Title: Tell Me A Story

Author: S J Smith

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: Arakawa owns this sandbox. I'm just playing in it.

Summary: Ed tries to tell Winry about his last battle.

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Ed didn't think telling Winry would be hard. He'd always planned on explaining everything that had happened during their travels, at least to her, when it was safe to do so. But never in a setting like this; a hospital, in a mirror world, where things weren't quite the same as home. It would've been around the kitchen table in Rezembool, maybe in front of the fireplace, and Al and he would've traded off when one of them got hoarse. And the old hag and Winry would've drank down every word of what they'd said.

He wasn't sure how to even explain what had happened now. Where had their worlds taken different paths? Winry…she looked older. The bastard was missing an eye – and a fucking corporal. How many other things were off in this world?

With a sigh, Ed glanced at Al, glad, at least, that they were here together. Imagine if one of them had wound up here alone.

"Go on, Brother. Tell her." Al smiled, encouraging despite his eyelids drooping, and Ed figured his little brother would be asleep within a few minutes.

"Yeah, yeah." He made himself smile in return before turning to Winry. "I was pinned down, during the fight with the homunculi." Licking his lips, Ed made himself go on. "That shrapnel in my left arm…it pinned me to a wall. And Al and Mei," Winry's head tilted and she frowned, just a bit, letting him know she didn't have a clue who Mei was. "She's a Xingese alchemist with a crush on Al."

Waking up enough to protest, Al mumbled, "Hey," giving Ed a scowl weak as a kitten. "She liked you first! Don't forget to tell Winry that!"

He grinned. Some things made all this worth it.

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