"Winry? WInry, wake up!" Came Viola's nasal voice again.
"Coming, Viola!" WInry replied, getting dressed. She left her room heading down the steep, creaky, wooden stairs. Immediately, Winry began making scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and hash browns for the four women in the kitchen.
"Winry? What are you doing?" asked Rose. She was a slender girl. She was tall, and had brown hair. Her lips were a dark, rose red. Unfortunately, Rose was so slender that it was unappealing and her bitterness shone through her ayes.
"M-m-making b-breakfast," Winry stuttered.
"There's no need to do THAT, child. We've already eaten." Replied Viola. Viola had the same bone structure of Winry, but Viola was a tad shorter than Winry, coming to about 5' 2". Viola had fair skin, dark green eyes, and golden hair. Her weakness was power and that is all she yearned for.
"Don't you remember, Winry? Today is October 3rd. Today is a shopping day." Violet informed. Violet, unlike Winry and the stepmother Viola, had dark brown hair like Rose. Violet had deep purple eyes that shined brilliantly in the sunlight. She had a dark complexion. She had this 'I don't care about anyone but myself' attitude and always seemed uninterested unless it was shopping.
"We need new shoes, dresses, make up…" Lily told Winry all the things the stepfamily needed while Winry wrote it down. Winry stopped writing for a second to relax her hand, which was cramping.
"Winry? Are you getting all of this?" Lily asked, naggingly. Lily, unlike any of the other girls, was short and stocky; her height just barely 5' and her weight ranging from 200 to 220 pounds. She had dark skin like Violet but her hair and her eyes were pale yellow. Lily acted helpless most of the time, to attract attention to her self, but could kill if she didn't get what she wanted.
Winry started to write down the last couple of shopping items that Lily finished naming off. Winry stood up immediately and grabbed her stepfamily's belonging; their hats, jackets, outrageously sized purses, etc.
Winry whistled for a cab. There were only two taxis that drove around in the whole countryside of Resembool. There was a small town market around two miles in from the road Winry lived on. The landscape was beautiful and thriving. Barley fields grew on either side of the road leading to the market and of course, the ditzy quadruplets were allergic to them.
"I can't wait till I own this country. I will tear down all the barley fields and replace them with beauty shops." Viola swore to her self.
"Mother, are we there yet?" whined Lily.
"Oh, do shut up, Lilian." Demanded Rose.
'Why don't they all stop bickering? It's just a waste of useable air.' Thought Violet. The cab pulled to a stop. They arrived 2 yards from the market place. Winry hopped out first and opened the doors for her family; giving them their hats as they got out.
"Winry, wait outside while your sisters and I shop." Ordered Viola.
"Yes, madam." Winry replied sheepily.
"Here are two credits you may spend." Rose said giving Winry two silvery looking coins. Winry nodded, putting the coins in her jacket's zipper pocket.
'I will have approximately 3 and a half hours to putz around the market.' Winry said to her self. Absentmindedly, she began fiddling with the zipper to her pocket when all of a sudden it broke. 'Darn it…I guess I wont have enough money to spend on some automail parts if I spend it on fixing my zipper. And I was really planning on finishing that automail hand I've been working on for so long.' Winry said again to her self.
"Excuse me, Miss? You look like you need some help with that--."
Winry flung her wrench out to protect herself. She struck the sudden surprise as hard as she could. It seemed to have hit the ground. Winry found herself staring down at a boy.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? I was only gonna see if you wanted me to fix your zipper!"
Winry helped him up to his feet and brought him into an alley as to not bring attention onto them selves. She stared at him. He looked ten, but he acted like an adolescent 15-year-old boy. The boy was dusting himself off. He looked up and met Winry's eyes. She looked entranced. He cleared his throat ready to say something. "I—…"
"Winry." She cut him off.
"What?" He stood there, baffled.
"Winry Rockbell. You said 'miss' earlier, but I want you to call me by my first name. Winry."
"Winry, that's a nice…erm…that's a nice name." He broke his gaze and looked down.
"Thank you." Winry stood there awkwardly, but at peace. There was something about his golden hair, his brilliantly golden eyes that reminded her of something…someone. She broke the silence.
"What were you saying before I hit you?" Winry asked, regretting that she hit him.
"Nothing…" The boy answered.
"How old are you?" Winry asked out of curiosity. She just noticed how short he was.
'He's got to be only ten or eleven…' she thought.
"Seventeen." Replied the young man.
"S-S-Seventeen?" Winry asked astonished. Then her mouth moved before her mind could catch up. "But you're so short!"
He sighed shallowly before screaming. "WHO'S CALLING WHO THE SHORT PIPSQUEAK MIDGET BOY? I BET YOU'LL BE SHORTER THAN ME WHEN I GET THROUGH WITH YOU!" He screamed, flailing around like a little brat.
Winry giggled under her breath. The boy cooled down and eventually told her that he had asked to help her earlier before with her zipper.
"Alchemy…" He replied.
"Alche- what?" She questioned him.
"Alchemy. It's a science." Was his only response. His golden gaze met her sapphire one. She seemed so eager to do something; like a small child on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to come that night.
"Give me your jacket and I'll show you."
Winry took off her jacket to reveal her black tube top. She blushed somewhat, but not knowing why. Winry handed the boy her jacket to see what he could do to fix it.
The young man clapped his hands together and placed them on the zipper. The jacket zipper began to glow. Winry stepped back in fear and in awe. A blue flash appeared and blinded Winry. She closed her eyes during the flash and opened them again when it had passed. She looked at the zipper. It was fixed!
"How-How did you do that?" Winry was taken back. "Are you some sort of sorcerer?" Winry stood up, holding her wrench defensively.
"Settle down," the boy said coolly, placing his left hand on hers and lowering them. "I'm not a sorcerer. I'm an alchemist. Alchemy is science, not magic."
Winry was still confused but she was suddenly soothed by his golden gaze and trusted him.
"T-th-thank you." She stared into his eyes. There was a long silence before someone said something.
"Oh, how rude of me. Here are two credits for all your troubles." Winry said, pulling out the silvery coins and sticking them out in front of her.
"Oh, no. I couldn't accept it." The boy said, pushing her hands away. "Use it for something important."
Winry finally noticed his right arm wasn't flesh and blood. It looked plastic; so hard and durable, yet breakable.
"May I ask you a question?" The curious Winry asked.
"Erm…sure." The boy said. He looked kind of puzzled because he thought he had told Winry all she needed to know about alchemy.
"What…What happened to you arm?" She asked cautiously.
There was no answer. He never made any eye contact with her, as if not having any eye contact would make the question go away.
"Nii-san!" Came an echoey voice.
The boy looked up.
"Nii-san? Brother?" Came the voice again.
Winry watched as a large suit of armor clanked towards her.
"Alphonse, what did I tell you? You aren't supposed to come out in the public unless it's an emergency." The boy said.
"But Nii-san! Mom and Dad sent the police for you!" Al replied.
Winry just stood, mouth gaping, staring at the two brothers. She didn't understand anything that was happening. Then, she watched as the boy jumped inside of 'Alphonse' – whatever he is – and the armor clanked off.