A/N: Okay, I just had to write a cute WinryxEd oneshot. This is set back when they were kids. It's a bit confusing, but just pretend that their mother was still alive, and that they had decided to spend the night at Winry's house while... she was out of town for a business meeting in Central. There we go, think that. I don't know... Just enjoy the story and don't concentrate too much on the details!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Full Metal Alchemist characters used in this story, nor do I own the idea of a time capsule. That would be cool, though... stares thoughtfully at nothing in particular Ahem... Hope you like it!
Time Capsule
"Winry, stay here until I get back, all right? I'm just going to take Al to the doctors. You'll be fine with Edward, so don't leave the house," Pinako ordered, wrapping a blanket around the small, nine year old boy. Al looked sullen at the thought of going to the doctors. His brother gave him a smile of encouragement, and the younger boy brightened a bit.
"We'll be here when you get back, Al," Ed said.
"Yeah, so get better at the doctors, okay?" Winry beamed. Alphonse nodded slowly, coughing a bit.
"Okay, come along, Alphonse," Pinako led him out the door and into the chilly night air. Winry and Ed waved goodbye until they were out of sight before closing the door and locking it.
"So, now what?" Ed asked after a moment of silence. Winry thought for a moment.
"Well, Granny told us to be in bed by eight, and it's seven now. That means we have a whole hour to have fun!" Winry clapped her hands. Edward nodded.
"I can't believe that poor Al had to wait until this late to go see the doctor…" Ed muttered thoughtfully, scratching his head.
"It's a shame, but now we get to stay alone for the first time!" the ten year old girl ran over to the couch and began jumping on it, "So, what should we do?"
"Well… we could eat," Ed suggested hopefully, running over to jump on the couch opposite of the one Winry was on. Winry rolled her eyes.
"We already ate like, an hour ago!" she objected, "Let's play hide and seek!"
Edward shook his head, his blonde hair bouncing as he pushed off of the cushion, "We do that all the time. Let's do something that we can't do with Auntie watching us!"
Winry stopped jumping, "Like what?"
"Like building a robot!" Edward grinned with eagerness. Winry shook her head.
"That's too advanced for us to do," she admitted.
"But you're really good with tools, and I can use alchemy to make any kind of part we would need!"
"I would have no idea how to start!" Winry scowled, "Think of something else."
"Okay…" Edward scrunched his face up, thinking hard, "How about we make a time capsule!"
"Time capsule?" Winry blinked.
"Yeah! My mom told me about them once. Apparently you gather up a bunch of stuff that's important to you, and then you stick it in a box, and bury the box, and ten years or so later you dig it back up!"
Winry thought for a moment, "That would be fun…" she murmured.
"Let's do it then!" Edward jumped off the couch and ran to the open floor in front of the door.
"What're you doing?" Winry walked over to him.
"I'm making the box!" Ed finished the transmutation circle with chalk and looked around, "Winry, I need a big object that I can use to make the box with. Got anything?"
Winry bit her lip and looked around, thinking, "How about this?" she ran over to her grandmother's workbench and pulled a medium sized block of steel out of one of the drawers.
"That'll work. Put it in the middle of the circle," Edward watched as she obeyed, then put both of his hands on the circle and closed his eyes. A large flash of light occurred, and some smoke clouded the air for a moment. It cleared away, and in the place of the steel was a cute, little box, complete with hinges and a latch. Edward picked it up proudly.
"Wow, Ed," Winry loved seeing alchemy. At first, it had frightened her, but now it just made her fascinated, "That's neat!"
"Thanks. Now, let's go gather up five things that are special to us," Edward put the box on the table and he and Winry went their separate ways through the house.
About a half hour later, the two ten year olds returned to the main room, their hands laden with items. They dumped them into two piles on the table before sitting on either side of it.
"So, what'd you bring for our time capsule?" Ed asked Winry, trying to hide what he had gotten so she wouldn't see until he decided to show it to her.
Winry straightened proudly, "Really good stuff! Let's see, I got a book, because it's our favorite story book," she held up a fairy tale called The Prince and the Maiden.
"Did we ever find out what a maiden was?" Edward asked. Winry shrugged.
"Who cares? The story is great anyway," she explained. Edward nodded in agreement.
"Nice! Put it in," he opened the box, and she set it inside. Next, she held up her second item.
"I picked out my favorite wrench, to show that I want to be the best auto-mail mechanic there is, just like Granny," she put that on top of the story book. Edward nodded in approval.
"My third thing is a picture of my mommy and daddy, so I'll never forget them," she showed Ed a photo of a smiling woman and man, holding a small, blonde toddler, "My fourth item is a picture of the three of us, one that Granny took. I never want to lose it, so I'm putting it in here to keep it safe."
Edward picked up the picture she indicated, studying it. He saw himself and Al wrestling on the floor, while Winry watched from a short brick wall. She was cheering something, and Edward could see a smirk on his face, and a determined look on Al's, "This is a great picture," he commented, dropping it into the box. It fluttered down to lay on top of Winry's parents.
"Thanks. The last thing that I have is the best," she blushed a bit as she showed her best friend a small amulet. It was no bigger than her thumb, and it wasn't crafted very well, but when Ed saw it he looked away.
"I didn't know you still had that, Win," he commented, embarrassed. Winry hugged the amulet.
"I've never once taken it off, except for tonight. I figure that I'll keep it longer if it goes into our time capsule," she observed the trinket, smiling. A sloppy flower was on top of two thin lines, meant to indicate a stream. Edward had given it to her about a year ago when she had gotten sick. Edward remembered that she loved the stream, and the flowers that surrounded it, so he used alchemy to make the pendant. He told her that if she wore it, it would protect her from sickness. She could care less about that, but the fact that he had given her something special made her love it like nothing else.
"Well, then, put it in the box," Edward turned back to her, his blush fading slightly. Winry beamed and dropped it inside.
"Your turn," she folded her arms and watched him with bright blue eyes.
"Okay, hold on," he fumbled with his first item, "I brought my favorite alchemy book. Mom gave it to me years ago, when I first started practicing Alchemy."
"But, don't you need that still?" Winry asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. He shook his head.
"Nah. I've already pretty much memorized it. I'm good," he put it inside the box and continued, "Then I found the lyrics to a song that mom used to sing to Al and me before we went to bed. It was such a great song," he stared at the lyrics for a moment before folding the paper and tossing it into the capsule.
"After that, I have a hair tie," he showed Winry the red elastic band. Winry blinked.
"A hair tie? How is that personal?" she demanded. He chuckled.
"It's to show that I will never cut my hair short, ever," he said. Winry thought for a moment before nodding.
"Okay, then," she yielded.
"Okay, my fourth item is a picture, like yours. It's my favorite, because it has everyone I've ever cared about in it," he handed the photo to Winry, who looked at it with interest. Al and Edward were seated on their mother's lap, in the middle. Winry and Pinako stood to the left, smiling. Den was sitting on the right, cocking his head at the camera. Everyone looked so happy and at peace that Winry could easily see why this was one of Ed's favorite pictures.
"That's great, Ed," Winry beamed. Edward smiled and gently put the picture on top of the eight other items in the box, "What's your last one?"
Edward hesitated, "I don't have it yet. Here, close your eyes."
Winry blinked in confusion, but obeyed, trusting her best friend. Edward pulled out some scissors and walked over to the blonde girl. He bent down so he was eye level with her before gently taking a bit of her hair and cutting it. Then he took a small chunk of his own hair, and mixed the two together, tying it up with a ribbon.
"This is my fifth item," he showed her the two clumps of hair, tied together tightly with a blue satin ribbon. Winry looked down and noticed that some of her hair was shorter than the rest. She saw that Ed's hair was the same way, and she sat silent for a moment.
"Why'd you do that?" she asked finally. Edward put it in the box, closing it and latching it.
"It's to show that we'll be together, always," he said, grinning at her. She paused for a moment, and then a large smile broke out, and she jumped up to hug her best friend.
"That's the best idea ever, Edward!" she exclaimed, giving him a quick squeeze. He blushed even more than before, and she released. They smiled at each other, and Ed chuckled uncomfortably in the silence.
"Well, uh… now we have to bury it!" he held up the box, and Winry nodded.
"Yeah! Oh, but Granny told us to stay in the house…" her voice trailed off, and she looked at Edward hopefully. He thought for a moment, his amber eyes squinted and staring off into space.
"Well, we can bury it later, I guess. How about we hide it, and tomorrow we'll go and bury it by the stream?"
"In the flower field?" Winry asked. Edward nodded.
"Yeah, in the flower field," he and Winry ran upstairs to hide the box in the back of Edward's closet until the next day.
Seven years later, a seventeen year old blonde girl set her shovel down and sighed in relief, "Finally, I found it…" she reached into the hole she had found and heaved up the steel box inside. The craftsmanship was poor and simple, and years of dirt and mud had coated a thin layer around it, but the girl grinned like she had just found a chest of gold.
She set the box beside where she was sitting, next to a small patch of flowers. Her long blonde hair blew slightly in the wind, and her bright blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she unhooked the latch and opened the box.
She was silent as she pulled out the various items inside it. Soon the things littered the ground around her, and she spent a little time looking at each item with great interest.
"Here's Edward's book," she grinned, opening it, "It's still like a foreign language to me…" she picked up another item, "And here's the pendant he made for me when I was feeling sick one time. I loved this thing," she continued murmuring to herself, going through the items. Around her the autumn air blew leaves through the light air, and the birds chirped away in the golden trees.
The last item she picked up was the clumps of hair, tied together by a single blue ribbon. Tears built up in her eyes as she ran over the light blonde and dark blonde hair with her finger.
"Why'd you do that?"
"It's to show that we'll be together, always."The tears began trickling down her face as she remembered what happened that night. What Edward had said as he looked into her eyes.
"Edward, you idiot…" she sniffled, "Why did you lie?" she set the hair clumps back inside the box, along with all the rest of the stuff, and then put the box back inside the earth for another ten years. After she finished burying it again, she took off her shoes and socks and put them in the cool water of the stream. Here she sat for quite a while, looking up at the sky and wondering what had become of her two best friends. One of those two faces stood out in particular, however, and whenever she closed her eyes, her mind recounted his grinning face and childish acts.
And she realized for the first time that she had loved him.
A/N: Did you like it? Again, please don't concern yourselves with the inaccurate details of it. I know there are lots, but I overlooked them just to get caught up in the story. I absolutely love EdxWinry. Well, R & R please!