Title: Repetition

Author/Artist: BlueSai

Pairing: Envy/Winry

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Theme: #24 Good Night.

Disclaimer: Envy, Winry and all other mentioned characters are property of Hiromu Arakawa.

Other: Mangaverse, contains spoilers for it.

Repetition.

A soft breeze passed through the empty streets, sending a billow of sand across the eerily deserted city. It was almost like a ghost town. No one on the streets, no one in their homes. Not a hint of chatter or even music came from any of the empty houses. Stands had been left with their merchandise; it was as if everyone had just gotten up and abandoned the city without anything but the clothes on their backs. As strange as that may have been, there was something stranger yet with this Ishbal then just its emptiness. All its buildings were nearly ramshackle, near destroyed things on the verge of collapsing under their own weight. If a sandstorm passed by, there was no chance the city would survive. This wasn't the pride of the Ishballan race: its temple was no where in sight, its grandiose monuments and unique architecture were missing. The sandstone homes had been reduced to nothing more then tiny wooden huts, not even shadows of the truly magnificent legend. This place was the false depiction of an Ishbal from those who had martyrized the religious people without having really known much of them. It was the image created by a child, or one ignorant of politics: it had turned them into a poor, primitive people who already suffered enough without the military interfering. No, this may have been an Ishbal, but it wasn't the true one.

Away from the city, perhaps half a smile, a large portion of the city's populace could be found. They stood together against a line of soldiers from Amestris' military shouting indignantly. Men waved threatening fists; women shrieked their words of blasphemy while babies in their arms wailed at all the noise and hatred in the air. Children ran between legs, the only happy ones here for they were much to absorbed in their own worlds of games to understand the severity of what was happening: after all bad things happened all the time but they were always fixed by mommy and daddy, that's just the way things worked.

The other force here, the military was trying to calm down the angry mob. About twenty people were holding them back, while all the rest remained back in two perfectly formed lines, their rifles resting between their two hands.

Among all this mess was one person who didn't seem to fit. She had neither the dark skin and red eyes that marked her as a native of the desert nor the blue uniform representative of the military. It was a young woman, perhaps in her early twenties with pale skin and blond hair. Everyone was oblivious of her, and likewise she was oblivious of everything except the one person she stood in front of. It was another woman in uniform with long chestnut hair pulled back in a tight ponytail with steel gray eyes. She was a tall person, taller then the blonde by a head and many of her other companions. Her shoulders were even and pulled back to broaden her chest and give her a slightly more intimidating appearance. There was nothing different about her then any of the other soldiers, like all the others she was stark still and held a calm expression.

"Please." The blond whispered to the soldier. Her voice was weak, throaty as if fighting through a knot. Her hands were down by her sides, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles were white with the strain of skin against bone.

"Please don't." she said again, a little louder this time. Her blues eyes were wide with an unspeakable fear. The soldier said nothing, simply remained as still as ever.

The crowd was getting more excited by the second and with it the girl seemed to panic more and more. 'Don't' and 'Please'. They were words she kept repeating over and over again to the soldier, time was running out, she knew that and with every passing moment her begging became more and more urgent until she was clasping her hands and all but screaming the words through her tears. She had lived through this so many times before; she knew exactly when it would happen.

It'd all be over in a matter of seconds now, but for one who had experienced every detail of this countless times now it seemed much longer then that. "Envy! Envy Please don't!" she pleaded, crying now, "So many will die! My parents will die! We'll be impossible!" It would be this single act that would throw Amestris and Ishbal into a bloody and dark path; it would be this single act that would topple the first domino into a long chain of seemingly endless tragedies.

The blonde's eyes were blurred by tears now but she didn't need to see to know that his face was as stoic as ever. "Envy! Please! It's only a child! Don't do it!" she cried in hysterics. It was useless. Her hands quickly unclasped and went up, spreading outward in a protective manner. It happened in a matter of seconds but she already had every moment imprinted in her brain perfectly. Three children burst from the crowd chasing each other. The one ahead hadn't been looking where he was going since his sight was directed behind towards his friend, and since he was so small he easily slipped through those trying to hold the mob back. It was such a quick and unexpected thing that it startled all the soldiers, and it was his perfect opportunity to 'accidentally' shoot his gun.

She knew it was pointless, and that it was over now but she still stood in the way, arms up in a futile attempt to play guardian. The nozzle of the rifle came up, planted firmly on her chest "Please."

The trigger was pulled.

And the bullet sailed right through her, hitting the child and instantly killing him.

There was a moment of thick silence from both sides while even Envy pretended to be shocked by his own actions. Blood was slowly beginning to spread through the girl's white dress but she didn't pay it any mind. She felt no pain, nor was truly injured, that only happened because she expected it to. Instead her eyes remained on Envy feeling a deep sense of failure. They slowly turned around to stare down at the slain Ishballan child, and saw with great surprise, that for once things were different. Instead of the little copper-skinned boy there was a tiny girl was ear length blond hair and a pink summer dress that reached to her knees. In her arms was a raggedy doll now stained by her blood. Yet the mother of the boy who had always been the one to die still ran to her, cradling her limp body, wailing, and assaulting her cold face with kisses as if it were still hers. It was all she could see before the enraged Ishballans broke through the crowd control and the air was filled with the sounds of shots.

Winry woke with a startled gasp and instantly tensed. That was the thirteenth time she had had that dream since she had found out the truth through Ed, and the first time she'd ever seen….that image. She grimaced at the memory, not wanting to think about it or its implications when a voice distracted her.

"What's wrong?" She turned her head slightly up to see a familiar outline, after about a minute of trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark his features began appearing slowly until she could more or less see Envy's apprehensive expression looking down on her.

Winry shifted on the bed so she could look at him better and still be comfortable before giving a tiny shrug. "Just a bad dream." She murmured, looking him straight in the eye.

His expression changed to a skeptical one before he realized how strangely she was looking at him. For it having been a bad dream she didn't seem all that upset. She wasn't crying, nor were there any hints of tears and in the place of anger or depression she instead seemed highly contemplative. He frowned, furrowing his brow "What?"

She shook her head quickly only to be confused when he gave her a look similar to the one she had unknowingly given him only moments ago. They were still for a moment like that—staring at each other but not speaking before he stood straight and headed towards the open balcony. "I'll be here if you need me, but get rest."

Winry nodded and settled herself back into her pillow, staring away from the balcony in thought. There were times when she really wanted to hate him, she should, but no matter what she never could bring herself to do so.

She sighed. Good nights were so hard to come by these days.