Assumptions:

Do not own FMA

Based solely on the series, movie and the bluebird's illusion game (did I get that right?)

I have no idea what the plot was in the game but it gave me the idea how to bring Ed back

Al is dead in the other world and Ed is brought back as the humonculus, Pride.

A prayer for broken things

1

Pride looked on the dead city. His bare arms accustomed to the icy night air. It would've been a year now since his birth. A year since he came into this world, a body, a mind but no soul.

He could hear his mother and Envy speaking in the parlor. They no longer slept. Not when there was no point in sleeping. They no longer needed the rest, artificial bodies did not function the same as normal bodies do.

And yet in the few instances that he did, he would dream. Humonculi were not supposed to dream. They are not able to. But he did, he dreamt of a young boy and young girl with blue eyes and a smile that would always haunt him. He would wake up with an unknown longing, a deep ache in his heart and a sense that he was supposed to remember. These feelings disturbed him so much he stopped sleeping. These things were so unknown to him, so new so alien he never spoke of them to his creator. He did not know what they meant or why he was having them, weren't they supposed to be empty? Why were these unwanted dreams flooding his consciousness, why were these feelings affecting him so.

He told himself they were just hallucinations, that they weren't real. He told himself it was just his mind playing tricks on him. But no matter how many times he said it, he believed it less and less.

They were strange and they weren't right but Pride in his loneliness, in his emptiness found solace in these images. In the deep aching he felt, in the hollow feeling of losing something, he almost felt like he had. As if he meant something once.

This was his sanctuary, the secret place only he knew of. A secret part of himself that would always remain his. Apart from his orders, his master, his brother this small part was his.

So he would retreat into slumber and listen to children laughing and stolen memories from another time.

Pride hugged his legs to his chin, closed his eyes and slept.

She sat in her work shop, tools strewn about, twenty seven, past her prime, beautiful.

Not that she didn't have any suitors, on the contrary they were always a source of irritation to her. She just never found the need to entertain them. She had her auto mail, her clients and a lifetime's worth of regret, what else was there?

The bell rung on her front door, she called over not looking up from the leg she was assembling. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Take a break grease monkey." He smiled.

She looked up and gave him a big smile in return, she hadn't expected him to visit her.

"Hi Roy." She said, the limb temporarily forgotten. "What brings you out here?" she said wiping her hands on the towel.

"Nothing, do I need a reason to bring lunch to my girl?" he smiled raising a brown paper bag.

"Ha ha a tad bit confident today are we?" she teased grabbing the paper bag. "What did you buy me?" she laughed.

Roy Mustang smiled, this girl was his saving grace, of all the fucked up things he did in his life, she was the one bright spot. The one right thing he did.

She was but a child when he first saw her. Even then he knew she would be beautiful. He looked on her with a sad regret. She was so full of life, so beautiful despite of what had happened to her. Every time he saw her he felt so ashamed. Of all the things he had done. Of all the things he had to atone for.

He had taken so much from her it was almost unfair that she should suffer for all the things he had done. All the stupid decisions he made. He just wanted to make things right for her. He knew he couldn't bring back what he took from her but he promised himself he would make her happy no matter what.

Initially they were drawn to each other because both of them had lost Edward, her first love and his good friend. He laughed, who would've thought he would call him that. They had found solace in each other's company, the two that were left behind. Then it started becoming more than that. In all his philandering, he was always looking for something. Running away from who he was, changing one woman after another, afraid they would see what a monster he really was.

But Winry Rockbell knew what he was even from the beginning, knew what he had done. She of all people had every right to hate him, and yet she forgave him. He had never even hoped to be forgiven.

He remembered that day, it was raining and she was standing by the graveyard in Rizenbool, waiting for him it seemed.

"I know you come here every year. You bring flowers on the day they were killed." She whispered. She was just fifteen.

"I didn't think you'd notice." He answered afraid to look at her.

"That war took everything from me. Don't let it consume you as well. Too many lives have been lost, live the one you still have." She said turning around. "My parents would've wanted you to find peace and be happy. And so do I." she smiled at him walking away.

And Roy Mustang let out one long sigh. The Ishbal war had taken part of him as well, it broke him. In his heart he had always carried the burden of wanting to be a better man. He wanted to change the military, stop all the wars, stop all the useless blood shed. He had told himself he did not deserve to be happy, not after everything he has done. And in his need to atone for his sins he had forgotten how broken he really was. How empty. He lived his life wanting to make a better world for other people but not for himself. He thought he didn't deserve it. And here she was telling him to stop, that it was ok to be happy. That was when he fell.

At first he tried to deny it. Reasoning that she was much much too young for him and at that time he was still in love with Riza Hawkeye. In looking for that one thing that eluded him, that one thing he kept looking for in the numerous women he had dated, he found in the least person he expected to. A simple girl from whom he had taken everything from and yet still loved him. And he promised himself, he would make her happy no matter what.

"What are you day dreaming about Colonel?" she laughed throwing an olive at his face, she called him by his old title whenever she wanted to tease him.

"Was thinking about how good you look in that old mini skirts you used to wear." He smiled as she turned crimson.

"Roy!"

Envy was exciting the people, rallying them into taking up the cause. He took the form of a student rebel leader he had killed a couple of months before.

Pride stood in the shadows. His face covered by the hood of his coat. They had taken precautions whenever they were in Central, it would not do to have any of Edward's old acquaintances notice him now. They were after all in the higher ups.

He was listening to Envy's practiced speech, to the cheers of the people when a glimmer of yellow caught his eye. She came out of on of the stores, talking to a man. She was laughing.

I remember her laugh…

Pride jumped, why would he have sentiment for this person? He looked at her, she was older now but she was still beautiful. She wore her golden hair down now but her blue eyes were always laughing.

Who are you? He whispered to himself. Why are you doing this to me?

He leaned forward, his cover forgotten for the moment. He was lost in her. Her intoxicating smile and ephemeral laugh. His hood falling behind him, revealing his face.

Winry went with Roy in his errands, she wanted to enjoy the day. With the student rebellion wreaking havoc in the streets it was very rare to have peaceful days now and she would enjoy each one she was still given.

Roy kept telling her to move out of the city, with her connections to the higher ranked officers, the students might come after her next. She told him why would she be afraid, he was with her. She looked at him, true he had lost his rank and was now just a police officer but she believed that he had never looked happier.

At first she wouldn't believe that the Colonel would be interested in her. True she had always had a crush on him when she was young. But when she learned of what he had done her feelings toward him turned to hatred and hurt. But when he learned of how much the Colonel cared for the Elric boys and how much he tried to protect them, she forgave him.

She knew he was a good man and that sometimes things out of our control had to happen. So she did what was in her power to do, she forgave him. True forgiving him would not bring her parents back but she knew they wouldn't have wanted her hate to consume her. And she knew they wouldn't want his guilt to eat away at his soul. Let him be happy, he lost half of himself in that war too.

When Edward left she thought she would never love again. That great loves only happen once in a lifetime. She had hoped she would live out the rest of her life with him, be happy in his arms, have children. But then life never turns out the way you planned it.

Then Roy came. It was an awkward courtship; neither of them knew what to do with each other. They were both too full of emotional scars, both were too afraid of what could happen and of the repercussions it might bring.

But she could not help but fall for the Colonel. She saw how much he tried to make things better for everyone. She knew that he was a good man. He even promised to stop philandering, which he stuck to as far as she knew.

She never thought she would love another. In fact she was contented to just be by herself, the Elrics had left a deep hole inside her heart that nothing could fill. It left her hollow.

When Roy came into her life she realized that she laughed more and she started believing she could have another future, one without Ed. Maybe she can still have her happy ending?

They had come from the bakery when they passed by another demonstration. The student leader was lecturing on the corruption that was rampant in the military, that a democracy would benefit them more. She had stopped listening months ago, it was the same thing over and over.

Who are you?

She started. She thought she heard something. She started looking around if someone she knew just called her.

Why are you doing this to me?

She looked around again, this time she caught eyes of gold. Her breath caught. It was a face she would know anywhere.

A man crossed her line of vision and the apparition disappeared. She kept looking around trying so see if he was still in the crowd. Her heart beating like cazy, her mouth dry.

"What did you see love?" Roy asked looking around too.

"A ghost." She whispered.

She asked to be brought home. She was suddenly tired and did not feel like walking around anymore. Suddenly the afternoon off didn't sound so grand. She bade Roy farewell reassuring him she would be ok and began working on one of her creations. Her hands were working furiously as if they could make her forget what she saw, she felt something wet fall upon her arm. She looked at the single solitary drop, willing it to disappear. And before she could stop it, her body started shaking and her tears started falling.

She buried herself in her hands, waiting for the feeling to pass, waiting for her despair to leave. It was always the same. She hated this.

She taught herself not to hope, she taught herself not to wait anymore. Cause if there was hope then there would always be despair and she had had enough of that. She thought she taught herself better than this.

When all of her sobs had stopped, her body silent once more. She closed her shop.

Pride stood silently crouched on her window pane. Watching as the girl inside gently cried herself to sleep looking over old photographs. He placed his hand soundlessly against the glass.

He felt such sadness watching her. He looked over her beautiful face, her yellow hair cradling her and the silent tears caressing her cheeks. How sad she seemed. How alone.

And something somewhere deep inside Pride broke.

"Winry…"