Chapter 52: Old Friends, New Friends, and the Bond Between
Garfiel was an amazing teacher and Winry loved every moment she spent in Rush Valley. The week that Ed had left, she, Garfiel, and Paninya had all gone out shopping and she had bought tools she had only dreamed of ever owning. The night Ed finally called her to tell her he had made it to Briggs and to give Al his number, she had gone off on an excited tangent on her newly acquired tools and the people she had met. Although he had listened through most of it, she knew Ed had become annoyed just by the tone in his voice and had ended the call to spare his patience. Along with the amazing tools she had also met amazing people. She loved her customers and they loved her. She and Paninya had become very close friends, which was nice for her to have a female friend within her own age group. And then there was Joel. He would come by to do deliveries to Garfiel and usually lounged around to make small talk. He always told Winry about the adventures he would have on his deliveries and she always remained polite and laughed.
"Winry-chan you've got a visitor!" Looking up from the designs she was working on, a friendly smile crossed her face at the young man who was entering. He was tall, well built and tan with short cut, slightly sloppy burgundy hair and sported green eyes and a bright smile. It would be a personal lie to say he wasn't a handsome specimen of a man. Garfiel would go into a daze when talking about the young man.
"Hi Joel! Coming by with my parts I hope." She greeted with a grin as she took of her sloppy gloves and moved to meet her friend.
"But of course. I know how important it is for you to get your work done." He chimed, placing a large box on a nearby workbench. Winry let out a laugh and began looking through the parts in the box.
"I want to stay ahead of my work for whenever Ed and Al come by. I want to be able to spend time with them when they come through." She answered and looked up to a curious look from Joel. "Is something wrong?"
"Ed is the one who's your boyfriend, right? The state alchemist?"
"Yeah, that's him." Joel nodded as he leaned back with his arms crossed and a thoughtful look on his face.
"Have you heard from him recently?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Ignoring the fact that she knew Joel was about to become prying since he had once declared if he had been dating her he would never let anything separate them, Winry answered.
"The day we had gone shopping he called me. I heard from his brother last night. Al's heading out west now."
"Always on the move, aren't they?" She simply shrugged a shoulder.
"That's what they do…" she looked up when she felt his eyes on her and quickly changed the subject. "Have you spoken to Garfiel-san today? He always enjoys your visits. You know that." Joel clearly paled and gave a large swallow. "And you look like you spent a particular amount in the sun today," she walked over and gave his cheek a playful pinch before walking around him and out of the room.
"Hey, Winry-chan you shouldn't tease one of you closest friends here!" he whined. Winry laughed, tossing off her work apron and stretching. She was grateful for the friendships she was developing, but whenever she glanced at the picture she had placed on her workbench, she missed those numb skull brothers more and more. "Are you alright?" Glancing over her shoulder at him, she forced a smile and nodded.
"She was just thinking about her cute little alchemist," Garfiel made his way into the room, smiling sweetly at Joel as he sat down, crossing one leg over his knee and resting his chin in his palm. "It's been some time since you heard from the boy. He must really be keeping up with his automail… or he's dead."
"Garfiel-san!"
"Why would you think something like that?!" Garfiel looked at them all with raised eyebrows. Clearly he saw nothing wrong with what he said. He continued to busy himself with filing his nails while his eyes went over the pages of the magazine balanced on his crossed knees.
"Well if I'm correct, you said he was heading up North. I'm hoping you prepared him with proper automail before he left." Garfiel looked up at the blonde with an expectant expression as Winry chewed on her thumb nail and continued to glance over at the phone. She had made alterations to his automail before he left and when he had called the week before he hadn't said anything about something going wrong. He actually had commented on the weight making it easier for him to move faster. That shouldn't have had any effects on him fighting, right?
"Winry-chan, I'm sure he's alright." Joel placed a hand on her shoulder, giving a reassuring smile. "I bet he's just super busy with military stuff. I mean, I highly doubt they have phones in the middle of nowhere…" Garfiel had looked up from his magazine once again with an entertained smile and raised eyebrow while Winry tried to calm herself.
"You think that's what it is? It has been a week since I've heard from him." Joel nodded his head, crossing his arms as if he had self determined he was correct.
"He sounds like he's a very busy guy. I mean, it could be weeks before he actually is able to-" Just as Winry was starting to come to the realization that Joel was about to make, his speech was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing. Almost instantly, at full force, the blonde mechanic shoved the assured male out of her way as she sprang for the phone.
"Hello, Garfiel's Automail Shop, this is Winry!" She blurted out swiftly as half her body laid across the work station she had practically jumped across.
"Geez Winry, what're you doing over there? Sounds like you just got finished running a mile." Eyes lighting up at the sound of the voice on the other end, She crawled further onto the station, ignoring the looks from the others in the room as she sat on her knees, practically hugging the phone to her face.
"Don't be an idiot. I was starting to worry about you, Edward!" A groan was heard across the room causing her turn instantly and glare at Joel, who swiftly moved to hide behind Garfiel to avoid the deadly look he was receiving. Turning back around, Winry smiled slightly. "I'm glad to hear you're ok."
"Yeah, everything is fine… Listen, I've gotta go to Dublith to see my sensei and I'll be passing through Rush Valley to see you."
"Alright, is your automail ok?" she asked skeptically. A sigh was heard on the other line and she knew he was more than likely rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, it's still attached… I'll explain things when I get down there. I've gotta call Al and give him a heads up so I'll see you when I get there." Winry nodded mutely.
"Ok, be careful…. Miss you too… bye." She hung up the phone, letting out a long sigh. So he was alright… With that thought, she little out an excited squeal, wiggling around in an animated manner, having forgotten the two men in the room.
"Winry…" Snapping from her excited state, she turned to her companions with a wide grin.
"Ed's coming!" she cheered and jumped off the table. "I need to go shopping… I need to call Granny!" she answered and ran out of the room, once again shoving Joel painfully out of the way. Garfiel gave a knowing look as his pupil vanished around the corner.
"Such an amazing girl. I remember once being that in love."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"She's going to be turning nine soon!!!" Roy groaned as he tried to look around the deck of pictures that his best friend was waving in his face. Between the insanity that was taking place about Armstrong wanting to become Furher and solving the problem of the threats that had randomly been plaguing Central, he was in no real mood to hear his long time friend brag about his daughter, especially considering he hadn't seen his own child in two weeks. "So tell me, Roy, will it be inappropriate to throw her a birthday bash… you know, considering the looming threat about to overtake this country?" With that, Roy looked up at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
"You tell me, Maes, does it really even matter what I say?" Shaking his head with a wide grin on his face, the man began laughing.
"You know me so well." The pictures were stored away once again and Maes propped himself up on the corner of Roy's desk, lifting the picture that had once been there to look at. "I've got to work late shifts for the next few weeks. Hakuro's being a real bastard about Armstrong stepping forward for this Furher thing."
"I know what you mean. A lot of paper work's been coming through our department that has nothing to do with us. To make things even more interesting, I barely even see the bastard around anymore."
"Rumor has it he's traveling trying to get the country's support." Roy raised an eyebrow.
"During a time like this, he needs to be around here for when he's needed." Shrugging a shoulder, Maes hopped from his seat at the corner of his best friend's desk, placing the picture back in its place.
"There's been a lot of rumors. I heard that Catalina and Havoc have been seen at the bar together for numerous nights lately." Nearly falling over out of his seat, Roy looked at his laughing friend in shock.
"They hate each other!" Maes continued to grin.
"That's what makes it such a juicy rumor." He answered brightly. A disapproving look crossed Roy's face. "It's what happens when there's nothing to do around here. Anyway, I suggest you go on vacation. Maybe go see your kid. It's been a while." Roy shook his head.
"If that was much of an option, I'd be all for it."
"And why wouldn't it be an option? You've got loyal subordinates who can take control of the office for a couple of days, don't you?" While it all sounded more than inviting, Roy took into consideration getting Riza to agree, knowing his men would stay focused, and Hakuro not chewing him a new one. "Come on Roy… you know you wanna!" came Maes' sing song voice.
"And I can trust that you'll make sure things are going fine here?"
"So long as you promise to help plan Elysia's birthday bash." Roy snorted as he pushed himself out of his seat and held out a hand.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll be putting in the leave requests today."
"And I'll be telling my darling daughter that Uncle Roy is going to help make her special day worth it." The two men shook hands before Roy came around his desk and accompanied Maes out of the room. "So I was thinking maybe a mini circus."
"Not happening."
*~*~*~*~*~*
A girl with brown skin, long dark wavy hair, and red eyes flung the door open, dark rolls of parchment in her arms as she strode over to where Al and Mei were sitting. She dumped the rolls into a pile in front of them before plopping down as well and sitting with one curvy leg crossed over the other, her already nearly short dress riding dangerously up her thigh. "I had to practically beg the elders to let me sees these, so I hope they come in useful. They're my great grandfather's." Reaching forward, Al picked up one of the rolls, allowing his eyes to roam over the contents that appeared once he unrolled it.
"Wow Ceana these are amazing." The female grinned.
"Not many Ishbalans follow alchemy, especially after the war, so the fact these are still intact is amazing." Al and Mei had made it earlier that week into a village accommodated by mostly Ishabalans. Not many of their people wanted to live among others after the war and started their own small towns. Many small towns were slums assisted by the military, now fully functioning communities. Ceana was an Ishabalan girl that Mei had met during her travels and had notes that she learned to decipher before her great grandfather had died. She agreed to help them out with the notes they had found since she found it to be more appealing that what she faced in her small village.
"Some of the transmutation circles in your great grandfather's notes connect to those found in Xing's alchemic notes." Mei informed. Al looked up from what he was looking at.
"Some of these words were in those notes we found. Will you really be able to translate these?"
"I can't make any promises, but I think I can do some damage." The female answered confidently. Al smiled brightly at her. Ceana was a really inviting person. She reminded him a bit of Winry, very cheerfully and welcoming to people. Cocking her head to the side, a curious look crossed her face. "Is something wrong, Alphonse?" he blinked a few times.
"Ah, no! It's just, you remind me of a childhood friend."
"Oh yeah, what's she like?"
"Winry? Well she's really nice and people warm up to her really quick… I've never seen you mad, but she's a force to be reckoned with." Ceana laughed loudly.
"Sounds like quite the girl." She said, resting her elbow on her crossed knee and chin in her palm.
"Yeah, I tell my brother all the time how lucky he is. They're both so stubborn sometimes though." He looked up and saw both Ceana and Mei staring at him, causing a deep blush to creep across his cheeks.
"So is your brother anything like you?" Before Al could respond, Mei spoke up.
"Alphonse-sama and his brother are nothing alike!" she blurted out. "His brother is crude and loud while Alphonse-sama is gentle, kinda, and sweet!" she announced in a dreamy tone Ceana raised an eyebrow.
"I see. You must really like Alphonse, Mei." She answered with a knowing smirk that caused Mei's face to go beet red and Al to look swiftly down at the scrolls in front of him. "I can't blame her though. You are a nice guy, Alphonse." There was a knock on the door and a younger Ishbalan poked his head in. When his eyes fell on Ceana, he lowered his gaze shyly.
"Um, there's a call for Aphonse-san, Ceana." The boy was an orphan that shared the small house with Ceana. He had to have been at least eleven based off of actions and appearance. Ceana raised an eyebrow at the young boy curiously.
"Who is it, Ares?"
"Um, I didn't ask but he said it was important." Assuming it was his brother, Al excused himself, the younger boy following him.
"Hello?"
"Al, thank god you're still there! Meet me in Rush Valley." Ed's voice ordered on the other line.
"Rush Valley? Why, is something wrong with Winry?" he asked frantically.
"No, she's fine. I'll explain it when I see you though." Al nodded slowly. Ceana and Mei were both peaking around the corner looking at him curiously as he talked lowly on the phone with his brother.
"Is everything ok?" Mei asked with concern after Al hung up.
"I've got to meet my brother and Winry in Rush Valley… I'm not really sure what it's about, but if you could stay here and wait for me to get back I'd really appreciate it." Mei nodded, biting down on her lower lip.
"I understand. I'll work with Ceana to decipher the notes as much as possible while we wait for you." He felt bad that he had to leave during a crucial moment, but Ed sounded like worried. He hoped that if anything, it was a false alarm and the dreaded feeling that there was another attack on Central was just him being paranoid.
"I'll make sure to contact you guys if I'm gone for too long, I promise." He determined, looking at the two females with determination. The nodded, understanding smiles written on their faces.
"We'll be waiting right here."
