Chapter 5

Risembool was indeed, a chaotic town. As far as Adam could tell, the new buildings had been constructed around the old, giving the place a very haphazard look. The town centre was very cramped, the new houses and offices pressed together like jigsaw pieces. If he hadn't known exactly what he was looking for, he would have been lost in no time.

Adam followed the directions given to him by the Mustangs, finally reaching a lone dirt road. At the end stood a two-storey house, with a wide verandah and a spacious yard fenced with a low stone wall.

He knocked, and the door was pulled open.

Adam was facing a man with sharp golden eyes, his blonde hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. He eyed Adam distrustfully, leaning against the doorway in a casually arrogant pose.

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, I'm asking about a woman named Winry Rockbell-"

The man's face closed up, his eyes flat and hard. His jaw clenched, throat flexing as though trying to swallow. Before Adam could say another word, the door was shut in his face. Not slammed…just shut.

For several moments, Adam faced the bare wood of the door, wondering what had just happened. Then there was a pounding of feet, an admonishing cry of 'Brother!', and muttered grumbling. Then the door opened again.

This time it revealed a man with soft grey eyes and mousy hair, and an apologetic expression stamped on his features. A ginger cat was twining itself around his legs.

"I'm really sorry about Ed…"

So that had been the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist? Then Adam assumed the man in front of him had to be Alphonse Elric. Yet Adam couldn't help being puzzled. The records said that Winry had been Edward's automail mechanic, yet the man who answered the door had no missing limbs, both arms and both legs had been flesh and blood. No hint of automail.

"He just gets grumpy sometimes. What was it you wanted?"

Adam repeated his request. Again, at the words 'Winry Rockbell', the younger Elric's face closed over, something deep and sorrowful entering his eyes.

"We better talk outside," he muttered, shutting the door behind him, "I'm Al, by the way."

oooooooo

"So what do you want to know about Winry?" Al asked as they walked slowly through the fields.

Adam shrugged, "Anything you can tell me would be helpful."

Al smiled, but there was little joy in his expression. It was almost like he was looking back on bittersweet memories, fond yet painful. "Ed, Winry and I were best friends for as long as I can remember. All of us were born in Risembool – we're actually living in her house right now."

"What happened to yours?"

"It burned down," Al said succinctly. "But you wanted to know about Winry – well, her parents died when she was very young, and she went to live with her grandmother, Pinako Rockbell. She was an automail mechanic, a very good one – she did such good work with brother's arm."

Adam got the impression Al was trying to rush through this. Like ripping a bandaid off a healing wound, it seemed as though he found it difficult to talk about Winry.

"When our mother died, we lived with them for a while. Then we left for the military. Several years after that, Winry went to Rush Valley to become an apprentice to an automail mechanic. She was doing really well. And then…the Rush Valley Disaster…"

"What happened to Winry after the Rush Valley Disaster?" Adam asked. "I know she was sent to Crestfall Detention Centre, but I can't find any records about it."

Al's eyes were distant, and his voice was very quiet when he spoke. "There wouldn't be. Most of the records were lost when Crestfall burned down."

"It burned down?"

Al nodded. "You see, we had just…completed a quest of ours…when we heard about the Rush Valley Disaster. We heard Winry was sent to Crestfall, so we went with the others when they took it over and freed the prisoners. And when we asked some of the guards about Winry…"

The distant eyes had become startlingly bleak. "They said that only a handful of prisoners had survived. The prisoners had just been freed, and we went to them…called for her…but…"

"You couldn't find Winry," Adam whispered.

No wonder Ed had shut the door in his face. Adam couldn't imagine what it must have been like to arrive at that detention centre, sure you were about to reunite with a much-beloved friend...only to be told that your friend had died only days before you arrived. That was a wound that ran deep, and having him turn up on their doorstep and ask about her would have only reopened it.

"Brother was devastated," Al said softly. "When we learned that…that everyone in Risembool had been…we came back and tried to help the town start up again." A slight smile. "And it became so much more than we could have hoped for. It might be very busy, but after Central…it actually seems peaceful here."

Adam nodded. Though the town itself was bursting with life, out here in the fields, it seemed like a different world.

Feeling a need to lift the mood, he joked, "Did you know both you and your brother are registered as dead?"

"No!" Al looked genuinely surprised. "I mean, I'd heard that there was a mix-up…but I never thought it was still going on."

"Caused me no end of trouble," Adam chuckled.

There was a pause, both men looked out over the rolling hills, bathed in red and gold by the sinking sun.

"Is that all you wanted to know?" Al finally asked.

"Yeah, that's plenty of information, thanks."

"What are you going to do now?"

Adam shrugged. "Track down Crestfall survivors, talk to them, I guess."

He dug the Blue Eyes photo out of his pocket. "I'm sorry for dredging up bad memories, but I just…I saw this picture, and felt that she deserved to have her story told. The world should know who she was, and what happened to her."

Al took the picture, brushing his thumb regretfully over Winry's face. "I know what you mean – people should know about Winry, about who she was…so they can…"

Al trailed off, but Adam understood. So the world could have some idea of the damage dealt by the corrupt military. That such a young woman, with such promise in her life, could die so brutally and needlessly…

He became aware that Al was still speaking. "When we saw this photo for the first time…you can't imagine it. I actually cried, and Brother locked himself in his room for hours. Seeing this…"

Adam couldn't conceive of it. The last physical record of their friend, showing her as a prisoner. The last time they ever saw Winry's face, in a photograph taken while she was being led to her death.

"It's okay," he said as Al handed the picture back, "You don't have to tell me. I can't imagine it, but you don't have to tell me."

Al sighed. "It does ease, you know," he said, with a vague tone to his words as though he were talking to himself. "It never actually goes away, but it eases. The grief becomes a part of you, and you learn to carry it with you…but it's different for me than it is for Ed."

"How?" Adam couldn't help asking.

Al gave another bittersweet smile. "I've always loved Winry like a sister…but for Ed, it gradually became something more. He finds it so difficult to open up to people, but he really did trust her. And then…"

"And then she died," Adam finished.

And he'd bet Edward Elric still hadn't recovered.

"Well, thank you for talking to me." He shook Al's hand. "I'll be heading back to Central now."

"Goodbye," Al waved as Adam started to walk away.

oooooooo

Adam thought long and hard on the journey home. Thought about how he was going to find the Crestfall survivors, thought about what he was going to write in his article, thought about how he could possibly communicate Winry's devastating loss to the complete strangers who would read it.

But most of all, he thought about Winry Rockbell. A young woman who had been born in the beautiful town of Risembool, who had become a promising automail mechanic in Rush Valley…and who had died a prisoner in the dark cells of Crestfall.