser alone but for all her recently made friends she met at the Headquarters, she hoped for everything to turn out well.
She didn't care about who was going to win, she just wanted for all of them to come back safe and sound. The daylight shone from the window in the guest bedroom and Winry walked over to it. The first snowflakes of the year were falling from the grey painted sky and with them the war in the East was starting.
The end... Well not exactly because there will be more to come, maybe 2 or 3 more chapters. It depends on if my imagination wants to work or not. xD