Chapter Four-A Plan

What little sunlight was available outside had faded awhile ago. It had become deathly quiet as Winry remained hunched over, trying to stay warm. By this point, Edward had dropped his head with his eyes closed. The strain on his shoulder was starting to really bother him but he didn't want to say anything about it. Besides, he was sure Winry had a pretty good idea what her automail could take. Reaching his left arm up, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Winry glanced up at him.

"Hey Ed, are you okay?" He released a sigh before answering her.

"You should turn the lantern down some...to save the oil." She noticed he avoided her question but nodded anyway. Even with the light lower, someone walking by would be able to see it from the trail. Thinking back, Winry wished she hadn't been so rash earlier. They wouldn't be in this predicament if she hadn't gotten so mad in the first place. Despite how she felt before, now she felt bad for getting Ed in such a mess. He got thrown into enough life and death situations without her help.

"This is all my fault," She spoke softly but it was loud enough for him to hear her.

"Don't go saying that. I'm the one with the big mouth." He shook his head and glanced down at her.

"Yeah, but I took it too personally."

"You kind of did. Since you mentioned it, why did you get so angry? We use to be able to tease each other all the time."

"Because, I'm working so hard to be a better mechanic and you usually break my work with no regard for how much work went into it."

"Do you really think I do that? Trust me, I don't break it on purpose. And the reason I said what I said was because you seem more concerned with your precious automail then me." Her blue gaze shot up at him in shock.

"I don't think that! I worry about you and Al all the time." Edward let out an ironic laugh and shook his head in disbelief.

"Well I'll probably need more then some simple maintenance now." One of the gears up near his shoulder made a low grinding sound. He grew serious again. "How's your ankle?" Winry tried to move it some only to let out a whine.

"It still hurts pretty bad." She glanced back up at him and their eyes met.

"See if you can find a large stick." Nodding, she struggled up, trying not to put a lot of pressure on her one leg. Using the lantern, she found a tree branch a couple of yards away from them. After she broke the extra twigs off, she moved back over to him.

"Okay, I've got one." Ed let out a worn out huff.

"Do you think you can make it back to town and get some help, using that as a crutch." Winry furrowed her brow and worry took over her features.

"You want me to leave you like this?"

"It's after dark. No one is coming out here, not with the weather the way it's been. You have to go get help." She bit her lower lip and shook her head.

"I can't just leave you though. I'm the reason this happened."

"I know you'll come back. Otherwise we'll both be stuck in here for the night and I can't keep this up that long." Tightening her grip in the branch in her hand, she reluctantly nodded back.

"All right, I'll hurry." With that, she left the lantern next to him and carefully made her way through the exit. The rain outside wasn't nearly as bad as it was before. It took her a minute to figure out how to walk with her make shift crutch. She could honestly count on one hand the amount of times she really ever got injured. Having parents who were doctors, she was never big on taking stupid risks. But now she had to hurry and didn't have time to think about her injury. Even though it wasn't raining as hard, the ground was still muddy. She could see the town in sight and tried to go faster down the trail. Unfortunately the stick was not as solid as she thought it was. It gave her little warning when it cracked at the bottom and caused her to fall forward.

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