With the strange clone nowhere to be found, Winry walked back to the front door of her home, Den in tow behind her.

If her weekly drama hadn't made any sense to her before, she was absolutely dumbfounded as a result of today's events.

Another person with violet eyes.

Someone who looked exactly like her, from head to toe.

This was all getting too weird, and she knew it was all connected.

Winry knew there had to be alchemy involved in this somehow. It was the only explanation that made sense. However, it was the only part of these weird occurrences that made sense. Were they clones of some sort? Why did all of their eyes hold that same violet hue? And what did they want from her? Winry had left Resembool only a handful of times in her life, and she was positive she never met anyone with eyes like that… or anyone out of the ordinary to that extent.

Something about that thought lowered her spirits a bit. Why couldn't extraordinary things happen in her life every once in a while? It happened to Ed and Al all the time. Not that she wanted to go through what they did by any stretch, and she knew that they had some terrible things happen to them… but sometimes they'd share incredible stories about their adventures. Even their everyday lives were more exciting than her most exhilarating days.

Either way, whoever the strange purple-eyed people were, they hadn't hurt her. Maybe they were good, like a band of alchemy using superheroes.

No…

That didn't seem right either.

Winry opened the front door of her home to find her grandmother at the bottom of the stairs, watching her in a shocked confusion. Winry was almost afraid to ask… had she seen the strange Winry double, too?

"What was that all about?" her grandmother questioned, eyes locked through circle-lens glasses. Her gaze traveled down to the canine trailing in behind her, and she sighed. "At least you found Den".

The young blond tried her best to hide her shock.

So the Winry double had been here. She must not have seen the two together, though, or else there would've been a lot more questions. In order to avoid even more questions that she couldn't answer, she decided playing along would probably be her best course of action.

"Yeah" she said, not knowing exactly what had transpired between her grandmother and the clone. The old woman peered at her from over her glasses, eyebrows drawing into a from.

"You've been acting really weird lately."

"I… I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Hn."

Pinako let the subject drop, and instead walked over to her workbench. Winry sighed quietly, glad that the topic had been evaded for the time being. Winry pulled her other work glove out of her pocket, pulled it on, and walked over to her respective bench to continue working on own project.

She didn't make it to the bench, however, when she heard a loud knock on the door.

Envy bared his teeth as he paced back and forth, leaving craters in the earth with each step he took. He pulled his hair, screamed out in anger, and cracked his knuckles, all the while glaring out into space.

He needed to kill her. He was tired of playing games. Tired of dancing around it. Why hadn't he done it yet?

Why hadn't he killed her?

He dug the heels of his palms into his closed yes, letting himself fall harshly to the ground with a grunt. The bitch was getting under his skin now. She knew what she was doing. Envy could just feel it. He would have fun killing her. It had to be perfect.

He thought back to the picture of the Fullmetal Pipsqueak and his brother he had found in her room… yes, they would be perfect. Maybe if she saw her beloved friend come at her with the intense blood thirst Envy held for the girl, then maybe he'd finally get to see fear in her eyes.

He could see it now, and nothing ever seemed so appealing.

The next day, Envy was shocked to find the Elric brothers sitting on the front porch of the old mechanic's house, but somewhat pleased that they weren't in the best of shapes. They both sat on the top step, talking about something that Envy couldn't hear. The tin can was barely in one piece, and the Pipsqueak had lost his fake arm and leg.

He was irritated at their arrival, for this would postpone his plan to murder the girl. Handicapped or not, the brothers likely wouldn't make the task easy for him, and he didn't feel like starting unnecessary trouble when Father had given him strict orders not to. The last thing he wanted was punishment from the ruthless leader of the homunculi.

Instead he waited out the next few days, observing the actions of the people within the household. In the mornings, the brothers would sit outside just talking, and then they'd head in when the sun began to set. Envy idly wondered what had happened to put the brothers in such rough shape.

The homunculus found himself on the windowsill in the form of a bird, watching as the happy family interacted with smiles plastered on their faces. It disgusted him, really, that humans could just crack a joke or two and forget about their problems. The blond girl seemed awfully fond of the Pipsqueak, seeing as everything that came out of her mouth was "Edward" this and "Ed" that. It was loathsome, and hearing Fullmetal's name drop from her lips was enough to make his hair stand on end. The way she smiled at him made Envy sick to his stomach, and he wondered if he transformed into the Fullmetal Pipsqueak, if she would look at him with that same smile.

Envy roughly shook his little bird head, clearing that thought away immediately.

He found himself on her windowsill that night, just watching her sleep. He was shuffling through his mental note cards- the many different ways he knew to kill a human.

She was peaceful in her sleep, undisturbed and unknowing to the threatening presence at her window. Without realizing it, a trickle of an emotion, his namesake, rose up in the homunculus's chest. He would never admit it out loud, but he never knew what it was like to have someone care. The Fullmetal Pipsqueak seemed to be surrounded by it, and it infuriated him to no end. It wasn't like he wanted what the brat had. No way. He was a homunculus- a superior being. He didn't need things like friendship or, god forbid, love.

But something deep in his very being wanted to rip that all away from the Fullmetal brat.

And he would start with his little girlfriend.

Three days after their arrival, the Elric brothers were once again in perfect condition, and they set out before the sun rose to head back to Central. Envy felt it was time for him to leave as well, and report back to Father. His murderous ambitions in Resembool would have to wait until the moment was right, and once he had gotten his mind back in order.

He couldn't falter again.

He wouldn't.

It had been at least a week since her two best friends had left her home to go back to Central.

A week since she had seen the violet-eyed people.

A sigh escaped her lips as she looked out her window, hand resting gently on the sill. The clouds were congregating into large gray clusters, and she knew that it would soon rain.

Something in her had suspected that the strange people had something to do with the Elric brothers. If her grandmother hadn't had seen the strange Winry clone herself, the younger girl wouldn't had believed it all happened. Everything was back to normal, more or less. She hadn't met any more strangers with strange eyes. Not since the boys left.

She tried not to think too much about it. She wasn't getting anywhere, and she didn't have anyone to confide in about it. Nothing would change until she saw one of them once more, and she refused to let them get away again. So she put her energy into working on her automail and doing chores for her grandmother. Just like things were before all those weird things happened. Everything was as it should be.

So why did it all of a sudden feel so… dull?

When she received a phone call from the military a few days later regarding repairs for Ed's automail, something in Winry's chest flared.

Excitement and worry mingled together into an anxious pang in her heart.

Winry gathered her things immediately, barely sparing her grandmother an explanation before rushing off to the train station.

After she arrived in Central, calling Winry mad would be an understatement. Ed was wrapped in bandages again, and her precious automail was damaged again. She spent the day in the hospital room with him, working on his arm. Al sat in the room with him, and the two relayed what had occurred at the rundown laboratory. She knew they were barely scraping the surface with her, because she knew they didn't want her to worry. All in all, it just made her worry more. She didn't press, though, and was grateful that they shared as much as they had with her. The word homunculus had dropped from their mouths more times than she could count, and finally she gave in and asked.

"Artificial humans," Al had said, "with superhuman strength and regenerative properties".

This had stunned the mechanic, and she questioned them further. How was that possible? Who made them? Why were the brothers even involved with characters like these?

Edward had shut in on himself then, not wanting to say any more. Al looked between the two nervously, not knowing how much more he should say.

"I-It's no so bad, Winry," Alphonse held his hands up in defeat. "They won't kill us, we know that for sure. One of them actually saved brother from the laboratory." Edward looked out the hospital window, not wanting to contribute any more to the conversation.

"Really?" Winry looked between the two skeptically, wondering if they were telling the truth or not. "Who?"

"His name's Envy."

"Well I guess I have to make sure to thank this Envy character when I see him next."

Alphonse was quick to respond, his voice pitching a bit higher. "Y-You don't want to do that! If you ever see him, or any of the homunculi for that matter, you need to run as far away as you can."

Winry's eyes narrowed again. "I thought you said they wouldn't kill."

"Well..." the younger Elric scratched the back of his helmet, causing his armor to clink quietly. It must have been a leftover habit from when he still had his body. "They won't kill Edward or me..."

With a huff, Winry tightened a bolt on Ed's automail, causing him to wince and look back at her with a scowl. "So then, what's this Envy character look like? And the rest of them for that matter?"

"They have pale skin and wear black clothes. Each one bears the mark of the ouroboros." Edward was the one to answer this time. He pulled a sketchpad from his nightstand and scribbled out said mark. He held it up for her to view, and Winry cocked he head to the side. She'd seen that before, hadn't she? "But there's one in particular that you need to be careful of. Envy, the one Al mentioned..."

"Yeah, what about him? What does he look like?"

"Anyone he wants to."

Winry's mouth fell open slightly, and she narrowed her eyebrows, trying to force understanding to her brain. She cycled the information through before asking "What do you mean?"

Edward sighed, upset that he had to go into so much detail about their dangerous adventures. "He's the only one we know of that can change his appearance by will. He can come up to you looking like someone you love, or a typical looking citizen, an old lady, a cat, anything."

Winry couldn't believe what she was hearing. It almost sounded like… like…

"What else? Isn't there any way to identify him?" Winry had stopped working on Ed's arm, instead opting to lean in carefully to listen to their warnings. If either brother thought her interest was strange, neither said anything about it.

"Well..." started Alphonse, looking thoughtful. "He does have a normal form, or at least what we think is his normal form." Ed nodded, continuing his brother's explanation.

"He has long green hair, wears a black headband, and has purple eyes."

Winry's breath caught in her throat.

All this time… there was no other explanation.

She had met this particular homunculus multiple times before. This supposed dangerous creature had been not only in her own town, but her home. Her bedroom. He knew who she was, and he had appeared before her more than once.

"You… you said he was a killer?"

"Ruthless. He kills for fun. The only reason he hasn't killed us yet is because he was ordered not to by someone above him." Winry didn't know who spoke. She only stared into Ed's automail, thoughts racing through her mind at a rampant rate.

This man was a monstrous killer who showed no mercy.

So…

Why hadn't she been killed?

Realizing that she had been silent for too long, Winry looked up to lock eyes with the eldest Elric. "Thank you, Ed… Al. For sharing. Please, promise me you'll be more careful."

They both nodded solemnly, knowing that this would be far from the last time their lives were put on the line. Winry snapped back to her work, resuming her tightening of bolts and realigning of plates.

Though the questions she had been asking herself for weeks were finally answered, it only raised more confusing questions.

What did Envy want with her?

Aaaaand back with chapter 4.

Though there aren't many of you reviewing, I can still see how many views this story is getting. I appreciate all of you for taking the time to read.

Like I've said before, please excuse any grammatical errors :P I'm lazy and this is just for fun.

Chapter five will be up asap! Bye, you guys :P