(A/N: WHAT? Chibi-Sen1124, you updated so quickly?! Yeah, I know. But I really want to get to the important part that is yet to come. I think this might be the longest chapter so far. I could be wrong. Hopefully you don't mind because you know, this is a website where you read for pleasure. Anyway, enjoy!)
Winry squirmed on her seat, moving from side to side in irritation. Ed watched her with a boring expression then went back to looking outside the train window. Countless of grassy fields reflected in his golden eyes. He held his head with his right hand, using his palm to support his chin. His long hair was tied back into a ponytail but that didn't stop it from moving slightly because of the wind. When Ed got up this morning, he put on a nice clean shirt that hadn't been lying on the floor and a pair of black pants that he wore the day before. But before that, he had taken a quick bath, leaving him clean and looking refreshed. Overall, he looked, well, good.
And that was the reason for Winry's squirming. When all four of them (the trio including Major Armstrong) boarded the train an hour ago, she had hoped to sit all together. But Al had suggested to sit in pairs. Major Armstrong and Al glanced at each other for a quick second and they instantly went to sit together. That meant Ed and Winry would sit together. Now, that really isn't a problem. She's done that before. Yet seeing him practically shine underneath the sunlight made her heart gallop in her chest. But luckily, her face didn't show it.
"Honestly Ed, how can you even put up with sitting her for a long period of time?" she asked, finally settling down in the same position she had started with in the first place. He glanced her way and Winry noticed that the sunlight made Ed's eyes look translucent.
"It's talent really. But if you think about, you do the same thing too when you're fixing automail." he replied back. Ed looked out the window again and Winry frowned. She noticed he had constantly been doing that throughout the train ride. But what she didn't notice was the way Ed was looking at her. She was wearing a blue skirt and a white shirt that really brought out every curve that Winry had. She didn't have her hair in her usual ponytail. Instead, she had let it down over one shoulder. And Ed couldn't stop staring at her. He had to pry his eyes off her.
"It's different. I'm actually doing something. Right now, all I'm doing is sitting. I have nothing to occupy my time." she said. He nodded, still not looking her way. She scoffed at his response and looked over her shoulder to see the Major and Al laughing at something. When she looked back, she caught Ed looking at her. He averted her eyes and looked outside. Okaaay, he was definitely looking at me right now she thought to herself.
"Oh, that reminds me." Ed said. He reached for inside his pocket and pulled something out. He held it out to Winry and Winry grabbed it. He had given her the earrings he had promised to give back to her. In reality, Winry had completely forgotten Ed had them. She was about to put them on before she noticed that one the cuffs had something on it. When she held it close to the sun, she saw that it had a simple wrench but it was surrounding by small flowers and leaves. She looked at Ed, who was (not surprisingly) avoiding her gaze.
"Hey, Ed. Did you engrave this on?" she asked. He stiffened and kept quiet, thinking about how to answer.
"Well, uh, before I lost my ability to do Alchemy, I sort of made a few changes on it because I thought it would look nice." he said, slightly blushing. Winry kept staring at it. She began to remember what he had said about her. How her hands were made to give life. It looked like that's what he was trying to imply. A wrench is her ability to give life and somehow because of that, it affected other ways of giving life. She smiled at him.
"Thanks, Ed. I love what you did." she put them on and Ed only grunted as a response.
"We're here." Al said, as he made his way over to their seats sitting down with them. The three looked out the window to see Central. The place where everything had unraveled their past journey.
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Once they grabbed their belongings, the trio and Major Armstrong got off the train. They saw Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh already saluting the Major's return.
"Welcome back, Major Armstrong." they both said at the same time. The Major saluted back and stepped aside, where all three of them stood.
"Hey, Lt. Ross. Sergeant Brosh. It's been a while." Ed said first, giving them a wide smile. They both laughed in amazement.
"Wow, Ed! You've gotten taller." Sergeant Brosh said. Ed's smile quickly went away and was replaced with a frown.
"Is that really the first thing you notice? The major said the same thing." he muttered under his breath. They both ignored him and had turned their attention to Al and Winry. Ed rolled his eyes but he smiled. Major Armstrong tapped his shoulder.
"Should I inform General Mustang that you're here?" he asked. Ed looked over where Al and Winry were occupied by Lt. Ross and Sergeant Brosh.
"Yeah. I'll make up some excuse as to why you had to leave. The two of them already know, right? About…?" Major Armstrong nodded and left quietly. Ed walked back to the reunited group.
"Major Armstrong had to go take care of some personal business since he's been gone for a while. He said he'll be back soon though. Anyway, you guys gonna show us to our hotel?" he asked. Lt. Ross scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Always getting right to the point, huh Ed?" she said but began to walk out of the train station with all of them following her. As they walked through the streets of Central, they saw the rebuilding of old structures that had been destroyed during the Promised Day. People had started the beginning of their new lives again. Nothing was the same after the Promised Day but yet life had eventually returned to its normal routine. It wasn't long before they were walking up the street where the Hughes family lived. Ed stopped in front of the house and looked up at the sky, remembering something.
Hughes gave a big smile at Ed and saluted him. "Tell my little rays of light I love them, okay Ed?" he said.
"Hey, you guys? I'll catch up with you later. I have to do something important." Ed said to them. Winry and Al looked at the house and understood Ed.
"Tell them we said hi, okay Ed?" Winry said. Ed smiled and nodded. He watched them all go before he finally sucked in a huge breath and walked to their door. Ed felt like he couldn't breath. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how it would turn out meeting Mrs. Hughes again. But he drew in as much courage as he possibly could and knocked on the door. His palms began to sweat and he felt his stomach beginning to hurt in anticipation. The door opened and he saw Mrs. Hughes.
"H-hey, Mrs. Hughes. It's me. Edward. Umm, I'm just stopping by to say hi." he said awkwardly, rubbing his neck with his right hand. Mrs. Hughes gasped and noticed that he didn't have an automail arm.
"Ed! Y-your arm." she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. He looked at his hand and gave a sheepish smile.
"Oh! Yeah, I have my arm back. Alphonse has his body back too. He's here in Central. I'll come by with him later but I had to tell you something privately." he said. She nodded and opened the door wider, letting him come in.
"Little brother!" Elicia yelled, jumping into his arms. Ed grabbed her and couldn't help but correct her.
"Actually, I'm the big brother. Remember?" he said. He put her down and she looked up at him.
"Come inside, Little Brother!" she said. He sighed but smiled at her. He sat down next to her on the couch and Mrs. Hughes sat down on the other couch.
"Mrs. Hughes, do you believe...do you believe people in the afterlife sometimes might visit us? In anyway?" he began slowly, trying to figure out if that's a good way to start. Mrs. Hughes looked at the pictures of Maes on the drawer.
"I think it's possible for that to happen, if the will of the person in the afterlife is strong enough. Maes certainly believed in things like that. That's why he always tried to help people as much as he could. So they didn't have regrets and lived their life in a happiness." she replied back. Ed breathed a small sigh of relief. Now is the hard part he thought.
"A few months ago, I had this...dream. I had a dream of my mother and my rotten father. They told me that they were proud of me. In that same dream, I saw a girl I knew and her dog. They looked... happy. And I also saw…" he stopped. Saying it out loud, it sounded ridiculous. But he had to say it. He had to make this right.
"You saw Maes, didn't you?" she said quietly. He nodded and he wasn't sure what she would do next. She smiled and she waited, urging him on.
"In the dream, he told me tell you something. His exact words were 'tell my little rays of light I love them.' I wanted to do this one thing for him after everything, everything he put on the line for just for me and my little brother." Ed finished. Mrs. Hughes stood up and walked over to the window with her hand across her mouth. Silent tears fell down her cheeks and Elicia noticed it.
"Mommy, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked. Mrs. Hughes shook her head and hugged her daughter. She looked at Ed and she smiled.
"Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me. Thank you." she whispered to him. Ed felt a lump beginning to form in his throat. He nodded and cleared his throat.
"I should be heading back. I'm sure Al and Winry are waiting for me." he said.
"Wait! Can we go see Alphonse and Winry? I'm sure Elicia would love to see her big sister." she said. Ed smiled at Elicia's excitement to see Winry again.
"Sure. Actually, tomorrow we're all going to get together at a certain place. I'm sure you can come then." he wrote down the address on a piece of paper and handed it to Mrs. Hughes. She read it and smiled.
"I didn't realize that day has arrived already. We'll be there." she said. He nodded and left, already beginning to plan out the next day's huge event.
(A/N: SO! How was that? I hope I didn't make it OOC or make it really bad. I tried to make it as realistic as possible. As we all know, it was Hughes' death that triggered everything. I feel he needed to be mentioned in someway throughout the story. *Yells into the sky* WE LOVE YOU MAES HUGHES! Anyway, can I get some reviews? Ironically, this is the only story I haven't gotten any reviews and it's my only on-going story. Or some follows is good too! So, please review?)
(A/N Part 2: About that Royai one-shot? I already published it. If any of you want to check it out, it's called A Misunderstood Situation. I'll most likely upload another one.)