Chapter 22: The End of this Story

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, but I do own characters that are not in any anime episodes, movies, or mangas associated with FMA.

The final screw in the socket was the mark of the end of the operation, a stamp on a job well done for Winry Rockbell as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Her grandmother, Pinako, would have been so proud of her if she could see her right now, but Pinako was in a better place having passed on two years ago. Winry took it on herself to improve her skills, both medically and mechanically, to make her grandmother proud of her. This of course led to some sleepless nights like the ones she had just been having, but at least she wasn't alone as the person who had the operation took great interest in the making of the arm. It was great to have someone to help her, but the person could only lend one arm and had lost both his legs, which she had to make replacements for. After the man cleared his throat to get her to release the straps that were holding his body down so that he wouldn't thrash around. Surprisingly, he was not prone to moving around like most people who underwent the painful surgery and he acted as if he wasn't feeling anything that Winry was doing to him, almost as if he was numb to the pain.

"Well you have got to be the best patient I ever had," declared Winry as she helped him up from the bed and then gave the blond a mirror for him to see himself in. "Well, did I do a good job?"

"Yeah," replied the blond as he looked at himself in the mirror and took a look at his new automail arms, flexing them to get a feel for them before trying to do a flip but wound up hitting the bed as it was his first experience of moving with something other than his arms.

"You shouldn't be doing that, it's a very new experience to you," said Winry as she helped him back down to the bed. "You know that your own wounds are also still healing so there is a chance you might open your own wounds doing that shit too."

"By the way, was that you singing when I was being cut sown back up," asked the blond as he looked up at he and he saw that there was a blush spreading across her face as he said that.

"Yeah, so what about it," replied Winry as she turned away and started looking through the deck of cards that he kept with him that had strange symbols on them, including a picture of man with one eye.

"You sing off key," said the blond as he lay in bed and immediately felt something hit him in the forehead like a hammer and cards scattered everywhere.

"You never do change, Sean, but I guess it would be weird if it any other way," said Winry as she walked off to check on Ed who was outside waiting. "So who are you waiting for, me or Sean?"

"You of course," replied Ed as he kissed her on the lips when he hugged her and then stroked her hair. "It's finally the end of it all, it's really hard to believe that I've gotten everything I wanted."

"Yes it is, but I'm not complaining one bit about that," said Winry and she noticed that Ed had something in his pocket that looked like the bulge of a box, a ring box. "Ed, what is that for?"

"Oh yeah, Riza gave me some cookies for being on time with my report," said Ed as he brought out a small box that was a lot larger than it looked form the bulge, and had the "cookies" that Riza gave to Ed. Unfortunately, she never mentioned that she also gave some cookies to Black Hayate for doing good and she didn't tell him that she had been doing that long before Ed had ever discovered the cookies. "These are really good, do you want one?"

"No thanks," replied Winry as she gave him and apologetic, but somehow nervous smile. Oh god why do I not just tell him that those are dog treats…probably because Riza told me not to and she might pull a gun on me if I do say anything about it.

"Well anyway, I got to go now and deliver a report to the Furhrer," said Ed as he walked towards the door, but turned back to say, "I love you."

"I love you to," said Winry. So much.

"I'm going to throw up, where is the bucket," announced Sean from inside in his sarcastic manner and was then surprised by the sudden appearance of Winry by his bed sideholding what appeared to be a wrench and a screw driver. "Hello there Winry."

Roy looked at the resignation on his desks for the first time that day and he looked at the name expecting to see Ed or Vashov, both of whom had no further use for the military, but the name on the paper was neither of the two above mentioned officers. He saw that one "Riza Hawkeye" had turned in her resignation as General and under reason she wrote "personal matters of the heart." Personal matters? Has she found someone else or could it be that someone is blackmailing her? The questions raced in his mind as he thought of the office without Riza walking around in to remind him of his duty and the paperwork on his desk. It was the scariest thought ever in his mind for he thought that Riza only kept her office to make sure that he did all of his paperwork. Someone opened the door to his office and he saw Riza step in, dressed in civilian clothes that he had never seen her in and smiling at him as she walked over towards him.

"Riza, why are you leaving this office," asked Roy as he looked at her choice of outfit, which consisted of a blue dress that was cut out to the side in a style that he had become familiar with as the style of the people of the east. It did well to show off her nice toned legs and it was sleeveless with a thing sash that showed off her figure very well as it hugged her body. "Riza…?"

"Didn't you read my letter of resignation," asked Riza as she walked closer to Roy and for the first time, the Player, as he called himself, was finding himself hard to make a move on an attractive woman. "I resigned because I couldn't stand being nothing but your general, so now I am not bound by any policies that keep me from being with you."

"And you came dressed like that because?"

"I thought there would be some good uses for it, like seeing how you reacted when I wore it," replied Riza casually when the Riza he knew or thought he knew would have never said anything like that.

"Are there any words that you would like to say as well that you couldn't say before," asked Roy as he looked at Riza with a smirk on his face.

"I love you Roy."

"I love you to Riza."

Roy had his head down on the desk and looked at the stack of paper work that was right next to him contemplating. To burn or not to burn, that is the question. He played with the idea but then Ed would have to write his report again along with other reports and it would cause a possible uprising or be the start to it. The road to bringing justice to the world was far harder than he had expected, but it was one that he had promised himself he would make. He owed it to all the men and women he had killed and the men and women who had been killed to put him there. That was the blood debt that he had and he would always uphold the blood debt. I just wish someone would have told me about all the god damn paper work that I would have to do for this! Roy raised his hadn in preparation to set them on fire, but as soon as he did that he heard the hammer of a gun being pulled back and he looked to see Riza standing there.

"Just what exactly were you planning to do there Fuhrer," asked Riza as she pointed her gun at him in the usual threatening manner that she had when he tried to do something like that. "You never change do you, Roy?"

"You're one to talk, my gun toting angel," said Roy as he walked up towards her and used his left hand to move the gun away while using his right to cup her cheek. "So how is Sean doing in his command? I still don't know how you got him to accept a commission into the army when I couldn't pay him the usual amount that he charges for a job."

"I was able to ask Iristeis to help me influence his opinion and I used some of my own brand of persuasion," replied Riza passively, which made Roy worry because the only two persuasion techniques he knew were by gun and the other by…well use your imagination. He didn't want the first option for Sean because he still felt bad about giving Sean his facial scar while he also didn't want the other one because he wanted Riza all to himself.

"Just what exactly did you do to him," asked Roy a bit nervously.

"I gave him some money from the business I run and I gave him a chair on the board for a nice little bonus," said Riza as she sat back in her chair. "So, how do we pass the time until your lunch period?"

"I have an idea," said Roy with a smirk and that look in his eye that Riza knew all too well.

"You never change do you?"

"Would you want me any other way?"

"No, I love you just like that."

"And I love you, just as you are."