Chapter 15: Home

The Elric brothers stayed in Dublith for two weeks before deciding it was time to head home to Risembool.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Sig asked in concern he and Mason followed Ed and Al to the train station.

"I'm sure, Sig. We need to get back to Risembool. I damaged my automail when we were playing with the kids, so I've gotta get my new leg before it becomes hard to move."

"Take care of yourselves! Don't be strangers!" Mason said as the brothers boarded the train.

They leaned out the open window of their seats and waved goodbye as others gathered around Sig and Mason to say goodbye. The train screamed as it began moving out. Once the train was gone, Sig frowned worriedly.

"What's wrong, Sig?" Mason asked, noticing the larger man's expression.

"Those boys have been anxious these past few days. I have a feeling that trouble's found them again. They made the decision to leave fairly quickly, and the automail is just a convenient excuse…"

Mason frowned. "I hope you're feeling is wrong…"

Sig nodded. "I hope so too. Come on, we've got a store to run."

"Yes sir!" Mason said, following Sig away from the station.

Ed sighed as they stood before Trisha Elric's grave. Their flowers were lying on top of the ones that they assumed were left by Winry and Pinako.

"I think we should go get your leg done now, brother. It's almost been an hour since we got here."

"Yeah… you're right Al…" Ed said absently.

Al frowned worriedly as he stared at their mother's grave. He remembered what Ed had done in order to stop Sloth and he was worried that Ed was still beating himself up for it.

"Hey Al, aren't you the one who said we should go? Why are you just standing there?"

Al snapped out of his trance to see that Ed had already gone to the gates of the graveyard.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Al called, running towards him. "Are you sure you're all right, Ed?" Al asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Dad helped me deal with that after I ended up in Germany." Ed said, shaking his head. "We'd better hurry, that train ride didn't help my leg at all. Winry's going to kill me for breaking it." He said as he leaned on the staff he had transmuted to help keep the weight off his automail.

"I'm amazed, brother." Al said. Ed glanced at him curiously.

"What?"

"You used to hate dad so much because he left us alone, now when you talk about him I actually hear respect in your voice for him."

Ed chuckled. "I was stuck with the guy for a while so I learned more about him. Sure, he still stunk as a father, but he wasn't that bad otherwise." Ed said. He had never told Al how the Gate was opened on Germany's side, and was thankful that Al never asked.

Den's ears twitched as a familiar sound reached his ears. He began barking and wagging his tail happily as Pinako sat on the porch with her pipe.

"What is it, Den?" She asked around her pipe before the Elric brothers appeared, walking up the road.

The pipe dropped from her mouth as it hung open in shock. "Well I'll be damned…"

Den's barking alerted Winry and she ran out to her balcony, smiling.

"I guess Winry was right when she made that last set of automail. I'm impressed." Pinako said as she finally recovered and walked out to meet them.

Suddenly, a wrench flew and struck Ed in the centre of his forehead, knocking him over. "Damnit Winry!" Ed yelled as he sat up, rubbing his head.

"You broke it! I told you not to!"

"And I told you I'd make no promises!" He said before pocketing the wrench.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"I'm keeping it until we leave, and any other wrenches you feel the need to throw at me!"

The shouting match quickly degraded into name calling before Pinako broke it up with some choice words of her own.

Al sighed as he walked towards the house with Den while Ed began a shouting match with Pinako. "Things certainly haven't changed, have they?"

Den barked in reply as things finally settled down and Pinako and Ed began to follow.

Winry sighed as she brought down a case containing Ed's new limbs.

"Ed will be in shortly." Al said as he entered.

She smiled and nodded. "It's good to have you two back. Things had gotten pretty boring without you guys."

"Not to mention we had lost our biggest cash cow!" Pinako commented as she and Ed entered.

Ed groaned as he heard what Pinako called him. "Can't you give me a break for once?"

Pinako cackled as he removed his shirt. "Why? We need to make up for the three years without you!"

Ed couldn't help but smile as he shook his head. "You really haven't changed at all, Aunt Pinako."

She chuckled as she led Winry into the operating room.

"I'll see you after, Al." Ed said, receiving a nod from Al before following the women.

Al waited patiently until Ed came out, snatching up his shirt and heading for the door. Al smiled as he immediately understood what Ed wanted.

"We haven't done this since I was a soul in armour." Al mused as Ed nodded.

"Yeah, do you think you can win this way?" Ed said mockingly.

Al grinned. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

Ed ran at Al and aimed a punch at his head, only to miss as Al ducked.

Winry sighed in irritation as she and Pinako stood on the porch. "He really enjoys breaking my hard work, doesn't he?"

Pinako chuckled as she brought out her pipe. "I must admit, it's interesting to watch them this time. Ed's so used to fighting a seven foot tall suit of armour that Al may very well have the upper hand. This will certainly be a short training session."

Winry watched, her eyes narrowing. "No… maybe not… Al's used to Ed being shorter than him so he has to adjust too… and Ed's already quickly adjusting to the change…"

Pinako smiled at her granddaughter. "I'm impressed, dear. You've certainly got an eye for detail. I'm just worried about Alphonse. Ed's used to fighting a suit of armour, so the blows he aims with his right arm may end up being stronger than Al's human body can handle." She said as her smile turned into a frown.

"You're right, grandma. I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does… maybe we can add any medical attention Al needs to Ed's bill!" Winry said, grinning.

Pinako burst out laughing. "That's my girl! You've learned well."

"I had a good teacher." Winry said as the brothers continued to train.

"Come on, I've got to start dinner. Get Ed's bill ready. Alphonse doesn't look like he'll be getting hurt at all." Pinako said, receiving a nod from Winry as they went back inside.

Ed and Al sighed in exhaustion as they came in.

Their training had been halted by Pinako yelling at them about getting cleaned up before dinner.

"I don't know what kind of place you boys were in, but I'll be damned if I let you forget your manners now that you're back!" Pinako snapped at them.

"Don't worry; we were planning on coming in before you yelled." Ed said as he went upstairs.

Al chuckled. "Don't worry Aunt Pinako; we would never forget something that important."

Pinako nodded approvingly. "Good boys."

Once they were cleaned up, everyone sat at the dinner table.

Ed noticed the slip of paper that Winry immediately tried to hide. "Wait until after dinner for that." He growled, realizing what it was.

Winry and Pinako snickered in amusement. "So you'd rather be sick than have no appetite at all? Interesting…" Pinako said, smiling.

Once dinner was finished, Ed sighed as he held out his hand to Winry.

Winry blinked at him in surprise. "What?"

"Give me the bill…" Ed grumbled.

Winry hesitated. "Wouldn't you like to wait until later…?"

"It's better to get bad news over with first." Al said as Ed nodded in agreement.

Winry rolled her eyes. "I tried to warn you…" She said as she passed the slip of paper to Ed.

Ed paled as he stared at the figure on it.

Al stared over his shoulder curiously and quickly paled in response.

"Did you forget you never paid for your last set of automail? That's the total for both sets, and the quick repair job Winry did in Central." Pinako explained as she put her pipe in her mouth.

"While Winry was in Central I was going to have her get General Mustang to pay for your last set, but then she phoned me and said that it wasn't necessary. She never told me why, even after she returned from Central." Pinako continued, eyeing Winry with a strange look.

Winry simply looked at her lap, avoiding her grandmother's eye.

Ed sighed as he recovered, pocketing the bill. "You should have. I would have loved to have seen his expression when you billed him for my automail."

"Will you two ever learn to get along?" Winry asked in exasperation.

"Not as long as the bastard insists on manipulating every move I make." He said, shaking his head.

A conversation got into full swing until the sun began to set.

Ed sighed as he stood.

"Are you all right, dear?" Pinako asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, it's been a long day and we're heading out early, so I'm going to go to bed."

Pinako nodded as Al also stood. "I must admit, for once you have a good idea. Winry, we should head to bed too so we can see them off properly."

Winry nodded and followed everyone up the stairs.

"Sleep well boys. It's good to have you back." Pinako said as they paused outside the room the brothers always slept in.

"You have no idea how good it is to be back." Ed said.

Al shook his head in amazement. "You left it exactly how it was before? You certainly had a lot of hope that we'd return."

Pinako nodded. "Damn straight I did. You boys always seem to defy people's expectations, so I just decided to expect you to defy everyone's thoughts that you wouldn't be coming back."

"You have the strangest logic of anyone I know… but we're glad for it." Ed said, grinning.

Al yawned and waved before heading into the room.

"Good night." Ed said as he yawned and waved before shutting the door.

Winry stared at the door for a few moments before a noise from Pinako snapped her back into focus.

"Good night Winry."

"Good night Granny."

They said to each other before going to their rooms and shutting their doors for the night.