Disclaimer: Me no own FMA, end of story.
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"Taisa!" a voice called to Colonel Roy Mustang. "There's been another one."
The young colonel sighed. "Are you sure they're all interrelated? There have already been five this month…"
"Hai, taisa," Riza Hawkeye replied regretfully. "They were all killed the same way. They must be connected."
"Damn!"
---
When Ed and Winry finally got up, Winry stared hard at him, trying to hide her surprise and amusement but failing miserably. Ed easily towered over her now, when merely two years ago, it had been she who surpassed his height.
"Are you drinking milk now?" she asked, poking him playfully.
He stared at her as though she suddenly sprouted a few more heads and arms. "Like hell I am," he replied pleasantly and began to walk.
"Where are we going?" Winry ventured.
"My apartment. Crap!" He groaned. "I just remembered that I ran out Al yesterday. Hope he's home. Damn!" He bolted down the street, leaving Winry struggling to catch up. It was quite a sight to passer-bys: a braided blond boy with one arm and a girl running after him carrying a metal limb.
When they reached the apartment, Winry felt the familiar desire to hit Ed over the head with her wrench. Al was not home but she didn't comment on that; Al knew how to take care of himself. The apartment however was messier than most pigsties despite Al's futile attempts at keeping it neat.
"When was the last time you cleaned up?" she asked, her voice dangerously low.
Edward knew the tone. It was either right before a long lecture or beating… or both. "Um… last month?" He felt the familiar jolt of pain on the right side of his head and began to curse profusely at Winry. "What the fuck was that for?!"
"For living like an animal to begin with! Then, let's not mention how you never bothered to call for an upgrade or to fix up on your auto mail! If you couldn't afford it, it wouldn't have been such a big deal! But no, the Fullmetal Alchemist insists on doing things on his own! This," she whacked him again, setting forth another string of curses, "is for abusing the arm by transmuting rogue metal into it! And why even bother mentioning that you left me in the rain for a good five hours!" She raised her wrench for another attack.
"It's not like I wanted to!" he shouted back. "Have you any idea what I was doing during those five hours? I was investigating dead bodies! Things like okasan; homunculi, chimeras and creatures from hell! Results of alchemy gone wrong! There was a whole fucking bunch of them in Laboratory Thirteen!Do you think I wouldn't have liked to come to pick you up instead of looking at things I've been running away from?" Winry lowered her arm, taken aback by his vehemence. "And then the arm began to hurt. God, it hurt so much…" He trailed off, placing a hand over the empty socket, and began to chuckle sardonically, feeling slightly hysterical. Before he could react, he felt Winry's arms sliding around his waist.
"I'm sorry," she whispered against his chest. "I didn't know." Tears began to wet her cheeks and Ed felt his heart clench, hating himself for being the one to incite her tears. He hated to see her cry. He always did; to him, Winry was strong, a brave soul in a sea of cowards. He wrapped his arms around her and willed her not to cry.
"But then why didn't you call me to extend the arm? If you were low on cash, you could've paid me back some other time. We're like family, a few dollars shouldn't matter."
Edward ducked his head and pulled away. His heart nearly broke at "we're like family". He didn't want them to be "like family." He wanted them to be so much more… And he knew why he couldn't call her. Every time her saw her, it was harder to leave. But he knew that he would have to, he would always leave her. It was inevitable. Winry deserved someone who would always be there for her, something that he cannot do.
"I was busy," he replied lamely, staring at an interesting spot on the floor.
---
An insane chuckle emanated from his throat.
"What should I do with the other one, sir?"
"Kill him. I only want the girl." The insane chuckle again. "Ahh, yes. I have plans for the girl."
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"What are we going to do about this, taisa?"
"I don't know," Roy replied. "I really don't. How can we have five serial murders and still no clues? What the hell is wrong with this military?" he threw at Hawkeye and immediately regretted it. It wasn't her fault. He sighed and slumped in his chair. "Call Fullmetal."
"We can't find him," Riza told him. "Alphonse came in a few hours ago looking for his niisan. He told me that Edward ran out on him; his arm was out of control. He's been looking for Ed all night."
"Goddammit!" He was cursing more and more these days.
---
Winry wanted to slap herself for saying "family". She certainly didn't want them to be like family. Great, you just implied that you wanted to be his sister, not girlfriend, she told herself angrily. She tried to hide her emotions and sat down on a chair unoccupied by papers, pens and things she didn't want to know about. As she inspected the arm, she realized that she would have to make a new one. She threw a wrench at Ed out of habit.
"I thought we went over this!" he shouted at her. He went to the kitchen, deciding it would be a good idea to leave Winry alone when she was like that. It would be safer for his head. She could be so abusive.
Winry went to work on the new arm with gusto. She had brought the materials in her pack, knowing that Ed would damage his arm in some way that would require new parts. And she was right. Auto mail was one of the only things that kept her sane these days. Ed might tease her as a machine geek but she loved her job and the touch, feel and smell of metal.
When Ed finally poked his head out of the kitchen door, she was half done. "Are you safe to approach now?" She shot him a typical Winry glare, which looked a lot like a negative response but he sat next to her anyways. He ran a finger along the new arm and grinned. "Nice," he commented.
"Nice?" Winry asked testily, not bothering to look up.
Ed gulped. "You know what I mean." He moved away, just in case she felt the desire to hit him with another wrench.
"You're going to need a new leg too. The old one might act up like the arm because you were stupid enough to extend it by yourself. You picked metals similar to auto mail for the leg though; that's why it's not hurting you… yet. I'll work on it tomorrow though. I don't have enough material for the leg."
"Yeah, whatever."
They sat in silence for hours until she finally finished the arm. It used to take her days but now, she could make a whole new arm in a few hours. Edward was proud of her. He bit back a scream as she pushed the new arm into the socket; he hated the part when the nerves connected to the new arm. Not matter how many times he had to go through that, he never got used to it, much less liked it.
"So how've you been?" he asked conversationally when the pain subsided.
Winry looked up from the arm. "You decide to ask me this after two years?"
"Well, I've always thought that it would be nice to ask people how they are when you haven't seen them in a long time."
Winry was silent for a moment. "They tried to clean up the remains of your house," she whispered.
Ed looked surprised. "Well, it was about time. I'm surprised they didn't do that sooner."
"They tried to. I never let them…"
"Why not?"
She paused, fumbling for a reply. "It was your home. I couldn't just let them clear it away. It was where you and Al grew up. It was where we grew up. We used to play there and fought stupid little fights over candy and cookies. And I knew you wouldn't want them to take it away. It was the only memory I had of you."
"Idiot…"
"Well, I guess I am an idiot for thinking of you—"
She was cut off by his lips on hers.
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I am such a mushy beotch, but I like the pairing and the idea of Ed being taller. Midgets are sexy but still… Mwahaha! I can use fan girl Japanese! Fear me! And REVIEW, dammit! Will love you forever if you do. x3 ( has a bipolar personality: I will keel you if you don't review! I love you, I swear! )
Working on chapter four.
Finished watching Hagaren episode 51. The show should continue. TT The ending was so sweet though… x3 Beware of spoilers in future chapters
Go take a look at my Hagaren fan art? x3
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