Chapter 25

March 21st

March 21st – Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain

They plunged together, locked in a deadly embrace, Winry deliberately holding Mangeli's head down, ensuring he would hit the ground first.

The wind stung her skin, and her ears popped as they plummeted. Sky and clouds rushed past in a dizzying whirlwind.

The ground was speeding towards them, and Winry took care to keep a tight hold on Mangeli, in spite of the black shadow he threw at her face that burned her cheeks, her lips, her eyes...she ignored the way he clawed at her arms and shoulders, leaving searing wounds as his black shadow ate away at the metal of her skin.

Winry would not be deterred. She held her grip, shoving Mangeli's head downwards to met the ground as it shot towards them.

Winry felt Mangeli impact the unyielding rock, muscle and bone crumpling beneath her like tissue paper. She hit a second later, an earth-shaking thud that sent pain screaming throughout her body. The whole mountain trembled with the force of their joint impact, as though about to crumble.

"Winry!"

Winry heard the desperation in Ed's voice and struggled to her feet, limping slightly as her body strove to heal the damage dealt to it by the shattering fall. She could feel her joints trying to re-align, her bones trying to knit, her twisted tendons striving to right themselves...

But Mangeli was unconscious on the ground, in the middle of the crater their plunge had created. It was now or never.

Winry reached down, teeth gritted against the pain flaring with every movement, grabbing Mangeli by the shoulders, eyes narrowing as she fought against the mysterious pull that anchored the Daemon in his body. His hold on the Daemon was far tighter than Father's had ever been.

When his eyes snapped open, Winry almost shrieked in utter shock.

"You idiot!" he hissed, grasping her arms and squeezing until the bones creaked. "The Daemon's in me to stay – only the presence of the Gate can hope to dislodge it!"

Mangeli's black fire snaked from his palms, and Winry screamed as the flesh on her arms began to melt away like butter in a hot sun. She sent her white fire blasting out from her own hands, and Mangeli was sent reeling away as though shot from a cannon.

'Only the presence of the Gate can dislodge it,' she told herself. 'What did he do to himself? And how could he have done it? How can I undo it? How can I dislodge the Daemon from his body?'

And then it occurred to Winry that Mangeli himself had told her how she could defeat him. She just needed the presence of the Gate.

Winry dragged in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for what she about to do. But her plans went out the window when Mangeli suddenly spun away from her, black shadow gathering between his fingers, aimed at...

Aimed directly at all her friends. Somehow, during the fight, the chimeras had herded them into a single group...a group Mangeli could fell with one blow. And she'd bet it had been done so subtly that no one had the slightest idea they were about to be blown to smithereens. Mangeli probably reasoned that once her friends were dead, they couldn't tie up the chimeras in battle, and they would be free to pull her down.

But Winry didn't think about that then. She opened her wings, hurling herself skywards and leaping in front of her friends, just as Mangeli fired his lethal blow.

Winry opened her wings, summoning her white fire in a last ditch effort to shield the people behind her. The milky flames wrapped her body before shooting out to permeate the air, growing outwards and upwards until they formed a wall between her friends and Mangeli.

The black shadow impacted the wall, and was neutralised in an instant.

The chimeras closed on her, but even as they were beaten back by the others, Winry found herself encircled by vicious talons and fangs.

She reacted on pure instinct. Her eyes flared, her hand touched the ground...and the flash and crackle of alchemy filled the air.

Her alchemy snaked across the ground like a shockwave, white sparks of light lancing into every chimera in the vicinity. Winry's alchemy deconstructed them, rendering them apart like tissue paper in a whirlwind.

'Wish I'd known I could do that beforehand...'

But as the flashes of light died, exhaustion seeped into every bone of Winry's body, the alchemy draining her of her energy like a hose draining water. She staggered, falling to her knees as she struggled to face Mangeli. But she knew, in her heart, she didn't have the energy to fight him...not now.

Her eyes closed, but not in defeat. They shut in deep concentration, as she reached deep inside herself to touch the tiny seed of the Gate that lay planted deep within her. She touched it, she released it...

And the Gate opened through Winry.

A typhoon of white light engulfed her and Mangeli. Everyone back away, but Ed, Al and Earnest ran forward, desperate to help her. The bright light consumed them.

Then suddenly, all five were somewhere Else.

oooooooo

March 21st – Location Unknown

Ed and Al gasped as the Gate towered above them, the sight of the looming doors dredging up memories best left forgotten.

But it was Mangeli's scream that commanded their full attention.

"NO!" the man shrieked, trying to scramble away. "NO!"

But Winry caught him. "Yes," she hissed grimly, reaching into his soul and ripping the Daemon from him. As with Father, she took care to remove the part of his essence that gave him the ability to perform alchemy as well.

"Yes," she whispered, panting heavily as she stared at the broken man kneeling before her.

"Now go!" Winry shoved him, and Mangeli disappeared in mid-air, thrown back to the physical world.

Ed opened his mouth to ask why they were here, but he was cut off when Winry threw her head back and bellowed, "TRUTH!"

Ed and Al were frozen in place. How could Winry have known about Truth?

"Truth!" she yelled again. "We had a bargain, and I've fulfilled my part! Show yourself!"

"But I've been here all along."

Winry went stiff, as did Ed and Al. Slowly, they turned...

To see Earnest grinning broadly at them. That eerie grin that was so chillingly familiar...

Before their eyes, Earnest's form unraveled, his flesh peeling away to reveal the glittering form of Truth beneath it.

Ed and Al stared blankly, unable to wrap their minds around the concept. But Winry's eyes closed, her jaw clenched, and her throat flexed as she swallowed. She remembered what Truth had told her the first time they met.

'I am capable of manifesting in the physical realm, but only if I have a human's limbs to anchor myself to...'

She remembered the arm and leg 'Earnest' had possessed, so much darker than his other limbs...

"You used Ed's limbs, didn't you?" Winry said, her voice cold.

Truth nodded. "I thought something familiar might help jog your memory."

"Was there ever a real Earnest?" Winry asked, her eyes unreadable.

"Of course not," Truth snorted. "Mangeli has never sired offspring in his life."

That certainly explained why there had never been any record of Mangeli having a son, why Mangeli had shown no recognition upon capturing 'Earnest', why 'Earnest' had never been overly distressed by her battle against Mangeli...any emotion of 'Earnest's' part had been false – a charade to make Truth's mask more believable.

Some part of Winry was deeply angered by that.

"But why didn't I sense you? I could sense Mangeli, and the others...but why not you?"

"I gave you your powers," Truth pointed out. "It was easy to hide myself from them – I made sure there was never the slightest chance of you sensing me."

"You were following me from the start," Winry hissed, rage beginning to bubble through her veins.

Rage at Truth, for playing her so well, and even at herself, for not suspecting something was wrong with 'Earnest'. Winry's mind was mentally reviewing every fact about 'Earnest', every fact that should have tipped her off.

His pale skin, so reminiscent of the pale light that made up his true form. The darkened skin of his right arm and left leg – just like when they first 'met' and he used Ed's limbs. His incredible knowledge about her powers. His strange, familiar grin. Even his name, Earnest, literally meant 'truth'.

"I was with you from the start," Truth agreed, grinning. "Couldn't have my angel going untutored, could I? I was the one who told you about your powers, I was the one who persuaded you to go after Mangeli's supporters instead of him...to give you time to learn those powers. And it was I who suggested the occupation of automail mechanic to Jade."

Winry snorted bitterly. "Yeah, my memory loss must have really screwed your little plan up, huh?"

"On the contrary – it was I who caused it in the first place."

"What?" Winry was incredulous. "You made me lose my memories?"

"I had to," Truth snarled, as though it was utterly tired of Winry second-guessing it. "If I had left your memories intact, you would have gone straight to those two-" it pointed to Ed and Al. "You needed time to grow, to strengthen, to know what you were capable of. If you hadn't been Angel, would you have done what you did? Maybe so, but that time as Angel gave you the one thing you were lacking...confidence! Not in your abilities...in yourself!"

Winry shook her head, not wanting to admit Truth might actually have a point. "What about our bargain?"

Finally, Ed's vocal chords obeyed him. "What bargain?" He felt embarrassed by the slightly hysterical note in his voice.

Truth turned it's gaze on him. At least, Ed assumed that it had a gaze – no eyes could be distinguished from the mass of light that was it's body.

"It was agreed that she would track down those who had violated my creed – those who had stolen a Daemon from me-"

Ed's mind flashed back to Mangeli's notes, what the man had written about the 'Gate Daemons'.

"-and she would take the Daemons back. She would return them to me."

"And in return?" Al asked, summoning his courage. "Winry wouldn't have helped you for nothing."

Truth raised it's hand, and the doors flew open. Ed and Al cringed, but the black arms of the
Gate didn't reach for them. Instead, voices drifted out.

"...what do you want in exchange?"

"The return of Alphonse Elric's body, and Edward Elric's limbs."

Ed and Al jerked, turning their eyes to Winry as they gaped at her. Ed was in shock. To think that Winry had gone through all this for them...

But the echoes continued, and all Ed's attention went to the conversation being played back for them.

"No. You ask too much – you cannot have both."

"That's a pretty tall order, considering what I'm doing for you."

"With the seed of the Gate inside you, you will hardly find it difficult."

"Okay, I'm willing to concede on this point. Just Alphonse's body, then."

"Deal."

The voices died.

"Winry..." Al whispered. "All this...for my body?"

Winry gave a sheepish grin.

"You have indeed fulfilled your bargain." If possible, Truth's grin grew wider. "Now I must take back what's mine, the Daemons...and the gift I gave you."

"She doesn't have anything of yours!" Ed snapped, his protective instincts rushing to the fore.

"Truth gave me a seed of the Gate," Winry explained, extending her hand to the being. "The telepathy, the healing rate, the 'lie-detector', the white fire, the ability to sense Daemons, the ability to disregard Equivalent Exchange...that's all from Truth. You can have them," she addressed Truth. "They make me kind of nervous."

Truth reached for Winry's proffered hand, but she suddenly snatched it away. "Wait! Al's body first, then I'll surrender the Daemons and the seed of the Gate."

Truth scowled, but waved it's hand again. Al's body appeared, looking as Ed had last seen it – malnourished and barely alive.

"That's me?" Al yelped, at the same time Winry rounded on Truth.

"You put him right this instant!"

"Without a soul in it, the body inevitably falls into decay," Truth shrugged.

"Put Al right or the deal's off," Winry snarled. "I mean it – Al can't go into that body, not in that state!"

"You demand much for mere mortal girl," Truth huffed imperiously.

"This 'mere mortal girl' spent over six months running across all of Amestris doing your dirty work!" Winry snapped. "Now do it!"

Truth's lips curled, but with another wave of it's hand, Al's body was restored to a more healthy-looking state.

At the same time, Al's armour fell to the 'ground' in a loud clatter of metal...empty, inanimate. Ed yelled, but then the body was stirring. Al's eyes closed, then opened in a slow blink. He looked down at himself...and shrieked.

"My body! Brother...my body!"

Al's grin nearly split his face in half, and Ed was sure his face was a mirror of his brother's. He pulled off his red coat, wrapping it around Al's shoulders.

Winry smiled.

"Now your part," Truth snapped.

Winry grinned as she extended her hand. Truth didn't like anyone having any kind of hold over it. It didn't like the fact she could make demands on it.

Truth grasped Winry's hand, and as before, Winry felt a tiny shock pass through her system. Except this time, it was not anything entering her body...it was the Daemons and the seed of the Gate leaving it.

Suddenly tired, Winry staggered slightly, only to feel strong arms grip her from either side, supporting her.

"Winry..." Al swallowed, blinking back tears in his eyes. "Winry...how can we ever...?"

"Happy birthday, Al," she smiled.

"You mean...this is..."

"Your birthday present," Winry nodded. "I'm a cheapskate...but I hope you like it."

Al let out a disbelieving laugh, sounding almost hysterical. But then Winry supposed she'd be hysterical too, if she'd been trapped in armour for years, unable to touch or smell or taste, and then was finally placed back in a human body.

"Your present too, by the way," Winry told Ed. "The end of your quest...or maybe not. I did try to get your limbs, but..."

"You can always trade some of your own limbs," Truth pointed out. "Two limbs for two limbs."

"Hmmm..." Winry eyed her wings. "That's not such a bad idea..."

"Don't, Winry," Ed said firmly. But inwardly, he was reeling. He found it frankly astonishing that she would be willing to sacrifice so much for them. "Don't make any more bargains with it. Not for me – your automail's fine."

"Oh." Winry smiled. "I'm glad. I've gotten to like my wings, you know?"

"If you're quite finished..." Truth said, disdain clear in it's voice.

The next thing they knew, they were back in the physical world.

oooooooo

March 21st – Remnants of Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain

"What happened?" Jade cried out, running to the group huddled before her. "You just disappeared...where's Earnest, and...oh-"

She had just spotted the strange man dressed in Ed's red coat. Al laughed as he rose to his feet, looking around at the assembled crowd, grinning his head off.

"Hey," he greeted. "I'm Al."

"What?"

There was an explosion of questions, and an exhausted Winry held up her hand to stem the flow. "People, people, take it easy! Everything will be explained later...Earnest, Al's body...everything."

She sighed heavily, wishing for nothing more than nice, comfortable bed, and about fifty hours of uninterrupted sleep.

She looked around, thankful that no one seemed seriously injured. There were a few nicks here and there...Mustang had a deep gash down his side, but it was already being tended to by Hawkeye. And from the looks they were exchanging, Winry had a pretty good idea where their relationship was at the moment.

Breda, Havoc, Fuery and Falman were sitting to one side, watching with the new couple with identical expressions on their faces. Expressions that practically screamed, 'We saw this coming a mile away!'.

And Mangeli was in handcuffs, cowering beside the military people.

"Let's get home," Ed muttered, helping Winry to her feet. We've been on this mountain for three days!"

"We have?" Winry made a mental tally. "You're right, we have...huh..."

Suddenly, Winry burst out laughing.

"What's so funny about it?" Ed asked, clearly bemused by the blonde girl's chuckles.

"I've just remembered something," Winry whispered when her giggles ceased.

Ed was taken off guard when she kissed him – a kiss full of passion and joy and excitement – but he soon recovered and returned it eagerly.

Winry broke the kiss, but didn't withdraw from his embrace, leaning her head aginst his chest.

One year. One year in all her seventeen – no, eighteen – years of life…and it had brought more changes than all the rest put together. She'd lost a home and gained a following. She'd been robbed of her memories and been gifted extraordinary powers. She'd been a victimised lab rat and an angelic messiah, a helpless prisoner and a crusader. She'd crawled through sewers and flown higher than the clouds. She'd sounded the depths of her soul and found the shining secrets of herself...reached deep inside to find a strength she'd never suspected she posessed.

And she'd found a happiness she never thought she'd reach.

"I love you, Ed," Winry whispered.

Ed grinned. "Love you, too." Whatever she'd remembered, it had obviously put her in a very good mood.

"What did you remember?" Ed asked, his arms still tight around her, tangled in the feathers of her wings.

Winry smiled. A smile born of irrepressible happiness and complete contentment.

"It's my birthday."

End.

oooooooo

AN: And so it ends. I'm sorry if you want a squel, or another chapter, folks, but this is where it stops. Angel was always designed to end exactly one year from its beginning, and was always destined to end with the same line it began with – Winry proclaiming it's her birthday. And in case anyone's curious...Winry was always going to keep her wings, but lose the most extreme of her powers. And Earnest was always going to be Truth in disguise, his name is German in origin, and really does mean truth (I think several people picked upon my tiny hints at Earnest's identity, and if you did, give yourself a pat on the back. If you didn't, don't worry about it, I was absolutely paranoid about making it too obvious, and so downplayed any hints as much as possible).

And of course, thanks to all who reviewed, with special mention going to LaughingAstarael, who beta-ed a couple of chapters I was worried about.