5 Second Countdown
by. Poisoned Scarlet

06: Betrayal

01 week, 03 days, 06 hours, 12 seconds later

Her granny had been devastated.

The visit had turned out worse than she had imagined and her grandmother just very nearly lost consciousness when she first saw her. Winry didn't think she looked that bad but she couldn't be sure – she was so used to seeing herself in such a bad state that it no longer bothered her.

But it bothered her grandmother, who couldn't believe so much damage had been inflicted upon her during such a short time-span. Winry needn't correct her: she had been a special case. Usually the beatings came in after a week or so but as someone had divulged information regarding her, the soldiers were particularly hasty to get the information they wanted.

Most of it pertained to Ed and, even though she prided herself in knowing just about everything of the boy, having grown up with him and all, she was still left in the dark about a lot of things.

The things they had asked related to his alchemical skill and knowledge, things which had never interested her before and now she was glad they didn't.

It would have been harder to keep her mouth shut if she knew.

Winry touched her numbed jaw and sighed, shutting the book on her lap. Ed wouldn't be here with her today – he had something to do with Roy Mustang but he had promised to be in by nightfall. He had been sleeping next door to her for the past few days and it was a comfort to know he was right there, beside her, keeping her safe despite the shadows which morphed themselves into those frightening images of her tormentors.

The door opened and she looked up, surprised to see Alphonse come in. He smiled brightly, commenting on her appearance politely. It was nothing negative – he even said she was getting back the usual twinkle in her eyes and her skin wasn't so corpse white anymore.

"Here, I got you these from the store while I was coming here!" Al chirped, handing her a box of chocolates. She smiled, taking the box with a bandaged hand.

"Milk chocolate," she laughed, delightedly. "You remembered!"

"Brother never stopped ranting about it," Al chuckled sheepishly. "He kept whining about your lack-of-taste when it came to chocolate."

"I like the original," she said stubbornly. "Not that dark chocolate stuff they're coming up with nowadays."

"Well, you know brother..." Al trailed off with a shake of his head, a small smile on his face.

"He always has to be against me," she giggled, popping open the box and tossing a bite-sized candy into her mouth. "Thanks, Al. That was very thoughtful of you."

"I thought you'd like it!" Al beamed. "You have to get tired of the hospital food, right?"

"Its not as bad as Ed makes it out to be," Winry replied, eating another chocolate. The only bad part of hospital food was the portions. They hardly filled her up at all.

"Ah, Winry..."

She looked up, brows scrunching when she saw his troubled face. "What is it, Al...?"

"That girl you spoke about—Melanie," Al cleared his throat. Winry lost her appetite at the sound of her name. "We just got news of her location and, well—"

"Where is she?" Winry asked, urgently. "Where is she? Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay, Alphonse!"

"She's okay!" Al reassured, quickly. "Don't worry – we've verified that she is safe and sound."

"Oh, oh good," Winry sighed in relief. "Where is she? Is there any way I could see her?"

Al instantly got nervous. Winry felt dread glue to the pit of her stomach. "Alphonse...?"

"She's...still in Drachma."

"But...then how could she be safe?"

"She ran into an Amestrian spy," Al explained slowly."He's trying his best to smuggle her out without causing an uproar, so it'll be a few more hours before we get the OK to pick her up."

Pick her up? She thought, dropping her eyes to the bedsheets...

Ed smiled, tensely. "Hey, Winry, I won't be here tomorrow. You're on your own for the day...but I'll be back by nightfall! I promise!" His sentence was unusually sloppy, pitched with highs and lows, and she didn't need to think twice to know what he was really nervous.

Or lying.

"Where are you going?" she asked, frowning.

"Oh, just something Mustang wants me to do," he replied dismissively, avoiding her eyes. "It's nothing, really. He's just being a bastard again, you know?"

"Uh huh..."

Winry gasped with realization. "Is he...?"

Al smiled warily. "Yeah, he decided to take on the mission."

She felt fear grip her heart, as a thousand images of the tortures Ed could go through should he get caught rushed through her mind. "But...he'll be okay, right? It's not—he won't—he promised to be back before nightfall..."

"He'll be fine," Al assured softly, patting her leg to calm her. Winry swallowed the lump in her throat. "Brother can complete this with no problem at all! I trust him."

"I-I do too but...its just..." Winry dropped her gaze to her hands. She tightened her grip on the sheets. "They want him. That was why they interrogated me so much.."

"He'll only be picking her up," Al informed, as if that would assure her of his safety. "Its not like he'll be infiltrating the base like we did with you. That was too risky and we almost lost a few men due to it...but he was determined to get you back before...you know..." Al trailed, uncomfortable, and Winry understood completely. Being taken as Prisoner of War was no easy matter – there were worse things than death, as that man had cruelly stated.

"Okay...thanks for telling me," Winry said gratefully. Al nodded, happy to be of service. He glanced at the clock overhead and gasped.

"Oh no! I'm late for my meeting!" Al quickly gave Winry a hug and rushed to the door. "I'll try to come by tomorrow; I have a book convention I have to attend. I'll see you later, Winry! Take care!"

"Bye, Al..." Winry whispered a minute too late.

The silence in the room was too much for her all of a sudden.

She pushed the book off her lap and let it fall on the floor, the thump offering some sort of noise in the vast nothingness that abounded her.

Ed would be okay.

He promised to be back.

He would be okay.

Winry sunk into the sheets; sunlight doing nothing to brighten the shadows that blanketed her heart.

01 week, 04 days, 00 hours, 34 seconds later

There was a chilling breeze coming from the window beside her. Winry was sitting on the chair, gazing out the window, unable to sleep without the knowledge of Ed being there to keep her from harms way.

She knew it was a bad habit to fall into – because then she'd always need him, or someone, there with her in order for her to fall sleep – but it was just something out of her control.

She was already sick with worry, it'd only induce even worse nightmares if she tried to sleep.

She touched her bare knee, the cold making her recoil. In fact, as she touched her arms, her face, her neck, all of her was freezing. Winry slowly stood up, still a little unsteady on her feet, and made her way back to the bed, slipping underneath the covers slowly.

Her aching jaw prevented her from sleeping on her side, so sleeping on her back was the only way to really get a nights rest. It was bad for her, being a side-sleeper, which added to the ever-growing list of obstacles that prevented her from having a good nights sleep.

She closed her eyes and, despite the trembles that wracked her body, tried to sleep. She was used to sleeping under such cold conditions – this was actually warm compared to what she had to go through – but he wasn't there to watch her sleep...

He wasn't there to assure her that nothing would happen.

She was hesitant to fall asleep but eventually sleep did come, although she was sure she'd jolt awake a few minutes later just like before, when Edward hadn't suggested he spend the nights over with her to make sure she got her hours.

Winry was hanging onto the last few threads of consciousness when the sound of a door clicking open roused her slightly.

It wasn't enough to wake her, as her eyes felt like blocks of lead, but the familiar off-set footsteps that stopped by her bedside were enough to warn her of who it was.

She almost thought it was a dream, until she heard Al's hissing whisper that they were going to get caught and be in so much trouble for breaking and entering a hospital.

"Pipe down, Al," she heard Ed hiss back. "If you keep makin' so much noise then we really will get caught!"

"Just please hurry, brother!"

She vaguely heard Ed softly scoff out "wuss" under his breath.

The sick worry in her stomach cleared when she awoke enough to know it wasn't a dream and Edward had really kept his promise and came to visit her; even if it was brief and she didn't have enough will power to welcome him back – sleep stubbornly trying to sink her back into the calm waters of unconsciousness.

She felt the sheets rise up to her chin before another, heavier, sheet fell over her. It took her a moment to realize it couldn't be a sheet, because of the fur that tickled her lips, but a coat.

With a simple pat on her head, she heard Ed's uneven footsteps leave the room.

Her hand touched the material draped over her and brought it up to cuddle her face, his scent a pleasure to inhale as sleep clouded her thoughts and she finally fell into a peaceful sleep.

01 week, 04 days, 10 hours, 21 seconds later

"You're going to have to tell her sometime," Alphonse said with a sigh, as he and his brother stood just outside Winry's door. Edward was leaning against the door, gazing at the opposite wall with an expression close to murder.

"Not yet," Edward muttered, dropping his searing gaze with a shake of his head. "She's barely starting to revert back to normal, and now I dump this on her? It'll make her worse."

"There wouldn't be much of a difference," Al argued softly. "She would suffer even if you gave her a whole other two months. She might as well try to cope with it now, as she is coping with the trauma she went through when she was captured."

Ed's jaw clenched, the tendon jumping in response. He didn't reply as he contemplated his brothers words. He had a point. Winry would be heartbroken regardless of when he told her but he did have a reason to believe it was too early to dump this on her.

She had just begun to smile and act normally. She had just begun to not jump at every sound she heard; not flinch when the door opened; not stay awake until the very early hours of the night because of the nightmares that plagued her.

"She's going to be eighteen, Ed," Al coaxed gently. "She's almost an adult now; you can't protect her from everything—"

"But I can try," Ed stated, abruptly flinging the door open and walking in to avoid further discussion.

Al sighed and followed him, as Winry turned away from the early morning horizon. Al noticed she was gripping a red coat and he saw that it was the coat his brother had been wearing when they came to visit her earlier that day, at around four am in the morning.

Brother left his coat with her? Al blinked, surprised. He stole a glance at his brother, who was standing stiffly beside him, and allowed a small smirk to grace his face. That's so cute! Brother cares!

Ed noticed the starry-eyed look in his brothers eyes and sent him a weird look.

Al merely shook his head at him, regaining his focus.

"Ed, Al," she greeted, with a small smile that reached her eyes. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Winry!" Al greeted back, a little weakly when he remembered this was going to go downhill very fast.

"'Morning, Win," Ed grumbled, and Winry rolled her eyes at his grumpiness.

"What are you doing here so early?" Winry asked Al, who shifted uncomfortably. "You usually don't drop by in the mornings...and didn't you have some convention to attend to today? You were talking about it last time you came..."

"I still have an hour," Al replied quietly, fidgeting with the button on his shirt.

Winry's smile slowly faded. She knew those looks – the way Ed was glaring daggers at her bedpost and the way Al had that apologetic smile on his face.

She knew something was wrong.

Immediately, her insides chilled and she felt her stomach grow sick once more.

"What...happened?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"It-it's nothing bad!" Al tried to comfort, catching the fearful expression that fleeted her face. "I mean, it could be considered bad but I think it's a really good thing! Um, well, you see—!"

"We found Melanie," Edward cut to the chase.

The change in the young mechanic was immediate: the stress lines cleared and her eyes flooded with relief. "Oh, thank goodness she's okay! Where is she? Is she hurt? Is she somewhere in the hospital?"

Edward looked more grim. "She's just fine."

Winry licked her dry lips. What was wrong then? "I don't understand, what's wrong with that?"

"Winry," Al began gently, "she was sort of..."

"She was having an affair with a Drachmian soldier while in captivity," Ed revealed, tonelessly. "It turned out the guy was actually a double-agent; he was sending information to Briggs secretly and its because of him we have the upper hand in the war right now." He pulled on a sardonic smile. "It didn't work out too well when they discovered the little tryst, though. They nearly had both of them on firing squad for it."

"If brother hadn't gone when he did," Al sighed, brows creased, "she would have died."

Winry didn't move for a good while.

She stared at them both, in disbelief, before slowly lowering her eyes to her bedsheets. She recalled the cruel actions of the soldier – the slaps, the kicks, the sneers, the looks of disgust – and felt her eyes water against her will.

There was a sudden impaling of betrayal that caught her right in the heart and shook her to her core.

She was hiding something from me, she thought, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn't notice she was crying until drops plopped on the sheets below her. She gripped them tightly between bone-white hands, the despair overwhelmed by the amount of rage that quickly filled her.

The tantamount ire was deep, borderline hatred, but it was meshed with sorrow, dissolving it into nothing more than a spurt of scorn that only lasted a few seconds before apathy made her shoulders slump.

"Where is she right now?" Winry asked, emptily.

"She's in the waiting room," Al supplied. "She wants to see you and—"

"Tell her to go away. I don't want to see her." Winry slumped back against the headboard, her hurt gaze outside.

"But, Winry—!"

"Go, Alphonse." She used his full name to notify that she was serious. She heard his hesitant steps stop at the door frame before the door shut quietly. She did not hear any sounds for at least a minute, when her own sharp intake of breath sliced through the silence.

"I didn't want to tell you," Ed said after he was sure Al had left.

"I'm glad you did," she replied, a little gruffly. Her eyes stung some more. "It's okay...I always thought there was something wrong with the way he kept coming back to get her. It just—hurts that she hid it from me...and that she didn't stop him." There was a flash of rage, a flash of pain, in her eyes. "That's all."

Her eyes over flooded with tears and they slowly slid down her cheeks.

It wasn't as bad as it had been at the camps.

At least here they were trailing down slowly, not in torrents, and she was silently weeping, and not screaming.

"Stop crying, you baby," she heard Ed say softly. "You shouldn't be crying anymore, remember?" The mattress sunk with his weight. Winry rose her hands to wipe her eyes but this only served to make more rain down.

"I-I'm sorry...I just...can't.." she hiccuped and dug the heel of her palm into her eyes. They only soaked through. "Stop."

"Everything is gonna' be fine," Ed whispered. "Please stop crying, Winry." There was an urgency in his whisper, a guilt she didn't understand. But she knew him well enough to know he blamed himself for the mess she got herself in. He probably twisted up the story very well in that big brain of his.

She looked at him, saw her tired reflection in his concerned gold eyes, and smiled the briefest smiles that only increased the pain scrunched on his face.

Before she knew it, he had leaned over to wipe away some tears with his gloved hand a bit roughly.

"You idiot," he whispered harshly. "Stop crying – you shouldn't be crying in the first place! Damn it,m this is why I didn't want to tell you!" Instead of fighting his hand, she leaned into it and before she knew it, she was grabbing his sleeve and tugging him forward silently.

A little confused, Ed leaned in, and froze when she wrapped an arm around his neck and rested her forehead on his shoulder. It felt like an awkward position, which he quickly fixed by shifting his body and letting her settle into his chest as she wanted.

She didn't know she had calmed down so much until the door opened again and she heard a gasp. She tiredly opened her eyes open and peered over his shoulder.

Alphonse stood next to a familiar face, one that froze Winry in place.

She hadn't changed much – in fact, she looked just the same if not cleaned up and fully nourished. Her eyes still held that rather hollowed out look (something she didn't understand because she had just been having a secret relationship, right?) and her face was rather gaunt and pale.

There were dry streaks down her face, no doubt she had been crying, and Winry swallowed at the compassion she still saw in those green eyes of hers.

"Winry..." Melanie breathed. "You're..." She saw the woman clench her hand to her chest, face contorting in pain. "What have they done to you?"

Winry responded by burying her face in Ed's chest. She shut her eyes, trying to block out the sound of Melanie's breathing. What was she doing here? Didn't she tell Alphonse she didn't want to see her? Why would he throw away her will – wasn't she the injured one here?

"Tch," Ed clenched his jaw. "Alphonse, why the hell did you bring her in?"

"Melanie wanted to see how she was doing..." Al replied, a little sadly. "She really wanted to see at least her prognosis. I didn't think she'd come inside the room..."

"She could have asked the doctor," Ed replied acidly.

"The doctor wasn't in."

"The nurse."

"She was busy."

"You."

"I..."

Ed smirked coldly. "Got'cha."

Al scowled, eyes heavy with anxiety."Ed, this isn't time for your games! Melanie really wanted to see Winry and I think she deserved—!"

"She doesn't," Winry rejected, voice thick. "She doesn't deserve it."

"Winry," Melanie pleaded. "Winry, please, let me explain what happened—!"

"You lied!" Winry leaned off Edward and glared harshly. "You lied to me! You left me alone in a cell for hours while you—you were with your goddamn boyfriend!" Melanie froze at her scathing tone. "I was beaten! I was laughed at! I was starved, and you were...were out there having fun?" Tears stung her eyes again. "You don't deserve anything. You shouldn't even be here! Just—get out!" Winry dropped her head to her chest. She was remembering things she didn't want to. "Please...get out."

"It wasn't like that, Winry!" Melanie urged, once she got her voice back. "Please trust me when I say I was doing everything possible to get you out!"

"I thought you were being raped!" Winry cried sorrowfully. "I thought you were being tortured or-or forced to commit atrocities or something! But I should have known," she laughed shakily, "it was always the same guy who came. Every single time."

Melanie closed her eyes. "Winry..."

"You let him hit me," she whispered with a clench of her fist. "You didn't even try to stop him. Why?"

"Please..."

"Because it was an act?" Winry spat, scornfully. "Because you were trying to save me? That's nice and all but you didn't even make it in time! I was already being dragged into the interrogation room! You didn't do anything! You weren't even the one who-who saved me! He did!" She pointed at Ed, who was wide eyed and frozen, as she revealed things she hadn't told them. Alphonse looked equally shocked. "I was suppose to die in that interrogation room. He told me I was going to die. Because I wasn't useful anymore since I wouldn't...I couldn't answer their questions."

Melanie paled.

"What would have happened if Ed hadn't come to save me then?" Winry bit her bottom lip, inhaling a shuddering breath. "I would have...they would have left me there...and I would've become another body in some dirty cell..." Winry swallowed thickly at the sheer thought. "Like everyone else."

She was crying again. The tears streamed thick down her cheeks. The older woman joined her, although her crying was louder, a little hysterical, and Winry managed to rub them off with her hand.

They were empty tears, anyway.

She didn't even feel like crying, not with all the conflicted emotions inside her.

"You were happy with your boyfriend during all this," Winry shrugged helplessly, not sure how to respond anymore. "I should have known better than to trust someone during war. I guess it was all my fault for doing just that. They told me not but I...didn't know." She closed her eyes. "But now I do...you're not suppose to trust anyone during war. It never works out like you think it would, does it?"

"No, Winry," Melanie whispered, painfully. "This was my fault. I should have been there...but I don't lie when I say I was truly trying to help you. I was planning your escape but—I didn't know it would be so soon...I didn't know they were going to do it so fast. They usually take longer, I honestly don't know why they arranged it like this!"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Winry replied, gazing at Edward's black long-sleeved shirt. "I'm not there anymore and that's all that matters."

"Melanie, I think you should go now," Al interrupted gently, guiding the woman out with a little force.

"But—!"

"Now," Al repeated firmly. Melanie looked over her shoulder the entire time, shutting her eyes and forcing out the remaining tears before the door shut.

Edward was livid.

He could see red at the edge of his vision; a hateful, vengeful, emotion that choked in his throat start to steer his thoughts into terrain he was usually averse to. The memory he had of that man who had nearly beat Winry to death when he had barged into the room came back full force; how he had relished shedding blood and hearing the sickening splinter of bone because his thoughts were so focused on returning the anguish Winry had suffered twice fold – equivalent exchange be damned.

It was starting to seem like a good idea again right then and there again.

His eyes burned into the sheets, Winry's words bouncing off the walls of his mind; accompanied by images he'd rather not see.

One sentence refused to quiet.

"You let him hit me"

He clenched his hands. The rage which had been building from that point on was uncontainable – he wanted to bolt outside and beat the man who hurt Winry senseless. But he held himself in place, because he still had enough sense to know that Winry was more important right now than some expendable soldier.

"So...that's how it was," Ed screwed his eyes shut to contain the fury. He breathed in deeply. "He was the one who hurt you."

"He didn't do it often," Winry whispered tremulously. "There were others."

"But he hurt you."

"He had to," she said, resignedly.

"He didn't," Ed snarled, furiously. "He didn't if he knew just who the hell you were!"

Winry swallowed; his voice was loud and had a fury that made her tread carefully. "Ed..?" She reached for him, flinching back when he snapped his head up and bore savage eyes into hers.

She gasped.

She was scared, she discovered, scared as she stared into eyes that howled murder. She saw his eyes widen with a different emotion, shock, and she found out that it was because she had thrown herself back; putting as much space between them as possible.

She had done it instinctively, she'd argue. She had recognized the bloodthirsty look from the Drachma soldiers that entered her cell and often dragged her to the interrogation room. The other soldiers who arrived once she was inside and further humiliated her.

That was the only reason, the only reason as his eyes softened with remorse.

"Winry, I..." he whispered, lips parted to say more. But the words he wanted to say were caught in his throat.

The flicker of fright in her eyes had cooled his rage.

He scared her.

It tore him up inside that he had dredged up bad memories associated with such a brutal look.

He let his hair shade his eyes and stood, avoiding further eye contact. "I...I have to go talk to Al," he rasped. "I'll be back...soon."

He left without another word, leaving Winry alone in the empty confines of the hospital room.