Edward heaved a sigh and lay back in the bed of the small inn room. The darkness surrounded him, almost caressing him to comfort his weary heart and soul. Rain pattered softly at the window as the clouds seemed to be weeping along with his heart. Even the fluffy mattress underneath him couldn't comfort him. He thought to Winry, what he had been thinking of all night. He recalled the brightness and sparkle of her always laughing blue eyes. Her sunshine hair would fall perfectly around her face, the rest pulled into a humble ponytail. The adorable way she would chew on her fingernails whenever she was nervous and how he would comfort her whenever she cried. The feeling of her petite form in his arms or even the friendly way she would peck her luscious lips upon his cheek. All the memories flashed through his mind. Although he didn't believe in God, the young man certainly did believe his Winry could be an angel. His golden irises flickered to Alphonse as he stared at his sleeping form. The words of his beloved mechanic echoed through his ears. I-... I'm engaged. His sad eyes seemed aged, like an old man's who carried a harsh burden. Dark circles lay beneath those cold eyes that stared at his dear brother. He watched his chest rise and fall.

That's what I have to live for... Alphonse needs me... Edward reminded himself. Still, his heart ached with an unbearable pain he knew could not be healed with just a few pain reliever pills. What if i had done something different? What if I had just stayed and drove the war out of- No... That's not reasonable... He sighed a with a heart-breaking exhale and pushed his eyes back to the ceiling of the room. Suddenly, there was a wet feeling on his cold cheek. He pushed it away and blinked as another warm drop fell onto the same cheek. Am I... Crying?... When was the last time I did that?

Alphonse slowly rolled over to face his brother and opened his eyes slowly. His voice was dry from the awakening but still audible. "Edward? Are you awake?"

"Yeah..." the young man returned, rolling onto his side to face his brother in the fading darkness.

Al pushed his hands onto the mattress and pulled himself up to sit, looking across the room to his older sibling in the bed across from his. "You didn't sleep, did you?"

"No..." Edward's voice was distant, too busy thinking of what could have been. If I had just...

"There was nothing you could do, brother."

"Are you psychic, Al?"

"No, you said that out loud."

"Oh..."

"Brother. Talk to her. It's obvious that something's troubling you. If you talk to her instead of running away again, maybe you could both be happy..."

"That's... Not a bad idea, Al..."

A light, reassuring smile appeared on the younger Elric's face as he looked to Edward's seemingly aged eyes. His face seemed to be stretched, but never longer. A tear track was clear on his right cheek, even by just the light of the moon. He's been hurting... Poor brother..."Get some rest, Nii-san. You look like you could use it... You're going to damage your hair if you keep it up like that..."

"Eh? Oh right..." His human and automail hand reached up to his hair as he slowly slipped the elastic from the top and let his long, golden locks fall to his shoulders, the gold slightly glinting in the moon.

"Goodnight, brother. Sleep well."

"The same goes to you Alphonse."

The next morning, the blonde slipped off the white comforter and stood on his two feet. His eyes were still a bit tired, but they were back to their usual liquid gold after the whole day of them being a hard amber. He looked at the shining sun and stretched out his arms. Talk to her. Just talk to her... He let out a held breath from his mouth and watched as Al slowly awoke. Edward smiled to him and sprinted to the bathroom, turning on the shower water with a, "DIBS!"

"Brother," Al sighed annoyed, yet the smile was inevitable as it spread across his cheeks. He's healing. That's good... I think.

Edward stripped from his blue set of pajamas and slipped into the shower with a relieved sigh. The hot water had an indescribable good feeling against his cool skin. He slid soap along his body and squeezed a generous amount of shampoo into his cleansed palm. Scrubbing around his hair, he watched the dirt fall from it with a curved lip. I really gotta take better care of all this... He washed away any dirt from his fingernails by scratching along his scalp and re-shampooed for a cleansed feeling. Slipping in the conditioner, he braced himself for the event that was bound to come. He still remembered where she liked to stay whenever she came to Central and her telling him of an apprenticeship she could obtain there.

With another extended exhale, Edward stepped out from the shower, wrapping a towel around his dripping wet form and ran a hand through his drenched gold hair that was now an entire shade darker. He brushed his teeth with spearmint toothpaste and went back to open his suitcase. After finding another pair of the same clothing he wore almost everyday, he set them on the coffee table in the room and sat onto it.

"Your hair needs a trim," Alphonse noted, grabbing a pair of silver scissors and bending down behind Edward.

"Thanks," Ed smiled lightly, letting his younger brother trim half an inch off his hair. It was now three inches passed his shoulders at a comfortable length for him. With a nod, Alphonse got up and went to take his shower. Edward slipped on his brown pants, white button up, brown vest, white gloves and long, brown coat. "I'm going now, Al. Wish me luck."

"Luck!"

With a soft chuckle, Edward opened the door of the inn and stepped into the dimmed hall. He gradually made his way down the hall, whistling to himself to hide the pain from his own mind. Winry... Everything about you is perfect... It's gonna hurt to see you, knowing you can't be mine... But I'll try my best... He continued down the stairs and to the lobby of the humble inn.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Elric," the young woman from behind the counter cheered.

"You too," Ed nodded with a light smile appearing on his lips.

He set his brown loafer-ed feet onto the road and proceeded to walk down the streets. The air was cool, appropriate for Autumn in Central. The sun was showing, but not quite heating. It smelt of fresh rain and wet earth. A click was heard with each step of the former alchemist's feet as he set each one down at a casual pace. He waved to a few people passing by, a plastic smile plastered on his lips. He finally reached a dark red door, the words "SANDERS MECHANIC AND AUTOMAIL" in elegant cursive. With a nervous susperation, his white-gloved hand reached for the cool handle. It seemed as if his hand was stuck for a long moment. He was thankful he wasn't in sight of any of the windows. The cold seeped through his glove and onto his skin at how long he had been holding his hand there. Come on, Ed. Muster up some courage... And with that, his hand finally pushed the door open as he walked in sluggishly, looking around the shop.

The walls were a warm brown, the same color as his brother's eyes. There was a cherry wood counter set in front of him with a register and a fair haired man behind it. The man seemed to busy reorganizing a few things on the shelves before he noticed the click of loafers and he turned his light-haired head to Edward, blinking his hazel eyes. He seemed to be in his mid to late thirties. A friendly smile lit up his face as he turned his whole, tall form to Edward.

"Hello. May I help you?"

"Uhm... Yeah. I'd like to get myself fixed up," Ed replied, pushing the right sleeves of his coat and shirt up to expose his automail arm.

"Sure thing! If you could just wait over there." The man pointed his pen to a homely looking couch. It was a pure white with a rectangular base and curved arms. The pillows set on it were a bright red and placed on each side. Ed sat slowly, letting his form sink into the cushions with a small, satisfied smile on his face. It was the most comfy couch he'd sat on in a while. He let out a relaxed sigh and let himself lean on it. Guess I can relax before the pain that's sure to be in my limbs...

About twenty minutes later, the same man, who Ed had found out was named Marcus, told Ed to go to the back as a woman with freshly cleaned automail walked out the door. The twenty-one-year-old man nodded with a small gulp and walked to the back of the room. There was a set of shutters open in the back, a few shining pipes set along the walls. Tools were perfectly set along the back wall where they hung. A long wooden piece hung in the back where a few things like rope dangled from it. Balsa wood was leaning against the white walls as there were some tables containing many garage tools and other items for gardening and just about everything you would typically have in the back of an automail shop. The familiar scent of grease and metal filled the nostrils of the golden-eyed young man as they wandered around the room and landed on a certain black-haired girl, whistling as she packed some tools into a box.

His breath caught in his throat for a swift moment as he peered at her pulled up hair. There it was; in that humble ponytail. Two strands were dangling at her neck as the front was pulled back with a red bandanna. She wore a black top that covered her chest and exposed the rest of her stomach and back along with a pair of lavender cargo pants. She turned to Edward and her blue eyes slowly grew in size. "Edward?"

His head slowly and hesitantly nodded. "Hello, Winry... I was wondering if you could, um, look at my automail..." It was odd. The shining confidence in Edward's normal tone seemed to be droned out as he spoke timidly as if he were a small child who had just been dropped off at his first day of pre-school and was talking to his teacher for the first time.

A pink blush painted over her cheeks at Edward's tone. It was the voice he used only when he wanted to talk with her and no one else. The tone he used when it was the two of them alone and as if the rest of the world didn't matter. The voice he used when he just wanted to run into her arms and stay there forever. "Uh huh," she finally nodded as she erased her thoughts and let a smile curve up the sides of her lips. "Take off your shirt."

His cheeks flashed a bright red at her words. "Wha-?"

"So I can get to your automail, stupid."

"Oh... Right..." He slowly slipped of his brown coat and unbuttoned his vest and shirt, slipping them off and hanging them up on a coat rack in the room. Now it was Winry's turn to blush. She had forgotten just how gorgeous he was... His muscles in his stomach were clearly cut into a well formed six-pack and his arms bulged in a way that wasn't too much but never too little. A light sweat made them glisten from the lights shining overhead in the small room. Her cheeks were still stained a pink as she sat down a short wooden stool.

Ed sat down slowly next to her and extended his right arm out. She slowly examined it with a critical eye, staring at all of its features before taking out her wrench and pointing to places where screws were, mouthing to herself of all the adjustments she was soon to make. A smile slowly lit up the blonde's face as his honey eyes looked over the wrench she held in her burgundy-gloved hands. Her steel blue eyes flickered up to the smirking man as she blinked.

"What?"

"You're still using the wrench I bought you..." Ed commented, the words sounding better aloud then in his head.

Blood rushed to her cheeks, red smudged circles appearing on them. "Yeah... I-it's a good wrench..."

"Glad to hear it."

With a shake of her raven-haired head she pushed the tool to a screw and tightened it quickly. With a grunt, Ed tried his best not to flinch at the peircing feeling running up and down his arm.

"I'm sorry..."

"No, it's okay," Edward assured with a small smile. "So... Why'd you dye your hair?"

"No reason," Winry lied quickly, the actual reason running through her head.

Winry stood in her bathroom, staring in the mirror at her reflection, tears blurring her vision. She glanced at her blonde hair and let out another sob. She couldn't do it. It just reminded her too much of him. She snatched the black dye she had bought the day before and splashed it onto her hair, continuing until every bit was pure black, the very opposite of his golden locks.

"Alright then," he sighed, quickly followed by another grunt. He could tell she was lying. That was obvious by her deep, gazing eyes and the way she spoke. Not to mention her nose would twitch a bit every time she did. Amazing how noticed every little thing about her. Even though they had known each other so long, it was still impressive just how much he knew about her. "So. You're fiancee... What's his name? What's he like?

"His name is Lucas. He's a real nice guy, Ed. I think you'd like him. He's a lawyer too. He's kind and caring and funny..." This time, it pained him to see she wasn't lying. He nodded his head and braced the pain coming from his arm and his heart.

"Do you love him?"

"I do..."

He forced a smile on his cheeks. "Then I'm happy for you..." He could feel his heart skip a beat as Winry let her pony-tailed hair fell to one side. Her eyes were clearly fixated on his prosthetic arm as she continued adjusting every detail of the complex machinery. No. She's not mine...he reminded himself. Was it possible to be alive when your heart hurt this much? Would the hurting stop if his heart did too? Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he gave another weak smile to his chilhood friend. "Wanna have lunch after this?"

A small smile lit up her face again as her black-haired head nodded. "I'd like that..."

(A/N: Well, that's that chapter. Feedback is much appreciated :D Thanks! ~Lexie)

(Side note: It would be much appreciated if you could join my Fullmetal Alchemist roleplay forum :D We need some characters! If you look in the Character Application center, we were disscussing the characters that could be needed. OC's welcome. Thanks! :D)