Author's note: I just want to clear some things up. Edward doesn't know his father or Al's name. He is just aware that he has a father and brother somewhere who have the same hair and eye color as him. Al on the other hand knows that his brother's name is Edward Elric.
OoO
OoO
His metal hand grazed over her skin as it moved down her face towards the gag in her mouth causing her to flinch. He ignored the familiar feelings that this action brought back. He'd done this a hundred times before; whether it was brushing her shining hair behind her ear, or stroking her soft face as he gazed lovingly into her eyes. Now his face was set in a grim stare as he yanked the cloth out of her mouth. She coughed when the fabric was so roughly removed and worked the soreness out of her jaw. Ed stood up to his full height and looked down at her with his coat blowing slightly in the wind. He stared down at her for several moments before turning around. He walked to where he had dropped his sword and picked it up. His eyes were on her as he slid it into its sheath. Winry flinched at the sound of metall scrapping against metal. From where he was standing he could see the wheels turning in her head and she was biting her lip, unsure of what to say. She was scared and he didn't blame her. She was helpless; at the mercy of one guy who wanted to kill her one minute ago and now at the mercy of a complete stranger.
Ed shook his head. Truly, she had nothing to fear from him, but she didn't need to know that...not yet.
Stepping back over to her Ed looked down, 'Time to get this going.' Moving down to one knee, he grasped Winry by her shoulders and sat her up. Finally she spoke.
"Who are you?" She demanded in a firm yet shaky voice.
Hearing her talk to him almost made him flub his accent, but he kept it going. "Someone not to be trifled with." He said in his Xingese accent.
Standing them both up Ed's hands moved to the cloth that was blindfolding her. He paused, readying himself for the emotions that this action would cause him.
Moving his hands behind her head he slowly began to undo the knot that was keeping her blind. He purposely dragged this out as he could see his slow movements were stressing her out. Eventually the knot became undone and he removed the cloth from her face. Her eyes were closed and she blinked them open, allowing them to adjust to the light. After a few moments her uncertain gaze met his.
He had prepared for this in advance, steeling himself for the unknown reaction this could provoke. When his eyes met hers, it didn't hit him like he had expected them to. Her familiar blue orbs didn't have the spirit that they used to. They were duller now, less lively. It was a look that he'd never seen on her before and with it came a sense of nonrecognition. She was as beautiful as ever, but she wasn't the same Winry that he'd said goodbye to so long ago. She was different and so was he.
They were strangers.
His disguise seemed to work as he saw no recognition in her eyes, only trepidation. She tried hiding it under a brave face, but she was easy to read. Especially to him.
She broke her gaze away from him and looked over at Yoki's body. She let out a quiet gasp at the sight of it. Ed glanced at the corpse as well and agreed that it was a revolting sight, even though he'd seen worse. Iocane was a very brutal poison that devastated the body and continued to ravish it long after death. It was a death that Ed reserved for few people. Yoki's skin was currently peeling off his face as he lay in a puddle of his blood.
'Good riddance.' Ed thought then looked back at Winry, who was still staring at the corpse in shock.
'She's never seen a dead body before.' Ed realized in his head and felt a small pang of guilt for doing this in front of her. He forgot how different their lives had been since they last met. She hadn't seen the things that he'd seen. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Ed turned her in the direction of the path.
"Come." He commanded.
Winry looked back at him and after a moment's hesitation complied. It was a few moments before she spoke up again, "Funny, how after all of that, you put the poison in your own cup." Her voice was quiet, yet not as shaky as it had been earlier.
"They were both poisoned." Ed said not looking at her.
"Then how..?" Winry said confused.
"I've been building up an immunity to several of the world's deadliest poisons for a while now, iocane included."
Winry frowned slightly, "Then it really wasn't a battle of wits was it?"
"Will you weep for the man who planned to kill you?" Ed snapped mockingly down at her. At that moment he just realized how much much taller than her he'd become. 'Wow, I must have grown much more than I thought.' He was shaken from his thoughts by Winry's response.
"No." She growled glaring right back up at him. "But that shows me what kind of man you are."
"And what kind of man am I?" Ed stopped to glare at her.
"A liar." Winry said defiantly.
'Grateful much?' Ed drawled in his head. Well to be fair, he hadn't untied her hands yet, so she was still being held captive technically. Then he responded.
"You'd know a lot about that wouldn't you." Ed smirked humorlessly.
Winry blinked in confusion before she got angry. "Ok, I don't know who you are, but at least tell me what you're going to do to me."
"Now why should I do that?" Ed mocked, "I'm the one holding all the cards and the swords." Ed pulled his sword out slightly before sliding it back in. "Why should I tell you anything?"
Winry glared up at him, "Because I asked. I think I have a right to know if I should be expecting to die soon. So I ask again, what are you going to do with me?"
"I don't know." Ed said, "I haven't decided yet."
Grabbing her arm, he pulled her along with him at a fast pace. She was caught off guard and stumbled her way after him. He didn't enjoy being cruel to her. He didn't find any enjoyment from taunting her. In fact every insult he threw at her stung him as well. But he couldn't help it; his anger was too great. His anger at her, at the Prince, at himself for ever leaving.
He had to keep moving, the Prince's men weren't very far behind them and this couldn't be interrupted.
'I've waited too long.' He thought.
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King Bradley looked down the side of the peculiarly named Cliffs of Insanity. It had taken nearly all day to scale the cliffs,thanks to the horses, and get to this spot. Forty loyal soldiers had accompanied himself and the Prince to find the Princess. Personally he didn't feel that this many troops would have been necessary, but the Prince insisted.
'Anything for his bride.' He thought dryly to himself.
Turning around, he watched as the Prince carefully stepped over the rocky terrain.
"It looks like there was a great duel here." The Prince said aloud. He followed the footprints in the dirt, mimicking the actions of the ones fighting. "It went all around." The Prince waved his hand over the area until it stopped on an empty spot of dirt. Getting closer, the Prince squinted at the spot. "It ended here." He stood up. "The loser lives. His footprints lead off into the west. The winner.." The Prince pointed his hand to his left, "Went to the east."
"Shall I send scouts to pursue the loser?" Bradley asked.
"No." The Prince said as he moved to mount his horse. "The loser is of no concern now, the winner will take us to where the Princess is." He looked at the the forty men. "Be ready men. If Creta has indeed taken the Princess then we will have to fight to get her back."
The men all nodded and readied their horses for moving. The Prince had a smirk on his face, but it disappeared after a cold glare from Bradley.
"We don't want to be too obvious, do we?" The one-eyed man whispered.
"No we don't." The Prince said, before setting his face into a look of determination.
OoO
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"Will you stop dragging me!" Winry yelled at the man in front of her. Walking with your hands tied behind your back was hard enough, but being dragged was downright abuse. Besides that, her already bruised arms were throbbing from where this man had grabbed her. His grip was so hard it was like his hands were made of metal.
"Tired your highness?" The accented man in black called back. His voice mocking her struggle.
"At least untie me." Winry grumbled.
"Why?" The man stopped to turn around. "Does the rough rope ache thy royal wrists?" He turned around and resumed dragging her.
Winry yanked her shoulder out of his grip and took a few steps back. "Why do you keep taunting me? What have I ever done to you?" His lifeless eyes glared at her, yet he made no move to grab her again.
"Nothing personally." The man growled. "More so through reputation."
"What does that mean?" Winry demanded.
"You wouldn't understand." The man reached to grab her arm again.
"No!" She shouted, taking some more steps back, "I'm not going another step forward until you untie me."
"Give me a reason." The man crossed his arms, his cold eyes unchanging.
"I promise not to run." She said, "And I won't try anything."
"I don't know." the man said, putting his gloved hand thoughtfully on his chin. "Yoki did say you gave him a lot of trouble. Why should you be any more compliant for me?"
"What could I do to you?" Winry said exasperated, "You defeated both Alphonse and Alex physically, and you outsmarted Yoki. What threat could I pose to you?" She looked up and down his imposing figure.
"Alphonse and Alex, you say? Sounds like you'd bonded with your captors." The man sneered with subtle anger.
"They were...nice to me when they didn't have to be." Winry's eyes suddenly widened, "What did you do to them?"
"Why so curious?" The man said.
"Did you kill them?" Winry demanded.
The man was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Yes."
Winry gasped, her face paling. "You-you killed them?"
The man nodded, those horrible eyes never leaving her.
"But, back when Yoki switched the cups, it sounded like you were expecting Alphonse to be there."
The man shrugged, "Sometimes people don't die the first time I kill them. It has happened before."
"Why?" Winry asked.
"Well when people try to kill me, I usually defend myself." He shrugged again.
"They didn't deserve to die." Winry glared, "They were good people."
"Bad things happen to good people all the time." The man said, "That's how the world works, Princess, anyone who says differently is a fool."
"Did you have to kill them?" Winry asked, her voice coming out quietly.
"No, I didn't." The man replied.
"Then why did you?" Winry's voice cracked slightly, "Why couldn't you just let them live."
"Because that's not how I handle my affairs."
"You're a monster." Winry hissed.
"You know." The man said, "If you want me to untie you, insulting me will get you nowhere."
Winry went silent then looked at the ground in anger. Looking up she said, "Please untie me."
The man smirked, "Well since you said please." The man took Yoki's knife out of his belt and motioned for her to turn around. Winry did so, eyeing him suspiciously. He grabbed her wrists and with a single slice of the knife, she was free. Rubbing her wrists, she turned around to look at him. He put the dagger back into his belt.
"Ready to keep doing?" He crossed his arms.
"Please, just let me go." Winry said, "Whatever you want. The Prince will give it to you."
"Is that a promise?" The man sneered.
"I was giving you a chance, The Prince is coming for me and he will find you. Selim can hunt a hawk on a cloudy day."
'Or so he boasts.' Winry inwardly rolled her eyes.
Looking at the man, she went quiet because she was finally able to see an emotion in his grey eyes, pure rage. It seems as if her statement about Selim had really pissed him off.
"Oh so you think your dearly beloved will come to rescue you?" The man said darkly taking several menacing steps toward her.
Winry nervously stepped back, but felt her blood boil at his assumption, "I never said he was my true love."
"Oh so you are incapable of love then? Or are you simply leading this poor Prince on." The man raised an eyebrow.
"Shut up!" Winry shouted, "Shut up! Why do you keep mocking me?"
"I just speak the truth, your Highness." The man said with a grin.
Winry inhaled and closed her eyes to keep the angry tears from falling, looking up she glared at the man. "I know who you are!"
"Do you?" The man said amused, "Tell me."
"The Xingese accent; the black clothes; grey eyes; and your cruelty give you away. You can only be one person." Winry looked him directly in the eye. "You're the pirate Greed aren't you?"
The man smiled, then began to clap his hands slowly in mock congratulations. "You certainly are observant."
Winry felt pure rage boil inside of her. This was him, this was the man who'd ruined her life. If it wasn't for this man then she would never have been thrown into that hell with Selim. If it wasn't for him then Ed would be alive.
"You...you monster." She hissed.
"It appears my reputation precedes me." Greed smirked.
"Do you know what you've done to my life?" Winry kept her voice steady despite her rage. "Do you know what you've done to me?"
"Tell me." He said, opening his arms invitingly.
Winry had often thought of what she'd say to Greed if she ever met him. Now it was time to let it out.
"Coming close on two years ago I said goodbye to a young man named Edward Elric. I was in love with this man, he was the kindest, most caring person I've ever known. He left to help me and my grandmother keep our home...and...he was going to get money so the two of us could get married."
Greed stood there with an unreadable look on his face as he listened to her. If she looked close enough, she could swear that he looked almost sad.
'Impossible', She thought to herself. 'This man can't possibly feel sadness for another human being.' She then continued speaking.
"He joined the crew of a trading ship called the Xerxes. One day I got a letter telling me that his ship had been attacked, with no survivors." Her voice got thicker with rage, "His ship was attacked by you!"
"Describe this lover of yours. I may remember him." Greed said, Winry did notice a slight tremble in his voice but ignored it.
"He had long golden hair. His eyes were richer than any gold that could be found in a vault. They were unique and beautiful. He was short, but he made up for it with his temper. He was kind, caring, and brave. He was the single most wonderful man I have ever or will ever meet. And you murdered him!" Winry practically shouted.
"I remember him." Greed said after a long pause, "Before he died he told me about you. He spoke of your great beauty and your kindness. He begged me to let him live only so he could return to you." When he finished he looked away from her.
"But that wasn't good enough for you was it?" Winry accused, "At least tell me you had the balls to look him in the eyes when you killed him."
She let out a shaky breath, all the rage of the last few months boiling together. She figured that Greed might as well know what his actions had led to.
"I died that day. I wanted to waste away until there was nothing left of me, because only then could I be with Edward again. I made a vow that day to never love again. And then...then...that bastard came."
"Bastard?" Greed, asked confused. His head whipping around to look at her.
"All I did was fix his wagon. I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask for any of it. But then he came back!" It all started to pour out of her. "He came back and he took me with him."
"The Prince?" Greed said, a look of fury reforming on his face.
"I had to go with him, I had to. He gave me no other choice. He was going to kill my grandmother." Winry said, wanting this man to know how bad her life had become.
"What!" Greed's face showed shock.
"I don't love him. I hate him!" Winry spat, "I could never love such a evil, manipulative, cowardly, perverted bastard. But I'm doomed to be his bride and do you know why? Because of you!" Winry advanced towards Greed pointing an accusatory finger at him. Greed backed up, staring at her with wide eyes.
"If you hadn't killed Edward then he would have come home. He would have been the one who would have gone out to fix the Prince's wagon and I would never have met him. We would be happy together, we would be married!" Winry's voice was increasing until she was full blown shouting. "I'D BE WITH THE MAN I LOVED AND STILL LOVE, AND EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT! BUT NO! YOU RUINED IT! YOU RUINED MY LIFE! AND NOW YOU TAUNT ME WHEN I AM BEING FORCED INTO MARRYING ANOTHER MAN EVEN THOUGH THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Winry's breaths came out in deep ragged breaths and her face was bright red as she poured all of her hatred into her voice and glare. Suddenly her shouting stopped and her face softened as her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
OoO
OoO
Ed was still reeling from the bombshell that Winry had just dropped on him to notice her fainting. He had been wrong, he had been so wrong.
"Oh God." He muttered to himself.
His anger towards her completely evaporated and his anger towards himself only intensified. 'How could I have been so wrong about her? She's being forced to marry another man! And that bastard's using Pinako as a hostage!' This made his resentment for the Prince burn into pure and unadulterated rage.
'That son of a bitch! THAT SON OF A BITCH!'
Breaking out of his thoughts he gasped when he saw Winry sprawled out on the ground.
"Winry!" He cried, his accent breaking.
He was by her side the next second, placing a hand on her forehead.
"Winry?" He said again in his normal voice.
Suddenly Winry lashed out and he felt a sharp blow to the left side of his face. Rolling with it, he jumped up to see a furious Winry coming at him with a rock in her hand.
"Winry it's me!" He called, but she didn't seem to hear him as she kept coming forward.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!" She swung the rock again and struck Ed across the face, knocking him on his back. Dazed and in pain, Ed looked up to see Winry coming down at him with the rock again. His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
"Winry listen to me!" Ed shouted.
Winry had angry tears streaming down her face as she struggled to free her wrist.
'She's hysterical,' Ed thought, 'Damn it, I pushed her too far.'
Winry dropped the rock and yanked her arm out of his grip. Seeing an opportunity she brought her foot back and kicked him as hard as she could between the legs. Ed let out a painful whimper as he involuntarily curled into a fetal position. As he did this Winry spotted Yoki's knife on his belt. Diving for it she grasped the blade and pulled it out.
Holding the knife in both hands she raised it above her head and prepared to stab him. Rolling to the side, Ed quickly dodged the blade and stood up.
"Listen to me, damn it! I'm Ed!" He cried desperately. This situation had certainly gotten out of hand.
"DIE!" Winry came at him again and he moved fast. As he side stepped the blade he grabbed her wrists with one hand and and moved so that her back was against his chest. Grabbing her wrists in both hands, he held her still, while whispering in her ear,
"It's me Winry. It's Ed."
Winry began thrashing and kicking, trying to get the knife free. Doing his best not to hurt her, Ed kicked her legs out from under her and pinned her face down on the ground. He used his larger body to prevent her from moving. Being as gentle as possible, he pinned her wrists above her head, while he straddled her back. Talking to her wasn't working, so he took off his mask, revealing his still long, golden hair. He started with his grey contacts when Winry stopped struggling under him.
"Just...just...kill me already...stop tormenting me and just get it over with."
She sounded so miserable and defeated. Ed's heart squeezed violently as he removed the last of his disguise showing off the face of the Edward Elric that Winry knew. Taking the knife from her grip and throwing it away, he carefully turned Winry onto her back. He kept her hands restrained just in case she tried struggling again.
At first she glare and then her expression slowly changed. Her eyes went wide and her face paled at the sight of him. Her mouth hung open in shock as her breaths came out shakily. He brought his flesh hand down to cup her face. "It's me Winry. It's Ed."
Winry shook her head in denial and disbelief. "No..no you're dead, you're dead." She whimpered, "You can't be him."
"It's me, it's me." Ed said gently as he stroked her soft cheek. "I'm alive, sweetheart." Ed released her wrists and brought his other hand down to cup her other cheek. "I'm alive."
Winry slowly brought her hands down to touch his face, as if to make sure he was real. She ran her hands over his pointed features and through his golden hair. Her eyes gazed into his golden ones and once again filled with tears.
"Oh Edward." She whimpered.
Ed lowered his head and pressed his lips gently against Winry's. His kiss was slow, yet desperate. It'd been so long since he'd felt her soft lips against his. Slowly Winry returned the kiss as she wrapped her arms desperately around him. The tears continued to fall as they kissed and not all of them were Winry's. Ed had wanted this for so long that he couldn't control his emotions. After an uncertain amount of time passed, they broke the kiss. Ed stood them up, helping Winry to her feet.
He gave her a small smile, one which she returned before she frowned. Ed was just about to ask what was wrong when Winry sucker punched him. This caught him off guard and he was once again knocked to the ground.
"Damn it Winry. What was that?" Ed rubbed the third sore spot on his chin as he sat up.
"Where the hell have you been?" Winry yelled angrily.
Ed felt another pang of guilt. "It's a long story, I wouldn't even have been able to contact you until about a couple months ago. I did try sending a letter but I never knew what to say. After that it took weeks for me to even get here and by then you were...you know."
Winry's face softened a little. "What happened to you?" She asked softly.
Ed stood up and looked down at Winry, "As I said, it's a long story."
There was a moment of silence where the two of them stared at each other.
"You got tall." Winry observed. He must have grown more than half a foot. He looked to be about 6 ft.
"I know." Ed grinned, "Really late growth spurt, I guess." He pointed a hand at Winry's slightly messed up hair. "I like the braid."
"Oh this." She took in her hand, "I like it too. May made it for me."
"May?" Ed asked.
"My chambermaid and my friend." Winry said, "She's made living with Selim better."
Ed frowned when she said his name, his face becoming darker. "Tell me about Selim."
Winry paled slightly and looked at her feet. 'I don't want him to know.' She thought, 'He can't know about all that happened.'
"Winry?" She looked up to see Ed with a serious look on his face. "Tell me about Selim."
Winry twisted her dress nervously between her fingers, "You won't like it."
"Please Winry." Ed took her hands in his. "Tell me."
Winry bit her lip and looked down again. Ed glanced down to her arms sticking out of her sleeves and narrowed his eyes. Pulling her arm up, he pushed back her sleeve and his breath caught in his throat. Her smooth arm was littered with dark ugly bruises. Horror filled him as he took her other arm and saw that one similarly littered. Looking at Winry's face he saw she was avoiding his gaze.
"Winry…" Ed was at a lost for words before he pulled himself together.
"How many more bruises do you have?" He asked gently.
Winry was silent and just hugged Ed closer to her.
"Everywhere." Winry mumbled eventually, "Except my face, Selim likes it when I look pretty."
Ed held back the flames of rage that were combusting inside of him as he pulled Winry further into his arms.
"He beat you?" Ed said through clenched teeth, it was more of a statement then a question.
"No, not personally." Winry mumbled into his chest. "He had a guard named Basque Grand beat me with a riding crop."
Ed let out a pained sigh and pulled back to look at her beautiful face. "I'm so sorry Winry. I never should have left."
"How could you have known?" Winry shrugged half heartedly.
"Did..did he do anything else to you?" Ed asked with a nervous tone.
Winry shook her head, "Nothing too bad, though he did make me kiss him every night. Recently he's been getting more 'intimate."
'He's molested her? That fucking bastard is dead!' Ed growled.
"Other than that you're ok?" Ed asked, trying to keep his rage under control.
"Yes." Winry laid her head against Ed's chest.
"I'm so sorry Winry." Ed whispered into her hair. Looking up he saw movement in the horizon. Squinting he saw that it was men on horseback.
"Shit!"
"What?" Winry looked up at him.
"Selim." Ed pointed to the distant horsemen.
"Oh god no." Winry whispered fearfully.
"Hurry, we need to go." Ed took her hand and pulled her with him.
"Where are we going?" Winry called as they broke out in a run.
"Away from here." Ed yelled back.
They continued to run over hills and down paths. Ed would occasionally look over his shoulder to see the distant men coming towards them.
'Shit, they're gaining:' He looked back at Winry who was beginning to panic.
'She is not going back to him!' He swore to himself.
Looking ahead of him he saw a forest.
'Horses have trouble in the woods.' He grinned. "Follow me."
They ran in the direction of the forest, as they got closer it looked less like a forest and more like a swamp.
"Wait!" He heard Winry behind him. "That's the Fire Swamp!"
"The what?"
"The Fire Swamp!" Winry shouted.
"Oh yeah, I've heard of it." Ed said, "Let's check it out."
"But.."
"It's either the swamp or Selim. What would you rather? I can't beat all of his men by myself."
Winry was silent for a moment, "Let's go for it."
OoO
OoO
"Ok I think that's far enough. Let's stop for a breather." Ed looked around to survey their surroundings.
'Big mossy trees, long mossy vines, and guess what more mossy trees.' Looking up Ed couldn't even see the sky. The trees were huge with long crooked roots that sprang all over the place. There was a slight ominous fog that rested just above the ground.
Winry sat down on a fallen tree, looking around herself. "We're never going to survive this place."
"Nonsense." Ed smirked at her. "You're only saying that because nobody ever has."
Winry frowned, then picked up a rock and threw it at Ed, who easily dodged it.
"At least we're safe from Selim." Ed sat down next to Winry. He nudged her knee with his own, "I think the two of us can handle this place."
A strange and loud cry of some creature came from behind them. They both turned, but saw nothing.
"Well that's reassuring." Winry drawled as she shifted closer to Ed.
"Nah, I'm sure whatever that is it's more afraid of us then we are of it." Ed said.
The loud sounds of a tree creaking and breaking was heard throughout the swamp.
"Well this place definitely is loud." Ed smirked.
"Ed?" Winry asked hesitantly.
"Yes?" Ed looked at her.
"Did...did you really kill Al and Alex?"
"No" Ed shook his head, "I was lying to keep the act up."
"Why did you even do an act?" Winry asked. "Why didn't you just let me know it was you?"
Ed sighed, "I was angry...and I had to be sure first." Looking her right in the eye he spoke, "I did not kill them."
"I want to believe you. But.." Winry trailed off and looked at her feet. Ed moved in front of her and took Winry's hands in his own.
"Winry I swear to you, I did not kill them." He pleaded looking into her eyes.
Winry was silent for a moment before she spoke, "What did you do to them?"
"Knocked them out." Ed smiled, relieved that she believed him.
"Why didn't you kill them?" Winry pressed him. "As you said earlier, they were trying to kill you."
"I could tell they were kind to you." Ed responded, "They both seemed to have been unaware of Yoki's true intentions."
"They were." Winry confirmed.
"I'm not a murderer." Ed said, "You were right when you said they didn't deserve to die."
"But if you're Greed, aren't you supposed to not take prisoners?" Winry questioned.
"Well you can't really take any prisoners when the crew of a ship abandons it and leaves it behind." Ed grinned, "Greed's reputation is very well known...but sometimes people stay with the ship and it gets messy." His grin faltered at the end.
"Oh." Winry said quietly, "Do you attack ships at random."
"No," Ed said, "After my experience I tended to stay away from merchant ships. I find slaver ships to be the most profitable."
"Slaver ships?"
"The Drachman slave trade." Ed answered, "The slaves, we either let go or offer them a place on the crew. For anyone who dies, it's not personal, it's just business."
Winry nodded, "What was it when you killed Yoki? Business or personal?"
"Personal." Ed responded.
"I don't know if I should be touched or scared." Winry said.
Ed sighed, "Winry, I'm still the same person who you knew two years ago."
"Are you?" Winry said nervously.
"Yes!" Ed insisted.
"How could you be? Ed, you-you've killed people! You've changed."
It was true, Ed knew that but the accusation he heard in her voice worried him. "Do you think I'm some kind of murderer?" He asked as he stood back up. "No better than Selim?"
"No! You are nothing like that monster. It's just...a lot to take in." She said exasperated. "You've been alive this whole time and now you're the pirate who I thought killed you. The pirate who I've hated for taking you away from me. And also you're tall and can beat a giant in a fight. It's just..weird Ed. It's all so fucking weird."
"I know." Ed said, "None of this turned out like I thought it would. Both of us have changed. But no matter how you may be different from the last time I saw you, I will still love you with all my heart."
Winry gave Ed a small smile and squeezed his hand. "I love you too Ed. With all of my heart."
Ed leaned forward and hugged Winry tightly. He sighed contently, enjoying her familiar scent filling his nostrils and the feeling of her in his arms. "I missed you." He whispered into her ear.
"I missed you too." Winry said, then pulled away. "Now can you tell me what happened?"
Ed opened his mouth to speak, but then the the sounds of popping filled the air. They both looked around in confusion before a sprout of fire erupted about two feet away from them. Unfortunately, it was close enough for Winry's dress to catch fire. Winry let out a shriek as the helm of her dress started to burn. Ed immediately grabbed a handful of soil and patted the fire out. Looking up, he smiled. "Well that was interesting." He grew serious, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's just the dress." Winry replied. The two of them stood up.
Suddenly the popping sounds were heard again and Ed looked down to see Winry standing above a small hole in the ground. Quickly grasping her waist, he lifted her and placed her a safe distance away as fire erupted from where she had just been standing.
Ed and Winry were silent as they waited for any more popping sounds. It was silent.
"Well now we see why the Fire Swamp is named so, let's continue." Ed led them forward.
They heard distant popping and a fire sprout about 20 feet away erupted.
"How does it do that?" Winry asked.
"Gases building up beneath the ground igniting and coming out volatile." Ed answered.
"Well anyway, before I burst into flames I asked you a question."
"I know." Ed said quietly, "And I'm going to tell you ok?"
Ed took Winry's hand in his and calmly they began to walk through the swamp.
"I guess just start at the beginning." Winry looked up at him.
"Well, the Xerxes was off the coast of Xing when someone first spotted Greed's ship. We couldn't outrun him so most of the crew jumped into lifeboats to escape. Greed usually only goes after the ship."
"So that's where the stories come from:" Winry observed.
"They filled up before I could get on one so me and a few others were left behind to face Greed alone. The fight didn't last long, Greed has very effective crew members. By the end of it I was the only man still alive so his crew began debating about what they should do to me."
Winry listened silently.
"Then Greed himself comes up to me and asks me if I had any reason to stay alive. So I told him about you." Ed gave Winry's hand a squeeze. "You were the only thing I could think about. Surprisingly enough, hearing about you interested him. So he took me into his cabin and let me tell him the entire story. Well I guess Greed was a sucker for a good romance story, because he offered me a job as his cabin boy. I accepted the job offer and with that I was a member of Greed's crew. During this time is when I learned how to fight, deceive, and pretty much anything else I could learn. Here look at this."
Ed let go of her hand and got on his knees. taking out the chalk he drew a transmutation circle on a piece of bark. Placing a piece of wood on it, he brought his hand down on the ground causing bright sparks to fill the air. Winry's eyes widened as Ed stood up and handed her a piece of wood in the shape of a horse.
"How did you do that?" Winry examined the nicely made horse in her hand.
"That would be alchemy, my dear." Ed grinned. "It's the science of deconstructing and reconstructing matter. I use things called transmutation circles to manipulate matter, like this block of wood. It follows a law called Equivalent Exchange, that means I can only change this block of wood into something of equal mass."
"Where did you learn this?" Winry asked amazed.
"Ling had an alchemist on board, the guy also knew something called Alkahestry but I never understood it. I guess its the Xingese version of Alchemy."
"What are other things that you can do with alchemy?" Winry asked.
"Many things." Ed said, "But lets get back to the story. Where was I?"
"You were Greed's cabin boy." Winry told him.
"Oh yeah, every night he'd wish me goodnight and tell me he'd probably kill me in the morning. But he never did. Eventually he stopped saying it all together."
"But why are you pretending to be Greed?" Winry asked.
"I'm getting to that." Ed said. "So about a year later Greed takes me into his cabin and tells me something. He says 'I am not Greed, my name is Ling. The real Greed owns a nightclub in Dublith.' You see Winry, when the first Greed got tired of being a pirate he passed his identity onto his cabin boy Ling, who he had been grooming to replace him. And Ling, I called him GreedLing after this, had been doing the same with me. He said that as long as you went by the name Greed, everybody would fear you. So shortly after that I became Greed. The first thing I did was to get as quickly to you as possible. There were some interesting events along the way. The day I arrived in Amestris, was the day of your first public appearance."
"I saw you." Winry said, "You were standing in the crowd."
"And I saw you." Ed looked sad, "I'm so sorry I doubted you Winry. I should have given you a chance but instead I condemned you on the spot." He brought his hand up to cup her face lovingly.
"You didn't know." Winry shook her head. "You found me betrothed to another man and whenever you saw me in public I was putting on a mask. To you it looked real." She placed her own hand on top of his.
"I should have known." Ed said.
"Stop it." Winry said, "Don't blame yourself for everything."
Ed shrugged sadly and they continued on in silence. As they walked Winry glanced over at Ed, she noticed that one of his hands was gloved while the other wasn't. Suddenly Winry remembered his hard, steel-like grip from earlier.
"Ed?" She asked hesitantly as she stopped walking completely. "What's wrong with your right hand?"
Ed stopped walking and sighed, he knew he'd have to tell her eventually. Turning around to look at her, he said. "Okay, I may not be entirely the same as when I left."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, uh, what are some of the legends that you've heard about Greed?" Ed asked.
"He cuts out the hearts of his victims and eats them raw."
"What?" Ed looked offended. "No! Where'd you hear that one?"
"If you think that's bad then you probably don't want to hear about the rumor that you're Lucifer's lover." Winry smirked.
"Besides all of those, is here anything else that you've heard?" An irritated Ed asked.
Winry thought for a moment. "They say you have limbs made out of…" Winry trailed off as her eyes fell to Ed's right arm.
Ed pulled off his glove revealing an almost perfect metal hand. He then rolled up the sleeve showing that his entire arm was made out of metal.
He looked at Winry with slight concern as she stared at the metal appendage with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"Winry?"
"What...happened?" She asked softly.
"It's called automail." Ed informed her. "They're metal replacements for lost limbs."
"I can see that." Winry said, she swallowed before speaking. Tears were once again threatening to form in her eyes. "But what happened to your original arm?"
"I..lost it." Ed said.
"Lost it?" Winry said incredulously, "How do you lose an arm?"
"You'd be surprised." Ed grinned, trying to lighten the mood. Winry did not appreciate it, her face turning into a glare.
"Um, uh." Ed rubbed the back of his head. "It was when we encountered another ship, another pirate ship. Now the guys on this ship had done some pretty terrible things, so I didn't feel any sorrow for attacking them. Ling was a great fighter but sometimes someone lands a lucky hit. I saw this lucky hit coming and I moved to block it. I ended up messing my arm up really badly. We took the ship, but there wasn't anything anyone could do for my arm."
"You lost your arm saving Greed?" Winry said.
"He spared my life Winry." Ed said. "Besides he was my friend so I saved his life. An arm is an easy trade for a person's life."
Winry nodded, "So where did..." She pointed to the metal arm. "..this come from?"
"There's a guy named Neil on the crew. He's an automail engineer. He comes from a place called Rush Valley. It's a town on an island up north. The way automail works is that there's a port inserted to where the limb used to be then they make a limb out of metal and they insert it into the port. Somehow this port connects to your nerves so the metal arm ends up acting like a normal arm."
"That's..that's crazy." Winry said.
"I know." Ed said. "I didn't believe Neil when he first told me about it. But it works, look." Ed moved his arm up and down and flexed his fingers.
Winry ran a hand over the cool metal. "I wonder how it works." She said to herself.
"I'm sure Neil could tell teach you." Ed said, with a grin. "You always were great with bolts and other things like that, I'm sure you'd be a great mechanic."
OoO
OoO
They'd been walking for hours. Ed had figured out how the fire sprouts worked so they weren't a problem. The biggest annoyance was all of the vines between the innumerable amount of trees. Ed had his sword drawn slashing a path for them through the swamp.
'Ok' Ed thought, 'What are the other dangers of the swamp? We've been lucky so far, but that could change. Let's see...there's the fire sprouts, but I have that figured out.'
Ed suddenly put his hand in front of Winry, stopping them just as fire sprouted in front of them. After it stopped they continued on.
'There's also sinkholes, so we should be careful about where we step.'
Winry decided to break their long silence.
"Hey Ed, I-"
She didn't get to finish, within the blink of an eye the ground beneath Winry gave way and she disappeared into it.
"Winry!" Ed stood there stunned for a moment before he sprung into action.
Using his sword, he cut a vine and quickly pulled on it to make sure that it was durable and that he had enough. Finding it satisfactory he tied it around his waist, looking down at the sinkhole.
"I hope this works." He said aloud.
Taking a deep breath he dove headfirst into the hole.
Seconds after Ed disappeared into the ground a creature came out of the brush. It's hooves moved cautiously across the ground. The scales on its back twitched as it sniffed around with its snout. It had been following the strange scents for a while, but they seemed to disappear here. It stared at the vine sticking in the ground for several moments before it moved off, hissing at a small rodent that passed it.
The vine twitched occasionally, but other then that there was no other movement in the area. Suddenly Ed's fist punched through the sand as he continued to climb up the vine. He gasped desperately for air the second his head breached the surface. Behind him he heard Winry gasping as she clutched onto his neck for dear life. Ed kept pulling until both he and Winry were out of the hole before he collapsed on the ground. Ed lay on his back breathing heavily, air slowly filling his lungs. Next to him he heard Winry coughing and gagging as she threw up sand that she had swallowed. Pushing himself onto his side he crawled over to Winry and put his arms around her. He rubbed her back soothingly as they soon both got back to breathing normally. Winry turned around and hugged Ed, with her head resting on his shoulder. Ed hugged her back, bringing a hand up to vainly try to brush the sand out of her hair.
"Are we ever going to make it out of this place?" Winry asked tiredly.
"Well they say all good things must come to an end, so I assume the same goes for bad things." Ed tried to joke.
Winry looked at him. "Thank you."
"You never have to thank me." Ed said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.
Winry looked pretty tired so Ed put his arms under her legs and shoulders, scooped her up bridal style.
"Hey!" Winry exclaimed.
"Settle down, Princess. It's a free ride. No complaining." Ed smirked, then frowned. Winry seemed skinnier than she should be. But that didn't make sense, she lives in a castle, she should have all of the food that she wants. 'For all I know that bastard's been starving her too.' Ed growled in his head. But despite that he still loved having her in his arms.
Winry pouted but stayed silent.
Ed shifted her into a more comfortable position, then started walking again. "If you get tired, you can take a nap." He said.
"Don't count on it Elric." Winry grumbled.
Ed grinned and kissed her forehead again before moving further into the swamp.
OoO
OoO
We did it everyone! They're back together!...for now.