Hello everyone! I hope everyone reading this is doing fine and so far enjoying my little story! ^^ :3 I'm still unsure how long this story will be, I originally planned for it to be pretty short, since I thought not many people would be interested in my writing style and the story idea in general, but since I've gotten some positive feedback, I guess it can be a bit longer as long as it doesn't get boring. :)

Oh BTW, I just recently made my own Instagram account under the name "DragonRedfox" ^^ (with the same profile picture) I think it's silly but a few friends somehow convinced me and yeah...haha if anyone wants to look at some of my quotes, pictures, story-related posts or anything else I may post in the future feel free! :)

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:

Lily: haha Yeah, it was the last thing Winry wrote on her reply to Ed, I thought it would be nice if Ed remembered something like that, even if they don't have any sort of relationship quiet yet. ^^

Cassey: Mhm, that's right! I have in mind that at one point, which will come much later, Garfiel would playfully flirt and harass Greed and Ling ;) haha

Bob: Aw really? Cool! I hope I was brunette in your dream (since I am one lol) haha aw, that would be so cool! :3

Penguin20: Yup it's Winry alright!

Literature Work: Hi there! I'm really glad that you enjoy my story so far! :3 haha Well it was Winry's line that he remembered and for now, that's a secret ;)

Bloodynessie: I was thinking of writing about that maybe in the next chapter or in two-three chapters where I clarify Ed's life as a soldier and how he came to be one, perhaps even later in the story. :) Meh, mine isn't too elegant either but oh well :P

Daughterofapollo12345: haha nope they don't ;) I'm glad you liked them, personally I love writing those bits the most! ^,^

Panic: Naw thank you Panic! You always flatter me so! :3

SweetRiceball20: Hi there, welcome to mah story! ;) Thank you so much! BTW: I really like your profile pic, it's damn cute! :3 haha

GrumpyCatWriter101: haha Hi there! Oh thank youuu soo, soo much! Seriously, I always get so excited when I see that people like to read my stories so really thank you! I hope I can still keep you interested with future chapters too! :) haha

Enjoy!

Matters of the State

"Y-you what?" Lena blinked, slightly caught off guard by the sudden serious question Winry prepared for her.

The blonde scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably, "Y-you don't have to answer it if it's too personal, I just wondered that because you all have either husbands or boyfriends who are in the military so I was curious..." blue eyes looked into stunned brown and Lena started to giggle, "Hey! That's not funny!"

"Oh, no, no, I'm not laughing at you. It's just...I don't know, you usually don't want to have much to do with the military. Why the sudden interest huh? Is it maybe because of a certain Elric brother?" she winked, ducking when Winry attempted to hit her with a tool from her workbench.

"Oh shut up! Just answer the questions!" Winry muttered, sighing.

Lena giggled before clearing her throat, "Alright, alright. Well...it does get pretty lonely every once and a while you know? Especially on birthdays or holidays, well...not only then but those are the times when it really starts to set it I guess. At the beginning, the first two years or so, it had been hell but after some time I accepted it for what it was and prayed that Greed half knows of what he is doing there," she half joked, winking.

Winry smirked, "Wait, you pray?" Lena lightly shoved her shoulder, ignoring the comment about her beliefs.

"Oh but the phone sex and naughty skype videos make up for-" Lena began, a devilish grin on her face as she saw her friend's face turn into a tomato as the blonde mechanic started frantically "searching for her tools".

"A-ah, alright, alright! You know what?! Don't you have work or something?! I mean, it's like really, really early and you have your shift and-"

Lena cut her off calmly, smirk in place, "It's eight in the afternoon sweetheart, don't go getting all shy with me," Lena laughed, briefly thinking if she talked too much with Greed shaking her head at herself.

Winry sighed, "He still didn't answer and two weeks passed..." the sudden sad expression on her friend's face caused Lena's own to soften and place a comforting hand on Winry's shoulder.

"Hey, cheer up will you? It's not the end of the world and I'm sure he will write as soon as he's able, they may have had a few run ins with Drachma from what Greed told me last time," she rubbed her chin, recalling her semi-embarrassing conversation she had with her boyfriend a few weeks back.

Winry stopped cleaning her tools and turned around to stare at Lena, "...How do you do it?" she tilted her head, like Den when she was confused.

Lena blinked, perplexed, "Do what?" she scratched her head, confused.

"Be so happy...motivating others all the time and cheering us all up...I mean, you have a lot on your plate too Lena..." Winry's gaze was sad and sympathetic.

Lena didn't answer for a few minutes, her throat suddenly dry like sand as she fought to find the right words. It was true, Lena was a strong woman, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to "tame" Greed, like many of her friends tease her, but she herself had a lot of things to worry about.

Lena smiled, closing her eyes, fighting to keep the tears that were slowly starting to build up at bay, "It's not how much I have on my plate...it's how much I see others suffering or being down. I guess I'm allergic to sad people or depressing moods so I try to evade them as best as I can. I hate seeing you or the others said Win, it's something my dad always used to tell me when I was young, how I always tried to cheer him up when he was sad and would think about mom..." she smiled brightly, "Besides, if I don't cheer you depressing chickens down, who will? Right?"

The brunette was caught off guard when Winry hugged her so tightly she thought she couldn't breathe, she felt moisture on her shoulder and sighed, soothingly rubbing Winry's back and hair, "Hey...you ain't making my job easier..." she softly said in her friend's ear, hugging her back.

Winry grit her teeth, "I-I'm sorry Lena...it's just...we all hate seeing you smiling and happy when we know you're suffering too! If you won't cry then I guess I'll just have to in your stead...right?" she lifted her head, small tears at the corner of her eyes, a small smile on her face.

Lena shook her head, tears slowly reaching her eyes, "You don't have to worry about me not crying...ugh, guess your plan is working huh?" she rubbed at her eyes, letting out a half laugh.

Winry nodded, smiling and hugging the woman that was slowly breaking apart before her.

They knew times were hard, but they would get better, they had to, they usually did. Situations like these were mostly like sunshine after rainy days.

Ed was sitting at his desk, his blonde mane peeking and sticking out of the bandage wrapped around his head, dressed in a plain, loose black shirt and his uniform pants, chewing on his bottom lip.

A mechanic had looked at him a week ago and he was deemed fine enough to move, but not to fight or overexert himself. He had suffered serious injuries, because of the pain he even hallucinated at one point, thinking he was dead and the necessary pain killers were a few hours away to ease his pain. So, he had been chained to the tent, sometimes even literally by his own brother and Mustang that bastard, to not head out.

It had been difficult, as captain of the team not to help with the execution of operations and helping his own team, but he had swallowed his pride more often than he cared to count in the past, so he didn't break a leg to do it again either.

The sound of an eraser furiously rubbing against the sheet of paper was heard as Ed grew slightly frustrated at what he could write to Winry. It had been eating away at him for days, especially since his head had been pounding with headaches not too long ago. He hadn't been able to think straight, much less write a letter.

So here he was, writing back to a woman he didn't know but was hoping to get to know because she sounded like a spitfire and a kind girl at the same time.

Well...he didn't have the best luck with women he had to admit. Before his military career had started, he had usually been a stuttering mess on dates, didn't know how to behave all prim and proper in fancy restaurants, which he also had to pay, bless his poor wallet and had been attacked by jealous (ex-) boyfriends of his dates. His worst dates had been that some women had left their partners in hopes of becoming a famous wife of a soldier who would become famous one day. Ed had never fled faster from a date than in those cases.

He sighed, playing with the eraser like a child, throwing it lightly on the piece of hard wood, letting it bounce off its surface before throwing it again.

"What to write, what to write..." he muttered to himself, glad for a rare chance to be alone with his thoughts in the tent.

The boys were out visiting another one of their bases to the east, a ritual check-up after the run in they had with Drachma a few weeks ago.

Gold eyes glanced down at the paper again and he groaned, "Ugh...come on brain work!" he tapped the side of his bandaged head lightly with his forefinger, trying to make words magically appear in it, but it was no use.

He started with the obvious.

"Hi Winry,

Hawkeye? Nice? Yeah she is, well if she isn't in a bad mood or holding a gun to your head but yeah, she's nice.

He snorted, shaking his head.

Anyway, how comes you wrote me so late? Did you have to work so late? Even I'm sleeping at that time, well mostly anyway. So, how are you doing? I actually wanted to write sooner, but I got a bit injured when we ran into Drachma so I had to lay down and rest, nothing serious though.

Ed frowned, why was he writing that? He was sure that stuff didn't interest her! He growled but continued on writing.

Right, so, you said you knew Mei? Of course I know her, the little bubbly pipsqueak full of energy, how can I not know her? I met her once, when she went to see Al off before we departed for Drachma but that's all. You like...my eyes? Uh, thanks. Yeah, I have the same gold eyes like Alphonse. What? So you like my eyes huh? I admit, I'm damn sexy with my eyes, you know gold eyes and all, attracts the ladies! ;) By the way, what eye color do you have?

Ed chuckled, he had a hunch Winry would write something witty back at his "sexy" comment, he wasn't even really sure if he was crossing a line or not. Wait but asking her eye color, that was a safe question right? Eye color...safe question...good.

Was the word "sexy" even allowed yet? Would it ever be allowed?! Was he going delusional right now? Ed sighed, wiping his forehead and winced when he accidentally applied pressure on a covered wound.

Oh, what soldiers do, yeah we do something like that. Before every battle we prepare ourselves what may expect us there and gather everyone fighting up, to go over the rules again and all. I'm leading the team when Mustang's absent or dealing with other stuff so I coordinate the groups and we make a plan on where the enemy is and where the "safe zones" are for us to move around without being in immediate danger. Al is the head medic and always comes along in case we have injured, he jokes that I guard him like a watchdog when we're out on the battlefield.

Ed chuckled to himself, remembering Al's annoyed face every time Ed allowed himself to be a bit more protective of his younger brother than he usually was and making over exaggerated but very true threats to their enemies should they harm a hair on his head.

Then he suddenly remembered. Wait a damn second!

"She thinks I'm actually the rank of a captain?!" Ed said out loud, surprise flickering in his eyes.

He slapped his open palm against his face groaning, he tended to forget that people outside of the military or his group had no idea that his official rank wasn't in reality captain. The name stuck, among others. Well, he quickly needed to correct that little misunderstanding.

There is something you should know, I'm not actually the rank of a captain. My men call me captain or Fullmetal but I'm not really a captain by rank. By official rank, I'm Lieutenant General by official rank and Mustang is above me, he is a General. As for the guys in my team...well, there is my brother Alphonse, who is the head medic there. There are the two brothers, Ling and Greed. Ling is a little weird and a bit hit in the head but he's a nice and funny guy, he's good with bombs and grenades oh and he has cool ninja moves ;). Greed is his twin, but he looks more...dangerous? Insane? Something like that. Ling is a cinnamon roll but Greed is the opposite, let's say it like that. Greed's a rank below me, Major General, and he's really greedy, pun intended. I think you know his girlfriend, Lena right? If you know Mei and Hawkeye, Lan Fan too I think, then you gotta know Lena. Sometimes I seriously wonder how such a nice woman got to be stuck with such an ass.

Ed paused, pen above the paper. Was he being a jackass for badmouthing his friends? He rubbed his chin, thinking for a minute.

He shrugged and continued writing.

Anyway, there is Mustang's Unit too but they are directly under his control, not mine so yeah. It's the same unit Hawkeye was a part of, with Fuery, Breda, Havoc and Falman. Not to mention Kimblee, but he keeps more to himself, he's a well known seasoned veteran. He's especially skilled with explosives, not to mention, rumors say he was forced into a mental institution because he "loved hearing things explode". Only met him a handful of times, but I wouldn't cross him if you want to stay alive.

Oh hell, he really did hope Winry wouldn't stop writing him after everything she would be reading here.

You mentioned gossip? And Robert Windmill? Oh come on, that guy's been getting on my nerves since I finished elementary! Yeah, I'm not surprise someone finally knocked some sense into him and I'm glad it was literally with a wrench too! Thanks for doing that, you should get a medal for it! I'm sure if Al would be a girl he would hit on him too! Tch, stupid ass. I'm glad he finally got what he deserved though.

Ed bit his lip, trying to suppress his chuckles at the thought of Robert getting a nice beating. He smiled as he came to an end.

I'll keep safe don't worry, but you do too alright? Tell me how's it going on your side? How's your job and how are the girls doing? Be sure to greet them from me alright? BTW: Salute to Hawkeye or she will send my balls back to me by mail if I don't salute her, even through letters. Reading you soon!

-Edward 'Fullmetal' Elric

Ed grinned, shaking his head at the thought of Hawkeye getting annoyed at not being saluted to. The truth was, Riza was a kind woman, a bit hardened from her years of experience in the field but a kind person through and through. It was just a running gag between everyone that whoever didn't show respect to Hawkeye got a bullet in his head...or worse.

"Oh damn it!" Ed cursed aloud, eyes widening when he noticed that he didn't ask who that Den guy was.

He rubbed the back of his neck, maybe it was best he didn't ask, it wasn't his business anyway. Maybe she was married and Den's last name was Rockbell? Ed firmly told himself he didn't care nor was interested in it.

Nope, he wasn't interested at all.

"Surely you understand, right?" Roy whispered into the phone, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings at all times.

The deep voice on the other end of the line replied evenly in low whispers, "Yes, indeed. Do you require any more packages to be sent?"

Roy's face turned grim, "I'm afraid so, our previous...packages have suffered greatly. We have many casualties to answer to..." the grip on the phone tightened and Roy clenched his teeth tightly.

The line was silent for a few moments, in what Roy assumed was a respectful silence, until the normally firm voice turned soft and spoke again, "I see...that's very tragic to hear and even more so to witness...my sincere apologies Mustang. I'll send word immediately and new packages will be ready,"

Roy had to bite his tongue to refrain from addressing the man he was talking to by his formal title and keeping up appearances, "I assume the parcel office will compensate for the damage..." he felt sick to his stomach.

"Yes, they certainly will. They certainly will..." there was a underlying threat in the man's voice and Roy knew how angry he was, angry at the enemy for shooting down so many honorable men that had sworn loyalty to them.

Nothing made Roy more sick than to address his soldiers as "packages" but it was needed to keep up appearances, chances were high that enemy troops may be listening in on the conversations, since he wasn't using a safe line it may as well be the case.

"Right, I'll wait for the next set of packages then, thank you very much for your understanding," Roy curtly ended the call.

At the State Military Office

Gloved hands clenched into tight, shaking fists, barely controlled anger shaking the tall, broad frame of the man standing before the telephone.

"There were many casualties..." the man muttered, rage filling him at the sheer thought of the enemies killing many of his own men.

"Sir..." a dark skinned man with unusual red-brown eyes stood tall next to him, dark shades perched on top of his nose, almost snow white hair tied into a tight pony tail at the back of his head. He was holding a file in one hand, reports and stats on all fallen soldiers and ones that were sentenced as "MIA".

The man nodded silently, "Send the letters to their families," the other officer nodded curtly and saluted once, walking away with a grim expression on his face.

Once the officer was out of earshot, the man, known as General Bradley, whispered silently into the empty office that seemed far colder than it once was, "They deserved to hear what happened..."

The five stars that proudly adorned his uniform seemed like a blasphemy to him now, like a meaningless symbol out of formality, not because he had achieved great things, but because it was the law.

Red started soaking the white material of his gloves, his hands shaking in uncontrollable rage as he slammed one fist against the hardwood of the wall before him, teeth bared into a angry snarl, "What good does my rank mean...if I can't even protect my men from certain death..."

His left eye, the one covered with an eye patch, pulsed as if in memory and Bradley held a hand to it, as if to soothe it.

"They will pay..."

His eye pulsed...

"Excuse me, Miss Rockbell?" the postman asked awkwardly as he tried looking at the woman's face, who was halfway hidden by the large engine of the truck she was currently tinkering with.

"O-oh! Uh, sorry I'll be right up!" Winry quickly assured, nearly hitting her head on a wrongly angled pipe that kept stubbornly resurfacing from it's compartment.

As quickly and smoothly as she could, Winry freed herself from her prison of bolts, screws and metal, grinning awkwardly when she noticed oil smudged on her cheek and neck.

The postman smiled only half heartedly, a sad, sympathetic look in his eyes as he held out the envelope to her.

Winry rose an eyebrow, it had the State Military emblem on it but it was different than her usual mails she received from Edward so far.

The color was a bit different and the seal as well...

Cautiously, Winry took it and the postman couldn't refrain from asking, his voice low, "Do you know what this letter means?" in his job delivering the mail to the smaller towns of Amestris, he had, of course, delivered mails and news that brought joy to the people he gave them to but at other times...

"It's a letter from the State Military..." he paused, a grim look settling on his normally kind, open features, "They send them out whenever a soldier has fallen in battle..."

Winry's eyes widened, her whole body turning rigid and her hands shaking slightly, quickly, she ripped open the letter.

"W-what?! That can't be! I don't have anyone in the military! Why would-how could?! Wait...no...it couldn't be him...no...no...it can't be!" Winry's thoughts were scrambled and uncoordinated, a jumbled mess in the growing fear she was experiencing as a sinking feeling settled into the pit of her stomach.

She skipped the addresses of the sender and recipient above and read the first sentence.

"With our sincerest apologies we have to inform you of the death of-"

The letter fell from her hands.

Cliffhanger! O.O Eheh..sorry :3 I'll try to update soon so I don't leave you guys hanging. Well...Ed DID suffer pretty serious injuries and who said that what I wrote above wasn't all an illusion and never actually happened in the first place? Maybe Ed didn't recover from his injuries, Al did say he lost a lot of blood...