Declaimer: I retract my last declaimer, after realizing that I would probably pay the Creator to make a sequel to the movie if she made it like mine!

Second Bit.
"—and that's why chicken is better than pork." Al finished triumphantly

Both Noah and Ed slapped their faces.

"No one was arguing with you," Noah rolled her eyes

"Well someone has to talk about something!" Al defended himself

Ed whimpered, "Could you at least not talk about food?"

Al grumbled something under his breath. The one allowed muffin had come and gone in a matter of seconds upon getting on the train. And now… now they had another 2 hours before they reached the next train station where they could panhandle for some more money. The muffin hadn't even been blueberry.

Al leaned back and folded his arms, "If I can't talk about—"

"Don't even say it!" Ed growled.

Al snorted and considered saying it just to ruffle his brother's feathers, but realized he didn't want to hear it either, "Well if I can't talk about it, could you refresh my memory on why we're going to Rome?"

Noah straitened in her seat, "It was where I was born… it's the closest thing I have to a home. I thought maybe if we went back we might be able to find a place to settle down, maybe stop traveling."

Ed looked out the window of their cabin longingly. Stop traveling? What else would they do? It seemed gypsy blood was stronger in him and his brother than it was in Noah. Ed couldn't even imagine settling down anywhere, he didn't have anything close to a home on this world, so making everything his home was the only thing he could do. As for a job… what could he possibly do? The only thing he had ever been any good at was Alchemy. At least when he had been living with Alphonse Heiderich he had been making enough money for the both of them, but that was another Al… now all they had was Noah, and her talents to get them through the day with a lucky meal every now and then. She could sing, she could dance, and she could even give psychic readings to people who wanted them. But she shouldn't have to be supporting the both of them all the time.

There was a heavy coat of quiet that had settled over them. Everyone was thinking about the same thing. None of them had a place to go, so why were they even trying to find one?

Al briskly set his hands on his knees "Well, this sucks. I'm going to go look around… see if I can find any free food lying around." He levered himself up onto his feet and left the cabin without waiting for someone to say anything.

Noah looked down at her hands in her lap and breathed heavily, "This isn't what you want… is it?"

Ed puffed, he hated it when she did that, and she was always looking, prying into his emotions. She still hadn't found anything yet though, "No… but I can't have it any other way."

Her eyes sagged sadly, "You could try to be happy. I've been without a home my entire life; you learn to embrace the things you have. You have your brother at least, we could try to make a home together." She looked up, "Don't you want that?"

Ed peeled his eyes away from the window, "Yes… and no. I want it, but…I just." Grr! He could never say these things right, mainly because he just wanted to forget about his world, but no matter how hard he tried, it always found a way to squirm back into his mind.

Noah reached out a hand and touched his knee. She closed her eyes for a moment and then sighed deeply, "You do want all of this… but you don't want it here. Something is missing here…" she closed her eyes again, "It's not the feeling of home… you've began to like it here." She closed her eyes tighter, willing her mind to search deeper. But Ed brushed her hand off of his knee.

"It's my own problem. Not yours. Leave it alone… I'll be fine." He looked back out the window. He wasn't going to allow her to look that deep.

It was another five or so minutes before anyone said anything again. And it was Noah who broke the silence again.

"You can't go back."

Ed looked back at her, fighting annoyance, "I know, which is why I'm going to make myself happy here."

She shook her head, "You can't force yourself to be happy about anything; happiness has to come on its own."

"We'll see."

"Can't you be happy with me?"

Ed was taken aback by her comment, it set him off guard and he really didn't know what to say. What was she asking? Was she asking if he could be happy around her? If so, the answer was yes. Or was she asking if he could be happy with her? She said the word 'with' but that could mean a lot of things. He certainly didn't have the answer for that.

"I—"

Al walked in, practicing his new habit of grumbling, "Can you believe that they actually throw away the food left on other people's plats? It's sickening! At a time like this, how could someone do something like that?" Al caught the look Ed and Noah were exchanging, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable, "Am I interrupting something?"

The two looked away from each other.

"No." Noah spoke softly.

"What do you mean 'no one is going to look for it?" Winry yelled at the train conductor.

The plump and unimposing man was looking somewhat frightened of Winry at the moment, "I'm sorry miss, but whoever stole your bag isn't on the train anymore. They must have gotten off at the last train station."

"Can't you inform the police or something?" She couldn't believe this. She had gone to sleep for a few minutes, and she had woken up to see that her large brown leather bag, was missing. She looked up and down the train, ready to give whoever took it the full force of her wrath. But sometime while she had been asleep the train had stopped. And now her bag was gone! Everything. GONE! Money, screws, pliers, clothes, WRENCHES, everything!

"You know how it is, I could inform the police but by the time they catch the man he would have already sold everything in the bag. You can buy a ticket at the next stop to go back to the city and look for your things yourself, but I doubt it would be worth it."

Her nostrils flared, and her eyes grew dark, "Oh, it's worth it. Believe me." The problem? She didn't have any money for a ticket. But she could deal with that, "And to compensate for someone stealing my bag on your train, you're going to buy the ticket for me."

"But—"

She managed to tower over him; "You are going to buy the ticket for me."

"I think you need to calm—"

"Listen. You're either going to buy me a ticket to the last train station we stopped at, or you're going to pay me the $856.00 dollars I just had stolen from me. Your choice."

The man's eyes widened. Apparently he hadn't expected a number like that to be carried around carelessly. He nodded meekly.

Her brow rose.

"The ti-ticket…" he stumbled over the easy words.

She smiled brightly and let a wave of sparkles dance around her, "You're so kind." She looked around and smiled again, "how long till we reach the next stop?"

The man's hand trembled as he fumbled for his pocket watch, he flicked it open clumsily, "Ab-about an hour."

"Oh good." She clapped her hands together making the man jump a little, "I'll just come back here once we stop and you can get the ticket for me." She walked out of the room without waiting for the man to stutter around any more words.

Winry narrowed her eyes at the street around her. Okay, so far she had gotten on a train to the wrong place –a minor set back- and now she had lost her bag on the way to the right place, leaving her where? A town she didn't even know the name of. She was angry though, very angry. And if there was one thing that got her where she needed to go more than anything, it was her anger.

Looking on the bright side though, at least no one could rob her. She growled, somehow that only made her madder.

A man walked by her and she lifted a hand to stop him, "excuse me?"

"Yes?" His voice was rough and impatient.

"Do you know where any tool shops might be?"

The man looked at her like she must have hit her head on something hard, "Not from around here, are you?"

She shook her head wearily.

"Well… let's just say that it's hard to find a shop that doesn't sell tools around here."

Her face fell, "What?"

"Look, miss, I'm in a bit of hurry. Just look around, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for." He shrugged her off, and walked away as fast as he could.

Winry ground her teeth. And looked at the signs around her.

:Ben's Clockwork Emporium and Supplies:

:The Engineer club:

:Construction Supply, and Farming Equipment:

:Home, Garden, and Everything in Between:

:Toolry. Now offering sandwiches every Tuesday and Friday.:

Winry's jaw dropped just enough to still let her eye twitch. Why did she have to be poor now? And WHY had she never heard of this place before?

She took a few calming breaths. Okay… so this was going to be one of those needle-in-a-haystack situations. She could handle this.

Winry dragged her feet across the floor of the 50th store she had visited. Not only was she tired, but also she was just about ready to have a mental break down. She was definitely not a window shopper. Everything was starting to close too.

She drew herself up to the front counter and look at the woman with drooping eyes, "Excuse me… but did a man come in here earlier trying to sell tools to you?"

The woman thought for a moment, as if it was the single hardest thing she had ever done, "Maybe." She turned her head to the back of the shop, "Phil! Did anyone come in earlier trying to sell stuff?"

There was a grunt.

It must have meant something to the woman though, "Yes."

It took a moment for Winry to register the new word, "Do you remember what he looked like?" She already knew the answer, but still… it was worth a try, wasn't it?

"Just wait a second." the woman turned and walked into the backroom.

A man walked out a moment later, and sized Winry up, "What do you want?"

"I just want to know what the man looked like that tried to sell you the tools?"

She man chewed on something, and from his breath, it seemed that he had been chewing on it for a long time, "About this high," the man gestured about 4feet high, "Scruffy looking, missing a few teeth in the front."

Winry let her eyebrows dip, "A kid?"

The man chewed slowly a few times before answering with a grunt, Winry assumed it was a yes, and sighed. Great.

"Well… thanks."

She walked out of the shop, tired, and no longer caring. It was dark, she could look for the kid tomorrow. She fingered her skirt and pulled out a single wrench from a single inner pocket she had sewn in. She hugged it gratefully; at least she still had this one. It had been through a lot with her, it was her main clubbing wrench.

Walking along the deserted streets, she heard a quiet sound behind her; the sound of someone purposefully trying not to make any sound. She turned slowly and had just about enough time to see the silver glint of a large wrench heading towards her head before she blacked out.

Winry's head swam; it wasn't just a metaphor for how woozy she felt, but it literally felt like her brain was trying to sort itself out in her head by doing a few laps. Her body was impatient though, and wanted to help. A hand came up on it's own accord and made a crutch for her forehead.

"Honey? Are you okay?"

Okay, those weren't the words she was expecting. They were just out of place enough to startle her eyes into opening. The face that greeted her was not the one she wanted to see either. It was Edward… Densing.

"What are you doing here?" Ow… why did her head hurt so much?

He laughed lightly, "I live here. Are you sure you're okay, that was quite a fall. It looked like you passed out for a second…" He sounded worried.

Fall? She couldn't really remember what had happened, but she was sure it didn't involve a fall. She decided to take in her surroundings. It looked like a quaint little dining room in a small apartment. Everything was a somewhat muted color though, like something had come and washed everything out. Even the flowers on the table looked dull. Where was she? All she knew was this wasn't where she had been.

"What am I doing here?"

Edward looked confused by that comment, "We were just about to go out for dinner… Honey, are you sure you're alright?"

"Why do you keep calling me honey?" she did not like that, and she really wasn't in the mood to play around.

"I always call you honey." He frowned, "Did you hit your head when you fell? Maybe you're forgetting things, do you remember your name?"

She almost wanted to laugh, "Winry Rockbell, and I'm FINE."

He swallowed, "No honey, it's Winry Miller, well… it'll be Winry Denner in a few months, but don't worry about that now. Here," He helped her up from the floor, and sat her down on one of the table chairs, "I'll get you some tea."

Winry's heart was beating a million miles an hour, what was happening. Everything was starting to scar her, everything was wrong. She knew the man she was talking to was the man she had met earlier on the train, but he looked a little different; looking at him bustling around the kitchen, he seemed taller, his hair was a little longer, and he was wearing glasses.

A steaming cup appeared in front of her a few minutes later. And when she went to pick it up with both of her hands, she came upon the worst realization. She had two hands! Two real hands.

Her stomach twisted, her head spun, her vision became tunneled. And the world blurred back into blackness.

"So!" Al spoke brightly, "Where are we…?"

Noah looked around with searching eyes, "Everything looks so different…"

Ed let his shoulders sag, they had been in Rome all of 20 minutes, and somehow they had managed to loose themselves completely.

Noah looked close to tears, "I don't know what I'm looking for. Maybe we should just find a place to stay the night and look for work tomorrow…"

"And food." Ed added. He stopped walking abruptly as his whole body stiffened.

"Brother?"

What was that? He had never sensed anything before, instinct had always been his strong point, but if he had to explain what sensing something felt like, it would be this. It felt like something his thoughts were being drawn to something else.

"Brother?" Al asked again with more worry in his voice.

Ed's body loosened, "Can you feel that?"

Al looked around as if searching for what he was supposed to be feeling, "What?"

"It's like… I don't know. Something in the air changed, it felt… right…" the feeling was ebbing away though, he didn't want it to leave.

Noah reached out a hand to rest it on Ed's arm. She trembled, "No! Don't leave! Who are you?" Her eyes were blank; she was speaking Ed's thoughts.

Ed pulled his arm away from her as the feeling vanished like a gust of wind through his mind.

Noah's eyes were wide once they regained focus, "Why do you think it is someone?"

"I don't…" he didn't, it was true. But why had Noah said 'who' when she was channeling his thoughts?

Al looked between them, "Can anyone explain what just happened?"

Noah shrugged, "Something came and went, it was just a feeling. Energy works that way, you can't always tell where it's coming from, or what it is, but you know it's there."

Ed looked down in thought, yeah, that sounded right. But why would he be sensing energy? Wasn't that what Noah did? He looked to her, and found that she looked just as disturbed by the event as he was.

"Please sir! We have nowhere else to go!" Noah pleaded with the hundredth house they had come to that night. Wasn't anyone kind enough to offer a room to stay the night? They weren't even asking for food!

The man shook his head, "No wanders will come into this house." He crossed himself, "you bring bad luck just by standing at my threshold!" the door to his house slammed in their faces.

Al tried to look on the bright side, "Well it's a warm night; we can sleep outside."

Ed looked up and down the narrow street; there wasn't a light on in any of the houses, "Looks like we don't have much of a choice."

"I'm so hungry." Noah spoke so hopelessly; she was speaking simply to admit it to herself.

Al rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, "We'll find something tomorrow, don't worry."

She looked up at him with watering eyes, "Oh? You mean I will! I'm the one who has to dance, or sing, or give fortunes!" She spat angrily, before bursting into sobs, "This was a bad idea. I should have never taken you here! We cannot live like this."

Ed frantically searched for something to say, "We've only just gotten here, it will take us a while to get settled in, we shouldn't expect everything to fall into place immediately."

"I won't have the energy to dance or sing tomorrow. And what then? We'll starve without money!"

"Al and I will just have to get the food tomorrow then." He knew this was going to happen sooner or later, he wished he could have stopped it before it came to this though… they were always asking so much of her.

The only vacant, somewhat comfortable place in the entirety of Rome was a small cemetery on the outside of town. Ironically, it was also the most welcoming place they had come by during their time there so far.

Ed was the first to fall asleep, resting his head on his drum by Rosalina Ontalini 1756-1873. May she rest in peace.

Al and Noah were having more difficulty though.

Noah was trying to match her breathing to Ed's, hoping it might help her fall asleep easier, while Al was trying not to be distracted by the person he was sitting on, or over…. Above? He frowned; cemeteries always felt more alive than anywhere else, as if the people buried there were still breathing beneath the ground, just sleeping, and dreaming, unlike him.

"Al?" Noah whispered

He looked over to her with tired eyes, "Hmm?"

"What do you want?"

He looked down in thought, and then lifted his head to smile warmly, "I used to want so much, but now… I think I have everything." He wanted to say more, as he stared at her shadowed face, but he couldn't bring himself to, he doubted he ever would.

Her eyes fell sadly, they always seemed a little sad though, "You're not like your brother. There's still more he needs to be happy… I wish I could give it to him." She closed her eyes to glimpse into Ed's dreams, and drew her thoughts away when they showed her the same thing.

Al watched her, knowing what she was doing, "you love him, don't you?"

Her eyes shot up and widened.

"Don't look so shocked, I've known for a while." He sighed.

"Oh…" she swallowed, "Who is Winry?"

"Winry?" Al scratched his head, "Ed's mentioned Winry?"

She shook her head, "No, he dreams about her a lot though. He's happy in his dreams…"

Al took a deep breath, "She was an old friend, a close friend in our world. We had both known her since before I can remember; she was the closest thing we had to family after our mother died. She's also the one that made Ed's auto mail."

"Auto mail?"

"His fake arm and leg."

"He told me his father had made it for him…"

Al nodded, "That was when you first met him. Winry gave him new stuff when he came back that one day."

"A friend," Noah whispered to herself thoughtfully.

Winry woke up to the sound of beeping. She blinked a few times to see a white ceiling. She looked to the side to see a small table with a little white box on it. It must be the box that was beeping. She followed its wires to one of her arms, a white bandage covering up wherever the wires were connected to. She looked to her other side and saw a window.

The only thing that was really clear about her surroundings was the fact that her head felt like it had been split open by a crowbar, she also knew for a fact that she was lying in a bed with white sheets. How she had gotten there, was another matter all together.

A woman quietly shifted into the room, and checked all of the little boxes and wires.

"Where am I?"

The woman looked startled, "You're up! Oh good! We were worried there… we thought you might have gone into a coma. Your heart rate had slowed down so much, seemed like you wouldn't be able to jump start it again. The doctor will be very happy to hear that you've woken up. We couldn't find any information on you, so we didn't know if there was anyone we should call."

Winry let the words wash over her like the gibberish they were, "What happened?"

The woman shook her head, "We were hoping you would be able to tell us. Someone found you in the streets yesterday night; your head was bleeding badly so they brought you here. Right here—" the woman pointed to the left side of Winry's head, "—is fractured in two places. You'll probably be dizzy for a few months on and off, and you'll have headaches on and off for a few years as well… I'm sorry to say that they may never go away. But at least you're alive! A blow to the head like that could kill anyone."

Winry lifted her auto mail hand up to feel the bandages around her head. When she brought her hand back down she starred at the symbol in her palm for a long time. The memory of something odd was coming back.

The woman shuffled her feet, "well, I'll just go and get the doctor then. He'll want to take a look at you, he'll be able to tell you if you can leave or not. I think we're going to have to keep you for another day though, to make sure you're past fainting… head injury victims often pass out. Is there anyone we can call for you? It would be shameful to let you out on the streets again without someone to look after you for a while."

Winry shook her head slowly, "There's no one anywhere close enough to matter. I'm trying to get to ­­­­­­­­­­Dublith but my money was stolen… that's why I'm here, I was looking for the person who stole it."

The woman tsked, "Oh dear, poor thing." She looked genuinely sorry that she couldn't fix any of Winry's problems, "Well, if there's anything I can do for you, just pick up the phone there—" she gestured to a small table on Winr's left, "—and dial 0, it'll call the front desk and I'll be able to come and help you. My name's Molly."

Winry smiled, she was not having a good day, "I'm Winry," Winry Miller… Had that been a dream? It seemed sickeningly real.

"Winry, is it?" The doctor leaned over her, checking her head. He was a friendly looking man, gray haired, tall, he wore glasses too.

Winry nodded.

"Well, it seems you're quite a lucky lady. Do you remember what happened to you?"

"Not really… but I think I'm starting to. Yesterday I was looking through all the tool shops trying to figure out who stole a bag of mine, it was late by the time I found what I was looking for. I remember leaving a shop, and that's it." Does waking up with a different name and someone to call you 'honey' count as remembering something?

He hummed over the machines around her, "well, it looks like someone gave you a pretty hard hit to the head. Do you know why anyone would want to do that to you?"

Winry shrugged, "Probably trying to rob me. Too bad he wasn't the first person to get to me…" Her eyes widened, and she looked around herself frantically, which only gave her a headache, "Was there a wrench with me when I came in?"

The doctor shook his head, "Nothing but the clothes you're wearing."

She felt like crying. That was the only thing she had left, and it had been taken away from her like everything else; painfully.

"See this box here?" The doctor pointed to the beeping white box.

"Yes."

"Every time your heart beets, it beeps with it, and right now it's telling me that your heart is beating healthily. Which means your blood is flowing well, and that should keep you from passing out. But I would still like to keep you here another day, just in case."

Great… another sidestep on her great aimless journey.

"Could I use the phone?"

"Yes, you can use the one there. If you need anything I'm sure Molly told you what to do."

Winry nodded again, and she was starting to wonder if it would be less painful just to say yes.

"Okay then, I'll just let you be, so you can make your call. I'll be back in an hour to check up on you again. Molly should be back before than to give you some things to do while you're here."

"Excuse me… what's the address for this hospital? I was wondering if I could have something sent here."

"Yes, of course, of course. Let me just write it down for you," He took a pen from his shirt and a small piece of paper with it, he scribbled for a moment before handing it to Winry.

She took it gratefully and picked up the phone as the doctor left. She dialed the number for Ed and Al's Teacher's house. Her husband picked up the phone.

"Hello. This is Winry Rockbell, I had a—"

"Winry! Wonderful to hear from you."

"How are you?"

"Good, good, as good as I can be. And you?"

Winry looked around her, and decided to lie, "Great! I was wondering if you could do a favor for me?"

"Yes, yes. Anything."

"I was wondering if Izumi had kept any old Alchemy books around, or if she had a diary? There's some information I need, and I don't know where else to get it."

There was a long pause, "there's nothing you would want out of those books."

So he did have them… "You don't have to worry. I'm not going to start practicing Alchemy or anything. I just had some extra time on my hands and I thought I could at least learn a few things about it. I just felt like it was time for me to learn about the one thing that was such an important part of Ed and Al's life…" Yep, that sounded innocent enough.

He sighed, "What books do you need?"

"All of them."

There was a cough on the other line, "I'll see what I can do."

"Could you send them to this address?" Winry recited the scribbling on the paper, hoping she was reading the writing right.

"I'll try. Be careful Winry."

"You don't have to worry about me."

There was a reluctant grunt before the line went dead.

Okay, so the journey had come to a bit of a halt, but she could at least bring the journey to her.

A/N Weee! PLEASE tell me what you think!