Through The Gate

By Yellow Mask

Spoilers: Strong spoilers for the end of the movie.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

Chapter 1

Into The Breach

AN: In the OVA "Hagaren Kids", one of Ed's grandchildren looked like Winry. So, of course, that got me thinking, how could Winry have ended up on the other side of the Gate? (Yes, I realise that Ed could have married her alternate self, but I choose to believe the Winry we all know and love went through the Gate somehow). So my musing spawned this story. It's going to be a Winry-by-herself adventure for the most part, but there will be EdWin at the end.

oooooooo

Sometimes, Winry wondered how she got herself into these predicaments. It was supposed to be a quiet trip to Central to see her friends, and it turned into an apocalyptic disaster engineered by a Gate-opening megalomaniac.

And of course, this guy had to do this at the train station. The train station! Of all places in Amestris, why would he use the train station?

From what she could gather from his ravings, he was trying to suck as many people as he could into a strange metaphysical doorway…something about equivalency.

All around her, people were panicking, growing ever more hysterical as more and more people were drawn into the yawning doorway. The screaming was growing deafening.

Winry fought the urge to run, and instead took a deep breath from where she was cowering behind the bench. Okay, calm…calm…she had to be calm. There was a crazy guy trying to get people killed in some bizarre gateway and undoubtedly using alchemy. She could worry about the plausibility of all this later – right now, it seemed like she was the only one in the whole place who realised he had to be stopped.

Well, she was probably wasn't the only one who realised he had to be stopped, but it seemed she was the only one willing to do something about it.

Taking one last deep breath, wiping her sweaty hands on her pants, and trying not to think about what it would be like to be dead, Winry clutched her tool box and stepped out from her cover.

He didn't notice her at first, too busy pouring over a journal in his hand. Winry threw caution to the winds and ran full-tilt at him, trying to tackle him away from the transmutation with sheer momentum. And she could figure out what to do next once she'd gotten him away from…from whatever it was that he was doing.

It nearly worked. Winry drove her shoulder into him at the same time as she smashed her heavy toolbox into the side of his head. The blow stunned him, and Winry tried to wrest the book from him. He fought back, and they staggered backwards…

And then black arms seized them, and dragged them into the doorway.

oooooooo

Winry realised she was falling. Falling through rain and fog, with the man beside her, cobbled streets rushing up to meet them…

She landed on top of the man with a heavy thud that jarred the breath from her body. His head smacked against the ground with an ugly crack and he went still. Her entire body ached, and she suspected she'd broken her ankle, but Winry struggled to her feet anyway, tensed for a fight.

Only to find she needn't have bothered. The force of their fall had broken the man's skull like an empty eggshell. Feeling bile rising in her throat at the sight, Winry turned away, breathing heavily.

He was dead. And she hadn't even known his name or what he was doing. But then again...he had been a murderer. He'd probably killed all those people at the train station. And yet, to have died for it...

Her regret over the nameless man didn't last long, and her concerns shifted as to where she was. She had been hauled into a strange doorway, and somehow ended up somewhere that was very different to Central's train station.

Grimacing in disgust, Winry pulled the leather-bound book from the man's nerveless fingers and flicked it open, hoping to find a clue as to where she was.

No clue was forthcoming, but the words printed on the first page were astounding enough.

Property of Edward Elric.

This was Ed's journal?

Winry didn't have any time to ponder that thought, as voices began to drift through the fog. Instinctively wanting to avoid being found with a dead body, Winry began to limp painfully away, trusting the grey cloud to swallow her.

oooooooo

Eventually, the pain in her ankle forced her to stop, leaning against the wall of a building for support. From the sounds inside, she guessed it was some kind of bar. The sign on the wall read; 'The Whistling Pig. Home of London's finest pork.'

The rain had soaked Winry's clothes and skin, and her hair was plastered to her shoulders. She shivered, suddenly aware of the biting cold. Her toolbox was clutched in one hand, held so tightly the knuckles bleached. Her other arm held Ed's journal against her chest

"What's going on?" she whispered.

Her only answer was the soft swishing sound of the rain. Tiny droplets clung to her eyelashes like tears.

Fear and uncertainty rose within her like a cresting wave, and Winry threw her head back and yelled to the barren sky.

"WHERE AM I?"