Disclaimers: The following lyrics used in the play are from the movie Moulin Rouge and Evita.
Chapter 2
Winry woke up and yawned. She did not have a good sleep. After the argument with Ed last night, she ran out of their rented apartment and took a long walk. She just couldn't understand why Ed can't be just a little caring. She had feelings for Ed, yes. But obviously, Ed was careless of her. It was not fair for her. When she returned to the apartment, she found Ed sound asleep. He was snoring. Well, that just made things even worse. Ed did not even bother to look for her, or at least stay up wait for her and yell at her for making him worry. He was just lying there and wandering in his dreamland. That just broke Winry's heart. After she got to bed, she flipped back and force, unable to sleep. She sobbed for a while. At three in the morning, she heard something. A door crack and some heavy footsteps. She wanted to get up, but was too tired. Then, slowly, she drifted asleep.
Now, awoke with a headache, she got out of the bed and went to see Ed and Al. But she found the entire apartment empty. Where did they go? Then she found a note on the table. It says:
Winry,
Al and I have to leave at 3:00am. Not because we want to, but we are ordered too. Just don't want to wake you.
Ed
So they were gone. And she didn't even have the chance to say goodbye. Not only did she had the headache, now she also had the heartache. Idiots! Winry thought angrily. So what am I, just your mechanic? Can't you be at least treat me as a friend? No, a special friend? A friend who baked your birthday cakes? A friend who went to school with you? You heartless jerk! At this point, Winry didn't want to remain there any longer. All she wanted was to get out of there, leave Central City and go home to Resembool. With her things packed, she walked toward the front door. There, she stepped on something. An envelope.
On it, it said, "To Miss Winry Rockbell". Winry opened it, it was a first-class ticket to see the musical play, "Come What May". Once saw the ticket, she jumped in the air with joy. All the sorrows and angers were gone. So, Ed does care about me after all, she thought sweetly. And it was a first-class ticket. She would be seated in one of the boxes, the one that set especially for her. Never in her life could she have dreamed of this. For this moment, all she needed to worry about was what to wear and how would she look. Winry happily dropped her stuff on the floor and ran out of the apartment. She hoped that she could find a beauty salon that would make her the best looking girl in the world.
---x---x---
Winry sat in the box and dreamingly watching the play as the actors singing and the background dancers dancing around them. She was wearing a white dress with her hair curled, half up and half down. She was beautiful. It was not surprising that some rich male military personnel whistling at her. In fact, there was an aged general who could not stop looking at her. The older woman next to him, probably his wife, kept on nudging him, obviously out of jealousy. Then, the general began to ask his wife to stop being annoying. His wife called him a pig. Then the old couple went on arguing, quite loudly. Actually, it was so loud that they were asked to leave, quietly. But Winry paid no attention to any of this. She was just so attracted by the play and the music.
It was a romantic story, but also a sad one. It was about a soldier and a daughter of a rich man. The soldier was penniless from the start. He fell in love with the daughter of a rich man, who was ill with tuberculosis. But the daughter of the rich man was engaged to a wealthy businessman, because unbeknown to her, her father was losing his property. In act II, the main characters confessed their love to each other with the song, "Come What May".
The soldier sang:
Never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
I want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I'm loving you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
The daughter sang:
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
Then, they sang in unison:
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather
And stars may collide
But I love you until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
It seemed like the play would have a happy ending, but it didn't, which was to Winry's disappointment. The soldier came back from the war, not as a penniless soldier but as a successful colonel. He was promoted through his accomplishment. However, when he came back, the daughter of the rich man was dying from tuberculosis. Before her death, she sang to him:
Where do we go from here?
This isn't where we intended to be
How do we keep all our passions alive,
As we used to do?
Deep in my heart I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me
Why are you at my side?
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how
Nothing has changed
You must love me
You must love me
And that ended the play, brought Winry to tears. Shaking, stood up and applauded. She loved it! Watching the play, she kind of imagined herself and Ed as the main characters. Would one day when Ed finally returns to Resembool while she was dying of some kind of illness? Would one day Ed confess his love to her? She really hoped so.
When she exited the theater, she spotted someone familiar. A tall man in his military uniform, dark hair, quite handsome. It was no one else, but Lt. Colonel Roy Mustang. He also probably also came out of the theater too, since there were some military men asking him about the play. That made Winry bewildered. She could hardly imagine a man like Colonel Mustang can have a taste for musical plays. And he came alone, without a date. How strange!
Then, she saw an older man with automail limbs walked over to Mustang with tears in his eyes.
"Colonel Mustang, I must thank you!" he said to him gratefully.
"Oh, please, it is not necessary to thank me," Mustang said to him politely.
"But I must. Gosh, you have no idea, you helped so many civilians. Thanks to you, I can't say, how many young children can have automails! Imagine being so young and without limbs! You really saved them!"
"I accept your gratitude, mister," Mustang said, somewhat blushed. "But please, don't make a scene here in the public. I just did something I thought was right…"
Winry saw all this. What's going on? Then she spotted someone else she knew—Gracias and her daughter, Elysia.
"Mrs. Hughes," she waved. "It's nice to see you!"
"It's good to see you too Winry!"
"Hi, Elysia," Winry said, bent down. Elysia only smiled.
"So you come to see the play," Gracias said.
"Yeah, I thought it was wonderful, it was…" Winry stopped there. She didn't want to remind Gracias of Maes Hughes, who was killed.
"Glad you like it. By the way, tomorrow is Elysia's birthday, would you like to join the celebration?"
"I would like to, but I have to leave today."
"Why today?"
"Because Ed and Al are gone, and I need a place to stay."
"Oh, no problem. You can stay with us."
"Really? I don't want to cause you any trouble."
"No, it would be no trouble at all. And plus, Elysia would be happy to have a big sister around, right Elysia?"
"Hmm!" Elysia nodded.
"Okay then, looks like it's something I cannot turn down," Winry said. Then she changed the subject. "Mrs. Hughes, what went on over there? Why was that man thanking Colonel Mustang?"
"Oh, you don't know about that? I thought you knew already, since it's something that would interest you. There was a fundraising for children who cannot afford automails. Colonel Mustang himself donated a lot of money. I heard that it was enough for1000 children."
"No wonder that man was so touched! I didn't know Colonel Mustang have a heart like that!"
"Well, he's a good man. A good friend of Maes."
---x---x---
Elysia's birthday party was great. Not only Gracias invited Elysia's friends from the neighborhood, but also her late husband's military friends. Perhaps she was trying not to remember that this is her daughter's first birthday without her father. Winry was helping preparing the food.
Roy Mustang arrived quite late. Military matters, he said and apologized to Gracias. Gracias only smiled. When Elysia saw Roy, she ran to him.
"Colonel, do you have my present?" she asked sweetly.
"Yes, I do," he said, looked at her with his famous charm. "But I can't find it, can you help me find it? It must be in my pocket!"
Elysia searched his pocket and pulled out a small box wrapped with a bow. When she saw that, she hopped up and down with joy.
"What should you say, Elysia?" Gracias said.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Elysia cried happily, and she gave Roy a kiss.
"Aren't you a sweet girl!" Roy laughed.
The party went well. Everyone avoided mentioning Mr. Hughes, to not bring any sadness. The best part was when Elysia opening her presents. It turned out that she liked the gift from Roy the most—it was a small locket composed of her birthstone. She laughed with joy. And she thanked him again, with a kiss. Everyone laughed at that.
The other children, especially young girls, liked Roy too. In fact, they were all fussed over him. Roy, to everyone's surprise, shown his soft sides over children. He played with them, and passed them chocolates.
"Colonel, can you please be my groom?" a little girl with brown hair asked.
"No, colonel is my husband!" a blonde girl stumped her feet.
"Now, now, let's not fight," Roy said with a smile.
"Colonel, tell her that you are marrying me!"
"No, me!"
"No, me!"
"Alright, if you really want an answer," Roy said. "But I have to tell you the truth…"
All girls excitedly looking at him, hoping he would choose one of them.
"And the truth is, my heart is already belong to someone else."
"But mom said that you are not married!" the blonde girl said.
"That's true. But I'm in love with a girl."
"Who is it?" the girl with the brown hair asked.
"I cannot tell you. But she is in this house. She has long hair and she is very beautiful."
"You mean her?" the blond girl pointed at the direction where Winry was pouring juice for Elysia and her friends.
"Yes, that's her."
---x---x---
The party was finally over. It did brought Gracias a lot of joy, but also exhaustion. Thank goodness Winry was there to help her clean up, or else, she would never want to wake up in the morning. Roy also stayed to help out. When everything was done, Gracias went upstairs to rest, while Winry remained downstairs with Roy.
"So, I heard you donated money for the charity," Winry said.
"Who told you that?" Roy asked.
"I was there, and I saw everything. Got to say, you are a good man."
"Aren't I?" Roy smirked. "It wasn't just me. I was representing the whole Central Headquarter. Bring some good reputation for the military."
"Did you go see the play?" Winry asked.
"Yes I did."
"What do you think?"
"I think it's okay. A little bit phony though."
"Why? I thought it was perfect!"
"Really? Maybe it was just too romanticized. Love, passion, war, death. It's a little too much."
"But that's why it's so touching! I cried for a century after seeing it."
"That's not hard to imagine. Young girls like you, always attracted to such things." Roy said, while got up from the sofa. He walked toward Winry.
"Well, I'm just like those romantic things."
"Don't you?" Roy said with some sexual alluring, walking closer toward her.
Winry became uncomfortable. "I…do…like these sort of things, especially when men make their…confession of love."
"Really?" Roy said with his voice lowered. "Then I have a confession to make," he said, with his eyes staring sternly at her.
"What confession?" Winry backed up, became nervous.
"I adore you." The words came straight from Roy's lips.
Winry was stunned.
"I love you. I want you. I can't live without you. I need you. This is how I feel about you since you came to Central. I love you," Roy said. His voice was low yet powerful. He continued to stare at Winry in the eyes. Then, suddenly, he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. "Please! Help me!"
Winry panicked. Never in her life could've she imagine this. Pulling herself together and found her consciousness, she managed to pull away from Roy and ran upstairs like a rabbit escaping from the predators. Roy ran after her. He only stopped with Winry ran into the room she stayed and shut the door. His confession really had an effect on her. He could hear her breathing from the outside. Everything went well as he planned. With a smirk, Roy went downstairs and left the Hughes'.