Chapter 2: Regret
A/N: A little Edwin. Doesn't last for too long.
"So Ed, how did your automail break?" Winry asked, observing Edward's arm.
"I was in a rough fight, then it stopped working. I could only move the fingers then." He tensed, expecting Winry to lash back at the sound of him saying "rough fight", but relaxed when no response came from her. "Maybe if I hadn't broken my automail… Al would…" He stopped himself. "No Edward, it wasn't your fault. I missed an important screw in the automail, that's probably why it stopped working. So it was my fault this time." Edward didn't respond. Now he knew how bad Winry felt when he was blaming himself. It hurt him to hear her say that, but he couldn't help but believe that it was his fault that Alphonse died.
The rest of the repair was silent, other than the moment Edward was groaning in pain from reconnecting his nerves. Winry packed up her tools, Edward watching her contently. She turned back at him, looking at him with concerned eyes. "Edward…?"
Edward let out a soft "mmmm?", his eyes flashing briefly. "Ed, are you… Are you going to continue trying to recover your body?" Edward's face tightened with terror, but then recoiled. He broke his eye contact with the blond girl. "No, Winry. I don't think I will. I won't be satisfied regaining my body, knowing that Alphonse never will. Plus, it's not worth making the journey alone."
"So, will you come home?"
He paused.
"I don't know. Not now."
Winry sighed and grabbed Edward's left hand. She brought it up to her mouth and kissed his hand. He blushed as he felt her lips on his knuckles. His face was flushed red by the time she moved his hand away from her face. "I'll see you soon, Edward. Okay?" She turned around, making her way to the door. Edward didn't want to let go, but his hand slipped out of hers. She disappeared through the doors, not looking back. Lieutenant Ross reentered the room, after Winry, saluting to Edward.
"Major Elric, is everything okay? Is there anything I can get for you? Food?"
Edward's face returned to his previous blank expression. "Yeah, sure, I guess." He turned over again, to look through the window. Ross sighed, and left again. She went down to the cafeteria, going to fetch food for the young Elric. Her partner was nowhere in sight, he was probably escorting Edward's guest. She was sad for the boy. She could understand how he was feeling. She saw the pain he was in when she had arrived in the lab. She could still feel his pain. There was nothing she could do to help, and she felt awful for it. At least she calmed down Edward; she wouldn't be able to bear the loss of two children in one night.
Edward lay on his hospital bed, staring at his automail. He flexed and released his hand, listening to the metal scrapes his fingers made against each other. Winry… He thought. Thank you, Winry. This may be the last time I see you, so this will be my memory of you.
Lieutenant Hawkeye entered her superior officer's office, folders in hand.
"Good morning, Colonel." She said, closing the door behind her.
Her superior looked up from his pile of paperwork, his dark eyes looking into her orange-brown ones. He smirked at her.
"Good morning to you too, Lieutenant. How have you been?"
"I've been doing fine. But, haven't you heard? The fifth laboratory collapsed last night, with the Elric brothers inside."
"What happened to them?"
"Edward was rescued, but… We couldn't find Alphonse's body."
The Colonel was surprised and leaned forward. Lieutenant Hawkeye had a sullen gaze. "I feel like we should ask Edward some questions, but… Now that Alphonse is gone, do you think Edward will continue his journey without his brother?" Colonel Mustang's face relaxed, and he shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his seat. "I can't answer that question. It's Edward's decision, but he knows where his priorities are."
Riza sighed, handing Colonel Mustang the manila folder. "These are the reports to the incident. Feel free to look through them when you have the chance." She made her way behind the Colonel, like she usually does. "Shouldn't we try to ask Edward what happened?"
"I'm sure that Hughes and Armstrong are already on that case."
Edward sat up on his bed, his head leaning against the wall. He looked down at his hands, which were overlapped, his right on top of his left.
"Edward, can you describe what these homunculi looked like?" Lieutenant Colonel Hughes asked. His green eyes stared at Edward, he could feel them burning on his neck. Edward tensed up, thinking about the homunculi. The ones who killed his brother. "The first one was a woman. She had long, dark, curly hair… she had purple eyes, they looked like snake eyes… She had a… full… chest," Edward demonstrated, gesturing his hands around his chest. "She had red lips and she wore a black dress that went down to her ankles. She had on high heels too." Ed continued, finishing his description of Lust, continuing onto Envy and then Gluttony. He told them about seeing Shao Tucker there as well, reincarnated as a chimera. The interview went on for a bit longer, Edward was more drained than before, he didn't want to talk about the fifth lab anymore. He didn't want to do anything anymore.
Once he recovered, he would resign from the military. There's no point staying anymore.
A/N: Back to working on "Possession". As you can see, I'm a fast writer, but that doesn't mean what I write is actually good. Reviews/Critiques would be great. See you soon!