Resembool, 1919

Goodbye

"I'm tellin' ya," Pinako said, pulling on her velvet jacket and buttoning the front. She sighed and looked at her poker friends Nan and Rosalee. "I won that fair and square; everyone knows a straight-flush beats a normal straight and a normal flush!"

Rosalee, who had short pink hair, large spectacles, and used a cane to get around said slowly, "Of course, Pinako. However, we weren't playing fairly in the first place. Remember? Besides, you're one to talk, you old crone," she poked fun at Pinako who smiled in return, "you've cheated us all out of our own clothes."

Pinako beamed and clutched her bag of goodies to her chest. "You're right."

She left after that, waving to her friends and pulling the collar of her jacket closer to her face. It sure was suspiciously chilly tonight, she noted, and she walked in the direction of her house. As she neared the bottom of the hill where only the roof of her yellow house could be seen, she saw William walking down the hill with a displeased line plastered on his face. She 'humphed' as they got closer.

"Shouldn't you be at home, boy?" she asked tentatively.

"I'm headed there now. Back to Central." He snapped back at her out of reflex, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She knew when it came to pig-headed young adults, it'd be best if she would just shake it off. The old woman snorted. "Have a safe trip. Call me when you get home so I know you won't kill yourself."

"Yup."

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After William left and she had her miniature break down, Winry thought it best that she leave. She stood up and regained her composure. When she was sure she was breathing at a steady pace, she galloped through the kitchen and toward the stairs, where her bedroom was waiting with a large leather suitcase on her bed.

She threw almost everything that was in her dresser into the suitcases, which comprised camisoles, shorts, a few pairs of sexy panties, some jeans, skirts, and a dress or two. Finally, she walked over to her bedside table and put in the two pictures that were above it. She reached over and grabbed the picture of Ed, sliding the actual photograph out of the glass cover and folding it, sliding it into her jeans pocket. She walked over to the closet to pull out Ed's red jacket, and she walked back over to her suitcase.

"I'm sure, wherever I'm going," she said, lost in thought, "has some sort of shampoo and wash, so I won't bring those. However..." she grabbed the suitcase - which wasn't as heavy as she thought it was - and carried it downstairs to place it on the kitchen table. She then proceeded into her workshop to grab her most trusted sidekick: her wrench. Ed had given it to her years before...

Her cheeks became pink almost instantly.

"I think that's it," she said to herself, then she looked to the clock. It was nearly eight in the evening, and she'd be damned if she left after she saw her grandmother. Without a moment's hesitation, she picked up her suitcase and tugged on her jacket before headed out of the door, the chilly night breeze kissing her cheeks as she walked through it with a look of determination in her eyes.

There's got to be something exciting outside of the country, she thought to herself as she headed into town.

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Winry proceeded into town like she had important business at the Train Station, which was straight ahead if she continued on her route. She kept repeating to herself constantly that she wasn't going to turn back, that she was going to go through with her journey to who knows where. However, she heard a woman scream down an alleyway between the local bakery and the hardware shop and she wasn't sure who told her feet to run to that spot. A figure was hunched over, scribbling something into the dirt. Winry dropped her suitcase and ran over, her medical instincts taking over.

"Excuse me, are you alright? Here let me- whoa!" before Winry could finish her statement, she saw the figure press its hands on the scribbles. Winry fell over, tripping on her own feet, and got a good look of what the woman had drawn: a transmutation circle. A gasp escaped her, one loud enough to make the pipes running in the alleyway to vibrate burst above her from the sound waves, and both she and the woman were enveloped in white alchemical light.

And while Winry was broken down, atom by atom and compound by compound, she was swept into the depths of unconsciousness when her body collided with cold concrete.

London, 1925

Ed arrived moments after Al's phone call. He was in the process of folding up his reading glasses and putting them in his pocket, when he heard a scream come from the alley. Ed keeled over, gasping for breath, but Al ran right to it. He tugged on something in his pocket, which Ed distinguished as a small pistol, and they both heard a 'Thud!'

Al looked over the corner to investigate, only to see a figure covered in sludge and blood. It seemed to be a woman, by the way her body was shaped, and Al ran over immediately. "Miss, my name is Alphonse Heidrich, and I'm going to bring you to my apartment, okay?"

The woman made no response, as she had been knocked out from the fall, and Al shrugged off his jacket. Suddenly, rain clouds ran to the top of the alleyway and released rain. Great, just great Al thought as he heard his brother limping down, panting. "Damn it. My arm and chest are killing me!"

Al wrapped the woman in his jacket and lifted her up, careful not to jolt her or shake her too much from fear of hurting or scaring her. After all, Al wasn't the kind to scare anyone, especially a woman. Ed watched precariously as Al walked past and said quite calmly, "Well, don't just stand there! Call a taxi to take us home!"

Ed obeyed, clutching his heart with his auto-mail hand as if she was here...

Thank you everyone for their support with this fic. And your patience... hehe *rubs neck nervously*

How would you all like another fic? ^^U Yeah, no. Not yet. This must be finished first. But the prologue is pretty cool so far! XD

Please review and tell me how I did!

Beta'ed by Half-Hearted Shadow.