Chapter 1: Al's Real Plan

Ed's Viewpoint

"Brother, we're here." I awoke to Al celebrating when they arrived at Reisenbool station.

"Great Al, so let's go see Winry and Mrs. Pinako." I said stretching his arm and leg and then walked over to the station to see Winry standing by a near by tree, just relaxing, she waited from her earlier ride, for this one.

I just stood there after stepping off the train and stared at her, and wow, she was beautiful, I mean she's more beautiful then I remember. I was so star-struck I didn't notice her walk up to Al and hug him.

"Hey Al, it's great to see you again; you too Ed." She said not with as much enthusiasm as she greeted Al.

"Winry, you look more beautiful than ever, right brother?" I nodded and then saw that she had a suitcase with her.

"Have you been waiting for us all day, Winry?" I asked. She looked at her suitcase then at me.

"I guess, only maybe an hour, I just got off, then I went shopping for something for twenty minutes and then rested, and here you are." She smiled at me, and then she walked off with her suitcase, it seemed rather heavy for her.

"Winry, you want me to carry that? It looks heavy." She turned around as though she was surprised she cared.

"Thanks so much Ed, it's full of metals and stuff they use for armor in the military, I borrow it a lot of the time, it's not cheap but they give me the extra, and I'm grateful for that. So how do you feel?"

"About what…oh, you mean about that fight." She nodded. "I'm the laughing stock off the whole military, I could beat a girl."

"She wasn't a normal girl."

"Of course she wasn't. The fact that she was an alchemist set her apart from any other girl; I've never met a female alchemist in my life."

"I either, well until today."

"She made a mockery of brother and she got him on probation for a month." Al said upset.

"Poor Al, he won't be able to get more research done about the stone without being at the library so his work is on halt too."

"Poor Al, I got beat by a girl, she blew up every one of my attacks, and then she tricked me and took down my flag. It's like faking the death of your general then attacking, it was unfair."

"That was the point brother, war isn't fair, only alchemy is and that was war part, using alchemy, she outsmarted you." I looked at Al who was praising the girl, technically for her smarts, in beating me.

"I knew what to expect from her, I heard about her, I talked to her a lot when I war around for the few days I was there. She's smart in how she planned to do that to you."

"You knew how she was going to defeat me, why didn't you tell me Winry?" I was so upset with her wasn't funny anymore.

"She trusted me, I couldn't give away all her secrets, it was a test of your skills, so if I gave you a hint on how it would go that would be cheating and you'd be on probation for a lot longer." Al nodded, and I sighed.

"I guess, but you know her right?" She nodded. "What do you know about her, like her name, and stuff?"

"She goes by the name, Eliza. She never tells anyone in the military her name; they refer to her as the female alchemist or FA for short. Everyone knew she'd take you down before it started, she uses brains, then alchemy, and you'd never believe how much better you can be when you use your brain." I huffed and crashed into the door.

"Door!" I was about to use my alchemy to blow up the door but Al and Winry were watching me. I calmed down, and Winry looked at my cape and picked off a shred of something on it. "Stop, hand me that." She shrugged, and handed it to me.

"It's just something on your cape. It looks like…

"My flag, its part of the flag I was defending. How did she use alchemy without touching it, even I can't do that. She didn't write a circle on the ground either."

"Did I mention that she's a lunar like you?"

"What?"

"It's the technical term for a person who can do alchemy without a transmutation circle. What she bends is too delicate for her to write on, like water, it's written on her hands, except she washes it off to hide it, from others. It's a surprise for them." I smacked my head on the table as we sat down.

"What's his problem?" Mrs. Pinako said pointing at me, Winry laughed.

"Ed's met his match. A girl with lunar alchemic abilities like Ed's. She showed him up in his match, so he's upset." She laughed.

"Alphonse, would you like to come with me to the animal shelter, I'm going to see if they have any more abandoned cats." Al jumped up happily.

"Can I brother, can I?" I looked at Winry who seemed deep in thought and slightly depressed about something, maybe with a break from Al I could find out what's wrong. "Brother, stop staring at Winry and answer me, can I?"

"Sure Al, have fun." After a few minutes of when Al and Pinako left I walked over to Winry and sat next to her. "You okay?" She jumped.

"I guess I am, maybe." I noticed that was covering her arm with her jacket, but only that arm, for 110 degree weather, something must have happened to it. I snatched her jacket from her. "Ed!"

"Come on, what happened to your arm?" She picked up her hand, and then I realized that there was a huge scratch down her arm. "What happened to you?"

"It's nothing really Ed, when the rubble from her attack bursts it spreads all around the field and I was lucky enough to be hit with it, this ones not hers, I think it may be yours, I think it's metal. I tried using pliers but that was no use."

"You should have told me, it could get infected, you know the dangers of working with metal, have you lost your head today, or something?" She shrugged and looked quite depressed. "Stay still for a second." I put my hands on her arm and then it came out. "Wow Winry, it looks very bad, you should check that. It's pretty bad."

"Yah, I guess I haven't been thinking for a while. It hurts a lot. I should have asked for your help after the battle but I didn't." I looked at her; she was really down on herself.

"Now what's wrong, you're seemed so sad about something." She sighed and just looked at the ground, I wasn't doing a very good job of cheering her up or figuring out what was wrong.

"I had a really bad run in with a few people from the past, it was pretty bad, and it has me upset."

"Who was it?"

"Daniel Skyrocket, but Ed will you promise me that you won't do anything to him, please."

"If he did anything to you, I'm going to kill him." I jumped up and headed toward the door, and she stopped me.

"You can't, promise me you won't. It's my problem, and the threats, they're my problem too." She said sadly looking at the ground.

"What did he tell you?" She wouldn't say anything. "What, Winry?" I shook her and she broke down and was crying, at the same moment Al and Pinako came in the door.

"Edward, what did you do to Winry?" I was speechless.

"Brother, how could you after what's been happening to her over the last few months, are you crazy?" I looked at her, true I wasn't the problem but I hadn't solved it, I made it worst. "Come on Winry, you should go calm down in your room." She nodded and looked back at me.

"Al, I'll take care of Winry, you take care of Edward. I don't think Winry told him everything. She promised she wouldn't tell him." Al nodded leaving Winry with her grandmother. Al walked down here and sat across the living room from me.

"I couldn't protect her then, and she won't let me now, Al." I fell back on the couch.

"Trust me we all want to know what's bothering her, all Pinako knows as she's upset and it has to do with Daniel Skyrocket. He kept bothering her and won't leave her alone. She just cries and she's been missing you badly."

"Me?"

"I know brother, with all the ways you bother her, I'm sure she would be regretting bringing you back with her, but Pinako says that when she's upset she asks if you're here, and you never are, so she thought it would be good if you came back."

"So you set me up with Winry's friend, the alchemist?"

"No brother, that was all the system, but it was a good chance, either way you would have been able to come, if on probation for failing or passing you would have been put on mission to protect her, she's in huge amounts of danger."

"She wanted me to promise that I wouldn't hurt him, she wouldn't tell me why. All I know is that something bad will happen if I hurt him." I said miserable without helping her.

"Brother maybe if you figured out what would happen if you did, that might help. She must have promised him she wouldn't tell anyone what he's doing to her, but maybe she'll tell you the threat." I nodded, and walked up there. "Brother, apologize for upsetting her more, you scared her. You can be scary at sometimes, if you don't mean it."

"What?"

"Brother, it's like this, you're stronger then you use to be, you don't know how strong you are, you do things without thinking. You accidentally hurt her arm, something happened to it Pinako said." I smacked my head.

"That was my fault too, Al."

"How was that your fault brother?" I stood up and pulled the piece of metal that I had pulled out of her arm, I hadn't gotten a chance to throw it away.

"When my enemy, whose name is Eliza breaks things shreds of it fly everywhere, one into Winry's arm. I should have had more control. It was too loosely put together; she found a weak spot and boom. It was gone. I hurt Winry."

"You ever going to grow up Edward, that girl didn't care about the others or how you but it together, she's an alchemist, she pulled that together and blew it up, she endangered everyone from how I hear it, I don't know but I think that Winry's accident wasn't your fault. So apologize for accidentally hurting her arm, and then I'd bandage it up if she'll let you, she won't let me." I nodded and stood up.

"Thank you, maybe one day I'll understand Winry, like you do." Al laughed, and my apologizing to Winry and thanking Pinako. I turned around and looked at Al.

I walked up to Winry's bedroom, and then knocked on the door. "Ow!" She came to the door, and looked at me sitting on the bottom of the stairwell, in front of her door, she laughed. I was zapped when I touched the door and threw back. She walked out and touched the door with her left hand, nothing happened. "Why did it zap me?"

"It works on negative magnetism; its so grama doesn't burst in here with an axe or something like that. Here, let me help you." She smiled and I used my normal hand to grab her hand, she was still laughing. "Sorry about that, I didn't think you'd use your metal hand to knock on the door, actually I didn't think you'd knock."

"Why wouldn't I?" She looked at me. "Oh, that whole thing with your front door." She nodded and laughed.

"You okay?" I nodded and followed her in her room.

"Yah, I guess. Al said that Daniel might have forbid you from saying how he had hurt you, but Al suspected that he didn't forbid you from saying what the threat is. Al said it was best if I asked, though I don't see how."

"Al has everything figured out, it's your turn to figure it out, and I'll tell you all I can, because it's all about you. Daniel's jealous of you, Ed. He's going to kidnap Al, that's why I had grama warn him, he wants to take anything that you have that he doesn't away from you. That's why he started with me, because I was closest to someone who he could threat, Al can't be involved in this. If you hurt him, then bye goes Al; that's why."

"He wants you and Ed, right?" She nodded and looked at her hands. "You're arm looks hurt, does it hurt?" She once again nodded. I walked into her bathroom, and pulled out the bandages. She got enough scrapes from metal in the shop she knew how to take care of it but usually she didn't. But this was alchemic metal, metal bended by alchemy so it was more dangerous. She didn't understand that. I came back out and bandaged her arm.

"Thanks Ed, I just don't want Al hurt." She hugged me. I didn't know how to react. I use to hug her all the time, like the innocent way that Al did it. He had no thoughts like I did; he was just being friendly and nice. I couldn't play dumb any more. I wish I could remember how to comfort someone, when I comforted Al I'd say, "Come on Al, we can't break down like this now, this is war." Or something to that effect.

"You're welcome Winry, anytime you're in trouble or Al is I'll be there. He has one thing right, you and Al are the most important people and things to me, no one threatens them." She looked scared. "I promise not to hurt him if he stays away from Al, he comes on this property then he's in for it."

I stood up and left her there a bit happier then she was all day, except when she was talking to Al. She has to fake her happiness for Al because Al doesn't like unhappy people, but neither do I. I just deal, Al breaks down and Winry understands, saps but I care too so I guess I am too.

"Ed, I can teach you where you messed up in the battle and how not to make those mistakes again if you want. Everyone knows your weakness now, and so do you, but you've never thought it as a weakness, think about it, bye." What was with that? I mean you think she won't help you and she's no help and then she's the most helpful person in the world.

"Misunderstanding her again?" Pinako asked, I sighed and nodded and set my head down on the table. "Don't put your dirty head on this table, I just cleaned it. You might want to clean yourself up; Al and Winry are going shopping for outfits for the party."

"Yah, yah I will. Just tell me why she wouldn't help me before but now she will." Pinako laughed.

"Young Edward, equivalent exchange, you made her feel safe so she returns something you need, it's not cheating. It's something she lives for; to show you your weaknesses and this time she's just offering to correct them. She's not cheating just repaying you for her sense of safety you gave her."

"Oh yeah, I guess she always was the person to understand equivalent exchange better than Al and I. I'll go clean up. Wait, what does the party celebrate? She laughed.

"Your, Al and her birthdays; all in the same month, surely you don't forget the huge party she threw the year before you left, usually it's to remember you and Al leaving, and her birthday and for her your two birthdays but this year it's all that. Winry throws the best parties anywhere, like balls, customary to bring a date; it celebrates our heroes, you two, and their birthdays and hers. Everyone is invited this year, usually it's by invitation. She realized that some of your military friends wanted to come and left the party open for everyone." Wow Winry, you've been busy over they years.

"Bye and thank you for explaining everything." I bowed and left to clean up. After I took a shower I went to my and Al's old bedroom. It was tiny compared to what I remember. I put the two small cots together then transmuted them together for Al and I'd sleep in the hall, the cots were when we were younger. I had forgotten where I use to sleep when Al was in his suit.

I awoke, it is about 4am and I heard someone. I went back to sleep. Then something hit me hard, it was light but it had quite a force with the speed it hit. "Ouch." It said; I know that voice.

I turn on the flashlight, "Winry, what are you doing up?" She just looked at the ceiling, which was very suspicious. "Come on Win, fed up?" She crossed her arms and turned around and got up. I grabbed her arm and she tried to struggle free, then lightning struck. She screamed and she fell to the ground and I could see her eyes they were full of fear, I turned on the hallway lights. She was breathing very hard and then she just hugged me, she was crying.

Al and her grandma came out in the hall and saw us. I was blushing badly but it was a good thing she was crying because she couldn't see that I was crying. "Brother, what did you do to Winry now?" I sighed and then looked at her grandma. Winry didn't loosen her grip it was very tight around me, she was very scared.

"Winry, are you okay?" Winry didn't listen to her grandma and I looked at Al hoping he'd understand. "Edward would you mind taking Winry back to her bedroom, she's gone through her drama stages again."

"What?"

"Later Edward." I nodded and picked up her because when I let her walk she fell down and wouldn't walk. She wouldn't let go, so I sat there until she started falling asleep then I laid her down and covered her with the blankets.

I walked into her grandma's room, Al was there too. "Okay, she's finally asleep." I nodded. "Ever since Daniel moved back in town and she visited him, she's been like that, she leaves her room and walks over to the hallway and goes outside and runs all the way around the house and comes in the backdoor and walks back up the stairs, she's reliving drama of whatever happened with Daniel. The first times she's denied it happen, and then if we touched her during the stage she'd scream and struggle and fall to the ground in tears. I'm sorry she had to bring you into this, especially you Edward."

I nodded and returned to bed. "Should we tell him?"

"I don't think so Alphonse; he'll know when it shows up itself. She won't be fine unless she tells him; it's for the best that way." I didn't get it was something that she needed to tell me that I needed to know.