Warnings: light spoilers
Pairings: none.
Note: Written for the ficondemand livejournal community June challenge, for kneazles.
All throughout her childhood, Winry had thought in threes.
Whenever she was given anything, from an ice cream to a new toy, Winry's first thought was whether it would stretch between three people. It never occurred to her to be selfish with what she had, because it was always her, Ed, and Al – and that was the way it would always be. It didn't matter that she had less because of it; what mattered was that three was the best number in the whole world.
When Ed and Al began to learn alchemy, Winry learned a different lesson; that sometimes, three didn't last. At first, when they brought books with them to school, she tried to learn with them – but alchemy was something she had no aptitude for, and when she saw how easily the boys learned it she began snubbing it out of jealousy. She supposed that was the beginning of it all – alchemy drew Ed and Al closer, and Winry drifted away. She spent more time with her grandmother, learning the beauty and intricacy of automail, and gradually, without any conscious effort on their parts, three became two plus one.
For a while, Winry didn't notice. She had seen Ed and Al's efforts at alchemy, and been scared by them, but she never thought that it might take them to places she couldn't follow. Even if they weren't three any more but a simple two plus one, it didn't mean that the one would be discarded, did it? After all, it was her they ran to when their mother died. Her they told their secrets to.
And then Al arrived on their doorstep, a tiny voice in a huge metal suit of armour, carrying a bloodied and badly wounded Ed.
And Winry realised that they would never be three again.
End