Chapter Twenty-One

It had been six months since Alphonse and Ling had returned to Xing. Ed had gone off on her own and continued traveling the west, though she didn't find any new information that she didn't already know. She didn't even find anything out about Xerxes, as much as she had wanted to. These were the times Ed wished that Hohenheim was around so he could talk to her about it. Seriously, an advanced civilization, way more advanced than Central at its time, that had just collapsed in one night because of a Homunculus? It was Ed's type a subject. Apparently Hohenheim's too.

Ed had eventually returned to Central and decided to stay there for the time being. She had even rented out an apartment and was actually working. Well, she was working at the library, but it was still a steady job that paid the bills. Sometimes Sheska even stopped by and they talked through their lunch breaks together. It was nice to have such a lax job like in the library.

She was currently waiting at the Central train station, waiting for Winry's train to get in. Ed didn't understand why it was so urgent for Winry to see her so quickly, but she had been called a few days ago by Winry, saying she was on her way to see her, and that Ed better have a bed ready for her. So Ed stood with her hands in her pockets in the cold weather of December and waited for Winry to arrive.

"Ed!" Winry's voice suddenly called. Ed turned and saw Winry stepping off the train with her luggage in hand. The two ran to each other and Winry engulfed Ed into a hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"You too," Ed responded. "So what did you want to come all the way to Central to tell me that you couldn't say on the phone?" she asked. Winry had seemed pretty rushed.

"Well, this is something that you can't really say on the phone, and I wanted you to be the first to know," Winry said. She held up her left hand to reveal a diamond ring on her finger.

"What the hell is that?!" Ed exclaimed. "Is this for real?!"

"Yes!" Winry exclaimed cheerfully. "I'm getting married."

"To who?" Ed asked. Honestly, she had never thought about Winry getting married. Well, except they totally had a little wedding when they were kids. Ed wondered why their parents were okay with two girls getting married, but even she had to admit that Trisha was an amazingly open-minded person, and Winry's parents were great too.

"Well, that's a little bit of a surprise too," Winry said. She looked behind her and Ed tried to look where her friend was looking. The two saw Alphonse farther back, waving to them.

"Hell no..." Ed trailed off. "Are you serious? You're marrying Al?!" As Ed asked this, Alphonse made his way to them. He had wanted his sister to be surprised about the whole thing, so he had stayed back for Winry to share the news.

"Sorry I didn't tell you before, sister," Al apologized. "Winry and I wanted you to be surprised."

"You sly dog," Ed commented. "I'm happy for you, man. But what about Mei?"

"Oh, she's a sweet girl," Al said. "But she's really young and has responsibilities as the princess of Xing."

"Al spoke to her before proposing to make sure there weren't any hard feelings," Winry added.

"But I would have proposed all the same," Alphonse commented. "You're not angry, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Ed asked. "I just said I'm happy for you, and I am. Just never thought I'd be the third wheel of this trio. That was always you, Alphonse."

"Only because I'm the youngest," Al said. They always considered Alphonse the third wheel because of age. After all, Winry and Ed had only been born a year apart, so they had a year to spend together before Al came along and crashed the party. They only joked about it, though. They would never exclude Alphonse from activities because he was younger than them and never had.

"So you're not okay with marrying men who are shorter than you, but you're fine when they're two years younger than you?" Ed asked with a raised eyebrow. Years ago when they were kids, Winry had said something about not liking men who were shorter than her.

"Hey, age is just a number," Winry said.

"Unless you're marrying a twelve-year-old," Ed retorted. "Anyway, let's get you guys back to my apartment. I have a guest room, but no hanky panky, understand?"

"I never thought I'd see the day those words came out of your mouth," Al said as the three began to walk toward the exit of the train station.

"Yeah, yeah." Ed rolled her eyes. "I got someone to give us a lift so we didn't have to walk all over the city to get to the apartment with your luggage."

"That never bothered you before," Winry said, remembering the days she would have to follow the Elrics for hours as they walked through the city. Ed having her suitcase in tow, and Winry having her bag along with her.

"Well, I'm maturing," Ed said. "Or just getting old and lazy."

"Who's driving?" Al asked as they approached the car Ed led them to. They were shocked when they saw it was Mustang in the car driving. "Wow..."

"Right? He rarely drives his lazy ass," Ed said.

"I resent that comment," Mustang interjected.

"Shut up." Ed hopped into the passenger seat and Alphonse and Winry made their way to the back seat. "Apparently Al and Winry are gettin' hitched."

"Really?" Mustang asked. "Congratulations, you two," Mustang said as he began to drive toward Ed's apartment.

"Thank you, sir," Alphonse thanked, being ever so polite. "What's going on with you and Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Well, we've actually begun to see each other lately," Mustang said. "But we're a long way from marriage. I actually never thought I'd see the day where you Elrics would end up getting married."

"Well, all that's left is Ed," Winry said. "But I doubt she'll ever get married."

"I'm a drifter," Ed said. "No time for marriage when I got a library of research and more knowledge to get." Though she couldn't help a tint of red rise to her cheeks at the thought of someone running through her head.

"Sister, we've learned all we can about where we've visited," Al said. "We've seen the whole world by now. Well, except for Drachma. Anyway, you don't have to continue the way you are."

"I'm not doing it because I have to," Ed said. "I'm doing it because I want to."

Mustang pulled over to the curb when they reached Ed's apartment building. "Thanks for the ride, Musty. Let's go, guys."

The three left the vehicle and Mustang drove away before Alphonse asked, "Did you just call the General, Musty?"

"Yep," Ed said. "So I want to know how you two managed to see each other behind my back." She unlocked her apartment door before leading them in.

"Well, it was hard with Alphonse traveling for so long, but eventually he came back to Rush Valley and we spent a lot of time together," Winry explained. "We just never really mentioned it to you."

"We've only been seeing each other for about three or four months," Alphonse added.

"Three or four months?!" Ed exclaimed. "Don't you need a little more time before you decide on who you're going to spend the rest of your life with?!"

"Well, we've already known each other since we were kids," Al said. "We just needed a few months to actually be more intimate with each other to decide if we were compatible."

"Oh god, please don't talk to me about your sex life," Ed said, a heavy blush rising to her cheeks.

"Oh, come on, Ed, you're not twelve anymore," Winry said. "Sex isn't an embarrassing topic for someone who's pushing twenty-one."

"Not for a few more months!" Ed exclaimed. "And I don't want to hear anything about you guys having sex! Have some modesty, Al is my brother and you're my best friend."

"All right, all right," Al said. "We won't talk to you about it."

"That's more like it," Ed said.

"So you've been staying in Central for a while," Winry said. "I thought you were a 'drifter'?"

"Well, I'm actually planning on packing up and heading out soon," Ed said. "I just...needed some time to think some things through and now I'm leaving Amestris for a while."

"Leaving Amestris?" Al asked. "For where?"

So, Ed's leaving Amestris. She's actually leaving to meet with someone ;) Anyone have any guesses as to who she's meeting?

Lily (Guest): "I'm still reading this don't worry I just haven't been able to for the past few days :)"

Yay! I thought I lost you! I know I lost a lot of people after chapter twelve, so I'm happy you're still around.