The Gift

22

Away

December 23rd – Saturday

Roy yawned as he stumbled sleepily into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee before plopping down on the couch. He stared blankly at the decorated tree as he sipped at the hot liquid. It had been lonely, sleeping without Ed. Not that he wasn't used to sleeping on his own, but he'd expected Ed to be there until Alphonse came back...

Standing up, Roy gulped down the rest of the coffee and avoided looking at the tree as he got ready to leave. Ed would come back. The teen just overreacted. When he got to work, he'd find Ed and try to get him to understand...

Riza glanced up as Colonel Mustang walked into the office. He looked a little tired, but other than that...

"Lieutenant, have you seen Ed?" the man asked when he saw her.

"Well...yes I have, but he's gone now," she answered.

Her commanding officer began digging through his desk drawer and said, "Where did he go? I need to talk to him."

Riza frowned and said, "He said he was going to Rizembool, I thought you knew..." The colonel's head snapped up and he stared at her with a look she'd never seen before. It was hurt mixed with disbelief. "I guess not..." she said softly.

"When did he go?" he asked quietly.

"Well, he was in here an hour ago and he said he was heading to the train station."

She watched various emotions play out on his face as he thought, then suddenly he barked, "Get the car!"

"Sir?"

"The car, lieutenant!" he said as he swiftly gathered up a few things. "We're going to the train station!"

She hesitated for a minute. The car was only to be used for military purposes, but... "Yes, sir," she said and hurried off. Riza didn't know what was going on, but she had a feeling that something had gone wrong in the colonel's plans.

Ed stared glumly out the train window to the station beyond, then looked at the empty seat in front of him. The train should have left fifteen minutes ago, but apparently they were having some problems because of the storm...

"Stupid Roy..." he muttered under his breath. Ed felt so hurt and frustrated. The colonel said that he wasn't seeing that girl, but if he wasn't then why wouldn't he tell him about her and about what he'd been doing? Why was he being so secretive?

Ed sighed. Maybe he should go back. Just get off the train and go back…

It was then that he heard the conductor announce that the train was leaving. Well, the choice had been taken from him, and really he didn't mind. Probably it was better this way. Better that he be with Al...

But if that was so, why did he feel so guilty? Why did he feel like he was in the wrong for being upset? Why did he feel like he was overreacting...?

The train lurched, jarring Ed from his thoughts. He glanced out the window again and his eyes widened when he saw Roy running toward the train. Ed opened the window and stuck his head out. The colonel saw him and he shouted, "Ed!"

But it was too late, the train moved out of the station, and he had to shut the window because of the snow blowing everywhere.

Ed swallowed hard and covered his face with his hands.

He'd come to the station...and he'd looked so desperate...

Frustration and guilt attacked his heart and Ed felt tears prick at his eyes at the thought that maybe he'd made the wrong choice.

After parking the car, Riza rushed into the station, trying to find her superior officer. When they'd gotten close enough, he'd jumped out of the car, nearly getting hit in the process and took off running toward the station.

Suddenly she saw him and called out, "Colonel!"

He either didn't hear her or he ignored her because he quickly walked over to one of the ticket booths and she heard him demand, "I want a ticket for the next train to Rizembool!"

Riza stepped beside him and looked at the ticket sales clerk, a black-haired girl that looked to be about seventeen or eighteen.

"I'm sorry, but we're not sending anymore trains north (1) right now," the girl said apologetically.

"What? Why not?" the colonel asked, desperation lacing through his voice.

"Because of the storm. There have been a few avalanches near some of the lines and it's just too dangerous to send any more out right now."

"But you sent that one," the colonel said in frustration as he pointed to where the train had been just a few minutes ago.

"That was the last one, and even then we almost didn't send it..."

"Colonel..." Riza said, breaking into the conversation. He glanced at her and she said, "You can't go right now anyway." He gave her a frustrated look and she said, "Remember? You have to get something first..."

His eyes widened slightly at the reminder and he said in an agonized tone, "Do you think I could get it in time?" He paused, then said, "Even if I did, it wouldn't matter now..."

"Do you really think so, sir?" she asked. "After all the work you put into it, are you going to give up now?"

The man looked away from her for a moment, but when his gaze came back to her, she could see determination in his eyes.

"…and so, then I told him that it was because he hadn't taken good care of his automail in the first place!" Winry said, then leaned over Al's shoulder and looked at the faceplate of his armor. "You have no idea how mad I was."

Al chuckled. "I can guess. You didn't hit him with a wrench did you?"

"No, but I should have," she said, then reached over and pointed to the coffee table. "Will you hand me the polish?"

He reached over and handed the bottle to her, then said, "Thanks a lot, Winry. I can never get my back polished and stuff."

"It's no problem, Al. I like to see metal gleam."

Al chuckled at her, then sighed. "Sometimes brother does it, but he gets more busy every day..."

"With Mustang, you mean?" she said from behind him.

Al nodded. "Did he talk to you?"

"Who?" she asked.

"Colonel Mustang. About..."

"Oh. Yeah...he did..."

Al looked back over his shoulder as best as he could to where Winry was standing on the couch. "What do you think?"

She was silent for several moments, then said uncertainly, "Well...It's...I don't know. I guess it's a little weird for me to think about it, but I guess it could work out okay. But you would know better than me...I mean, you've seen them interact more."

"Yeah... I kinda worry that maybe brother isn't ready for..." his words were cut off by a knock on the door. "I'll get it..." he said, not sure who would be at the door this late at night and with such a bad storm outside.

He heard Winry get off the couch and follow after him. After unlocking it, Al opened the door and looked down to see a small figure in a red coat...in Ed's red coat...

"Ed...?" Winry asked from behind Al.

The figure raised his head and looked up at Al. As he did so, the cowl of his hood fell back and large, liquid-gold eyes, rimmed with red, looked up at him.

"Al..." Ed said with a slightly trembling voice.

"Brother! What are you doing here?" His senses finally took over and he grabbed the suitcase from his brother's hand and pulled the smaller teen into the house before shutting the door. "I thought you were staying with the colonel!"

Ed looked down to the floor, and muttered, "Yeah...I was..."

"Then why are you here?" Winry asked in surprise.

"I...because..." The teen passed a hand over his eyes and said with a small sniff, "Can I stay here?"

"Of course!" Winry exclaimed. "But, Ed, what..."

Ed raised a hand and said shakily, "Can I just go to bed? I'm really... I just don't want to talk right now..."

Al looked to Winry who glanced at him. He was just as curious as she was. What had gone wrong? Why did he sound as if he was going to cry?

"Well...of course, Ed... You can just take the bed you normally do..." Winry said slowly.

"Thanks..." he muttered and started up the stairs. Neither of them spoke until they heard the closing door echo behind him, then Winry looked up at Al and said, "What do you think happened?"

Al shook his head, anger filling him. "I don't know. But if that bastard did anything bad to brother... I'll never forgive him..."

1- technically Rizembool isn't to the north, but that's where I like it to be so that's where it is in this story (and just about every other story I write)

Next postdates are: 24th and 25th

It is 2:30am here at my mom's house and I've been trying to get my laptop to connect to her stupid internet for the last half hour... Yep, it's late, and I'm sick too... T.T

Okay, enough of that. Hope you liked it. Only two more chapters left!

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