DISCLAIMER: I don't own Winry or that delicious Mustang, or FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. Arakawa-sensei does, and one day I am fated to meet her and buy the rights and titles so they will be mine! mwahaha

Hooray for me! I saw FMA: Conqueror of Shamballa! But it was more of an epilogue to the show...no new stories emerged.

REDEMPTION

Winry walked into one of Central's more popular cafes, the Chestnut Tree Café. The young automail mechanic chose it because it was near the train station, from which she had recently come from. Inside, she observed the warm and friendly atmosphere, and listened to the sound of laughter and people talking merrily, some very loudly. The place seemed to glow, not only with light, but also the beauty that accompanies people who are good to each other. What kind of place could be better for breakfast?

After she sat down and ordered her meal, Winry noticed that not everybody was here enjoying themselves with another. Some people seemed to just appreciate this place, like she did. They sat there calmly, but there was one figure whose face was buried in a newspaper. Seeing how everyone else was interacting, Winry was curious why this man sat alone. She thought maybe he had his reasons, or maybe this was how he liked to eat breakfast. Well, thought Winry, I'm also by myself. Maybe I'll go start a conversation with him. No one seems to mind strangers here. And she headed over to the man.

Winry approached the side of the table that was nearest to her, which happened to be the man's left. When he didn't say anything, Winry, who felt she was being ignored, said brightly, "Good morning!"

The man carefully folded the newspaper, and turned his head to see her. Winry understood her mistake, noting a large eye-patch covering his left eye. Black bangs fell down to his eyes; it was the face of Roy Mustang that returned Winry's gaze. Winry was a little shocked, but the former colonel smiled and asked her to sit down, pointing to the chair in front of him rather than to his left.

"I thought I saw a pretty blonde girl walk in," said Mustang. Winry was unsure of what to say. Mustang was trying to make this more comfortable for the both of them. After all, the two had quite an interesting connection, something which slightly distanced them.

"How's Al?" Well, that's something I can answer, Winry thought.

"He's good. He's gone to study alchemy again with his teacher. I don't think she's going to be as hard on him this time. It's just a little weird for us to see him as a kid again, and a ten-year-old kid at that. He really doesn't remember anything, of the journey I mean. I'm kind of not sure what's going to become of him. He wants to find Ed."

"Hmm. We don't know where he is, either."

"Yeah…"

They were silent again. The waiter found out that Winry had moved, so he brought her food and coffee to Mustang's table. Raised with good manners, Winry asked if it was alright for her to eat in front of him.

"No, I don't mind," Mustang said, "Actually, we didn't get here that far apart. I'm still waiting for what I ordered."

Winry couldn't hold back anymore. "Sir, what happened? What happened to Ed? What happened to you?"

Mustang looked at the reflective black surface of Winry's coffee.

"Ed," he said finally, "is gone. I thought that girl who watched him use the Stone was staying with you."

"She is," said Winry, breaking the stillness of the coffee by picking it up to drink it, "But…you know…I just wondered if you knew something more. When was the last time you saw him?"

"The last time I saw him, he was not a child anymore." That was all he would say about that. Winry guessed that Ed had a clear-cut purpose in mind when he left.

"So, what about you?" asked Winry. Before answering, Mustang followed the waitress' progress around the room as she brought his food to the table. Winry watched him gulp down half of his coffee. Adam's apples are such funny things, thought Winry. Getting off track, Winry started thinking about automail, and what would happen if you needed an automail Adam's apple. Is it a vital organ? she wondered. Winry's attention became united when Mustang placed the mug back on the table and looked at her with the only eye he could.

"You looked a little dazed just now," he said, raising an eyebrow.

Winry flushed. "No, it's nothing! Please, sir, I would like to know what happened to you."

"Why?"

"Why?" Winry was puzzled, "Well, obviously, something took out your eye. And speaking of eyes, yours looks different. You're not the Roy Mustang I once knew. What happened to you?"

He looked somber. It contrasted drastically with thejovialityof the rest of the room.

"So you would worry about me, would you? For what I've done to you, wouldn't you rather have me dead?"

Winry's face fell. "So that's what's on your mind."

"I almost died. What a time for me to actually get lucky. I even have scars to prove it. I saw Fullmetal--I mean Edward—on my way there. Actually--" he looked around the room—"this isn't the best place to talk about it. Maybe another time."

"Mustang," said Winry quietly, "it's difficult to understand why, but I want you to know I don't blame you anymore."

Roy Mustang paused, a breadstick held near his open mouth. He looked away and bit off a piece. When he swallowed that, he said, "Winry, thank you. You might not understand, but I am very grateful toward your family. It sounds morbid, but because I (Pishivee: he's got 'murdered' on the brain)…shot…your parents, I knew what I had to do because of it. I had to reach a position where I didn't have to take orders like those. And in some ways--" he looked directly at Winry, who was silently munching scrambled eggs—"to kill doctors was more terrible than killing, or simply harming, civilians." He looked away again. "Don't ask me why. You'd think medics would be more prepared than innocents to take a bullet…but…well, that's just how I feel."

They finished their meals in silence. Winry glanced at the newspaper. She didn't read papers much, but they were interesting to look at once in a while. However, it was folded so she couldn't see the front page. Mustang noticed her trying to get a glimpse of the article he had been reading. He offered her the paper. Winry made a split-second decision whether or not to accept it. Apparently, he didn't care if she read at the table, unlike Granny Pinako. Winry took it and thanked him. The cover story was about two alchemists who specialized in agriculture alchemy. Their descriptions made them sound like Ed and Al, except the younger brother was shorter than the older brother. Winry wondered whether the boys had ever met each other.

She didn't notice Mustang get up, or come back. She was incredibly engrossed in reading an article about some automail breakthrough. The waiter tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. It was the check.

"I'll get it," said Mustang kindly.

"No, it's fine," said Winry hurriedly.

"Please."

"Ah, um, alright."

He paid for both of them, and Winry was reminded of how much money State Alchemists were granted. She mooched off of Ed a lot in the past, but she didn't feel comfortable letting the Flame Alchemist pay her tab.

They walked out from the café. Leaving that friendly environment was for the best, Winry thought. It didn't deserve to be dragged down by the twain's solemn mood.

"What are you in Central for?" asked Mustang.

"Oh…just looking I guess." Actually, Winry had come seeking information about Edward. Since she ran into Mustang so quickly after arriving, she may as well have been looking for him.

"So, do you have a place to stay?"

"I was thinking about a hotel."

"Hmm."

They walked on in silence for a little bit. Winry wished he'd stop being so nice to her.

For Roy Mustang, it was as if he inherited the duty to look after Winry. Sure, there was her grandmother (And she won't die anytime soon. She's quite a pistol, thought Roy), but he couldn't help feeling that he had some sort of responsibility. The first time he had seen Winry was the photograph of her, clasped by one of her parents as he shot them. Roy couldn't tell if it was the mother or the father; both were indistinguishable due to blood and their bodies laying one on top of the other. Winry, daughter of the Doctors Rockbell. He owed a lot to that family. Being the man that he was, he would try to reimburse the Rockbells in any way he could. It was difficult for him to say this outright to Winry right now. I'm not even old enough to be her father, the Flame Alchemist thought. I'm more like a much older brother or something. How amusing. He smiled to himself.

They neared an intersection. Roy knew the hotel was straight, while his destination was to the right.

"Winry," he said, to get her attention. She turned around, understanding immediately that their paths broke at this point.

Mustang looked a little hesitant about what he wanted to do, or at least he appeared that way to Winry. After a moment, he calmed down and simply extended his hand. Winry looked at it, and looked at him. She grinned, and shook his hand. Each thought the other's hand had a different texture and warmth than they expected. It crossed Winry's mind that this was the hand that pulled the trigger and ended her parents' lives. Roy was thinking, aside from holding her parents' hands, it was Winry's hand that helped Ed regain the use of his lost limbs, thereby permitting him to join the military.

Their paths may diverge here, but they were sure to meet again.

Pishivee: I wrote this storybecause I had a dream the night before about Winry visiting Mustang on his deathbed. I dreamed that I learned (from somewhere on the anime) that Mustang dies early in his life. I get a lot of dreams like that, where I'm like wait, was this really original information or is it just a dream? You know? Ever had a dream that felt real? So anyway, I was like Yeah! Mustang and Winry kinda have that strange relationship, so maybe they become good friends throughout their lives. Why else would you visit someone on their deathbed?

It's up to the reader to decide whether Mustang is Fuhrer (like in my story Of the Recovery of Roy Mustang), or just a corporeal like in the FMA movie. The movie confused me a bit with what his rank is now, but oh well.

Also, me and Winry share the same opinion of Adam's apples