Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Veritas Hominum ❯ The Space Between ( Chapter 4 )

He woke to the sounds of crickets chirping outside his window. It was so quiet in Risembool, much more so than in the city. If he listened hard enough he could hear Rose and Ben's gentle breathing in the nearby rooms.

 

It was still dark out, but Ed didn't feel like going back to sleep. Feeling restless, he got up, slipped on his shirt and wandered downstairs. The fight after dinner hadn't gone well. Winry had wanted to know where he had been and he just couldn't bring himself to tell her. She'd stormed off and he hadn't seen her again for the rest of the night.

 

My first day back and we're already fighting, he chuckled to himself. Just like when we were kids.

 

He eventually found himself outside on the porch gazing up at the stars. The splash of the Milky Way lit up the sky, and the moon was so bright he could still make out the nearest farm in the darkness.

 

The universe seems to go on forever, he thought.

 

He heard a floorboard squeak behind him, but he didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

 

“Ed, what are you doing out here?” Winry asked, exasperated.

 

“Looking at the stars,” he replied.

 

“I can see that, you moron,” she retorted.

 

He turned around slowly, not sure how to proceed. “Winry, I'm sorry…” he started, but she held up her hand to silence him.

 

“Don't,” she said. “Don't give me that crap again. You may have been able to keep your life a secret from me when we were fifteen, Edward, but I won't do it now. I'm tired.” She searched his eyes for some response, for anything, but he just stared back at her, empty.

 

“Winry, you don't understand…” he began.

 

“Understand what, Edward?” she snapped. “That if you had wanted to come back, you would have? You didn't. Obviously Al and I weren't that important to you.” She turned to leave.

 

“It's not like it was a choice.” His voice was intense and quiet.

 

“What?” she asked sharply.

 

“I couldn't come back,” he said though gritted teeth.

 

She cocked an eyebrow. “I don't believe you. You could have called, sent word, something to let us know that you were still alive at least.”

 

“No,” He cut her off, fire blazing in his eyes. “I couldn't. Even if I told you wouldn't believe me.”

 

“Try me,” she replied.

 

“Equivalent Exchange, Winry. The energy to perform the alchemic transmutations has to come from somewhere.” He advanced on her, dark and intense, and she found herself instinctively backing away. She'd never seen him this way before and it scared her.

 

“There's a gate. I saw it when we first tried to bring Mom back, I saw it again when I pinned Al's soul to the armor, and again when I gave him his body back. The other side is a place called London and the energy alchemists draw on to perform transmutations come from the life energy of the people there.”

 

Winry stared at him, completely horror-stricken. He turned away from her and walked to the edge of the porch.

 

“Damn it, Winry, if I could have come back from there sooner, I would have.” he said. He looked back at her; she had her hand over her heart and was still breathing heavily. He softened. “I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning.”

 

Winry nodded mutely and could only watch as he climbed the stairs. Minutes later, she followed; still shaking in shock. She hesitated outside his door and heard the slow steady breathing telling her he was asleep, before going to her own room and climbing into bed.

 

Across the hall, Edward Elric slept deeply and for the first time in many nights, he did not dream.