Ello:) Story time~!

(Age 16)

As they boarded their train for Rush Valley, as it was closer than their actual destination of Dublith, Winry took the seat nearest the window beside Elizabeth and directly across from Edward. "So what are we going to Dublith for, anyway?" she inquired, directing her question to the blonde boy.

"Well," Ed drawled, a bit uneasy. He hadn't consulted Elizabeth at all, and he was scared of what she might have to say. "Al and I talked it over and decided it would be best to go see our teacher."

Elizabeth made no ill move, instead agreeing, "You're right. She might know where to go from here. But, um." She halted her reply, also feeling uneasy at the thought of going to see her.

All three Elrics hung their heads in shame. "Brother...Sister..." Alphonse whined, reminding everyone of his age, "I'm scared..."

"Don't worry, guys," Elizabeth reasoned, "We'll just stick close to Winry. Izumi wouldn't kill us in front of a guest!" She didn't even convince herself and she laughed into her hands, slightly bitterly at the thought of what kind of pain Izumi would put them in.

Winry was frozen in her shock as she listened to Edward encourage his siblings, "Come on guys, stay strong!"

She finally broke her trance and interrupted their self-motivational speeches by asking, "What the hell kind of teacher do you have?!"

A few hours later, when Elizabeth was finally comfortable, Winry started talking again. It was painfully obvious that the girl couldn't sit still on a long ride. "So what were the reasons for visiting your teacher, anyway?"

Sighing, Elizabeth sat up, only to find Edward already answering, "Two reasons," he explained, holding up two fingers, "We've been on a losing streak, and sorely need to get stronger. Especially Elizabeth. If she were left alone..."

The girl in question growled indignantly at him, "It's your fault I'm practically an invalid, you bastard!" She snapped.

Though it angered her more, he just continued his explanation, "And the secon-"

"Wait!" Winry cried, "You're just going to get stronger? Why are you so obsessed with fighting?!"

Ed groaned, "It's not as simple as that!"

"Yeah," Al chimed, "Just like we train our muscles, we must train our mind and soul. We train our strength, but also our endurance, intelligence, and dedication."

Edward smiled proudly at his brother and leaned against the window, "And I want to get stronger than ever."

"I feel like just by going to see our teacher, we'll be stronger!" Al added.

Sighing, Winry slowly began to understand their odd values, "...And the second reason?" she prompted apologetically, as she had interrupted him a minute ago.

Edward's smile turned hard and rigid and he looked out the train window to avert his eyes from anyone's gaze. He replied lowly, "To ask about human transmutation."

Elizabeth smiled a reminiscent smile as she whispered, "Yeah. We learned a lot from Izumi, but never dared to ask of human transmutation. At the time, we knew enough not to tell anyone. Plus, anyone involved with it was in some serious danger. We just didn't take it seriously."

"But now we're going to ask directly!" Edward announced, causing Elizabeth's eyes to snap up to him. "We can't worry about how we do things anymore. I'm ready to get killed by her, if that's what it takes." He strong beginning slowly lost momentum as he thought of asking Izumi directly, "So I can ask...I can ask..." He turned to Al, "It was such a short life, wasn't it?!" he cried sorrowfully.

"I wanted to get a girlfriend at least, brother!" Al replied, just as desolate.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and huffed, "Winry, are boys always chasing girls?"

Her friend just smiled knowingly at her and replied, "I don't know, you tell me, Beth." She teased. Remembering the package sent by Bradly, she quickly added, "Or should I say Lizzy?" Elizabeth's face flamed in embarrassment. She wasn't used to this kind of attention from men, or at least not aware of it previously. Winry snickered at her expression of anger and mortification, relaxing her hands on her bag.

Just as Elizabeth had managed to cool off enough to mutter a response, Winry remembered the food in her bag, "Oh!" She cried, pulling out the box, "I've got some apple pie that will lift you guys' spirits!" Her fingers swiftly popped open the cardboard lid to reveal a golden-brown pie with just a bit of filling coming out of the woven top and sliced into six pieces.

"Wow!" The boys chimed, Edward's voice taking dominance, "It looks delicious, where did you get it?" His hands snagged a slice before either of the girls could swat him away for being so impatient and he took the first bite of the pie, "It is delicious!"

Glaring at Edward and eyeing the food he'd swiped, Winry replied, "Mrs. Hughes said I should take something for the trip and made this for us."

"But still..." Alphonse contradicted, "It seems a bit much for three people to eat a whole pie." He gave Edward a second glance to find that his brother was already down to the crust of his first slice, "On second thought, maybe it won't be enough." he jested, pointing to Ed.

"Well," Winry offered, "The next time we eat it, you'll have to eat some too, Al." She closed the box to save some for later, leaving three pieces inside and three in the hands of the ones with bodies, "Mrs. Hughes gave me the recipe, so once your body is restored, I'll make some." She promised with a smile.

"I guess," Edward replied, taking the last bite of his pie, "You could call this a mother's touch."

Laughed good-heartedly, Winry added, "Yeah. Mr. Hughes, Mrs. Hughes, and Elicia are good people."

Just to be contrary, Edward pouted and argued, "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is a braggart, dramatic, and overall annoying as a person."

Elizabeth sighed angrily, "Don't you even start, Edward." She scolded, acting like the eldest, "He always came to chat with you while we were hospitalized. Plus he didn't even gush about his daughter and wife to you too much, that was mostly saved for me."

With that reminder, Edward's pout dissolved into a soft smile, "Seriously," He relented gently, "He kept saying how busy he was with work, but he visited Elizabeth and me every single day." He chuckled to himself, "The next time I'm in central, I'll have to thank him somehow."

Awestruck, Winry dragged Elizabeth from shop window to shop window, her eyes glazed with the wonderful intrigue of the metallic limbs on display at Rush Valley. "Oh. My. God." She gushed, emphasizing each word. Her eyes were glued to an arm that Elizabeth couldn't find anything special about. The arm was to the elbow, so it didn't interest Elizabeth in the slightest. Sure, it was shiny and looked light-weight, but it was in a stupidly fancy box, sitting on some sort of soft fabric and had a little string around the wrist that attached the over-blown price tag.

"This automail!" She gushed, "It's a Gotts 11th year model!" Even with the pride heard in the squeals of excitement, Elizabeth still didn't understand what was so great about it, "I never thought I'd get to see it!" Winry added, leaning on the glass and leaving hand prints. Edward and Alphonse finally caught up, looking to Winry with confused and questioning eyes. She heard the clanking metal and found all three Elrics with bewildered expressions on their faces. "What?" She asked soberly, down from her excitement high.

"Ah," "Uhm," "No," "Nothing!" They all stammered out, not wanting to get hit by the girl defending her passion.

Venturing forth to her brothers, Elizabeth finally stopped getting dragged from window to window as she whispered to them, "The technology here is so fast-moving."

"Yeah, I guess Rush Valley's a good name for this place," Ed replied, "The holy land of automail," he scoffed disbelievingly, "This place is really all about mechanics."

Winry had finally wandered back to the Elrics and the four were moving towards a large crowd in the middle of town when she replied, "Yeah, but the unrest here that's heard in the news in unbelievable. Hopefully the economy doesn't go under." Her eyes were big and sad at the thought of her candy land in ruins because of something like that.

The crowd seemed to pulse and jerk at a sudden movement from the heart of it. "Incredible!" A voice shouted from somewhere in the middle, "Fifty one straight wins!" cheered another. "No way this guy is gonna lose!" A nervous voice cried.

Curiosity drew the group towards the crowd, the cheers of it quieting down as the event at the center halted. As murmurs shuttered through the people, a loud voice called out to the crowd enchantingly,"This is the Metallic Arm Wrestling Constest!" Elizabeth and the others shuffled through the mass to find a light, weak looking man pitching the contest. Behind him sat a big, burly man with two automail arms and a dark beard. His arms were crossed defiantly and he gave off an aura of pure arrogance. "Limited only to challengers with automail arms," The thin man continued, "The entry fee is only 10,000 Cens! If you beat the champion, take home the whole pot!"

Elizabeth felt a cold hand on her only warm shoulder as a man pushed passed her gently. Once out in the middle of the circle, the average Joe called out to the champion, with money in hand, "Great! Lemme give it a shot!"

Thin thin man of the duo took his money and place him across a table from the champion. The challenger laughed to himself and, only loud enough for the first row to hear, said, "I just got a new arm today. Gotta test its limits!"

The man still standing replied, "You seem pretty confident, buddy." He shook his head and grabbed the two automail hands, placing them together and making sure neither had extra leverage. "Ready..." He drawled, changing his stance to get the hell out of the way as soon as he let go, "Steady..." he said next, barely touching the two hands anymore. With one swift movement, he let go of the two hands a split-second before shouting, "GO!"

Like a cat's reflexes, the man with two automail arms, the champion, snapped his metallic arm down with such force that the challenger's arm was not only beaten, but shattered in a million pieces. As the small metal bits went flying, some fans of the champion scooped them up.

A smug smirk settled on his face as he taunted the shocked challenger, "Is this really a new arm? Sorry buddy," He chucked the arm to the side, relishing in the paled expression of the young man before him, "Lemme get rid of this scrap for you."

The words of the still-champion set a frenzy to the automail mechanics in the crowd. With tools in hand and deals on the tips of their tongues, they began jumping at the poor man who had just lost his brand new arm. Streams of offers, "Lemme fix it fer ya!" or "No, no, me!" surrounded him like sharks after a fish, offering him different types of arms and payment types.

The man running the whole operation, however, was already searching the crowd for the next victim. His eyes easily found the tallest one, Alphonse and he challenged, "What about you, big guy? Wanna give it a go?"

Alphonse waved his hands frantically in disagreement, saying, "Oh, no! I couldn't possibly..."

Elizabeth, on the other hand, volunteered. "I'd like to give it a go." She replied, stepping up to the table. The crowd around the challenge area and the man with the scrapped arm hushed instantly.

The smaller counterpart of the contest stood in shock, not knowing whether to let her go or not. After all, she was a teenage girl. He shrugged and turned to the champion, seeing if he was alright with the challenger.

Then, with only a few words, the whole tense serenity of the crowd broke as the man replied, "There's no way in hell I'm going to break a little girl's arm."

Her temper flaring, Elizabeth managed only to call him a few unmentionable names under her breath before turning to Edward and dragging him to the table. "Well then," She snapped, still beyond her sober mind, "let my twin brother challenge him. Since your challenger is too afraid of a girl, let him go against him. He has the same automail as me, and we're twins, so our strength is about the same. Or is he scared of a boy, too?"

Edward was being held against his will, a scowl engraved on his features. Though the man running the money pot was fine with the challenge, Edward wasn't. To goad him into the 10,000 cens, however, the man slapped his forehead and sarcastically added, "Oh, never mind. A little guy like you could never win."

At the word 'little', Ed slammed down at the table and sneered at the champion. Elizabeth patted his shoulder and, with a glare at the money-pot runner, she ordered, "Shatter that fucking arm into a million pieces, Edward. If you don't, you'll never live it down for the rest of your life, I'll make sure of it."

Still in the crowd, Winry was standing next to a suit of armor that was empty. Empty-empty. Alphonse vacated for a little while so he wouldn't be obligated to try and tame both of his sibling's tempers at the same time. Winry also called encouraging words to Edward, "You better win this!" she called.

Behind the two, the entire crowd seemed uninterested, as the competition seemed so little. A boy with the height of a pre-teen against a man whose width was at least twice his opponent seemed too easy of an outcome to predict. "I can't believe the shorty's gonna try," One muttered, "There's too much of a difference in size and strength," Another added, "Looks like another arm is gonna break," A man next to him agreed, "Techs get ready!" A man with a wrench called, leading a small sub-group who all chorused, "YEAH!"

Hushing the crowd, the man took Edward and the champion's hand and placed them equally yoked on the table, neither one at an advantage compared to the other, and drawled the same preparation as before, "Ready...Steady...GO!"

In an instant, the same scenario that took place with the previous challenger unfolded. However, this time the arm that shattered belonged to the now ex-champion. His eyes were as big as saucers as he realized what just took place, and his jaw went slack, setting the precedent for the entire crowd.

"Sorry," Edward taunted spitefully, not in the least bit apologetic, "Looks like a busy day for scrap dealers." he sneered, adrenaline rushing through his veins and sending his confidence soaring.

And just like before, the mechanics were sent in a shark-like frenzy. This time, though, they were much crazier, as they had never before had the chance to work on the arm of someone who had once been a well-known champion. With a smug smirk and his temper simmered down to a lukewarm quality, Edward sat back an enjoyed the shock and chaos of the crowd around him.

Winry was one of the shocked onlookers, turning to Alphonse and whispering, "What happened?" She knew that, mechanically, her automail most likely would not have held up to the ex-champion's arm to the extent of shattering the metal.

Leaning down to reply, Alphonse clarified the process by which Edward won with one word, "Alchemy," He whispered back, explaining in much less words that Edward had essentially transmuted the metal into a weaker structure.

Edward ignored their conversation, refusing to acknowledged that he technically cheated. Before any of the three with him could scold or reprimand him, however, a man in the crowd noticed his and Elizabeth's arms. "Wow!" he called, getting a great deal of the mass to pay attention, "I've never seen this type of automail before!"

The people instantly surrounded the twins, asking to see, poking, and prodding at the metal. They examined Elizabeth's leg and arm with ease, as she was wearing a skirt and had her jacket packed in the suitcase. Edward, on the other hand, was treated much less gingerly because of his sex. He was brutally stripped down to his boxers, the mechanics examining even his connector plates and bolt types.

"Everyone is so enthusiastic!" Winry beamed, proud of her automail and how it was being fawned over, "This is truly the holy ground of automail!"

I wanted to leave this one on a good note:) Winry happy, Al happy, Elizabeth happy, Edward happy.