A/N: I KNOW IT HAS BEEN ALMOST A YEAR SINCE I UPDATED THIS STORY. But I'm not going to lie to you. I lost complete interest in this story. I was quite obsessed with FMA when I got the idea to write this. Who knows the next time I update but eventually I will finish. I apologize once again.

Both of her sweaty palms gripped the bathroom sink to keep her from falling since her knees had suddenly given out. She stared at her reflection with a mixture of fear and confusion. She didn't know what to think. Her first impulse would have been to storm out of the bathroom, she didn't give a damn of how she looked. She wasn't pleasing anybody anymore. But she wrenched herself into the bathroom and locked the door and forced her eyes to look at the mirror. She hadn't taken a good look at herself since they left and at first she thought Who cares? And it was true. Winry didn't care. She looked at once shiny, golden, bright, bouncy blonde hair and compared it to now: dull, oily, tangled, split ends, damaged beyond repair. Her skin was no longer flawless and rosy, but blemished, with a slight tint of yellow.

Her eyes strayed from her (blemished) face to her neck and then to her collar bone. She traced it delicately with her fingers, amazed at how prominent it came to be. Suddenly, she grabbed the end of her tank top and yanked it up to the top of her bust and her eyes widened at the sight. Her skin was stretched thin over her rib cage, almost exposing them to the outside world. Her hands curved over each rib, slowly and gentle, pausing every couple of seconds. They traveled down her stomach and paused at her hip bones where she spent quite sometime examining them. This was a new concept to her. She had never actually seen any of her bones so prominent and up close. The only bone she ever saw was her ankle bone and that one didn't really count.

She pulled her shirt back down and again, placed her palms against the bathroom sink although they were no longer sweaty. Winry faced the mirror again but this time confusion didn't cloud her mind, but something that resembled confidence. Impulsively, she opened the bathroom drawer on the wall and pulled out a pair of scissors and placed them on the sink. Working quickly she pulled her hair into a hasty ponytail. Winry took a second to admire her hair; it was long enough for her to sit on it. It was a bit of shame that she was going to get rid of it. And with that last thought she took the scissors and with a single motion of her hand, she cut her hair.

Instantly, she regretted it. He had loved her hair. Sometimes, when they were alone he would comment on it and run his fingers through her hair. He would never be able to do that again, since her hair now grazed her chin. She couldn't remember the last time she cut her hair so short. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe her future lover would love her chin-length hair. Maybe he would dislike long hair and tell her not to grow it out because it would just get all over the place. Then he would kiss her and make her some waffles. Maybe, this was all a lie and she had gotten rid of the one thing she held pride in. She chucked her hair in the wastebasket and stormed out the bathroom, something that she should have done from the very beginning.

She stomped up the stairs all the way to the top but before she headed to her room she paused for a moment to try to ease her rapid breathing. She was going to walk into her room, say a quick goodbye to Sciezka while plastering on a cheerful grin, walk her to the door and hide in her room. It was a foolproof plan. Unless, Sciezka did something to ruin it.

Winry forced a smile and stepped into her room. Sciezka was bent over trying to pick up the last remaining remnants of her clothing that littered the floor. She could see her friend mumbling to herself "Where is that bra?" and falling to her knees and checking underneath Winry's bed. Sciezka had been sleeping there for the past week while Winry took to the couch. "It's okay! Don't worry about it, Sciezka!" Winry had said as she took some blankets with her. Sciezka had apologized repeatedly throughout the following days until Winry had threatened her earlier that she was going to kick her out of the house. It worked and she didn't hear anymore more the incessant apologizing.

Winry leaned over and picked up a lacy pink and white bra that had been lying on her desk for the past couple of days, and hooked her index finger through one of the straps and dangled it over her finger.

"Who knew the bookworm wears racy lingerie underneath the baggy sweatshirt?" Winry said teasingly.

Sciezka jumped at the sound of Winry's voice and cracked her skull against the bottom of the bed where she was still crawling around looking for the garment.

"Ouch." Sciezka said as she crawled from underneath the bed. She looked up and finally saw Winry leaning against the doorway still dangling the racy piece of lingerie in the air. She immediately turned a new shade of red and in record time, she snatched the bra from Winry's finger and shoved it in her suitcase while sputtering out excuses such as "It was a Christmas gift from my mom!" or "It's just if the occasion happens to appear!" and realizing that anything she says wouldn't help her in this situation, she finally shut up.

Sciezka intensely sighed and turned around to say something to Winry, when she forgot what she was going to say. She was in complete and utter shock.

"W-Winry! Your hair! What happened to your hair!" Sciezka finally managed to cough out.

"You like it?" Winry asked with a bit of a smile. She pushed her hair behind her ears. She was going to have to do something about that; it kept getting in her face.

"It's so short! It's shorter than my hair!" Sciezka's plain brown hair grazed her neck while Winry's hair now grazed the bottom of her chin.

"Well, I just thought it was time for a change. I've had long hair since I could remember. Maybe I'll find someone else who prefers short hair. Who knows?" and with that Winry began walking around her room putting items that had fallen to the floor back to where they belonged. Winry was in the process of putting one of her favorite hats in the closet (the hat that she was wearing when she was kidnapped by Barry the Chopper. She shuddered merely at the memory of the dead pigs hanging from the ceiling.) when she heard Sciezka blurt "Come with me to Central!"

The statement was so sudden and so uncalled for that Winry jumped a foot in the air and dropped the hat on the floor. Winry didn't dare turn around and face Sciezka with her proposition. Maybe if she stayed completely still, Sciezka would go away and leave her here. Winry wanted to stay here. She deserved to wallow in her self-pity. She bent down and picked the hat up, adjusting a flower that she had pinned on the side a few years ago, and finally placed it on a hook on the wall.

"Well?" Sciezka asked.

Winry swallowed and felt a lump in her throat. What was she supposed to say? What if she left? What if she stayed? Why did Sciezka want her to leave? Was she happy here?

"Why? Why do you want me to go with you?" Winry decided to ask after some time. She was still had her back to Sciezka and was staring intently on the flower that was on the hat. It was pale pink rose. She disliked roses but the color went well with the hat. She should've pinned a daisy instead of a rose. Roses are so typical.

"I think it would be healthier for you. There is no doubt that I can get you a job doing secretary work. However, I think if I pull some strings with the Colonel maybe we can get you job doing some mechanical work." Sciezka began to ramble about how beautiful Central was and how Winry wouldn't regret moving. However, Winry had stopped listening after Sciezka mentioned that she might be able to get her a job as a mechanic. Maybe she should listen to her gut. She knew that she needed to leave. Every time she walked the hallways of this house, or passed by the dining room, she was bombarded with memories of the Elric brothers, more specifically, Edward Elric. She would never be able to leave him if he haunted her mind in her very own home. She needed to be free of him, but she wanted him. She needed something in her life to keep her mind off of him and perhaps this move to Central could be the very thing she was asking for. But no matter how much she denied it all she wanted was for him to hold her again. All she wanted was for him to run his fingers through her hair and whisper in her ear during the night, just like how he used to when they were younger. She needed to feel him and breathe him in. She needed him to live. But no matter how many times she would deny it, she needed to forget him. He was taking over her life and he wasn't even here.

"Okay. I'll do it. I'll go with you. I'm going to go pack. We leave today." Winry said somewhat reluctantly. With that declaration, she headed out the room to pack the few belongings that she wanted to bring.

That evening, if you were to look for Winry Rockbell you wouldn't find her moping in her house. You would find her on a train leaving Resembool, staring at the scenery flashing past the window of the train. She was silent for most of the trip and did not notice Sciezka taking quick glances at her every couple minutes wondering if she had done the right thing. Maybe she should have left Winry and gone back alone. But before Sciezka even reconsidered it, she knew she had done the right thing. Leaving Winry would have been the worst decision she could have made. If she had left Winry behind, Winry would have eventually caused her own death.

Many hours later, the train finally came to a complete stop. Sciezka leaned forward and shook the young girl's arm to awake her from her deep slumber.

"Winry, we're here."

Winry slowly opened her eyes and took a moment to rest before getting to her feet. She glanced out the window to take a look at the bustling train station and only noticed that it was more crowded that she remembered it being. She took a second to notice the skyscrapers grazing the sky in the far distance and the ominous black tinge that was present in the sky, causing the sky to be a darker shade of blue instead of the baby blue that she was so very accustomed to. The people did not look friendly or eager to help someone in need but rather they all look like if they were in a hurry to get out of there or like if they couldn't be bothered and wouldn't stop to help someone up or help a kid find his mother. The people seemed guarded and protective of themselves. This was nothing like Resembool, the place where everyone knew each other and trusted one another. "What the hell did she get herself into?" she thought as she stepped off the train into a city that held nothing but distrust and contempt in her eyes.