Chapter 1: The Return

'' "Mama…Papa…?" a scared voice whimpered as she approached two dead bodies, lying in a heap of blood. The man standing over top of her parents turned around and she saw a man with black hair, a blue outfit covered by an ugly tan cloak and tears in his equally black eyes.

"Mama! Papa!" the girl screamed as tears rolled down her face. She felt frozen as she couldn't tell her body to move and run away from the scary man. 'Why are they like that?! Who is that man?! Why won't Mama and Papa answer me?!' the girl though to herself as she sniffled and tried to back away.

The man looked at her sadly and saw his face darken as he mumbled, "I'm sorry…," before he pulled out a rusty knife covered in bloody knife and rushed at her. ''

Winry woke up suddenly with a cold sweat and heavy breathing. The dream she just had of her parents' deaths startled her and she was close to tears. Feeling a little confused at her unusual surroundings after she calmed down, she looked around and remembered that she was staying over at the Hughes' home while visiting Central on her way to Rush Valley. The door opened and a head popped out and two small green eyes on an adorable bobbing head of a seven-year-old girl full of dark blonde hair looked at her worriedly.

"Sis…?" the girl called out shyly.

"Elicia! When did you wake up?!"

"Just now…when I heard you scream," Elicia mumbled as her mother, Gracia, barged in crying, "Winry! Are you alright?!"

"Mrs. Hughes…! I'm fine, thanks! I…just happened to have a very bad dream. I'm sorry to have startled you and Elicia first thing in the morning…," Winry replied to the widow meekly with a small embarrassed smile.

"Sis got a bad dream..?" Elicia repeated as she climbed onto Winry's bed and tried to snuggle to her for comfort. Winry smiled sadly and hugged Elicia as she answered, "Yes, I did. Sorry for screaming…," while Gracia came over and sat on the edge of Winry's bed, patting her daughter's head. The room was silent for a while until Gracia broke the silence by standing up and saying, "Elicia, Winry, it's almost 10 o'clock, so please get ready for breakfast. I'll go and prepare some eggs and toast!"

Gracia walked out of the room and the two girls broke out of their embrace. Winry stood up and asked, "Elicia! How about I give you a piggy-back ride to the washroom?"

Elicia nodded as Winry bent down to allow the young girl to jump on her back. Elicia giggled and Winry decided to play along by pretending to be a horse and galloping around on their way to the bathroom and sharing a few laughs along on the way.

"Oh, Mrs. Hughes! This is such a lovely looking breakfast!" Winry gasped as she glanced at the many plates of delicious looking food laying on the table before her.

"Thank you, Winry. Just for that you can take some home to your darling grandmother," Gracia said with a smile. Elicia bounced to her seat and sat at one of the chairs as Winry smiled at Elicia's mother and seated herself at the table.

"Elicia, dear. Eat the toast, okay?" Gracia said.

"But Mom! The toast is all burnt again!" pouted Elicia. The two women laughed and Winry said, "Elicia, it's supposed to be crispy and crunchy. To do that your mom had to warm it up until it was almost burnt. Get it? It's not burnt yet, okay?"

"But…it looks like it," the little girl replied. Winry smiled and picked up a piece of toast and bit it.

"Yum! It's so good! Elicia, there's nothing wrong with the toast. Come on now, try it!" encouraged Winry. Elicia looked at the toast with disgust but took a piece of toast and bit it. She swallowed and said, after a few seconds, "It's not bad…but I still don't like the burnt taste!"

"Winry! Thank you. I've been trying to solve the toast problem for quite some time and you did it for me! I couldn't be any more grateful to you," Gracia -having been silent all this time so she could see whether or not her daughter would finally eat toast- told Winry with a glad semi-smile. Silence befell the room again until after they all finished breakfast.

It was nearing the afternoon as Winry looked around the room, making sure that she didn't leave anything behind. She picked up her bag and walked towards the front door of the apartment like home, where Gracia and Elicia were waiting for her. Gracia handed Winry a basket full of food, which she accepted.

"It was nice to have you over and see your face again. Are you sure you must leave right now since your train home doesn't leave until 6?" Gracia asked.

"I'm sorry I can't accept your invitation to stay a while longer, but I must go a visit a few other friends here in Central I want to say good bye too before I leave," Winry replied as she bent down and hugged Elicia.

"Bye-Bye!" Elicia cried out as Winry opened the door and left, walking down the stairs that lead out of the apartment complex building.

'Maybe I'll go and see Sciezka and Mrs. Mustang before I leave and say my farewells!' Winry thought to herself as she walked down the street.

"Eh?! You're leaving?! Today?!" Sciezka cried out in a surprised manner when Winry revealed that she planned to return to Resembool. Winry had found Riza Mustang and Sciezka having tea together at a local café.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Sciezka, Mrs. Mustang, but I can't keep my grandmother waiting for long, so I'm going back to Resembool today," Winry replied apologetically.

"Would you like me to drive you to the station?" Riza asked as she stood up and grabbed her hand bag.

"Yes! We'll come and see you off!" Sciezka exclaimed as she clapped her hands together excitedly. Winry smiled and replied, "Of course! We should leave now then," as the women finished their tea, paid and got into Riza's car, where Riza started up the engine and drove off down the road towards to the train station. When they got there about fifteen minutes later, it was nearly 6 o'clock and they rushed inside. Winry rushed to the train and took out her 'Arrival & Return' ticket which she gave to the usher. He nodded and Winry waved to the two women with her and let herself onto the train, found her seat and put her bag on a carry-on space before seating herself.

"Attention all passengers: Last call for passengers of Train 0284 before departure to Resembool in two minutes," an announcement said as Winry watched more people pile onto the train. She looked out the window and saw Sciezka and Riza waving at her from the other side of her window. She waved back as the train announced that the train would be leaving within a minute. Winry opened the window and shouted out "Bye!" just as the train whistle blew and the train began to rumble away from the station and the two Winry was waving to. She closed the window and sat back down and yawned. The trip took at least a day and a half and Winry didn't usually like to travel by herself. She never did leave home much unless it was a situation involving her friends, the Elric brothers. She wiped away the small tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

'I didn't realize I'd been crying over those two again…,' Winry thought miserably and moaned quietly to herself as she slumped in her seat with depression. She sat there silently and before she knew it, she was asleep.

"Miss…? Miss…?"

Winry stirred at the sound of a voice provoking her to wake up and looked up groggily to see an attendant, looking down at her with a kind smile.

"Miss, it seems that you haven't eaten for quite a while. This trip still lasts for a few more hours, so maybe you would like to go and grab a meal from the cafeteria cart?" the attendant regarded with another kind smile. Winry looked at the attendant quizzically, before realizing that the attendant was right. Winry was definitely hungry and knew that she fell asleep for at least 2 hours or so.

"Would you happen to have the time?" she questioned the attendant, who she saw had a watch. The attendant looked at the watch, and told her the time. Winry thanked her as the attendant left just as she stood up and went down to the cafeteria cart to get some food for herself. She sat down at an empty table near the window and looked at the menu until she was surprised by a waiter who had come to her side to take her order.

"Oh! Uh…I'd like…this garden salad and tea, please," Winry ordered wearily as the waiter wrote down her order on a small pad.

"Will that be all, madam?"

"For now, yes it will be, thank you," she replied meekly as she closed the menu and gave it to the waiter. She stared outside the window for a few moments until she heard a small 'clack' and turned to see the waiter placing a tray on her table with her order.

"Your order, madam. Please call if you wish for anything else," the waiter said as he bowed and left. Winry tucked into her food and a few minutes later, finished and breathed a sigh of relief. She stood up and went to the cash register where a young woman probably a year or two older than her was waiting.

"Table number, please?" the cashier asked.

"Uh…number five!" Winry replied hastily as the cashier looked at a piece of paper in front of her and began pressing some buttons on the cash register., making the machine go 'Click, click, click…beep, beep, beep….,'

"That'll be nine-hundred and thirty-seven amestries, please," the cashier told Winry as she fished around in her wallet and gave the money to the cashier. A few more clicks and beeps later, the cash register made a 'Ding!' noise as the money compartment opened and the cashier fished around for change. After Winry received her change and was told, "Thanks for coming! Have a nice day and please come again," she left and went back to her seat. Her stomach was full and her mind felt pretty blank. Winry laid back on her seat and decided to let sleep drift in yet for the second time that day.

A loud giant whistle startled Winry awake again and she bolted upright in her seat in a cold sweat and a thumping heart. She looked around and realized she was still on the train taking her home, but looked outside the window and realized the train was now travelling on more familiar grounds that she was used too.

'I'm almost home!!!' Winry thought happily to herself as she heard an announcement saying that the train would reach Resembool within 5 minutes. Winry smiled and waited for the remaining few minutes of the ride.

A little while later, the train stopped at the Resembool station, announced the stop and the passengers began to grab their carry-on-bags and got off the train. Winry grabbed her bag and rushed off, looking around her as she exited the door to the train. She looked around, hoping that her grandmother would be there, but wasn't. Winry sighed and left the station, trying to gather the courage to walk all the way home.

Twenty minutes later, Winry saw a house over the hills bearing the name 'Rockbell Automail' and smiled as she ran the rest of the way up to her house. She stopped and stared at the home she lived in all her in for a few breath-taking moments before reaching into her jacket pocket for a key and unlocking the front door. She opened in and barged in, shouting "Grandmother! I'm home!" as she watched a short figure shuffled to the door to greet her.

"Winry…welcome home."

AUTHOUR'S NOTE:

Hi there everyone! J. U. T. H. L here!

This is my [not-so-good-because-it's-unprofessional] second story: "Full Metal Alchemist - The Return"!!

SORRY FOR NOT WRITING ANYTHING IN THE PROLOGUE AND MAKING THE PROLOGUE SO SHORT!

I thought it would look un-professional if I did so.

Yes! This is pretty much a fan-made-squeal to the first anime series & movie! THERE IS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SECOND SERIES [Brotherhood] IN HERE AT ALL!

ZIP! ZAP! NADA! NOTHING!

Please don't confuse the animes! For first time people who don't know about the FMA [Full Metal Alchemist] Series, I shall explain it to you!

FMA is basically a series about 2 brothers who lose parts of their bodies while trying to revive their dead mother using a forbidden technique and are on a mission to find a legendary stone [The Philosopher's Stone] and re-gain the body parts.

The brothers are Edward [Older brother, lost his left leg and right arm] and Alphonse [Younger Brother, lost entire body] Elric.

Please just WATCH the first series to clear things up because the 2 series are somewhat the same but somewhat different!

You see: The plot in first half of the first series was based on the manga, but the plot was suddenly changed halfway through.

The second series is based entirely on the manga! (Or so I've heard?) : P

Anyways! A few things you may want to know! Amestries [Ah-mess-treehees] are probably not the currency used in Ed & Al's world! I just made it up!

And for those of you who understand what's happening in the Prologue, you would know that:

In the Prologue, the Elrics are coming back to their world and destroying the gate, as planned at the end of the MOVIE, and meet Hughes & Gracia from OUR WORLD.

ON their return they meet Colonel Roy Mustang, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye and Major Alex Louis Armstrong, all of whom have had their ranks increased.

I made Roy the Führer, Riza his wife and a Colonel, and Major Armstrong a Major General. Don't worry! His sister [The ex-Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong] got promoted too!

Anyways, you're probably wondering why I would come up with such a story like this? Well, for a past month or so, I've been watching the second series [Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood] and my love for FMA was sparked again! I had a sudden desire to do a WinXEd story!

Sorry if the first chapter, based mainly on Winry' experiences, were somewhat of a pain. But there will be a BIG surprise within the next few chapters!! I've been thinking of the plot for a little while so please don't worry! It'll definitely get more exciting and I'll try to add as much humour, action and romance as I can!

So please wait for me while I update this! Might take a while since I'm such a lazy bum! Dx

So please forgive me because….there's definitely going to be a few cliff-hangers there! : )

Anyways! Sorry for taking up so much of your time! : (

Bye~!

--J. U. T. H. L

TEXT GRAMMAR EDIT: March 13th. 2010