Chapter Eighteen

Two Years Later

"You'd think with having automail for almost a decade you'd finally learn how to maintain it," Winry lectured as she worked on Ed's automail. Winry had been furious when Ed first arrived with poorly maintained automail. She had warned Ed to take good care of it before leaving, but the young ex-alchemist would never change.

"At least I'm not coming back with it torn up, right?" Ed said in trying to defend herself. As soon as Alphonse had recovered and they stopped by to pay Winry a visit, they set out on another journey. They had separated, going on to study as much of the east and west as they could. Alphonse headed to Xing in order to study alkahestry and Ed had gone the opposite direction to study other foreign techniques. The two were planning on meeting up in Central soon.

"The only reason it's still in one piece is because you're not a State Alchemist anymore," Winry retorted. "And for that I'm glad."

"Yeah, I know." Ed smiled a bit. Winry had never been happy about Ed joining the military. The only reason she tolerated it was because she wanted Ed and Al to get their bodies back. Ed had resigned her position as a State Alchemist shortly after Alphonse had been released from the hospital. It wasn't like she could continue to serve as an Alchemist when she couldn't perform it anymore, having given it up for Alphonse's return.

"So, when are you meeting up with Alphonse?" Winry asked as she tinkered with the automail in an attempt to reverse the damage done by Ed neglecting it.

"We planned in a week," Ed said. "I can't really contact him right now, though, since he's crossing the desert."

"Why didn't you head out east instead?" Winry asked. "I thought you would want to see Ling again."

"Crossing the desert in automail?" Ed asked. "No thank you. I did it before and I'm not gonna do it again," she said. "Besides, Al is really into Mei. You know, the princess?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember her," Winry confirmed. "We traveled together when we were all in Briggs together."

"That's right." Ed flinched when Winry screwed something that shot a pain through her leg. "Careful there!"

"You know as well as I do that this is as careful as I can get," Winry said as she rolled her eyes.

"Winry!" a familiar voice called out. The door to the shop opened, revealing Paninya. "Oh, hey, Ed."

"Hey, Paninya," Ed said in a tight voice. They didn't have the best relationship since Paninya stole Ed's watch. Winry and her were friends, but Ed still didn't leave her stuff alone around Paninya. "Getting maintenance done?"

"Yeah," Paninya answered. "Winry looks at my leg every once in a while to check up how it's doing." Dominic, Paninya's mechanic, had been sick lately, and hadn't been able to do the maintenance on her automail properly anymore. He allowed Paninya to go to Winry for maintenance, though only because Winry was a Rockbell progeny.

"Good," Ed said. "You get to be her guinea pig now." She laughed until Winry slugged her over the head. "That hurt, you monster!"

"Sit still," Winry grunted out as she worked on the last details of her maintenance. She gave it a once over to make sure she did it properly - she didn't mean to make another mistake like that again - before putting her tools away. "All right, you're all good."

"Thanks, Win," Ed thanked, standing and testing out her leg. She couldn't describe the relief she felt in just having one automail limb instead of two. Ed knew she wouldn't be completely disappointed even if she hadn't had any limbs returned to her.

"Are your ears pierced?" Paninya asked as she got a closer look at Ed. "When did that happen?"

"Oh, that was a while back," Ed said. "Winry told you that I'm a girl, right?"

"What?!" Paninya asked. She honestly hadn't noticed. With Ed hiding her gender and being off traveling, it was easy to miss. And with the Fullmetal Alchemist falling out of the spotlight just before Ed had told Mustang's team she was a girl, there were some people who still didn't know. Ed had just thought Paninya wasn't one of them. "Winry, how could you not tell me?!" While Ed had begun to wear more feminine clothing, she was currently dressed in bulkier attire from her travels.

"I guess it just slipped my mind," Winry said. "I barely think about Ed being a girl, really. Ed's just...Ed."

"But you never used pronouns!" Paninya complained. "And how come you let me assume that Ed was a guy all this time!"

"Well, it was kinda a secret," Ed said. "Winry was sworn to secrecy along with our granny until the Promised day was over. Then I really didn't care because I was already resigning from the military and a bunch of people we knew already found out."

Paninya crossed her arms over his chest while mumbling something about distrustful alchemists.

"You're calling me distrustful?" Ed asked, having caught a bit of what she was saying.

"Ed, don't start," Winry warned, holding up her wrench. "I need to deal with Paninya's automail and you're done. Go do some sight-seeing while you're here. Maybe pick me up a souvenir or something."

"I can't pick you up a souvenir from the place you live," Ed commented, though she left anyway. She hated sitting still for so long and had been feeling fidgety from having her automail checked up.

"Now this is more like it," Ed said to herself. Traveling when she wasn't tied to the military was ten times more relaxing. She could actually research of her own interests and spend her time how she wanted. Not that returning Alphonse's body wasn't of interest to her, but she could now go into depth in the research that didn't pertain to the Philosophers stone. It was nice.

"Ed?" a familiar voice asked from behind Ed suddenly.

She recognized that voice.

She was afraid to turn around.

"That is you!" the voice continued, coming closer. There was a hand on Ed's shoulder, turning her around.

"Ling..." Ed trailed off. "I thought you were still in Xing."

"Well, I was," Ling said. "But Alphonse wanted to come here. He said he was on his way to Central and I decided to come along with him."

"I didn't know an Emperor could just drop everything like that and go on a hike through the desert," Ed commented.

"Well, I wasn't the only prince in Xing. While there's only one Emperor, there are plenty of princes that can step up if need be," Ling explained. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine," Ed said tightly. Against everyone's advice, she had never told Ling about the abortion she had. "If you came with Al, where is he?"

"Winry's shop," Ling said. The two stood in awkward silence for a long time. Longer than Ed would have liked.

"Ling..." Ed trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Did you know what was happening whenever Greed took over your body?" Ed asked quietly. Ling even paused, his eyes opening slightly. He must have.

"I was aware of what he was doing when he took control of me," Ling answered. "Did you want to talk about what happened before the Promised day?"

"I just wanted to know if you knew about it," Ed said. "I was just curious."

"Did you...enjoy what Greed did?" Ling asked.

"Of course not!" Ed exclaimed suddenly. "I didn't want that! You heard me say no!"

"All right," Ling said. "You look good, Ed. Different, but good."

"Thanks," Ed said quietly. "Can we...Can we go somewhere and talk? Not about what happened before the Promised day, but...after."

"Of course."