Hello again everyone. Here I am…posting again like I promised! I've got a lot of family staying at my house this weekend to escape Rita, but I promise I will still post like I said before. On a more serious note, having been through not only Ivan, but also Dennis in less than a year, I have seen the destruction even just a category 3 hurricane can do. For anyone who reads this that lives(or lived) in the affected and soon-to-be affected areas I give my thoughts and just hope for the best for everyone. My family was fortunate enough not to have any damage during this past year, but I've got many close friends who have lost everything. Life is tough, but it's much easier to survive if you stay alive in the first place…Material possessions can be replaced (though it does hurt everytime I think of my anime and movie collection being destroyed), but people can't.

Stay safe everyone, wherever you live…

Chapter Four

Eyes…those piercing blue eyes…dozens of them looking at her. She looked around from the gate to see where she could be, but all that surrounded her was white. No roads…no paths…

Nothingness.

She wanted to turn and run, but her legs would not function. Why was she here? What was this place she was in? All of her questions went unanswered as the eyes kept staring at her, small smiles appearing out of the black emptiness. She yelled at them, telling them to go away. But the smiles kept appearing; the eyes kept staring. Looking up, she saw the two doors from which the eyes and smiles came from. If only she could close them, then maybe they would leave her alone and let her go back home.

Lifting her courage, Winry overcame her fear and slowly walked to the doors of the gate. As she began to close them, it seemed as though the blackness crept towards her. Ignoring her fear, she pushed harder to close the huge doors, yet closer the darkness came. Just before she was able to close the doors she felt something slam into her back, pushing her almost into the menacing darkness. At that precise moment dozens of black tentacles shot out from the never-ending darkness, threatening to swallow her whole. They wrapped around her body, her arms, and legs and began to pull her in. Resisting with all the force she could muster, Winry began to slowly inch away from the darkness. Looking down she saw many small forms appear on her flesh, eating and scratching away at anything they could touch. She screamed for someone to help her, though she knew no one could come.

Pain shot through her entire body as the blackness ate through her skin. She could feel her skin and muscles being torn to shreds. Moments later she could hear the sickening snapping and crunching sound as her left arm was ripped from her body. She began to fall back and landed on what was left of her shoulder. Kicking and screaming she fought back the attackers, eventually wriggling her right arm loose from her bonds. With her arm and body weight, she fought and kicked to get away from the evil things. Finally, after getting her left leg loose, she planted it on the ground and pushed with what remaining strength she had. She was released, but not before feeling her right leg being ripped from her body as well. She landed in a pool of blood and tears before the towering gate. Looking up, she could once again see the eyes staring at her, as if they wanted another chance to tear her other limbs from her. With a heavy creaking, the gates began to close the darkness beyond the gate, finally shutting them off from her.

Still in the middle of nothingness, Winry cried from the excruciating pain and began to pull herself farther away from the looming gate. Looking back, she could see the blood that trailed behind her. Wherever she was, she needed to get first aid before she bled to death. But she didn't even know where to start. Curling herself up into a ball, she sobbed and wearily called for help.

She could hear the echoing sound of her pleas into the nothingness as the blood pooled around her…

Gasping for breath, Winry woke and sat straight up in bed. Forgetting her arm was still injured she cradled it next to her stomach, trying not to cry out from the pain. It felt as though someone was driving another knife through the original wound. On top of that her missing limbs were stinging at their bases, as though they were getting ripped from her body yet again. Laying back flat and keeping her eyes tightly shut, she waited for the pain in her limbs to subside. The dream came every so often since her injuries, and she found that the pain would leave after a few minutes. As she predicted, the pain began to lift soon enough and she was able to relax her body once again. Thankful that the dream and its aftermath were over, Winry opened her eyes to see a concerned-looking Edward staring straight at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.

Smiling slightly she nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I guess it was just my injury acting up--"

"You don't have to keep lying anymore, you know. " Edward interrupted.

Turning her head away him towards the wall, she replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, I have the same dreams every once in a while. I knew what you were dreaming about by what you were mumbling while you slept." Ignoring him, she still stared at the wall, trying to hide the redness that formed on her cheeks from embarrassment. "Would you at least look at me?" he whispered.

Hearing the tone in his voice, Winry slowly began to turn towards her friend, finding the strength to lift herself up on her left arm and into a sitting position. Trying to lighten the mood, Edward smiled slightly, "Am I gonna have to catch you again?"

Lifting the corner of her mouth into a tiny smile Winry looked up to her him, "Yeah, I wanted to apologize for that yesterday. I don't think I really knew how weak I was…"

"Don't worry about it. You'll learn eventually that you're not capable of handling everythi--"

"And what exactly is THAT supposed to mean, shorty?" Winry interrupted, smiling a little more.

"WHAT! Who are you calling a shorty who-" Edward stopped his rant, which surprised the girl. He never backed down from one of her short jokes. Calming his nerves, he walked away from his friend towards a blank wall to collect his anger. A few moments passed before he turned back towards the bed. "Look," Edward said as he scratched the back of his head, "I…uh…I know this won't be enough, but…I just wanted…" Winry could see he was nervous by the way he kept his eyes glued to the floor. "I just wanted to apologize for all of this."

Silence passed between the two teenagers. Winry really didn't know what he was talking about; since it was because of her own free will that she was here at Central. What did he have to apologize about? Looking over, she saw him finally lift his head and look at her for an answer. Still confused, Winry replied, "Um, Edward…Why exactly are you apologizing? I brought myself here and enlisted to become a State Alchemist. It was my own fault I got stabbed because I kept my barrier down for so long. You wouldn't have anything to apologize for…"

He slowly began to walk back over to the girl's bed. "If I was at the house, none of this," he motioned towards her arm, "would have happened. I would have been able to stop it. If I was there, no one would have entered the house and hurt you. If I was there…" Edward trailed off his sentence.

Winry reached up and put her left hand on his shoulder. "Look, Ed. None of this is your fault. This would have happened whether you were there or not. And if you were there, then yes, things may have ended up different. Anyone of us could no longer be here. To have lost my arm and leg, to me, is nothing compared to what any life is worth…"

Edward's head snapped up. "What? Your leg? Which one?"

Winry slowly lowered her legs over the side of the bed, and loudly tapped her right leg with her left hand. "I always found it kind of ironic that my limbs were the exact opposite of yours taken."

Anger surged through Edward as he thought of the horror his best friend went through. "Look," Winry said, "I know it wasn't your fault. I just wasn't strong enough to fight off that guy. Things happen for a rea-"

Winry was interrupted with the door suddenly opening to her room. A small nurse walked in, obviously to check on the girl, and was surprised to see her awake. Winry smirked at the woman. "Does anyone know how to knock anymore?" she joked.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry. It still is quite early in the morning and I believed you were still asleep. I was just coming in to check on your wound. Depending on how it is will determine when you can leave."

Edward moved to the side to let the nurse check the girl's arm. "Well, it still is leaking a bit around where you pulled the stitches out last night," the nurse began, causing an embarrassed blush to form on Winry's cheeks. "But it looks as though it will be okay in enough time. We'll go ahead and wash it out one more time, re-bandage it, then send you on your way!" Winry nodded at the good news and let the nurse gently clean the wound and re-bandage it. "Now, don't leave here and go rough-housing with it. It could easily re-open, and then you'd be right back here. I will get you a prescription for some ointment to keep in it to prevent it from getting infected, but it will be up to you to keep it clean. At the first sign of infection I want you back here right away, do you understand?"

Winry nodded her understanding and slowly stood up from the bed. Edward stood close by in case she fell again. Gaining her balance, the girl smiled and grabbed her coat and gloves off the back of the visitor chair and put them on. Thanking the nurse who had busied herself with getting the room prepared for the next patient, Winry walked over to the door and looked back to Edward.

"Well, shall we, fellow State Alchemist?"

"How is your wound, Thunder-Blade Alchemist?"

"It's doing better," Winry replied as she slowly saluted, "Thank you for your concern Colonel Mustang."

She could practically hear Ed roll his eyes behind her. "Though I was told that I couldn't beat on shorty for awhile…" She waited for the eruption, but turned around when she heard a large snort. He sat there on the couch with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently in the air. Apparently he was going easy on her for a while until she healed. She smiled and turned back to her superior.

Colonel Mustang watched the two in their silent fight and smiled slightly. "Well, I see we have someone here that can stand up to him. My, my, my…this will be an interesting division to govern. Now, Winry, I don't know if Edward has told you, but the rules are a little more…relaxed, for lack of a better term. If they weren't then his actions would have gotten him thrown into the brig many times now."

Again, Winry heard another grunt and snort behind her. "Since you are still injured after your exam yesterday, it will be a week or so before you begin your first mission. And do not expect me to let you three be together at all times-"

"Good, because a woman will slow us down a lot…" Edward muttered under his breath.

CRASH!

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A WOMAN WILL SLOW YOU DOWN?" Winry yelled after slamming Edward to the ground with one swipe of her left arm. She stood above him fuming, "You're sooooo lucky I don't have my wrench with me!" Straightening herself up, she turned back to her superior officer to see he had pushed his chair back slightly, as if ready to flee if needed. "Sorry about that Colonel!" she saluted again. "I had to take care of some military business!"

"Brother? Are you okay?" Al whispered from the corner he was sitting in.

"ALPHONSE ELRIC, DO NOT HELP HIM!" she yelled, without even turning around. Smiling sweetly, "Is there anything else I need to be briefed of Colonel?"

Still trying to decipher what just happened, Mustang replied, "No, Winry. I want you to report to me as soon as the military physician has cleared you for duty. I will give you your assignment then."

Saluting a little faster this time, she replied, "Yes sir!" Bouncing on her heels, Winry turned around and reached down to pet Edward's head, then stepped over his twitching body, and out into the hallway.