Winry awoke to the panicked screeching of Mr. Garfiel.

She groaned and rubbed the sleep from the her eyes, glancing at the time.

7:00 AM. A little earlier than she had liked, but it was better than being late.

Another scream from downstairs made Winry flinch. She quickly swung her legs off the side of the bed and scrambled out of the sheets she had been tangled in. Swinging open the door, she leapt down the stairs and followed the continuous shouts coming from… her workshop?!

Ed's in there! She thought, speeding up her pace. But the sight before her was indescribable.

A panicked Mr. Garfiel held a teakettle in one hand, pointing at something on the floor while screaming bloody murder. At closer inspection, she realized that the "something" was Ed curled up into a ball, nursing a quickly forming bruise on his cheek.

"Winry!" Mr. Garfiel exclaimed. "He's here! The murderer I was reading about in the papers this morning! He's-"

Winry rushed over to him and shushed him.

"Let me explain." She began, slowly easing the teakettle out from Mr. Garfiel's grip. "Ed came to me last night. He's not a murderer - he's been framed."

Mr. Garfiel glanced over Winry's shoulder to look at Ed. The alchemist was now beginning to sit up and muttering to himself angrily. The older mechanic looked skeptical, and he met Winry's gaze and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Go on."

"I see." Mr. Garfiel sipped his tea, setting the cup down after a few moments. He still glanced at Ed skeptically, though, earning him a nasty glare from the alchemist in return.

Winry sighed at the wordless banter between the two.

"Well," Mr. Garfiel spoke up. "If you want to stay here, you're going to have to pay rent."

Ed gawked at him.

"First you accuse me of being a murderer, then you hit me with a teakettle, and then you have the nerve to try and leech all the money I have off of me?!" He snarled. "I don't even have any goddamned money! I had to sneak onto the fucking train to get here just because of that stupid bastard Mustang! He's got a bounty on my head and I don't-"

Mr. Garfiel held up a hand to silence him. "It's not your money I want, young man." He took another sip of his tea before continuing. "I want you to help out around here, lie low, and keep yourself out of trouble. Trust me," He cast an amused glance at Winry, "I know that you have a knack for finding it. If you get caught while you're staying here, all three of us will be hauled off, and I'd like to stay out of prison for at least a little while longer, if you can relate."

Ed slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "...Fine." He grumbled, not meeting Garfiel's gaze.

Winry chuckled at Ed's pout, happy to see him getting into his normal persona again; at least somewhat.

"Oh, that reminds me," She said, trying to catch Ed's gaze(well, it was more of a glare). "I need you to run some errands for me. I'm missing a couple of pieces for a custom order that I got yesterday. I'll give you a list of the stuff I need you to get."

Ed perked up at this, an alarmed expression crossing his features almost immediately.

"You want me to go out there…?"

"Don't worry," She assured him, already writing down a list of the things she needed on a spare piece of scrap paper. "No one's out at this time. Just put your hood up and take the back way and you'll be fine."

Ed was still skeptical as he watched Winry scribble away at the piece of paper. After all, she had told him that Garfiel usually didn't go into her workshop, and look where that had gotten him. He had definitely not expected the man to come waltzing into the room at seven A.M., interrupting his half-doze on the couch in the middle of the room.

Well, it couldn't really be called a doze. Ed had barely slept any, and even in the small time gaps in which he had, his sleep had been disturbed and haunted with nightmares.

Ed wondered if he had dark circles under his eyes. Eh, maybe. He would check later.

Winry slid the list over to Ed and stood up. "Come on," She said as she led him away from the kitchen table, "I'll show you where the back door is."

Ed regarded the list as Winry dragged him to the exit. The names of different wires, gears, screws, and gadgets danced before his eyes. He doubted he knew what even half of the names meant, let alone be able to find them and purchase them. But he kept his doubts to himself as Winry opened the back door and ushered him out. If worst came to worst, he could always ask a shop owner for help finding what he was looking for.

"Here, use this to buy the stuff with." Winry handed him a small wallet filled with cenz. "And, Ed," She began as he turned to leave, "Please don't get into trouble."

Ed smirked and pulled his hood up and over his head. "Yes ma'am." He replied sarcastically, waving to Winry as he headed out the alleyway leading from the back door of Garfiel's shop to the main street.

He skimmed over the list once more, instinctively pulling his hood down to conceal his face as he emerged out onto the main road.

"Alright," He muttered to himself with a grimace, "Let's go shopping."

To say Ed was tired would be an understatement.

He was utterly exhausted from the day's events.

Or, rather, the day's lack of events.

He had been bored out of his mind trying to find all of the things that Winry had wanted. He had searched every goddamn shop that existed in Rush Valley and asked every dumbass shop owner for each thing that Winry needed, all the while not having even the slightest clue of the meanings behind the stuff he was listing off of the small piece of crumpled paper in his hand.

Now, as he trudged down the dusty road back to the alleyway he had first come from, he wondered if it had been a good idea to come to Garfiel and Winry in the first place. He groaned, readjusting his grip on the heavy bag he was carrying.

Who knew that automail stuff weighed so damn much?

Well, Ed mused, I should know. The red and yellow hues of the setting sun glinted off of his automail, blinding him for a few moments before he pulled his sleeve down more and quickened his pace. He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding once he caught sight of the alleyway leading to the back entrance of Garfiel's shop. Slipping into the alleyway, he pulled his hood down and nearly tripped on something stuck underneath his feet.

He took a step back to see what it was. A medium-sized, circular mirror had cracked underneath his weight. Ed had dismissed it and began to make his way back to the shop before something caught his eye.

Something shined in the darkness of the alleyway behind him. He leaned closer to the mirror to see if it was just a trick of the light, but even after he was practically crouching over the broken glass the reflection still did not disappear.

A loud clang made him look behind him.

A man had emerged out of the shadows, the red light glinting off of his oval, wire-rimmed glasses and giving his eyes a devilish look.

From past experiences, Ed could infer that mysterious men in dark alleyways were, more often than not, dangerous and to be avoided.

Ed took a step back, barely noticing as the glass cracked once more under his feet.

"Who are you?" He growled, shifting the weight of the bag between his two arms in anticipation.

"Hello there, Edward." The man replied nonchalantly, taking a step forward in response to Ed's retreat. "I've been looking for you."

Ed felt a shiver run down his spine as the man spoke again.

"Don't you remember me?" He cocked his head to the side and chuckled at Ed's angry expression. "Oh, that's cute."

He spread his arms out, his palms facing outwards towards Ed. The man looked the younger alchemist straight in the eye, grinning wildy.

"I'm Paul Beckett." He giggled. "Nice to see you again."