"Come back alive, Ed!"
Russel's voice reached Ed's ear as he walked into the dark catacomb which supposedly led to the Underground City. Ed waved without looking back, and quickened his pace into a trot.

Again, so much had happened.

Just a few moments…or was it days? He was losing his sense of time. It seemed to be a few moments ago that he had faced Wrath and Sloth in a broken-down warehouse in Central. With Lust on his side, he thought that he could end the grudge with Sloth once and for all…but he proved to be wrong. Wrath appeared, taking the Elrics off guard. Wrath killed Lust, and though the brothers were able to finish Sloth off, Al was taken by Envy.

Wrath had cried when Sloth was turned into ethanol, and started to evaporate.
"Why won't you cry? Isn't she your mother?"
His desperate voice still rang in his ears. Sloth wasn't his mother, and both him and Al knew that. But even if they knew, it was hard to fully comprehend that Sloth and Trisha wasn't the same person. They looked alike, sounded alike… But their mother was dead. That was the hard, cold fact.

His thoughts were forced to turn to Wrath. Wrath was the result of Izumi's attempt in transmuting her dead son. And for some reason or another, he was the one who got Ed's arm and leg. Just as his name implied, he was always angry…at Izumi for making him, at Al for having a mother, at Ed for using alchemy…but Ed could see that Wrath was just hurt. Wrath, or any of the homunculus never asked to come to life. They were forced to exist by foolish alchemists who tried to revive the death.

At that respect, Ed had long concluded that all the homunculus had every right to hate him He wasn't that stupid not to understand that.

But then, they took Alphonse. And that was unacceptable.

He was about to chase Envy when he realized his injuries were too much.

He put his hands in his pockets, and found out that there was a piece of paper inside. He took it out, curious what it might be. As far as he was concerned, he didn't put any paper in his pocket.

It was only natural that he was shocked to see a very familiar handwriting scribbled on it. Winry...She must've put it when I saw her last.
It hurt him to think about Winry at the moment. He now understood what he truly felt towards her…which was so much more than friendship which he always thought it to be. He wanted to see her again, and confess his feelings, maybe? He was not sure about the last part, but he really wanted to see her at the moment. He was frightened of what might lie ahead, though he did not show it, and Winry's smile was the only thing that ever really relieved him of fear or anxiety.

Ed carefully opened the letter…or note, more like…and spread the wrinkles on it. It was dark inside the tunnel, but he was grateful there was enough light to read the precious note.

xoxox

Ed,

I knew you would've gotten into this kind of trouble. You always do. You know how sad and worried I've been every time you get into trouble? All the time, all the time, I need to go through all these things.

Sorry. I guess there is no point in telling this to you now. What I can say, all I can say, is that…be careful. Always remember that you have your limits. A line you can't and shouldn't cross. You've come all the way here, probably farther than you've expected to come. At least, it is a lot farther than what I've expected. Now, you are so close to your goal. Both you and Al. But that goal seems to be so different from what you've anticipated it to be, doesn't it? It's your choice now, Edward Elric. You have spent so long looking for this, and this is the place where the ways part. So choose. Follow your heart, and do what you need to do so there won't be any regrets.

I hope you will come back alive.

Winry

xoxox

The letter he was expecting would comfort him actually made him feel worse. Did he really make her feel that bad? Did he? He felt another weight of guilt drop in his already heavy heart.

The right choice. Saying it was so easy… Only three words, three short words at that. But it had so much meaning to it. And each meaning was slightly different from the others.

The right choice for him. The right choice for Al.
The right choice for Winry.

The right choice for the homunculus. For Dante. For Hohenheim.

For Mustang, for the Hawkeye, for Hughes, for Armstrong.

The right choice for Scar.

They were all so different. Which 'right choice' was Winry talking about? Depending on that, what she wanted him to do would be so different from the other possibilities he face.
He shook his head, hoping that it would clear his mind a little bit. It didn't; just worsened the headache he was having.

Ed felt helpless again. He felt as if the whole world was against him, and he was such a small and weak thing. Which wasn't so wrong.

"Winry… I am so sorry."
Words of apology escaped from his mouth, and he leaned on the wall beside him. He did not know why he said sorry, especially since the girl he wanted to say it to wasn't even there. He just felt so guilty for everything. And he couldn't explain what that 'everything' was, either.

He closed his eyes, trying to form the gentle smile of Winry in his mind.
"Please…help me through this…"
Ed whispered into the empty air.

Then straightened up, and carefully folded the note and put it back into his pocket. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer the sad and confused boy he had been a few moments ago.

He was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. And the Fullmetal Alchemist still had a job to do. He took a steady step, shutting out anymore unwanted emotion from his mind.

So sorry it took forever for me to update. Two more chapters...