Thanks for all the reviews! Oh my god! I can't believe how many reviews I got for last chapter!
Rena: Here's an update! Thank you!
kingdomheartschic13: Thank you! Sorry for the long wait!
Achillea: Sorry the last chapter was so short!
Itaru-sama: thanks for the review. Yeah…that would be weird…
girlgoneanime: I updated! Yay!
charmedxxone: Don't worry! Thank you for reviewing more than once! Here's an update!
DarkInuHanyou: Thanks! Here's more!
FruitsBasketFreak44: Thank you!
jojojo: sorry for the spelling errors but I have a beta reader now so the number of spelling errors should go down. Though, this chapter hasn't been beta'd yet. I'm going to be going back and editing everything over the he next few weeks. 0.o There is NOT going to be romance between Ed and Al! (Shudder) I have nothing against yaoi but I do not like that pairing. Nor will their be romance between Klarissa and Ed. I'm pretty sure I put it in the summery but this is an EdWin fic…Thanks for the review.
Breath of Death: Yeah I know. It sounds like HIV/aids. Thanks for the reviews.
RoseOfSharon28: Thank you!
fmachibichick: Thank you! Thank you so much for the support! Here's an update for you!
Priestess kurumi inu's sister: Thanks. As for if Ed's going to die…you'll have to read to find out…
Legendary Chimera: Thank you! Hopefully this chapter will be longer than last chapter.
PsychNeko15: Thanks!
Please Read: I have had some reviews asking about pairings. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but I want to make the perfectly clear. This is not an Ed x Al fic! Nor is this an Ed x OC fic! This is an Ed x Winry story; it's just taken me longer than I thought it would to introduce her into the story. She will be coming in this story. Romance is probably not going to be an obvious part of the story. It will be there but more in angst or implied form. There will probably be a couple bigger scenes between them but I'm not comfortable writing romance yet. Thank you!
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A week later, Mustang had pulled some strings and Ed was out of the hospital (though he was confined to a wheel chair). Al had to admit, Ed looked rather comical, sitting, glower firmly placed on his face, with both his arms in slings, one for a damaged shoulder, one for his non-functioning auto mail. Unable to manage most things on his own, Mustang, in all his infinite wisdom, had assigned several officers to escort Ed and Al to the train station. As luck would have it, one was a rather large fan of the legendary full metal alchemist. Ed was not amused.
"Full Metal Sir?"
Ed slowly turned his head to face the voice, still glowering, and grit out "yes?"
"U-um well…the train is coming sir. W-would you like me to push over to the platform sir? The officer asked nervously
Al had a hard time not bursting out laughing. He had to wonder, what happened to the Ed that was constantly looking for attention? His brother looked like he wanted nothing more than to push this man in front of a moving train. Eventually Ed gave up. Sighing he nodded his head in assent and the officer, a sandy haired man with thin wire-rim glasses, pushed him over to the train platform.
After Ed had fallen asleep in the hospital, the colonel and Al went over what had happened in Xenotime. Al's memory of what happened was a bit hazy but once Ed had woken up again, he had steadfastly refused to comment on anything he had said before the medication had kicked in or about Xenotime. Luckily, Al told the colonel what little he knew and Mustang managed to pull some strings and get Ed out of the hospital.
Now, they were off to Resembool to get Ed's autmail fixed. After that, he wasn't sure what it was the older Elric had planned. Nor did he know how Edward intended to explain the bullets in his right arm. Winry would not be amused.
Al walked over to the train platform and stood behind Ed. Whatever it was that would happen next, he would be there. No matter what. He would stay by his brother's side. Edward wouldn't leave him like the rest of his family had. Not if he had anything to say about it. Al pushed his older brother's wheelchair onto the train and towards the private compartment that Mustang had arranged for them. He couldn't stop his father from leaving or prevent his mother's death, but this, this, he could stop. He could make sure Ed didn't follow the same path as their parents.
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Several hours later they had arrived in Resembool. The sun was setting now and Ed was looking forward to having his right arm back. It was bloody annoying! It wasn't enough to get shot in the shoulder; no, then there was the reconstructive surgery to repair the shattered bone. He wouldn't be able to use that arm for anything useful for over a month! If they were attacked, he wouldn't be able to defend himself. At least once Winry had fixed his damaged auto mail he'd be able to do something. Not to mention the 'protection' Mustang had assigned. Why did there have to be a fan boy? Did Mustang enjoy torturing him that much? He couldn't even fight back! One thing was for sure. After all this was over, Mustang was going to get one hell of an ass beating.
Luckily, a man that was passing through with a truck was willing to give the group ride to the Rockbell's house and fifteen minutes later they had arrived. Several officers first unloaded Ed's wheelchair from the back of the truck (where the group had been sitting for the ride there) and then the remaining officers lifted a very embarrassed Ed into the waiting chair. Al didn't think he had ever scene his brother look quite so flustered.
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Winry woke with a start to the sound of her grandmother calling that a new customer was arriving. Winry sat up from where she had fallen asleep on the floor and brushed a strand of white blond hair out of her face.
"I'll be down in a minute Grandma!" she called as she got up, scrambling to change into her work pants. A few minutes later she was running out of the house to greet the new customer her Grandmother had mentioned. And as expected she could make out the shape of someone in a wheelchair amongst a group of people primarily dressed in military uniforms through the sun's glare. She shaded her eyes with her hands in an attempt to get a better look at the person in the wheel chair but all she caught was a flash of gold blond hair.
'Wait a minute…' she thought, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Ed? Ed! Al! Is that you?" she called out. She received a wave in return from one of the standing figures.
Winry ran towards the brothers, curious as to why one was in a wheelchair yet afraid to find out. When she finally reached them Ed let out a slightly nervous chuckle.
"Hi…Winry" he said slowly.
'What could they possibly have been doing that would done this much damage? Not only did he break his auto mail one but his real one too! Why is he in a wheelchair? Did he bust his leg too?' the young auto mail mechanic pondered worriedly.
"Ed! I can't believe you! You broke your auto mail again? I thought you' be doing less dangerous missions, not more dangerous ones! Just what have you been up to?" she yelled, trying to hide her deep-rooted concern.
Ed cringed. This probably wouldn't be pleasant. 'She this angry and she hasn't even found out about me getting shot. She's gonna kill me!' Hopefully Al would intervene before his poor abused skull got to reacquainted with her wrench…
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Al wheeled his brother inside the Rockbell house. Winry sighed as the entire troop of bodyguards refused to stay in the house while she tended to Ed's arm, claiming that they would prefer to parole the perimeter of the house to prevent any enemies from attacking their charge in his weakened state.
Turning around, she ordered Ed to remove his shirt so she could inspect just how much damage he had done this time. After struggling for about tem minutes (removing clothing is difficult without the use of either arm) Ed surrendered and asked for a pair of scissors so he could simply cut the shirt off.
To say that Winry had not reacted well to see the large amount of bandeges covering his chest and left shoulder was an understatement.
To say she was upset when she found several bullets lodged in his right arm, even more so.
Suddenly the room was very very quiet. Ed looked at Winry causiously. He had expaected her to yell, shout, scream; something! Instead she was just sitting there, shaking.
Ed leaned forward, wanting to reach out and touch her shoulder but lacking a functioning arm to do so. "Hey, Win…you ok?" he questioned.
"Tell me Ed, are those bandages from bullets too?" her voice was quiet, but deadly serious.
Ed paused, unsure how of how to answer. "Winry…I…"
"They are aren't they?" it wasn't really a question but Ed answered anyway.
"…yeah. Yeah they are." He muttered quietly, eyes downcast. Standing beside him, Al's eyes betrayed regret and guilt.
"How?"
It wasn't a difficult question really. One simple word. That was all it was, but suddenly Ed found it difficult to say a word. His mouth opened and closed several times without a sound before he finally said something.
"We were supposed to aprehend an escaped convict. We decided to go undercover and take him down from the inside but he cought on. When we launched our attack, he was ready. It didn't exactly go well." He explained, still unable to look up.
"No Ed, that's not what I mean. You've fought people with guns before and been fine. Now you're telling me that when you tried to take down some convict you got yourself shot? I want to know why it happened Ed. What was different this time?" she said, raw emotion colouring her words. She looked towards Ed, as if expectiong to find the answer written on his face, and in a way it was…
Her eyes widened in realization. "Something's wrong. Really wrong." She stood up suddenly, desperate for answers. Tears slouded her blue eyes. "What's wrong? Why won't you say anything, damn it? Answer me!" She yelled, glancing from Ed to Al. Ed still refused to look up.
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A/N: Yay! Winry's finnally here! Some angst to! I hope to have a nice Ed x Win scene next chapter too. Sorry, I'm not grat at writing fluff ect so I'm sticking to what I know for now. I'll try to have some more romantic parts later and less angst. PLEASE tell me in your reviews whether you'd prefer more angst or some fluff! I need to know!
BTW, sorry it took so long to update. I was away for almost a week and then I was sick for a week after that. Ever since I've been having a hard time getting what I want written down on paper. Stupid writers block. Anyway, that's gone now, so I'll try to update as much as I can in the next while to make up for it!
R & R please!
