Hehehe! My first Fullmetal fic!
YAY!
It's just gonna be a oneshot, but I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist
And without furthur ado, onto the fic!
Pairing: EdxWinry!
It surprised her when he barged in.
To be honest, she didn't think he would be this mad that she went out with another guy.
And just because he walked in on them-
Oh...
Oops...
Part of Me
His eyes cast a glance at the man as he ran over to her.
"Winry! Thank God!" he shouted, enveloping her within his arms.
"Ed? What-" she was cut off by Ed's firm hands on her shoulders, pushing her away.
"Wait! That means he hasn't gotten here yet! Dang it!" he roughly pushed her off.
She stumbled back, her male visitor catching her under the shouders.
"Winry? You know this kid?" he whispered to her.
Winry now doubted sincerely that Ed was here because he was angry with her for going out- and almost kissing- another guy. Truth be told- she had hoped he would be somewhat jealous, (technically not enough to come home from Central) but now the instinct sense of danger at Ed's behavior overrided her sense of disappointment. She pushed herself up off of the guy, Benjamin, and started for Ed.
The Elric was currently leaning out of the window, his head swivelling left and right, as if looking for something. He turned back to the room dejectedly, and then a sense of urgency filled his face.
"Ed?" Winry asked, his behavior, which was not at all usual, scaring her somewhat.
"No, Win," he said, cutting her off for the second time that night. "You need to listen to me,"
He turned away from her again, going over to the door and shutting it, he then clapped his hands and pressed them to the wooden structure. In moments, the room and door glowed with a mysterious blue electricity. Winry was not at all disturbed by this (as was her guest). She had seen Ed use his alchemy plenty of times. The question was: why was he using it now, at this very moment?
"Edward Elric!" she demanded, reaching for her trusted wrench, "You explain yourself right now, or I'll hit you in the head!"
Ed ignored her, and went to the window again, sticking his head out and taking one last glance outside.
"Elric?" the Benjamin whispered. He'd heard that name before.
Ed slammed the windows closed, and then tried to pull them opened again. When they didn't budge, he smiled at his handiwork, and then turned back to Winry.
"Ed-" she warned dangerously.
"Win," he said, coming back and placing his hands on her arms, staring her straight in the face.
His eyes pierced hers, showing so little, and yet so much. He was scared, she could tell by the way his eyes wavered. Yet, he was also confident, as his eyes showed an unleveled amount of concentration. And there was one other thing there too...
"That man, the serial killer, he's coming here-"
"What!" Winry shouted.
Headlines of the news for weeks was that a serial killer was on the loose. Believed to be maniacal, as there seemed to be no connections between the people he murdered, residents of all cities were warned to stay in their houses after dusk and lock up securely. His mode of operation: dagger.
"It's me, Winry! It's always been me!"
"What are you talking about, Ed-"
"The guys he kills- they're all people I've met, done favors for, known, Win! He attacked Mustang just the other day! And before that, it was Al, and before that it was Aunty Pinako!"
"Aunty!" Winry shrieked. She'd had no reason to believe her grandmother had gotten into any trouble in the few days that she'd been gone. She was supposed to be going out of town to do a special automail surgery from a wealthy client who'd heard that Rockbell's were the best, and had taken Den with her. "Why didn't anyone tell me-"
"It was classified information, Winry. Don't worry, they're all alright. Mustang kept it quiet when he learned that I knew all these people, he figured it out before I did, and I'll never live that down-"
"And what makes you think he's coming here?" Winry pleaded.
"...You,"
The man stood stiffly throughout the conversation. It was apparent that his date with Winry was over, and this guy... this Elric-
"Hey! You're the Fullmetal Alchemist!" he said, breaking the moment.
Ed nodded, not bothering to break eye contact with Winry. "Winry," he said, his voice commanding. "I've alchemised the room. No one will be able to get in, except through that door. But the door will only open from the inside, so you'd have to leave in order for someone to get to you. Don't leave," he said.
Winry nodded, not able to find words.
"If I can get outside before he gets here, I'll try to alchemise the house the same way,"
She nodded again, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Don't leave, Winry," his tone was scaring her now. "I can't stress how important that is,"
He turned away, opening the door.
"Ed?" she called to him, her voice wavering. "When will it be safe to come out?"
"When, and only when, the military comes to get you,"
"What about you?" she asked. "Won't you come too?"
He turned away solemnly, not daring to meet her gaze.
"Ed?" she pleaded again. "You'll come back too. You will, right? Right!"
He couldn't answer her. Instead, he turned and and closed the door.
"Edward!" she shouted after him, running at the door. But she paused when she got there, his words stopping her in her tracks. 'Don't leave, Winry. I can't stress how important that is,'
'Ed...'
"Winry? What just happened?" Benjamin asked.
"I'm not sure," she answered.
She turned to the window, rain slowly starting to pelt against the glass, depicting the sullen mood in the house. She pressed her hands to the cool glass and then her face, trying to get a look outside. She saw Ed leave the house, turn to it and clap his hands. She stepped back as the same blue lightning engulfed the room, as well as the house.
"Well, now that he's gone," Benjamin said, coming over to her. He turned her around to face him, bending his head down toward hers once more, just as he'd been doing before the Elric rushed in.
"No, Benjamin," she said, attempting to push him back.
"Ben," he corrected, "And what's wrong with it now, you seemed to want it a few minutes ago. Y'know before your short, rude friend barged in,"
"He's not short," she said to him. Indeed, she'd noticed Ed had gotten taller, taller than her even. But he still didn't match Benjamin's height. "And he's not rude. He thinks I'm in danger, what's so wrong with that?" he eyes glared at him.
"Nothing, but he seemed a little crazy to me. I don't think you're in any danger at all," he loomed over her again, trying to press himself upon her again.
"Stop it!" she shouted, pushing him away and turning once again to the window, just in time to see a crack of lightning.
She shrieked and held her ears, squinting her eyes closed. Never having liked thunder storms, Ed and Den were the only two she could seek for comfort. And she wasn't sure that one of them was coming back.
She peeked her eyes open again, noticing that Ben had retreated sulkily to her bed. Winry ignored him, turning once again to the window. The rain thoroughly distorted any image, but she could still see the red of Ed's coat retreating up the hill. She looked with worried eyes to its peak where, an odd shadow seemed to have emerged.
She could not help but stare as the next crack of lightning brought light to the odd shape: a crouching man, eyes wild and a dagger between his teeth.
"Oh my god!" Winry shrieked. "Ed!" she fled toward the door, pausing for one fleeting second before ripping it open.
"Winry?" Benjamin called in her wake. He too ran to the door looking after,"Pfft, girls," then he turned to the window, where another lightning bolt revealed to him what Winry had seen moments before. He shouted at the sheer horror of the picture, suddenly realising the Fullmetal Alchemist was indeed correct, and finally knowing that the one thing he had tried to protect was now walking herself right into danger. "Winry!" he shouted, paniky this time, and trapsed after her out of the bedroom.
'I won't stop,' she told herself. 'No matter what he told me, I won't stop, I'll get to him. I'll save him. He tried to save me, but I'm not the one in danger, he is. I'll help him... I'll get to see him again. I won't let him die on me, he means too much to everyone, to me, for a death like that,'
She flung open the front door, fully exposing herself to the rain. A flash of lightning crashed into the tree at the top of the hill. It lit up in flames, providing enough light to see that Ed had already encountered the serial killer, and was working himself into a predicament.
'I can't get there. I won't get there in time,' she thought worriedly. 'Still, I've got to try,' she bravely faced the doorway.
Another bolt struck the tree as she stepped outside into the weather she feared most. But Ed was worth it. A flaming tree branch broke off and dropped heavily to the ground, lighting up the brush underneath it that was only slightly damp. It created a ring around the two enemies, and Winry could see Ed with a dagger stuck into his automail arm.
A large anger filled within her. How dare he do that to her arm!
She trudged up the hill as she heard Ed cry out, attempting to change his arm, but failing because the dagger was acting like a thorn, preventing him from protecting himself.
'He must have had those daggers specially made,' Winry thought. 'Ones that can resist alchemic transmutations,' usually, her mind would go off into the engineering aspects of this weapon, but she had bigger things to worry about now.
Ed imparticular, who was now between a dagger and a rock.
The dagger came down hard on his flesh arm, causing him to cry out and his red jacket and sleeve of his black shirt, to fall off.
Halfway up the hill, Winry's heart turned to utter despair. She wouldn't make it.
"Ed!" she cried, unable to resist.
Ed turned horrified to see her, his pupils dialated. The man smiled maniacally at her, removing the dagger from Ed's arm and letting some of Ed's blood drip off of it.
"So, the pretty girl came to visit after all," he said. Then, he turned to Ed. "And you said she wouldn't come, liar!" he slashed Ed across the chest.
Winry shrieked.
"Aww, is the poor little girly scared? Does she not like it when big mean murderer hurts her friend? How about this, then?" he slashed Ed across the face, and then across the chest again. Ed cried again, tears of pain apparent on his face.
"Ed!"
"Winry," Ed panted through his pain, "Leave," was all he could muster.
"No, Ed-"
She was cut off by the man once again slashing Ed, tearing off the rest of his shirt and exposing his battered and bruised body to the pounding rain.
"Do you know what he did to me?" the man laughed, not taking his eyes off of Ed, but speaking to Winry.
Winry didn't answer, staying silent, tears glistening in her eyes.
"He took them away. My whole family. Carted away because the militia wanted to "study" them,"
"What?" Winry gasped.
The man kicked Ed, who remained silent throughout the accusation. Winry thought that at least he would defend himself with words...if he was innocent.
"Not so tough now, are you? Not so much when your little girlfriend knows your secret," he taunted Ed, punching him in the gut.
Winry was now at the top of the hill. Flames danced around the three, only slightly lowered by the pounding rain. Lightning cracked.
"...Please," Ed said, finally, wincing through the pain. "She has nothing to do with this. Let her alone,"
"I can't do that, Fullmetal," he said, wide eyes fixed on his nemesis. "For you see, it has now been my job to track down your family, and kill off every... last... one of them,"
"Winry's not family," Ed said.
Somehow, this hurt more to Winry than anything else.
"Oh, I'm not!" Winry challenged.
"Oh, I'm afraid you've hurt her feelings," he pouted. "Not that you can fool me, Fullmetal. Your feelings for this girl are more than apparent, especially since you've been reduced to begging for her safety. Although technically not family by blood, I know you've considered her your home for a long while,"
Winry stared. Ed was using technicalities to try and sway the man from killing her. More than that, he considered her home?
The sound of the train came through loud and clear in the silence that followed.
"Well, Fullmetal, your backup's almost here. I have no doubt that I'll be captured and taken to Central. But I do still have time to kill you and the girl before they get off that train,"
He took out another dagger from inside his long overcoat. This one was already dripping. But as they dropped, the ground they hit began to sizzle.
"Do you know what this is, Elric?" he asked of Ed. "It's a poisoned dagger. One I made especially for you. But I think it can suffer the spilt blood of your friend here before it will finally get to spill yours,"
He turned slowly, painfully, toward Winry.
She looked horrified, face pale and frozen to the spot. She remembered feeling this way once, when she'd been captured and taken to that butcher shop by the man intending on mutilating her.
"Not if I can help it," Ed growled, straining all his energy at a last-ditch attempt to save her.
"Ed!" she screamed for the umpteenth time that night.
Ed ran straight at the man, who swung the dagger around and pointed it at Ed's chest. The blade pierced his flesh just as Ed's automail arm connected with his face, sending him reeling through the flames and sliding down the muddy hill, colliding with the rocks at the end and making his leg and arm twist out at odd angles.
Winry took one fleeting glance at her savior in all his glory.
Standing straight and tall.
Dagger stuck through his chest.
And then, he crumpled to the ground.
"Edward!" she shouted, running to him.
She turned him onto his back, finally able to see the wound. It looked to be just below the heart, missing vital organs. The wound was spilling blood fast, and the poison had begun to take its toll on the skin surrounding the wound, which already looked swollen and purple.
"Heya, Winry," Ed smirked.
"Don't you "Heya" me, Edward Elric," Winry warned, not able to suppress a smile on her lips at the sheer silliness of it all.
They giggled slightly, until Ed's laugh tunred into a coughing fit and he started spurting up blood, all over Winry.
"So how bad is it?" he asked.
Winry didn't need to ask what he was talking about. She stroked his hair as she said, "It's pretty bad, Ed. The poison's already starting to work,"
Ed looked to enjoy the feel of her hands on his head.
Winry placed one hand on the dagger, and the other on his bloodsoaked chest, and pulled.
Ed winced as the blade exited his body, sending out even more waves of blood, but he gasped as if a large thorn had been removed. She then turned to his automail arm, taking out the dagger in there too.
As she did this, Ed seemed to be reminded of something.
"What is it, Ed?" Winry asked at the look on Ed's face.
"The automail," he said. "I'm dying, and I'm not even whole,"
"What do you mean, you're dying, Ed? You'll make it through this-"
"Don't try false hope, Winry. You know as well as I do that my chances of surviving are slim to none,"
"You've been in worse situations before, and you got out of those!" she tried, attempting to find some desperate way for him to live through this. She searched his eyes for that glimmer of hope that was always present.
Ed only smiled feebly at her, before breaking out into another fit of coughing up blood.
"...Winry? Could you do me a favor?"
"Anything,"
"...Could you- remove my automail?"
He had asked her to do the one thing she couldn't- wouldn't- do. If he was leaving, a part of her was leaving too. The automail was all she had to give him. Made by her own hands and crafted with all the love she held for him, it was the only thing he could take with him that was hers.
"No, Ed. I- I can't,"
Ed looked disappointedly at her, knowing full well she could, but just wouldn't. So, he crunched and reached for his knee, slipping it out of its port. Upon release, Ed's body crashed back to the ground, wound renewed. He gasped for air before scrunching up his face and pulling his left arm over to slip his right out of its port.
Winry watched him do this, tears on her face.
"Why, Ed?" she finally asked him. "Why won't you keep my automail? It's all I have to give to you! And you toss it away! I love you, Edward Elric. I used to think I meant something to you!"
Ed pursed his lips, not wanting to say anything he'd regret, even in the afterlife.
"There they are!" came a shout.
At the sound of the approaching footsteps, Ed and Winry both looked to see a band from the militia attempting the sttp climb up the hill.
"See, Ed?" Winry asked. "You made it. You'll be okay now,"
But Ed's eyes had closed.
"Ed?" Winry questioned again, turning his head up to face her. At the limp fell of him in her hands, her heart leapt with fear. "Ed!" she shouted at him.
"Edward Elric! This is NOT funny! I'll hit you with my wrench!" she said, knowing full well that she'd left her wrench in the house.
"Ed," she said dangerously. "You look at me when I'm talking to you! Look at me, DANGIT! Look at me!... Please! Please look at me, Ed... Oh dear god, please. ED!"
She broke into tears, murmuring "please" over and over again, and crying into his bare chest.
"Fullmetal!" someone shouted, it sounded like First Lieutennant Hawkeye, but Winry couldn't really tell, grief clouding her judgement.
She felt someone try to pry her off Ed, but she just swatted them away.
"Miss Rockbell, we may be able to save him, but we need you to leave," someone whispered.
"No, no! I want to stay here. With him. I need him," Winry pleaded to the unknown person.
"Miss Rockbell, I'm sorry about this," suddenly, someone lifted her sharply off the ground. Recognising Armstrong, she attempted to make him let her go. But he held on fast. All Winry's struggling tired her out.
And eventually, she fell asleep.
"Ungggh," Winry groaned, trying to keep her eyes shut and sleep longer. Something had happened, hadn't it? In her dream. What was it? It had something to do with... Ed.
And she sat up sharply, breathing heavily.
"Heya, Winry," a soft voice moaned.
"Ed?" Winry panted, running to his side. "Is that really you?"
He'd been bandaged, leading Winry to realise she was in a hospital, deassed in a robe, with Ed occupying one of the beds.
He smiled his infamous grin at her, and all doubts flew away. She wanted to hug him, squeeze him, kiss him, yell at him, hit him, and have his babies all at the same time. She settled on the first, earning a gruff groan when she squeezed too hard.
"Ed! I'm sorry!" she said about the hug.
"No,..." he corrected. "I'm sorry. For getting you into this mess. For putting you in danger. I never meant-"
"Shhh," she soothed, stroking his hair again. "I don't blame you, at all,"
It was then that she remembered why they'd both been in danger in the first place.
"What reall happened, Ed?" she asked. "He said you took his family-"
"His family..." Ed started, cutting her off, "Were a bunch of illegally produced homunculi,"
Winry started at this.
"I took away his creations, since they were both illegal, and had started to make disasters around the town where he lived,"
"...Oh..." was all Winry could say. To avoid eye contact, she glanced about the room. And she spotted Ed's automail arm and leg on a nearby table.
She didn't need to ask.
"Why did I want to take them off?" he guessed, and from the look on her face, knew he was right. "Why would I, when they were made with so much love from a beautiful mechanic? I did it because of you, Winry,"
"Huh?" Winry looked sharply at him, blush gracing her cheeks.
"I knew you were seeing that guy, Win," he said. "These automail parts are a part of you, straight from your heart. I didn't want to take a part of you with me when I left. I thought, by taking off the automail, I could give back the part I had taken from you, allowing you to give it to someone else. Someone more worthy of your...," he paused, unsure of what to call it.
"Affection?" Winry suggested.
"Right,"
A pause. Then Winry started firing accusations at him, to which he fired back answers.
"You said I wasn't part of your family,"
"Technically, you're not blood. And maybe if you were mad at me, then it wouldn't hurt so much,"
"I told you I loved you," she said.
"But if I was leaving, and told you I felt the same, then you wouldn't be able to love anyone like that again,"
"Well you're not leaving. I love you,"
Ed paused at that, still unsure of whether to answer. Being honest, it still wasn't all that sure that he'd make it through this. Moments before Winry woke up, the doctor had told him he may have to have surgery, and a dangerous process at that.
"Ed?" Winry questioned, now not sure if he even did love her.
"I- love you too, Winry,"
Winry's face lit with happiness. Ed couldn't help but smile.
"...Well?"
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to kiss me?"
"Winry, I can't even sit up, and you're asking me to come all the way over there and kiss you?"
"Hey, buddy! I was the one that told you I loved you first! That's supposed to be the man's job. I'm not gonna go and break tradition again by being the one to kiss you,"
"No problem," he said, pressing his lips to hers. It seemed that, while she was ranting, Ed braved the pain to sit up and lean toward her.
Winry welcomed the kiss, knowing full well that it was his first, and hers too.
"Now Winry really will be a sister!" came an slightly hollow, but excited voice from the doorway.
"Ah! Al!" Ed said when he heard his brother's voice.
"I came as soon as I got out of the metal shop from restoring the suit of armor," Al said, sitting in a chair beside Winry. "Lt. Hawkeye informed me of the situation after they pried Winry off of you,"
Ed glanced at her, a blush now on her cheeks.
"I'm glad you aren't hurt, brother,"
"That's not exactly true, Al-"
"So," came another voice, "When's the wedding?" Roy Mustang entered the hospital room, bandaged and bruised. Behind him, Lt. Hawkeye seemed to be waiting for him to fall over.
"Wedding?" Al asked at the redness on his brother's and Winry's faces. "Which wedding?"
"Theirs, of course!" Mustang teased.
"Wedding! Brother, you're gonna marry her! Now!"
"Ah! No, Al!" Ed said, waving his arm, and stump, in an attempt to dissuade the notion.
"So you don't want to marry me, Ed?" Winry asked, taking this chance to tease him.
"Ah! No! That's not it!"
"Because I can always take my automail and leave,"
"Your autmail?"
Winry rose, moving to the table upon which lay his automail arm and leg. Tucking both under her arm, she turned to leave.
"Ah! No! Winry! I'll marry you! Just come back with my automail!"
END
Hehehe, sorry! Had to get that off my chest! Even if it is my first attempt at Fullmetal Alchemist.
REVIEW PLEASE!
ENCOURAGEMENT IS APPRECIATED! I'D LIKE TO KNOW IF I'LL MAKE A GOOD FMA WRITER!
animebookworm44