--- Mm, might do a follow-up with this one. 74 to go. Thanks Allison and Thaimys! ---
25. Reality.
Winry woke up screaming again. It was always the same thing she dreamed about. Actually, she dreamed about a memory; one of the worst memories of her life.
She dreamt about Ed and a suit of armor. The armor kneeled in her doorway on a stormy night, holding him. But he was all wrong; he had no right arm or left leg. All there was were stumps, gushing blood onto the wooden floor. The armor spoke with Al's voice, echoing strangely. "Please, help! Hurry!" That's when she always screamed, and that's when she always woke up. Half the time, Granny didn't bother to get up. She was used to it. Ed, on the other hand, was not.
He burst into her room, right arm transmuted into a sharp spear. "Winry, what's wrong?!" he exclaimed, looking around frantically. Had Winry not still been halfway in her dream, he would've looked comical in his boxers and wild hair. But seeing his arm and leg gleam clearly in the moonlight made it all the more real. She began to cry, covering her face with her hands.
Seeing no danger, he transmuted his arm back and hurried to her side. "Seriously," he said. "What's going on?"
Winry tried to explain, but could only stutter out "S-so real, a-and b-blood, and-d,"
Ed's eyes widened. "Oh," he breathed. He sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her back awkwardly. "It's okay; it was just a bad dream."
Winry nodded. She was now coherent enough to talk. "Yeah," she said, taking in a shaky breath. "It was only a dream."
But it wasn't. It was real, and he was real. He was sitting right next to her. He was comforting her, when in reality he was the one who should have to be comforted. Especially this late at night, when your nightmares can turn out to be your reality.