Ch 8- Home Sweet Home Pt. 1

Chapter 8- Home Sweet Home

A high-pitched woosh cut through the air like scissors slicing through paper as the crafts came tumbling downward, closer and closer to the ground leaving trails of smoke in their wake. Winry continued to watch as two of them made impact with the cracked pavement side by side and another landed with a screeching, crashing halt enveloped by giant clouds of smoke and fire. Soon, a third aircraft followed, landing a distance from the first two. The moment the aircrafts made contact with the floor, a massive sound, almost like an explosion, rang through the air and shook the ground with decent, but swift force. Great clouds of smoke billowed after they collided into the underground city, and small flames could barely just be made out near the wreckage. The smoke and debris were so thick that it caused Winry and the three military officials to choke from it's coalescence.

After recovering from their coughing spells, Riza spoke up, not sounding the least bit amused. "Nice going there General. The moment you broke down the boulder hiding the Gate, something just had to come through didn't it?" the Lieutenant interrogated, staring up at the man clad in blue towering over her. "Would you get off of me please?" she added, a hint of irritation in her voice.

Mustang obliged, lifting his body off of the older blonde's and smirked at her. She failed to hide her face as a light blush raked her cheeks the moment she'd realized he was trying to protect her from being hit by any flying pieces of rock and metal. Instinctively, the Lieutenant placed her hand on her gun and withdrew the weapon, holding it out front of her and eyeing the smoking area, her finger placed comfortably against the hammer.

"Like I knew something was going to come busting in the moment the boulder was taken down," Roy replied in mock, agitated tones, rolling his ebony eye. "Besides that Lieutenant, we were focusing on getting the Elric brothers home weren't we? We had everything all planned out, so of course I was going to destroy the thing Major Armstrong made to hide the Gate. How else were we supposed to go through? I didn't break it down for that particular reason, you know. If I had known something would come through the moment the portal was unsealed, I wouldn't have opened it back up."

"Yes, but don't you find it strange that not long after you broke down the boulder, something was just aching to come through it and did? How do we know this isn't going to be another uprising like we had last year? How do we know that something else isn't going to come flying through that Gate again any moment now and attack us again?" the Lieutenant questioned, piercing her crimson orbs into his dark one, keeping her firearm pointed towards the explosion.  

"Now now Lieutenant, relax," Mustang told her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're thinking on too large of a scale here. I think if anything was going to attack us it would have by now, don't you agree?" he questioned in his usual haughty way, flashing pearly, white teeth at the woman.

The two sat and bickered back and forth slightly before they were harshly cut off by Armstrong raising a massive hand. "I don't mean to be rude General, Lieutenant, but that's enough for now," he stated, grasping both Riza and Roy by the collars of their uniforms and standing them to face towards the wreckage. "What do you think they are?" he questioned, squinting his tiny, blue eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the aircrafts in the midst of all the dust and smoke that still continued to idley billow upward. It was slowly seperating and revealing what was left of the aircrafts and what was laying on the ground that had been just presently inside of the flying machines.

Winry felt the breath being sucked from her lungs. Her hand instinctively flew to her mouth as two figures came into view laying almost side by side. She recognized that bronze, ponytail that lay stretched out across the ground and the figure dressed in gray-blue, very dusty clothing, was laying on his side. The person next to him however, she did not recognize. The mechanic's eyes frantically scanned the area in search for the person that should have been next to the brunette boy. Her hand stayed clasped around her mouth, and the blonde found she couldn't move, as if she were frozen solid or her feet had been glued to the ground. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but no words came out. Winry had been rendered suspended to the spot, not able to move or talk, even if she wanted to. Alphonse?? That's really Alphonse but...but who is that beside him and where is Edward!?

"Well, I'll be damned," came Mustang's bemused voice just from the left of Winry. He was standing with both hands on his hips, shifted into a presumptuous position, clearly gazing down at something in front of him. "Well, at least we don't have to go and get you ourselves now, Fullmetal. Looks like you managed to make one hell of a mess yet again," came the General's cheeky voice as he stared down at the fallen victim in front of him.

"Jeeze, I haven't even been home for five minutes and you're already starting your crap with me? What a way to be welcomed home," came a grumbling, hoarse voice followed by a small bout of coughing that Winry couldn't see but certainly recognized.

Edward!? Please say that really is you! Please tell me you guys aren't playing tricks on me! I swear I'll beat you all to a pulp if you're screwing with me! She tried hard to speak, but all that came out was a faint squeak. Never in a million years did she expect the Elrics to come bursting through the gate so unexpectedly. Mustang stepped back, revealing Edward's figure, laying on his stomach with a piece of rocket laying over his back. "Hey General.," the alchemist began, raising what he could of his torso up on his hands. "Do you think, you could do me a favor...oh I don't know, STOP STARING AND GET THIS DAMN THING OFF OF ME!?" Edward bellowed, glaring up at Mustang who just stared back with his insolent smile that young blond had come to both like and loathe at the same time.

The raven-haired man lowered himself to the ground to lend a hand, shoving the piece of metal off of Edward's back. He felt the weight being pulled off of him and instant relief flooded through his body. The older Elric fell back down against the ground on his stomach, his arms and legs sprawled out across the ground breathing heavily. "Damn, I'll be feeling that tonight. Thanks, General," the older Elric stated, staring up at the contemptuous Flame Alchemist who just waved a hand at him in a bored fashion in a 'don't mention it' sort of way.

After collecting himself and finding the energy to sit up, Edward gazed around the derelict city in search of his brother, hoping that he was safe and didn't get injured too severely from the crash. His eyes came to rest a good twenty feet away from where he was currently sitting, where Alphonse and Curtis had landed. The two figures that had been laying on the ground were slowly pushing themselves up and sitting up on their haunches, attempting to gather their bearings and figure out where they were. They were covered in scratches, dust, dirt and fragments from the rockets they'd taken to get here. The aircracfts had pretty much been completely obliterated upon impact.

"Owwww, we should have learned how to land these things properly before we decided to fly them," moaned Alphonse has he rubbed his backside. Curtis nodded his head in agreement, rubbing his hand  on his side. "Do you see Brother anywhere?" the younger Elric questioned, turning his head and squinting his silvery-brown eyes. "Oh! There you are! Are you okay Ed? You didn't get hurt or anything did you?" Alphonse inquired, worry imminent in his tone.

"I'm fine, Al. Just a sore back," Edward replied, placing his hand on his lower back and wincing slightly. "What about you? You two okay over there?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Curtis got a bump on the head, but nothing major and we have a few cuts, but we're not bleeding to death," Alphonse replied. "Now, let's get out of here and-," the boy's voice trailed off as his eyes met soft, azure ones.

She stared into the familiar face of the younger Elric not sure what to feel or really even believe. It seemed almost too good to be true. Her heart was throbbing so heavily against her sternum that she felt as thought it could burst out of her chest at any given moment. Her stomach did excited but nervous flip-flops. The automail technician continued to just stand in shock, not quite sure what to make of all the happenings at the present time. Winry was trying to piece together everything in her head. The Elric brothers were home. They were alive and in the flesh, laying just feet away from her. Their aircrafts had been destroyed. There was no way for them go back. This wasn't just another one of her dreams where she'd wake up and find herself alone, cold and in bed, right?

"Winry!?" Alphonse exclaimed as his eyes rested on the blonde's stiff form. "Is that you? And General Mustang! Major Armstrong! Lieutenant Hawkeye!" the boy exclaimed as his eyes came to rest on the familiar forms in front of him. "Brother! Winry's here!"

Before Edward even had a moment to catch a glimpse of the woman he'd been longing to see now for over a year, he was abruptly cut off by a familiar, emotional, booming voice, followed by the sounds of heavy thudding feet.

"OH ELRICS!! HOW WE'VE LONGED TO FIND YOU AND SEE YOU AGAIN! WE DID NOT KNOW IF YOU HAD LIVED OR DIED! OH HOW HAPPY WE ARE TO DISCOVER THAT YOU SURVIVED!" exclaimed Major Armstrong as he thundered towards both of the brothers, his familiar purple stars soaring around his head like flies, tears flying like streams from his squinty, blue eyes.

Amrstrong gathered Edward in one arm and then rushed towards Alphonse and gathered him in the other, squeezing both of the brothers with his muscle-bound arms. Fountains of tears were pouring down the Major's cheeks as he blubbered nonsense that Edward couldn't make out. He was just desperate to be released from the Major's sweaty grip. The older Elric felt his face being pressed into the shirtless Major's chest, and the alchemist did everything he could to keep himself from completely and utterly gagging from the contact.

"OH WELCOME HOME EDWARD AND ALPHONSE ELRIC! WELCOME HOOOOMEEEEE! WE'RE JUST SO HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE AND WELL! OH IT IS SO GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK! YOU WERE DEARLY MISSED BOYS! DEARLY MISSED!" the Major told him, his voice shaking with dramatic emotion.

"I...CAN'T...BREATHE...MAJOR!" Edward tried to squeeze out as it felt like the man were crushing his lungs, and Alphonse waved a wobbly hand across the air in defeat. Their faces began turning red from lack of breath, and both brothers had gone frigid in Armstrong's grasp.

"Alright Major, that's enough. Put them down, or they won't be alive much longer if you don't allow them to breathe. Let them go before you end up killing them," Lieutenant Hawkeye demanded gently with amused tones.  The body-builder of a man released the brothers who collapsed on their knees, clutching their chests and breathing heavily, gasping for air. Armstrong grabbed the brothers by their backs of their coats and stood them on their feet, using his giant hands to dust them off the best he could.

"There now! It's not as good as a nice, hot shower, but this shall do for now until we get back up to Central!" the man enthused before putting his hands back down at his sides. Edward noted just how strange it was that the Major could go from a billowing pile of emotion at one moment to a relatively calm man the next. "Now that you're back, we have somebody here who was anxiously been wanting to see you boys again," the Major told them, his tones placid now. The man pointed towards the blonde mechanic who stood solitary while he withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and was dabbing at his light blue eyes with it.

"Winry," Edward breathed as his pools of molten gold came to rest on her figure, taking in every inch of her feminine allure.

The alchemist tried to catch a glimpse of her face, longing to gaze into those gentle, azure-blue orbs of hers, but upon seeing her he furrowed his thin, golden eyebrows slightly as he took in her appearance. Something wasn't right. Last time he'd seen her, the girl had jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. Her face had been filled with color and full of life. This time she seemed almost pallid and even a little more thin than usual. Last time, she'd been overjoyed at seeing him again and he'd been aching for her to do it again, only this time he was going to wrap both arms around her, hold her close and never let her go. He ached to bury his face into the silk-like locks of light blonde and drink in every precious bit that was Winry. However, it was different this time. What was wrong with her? Where was that familiar sparkle in her eyes? Where was that beautiful smile always placed so delicately on her coral lips that she had saved just for Edward, and furthermore why wasn't she looking at him?

Just a little over a year ago she couldn't take her eyes off of him when she first saw the older Elric for the first time in two years and even had trouble concentrating on the automail she'd fixed to him that day when he arrived with a broken appendage and not able to stand. Edward had wanted to stay with her longer that day, but there were so many more important things to do that the present time, such as getting rid of the ships coming through the Gate, causing a war and threatening his home and friends. He just didn't want Winry or any of the people he dearly loved to be killed in the disaster. Looking back now, Edward wished he'd done it, and now looking at her standing here, this wasn't the Winry he remembered from a year ago. The mechanic was completely fixed to the ground with her head hanging. Her long, light-golden bangs casting her lovely face into shadow. Alphonse stood up, followed his brother, and remained behind him, features filled with worry.

"Winry, it's us," Edward tried again. "We're home." He gazed down at his right arm, ready to show her that he even still had his automail. He pulled back his coat and shirt sleeve when he noticed that the top half of it had been completely busted up. It must have happened when I made that collision from the rocket crash. Damn, Winry's going to be pissed! If she isn't already... Immediately feeling guilty, Edward pulled the sleeve back down to hide the automail, uncertain if his mechanic had seen it or not.

"Winry, why won't you talk to us?" Alphonse questioned, standing next to his older brother now. "We're home! We missed you so much!"

"Yeah! We're back Wi-," Edward began, but he stopped, promptly cut off as a glint of familiar silver flashed through the air in front of his eyes. Before he even had the chance to run or move out of the way of danger, he felt the cold, metal, hard familiar crack over the head sending stars dancing in front of his watering eyes.

"Win-," began Alphonse as he progressed towards her, holding both hands up admitting defeat, but just as Edward had, the large, silver wrench made a nasty collision with Al's head, sending the boy stumbling backwards a few steps.

Both Elrics clutched their heads, staring at Winry through brimmed eyes. They were taking in hissing breaths through clenched teeth from the throbbing pain their skulls were currently enduring.

"Do you...," began Winry, advancing towards the brothers, wrench raised. "Have ANY," she cracked them both over the head once more, sending them falling backwards and landing roughly on their behinds. Edward squeezed his watering orbs shut, peeking one eye open so he could look at her. Despite the fact that she was furious with them, he felt he really did need to explain. He didn't get a chance to. Winry just continued on with her interrogation. "IDEA...," the young blonde seethed, raising the wrench threateningly once more.

Her blue eyes, that once held a soft and tender look, blazed like the fire in the very pits of the underworld. "...OF THE HELL YOU TWO HAVE PUT ME THROUGH THIS PAST YEAR! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA AT ALL HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN ROY MUSTANG TOLD ME THAT YOU TWO LEFT TO GO OFF TO THAT OTHER WORLD!? YOU LEFT ME HERE ALL BY MYSELF! YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO SAY ONE WORD TO ME ABOUT ANYTHING! JUST TOOK OFF AS I WERE NOTHING TO YOU! SO IS THAT IT!? AM I NOTHING TO YOU! IS THAT WHY YOU LEFT ME WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A GOODBYE!?" the petite blonde demanded at the Elrics, causing them to cower in fear, still clutching their pounding heads where the wrench had previously made contact. Her teeth were clamped so tight that Edward thought if she clenched them any harder, they might crack. Heaving, hissing breaths issued from the girl and her chest was rapidly rising and falling with each one.

Edward and Alphonse clutched their hands over their heads and squeezed their eyes shut tightly, almost curling up in balls, trying to protect themselves from the oncoming wrench blow. They sat, waiting with bated breath for the next bound of tool assault from the mechanic, but it never came. Instead a soft clang was heard as the wrench had obviously fallen out of Winry's hands and hit the ground. The older Elric slowly opened one eye to look at Winry who'd also dropped to the ground. She was on her knees, her lands laying limp in her lap, her blonde head lowered once more so they couldn't see her face. Edward watched cautiously, not sure what type of move the automail tech would make next, but he felt his heart clench slightly in his chest as he saw two crystal drops fall and hit the ground from behind Winry's bangs. Her shoulders were starting to shake lightly as the girl was being overwhelmed by silent sobs. She brought one hand up, placing the back of it over her face, followed by the other one and wept.

"Winry, " Edward began as he got up from the ground and approached the girl. He knelt down on his knees and took her by the shoulders. "H-hey, Winry talk to me. Why are you crying?" The alchemist always hated seeing her cry and knowing that he'd been the one who caused it, made him feel even more horrible than the cracked skull he was sure he had retrieved from the blows on the head. He wasn't angry this time at the mechanic's actions. Edward felt he more than deserved them.

"Why?" was the only word she could produce in a cracked voice. That one word grabbed his heart with a cold fist and squeezed it just a little tighter. It was a few moments before she found the will to speak again again. "Edward...why did you leave me? Why did you leave without so much as a goodbye? You and Al both just...left and didn't say a thing to me. Why did you do that?" the mechanic questioned, raising tear-bright eyes at him.

Hawkeye, Mustang, Armstrong and Curtis all turned away from the Rockbell girl and the older of the Elrics, evidently feeling that they were intruding on something of a private moment between the two. The Lieutenant gathered the younger Elric to tend to his head, and the others moved a distance away to talk and not disturb them. It was just Winry and Edward now, and she had questioned him. He felt she deserved an answer to everything, but just as soon as the answer hit him, it seemed like nothing but a pitiful excuse that he would be using to try and claw his way out of the danger zone.

"That was the second time you left me alone to wonder, Edward," the mechanic told him, grasping onto the front of his brown, dust-covered coat with tight fists and gazing a him, eyes wrought with many different emotions that Edward had trouble discerning them all. Had Winry really and truthfully suffered this much because of his idiocy?

The alchemist was finding it hard to look into her tear-filled eyes. Just seeing her like this, knowing that he'd been the cause of Winry's anguish was nearly tearing him apart from the inside out. This wasn't exactly how he'd pictured his reunion with Winry at all, but really should he be surprised that she was being this way with him right now? The golden-haired young man lowered his head, allowing his blond bangs to shield his face from view, his long ponytail falling over his shoulder, and he closed his golden orbs, swallowing a a lump of burning guilt in the back of his throat. "I'm sorry, Winry" he told her hoarsely, but the alchemist wasn't sure if she'd even heard him.

"You left me to wonder if you would ever come back home. Why? Why did you leave last time anyway!" she demanded sounding desperate for answers. Her voice was still thick with tears, and she did not seem to care that the older Elric wasn't looking at her anymore. "Did you find somebody more important there than all of us here? You didn't even say goodbye to me, Edward. You let me fix you with automail and then you just up and left me here all alone to constantly worry about you and wonder if you were even alive anymore. Why did you do this to me, Ed! That's all I want to know!" Winry cried out, burying her face into his coat, succumbed by fresh sobs.

Edward lay his face against her soft hair, closing his golden eyes and, breathing in her familiar essence of automail oil and sweet scented shampoo. The silkened touch of her hair caressed the older Elric's face as he struggled to find the answers to tell her without sounding like he was just trying to weasel his way out of trouble. He tightened both arms around the trembling mechanic and held her close, allowing the girl to release all the pent up tears of frustration, confusion, anger and elation at seeing him again. Winry's grip let up on Edward's coat and she returned the gesture, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and hiding her face in his shoulder.

"Winry. I...I don't know what I could possibly say to justify my decisions I made back then, so I'm just going to try and explain it all to you the best that I can," the alchemist began when he found his nerve. "When all of those ships from the other side of the Gate began coming through and threatening my home, I couldn't allow it to continue to happen. I had to stop them all and break the gate on the other side," he tried to explain, gently taking the girl by the shoulders and willing her to look at him. He placed his left, gloved hand on her chin and lifted it up.

Her tears continued to slide down her cheeks in twin streams, dripping off of her chin and falling onto his glove, soaking it to his skin. Winry's azure irises found their way to look up into his amber ones. God how it killed him to see her like this. "I honestly don't know why I left without saying goodbye, but Winry I swear, every single day I have regretted it," Edward insisted, unable to keep the tremulous tones out of his voice that had crept on him without warning.

He swallowed the many rising lumps in his throat and composed himself. "There probably is no apology that would ever be fitting enough for what I put you through, but I do want you know that from the bottom of my heart I truly am sorry," he told her, trying to prevent his voice from cracking. "It's just...my main reasoning for it was to protect you and everyone else here from ever being hurt by those insane people on the other side of the Gate," he insisted, piercing her with an intense stare and smiled with his teeth slightly clenched. His glistening, amber eyes searched hers and he pleaded with them for Winry to at least try and understand. She stared back momentarily before sighing and pulling back from him.

"I...I guess I understand. You left to keep me and everyone else safe. I think Roy must have tried to tell me that, but I was too upset to listen. Or maybe I was just too hard-headed and stubborn," the girl admitted, her cheeks blushing a great deal now.

"So can you accept my apology then?" Edward inquired in a hopeful voice, his golden irises pleading with her.

Damn Edward and his giant puppy dog eyes... "Hmmm, I don't know. I suppose we'll have to see later on," Winry told him as she stood back up on her feet, trying to regain her usual Winry-ish composure. "Besides, you probably need a maintenance check-up, don't you? C'mon, let's go tell the others so we can head back up to Central," she added as she stalked away from Edward and headed towards the group.

He was slightly dumbfounded, not quite sure what to say really.  Edward couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head slightly as the older Elric rose to his feet as well to join the rest of the group. Winry had strange ways about herself, and while he was almost certain that the girl wasn't going to forgive him for what he'd done, she had. Edward couldn't help but admit to himself how incredibly lucky he was for Winry's forgiveness. The blond approached the military officials, his brother, Curtis and Winry, taking his place at her side, but at the same time feeling strangely awkward. The young man couldn't help but wonder just how much they'd overheard or at least watched. He fought back the urge to ask if them if they enjoyed the show but bit his tongue and refrained. He felt a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks and averted his gaze towards the ground, digging the toe of his shoe into it.

"Well then Fullmetal, are you ready to go back up to Central?" Mustang questioned, his hands in his pockets and staring at the alchemist.

"Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I could really use a shower," Edward replied with a nod of his head.

"That's fine. If you'd like, you and Alphonse can come back to my place and clean up there. If Winry wants she can come out there and wait for you as well," the General proposed, causing Edward to raise an eyebrow casually.

"You're being awfully nice for a bastard you know," Edward told him with a cocky grin on his face.

"Well I figured, considering you just crash-landed under Central, that it could at least be one nice thing I could offer. Unless of course you want to go and shower in the main dorm area at the HQ so anybody that comes in can see you and you won't have any type of warning what-so-ev-," Roy replied in a haughty manner, but stopped as he saw the horrified look on Edward's face. He grinned in triumph. "Alright then it's settled. The brothers can come back to my place and clean up there. Winry's more than welcome to stay as well. It's the least I can do."

The mechanic nodded her head with a smile. "Thanks, Roy. I'll come there and wait for them then."

Edward turned towards Curtis who'd been strangely quiet throughout their whole conversation. "What about you, Curtis? You can tag along with us if you want. It's not like you know anything about where you are in the first place," Edward remarked.

"Well, once we get up to Central I'll be fine on my own," Curtis insisted. "Besides, how will I ever learn how things work here and my way around the place if I don't venture out on my own?"

Edward and Alphonse exchanged glances before turning back to the brown-haired man. "Well, alright then, but you don't even have any money on you. Where are you gonna sleep, outside on the ground?" The older Elric questioned, the skepticism still imminent in his voice.

"Oh I'm sure I'll be fine, really!" Curtis replied, waving a hand. "Honestly, I've always been the loner type. I don't like hanging around a bunch of people and I like to learn to do things on my own. This is a whole new start for me and I want to accomplish new goals in this world on my own."

"I understand his point, Brother," Al stated with a nod of his bronze head. "I still have a lot of money in the State Alchemist Treasury from when you disappeared. It should still be there, shouldn't it General?" the boy questioned, turning to look at Mustang. He nodded his ebony head in confirmation. "We can loan him some money so he can at least sleep at an Inn until he decides what he wants to do, couldn't we?" the younger Elric proposed. "What do you think, Ed?"

Edward rubbed the back of his head with a gloved hand, brows furrowed in thought. "Eh, alright then. I suppose it couldn't hurt," he sighed, giving in with a shrug. "Just give him enough so he can stay at the Inn for a week. That should give him enough time to figure out what he wants to do and where he wants to go, shouldn't it?" the older Elric stated, placing his hands on his hips, still looking at the man suspiciously. Edward couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had a really strange feeling about this man and it wasn't good. Then again, maybe he was just being over-skeptical considering he'd only known the guy long enough to help the brothers prepare the rockets, discuss Alfons and come back home.

"Oh yeah, more than enough time!" Curtis told him with a generous nod of his head. "I really appreciate it a great deal!"

"Fine, then. When we get back to Central, we'll go and take out the figure he needs and he can be on his way!" Alphonse enthused, clapping a hand on Curtis's shoulder who was smiling in an almost overjoyed way.

"Well, you can take him to the Treasury. I'm going to back to Mustang's and taking a shower," Edward told his younger brother. "I'm filthy."

"You're worse than a girl sometimes, Brother," Al told him rolling his eyes as the group began making their way up the familiar flight of stairs and back up to the surface.

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