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Chapter 3
Winry
۞
The sound of pounding feet could be heard. Thump, ka-thump, thump.
Edward ran, his booted feet flying.
How could he have forgotten? Sure, it had been awhile, but he should have remembered. There was another way, a less used path that Winry could have used. He never used it, nobody did, really, as strange things were said to happen there, especially to the unwary traveler. Rumors abounded about it, name a weird rumor and it could be said about the path. You could say it was like the legend of Resembool and locals loved to tell any passer-by about it and sometimes -when bored- to other locals, even though they may of told it to them in the first place. Edward didn't believe them, he didn't think Winry did either. After all, it was hoax; a fun hoax, but a hoax nevertheless. Winry might have taken it to get to the farmers as it was the shortest route.
He had remembered the path because of the honeysuckles. Honeysuckles grew like weeds there, but they didn't grow very well in other parts of Resembool. No one knew why. Nobody cared; it just added more interest to the legend.
Edward got to the little crossroad and turned left, looking around as he entered the wood. He slowly walked down the dusty path, his head craning around, looking for some sign of Winry.
The sun was just starting to set, turning the wood golden. Chirps could be heard as the night insects came out from their slumber, calling out to any who would listen. Dead foliage crunched under Edward's boots as he pushed a few tall bushes aside, trying not to let them poke out an eye. He sighed. Nothing. He walked a few more meters, coming around a bend and entered a small glade. Edward froze. Someone was there.
A figure was at the other end of the glade; a figure in purple, stark against the golden sun.
Edward quickly crept behind a tree, thankful that the tree was big enough to hide him. He jerked when he came face-to-face, or nose-to-nose, depending on how you looked at it, with a furry black spider. With a quiet curse, he flicked the spider off with his right forefinger and it disappeared into some nearby shrubby. He snorted, thinking about bothersome wildlife, and quickly scanned the glade again, hoping the figure hadn't disappeared. He jumped slightly, surprised. It had moved. The figure was now just a few yards away from Edward's current hiding spot. In addition, it was bending over and looking at something on the ground, though Edward couldn't see what it was in the fast fading light.
The figure shifted slightly and held something up. Edward's eyes widened; it was a half-melted wench. However, half-melted or not, he would recognize that wench anywhere. It was Winry's special wrench.
Before he was even aware, he had moved. Edward's hands clapped together and his auto-mail transformed into a blade. With a snarl of rage, he jumped the figure, and they both went tumbling into the dirt. They struggled and thrashed around, hitting each other, each trying to get the upper hand. However, Edward finally came out on top and he quickly put his blade against the figure's throat, panting heavily.
He roughly shook the person under him, the point of his blade right under the chin.
"Where's Winry?! What did you do with her?!" he shouted, his eyes fierce.
"I don't - I don't know!" a female voice chocked out, coughing.
Edward froze. A woman? He forcefully pulled the figure's hood off and was greeted with wide, dark, doe-like eyes; they were pretty eyes. However, he was most shocked by the exspance of bright, pink, bubble-gum hair the woman sported. The only thing Edward could think in that moment was: What kind of person wears a purple robe with hot-pink hair?
He blinked rapidly a few times to clear his thoughts of less important things -like pink hair and purple clothing- and spoke again, his voice a little calmer, but his blade still at herthroat.
"Who are you? What do you know about a girl named Winry? Why are you here?"
"I will answer your questions," the woman said slowly, her voice slightly hesitant, her eyes glued on his transformed auto-mail, "but first -"
She quickly raised a stick, which Edward just now realized she had in her fist. She expertly waved it around and uttered what sounded like "Petrificus Totalus!" Before he could even try to take the stick, he could no longer move and he fell over, totally immobile.
The woman stood up and brushed the dirt and fungi off, which had become lodged in her purple robe. She walked over to Edward and propped him up against a tree. Edward stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. However, they soon narrowed into a look of suspicion, his mind awhirl with questions. He wanted answers. Why couldn't he move? What kind of trick was this? Who was this woman? Was she involved with Winry's kidnapping?
Edward noticed when she sat down in front of him that her body had several cuts on it, most likely inflicted during their struggle. Her throat was also oozing blood were his blade had pricked her. He tried to open his mouth, to say something, but his mouth was stuck shut and Edward was forced to be a fuming mute participant.
"Well, this predicament is interesting," the woman said brightly after a moment, studying him. She looked at his arm. "However, this arm of yours is not only interesting; it's also very unusual. I've only heard of one other case of a metal ligament, and it was made by a verydark wizard. Not that I'm saying you're a dark wizard," she said, holding her hands up, "though, judging from tonight's activities, I can't rule it out just yet, I suppose. Anyway, onto this predicament of ours. . . "
She leaned forward and looked deeply into his eyes, judging something. It was almost as if she were judging his worth, his soul.
"Ahh! Just the thing." she said and leaned back, looking pleased. "If I undue my charm, will you promise to behave?" she asked, seriously. "Because if you start waving that blade of yours around again, I will have to leave you here with a very large lump on your head. Not only will it be painful for you, it will be for me, as I usually hate to get get physical. I will have to find a rock, and then hit you in just the right spot to make sure I don't cause permanent damage. And just to let you know ahead of time," she said leaning towards him again, her eyebrows raised, "I'm terrible at human anatomy. So. . . here's your choices: behave or get knocked out by my not-so-expertly-executed rock hitting skills. Your choice. Will you be good?"
Edward thought for a moment. This woman was weird, not to mention a little cracked, if not insane. Wizards? Dark wizards? Charms? What the hell was she talking about? Well, he would play along with her for the moment and then he would find out the truth. He nodded slightly, since his mouth was being stubborn and still wouldn't move. How was she doing that, anyway?
She waved her stick and muttered something intelligible. Edward fell over as he suddenly had control over his muscles. He quickly pushed himself back up and stood up. The woman also stood, looking at him, somewhat wary. He looked into her eyes again, wondering how to proceed, however, he couldn't stop his eyes when they automatically strayed to her hair.
The woman chuckled when she noticed his gaze wander to her hair. She pulled a lock of bright pink hair up to her eyes, studying it.
"Some people find my hair. . . difficult to get used to. I've found that those who do are usually. . .I guess you'd say pricks." She said this with a faint smile as if she knew it would make him mad.
Edward's eyes swung back to her face, glaring at her.
"What would you know about. . . pricks" he said, accusingly. "If anyone here knows about pricks it's me. Why I had to deal with one half my life and-" he clamped his lips shut. What was he doing? This woman had him thinking and saying all kinds of strange things. He was trying to find Winry, and here he was discussing hair and pricks of all things.
He clapped his hands together and his arm went back to normal. The woman's eyes widened with what looked like speculation. He had learned that in order to get information it was best to be diplomatic first and if that didn't work. . . Well, sometimes, more forceful tactics were necessary with some people; however, he didn't think this woman would be in the latter group, and with Winry on the line, he would not make the wrong assessment. He couldn't afford to be wrong.
"You said you would answer my questions?" he said, half statement, half question.
The woman blinked, looking surprised. "Hmm, I didsay that, didn't I? However, you can hardly hold me to my promise considering you had that blade of yours at my throat when I made it." Here she looked at Edward's right arm again, staring at where the blade had been, and she pursed her lips. Edward opened his mouth to argue with her, but before he could say anything she continued, cutting him off.
"That. . . magic of yours is strange," she said, hesitating slightly, "It's almost like my Metamorphmagus skill, but not quiet. You changed the shape of your arm, but it's not really a part of your body; unlike me, it seems you can change a part of yourself that's not directly your blood and flesh, and you do it wand-less."
"Magic?" Edward asked, incredulous. "You mean like 'abracadabra' and crap like that?Are you serious? A wand?" Edward snorted. "What I did," he said, waving at his arm, "was alchemynot magicAnd what was that you did? Why couldn't I move earlier? And what the hell is a morphamagus?"
"Not magic?" the woman said. She looked seriously shocked and ignored his questions again. "Then that means that he's a muggle, though I don't see how he did it if it's not magic." The woman said this under her breath, pacing and completely disregarding Edward.
Edward felt his patience start to wear dangerously thin and he had to exert extreme self control to stop himself from jumping on the strange pink-haired woman again and shaking her. He felt himself wishing his little brother was there. Al could deal with this woman. Alphonse could do it and repress the urge to strangle her; however, Edward felt he wasn't doing so well with that at the moment. If something didn't change soon, he felt he would soon throttle the woman out of pure irritation, and then he would lose his only lead on Winry -though he wasn't sure even if it was a lead.
Edward noticed the pink-haired woman had stopped pacing and was studying him again, looking him up and down, and muttering. Suddenly, she nodded slightly to herself and grabbed his hands, pulling him close.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Edward shouted, angry and perplexed. He tried to pull away, but the woman was stronger then she looked and she held on tightly. "I don't even know who you are and you're-"
He suddenly stopped speaking. The woman was giggling. She was laughing at him!
"Oh! I'm sorry, but you looked so funny when you said that!" she said, still giggling softly. "You looked all chivalrous and proper like!" She stopped when she noticed his quickly darkening expression (However, it wasn't all due to anger, though he tried to tell himself otherwise).
The woman smiled slightly and said, "I will answer one of your questions now." She shook his right hand, which was still held tightly in her grasp. "You can call me Tonks."
"Tonks?" Edward said, confused.
"Yeah, now you know who I am. However, it's rude of you not to supply your own name when a lady introduces herself to you. " The woman, 'Tonks,' said this with a raised eyebrow.
"Edward Elric," Edward mumbled.
"Well, 'Edward Elric,' you'll be coming with me." Tonks said with a mysterious smile on her face, her grip tightening.
"Huh? What the hell?!" Edward tried to pull his hands free once again, but Tonk's grip was like iron. He felt a weird sensation in the pit of his stomach, a twisting, and the two disappeared from the wood.