Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, though I do have an Ed and Al wall scroll and a pair of pants that look kind of like Ed's.
With her head in this position, and her mind taken up with the funny comics, she failed to notice the faint rustling of cloth and light footsteps coming her way, the flash of black and gold in her peripheral vision, until she felt a presence directly behind her. Gasping in shock, she whipped around, hair flying into her eyes.
"Hello, Winry. It's been a while."
Winry gaped. "It's you!" she cried, plunging forward into his arms. "It's been so long! How have you been?" He laughed, hugging her back. "Good, pretty good," he replied. "You? How is your granny? Your dog? Your parents?" Winry flinched, pulling away to sit on a desk. "Granny's fine, I'm fine, Den's fine," she said. "But… my parents… My dad got conscripted for the war, and my mom just had to go with him, working as a nurse. Th-they got killed when a bomb hit my mom's medical tent."
Silence from him. Then: "Oh, my god. Winry, I'm so sorry! I never knew… the Colonel never tells me anything." Pulling in the rein on her tears, Winry managed to smile. "Well, Lieutenant Havoc," she said, turning away from the topic of her parents' deaths. "How did you get to be here, working at a high school?"
2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc laughed, folding his arms and sitting on the desk across from her. "Well," he said, grinning. "It's a secret assignment, so I can't tell you much. Let's just say there are a few people here that need watching over by the military, and I was one of the ones chosen. Fuery's here too; he'll probably be teaching you English next semester." "Great," Winry said, smiling again. "Well, when does the bell ring?"
"Five minutes; now would be a great time to go to the bathroom or get a drink if you need it," Havoc replied. "I'm good," Winry said. "Then tell me why you moved here," he urged.
"Well," she began with a sigh. "When my parents died in the Ishbalan War, Granny and I decided we just couldn't stay in Resembool. Too many memories. So we packed up and left for Central. We live about a thirty minute walk away in the townhouses, so I take the bus. Den lost a leg a few weeks after you guys left your Resembool post ten years ago—he was in the forest and got it caught in a bear trap—and I made him an automail one, just like Granny taught me. I've gotten really good, just ask her. Automail is my passion." "Don't get into the technicals; I'll never be able to understand it," Havoc chided gently. He glanced down at his watch. "Well, I need to get my lesson plan together. You've got two minutes, Winry. Oh, make that one."
Seeing no point in leaving the classroom to walk a lap around the halls, get a drink or go to the bathroom, Winry sat down in her chosen desk and proceeded to pick at a hangnail. "How long are the classes, Mr. Havoc?" she said in a mock tone of voice. "An hour each, Miss Rockbell," Havoc said in the same tone, typing away at his computer. "Oh, fun, a full hour of math," Winry said dryly. "How come you're the math teacher?" "Would you rather it was the Fuhrer?" Havoc shot back. "I stand corrected," Winry chuckled, ripping off the hangnail. "Ow." "That's why you don't rip those off," Havoc said over the sound of the bell.
A few drops of blood welled up in the space where the nail had been. Winry put the finger in her mouth and sucked it up. "Shut up, Havoc," she said around the finger, as the classroom door opened and a small group of four students flocked in, quickly followed by more and more. Winry shrank down in her seat, feeling suddenly shy. Riza and Hughes and Roy weren't in this class with her, she remembered. "Everyone sit down!" Havoc bellowed, strolling to the front of the room. "I have an announcement! C'mere, Winry." Oh, no, Winry realised. He's gonna introduce me to the whole class! Shooting Havoc a Death Glare, she pulled herself out of her seat and slunk up to the front of the class.
Everyone went silent as Havoc put a hand on her shoulder. "Okay, you guys," he said. "This is Winry Rockbell, a new student from Resembool. You'd better make her feel welcome or I'll only tell her when the tests are." There was a small smattering of laughter. "I mean it," Havoc insisted, tugging his black shirt straight, but there was a smile on his face. "Okay, Winry, go sit down. Let's do attendance, everyone, then you can all say hi to Winry or something like that, I don't care. Just don't completely destroy my classroom. Leo? Where's Leo—oh, there you are."
Winry slipped back into her seat, beside the sullen blond boy that had been on the bus. "Hello," she said to him. There was something intensely familiar about him. He merely grunted and averted his eyes.
Winry narrowed her eyes at him. He had a face most girls (including Winry, she shamelessly admitted to herself) would die to see in a smile, with longish blond hair that was tied back in a braid that ended near the end of his shoulder-blades. His golden eyes were far-away and glazed over slightly. He was short, but obviously her age. He was dressed in a black muscle shirt with a black sweater-thing over it that was like a vest, but had sleeves and otherwise only came down to his elbows, but they both matched his black pants and loose black boots. He wore white gloves over his hands, and was rotating and clenching his right one as though it hurt him.
He's so familiar! What is it about him that—
"Edward Elric? Oh, hey, you're actually here," Havoc said dryly, interrupting Winry's thought. "Whatever," the boy snapped back, drumming the fingers of his left hand on his desk. Winry jerked in her seat.
Edward Elric!?!?
