Winry jumped out of my arms and I felt the pain return. I groaned in agony. It's never hurt so bad before. The guilt was eating away at my soul. I was mumbling and my thoughts were foggy so I probably wasn't thinking clearly, but that didn't matter right now. "No, Winry, come back. You made it go away. Damn it, it hurts!" My eyes still hadn't opened and the pictures kept looping. The voices kept repeating themselves. "Alphonse, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Nina. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Winry sat back down on the bed and put her hand on my head. I calmed down a little. I tried to pull her next to me again, but she wouldn't let me. I slowly faded back to sleep.

~*~ Winry

I was glad Edward's eyes were closed so he couldn't see me crying. "Oh, Edward." I choked out a couple of sobs.

Al was still standing in the doorway. "Um…Winry? What happened? What were you and Ed doing?"

I blushed behind my tears. "He was having a nightmare. He woke up screaming. I came to see what was wrong and he pulled me next to him. I'm not sure why."

Even with Al's limited facial expressions, he was oddly blank. "He's so stupid. Unappreciative."

Al walked away leaving me confused. I got up to follow him, but Ed snapped up behind me. He was breathing hard. His eyes were wide and looking straight forward. I don't think he saw me. He brought his left leg to his chest, tucked his head down, and held himself like that for awhile. I was scared to move cause I knew he would hear it. "Um…I was half asleep before. Please disregard anything I said….or did."

He looked up from behind his arm. His eyes looked as dead as they did the day Colonel Mustang came by so many years ago. The fire seemed to be burnt out though. We held that eye contact for a long time. "Ed, I think Al's mad at you."

He blinked. "What? I just woke up! What could I have possibly done!" He threw his sheets away and walked to his closet, neither of us uncomfortable with him in his boxers. I'm his mechanic. That's all he wears when I have to work on his leg. He got dressed and redid his hair from a ponytail to a braid. "So why is he mad?"

I shrugged. "He walked in on…um. He walked in on us just now."

His fingers stopped braiding. "Uh…haha" His voice was shaky and he quickly finished his braid. "So…I don't really remember a lot of what I said or did. I thought I was still asleep. What exactly did he…walk in on?"

"OH!" A fake smile plastered my face and I waved my hands around. "Nothing! Nothing! You just pulled me into a hug, but you were lying in bed with your shirt off and Al called you stupid and unappreciative… What is it? You know what's wrong?"

His head sunk when I said unappreciative. "Yea. I know hell as much as I know what's wrong. Screw this! I know I should pity him, but sometimes he's just…UGH." His fist clenched and I could see the muscle in his left arm twitch as he froze in mid punch. "He's just being jealous cause he knows that when I pulled you…close to me, it felt better. Humans are comforted by another human's touch. He can't have that right now and he's always going on about a girlfriend. He thought that we…" He froze and laughed a little awkwardly. "Well anyway, we need to start your training. I'm going to go talk to Izumi." He started walking out, but he paused in front of me. "Um…Thank you. For…just, thanks."

He walked out and pulled on his jacket. He didn't turn around, but I did.

~*~ Edward

"Teacher. How do you teach a girl to fight?"

Izumi's eyes gleamed. "Oh so, you've accepted a pupil!" She pated my head as acknowledgement of my height and her authority. "She needs fighting clothes first. She can't fight in that outfit."

I sighed. "So you're telling me I have to spend money on her."

She looked confused. "I never said that."

I shook my head. "You don't understand. You said Winry needs something. That means I have to spend money on her."

She smiled. "Well have a fun shopping day!" She walked away leaving my original question unanswered.

I screamed to her back. "I CAN'T SEND HER TO A DESERTED ISLAND!"

Izumi screamed back without turning around. "WHY NOT?"

I took a step back. Was I going easy on Winry? Did I really have to push her that far? Did I have to teach her to be able to kill? Even if it is just an animal, I remember how hard that first kill was. I can't do that to her…can I?