Second A/N: Wow! A multi chapter fic I'm actually continuing! Feel free to shower me with praise!!! ... Or not? Some extra notes for you here. This takes place one year after Winry first came to visit the Elrics in Central City (Episode 8) Since there was a big desparity between their first mission to "Present time", that leaves a lot of room to keep this canon. This is taking place in East City, since that's where Mustang was relocated at the time. Winry is 12 here. (And you know what? Since they'd already been through that 'Barry the Chopper' incident, I just realized how really morbid it was for Ed to joke about a butcher shop on that map... o.o Heh.)
I was intending for Winry to have some encounter with the Hughes family, but then I remembered that, A, they live in Central, and B, she dosen't even meet Hughes until episode 23. No matter, no matter. I'm still gonna try to put a good amount of work into this. This chapter's rather short... okay, very short.
I think I will be possibly making this a 'three-shot'. (Dunno if that's a real term or not... I'll just say I invented it. Haw!)
Chapter 2
Winry sat against the tiled wall, knees drawn defensively to her chest, as she tapped her finger and nervously weighed the possible scenarios of reasons as to what on earth was going on here.
A scratch? No... not likely.
Internal bleeding? That meant you'd have to rupture something... she hadn't done anything rough enough to bring that about.
Maybe it was like those people she'd read about once, who bled randomly from the palms and forehead in retribution for committing mortal sins. Oh, God! Was she a sinner? She couldn't remember committing anything bad. Was this about that lemon pie she'd snuck and blamed it on the dog? Or maybe it was the time she beat up Edward and employed her cuteness to get out of the consequences. (Actually, that happened on numerous occasions, but for her conscience's sake, we shall not bring up that piece of trivia.)
'No, no, Winry. It can't be. You've never committed any mortal sins,' she tried to comfort herself, 'And besides... that happened along time ago, and those people bled from the forehead... That most certainly wasn't within her region of injury.
"Oooh!" She pressed her fists against the sides of her head, trying to squeeze out some sort of answer. When no revelation came, and she was instead left with an aching head, she let loose and accepted the theory of her fate she had concluded.
She was dieing.
Yes, that was the only way it could be explained. Some strange rare disease she probably picked up, from something foreign being shipped on her train, that only affected beautiful, cute, peppy, young automail engineers.
'I can't die! I don't wanna die! I'm only twelve! I at least wanted to know what it was like to slip on a banana peel!' (The typical statement in such a situation would usually be "I wanted to fall in love at least once", but that is ever so cliched, and Winry-Chan most certainly isn't one to be beaten by cliches at a time so close to her tragic demise, now, is she?)
She set her palms against the floor, with some gaining resolve and lifted her head up.
"If I'm going to die, I might as well go down memorably!" She paused, halfway through this sentence, reconsidering the potentially dangerous situations this could bring her through, and toned it down to a slightly more responsible notch, "Or... just be really nice... I guess."
She stood up, and breathed, determined to be so nice, that everyone couldn't help but cry, and say nice things at her funeral, and maybe even make Edward insist willingly that in spite of the cruel heartless comment he made at the age of five, she really wasn't an un-cute violent tomboy, but a sincere, sweet and motherly type.
"Yes." She decided, "That would be an excellent way to go."
Having already prepared herself against the horrid injury through experimental use of the contents of the first aid kit in the bathroom cupboard, she swung open the bathroom door, and stood in the frame, menacingly standing, all ready to be the nicest darn person on the face of the earth.... within reason.
She scanned the messy room, where Ed and Al were lying on their cots. Ed was sprawled accross his bed, not unlike a large human-colored slab of moss stuck to the surface, and Al quietly lay on his own cot, sleeping- or at least- feigning sleep.
The morning sunlight spilled in stripes through the apartment, and although the chaotic mess in the one-room flat made it appear as though at some point, the drop of a pin just might trigger a putrid avalanche of old snack-food bags and dirty underwear, there was a sort of sense of tranquility... in a loose sense of the term.
"Ed, Al..." She whispered, tiptoeing around an old comic book, and leaning forward patiently.
"Rngrphsfad...," Ed responded, turning to his side, and letting his arm hang over the end of the frame. Al politely, indicated he was awake, with a quiet, "Yes."
Winry nodded at the armored boy, but then turned back at the sleeping alchemist, hands moving into fists, which found themselves planted on her hips.
"Edward..." She spoke, a little less softly, but still trying to maintain her intended angelic demeanor.
He tossed and covered his face with a pillow, and muttered something incoherent.
She began to ball her fists a little more tightly. Honestly, it was going to be very hard to be the kind and perfect sister figure for him if he was just asleep for it. She was dieing, here! At least he could have the decency to wake up and acknowledge her...
"Edward ELRIC!!!!!!!" She yelled, yanking the drawstring shade causing it to snap upwards in time with her morning wake up yell.
"Kyyyaaagaganya!" was what sounded to be the exclamation coming from the newly ressurected blond as he sprang, as if through electric shock from his sleep. He found himself with his legs remaining on his bed, and his head and arms on the floor, a rather uncomfortable position.
"Muamua zaffor!" He yelled into the pillow, which, if one were to filter the audio muffling caused by the pillow, would have translated as, "What was that for!?"
Winry snapped back into her decidedly cheery demeanor, and clasped her hands together, with an all-too suspect smile.
"Good morning to you too, big brother Edward!" She sang, tilting her head to the side.
"Brother... what the he-"
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it? The sun is shining so wonderfully. Have you ever had the chance to admire such a lovely light before?"
"Not one that was forcibly burned into my retinas, no." Winry was too caught up to pay any heed to this sarcastic comment.
"And can you hear the way the birds are singing? I bet you can, big brother Alphonse, dear! Oh, you always were so sweet. Such a friend to the animals... give me a hug!" She took action upon her words without hesitation, and grabbed the boy's head into an affectionate embrace.
If Alphonse Elric, at that point in time, were to have the ability to turn beet red in embarassment, and confusion, he most certainly would have.
"How about I make you some breakfast, big brother?" She sprang over to the cupboard, and swung upon the doors as gleefully as possible, only to be met with a half a box of baking soda, some flour and two dust bunnies who probably just wanted their 'alone time'.
"Edo... When was the last time you went shopping?" She asked, trying to mask her temper.
"Eheheheh," Edward nervously scratched the back of his head, "Well, we don't need all that much food around here, and usually I just get something while I'm out..."
"You poison yourself with fast food, brother dear? Oh how terrible!"
"It's not that bad... and can you cut it with the 'brother-dear'? It's getting kinda creepy." Edward shifted his eyes nervously, to Al, who was providing him with no clues as to how to deal with this.
"But,..." Winry sniffled, sidling up to Ed, "We grew up together. We're just like family! We should be able to be affectionate, shouldn't we?"
"Hitting people with tools counts as affection?"
A hypocritical response was given, with a slap upside the head to poor Edward who still didn't know what was going on.
"You will let me love you, and you will like it, Mister!" She snarled, pointing a threatening finger in his direction.
"Ulp... uh, yes ma'am."
"Then in that case, let me make you a wonderful nutritious breakfast! But first, I must go shopping! Who's got money?" (Being a kind sister couldn't be funded entirely out of her own pocket.)
"Um..."Ed fished in his pants pocket for a few crumpled bills.
"Alright. I'll be back in a jiffy! You just wait here!" With a twirl, Winry was out of the apartment, and slammed the door, leaving two dumbfounded brothers.
"Brother?"
"Yeah Al?"
"... I'm scared."
o.o.o
"Hmmm. I'll have some of these!" Winry cheerily announced, pointing at some shiny looking fruit, "And might I mention that hat is lovely, ma'am?"
"Oh, my, aren't you a sweet girl? Now lets see. Three of these makes two hundred cens." The elderly woman behind the produce stand bagged up the fruit for her, and smiled as she handed it over.
"Here you go." Winry sang, handing the coins into the lady's hand.
"There. Thank you for coming. You seem new around here. Will you be staying long?" WInry paused, with a mild sadness overtaking her eyes.
"I- I'm afraid that I cannot. But... I'll remember you and your kindness for as long as I live," She leaned forward with conviction, "Life is so short. Please! Enjoy life as you have it! Everything becomes more beautiful when you know you may lose it. Remember that! Remember that, please." At that, she choked a sob and turned on her heel to dash back to the Elric's flat, grocery bag in hand.
"My... what an eccentric little girl." The woman nodded, as she reached for a broom.
o.o.o
"Winry. I didn't know you knew how to cook like this." Ed commented, tentatively, leaning back on his chair, his metal arm hanging limply.
"Of course I can! Mechanics isn't my only area of expertise!" She moved to the pan over the single burner and flipped the eggs with her spatula. She then rotated back to the cutting board, where she sliced a red apple into sections and arranged them over the top of the fruit salad.
"Ta daaa!" She sang, spinning, and sliding Ed's plate on the table in front of him.
"Th- thanks Winry," He said, cautiously picking up a fork and scooping a mound of eggs. He slowly raised it to his mouth, and chewed.
"Well? Well? How is it?" Winry asked, wringing her hands.
"It's good." He said, a little uneasily.
"Really?"
"Yeah." He insisted, biting out of his toast.
"Mmmm!" She squealed as though she were going to burst, and did burst, in a manor, to attack her 'brother' with a flying hug, "Good! Eat up, brother! You need all the nutrition you can get."
"W-win-ryy... gan- breaaazzz." ("Winry, can't breathe")
"Oh? Ah! Sorry! Sorry!" She released her well intended- though deadly grip on Ed, and backed up, letting Ed rub the back of his neck with his only good arm.
"It's okay Winry. But... are you alright?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean... the wierd anger eruptions, the chocolate binge... sleeping in the bathroom, and calling us both 'big brother', and hugging us instead of beating us? Are you sure you're okay?"
"I can beat you up if that's what you really want, brother dear!" Winry offered, producing a threatening looking spatula from behind her back.
"That's not what I mean, Winry? I mean... did you eat something bad... or join some wierd cult that practices chocolate eating and sporradic hugging?"
"Brother, you don't need to pry like that." Al tried concernedly to break the tension.
"What are you talking about? Ed? Al?"
"You're acting funny. You're usually... well, at least a little predictable. I thought you were all into mechanics, and you weren't this wierd."
"You think It's wierd that I try to help you?" Winry was pushing it, and Ed was slowly raising his foot to mouth level.
"No- it's just. I mean- Winry."
"So that's how it is." She said, flatly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "You can't accept me being close to you?"
"-Winry!" Al butted in.
"I see it now. You think I'm just a tomboy who only likes mechanics. You just need me to fix your automail for you. That's all you want!"
"It's not-"
"You don't need to bother explaining. I'm dieing here, and all you can do is think about yourselves! Well that's fine! Goodbye!"
She left the apartment with a hearty slam of the door, and once again, left her two friends dumbfounded where they sat.
"Did she say 'dieing'?..."
"Yeah, Al. She did."
"Brother... I'm even more scared."
o.o.o
On the streets of East City, although it was quite obviously a sunny mid-morning, a blonde girl trudged up the streets, hugging herself as though bracing against a bitter cold. Tears ran down her cheeks, as she moved forward, inwardly chastizing herself.
'Winry, you're so stupid!' She thought, clenching her teeth, 'You freak out over nothing and just leave! It wasn't their fault anyway. It was all...' She couldn't finish the thought, as a pang overtook her stomach.
'Oh crap. And now my bloody stomach hurts too.' She added, mournfully, cursing herself out for the bad, unintentional pun.
The clouds floated by merrily, people passed by casually, but Winry could only moan as she cursed her pitiful lot.
In fact, she was so busy pitying herself, that she completely lost track of direction, and therefore lead herself into an ironically fortunate collision.
"Pardon me, Young Miss."
"Uh- n-no! That was... my fault."
"Ah? Miss rockbell!"
"... Lieutenant Hawkeye!"
Chapter 2- End.
(Revieeeewww!)