2.

Winry's ninth birthday was both terrible and amazing. She told her mother she was going to the park at the foot of the hill and picked up the Elrics on the way there. They all sat on swings, Edward beating both Winry and Alphonse when they had a contest to see who could swing the highest, and after that they sat swinging their legs back and forth, just talking.

Then Envy, her personal demon, came along.

"Hey, Rockbell!" He laughed, his brothers Gluttony and Greed following suit. "Swinging with your imaginary friends?" Winry glared hard at them.

"They aren't imaginary."

"Then why are the swings next to you empty?" She heard Edward huff.

"We'll see who's imaginary!" he shouted, and with that he stood and marched over to the boys, who were oblivious to the blonde's rage.

They all screamed when Edward landed a punch to Envy's cheek, knocking him onto his butt.

"W-what was THAT?!"

"Who just PUNCHED ME!?"

"Come out here and fight like a man, whoever you are!" Winry snorted, and the boys save for the Elrics all glared at her

"What's so funny?!" Envy barked, which only made her laugh harder.

"I-I don't think...Ed likes you," she gasped out, clutching her side. She fell of the swing, causing Alphonse to start laughing as well. Envy's eyes narrowed. After calming down a bit, Winry picked herself up off the ground and made to dust herself off, but Envy shoved her, knocking her down again. She hit the ground with a thud. She glared up at him.

"What was that?!" She shrieked. She made to stand, but fell again with a gasp. She'd fallen on a rock, and couldn't stand on her leg. She looked up to see Edward shoving Envy back, ready for a fight. The boy was looking around frantically, trying to figure out who had pushed him. Alphonse hurried over to her and offered his hand, which she took with a smile of gratitude. By the time he had gotten her to her feet, Greed and Gluttony were staring at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Y-you're leaning on air!" Greed cried, and Alphonse sighed irritably.

"Can't they just believe you when you say we're not imaginary?"

"The 'air' right here has a name, and its name is Al," Winry said in exasperation. "Do you believe me now?" Both boys snorted, and she sighed. "Apparently not," Winry murmured sadly, watching as Envy began punching the air and as Edward snickered as he stood behind the unsuspecting boy.

"Ha! Who's laughing now, idiot?" Edward mocked, sticking his tongue out. Envy turned, almost hitting him with one of his punches, and Edward punched him, making him stagger backwards. Winry shook her head with an amused smile, and Alphonse went to go calm his older brother down, dragging him back to her.

"Did you really have to hit him with your right arm?" Winry whined, staring at Envy's now bruised cheek. She was definitely going to get in trouble for that. Edward shrugged innocently.

"Well yeah! I can hit him again with my left if you prefer-"

"Brother!"

"Sorry, Al. He just made me so mad-!"

"Who are you talking to?!" Envy barked, unknowingly interrupting the argument between the two Elrics. Winry looked at the brothers for reassurance; when they nodded, she took a deep breath and turned to Envy.

"Ed. He's the one who hit you." The teen raised his eyebrows.

"And why is 'Ed' hitting me with his right arm a problem?"

"Well, how much pain are you in?"

"I feel like I got hit by a train..."

"Well...it hurts that badly because Ed's right arm is metal." Envy's eyes widened just a bit, but since he was 13 and she was 9, he decided to hide his fear from her.

"Listen, kid," he yelled irritably, "I don't know what your mom tells you at home, but there's no one but you, me, and my brothers here. Ed and Al don't exist!"

"YES THEY DO!" She screamed, causing him to take a step back in alarm. "EDWARD AND ALPHONSE ELRIC ARE VERY REAL, OTHERWISE I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HOLD THEIR HANDS OR PLAY WITH THEM! SO JUST SHUT UP!" Tears were running down her face by that point, and Edward, who had still been in his brother's grip, lunged towards Envy.

"YOU! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! DON'T YELL AT WINRY OR I SWEAR I'LL KICK YOUR SORRY BUTT INTO NEXT WEEK, YOU GOT THAT?!" Alphonse was barely able to hold his brother back. He was shocked. He'd had his suspicions for a while, and those words confirmed them.

'Brother is in love with Winry!'

Envy smirked at the crying girl now kneeling in the grass and turned to his brothers.

"We just shattered that kid's dreams," he said proudly. "Let's go." Ed watched in disbelief as they walked away, but that shock quickly turned to anger.

"WHAT, YOU MAKE HER CRY AND THEN LEAVE?! YOU IDIOTS ARE PATHETIC! YOU'RE LUCKY AL'S HERE OTHERWISE I'D BE ALL OVER YOU! ARGH!" He struggled until the boys were out of sight, and only then did Alphonse let him go.

Even though he was still mad, the first thing he did was run to Winry's side and kneel down beside her, enveloping her in a hug.

That day, Edward Elric realized that he loved Winry Rockbell, Winry Rockbell realized that she loved Edward Elric, and Alphonse Elric realized that his brother was an easier person to figure out than he thought.

"Winry, you're twelve now, surely you're over your imaginary friends?" Winry sighed and looked up from her book of alchemy.

"I've told you five hundred times, mom. Ed and Al aren't imaginary. In fact, Ed looks like he wants to punch you right now." Mrs. Rockbell rolled her eyes.

"Winry, this needs to stop. I could understand if you were maybe half your age, but not when you're almost a teenager!"

"It's not my fault you don't believe me! The only way you'd believe me is if they tried to hurt someone or something!" She glared to the woman's right, where a seemingly empty chair was positioned. "Don't even think about it, Ed." After a moment, she smirked in victory and turned back to her mother, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Winry, I'm serious."

"I am, too. It's not my fault if Ed hides something on you, alright? Al's sweet, but Ed only listens to me about half of the time." She went back to her book, and her mother frowned at the cover.

"Alchemy? Why on Earth are you reading about that? You've never had any interest in it before."

"Ed and Al are alchemists. They said if I tried to understand some of the stuff in these books-" Winry gestured to the stack of books at her side, not looking away from the page. "-They'll teach me how to use it." Her mother sighed.

"First imaginary friends, now alchemy? Winry, alchemy-"

"Don't you dare say alchemy isn't real! Ed used it yesterday! He's the one who made that weirdly-shaped rock!" The woman thought back to the rock her daughter had brought to her the previous day. It had been shaped like a perfect circle, with a strange carving engraved into it, like something supernatural you would find in a horror movie. She felt some fear at that thought.

'What if my daughter is seeing ghosts, maybe even demons? I need to take her to the doctor's.'