Equivalent Trade: When Alchemy Goes Terribly Wrong

By Phoenix Hoshika

Chapter 13

Edward and Alphonse stood idly on a busy street corner in Rush Valley. Alphonse was dressed in lightweight dark brown coat with a matching wide brim hat to conceal his identity. "Brother, I feel weird dressed like this. Even if we did run into Winry I doubt she'd recognize me." Alphonse said pushing his hair out of his face as hot breeze blew. "And it's hot under here." He complained.

"Stop whining." Edward chuckled. "We can't risk it."

"Then why don't you wear a disguise too, Brother?"

"I already have a perfect one." Edward said using his thumb to point at his chest.

Alphonse gave him a critical look. "With that braid and that outfit, even without the coat, she still may recognize you from behind. At least take your hair down."

Edward huffed. "Fine." He said quickly undoing the braid and letting his hair fall loosely around his shoulders. "Are you happy now?" Edward asked angrily then turned his attention to a group of men who were gawking at him. "Quit staring at me!" He barked and the men quickly went about their business.

"Brother really does look more feminine with his hair down." Alphonse thought miserably. "I don't think I can ever get used to seeing him like this. I wonder if that's how he felt about me all those years?"

"Well first things first, let's eat!" Edward said happily.

"But, we don't even have a place to stay for the night." Alphonse pointed out.

"Oh, right, you take care of that." Edward said running off.

"Brother…" Alphonse grumbled as he turned and started heading in the direction of the hotel

After getting a room and walking around for a bit Alphonse decided to go find Edward. He was a little hungry earlier, but found that feeling had disappeared. "When my body was trapped in the gate Edward ate and slept a lot and even now he does that. We always thought it was because he was sustaining my body. It was only a theory, however, I can't help but feel it's true. I never come close to finishing what I'm eating but Edward eats enough for the both of us. Now that he faints so much on top of the oversleeping I still find myself up late at night half the time. I guess when our bodies crossed in the gate even after Brother restored me we're still intertwined. It makes me feel like a leech, but with that being true I can relax just a little knowing that the body my brother is walking around in is his own. We just have to find a way to change him back." Alphonse was so deep in thought he didn't see the person in front of him carrying a huge wooden box and crashed right into them.

Alphonse lay on the ground along with half assembled pieces of automail. As his vision came back into focus he could see someone leaning over him.

"Hey, are you alright?" The person asked the voice sounding a little too familiar to Alphonse for comfort.

"Winry!" Alphonse thought nearly going into a panic. He quickly sat up.

"Take it easy. You hit your head pretty hard on the pavement." Winry said with only a slight edge of concern in her voice. "Wow, he's kind of cute. I'm sure I have never met him before, but he looks so familiar to me for some reason."

"What happened?" Alphonse asked looking at her.

"H-he, sounds like Alphonse, but it can't be. If Al was restored then I'm sure they would have contacted me or grandma. It's been months since I last saw them. It really pisses me off, but they've never kept in touch. The only reason they bothered making contact with us after three years was because Ed needed his automail repaired. That's how it is with them so I guess I shouldn't be so angry. I miss them and now this jerk who sounds so much like Al crashes into me." Winry thought as tears began to fall from her eyes. "You crashed into me and now my automail…" Winry said unable to keep herself from crying.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Alphonse said hurriedly gathering the automail and carefully placing it back into the crate.

"No it's not that. You just remind me of a close friend of mine.

Alphonse was dumbfounded. "She really does remember me.

"Al, what are you doing sitting on the ground?" Edward questioned as he approached them. "And who the hell-" Edward was about to start screaming when he recognized the girl.

"Ed?" Winry thought hearing the familiar voice, her eyes becoming large. Quickly she turned around and jumped up to hug him and as she did a strange look came over her face when she felt an uncomfortable bulge between them. "What?" Winry thought giving Edward two quick squeezes.

Edward's face turned red and put her at arms length. "Do you mind?" He said looking away from her.

"Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were someone else." Winry said apologetically feeling extremely embarrassed. "That's obviously a girl you moron and Ed's a boy."

Edward's face turned another shade of red.

"Brother?" Alphonse thought looking at him.

"Go ahead and tell her." Edward growled.

"What? Tell me what?" Winry thought thinking it strange two strangers would have something important to say to her. She looked at them quizzically.

"It's us, Winry." Alphonse said.

"Wha…" Winry uttered in disbelief.

"It's me Alph-." Before he could finish his sentence Winry had wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Al, I'm so happy for you!" She said as she continued to hug him. "And you're taller than Ed is too!" She said finding she had to tilt her head slightly upward to look at him.

"That maybe true but if I take my shoes off I'm pretty sure I won't be as talk as you are." Alphonse thought sweat dropping at Winry's comment. The younger of the two siblings definitely was taller, but Alphonse was still rather short.

Edward stood behind them fuming.

"Ed!" Winry said turning to hug him once again then stopped short bringing her hands to rest on his shoulders not wanting to repeat the uncomfortable action again. "What are those?" Winry asked looking down at his chest suspiciously. "I've always thought Ed was a little strange, but this takes the cake."

"Are you that dumb?" Edward said still red faced as he avoided making eye contact with her.

"Well they look and feel real enough." Winry said touching his chest with both of her hands.

"STOP THAT!" Edward boomed smacking her hands away.

"Why so uppity about me touching your fakes?" Winry asked her face red as well from anger.

"They're not fakes." Alphonse answered with tears hanging from his eyes. "Brother turned himself into a woman trying to restore me."

"Oh, Ed I'm-."

"Save it. I don't need you feeling sorry for me." Edward said as he walked past her.

"I don't believe him!" Winry quickly ran in front of him and smacked him. "Do you like being a woman? Is that it?" She roared.

"It's none of your business you stupid machine geek!" Edward roared back.

"None of my business? My best friend never calls or speaks to me unless he needs something and now I find he has turned himself into a girl and… I hate to disappoint you but I actually do care you know! Maybe it is none of my business but I thought we were closer than that." Winry said calming down.

Edward's eyes narrowed and he grabbed her hand pressing it against his right arm. "Do you feel that? Do you feel that Winry? It's a real arm. And this." Edward said yanking her to the ground.

"Brother." Alphonse said growing concerned.

"Stay out of this Al." Edward quickly warned before turning his attention back to Winry as he pressed her hand against his left leg. "That's flesh too." He said glaring down at her and dropping her hand. "You don't have to worry about me coming around or calling only when I need something anymore. Scream, cry, shout, hit me with that damn wretch of yours if you want, but don't expect me to care." Edward said coldly as he stalked away.

"Why does he have to be so mean?" Winry thought as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Don't cry, WInry." Alphonse said leaning over her shoulder and helping her to her feet. "I think you just hurt his feeling that's all."

"Hurt Ed's feelings, me? Yeah right." Winry said turning her head away as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"Winry you don't have to cry for us. We've do enough of that ourselves. Brother isn't angry with you, he's sad. We just wanted you to be happy for once when you saw us." Alphonse said trying to comfort her. "That's why we try not to come around or bother you and grandma Pinako unless we have to. It's hard looking into your eyes and seeing sadness when you look at us. Still, it seems all we've managed to have done is upset you even more." Suddenly Alphonse felt something metallic connect with skull.

"You dummy! You're both so dumb!" Winry said smacking him once more with her wrench. "You never write, you never call and to think that the very sight of you makes me sad… IT'S THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD!"

"Winry…" Alphonse said wide eyed.

"I love you! I love you both like family, so yes it hurts me to see you in pain, but I'm never sad to see you." Winry said as she continued to cry more so because her feelings were hurt. "After all this time they still don't get it. After all this time I'm still on the outside looking in. When are they ever going include me? I know I can't be of any use to them, especially now that Ed doesn't need automail anymore, but I at least would like to know what's going on with them." Winry thought not realizing she was still sobbing.

"We love you too Winry." Alphonse said hugging her. "We just don't want to upset you with our problems." He said soothingly. "They seem to never end and we can barely stand the burden ourselves."

"I'm not a baby or some weakling that needs to be protected and sheltered from reality, Alphonse. You and Ed, you and Edward need to realize that the people who love you want to be there for you even if all we can do is cheer you on from the sidelines. At least give us that privilege. Stop shutting everyone out; stop shutting me out!" The words that came out she had been reluctant to say wondering if they were best left unsaid leaving her feeling of inadequacy hidden, but once they were said and she knew that at least one of the brothers had heard them she felt as if a huge weight was lifted from her chest.

Alphonse sighed. Neither him nor Edward were looking to make her feel like an out cast, but there were things they just couldn't communicate to her and even if they could put those things to words they new no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't understand. "We're sorry, Winry." Was all he could manage to say as he held her.

"Hey you two get a room!" Some random person shouted.

Winry looked up her eyes ablaze she turned in the direction the shouting was coming from and yelled back. "Can't you see there's nothing like that going on here, you moron!"

"Didn't look like nothing to me." Winry heard a woman murmur.

"Me neither." Came another random voice.

Winry looked around to see a crowd of people staring at them. "These people, there's something wrong with all of them!" Winry thought as she grabbed Alphonse's wrist pulling him away. "Come see my new shop!" She said in an up beat tone as a smile crossed her face. "It's not actually my shop but I work there. Mr. Garfield just had the place remodeled. It looks awesome you have to come and see it!" She said excitedly as she practically dragged him down the street.

"Mr. Garfield I'm back!" Winry called to her boss who was in the back of the shop.

A heavy set man poked his head out of an open door. "Oh, and you've brought more business?"

"No, this is my friend Alphonse."

"And what a lovely person you're friend is." Garfield said sending chills up Alphonse's spine.

"I better go find my brother." Alphonse said trying to run off, but Winry grabbed him by the collar and slammed him down onto the floor.

"Just relax. I haven't showed you the shop yet."

"Ah, yes with the business this one brings here I was able to fix up the place. Do you like Winry's friend?"

"Yeah, it looks fine." Alphonse said sweat dropping and taking a step back. Garfield was only centimeters from his face.

"Hey, Winry I didn't get you anything for your birthday last year." Alphonse said hopping behind her. Garfield was good at his job, but he had a reputation for being a pervert and it was those perverted looks he kept shooting Alphonse that was creeping him out. Bringing up Winry's birthday was just a good excuse for leaving without worrying about Winry forcing him to stay.

"What are you talking about yes you…. That's right you didn't!" Winry said angrily.

"Or the year before that or the year before that-"

"Enough! Just buy me things already." Winry interrupted as she pushed him out the door. "I never really thought about it, but ever since they left for Central that day they haven't even called to wish me a happy birthday forget about presents. I wonder how much money he has on him. It doesn't matter I'm going to bleed him 'til he cries." Winry thought evilly as she walked down the street with Alphonse.

To Be Continued