Disclaimer: Waah. Read the other two.
Michi: Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed last time! I replied to all of the signed reviews, but not the anonymous ones, so I'd just like to say a huge THANK YOU! to all of them as well. Get an account so I can reply to you personally!
And since some of you seem confused on the matter; I am, in fact, female.
Ed: Which is why I call her a madwoman.
Michi: Shut yo mouth, shorty.
Chapter five! Only two more left!
CHAPTER FIVE: FAREWELL, ED
Ed woke earlier than usual and got dressed quickly – he wanted to talk to Al about what had happened last night at the carnival. He walked into Al's room, and found Al still asleep – and to Ed's surprise, Winry was sleeping next to him. Ed felt the sudden desire to kill his younger brother. He didn't know why; he just did. Was that normal? He snatched a pair of socks off the dresser and threw them at Al to wake him up.
"Huh?" Al blinked and sat up. "Good morning, big brother!" Ed just frowned, and pointed at Winry, who was still asleep.
"What—the hell—" Al looked puzzled.
"She couldn't sleep, so I told her that she could sleep in here. What's wrong? Why is your face so red?"
"Never mind – I'll just talk to you later." He said hurriedly, before turning and walking out.
Ed didn't know where to go after that, but he didn't want to stay in the house, so he left, and thought maybe he'd walk around the town a bit. He started down the hill towards the rest of the town, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes on the ground in front of him; the very portrait of a rejected man.
What was his problem, anyway? He certainly wasn't jealous – this was Al, after all. He did feel a little hurt, though, that Winry had gone to Al when she couldn't sleep. Hadn't Ed been comforting enough? Or maybe she didn't want to be around him after what had happened last night. Ed didn't blame her – he had definitely gotten a little carried away.
He was in town before he realized it, and walking around without really paying attention to where he was going. Suddenly, amidst the crowd, he spotted someone – or more than someone – that he knew. It was actually a wonder that he saw them at all, considering that they were dressed as normal civilians.
"Mustang? Hawkeye?" The pair turned around, and Roy swore loudly.
"You weren't supposed to find us." Riza explained, "We were supposed to find you."
"But—why?" Ed asked. Roy sighed.
We were supposed to just burst in on you and drag you back to Central for your farewell party." He clapped a hand over his mouth, "Dammit, that was supposed to be a surprise also." Riza glared at him for a moment before speaking.
"Anyhow, our orders are to have you and Al on a train back to Central by this afternoon, so I suggest that you go find Al and get packed. Where are you staying?"
"With my mechanic, Winry Rockbell." Ed replied. Roy laughed madly and elbowed Ed in the ribs. "Ow! Bastard, that hurt—"
"Living with her, eh? EH?"
"WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?"
"Oh come on, Fullmetal, you're not fooling anybody." Roy said, "It's blatantly obvious that you're in love with the girl!"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean—" he clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Ohoho, he admits it!"
"I DIDN'T MEAN THAT! STOP SMILING! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU—" Riza smoothly stepped in front of Roy, effectively stopping Ed's outburst; he wasn't an idiot. Even wearing a skirt and blouse, Riza was still very intimidating.
"I can see this is a delicate issue, so we won't be bothering you about it." She said, "Miss Rockbell can come along too, if you want, but we need to get going." Ed nodded, and led them back to the house.
By evening, Roy, Riza, Ed, Al, and Winry were all on board a train headed for Central.
Roy was getting on Ed's last nerve at this point, with all the eyebrow waggling, suggestive glances, and constantly leering and going "Eh? EH?".
I swear I'm going to kill him before we ever reach central. Ed thought. Roy simply would not leave the subject of Ed and Winry alone – not that there was anything to discuss, of course. His plans for murdering Roy were cut short, however, when Winry walked over and sat across from him.
"Are you sad that you're leaving the military?" She asked suddenly. He shook his head.
"Not really." He told her. "I definitely won't miss having Mustang as my commanding officer – that bastard." He clenched his fist for emphasis, and Winry nodded.
"Oh." She said softly. Ed sighed. He had to talk to her about it.
"Winry, about yesterday—"
"Yeah, about that—can we just pretend it never happened?" Ed nodded.
"That's what I was going to say." He said, and noticed an odd sort of flapping motion off to the side behind Winry. It was none other than Colonel Mustang, jumping p and down and mouthing the words 'kiss her'. Ed ignored him—not wanting to draw attention to him—and Roy did not take well to being ignored.
"KISS HER!" he yelled, and practically the whole train turned and looked. Both Ed and Winry turned bright red, and Ed leapt to his feet, shaking his fist at Roy.
"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, YOU—where'd he go?" for it was as if an invisible force had pulled Roy into another compartment and out of sight. Ed started to go after him, but Winry grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop.
"Ed, just let him go."
"But—you heard what he said!"
"Yes, but you can't go on a homicidal rampage every time he says something like that. Besides, you're scaring the children." Ed looked around, startled by her last sentence, and sure enough, there were three wide-eyed kids peeking out from around the edge of the seat. One of them—a little girl—reached up and tugged on Ed's sleeve. When he looked at her, she beckoned for him to come closer, so he obediently leaned down so that she could whisper in his ear.
"She's pretty." The girl said in a whisper loud enough for Winry to hear, "I think you should listen to that man and give her a kiss!" Ed flushed a brilliant shade of red, and the children laughed and ran off.
"Stupid kids don't know what they're talking about." He muttered. He was too busy muttering darkly to see it, but out of the corner of her eye, Winry thought she saw Al give candy to the same three children.
"Sir, was that really necessary?" Riza asked once she had pulled Roy into a separate compartment. It was entirely empty, so they were alone.
"Of course. Ed needs a push in the right direction. Or a kick." Riza shook her head.
"One of these days, sir, you're going to regret giving him such a hard time about everything. He's not going to stay small forever – sooner or later he'll get big enough to actually carry out his threats." Roy shook his head.
"No, one day he'll thank me for all of this. And Riza?"
"Yes, sir?"
"You really don't have to call me 'sir' all the time. Just call me Roy." Riza blushed and avoided his gaze.
"That would be improper, sir." He put a finger under her chin and raised her head slightly so that she was looking at him.
"Just when we're alone, I want you to call me Roy. That's an order." He said it gently, but firmly. Well, Riza couldn't disobey an order.
"Yes s—Roy." He patted her on the cheek gently.
"That wasn't so hard now was it?" He said, before turning, and leaving the compartment. Riza stood there for quite some time after he left, trying to gather her thoughts and her composure.
Michi: Now, I wanted to cut this scene out entirely, because it's irrelevant and pointless, but one of my beta-readers pointed out that it told us that Ed was taller than Winry, and I decided it shows that they still argue and get along like they used to, so I decided to keep it in. –checks word count- oh good lord this chapter's going to be long.
The area where Ed and Winry were sitting was rather small, so their knees touched slightly, despite the fact that they were sitting across from each other. Neither of them said anything for a while as both fought blushes, before Winry, who couldn't stand the silence anymore, spoke.
"Er . . . even though you won't miss the job—or Roy—are there any people you'll miss? I mean, you have been in the military for seven years; you must have made friends, right?" Ed thought a moment.
"To be honest, I didn't know many of them very well. I suppose that Armstrong's nice, and so is Hawkeye, but it's not like my leaving the military will by all that traumatic. It's going back there that will be the traumatic part."
"Why? Do they tease you still for being short?" Ed's face colored slightly.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?" He didn't bother to throw in any insults, because being called short didn't have the same sting, really, when the person saying it was shorter than you were. And when she was looking at you with those angelic blue eyes . . .snap out of it, Ed. . .he thought abruptly. "Besides, you're about a foot shorter than I am." She snorted.
"Please. It's more like an inch. Half an inch."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Why don't we just see?" Said Ed, standing up, and Winry followed suit. Due to the lack of room in the area they were standing in, standing up only made it smaller.
"That's definitely not a foot, Ed."
"Well, it's not an inch, either." He retorted. "It's about five."
"Four." She corrected him, before sitting down quickly; standing up on a train like this made her slightly dizzy for some reason, and she couldn't quite seem to catch her breath. Sitting down didn't improve the situation much, but it was better than standing.
She firmly refused to believe that her symptoms had anything to do with how close together she and Ed had been standing.
Almost the moment Winry had set down her bags in her hotel room there was a knock at the door. She immediately opened it to admit one of the last people she expected to see.
"Miss Riza? Please, come in."
"Just Riza, please." The older woman said, walking into the room. "About Edward's farewell party—do you have a dress suitable for the occasion?" Winry thought a moment.
"Probably not. Is it very fancy?"
"It's a military party." Riza said, smiling, "So the men wear their military uniforms, if they're in the military, tuxedos if not, and all the women try and find the most revealing, scandalous thing possible. So yes, very fancy." Winry grimaced.
"I don't think I have anything quite that fancy." She admitted. Riza patted her on the shoulder.
"That's what I'm here for. We're going shopping."
"But I don't have the money for an expensive dress, either."
"That's what Ed's for. He got one hell of a huge payoff when he found the stone. What else is he going to spend it on?"
"Ed wouldn't pay for—" Riza held up a hand, and she fell silent.
"Believe me, he won't mind. Let's go."
And so that was how Winry found herself in Central's finest dress shop with Riza, who knew a lot more about dresses than Winry had originally given her credit for. The usually professional and serious woman apparently had a secret love for fancy clothes.
"You definitely want something sleeveless, or even completely strapless." The attendant said, eyeing Winry's somewhat muscular arms.
"And dark." Riza added, "This is a formal evening event." Winry nodded absently, allowing herself to be guided around the store. She looked around at all of the beautiful dresses, and felt lost.
"But how can I pick just one?" Winry asked despairingly. "They're all gorgeous." Riza held up a hideous dress in a disgusting shade of yellow.
"All of them?" The attendant glared at Riza but said nothing.
"Ok, not all of them, but most of them. I don't know where to begin looking . . ." she plucked at a purple dress and made a face; it was covered in hideous ruffles and bows. The attendant frowned once more and flounced away to help some other customers.
"Try over there." Riza suggested, pointing to a rack of green dresses. Winry thought about it, and nodded; green was a nice color. She walked over to the rack and started flipping through it, as Riza continued to browse the red dresses.
Winry ran her hand over the rack and pulled out a dress at Random. She winced; it was a horrid shade of bright green with full sleeves. She tried again—the second one was better, but still far from gorgeous. The third one was worse than the first.
The fourth one, however, was perfect. It was silk, entirely strapless, and fell to the floor. It was in a gorgeous deep shade of green. She looked over at Riza, who grinned, and nodded approvingly.
"Go try it on," She urged. Winry, however, had made the mistake of looking at the price tag.
"No, I can't make Ed pay for this." She said wistfully, reaching to put it back. Riza stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Try it on before you make any decisions." She suggested, giving Winry a gentle push in the direction of the changing rooms. Winry obediently walked into the room and slipped into the dress. It fit as though made specifically for her. It was tight and form-fitting until it his her hips, and then it was looser around her legs. Winry spun slowly in front of the mirror before opening the door to show Riza.
"It's perfect!" Riza exclaimed, in an uncharacteristic display of girlishness, "You have to buy it! He'll forgive you completely for the price once he sees you in it." She said it with a certainty that Winry didn't quite have.
"I don't know . . ." She said, looking at the dress. "It is perfect . . ."Riza pulled out a gun from somewhere, and Winry's eyes widened.
"Don't worry; if he whines too much, I'll shoot him." She said cheerfully. Winry knew that she was only joking, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Riza would, in fact, shoot at Ed—though perhaps not actually hit him—if he made too much noise. Winry decided to buy it anyway; Riza still had the gun in her hand.
"Ed! I have something for you!" Winry called, as she walked into the hotel room Ed shared with Al. Riza right behind her. Ed was sitting on the couch reading, so Winry sat next to him and presented him with a folded-up piece of paper.
"Oh no. What is it?" he asked, taking it and opening it up. "A BILL?"
"Yes." Winry said innocently, leaning closer and sliding an arm around Ed's shoulders. "You bought me a dress. A very pretty dress."
"I BOUGHT YOU A DRESS? WHEN?" he demanded. She didn't know it, but her cuddling up to him like that was making it very difficult for Ed to concentrate on how angry he was at her.
"Earlier today." She answered, ignoring the muffled laughter coming from Riza. "You'll pay for it, right? Pleeeeease?"
Well, how could he refuse when she looked at him like that?
"Of course I will. I just wish you had asked me before you went out and bought it." He told her. Winry grinned; he didn't seem to be angry anymore.
"I'm sorry! Thank you sooooo much, Ed!" She said, releasing him and jumping to her feet. "You won't regret it!" And with that, she bounced happily out of the room. Ed put his head in his hands.
"You put her up to this." He accused Riza. "And you know I can't say no to her. And I bet that all of that" he gestured to the spot on the couch that Winry had recently vacated, "Was your idea." Riza smiled.
"Only two out of three; I put her up to it and I know you can't say no to her. That, as you so delicately put it, was all her. I wanted to use a gun."
"A gun!"
"Goodbye, Ed. And you won't be sorry about the dress." She told him, and left.
"Winry!" Winry turned upon hearing her name to find Elicia Hughes running up to her.
"Elicia!" Winry exclaimed, bending down to hug the girl. "I haven't seen you in forever, it seems! How old are you now?"
"Seven!" Elicia said proudly, smiling to reveal a few missing teeth.
"Winry. You look beautiful," Gracia told her, walking up to stand next to her daughter. "I didn't know you were in Central; did you arrive with Edward and Alphonse?" Winry nodded.
"Thank you; you look beautiful also." Winry said sincerely; she had never seen Gracia this dressed up before. "We got here just a while ago. It was very sudden—Ed and Al were only in Resembool for about four days before General Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye arrived. I don't think Ed even knew about this." Gracia smiled.
"He wasn't supposed to know, from what I've gathered. Speaking of Edward, where is he?"
Winry had been in the large ballroom for about an hour, and still the guest of honor had not arrived. Winry had been getting complements all night, but she was still anxious for Ed and Al to see her—particularly Ed, who had paid for the dress. Suddenly, the sound of someone tapping a glass with a fork was heard, and all eyes traveled up to a raised platform—almost like a stage—where Ed and Roy were standing.
"There you are, Winry." Came a voice from behind her. It was Al, looking very handsome and dignified in a tuxedo. "Roy wants me to bring you up there," He gestured to where Roy and Ed were, "Speech time."
Winry panicked. Riza had vaguely warned her that something like this might happen—both Roy and Al would be speaking; Roy about how he had known Ed in the military, Al about Ed in general—military life and personal life—and who better than Winry, someone from Ed's purely personal life, to make the last speech? She, of course, hadn't thought to prepare a speech or anything of the sort, but she let Al lead her up the steps and onto the dais. They got there just as Roy began to speak:
"I have only known Edward for a short time when compared to the other speakers, but that does not mean that I think little of him. Inside that small stature lives a big heart. Hopefully. And even though he is tiny, let us always remember him as a big hero, who also happens to be a midget."
It was a while before the audience realized that he was finished and started clapping. Al had to practically sit on his brother to keep him from clobbering Roy, until Riza walked over, seized Roy by the ear, and dragged him off the dais and out of the ballroom. No one commented on the fact that he was a higher-up; no one there was stupid enough to call Riza out. Ed, at least, seemed to think that Roy would be suitably punished, and stopped trying to kill him, so that Al was free to make his speech.
Al's speech was considerably longer than Roy's, and completely devoid of short jokes. It brought most of the audience to tears; the most affected was Armstrong, who was positively bawling when Al finished speaking and hugged his brother, before walking down the steps to wait at the bottom. The audience ignored the gunshots coming from outside, and looked at Winry.
She cleared her throat hesitantly; she had no idea as to what to say—she wished now that she had gone before Al. How could she follow up a speech like that? Still, she had to try. She cleared her throat again, unnecessarily, glanced at Ed, and began speaking.
"I've known Edward Elric for my entire life," She began, "And I can say honestly say that he is one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing." True, he would probably make fun of her for this later, but at least she was being honest, "He's brilliant, for one thing—a prodigy. As a result of that, he's very mature for his age. That's how all of you know him. To me, though, he's a kind, sweet, and loveable boy. I grew up with him, and when he and Al left to search for the Philosopher's stone, it broke my heart to see them go.
"I knew they had to do it, but it just seemed unnatural for the three of us to be apart. Sure they visited—but only when Ed needed repairs on his automail. Never just to visit me. I understand, though, that they couldn't take the time to visit me because the military kept them busy.
"But now they've restored their bodies, and the military will be short one alchemist. Er—no pun intended." The audience snickered, and Winry glanced at Ed, but he didn't appear to have noticed. Instead of being angry, he was staring at her in a very peculiar way. Winry had never been looked at like that before, and it made her wonder what Ed could be thinking about. "So be glad you've had this wonderful man among you for the past few years, because I've been patient long enough." Her speech ended there, and the room was filled with applause and cheering. Armstrong was bawling into a tablecloth again, and Riza had stepped inside the room to listen.
Once the room had quieted down, Winry, still blushing, made her way to the steps, looking at the floor to avoid meeting anyone's gaze.
She was nearly to the steps when she ran into someone. Someone wearing a military uniform. She looked up and saw Ed. He was still looking at her in that peculiar way, and Winry squirmed slightly. He just looked at her for several long moments, and Winry looked back, searching, into his warm golden eyes, allowing herself to become completely lost in his gaze. Suddenly, a voice rang out across the nearly silent room.
"KISS HER!" It was Roy, who had walked inside to stand next to Riza.
"You IDIOT!" She said loudly, forgetting rank entirely. Winry heartily agreed with her.
As for Ed—he turned bright crimson, a clear indication of what he had been considering doing before Roy's interruption—turned, and ran down the steps and out of one of the side doors, leaving a very bewildered Winry still standing on the dais.
Michi: I really did not like this chapter. It was sloppily tossed together, and was basically just to set the stage for chapter six, which just sets the stage for the epilogue.
Ed: Why did you write it then?
Michi: Shaddap. You're just mad because of the short jokes.
Ed: Hell yeah I'm mad because of the short jokes. I hate you. And Mustang.
Michi: Anyway, chapter six will hopefully be up later this week, but you never know. Please, please, review! Your reviews inspire me to write more, and also make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! A win-win situation!
Ed: You're crazy. That's all there is to it.
Edit: Ok, I am now DONE typing out the rest of Under the Roses. So review, and I'll post the rest, mmmkay?
Also – for all of you who have seen the movie 'Shrek' and think that I stole Roy's speech from it; I swear that I had no idea it was similar to the movie until my beta pointed it out, and then I was too lazy to change it because it just fit so well! So sorry if it brings flashbacks, but I like his speech the way it is.
I posted a new story, too, called 'Cold Rain'. It's an absolute angstfest; go check it out!