Chapter 4: Surprise Travel Companions! Onwards to Xing!
The first two days of travel had been, for the most part, uneventful with Winry and Ed only leaving the car to eat their meals and go to bed. There was a little amusement the first night of the trip when Winry learned of the sleeping arrangements Edward had paid for them. Apparently he had only booked one room with two twin sized beds and a single bathroom that contained a shower, bath and a small sink that had several complimentary toiletries provided to them.
"I have to say Ed I'm surprised you didn't just order us a room with one bed," Winry had teased as she passed a madly blushing Edward to enter the room.
"Well I-I didn't want to assume anything about the sleeping arrangements. Especially after the bombshell you dropped on me last night!" Ed had argued weakly, earning him nothing but giggles from his beautiful girlfriend.
"Relax Edward it was the right decision," Winry had assured him. "Besides Granny would have flipped out if she thought we'd be sleeping together."
"Now that would have been worth it," Ed had said with a laugh which had earned him a friendly, but still stinging slap from Winry. Aside from that the ride thus far had been uneventful as the duo struggled to find things to do. As the train was approaching their last stop to drop off the last group of passengers before heading across the desert to Xing Ed was keeping himself occupied by rereading the same Alchemy book for the second time as Winry tinkered with his leg insisting that she had heard some of the gears and chains clicking together.
"UGGGGHH!" Ed finally cracked as he slammed his book shut and put his hand in his head in suffrage. "I can't stand being on this train any longer!" he whined pitifully as Winry ignored it to work on his leg. Noticing she hadn't complained Ed picked up his head from his hands to observe Winry working. "How can you not be bored to tears like I am?" he asked curiously.
"My boyfriend's leg is my automail design, all I have to do is provide maintenance and upgrade it and I can be kept busy for hours," she said simply not raising her eyes from his leg.
"Well than maybe I should take my leg back so you can suffer with me," Ed threatened as he made to move his leg off of the bench and onto the floor. Before he could move it though Winry put a firm hand on the leg while shooting Edward a glare intensified by mental fires and daggers.
"And if you were to do that Edward Elric I would take your leg off while you slept at night and would deny you the use of it until we reached Xing making you a dependent, un-mobile ALCHEMY FREAK!" Ed had frozen in fear by Winry's tirade and turned to look out the window as he said in a defeated voice,
"Go ahead and play with it you gear head." Nodding in victory Winry did just that as she went back to work with a victorious smile.
"Why don't we get off at the next stop? Isn't there an hour layover while new passengers board the train?" Winry asked as she continued to work on his leg.
"Yeah but what can I do in an hour while the train is stopped?" Ed asked bored out of his mind.
"Well we could go for a walk and stretch our legs," Winry suggested as she tightened something in Ed's leg that he couldn't recognize. He sighed as he nodded at the suggestion.
"I guess that's as good an idea as any," he agreed in defeat as Winry finally closed the hatch to his leg and tapped it a few times satisfied signaling she was done with it. As Ed moved his leg back to the floor Winry laid onto Ed's shoulder using it as a pillow, his arm immediately wrapping around her shoulders to embrace her as she lied down.
"What town are we heading to anyways?" she asked curiously.
"Youswell," Ed replied immediately. "Aside from Reole a ways north from here it's the closest city to the border of the desert separating us from Xing. I actually met Yoki here around the time I first became a State Alchemist," he added randomly.
"Really? So this is where you 'stole the town' from him?" Winry asked earning her a chuckle from Edward.
"He told you about that huh?" he asked with a smile on his face.
"Yeah when we were traveling through the mines in Briggs. Was he really that bad of a leader?" Winry asked.
"He wasn't really a leader he just owned the land the mine was on. I don't know how he got a hold of the deed but he was a real ass hole to the people in the town."
"So you give him fake gold and steal the deed from him?" Winry asked.
"Pretty much," Edward said with a laugh as the two laugh about the story.
"You know I just realized that you and Al have never really told me about any of your adventures while you were looking for the Philosopher Stone," Winry said as she looked up towards Ed. It was then that she noticed that his smile had disappeared and had a serious look to it.
"Your right we haven't. What we went through isn't something I'd tell people around a bonfire for a story. A lot of what we went through, it was traumatizing."
"Like what?" Winry asked worriedly. Ed looked down at Winry who was still looking up at him and he looked conflicted as he tried to decide if he should tell Winry about some of his darker exploits. He was saved by the train which let off a whistle, signaling that they were approaching Youswell and would be stopping the train momentarily for the new passengers to board and for old ones to get off.
"Come on Win," he said with a smile anxious to change the subject. "Let's go stretch our legs." Knowing good and well that he was avoiding her question Winry decided to let it go for now as he grabbed her hand and lead her to the door to the train. Once the train had stopped and the doors were opened Ed and Winry got off the train and looked around at the small mining town.
"It's been forever since I've been here, I wonder if the old man at the Inn is still in business," he said aloud. As Edward lead Winry through the sea of oncoming people they both couldn't help but notice that there were an unusual amount of people heading towards the train, a lot of them looking like circus folk to be brutally honest. "Is there a circus in town or something?" Edward asked aloud as he saw a clown and a man in a loin cloth walk by with no shame.
"Apparently so," Winry said as she averted her eyes from the barely dressed man. Before they could walk a few more steps Ed stopped and squinted his eyes, unsure if his vision was playing tricks on him. "What is it Ed?" Winry asked noticing that he was distracted by something.
"I could have sworn that I saw someone I know," he said not looking back at Winry. "Come on follow me." Going through the sea of people Ed and Winry slowly waded their way through as Ed tried to get a better view of the familiar face finally Edward broke into a grin as he pulled Winry closer to him.
"Look over there!" Ed said pointing to two large figures in the distance.
"Who is it Ed?" Winry asked unable to recognize who he was pointing to. Ignoring Winry's question Edward cupped his hands and said loudly,
"HEY MR. GORRILA!" Suddenly a tall muscular figure with black hair and long matching side burns looked up from what he was doing and turned towards their direction, smiling after noticing Edward. He then slapped his partners shoulder and pointed towards Ed once he had his attention as the two groups made their ways towards one another.
"Edward Elric, who'd have thought we'd run into you here," Darius said with a friendly smile as he and his partner Heinkel approached Ed and Winry.
"Same here, what are you guys doing here in Youswell?" Ed asked as he shook hands with the two Chimera. Darius and Heinkel used to work under Kimblee back when they were working for the military before joining up with the Elrics to take out Father and the other Homunculi. Darius's Chimera form was a Gorilla while Heinkel's form was a Lion.
"We're with the circus that was in town, we just did our weekly show and we're on our way off to Xing," Heinkel answered.
"Seriously to Xing?" Ed asked in surprised.
"Yeah that Ling kid hired the circus as entertainment for his coronation. He's paying big bucks to pay for us and he's paying for our travel fees," Darius said smugly.
"Well we're on our way to Xing for his coronation to," Ed said pleasantly as he smiled at the two Chimera.
"Whose we?" Darius asked curiously. Edward brought Winry forward where she smiled at the two towering men as Edward introduced her.
"This is my girlfriend Winry Rockbell; and Winry you probably remember them as the men who held the Briggs soldiers at gunpoint at your house."
"I remember that," Winry said with a chuckle as she shook the two men's hands. "It's good to see you two again."
"The pleasure is ours Ms. Rockbell. My name is Heinkel and this is Darius."
"So where's Yoki at?" Ed asked curiously with a mischievous smile on his face.
"That cowards already hiding on the train," Darius said with a chuckle. "He's been hiding ever since we reached the city knowing they'd kick him out, or worse."
"That definitely sounds like Yoki," Ed agreed with a smile.
"You guys should stop by our room some time; dinners on us since Ling is paying for it," Heinkel invited. A menacing grin immediately emerged on Ed's face after hearing that Ling was footing the bill.
"Oh you can count on that," Ed promised with a dark smile. After trading room information the groups went their separate ways; Darius and Heinkel went to check onto the train while Ed and Winry proceeded to go on their walk around the small town.
"I can't believe their circus is on our train," Winry said in surprise as they walked hand in hand down the street.
"Yeah who'd of guessed it huh? By the time we reach Xing almost everyone who isn't in the military from our team will be there," Ed said amused. "This reunion may be more fun than I thought!"
"I told you coming was a good idea," Winry teased as she bumped her shoulder into his. Edward couldn't help but laugh as he bumped her shoulder playfully.
"Alright I'll admit you were right, just don't tell Granny or I'll never hear the end of it." The two soon ended their walk just as the train let off its warning whistle that it would be leaving in ten minutes. As they boarded the train they decided to follow up on Heinkel's invitation and visit them in their room. It took them a few minutes to find it but it was located in the VIP section of the train. As they knocked on the door they were met by Darius who smiled and showed them into the room.
"Come on in you two, Hey Yoki get out here! We have visitors!" They heard a curse from the bathroom as Yoki came out of it with a blue robe on that looked very much like a military uniform.
"Who in the world would visit- EEEEKKKKKKK!" Yoki yelled at the sight of Edward as he pointed an accusing finger at him. "YOOOOOUUUUU! You've come to ruin my life more haven't you?" Yoki demanded throwing a hissy fit at the sight of Ed.
"Calm down Yoki it's not like that," Edward said trying to calm him down.
"Oh please! The last time we met in Youswell you screwed me out of the deed for the town! And now look at me! I'm a clown in a traveling circus!"
"Awe quit bitching about it Yoki, we've all heard the story and all agree that you deserved it!" Heinkel said bluntly earning him animated nods from the rest of the group; causing Yoki to fall to the ground in an animated show of depression.
"Oh how you brutes care nothing about me, I don't know how I'll live on through the shame."
"Hey Yoki you gonna eat or not? The foods getting cold!" Darius scolded. Yoki turned around to see that everyone was already sitting at the table ignoring his dramatic tirade. Seeing that no one had been paying attention he picked himself up and ran to the table shouting, "Save some for me you brutes! Don't eat all of the red meat!" It wasn't long until everyone; even Yoki was eating and having a good time. The Chimera and Yoki told stories about their time in the circus while Ed went on talking about the kind people that he met in Creta.
"But there was this one cook I met in one of the clans down there; big fat guy that was easily 6 feet tall without even trying! Anyways he cooks some of the best food ever but no matter what he'd feed his dog better than his customers."
"What you mean like choicer meat?" Heinkel asked.
"No no I mean he would cook gourmet meals that weren't even on the menu. Finally one of his new employees walks up to him and says 'hey a boss why'd ju keep a cookin all the good food for the pooch?'
'That's what he's a tellin' me he a wants!'
'The pooch can a talk?'
"He's a talkin to me'" The group broke out into a fit of laughing as they reminisced and talked about good memories, non-stop ordering room service on Ed's advice claiming it was time Ling had a taste of his own medicine. By the time it was late the five people had thrown some money onto the table and were playing a poker game. Yoki was the first to be kicked out of the game followed quickly by Ed who knew almost nothing about playing cards. Soon it was Winry, who was in the lead, against Darius and Heinkel who seemed to be tied at the same amount of chips. Yoki had just dealt the hand as the remaining three looked at their hands.
"I bet five," Darius said throwing in five of the make shift chips they had made.
"I call," Heinkel said throwing in five chips.
"I call your five, and then raise you ten!" Winry challenged throwing the chips in.
"You're getting a little too full of yourself there girly," Darius said challengingly. "I think it's time we stop playing for chump change."
"What is your mommy finally going to loan you some money?" Winry taunted causing Yoki and Ed to break out laughing.
"Fine make jokes Winry. I'm ALL. IN," Darius said solemnly as he pushed in all of his chips.
"You know what, just because I'm tired of creaming you guys I'll go all in to. All or nothing; you in Heinkel?" Heinkel looked down at his hand before throwing the remainder of his chips into the pile.
"What've you got?" he asked Darius.
"Four aces," he declared throwing down the four cards in the center of the table. Heinkel cursed and threw his cards in the center. Darius then looked over to Winry with a goading smile and said, "And what do you have Ms. Rockbell?" The grin never leaving Winry's face she puts down all five of her cards showing the numbers 1-5 all in the suit of diamonds.
"Damn it! A straight flush?" Darius cursed angrily slamming his fists on the table.
"Sorry boys, but it looks like the 'girly' is walking away with the pot," Winry taunted as she grabbed the wad of cash from the center of the table. The three men from the circus moaned as Edward laughed at the situation.
"That'll teach you not to mess with my girl," Ed said proudly earning him a peck on the cheek from a smiling Winry.
"Well I think I'm going to hit the hay," Darius declared. "Getting cleaned out is exhausting."
"Yes and watching it is tiring to," Yoki agreed, yawning as he arose from his seat.
"Yeah we're going to head back to our room for the night. See you guys tomorrow," Ed and Winry said their farewells as they walked back to their room. "How cool is it having them on board the train Win?" Edward asked happily.
"It's great, especially since they can't play very well," Winry said with a sheepish grin.
"Where did you learn how to play cards like that anyways?" Edward asked curiously.
"Granny taught me, they don't call her the Pantheress of Resembool for nothing!" The two laughed quietly down the hallway as they made it back to their room. They crawled into their seperate beds after a quick kiss and embrace good night as they immediately fell asleep exhausted from the day's activities. So far their trip had been a fun one and they hadn't even reached Xing yet! Ed could only imagine what fun they would have in the foreign country.
"Good night Winry," Ed said.
"Night Ed," Winry returned with a yawn.
