"I'm back!" Winry entered Ed's room to see everyone looking strange.
"You... guys alright?"
"Yeah... storm just rolled by." Ed mumbled, seeming dazed.
"Okay..." Winry went to change the subject.
"I got you those tickets." She said as she held up an envelope.
"Y-You're leaving already?" Maes asked, turning to look at Manami. "But your wounds aren't even healed yet..!"
"We'll be fine..." Manami tried assuring him.
"Says the one who can't move her right arm! Did that ho—"
"L-Let's talk about this later!" Manami cut off Maes, shifting her glance back and forth between Winry, which gave him the signal that she didn't want to talk about this in front of Winry.
"We're going to Dublith tomorrow." Ed announced, to help change the subject.
"Where is that?" Winry asked, and Al had taken out a map that was in the same envelope as the train tickets.
"It's here," He pointed to it on the map. "Right in the middle of the south.
"Wait!" Winry gasped and also went to point at the map. "That's right before Rush Valley?"
"Huh?" Manami asked. "What's in Rush Valley that's got you excited?"
"Automail!" Winry shrieked, taking everyone back.
"You gotta take me, Ed! Take me! Take me! Please! Please! Please!" She begged Ed, who only glared at her.
"Just go yourself." He muttered. We don't have time for vacation stops."
"Excuse me! Who just went out and bought those tickets for you?!" Winry yelled at him.
"And I paid for them!" Ed yelled back. "Don't try to use that against me!"
"We could stop there for just a day," Manami suggested. "I don't see the big deal."
"I think a break from all the stress would be good for us." Al added.
"See, that's how you treat a friend! Thank you Manami and Alphonse!" Winry grinned, and then pointed to Ed. "You're outnumbered, so we're going!"
"I never even— Ugh, it's not like I have a choice, do I?" Ed groaned.
"I planned to go back home, but this is too good to pass up! Hold on, I gotta call Granny!"
And before anyone else could say anything, Winry was out the door.
"..." Manami sighed through her nose and smiled. Seeing Winry happy again was a nice sight.
"She'll make you a good wife someday." Maes put his hand on Ed's shoulder.
"Why do you keep bringing that up?!" Ed barked, making Al and Manami laugh.
"Oh, Manami, I got good news for ya. Ed was discharged today, but I was told on the way here that you were too! So come home with me and have a big dinner with us before you leave tomorrow!
"Oh, really? Even with my shoul—" Manami was cut off by Maes pulling out a bag. Where did he even get that from?
"As long as you clean your wound and rub ointment on it every night!" He grinned.
Manami frowned. She hated the smell of ointment...
"Fine..."
"Look who I brought home!" Maes chimed as he, Winry, and Manami walked through their front door.
"Nami!" Elicia excitedly ran to hug her leg. "And Winny, too!"
"Hi Elicia," Winry greeted her.
"I'm so glad you're alright..." Gracia went to hug Manami. She smiled softly and hugged her back with her free arm.
"Yeah, me too." She hummed.
"I'd hate to be the bad guy, but I was wondering if I could steal Manami for a hot minute. I needed to talk to her about something." Maes asked, looking down to Elicia hugging her leg. She frowned up at him, seeming unwilling to let go.
"It'll be quick, I promise. How about an extra cookie at dessert for the trouble?" He offered.
"Ooh!" Elicia immediately let go of Manami's leg, making everyone laugh. That was almost too easy.
Maes and Manami quietly walked to her room where he held the door open for her and shut it behind her.
"... I think I know what you want to talk about—"
"I was so worried..." Maes cut Manami off, and she looked back to see that he was gritting his teeth. The pain that washed across his face rendered her speechless. He was always so smiley and cheerful at the hospital...
"We almost lost you just a couple nights ago. That call you made to us could've been the last. Did you know the danger you were getting yourselves into?" He asked.
"... no, I didn't." Manami went to sit on her bed, looking down.
"I thought I did... but I really had no idea." She said, as Maes went to sit on the other bed in the room, across from her. He took his glasses off and used his other hand to rub the bridge of his nose, between his eyes.
"Please... I know those boys will go to any lengths to get their bodies back, but..." He sighed heavily. "You need to listen to the Furher."
He removed his hand and put his glasses back on before looking back at her. "I know how your mind works. I know that you didn't know of the danger until you were already in it, but..." He paused. "Now that you do know, I trust you to lead those boys in the right direction and keep them— and yourself— out of danger."
"Okay. I promise." Manami offered him a small smile. She had no objections.
Maes went to get up and bend down in front of her, pulling her into a hug.
"... all of this has me terrified. For you, and those boys." He said quietly. She could hear his voice waver a little. She sighed softly and buried her head in his shoulder as she hugged him back.
"... I'm scared, too..." She admitted. "But I have to help them..."
"I know you do." Maes pulled away and kissed the top of her head. "That's why I'm not trying to stop you. But I am begging you... to be smart and diligent. For yourself— and for them."
Manami nodded, forcing a small smile. "... I will... thank you..."
It was like Gracia had gone all-out to make the best dinner for the celebration of Manami and Ed's recoveries, as well as wishes for all of them to have safe travels tomorrow. After everybody ate, Manami and Winry played with Elicia until it was time for bed, to which Elicia requested that Manami tuck her in.
Manami followed Elicia into her room and watched as she jumped in her bed and went to crawl under the covers.
"Thanks for tucking me in, Nami." Elicia smiled and Manami pulled the covers over her and properly tucked them into the mattress.
"Of course, anytime you want. Just don't ask too much or your dad will get jealous." She replied with a soft chuckle, but noticed Elicia's smile had faded.
"Are you really going away tomorrow..?" She asked quietly. It made Manami's heart break.
"... yeah..." Manami forced a smile. "But I'll be back very soon. I gotta go somewhere with Winry and big and little brother."
"Oh, I see..." Elicia also forced a smile. "You and Winny keep big and little brother out of trouble. That's what daddy says."
"He's absolutely right." Manami nodded. "I'll wake up super early so we can play a lot before we go tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay..!" Elicia seemed excited. Manami chuckled softly and went to kiss her forehead.
"I'll see you in the morning." She went to stand up.
"Goodnight Nami..."
"Goodnight Elicia..." Manami smiled back at her before opening the door and walking out.
She went to her room for a moment to grab a change of clothes. She really wanted a shower... with as hot of water as her shoulder would allow.
Manami undressed and looked at herself in the mirror. She had a lot of bruises... she never really got to look at herself since she got all these injuries. She saw the bandage on her shoulder, and slowly went to remove it.
The wound looked horrendous.
Even with the bandage on it, there was so much dried blood around it. She hoped that, after this shower, it would look a lot better.
Nonetheless, maybe hot water wasn't a good idea.
She stepped into the shower to get started on cleaning up. While it was a little painful, the cleaning of her shoulder wound wasn't as bad as she thought. In fact, she was pretty sure the hole had closed up, which was a good sign. The scab just needed to heal, and heal nicely, if she kept up with that ointment.
The thought of how bad it was gonna small still made her face twist in disgust.
But she remembered that she had left that in her room.
And so she finished her shower, toweled off, brushed her hair, and got changed into pajamas. She thought it would be best to wear a light t-shirt, so that Winry didn't see the wound, but with soft enough material to not irritate the wound too much.
She made her way back to her room, opening the door to see Winry getting ready at the bed across from her own.
"Oh, hey..." Winry smiled at her. "Feel better after that shower?"
"Much better." Manami smiled back.
"How's your shoulder?" Winry asked, making Manami chuckle nervously.
"Pretty fine. I think I'll leave it out of the sling overnight and see how it feels tomorrow."
"You left your ointment on the table there," Winry pointed it out, making Manami a little more nervous. "Do you need help putting it on?"
"N-No... I got it!" Manami tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, but Winry wasn't convinced.
"You don't want me to see it, do you?"
"No! I mean, it's not that I don't want you to," Manami went to grab the bottle off her bedside table. "It's just gross, so I don't need to subject you to that..."
"Did you forget my mom and dad were doctors?" Winry muttered, unimpressed by Manami's excuse.
Manami's mouth hung open. "Ah..." She actually did forget...
"..." Winry sighed. "Sit down." She told her, getting up to snatch the bottle out of Manami's hand.
"But—"
"Sit." Winry ordered, more stern this time. Manami quickly obeyed.
"Take off your shirt so I can look at it." Winry said, and Manami whined.
"But I'm shy..." Manami joked lightly, and Winry groaned.
"Alright, alright... I was just jokin'." The brunette sighed as she went to pull her shirt over her head. Winry gasped at the sight of her right shoulder.
"I told you it looked gross." Manami muttered, after hearing her gasp.
"Is that... a hole in your shoulder?" Winry asked, almost breathlessly.
"It's closed, isn't it?" Manami looked back at her.
"Yeah, but... it's still pretty nasty. This is gonna scar..." Winry's eyes trembled. "... did Ed get this hurt?"
Manami's eyes narrowed and her eyes pursed.
"Nope. I did this one to myself." She wasn't exactly lying. "He doesn't have anything this bad."
She didn't know if Ed had any injuries as bad as this, but even if he did... she wasn't about to tell Winry that. She could telll that Ed didn't want her to know, and it surely wasn't her place to tell her.
"How did you manage to do this to yourself?" Winry asked, going to open the bottle of ointment.
"Ahh... it's complicated." Manami tilted her head to the side.
She knew where this was going.
"I'm listening." Winry said simply. Manami heard her squeeze some ointment out of the bottle and she resisted the urge to groan.
She was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place... Ed would absolutely kill her if she told her the truth. But Winry would absolutely kill her if she lied.
This wasn't fair.
"We went somewhere we shouldn't have, with intentions to look around, and it was guarded." Manami explained, as vaguely as possible, but then jumped at the sudden chill on the back of her shoulder as Winry started rubbing the ointment on.
"Ahh..! Cold..." She whined.
"Go on." Winry reminded her.
"W-We were under the impression that this place was abandoned, so we didn't know that anyone would be there standing guard. And they did their job." She looked back to her and opened her hand.
"Let me have a squirt. I can handle the front side."
Winry nodded and squirted some ointment onto Manami's fingers before continuing to rub in the ointment on her back side.
"Did you know that you weren't supposed to be at that place?" She inquired.
"Mm... that's a good question." Manami answered, her eyes on her fingers gently rubbing the ointment over her wound.
"I mean, obviously in hindsight, but... at the time?"
She remembered how Armstrong and Second Lieutenant Ross told them not to go. That technically meant they knew not to go...
"... were these guards trying to kill you?" Winry asked, before she could finish.
"Actually... no." Manami answered. "They had no intention to kill us."
"How sure are you about that?"
"Like, 'we were told we're not going to die' kind of sure." Manami looked back at her, giving her a serious look that told her she was telling the truth.
"... okay..." Winry finished rubbing the ointment in and backed away, looking down to her lap.
"I just... I worry about them you know?" She sighed. "And, now that you're back..."
"I'm just another someone to worry about. I get it." Manami answered for her, not turning to look back at her.
Winry looked down to her lap, not knowing what to say.
"... I don't think that worry is ever gonna totally go away." Manami sighed as she finished rubbing in the ointment.
"All I can suggest is... well, you just gotta keep believing in them." She said, making Winry's eyes widen.
Manami glanced back at her. "And... you gotta look at me joining them as another reason that the idea of getting their bodies back will one day become a reality. If you think of it any other way, it's setting us—"
She stopped abruptly.
"No... them, up for failure." She corrected herself, but then shook her head.
"I know it's easier said than done, but... that's what I would try to do, if I were in your shoes." She offered her a small smile, and after a moment, Winry smiled back. She handed Manami back her shirt and even went to help her put it on, slowly moving her right arm to stick it through the sleeve.
"... thanks Manami." Winry said, smiling at her. "That... really helped, actually."
Manami grinned, her eyes closing as her smile grew bigger. "Heh, I'm glad..!"
That really made her happy.
But, it didn't last long. She got distracted by the stench of...
"... okay, this ointment stinks." Manami's smile quickly faded, and Winry laughed as she went to toss Manami her shirt and stand up.
"Let's go wash our hands, then." The blonde suggested, going to the door.
"Yes, please." The brunette followed her.