I want to give a shout out to BakaFangirl who created that amazing cover photo for this story.

I can never stop telling you how thankful I am, so I might as well say it again. Thank you!

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It was his fault. It was all Selim's fault. Not only for Winry's current living conditions but for something else: Ed's death. It had been a few days into Winry's stay at the castle when she first started to blame Selim for all her pain and misery. And she was justified in doing so, at least in her own mind, when memories of her brief yet loving romance came to her.

'He's the one who raised the damn taxes. He raised them for no reason, something about preparing for a war that never even happened. If he had never raised those taxes then Edward would never have had to leave. If it wasn't for the economic hardships that he forced on us, Ed would have stayed home with me where he would have been safe.' These thoughts always swirled around her mind every time she saw Selim, which regrettably happened every day.

Everyday she would eat breakfast and dinner with Selim and his father. Lunch was a wild card as Selim would usually be busy and Winry herself would be occupied. May had been telling the truth when she said that she would be there for her. At night after Winry was supposed to retire the two of them would usually stay up and talk. Their talks weren't always about the bad things that happened to Winry, May talked about Xing and its many differences in comparison to Amestris.

"Do you ever consider going back?" Winry asked once.

"No" May shook her head. "My clan fell out of power so there would be nothing that I could go back too."

"What exactly are clans?" Winry asked.

"Well." May said, "Each clan controls a different region of the empire and the leaders of each clan is an offspring of the emperor."

"How many clans are there?" Winry asked.

"Well, when last I checked there were 257." May grinned.

"He has 257 kids!" Winry said incredulously.

"And counting." May chuckled.

"Wow...poor Empress?" Winry laughed.

"Well actually the emperor has many many wives and concubines to bear his children." May informed her.

"I kind wish it was like that here." Winry said, "Maybe then I could have a day without Selim."

Winry even told May about Ed. How they meet; how they fell in love; and the eventual tragic ending. May cried at the end of the story and said that the pirate Greed had been the reason that she hadn't come to Amestris by sea.

May would tell Winry some of the legends about Greed. Selim had caused Ed's death but Greed was still the one who ultimately killed him. Winry wanted to find out everything she could about him.

"They say he's Xingese. At least that's what people use to say. Now the stories say he is an Amestrian who was born in Xing and speaks in a Xingese accent. People say he has limbs made out of metal. Apparently he dresses in all black and has eyes grayer than a gravestone." May told her one day as she braided Winry's hair.

"Chilling." Winry drawled,then turned to look at her friend. "But I thought he didn't leave any survivors?"

"He doesn't." May replied.

"Then where do the stories come from?"

"...I don't know." May said perplexed.

"I don't know who I hate more. Him or the prince." Winry said miserably, looking down at her lap.

On an average day Winry found that she had many things that could keep her occupied. Just walking around the elegant hallways of the castle was engaging, if she pretended that this place wasn't her prison. There was a giant library in the northwest corner of the castle with more books than Winry could count. She had smiled smugly when Selim seemed surprised to learn that she could read, having thought she was illiterate. In the courtyards there were elaborate gardens with multi colored plants from around the world. Other times Winry would spend her days with the old King, walking with him in the courtyards or talking with him. He'd forgotten her name eight times in the few weeks she had been at the castle, but he was very sweet and Winry couldn't believe that he had a son as horrible as Selim.

The other occupants of castle treated her in different ways. The servants were polite to her, but it was their job to be so. The nobles and other officials, who seemed to live in the walls, were for the most part complete suck ups. There were a few nice ones but most looked down on her for being a commoner. Not that they did this openly, but she could tell from their glances and their whispered voices. They only acted nice to her because she was their future queen and they hoped to gain favor with her. They could all go to hell for all she cared. Whenever it looked like there was some rich snob looking down at her, Winry made it a point to stare back defiantly. She already had to take crap from Selim, she wasn't going to take it from everyone else in this damn place.

While she could handle herself around the nobles, she was terrified of Bradley. He was always so cold and calculating. His grey eye always seemed to look right into her soul. Apart from being Selim's right hand man, he was also the dungeon master and interrogator. Sometimes at night she swore she could hear the faint screams of prisoners coming from the dungeon. These kept her up at night. Other people in the castle included the captain of the guard, Raven, who just seemed like a fool that always took orders from Bradley.

She had an endless supply of dresses. Each one a different color and with different designs. Her favorite was a thin strapped blue dress that matched the color of her eyes. She wore it almost every day because it was the most similar to the old dresses that she used to wear at her home.

'Ed would have loved this dress.' She thought sadly to herself one day.

To her delight Winry was able to leave the castle, but as Selim had said, she had to have a "bodyguard" with her.

'More of a prison guard then a bodyguard.' Winry thought bitterly to herself. Despite that the man assigned to watch over her wasn't that bad. He was courteous to her and did seem genuinely invested in her protection. He was a huge man, with tan skin and red eyes. She hadn't figured out his name but he had a rather large X shaped scar on his forehead. She thought it made him look cool, so her nickname for him was "Scar".

One day when she was walking through the gardens and a drunk servant came stumbling out of the bushes. He was drunkenly swinging a goblet around and came stumbling towards her. Before she could react her bodyguard was in front of her holding the drunk man by his throat. With a single flick of his wrist he had the man flying through the air and back into the bushes. Turning around to her; he bowed his head and held his arm out for her to pass. Winry smiled and continued walking. Since then Scar became one of the few people that she liked in this castle.

When she was tired of the gardens, Winry was able to ride in the royal carriage around the city and see normal people. Unfortunately this was the same carriage that goer her into this mess to begin with, but she wasn't one top hold a grudge against an inanimate object. Seeing people that had to work for a living reminded her of home and was a relief from the overbearing superiority of those who lived in the castle. People would stare at the carriage as it passed and Winry could hear their whispered voices coming from outside. Winry supposed word of her must have spread and people would no doubt want to see their next queen.

"What will it mean when I'm queen?' Winry thought. 'Am I going to have any authority or am I just going to be Selim's glorified sex toy.' She shivered with disgust.

Ever since the first night, Selim had made her give him a daily kiss goodnight. This disgusting ritual was her least favorite part of the day. It was the time when his lips would press against her stiff ones. His kisses had been getting longer with each night and his hands would linger for longer moments. Last night after breaking the kiss, he lingered to sniff her hair. It took all of Winry's self control to not lash out and hit him. With each each kiss getting longer and his hands starting to travel, it was like he was building up to their wedding night; getting closer and closer to taking exactly what he wanted.

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While Winry had taken a few rides in the royal carriage she had yet to be officially introduced to the people. Today that was going to change. Right now Selim was standing on a decorated balcony with the King and Bradley at his right and left. The balcony faced the entire square which was filled to the brim with people.

'Who knew one day that hundreds of people from all around the country would congregate to one place to see me.' Winry thought as she waited for her cue to walk into view. She was going to be among the people, walking down a long carpet that came to a stop halfway through the square and was protected on both sides by guards. May stood next to her, holding her hand supportively. Behind both of them was Scar who'd follow her out.

Selim was speaking. "My people, one month from now our country will have its 500 hundredth anniversary. On that sundown I shall marry a lady who was once a commoner like yourselves. Perhaps you will not find her common now...would you like to meet her?"

The crowd cheered.

"Just hold your head high, smile, and walk straight" May whispered in her ear "You'll do fine."

"My people" Winry could hear the smug smile in Selim's voice. "The Princess...Winry."

Trumpets blared as Winry's heart jumped up in her throat. May gave her hand a squeeze and a gentle push to get her moving. Winry walked forward as her long dress dragged behind her. Her hair was braided and nails painted. She felt like a doll. As she stepped out of the grand arch that led into the square she looked around. There were hundreds maybe thousands of people in the square and they were all looking at her. Taking a deep breath Winry marched forward. As she passed them, people dropped to one knee in a respectful bow. Winry forced a pleasant smile on her face as her gaze traveled from one person to another. Some people looked at her with an indifferent expression, while others looked on in awe. Winry supposed it was because of her sudden rise in society. She also saw some smiles and some waves. Her eyes lingered on a tall woman with black hair and a white sleeveless outfit standing next to a much larger man. The woman was giving her a scrutinous look that eventually turned into a small smile and a nod. Winry returned the nod and looked at the other side of the carpet. She saw pretty much the exact same things on this side. At one point her gaze landed on a tall figure in a black coat. This one almost made her falter in her step. Even though she couldn't see the figure's face, as he was wearing a hood, she could feel his eyes on her. It felt like he was glaring right at her, but she couldn't possibly think why. Winry turned away and kept walking, eventually curiosity got the better of her and she turned back to look at the figure, but he was gone.

Finally, Winry made it to the center of the square. 'Just a few days ago a man who was left to die slowly was hanging in this spot. Am I any better off?'. At this point everyone in the square had bowed, then they all broke out in applause. As they applauded Winry looked up at the high balcony where Selim was standing. He was looking down at her with that smile that made her skin crawl.

'My betrothed.'

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After the big presentation in the square there was a feast in the great hall. Winry had to sit next to Selim, who spent the majority of the meal with a hand on her thigh. Winry spent most of the meal quiet and only talked when someone spoke to her. Mostly people asked her about her 'common' upbringing and how it compared to her new 'luxurious' lifestyle. Winry answered as honestly as she could, but every time she began to venture into territory that Selim didn't like he'd give her a painful squeeze with his hand. Her breath had hitched whenever he did this, causing some people to give her weird look. When dinner was finally finished and Winry was back in her room with May she hiked up her dress to look at her leg. She winced when she saw several ugly bruises littered across her thigh.

May looked over her shoulder and gasped. "Are those…?"

"Yes" Winry answered "Those were him."

May put a hand on Winry's shoulder before beginning to untie the strings that held her dress together. When Winry was dressed in a silk nightgown and ready to go to bed, she was startled by a knock on her door. Turning around her stomach turned when she saw Selim leaning against the door. He smiled, "Well it looks like I caught you right in the nick of time, right?"

Winry and May didn't answer as they anxiously waited for the Prince to talk again.

"You may go, Chang, I think your work is done for the night." His gaze never left Winry's.

"Actually your Grace I-" May began.

"Leave!" Selim barked, now looking at May.

May shrank back, then shot Winry a sympathetic look before quickly moving past Selim.

Selim pushed off from the door and began to slowly stroll over to her.

"You did very well today, with the square and the feast. I told you that you could survive this place."

"Thank you" Winry mumbled, eyes downcast.

"You looked very...ravishing in that dress" His eyes had that predatory look again.

Winry gulped, "T-thank you."

Selim came to a stop right in front of her, looking her up and down. Winry suddenly felt very vulnerable being in a room alone with Selim wearing nothing but a thin nightgown. She flinched when she felt Selim's hand cup her cheek. He lifted her face so that she was looking at him, his dead black eyes pouring into her azure ones. Ed had looked at her like that many times before. But when he had done it, he made her feel warm and safe, when Selim did it he filled her with nothing but disgust.

"Selim what ar-"

Winry's question was cut short by Selim crashing his lips against her's. Winry gave a muffled gag as she felt him force his tongue into her mouth. Winry frantically pushed against his shoulders to get free, but Selim grabbed her arms and roughly held her in place. His kiss was bruising as his slimy tongue wormed its way around her mouth, mapping out every inch that he could reach. Winry was too afraid to try biting him so she settled with kicking him. Eventually Selim broke the kiss and released her. Winry tripped over herself trying to get away from him and ended up in a heap on the floor. She scurried back a few feet until she was leaning against the bed from the ground, clutching the fabric with wide eyes, breathing raggedly.

"Hmmm" Selim placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "You taste like cherries, interesting." He licked his lips as if to savor her flavor.

With that, he turned and left.

Winry stared at the door long after he'd left, before letting out an angry shriek. She rushed over to a bowl of water and began washing her mouth, trying to expel his disgusting taste from her mouth. It took every ounce of her strength to not vomit. Standing up she grabbed a chalice on a side table and flung it against the wall, shattering it. She grabbed handfuls of her hair as she paced back and forward.

'Why? WHY?' She thought. 'Why am I letting myself be this weak? Why am I letting him do all of these things to me?'

'You know why.' A voice in her head said. 'It's to keep Granny safe.'

Granny.

Winry missed her so much it killed her. What was Pinako going to think when she heard that Winry was the new princess. Did she already know? Selim promised that she would be well looked after, but could she really trust Selim? All he had ever done was terrify and humiliate her. A few weeks before, Winry had asked May if she could deliver a letter to Pinako. Unfortunately May told her that servants were not allowed to leave the capital unless they had permission. The last servant who was caught leaving had their thumb removed by Bradley.

"Seems like we're all being held captive here." Winry had said to May.

Crawling into bed Winry wrapped herself in the soft blankets and waited for sleep to eventually take her, wondering if there was ever going to be an end to her hell.

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In the next few weeks leading up the wedding it seemed like Selim wanted to show Winry off as much as possible. When ever he made a public appearance she had to be smiling at his side. At every appearance she had to hang onto his arm, wave to the crowd, and accept flowers from children (The last part wasn't that bad). At feasts Winry always sat next to him, which gave her a few more bruises on her thigh. The nightly kisses kept getting worse, Selim's tongue always forced its way into her mouth one way or another. Every time she had to stop herself from biting him. She just closed her eyes and waited for it to be over. Now that she was publicly his betrothed, he seemed to think he had an excuse to be more 'intimate' with her in private.

A new privilege that Winry discovered that she had now was the ability to ride a horse instead of a carriage. She could ride her horse around the city and the woods surrounding it. She was so thrilled about this that she almost considered thanking Selim.

Almost.

The one place she couldn't go was any of the lands near Resembool and she had to be accompanied by Scar.

For the first few rides, Winry had rode up and down the hills and valleys that were next to the city. They reminded her of the fields of Resembool, and if she closed her eyes, it was like she was back home. This was how she spent most of her days for the next two or three weeks. Being out in the fresh air was a pleasant escape from all of her problems. Every time she left the castle and came back she always looked curiously towards the city. She found herself wanting to explore it and see what it really looked like. So on one day as she and Scar rode over the bridge that led from the castle to the fields she turned towards her companion, "Lets go to the city instead." She steered her horse towards the city. He looked at her, then the city, then nodded. Smiling Winry kicked off in that direction. He wasn't a very talkative person, hell, he was more emotionless then Bradley. But unlike Bradley Scar didn't scare her, he just wasn't much for conversations.

The city seemed to be split into two sections, a wealthy section and a poor section. Winry opted to go see the poor section, Scar simply nodded and fell in behind her. But she noticed he seemed to tense a little.

The roads were dirty and full of filth. People walked in rags and children were begging in the street. Many people stopped what they were doing to stare at her as she passed. Most looked surprised to see her. She could hear Scar gripping his sword tighter as they passed, but for whatever reason she wasn't afraid. These people didn't look like they were going to hurt her. 'Either way' she looked back at Scar, 'He will keep me safe.'

As they rode down the street, Winry's attention was grabbed by the sound of shouting around the corner. Kicking ahead of Scar Winry took her horse around the corner to see what was causing the commotion. Around the corner there was a crowd of people circled around a confrontation between soldiers and some peasants. The first thing that Winry saw was that the soldiers weren't the royal blue ones that resided in the castle, these ones had brown outfits and looked more like thugs then upholders of the law. The second was that the people in the circle with the soldiers were actually children.

"My Princess, I suggest we turn around." Scar spoke as he rode up behind her.

"No" She said "I want to see this." She sat up higher in her saddle to get a better view.

The children were cowering away from the thugs, who had one of the children by the arm and was shaking him violently. The child was crying and looked to be in pain.

Narrowing her eyes, Winry jumped off the horse and began making her way towards crowd.

"Princess!" Scar called behind her, but Winry ignored him.

As she made her way to stand up for those children she was surprised to see someone had already beat her too it. A tall woman with a sleeveless white coat had stepped into the circle and separated the thug and the child. Winry stopped in amazement as the woman lifted the thug in the air with one hand and threw him to the ground. The thug clumsily struggled to his feet and drew his sword, holding it in front of him threateningly, his friends drew theirs as well.

Not wanting this to escalate any further, Winry ran forward and began pushing her way through the crowd. Not knowing exactly what she was doing, Winry broke through the crowd and entered the circle.

"STOP!"

All eyes turned to her as she stood there huffing from the exertion of running over here. The woman's eyes widened in recognition as did several of the thugs, but the one who had been thrown obviously didn't.

"What are you doing girl?" The thug sneered "This is official business."

"Basque!" A nervous soldier, who had dropped to his knees, said "Shut up!"

Basque didn't, apparently taking her red riding gown as a fancy prostitute's. "Go back to your gutter, whore, before I show you the boot of my heel."

"That's the princess you idiot!" His companion yelled behind him.

Basque paled, he turned to look at his companion "What?"

At this point Scar had pushed his way through the crowd, sword drawn. Seeing the other men with their swords out near Winry caused him to raise his own, ready to fight. Scar's presence caused the soldiers to cower back.

"Now" Winry said in a raised voice. "What's happening?"

"W-w-well, yo-your highness-." Basque sweated out.

"I wasn't talking to you." Winry snapped, then turned to the woman who was still guarding the children. "What happened?"

The woman stared at her in awe for a moment before speaking, "Well your Grace, I'm not entirely sure myself. From what I gather these 'brave men' saw it fit to relieve these hungry children of food."

Winry glanced at the ground and saw fruits and vegetables spewn all over the ground. With a raised eyebrow Winry glared at Basque.

Doing her best to sound authoritative she spoke, "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"We were confiscating the food, your Grace." Basque said nervously.

"And why, may I ask were you confiscating the food?" Winry had moved so that she was standing between the soldiers and the children.

"The children stole them, your Grace." Basque glared up at her.

"Liar" Winry heard from the crowd.

"Greedy bastards." Came another.

She glared at Basque. "Look at your friends Basque. They certainly know how to show me respect. Follow their example." She referred to the other men who were on their knees and not looking at her.

Basque let out an angry sigh and got on his knee.

"That's not good enough." Winry tried not to smirk, "Lower."

Basque's glare intensified and he got down on both knees.

"Lower." After being tormented by Selim for the last couple of weeks, it felt good to put a bully in his place.

Basque lowered his face until it was barely an inch above the dirt. There were several chuckles from the crowd.

"Much better." Winry smiled.

Then she turned to the children and knelt down in front of them. "Hello" she smiled sweetly at them, "Now tell me the truth. Did you steal this food?"

"No ma'am" One of the children answered.

"We saved money for this. Our mommy is sick." Another one put out.

"It's ok, I believe you." Winry smiled. Standing up she turned back to the soldiers. "Leave these children alone and if I see you harassing innocent people ever again, I will have you thrown in the dungeon." Winry didn't think that she could actually do that but they believed her, because most of them turned and ran; leaving about two standing in shock and anger, Basque included. Turning to Scar she said, "I didn't care too much for that whore comment earlier, would you mind punching that prick in the face?" Scar raised an eyebrow but his face remained neutral. If he was surprised by her actions he didn't show it. He nodded and turned towards the two men, punching Basque so hard that he was flown off his feet, landing hard on the ground unconscious. His companion quickly grabbed Basque under the shoulders and dragged him away as the crowd laughed.

Winry smiled proudly and turned around and dropped to her knees. She heard gasps from the crowd as she began picking up the fruit and vegetables and handing them back to the children. The woman in white joined her and soon the children had all of their food back again. As the children and crowd began to disperse the woman in the white stood up and helped Winry to her feet. Scar remained close by, but sheathed his sword.

"That was very brave of you." Winry said. "Standing up for those children like that."

The woman waved her hand dismissively, "Oh that wasn't brave, that was stupid. What you did was brave."

Winry blushed at the compliment, "I just couldn't stand there and let those men hurt innocent children."

"Neither could I." The woman smiled, then she knelt on one knee head bowed. "My name is Izumi Curtis, your Grace."

"Please, you don't have to be all formal" Winry said, "I'm Winry."

"I know." Izumi said, standing up. "I was there at your first public appearance."

"Oh yeah." Winry said, "We made eye contact at one point I believe."

Izumi looked down and saw that Winry's dress was covered in dirt. "Your dress is dirty." she pointed.

"Oh that?" Winry looked down. "It's nothing, I literally have a hundred other dresses like this, why should I only use one of them?"

Izumi chuckled, "Either way I might as well repay you in some way." Izumi clapped her hands, then touched Winry's dress and all of the dirt fell off.

"Wow" Winry was awestruck, "How did you do that?"

"Trade secret." Izumi smirked.

"Your Grace." Winry heard Scar behind her, "It is getting rather late, we should head back to the castle."

"Well." Winry turned back to Izumi "I guess I have to go. Good bye"

"Good bye, your Grace." Izumi smiled.

With some help from Scar Winry climbed back onto her horse and began riding back to the castle.

'Well at least being princess isn't always horrible.'

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Selim watched as Scar helped Winry off of her horse. He was standing from a balcony observing them as Bradley joined him from behind.

"The Princess's little stunt is already the talk of the town." Bradley informed him. "My agents are reporting that the people are telling varying tales of how she protected a group of starving children from a band of fiendish thugs."

"The Princess of the people." Selim sneered as he watched her walk towards the castle. "She turned out to be a better candidate then I had hoped."

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Dinner was the same as usual, Pretentious conversations and snobby mannerisms. Winry was starting to get better with dinner conversations. She was coming out with less and less bruises.

Selim once again was escorting her to her room. This time instead of stopping at the door he walked into the room. Winry took a deep breath before walking in behind him. As she entered her room, Selim was instantly on her, crashing his lips against her's. Winry flinched as she felt Selim's tongue against her lips, requesting entrance. She didn't. Selim became more persistent with his kissing and his wandering hands. One of his hands went from her shoulder and traveled down her back, giving her butt a hard pinch. Winry gasped in surprise and this was all Selim needed to slide his tongue in. Winry gagged, Selim seemed to be trying to stick his tongue all the way down her throat. She couldn't breathe! Her last strand of self restraint was snapped when she felt one of his hands groping her butt and the other her breast.

She bit him.

Selim's eyes widened in shock and pain as Winry bit down on his tongue, not hard enough to bite it off or anything, but enough to draw blood. Selim broke the kiss and pushed away from her and yelped when Winry slapped him hard across the face. Selim stumbled a bit before catching himself on a chair. Winry stared in shock as Selim looked at her full of rage and anger. He raised his hand as if to hit her back, but when Winry hardly flinched he stopped.

"It would be improper for a Prince to strike his Princess." He said, trying to sound calm. "But don't get too comfortable, I'll be right back."

With that he quickly moved past Winry and out the room, leaving Winry to contemplate what she had just done. She knew she was in deep shit at the moment, but she was tired of Selim pawing at her like a piece of meat. For what seemed like forever she waited for Selim to return and when it seemed like he wouldn't, the door opened revealing a grinning Selim.

"As I said, it is improper for a Prince to hit his Princess, but I found someone more proper."

Selim pushed the door open more allowing a grinning Basque to enter the room. Winry let out a nervous breath as her eyes darted between the two grinning men.

"Well Ser Grand." Selim said, "Did you care too much for that strike to the face earlier?"

"It was rather painful, your Grace." Basque touched a large swollen bruise that look up most of the left side of his face and obscured the vision in that eye.

"Well then as your Prince, I give you complete authority to strike the Princess."

Winry paled even more as Basque's grin widened and he advanced towards her. She backed up to get away from him and turned to run but was grabbed violently by her hair, keeping her in place.

"Leave her face." Selim said, sitting comfortably in a plush chair "I like her pretty."

Holding Winry by her hair Basque raised his fist and brought it down hard into Winry's stomach. Winry could barely cry out as all the air was pushed out of her and she fell to the ground. She lay gasping in pain and lack of oxygen when Basque grabbed her by the hair again and yanked her to her feet to administer another earth shattering punch. This one left her gasping desperately as she was thrown painfully to the ground. Basque kicked her in the shoulder causing her to roll onto her back. Winry felt tears forming at her eyes but she held them in. She heard laughter above and cracked hers eyes open and saw Basque grinning down at her. "And why may I ask are you crying princess?" He sneered.

"Here use this." Selim spoke handing Basque a riding crop. He wasn't even containing his glee at watching her suffering. The crop was wood and Basque turned it in his hand, inspecting it, before turning to Winry, his grin pure evil. Winry stared up in horror as he raised the hard stick, ready to strike her. Basque swung the crop down on her chest. Winry screamed in pain. Blow after blow rained on her as Basque continued to savagely strike her. Basque stayed away from her face but showed no mercy for the rest of her body as he started to laugh. Eventually the pain became too much and Winry couldn't keep silent.

"Stop! Please!" She sobbed from her fetal position in the ground.

"Hmm, I don't care much for your begging princess." Basque spoke sadistically as he began twirling the crop in his hand before hitting her again. Winry tried blocking the blows with her arms. Looking towards her huge bed she saw a sizable space under it. Moving quickly she crawled towards the opening; the blows raining down on her back. She made it to the bed and was halfway under it when she heard Selim laugh. "Where are you going?" He said. "Come back out you naughty girl. You haven't learned your lesson yet!" She felt Basque grab her ankles.

He pulled her out and kicked her onto her back again and resumed the beating. Eventually the blows stopped, she opened her eyes and looked up to see Selim grinning down at her.

"I think you've learned your lesson. Don't forget our wedding is in a little over two weeks from now. I'm sure by then, you'll have grown to love me."

Selim and Basque left leaving Winry alone.

Winry curled up into a ball, bruised and bloody. She felt the tears coming again but she held them back. Instead her earlier dinner came back up and she vomited all over the floor. May came in as she always seemed to do. Ready to help pick up the pieces after Selim broke her.

"Winry, I-"

"Don't May, just don't." Winry snapped.

May winced at the harsh remark, but nodded and helped Winry into bed. She turned to leave but stopped when she felt Winry holding her hand. May looked down to see Winry staring back up at her with tearful, apologetic eyes.

"I know" May whispered, "I know."

May left and came back with a bucket and a cloth. Quickly cleaning up the vomit she stood up to leave and saw that Winry was asleep.

'She doesn't deserve this. Why does the world have to be so cruel?'

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Two days later, Winry winced as she lifted the saddle onto her horse. Her bruises were making it difficult to perform certain tasks. She was also pretty sure that some of her ribs were injured as well. Her arms, legs, chest, and back were covered in dark bruises. Winry didn't know the extent of her injuries because Selim refused to allow a doctor to inspect her. Anyway, she had decided to go ahead with riding today, lucky for her, her red riding gown covered up all marks. Usually Scar would insist on putting the saddle on her horse himself but he seemed to be running late today. Besides May and the King, Scar was the only other person whom she liked. He wasn't a joy to be around but he wasn't unpleasant. He seemed like to her and she was sure that he would protect her with his life. Winry knew he was only following orders but it was still nice to know that someone was looking out for her in this hellhole. Especially after what happened two days ago, she was now scared of all the soldiers except for Scar. She had thought about telling him about what happened with Selim and Basque but to be honest what could he do about it. Also she was scared of what would happen if Selim found out. She hadn't seen much of him since her 'punishment' and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as she could.

She turned around when she heard someone stumbling into the stable. Scar was hunched over as he gripped the wall in an attempt to keep himself upright.

"Are you ok?" Winry asked as she ran over to his side.

"I'm fine, princess." Scar fell into a fit of coughing. His face was sweaty and his dark skin pale.

Winry placed a hand on his forehead. He was burning up. "You have a fever." She took his large hand and placed in on his head, "See you're burning up."

"I'll be fine" Scar tried pushing off the wall. Winry pushed him back, which was no easy task.

"You can barely stand." Winry said. "Rest today, I can get another soldier to escort me."

Scar shook his head, "I wouldn't be comfortable with that, my lady."

"Well you'll be even less comfortable if you come out riding." Winry insisted, "Take a rest."

Later Winry was riding through the woods. Scar had eventually relented and now she had a substitute bodyguard. This guy wasn't as intimidating as Scar and he didn't seem very interested in her. He'd hardly looked at her since they started riding and seemed more interested in things happening far away.

'How does a man like Scar get sick so quickly? He seemed fine yesterday." Winry wondered, 'Perhaps it was something he ate?'

Eventually she came to a stop in the rode. In front of her were three men: a small one, a tall one, and a really, really big one. The small one had a pointed mustache, small squinty eyes, and a long face. The second man had a fancy sword at his side, with brown hair and brown eyes. The big man was huge, even bigger than Scar. He was bald with a single golden curl on the top of his head. He had a twirly mustache as well.

"A word my fair lady?" The small one asked. "We are but poor, lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?"

"Actually there's a city a few miles down the road. But there's no village for a while." Winry answered, pointing behind her. Her guard rolled his eyes, not interested in hearing this.

"Good" The small man grinned. "Then nobody will be around to hear you scream."

Her guard looked up surprised before he was punched in the face by the huge man, knocking him out. Winry was frozen in shock and when she finally snapped out of it, the huge man squeezed her neck and her vision went black.

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The Princess...Winry

He had been watching her for weeks, dying a little bit every day. Every time he saw her smile up on that high horse of her's; every time she hung on that smug bastard's arm, it was like a knife being twisted in his chest.

I'm going to wait for you

'I should have known this would happen.'

No matter how long I have to wait. I'll do it for you.

'I'm sorry I overestimated you Winry. I truly am.'

Now he watched as they carried her onto their boat. Who they were and why they were doing this he didn't care. After some apparent bickering on the deck they kicked off and began to set sail.

The man watched as they floated away. His ship and crew were waiting for him, this was going to be his last day in Amestris before he left forever. He had come home only to find the woman he loved in another man's arms and no doubt in his bed. Standing up he looked at the departing ship and then to the open sea, his black coat blowing in the breeze.

'Let them have her. If she was so willing to marry a Prince then the consequences are on her.' The man thought venomously to himself while clenching his metal fist.

I love you. Never forget that. I love you.

'...she forgot about me…'

I love you Winry, I have for a long time.

'...'

And that's why I'm coming back.

..but I haven't forgotten about her.'

He pulled up the sail of his small raft. His black mask and grey contacts were in place. He didn't know where these men were going, but they were never going to get there.

"I'm coming Winry" Edward Elric said to himself, "I'm coming."

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FINALLY! I don't have to write for Selim for a while now and Ed's finally back. I didn't know if I was going to include Ed's automail and alchemy, but your reviews swayed me. Originally this and chapter 3 was going to be one chapter but it ended up being too long. I found it funny that when I rewatched the movie and realized that I haven't gotten 10 minutes of material written yet. Almost 30,000 words and I haven't gotten through the first 10 minutes of the movie. Anyway, I'm glad that people are ok with the differences from the movie, I want to make my own story out of this.