Chapter 7: The Mission and the Dance

"Brother, Winry, people are going to be arriving soon." Al yelled after Winry and Ed had fallen to the ground with all the dancing.

"Are you going to be in any shape to dance?" Winry asked him.

"Yah, I'm fine, just a bit tired. Also hungry, you have anything I can eat." Winry sighed and they both stood up and she walked into the kitchen of the dinning hall where she and her culinary assistant, Sciezka were making all the food the earlier day.

"What do you want to eat?" Ed came in there and looked at all the wonderful food with his mouth wide open and drool coming out of it. "We have plenty because we might let you eat tonight, It's only 3 so we have two hours before eating, but what do you want to eat?"

"Anything, I just want food." Winry sighed and tossed him a piece of chicken which he caught and ate. "Thanks, you hungry." She shook her head then her stomach growled.

"Maybe I'll have a cookie or something to tie me down for 2 hours." He just laughed then continued to eat.

"Winry, Edward, guests." They finished up rather quickly and ran out to floor. Pinako had made it clear that they had guests.

"Look its Mustang." Winry pointed out, and Ed just crossed his arms and she patted him on the head, like a dog except she's put more force on his head to know he wasn't suppose to act like that.

"Seems like you have him under control Winry, so let's sit and talk." Ed just stood there after the two left, she excused herself from the table, and went to get Ed and Al.

"Al this is about you too, Ed, just behave okay." Ed pouted and she looked at him, he sighed and went to the table.

"Good, Alphonse is here too. Well what have you three decided to do. You know that I can't force you to go until the month is up but I can fill out a form and make you, but that's your choice. Alphonse I know that you'd be much more comfortable with your brother but like I have told Riza and a few other people, even though you're in the military he won't think twice about kidnapping you and taking you away forever so they're in hiding. He hasn't targeted any female military, they have mostly all been alchemists, and generals. I expect that you Winry are going to be taking on full command of protecting the people, keep yourself safe as I'm sure Edward and Alphonse have already told you. So Edward what do you want to do?"

"I'm going out on the field with the rest of the military and the alchemists." Ed out of the sides of his eyes could see Winry worried, apparently Mustang could see it too.

"Permission to speak." Ed looked at her then at mustang, she usually wasn't that military prompted but she respected them especially when it came to Edward and Alphonse, she worried and this only made sense.

"Permission Granted, go on." Mustang said, Ed's eyes never left her.

"I don't think it's the smartest thing to but Edward on the battlefield."

"Why would that be Winry?"

"All of Edward's friends are in the military which mean just as easily as Alphonse or I could be taken away from him to weaken Ed, Ed could be taken away to weaken Alphonse and I."

"A very well thought of detail, I hadn't thought of it like that." Mustang said. Ed stuck his tongue out at her, and Mustang watched him and stared at him, Ed acted innocent. "Edward, what do you have to say in your defense?"

"I can handle myself Winry." She laughed.

"Mustang, let us not forget that during Edward's last exam to move up a level he failed on accounts of me facing the opposite way not watching his movements, or the movements of the boulder; usually that is how I take down my enemies but Ed I didn't." Ed pouted and she smiled.

"Your defense Edward?" Mustang asked.

"I don't know, what does Winry think, where should I be, answer me that?" Ed said trying to show up Winry.

"That is not my place in this military; it would be Mustang's job to think of a place for you."

"Okay I have a plan; Winry, you train Edward how you were taught alchemy, defensively and Edward can stay on base with you and help defend everyone, and Alphonse she's going to teach you too." Mustang told Ed. Ed pouted.

"Okay, brother is this plan good with you?" Al asked.

"I guess whatever the Fuhrer says goes so yes sir." Mustang nodded and left them. Ed looked at Winry.

"Winry, that was amazing, how did you do that?" She laughed.

"Getting Ed in trouble is what I live for and humiliating him and proving points just is part of it. Plus I don't know what I'd do if Ed was to be taken away from me." Ed sighed and took Winry's hand and squeezed it. "Al, I'm sure that you're fairly good at defensive alchemy right?"

Ed started laughing and Al looked at the ceiling. "Winry, brother was taught all about offense, and all I can do is create stuff from other stuff." Winry let out a huge sigh.

"I have my work cut out for me huh."

"Then we better start working all through tonight, huh Winry?" Alphonse asked.

"Brother, you are getting a lot better at dancing, how is your head doing?" Ed looked at Winry who was chuckling to herself.

"Its fine Al, but someone should be more careful who she whacks with wrenches, can't us use a pillow next time."

"You even think about doing that again and I'll transmute the metal at a much higher volume so it his you a lot harder, and stronger." Ed held his head and Al laughed.

"Okay to keep brother from loosing all his remaining brain cells, Winry we'll ground you from working on automail for a week every time you hurt brother with a wrench or any metal object outside of practice." Winry pouted and Ed smiled. "I'm sorry Winry but brother is going to need brain surgery if you keep up with all this hitting him with wrench stuff."

"Fine, I guess it's only fair, to save Ed." Winry pouted and her grandmother watched and took the transmuted wrench away from her. Winry pouted even more and Ed smiled and they waited at the door for their guests.

"Hey Winry, so how are you?" Sciezka asked.

"I'm just fine, how are you?" Winry responded.

"What's wrong with Edward, Alphonse?" Sciezka asked.

"Winry got really upset with him a while ago and hit him hard with a wrench, he's recovering." Sciezka looked at Winry and she pouted.

Hours later all their guests had arrived and they had eaten, and settled and were ready for the dancing portion of it. "You ready Ed," Winry asked.

"As ready as I'm going to be." Everyone and their dance partners went on to the floor and had a very good time. After Ed had tired himself out he sat down and Winry did too smiling. "You're happy." She rested her head on the table. "Shouldn't your endurance be better than that, you're an alchemist, aren't you?"

"Heh, defensive alchemy requires sitting and waiting until your enemy attacks then taking them down, so you have to be calm, still, and rest; endurance has nothing to do with it." Ed pouted.

"Your form of alchemy seems so boring and not very helpful." Winry laughed.

"Defensive is the best form of offensive, defense beats offense every time so that's why it's important to master both." Ed sighed. "Don't be so down about this, it'll improve your alchemy a lot and since I'm horrible on offense, you might have a chance at beating me."

"Then it'd be worth it."

"Don't count on winning though; I plan to use every trick in the book."

"I look forward to it." They danced around for a while then sat again. Winry and Ed saw that Sciezka had sat down. "How's Al doing?"

"I wish I knew, he won't speak to anyone, or do anything, he's completely out of it." Winry and Ed looked at each other.

"I'll take care of this." Ed shrugged. "Ed, just do anything until I get back, it may be a while." Ed shrugged.

Winry walked to see Al at the back of the room, in the dinning area. "Al, what are you doing way out here, everyone is in the other room."

"I'm sorry Winry, It's just that I needed time alone." Winry grabbed a chair and put it in front of Al.

"No, something's bothering you. You and Edward have the same look in your eye, I know you two, and nothing gets passed me." Alphonse sighed.

"No one knows me, in this body, they say I look just like Alphonse Elric but Alphonse is 16 now. They don't know me; they never did, did they?" Winry shook their head.

"To be honest Al, the only people who care about you out there is Sciezka, Edward, my grandma, and me which is more than I can say for most people. You're lucky you have so many people that care about you." I nodded. "So many people know who you are, not by seeing you, but by the way you've touched their hearts Al. I have so many names given me, Ed's mechanic, Ed and Al's friend, Ed's girlfriend, and stuff like that."

"I'm sorry that know one knows you Winry."

"Don't be sorry Al, it's an honor to be associated with you and Ed but now recently I get my own recognition, and some still tied in to Ed but that's fine. The defensive alchemist, Ed's girlfriend, the girl who beat Edward Elric or Fullmetal; all those names describe me and they don't hurt me, be some hurt because they aren't a term of endearment, it's just saying how it is, like she's just a girl, that girl; without respect is different, a title but still disrespectful and I don't like that."

"I'm sorry I didn't know."

"You have it much worst because of your mistakes that use to show on your face, and still do because of your past, don't worry about me but what they call you upsets me, the tin boy, suit of armor kid, it's not nice, and very bad, and I'm surprised some days you don't break down, you and Edward are the strongest people I've met, with Ed being called FullMetal, it is saying he has automail which causes his lack of self confidence, but he accepts it because it's who he is. You have it worst because Ed could hide his automail, but you can't hide the suit of armor and it caused problems, and everyone felt bad for you, and some of the other names were horrible but you stood strong. Be strong as you were in that suit Al, no go and show them who you are."

"Winry, I don't think I can."

"Al, you've always been shy but this is ridiculous because you're Alphonse Elric and usually people stare at you, and now you want to hide, you and Edward save so many people and will continue on, you deserve respect to go get it now." Al sighed and got up and left.

Winry came back and sat down at the table and Ed smiled and put out his right arm and she nodded and got up to dance, Sciezka and Al had already started dancing. "So what was Al all apart for?"

"Identity Crisis, like someone else had today." Ed ran off and ran to Al.

"Al, are you okay?"

"Yah brother, Winry solved all my problems. She's good at that." Ed turned back to Wirny and she smart mouthedly smiled at him.

"She didn't hit you with a wrench?"

"No brother, she just loves you so she wanted to get it through your thick head that was what you needed, I just agreed easily, that's why." Ed sighed and walked back to Winry.

"You could have told me." She kissed his forehead.

"I was going to but you ran off, don't leave my side."

(Lights run off and someone screams) "No one move or the girl here gets it." Winry had been taken from Ed and he was just struck in fear. It was the guy.

"Let me go!" Winry screamed, this guy was smart he had tied one arm to her front and one to her back, she couldn't do any alchemy, Ed was too struck with fear to do anything, and Alphonse just was standing there, he unlike his brother or Winry couldn't do alchemy without a circle and what would he do if he had time to make a circle.

"This is your warning; I will be back for the others." He started walking off with Winry and Riza shot him right in the leg, apparently she has a very good shot, it was just long enough for Winry to fall to the ground and the guy to get away. Ed snapped out and Winry was not moving, and crying on the floor, everyone watched as Ed came to her side and brought her closer to him. He picked her up and took her into the kitchen to the table to set her down at.

"Winry, please say something." Ed asked to make sure she wasn't hurt and was okay, he hadn't seen any damage to her but he never knew.

"Ed," was all she could get her voice to say, it like Ed was, was struck with fear. After a few seconds Mustang, Riza, Auntie, and Alphonse walked in there to see her she hadn't moved a muscle, and she wouldn't untie herself and Ed wouldn't unless she was okay, and out of fear.

"Edward, is she alright?" Riza demanded to know.

"I don't know, she only says my name, that's it." Edward said watching them.

"Winry, come on please talk to me and brother." She shook her head and rested her head on Ed's shoulder. Alphonse looked at Ed and Ed just shook his head.

"I shouldn't have taken quite a risk like that, I didn't know anything else I could do. She's not a military person yet, actually now she is, that test was her last one to see if she could make it in, taking down Mustang, Armstrong, and now you Edward, it was enough but she pushed she could keep going, it put too much stress on her already."

"What?" Edward questioned.

"She can't stand people getting hurt Edward, when she was taking her test every time she couldn't hurt anyone, all she would do is defend us to the very last second, and then she'd blow up the field and we'd fly to the other side, and she'd call it off from there, then we had to think of a way to fairly test her, so the flags were designed, she couldn't do direct harm to anyone, we feared for her, she'd break down because of something like this." Mustang said looking at her. "She just can't handle it."

"But Winry has dealt with lives of many people who were just covered in blood from accidents, why would any of this be different then when she does automail." Alphonse asked.

"She's sympathizes with them Al, like her parents did. They were doctors and took care of anyone who was in danger, that's one of the reasons I didn't think she could be an alchemist, after she saw what we had to do. She doesn't want to feel the guilt of hurting another person after her parents; Auntie and even she have been correcting these problems in the world their whole lives." Ed said, then looking at the girl he was holding in her arms.

"I wondered about the same thing Edward, I told her not to, she said it was something she could handle, but it wasn't, she's finally lost it." Ed looked at Auntie then back at Winry.

"I'm relieving her from her duties of protecting the other, on the terms of mental recovery, make sure she sees a psychologist." Ed nodded and Mustang was right she couldn't handle it.

"No!" She screamed, everyone turned around. "I can do it, I can."

"Winry, do you even see your state?"

"Yes I do Edward, I know my problem, I can handle myself, and this. I am part of the military and curing people is my job as a automail specialist and now I'm protecting these people's lives from suffering horrible deaths, you don't understand."

"Maybe you don't Winry." Auntie said and Winry and Ed looked at her. "If you can't handle the enemy getting hurt, how can you be able to defend people who are already being threatened today, how?"

"I don't know." Winry said turning away.

"You can't, that's it, you know your duty, but you can't handle it. It's like I told Edward when he couldn't stand the troubles of military life, when you join the military, you have to grow up, and you can't handle death."

"Winry, we'll talk about what we can do, we'll decide this later. And Edward, untie her." Ed smacked his head and untied her.

"Winry, do as Auntie and brother said please, if we lost you in your own mind, we wouldn't forgive ourselves. Just stay in the bedroom, brother and I can handle it." Winry pouted.

"I'll think about but from what you two tell me you stink at defensive alchemy, so I'll teach you and see if you can hold your own."

"I say that is fair, what about you brother?" Ed nodded. "We just don't want to see you having problems because of the military."

"I understand Al, but it's my choice and I can handle this. It'll take practice."

"If only we had time." Ed pointed out.

"Come on let's dance Ed, you go out and have fun too Al. Let's go." Ed just laughed and then Winry pulled him out onto the dance floor and Al went back to dance with Sciezka.

They danced for 6 more hours and then went home, they were all tired out that they collapsed as soon as they got to their rooms, they didn't sleep but they couldn't barely sit up but Ed needed to talk to Al.

"You think that she'll be able to handle it Al?"

"Winry just needs to understand her choices, it's either them dead or her; then she'll get it and be able to handle it. The training is going to put a lot of stress on her tomorrow because she knows her choices, if she can't defend them, then you have to be able to and if she can't then everyone is in trouble."

"I guess, I'm just…

"…worried about her. I worry about her too brother, talk to her about it tomorrow, I'm sure she'll be up early figuring it out in her own mind, help her, you understand what she's going through, I don't get it because I was never under command of the military, you were, I just sat to the side. I didn't have to fight off people, just defend you."

"Okay, I'll do that, for Winry. I understand how she feels, especially after seeing mom die, and then all the pain you had to go through, and my pain; it was hard and I had trouble but after Nina was killed I had to stop them people who would do that to someone like her."

"You have to bring that to Winry's attention, how we're fighting against people but Winry has helped people good and bad who needed help, like her parents had told Mustang, in doctoring there are not sides, but Winry took a side, she has to see the difference."

"If she can just protect the people, we can take him down and end this without Winry having to hurt him. I don't know why she'd sympathize with the person who threatened to kill her." Ed talked with his brother, trying to understand Winry.

"She sees that he's a person, she doesn't see that he's evil, like we do. She knows but she doesn't take it seriously, that's why she broke down. She realized that even though she doesn't want him hurt, he doesn't care and would hurt someone who didn't do anything. She's going very deep inside herself." Al explained to his brother.

"What if we aren't there and he comes, she has to come to the fact that to protect herself and all those people, she has to hurt him, so he can't hurt anyone else." Ed feared.

"When the time comes, if it does, her heart will know what to do, we can only hope brother." Ed nodded fearing that Al was right and she would know what's right in the end before it's too late.

"I'll explain it as easy as I can but it's hard for us to." Al nodded.

"Good-luck, we have to rest, I'm sure Winry's going to put us through tougher training then she did when you got your automail arm and leg, and according to you that was tough."

"You bet it was, but tomorrow has to be harder because the outcome of how well she trains us will risk with it so many people's lives, and she knows it. She has to be hard, the same way she had to be hard on me so I'd adjust."

"You're right brother, good-night."

"Good-night Al." The two brothers slowly fell asleep, meanwhile Winry slept on everything that happened the day, the good and the bad, and what would become of tomorrow.

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