Ed's Cloak

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist or its characters etc…

Winry woke up the next morning to a knock on the door. She stirred in her bed covering her ears with her pillow denying that she needed to get up.

"Ugh, no." she murmured as she opened her eyes. She looked over to her clock. It was 10:00 am.

"Shoot!" She exclaimed "It's 10:00!" There was another knock at the door. She shot out of her bed and went toward the door. She was fully expecting it to be her boss, Mr. Garfiel. "Just a minute." She responded toward the door.

Winry opened the door and to her surprise Gracia Hughes was at the door. Winry suddenly perked up and gave her a big smile.

"Hello Mrs. Hughes!" She stated brightly. "Is Elicia with you?"

"Uh…Hi Winry, No, um… she's with her grandparents this weekend. Uh they …thought I needed… a break." Gracia said awkwardly and giving Winry a strange look. She noticed Winry had Ed's cloak wrapped around her.

Winry thinking that Gracia was uncomfortable talking in the doorway invited her into the living room and shut the door. They sat down on the leather couch.

"Winry, is Ed here?" She questioned.

"Uh, now why would he…" She started to say but became embarrassed as she noticed Gracia looking at his cloak around her.

With her face tinged pink, she said "Oh! The cloak? I'll explain. Would you like anything to eat or drink before I do?"

"No thank you, Winry. I just came here because I heard you've been through quite an ordeal. I wanted to see how you were." Gracia smiled.

Winry smiled and thanked her as she began to explain everything leading up to her wearing Ed's cloak.

She started with a big sigh. "Ordeal. Yes, that's why I have Ed's cloak. I haven't gotten the chance to give it back to him. I figured I'd fix the tears in it first."

"You seem pretty attached to it." Said Gracia half teasingly.

Winry blushed again; followed by a frown. Looking down, Winry proceeded to tell her her story.

"Ed saved me. Not just physically." She said shaking her head slightly. "I guess you could say he saved my soul."

Winry looked up at Gracia with sad but hopeful eyes and Gracia took a hold of her hand.

"After I visited with you at the cemetery, I left quickly do you remember?" Gracia nodded.

"I heard a bunch of people talking about 'the Erlic brothers' were getting in a fight with 'the Alchemist Killer'. To my shock I saw Ed in a confrontation with him, Al was there too but Ed was…" Tears began to well up in Winry's eyes. "Ed asked him if he was responsible for…for." She began to sob.

"Winry if this is too much for you…" Gracia responded and squeezed her hand.

"No, no!" Winry interrupted "I want to continue." She took a deep breath and felt better.

"Ed asked this man, Scar, if he was the one who killed my parents. He didn't deny it. I cried out 'Bring them back!' and found a gun on the ground next to me. I picked it up and aimed it at him." She stopped with a sigh.

"I couldn't shoot. All I can remember is Ed saying 'Don't shoot' over and over. Eventually this 'Scar' started to reach for my head and Ed jumped right in front of me and held down my arm that was holding the gun. He literally blocked my body with his. Then Al distracted Scar and told Ed to get me to safety while he led the man somewhere else. I was pretty much still in shock and couldn't let go of the gun."

Winry then looked up at Gracia's eyes and continued slowly. "He caressed my hands with his thumb and he said such kind words to me that I was able to drop the gun." She smiled.

"He said that my hands were for keeping people alive and not for killing. Then, I practically threw myself at him and he held me for a minute, but then he had to go help Al." She paused.

"He let me go with the officer and later he explained everything to me. I thanked him for saving me, but I had to come back here to my customers. When I got on the train Ed was acting really funny." She paused again for a moment and then continued.

"He acted like he wanted to say something to me but was frustrated at the loudness of the train and started to walk away. Al quickly said 'goodbye', but Ed suddenly turned around and shouted to me and said that the next time he would make me cry it would be tears of happiness." Winry finished and smiled slightly.

"It was then, and after I saw his back as the train pulled away, that I realized that my feelings for him ran deeper than that of a friend. I really believe that I am falling for him, Mrs. Hughes." She looked a Gracia longingly.

"As he is for you." Gracia assumed.

Winry's eyes grew large and here face red. "I don't think so, Mrs. Hughes. He was just being kind when he held me. I am just a sister to him." She responded sadly.

Gracia sighed strongly. "Oh, Winry, from his actions and awkwardness at the train station, I wouldn't say you're just a sister to him."

Winry in response leaned on Gracia's shoulder and said. "I just don't know."

Gracia squeezed Winry's shoulder and said "Well, I guess the only way you'll really know is if you tell him how you feel and you ask him how he feels."

Winry's eyes widened again. "Oh no! I can't do that!"

Gracia rolled her eyes and sighed "Young love."

Winry had a confused look on her face and was about to speak when there was a knock at he door. She got up quickly from the sofa and answered the door. To her surprise, it was her old friend, Nelly. She looked very upset and her clothes were worn. Nelly was in a brown dress and her normally well kempt hair was all over the place.

"Nelly?'' Winry asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Nelly was a friend of hers from childhood and never left Rizenbul so this was really a shock to her.

'Winry…I have some really bad news." She said very sadly.

Winry's heart raced and frowned.

……………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, Ed was in the state of disbelief and shock himself. He had just looked in the face of who he thought was his father.

"You can't be him…you…behind all of this?" He struggled to say. It was bad enough that he had just escaped the pits of Gluttony's stomach, bad enough even that he was able to open the gate and see his brother's body but couldn't bring him back, now to face this person, this "Father" who was responsible for creating the homunculi who seems to be his father as well. It was almost more than he could take.

"Damn it, you killed all those people?" Ed cried out wanting to kill this man but he knew it would do no good to try. He was so angry and confused at the same time. After his father had left him and his brother and mother he had always looked at his father as an irresponsible jerk who didn't want the responsibilities of being a father, but he never believed he was capable of such evil. In addition, if he had destroyed the people of Xerxes he would have to be a couple hundred years old and that would mean he couldn't be human. It all made no sense to him. How could his father not be human and he was? Was he not human too? Ed became more and more frustrated. He didn't know what to do or what to say.

"Are you really my father?" He asked. Al was just as shocked but didn't feel to the full extent that Ed did due to the fact that he did not have his body yet. Father did not answer. He only directed Envy and Gluttony to leave the room and take Ling with them to the place Roy was being held.

Ed began to have doubts about "Father." He began to think he just looked like his father. However, he was sure he was the one responsible for the evil of the homunculus.

Ed yelled louder. "Did you destroy Xerxes? Are you the one that brought down Ishbal?"

Father was still stone-faced and quiet.

Ed's heart began rapidly. He almost felt as if he could cry but he held strong. He was thinking of Winry's parents.

"Did you direct Scar to kill…kill Winry's parents?" His eyes were quite large. Thinking about Winry's hurt made him pain so much. Why was it that his thoughts kept going back to her so much recently, and why does her pain hurt him so badly?

Still no answer.

Suddenly, King Bradley walked in.

"It is done." He said. "Rizenbul is ours."

"WHAT!" Ed shouted.

'Father' talked briefly to the side with Bradley and just looked down and shook his head.

"I tried to warn her.' He said without emotion.

'Granny' Ed thought to himself sadly. Then he looked at Al who looked downtrodden as well.

Al looked over at Ed and said calmly. "Winry, needs you, Ed."

…To be continued.