Chapter 1: Homecoming
Winry read the letter once, then again in shock and surprise. She was sitting on the stool next to her workbench, a welding apron around her waist, and a pair of goggles sitting on her forehead. Her sky blue eyes were welling up with tears of excitement as she read the letter once more.
Once she was finished, and she was sure it wasn't a dream, she ran down the hallway and out the door, finding Pinako, her aunt, tending to her flowers in the garden.
Winry ran to her, skidding to a dusty halt that sprayed pieces of earth onto her aunt.
"Winry!" Pinako shouted angrily.
Winry ignored this outburst and quickly thrust the letter into her aunt's hands. "Read." She commanded, watching as the same look of joy and shock as she'd experienced swept across her aunt's features while she read the letter.
PInako folded the paper slowly, and then passed it back to Winry. "Go inside and get the beds ready." She said calmly, though a small smile pushed its way onto her lips.
Winry was gushing with happiness. "Oh! Of course!" She exclaimed, remembering that the boys would need their own beds if they were going to stay.
Kissing her aunt on the cheek, surprising the woman, Winry ran back into the house, eager to fix up the two beds where Edward and Alphonse Elric would reside. Al would need a big bed-No wait! He wasn't in his armor anymore…Winry disappeared into the house, her thoughts full of the two brothers and their return.
Pinako sent a short laugh into thenoonday air. Finally, she thought, they're staying for good.
OOO
"Brother, aren't we getting closer now?" Alphonse Elric looked at the young man walking beside him. Ed was staring intently at the hills in the distance, thinking hard about something…or someone. Al smiled inwardly. He had a pretty good idea what it was his sibling was thinking about.
Ed shook his head and turned to look down at his younger brother. Momentarily he remembered the times when he had to look up to meet his brother's gaze. But no longer. Now, his brother was himself again. Thinking of this, he smiled, and replied,
"Not much longer now. I recognize these hills. Just around that one right over there," he pointed to a large hill at the turn in the road, "And we should see a long road leading straight up to Winry's house."
Al nodded, then smiled mischievously. "So that's why you were staring at the hills so intently. Couldn't wait to see Winry again, huh?" he said all of it in jest, but his brother's cheeks grew red at the comment.
Ed knew his brother was right, but it wasn't only that. He knew he was happy that their journey was over, and even more so that he had restored Al and himself. But there was something, almost like excitement, that he felt at the idea of returning to the Rockbell home. They hadn't come back in over three years.
He kept wondering if things would be different. Was the old woman Pinako still short and stubborn, always smoking her pipe and wearing her tiny glasses? Was Winry still the same as she used to be…? Did she still care about him…?
The last two questions haunted him the most. He wasn't sure if he could face her. So much had happened to he and Al, and he knew that while they were away time didn't just stop in Risembool. Winry must have grown as well. Had she moved on, forgetting the Elric brothers to live her life? Ed shook his head once more, this time in frustration.
It wouldn't matter. Whatever Winry decided to do was her business. Coming home and being themselves was all that he cared about.
They came up to the large hill at the turn of the trail. Walking around it, the Rockbell house came into view. There it sat at the top of the low hill. The evening sun was setting quickly, creating a blanket of orange and red across the large expanse of field and grass. The occasional tree stuck out along the way, catching the light with colors of gold and yellow.
Al watched his brother's inner battle, trying to figure out what troubled him so. Shouldn't he be happy to come home for good? Al knew he certainly was. He couldn't wait to do things that normal kids did, like play outside and make friends. He could even return to school! Why didn't Ed feel the same way?
"Brother?" Al spoke up, hoping to coax his brother into telling him what was on his mind.
Ed saw the look in his brother's eyes. Al was always trying to make him feel better. Wasn't that the older brother's job?
Ed grinned and ruffled his younger brother's hair playfully. "It's nothing, Al. Come on, we're almost there."
OOO
Winry sat at the desk near the window, her hands firmly in her lap. She knew that if she didn't hold them, they would tap impatiently on the desktop or thrum on the side of the chair. Her heart was beating quickly, and with each passing second she tried to imagine Ed and Al coming into view just over the rise. But every time she didthey weren't there. Soon, she thought. Soon.
Her aunt came into the room and sat down in her rocking chair, smoking pipe in hand. She brought the tip to her lips and inhaled deeply, leaning back in her seat.
Every second was like an hour! Winry sighed heavily. Would they ever be here?
"Patience, girl. They'll be here. The letter said at sundown. There's still time." her aunt commented, noticing her niece's taught shoulders and stiff neck. She'd been sitting at the window for at least two hours.
Winry sighed, letting her shoulders droop down as she did. "I know, Pinako. I just…I'm looking forward to having them home again." She said this in a small voice, almost like she was sharing a secret. To Winry, it was a secret. When she'd said 'them' she'd been thinking of Ed.
It wasn't that she didn't care about Al. Of course she did, even when he was in his armor. But Ed…he was a different story.
She could remember Ed from when he was little. She could see him when they used to play. One time they'd gone down to the river. When they were close to it, he'd pushed her in, getting her new dress soaking wet. Of course she'd yelled at him, and he only smirked cockily. Looking back on it though, those moments made her smile the most.
Ed was different because, unlike his brother, she couldn't understand him as easily. There was always something he hid from her. They would argue and bicker, but there would be times when he would stop arguing and look at her. His eyes would take on a far away look, as if he were thinking of something. She would shake him out of his reverie, and when she would ask him what was wrong, he would say "Nothing."
Ed was either yelling at her or defending himself from one of her remarks. Winry looked down at her folded hands. She wondered if they would ever stop fighting. Would they ever be friends? Or maybe, something more than that?
A movement caught her eye and she looked up. Coming up the hill were two boys she would know any day. Winry smiled as her eyes swept over Al's face, the one she remembered from so long ago. He looked so happy!
Her eyes turned to Ed's form. He looked taller, and older. With a nervous twitch she stood up from her seat, her chair scooting across the wood floor.
Her aunt stood up fromher chair as well, though more slowly, and said, "Let's go out and greet them."
Winry gulped. This was it. Three years, and they were finally returning once more. Following her aunt to the entrance of the house, she clutched her hands in a silent prayer, hoping that the two of them hadn't changed much since she'd last seen them.
They exited the house and stood outside the door. Winry cast her eyes down, looking intently at the new flowers springing up in the garden. She felt nervous and couldn't watch them walk toward her. She would wait until they were close enough that she could talk to them.
"Pinako!" Al's voice rang out happily; his childish tone still the same as ever.
Winry looked up slightly, watching Al take off ahead of his brother. She smiled widely as Al ran toward her aunt. He pulled her into a tight hug, whispering quietly, "We missed you both." Pinako patted his head softly, her eyes warm with tears.
"So did we." she replied.
Winry couldn't help it as her eyes went inevitably toward the one person she'd been dying to see since she'd received the letter. There he stood, not three feet from her. His hands were at his sides, the white gloves still adorning each one. His jacket looked the same as well, though it was slightly short in the sleeves. Her eyes traveled up his torso to his neck, marveling silently how tall he'd gotten.
Finally, her eyes rested on his face. His eyes, the same smoldering gold that she remembered pierced her with their intensity. His hair,the color of sunlight, framed his features.She gasped at the sight of him. It'd been...so long. What should she say? She opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"So where've you been?"
AN: Well? I tried to show Ed and Winry's feelings so that you can understand how things are going to be in the next few chapters...if that makes sense at all. Look for Chapter Two soon, ok! Until then, &Niiroke&
