Woooow, it's been years since I've written for FMA, but I am still a slut for post-CoS fics. This is no surprise. I hope that this time I can stick with this story. It's been my brainchild for around 10 years. I won't spoil anything, but just so we are clear, I love pain, angst, and adventure. And romance. Lots and lots of that. This takes place 6 years after CoS and that is the only hint I'm giving away. I love messing with canon and well…I'm still peeved at FMA 03 for its ending so I do that thing, you know the one. I hope you guys enjoy! Thank you ruinsofxerxes for the encouragement!

Disclaimer: FullMetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. I just use her characters as barbie dolls to play with and write stories about them.

Earth turns on a tilted axis just doing the best it can.

-Hohenheim of Light

Part 1: Tilted Axis

The ringing of the telephone cut through the ruckus in the kitchen, halting conversations and laughter and the use of kitchen appliances. To interrupt the preparation of the crust for an apple pie was criminal, but any call was urgent and needed an answer else the chance of paying customers would slip by, and Winry considered every customer to be valuable. Abandoning the dough and wiping her greasy hands on a towel, she made her way to the telephone that was begging to get picked up, almost anticipating a booming voice calling from the other side to complement how loud the ringing sounded in her ears.

Her professional greeting met a voice filled with composure, the direct opposite of her expectations and a person who did not require her automail services. To say that she was thrilled would have been too kind, but she always tried her best to give the man that spoke to her as much respect as possible. He was a good man, after all.

"To what do I owe the surprise, General?"

Although her question showed her curiosity, they spoke often, keeping in touch and exchanging news every now and then. She felt that he did it as a favor to mask his guilt, which she frankly couldn't blame him for; yet she wondered if it would be easier for him to cope and even get over his guilt if they didn't communicate. Still, whether she was fully aware of it or not, it helped him in that very concern, more than she could hear beyond the voice on the receiving end of the line. She had come to accept him in her life and she admitted his involvement made her losses easier to bare. Still, she couldn't help giving him a formal front, at least to respect his rank, the very position he had worked so hard to obtain and fought so hard to keep. She knew he appreciated any form of respect she had for him and was enough for him to accept since he knew he didn't deserve even an ounce from her. Their mutual sorrows, however, helped them bond, even if they were unspoken and went without discussion years after their occurrences.

"How fast can you get to Central? I have an automail recipient who could use a good mechanic. I told him you're the best there is."

"Does he need to be fitted with new limbs or would maintenance suffice?"

It wasn't unusual for Roy to recommend her to people these days. In fact, after Central had been attacked by mysterious flying machines, every referral that had been brought to her attention came with similar messages, such as "I heard you're the best mechanic!" and "'s it true you make the best automail?" Although his reasons were obvious, Winry tried not to think about the origins of his praise. It was bittersweet to be complimented of her skill while simultaneously being reminded of who said it in the first place. Nonetheless, Winry took great pride in her work and being told she was the best boosted her confidence to continue in acquiring knowledge and polishing her talent.

"He's already got a decent arm and leg, but it wouldn't hurt to bring spares, in case you believe he'd need replacements."

As if it were that easy to simply replace automail prosthetics that a former mechanic made for new ones. She would have to examine this person in order to determine whether or not he needed new limbs and that would require the use of a clinic or hospital if she were to travel. Ideally, the patient would come to her home and check-ups and operations would be done in her shop, but this referral wasn't coming to the country side, which meant he wasn't in the position to move around much.

"A couple of days, maybe even one if I get on a train right now," she answered. "Is there an examination room at headquarters that I can use?"

"We'll clear one out for you."

She half-expected him to continue with the phone call, but Roy Mustang always got to the point and wasted no time on useless chit-chat. If she didn't know any better, she would say he was a cold man who didn't know how to cut loose, but after years of knowing him, she was aware he treated everyone the same, even his best friend, the late Brigadier General Hughes. No…there was a certain kind of tone he used with her and it wasn't so much as emotionless as it was pensive, or maybe even sweet by his standards. Hearing the line go dead after his simple goodbye didn't particularly phase her, but it did leave her with the chance to imagine who this new patient was that needed such urgent care, and from her of all people.

When she stepped back into the kitchen, she noticed the dough she had been working on was missing, but her grandmother informed her she'd placed it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. Even though Pinako didn't do much baking, she had been observant of her granddaughter's steps in preparing pastries and knew enough to help her.

"A customer is waiting for me in Central for an emergency consultation." She quickly put the unused pans in their place before clearing up the table of ingredients and mischievous flour.

"Get to it, kid. I'll get this place cleaned up," Pinako said as she pushed Winry towards the kitchen door to focus on more important matters than the messy kitchen.

"I'll be back in a few days."

How long had it been since she went to Central? A year, perhaps? That time she stopped at the train station on her way to North City didn't really count since she had to switch trains, but she had gone to visit Sheska and the Hughes family. Elysia was a growing girl and her mother, Gracia, was doing what she could to raise her on her own. Winry still took her role as her big sister seriously, though, and called them every so often to keep in touch. She and Sheska exchanged letters more often than phone calls, mostly because the commanding officers kept Sheska busy with their requests for her to reproduce missing books—Central Command hadn't been able to recover from that fire all those years before. Winry's schedule was also hectic, to say the least. Pulling all-nighters every so often and sleeping through the day, or working all day and sleeping at ungodly hours of the night took a toll on her, giving her limited time to call more than one person at a time unless it was a customer.

Business in the east and south kept her preoccupied, something she was grateful for since her career brought her genuine joy and she was exposed to more cases and opportunities. She was developing a reputation for herself and now, even military personnel who could afford to consult with an automail engineer stationed in Central preferred to seek her out for her services. She'd come a long way, but it was then and there that she realized her hard work had been paying off. She hadn't given herself much credit and was actually becoming a bit modest when it came to compliments, but with the increased praises and validation, she glowed.

She wondered how this new patient lost his limbs, and for that matter, what limbs he lost in the first place. Common cases were mining accidents, explosions, and amputations from diabetes, which is what Winry was guessing, but that was the purpose of the assessment. Each case required different care even if they all dealt with getting an attached metal prosthetic in the end. Unusual cases were rare to come by, although when she did have a customer whose motive for having a missing arm or leg was unfamiliar, she acted just as professionally as she would with any other customer. The only time she could remember when she wasn't as composed as she was now that she was more experienced and mature was when he needed automail.

The shock of seeing her best friend covered in blood, missing extremities, and stubbornly asking for prosthetics hadn't worn down and she doubted that even after all these years, even after his absence, she wouldn't be able to fully recover. It was one of those moments in her life she filed away as 'traumas' and she could never forget, just as his pocket watch had an engraved date. It would only make sense that after a decade and a half, she would have surpassed it, but there were things that never went away. It was something she didn't like to discuss, even if she and her grandmother had touched on the subject at times. The memory of him and his brother would never really fade, and Winry's refusal to let them die through her short discussions with Pinako showed that even if there was little hope for their return, she still hoped they were doing well wherever they were. Without her there, he wouldn't have access to maintenance or replacements, which meant he had to commit to taking care of his prosthetics if he wanted them to last them, well, his entire life.

Being greeted by Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong was a standard now. When Winry visited Central, Roy made it a point to have her escorted. Maybe it had to do with her relations to military personnel, or maybe it was because he just wanted to make up for what he did with anything he could think of, but regardless, she couldn't deny that it felt nice to have someone waiting for her. After doing the waiting in her younger years, it felt like the universe was finally repaying her efforts.

The car ride to Central Command was lively with chatter, but the Lieutenant Colonel had a lot to say and his descriptive vocabulary required time for him to express and for Winry to take in. He had been stationed in Liore for some time, and she had letters of her friend, Rose, telling her about the progress the city in the east was going through thanks to the efforts of the military and the people. However, hearing it from the energetic man sitting across from her made it all the more real. It was funny how progress took years, but it was reaching its peak in multiple areas in the country, particularly the eastern area.

After the earthquakes in the last attack had claimed many of the city's buildings and infrastructure, Central had gone through its own upgrade, and headquarters was no exception. It felt new every time she came there, an unknown place waiting to be discovered. The renewal of the design had come with an awakening from the country; it was as if that attack from so many years ago that devastated the city had given them a wake-up call to improve in many areas, not just reconstruction. The inside of the building had taken on a more elegant design as well, seeing the contrast between the dark tiled floors and the white walls that stretched on in the hallways. Winry's memories brought her back to a time when she and Sheska investigated Brigadier General Hughes's death, back to a time when the building looked completely different from the one she currently walked in. Everyone was embracing change, even the military.

Her escort entertained her with conversation until he led her to a door that led into an examination room. The tall black door and shiny, golden doorknob stared back at her, but formalities were important to her, even if she was being expected by the people behind the door. After knocking on the smooth surface, she received the okay to enter, but once she fully opened the door to head inside, she could have sworn the world turned upside down for her then.

The light in the room assaulted her eyes, but later she would come to realize it was lightheadedness. The air in the room felt heavier, but it wasn't something that was necessarily a negative thing; in fact, she would be alright with drowning in its thickness. The tears that welled up in her eyes were hot and spontaneous, as if a faucet had been broken and she would have a hard time controlling herself, but she could care less about looking like a mess at that point. If the General had told her that her patient was an old friend, she wouldn't have believed him. Maybe…that was why his call was vague. She lost the feeling of the strap that was attached to her suitcase; it fell to the ground with a loud 'THUD' beside her feet, in a similar way that her balance was trying to imitate. There was no way this was real…

Staring back at her, with ridiculously goofy smirks on their faces and bright eyes that could pierce through any surface, including her heart, were the two people in this world she'd never thought she'd see again.

Those damn brothers would never understand, would they?

Her calculated steps led her to run—frantically, with no grace, and desperately, she was sure—into the waiting arms of her childhood friends, the two who had no way of returning to her after that destructive, fateful day six years earlier. From excitement, she lunged at them and brought them down with her, their backs undoubtedly connecting with the cool tiles of the polished floor. At that point, nothing else mattered. She rested her forehead on their shoulders while each of her hands held on to the back of their heads, clutching tightly to the golden strands of hair she was always fascinated with. She would apologize for her force later, but for the moment, she had to know that they were real because her mind could be cruel with her and liked to play mind games every so often. Imagining them sometimes broke her. Nightmares weren't much kinder, either. She heard them struggle underneath her, and even though she refused to let them go, she loosened her grip on them. She feared that if she let go, they would disappear into thin air.

"I thought I told you to call me when you needed maintenance." She tried to make her tone sound teasing, even intimidating, but all she could muster were choked up tears that kept getting caught in her throat.

"We would have lost the element of surprise," Ed laughed, a genuine, teasing chuckle she could only remember as his and only his.

Nothing else registered, not Roy's voice or the next movements made towards them, but she knew she was back on her feet with Ed and Al, and she knew that after holding them tightly for a while, this wasn't a sick joke or a dream fabricated by the part of her mind that loved to mess with her.

"Please tell me…you're here to stay…" She didn't want to sound like she was begging, but as her immediate reaction, there was nothing else she could do to mask her hope.

"Yeah, we're here to stay," Al answered, ruffling her hair gently. His voice was deeper, almost sultry, and very different from his brother's. It always has been, but now he was a mature young man, even taller than her and she couldn't believe this was the same boy she knew growing up.

"And…I actually do need some maintenance," Ed added, his voice above a whisper along Winry's ear. Of course, he did. It had been six years and given his track record, he wasn't the greatest at keeping his prosthetics in check.

"Just maintenance, or new installments?" Winry's tears dried and her joy was replaced with irritation, reaching for something heavy in her coat pocket with the hand she had used to hold onto Ed.

"Give me some credit! I can still move them and they're in one piece, I promise!" Covering his head, Ed anticipated the collision of a silver wrench with his forehead.

"Better be, for your sake." Instead of throwing her favorite tool at his skull, she threw her arms around him to give him a proper hug. Even though her threat remained, her feelings of joy overshadowed any frustration, if only for that one moment.

Around 10 years ago, I had 2 ideas that now seem ridiculous and I didn't treat the characters in a proper way, especially Winry. I had her go through depression after Ed and Al left, in a constant state of sadness because she couldn't get over loving Ed who was no longer in Amestris. But after going through depression myself, getting back in the fandom, and realizing how strong Winry really is, I decided to scrap those 2 ideas and came up with something that I hope does the characters justice, and hopefully, I keep them in character. I also hope my interpretation of Winry has improved, or at least sounds alright, as well as my writing! I'm also incorporating more elements from 03 than I did in my initial ideas. Hopefully, I am able to add on to this because it's been so long…and I miss EdWin and this will definitely turn into EdWin, at some point. Please let me know what you think!