Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist

Separate ways

It was a cool, breezy autumn afternoon in the small village of Resembool, the birds chirped in the almost bare trees and the distant sound of the school bell could be heard signalling the end of another school day. Winry Rockbell sat on the hill near her house watching the children racing each other home, waiting to see a familiar face walking down the road. It had been a year since Edward and Alphonse Elric left their home town again to travel Amestris and Xing to learn more about equivalent exchange and the value of it. She stared across the grassy plain longingly, hoping to see the man she loves walking back to his home, his long ponytail flickering in the wind.

"Up here again I see." Pinako commented behind her, causing Winry to snap out of her daydream.

"Granny? I was just sitting here enjoying the nice cool air." Winry said quickly jumping up on her feet. Pinako smiled at her with a knowing look.

"I know why you are here. I can see it in your eyes." Pinako replied softly, looking down the road that lead to the train station. Winry sighed, she could never hide anything from her grandmother. Pinako placed her hand on the small of Winry's back, rubbing in comforting circles.

"They'll be back, all we can do is just wait for them to return." Pinako whispered, she saw a small boy run down the dusty road and smiled remembering the days when Ed and Al would race each other home leaving Winry behind them telling them to slow down. She blow out the smoke from her pipe and told Winry that they needed to get back for dinner. Winry gave the road one last glance before following her grandmother home to prepare dinner, hoping that she would see Edward soon.

In central, Edward Elric stepped of the train onto the busy platform looking for Armstrong who was meant to be meeting him, he was supposed to be heading back to Resembool to Winry who was waiting for him to return home but due to a problem on the train lines had been forced to stop of at Central. He navigated himself through the crown trying to avoid bumping into the women that where rushing to greet their husbands. He noticed Armstrong standing near the stations map, his baby blue eyes scanning the crowd for his trade make red coat and long braid.

"Hey Armstrong, over here." Ed shouted over the sound of one of the train whistles being blown. Alex turned to him and was surprised to see how much he had changed, Ed was wearing a brown suit with a black waist coat and a white shirt that he wore with a high collar. Ed smirked at the stare that Armstrong was giving him, it had been a long time since they had seen each other.

"Is there something on my suit?" Ed asked looking at himself for what Alex was looking at, Alex snapped out of his stare.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I can't believe how much you've grown." Armstrong explained reaching forward to put Ed in a bone crushing hug making Ed's dodge out of the way holding out his hand instead. They headed out of the station and got into a taxi that was waiting for them. They drove for about ten minutes before reaching Central HQ, Alex paid the driver and took Ed's travel case, a solider that was standing by the gate saluted them as they went by, Ed gave him a wave of his gloved hand and went into the building wanting to see the look on Roy's face when he saw him.

In the office Roy was sat at his desk grumbling at the paperwork that had materialised on his desk during his lunch break, he looked over to the big desk at Havoc, Breda and Fuery wondering if they would offer to help take some of the load. Havoc noticed him looking and gave him a annoyed look.

"Don't look at me, I've got my own paperwork to do." Havoc stated pointing to his pile that had to be completed by five. Roy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease the tension that was building in it.

"I think Grumman is trying to kill me, it seems like I've got more paperwork now than when I was a Colonel." Roy moaned, Hawkeye walked into the office and gave him a stern expression on her face, Roy picked up a form that was on the top of the pile and started reading giving Riza a quick glance to see if she was still watching. Riza watched Roy for a few minutes before sitting down at the big desk, opening a folder she was carrying to proof read it. Everyone went quite as they carried out the task that they had been given, Roy rubbing his hand occasionally from all the writing he had been doing.

In the corridor Armstrong lead Ed to Roy's new office saluting everyone as he went by. "I hear that you have retired from the millatery and started your own business." Ed said smiling to a young Lieutenant who blushed smiling back at him. Alex puffed out his chest in pride.

"Yes I make sculptors for people's gardens and Central park, using the talents that have been passed down the Armstrong family for generations." He boomed with pride. Ed smiled fondly at him, glad that he hadn't decided to rip his shirt of and pose. They arrived to their destination and Alex knocked on the door waiting for permission to enter, he then told Ed that he would pick him up later and left leaving Ed in front of the big doors for someone to let him in.

Hawkeye heard the knock and stood up to see who had come to see them. She opened the door and stared at their visitor surprised to see them.

"Hello Hawkeye. Is the General here?" He asked looking over her shoulder for Roy's smug face, Riza stared at him dumbfound for a second before letting him in. Ed looked around the big office noticing the new cream leather couch that was situated near Roy's new black marble desk. Havoc looked up from the document that he was reading and smiled, noticing that Ed was no longer short. Roy didn't move, he continued reading his papers, not wanting to upset Hawkeye.

"Ah Mustang, you have a caterpillar on your face." Screamed Ed noticing the moustache that Roy has grown. Roy looked up and frowned at his unexpected visitor laughing sarcastically.

"Ha ha, nice one pip..." Roy stopped what he was saying when he saw Ed towering over him, a huge smirk gracing his face.

"What was that furr-face?" Ed asked waiting for Roy to come back with a smart replied but none came. Roy just sat there and stared up at Ed not believing what he was seeing, he stood and walked over to Ed frowning as Ed smirk widened. Roy's head just reached Ed's nose, he examined his feet checking that Ed wasn't wearing any elevated shoes.

"What's wrong General? Caterpillar got your tongue." Ed sniggered causing Havoc, Breda and Fuery to laugh, Riza put her hand up to her mouth to hide the smile that had appeared. Roy stared blankly at his former subordinate lost for words, he hadn't expected Edward to turn up to his office.

"So what brings you to Central? I would have thought that you would be heading back to Resembool." Riza asked changing the subject, Ed inspected Roy's moustache as if he was expecting it to move.

"I was but there is some kind of problem on the track near Rush Valley, so they have delayed the trains until the problem is rectified. I called Armstrong at the last station and asked him to meet me here." Ed explained giving up on the 'caterpillar' and sitting down on the couch enjoying the feel of the cool leather on both of his hands. He noticed Havoc sitting at the big desk grinning at him with his own beard.

"What is this the furry convention? What is with the beard?" Ed asked pointing to Havoc who stroked his chin grinning.

"I grow it when I lost the use of my legs and decided to keep it. Why what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. It just looks weird that's all. How have you been? I heard that Marco used a philosophers stone to heal your legs." Ed asked, Havoc stood up and danced around the floor.

"There perfect. Even better than before the accident." Havoc beamed, his grin widening on his face. Riza gave havoc a look that told him 'not in the office' and asked him to go and get Ed a coffee from the break room, Jean saluted and left the room to carry out the request.

"So Ed, how does it feel to be a free man?" Breda asked, Ed grinned.

"It's great! For one thing I haven't got someone trying to kill me every other day. I've meet a lot of interesting people." Ed replied. "Also I don't have general bastards with caterpillar's under their noses criticizing every move I make." He said glaring at Roy from the corner of his eye.

"It's not a caterpillar. Besides the women seem to like it, they think it makes me look more sophisticated." Roy said brushing his moustache with his fingers, Ed raised an eyebrow at him. He moved closer to him like he had just noticed something.

"Um, is that? Yes I think it is." Ed whispered thoughtfully with his hand on his chin, Roy gave him a annoyed glare.

"What?" Ed stared at him for a few minutes more before replying, watching as Roy's expression changed from pisses off to worried.

"I see what you mean, with that hint of grey and the moustache you do look older." Ed said seriously, Breda burst out laughing unable to contain it receiving a warning glance from Riza. Roy pulled out a small mirror from out of his top draw examining his hair line for any grey hairs he might have, Edward fell on the floor laughing, along with Fuery and Breda.

Riza being the only person in the room who seemed to be sane, shook her head at them. She took the mirror off of Roy reassuring him that he didn't looked old and pointed her gun at the big table motivating them to stop laughing and complete their work. Ed sat himself down on the couch wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Oh, it feels good to finally get my own back. So how come you aren't in the east? I heard that you had been giving the responsibility of the revaluation of the Ishvalan policies." Ed asked holding his hand out as Havoc passed him his coffee, who looked at them confused wondering what he had missed.

Roy (now trying to pick up his dignity from the floor) straighten in his big cream leather chair, a sad smile gracing his usually smug face. Ed noticed that Roy no-longer had that dull, guilty look in his eyes, they where bright and happy like he had finally come to piece with his sins.

"Fuhrer Grumman has asked me to come back to Central to help him review the policies here. He thinks that since I have spent some time getting to know them and their culture, that I would do a more adequate job." Roy replied with the sound of pride and achievement in his voice. Riza smiled softly at him, the same guilty gleam also gone from her eyes.

"It wasn't easy, but with the help of scar and miles we managed to get the Ishvalan's trust." Roy shuddered at the mention of Scar's name, he could still picture Olivia laughing at him in her ice fortress. Ed looked down at the floor, he still wanted nothing more than to drag Scar to the Rockbell's graves and make him beg for forgiveness. Roy noticed the expression on Ed's face and gave him a sympathetic look.

"We saw Alphonse the other day, he'd just come back from Xing and surprised us with a visit like you have today." Riza said changing the subject, Ed's head shot up at the sound of his brother's name.

"Al was here? How was he? Where is he now?" He asked excitedly.

"He said something about going to visit an old friend." Riza replied picking up a small pile of completed documents and placing them on Roy's desk for his signature, making him grumble.

"I wouldn't go looking for him Fullmetal, Gracia told me that he left for Resembool yesterday morning." Roy said glaring at his growing pile of paperwork, Ed frowned at him at the sound of his old name.

"Don't call me that, I'm no longer the Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed screeched irritably, Roy snickered.

"You will always be the Fullmetal Alchemist even without your alchemy." Ed sat there grumbling about not being able to escape the name whilst Roy continued to sign the paperwork on his desk before they began to overcrowd it. They talked for a little while longer before Ed decided to leave them to their work.

"Bye Edward say hi to Al and Winry when you get back." Riza said smiling fondle at him.

"Yeah and try to stay out of trouble. Gate knows the amount of trouble you caused me when you left." Ed glared at him before grinning at him.

"Oh I almost forgot, I have a message from General Armstrong. She said that when you go back to East City MAJOR SCAR will have the reports from the train track development for you." Ed said empathising the major bit, he left the office to the hotel that Armstrong had book for him, leaving Roy to sob in disbelief on the desk.

The next day in Resembool Winry was taking Den for her morning walk, when she saw someone walking down the dusty track heading towards her house, she stopped and stared at the person wondering who it could be, when Den went running towards them knocking them over. She ran to them to see if they were alright and stopped when she saw who it was that Den had tackled.

"Ha ha, Den that tickles. Ha ha ha will you let me up?" Al asked the excited dog who was licking him all over his face. Winry smiled and tackled Al as well surprising him and knocking the air out of his lungs.

"AL YOUR HOME." She screamed wrapping her arms around his neck making him look like to was turning blue.

"Winry...I...can't breath." Al whizzed pushing Winry off of him and standing back up dusting himself off. Winry looked at him with fondness in her eyes, he had come a long way from the boy who was malnourished and weak. He was now healthy and strong. Al flicked the ponytail that he had behind his shoulder and smiled warmly at her.

"So did you miss me?" Winry didn't need to answer, they walked back to the house to get Al some breakfast and a nice hot shower, Winry glanced at Al as they walked.

'He looks so much like Ed now, he even has his ponytail.' She thought looking behind her to see if she could spot him running up to them telling them to wait up. Al noticed the sad look and smiled knowingly at her.

"You miss him, don't you?" It wasn't a question, but Winry nodded her head anyway in replied, she did miss him. Al put his hand on her shoulder giving it a squeeze.

"He'll be back, then you will be screaming at him because he's broken his Auto-mail again." Al laughed, Winry giggled she was sure that he was going to need his leg looking at, he wasn't very good at following her instructions. They went and Al told them about his travels and the incredible people that he had meet on the way. Winry listened staring dreamily out the window for the brother she was longing to see again.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.