Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Veritas Hominum ❯ Attachment ( Chapter 8 )

Attachment

 

Ed sighed on the operating table. The pain part had definitely not changed. He'd forgotten how much connecting and disconnecting the automail hurt. He glanced down at the new leg Winry and Ben had attached and instinctively flexed it. It was nice to have working limbs again.

 

A grin played about Ed's lips as he recalled the mild awkwardness of the attachment procedure. It was the first time he'd seen Winry as the primary mechanic: she, acting in the place of her grandmother and Ben taking up her place as the apprentice. She'd been self-conscious at first as she instructed Ben on how to detach Ed's extremely rust-frozen arm but eventually she'd fallen into her old work patterns and Ed was impressed with her professionalism. He'd watched Ben listen as she spoke; enrapt in the intricacies of this wire connected to this nerve.

 

Glancing around the room, Ed noted that very little about the house had changed. It was still as he remembered it from his childhood, save for the small grave out back he could see through the small window nearby. He could only assume it was for Winry's beloved dog, Den. Even the wafting smell of good food simmering downstairs was the same, although it was Rose, the woman he had saved in Lior, cooking instead of Pinako.

 

How on earth did she end up here with Winry? He wondered. Probably after… he mentally cut himself off. He didn't want to think about it. She was here with Winry, safe and sound, and that was all that mattered. And Al was safe and alive and happy. And Ed… Ed almost felt bad for wanting to intrude on that. Showing up out of the blue fifteen years later. Maybe he's happier without me.

 

Ed watched Winry tightening the screws and loosening the bolts that would shortly make up his new arm. When he was sixteen, he'd wanted nothing more than to regain the flesh arm and leg he'd lost, but now, the mechanical limbs were enough as long as they worked. They were a part of him.

 

She'd grown older too, but she was still Winry. All those years of automail work had made her lean and muscular. She still had her bandanna to keep her hair out of her eyes, her work jumpsuit cinched at the waist.

 

He smiled wryly. She also still wore that flimsy piece of fabric she referred to as a shirt.

 

“Ed, Winry, Ben!” Rose called. “Time for dinner!”

 

Ben got up and quickly washed the dirt and grime off of his hands and ran downstairs. Winry went over to Ed to help him get up off of the table.

 

“Ready?” she asked. He nodded.

 

Winry put her arms gingerly around Ed's torso and used her weight to counterbalance his as they hoisted him up onto his feet. She let out a small gasp of surprise when, instead of letting her go like she expected, he wrapped his arms even tighter around her.

 

She stood there, unable to move. Ed wasn't like this. The Ed she knew could barely stand to be touched, and he would certainly never hug anyone of his own volition. Still, she felt the tension leave him as she slowly returned his embrace.

 

“I missed you,” he whispered into her hair.

 

Tears stung her eyes. “I missed you too,” she whispered back.

 

She leaned back to look at him more fully, “Ed, why…” He put a finger to her lips to quiet her.

 

“Let me just be happy to be here with you for a little longer?” he asked quietly.

 

She nodded and hugged him one more time before pulling away from him. She smiled at him and said, “Let's go get something to eat, Alchemy freak.”

 

“Machine-freak,” he retorted, smiling as he followed her down the stairs to the kitchen.