Two days had passed since then.

Edward now knew how to quickly whip out his gun from the holster, engage it, the proper ways to shoot, and how to reload. Riza was a very good teacher; understanding, patient, and well with her words. He thought he had done pretty well with her these couple of days. But the same didn't apply back at home in the Rockbell house.

Every time Edward would try to speak to Winry, she would either ignore him completely, or bitterly tell him to "leave her alone". Ed had even tried to get input from Granny Pinako on how to apologize to Winry. Of course, he had been yelled at for "how much of an idiot he is". Apparently Pinako was mad too.

The night before he was to leave, Ed had called Alphonse to tell him about joining the war and Winry, and to ask how things were doing on his side in Xing. Al had told him that the people were scared, saying the Emperor wasn't the same as before.

"Did you talk to Ling yourself?" Ed asked.

"No. Since about three weeks ago, no one besides authorized personnel have been allowed to speak to the Emperor. Sorry, Brother."

"No, it's alright. Didn't think you would." A short silence stretched between the two, before Al said

"Well, I have to go now. I've finished my work here in Xing so I'm off to the next country over. Stay safe, Brother."

"Thanks Al, you too." Edward was about to hang up, before he heard Al's voice speak through.

"Oh, and about that thing with Winry. Just tell her how you feel. She'll understand. But be careful what you say. You can be kind of an idiot sometimes when it comes to things like this."

"Thanks a ton, Al." Ed scoffed sarcastically.

"Don't mention it. Bye."

Ed placed the phone down in the receiver, crawling into bed.

Before he knew it, it was time to head out to the train station. Pinako had told Winry to accompany him there, and Winry complied begrudgingly.

The walk was agonizingly silent. Ed couldn't take this much more. He hated fighting with Winry. He had never said so before, but he loved her. He hated how he always seemed to hurt her. Their fights usually resulted in crying. He hated to see her cry. He didn't want to leave anymore than she did. Edward walked on, sweat dripping from his forehead, and Winry had a scowl on her face as she absently kicked a rock forward.

"W-Winry?" Ed said, trying to break the tension between them.

"What, Ed?"

Edward gulped, tightening his grip on his suitcase before squeaking out quietly, "…I'm sorry."

Winry halted in her spot and Ed stopped after her. She had her eyes on the ground, not looking up at him. He stepped in front of her, bending his head down to try and see her face. "Winry? You oka-"

He flew back as Winry had quickly bent down and threw a rock at him, not having her wrench in hand. He fell to the ground with an ungraceful thud.

"W-w-what the hell, Winry?" he sputtered, holding his hand against the growing bruise on his forehead.

"Sorry? That's all you have to say? You finally got your and Al's bodies back! You can live a normal life now! But you decide to leave again to fight in a war! And all you can say is sorry?" Winry panted, her eyes glassing over.

Ed's expression dropped. Oh no. Not this. He stood up, patting the dirt off his brown slacks.

"Winry…"

"Don't even, Ed! I can't believe you! You promised you wouldn't leave me again! You said everything was over!"

He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. She tried to get out of his grip, but he held on tighter. "Don't cry, Win. I'm sorry. But they need me." he reasoned.

"But…but you could die!" she cried, tears finally rolling down her cheeks.

Ed lifted her face to look at him. "Hey, don't say that. I'm Edward Elric, remember? The Fullmetal Alchemist. How many times have I been knocked down? I always get back on my feet, don't I? This time won't be any different." he said softly, wiping a fallen tear from her face.

"You don't know that. That's exactly what Mom and Dad said before they left. They told me to wait for them. So I waited and waited. But they never came back, Ed! They were killed! Taken away from me and I didn't even get to have a say in it!"

He sighed. So that's what she was so scared about. He lifted his hand and stroked her hair, loving the feel of the silky blond strands flowing between his fingers.

"I know, Winry. I know. But you'll just have to trust me. Trust me that I'll come back to you alive."

She hugged him tighter, fingers digging into his shirt. Edward whispered into her hair.

"I'll come back to you, Win. I promise."

"Okay."

He lifted her head and wiped her stray tears. "Now stop crying already. You're making me feel like a jack-ass." he joked, feeling his stomach tighten when she smiled with tears still in her eyes.

They arrived at the station not too long after. Edward stepped off the platform and onto the train. He turned to look back at her. Winry pulled her face into what she seemed was a smile, and she waved. He waved back, his heart beating much faster than normal, then turned, the door closing after him.

The engine began running, and soon the train was in motion. Edward found a seat and sat down. He looked out the window, seeing Winry's retreating form still smiling on the stone-paved platform. He smiled, then looked to the empty seat in front of him. Ah. This brings back memories, he thought. He looked up and imagined a big suit of armor talking to him. He chuckled to himself, before closing his eyes to sleep.

Ed stepped off the train onto the concrete platform, and the train whistled its goodbye as it rolled off once more. He looked around, picking up his suitcase.

Youswell.

There were more people here now that he took a look. The place he first entered as a broken down poor mining town, had grown into a large commercial city. Ed smiled to himself. They got along pretty well.

"Fullmetal!"

Ed turned in the direction of the voice. Brigadier General Roy Mustang stepped forward, his arms crossed and brows scrunched together in a frown.

"What do you think you're wearing? Do you really expect to go into combat with that?" he said, motioning to the white button down, brown slacks, and brown trench coat he wore. "Put on your uniform. We don't have much time before the Xingese make their way across the desert." Roy said.

"Okay okay." Edward replied, angry to be given orders when he had just arrived.

He pulled out his uniform from his suitcase and entered the nearest bathroom. He stepped out minutes later with his crisp sapphire jacket hanging loosely from his shoulders. His pants were a little too baggy and were slipping slightly from his waist. The only thing that seemed to fit were the white nylon gloves and black leather boots. Roy looked at him and stifled a laugh behind his hand.

"Told you we needed extra-extra small."

Edward shot back a scowl. "Shut up! You people are just too big and fat, that's all" He said, wiggling his hips and holding the hem of his pants to keep them from falling.

Roy took a step forward. "Here." he slipped a black belt through the given straps.

"I can do it myself." Ed scoffed, grabbing the belt from the General's hands and slipping it the rest of the way. "Thanks." he said quietly after seeing that his pants no longer fell down.

Mustang turned and started walking, Ed following behind. They reached the outskirts of town. Ed could spot the flashes of the blue uniforms as far as the eye could see. Roy raised his hand to his mouth calling out,

"Alright troops!"

All heads shot up to the source of the voice and quickly they scattered to form a line in front of the two men. From the group of them, Ed could point out Kain Fuery, Jean Havoc, Heymans Breda, and Alex Louis Armstrong. They all looked at him and grinned. Ed returned the smile, happy to be reunited with old familiar faces.

"Sir, your gun." Riza called out, walking toward them.

She handed Roy a holster with said gun inside, and he strapped it to his waist. Roy called out"Okay, men! As you know, we are about to depart across the desert to face the people of Xing! Over the past two years, their military strength has increased greatly, and they have added Xingese alkahestry users to their men. So far, we are equal in strength with them. But we are Amestrian Soldiers! We went through hell this past decade! This small battle is no different!"

They all had agreeing determination in their eyes.

"Now men! Are you ready to win this?" "Sir, yes sir!" they called out, hands brought to their foreheads in salute. "March out!" the men turned toward the desert and began the walk.

Edward's mouth hung open, panting like a dog trying to cool itself down.

The heat had gotten significantly higher over the past six hours, and Ed's bangs clung to his face with sweat. His boots refused to hold him up in the soft loamy sand; they were obviously not designed for terrain like this. The cloth of his sapphire jacket was no longer crisp, clinging to his body uncomfortably with moisture. His hands were sweaty, and he could barely move his sticky fingers within the cloth. He looked around him at the other men.

Sure, some of them were sweaty and tired, but only Ed was the one that looked the worse out of all of them, drenched in sweat and dragging his feet through the grainy sand. How did these guys wear these things all day? Edward tugged at his collar and shook his body, trying to relieve himself of the sticky gross feeling. It didn't work.

"Hey there, chief." Havoc said, lightly smacking Ed on the back. "Haven't seen you in a while. Nice to see you."

"Yeah. Same. Get a girlfriend yet?" Ed asked jokingly. Havoc clenched his fists

"No! Stupid bastard. Roy already has a girlfriend, yet he's still stealing all the ladies!"

Ed turned his head to Havoc, surprised at what he had just said. "What? Who?" Who the hell would wanna be stuck with that annoying bastard?

"Colonel Hawkeye, haven't you heard? He confessed his love to her six months ago and they've been goin' out since."

Edward turned stiffly to look at Roy and Riza behind them. Now that he mentioned it, they did seem rather close. Roy had his face toward Riza, talking to her as she listened with her same stoic expression. Their steps were the same, mirroring each other like being on the same wavelength. Suddenly Roy said something and Riza cracked a smile. She rested her hand on his arm, and he grabbed it, squeezing it tightly in his. Edward turned around swiftly, wishing he had not just seen the Colonel and General flirting.

"See it now?" Havoc asked.

Ed nodded in return. "But I don't get it," he began. "How can the Colonel stand being around that bastard all the time? I mean, I understand talking to him, but then she's actually making physical contact! That's disgusting!"

Havoc chuckled at Edward's use of 'disgusting'. He raised his head, closing his eyes.

"Love's a funny thing, chief. Something that can't be explained. I'm sure you've got someone like that in your life that you don't know why, but you want to be with them every second of the day. Like that one girl. The mechanic. What's her name, Winry was it?"

Edward's cheeks flushed pink, and Havoc could tell that it wasn't from the heat.

"I'll take that as a yes." he chuckled, walking ahead to meet with Breda.

Winry.

Ed raised his head, looking into the blue cloudless sky. God, he missed her already. It had only been a couple of hours, but he wanted to see her again. Would she wait for him? He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. She had waited enough these past six years.

Edward shook his head, ridding himself of the thought of seeing her with another man.

No. He would get back to her. After this war he had thrown himself into. He promised.

And Edward Elric never broke promises.

Ling Yao blearily opened his eyes that morning, faintly hearing the screams outside his window. He tiredly got up from the comfort of his bed, stumbling over and kicking aside his blankets that tangled on around his feet. When he looked out the window, he froze.

The people of Xing, his people, were being murdered before his eyes. Men in starch blue uniform were shooting everyone, bombing houses. Women, children, they spared no one.

"Stop!" Ling tried to yell, but his voice was caught in his throat. Nothing came out.

"Stop! Stop!" there was no sound, beside that of gunshots and screams.

Suddenly, his bedroom door flung open. Two men, their sapphire uniform's stained with red, walked in, holding a hostage. Her mouth was gagged and her left automail arm, removed despairingly from her body. Ling's eye's widened.

Lan Fan.

Blahhh I think maybe this one dragged out a bit. Oh well. Please Rate and Review! Veerrryy much appreciated! :D