Next chapter. (sighs) Took me long enough too. I'm actually pretty happy with this, lots of-(pop can rolls behind me)…I have a bad feeling about this. Excuse me. Konton-kun, that had better not be you trying to suck up all the chaos from my story.
"…Drat."
I knew this was gonna happen. Give it back!
"No! My chaos!"
No! Mine! I'm the one who fried her brain trying to come up with good ideas for this story!
"I'm the one who came up with the idea of Winry ending up in the other world, and then they have to do all this stuff to get her back including-"
You're going to give the ending away, you idiot!(jumps at him)
"Bring it on Via-chan!"
This will take a while. Enjoy the chapter!
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"The black angel is a mysterious figure that doesn't seem to be connected to any world." explained Rae, "Almost every world sees to know of her, though they don't all call her by the same name.
The black angel has the ability to grant "gifts", in other words special powers. But there is always a drawback, a curse that comes with it."
"I see. That's why you are so paranoid about being touched. You don't want anyone else to die."
Rae nodded sadly.
"Anything else you guys don't understand?" asked Lin. "because I want to know why Al can't remember anything, and if it has anything to do with him getting his body back."
"What?!" exclaimed everyone.
"I can remember some things." Al corrected, "I just can't remember anything after..." he broke off, and looked at Ed. At first, he looked confused, but then it clicked.
"Oh." he said, "That."
"What are-" Rae started to ask, but Lin tapped her on the arm.
Rae looked at her, and Lin shook her head and mouthed, "Tell you later."
"So, what did happen?"
Ed looked at Roy.
Roy left, and Hawkeye followed.
Ed then turned to look at Lin.
"Hey, I'm stuck here." Lin said, wiggling her toes at him.
"Well go to sleep or something then!"
"Too bad." Lin said, smirking," I don't feel like it."
"Lin..." said Rae warningly.
Lin grinned.
Teasing them is such- than she noticed Al looking at her.
He was giving her the puppy dog eyes.
She groaned and turned over.
"Fine, you win." she said, placing her pillow over her head. "I'm asleep now."
Rae blinked, slightly surprised that she would give in that easily, then turned to Ed and smiled.
"I'll go now."
"Thanks." he said gruffly.
They waited until she left the room, and then Ed rubbed his forehead, trying to come up with the words to explain.
"Where to start? Well, you know that you lost your body?"
Al nodded.
"I managed to attach your soul to that suit of armor. You know, the one in the basement?"
"But what did you use for the raw material?"
Ed suddenly became very interested in the floresent light above his head.
"Um..."
"Nii-san, you didn't do anything stupid, did you?"
"....Depends on your definition of stupid."
"Nii-san-"
"Okay, alright! I used my arm."
Al was shocked silent for a few minites, and then looked at his brother's full coat sleeve.Seeing the question in his eyes, Ed pulled back his sleeve to reveal the automail.
Slowly Al reached out and touched it.
"Winry made this?"
"Yeah." Ed said quietly "She and Auntie Pinako did a great job, didn't they?"
Al said nothing, only continuing to trace the automail. It's curves, it's joints, the valleys that weren't cracks, and gapes implied weakness. Holes? No, that was not it either. Lines? Lines were flat, not like these dark valleys, these black holes, these swallowing cervices. The groves in his brother's arm, the metal arm that replaced the one he'd sacrificed to bring him back.
"It's very heavy?" Al asked quietly, though he already knew the answer.
"Yeah." Ed replieded, just as quietly.
"Very inconvieant?"
"Yeah."
"And the only good thing about it, is now you have an excuse to see Winry whenever you want."
"Yeah-I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!!!"
Al chuckled.
"Whatever you say, Nii-san."
Then his smile faded.
"You didn't have to, you know."
"Yes I did. You're my brother, I can't... I can't just...let you leave me."
Silence.
"I wish I could remember." Al said, forming his hands into shaking fists. "I wish I could remember everything that happened on between then and now. A lot of things happened, didn't they?"
"Yeah." Ed said, "But it's okay. Not all of it was important. And the stuff that was important, I can tell you. I'm just glad you're finally got your real body back."
He hesitanted for a moment, then reached over and hugged him.
"I still can't beleive it."
Al hugged back, needing the comfort. Who wouldn't? He'd just forgotten five years of his life. That's enough to shock any one. He still wasn't sure what was currently going on, or who those other two people were, or why they seemed to know him and his brother, but he set those questions aside for later.
Right now, what Al, and Ed too, needed most, was some tender loving care.
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Winry flinched slightly as the door banged shut behind her.
Some of the people turned to look at her, but most didn't, and kept right on drinking and talking.
And then the woman, the Black Angel walked in.
All noise stopped.
Someone dropped a cup, and it shattered on the floor.
"This girl needs a room." the woman announced, in dead silence.
A man, presumably the owner, stepped forward, and gave a deep, respectful bow.
"Of course, Black Angel. Anything for a friend of yours.
Are you hungry as well?" this last was directed towards Winry, who nodded.
"I leave her in your hands." stated the Black Angel, and she walked back outside.
Everyone stared after her, and then the owner said,
"I'll send someone up to prepare your room, and my wife has cooked a most delicious stew. Come sit down over here, at this table."
She followed him over to a plain, wooden table, and sat down.
While she waited for the food, Winry looked around.
When she began looking for them, she could see a lot of signs that she was in another world.
One of the first things that caught her eye was that the clothes were defiently not something she would find in her world. The woman were mostly wearing dresses, plain ones with long skirts that almost touched the floor, and the men wore tunics.
When the stew was brought to her, it was in a wooden bowl, and from the shape, Winry guessed it had been carved with a sharp knife.
It was a good stew, with juicy meat and potatoes. Deliouscius, and very filling.
Once Winry finished the bowl of stew, she sat back and started to think.
There wasn't much point denying it now. She was clearly in another world. The only question she had now, is what to do next?
Winry sighed and rested her head on her arms.
Of all the times, she thought to herself, Of all the times for this to happen, why now? I'd been looking forward to seeing them again for so long.
Her throught tightened.
That idiot...why can't he come home more often? Months go past, and we don't hear a word from them, or about them, and for all we know, they'e dead and buried. And then, we'll get a phonecall. "Winry, I broke your automail again. Be a good girl and fix it up for me, will you?"
Or else, he'll show up on the door step, with the automail I worked so hard on completely destroyed, and he'll be covered with ...bandages. Bandages and scars.
That idiot. Why is he always getting himself into danger? Why can't he listen to Al and I? I wish...
She smiled sadly.
Wouldn't be nice, if while I was stuck here, I somehow found the way to restore their bodies, then Ed could stop being a State Alchemist, and they could come home to stay.
She sighed.
I'm getting depressed again. It looks like there's nothing I can do right now, so I'll just go to sleep. Maybe once I wake up, that strange lady will be back. Or even better, this whole thing will all be a dream. I doubt that will happen though.
She sighed again.
I just hope Ed doesn't get himself killed while I'm gone. It's not like my presence will change anything, but still...
Stop it Winry. You're just making things worse.
She got up and walked over to the owner, planning to ask where her room was.
Tomorrow, she'd try to figure out something to do. Right now, though, she really needed some rest.
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This chapter is dedicated to Konton-kun. Even if you do try to steal the chaos from my story, and even if you torture me with images of Dart/Lavitz, you're a great friend, and you're one of the main reasons I haven't given up on this yet! Thanks so much Konton-kun! (For those of you who wanted to know how the fight ended, I distracted him by throwing him a sugar cookie and several volumes of Gravitation, and a fake copy of Kingdom Hearts 2. He'll kill me when he realizes it's fake, but oh well. What else is new?)
