5 Second Countdown
by. Poisoned Scarlet

08: Scars

03 weeks, 12 hours, 22 seconds later

"Morning, Winry!" Ed yawned out, closing the door behind him. Winry looked up from her book and smiled, although it was a little subdued and he took notice of the lack of response. In fact, as her eyes scorched into his, he had a pretty good idea he was in trouble.

For what, he didn't know, but all the same his mind was racing for excuses and distractions as she crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare.

"Winry...?"

"Not busy, huh?" she sneered and watched with a sense of satisfaction as his eyes widened. She saw a flicker of realization but it was quickly consumed by wry guilt. "So how long has this been going on, Ed?"

"It's just a little paperwork," he mumbled. "You don't have to have a cow over it."

"That's why you're sick of seeing stacks of it every morning, huh?" Winry shot back angrily, smirking when Ed stiffened.

"I thought you were you asleep!" he accused, and she shrugged; unruffled.

"You thought wrong," she huffed. "Go to work."

Ed's mouth dropped at her flat demand. "What?"

"You heard me: go to work!" Some of the anger that coated her words melted into concern. "Ed, you have work to do. You can't spend the whole day with me when you have to turn in reports to Mister Mustang!" There was also a disapproval in her tone that made him bristle a bit.

"I can turn them in later," he scowled, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Winry frowned. "I don't want you to overwork yourself just to visit me."

"I'm not overworking myself."

"Ed, please."

"Please what? I'm not."

Winry resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Please stop being so stubborn! Either go to work or somehow find a way to both do your work and visit me!" She was thinking along the lines of first finishing his work and then coming to visit her, or to visit her every other day, but when she caught the sudden mischievous twinkle in his eyes she knew he'd thought of some other way.

"I'll be back!" He quickly exited, leaving her in her own confusion.

As it turned out, he came back half an hour later with a briefcase in his hand. She blinked owlishly at the luggage, which was a little on the thick side, and Ed only grinned.

"I'll just bring my paperwork here!" Ed sat down on the stool and added: "Besides, I lied to Al about this so I might as well make that lie come true." He paused. "He was the one that told you, right?"

"Yes..."

"I knew it! That blabber mouth!"

"At least he told me!" Winry countered scornfully. "When were you going to tell me?"

Ed stayed quiet, unhappily so as he popped open his briefcase on his lap and shifted through some of the papers inside. His annoyed eyes skimmed through a few of them and Winry leaned back and tried to peer inside, eyes bulging when she saw the stacks of paperwork neatly filed inside.

He was sorting out through the first pile out of three when she tapped his knee. He looked up, still annoyed, but the annoyance flushed away when he caught sight of her twinkling blue eyes.

"Can I help?" she offered, with a small smile. "You also told Al that I was helping you."

Ed was a little hesitant. "Well, sure, but.." He frowned and dug through some of the pile, trying to look for something that she would be able to actually do. Most of the reports asked for his signature and review and he knew that if he had her read some over, she might miss something vital or unlawful.

So instead he handed her a pile of complaints and explained to her to sort them out according to five mandates.

Anything else was to be sorted into a different stack.

They began a process where she would slowly read the documents and place them in separate piles and he'd look up and glance at her work briefly before continuing his own.

After two and a half hours of this, Winry's eyes sore from reading, Ed slammed his case and sighed in relief. "Done!"

She placed the last paper of the second stack she'd gone through in the third pile and looked up with a happy smile. "Same."

"Great, now I just have to sort through those, too..." He groaned, kicking the closed briefcase down and laying his cheek against the sheets moodily. He brought his arms up and snuggled his face in them, his head pounding and his eyes scratchy.

He would say he'd never ridicule the General about his work habits again but that would be a lie – Ed loved to brag about the fun he had being Colonel just to annoy the General.

It was hilarious, to see the older man scowl and mutter incoherently under his breath about, he guessed, pint-sized brats and lies.

What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, however, and he had struck a deal with the rest of his co-workers in order to keep Mustang in the dark about his rather terrible work habits...

He felt Winry's hand rest on his head and Ed tensed before relaxing under her palm. Her fingers dug into his hair cautiously, scratching his skull and giving him this wonderful sense of complete ease as his eyes drooped closed. When her fingers carefully undid his ponytail and his hair became lose, he was about to complain when she ran her hand through his hair.

The complain lodged in his throat and he slumped forward further, tilting his head a bit to give her better access to his thick blond locks of hair. He found he didn't mind, as she gently combed through knots.

"It's not fair," Winry began softly. "You hardly take care of your hair but its so soft."

"I don't put all that shit you girls like to poison your hair with." he mumbled back, as her fingers dug into his head slightly. "So its healthy."

"I remember you used to like this," she smiled. "You complained a lot but you always let yourself..."

"Not true," he said, eyes shut closed as her hand combed through his hair once more. "I still don't like it..."

"Hmmm..." she hummed, raking her hairs through his hair and giggling when he sighed in content.

He didn't notice he had fallen asleep until he woke up, a few minutes later, to the sound of stifled giggles.

Ed shot up, alert, and twisted himself back to see Al standing by the door, holding in a laugh as his honey gold eyes twinkled with mirth.

Ed glared. "Al! What are you doing here? Weren't you suppose to be meeting up with the bean girl for some Alkahestry lesson or something?"

He was grinning too widely. It was pissing him off. "I just came back from that, actually. I was just going to tell you that its almost near the end of visiting hours..."

"Oh," Just to show Al he didn't care that he had caught him off-guard and to save himself further embarrassment, Ed laid his head back down. It wasn't as good as it had felt when he had fallen asleep with Winry's hand raking through his hair but it was good enough. "Okay. Thanks for the warning."

He heard his brothers footsteps draw close. "Aren't you going to pack up?"

Ed peeked his head out and glanced at Winry, who he found, with a small smile, was sleeping soundly; a small smile still on her lips. "Eventually," he replied vaguely, earning a frown in response.

"Brother, I've noticed that the house is really clean..."

"What're you trying to say?" Ed narrowed his eyes, a little dangerously, and turned to Al, who merely sighed wryly.

"Don't get all defensive. I just mean its like how I left it, which is weird because you usually leave it messy with papers and stuff. Its not normal to come to a clean house when you live there, too, you know."

Ed tried his best to keep casual, knowing how this was going to turn out. "So, maybe I cleaned up a bit..."

"Or maybe," Al suggested, a bit annoyed and worried. "You haven't been there at all?"

Ed stared.

Al stared back.

Ed broke eventually, his guilt for lying to his brother and Winry catching up to him. He groaned and slumped against his arms, muffling out: "Okay! Okay, so I haven't been going to the house lately..."

"Where have you been going then?" Al asked, concernedly. He couldn't imagine any other place his brother could go to...

"I've been...I've been staying here," Ed mumbled, cheeks going red at his brothers open-mouthed stare.

"Staying here?" Al repeated, shocked. "But how can you stay here unless—!" He stopped and Ed sighed.

"Yes, Al, I've been staying next door in the empty room," Ed explained and heard his brother exhale in relief.

"Oh...I thought you were staying with Winry."

"I am staying with Winry." Ed looked at his brother oddly then saw the irony in his eyes and understood what he meant. "Oh! Shit, no! Not like that!" Ed tried to reassure, although his words came out hasty and flustered. The sheer thought of staying with Winry was almost too much to bear; that was only something he allowed himself to think about during the dead hours of the night...

"Aww, but that's so cute brother!" Al giggled at his older brothers red face. "You care about Winry so much!" The way he said it implied more than just 'caring' and Ed was still much too insecure to admit such a large sentiment.

Instead, he did what he always did: play it off.

"Shut up, Al! She's been through shit worse than what we've experienced and that's saying something," Ed snapped, a little too harshly. Al's smile slowly faded. "It's the least I can do for her..." Ed rested his head back down, gazing at the white sheets absently. "It's partially our fault she got into this mess."

"Brother, you can't blame yourself for what happened," Al said softly, kneeling beside his older brother. "She would have gone even if we tried to keep her here...you know how stubborn Winry can be sometimes; she's almost as bad as you."

Ed chuckled, mirthlessly. "Maybe our stubbornness would've canceled each other out."

"Or maybe both of you would have gotten stuck in that situation," Al suggested, the thought making his stomach turn. "Brother, you saw what they did to her...what do you think they would have done to you? She told me...they...they mostly asked her questions regarding you and I."

Ed looked up sharply, gold eyes fierce on his own. "What?"

Al sighed. "This was why I didn't want to tell you."

"What do you mean they asked her about us?" Ed hissed, eyes narrowed. "What the hell did they ask her?"

"Your skills," Winry's quiet voice sliced the tension. Both brothers turned to her, breaths baited. "They wanted to know about your alchemy skills and they asked a lot about Al...they wanted to know if he was kept in 'an immortal state'," she air-quoted, "but I never said anything. Mostly because I didn't know anything aside from the fact that you two preformed human transmutation at a young age and Ed was some alchemist genius," she shrugged, helplessly. "They didn't think that was true, so they thought beating me hard enough would eventually make me say something."

Edward's hard gaze was upon her and she read the regret and self-depreciating fury at dragging her into danger again; however incidental it had been. She saw his fists clench and knew what was coming. She reached out to prevent another whirling tantrum of remorse and rage, gently prying his fingers open and holding his hand to calm him down.

Alphonse looked bleak. "But brother restored my body, didn't they know...?"

Winry shook her head. "No, they didn't." She bit the inside of her bottom lip. "They didn't sound like they knew, anyway. They just kept asking me how you were able to go without food and water...they were pretty convinced you were some immortal."

Al sighed. "Not this again..."

"Again?" Winry's stomach churned.

"Greed wanted it," Ed answered, voice low. "He abducted Al a few years ago to ask for the secret of 'true immortality'; essentially, the technique of soul-binding. He didn't know—actually, he couldn't understand—that being trapped in an unfeeling suit of armor was more of a curse than it was a blessing." Ed chuckled, darkly. "Damn moron. They're all idiots if they think getting bonded to an object that would reject your soul in due time is something to be appraised about."

"Ed..." Winry whispered, sympathetically.

Edward shrugged off that old grief and said: "I'm sorry. This really was our fault."

"Brother—!"

"It wasn't!" Winry denied, fervently. "It wasn't your fault! I was drafted because I wanted to! I tried calling you for one reason only: to tell you, but that was it! I was still going even if you threatened to chain me down!" Winry looked down, away from Ed's ardent gaze. "We all knew that North City was a dangerous place to be with all those rumors of infiltration but we still went...I still went...and the fact that I got caught in a raid was a coincidence. They probably thought they hit the jackpot when they found out who I was," she squeezed Ed's fingers. She was comforted by the fact that he squeezed back. "But I never took any interest in alchemy so..."

"They tortured you for nothing, didn't they?" Al filled in, softly, and Winry nodded, bitterly.

"But its okay," she whispered back, a wobbly smile on her face. "I was kind of relieved you two never told me anything. No matter how much I wanted to know, it was ultimately better this way. I'm sorry but...I-I think I would have said something..." Her grip on Edward's hand was deathly. "Sometimes I wished I did know, so that maybe they'd stop...but I always knew that if I did know something and I told them, they'd just kill me in the end so.." She drew in a breath, trying to ease the tension in her body. "I guess that was all delirious thinking."

"Brother and I tried to keep you out of our problems," Al said, quietly. "But in the end it didn't work, huh? Somehow, someway, you're always drawn into our issues..."

Winry smiled a bit. "Its a risk but I think its worth it." Her fingers eased a bit on Ed's hand. "You two are all I really got," her voice cracked and Ed's hand clenched her own suddenly. She looked up, into the burning pits of amber, and was about to add something else, something that would come close to a confession, when Al said:

"We'll never let you get too far, Winry." His voice was sure, confidence. "Never."

"He's right, Win," Ed said for the first time since she'd started talking. "We'd never leave you. We might not see each other for a while, and it might seem as if we have forgotten you, but know that we'll never let you slip away. We'd never leave you alone." The promise in his eyes was enough for her, as she teared up and committed the words to her heart; where they would comfort her during the periods of absence the brothers had now confessed would happen.

No matter how vague their words had been, she had caught the significance as if they'd spoken it clearly.

They'd come back, she thought, as she laced her fingers into Ed's hand.

They'd never leave her alone.

And when an Elric made a promise, he kept it.

03 weeks, 02 days, 02 hours, 04 seconds later

He had creeped into her room at such an ungodly hour she thought that something must've gone wrong somewhere. But when his curious gold eyes peered into hers through the thickening dark, she was relieved to see more mischief than dead news in his eyes.

"Ed!" Winry mumbled groggily. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"

"You spent the whole day asleep," he said, ignoring her question. "Let's go out."

Her heart skipped a beat. She knew he hadn't meant for it to come out that way but she still couldn't help the slew of emotions that came with those three simple words. She managed to ask, "Where?"

"Outside," Ed smiled, eyes glinting like a cats under the moonlight. "You're always complaining about wanting to go out. Now's the perfect opportunity!"

"But..."

"Look, I know that not many nurses have the night shift and the ones that do spend it gossiping in the main floor," Ed informed. "I know a hall that would lead us to the back of the hospital, where the garden is. There's no one there right now, so...?"

Winry hesitated. "I'm not sure..."

"C'mon, Win!" Ed groaned. "Do you or do you not?"

She eventually gave in – only because he looked excited; most likely still an adrenaline junkie from all those years spent having watching behind your back. She slowly hopped off the bed, following Ed to the door. The mere notion that she had stepped past her boundaries, that she was outside into the cool hall, was like a breath of fresh air in her lungs.

She followed Ed with measured steps, her legs unused to the sensation of walking. She stumbled a bit and she found that she tired easily from being bed-ridden for so long. The bruises on her thighs and back hurt with every stride but she found that she didn't mind so long as the reward surpassed the pain she had to go through to attain it.

And she was sure it would.

The gust of fresh air was relieving.

Winry stood by the door for a second longer, relishing the freedom a step ahead; outside, where she could do whatever she wanted under the cloak of darkness.

When she did manage to take that accomplishing step, she felt freer than she had in weeks.

The fresh air, the sway of the trees, the milky beam of the moon, the thousands of fluorescent stars that dotted the sky despite the city lights, it was all beautiful in her eyes as Ed psst and waved her over quickly.

She didn't hesitate to run after him, giggling and having a hard time muffling them when Ed shot her a look of warning.

It became a subdued look, though, once he noticed the glittering happiness that made her eyes glow brightly.

He swallowed down his sudden trepidation and moved on, focusing on the spot near the edge of the garden where he was sure no one would find them unless they really looked.

"I can't believe it," Winry whispered with girlish glee. "I'm really outside again!"

"See? I told you it'd totally be worth it!" Ed grinned, proud he'd managed to uplift her spirits. Winry sat down on the grass instead of the bench, which Ed had no problem with as he sat down beside her.

"I never thought I'd be able to see this again," she confessed in the curtain of darkness. Her eyes gazed affectionately at the enclosed wilderness around her. She fingered the grass beneath her palms. She had never really appreciated nature. She had always thought it was pretty and soothing but never had there been the urgency to touch and feel that serenity as it had been when she'd been in captivity.

She closed her eyes.

She really had missed this.

She had lost track of time, listening to the night noises, as all-too-soon Ed was shaking her shoulder. She turned drowsy eyes to him, as he sucked in a sharp breath, and she found it a little humoring how he avoided her eyes and muttered something about leaving.

But she felt too comfortable to leave, just sitting upon the moist grass and letting the cool breeze brush her skin...

"Winry...?"

"I...don't want to go," she murmured sleepily.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Come on, idiot, you're falling asleep!"

"No I'm not..." she slurred a bit, her eyes drooping closed as her fingers dug into the soft soil. Edward stared at her for a moment, a little wondrous at how she could sleep so peacefully outside in the open. He figured it was the captivity that made her so defenseless and he grabbed her shoulder, gasping when she fell back into his arm.

She groaned at the movement and tried to sit up but he kept her there. She cracked her eyes open a little, puzzled by his actions but ultimately knowing what he was doing when he shifted and let his other hand tentatively pull her toward him.

She didn't resist a second time as she moved so she was between his legs and sunk into the warmth he offered.

He was glad for the darkness; it helped conceal the content smile and hot cheeks as she slept soundly against his chest.

03 weeks, 02 days, 12 hours, 19 seconds later

She had ordered him to go the office and he had obliged, begrudgingly. He had stated he would be back after five and she said she would be more than happy to welcome him back once he had completed all his paperwork and attended the meeting due at midday, in that very moment.

She had been reading a magazine on, surprisingly, fashion; something she'd only secretly read as it embarrassed her if anyone else found out about her small guilty pleasure. She internally thanked Sciezska for her critical eye and skill at picking out literature, however shallow it might be as she read up on cosmetics and clothing and current gossip.

The door clicked open and Winry looked up, expecting to see either Alphonse or a nurse, but was shocked cold when she was met with a pair of glossy green eyes.

"M-Melanie..." Winry whispered, her voice drying up in her throat. The woman closed the door behind her silently, turning her gaze to the ground in what she assumed was shame. When she looked back up, there was a sorrowful desperation in her eyes.

Melanie took three steps forward before her eyes overflowed with tears. She gripped the necklace on her neck tightly. "Please...please listen to what I have to say." Winry was too shocked to say anything, really, and the woman took this opportunity to continue: "I wasn't having an affair with Mathew," she explained, giving the man Winry had a mental image of a name. "It wasn't like that at first. At first he hit me, too, and he abused me just like all of them did...at first I really had been raped. Not by him but..." She sucked in a slow breath. Winry could see her hands tremble. "He helped me. He saved me the second time and...and I suppose I grew to depend on him since."

"You..."

"I was..." Melanie whispered, timidly. "I swear to you Winry, unto my daughters grave," Winry flinched; her daughter had died? "that it wasn't how you thought it was! When I discovered of his double-identity I vowed to get us out of there! He promised to help me and...and I suppose I started to like him too much," she confessed. "I assure you, there was nothing minutely sexual between us...not since I was...I was.." she pressed her lips together and dismissed that horrible memory. "I admit that I do carry feelings for him but most of our time spent together was planning for our escape."

"But..but he hit me," Winry whispered, with mild confusion. "How could he be trying to break me out when..."

"Accept and move on; she is doing this for you and you should not be as selfish as to deny her this request."

She bit her tongue to curb the lash of scorn at his cold words.

"Believe me, Winry," Melanie smiled wearily. "He is Drachmian by birth – he does hold a certain amount of disdain toward Amestrians, even if he is working for Briggs currently."

She didn't respond, waiting for Melanie to continue.

"I didn't know," she gulped in a deep breath. "I didn't know they were planning to get rid of you so early." She closed her eyes, as she remembered the cold fear that gripped her heart when Winry had first yelled that to her. "They never eliminate such valuable prisoners. Mathew promised me that there was still time but... I see there wasn't after all." She opened her eyes, jewel eyes haggard. "I owe Edward more than I could ever repay for coming in the brink of time."

Winry tried her best to keep her emotions hidden but she slowly felt her control weaken. She wasn't as callous as Edward, who, no matter how caring he actually was, could repress the emotion and express nothing but cold disdain. She somewhat wished she could do that in the moment but, in another way, she was glad she didn't.

The tightly wrapped sentiments toward the motherly woman were beginning to unravel, as she felt the slow leaks of compassion start to filter through the cracks in her heart.

It was a losing battle.

"I'm sorry," Melanie shuddered, eyes watery. "I'm really, truly, sorry. I know I kept this from you and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept it from you...there was no reason but I was sure you'd disagree if you had known just who was helping me plan such a thing..."

Winry allowed a small, weary, smile. She looked up at Melanie and said, softly. "I...I'm sorry to." She felt her grip on the sheets loosen. "You took that...all of that for me and I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help you." She laughed a bit, ironically. "I made you go through something horrible and I don't know how to really repay you..."

"Just forgive me," Melanie laughed back, as she lurched forward, catching Winry in a crushing hug she returned with just as much strength; if not more.

"I'll try," Winry sniffled, tightening her arms around the woman's neck and squeezing her eyes shut.

The pain in her jaw and shoulder was forgotten.

This scar in her heart was healed.

She felt her life look up a little bit more.

A/N: The Melanie-Winry scene was a little hard to pan out in the beginning. I had to time it right and try to make it seem a little realistic, which I think I managed to pull off. Not realistic like 'our world' realistic, but realistic that it would be something a manga character would say XD

You can guess its a little emotional and dramatic.

By the way, this is the second to last chapter D: That's right people, the next chapter finishes this story off for good! Wow, you guys must be shocked, huh?

Do not fear, however! Directly after this update, I will post up a story called Wanderlust which I hope you will all read xD It is also Ed/Winry and I think you will all enjoy that story as well! :D

Scarlett.