Holy Update, Batman! Hehehe… yes, I'm still alive. Sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this crappy piece of writing some might call 'a chapter'. No really… I don't think this was worth the wait. . Er… try to enjoy regardless?
Nyago – Bwhaha! Yes, she's very much in love with our handsome Edo-kun. Then again, what girl wouldn't be? Hehehe. Ah, you get the impression Ed is starting to fall in love with her? Interesting… Yes, Envy is an evil son of a bitch, no? Who does he obsess with killing Ed's father? Well… the answer is in this chapter, but I'll explain: Envy is the result of Hohenheim trying to revive his son he had a looooong time ago with that evil lady (You should know her if you saw the end.) Thus Envy could be considered Hohenheim's son, I guees. He hates the guy for creating him and wants him dead. And Ed too, it seems.
Aoshi – First: Heheh, yer welcome! Second: Got the idea from the upcoming movie. 'Tis set in this same place. That's where the character of Al is from, actually. So.. he's not my character. However Winry is and this story's whole concept of her is my idea. . Third: Ooo yay! Someone who likes the Winry of 'our world'! Yup, she's more straightforward about what she wants than the real Winry. Glad to know you like her. You'll hate me later, though.
unnamed – Thanks for reviewing! Sorry for making you wait so long.
Saturn Stars – Ha! By the time you read this (if you do) you'll have read this already on the fourms. Silly Lil' Sis. 'Tis sad nothing happened with them here… save for a little sexual tension. (Ed in his underwear! Huzzah!) Next chapter: Lovey-dovey scene between them, I promise! Sadly one sided… but good enough, yes, yes? Hahahaha! Praise me more! . Nah, thanks a bunch for the high praise on my writing skills, though. Means a lot. Bows Yes, I did consider the serpent thing… but I figured Envy would try to blend in more with the world and thus loose that shape (of course, given the latest info on the movie, I was wrong. Ah, well.) I might use it later, but I dunno. We shall see. Er… can you forgive me for the wait? And for this terribly crappy excuse for a chapter?
Sorrow's Raven – Mwhahaha! I is evil, no? Thanks for the R & R!
hiei44 – Gotta love all this hatred for Envy. Hehehe. Thanks for the review!
Kitsune no Youkai – Yup, that he does. And Winry discover the truth? Perhaps she shall… but how well will she take it is the real question.
Hellokitty-4-ever – Envy's there because he goes through the Gate in the last episode.
heart of flame – Eek. Hope your thumb and finger get better! Yes, certainly read the manga. 'Tis awesome! And sorry about the mistakes. I suck at spelling and make a hell of a lot of typos. But no worries. At least you're nice about it. Thanks for the review!
Vash & Gozilla – This one thanks you muchlies!
Mag – Very much so. I'm glad yout think my fanfiction is great! Thanks for the review!
GoddessoftheWaters – Dohohoho! I got you! . Thanks for the review!
Marie – Hm… I use to like Envy. Then I saw the ending and desired to beat him over the head with my Frying Pan of Doom! Thanks for the R & R!
SxStrngSamurai13 – Gotta have Envy show up, if only for a little bit, to wreck havoc. He'll return to cause damage to poor Ed, you can be sure of that. Thanks for the review!
Quicksilvermad – Whoo! I actually had good grammer and only one spelling error? The world must be ending! Thanks for the review!
anonymous & edXwinry – Thanks for much!
Xaki – Of course not! You're review was very kind. Ah, yes… that photo will play a very important role soon, so don't think I've forgotten it. As for Ed telling Winry about his at home? Hmm… you shall see. Interesting. Ed unable to see the line that divides the two Winrys… Yeah, I suppose that's it. Really, the poor boy's delusional. He does the same thing between Al and his brother Al. Poor confuzzled Edo. Pats
SoulOmenspride, lollipop01, quiet-girl8000, ZeroX20 & SiR MaGuS – Thanks SO much you guys! Your words mean a lot! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
"Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide
I'm quiet you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind"
"Collide" By: Howie Day
Winter in Germany
to tell the truth
Every muscle in Edward's body had tensed and now he was visibly trying to control his rage. His first thoughts were panicked. Had Envy gotten inside? Were Al and his father already dead? He was too late! It took him a few seconds to realize that they weren't home. The party at Winry's house was still going. He thanked the god he didn't believe in (which felt a bit awkward) that Winry hadn't insisted on following him the entire length back. But now he still had a huge problem on his hands. The said problem continued to smirk at him. Envy stood, swinging his arms lazily at his sides and walking with an odd bounce in his step toward Ed.
"Well, well, well? Care to let me in, brother?" He sneered, putting a large emphasis on the last word.
Even after two years Ed hadn't forgotten this. He hadn't forgotten the truth that Envy was the creation of his father's failed human transmutation attempt a long time ago. He had tried to bring back the son he had had with Dante. So the terrible truth was that Envy could be considered Ed's half brother. Same father, different mother. But he wasn't sure it had ever truly bothered him until he had actually heard the bastard call him by a name his dear little brother had used for him.
Envy paused at the end of the walk way, hands on his hips. "Say something."
Ed just glared, mind trying to formulate some sort of plan to get out of this mess. Or at least get Envy away from his home. Suddenly he missed his alchemy and the way it could so easily get him out of jams like this.
Envy gave an over dramatic sigh and shrugged helpless. "Very well. We'll do it your way."
Suddenly a dagger flashed in his hand against the moonlight. Ed shot left and the dagger ripped through his right sleeve. Not only did it rip through it, but it ripped it completely off. Now his false limb was clearly exposed. Ed swore and skidded to a halt, still facing Envy. He swayed, movements sluggish do to his mind fuzzy from alcohol. He gripped his metal arm and brought it in front of him as if to hide it from the world.
"Oh dear, wrong arm," Envy chuckled, smirking dangerously at Ed.
Ed had a feeling that Envy had done this on purpose. As to why, he didn't want to find out.
"You're not getting what you want, Envy," Ed snapped, clutching his metal arm so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Get lost!"
"You don't scare me anymore," Envy growled, all teasing gone. "Without your alchemy your nothing but a school boy eating the leftovers of a big man's dream."
The terrible thing was that Envy was right. Just when Ed was considering making a break for it, footsteps alerted both their attentions to the right. Ed's heart stopped when he recognized the silhouette. He turned toward Envy, only to find the man gone. But then Envy became the least of his worries when there was a soft gasp.
"Ed! W-What's wrong with your arm...?" Winry stammered, not able to see it clearly.
Ed cringed and quickly took several steps backwards, disappearing into the darkness just as Winry stepped under the street light. She blinked wide green eyes at him.
"Edward...? Why are you--Hey!"
The blonde haired boy had suddenly bolted toward his house, still clutching his arm. Had she been seeing things? Surely his arm hadn't been... metal? Winry hurried after him, moving as fast as she could in heels. Apparently it wasn't fast enough and Ed managed to get inside and secure the door by the time she reached it. Either she was slow or he was inhumanly fast. She beat the door with a fist, brows furrowed in anger.
"Hey! Edward, let me in! What's wrong with you!" She cried, pounding the door furiously.
But, of course, there was nothing. Huffing, she took a step back and quickly located the extra key. Soon the door was unlocked and she hurriedly pushed it open, revealing darkness. A sudden wind blew white dust from the ground into the house and stirred the many papers sprawled out across the floor. Winry quickly shut it and rubbed her arms, green eyes trying to adjust to the dark. She couldn't help but feel worried. Was Ed hurt? Or was he hiding what she had briefly glanced?
A fake arm... I had no idea, Winry thought, frowning as she slowly felt her way toward the stairs. Is that why he always wore gloves and long sleeves? But... it moved and acted like a real limb...
And that was what baffled her. She knew of people who had needed prosthetic limbs and had gotten them. But the limbs were stiff and now very flexible. It was always easy to pick out a person who had them because of this. So what was Ed's story? She finally managed to crawl up the stairs and find his door. There was a pause in which she debated whether she should knock. Then she realized if she did, he would instantly lock her out. So she took in a breath and swung open the door.
Winry's face then turned a lovely shade of red and she hurriedly turned her eyes to the floor. Somehow Ed had managed to strip down to nothing but light blue boxers in the short amount of time it had taken Winry to enter. He turned sharply at her entrance and by this point Winry's eyes had taken a mind of their own. They flickered up toward him and before she can begin to marvel at how good looking he was, she noticed his other metal limb. Her eyes widen and she found that all she could do was rudely stare.
His leg was fake too! But... he didn't walk with a limp...
It seemed these limbs were far more advanced than the technology of today could build. Ed suddenly shifted uncomfortably under her eyes and hastily turned away, moving to sit on his bed. His eyes avoided her while Winry found she couldn't keep her eyes off him.
"Don't you knock?" Ed suddenly muttered. "How'd you get in?"
His voice snapped her back to reality and her face grew hotter. Her eyes quickly darted away to study a very interesting portion of the floor.
"I, uh... I know where the key is, remember?" She stammered, mind terribly sidetracked by Edward's lack of clothing.
Ed mentally kicked himself. He had forgotten all about that.
"Right... Well, aren't you going to ask?"
"Huh?"
Ed held up his right hand to her and her eyes briefly flickered to it. There was a moment of hesitation before Winry dared to move toward him. Now she stood in front of him and quickly became interested in the mechanical limb. Her eyes wandered over its shinny surface, studying how it moved almost exactly like a real arm.
"It's amazing," She breathed. "It's just like a real arm."
"Except it isn't," Ed replied flatly.
Winry glanced up at him. He was turned, giving her a profile shot of his face. His eyes had closed and he seemed to be... in pain? Winry frowned and sat down on the bed beside him, staring at his face intensely. There was a pause before Ed opened one eye at her.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Ed sighed heavily and looked away from her, eyes falling to the floor. "You didn't need to know."
Winry frowned. She didn't understand. Was he embarrassed? Or maybe he had developed this technology and didn't want the idea to be stolen? In all honesty, Winry would not have been surprised if the latter was true. Ed was a genius, after all, and more than capable of making such amazing machines. Ed suddenly stood, still refusing to meet her eyes.
"You should leave," He told her, voice suddenly distant as if his mind was no longer here.
"I don't want to," Winry pouted, giving him puppy dog eyes she knew he couldn't see.
"Why did you come back here anyway?" He asked after a moment, bending down to pick up his clothes he had thrown off.
"Well," Winry began, looking a little embarrassed as her eyes followed him around the room. "I forgot to tell you something about tomorrow and I thought it would be rude to wait."
Ed paused for a moment, straightening and now holding his clothes. He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a flat look.
"Right... and watching me wander around in my underwear isn't rude?"
Winry's face instantly went red and her eyes quickly darted away from him. "W-W-Well it's not like I knew!"
"Yeah, sure," He teased, earning him a heated glare.
Ed turned and dumped his clothes in the corner, suddenly too lazy to fold them and put them away properly. He then turned to face Winry.
"Leave now, please," He sighed, pointing to the door as if she didn't know where it was.
Winry shook her head and grinned mischievously. "No, not until..."
Ed arched an eyebrow at her. "Until...?"
"You let me examine those metal limbs in close detail!"
Ed stared blankly at her, hands now clamped underneath her chin and stars in her emerald eyes. He sweat dropped.
Crap, even after two years that look scares the hell outta me...
"Er... If it'll make you leave, sure. But maybe you shouldn't get your nice dress dirty."
Winry let out a squeal of happiness and jumped to her feet. Then she paused at his words.
"Hm, good point. I'll just borrow some of your clothes again!" She said cheerful and made her way over to his drawer of clothes.
"Don't you dare!" Ed cried, bolting forward and placing himself between
Winry and his precious clothes. "The shirt you wore last time still smells like perfume... I'll never be able to wear it again."
Winry placed her hands on her hips and gave him a flat look. "Oh, come off it. I'm not leaving until I get to look at your arm, but I'm not able to get my nice dress dirty either. Move!"
Before Ed could protest, Winry had shoved him out the door and locked it. Ed stood dumbfounded for a moment before he realized he had been locked out of his own room. Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'I don't understand women...' Ed turned away and headed back downstairs.
Naturally it took Winry a ridiculous amount of time to change and scrub all the make up off. Hohenheim and Al returned before she was finished, greeted by the sight of Ed sitting in the large chair in the living room in nothing but his blue boxers. He looked thoroughly annoyed and nearly strangled his father for the inappropriate jokes he made when Winry came downstairs moments later. She was dressed in a pair of his brown pants and a white shirt, dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. After a brief hello to Al and Hohenheim, Winry dragged Edward back upstairs. ("Try not to make too much noise!" Hohenheim called cheerfully after them, earning many threats from Ed and giving Winry a red face.)
It ended up being not as bad as Ed expected. Unlike the Winry he was use to who always had some crazy new idea for his artificial limbs, Winry Diamond was merely into studying how the arm worked. Ed sat in his desk chair, now moved and turned so that he faced the bed. Winry sat across from him on the bed, using small tools to poke around the inside of the arm. All Ed could do was watch her boredly, chin resting in the palm of his other hand. He leaned his entire weight on it and blinked slowly at her face, eyes fiercely concentrating and brows furrowed. He was beginning to wonder what she was possibly doing. She couldn't really understand the complex wiring and layout of the arm, could she? Suddenly there was a sharp pain and the metallic fingers twitched violently. Winry jerked back, startled.
"Ow! Don't touch the wires!" Ed yelped, stiffening.
Winry stared at him incredulously. "You can... feel?"
"Of course."
Her eyes went back to the arm and she leaned over it once more, the soft clicking of the tool she held on the metal echoing loudly in the silent room. Another sharp pain burned and Ed flinched again, coming out of his relaxed pose.
"Stop that!"
"That's incredible!" Winry exclaimed, smiling brightly. "These wires are connected to your nerves!"
"...We've been sitting here for the past hour and a half just so you could come to that obvious conclusion?"
Winry glared at him. "It wasn't obvious to me!"
"You could've just asked."
"I wanted to see for myself," Winry sniffed and glanced back to the arm.
She paused a moment before setting the tools beside her. Removing the gloves from her hands, she reached over and trailed her finger tips lightly up the cool smooth surface of the arm. Ed stiffened again and blushed.
"You can feel that?" Winry asked curiously.
"Yes. Please stop," Ed muttered, squirming a bit in the chair.
Winry smirked mischievously at him. "Aw, does that tickle?"
"...Yeah, we'll go with that."
"Edward!"
"What?"
Winry huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him. Her own face now felt hot.
"Are we done now?" Ed grumbled, obviously restless.
"Oh, but I didn't get a chance to look at the leg," Winry realized with a small gasp, emerald eyes traveling down to it.
"Aw, c'mon, Winry! It's late," Ed groaned. "Some other time."
Winry pouted by obeyed, beginning to clean up the tools. A grateful Edward fled the scene to find some clothes, grumbling something about how it was unnecessary for him to have had to stay only in his boxers. In the end Ed merely ended up pulling on a pair of pants and a white shirt, buttoning it messily. It was enough to see Winry downstairs and out the door.
"I'll return these clothes to you Thursday," She said, smiling as she tugged at the sleeve of the baggy white shirt she wore.
"Why not tomorrow? You won't be at the hanger?" Ed asked curiously as the two of them headed down the stairs, Winry carrying her dress over one arm and all her accessories in a small bag under the other.
"That's what I came back for originally. I wanted to tell you that I won't be able to make it tomorrow."
They paused at the door and Ed opened it for her, a blast of cold winter air hitting them both. Winry stepped out and turned to him, smiling softly.
"Anyway, I'll see you Thursday at least. Thank you for being my escort tonight, Edward."
Ed blinked. That had seemed like such a long time ago... He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.
"No problem. It was nice."
Winry lingered for a moment, as if there was something else on her mind. Then she shook her head, smiling sadly.
"Goodnight..."
"G'night."
Ed waved her off and watched her disappear down the sidewalk before he shut the door, lips slowly falling into a frown. Footsteps down the stairs made him glance up and Hohenheim appeared at the bottom of the steps, one hand on the railing and the other at his side. He smiled brightly at Ed.
"So... have fun?" He asked cheerfully.
Ed's eye twitched and he suddenly picked up a rather large book from the chair next to him. "You have five seconds, old man."