Chapter 4 - A Visionairy, A Messenger

"Good morning. How are you feeling today Winry?" Aria greeted her as she trodded downstairs in her nightgown.

Winry, who was already awake and drinking a glass of milk, smiled at her. "Actually, I'm perfectlly fine today." She smiled, rather embarrased. "Sorry for overreacting yesterday." She rubbed the back of her head.

Aria waved a finger at her. "Don't feel bad about it, you're prone to moodswings, so it's ok."

The blond girl sat at the table, hair tied back in a pony tail, a few strands, from where she was rolling in her sleep, fell down and framed her face. She truly was feeling a whole lot better, and as soon as the messy business of telling Ed was done and over with, she was sure to be back on track. "I know...but..." She rotated the glass of milk on the table. "It's just not like me to be so weak when facing a challenge...you know what I mean."

Aria thought for a moment. "Yeah...now that you've mentioned it. When something becomes unbareable, you just seem to get mad and hit it with wrench." Aria leaned over the table, a worried expression on her face. "Please don't hit yourself with a wrench."

Winry laughed. "Oh course not...it's not only me in here now." She smirked. "I'll have to clock Ed with it when he get's back though."

Aria smiled and raised a fist in the air. "That's the spirit!"

Ed sat back on the coach in the living room, enjoying one of the books he had brought along for the trip. There was nothing to do up until the evaluation, so Ed figured he'd get caught up on his reading. Ed squinted at the microscopic writing the book had to offer him.

Al peeked over his shoulder from a distance. "'And therefore the actual weight of the problem lies not within the system, but rather the people themselves.' Mr. Rachet spoke to the audience in a harsh tone, his glasses threatening to slip off with every angry shake of his fist--" the book was lowered out of his view. "I was reading that."

"Stop that." Ed said in a harsh tone.

"Stop what?" Al played dumb. It wasn't everyday he played the annoying little brother, but seeing Ed hold the book inches away from his nose to try and read it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"Stop reading over my shoulder out loud like that; it's annoying." Ed went back to reading.

Al paused and sat down on the floor next to Ed. "Brotheeer." He began in, what was going to turn out to be, that annoying nag that Al like to bombard him with every so often.

"Whaaat?" Ed extended his word to the same length as the word 'brother' would have been spoken; just to even things out.

"Are you having trouble reading?" He said, squinting his eyes at his brother, much in the same way Ed was glaring at the book.

Ed's bottom lip puffed out a little and then he bit down on it. "No, I'm not." Al snatched the book away from him. "HEY!" Ed snapped at him and tried to grab the book back but was held in place by his younger brother's longer arm.

"Hold on." He held the book out so that he could comfortably read it. After reading a few lines, he held the book the same distance away from Ed's face that he did his own. "Ok, now read the second paragraph."

Ed scowled at his younger sibling. He could be a real nuisance sometimes. "Fine..." He looked at the book. Nothing happened.

"Well?" Al antagonized.

"Shut up! I'm trying...the writing's smaller than what I'm use to." He concentrated. Having the book that far away made it impossible for him to see. He got a little closer. "F--...feeling...more than...overwhelmed..." He slowly got closer to the book. "...with...the response...to his speech. He felt that the members of the board didn't take him seriously enough. So in response--" Al shut the book, nearly pinching Ed's entire face in the binding. "What did you do that for?!" He snapped at him.

"Ed, you're nearly blind. How long has your vision been this bad?" Al used his name, signifying that he was upset with him.

The elder of the two brother's thought for a moment. "Well...it just gradually got this bad...It's not that big a deal, I can still function properly."

Al raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What would you do if I told you that you have to read the vow again tomorrow at the evaluation?"

Ed was silent as he thought about it. "Really?" He looked like he was a deer caught in the headlights.

Al nodded "And if you can't read properly--"

"I might lose my certification." Ed finished his sentence and sat back in the chair. "Dammit...well, what am I going to do?"

Al rolled his eyes. "Get glasses...I thought that was obvious."

Ed shook his head. "No way! I look enough like dad as it is, I'm not going to throw gas on the fire."

Alphonse glared at his older, yet stupider, brother.

"Are you happy?" Ed said, pulling the glasses off his face as he exited the exam room. His glasses were smooth rectangle frames, a bit smaller than his father's, but surprisingly enough, the same strength.

Al smiled proudly. "Yes. You passed the evaluation, and now you can see...what are you doing?" Al witnessed Ed put the glasses back in their case and then shoved back into his pants pocket as they made their way back down to the first floor.

"I'm only wearing them to read, I look like a total dork with them on." Ed folded his arms. "Besides, I can see fine." He said, right before he misjudged that last stair and fell flat on his face.

"That's good to know, and here I was beginning to doubt your abilities." Al snickered. Edward was smart, but he even had his moments of stupidity.

"Shut up...that hurt." He got up and rubbed his face. "I stand by it. Glasses are for reading only."

Evaluation day came an went; as quickly as it got there, it was gone again. Ed exited the building, his newly updated certificate in hand. "That was a whole lot easier than I thought. Maybe we should just mail them research next year, save us the trip, huh?" He smiled at Al.

He nodded. "Defiantly. We'll have to start getting something together as soon as we get home. You know, get a good head start on it so we're not rushing at the last minute."

Edward shrugged. "Maybe not the second we get home. I'd like to enjoy the last few weeks of summer before it starts to get cold." For the last week, Winry was working on a new model of automail for him, a model in which he would be able to go swimming with and still stay afloat. He was dying to try it out. "I still haven't gone swimming yet, so I'm holding out for Winry to finish that arm and leg for me." It had been so long since he last swam, he wasn't all too sure that he remembered how.

"You know what...me either. I spent all summer working out that I didn't even think of swimming." It was true, Al was regaining the weight he had lost in the four years his body was awal., and building muscle mass to boot. He was still relatively skinny, but the muscle tone was very dominant. Probably due to the blatant lack of body fat he had.

That's where Aria came in. Her mom, being very skinny due to a thyroid disorder, always had to watch her weight to make sure that she didn't gain anymore in fear of it being detrimental to her health. So, Aria knew what foods to avoid, with that knowledge in hand, she knew exactly what kinds of food Al should eat in order to gain weight. It was working, he put on nearly twenty pounds of mass and muscle over the past two months. Which, in Aria's eyes, was nothing short of amazing.

A growth spurt was common with boys his age, and without fat to fuel it, he probably wouldn't have gotten any taller. Not that he needed it. He stood a whole four inches over his brother who was a year and a half older, on top of that, Al was still growing.

The rest of the afternoon and early on in the evening went well. Ed and Al took Elecia for a walk, went to the store for Gracia and even helped her a little around the house. Al got to spend a little time with Kale as well; Aria's kitty which she left with Elecia last time she was in Central was doing great. That even made Edward happy, Al playing with the cat at the house meant that he wouldn't go out looking for strays to bring in, which he was prone to doing.

Ed sat in the same spot on the coach as he did the previous day, reading the exact same book, except a lot farther in the story. The glasses he wore made his reading a whole lot quicker, and it stopped those nasty head aches before they even happened. He could hear the phone ring in the kitchen and Gracia answer it. Ed heard her exchange pleasantries with the person on the other line. A minute passed and Gracia appeared from around the corner. "Edward." She held out the phone.

He looked up from his book, removed his glasses and headed towards the phone. "Hello?"

There was a few moments of silence from the other side when finally they piped up. "Hi Ed." it was Winry. "How did your evaluation go?"

Al watched his brother from the kitchen; he seemed happy enough to be talking to Winry. He too was anxious as to what the blood work had to say. He could only hear what his brother was saying, so he would either have to figure out if anything went wrong judging by his half of the conversation, or just to wait till it was over and ask him then.

"The evaluation went great...So what did the test results have to say, they came up clear right?" He smiled as he listened carefully. Had something bad have come up, she would have called here right away, or so he thought. Ed's heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. "What is it?" His eyes began to sting, he imagined he worst. "It can't be--"

Al watched on with anticipation. It seemed that there was some bad news after all.

Ed tried to speak, but nothing came out. His words were completely lost to him. After comprehending what she said to him, he continued. "Are you sure?" There was a long pause. Ed could hear Aria's voice in the background, offering her some comfort. "It's not your fault Winry...don't cry...we'll pull through...No, of course not. You just stay home and get some rest...I'll be back in a few days...ok?" His chest felt like it was being pressed in a vice. Though he hated saying mushy things to her, especially over the phone, she sounded like she needed it. "I love you too. Bye." With that, he hung up and phone and lowered his head, only to feel a presence right behind him. Quickly turning around, he saw Al behind him, a worried look on his face. "What?"

"What's wrong with her?" He said as though he knew something to be wrong.

Ed feigned a smile. "Nothing...she's actually not sick at all."

Al calmed himself. "...so what made you all upset like that then?"

He brushed it off. "Oh, she was a little mad at me for not calling right when I got in, she thought I was upset at her, that's all." He lied.

His younger brother rested a hand over his chest. "That's good to hear."

Ed resumed his position on the coach and tried to finish reading the chapter he was earlier. It really wasn't working for him, his mind just couldn't concentrate on any of the words, glasses or not, it just wasn't going over very well at all. He could hear Winry's sad voice and those damndable words echoing in his ears. He was so agitated, even the ticking of the clock was beginning to bother him. Ed looked up at the offending clock, a scowel on his face. "You know what...?" He paused mid-sentence. "I think I am going to go to that party."

Al was now quite confused. "What? Why change your mind now?" He spoke from the kitchen.

"I don't feel like being stuck inside all night. You don't have to go if you don't want to." He tried his best to remain calm.

Al entered the living room and thought about it for a moment. "Well...I really don't feel like getting in trouble. I guess I could stay here and cover for you. If you really want to do what I think you're going to do, you'll need at least a little cover."

Ed nodded. "You don't mind me going then?" He said, feeling slightly guilty, but not really at the same time.

"Nah. Besides, it'll be your head if you get caught, not mine." He folded his arms. "Just try to be back before one o'clock. We have to go to headquarters tomorrow at eleven a.m. And you know how you get when you don't sleep."

"Right." He really did get irritable on little sleep. "I'm going to leave now; it's only eight, but I have no idea where this place is at." He tugged the directions out of his pocket. He hated lying to Al, but he really didn't have the guts to tell him. So, in lieu of responsibilities, he decided to get his mind of his troubles instead in a hazy manner. "I'm off." He said, waving at Al. Heading down the stairs and out the front gate, he sighed. 'She didn't really say that...it can't be true...aah! I'm so stupid. Why do I keep ruining everything I touch?!' He inwardly yelled at himself. First his brother's life and now Winry's, he was really on a role.

"Dammit!" Winry pounded a fist on the table and whiped her tears away with her free hand.

"Winry." Aria pat her on the sholder. "Don't be sad."

She stood up tall and placed her hands on her fists. "I was fine up until he started talking. I hope these moodswings go away the further along I get."

"Moodswings?" Hohenheim spoke, a twinge of fear in his voice, from the door on the opposite side of the kitchen.

Winry and Aria both turned around slowly to face him, a worried look on either of their faces.

Not everyone deals with that kind of news with dignity and grace. First the glasses and now this, Ed's in pretty bad shape. And oh no! Hohenheim knows now! LOLZ! (is running on four hours of sleep and no food) Leave a review, tell me what you think.

Oh, and, you'll have to pardon the OOC-ness, it's not without good reason. Being sixteen and hearing news like that doesn't make you want to jump for joy.

Preview - Ed meets some new girl at the party. What is this that's unfolding?