Hey gang! Back again at long last. Sorry for the wait! May was an absolute month from hell, plus I've been picking away at much-later chapters again because I kept getting stuck on this one. Shout-out to DonutyReads for kicking my ass into gear with a very polite request for more updates, lol. This chapter was sitting around 80% done for like three weeks, but I finally hammered out the last bit, and here it is!

Song for this one is "Masterpiece" by Big Thief.

Old stars
Filling up my throat
You gave them to me
When I was born,
And now they're comin' out

Layin' there in your hospital bed,
Your eyes were narrow, blue and red
You took a draw of breath and said
To me

That you'd seen the masterpiece;
She looked a lot like me
Wrapping my left arm
Around your right
Ready to walk you through
The night

Old friends,
Old mothers, dogs and brothers
There's only so much letting go
You can ask someone to do

So I'll keep you by my side
I will not give you to the tide
I'll even walk you in my stride,
Marie

'Cause I saw the masterpiece
She looks a lot like you
Wrappin' your left arm
Around my right,
Ready to walk me through
The night

"Winry!" Pinako called, her voice carrying across the upstairs hallway. "Come in here for a moment, would ya?"

"Coming, Granny," Winry replied, setting a stack of folded laundry on her bed before turning and heading into her grandmother's room.

The floorboards creaked under her feet as she stood in the doorway, taking in the scene. Pinako had taken a series of thin garment bags from the huge cedar chest at the foot of her bed, as well as a stack of cardboard boxes that Winry recognized as having come from the basement. They were all arranged haphazardly around the neatly-made bed.

"Whoa," Winry said, blinking. "What's all this stuff?"

"Old clothes," her grandmother said casually. "A few things of mine from way back—and some things that belonged to your mother."

"Oh." Winry felt something flicker in her chest, but she tried not to let it show.

"I don't mean to spring this on you," Pinako continued, "and you don't have to if you don't want to…but I thought you might like to look through some of Sarah's old things and see if any of them fit you. There might be a few dresses in here that'd go over well at the big Armstrong soirée."

"…Really?"

"Really. I don't know how much luck you'll have size-wise, but you're just about grown now, aren't you, so I figure if you find something you like we should be able to tailor it up no problem."

Pinako eyed her granddaughter carefully to gauge her reaction, not wanting to push too hard.

"I…" Winry faltered, then eyed the cardboard boxes. Some of the labels on the outsides were written in what she still recognized as her mother's handwriting. Sarah—Dresses. Yuriy—Winter Gear. Spare coveralls. She swallowed. "Yeah, okay."

"Great," Pinako said. "Alright, then, let's get into it, shall we?"

"Let's do it," Winry said, smiling as her grandmother handed her a bag from the cedar chest. "Do you remember what all is in here?"

"Nope. Can't say I've had much chance to look through it all these past few years—but if memory serves, I think your mother held onto a few dresses from weddings she was in, and there might be some from when she was in medical school too."

"Dresses from medical school?"

"Yeah, well," Pinako said, chuckling, "I wasn't there, of course, but I got the impression from her and your father that East City med students went to more than their fair share of soirées themselves, although some were classier than others."

"That's where they first met, right?" Winry asked, fiddling with the zipper of the opaque garment bag. "In medical school?"

"That's right," Pinako replied. "Although your father almost didn't even go to East City because he was so torn up about some other girl who'd just broken up with him, and that's where she was headed too."

"To med school?"

"No, I think just to work in a shop. That girl—what the heck was her name, now?—wasn't the brightest, but Yuriy was really hung up on her. Personally I wasn't a fan. But you know me, I kept that to myself."

Winry snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Okay, so maybe I made my feelings known from time to time," she conceded. "But I didn't forbid them from seeing each other or anything like that. She was welcome here, even if she made me want to vise-grip my own ears shut."

"That bad, huh?"

"Just stupid. So stupid, and she never stopped talking, but only about what she was thinking about. No questions, no pauses. Just this yappy little monologue, all through dinner. It was like having one of those tiny little show-dogs around, except at least those are quiet when they eat."

"Yikes."

"Uh-huh."

"And she broke up with my dad?" Winry asked. "How come?"

"Well," Pinako said, "I never did get all the details, but I think it had something to do with your dad planning on coming back to Resembool once he was certified, instead of opening a private practice in East City or Central or something like that and raking in the cash."

"Ah," Winry nodded. "So she was one of those."

"That's for sure," Pinako said, laughing. "She thought Yuriy was gonna be her meal ticket—and he was so smitten by her, lord knows why, that he couldn't see it at all. There was no talking to him about her. Of course, he was just young then—there'd be no talking to him anyway."

"How old was Dad when he left for school?" Winry asked.

"Eh?" Pinako raised her eyebrows. "Oh, let me see…he was at home working with me for a few years after we lost Anton, and he was fifteen then…I s'pose he would've been around seventeen when he left? You had to be turning eighteen the same year to enroll. He wanted to go sooner, but he had to wait."

"So he was basically my age, then?"

"Well, just a smidge older. You're not seventeen until next summer, unless I'm completely losing my mind."

"No, I know," Winry said. "It's just weird to think about."

"Everything's weird to think about if you try hard enough," Pinako said, chuckling.

At that, Winry finally got the zipper to the garment bag unstuck, and it slid down with a loud buzzing noise, revealing a long strip of dusty-rose crepe material.

"Oh, wow, look at this!" Winry gasped, carefully extracting the dress from the bag. It was a high-necked cocktail dress with a little pin-tuck and a tiny, elegant rosette at the centre, and a flared-out skirt that she liked a lot. "Oh, this is so pretty!"

Then she saw the sleeves, which were…large. Really, really large.

"Hmm," Pinako said, examining it, eyebrows raised. "I'm no expert, but I'm not so sure those sleeves are what the kids are wearing these days."

"They're definitely not," Winry said, sighing. "But I kind of want to try it on anyway."

"By all means!" Her grandmother took the dress and laid it flat on the bed. "We'll add it to the 'maybe' pile. Lord knows that'd be a great colour on you. It sure suited Sarah, anyway."

Winry beamed.

Meanwhile, Ed and Al were down the hall in their own room, and Al was undergoing a crisis.

"I don't have enough to wear," he said, sighing dramatically as he flopped down onto his bed, clad in a white button-down, black dress pants and a black vest, which hung open unbuttoned.

"What do you mean, 'enough?'" Ed asked, sitting at the writing desk with his feet up and looking over his shoulder at his little brother. "You've got a full outfit right there."

"This?" Al replied. "I can't wear this. This is totally lame. It's so generic."

"I mean," Ed paused to consider. "You could add, like, a cool tie."

"No, that's not what I mean! It's just not…I don't know, sophisticated enough."

"How? It's a suit. What's more sophisticated than that? Like a…like a fur coat? Or a…crown?"

"Ugh, Brother, you are the worst possible person to have this conversation with."

"Whoa, harsh!" Ed protested. "I'm just saying—people aren't going to expect you to have the coolest suit of all time. You just gotta show up in something that won't get you kicked out."

"Oh god, can they kick us out?!" Al asked, a note of hysteria in his voice.

"Al, anyone can kick us out, all the time."

"Oh god."

Ed laughed. "Jeez, calm down, little bro. I was just kidding. Why are you getting so worked up about this?"

"Sorry," Al replied. "It's just…I went four years without having to think about what to wear at all, and now I'm going to this big fancy party where people I actually know are going to be looking at me, and it's gonna actually be, y'know, me this time. It just feels…I don't know…different now."

"Huh. I guess I didn't think of it that way."

"Yeah, so I guess I'm a little nervous."

"Aw, don't be," Ed said, tilting his chair back dangerously on two legs. "Nobody's going to be looking at you when I'm standing right there in my stupid parade uniform looking like a total dork."

"I am looking forward to that part," Al conceded, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Is this the version that has the weird skirt-looking thing?"

"It's not a skirt, it's just like…a longer jacket part. And I don't know if I have to wear that or if only the generals have to. I've never had to do parade dress before now, and I was really hoping I'd get out of the military before I ever had to."

"Well, I guess in the grand scheme of things the military could've forced you to do, this is probably one of the better ones," Al said, laughing.

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Wore-A-Loincloth-For-Four-Years."

"It's not like I had a choice! What was I supposed to do, shop in the big-and-tall section?"

"I mean, yeah, maybe, now that I think about it," Ed said, considering. "Man, what a missed opportunity."

"No, that would've looked insane," Al said. "Anyway, Brother, what are you gonna wear?"

"The uniform. Keep up. Are you getting that brain fuzz thing again?"

"No, I'm not! I mean after the ceremony, for the party."

"Am I not supposed to wear the stupid thing there too?"

"I…" Al paused. "I'm not sure. Is that what 'black tie' means?"

"I am the last person you should be asking about that."

Al laughed. "I guess you're right. Maybe we should call and ask."

"Ugh, I'll do that tomorrow," Ed said with a groan. "Right now I don't wanna think about it."

Just then they heard Pinako's voice calling them from the other end of the hallway.

"You boys come here a minute," she shouted.

The Elric brothers looked at each other and shrugged, then headed from their room to the far bedroom in the back corner of the house.

"What is it, Granny?" Alphonse asked, standing in the doorway with Edward behind him.

"We've got some things here you two might want to try on," Pinako said.

Winry was sitting on the bed behind her, arms full of several different kinds of tweed, looking wistful.

"What is all this stuff?" Ed asked, squinting.

Winry got up and passed a hanger to Alphonse. "Here, Al," she said. "I think this grey might work for you."

Al brushed at the fabric of the suit jacket. "Are these…" he swallowed. "…your dad's old clothes?"

"Yeah," Winry nodded, her expression soft. "We were thinking it'd be better to give them to you guys than to just let them sit in boxes—if you want them, I mean."

"I…" Al looked at her, and then back at the suit. "I'll try it on. Thanks, Winry."

"No problem," she said, smiling as she sat back down on the edge of the bed. "They might not even fit, but if it's close enough we can probably get them tailored."

Ed, meanwhile, looked uncomfortable. "Uh," he began, clearing his throat. "Isn't it kind of weird to be wearing, y'know…"

"…Dead people's clothes?" Pinako interjected, smirking.

"Well, yeah." Ed stared at the floorboards.

"I…" Winry faltered, then spoke up again, picking up a dark-green dress from a pile on the bed. "I thought so at first too…but then I thought about what we did with your armour, Al."

"My armour?"

"Yeah. I remember—you said you didn't want to just have it sitting around, because that would be like letting it die. Well, on Friday night I finished the design for a new arm casing for a patient, and it's going to use up the final piece."

"That's…" Al swallowed. "That's so cool. It's all gonna be out there helping people."

"Yup," Winry said. "We recycled it completely. And I think you were right—just keeping it in the corner wouldn't really have done it justice in the same way. I'm really glad we found a way to make it useful. And so—all these clothes—I want to—" Her voice hitched a little as a wave of emotion rolled over her, and she looked down.

"—You want to do the same thing for your mom and dad," Al said softly, finishing her sentence.

"Yeah." Winry smiled, trying to wipe her eye surreptitiously. A tear had leaked out without her realizing it, even though she'd been fine seconds earlier.

Ed was still standing several paces back and looking uncertain, like he was trying to figure out a way this didn't line up with the principles of alchemy so he wouldn't have to keep thinking about it. Recognizing that his brother was off in his own world, Alphonse sat down next to Winry himself, putting a hand on her shoulder and offering her a handkerchief.

Somebody has to do it, he thought.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

Al looked away obligingly as she composed herself again, his thin hand still resting on her shoulder.

"I think it's a really good idea," he said, and then lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I don't think Ed's going to get his head around it anytime soon, though."

"Hey!" Edward sputtered indignantly from the doorway. "I get it, okay? I was just thinking. Can a guy not think?"

Al and Winry exchanged half-weary, half-amused glances.

"Alright, well, the two of you, then," Pinako prompted. "Grab a few things and go try them on. I may not have any appointments this afternoon, but I do want my own bed cleared off sometime before midnight, ideally, so get moving."

"Okay, okay," Winry said, and she and Alphonse got to their feet. She handed him a stack of clothes she'd already set aside, and gathered up her armful of dresses again. They headed out into the hall and back to their respective bedrooms; Edward, meanwhile, took up residence on the little chair in the hallway, apparently just waiting for the whole thing to be over.

Alphonse was first to re-emerge. "So I'm, uh…thinking this might be a no," he said tentatively.

He was wearing the grey suit Winry had first shown him—or rather, it was more or less draped over him. Al had put on a lot of weight over the past eight months, but his frame was still noticeably thin. The vest was too baggy to sit right, and it looked more like an unusually formal poncho. He was holding up the pants at the waist with one hand, pinching several inches of excess fabric.

Ed and Pinako both took in the sight and snorted.

Al tried to look annoyed, but it was too blatantly ridiculous; all three of them burst out laughing.

The door to Winry's bedroom opened a crack and she poked her head out to see what was going on.

"Oh," she said simply, and then she was laughing too. "Oh no, I'm sorry, Al," she said, wheezing. "I made such a big deal out of this and it's…oh no."

"It's okay," Al replied, clutching at his ribs with the hand that wasn't holding up his pants as he kept laughing. "I mean, at least we tried, right?"

"We really did," she said, sighing. "Hey, Granny, can you come zip me up?"

"Sure," her grandmother said, and she reached through the crack in the doorway to do it.

"Did you have more luck than I did, Winry?" Al asked.

"I dunno," she replied, her voice muffled behind the door. Then it swung open, and she stepped out into the hall. "What do you guys think?"

There was silence for a moment as Winry stood there, the floorboards creaking gently under her feet, in her mother's dress. It was pale blue silk, with sheer chiffon draping across the upper part of the bodice from one shoulder to the other, and delicate beaded flowers and leaves winding down past her waist. The skirt was full and long, reaching all the way to the floor—and even though Winry was standing there as nonchalantly as possible, half-slouching, with her hair up in a straightforward ponytail, the effect was arresting.

"Oh, wow," Al said, taking in the sight. His brother, meanwhile, was staring at Winry looking like he'd just been hit over the head with something heavy.

Pinako's expression was a little harder to read. She looked surprised—and even a little overwhelmed—and something else, too, that Alphonse couldn't quite identify.

The woman exhaled slowly through her teeth, then finally spoke. "Well," she said, "I guess I was right on at least one count today, eh?"

"Really?" Winry asked, her voice tentative. "Do you think it works?"

Her grandmother laughed. "Does it work? Of course it does. Go look in the mirror—you're the absolute spitting image of Sarah."

Winry's eyes widened at Pinako's words, and she hiked up the edges of her long skirt to walk across the hall so she could use the full-length mirror just outside the bathroom door.

"Oh," she said softly.

Meanwhile, Pinako went back into her own room, returning after a few moments holding a photo album. She motioned for the kids to gather around her to look, and they did.

"Your mother wore that to her med school graduation," Pinako said, flipping through the pages until she came to the right one. "There—see? That's her there, with your father. And that's your Grandma Beth and Grandpa James there next to her, though you wouldn't remember them."

"Jeez, Granny, you weren't kidding," Ed said, apparently finally ready to speak again. "They really do look the same."

"Yeah, that's amazing!" Al chimed in.

"It's a strong resemblance, alright," Pinako said, nodding. "And it doesn't stop there, either. Did you know your mother graduated top of her entire class?"

"She did?" Winry asked. "She never told me that!"

"She wouldn't have mentioned it in front of your father—that's probably why," Pinako replied, chuckling. "They were both competing for the top spot at the time, and apparently it was very, very close. She had a lot of people telling her that she'd scare Yuriy off if she didn't let him win—that he would never agree to marry her if she showed him up like that."

"What?!"

"Oh, yeah," Pinako said. "It was apparently a major debate at the time. Just think—if those clowns had been right, you might not even exist!"

"Whoa."

"Uh-huh. Of course, Yuriy didn't know all of that was going on behind the scenes—he was just trying to win because he was competitive as hell."

Winry scoffed. "Figures," she said, smirking.

"I know," her grandmother nodded. "But your mother didn't listen, and studied her ass off, and she won fair and square—and then your father proposed to her the very next day."

"Aww!" Winry and Alphonse reacted in unison.

Edward didn't get quite as excited, but he grinned too.

"Granny…" Winry said, "Do you think…do you think it'd be alright for me to wear this to the party? And the ceremony?"

"Of course it's alright, girl," Pinako replied right away, clapping her granddaughter on the shoulder. "Your mother would be so proud of you—I'm sure she'd have wanted you to wear it."

Winry's face split into a smile even as her eyes filled with tears. It wasn't often that her grandmother said something that sentimental at point-blank range, and it caught her off guard. "Thanks, Granny," she said softly, her voice watery.

She found herself looking at the photograph again—her mother and father, looking young and happy and full of life, triumphant and ready to get to work helping people.

Would they really be proud of me?

She thought again about what she'd decided the night before. She wanted to be as brave and kind and dedicated as her parents had been—but sometimes she was afraid she didn't have it in her.

Winry ran her thumb over the intricate beadwork across her shoulder, staring at the picture of her mother doing the same thing—absently, while she smiled for the camera with her soon-to-be fiancé by her side.

Then she glanced at her reflection in the hall mirror again. It was a little jarring—suddenly she looked so much older and more mature on the outside than she felt on the inside. But Granny was right about one thing: she really was the spitting image of her mother.

As for the rest—well, she couldn't know that. She had a lot to measure up to—but the dress, at least, fit perfectly. So that was a start.

There ya have it! Nice long one. We're inside Winry's head a bit more here, and I've also taken a few liberties with the Rockbell family history. In the next few chapters I will be taking EVEN MORE liberties, but I think you guys are gonna like it. I'm a little anxious about the tone of this one being all over the place, so let me know what you think.

It might be awhile before the next chapter, but hopefully not as long a wait as this one now that I'm back into the swing of things. Hope everybody's staying safe! Thanks for reading; back soon(ish) with more.