So, I recognize that quite a bit of this looks like 'filler,' but it's a lot of relationship-building and to be honest, I enjoyed writing this a lot? Funny thing, I actually ship EdWin really hard (I have a running joke with my wife that I'm Ed, and she's Winry) so I have absolutely nothing against Winry's character. She gets a little spotlight here, and I was really really excited to develop a bit of her relationship with Lissa too, since that connection felt important to me. So with that said, I hope you enjoy this one!
Although she liked to think she was pretty socially comfortable, after all the state alchemists and soldiers and whatnot she'd met throughout her life…Lissa was not. She didn't like crowds, she didn't like meeting new people, and she didn't like those awkward getting-to-know-you initial conversations either. So why she'd volunteered to bring dinner up for Winry, she had no idea. She guessed she just…did want to get to know the girl a bit better, since she was so close with Ed and Al, but standing outside Winry's door, Lissa felt there had to have been a better way.
Still. She was stuck in it now.
Lissa sighed and knocked on the door, figuring she had no option other than to just go for it now. She'd well and truly screwed herself over.
"Come in!"
She pushed the door open and stuck her head around, offering a smile as Winry looked up at her. "Oh, Lissa." Winry pushed her goggles up on her head and beamed. "Come on in. I'm sorry about the mess, my workstation gets a bit crazy when I'm doing a rush order like this."
"It's more like organized chaos," Lissa observed, stepping inside. "I brought you dinner—Pinako said you wouldn't come out to eat otherwise, so I thought I'd bring it up."
The blonde looked surprisingly touched. "Aw, that's sweet. You didn't have to do that."
Lissa waved her off and set the bowl on the edge of her workspace, careful not to disturb any of the various bits of metal, screws, and tools spread out there. "I'm so used to looking after the boys, honestly. It's no trouble. Besides, I'm kind of just freeloading here while you do all this work."
"Freeloading," Winry scoffed. "That's hardly it." She absently took a bite of the stew Pinako had made and pushed her goggles back down, returning to her work—but it didn't seem like a dismissal. "You know… I said I remembered seeing you, when you were here before… But that's not quite it…" She pursed her lips for a moment. "I mean, I did see you, but…that's not why I remembered you. There was so much going on then, Granny and I were still worried about Ed making it or not, and then those soldiers showed up… Granny sent me out of the room, but I snuck back and looked. I saw what that—that Colonel did to Edward. And I saw you defend him."
So Winry had seen that… Lissa leaned into the wall beside the door, watching her thoughtfully. Why was she telling her all this?
"I was so scared… I know why the Colonel was angry, but it seemed so awful at the time… I was just too afraid to say anything, I think Granny might've been too, even though she'd never say it. But you…you stood up to him, Lissa. You didn't even know Ed and you came running in like the most important thing ever was to protect him then." Winry looked back up at her, tipping her goggles back for a moment to offer a kind, genuine smile. "I never forgot that. I thought it was the bravest thing I'd ever seen."
Lissa shook her head faintly, embarrassed by the whole thing. "It wasn't. I was already kind of upset at Mustang for a few things that night, and I just…snapped. I didn't feel brave. I felt terrified. But I guess it just…didn't matter as much, when I saw how badly he'd been hurt. I don't know." She shrugged off the awkwardness forcibly. "Ever since then, I've been determined to look after them. Which I sort of failed at the other night, I guess."
Winry turned back to her worktable, where she was beginning to work on what looked like the connectors for the fingers of Ed's automail. "Lissa… Can I ask you what happened that night? How did Ed and Al end up like this?"
"I'm…not exactly allowed to say much," Lissa admitted, feeling bad that she couldn't just explain it all. "I'm not quite military but I am a ward of the state, and I'm technically Ed's trainee, so I have to follow the same rules as everyone else, but… They were attacked, by somebody really awful. It could've been a lot worse, honestly, after the fact I feel kinda lucky just to be here."
She froze up when Winry sniffled just a bit, like she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry," Winry murmured. "Ed always makes fun of me for crying all the time… It's just hard, never seeing them and then…having them come home like this…" She passed a hand over her face and sighed. "You'll take care of them, won't you? I know it's a lot to ask, they get into so much trouble, they always have, but… It'd make me feel better knowing you have their backs."
Lissa stared down at the ground and smiled. It was touching, to have this much faith put into her. "Of course I will, Winry. I promise."
—
Ugh…I hate waking up in the middle of the night.
Lissa yawned and rolled out of bed, waving at Al as she stood, who was sitting at the foot of Edward's bed. He liked staying in their room at night, even though he couldn't sleep. "Restroom break," she explained to him through another yawn, padding out of the room quietly. Down the hall, she could hear Winry still hard at work, some kind of drill or buffer making a dull buzzing sound even through the closed door. It was kind of comforting, somehow.
She returned from the bathroom and sat down on the edge of her bed for a moment, conscious that it wasn't hers. It had been Alphonse's, when the boys were younger and shared this very bedroom. He swore up and down he didn't mind her taking it, but she still felt…strange about it, somehow. Intrusive. Like she was stealing it from him.
"You should sleep more," Al advised her, lifting his head to look at her. His eyes were glowing softly, which could be creepy—but at this point, it was a welcome sight. She'd woken up from plenty of nightmares in the pitch-black darkness, with only Al's eyes to show her she wasn't alone.
Lissa nodded. "I will, promise. I'll pass out today if I don't get a little more rest."
Across the room, Ed shifted and mumbled something in his sleep, and Lissa saw the blanket slide off his torso. She rolled her eyes and got up again, crossing the room to pull the blanket back up over him. But as she approached, finally able to see his face in the moonlight, she realized he was…sweating, covered in chills, his breath coming in soft hitches, brow furrowed in what had to be a pretty awful nightmare.
"Is brother okay?" Al asked quietly, trying to tilt and see him.
"He's…having a nightmare, I think," she told him. "I'm not sure if it'll pass or if I should wake him…"
Ed's face contorted, and he let out a sort of strangled, quiet cry, which made the decision for her instantly. Lissa leaned down and brushed his bangs out of his face, smoothing her hand across his hair while her other hand rested on his shoulder to keep him from leaping up or rolling straight out of bed. She knew how to handle this by now. "Wake up, Ed… It's okay, you're just having a nightmare, it's not real…" When he didn't stir immediately, she shook him just gently, knowing if she startled him too badly he'd wake up thinking he was being attacked.
He jolted into her restraining hand with a gasp, gold eyes flicking around wildly for a moment until he realized where he was, and recognition dawned on his face. "Liss," he whispered, letting out a harsh breath.
Lissa nodded and rested her hand on his face, her thumb stroking across his cheekbone. "It's just me," she reassured him softly. "You were having a nightmare, I didn't want to leave you stuck in it."
He swallowed hard, leaning into her hand and just trying to get his breathing under control. "Sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up," Ed mumbled. He closed his eyes and she saw a tremor run through him, the remnant of whatever he'd been seeing.
"You didn't, I was up already," she explained, shaking her head. "Are you gonna be okay? That seemed…pretty bad, to me."
Ed nodded, though the movement was jerky and unsteady. "I'll be fine."
Lissa considered that a moment—then she shook her head and straightened up. "Scoot over."
His eyes shot wide. "Er—what?"
"Scoot over, dummy." Lissa made a shooing motion with her hands, and he scooted towards the wall, still looking baffled and confused. At least he trusted her enough to listen without continuing to question her. Once he'd made enough space, she pushed the blankets back and crawled in beside him, resting her head on the edge of the pillow and draping her arm across him. "You know as well as I do you might just go back into more nightmares," she told him gently. "This way, if that does happen, I'll be right here to help."
Ed's face turned bright red. "L-Lissa… You don't need to do this," he mumbled, shifting awkwardly underneath her arm.
She curbed the desire to roll her eyes at him. He was still recovering, after all. "I know I don't have to. But I want to help. It's not like we haven't shared a bed before, right? What's the big deal?" Lissa stuffed her other arm underneath the pillow for comfort, making her intention to stay very clear. "Just sleep, Ed. It's okay, we both need to."
He sighed wearily, but nodded anyway and settled down into the mattress, his eyes fluttering shut almost immediately. Lissa kept herself awake by force, waiting until his breathing had evened out and she knew he was asleep, and only then did she close her own eyes and let herself drift off. But just before she fell asleep completely, she heard a quiet little voice from the foot of the bed. "Thank you, Lissa," Al whispered.
Lissa awoke still exhausted, with morning light streaming in the window—no doubt she was tired from the middle-of-the-night wakeup. But she didn't mind. It was always worth it to help Ed.
She went to get up, almost forgetting she wasn't alone, but a warm weight on her chest stopped her. Lissa blinked her sleep-blurred eyes until her vision cleared, and then looked down to see Ed still fast asleep, his good arm draped across her and his head on her shoulder, mouth parted slightly, his loose hair a complete mess. It was…cute.
Her heart stuttered in her chest. No, it wasn't cute. Puppies and kittens were cute, but not him, Edward Elric was…
Just stop before you give yourself a heart attack.
Sighing, Lissa shook him awake, watching as he peered around in confusion. When he noticed how close they were, Ed turned red as a cherry and pushed up from her as best he could, stuttering out an apology. "I didn't know I'd done that," he mumbled.
She just laughed and ruffled his hair. "No harm done." Lissa climbed out of bed and stretched both arms towards the ceiling, trying to regain some kind of composure while he shuffled out behind her. They'd shared back in Central only a few days ago, this was hardly any different. And Lissa would not get bent out of shape because of a boy. Especially not Ed.
"Ugh, my hair's a mess," he complained from across the room, where he'd hobbled over to look in the mirror. He wasn't wrong—his golden-blond hair was all kinds of messy, shot through with tangles and generally all over the place.
Al laughed and nodded his agreement. "You kind of look like a porcupine," he teased. "But less spiky, more…fluffy."
"Shut up," Ed grumbled. "Man, I can't go downstairs like this, Granny'll make fun of me forever."
Lissa folded her arms and grinned at him. "I'll make you a deal. I'll handle your hair, if you let me cut like…a few centimeters off once we get back to Central."
Ed's jaw dropped. "A few centimeters?! Why?!"
"Because, dummy, it's getting too long. And I can see the ends fraying from here." Lissa rolled her eyes—he was so stubborn about his hair. "A few centimeters isn't much, and it'll keep it from tangling like this too." She wiggled her fingers at him and added, "I promise I won't hack it up. I have really steady hands, so I used to cut some of the other kids' hair back at the institution." The only thing I was good for.
"Mmh…" He tugged at a lock of his hair and pouted at her. "Fine. But if you ruin it, I'll cut all your hair off in your sleep."
Lissa just laughed him off. "Fair." She pointed to the chair by the dresser and told Ed to sit down, which he did, still pouting just a bit, though he wasn't arguing anymore, at least. Lissa followed him over and picked up his red hair tie from the dresser, where he'd abandoned it the night before, sliding it on her wrist before grabbing up his old wooden hairbrush and getting to work. She took a section of his hair between her fingers and pinched down near the roots, holding it in place, then began working her way from the bottom up. It took her a moment to realize Ed was tense, crazy tense, with his face screwed up and his shoulders scrunched—but when she noticed she paused immediately. "Am I hurting you?" she asked. She hoped not…she'd been taking all the precautions…
He winced and looked up at her sheepishly. "No. Sorry, Liss, I'm just used to it hurting to brush it when it's this bad."
"That's because you brush it like an idiot," she told him bluntly. "I won't hurt you, okay? Just…relax. Enjoy it, too. Once you have your arm back, I'm not gonna be your personal attendant anymore, dummy."
Ed grinned and did as she said, relaxing into the chair as she started up again. "Even if I pay you?"
"…I'm rethinking what I said about not hurting you."
"Sorry, sorry!"
Lissa smirked and went back to working on his hair, carefully brushing through all the tangles and returning it to its usual soft, golden state. "You aren't fluffy anymore," she told him brightly, once she was finished. "Do you want me to braid it for you?"
He peered up at her in surprise. "You'd do that for me?"
What wouldn't I do for you?
"'Course. I know it'd make you feel more like yourself, you hardly ever have your hair down." Lissa didn't wait for another confirmation—she just went ahead and did it anyway, dividing it carefully into three equal sections, and then deftly braiding down to the end. She tied it off at the bottom and squeezed his shoulders before backing up to let him stand. "There. All done."
Ed popped up and swung the braid over his shoulder immediately, smiling as he caught the end between his fingers. "Thanks, Lissa."
He really did seem to feel better like that, she noted, even as she returned the smile. At least she could help him somehow, considering he was stuck without his arm until Winry finished. It had to be frustrating, given that he was so used to doing everything for himself, having his independence. "No problem." Lissa stretched her fingers absently and told him, "I'm gonna go find some breakfast, and Winry agreed if I bring her food I can watch her work and learn a bit more, so that's my day shot. You boys just have to amuse yourselves."
"I think we can manage," Al laughed.
Ed looked stunned, though. "How the hell did you convince her to do that? Winry hates people hovering over her while she works!"
"Maybe she just hates you doing that," Lissa teased, smirking. "I have express orders not to let you follow me in, actually."
"So not fair," Ed grumbled.
Lissa just rolled her eyes and snagged his wrist, tugging him towards the door after her. "Come on. We'll find something to eat and track down Alex, too, so you can come join us, Al. Sound good? I don't like you being stuck up here."
"Thanks, Lissa," Alphonse murmured, sounding touched.
She gave him a little friendly wave as she pulled Ed out. Poor kid. The sooner Winry got Ed's automail finished, the better.
—
"How exactly does this…become mobile?" Lissa asked curiously, standing over Winry's shoulder. Despite her warnings, Ed had been thrown out a few times for the exact same thing—but Lissa was politer in her curiosity. Rather than pestering about how quickly Winry was working, she just wanted to know a little bit more about how automail worked. She wasn't familiar with the details of it, and some part of her thought maybe she could help Ed take better care of his if she expanded her knowledge. Once she'd confirmed with Winry that she didn't mind Lissa hovering, she'd started passing more time in the workroom/bedroom, watching the arm coming together. Today, the morning of the third day, it actually looked like an arm, instead of several pieces of an arm, which was impressive to see. When she'd gone to bed the night before it still looked kind of…incomplete.
Winry didn't look up from where she was attaching some kind of wiring to the wrist joint. "All these wires connect to an interface that hooks up to the port, the metal attached to Ed's body. The port is hardwired into his nervous system, so it acts as the go-between for the actual nerves and he artificial ones in here to talk, in a way. But automail doesn't register pain—the connection only allows for movement, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the situation."
"And it hurts to connect, right? That's what I've heard from the soldiers I know who have automail themselves." That much made her uncomfortable, honestly, that getting automail put on caused the wearer serious pain.
"It does. You'll see when we attach Ed's later on, but…" Winry twisted her mouth up unhappily. "It's not pretty. He handles it better than anyone else I've seen, though. Some grown men whine about it so much, but Ed just kind of…suffers through."
"Oh." Lissa frowned at the arm, almost angry with it for no good reason. "He's stronger than most, that's for sure."
Winry nodded absently. "He is. Usually the rehabilitation and physical therapy required to actually use automail takes about three years, especially for multiple replacements at once, but he did it in a single year. I can't even imagine how painful it was, and I watched him do it, I helped him with the whole thing." She finished with the wires and moved on to adjusting the elbow joint, testing the flexibility and rapping a few times on the paneling just below it with the end of a wrench. "I'm glad he can't feel pain through this arm," she admitted quietly. "That means he didn't have to feel it being destroyed."
Lissa had a flash of that night—the deep, searing pain in her abdomen as she pulled Ed into her, trying desperately to protect him from Scar, from dying—and sucked in a shuddering breath. "Yeah," she murmured. "Me too."
"Whatever happened in that attack…it was bad, I know that. I hope you three never have to go through something like that again." Winry sighed and closed the panel to the elbow joint, screwing the cover into place and leaning back in her chair. "Well, that's it. Oh, man, I'm gonna sleep for a whole week after this…"
"I think it's amazing what you do," Lissa told her honestly, stepping away as Winry stood and stretched her back out. "Seriously. I couldn't do anything like it."
The blonde grinned at her. "Well, I can't do alchemy, so we're even. Ed mentioned you have some specialized kind of alchemy, right? Can I ask what it is? None of that stuff makes sense to me, honestly, but I do try and understand a bit…even if he'd never give me credit for that."
Lissa tugged her gloves off, a bit hesitantly, and stuffed them into her pocket before displaying her hands for Winry to see. "Most of what I do isn't quite as physical as what you've probably seen Ed and Al doing, so I got these tattooed a while ago to make it easier. I work in what's called intangible elements, which really just means small particles and gases, things most alchemists can't actually sense very well, let alone manipulate." She touched her palms together and then pushed her hands outward, feeling out the smallest particles of metal lingering around them—then Lissa pulled those particles together with a single twisting motion of her hands, forming a perfect sphere in the palm of her hand. Then, with another burst of blue energy, she formed it into the image of a tiny flower. "It looks more impressive than it is," she admitted as Winry gawked at her, and placed the little flower down on the worktable like she wanted to be rid of it. "You've been doing so much drilling, there's tons of steel and chrome lingering around that I can work with."
"It is impressive," Winry argued back, tossing Ed's arm over her shoulder and planting her free hand on her hip. "Alchemy is so strange to me… I can take things apart and put them back together, as long as I have all the right tools, but reforming the way an alchemist does… It's strange to me. And I guess I just don't like all the militaristic uses of it, either."
"Mh, tell me about it," Lissa sighed, nodding. "I've heard that in other places, alchemy isn't a weapon—it can be medicinal too, and used for construction, repairs, things like that. It's just…all military, here in Amestris." She pointed at the arm dangling over Winry's shoulder. "Well, should we get that down to Ed before he goes completely crazy? I'm all for letting him stew a while, but he gets into trouble when he's bored…"
Winry laughed and nodded. Then she reached out and linked arms with Lissa, startling her, though the blonde either didn't notice her surprise or ignored it. "Good point. Come on, let's go put him out of his misery."
They collected Ed from outside, and reconvened in the living room, where he sat on the couch while Winry and Pinako lined up both his missing limbs. Lissa settled down beside him, curious and anxious now that she knew it would hurt. And sure enough, she could see sweat beading along Ed's brow, his shoulders tense while both Rockbells prepared to do the final attachments.
"Ready?" Pinako asked.
Ed grimaced and gritted his teeth. "Ngh… Yeah…"
Pinako nodded. "On one…"
"Two…" Winry continued, her jaw set in concentration.
Lissa's hand shot out and grabbed onto Edward's, just as Winry and Pinako announced, "Three!" She immediately felt him clench down on her, his muscles trembling with the effort as he cried out in pain, his whole body jolting in a sudden burst of agony. When the moment passed, he released his iron grip on Lissa's hand and bowed his head, panting hard. "That's the worst part every time," he muttered. "When the nerves have to connect like that." He glanced sideways at Lissa and attempted to crook one corner of his mouth up, putting on a brave front. She spotted it instantly. "Once we have the Philosopher's Stone, I can kiss that pain goodbye!"
"Our biggest source of income," Pinako observed, still tightening something down on his leg. "I'll be sad to see you go." She yanked her tool sideways, hard, and Ed suddenly gripped down on Lissa's hand again and yelped in pain.
Winry scowled down at his arm. "Hold still," she chided him. "Ugh… Do you want me to do this right or not?"
As Ed cried out yet again, Winry sighed and looked up at the ceiling, her gaze turning faraway and dreamy. "It's just so lovely," she breathed with a dopey sort of grin. "The smell of oil, the hum of the ball bearings! The rugged yet amazingly beautiful form created through anatomical engineering! How wonderful you are, my automail…"
Lissa pressed her free hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. And she thought alchemists were bad!
"Crazy gearhead," Ed muttered derisively.
Winry sneered at him. "You're lost without me, alchemy freak."
"All right, we're done," Pinako told him, cutting across the potential argument before it even began. "Well? How does it feel?"
Ed hopped up eagerly from the couch and began stretching, first his arms over his head—and then his leg, propped up against the wall and nearly touching his face. Lissa stood up after him and rolled her eyes. The dummy had forgotten to put his shirt on, and it was…distracting, for want of a better word. She carefully stared at his head, rather than the all-too visible muscles of his abs.
Lissa swallowed hard and went to find one of his undershirts in her backpack. This was just going to end badly.
"Yeah, it feels good," Ed confirmed behind her.
"I increased the percentage of chrome this time, so it should be less prone to rusting," Winry began, explaining a bit of what she'd already told Lissa earlier, assuming—rightly—that Lissa was more likely to actually pay attention. "The tradeoff is that it's not quite as strong, so don't try anything crazy—HEY! Listen up!" She turned in shock as Ed took off running out the front door, still shirtless and yelling for Al.
Lissa sighed and stood up, clutching one of his light blue undershirts in her hands. "I've got it, Winry," she assured her with a grin. "I'm gonna go make the shirtless wonder get dressed before he blinds us all with his paleness."
She left the Rockbells and Alex—who had shown up at some point, she didn't know when—inside and followed Ed outside, to where he was carefully amassing all the pieces they'd brought along of Al's armor. He needed everything he could get his hands on for repairs like this, she knew, because any missing metal had to be made up for by thinning the armor itself. Not exactly the best option, if they could help it. And Ed was too worried about ruining the blood seal to risk adding foreign materials to the mix.
"Hey, dummy!" she called, jogging across the lawn to him. When he looked up at her, she tossed his shirt right into his face, making him drop backwards into the grass and flail around like she'd stuck an octopus to his face. "Put a shirt on, you're practically naked, you know."
Ed freed himself from the shirt and gave her a haughty look. "This is my natural state, thank you very much."
Lissa rolled her eyes and sat down beside him, resting back on her hands. "We aren't a nudist colony. So unless you'd like to create one—including Alex, since he's coming back to Central with us—I suggest you put the shirt on."
He shuddered and tugged the shirt over his head.
"Here, let me help," she offered once that was finished, rolling to her knees and grabbing the bag of armor pieces Ed had been selecting from. "Some of this is a bit damaged…" Lissa observed with a frown, as she dug through.
Ed raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. It's all shattered into bits."
"No, I mean… Some of the metal has actually been affected," she explained. She grabbed one of the pieces she'd sensed it in and held it out to show him, pointing out the discoloration and warping on the surface. "See? The integrity might be compromised here. I know how careful you have to be, but if I'm really cautious and I work with it when it's not actually connected to the blood seal, I might be able to salvage some of it." Lissa looked between the boys uncertainly. "If you trust me to do it, I mean. I understand if not."
"I trust you, Lissa," Alphonse told her firmly. "I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me or put me at risk."
She smiled at him. "Thanks, Al."
Ed nodded his agreement. "Yeah, you're about the only other person I'd trust to handle any of Al's armor. If you think you can get us more metal to work with, go for it."
Lissa felt a ripple of anxiety—this was a lot of trust they were putting into her, but she did sense things like this, it was what her alchemy tended towards… These microscopic particles that most alchemists couldn't feel out or use, not in the way she did. It was her specialty. So Lissa removed her gloves, which she'd put back on after her little demonstration for Winry, and took the piece of broken metal in both hands. She knew the general makeup of Al's armor, and what ought to be there in the first place would be in greater quantities than any foreign particles that had gotten attached during the fight, so it wasn't too difficult to find the elements that didn't belong. The difficult part would be separating them without ruining the actual piece of armor itself.
She closed her eyes and focused hard, blue energy crackling around her hands as she began to slowly piece out the atoms that didn't belong. It was slow going at first, until she began to see the pattern of elements and became familiar with specifically what she needed to pull out. After a little, Lissa felt confident enough—and with a single pull of her hand, yanked all the foreign particles out at once.
"There," she announced, tipping the dust out of her hand and passing the metal across to Ed. "How's that?"
Ed assessed it a moment before grinning. "Feels right to me."
"I'll get to work on the rest of it, then," she told him brightly. "I'm just glad I can help, honestly, I know how dangerous it can get stretching the armor."
Al reached up with his good arm and patted her head, making her laugh and bat him away. "Thanks, Lissa. You don't have to go through all that trouble for me, you know."
"Yeah, but you're worth it," she told him absently, not missing the little jolt that ran through him at her words. But it was true. It wasn't that much effort, now that she knew what she was doing—and Alphonse was definitely worth doing it for.
While Lissa worked, Alex came out to watch, probably curious about the process considering hardly anyone got to see Ed work on Al like this. It didn't take her too long to finish up, and soon enough Ed had lined up and counted every bit of armor they had, set them up touching each other, confirmed with her it was all in good condition, and was ready to go.
"You can fix him right here?" Alex asked curiously.
"Yup," Ed confirmed, bobbing his head. "You have to know the trick to it, though." He carefully lifted Al's helmet off and shifted aside. "Major, you see that seal on the inside of his back? That's the medium between Al's soul and the armor, so I have to be sure not to ruin it." Ed bounced to his feet, clapped his hands together, and pressed them to Al's chest. The armor reformed before their eyes, and Lissa marveled, as always, at the care and attention to detail that went into it. Ed even reformed the spikes on Al's shoulders—unnecessary, but he cared so much that he couldn't just leave them out.
Lissa knew what was coming, so she grinned and stood back as the boys quickly leapt into a sparring match, surprising Alex to say the least. "This is just how they work out the kinks," she explained to him. "Ed's testing his automail and Al's getting the armor used to moving again. Plus, they know each other's limits, they won't really hurt each other."
"I see. This is just their way of reassuring themselves everything is all right, then," he mused. "A fine method."
"Hey, Liss!"
She barely managed to duck in time to avoid the automail foot flying at her face, her body flickering in blue energy as she shifted between particles, lending herself speed. Lissa just laughed, rolling forward and racing down the hill, as Ed chased her. "You know I'm faster than you!" she teased, darting back out of reach in another burst of alchemical energy.
Ed grinned fiercely as he crouched, swept his leg out, and tried to knock her legs out from under her. She jumped over the limb and flipped right over his head, using his shoulders as a push-off point. The moment her feet landed on solid ground she feinted left and ducked in to the right, underneath Ed's swing, and rammed her palm into his chest. He rolled with the hit, skidding to his feet and pushing right back up at her. Lissa abandoned the use of her alchemy to make it fair, instead choosing to actually spar with him, parrying his blows and focusing specifically on his right to let him get a feel for his automail. They were pretty evenly matched, having spent three years sparring now, usually switching off victories or ending without a clear winner.
Lissa jerked backwards onto the ball of her left foot, avoiding a blow from his left arm—he had a damned wicked left hook—and bounced straight forward again, swinging her right leg up and wrapping it over his automail. Ed's eyes went wide as he realized she'd pinned him. "Oops," he laughed.
She smirked. "You'll get me next time."
"Or…"
He leapt into the air, dragging her partway with him, and dislodged his arm from her grasp. She wobbled on one leg for a second too long, giving him time to knock her legs out from under her and drop her flat on her back. Lissa lay there laughing as he sat on her hips, pinning her without agitating the still-healing wound in her stomach, and pressed her arms into the ground. "Maybe I'll get you this time," Ed finished triumphantly.
She rolled her eyes up at him, breathless with laughter and exhilaration. "Good one," she told him, smirking. "A bit dirty, but you always fight dirty."
"Eh, you really had me there," he admitted easily. "In a real fight you would've just snapped my automail. So, we both win."
Lissa shifted underneath him, wanting to free herself—only to realize, very abruptly, that he was sitting on her hips. It was a…compromising position, to say the least. And her stupid teenage hormones didn't know how to handle it. She looked up at him, intending to make some snide joke to get him to move, only to see her own embarrassment reflected in his bright red face.
Well… This is awkward.
"Um, brother? You can let her up now," Al reminded him, oh-so helpfully.
Ed leapt up quickly, rubbing his hand over the back of his head and grinning. "Whoops. Sorry, Liss. Here." He stuck out his automail hand to help her up, and she took it gratefully, glad it wasn't his flesh hand. That way he couldn't feel how warm she'd suddenly gotten.
"Well, that seems to be in working order," she observed, pointing at his arm. "So, Central tomorrow?"
"You bet. First thing tomorrow morning." Ed turned towards the house with a gleam in his eyes. "But first… Food."
—
Dinner was an enjoyable affair, a real family dinner like Lissa hadn't had in years. She only vaguely remembered actually having dinners with her parents like this—but she knew the feeling, the warmth all the way down to her toes, smiling until her face hurt, laughing so hard her voice nearly went hoarse… Yet by the end, when desserts were being passed around and the evening was winding down, Lissa suddenly felt…overwhelmed. She quickly excused herself before it could get too bad, and stepped into the next room to compose herself.
What was it? Why did it feel like too much all of a sudden? She wasn't really sure, except that maybe the reminder of what she'd lost was too much… But that wasn't it either, not exactly. Her blanked-out memories were usually enough protection against that stuff. So then why…?
"Lissa?" Quick footsteps announced Ed's presence moments before he walked through the doorway, looking at her curiously, his posture easy and unworried. "There you are. Granny made pie, I was gonna see if you wanted any. Are you…" His eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, Liss… Are you okay?"
How had he seen that in her so quickly? "I'm okay, Ed. Sorry, I just…needed a minute, that's all."
He didn't believe that for a second, though, she could tell. "You don't have to pretend… What's up? Talk to me, c'mon." Ed crossed the room and sat down on the couch, patting the spot beside him hopefully.
Lissa didn't know how to resist that—so she followed him and sat down there, folding her arms over her stomach and staring down at her lap.
"Liss…" Ed bumped her shoulder with his own. "What's going on? You were fine until a few minutes ago. Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened." She pressed her face into her hands and sighed. "I just…got overwhelmed, that's all. I'm not used to this kind of thing, Ed. I barely remember my own parents, let alone having family dinners like this… It's just…weird. And I don't feel like I belong here, this is your past—I'm just an-"
He cut her off firmly. "If you say interloper, I'm gonna smack you," he threatened. "Listen to me. You belong here, okay? You belong with me and Al, and Winry and Granny, even the Major—you're part of this family now whether you like it or not. You're part of our family, Liss."
She stifled a sob. How could he mean that? Lissa had felt like that with just the boys, sure, when they were out traveling… But here… This was their past, their lives outside the military, and she couldn't see how she had a place here. It just didn't make sense to her. She'd lived so long feeling transient, like everything she was doing was just to bide her time until she took her exams and made her own life, but… That had all changed when she fell in with Ed and Al. Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was just temporary, and she'd eventually have to bow out of their lives.
Ed's arms wrapped around her, startling her into dropping her hands from her face, but he just pulled her into his chest and rested his chin atop her head. He was so warm… Lissa felt her cheeks flush as she leaned into him, surprised he was doing this. They were both pretty free with physical contact, but he so rarely just…held her this way… Despite her lingering embarrassment, it felt…right.
"You can be so stupid, you know that?" he told her softly. It wasn't even offensive, somehow. "As if you belong anywhere but here, with us. I dunno if Al and I technically belong back here anymore, not after what we did, but we're still welcomed like family… And now you're our family too, mine and Al's. You belong here as much as we do. Dammit, Lissa. Do you actually think I—we'd let you go, after everything we've been through?"
Lissa closed her eyes and fisted her hand into his shirt. "No," she admitted quietly, her voice unsteady. "I'm sorry, Ed, I really am… It's just…difficult to come around to the idea that I…have somewhere I belong, besides the facility in Central. That was all I had for a long time."
"Yeah, well never again, you hear me?" His voice came out almost harsh—but really just passionate, firm enough to make her open her eyes and look up at him. From her angle, she could see his face, the fierceness there, the intensity…but she could also see the pulse point in his neck, hear his heartbeat thudding in his chest…
He's…beautiful, when he looks like this, she thought to herself, feeling her own heartbeat race, betraying her. And handsome… And I sound like a stupid teenager, but it's…true…
The urge to stretch up and press her lips against where his pulse jumped in his neck shocked her, stunned the breath right from her lungs. What the hell? This was Edward, one of her best friends, not…not somebody she wanted to…
Kiss…
She swallowed and closed her eyes tightly. It was just the vulnerability of the moment, that was all. Goodness, it wasn't as though she actually felt like that on a daily basis. Ridiculous.
"Thank you," Lissa murmured, sitting upright just as soon as her head stopped spinning. "Really, Ed. Thank you. I… It means a lot, you know… For you to call me family… I haven't had a family in a long, long time."
He grinned crookedly at her, unaware of her moment of weakness. "You do now." Then he yawned, belatedly covering his mouth, and she realized for the first time that it was probably crazy exhausting to get automail attached, especially considering how painful it seemed. He had to be so tired after that.
"Here." Lissa scooted back to the middle cushion and patted her lap. "I know you, dummy, you won't make it upstairs when you're this tired. Just get some rest, Al can take you up later on." She knew his brother wouldn't mind, not if it meant getting Edward to sleep in an actual bed for the night instead of on the couch.
Ed smiled and did as she asked without question, resting his head in her lap and closing his eyes. "See? Family. You feel it too, don't you, Liss?" he asked her sleepily.
"Of course I do," she admitted, stroking her fingers through his bangs absently. "Being afraid that nobody else feels that way is half of the reason why I was so anxious about it, really. You and Al are my family, you know that."
"I do, but it's still nice to hear it sometimes," he murmured.
Lissa brushed his hair out of his face and smiled down at him, aware he couldn't see her. She kept her mouth shut, trying to let him rest—and soon enough he was snoring away, his left hand creeping underneath his shirt within minutes, tugging the material up to expose his tummy. For the moment, though, she couldn't bring herself to move him, just enjoying how relaxed he was with her. It meant a lot, especially considering how wound-up Ed always was during the day.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there, stroking his hair every once in a while, just letting him sleep, until Al stepped into the room with a few soft clanks to announce his presence. "So that's where you've been," he realized aloud. "Pfft. Look at brother, sleeping with his tummy out again. What am I going to do with him?"
"It's like you're the older one, huh, Al?" Pinako asked, meandering into the room past him, with Winry on her heels.
Al laughed. "He can be a handful," he admitted, his tone fond. "Someone has to look after him. Lissa and I do our best, you know."
Pinako settled onto a nearby chair and eyed them. "How old are you three now, anyway?"
"I'm fourteen, and brother and Lissa are fifteen," Alphonse told her. Lissa wondered at that, just a bit—she didn't feel just fifteen, after all… None of them felt like teenagers to her, though intellectually she knew they were. Still… She knew some adults who'd learned less of the world than her, Alphonse, and Edward had.
Winry crossed the room and settled beside Lissa, looking down at Ed affectionately, and yet sadly all at once. "To think someone as young and small as he is could be used as a human weapon… It's almost funny… Especially watching him sleep." She looked up at Lissa anxiously. "And…that's what you'll be doing too, isn't it, Lissa? Becoming a state alchemist?"
Lissa nodded slowly.
"It doesn't seem right… Neither of you should have to go through something so awful," Winry told her, shaking her head forlornly. "Yesterday, you said you didn't have a choice. Is that right? You really don't have any other options?"
"It is," Lissa confirmed softly. "I'm a ward of the state, so I have to pay back my debt. That's just how it works."
"Well, if your path ever changes, you'll always be welcome here," Pinako told her firmly, folding her arms across her chest. "The boys seem to love you, and I've seen enough evidence of your character to see the kind of person you are. You'll always have a home here with us, if you need it."
Lissa shut her eyes tightly for a moment against a sudden flood of tears, her throat too tight to speak. A home… She offered me a home…
"Thank you," Al murmured, picking up where she couldn't. "Both of you."
Winry looked up at him in surprise. "What's this? Why so formal?"
"Granny, Winry… I'm so grateful to you for welcoming us like we're really family. Brother won't ever say it, but… I know he feels the same way." Al inclined his head towards Lissa, seeming to smile, somehow. "We all do."
"Al…" Winry looked as though she might cry.
Pinako just smiled across at him, the faintest quirk of her lips, but it was enough. "Don't you worry, dear. We know he feels that way too; he doesn't have to say it."
"Thank you," Lissa whispered for herself, finally managing to speak without fearing she'd burst into tears suddenly. She just…didn't have adequate words to explain how much it meant to her to be offered a home, when that horrible institution in Central had been her home for so long, the only place she had… But now… Now she had this wonderful warm place in Resembool. All at once, Resembool felt more like home than Rayerk ever had.
Winry yawned then, so big her jaw actually cracked, and Lissa finally realized how exhausted the poor mechanic actually looked, with deep bruises under her eyes and a slump to her shoulders. "Okay, I think I have to tap out," she sighed. "I'll try to get up and say goodbye to you guys tomorrow, but just in case…" She hopped up and grabbed Al in a hug. "It was so good to see you, Al. Please, try to come back and visit more, okay?" Lissa thought she was just going to go upstairs—but then Winry bounded over and wrapped her arms around Lissa, shocking her down to her core. "And you better come back and visit too, Lissa," Winry told her firmly. "You're family now too, remember? So don't be a stranger, I mean it."
Lissa stared up at her in surprise. "I—I won't, Winry. I promise." Then, trying for a little something lighter, she grinned and added, "Hey, maybe I'll even call. The boys won't, but I'll try my best."
The other girl laughed, beaming at her. "I'll hold you to that."
Winry and Pinako both went off to bed then, leaving the three alone in the living room. Lissa wasn't sure where Alex was—she guessed he was off eavesdropping somewhere, which he was famous for doing, probably highly emotional after that whole conversation.
Al stared down at her for a moment, not moving from his spot partway across the room. "Lissa… Do you…" He shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Never mind."
She blinked at him. "What's up, Al?"
"Nothing," he denied quickly. "Just—I'm glad he has you, that's all."
Lissa wondered, just for a split second, if Al sensed that she'd… But she brushed it off. He'd say so, wouldn't he? "I'm glad I have you both," she told him. "I don't know what I'd do without you, I really don't."
"Well, you're not gonna have to find out." Finally, he seemed to get over…whatever was going on in his mind, and crossed the room to them. "We should probably get brother into bed… Getting his automail attached is always really hard on him. He doesn't like to admit it, but it's really painful and it takes him a couple days to recover."
She smiled and trailed her fingers through Ed's hair again. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm pretty tired too, honestly."
Al leaned in and carefully picked up Ed, lifting him up with one arm behind his neck and the other beneath his knees, a sort of practiced motion from all the times Ed would fall asleep in uncomfortable places and need to be moved to an actual bed. As always, he didn't even stir at the movement, just kept on sleeping in that uncannily deep way of his.
Lissa followed them upstairs, watching with a soft sort of warmth in her chest as Alphonse carefully placed Edward into his bed and pulled the blankets over him, eternally gentle and caring with him. "You're such a sweetheart, Al," she told him as she settled onto her borrowed bed.
He shifted under her gaze. "I'm just…looking out for my brother, that's all."
"I know, but it's still sweet… You've got such a good heart, it makes everyone else look bad sometimes." Lissa just smiled when he looked at her in clear surprise. "I mean it, Alphonse. One day…you're going to get your body back, and I'm gonna hug the crap out of you all the damn time, probably every time you smile."
"Nuh-uh," he denied quickly. "You'd get tired of it."
Just to tease him, she raised her eyebrows and asked, "What, are you saying you're ugly or something?"
Al gasped at her outright. "No! I'm way better looking than brother is, besides, and I don't keep my hair all stupid and long and…" He giggled suddenly, cutting himself off. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"
"You got it," she laughed. Too exhausted to bother changing, Lissa slid her legs under the blankets and snuggled down into her pillow, wanting to drift right off.
But a thought stopped her. She pushed up on her elbows for a moment and looked across at Al, who was settling down at the foot of Edward's bed as usual. "Hey, Alphonse…" Lissa met his glowing red gaze as he stared up at her. "I know you get lonely at night… So… I don't say it enough, but if you ever need anything, even if it's just company… You can always get me. I mean it. I'm always reminding Ed that he doesn't have to do everything alone, but you don't either, okay? I want to look after you too, I really do."
Al bowed his head, maybe unable to look her in the eye anymore. "Thank you, Lissa," he murmured. "That means a lot to me."
Satisfied, she lay back down and closed her eyes, only now ready to fall asleep. Lissa knew she had to look after them—both of them—and she wanted to do that, with all her heart. They were her family, after all. And family was supposed to stick together.
