Disclaimer- not my characters.
~Prologue~ The night was quiet, as most nights were in Resembol. A light snow made it's way silently down, covering everything with white. A soft wind picked up, sending the small white specks up against the yellow house that stood solitaire on the hill. Although it was past midnight, the phone was practically ringing off the hook. Finally, the young blond girl who almost twisted her ankle tripping down the stairs answered it with a yawn. She recognized the voice on the other end of the line and immediately snappd wide awake. Not so much from familiarity but because of the concerned tone he used.
Her heart was in her throat, she always worried about getting a phone call like this at an hour this late from them. But whatever she had expected it wasn't this.
"Winry, it's Al." That part she pretty much expected, but Alphonse usually wasn't the one calling her.
"Hey, what's going on?" Even though her mind was still tired she was already imagining what he could be calling about. Al and Ed had left her house less then a week ago. As usual she had been promised they would write her but she was dubious. She wouldn't complain though, since they did have a lot of work to get done in Central and she figured that the sooner they finished, the sooner they could come home.
"Well we ran into some trouble here and don't know if we're coming back." That was not what she was expecting to hear him say.
"What kind of trouble?" She wasn't sure how she could help. The problem wasn't auto-mail related since Ed got his real limbs back. Of course that also meant he could get hurt easier, even if he wouldn't admit it. There was another voice on the line, in the background that she didn't recognize. The deep male voice spoke with authority and seemed to make Al nervous.
"Ed's been arrested. Well we both have kind of, but him mainly because of his time in the military. It's pretty serious. He didn't want you to worry so he had me call." Winry felt angry tears sting her eyes as she gripped the phone tighter.
"What about the people who know you guys there? Can't they help? And what are the charges?" Alphonse was speaking with someone else now and she wasn't sure if he had even heard her question.
"Sorry, I have to go now. Bye." The line went dead so abruptly that she found herself standing there, speechless for several minutes before placing the receiver down. Utter shock took over as she managed to head back upstairs to her room. Her mind went back to over three years ago when they were running from the military and came to Resembol. They had been called traitors then for what they knew, so was this the same thing. The military had changed so much in the past couple of months, wouldn't the past situation have been forgotten by now?
All these unanswered questions were going to make it hard to get back to sleep as she looked out the window at the snow cascading down. It was the only movement out there this late. So many times she had looked out this window, waiting for them to come home. Just waiting to see them off in the distance but as so many times, there was nothing to see. The same anger from before was still very much alive as she pressed her hand against the window, the glass cold to her palm. She wanted answers and wasn't going to sit there to wait for them. Her heart couldn't take it again. There wasn't much she could do to help but wanted to be there anyway. Tomorrow, she would take the first train available to Central.
This time would be different.