Morning came quickly. The sun was starting to peek over the hills in the distance. Winry felt a chill and rolled over, rubbing her arms together. Half of her blanket was missing. She glanced down to where it was to see that Ed had stolen that half. She grimaced, knowing she wouldn't be able to get it back. Getting up, she grabbed another one from the chair across the room. She didn't see Al anywhere. He must have gone to his room at some point. Tossing the rest of 'her' blanket to Ed's side of the couch, she sat back down and got comfortable. Just as she closed her eyes she heard Ed from his sleep. She could have just ignored it but gave in and looked over at him. It was the second time he had done it in her presence. He was muttering something and clenching his teeth. She wondered what it was that he dreamt about that bothered him so much. Although considering everything, there was probably plenty to pick from, but Al never seemed to have trouble sleeping. She leaned over him and shook him softly. He let out a gasp and turned away from her.

"Ed, stop doing that," she said, getting back over to her side of the couch. She moved over the edge to pick up one of the books off the floor. It was laying open, face down. "You'd think they would take better care of their books. At least Ed." Before she had a chance to set the book back down, Ed let out a yell that made her jump. He bolted up, wide awake, breathing hard. "Are you okay," she asked, trying to calm herself down as well.

"Um...," he wasn't sure what to say, all he could do was take a couple of deep breaths. "I'll be fine, sorry about that." He rubbed his head wearily.

"There's no reason to apologize, but I'm worried about you."

"You shouldn't," he got up abruptly from the couch.

"But Edward..." It was too late, he lost his balance and fell over. She tried to keep from laughing.

"Great, can't even exit right," He groaned, sitting up. "This is going to drive me nuts!" Winry went over and leaned down to his level.

"Well then for today we should really work on getting you back to full strength, okay."

"I guess so but you're only good with auto-mail," he pointed out. She gave him a look.

"How hard can it be" She took a seat in front of him and grabbed his left foot.

"That's not gonna help." He squirmed some but couldn't get away.

"Can you even feel anything." she started tickling the bottom of his foot. He started laughing and leaned back against the couch.

"Come on, knock it off, I can't even pull away if I want."

"Well then at least we know that much, so the rest can't be that hard. You just need to stop being lazy."

"You're really missing the short jokes, aren't you," he stated through clenched teeth.

"Oh I can always find something else that bothers you, it's not that hard." She finally stood up and helped him get to his feet. "Try not using the crutch." He attempted to place his weight on the one foot but every time, he felt it give way.

"It's too early for this, can't I even get breakfast first?"

"Sheesh, where have you been? All you do is complain."

"I've been in a place where there's no breakfast, that's where." He tried to move again and ended up leaning on the side table. "I swear you're getting joy out of this, all those times you praised your own work and now, I need it the most." Winry wiped the smirk off her face.

"I don't enjoy any of this. Although you do have to admit life was easier when you had auto-mail"

"Life was easier when I was six, what's your point?" He moved closer to the kitchen, balancing against the back of the couch now.

"You're never going to have any appreciation for my work. I should just accept it." He was going to respond but fell over again, this time he landed behind the couch, out of sight. She let out a huff and walked around to help him up again.

"Why do we always fight? Why can't we for five minutes just have a nice conversation?"

"It would be nice since I haven't seen you for so long, but you never tell me anything, so that's probably why we fight."

"Help me into the kitchen for breakfast and I will tell you anything you want to know." She smiled and took his arm. They got into the kitchen and Ed took a seat, letting out a tired yawn. Just the walk to the kitchen wore him out. He glanced down at his right arm. It hung lifelessly at his side. He tried to bring it up and managed to move it some. This was so frustrating. He had wanted to get back to normal for so long. He never thought about having to work his muscles this much. Winry started up the stove and pulled some ingredients out of the fridge.

"So where have you really been? Other then a place that doesn't have breakfast," she said as she pulled out a pan.

"It's kinda hard to explain. There's this gate and inside it is...um, well..." He leaned on his hand, trying to think about how to phrase it. "I guess people go there when they die. It's where I went to get Al's soul back and it's where Wrath came from."
"What's it like there." The look on her face showed how shocked she was already.

"It's not a nice place to be. It's like there's no way to tell time there, and nothing makes sense." Just thinking about it, sent a chill up his back.

"So that's where you've been for two years? How'd you survive?"

"I wasn't there for that long. There's another side to the gate. Sort of like another world." Winry looked over her shoulder, arching an eyebrow.

"So there's another Resembol and Central?"

"Not quite. They have other cities though."

"So how did you get from there back into the gate?" Edward sniffed the air and noticed the smoke coming from the stove.

"Um, are you burning something?" His question caused her to turn around and start panicking.

"It's okay, I didn't burn it...a lot." Her face was turning red. Ed covered his laughter. "Anyway, back the the question," Winry wasn't getting off topic.

"Let's see...My dad was actually the one who figured out how to get me back. I can't remember everything that happened since then. I think the gate messes with your head"

"Your dad was over there? And you got along for more then five minutes?" She seemed surprised. Edward let out a tired sigh and shook his head.

"Yeah, he's not always so bad. He worked really hard to find a way back."

"But he's still there?"

"I guess so, for some reason he didn't seem to mind it though." He let out another loud yawn. Winry finished their breakfast and placed it on the table. "Any more questions," he asked, waiting to eat.

"Nope, I think I'm done for now." He smiled and started eating.

oOoOo

After breakfast, Ed got up and moved the chair with him across the room to the window.

"For some reason things seemed to have stayed the same here since I've been gone," he mentioned. Winry stood up and brought their plates over to the sink.

"So you think you've changed so much?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Where will you and Al go from here? You usually leave as soon as you can."

"We were thinking of going back to Central. I have to make sure the Gate doesn't open again. If I could get out, other stuff might be able to get out."

"What if you don't find anything in Central? What will you do then?"

"Then I guess we'll come home then. It's not like there's any reason to stay in Central." Winry smiled quietly to herself. She was worried that once they left that they wouldn't come back.

oOoOo

Two weeks went by and Ed was back to normal thanks to Winry's help. They had worked hard every day and now he could leave with Al. Pinako came down into the kitchen to see Winry sitting at the table, sulking.

"What's wrong? Did they leave already," she asked, noting the sour look on her granddaughter's face.

"No, they're in the back...doing what they always do." Pinako could hear the two outside, sparring.

"Hah, you call that a punch, Al," Ed yelled as he dodged.

"Well stop running away all the time," Al said back,charging his brother again.

"I hope he breaks something. After all that hard work, he's fooling around like this?"

"Let them have some fun, it's not like they've been able to in a while." Winry let out a huff and crossed her arms in front of her.

"They should be packing for their trip. They're going to miss their train and I'm not going to listen to any whining when that happens."

"Don't worry, they still have two hours. It'll be fine." Pinako told her. A couple more minutes went by and the two came into the kitchen, completely worn out.

"Well you're both still alive at least," Winry stated. Ed grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and started to fill them with water.

"And here I thought that I would have no trouble beating him. Yeah right, he's just as tough as ever," Edward told Winry and Pinako.

"I've been training with teacher, what did you expect," Al brought up, taking his glass from his brother. Ed drank his quickly and placed the cup in the sink.

"I'm gonna grab a shower before we leave," he added and headed upstairs. Al finished his water as well and let out a sigh.

"I guess I should start packing." Winry and Pinako seemed a little sadder when he mentioned it. "We shouldn't be gone that long. Brother just wants to double check on this. And we're not going to do anything dangerous so you don't have to worry," he promised them. Winry gave him a threatening glare.

"You'd better stay out of trouble, and you better keep him out of trouble after all the hard work I've been through," she warned him. Al swallowed hard as she got closer to him, holding her wretch tightly.

"Well, I don't think Ed would do anything dangerous, you don't have to worry." He tried to get her to calm down but it only fired her up more.

"Yes he would and you'd better stop him if anything comes up. This is more then auto-mail, Al. Now he can get hurt easier."

"Shouldn't you be telling him this?" He was now hiding on his side of the table.

"And you should keep that in mind too, Al. You're not as invincible anymore either," Pinako mentioned.

"Yeah, I know." He nodded in agreement.

"But Al won't jump into a situation, Ed will," Winry brought up. She glanced around to see that Al had disappeared upstairs. She slumped her shoulders and let out a huff. "They're both going to die, I just know it."

"Or they just get maimed again and we make a lot of money. Then you can lecture him all you want then," Pinako suggested. Winry thought about it for a second.

"Well I could use some new tools but I shouldn't think about it like that. I really don't want them to get hurt." Before they knew it, it was time to go to the train station. Pinako said goodbye at the house before they left. The station was empty. There weren't too many people there. Winry smiled sweetly at Ed.

"Now stay out of trouble," she reminded him.

"I always do." She turned to Al with not as sweet a disposition.

"And you keep him out of trouble, understand?" he hid behind his brother, trying not to tremble so much.

"Brother, she's scary."

"And she thinks I can't stay out of trouble. What is he, my babysitter?" The whistle blew and people started getting on the train. Ed picked up their suitcase and gave Winry one more smile.

"Well we'd better get going." He glanced back at Al.

"Okay, but please take care of yourselves," she added one more concern. Al gave her a hug and headed for the door to the train. Ed leaned in to hug her as well.

"We'll be careful, I promise," he said into her ear. "And I'll tell you all about our trip when we get back." With that said, all the tears she was holding back came gushing out. She started shaking in his arms.

"I don't want you to go," she realized, holding onto him more. Ed closed his eyes, trying to make this as easy as possible.

"Winry, we have to do this. Please don't make it harder then it has to be." She finally let go and pulled back. Eventually she looked up at him and smiled, although it wasn't easy. She watched as they got on board and the train started off, leaving her to stand alone on the station's platform.

Ed leaned on his arm, watching the world go by, out the window.

"She really didn't want us to leave, did she, Ed," Alphonse brought up. Ed let out a groan as he placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. He closed his eyes as though to be thinking.

"Let's make this a short trip. I really don't want to be gone too long," he answered which was better then what Al thought he was going to say. Usually he would get something like 'I wish she wouldn't carry on so much', but this time seemed different.

"Yeah, I want to get back too. After all that traveling we use to do, it's nice to just stay in one place."

"Sounds like you're remembering more now," Ed mentioned, opening one eye.

"It's starting to come back, slowly." With every thing going back to normal, they might actually get to enjoy themselves, which was something they hadn't had in a long time. So maybe this was how their teacher wanted it to be.

the end