Man or Monster


Winry reached into the closet, taking a sweater out and pulling it on. Since she'd talked with Al earlier, she couldn't seem to get warm. Even the sunlight reminded her of winter, despite how green everything was outside.

She understood their curiosity – they were Elrics. They had to know everything. It was the way they were made. No matter how similar this world was to their own, the differences had to make the boys crazy with wanting to know about them all.

Rubbing her eyes, Winry reminded herself they didn't know, they couldn't have known – they couldn't understand what she'd been through, how she'd learned to deal with how her parents had died. How much loathing she'd had to work through to see the man who'd killed her parents as just that – a man following orders, not a monster who'd taken the two people she'd loved the most from her. If she had hated Roy for her parents, she should have hated him for taking the Elrics, too, and Winry had come to realize that the military was the best shot the boys had for getting their bodies back.

"Winry?" Ed's voice. Raw and rough and, Winry thought, hurting. His mismatched steps let her know he entered the room, drew closer to her. She could feel the warmth of his body behind her, his breath on the back of her neck. Heard Ed shift his weight from side to side before he stroked the top of her head. "I'm sorry."

Apologies from Ed were rarer than four leaf clovers, like snow in the summer. The words should've been sweet as music but made Winry shiver. She picked at the sweater, and wondered at how the day seemed so cold now, when it had been warm just a few hours ago.