In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed—

But a waking dream of life

and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

-E.A. Poe

The diner was far friendlier, eyes barely blinked from the waitress who served them coffee at their table. Winry wasn't sure if it was because she was a nice person, or if it was because she was too busy gawking at Edward's angular face and long, ponytailed hair to even notice his prosthetic. She had a feeling it was the latter.

"If you need anything else, anything at all, just let me know." The young waitress to Ed and Ed only. Small hands curled around a coffee mug tightly as Winry watched the woman bat her lashes at Edward, who barely looked back at her as he smiled politely before she finally left, leaving Edward and Winry alone again.

The incident at the coffee shop had been unpleasant to say the least, but it wasn't the first time Winry had witnessed injustices against the automailed. She'd been working in garages with her grandmother since she was a kid, and had seen her granny Pinako turned away for being 'a creator of abominations' —meaning that people assumed she was weaponizing her automail. Engineering concealed weapons into automail had always been a touchy subject between the pro-gun and anti-gun crowds, with incidents of robberies and murders standing opposite stories of thwarted home invasions and the capture of hit and run criminals. But it always seemed that for every good story of someone using their hidden gun to bring down the bad guy, it was followed by the horror stories of rape and beatings by automailers even without the concealed weapons.

Even average, practical automail on the wrong carrier had been weaponized, and the decades of simmering tension finally boiled over 8 years prior when a seemingly normal 23 year old man opened fire on an elementary school with the assault rifle built into his arm and beat a teacher, his girlfriend, to death with his steel fist. He killed 5 children along with her, and would've killed more if it hadn't been for the police shooting him dead.

The massacre had launched the nation into a state of quarrel over whether or not the public had the right to know if their neighborhoods housed people carrying automail, and Capital Hill had spent 8 years bouncing the Automail Registration Act back and forth, trying to decide if it should be law to expose people even if they aren't carrying weapon-modified prosthetics or if it would violate privacy, free will, and the right to bear arms.

Winry watched the cream in her coffee swirl around until Ed's voice broke her trance.

"Sorry about that back there."

Winry's eyes found his across the table.

"Don't be." She said. "It's not your fault, and it's nothing I haven't seen before. I grew up around automail." The corner of Ed's mouth curled a bit. Something about her being an engineer made her incredibly cute, perhaps it was how unexpected it was. She didn't look the part of the average automail creator, even among the females. Automail garages were notorious boys clubs, and most of the women sprinkled throughout the industry came with shorter hair and scraped-up knees and the toughness required to exist in a man's world. Winry was different. Edward still hardly knew her, but he could tell she was special.

Her hands were smaller and more delicate, her blonde hair poured down her back even when suspended in a ponytail, and she was …womanly. She was deeply-feeling and unencumbered by industry noise saying what she was supposed to be. Watching her work on his arm revealed her true passion, and how free she was when she was helping others. It was all she cared about. It was uncommon to find lady-like behavior in automail shoppes, and Edward was intrigued by the idea that she had amassed such a following without succumbing to the societal pressures to be tough and competitive in order to get ahead. Honestly, it was damn smart of her to do the opposite, because what heterosexual male wouldn't love to have a beautiful woman like her speak sweetly to him and press her body close while she pried a cracked bolt out of his arm socket?

Ed wanted to laugh knowing that she was likely unaware of the effect she had on men. He could tell she was one of these other-wordly beauties who had no clue they could slay the entire population with a smile. He'd heard her laugh only once, when her work colleague said something funny during his appointment, and to hear her laugh was enough to halt most people in their tracks. Edward could listen to her sweet laughter all day, and when he thought of this he stopped stirring his coffee as something cold seized around his heart. There was only one other person in his life who he felt that way for; only one other time he had acknowledged a laugher he could blissfully swim in forever. He shook the thought away with a bitter scowl.

"So, you wanna tell me more about the guy from last night?" Ed asked. Winry ran a fingertip along the rim of her coffee cup as she thought of what to say. Part of her felt like a fool for calling Edward and dragging him into this mess. She couldn't tell him the truth, but he deserved some sort of explanation. He was smart enough to know she wasn't being followed by some mere acquaintance.

"Someone from the past, he always had control issues. I can't really go into the details, but thank you for helping me and for letting me stay." Winry said as she sipped her coffee and straightened her shoulders, poised like a proper lady, fighting down the lump in her throat and the fear in her stomach. Edward watched her pouty pink lips curl into a wrought smile that didn't spread to her eyes, and his dark brow furrowed. He wasn't buying it.

"That's it?" He questioned. "You call me in the middle of the night begging for help, show up practically in tears babbling about someone being after you, and that's all you can offer me? What the fuck was that thing? It wasn't human."

Winry felt sweat break on the back of her neck despite the chill from the diner's air conditioning. She wanted to lie, but found herself unable to produce sensible reasoning under the scrutiny of Edward's alert gaze. She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her as she suddenly felt as if the entire restaurant could hear them.

"Not here." She said, looking up at Edward. "I can't tell you here."

Ed eyed her curiously, the way her blue eyes seemed unfocused and far away and the way she fidgeted nervously. He watched her fingers drumming on the table top as she looked around, and some unknown force propelled his flesh hand to cover hers on the table. Blue eyes snapped around to meet fierce gold.

"You know I'm not going to hurt you, right? Whatever it is, you can tell me." He said. Winry sat rendered motionless by the touch of his warm hand on hers, and breathing became difficult. Her mind paused before being flooded with images she'd fought for so long to forget. His words were the echoes of a past life that haunted her daily, and before she could tell herself to call down she wrenched her hand away from his and sat back, shaking her head slowly as her steadily watering eyes fixed on his stunned expression.

"No…" She quaked softly as she slowly backed out of the booth to stand. "…No I'm not doing that again. You stay away from me." The heads of a few waitresses and nearby customers turned at the commotion and Edward sat wide eyed, at a loss for what to say or do. He watched an angry tear roll down her cheek.

"Hey, I never meant to-"

"-No! No you… you stay away from me. I keep myself safe, understand? Me. No one else." Fury burned in Winry's chest as another tear fell and she stormed past the concerned on-lookers and out of the diner.

Edward sat in his office at Alchemy with his feet on the desk and scowl on his face. A knock at the door was instantly followed by two of his employees entering without permission, the way they usually did.

"I'm busy." He said without looking up. His comment went unnoticed as a white paper bag was dropped in his lap.

"What's eating you, Fullmetal?" Questioned a man in his mid thirties with messy blonde hair and a cigarette perched behind his ear. Jean Havoc was a Lieutenant in the Army and served alongside Edward, and was discharged with full honors and a Purple Heart after a bullet lodged itself dangerously close to his spine, almost paralyzing him. He was one lucky bastard to have been walking so soon after the surgery, and had spent his newly found free time drawing. After spending several years in the tattoo industry, he jumped at the opportunity to work for Ed when he heard he was opening up shop.

"Nothing is. Is this Shake Shack?" Edward asked, opening the bag as Havoc leaned against the edge of the desk.

"It sure is," A voice called from the black couch. Situated on the armrest next to tall piles of books, magazines and sketches sat the shop apprentice with legs crossed and a burger stuffed in her mouth. "We walked forever and waited in line even longer to get it for you, so be grateful. You know how horrible the line at Shake Shack is."

"I appreciate the gesture, Envy. I'm assuming that you taking that kind of time away from the studio means every surface is spotless out there?"

Envy straightened and looked at Jean. "Can you believe this guy? We march across town in 90 degree heat to get his favorite junk food and he's got the nerve to bitch about the cleaning? Yeah it's spotless out there now eat, you ingrate."

Edward sat blinking with his burger halfway to his mouth as he stared at his salty apprentice. Jean shrugged his shoulders when Ed looked up at him in disbelief at what he was hearing.

"You hired him." Said Jean. Envy snapped to attention.

"SHE. Not he. I may dress like a man but I was born a woman."

Jean rolled his eyes. "I can't keep up with you dude, I know you're gender neutral and all but cut me some goddamn slack."

Nobody knew Envy's real name, because she wouldn't tell anyone. She also served along Edward's side in the Army when she was 18, but was discharged when a Commanding Officer walked in on her and another female soldier together and she could no longer hide who she truly was. Envy was born in a female body, but identified as both female and male and Alchemy served as the first place she could freely exercise her androgyny without ridicule or persecution.

"Give me a french fry and I'll forgive you." She said with a coy smirk, having never actually been offended by Havoc's comment. Jean threw a fry at her and turned back to Ed.

"Like we were saying, what's your problem? All week you've barely spoken a word unless necessary, you handed off two appointments to other artists, and you spend all your time in here listening to The Smiths in the dark by yourself."

"Don't tell me. Are the kid's at school teasing you, Ed? Well listen if you're gonna off yourself here's a little advice." Envy piped up as Ed rolled his eyes. She picked up a french fry to demonstrate on her wrist. "It's not enough to cross the street," She said as she slid the fry across her wrist before trailing a path down towards her elbow. "You gotta go down the lane."

"This is the future of my business." Edward said dumbfounded as he looked back at Jean with a thumb jutted in Envy's direction. "This is the future of Alchemy."

"Like I said, you hired her."

Ed crumbled up the wrapper after finishing his burger and chucked it into a nearby trashcan. "Well I'm not a suicidal teenager, I've just got an issue with a client I can't figure out."

"Which client?" Envy asked.

"Don't worry about it."

Both Jean and Envy threw their hands up and groaned collectively, eyes rolled skyward with comments of 'here we go' and 'oh this shit again'. Edward had spent nearly every day trying to reconfigure the shop schedule and shift clients around, calling clients to negotiate appointment switches and even going as far as to offer discounts to his personal clients if it meant he could squeeze Winry in for her next appointment sooner. Everything was Winry this and Winry that. It was driving his employees crazy.

"It's the blonde one, isn't it?" Havoc asked. "The pretty one. The one you won't shut up about trying to get in here. What's your deal, you're psychotic about her."

"Yeah Ed, you think I haven't come across the dozens of sketches you've made of her? You obviously like her, just ask her out already." Envy added.

Ed scowled and ran a hand through his long, messy bangs and sighed.

"Its not that simple. I tried, sort of. I've spent a little time with her outside the studio, and she's …peculiar. She called me late last night, asking me to stay on the phone because someone on the street was following her. When she got scared I told her to come here and by the time she showed up she was on the verge of a breakdown, going on about how 'he knows where she is' and 'it'll happen again'. I can't just feed her to the wolves, she called me for help."

Envy twisted one of her waist length, greenish-black dread locks around her fingers and eyed her boss speculatively. Edward was always a giving person, always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone, so it was no surprise to hear that he was feeling protective of his client. But the sketches she'd found while filing some of his tracings one day stopped her in her tracks. They were simple etchings of pencil on white paper, and the woman in the drawing had a pretty, but troubled face. What stopped Envy were the flowers. Her long hair swayed in an imaginary breeze, and flowers flowed around her. Edward always drew flowers absentmindedly, but never for clients. Ever.

"It doesn't matter though," Edward continued, with a certain degree of disappointment. "I got coffee with her this morning and tried to get her to open up a little, but she freaked out and told me to stay away from her. I feel bad, I'm supposed to be finishing her tattoo soon. I feel like a dick for scaring her off."

Havoc raised an eyebrow. "You're a lot of things, but you're not a dick. Especially not for wanting to help her. What I don't get is, why this obsession with getting her back here so soon? She has an appointment set for next month, why are you so fixated? You've never obsessed over a client before, let alone someone you just wanted to fuck."

"I don't wanna fuck her. Well, I mean sex has definitely crossed my mind …but it's different. I'd also be fine to just sleep with her, and I wouldn't mind if she was still here the next day. I might even make waffles with syrup in the morning."

"Woah." This time both of Jean's eyebrows went skyward, and he supressed an amused grin. "Waffles and syrup, huh?"

"Yeah... It scares the shit out of me."

"Don't freak out Ed," Envy said brightly as she stood from her spot on the couch. "This is a good thing, right? I mean fuck, we really thought you were losing it for a minute there. But you like someone!"

"I don't like her."

"Yeah you do." Sang Havoc, officially letting his cheshire cat grin play out. "Edward likes a giiirrrll…" He chanted.

Irritation sparked in Ed's chest and he pointed to the door.

"Get out of my office before I have you both doing my laundry."

Jean and Envy snickered and left the room, swimming in the satisfaction of knowing their army comrade-turned-boss was completely disarmed by a pretty, socially awkward blonde slip. As Jean returned to his booth, Envy glanced over her shoulder to be sure Ed was still shut away in his office.

"Havoc, do you think it's true?"

"What, that Ed sweats the blonde chick? Yeah, why?"

"No I mean," Envy crept closer and dropped her voice low. "Do you think he LIKES her."

Jean sat back and scratched his head as he thought about it. "Oh, right… waffles and syrup. I dunno, maybe. But if he does, I hope this ones worth it."

Envy grabbed a broom and started sweeping the wood floors to busy herself. "I bust his balls a lot, but I owe Ed everything. I just wanna see him happy."

"We all do, V."

A/N: I was requested to update a little earlier, ask and you shall receive. Its the least I can do for such awesome readers who all take the time to pay attention to my silly little stories and then give me their thoughts. You guys are the best. Chap 7 in a few days, and for anyone who might be getting antsy ...the good shit is coming.