Ed found Winry in the graveyard. Her small form was huddled in an empty patch amongst the looming graves. It was wild and overgrown now, but in the future it held two neat graves.
Graves that were constantly visited, with so many things left unsaid. Graves that cast long shadows on the dry grass. Two, cold graves that could never fill the gap that Winry's parents had left behind.
No, freezing statues could never replace the void etched by Scar. The empty air in their place didn't magically get rid of the urge to punch Scar until he was kneeling in front of graves- that weren't real, not yet, not again- saying the words that Ed had been unable to say so, so many times.
I'm sorry.
"Winry?" Ed asked gently, edging forwards slowly. Does she really remember? How? She wasn't there when Father was fighting... She wasn't a sacrifice!
"Ed? What's going on?" Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. Broken.
"I'm not sure, Winry. I think we're in the past. It was something Father did." Ed said in a soft tone, hating himself. I failed at keeping her uninvolved, now she's been dragged into this mess, and she's crying.
"Y-you remember? It wasn't all a dream?" She asked, her voice full of hope. Because her parents were alive. Everyone was alive.
Being in a time before tragedy had ripped them all into small pieces, and left them to put themselves back together into something not quite whole, but not quite broken- it really was like a dream.
"Yeah. Like I said, it was something Father did." Ed repeated, not sure what to say, because he couldn't escape from the guilt, couldn't escape from the blame.
"Father? The one who was trying to make a Philosopher's Stone?" She asked, eyes impossibly large.
"Yeah, him. He attained the powers of God and used it to escape... We were winning, and he knew it, so he ran... and apparently dragged us along too." Ed explained awkwardly. "Are you okay?" He asked uncertainly.
She shook her head slowly, so as he had done in the North, he put his arm around her and held her close, because there was nothing he could say, no more words.
Because how could you describe seeing a ghost? Seeing the smile of someone you lost long ago, but it still hurt to remember.
"What about you?" She whispered after a long silence. The sky had faded into the stillness of twilight, and other than the faint chirping of insects, everything was silent.
"I... I'll be okay." Ed decided, trying not to flinch at the memory of the thing's dead eyes, its shuddering arm falling to the ground.
"Hey Ed, can you tell me what's going on? What happened? It's not fair to keep me in the dark. Not now. So don't even try." Winry asked, with a hint of her usual fire.
"Yeah, trying to keep you safe backfired." Ed laughed without humour. "Where do I start?"
By the time he finished talking, it was dark, and the sky was littered with stars. Ed had left out certain delicate details, such as exactly what happened in the mine, his fight with Pride, and Al... The memories were too fresh, or too painful. Not to mention he wasn't sure how this whole time travel thing had effected his lifespan, whether it was back to normal or whether it was still shortened.
"I see..." Winry's voice was quiet again, she was deep in thought. Ed couldn't blame her, she'd just been told about the gate, about the sacrifices, all the half truths and lies had been stripped away, leaving only the harsh, bitter reality.
"So where's Al? I figured he'd be here with you. In his body again. He must be so happy." He could tell from her tone that she was smiling.
Ed flinched, he couldn't help it.
"You'd better win... Big brother..."
"Al... He doesn't remember." Ed said slowly, trying desperately not to remember the way the light had faded from the armour, brilliant red eyes dimming, leaving a shell behind. Only the lonely blood seal had remained.
"What? But how?" Winry gasped. Ed stared at his arm... It was flesh. It was like he'd never lost it, it was Alphonse's -his Al's- sacrifice was for nothing.
"He was an idiot, that's how." Ed muttered, eyes burning. You idiot. You left me behind.
"What did he do?" She asked, and for a second, Ed heard his own worry reflected.
"Equivalent exchange. He traded his soul for my arm, he returned to his body in the gate." Ed said hollowly, still feeling alone. He shouldn't- he knew he was being selfish. His brother was here, he was alive, whole. He was innocent and free.
He had never been dragged into his older brother's mistakes.
But he didn't remember. The bond between brothers had been ripped apart, with one whole, and one looking for something that didn't exist. Not aynymore.
And here he was, wishing for that bond back, even though it meant suffering, because they'd been together, they'd always had each other.
"It's okay. He's safe now, and you're still brothers." Winry whispered reassuringly, like she knew what he was thinking.
"Hughes was the best at this comforting stuff." Ed said without thinking, then froze.
"He'll still be alive!" She gasped, eyes wide. Hughes' death had hit everyone hard, and Ed felt sick as he remembered Envy's bragging, the smile that had twisted across his face.
"I bet that the Colonel is probably in shock right now." Ed smirked, imagining the man's reaction.
"Come on, we should get back, they're probably worried about us." Ed said, and wondered if he, if they, would ever get used to seeing the faces that were waiting for them again.
Hohenheim had covered for them. It had meant that they had the time they needed to talk, and Ed thanked him for it, while trying not to sound bitter, because Hohenheim had never seemed to have time for his family before.
Winry had smiled as she left, dragged away by worried parents, exactly how she remembered, from her nightmares, from her dreams.
It seemed to be a step in the right direction.
Roy groaned as he opened his eyes. The first thing that he noticed was the light. He could see! There were colours, and they were bright, and new. Even a short time in that suffocating darkness had made him scared, made him useless. Made him weak.
Roy was only more certain that he was dreaming when he saw the face of Maes Hughes staring at him. Granted the face was much younger than the last time he'd seen his friend. His real best friend, not his murderer making a sick joke out of his face.
Not the mask with the dead eyes, the twisted grin, not the face used by thing that he could never forgive. Not the thing that made him lose his best friend in the first place.
"You know, I think it's the heat. Some Flame Alchemist you are." Hughes joked. Roy absently wondered if you could dream once you were knocked out. Because this wasn't real, it couldn't be real.
He was either dead, and this was about to turn into exactly the kind of hell he deserved, or knoked out from one of the bursts of raw power from Father, and was about to wake up to pain. Pain, and death and darkness.
This was too real, too far away from what he knew.
"And some woman passed out too.. Hawkeye, I think her name was..." Hughes continued happily, and he looked startled when Roy shot up.
"Did you just say Hawkeye?" He demanded, trying to think about how real the sudden rush of feelings were. Sorrow, regret, and relief. Hawkeye? Riza's here!
"Yeah, you know her or something?" Hughes asked, seeming completely lost.
"Yes. Can I see her?" Roy asked impatiently. I want to see her at least once before I wake up to darkness.
"Sure, she's literally just in the next room. How do you know her?" Hughes asked as Roy marched towards the door.
He flung open the door to the other hospital room, and blinked as he saw that she saw standing literally on the other side of the door.
Like Hughes, she looked far younger than he remembered. Her eyes were wide, shocked. It was so far from her usual emotionless mask, which kept her thoughts carefully out of sight, so only she would have to remember the colour red every time she pulled the trigger.
"Your hair." He said stupidly. "It's short again."
"You can see?" She gasped, voice full of wonder.
"Wait, you remember too?" Roy blurted, and watched with horror slowly weighing down his stomach.
What... What is this?
He thought of Hughes' beaming face as he waved a photo around, the picture nothing but smiles. Nothing but cheer. Nothing but family.
She remembers too?
He thought of the same family, with the girl's face streaked with tears as she screamed, begged, pleaded for them not to bury her father. The shadows in his wife's eyes, her muffled sobs.
Nothing is impossible.
He thought of Envy laughing with that same woman's face, smirk twisting her gentle features. Stolen features. Stolen life.
Life that was standing so close, breathing. Not cold and stone, burried stiff under layers and layers or dirt.
He'd hear the words Roy had been choking on after his death. He'd live to see his family again. But... it was all a dream right?
Riza's eyes were brimming with tears. She remembered. It wasn't just him. They were together. With people that had died, people that they'd lost. It was impossible... but nothing was impossible.
It was... It couldn't be...
It can't be... He's dead... This can't be- is it real?