Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Veritas Hominum ❯ Coming to Terms ( Chapter 5 )

Coming to Terms

 

He hadn't expected Winry to forgive him so quickly. It had barely been dawn when she'd barged into his room demanding that he get up so she could measure him for his automail and he'd been afraid she was still angry.

 

But while she measured him she had whispered so quietly he was afraid he hadn't heard her right: “You would never lie to me. Omit the truth, maybe, but you would never lie. So if that's where you say you were, then I believe you.”

 

She had smiled meekly at him, and he'd sighed with relief before awkwardly hugging her with his remaining arm.

 

Fifteen years ago, he had been extremely uncomfortable with touch; his sins were too great, too awful. He'd spent his childhood shying away from the people that cared about him, thinking himself unworthy. However, once he'd been forced from them, potentially unable to return, he'd realized how much he really cared for them, Winry in particular.

 

She was the childhood friend who'd stood by Ed and his brother through everything and she had always waited for them when they returned from their quest for the Philosopher's Stone.

 

The brothers had ignored her then, preferring to drown in their guilt with each other. And now that he was older, he felt he could appreciate what she'd done then, and in the last twenty-four hours he'd come to appreciate her even more.

 

It had taken him years to come to terms with the idea that the deaths of humans powered the alchemic transmutations he'd taken for granted as a child; and he was sure that Winry still hadn't completely understood what he'd told her. Still, maybe since she didn't practice alchemy it wouldn't be as hard for her.

 

And maybe one day soon he would finally come to terms with his growing affection for the beautifully plain woman that had become his mechanic and confidant.