May I?

by Kittyfox77

Winry is forced into another world, in which she seems to be trapped. Rakka befriends Winry, and the duo try everything in their power to get Winry back home.

"I'm going away soon, Winry." He said as she dropped the plate of hot food in front of him.

Of everything that was wrong in that moment: the quiet, the sad look on his face, the awkwardness; what bothered Winry most was that he wouldn't look at her. Not once throughout their entire conversation would he look at her. Did she matter that little to him?

She turned away from Edward quickly and worked to untie her apron. Pretending to ignore him for a moment was much easier than trying to respond to that. That is, until her emotions got the better of her.

"You're leaving again! So soon? You've only been back for, what, a month?" she sputtered at the far wall.

"And Al's already packing. Soon it'll be my turn to stop mooching off of you and Granny."

"But you just got your bodies back! You always wanted to come home after things got back to normal, and now you want to leave again?" Winry felt like she was grasping at straws. She hung up her apron and turned to look at him.

"Look, Winry, I don't want to just sit around and watch you work. I want to go learn new things out in the world," he explained to his food.

"By yourself?"

"Al's going to Xing to learn alkahestry, and we decided that I would go to the west and see what was to learn there."

"Aren't you going to want company?"

Ed raised an eyebrow and began devouring his dinner. Between bites he chided, "Are you suggesting someone wants to come with me?"

"Well, why couldn't I?" Winry asked defensively, feeling as if her pride was being attacked.

"What about your customers and Granny?"

"What about them? They can take care of themselves while I'm gone!"

"You're going to leave Granny all alone? That's not very nice, now is it?" Ed chuckled. Winry, on the other hand, was not finding this to be amusing at all.

"And so you're going to leave me all alone instead?" she yelled. To her surprise, Ed still didn't look her in the face. He simply pushed his food around his plate in silence. "Ugh!" She ran out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

A million jumbled thoughts ran through Winry's head. She couldn't understand Ed's actions at all. After all that time that she had spent waiting for him, he finally comes home, and then he wants to leave again. Was she really that unlovable?

Winry wandered down the road numbly, not paying any attention to anything. It was a dark night, and it was only getting darker. Through her haze of tears, she couldn't see the road well, and she managed to stumble quite a few times.

After the ninth or tenth time of nearly falling flat on her face, she was just thinking about calling it quits when she was unexpectedly lended a hand. Since she couldn't see very well, she automatically assumed it was Ed.

"I'm still mad at you, you know."

"Well that's alright," an unfamiliar voice said, "I guess I deserve it, after all that I'm about to do to you."

Before fear was even allowed to register in Winry's mind, a cloth was over her face and she was falling into unconsciousness.

….

"Granny, have you seen Winry anywhere?" Ed called upstairs.

"No. I thought she was with you." she called back.

"Dammit." he cursed under his breath. Winry had left more than two hours ago.

"She's not in her room?" Ed called again.

"No. Her door is wide open. What's the matter, Ed?" But Granny didn't get an answer. Ed was already out the door, running to a neighbor's house. Alphonse was staying over with an old friend tonight, but unfortunately, Ed was going to have to cut the party short.

….

"You don't know where she is?" Al asked incredulously.

"She got mad and stormed out. How was I supposed to know she would get lost in her own hometown?" Ed shouted.

"You told her didn't you? That we're leaving."

Ed grumbled for a moment. "So are you helping me or not?"

"Of course we are," Al's friend, Hachiken, cried, "and I'll get some friends to help us too!"

"Thanks." Al said to him, "Now let's go, brother!"

…

Reki was taking care of the young feathers, as she did every day. If she hadn't been with them, she couldn't help but wonder if she alone would have noticed the light coming from the forest near the wall.

"Look, Reki! Over by the wall!" they cried, their little voices working to be heard over one another.

Reki, who had been trying to remember her cocoon dream for the millionth time, looked up into the sky. And sure enough, a bright light was shining above the usual place where Haibane go for their day of flight. Had she lost yet another friend?

"I wanna go see!" the kids called to her. They pulled at her skirts, begged and pleaded, and some even cried, but she refused every one of them. They wouldn't be going into the forest any time soon, especially not with the threat of snow upon them. As if they were allowed to go in the forest when there was better weather.

Reki chided herself for such a stupid thought, and then began trying to herd the kids inside. The light was still shining brightly, which was odd. Normally the light didn't take that long to go out. As she pushed the young feathers along, some escaped her grasp and continued to look up.

Reki couldn't help but follow their gazes, and that was when she saw it. There had never been anything to see in the light before, but today, there was something there. Was it…. a body? And then Reki realized that the body wasn't moving up, but down. Someone was falling!

Before the kids could realize what was going on and spread all kinds of groundless rumours among the others, Reki pushed them all inside.

"Nothing to see here, guys. C'mon, hurry up. I don't want to have to deal with you all catching pneumonia." she chided.

Once inside, Reki got all the kids under the care of the nice old lady that liked to help out. It always killed her that she could never remember that lady's name, but now really wasn't the time to worry about that.

"I'll be back later." Reki said quickly. She then ran off to the small clock tower located across the courtyard of Old Home. Kana was sure to be there.

"Kana!" Reki called up. She waved her arms at the small window at the top of the tower, and hoped her voice wasn't carried away by the wind.

As she waited impatiently, Reki tried to light a cigarette, which turned out to be a total failure. After many a try, Reki shoved the cigarette back in her pocket and glared at the sky. With all this wind, there was definitely going to be a storm, which meant they needed to…

"Hurry up!" Reki yelled at the tower. If someone didn't show up in about one second, she was going to go up there herself, and then things would get ugly.

Fortunately for everyone, Rakka appeared at the base of the tower not a moment later.

"There you are! I didn't know you were with Kana today." Reki said.

Rakka nodded enthusiastically. "What's up?" she asked, her gentle voice almost not making it to Reki's ears. Stupid wind.

"We need to hurry! Go get Kana down here. I'll explain everything on the way." Reki told her.

Rakka nodded again and ran back into the clock tower. There wasn't time to get the other Haibane- they were working in town. And town just happened to be in the opposite direction of where Reki and the others needed to go.

Instead of senselessly waiting, Reki decided to get the motor scooter and a bike ready. They needed to move quickly, or whoever had just fallen out of the sky would get left alone in this storm. And from the way the temperature was dropping, Reki was afraid that it was going to be a snow storm.

While pulling out a bike, Rakka and Kana ran up from behind.

"Good, you're here," she said without looking up. "We have to go. You two have jackets on right?"

"Uh, yeah. But where are we going?" Kana asked stubbornly.

"We're going to the forest. I'll explain as soon as we get moving. Now come on!"

"The forest? Are you crazy?" Kana called, trying to be heard over the ever increasing wind, "A storm's coming!"

"I thought we weren't allowed in the forest, Reki." Rakka reminded them.

"Look, I know this seems crazy, but someone fell out of the sky, and we need to rescue them." Reki said seriously as she hopped on the scooter.

"What?" Kana asked. Reki grumbled incoherently.

Kana leaned over to Rakka to whisper: "You think she caught a cold or something?" Rakka shook her head seriously.

"Reki doesn't make things up like this. It's not like her. I think she's telling the truth."

Kana shrugged. "Well whatever. At least this will be interesting. I wasn't getting anywhere with that stinking clock."

And so the trio made their way to the edge of the forest. They all watched the sky anxiously, and Reki pushed her motor scooter as hard as it would go. Once they hit the forest, Reki tried to prop up her scooter for a moment, but when the wind pushed it over, she completely ignored it. Instead she started trekking across the uneven terrain.

Rakka and Kana shared a look. Reki was always very careful with her scooter- she loved that thing. For her to just leave it on the ground like that…

Trying to rush in a forest full of trees that seemed bent on tripping them was tough, but the girls made it through. It wasn't great time, but it would have to do. Of course, to Reki's impatient mind, it felt like they had been walking all evening.

"C'mon! We're almost there!" Reki called to the straggling girls.

"We're coming; we're coming! Relax, Reki." Kana called, irritation coloring her words. She was tired and her legs were killing her. Rakka seemed tired as well, so Kana was trying to speak on her behalf. Kana knew that the young Haibane would never say that she was tired- it just wasn't in her personality, especially not when Reki was so bent on going to "save" someone.

Finally, they reached the clearing where the Haibane went for their day of flight. Reki immediately broke into what can be considered a run, since it was rather difficult to run in a skirt. Rakka ran after her, feeling like she needed to be there for Reki, and Kana ambled behind them- she still didn't really believe this whole "falling person" thing.

It was only when Kana came upon Reki and Rakka leaning over a body that she believed the story, and even then she wasn't so sure.

"B-but how? And then… She fell?" Kana spluttered, completely at a loss. Reki, on the other hand, was working with the precision of a well-trained doctor.

"She's still alive and breathing." she told Rakka as she leaned over the body. It was a girl with bright blonde hair, and Rakka didn't have a clue as to how old she was. For some reason though, that's what caught her curiosity the most. When she asked the others, they said they had no idea.

"I hope she'll be O.K. I wonder where she came from…" Rakka muttered, not really aiming the statement at anyone in particular.

"Alright, I don't think she hit her head, so we should move her before this storm hits." and then, as if to spite Reki and all of her kind efforts- it began to pour rain.

…

"You know, I think I would've preferred snow. It's cold enough to be snowing." Kana complained as she carried the unconscious girl.

In their haste to get there, no one brought an umbrella or anything of the sort, so Reki took off her jacket and tried to cover the girl with it.

"It's all we've got." Reki sighed.

When Rakka tried to give up her jacket too, the others wouldn't have it.

"We don't need any more sick people around. Reki's going to be a big enough pain as it is." Kana barked.

"Oh thanks."

"You're welcome."

The trio laughed. They were trying to make the trip a bit easier with their light-hearted chatter. Now that it was pouring rain, the sky had darkened so much that they could barely see right in front of them, and it didn't help that the sun was setting somewhere on the hidden horizon. Plus, Kana and Reki had to take turns carrying a girl almost their size.

After more than two hours of anxious wandering, they finally found the road. They were all soaked through, and it didn't look like the rain was going to let up any time soon. The mysterious girl was shaking in Reki's arms, and they couldn't even use the scooter.

"You mean we're going to have to walk home?" Kana whined, despair written across her features.

"I can't balance her on my scooter, and you've already got one person too many on your bike." Reki replied tiredly.

"Don't we have a curfew?" Rakka asked suddenly as they walked along the road.

"Oh great," Reki sighed, "You're right, Rakka. Let's hope that we somehow get away with this."

"And how do you figure that's going to work?" Kana asked. "The Haibane Renmei always knows what's going on."

Reki ran a hand over her face and sighed. "I don't know. Let's just focus on getting home."

And finally, they did make it back to Old Home. They were welcomed by the other Haibane, who were sitting around anxiously in the guestroom.

"Where have you been?" Hikari asked angrily. She stood up when they all walked into the room, and after her initial outburst, she simply stared.

"Sorry we're late. It's a bit of a long story," Reki said as she put the still unconscious girl on the guest bed that took up a corner of the room.

"You three- no four, look like a mess," Nemu said gently. Looking at themselves, they saw that Nemu was right. They were still dripping with rain, and Rakka was shivering almost uncontrollably.

Hikari sighed, resigning from her previous anger. "I'll go make some tea to warm you all up."

In the meantime, Reki told the story of the mystery girl.

"Only you would come upon something like this, Reki," Nemu said with a smile when Reki had finished.

Reki smiled back, looking extremely tired. She had stationed herself at the head of the guest bed and was helping the girl however she could. The poor thing was still shaking from cold, but was burning up with a fever at the same time. Hikari had already brought everyone tea, and now they were all just sitting quietly.

"Reki, why don't you go to bed? I can watch her for a while," Hikari said.

"No, I'm fine. I found her; she's my responsibility."

"You look like you're about to fall over. In fact, all of you do," Kuu pointed out.

Kana and Rakka were leaning on one another on a chair, blinking rapidly.

"We're awake!" Kana slurred. It was when Rakka fell out of the chair a few moments later that they finally conceded.

"Alright alright. Rakka and I are going to bed," Kana said, picking up Rakka and pushing her out of the room.

Reki, on the other hand, was trying to be more stubborn. "Don't you have work in the morning, Hikari?"

"Nope! I've got the day off tomorrow. There's nothing to worry about, Reki. You can come watch your charge in the morning."

Reki crossed her arms stubbornly.

"At least go take a bath and warm up some more," Nemu chided.

Grumbling with annoyance, Reki left to take a bath.

…

Ed and Al walked down the street together, calling out Winry's name sporadically. It was getting later, and Ed was exceedingly worried.

"You don't think she's hiding from me, do you?" Ed asked suddenly.

Al pondered quietly for a moment before responding, "No. I don't think so. She wouldn't want to worry Granny like this."

Ed sighed before continuing to call for Winry.

A little while later, Alphonse paused for a moment, staring at the ground. Ed had been walking a little bit farther behind, desperately searching through the darkness for any sign of movement. Whilst looking around so intensely, Ed almost ran into his younger brother, having not expected him to stop so suddenly.

"What is it, Al?"

Alphonse didn't respond, but pointed silently at the ground as he continued to observe it. Ed followed his brother's finger, only to find what looked like the signs of a small skirmish etched into the dirt. For a few feet, it looked like something (or someone) had been dragged before the trail suddenly ended.

"What the hell?" Ed asked rhetorically.

It looked like the scene of a kidnapping.

…..

Winry awoke to a splitting headache and a deep seeded, unexplainable fear. Everything hurt, especially the sounds of muffled voices that hit her ears. She wanted to see Ed. Right now.

"Ed," she whispered. Was Ed the one talking right now? He sounded so far away, but she wanted him to be close to her.

"Ed…. Ed…. Ed…." she muttered, her voice getting stronger with each utterance of his name.

And then everything that had happened hit her like a disturbing train wreck to her brain. She opened her eyes and sat up as quickly as she could.

"ED!" She screamed, looking around frantically. Where was he? Was she still kidnapped? Where was her wrench when she needed it!

Winry was surprised to feel firm hands on her chest, pushing her back until she was lying down again. Looking up, she saw that the hands belonged to an angel.

Winry blinked rapidly. An angel? Oh crap! That meant she had died!

"No, wait! This is a mistake! I couldn't have died!" she cried, pushing away at the angel's hands.

More angels appeared to stare at Winry, who stared back in shock.

"No… That guy couldn't have killed me. Ed… Ed would've saved me." Winry sputtered, and before she could stop them, tears were running down her face.

"It was just a stupid fight! I didn't think…. I didn't even get to say goodbye! I just didn't want him to leave because I love him. And I didn't even get to tell him that." Winry covered her face with her hands and bawled. She couldn't understand how this happened.

Reki's eyebrows were raised as high as they could go. This girl thought she was dead? Well, she supposed they did look a bit like angels…

Kana was laughing hysterically. All the older Haibane were eating breakfast when the blonde girl had started muttering a few moments ago. She didn't know what the others might have been expecting, but Kana for one, had not been expecting blondie to think that they were angels. It was just too ironic!

"Angels?" Kana managed in between giggles. "We are definitely not angels."

But the distraught girl didn't pay Kana any attention. In fact, the girl did nothing but cry. Reki tried to get her to listen to reason, but she wouldn't have it. Sighing, Reki pulled out a cigarette and told the others that they should get to work or else they would all be late.

It was then that the mystery girl looked up.

"A cigarette?" she asked incredulously as she wiped away her tears.

"Uh, yeah. You want one or something?" Reki asked.

They stared at one another with confused faces until the girl finally stated: "Well then you weren't making that up. You can't possibly be angels."

"Oh now she gets it." Kana sighed as she got her stuff together for work.

"And how do you figure that?" Reki asked, genuinely interested in her logic.

"I'm not sure if I believe in god or anything, but I definitely know that angels would never smoke. That's got to be like, a paradox or something." Winry explained matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Kana asked, making a face.

"Makes sense to me!" Kuu piped up.

"So does that mean I'm not dead?" Winry asked hopefully.

"Well, uh…" Reki said, suddenly at a loss for words.

"How about some breakfast?" Hikari pitched in.

"Oh no you don't! Ed does that to me all the time and I've finally learned to spot it. You're not changing the subject until I get an answer. If I'm dead, why are you offering me food?" Winry asked stubbornly.

The Haibane all exchanged looks. It seemed that everyone was looking to Reki to answer this question, and she wasn't really looking forward to it.

She took a long drag of her cigarette as she searched for the right words.

"You're not dead, but you probably can't go back to wherever you came from," Reki explained simply. Winry stared at her in confusion and desperation as Reki moved to sit beside her on the bed.

"You guys should probably head out now," Reki told the other Haibane again. "Where are you headed today, Rakka?"

"I think I'm going to stay here," Rakka answered.

Reki nodded and then turned her attention back to her ward as the others went to work. Hikari had decided to use her day off to go help the young feathers in Reki's place.

"First, let me explain where you are," Reki began. Rakka moved to sit at the table as she too, listened to Reki's explanation of the world around her.

And after a long explanation of where she was, who the Haibane were, and who the Toga were; Winry learned about Glie and all its intricacies.

"So how did I get here?" Winry asked.

"You fell out of the sky." Reki explained, feeling a bit foolish at such a strange answer. Oddly enough, the girl just went along with it.

"I can believe that. Though I have no idea what caused this. If only I could remember what happened after I got kidnapped!" Winry sighed angrily.

"You were kidnapped?" Rakka asked, concerned.

"Yeah, by some freaky guy. All he said was that he going to make the Elric brothers pay. Oh I feel horrible! Poor Ed and Al were planning on leaving Risembool to study abroad, and now they 're probably postponing everything to look for me!"

Reki and Rakka exchanged a look. They had no idea what the girl was talking about.

"So where are you from?" Reki asked.

"Risembool. Located in the country of Amestris." Winry stated. "What country is Glie in?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Reki shrugged her shoulders. "It's something I've wondered about for seven years."

"Seven years? You've been here for seven years? How could you stand being trapped inside this city for so long?" Winry asked, fear in her eyes.

"Well, I've made friends. Eventually, you get past it."

"I've only been here a few hours and I already feel like the world is closing in on me. You said the whole city was surrounded by a wall, right?" Winry asked as she started taking deep breaths.

"Yeah," Reki answered, confused. "So what?"

"Can you help me get outside please? I feel like I'm about to have a panic attack."

"I'm not sure that's-"

"Please!" Winry cut her off. "I can't breathe. Please help me outside."

Hopping to her feet, Reki put an arm around Winry's shoulders and gently helped her out of bed. Rakka opened the door that led out to the balcony, and the three of them made their way outside. Winry continued to breathe deeply as she used Reki as a crutch.

"You…can see the wall from here." Winry whispered before passing out.

"I told her it wasn't a good idea to get out of bed." Reki admonished as she carried Winry back inside.

"Is she going to be O.K?" Rakka asked with concern.

"I hope so." Reki sighed, feeling an unexplainable guilt. As if this girl's situation was her fault for some reason.

….

"Ed!" Winry cried as she practically fell out of bed.

"Sorry. I don't know who that is," one of the Haibane said.

"Oh," Winry leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes again. "Umm, it's Rakka, right?"

"That's right! Wait, how did you know that?"

"Your friend called you that. The one that smokes," she explained as she opened her eyes again.

"Oh that's Reki. And I don't know your name."

"Oh right. Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Winry." Winry extended a hand, and Rakka stared at it with a confused expression. When Winry realized she wasn't getting a handshake, she giggled and put her hand back down. "Guess handshakes aren't popular here," she said to herself. "So where is Reki?"

"She went to go check on the young feathers."

"The younger Haibane, right?"

"Yep!" Rakka said, chipper as usual. "Umm, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course!"

"How old are you?"

Winry couldn't help but laugh. It was just such a normal question for such an odd situation. "I'm eighteen."

Rakka stared at Winry after that, thinking about who knows what. "And who's Ed?" She asked suddenly.

Winry looked at the blankets shyly. She didn't know why she was embarrassed to tell Rakka about Ed. It's not like they would even get a chance to meet. She sighed.

"Ed is my childhood friend."

"But didn't you say you wanted to tell him you loved him?" Rakka asked.

"How astute of you to remember." Winry laughed. "Yes, I want to marry him some day."

Rakka watched Winry as she seemed to be looking at something that wasn't actually there. She had such a euphoric expression on her face that Rakka just kept quiet until Winry looked at her again.

"Umm, sorry Rakka. I guess I was daydreaming."

"It's O.K. You looked so happy. May I ask what you were thinking about?"

Winry blushed. "I was thinking about Ed."

Rakka laughed. She didn't really understand love, but she knew that it made people do silly things, like daydream about other people in the middle of a conversation.

"Wait, I thought you and Ed got into a fight?" Rakka asked innocently.

"Yeah… We did…" Winry played with the edge of the blanket.

"Then shouldn't you be mad at him?" Rakka was very confused.

"Well, I've been thinking about it since I got here, and I'm pretty sure the fight was my fault. I think I understand how Ed felt now. It's the same way I feel when I think about being stuck in this town. My chest feels like it's going to collapse, and my heart beats faster and faster. And there's no escape."

"But how could your friend feel that way?"

"He was staying at my house with nothing to do. He helped out sometimes, but for the most part, he was just sitting around. Ed's used to traveling all over the place; he hasn't had a real home for almost eight years. Staying in one place for so long with no objective; I guess that would make him feel claustrophobic." Winry explained, as much to Rakka as to herself.

"But how does that make the fight your fault?" Rakka was glad to help Winry think through this, as she finally realized that was what she was doing.

"Well I was angry with him for wanting to leave. I was being a brat and pretending that everything was about me, when it really wasn't. I took offense to the fact that Ed said he wanted to leave my house, but I wasn't thinking about how he felt." Winry paused as realization hit her. "Ed wouldn't look at me when he told me he was leaving. I thought it was because he didn't care, but it wasn't like that at all. He didn't want to see me hurt. He didn't want to hurt me. I'm such an awful person!" Winry dropped her head in her hands in despair.

Rakka didn't really understand anymore.

"So now what?" She asked.

"I've gotta get home. I've got to apologize, and tell Ed that I'm alright."

"But no one can leave! What are you going to do?" Rakka asked.

"I don't know. I'll think of something."

…

At the same time, there was a lot going on in Risembool. To the pleasant surprise of Ed and Al, everyone in Risembool was willing to help them on their hunt for Winry. It didn't matter to a soul that it was nearly four in the morning; they were all searching valiantly for the kidnapped girl.

Friends of Al's, friends of Ed's, friends of Pinako's, friends of Hachiken's, neighbors, friends of neighbors, and even complete strangers joined the search.

With so many people, they were sure to find her- that was what they all thought. It's doubtful that even Ed thought she would be in a completely different plane of existence.

It was five a.m. and about six hours had passed since her disappearance. Word traveled to Ed and Al, who had been searching together, that someone found an abandoned hut way off the beaten path. It sounded like the perfect place for some creep to set himself up.

Ed was pretty sure whoever it was that was holed up there was armed and dangerous.

"Don't let anyone go in there before us. I don't want anyone getting hurt." Ed called to everyone around him. He didn't want anyone to try and play the hero. "C'mon Al. We're probably going to need alchemy."

"Right behind you, brother."

The brothers eventually found the aforementioned hut, with assistance from the friendly groups that were roaming around looking for Winry. The sun was barely peeking over a hill when they reached their destination.

"Ready, Al?" Ed asked. They were standing outside the hut, attentively watching in case the kidnapper decided to strike.
"Ready when you are, brother."
"Alright, on three then." The duo positioned themselves on either side of the decrepit door. "One," Ed whispered. "Two," Al grimaced. "Three," Ed turned, kicked the door in, and the brothers barged into the tiny hut.

After the initial shock of busting down the door, Ed and Al found themselves in what was, quite literally, an abandoned hut. In other words, their kidnapper wasn't waiting inside, armed and ready.

"Might as well look around." Ed muttered, put off by the lack of criminals.

The floor of the hut held nothing but a couch and a table. The couch was placed at an odd angle, completely cutting off one corner of the hut from view. Ed meant to check there first, but, upon second glance, he noticed there were shelves lining the walls, which held all kinds of bottles and alchemic tools. His attention was then diverted to the small table in the center of the hut that was covered with papers, and upon investigation, it was found that the papers were full of odd alchemic equations.

"Transportation?" Al asked as he read one of the papers.
"It looks like whoever this guy was, he was investigating how to teleport people."
Al paled considerably. "You don't think…" He whispered.

The duo quickly looked around the hut again, finally moving beyond the mysterious papers. It was behind the couch- the dead body. Ed came upon it first, and Al was right behind him.

Al gasped in horror, while Ed just stared quietly.

"Al, I'd like you to meet our kidnapper." The brothers stood in silence, surveying the scene. There was an alchemic circle drawn crudely on the floor in what looked like blood. After checking the man for open wounds though, Ed was able to confirm that it was his blood and not Winry's, which was quite a relief.

"Who is he? And why did he kidnap Winry? And where is Winry?" Al asked, perplexed.
"I don't know, Al," Ed answered. He continued to search among the papers as Al looked around the rest of the hut.
"Hey brother, check this out!" Alphonse said excitedly. He was under the table, and he came up with a sheet of paper that neither of them had noticed before. Ed leaned over his brother's arm and read:

Dear Elric brothers,

You may have noticed that your precious girly friend is missing. I, the best alchemist in the world (and the most underappreciated), have stolen her from you to get your attention. If you are reading this right now, it means that my mission to teleport her was a success. Now I am in a faraway land, making myself rich off of your friend's sacrifice. I'd thank her for all her hard work, but she was REALLY annoying. She wouldn't stop crying "Ed, Ed, Ed,". Geez, it was enough to drive a guy nuts! Too bad I ran out of chloroform, huh? Anyway, I hope you brothers now realize who the best alchemist in the whole world is. Please come by and worship me when I take over everyone, k?

Your best enemy, The Transcending Alchemist

"….." The Elric brothers looked at one another, back at the note, and then at the dead body on the floor.
"Umm, I guess it never occurred to him that he might fail…" Al said, sounding perplexed.
"He was obviously a nut. Not to mention a moron." Ed said, sighing.

He was tired of this nonsense. He thought retiring from the position of state alchemist would finally get him away from all these psychos. But now someone had invaded his hometown, stolen Winry, and now she was missing. It wasn't right. If the guy hadn't died from his own alchemy, Ed felt sure he would have killed him himself.

"Who was he anyway? I've never heard of him." Al thought aloud, still staring at the letter.
"I don't know. I've never heard of him either."
"Are you sure it wasn't some guy you fought with at one time or another?"
"Maybe... I don't know! There were a lot of guys I fought with, and a lot more that didn't like me." Ed huffed as he paced around the small hut.
"So now what do we do, brother?"

Ed stood still for a while, staring at the scene in front of him. He hated the plan that was taking shape in his mind, but the more he mulled it over, the more he realized it was the only thing they could do to save Winry.

"Al, I think we're going to have to try again." Ed whispered, regretting the words as soon as he said them. Al must hate him for asking this. What kind of monster would ask their brother to be willing to give himself up again, when he had just gotten back to normal? Ed prepared himself to get hit, in case Al decided to punch him for such an awful statement.

Waiting for an extremely negative reaction, it wasn't too hard to see why Ed was more than a little surprised when his brother readily agreed to his proposal.
"Ok," Al said, voice steady. Ed eyed Al, very confused, to say the least.
"But…But Al… It's human transmutation we're trying. You get that, right?" Ed stammered, at a loss.
"Brother," Al began. "I understand what you're asking from me. It's O.K. We'll just have to make sure we do a lot of research beforehand, that's all," he smiled reassuringly as he finished.

Ed stared at his little brother in wonder. All this time, Al was so strong in every situation. It was more than admirable. It was… amazing.

Ed smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Al." Al smiled back. "Well, come on! Let's get to work!" Ed said suddenly, feeling awkward all of a sudden.
"Don't you think we should fill in everyone else first? They're still out there searching."
"Oh… I guess you're right."

Al laughed, happy to help his brother and Winry. After all, Ed needed help to make sure he didn't get carried away with this sort of thing.

…

It was the fifth day since Winry had shown up in the city of Glie. Fortunately, she was feeling much better, and had begun walking around Old Home sometime yesterday. Since the other Haibane had to work, Winry thought she would be spending more time alone, which is exactly what she wanted. With no one around, it would've been much easier to sneak away and find out what she could about this place, but, unfortunately for her, Rakka had plenty of free time.

….

Winry got out of bed and stretched slowly, as she usually did. She needed to get up and start on breakfast- she had just bought some yummy biscuits that she wanted Ed and Al to try. As was her usual routine, she still hadn't opened her eyes. She did this because the sun always shined particularly brightly in her room in the early morning. To cope with the unusual brightness, Winry had learned to stretch and dress in the morning without her sight.

So after her stretch, Winry slowly got off her bed and went to make her way across her room. Sadly, she never even made it to her dresser. After taking only one full step, she slammed her leg into a table and fell right on her backside.

It was as she was falling that Winry realized she wasn't in her room.

…..

Rakka ran down the hallway as fast as she could. She was on her way to check on Winry when she heard a loud thump come from the guest room. The hallway seemed so much longer when she really needed to get to where she was going.

Bursting in the door, Rakka found Winry sobbing on the floor. Rakka stood on the threshold, afraid to bother Winry. After the past few days, Rakka had learned that Winry was inconsolable when she was crying like this.

After standing awkwardly for a few moments, Rakka decided to go make some tea. It's what the others always did for her when she was upset, and it always helped a little. Maybe it would help Winry a little, too.

When the tea was finished, Rakka brought it out to Winry, who was sitting on the bed- an improvement from her sorry position on the floor earlier. She had stopped crying, and now she was just staring at her hands. Rakka put the tea cup into Winry's open hand. The older teen smiled appreciatively and took a sip.

"Thank you, Rakka," Winry said.

"You're welcome."

The two sat in silence for a while, with Winry just staring at the contents of her tea cup. Rakka watched Winry with interest. She still didn't truly understand love, but Rakka understood part of why Winry was so sad. When Winry told Rakka about her family, her parents, Grannie, Ed, and Al; it made sense that Winry was sad. It reminded Rakka of how she felt- how she wondered about the previous life that was shrouded in her thoughts.

"So what are you doing today, Rakka?" Winry asked, sounding unnaturally chipper.

Rakka gave her an odd look before answering, "Well I was going to help Reki today, but we decided I should spend the day with you."

Dang, Winry thought. That throws a wrench into my plans. I really wanted to… Well maybe I can convince Rakka to help me.

"That's nice! Are you sure you want to spend the day with me though? Wouldn't you rather be with your friend?" Winry asked sincerely.

"No, I'm fine. I'd rather show you around, actually."

"Would we be able to go to town?"

Rakka thought for a moment. "I don't see why not."

"Cool!" Winry enthused. She hadn't been well enough to go out before today.

"Oh, actually we need to go to town. Reki said we should buy you a jacket. It's getting colder, and we don't have any extra jackets around for you."

"That's very sweet of you, but I don't think you should have to buy me anything." Winry said, hoping she would be out of here before she needed a jacket. Buying something just seemed too… permanent. Like she was giving up on the idea of getting out of this cage.

"It's O.K. It'll be fun!" Rakka chimed, walking over to where her coat was hanging. With some trepidation, Winry followed as Rakka beckoned. She needed to get to out of Old Home anyway. She was just hoping that she could get to do what she wanted before having to actually get to town.

….

After letting Reki know where they were going, the duo headed out of Old Home. Winry was enthralled by her surroundings. The windmills were a new sight for Winry, and a whole field of them was especially enticing.

"It's beautiful here." Winry stated simply.

Rakka nodded, smiling. "See? It's not so bad here."

Winry noted the hopeful expression on Rakka's face. Would Winry miss the little brown haired girl if she left? The idea hadn't occurred to her before. Winry had only thought of her as a kind stranger- like the person you met on the train that helped you get your bags. That's not the type of person you remember for the rest of your life, nor are they someone you ever see again.

Shaking away those pesky thoughts, Winry looked at the scenery again. As she looked at the forest on her left, it became more obvious where the wall was. She gulped, feeling her chest compress on itself. Despite any feelings she may have about the people here, she wasn't sure how long she could handle this intense claustrophobia.

"So Rakka, do you think you could show me where I fell from?" Winry asked. She wasn't sure how else to broach the subject, so she thought she might as well ask flat out. Maybe Rakka would agree.

Rakka continued walking, but gave Winry a wide-eyed look. "Why would you want to do that? It's very close to the wall."

"Aren't you curious about the wall, though? And maybe that place can give me a clue about how to get home."

Rakka seemed anxious at these statements. "Well, I am a curious. But Reki says we can't touch the wall…" she let her statement drift off as she thought.

"Well than we just won't touch the wall! Come on, Rakka! It'll be an adventure!" And with those statements, Winry started pulling Rakka towards the woods.

"Hey, wait! I'm not sure this is a good idea!" Rakka protested.

Unnoticed, or just ignored by Winry, Rakka could do nothing but follow along with the energetic blonde's wishes.

That wasn't too difficult, Winry thought to herself. She had easily convinced Rakka to come with her and show her where she had popped up.

Fortunately, it was still fairly early in the morning, so if things took longer than expected, no one would come looking for them for quite a while. And as of right now, things were taking longer than expected. Although the wall was easily seen from most points in the town, that didn't mean it was all that close. In fact, Winry guessed that they had already walked five miles, and the wall didn't look any closer!

"Do you think we're almost there, Rakka?" Winry asked, cursing her sore feet.

"Almost!" Rakka replied, sounding slightly apprehensive.

"It's going to be a piece of cake once we get there." Winry mused, trying to comfort Rakka as she planned on exactly what she was going to do.

….

"Brother…."

"….."

"Brother?"

"….."

"Brother!"

"What, Al? What is it?" Ed asked, practically hopping out of his skin. He had been very comfortably leaning his head on his arm while looking over some alchemic research until Alphonse had made him fall flat on his face on the table.

"You scared me there for a minute," Al sighed.

"Well I was thinking!" Ed grumbled, rubbing his, now sore, nose.

"It looked more like you were sleeping," Al giggled.

"Oh, shut up! It's two in the morning, for crying out loud!" Ed cried groggily.

"You were the one that said you wanted to keep going." Al defended, a little bit hurt, but more amused than anything else.

Ed seethed for a moment, but quickly got over it. "In any case, how are we in the research department?"

"Well, that's why I was trying to "interrupt" you. I think we're done."

"Everything's ready?" Ed asked, completely awake now.

"We just need some chalk," Al said seriously.

Ed scrambled in his pocket until he procured two pieces of small, white chalk. Handing one to his brother, the duo went over to their papers one more time.

"Are you sure about this, Al?"

"Of course I'm sure, Ed. Winry's just as much my friend as she is yours. This is important." Al answered.

Ed took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "It looks like everything's in place. You're just going to teleport me, using the same transmutation as the kidnapper, with a few modifications. That way, I'll go to the same place as Winry, and the alchemy itself won't…" Ed hesitated.

"…it won't kill me." Al finished, not hesitating in the slightest.

"Right," Ed breathed, feeling more than guilty. Of all the times to not have alchemy! He would give anything to not have to risk his brother's life like this. "Anyway," Ed continued, trying to shake off those unwanted thoughts. "You're going to keep the flow of energy open long enough for me to find Winry, grab her, and get out of there. Are you sure you'll be able to hold the transmutation that long?" Ed asked as worry spread across his features.

"I'll be fine, brother. Really, we've done enough research this time. It'll work out." Despite his misgivings on what may or may not happen, Al couldn't let his brother give up on this. They couldn't just leave Winry, wherever she was. It didn't really matter what happened to him at this point, they just needed to save Winry. Being an optimist though, Al was hoping for the best.

Without another word, Al started drawing the transmutation circle on the ground. They had decided, for safety purposes, to work out of the abandoned hut that Winry had been kept in. Despite its creepy and depressing aura, it was well enough away not to involve anyone else in the issue.

It had taken some effort to convince the people of Risembool that they would get Winry back. Ed and Al had been quite secretive about the whole ordeal, which, of course, just made people more curious about it.

Al's friend, Hachiken, who had helped them so much in the search, wanted more than anything to help the brothers find Winry. When Al had to turn him down (he knew next to nothing about alchemy anyway) he was so intent on helping that he actually followed them to the hut once. When Ed spotted him spying on them, it took quite a lot to keep him quiet. In fact, they had to promise that they would teach him some alchemy, so that he would be able to help them in the future. Al had found the whole thing sweet; while Ed was just annoyed at the amount of time the guy had wasted them.

"Al, quit spacing!" Ed snapped.

"Sorry, brother," Al continued drawing the transmutation circle as Ed stood and watched, since he had already finished his part.

"Alright," Al stood up and dusted off his pants. Ed picked up a knife that had been lying on the table and handed it over to Al, not without trepidation. They had grabbed it from Winry's kitchen the day before to use exactly for this. Al had made sure it was the sharpest knife in the house- he didn't want the cut to be too shallow.

"How much blood did we say, Ed?" Al asked as he held his arm over a beaker.

"About two pints," Ed gulped. That was a lot more blood than he wanted to see his brother lose. It just wasn't fair! If he had alchemy, Ed could be the one doing the most dangerous parts. He hated leaving this up to his brother. It wasn't even his problem!

Al held the blade to his skin, his hands shaking.

"Al, stop! Don't do this! There has to be another way. I'll do it! Please!" Ed cried suddenly, hating this situation more with every passing second.

Al looked at Ed, and then looked at his shaking hands. "Brother, I know you blame yourself for this, but it really isn't your fault. No matter what you say, it really isn't. Winry is our friend, and I want to help her too."

"It is my fault, Al. And I'll take all the blame for it. It's not fair that you're the one putting your life at risk. You were always the one that got the brunt of it. They were my faults, but you were the one taking all the blame. It's not fair, Al!" Ed tried to explain.

Al looked seriously at Ed. "I'm your brother. I want to help you. I know you're older, but it's ok if you ask your little brother for help. You might think otherwise, but you're the best big brother in the whole world, and I would do anything to help you. This is nothing."

"It's not nothing! Come on, Al, just let me do this!"

"You know as well as I do that the transmutation probably won't work if you give the blood. Mr. Crazy didn't use Winry's blood in the original transmutation."

"But what if that was what was wrong with the original transmutation?" Ed argued.

"We agreed that it was his lunacy and his lack of research that made the transmutation kill him." Alphonse sighed.

"But what if it wasn't? Please, Al!" Ed started to move over to Al, meaning to take the knife away from him, but the younger blonde was much faster. With a hiss, Al slashed his arm, making sure that he was leaning over the top of the beaker. Collecting the blood first would be far easier than just letting himself bleed out on the floor.

"Alphonse!" Ed shouted, definitely exaggerating, in Al's opinion.

"I'm O.K."

"But, Al!"

"I'm fine! Just give me some time." Al said, motioning towards his bleeding arm.

Ed stared at his brother's arm, blanching quite a bit. "I'm sorry, Al."

After a few minutes of waiting for Al to bleed, in which Ed constantly tried to make his brother feel more comfortable, the beaker was full enough.

"Alright, Al. Will you be O.K?"

"I feel alright. Just stand in the center. I hope this won't hurt." Al grimaced at the thought.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself, O.K?" Ed demanded as he picked up the beaker. He was disgusted when he realized that the beaker was warm. Ed put the beaker in the center of the transmutation, careful not to ruin the chalk on the floor.

Al nodded meekly before leaning on the ground again. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Al clapped his hands, feeling the energy flow through them as he placed them, palms down, on the ground. He watched his brother until everything was surrounded by a white light, and then he simply held still. There was wind whirling everywhere around him, and loose papers were flying around haphazardly, but Al stayed put. He couldn't let the flow of energy stop, or he would lose Winry and his brother.

…

Winry stepped between two trees growing closely together, and found herself in an open field. In the distance, there was nothing stopping Winry from seeing the wall from top to bottom. It was bleak and gray, and it did nothing to help her fast beating heart. In fact, it made her heart feel like it was inside a cage itself -her ribs could barely contain its fluttering.

Much closer to her, there were some odd looking ruins. There was barely anything left but a few steps leading up to a small pedestal. Everything else was greatly decayed or indistinguishable. Winry wondered vaguely what had been there before.

Rakka stepped up behind Winry, startling her momentarily. She had completely forgotten about the younger girl.

"This is it." Rakka whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" Winry whispered back.

"Because we're not supposed to be here, and it's creepy." Rakka answered.

"Fair enough. So, where did you find me?" Winry asked candidly.

"Over here," Rakka began, leading Winry towards the ruins. When they reached the top of the very short flight of steps, Rakka looked down at the pedestal. "You were right here."

Winry immediately began looking around. She didn't know too much about alchemy, but she knew enough to remember that it usually left some sort of a trace. Ed always seemed to know when someone had performed alchemy on something. But would a trace of alchemy last five days?

Wishing she knew the answers to these questions, Winry tried vainly to seek out something that would give her a clue. In the meantime, Rakka gave her a very odd look, especially when Winry got down on her hands and knees to look around more closely.

"What are you doing?" Rakka asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I'm not entirely sure. I guess I'm just looking for anything that may seem out of place." Winry explained as she looked around the pedestal.

"Well, I think that figure over there count as out of place." Rakka pointed out, noticing something that looked suspiciously like a person moving near the wall.

"What?" Winry yelped, hopping up and spinning around to follow Rakka's gaze. And sure enough, there was a figure, walking in front of the wall. "Get down!" Winry whispered suddenly, pulling Rakka behind the small pedestal.

"What are you doing?" Rakka whispered back.

"You said that we weren't allowed to be here, didn't you?"

"Oh. I guess you're right."

"I thought you said people never go near the wall!" Winry fought to keep her voice down, despite her anger and fear.

"It's true! People usually never go near the wall. It may actually be one of the Toga. They are the only ones allowed near the wall."

"The Toga? Like, the ones that could get me into trouble?" Winry heard the fear in her voice, and fought to control it. Being scared wouldn't solve anything.

"Well, they are the ones that would punish us for being here."

"What should we do?" Winry asked, unable to come up with a suitable plan at the moment.

"Umm," Rakka thought.

"Great. I guess we're just going to have to sit here and hope that that Toga person goes away." Winry huffed, as she tried to get more comfortable. This was totally ruining her plan! The only way this could get worse was if one of the other Haibane showed up. It had already been quite a few hours since they had left Old Home.

They waited a few minutes in silence, occasionally peeking over the pedestal to see if the Toga was still there. Unfortunately for the duo, they had to practically lie down to keep hidden, which was already starting to strain their necks.

"I'm scared, Winry." Rakka confessed a few minutes later. It appeared that the Toga was actually coming closer to them, and they were both getting a little freaked.

"Do you know what they do to people when they do things they aren't supposed to?" Winry asked. She wasn't resigning herself, not just yet, but she still wanted to know.

Rakka shook her head sorrowfully. "I've never gotten in trouble, since I haven't done anything like this before."

"Oh…" Winry blinked, feeling a little guilty for a moment. She quickly got over it though.

She suddenly felt silly, worrying about those Toga people. What did it matter if she got into trouble? Screw the people in charge! She didn't even belong here! Besides, she could get Rakka out of this. What was she so worried about?

"C'mon, Rakka. We're going to make a run for it, alright?" Winry told the younger girl.

"What? Isn't that risky?"

"It'll be fine! Besides, that Toga person is getting really close. If we run now, we'll have more of a chance."

"But-" Rakka tried to argue, but Winry wouldn't hear it.

"We'll be fine-" Winry started, but stopped short. She suddenly felt extremely boxed in. Thinking about moving away from the wall was setting her on edge, and she could barely stand the compression that she felt in her chest. Taking deep breaths, Winry tried to calm herself down. Apparently planning their escape had gotten her a bit too excited.

"Winry, are you O.K?" Rakka asked, worry crossing her features.

"Not really," Winry choked, trying her hardest to keep breathing.

"It's O.K. Just try to relax," Rakka soothed, trying to remember what else Reki had told her to say. Reki had tried to prepare Rakka for the eventuality of Winry having a panic attack while alone with her, but in the spur of the moment, everything flew out of her head. "Umm."

Winry peeked over the pedestal, trying to distract herself by checking on the Toga's whereabouts. The person was much closer than before, and Winry now had more than one fear to deal with.

"I…I don't…don't think I can move," Winry gasped, her hands at her throat.

"What are we going to do?" Rakka asked, panic starting to set in.

"Just- just leave me," Winry rasped. "It doesn't matter if I get in trouble."

"But-"

Winry just shook her head and pushed Rakka. She didn't have the air to argue any more than that. Rakka, now out in the open, had no choice but to flee. She felt horrible, but she knew that Winry was right. Winry wouldn't really get into trouble if she just said that she was lost, right?

Rakka tried to make herself feel better, but failed quite miserably. When she hit the trees, she hid and watched Winry. She couldn't bring herself to leave, even though her fear told her to keep running until she couldn't stand anymore.

Winry fought with her rising panic, trying to calm herself down enough so that she could at least breathe. It was ridiculous to think that she was so afraid of a wall, and yet, that didn't help her feel any better. The Toga was right next to the ruins now, and the once faraway figure was quite easy to see.

The Toga could have either been male or female, Winry wasn't sure. Even with their close proximity, Winry still couldn't see the face of the unknown person. All she could see was the robe-like clothing that the Toga wore.

Noticing the fine details of the Toga helped Winry calm down a little bit, but she was still short of breath, and she assumed that any second now the Toga would hear her labored breathing.

There. Winry saw the recognition. It was obvious in the way they turned their head, like they were trying to hear something better. Although the idea of resigning herself to being caught totally pissed her off, there was really nothing else that Winry could do at this point. She turned flat on her back and looked up at the sky, fearing the worst.

"Excuse me, but I've never seen you before," a kind, and obviously masculine, voice stated.

Winry opened her eyes and looked over at the Toga. She had been daydreaming for a few moments, trying to ignore the sounds of the Toga's footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Oh, hi," Winry said, trying to be chipper. She sounded like crap though, with her voice still raspy from choking on her own fear.

"Can you come with me, please?" The Toga asked.

Ohh, I guess it's really obvious that I'm not from here. Should I try to make a run for it? Winry thought to herself.

"Actually, I don't know if I can get up by myself." Winry stated honestly. She figured she might as well be honest, as it suited the moment.

"Are you alright?" the man sounded genuinely concerned.

"Well, I'm claustrophobic, so I keep having panic attacks." Winry explained. The Toga stood still for a moment, and Winry assumed he was thinking.

"Well, I need you to come with me. Would it be alright if I helped you along?"

"Why do I have to come with you?" Winry bluntly asked. She didn't know what kind of response to expect, but she had to ask.

"Would it be alright if I helped you along?" the Toga repeated.

This guy is seriously freaky. Going with him sounds like a horrible idea. I get the nasty feeling that if I go with him, I won't be able to come back here. Winry thought anxiously. What do I do now?

"No," came Winry's characteristically straightforward response.

"I'm sorry, but I really need you to come with me now."

Winry sensed she was getting on the man's patience rather quickly, and her situation was getting grim. What could she do?

The man leaned down to pick Winry up- it was all over now. Surprisingly, the man was incredibly strong underneath that big robe, and he lifted Winry with little effort. Despite her struggling, kicking, and punching, he had no trouble keeping a firm hold on her.

"Let go! Let go of me you idiot!" Winry cursed as she fought. She felt like she was being kidnapped all over again! And she knew how well that had turned out the last time…

Winry fought tooth and nail, but the Toga had no trouble walking with his abnormally irritating baggage. He made his way down the deteriorating steps, only to stop at the foot of them. The cause of his unexpected pause came not from Winry, but from the pedestal that he had been standing at only moments ago.

Winry too, noticed the oddity of the moment, and paused in her rambunctiousness to see what the commotion was. About ten feet above the pedestal, a purple circle was forming, and creating all sorts of windy havoc around it.

"That's alchemy!" Winry shouted over the noise. She was so elated, she didn't even care that the Toga had no idea what was going on. Taking his moment of confusion to her advantage, Winry punched the man in the face and struggled free.

It was as she was squirming out of the man's grasp that Ed dropped out of the purple light. Winry barely even got a glimpse of him before she was screaming his name.

"Ed! Edward! I'm right here!"

Ed whirred around, since he had fallen facing the opposite direction, and raced to Winry. They embraced quickly before they pulled back and looked at one another closely.

"Are you alright, Winry?" Ed asked, sounding breathless.

"I'm better now that you're here." Winry responded, so happy to see him that she didn't even care if she sounded cliché. Ed smiled at her for a moment, until reality kicked back in.

"We have to get back to Al! He's holding the portal open, and I don't know how long that will last." Ed fretted as he grabbed Winry by the hand and led her back up the small steps.

"Watch out!" a small voice called out.

Ed and Winry turned back, just in time to see the Toga regain his balance and race to stop the duo.

"You can't leave!" shouted the man, racing towards Winry, who seemed the weaker of the two. Ed quickly placed himself between the stranger and Winry, readying himself for a fight.

"Who the heck is this guy?" Ed asked Winry as the unknown man tried to grab him. Ed pushed himself and Winry out of the way, and tried to kick his adversary in the stomach. The kick missed, and seemed only to agitate the Toga.

"That's one of the Toga," a female voice responded. At first, Ed just assumed it was Winry, since she was the only other person with him. But after some quick thinking, it was very obvious that the voice was too high and pitchy to be Winry's. Ed tried to look around to find the source of the voice, but nearly got himself caught in the process. From then on, he learned not to take his eyes off the mysterious "Toga".

"Winry… who's the person answering my questions?" Ed asked, a bit perturbed at the thought of another possible enemy. Al was running on a very short amount of time.

"I'm Rakka," the voice answered, coming from somewhere behind him.

"Winry?"

"I'm standing with Rakka; we're behind you. Rakka is a friend of mine. She found me unconscious and gave me a place to stay."

"Good," Ed replied tersely as he tried to evade the surprisingly swift Toga. How did he move that fast with that robe on? It couldn't be that lightweight.

"Sir, you can't leave. No one is allowed to leave," the Toga told Ed.

"This guy is starting to sound ridiculous," Ed commented. "Hey, can't you say anything else?" Ed shouted at him as he finally landed a punch on the man's nose. Ed paused, watching the Toga fall and twitch violently. "Apparently not."

Ed stood over the Toga for a moment, feeling guilty about the condition he had left the man in. He was terrified for a moment that he had killed him, but a quick inspection showed that his nose was broken, nothing else. The twitching was probably just from the pain.

Irritated, Ed simply left the man alone. They had already used up way too much time. It was a miracle that poor Alphonse hadn't passed out yet.

"C'mon Winry," Ed said as he pulled her towards the portal, "We're out of time. Let's go."

"But Ed-"

"Sorry, no time for goodbyes," over his shoulder he called to Rakka, "Thanks for taking care of Winry. I owe you a lot, but we really can't stay."

"Ed!" Winry called as she let him pull her to the top of the pedestal.

"What Winry? What?" Ed asked, exasperated. They stood underneath the portal, looking up at it.

"How are we going to get up there?" Winry pointed out, giving him a smug, yet irritated look.

Ed shot her irritation right back at her before he went to staring at the portal. How were they going to get up there?

"I think I can help with that." Rakka said, coming to stand beside Winry.

For the first time, Ed got to see Rakka. And he was left totally flabbergasted.

"She… Winry…. Winry, she has wings!" Ed exclaimed, at a complete loss for words.

"Ed. You said we didn't have time for this." Winry deadpanned.

"Right… Right. Of course," Ed repeated, shaking his head. "So, can you… fly us up there?" Ed asked tentatively, pointing to the out of reach portal.

Rakka shook her head. "Sorry, my wings don't work like that. I can't fly at all."

"Oh…" Ed paused, unsure now as to how she could help.

"Ed," Winry explained, realizing that Ed was a bit too confused at the moment to see the simplicity of the solution, "She can give us a boost."

Ed blinked a few times, looked at Rakka closely, and then nodded. "Right. Obviously. I knew that."

"Good. Now Rakka, do you think you could lift Ed up by yourself?"

"If I stand on her shoulders and jump, I should be able to touch the portal. That's all you have to do." Ed explained, finally regaining himself from his initial dumbfounded state.

"Alright!" Winry jumped up and down, more than ready to go home. She could still feel the anxiety of being surrounded by the wall. "The sooner the better!"

"Well… it was nice meeting you Winry," Rakka said shyly, "And you too Ed. Winry really likes you a lot, and it looks like you like her too. I hope you guys live long, happy lives."

Ed and Winry blushed profusely, and absolutely refused to look at one another. Rakka couldn't help but wonder if she had said something wrong. She would have to ask the others about it later.

"Thanks Rakka. It was great to meet you too. Thanks for everything."

Goodbyes over with, the trio got to work on getting to the portal. After a few minutes of painful maneuvering, they both managed to touch the portal, and the out of place lovers made it back to their own world.

…..

"Alphonse!" Ed cried. Ed and Winry had barely stepped back into their world before Al had collapsed. "Get me a bandage or something!" Ed cried to Winry, who immediately went scrounging around.

"Al! Al, hang in there!"

Winry brought a bandage, pushed Ed to the side, and set about fixing up Alphonse. "I don't want to move him. He looks exhausted." Winry said. Ed simply nodded in agreement. Guilt was washing over him in great waves, and he could barely stand up from the weight of it all.

Once Winry felt she had done all she could for Al, she noticed Ed's expression.

"This happened because of me… didn't it?" Winry noted, barely making it a question.

"No!" Ed argued vehemently, "This isn't your fault at all! It's entirely my fault. Al…. Al always takes the pain for my mistakes, for my problems. It's entirely my fault."

"What are you talking about? I was the one who caused all this. I didn't think about how you felt when you said you wanted to leave. I was being a needy bitch, and if I had been more mature, than I never would've gotten kidnapped."

"Winry, that guy was after you because of me. He didn't like me because of my work in the military, and he kidnapped you because you're friends with me." Ed explained, feeling his guilt spiral deeper and deeper. It was what he deserved to experience, what those two had gone through because of him. He deserved to be bleeding on the floor, and thrown into a different world, not those closest to him.

"Oh, Ed," Winry walked over to Ed, who was barely standing on his own two feet, and hugged him close. "You can be so dense sometimes."

Ed blinked repeatedly and stared at Winry's hair. What did she mean by that?

"You did what you thought was right. That's what you've always done. I was at fault for getting kidnapped because I was only thinking about myself and what I wanted. You knew I didn't want you to leave, and you felt really bad about it, but I didn't see that at all. I only saw that you wanted to leave me. It never occurred to me that you felt so closed-in." she whispered, still holding Edward close.

"Closed in? I never-"

"Don't lie to me, Edward. I know it's true. And I completely understand now. Just promise me one thing, alright?"

Ed nodded gently, absentmindedly taking in the smell of Winry's hair.

"Promise that you'll come back… O.K?" Winry held Ed tight, and despite her best efforts, she gently cried into his shirt. They sat down together, and as Ed watched over Al, Winry cried with her head in the older brother's lap. She didn't want to cry- she wanted to be strong for Ed, to show him that she didn't mind that he would be leaving again. But Winry couldn't lie to herself like that. She knew she would miss Ed more than anything.

"I love you, Edward." Winry whispered, looking up at him with tears staining her cheeks.

Ed looked up from his vigil over his brother to peer at Winry, and didn't hesitate for a moment with his answer.

"I love you too, Winry."

Although, Winry was upset over Ed's going away, that wasn't the only reason that she was crying. Despite how much she would miss Ed, Winry was just so happy to have him- she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.