Ordinary People

During a visit to Resembool, Ed and Al find that the Rockbells have a strange girl staying with them. Winry insists she's a friend of hers, but truly,almost nothing is known about her. When a new group of assasins launch an attack on the three, Ed begins to suspect the new girl knows more than she's telling them. EdxOC

oOo

Chapter One

Red. Everything blood red. The walls, the ceiling, the floor: red. The furniture, the glass of the windows: red. The fire devouring the room: red. My brother's maimed body: red. My own body: red.

The stone...

The taunting voice of someone I can't see: "So you're looking for the Philosopher's Stone?"

...Red...

Ed gasped, sitting up sharply.

"Brother?" Across the carriage from Ed, there sat the collossal metal being that was his little brother.

"What?" Ed said.

"I think we're almost here," Alphonse said hopefully. Ed looked out the window to see the evening already settled over the rolling green hills of his old home.

'Resembool...' Ed's thoughts trailed off into memories. How long ago was it? Three years? No, not possible. It couldn't have happened so lately. 'Then again, time flies when you're away from home,' Edward thought desolately.

"Ed, look!" Alphonse pointed out the window with one long, gloved finger. Winry's old, brick house slowly came into view at the top of a hill. Ed smiled.

"I see it, Al. We're home." The carriage came to a creaking halt in front of the cottage, and the two brothers stepped out – one of them very stiff and of whom would have been in an extremely pissy mood if it weren't for the thought of seeing Winry again.

'Hope she, at least, hasn't changed at all,' Ed thought as he walked up the steps to her front door. He could hear footsteps and voices inside. Ed closed his eyes for a moment, almost like he was praying, and taking a deep breath, knocked on the door.

More footsteps, quicker this time, and finally...

"Edward!" Winry stood before them wearing a knee-length pink dress and flip-flops, beaming at them cheerfully. She hugged Ed shyly then stood back to take a look at them. "We're so glad you could make it!" Shading her eyes from the sun, Winry looked up at the gleaming armor.

"How've you been, Al?" His set metal face almost appeared to be smiling.

"Okay. How are you and Aunt Pinako?" Al said.

"Oh, you know, same as always," Winry said, stepping back to let them enter. The two stepped inside the old house, taking in all its familiar sights and smells and finding it to be exactly the same as it had always been. "Grandma's in the kitchen making dinner. I'll tell her you're here," Winry offered. "You know where to put your things."

Ed smiled.

"Okay. Thanks, Win," he said and headed up the stairs to the extra room that he and Al always stayed in. Dropping his suitcase by the dresser, Ed fell back on the bed, sighing.

"It's good to be back, huh," he said softly, almost to himself.

"Mhm." Al nodded.

Ed stared at the ceiling with its same cracks and patterns as had always been there. It felt good to be there in Resembool, surrounded by all the things and people they had loved before the accident. Everything was so riotous in Central. There was never that calm, relaxed feeling of the country that before had been all the Elric brothers had known. When they were in Resembool – when they were home – everything seemed to come together again; problems worked themselves out and frustrations were forgotten – or maybe it was just the clean, country air that helped clear the brothers' minds.

Ed closed his eyes, trying to slow his racing thoughts. 'None of that matters now. We're all the way back at our roots; we're with Winry and Aunt Pinako. For these next seven days, I can put Central and the military and all the trouble that comes with them out of my mind.' He sighed. '...It all seems too good to be true...'

There was a knock on the bedroom door, but Ed didn't move.

"Hey, you guys?" The door opened a bit, and Winry stuck her head in the room. "Dinner's ready. I hope you're hungry!" There was a pause. "Is Ed asleep?"

Ed opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows.

"No, I'm awake."

Winry smiled.

"Okay. Hurry up or you won't get any!" she said teasingly and left.

Ed stood and realizing he was still dressed from travel, shed his trench coat, tossing it carelessly onto the bed, then headed downstairs with Al behind him. At the foot of the stairs, they could hear Winry and her grandmother, Pinako, talking in the next room.

"Where is that girl tonight? She was supposed to help you set the table," said Pinako.

"She already did, right before she left."

There was a pause. Ed imagined Pinako surveying the dining room with her usual critical expression.

"She said she was going somewhere, and she probably wouldn't make it in time for dinner," Winry continued. Another pause. "I think...she left on purpose," Winry said lowly.

Pinako grunted.

"It would be very like her, I suppose; she doesn't like to intrude," the old woman muttered.

"She should be back tonight."

"Indeed. Winry, I thought you told those boys to come downstairs."

"I did! They should be here any-"

"Hey, Aunt Pinako!" Ed said jovially as he and Al strode into the dining room. They took their seats at the table. "Sorry we took so long. Al's just so lazy, it takes me forever to get him to move one inch!"

"I'm lazy-!"

"Mmm! Something smells great! What's cookin'?"

Winry and Pinako just stared at them.

"Heh heh..." Ed smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Pinako shook her head slightly and set her pipe in her mouth.

"We're having stew, of course. What did you think I'd make for you," she said.

"Right..."

The meal progressed and soon, Ed's unusual mood was forgotten. Though Alphonse couldn't eat (not having a body to put a stomach in, of course) he kept up the conversation, filling everyone in about events in Central and other places they'd traveled to. Ed was too busy stuffing his face to talk much.

At about eight thirty, the three went into the parlor and sat on the hearth of the fireplace while Pinako rocked slowly back and forth in her old rocking chair behind them. There was only some talk, how was Ed liking Central (and did he enjoy being a 'dog of the military,' according to Pinako), but mostly it was quiet, and Ed just stared into the fire, thinking about how many times he and Al and Winry had done the same thing they were now, just sitting there, talking, in the days before all the trouble.

After a while, Ed stood up slowly, stretching.

"I'm gonna call it a night," he said and yawned.

Winry smiled up at him.

"Okay. I'm going to stay up for a while and help clean up in the kitchen," she said.

Ed nodded,and he and Al headed back upstairs.

Winry called after them, "Good night, you two!"

"G'night," they said. 'Good night, Winry,' Ed thought. He was sad, for some reason, and he didn't know what that reason was. Perhaps disappointment. But disappointment with what? He was home, he was with Winry, she hadn't clobbered him with her wrench for any reason yet... But still, something was missing. Something was...different. 'But no,' he thought. 'Winry hasn't changed at all. She's exactly like I remembered her...'

Change. It was what Edward had always dreaded. People grow older and grow apart; sometimes people change so much that Ed can hardly believe they're the same person he once knew. That's what he loved about Winry. She had hardly changed at all since he first met her, and they had known each other as long as both of them have been alive. It seemed so foreign to Ed, to feel the way he did right then, and the cold, hard truth seemed so unreal.

'I'm sorry, Winry,' he promised silently. 'I'm the one who's changed.'

oOo

A/N: Awwwww! Ed doesn't luv Winry no more! HA! BURN!

Naw. I love Winry. She's really cool, badass...whatevs, keep your preference. But I just CAN'T see her with Ed!

DON'T KILL ME!

Yeah, it's implied Ed had a crush on her, but that was at the beginning of the series when he was like 12. Later on, you can see he totally loves her! but as a sister and a friend. Now, trust me, I'm all for bending series plots and crap to fit fangirlistic needs (Just look what I did to Teen Titans...No, really, don't), but I'll leave all that to you. Hell, I can't be the only fangirl on here who doesn't ship EdWin... or EdxRoy...Heehh...shudders...Although, sadly, I read more EdxRoy than anything else...

And that is EXACTLY why I am writing this. It's probably gonna suck, 'cause I never finish anything...or think things through carefully...ever...seriously ever...But I'm gonna give it a shot. Because, hey, we need at least one fic on here that pairs Ed with someone who's not...so...meh...