Chapter Twelve
In Risembul, the Next Morning
Ed walked up to Rockbell Mechanics, looking around in mild interest.
'Mild interest? That's the best you got, after being dead for two years?'
He laughed softly. "Gotta stop yelling at myself."
He looked down as something touched his hand. Den, the ever faithful watchdog, now creaking with old age, gave him a dog-ish grin.
"Glad you remember me." He said, going to the door and knocking.
Winry opened the door, took one glance, and shut it again.
'Great, she's mad at me.' Ed thought, knocking again.
Winry came back, then said, "We're closed."
Before she could shut the door again, Ed shoved his foot (the automail one) in the way, allowing a few inches visibility into the house.
"Winry, look, it wasn't my fault. Just let me in and I'll-- "
"One, I have no idea who you are, so I will not let you in," She said, masking obvious anger, "And two, I have no intention of letting a lying, reckless idiot that can't walk down a street without getting shot in my house."
Suddenly a wrench came out of no where and hit Ed in the face, causing him to fall backwards.
Winry shut the door without a word.
"Ouch..." Ed rubbed his head, think Al must've spent too much time with Winry (you noticed they both hit him practically on site), then stood back up, and yelled, "ALPHONSE ELRIC, I NEED HELP!!!"
A moment later, Al opened the door, smirking. "You knew this would happen, right?"
"Yup," He replied, grinning, "I die for two years, and suddenly she thinks I'm dead."
Al laughed. "C'mon, I think she's having a bit of a break down right now."
They proceeded into the shop, and found Winry digging through a pile of boxes, muttering things under her breath like 'that idiot' and 'the things I do'...
"Winry are you--" Ed began.
She stood up, smiling triumphantly, and holding a box. "Knew I had it here somewhere."
She opened the box and held it out to Ed.
He glanced from the box back to her. "Is it something dangerous?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, it's not something dangerous. But you can't pretend to be Ed without it."
He seemed confused, but took the box.
His jacket. Red, full-length, and with a crucified serpent on the back in black. His favorite jacket.
"How did you get it?" He asked, pulling it out of the box. "And in one piece, the hospital--"
"I made this one." She said softly. "Every time you guys were here, there'd be a new hole or tear in the jacket, so while no one was looking, I'd replace it with a different one I made in my spare time."
"...And I never noticed..." He said, looking between her and the jacket.
"I didn't expect you to get in as much trouble any more, since we got Al back," She continued, " And since the only time you traveled anymore you had to wear your military uniform, I thought you wouldn't need any extras, so I didn't make one. But..."
She faltered, then said, "After the funeral, I couldn't stop, sit down, and start anything new, so I just started making a new one, without even realizing it."
Ed smiled, "Glad you did."
And suddenly Winry was crying, and then of course went fan-girl and glomped Ed until he turned all blue and swirly eyed from lack of oxygen. Only then did Al rescue him. So much for brotherly love, eh?
Upon being rescued, Winry disabled and removed Ed's arm.
"I want to see how you kept it running." She said, disappearing to her workshop.
"...You know," Ed said, turning to Al, "I really do think she hates me sometimes."
Al laughed, then nodded. "Only sometimes, though."
They walked into the kitchen, where Al also made the discovery of Ed's new-found 'tolerance' of milk, as he put it. Then Al muttered about how that explained why Ed was basically taller than him now, if only by half an inch, where Ed explained (violently of course) that no, he was taller because he was older dammit.
After Al finished laughing and Ed calmed down, Ed was watching Al drink his coffee when he asked rather suddenly, "So when are you two getting married?"
sputtercoughsputter "What are you talking about? Who said we were getting married?" Al asked,his face red and looking confused.
"You and Winry." Ed replied simply. "Hasn't anyone told you? It's rather obvious." He said the last while raising his own cup, peering over the rim calculatingly.
Al glared back, then sighed. "I haven't asked her yet. I keep thinking about it, but when I finally start to, I get nervous."
Ed smirked, setting down his cup. "Never one for confrontation, were you?"
Al gave him the 'oh shut up' look, then continued, "Well, what'll you have me do?"
"Hmm, let me think; Ask her?" Ed said sarcastically.
Al scoffed, "Easy for you to say, you--"
"I'll ask her for you." Ed said amusedly.
"YEAH RIGHT!"
"Yeah right what?" Winry asked, walking in with Ed's arm.
...awkwardsilence...
"Nothing." Al said, walking away.
The remaining two watched him leave, then Ed sighed.
"Was he always that moody?" He muttered.
"Just recently." Winry said, walking over to reattach the arm. "It seems like he wants to say something, but he just says 'nothing' and walks away."
Ed nodded, then said, "Do you like him?"
Winry said nothing, but nodded slowly.
"Do you love him?"
Silence, save for the mechanical click of the automail.
"So that's a yes?" Ed added, flexing his fingers.
"It might be." She said stiffly. "Why does it matter to you?"
Ed just shrugged, walking towards the door. "I'm gonna go for a walk."
When he reached the door, he turned and gave he a strange look. It was almost scolding, almost empathetic, but mostly regret. "He loves you. You know that, right?"
Then he left.
He walked around his hometown, stopping by a few old friends, who then proceeded to either a) act very man-ish and complained about how he just goes off and acts dead or b) act a bit more at ease and asked why he acted dead for two years. Either way, the explanations lasted a while.
When he finally started home, it was well past ten, so he was surprised to see the house lit up. Even more surprised when he first encountered a group of giggling girls walking towards the house, then met Al walking away, smirking slightly.
"What's going on?"
Al looked at him, then grinned broadly. "I'll give you two guesses."
Yay!! Be warned, the next chapter might be a bit late, I seem to e having a problem getting it started. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!