Winry arrived home right before the sun disappeared completely from the horizon.

She found the door locked, which meant that Pinako was out for the moment. Most probably buying some groceries… Winry crouched a little to pick up the key from the under the doormat, which was their secret hiding place for keys. It was one of the most obvious places to hide the key, but oh well. It was Resembool, for goodness sake, and it was not as if people tried to break into others' home.

Winry opened the door, got in, and threw her baggage to the nearest chair. She was sad, tired, worried…sick of thinking. She wanted to sit down, but instead got a cup of water to calm herself.

Just on the day she received the last letter that Ed sent her, the Elrics came with a destroyed automail and half-destroyed armor. And a few weeks later, before Winry could send a reply to his letter, she had to go to Central to fix Ed's automail. There, she was told about the complicated situation the Elric brothers were in. When they decided to leave Central, she demanded for them to take her too, and she traveled with them to Rush Valley.

It wasn't long, though, till the three met with Scar and the Ishbalans. And the Ishbalan child told her about how her parents were killed, not even knowing that she was their daughter. He told him who killed her parents…who, coincidentally, happened to be the very person who let Ed be in the military.

So when the Elrics, particularly Ed suggested that Winry should go home, she agreed. She didn't exactly want to, but she gave in at the end.

In all, she was tired.

She went up to her room, lied down on her bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while. It was pink from the sunset for a few minutes, but it turned dark soon after. Then it slowly began to blur, and she started crying. She heard the door open, which meant that Pinako was back home, but she didn't go down. She couldn't…not with her face smeared with tears anyway.

Of course, her grandmother respected her privacy, and did not come butting into the room demanding for answers. Winry thanked Pinako mentally, and continued crying.

It was strange how the feeling she had at that point was neither hate nor anger, but just apathy. She was tired of worrying, tired of thinking about the Elrics, tired of trying to stay strong…and certainly didn't want a new, unwanted information to ruin her life. She just felt helpless, and didn't want to feel anything else.

After about an hour, though, she went down to greet her grandmother and have a quiet dinner with her. Pinako expressed her anger for Winry to go with the Elrics without a word, but she did not inquire farther. After that, Winry just took a quick bath and slept.

A few days passed like that, with Winry getting up late, eat, take a bath, then sleep again. Sometimes, she also spent time outside with Den, just lying down on the fields and staring at the clouds. Pinako was worried, but she left her alone. Winry was old enough to take care of herself, and if she didn't ask for help, then she didn't need any.

A few more days passed. Winry was finally starting to regain the courage to face the reality and think about it. So Mustang did kill her parents. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have had such a lonely childhood. But he also was just taking orders from the military. She felt sure…no, she hoped…that Mustang wasn't the type of person who'd kill innocent people for pleasure. So what she had to hate was war, not Mustang. He had helped Ed and Al after all, hadn't he?

She knew, but she couldn't convince herself entirely. She wasn't so mature.

Then, she wondered if Ed knew. If he did, did he still trust Mustang? If he didn't, would he want to know?

She couldn't decide either way.

So she decided to write to him. She smiled for the first time in weeks when she picked up the pen…How long haven't I written to him? There really hadn't been any need for it lately, since she had been traveling with them. Now that she was back home, she was noticing again how much they meant to her.

xoxox

Dear Ed,

I know I've only been away for some weeks, but I was already getting worried. That is how little I trust you, Edward Elric, to keep away from trouble. It seems as if that's your purpose in life: to get into danger.

I've actually learned something…really, really disturbing. Ed, did you know that the person who killed my parents was a state alchemist? It might be…someone I know. Someone you know. Kinda well. It's really weird. If I could hate him, life will be so much easier, but I can't since I know he isn't a bad person. Not exactly, anyway.

Ed, you would never kill an innocent person, will you? You've become a state alchemist, a dog of the military, but you wouldn't kill someone innocent, will you? You are Ed, after all. Al's brother. My friend.

Sorry, I didn't really plan on writing this in the letter. It just came out…

Again, DO NOT do anything stupid, okay? Please…

Always,
Winry