Pinako was out of town for a business trip to Central, so Winry was free to do anything she wished. It was one of those rare holidays she had, since whenever Pinako was around, Pinako encouraged Winry to work on automails.

But of course, even if it was a holiday, it was not as if Winry could separate herself from the passion of her life. She went to the town library to look up on some books about automails. She was secretly hoping to get some new knowledge before Pinako got back, but frankly, she was quite upset with the lack of sources. Resembool was a small town, so naturally the library was also small. Which meant that the collection of books and other sources were less in content and variety. She was disappointed when she found herself looking at books, reading things that she already knew.

She sighed. It was a holiday, for heaven's sake, and she was already running out of things to do. Yes, she could work on automails, but she wanted to do something different for a change. If the Elrics were here, then she will never get bored, or run out of things to do. She really did miss them, but there was no point in saying this now.

Winry walked back to her house. On the way, she met some friends and greeted them. They were all going on happily with their life, and it seemed as if Winry alone was left behind. Left behind with the shadows of the Elrics, especially with that of Edward.

She was supposed to go home, but found herself walking towards the ruins of the Elrics' house. Whenever she felt lonely, whenever she wanted to meet the brothers, she always went there. At times, the place brought back comforting memories that cheered her up. Sometimes, the charred pieces of wood that remained made her feel even more sad and empty.
"Ed…Al…"
She whispered into the open space. Her vision was becoming blurry, but she fought back the tears. The two never cried, and she wanted to follow their example.
"…It's so funny, I always come here somehow. Even when I know you won't be here."
The Elrics burnt their house down so 'they can't look back anymore'. But for all she knew, it was her who couldn't help but look back at the past. She always remembered happy memories from their childhood, and held on to the things that she needed to let go. It was her, not them, who needed something to keep herself looking at the future.

She walked through the burnt house, trying to see if anything had survived. This was also something she always did. It made her remember how life used to be when their parents were still here. They never had to think about anything complicated, and they never were sad. Of course, most things were completely damaged by the fire, but occasionally, she did find some things.

That day, she found a ring that probably belonged to their mother. She did not recall seeing it before, but she could tell it was something precious. The fire had left some parts charred, but she could still see the decorations around the ring. It was really pretty. Of course, she never took out these things from the ruins. No matter how much she missed the Elrics' house, no matter how comforting the small things were, it was part of the past that the Elric brothers decided to burn down. It was something that she was not allowed to touch.

The sun began to set, and Winry was surprised with how fast the time passed. But again, time always flied so fast when she was in the ruins of the house. She ran to her own house, hurrying to get there before the sun set completely. She arrived at the gate, and peeked into the mailbox. A white envelope signed Edward Elric.
"…About time."
She smiled, humming softly as she got into her house.

She read the letter, and was happy to hear they were alright. Ed seemed busy as usual, but he didn't seem sad or troubled, as he always did for the past few letters. She was a little surprised by the sarcasm when he wrote about Mustang. She did not understand why Ed seemed to be obsessed in backstabbing him.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to her head. If she couldn't get any new information about automails in Resembool, why not ask Ed to send her some from Central?

She made a cup of milk tea, which was her favorite drink, and brought it upstairs. She quickly wrote a letter, drank the tea, and looked out the window. It was a beautiful night. Then she noticed that the loneliness she felt during the day was completely gone. Was it because of the letter, because she heard from Ed in a few weeks? She smiled softly, and started reading the letter again.

xoxox

Dear Ed,

Guess working in the military is a lot of work…I never knew that you also had to do paperwork. It should be hard for you, since you never were the writing type.

Bachan is in Central right now. One of her customers wanted her to visit and check up on the automails. The shop is getting on fine ,and I even have customers of my own! I actually earn a small amount right now…But of course, bachan's automails are way better. I'm aiming to beat her one day. Though it may sound impossible, I will! And for that, I need to read new books and learn some more, but the library here doesn't have any useful books. So. If you find anything that might be useful, can you send it to me? Please? Please please please?

Oh, and you don't have to write to me that often, I know you're busy…and though you may not notice, I'm also quite busy… Just write often enough for me to know that you are still alive. At least. Just promise me that.

Just take care, and try not to get into any trouble. Tell Al that I said hi.

Winry