Chapter 1: An Unexpected Morning

A red scarf, a slick floor, bodies everywhere. "What is this place?" He asked himself. Children crying, a woman screaming, men cursing. "What happened here?" a group of eight strangers, standing side by side dress in a queer uniform, swords drawn, weird devices strapped to their legs. Cloaks flapping in the wind with the insignia of a pair of wings. Wings…wings of freedom, "How do I know that? I've never seen them." Blinding bright light. A grey door, the tallest door he'd seen, and someone sitting on the floor. A white figure with a large smile.

Now he was somewhere else. Darkness, he started feeling terror. He knew this place. A small cramped room. Blood everywhere, on his hands, clothes, the walls. He lifted up his hands and saw how small they were. Pain in his leg, he looked down and saw that his leg was gone. He screamed yet his voice was not audible. Something moved in the corner, a shape, and ugly, glowing red eyes. It reached out a hand.

"Eeeedward…..Eeedward." It said in a whisper. He did not want to look, yet he could not look away. "Eedward…Edward…..EDWARD!"

"Mom, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", he tried to say, "We couldn't bring you back, we tried, we really did. All we wanted was you back. Me and Al. Al? Al? ALPHONSE!?" Edward woke with a start, drenched in sweat. "Where am I?" he thought. "Oh right my home." Ed settled back into his pillows and looked around. To his right was a night stand with a book on alchemy and a framed photo of his closest friends standing next to him. The Colonel, Lt. Hawkeye, Ling Yao, Lan Fan, Al, Mei, and lastly Winry. Next to this photo was another one of the Hughes family. Brigadier General Hughes, his wife, and their daughter Elicia. Ed felt movement to his left and turned to see Winry still sound asleep pressed up against his side. Ten years of marriage and he still could not believe that she married him. After all that happened, she stuck by him. If she hadn't been there, he knew he would probably be dead. He flexed his right arm bringing it into his vision. Skin, bone, muscle. His hand, the one he lost before. Since then he secretly felt a little guilt because he was Winry's best customer. The thought made him chuckle which he almost immediately regretted, because Winry made a sound, but soon snuggled closer to him and resumed her sleep.

Edward lowered his hand to his eyes and covered them. Thinking. Trying to remember what he dreamed about. Bits came back to him. Mostly the blood, but the wings and the red scarf came back as well. "Why did I dream that", he asked himself. It was peculiar. He also remembered the basement, which was what he most worried about. An unforgettable scar on his soul and memories, but he had not dreamed about it since after he defeated the homunculi. He clenched his eyes shut trying to remember. He saw the bright room and the figure smiling. "Truth! Why was he there? I don't have the ability to perform alchemy anymore." However not being able to did not keep him and Al from spending five years crossing East and West to find ways to improve Amestris' alchemy by combining it with Alche-History from Xing, and possibly any other form they may find. No matter what they found he still could not transmute. The thought of that made him smile. "That's the price I paid for getting Al back."

He turned back to his left and wrapped his arm around his wife. She had brought two children into the world and still looked as beautiful as ever. Child bearing had been no stress on her, but he expected that. He snuggle up to her and lightly kissed her lips. When he released Winry stirred, and slowly opened up her eyes. She smiled and kissed him back. "Good Morning" She said softly with sleep heavily still in her voice. She opened her eyes some more and then propped herself on one elbow. "Ed, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"What? Uh, nothing", Ed said. "Don't worry about it." With that Winry smacked him upside the head. "Ooow, what the hell was that for."

"You're not telling the truth." She said defiantly. "I know when you lie Ed. Now tell me."

"Ok, ok, ok. No need to hit me, well at least it wasn't with a wrench." He said while rubbing the back of his head. "I…I had a dream, I don't know, it probably was just a nightmare, but….it…it just felt off. Stuff I never seen before, people I haven't met. Something to do with wings flapping in the wind. Mom and the basement. I don't know Winry, it was just a dream." Winry's face showed her concern, but she nodded and rested her head against his chest. She laid there listening to his heart beat as his chest rose and fell.

As she laid there, she could not help but be concerned. Partially scared even, she wondered if she should tell Ed that she had a dream she felt was similar to his. The reason for that was she saw wings on a green background flapping in the wind with bodies strewn around it. She had seen East City burning and eight strange people standing of a roof top with swords in hand looking out over the city. She tried to brush it aside thinking it was because she and Ed had been friends for as long as she could remember. She didn't want to worry him, so she ignored it. He finally had a peaceful life where he didn't have to feel guilty all the time and fight battles that almost killed him. He finally was a peace, sitting around the house with the kids, helping her with her automail company, or mostly doing research to improve medicinal alchemy and even improving automail for others. Through his research he had drastically reduced the recovery time and that made her happy. They both shared the life he deserved.

Their door suddenly burst open and two small children came in laughing. They jumped on the bed and crawled in between their parents. Winry rusted the oldest one's hair. He giggled and wrapped his arms around her. "Good Morning mama", he said, "Good Morning dad, and Happy Birthday." Wiry's eyes widened as she realized that she had forgotten it was Ed's birthday. She hid her guilt by burring her face in her two children's hair. This made them laugh and she laughed as well deciding that she would make him is favorite dinner and later bring him to bed with some loving and intensity that was long overdue.

She looked to her youngest and saw that she was holding something and asked "Nina, what are you holding?"

"Umm", the little girl said. "I made this for daddy the other day. It's your birthday gift." She handed Edward a small roughly shaped elephant. Its legs were not the same height and the body was lumpy with little major marks all over it.

Ed took it and smiled. "Wow", he said, "Did you transmute this? Where did you learn how?"

Nina got a little red in the face but reluctantly said, "Um…I…I found one of your books and read bits of it. Are…are you mad daddy?"

Ed laughed and gave his daughter a great bear hug, "I couldn't be mad if I tried." He told his girl, "Looks like you are an Elric after all. What about you Urey? Did you transmute something as well?"

Urey sat up and put his arms behind his head. "No, I can't make heads or tails of it." He looked at his father afraid that his father would be disappointed. But to his surprise and joy his dad smiled and asked him what he got then. "Well I…I know you had been wanting a new tool set so I saved up my allowance to buy and make you a new tool set, it was too heavy to bring in here so it's in my room."

Ed couldn't help but laugh as he turned to his wife. "He make look like me, but he took after your side of the family didn't he."

This made Winry smile as she wrapped her arms around them. "Then it was good that we named him after my father." She continued on to say "Those are some excellent gifts. Now give your father a hug and go outside so we can get ready." The kids hugged Ed in turn and left the room. She rolled over and climbed up onto Edward placing each leg on either side of him. He placed his hands on her hips. Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. "Happy Birthday Edward. I love you" she then moved her mouth to his ear and whispered "Tonight." She felt his manhood stir, she leaned over again kissing him. "I said tonight didn't I?" She gave him a squeeze and climbed off him hurrying to the bathroom to take a shower before he could.

Ed sat up and shook his head but he had a smile on his face. She had always been a tease with him and of course she would not stop just because today was his birthday. He climbed out of bed and tossed on a shirt. He walked out to prepare breakfast for her and the kids. Bacon and eggs he decided. He knew Winry would not want him to cook but he wanted to anyways. It gave him a reason not to dwell on his dream and that was much a relief. As he was cooking, listening to the grease from the bacon pop as he cooked the eggs in it, he heard the phone ring.

Water splashed down over her tender body. It felt warm as Winry stood there with her arm against the wall. The water running down her long golden hair, down her neck and over her full breasts. The air difference had caused her nipples to harden but now the warm water was softening them. It ran from there down her body to her legs where it ran to the floor and into the drain. The soap sat in the soap dish untouched for she was lost in thought. Her dream had been a distant nagging sensation at her mind, but now that Ed had had a similar dream it was now preoccupying her thoughts. She snapped out of her trance long enough to rub herself down with soap. Rubbing it over her arms then torso, lifting up each breast in turn to get underneath. Next she went down between her legs and then down each leg in turn stopping to get underneath her foot and in between her toes. Next was her back and lastly her hair and face. She too the shampoo and rang her hands through her hair as she let the water rinse her body off. Then she placed her head under the faucet and rubbed her hair thoroughly. She was still rinsing off when she hear the phone ring from her room. "Who could be calling us at this time?" She quickly finished washing her hair, stepping outside of the shower and rubbing herself down with a towel. She then wrapped another one around her body as she stepped out of the bathroom to answer the phone. She had another towel in her left hand rubbing her hair dry as she picked up the receiver with the right. "Hello?" she said.

Back in the kitchen, Edward was finishing up putting the food on the plates and placing them around the table. His children had come back in and were washing up at the sink. Nina had just finished and went to sit at her place. She pulled her chair out and then climbed into it before realizing that she had placed it too far. She got back down pushed it in a little more and then climbed back into it. Now she sat perfectly upright with fork and knife in each and waiting to eat her eggs. Ed has just placed Nina's plate in front of her, when from the bedroom there was a crash. Ed ran to his room and saw Winry standing there with a towel around her body, a towel in her left. Her right hand was covering her mouth, and he saw the severe disturbed look in her eyes. A look of fear, surprise, shock, grief, and nausea. The phone was laying on the floor with the receiver a couple of feet away. From it he could hear a voice calling but could not make out what it said. "Winry", he said. "What is it? What happened?"

"ED. It's…it's Ishval….it's gone."