#the greed squad was too precious for this world too pure

[indigo-night-wisp]

@jaclcfrost i hope it’s okay to tag you. it’s not leo/black because i do not know what that is (sorry), and it’s late for your birthday, i think? but i wrote this in literally an hour after i saw your post about it being your birthday and so. uh. happy birthday. 

you like Greed, right?

“Maybe,” says Martel, “you should think about the outcomes of things like this before they happen to you.” She bends down to look Greed right in the eye. “Just saying.”

Greed would love to object to her tone and also to the suggestion that he is anything but in perfect control of the situation, but he can’t because a) Martel takes whatever tone she pleases and always has, and b) he cannot breathe.

C) She may have a point.

He shifts, Shield sliding over his skin (Too thin, too easily broken, poor design, he’s gonna have to give it a 2 out of 5. Well, maybe 3 because even if it is breakable, it’s also frickin’ flawless. His pores are so open he can probably receive radio signals.) and giving him the room to get a breath. “Move,” he commands. Martel obeys and he stands up, pushing the rubble off like it isn’t an entire roof.

“We’re going to have to replace that,” Martel observes. Greed eyes the mess of broken beams and slate and silently agrees. There’s no way they can just… shove it all back up there and pretend it is working. Besides, Greed does not believe in living under a shoddy roof.

“I’ll get Roa and Dolcetto to find an alchemist,” he says. Martel snorts.

“Boss,” she says, “you think you’re going to find a construction alchemist who’s willing to come down here at this time of night to fix the roof of the Devil’s Nest?”

Greed smiles. His teeth are too sharp for happiness but they are perfect for menace. “I never said anything about finding someone willing,” he says. The noise Martel makes is probably a hiss, considering, but it sort of sounds like a laugh. Greed looks around in disgust.

“Get Bido,” he tells Martel. “We’re spending the night somewhere else.”

“Where, Boss?” she asks, already moving for the telephone, miraculously still attached to the wall.

“Somewhere,” he says, “with a roof.”

Martel makes the call and Greed happily pulverizes what’s left of the roof so that the alchemist will have some raw material.

Wait, that sounded sort of altruistic. Better back up.

Greed happily pulverizes what’s left of the roof because he enjoys punching things, okay, and when Greed enjoys something he doesn’t consider other people’s feelings about it, he just does it.

There, much better.

“Ready?” he barks at Martel. She hangs up the phone and nods shortly.

“The boys are meeting us up the street at that hotel you like.”

The one with all the drinks and the sheets and the pretty people who will come give you massages deep enough to penetrate the flimsy layer of skin stretched over the hard core of Avarice that makes up –for lack of a better word –his soul.

“Martel,” he purrs. “You’re spoiling me.”

The look she gives him is drier than the martini he’d been drinking when the roof fell on him. “You’d have taken us there anyway,” she says. “And this way we won’t have to listen to you complain about being uncomfortable while you figure out which one of the people you’ve pissed off this week decided to collapse our roof.”

“This is not my fault,” Greed insists. Martel walks out the door.

“You need better enemies,” she calls over her shoulder.

The implications of the statement don’t catch up to him until he’s caught up to her. “Hey! My enemies are the best,” he pouts, following her down the street. Everything he has is the best. That’s sort of the point.

She gives him a look. “You’ve already figured out who it was, haven’t you?”

He has. Carson Eames is going to have a very bad day tomorrow. But he sees Martel’s point now. If his enemies were really the best, exacting revenge would be a lot more difficult than it’s going to be.

Crap. He has to get some new enemies.

The hotel appears at the end of the street. Three incredibly suspicious figures are loitering by the lobby doors.

“Do they know they can wait inside?” Greed asks Martel. She looks up at him, shaking her head.

“Boss, you know none of us would set foot inside that fancy-schmancy place without you, right?”

Now that, Greed thinks, is just sad. Honestly, how did they all live before he came along? (Actually, he knows the answer to that, but it makes him angry and upset to think about, so he shoves it back into the Revenge (Someday) box and moves on.)

“Well then,” he says out loud, “it’s a good thing you all have me.”

Martel doesn’t even sound sarcastic when she says, “Yeah, Boss. It is.” Greed accepts the delightful buzz he gets when she says it as his due and doesn’t examine it too closely.

It’s a good feeling, after all, and good feelings are what Greed is all about.

#

[princess-of-the-corner]

Hero Chat watches FMA

So instead of having a million chapters of the Hero Chat reacting to fma:b, as tempting as that is, I figured I could just write down a list of various reactions. I might still have a chapter or two dedicated to some scenes, or just the characters casually dropping a line about the most recent plot points, but for the most part it’s condensed here.

Also, tbh, while everyone except Chloé and Kagami are transformed when having their Superhero Sleepovers, which is when they watch the show, I’m just going to refer to their civilian names because remembering to switch is a pain.

Chloé, Adrien and Luka are the only ones who have seen Fma:B all the way through.

While they do get sucked in, they also make snarky comments and spout trivia fun facts or theories on shit.

If said theories get too spoiler-y they have a separate chat to talk in.

Chloé and Adrien have increasingly specific nicknames for most of the characters. Partly because my fma fics exist in their universe and they’ve read them.

Their favorite characters are Ed, Al, and Greed respectively.

They also have a betting pool going on who everyone else’s favorite characters will be.

Speaking of, everyone’s favorite characters! Chloé teases some of them about ‘kin drama’ because damn.

Marinette – Her favorite is Mei which is kinda predictable. Tiny, super determined, healer who can also kick your ass into next week and is a bit obsessed with her crush….

Alya – She gets suckered in by Mustang’s initial coolness. Then she sees he’s actually a disaster, but she still loves him. Eventually we get around to the whole ‘he has an entire secret information network and actually has a plan to get shit done’ stuff and she just thinks it’s wild.

Nino – Okay, I want to say Hawkeye due to Alya’s fave being Mustang, but also he does admire Hawkeye’s loyalty and the way she always protects those she cares about (especially Mustang but you know). The whole ‘I’ll follow you into Hell’ thing is just a big mood.

Kim – Armstrong. Just…. It comes out of nowhere but also makes total sense.

Max – His favorite is Winry because hell yeah Automail is some cool robotics shit and he now has a million ideas of how to make it real.

Kagami – Lan Fan. Very predictable.

Alix – Oddly enough…. Alix ends up with a soft spot for Hohenheim. It’s kinda complicated for her to explain, but it has to do with similarities between Time Travelers and Immortals. So, you know. She identifies in a way.

We already saw their reaction to Nina.

Everyone is horrified when finding out Philosopher’s Stones are made of Human Souls. The Spoiler Squad is just like ‘told you that Harry Potter was more fucked up than you thought’.

When they get to Hughes’ death…

Chloé, Adrien, and Luka try to sneak out again. But they get caught and everyone’s like ‘oh god oh god what’s going to happen this episode????’

When they do get to the actual scene, Chloé gets a noise complaint from all the screaming.

Also, Envy’s shapeshifting gives everyone flashbacks to Chameleon. (Side note, I like Envy more than I like Lila.)

Alix calls Greed a ‘Himbo’. The Spoiler Squad all die laughing because she’s right.

Everyone loses their shit at the reveal of Fuhrer Bradley being Wrath. The whole thing turns into them all throwing various government conspiracy theories around about what it all means and the Spoiler Squad is trying to keep a straight face about things.

They end up loving Ling, Disaster Child #5. He’s Alix’s second favorite.

There’s a lot of screaming with the Maria Ross plot. Marinette and Alya are the only ones who are suspicious and correctly guess what happened.

Marinette also catches on to another important detail: Ed, Al, and Hohenheim are the only characters who have gold eyes. She correctly guesses that something is up with that. Everyone else kinda brushes it off with ‘it’s anime. We’re lucky they don’t have bright pink hair or something’.

She gets very smug when it’s revealed that she was right to be suspicious about that.

The Spoiler Squad gives about two minutes as a warning for ‘this is the Vore Episode’. Everyone still kinda thinks they’re joking because, like, sure. They’ve seen that Gluttony eats people. But surely that’s not something they can survive? They are wrong. Very wrong.

Everything after the ‘Vore Episode’ though… I mean, you get the reveal of Father, and then Greedling(Chloé, Adrien, and Luka in unison: “Greedling! You’re a Fusion?!)

When Chloé expresses a love of Olivier Armstrong, Luka just looks over and is like ‘how did you not know you were gay?’. Because every wlw loves Olivier.

Oh god. If you thought their reaction to Wrath was nuts, then the way they react with the reveal of Pride is wild. Because yeah, they were all like ‘Aw! Look at this cute kid! He’s so precious and pure! So unaware that calling Ed short is about to get him yeeted into the sun!’. But no. Pride is a little shit who knows exactly what he’s doing.

Everyone is concerned for Mrs. Bradley. The Spoiler Squad does relent and assure them that she’ll be fine.

They’re all down to fight Kimblee within five seconds of meeting him.

Due to previous unexpected deaths giving them trust issues, the whole squad is worried during that scene where Ed falls down a mineshaft and gets a pole through the stomach.

Another thing everyone loses their shit over: Hohenheim’s backstory and just the overall reveal of what the everloving FUCK happened in Xerxes.

Okay, so I know this is a little late to mention, but they absolutely add people to that ‘parents I want to fight’ list.

First off, they establish that all 100% good parents in this series are dead.

Nina’s dad gets added to the list immediately.

At first they put Hohenheim on the list, and the Spoiler Squad wants so bad to defend him, but they know that doing so will be hella spoiler-y.

Once they get to his backstory, everyone kinda agrees to call him ‘World’s Okay-est Dad’. Because yeah he did that one really big shitty thing, but it’s clear that he really didn’t have much of a choice.

On the other hand, Father gets slam-dunked onto the list. Because even ignoring the fact that he’s the main villain, he’s a shitty dad.

This is Chloé’s first re-watch after realizing how shitty her mom is, so she really does identify with the Sins Crew this time around.

And oh boy. When they hear about the Xingese political hunger games bullshit? They toss the Emperor on the list of terrible parents too.

Everyone cries during the final battle. Everyone. We don’t even get a ‘I’m not crying! I’m too tough to cry!’ bit. They’re all just sobbing. Chloé also gets another noise complaint. 

They also all decide to rewatch the series and see all the stuff they missed! The Spoiler Squad points out a few

Chloé immediately brings up the first OP song. And pauses it on the fact that the first character you see is Flashback!Hohenheim. Because that fucking kills me.

Luka brings up the ‘Ling technically went through the Gate and it’s never acknowledged’ thing. Everyone breaks.

[lady-charinette]

The Night before the Promised Day - Edwin

Taken from my one shot collection “One Shots” (Fandom: FMA) on Fanfiction.net (under my other name ScarletRedfox)

The Night before the Promised Day

“Gosh, you’re so annoying Winry!” Ed slammed the door shut behind him, grabbing his shirt on the way. 

He failed to hear Winry’s hurt voice,” Edward…” her blue eyes were sad, feelings of hurt welled up inside her. She clenched her fists and set her jaw tight, she would not cry. She promised him she would cry tears of joy the next she did, now was not the time.

Ed was stressed for the big battle tomorrow, of course he would be on edge but…did he have to be such an insensitive moron?!

Winry let out a frustrated growl, throwing her wench in the corner, hitting a vase by mistake and breaking it into thousands of pieces. 

Oh, oh, Granny would have her head for this. Winry sighed heavily, looking at the door, in the direction where Ed just stormed out of. 

--------

Ed growled lowly deep in his throat, his shirt over his shoulder as he was walking down the stairs. He spotted Greed leaning against the wall at the stairs, his eyes closed as if deep in thought.

But Edward knew better. 

“Oh man, she’s a peach.” Greed opened his eyes, a wide grin stretching over it, teeth and all, “Sounds like she wants everything, my kinda girl.”  

If possible, Ed’s mood only darkened further at Greed’s comment. He didn’t particularly hate the Homunculus, in fact, he was the only one whom he could tolerate and even liked, well alright…like may be too much, but something like that. 

“That kind of want is dangerous, it’s not how reality works.” Ed lifted his automail hand, his frown darkening, “Take a look, this is what I got for wanting something unrealistic.” The painful memory of that fateful night of his first attempt at human transmutation rose like bile in his throat. His human hand clenched his shirt tighter, his jaw set tightly. 

He was caught off guard by Greed though, “I disagree. You wanna bring back someone that you lost, you might want money, maybe you want women, or you might wanna protect the world. These are all common things people want, things that their hearts desire.” He had enough of this. 

He certainly didn’t need a lecture from Greed of all people, Homunculus or not, Ed was prepared to leave before he did something he may regret, well he couldn’t say he would regret if he punched Greed in the face, but he would feel bad for Ling. 

“Greed may not be good but it’s not so bad either.” Greed continued to talk, not bothered that Edward was obviously peeved at his lectures and started to leave, “You humans think greed is just for money and power, but everyone wants something they don’t have.”  

Greed watched Edward carefully, his keen eyes noticed the way Ed stopped for a minute, his words seemingly having impact on the young alchemist. Greed knew better than to expect a verbal reply or any at all for that matter, but the brief hesitation Ed showed him was enough. 

His words got through to him, that was all he wanted. Greed’s grin vanished but his smirk remained. 

“Aw, hell, those kids are giving me a headache. Wonder how ol’ granny’s even putting up with that bunch, I would have kicked them outta the house a long time ago,” Greed commented in his mind, mentally communicating with Ling. 

“Don’t be so harsh Greed, Ed’s having a hard time now, tomorrow there will be a big fight and none of us knows how it will conclude. We don’t know who will live and who…” the prince paused, letting the words linger in his conscious. 

“Tch, if ya ask me, I wasn’t direct enough. I can hear the Rockbell girl crying a mile away and the stupid blonde’s just too dense to do anything about it, guess good ,old Greed needs to shine once again,. Greed sighed and smirked, pushing himself away from the wall and heading upstairs towards Winry’s room. 

“Greed, don’t you dare do something.” Ling warned and Greed almost physically felt the restraints Ling put on him, causing him to falter by the next step, however Greed easily brushed it off. 

“Calm down princy. I ain’t doing nothing, can’t a greedy homunculus even have a nice little chat with a lady once in a while?” Ling scoffed in displeasure and Greed shrugged, not about to apologize for his words. 

After all, he wasn’t done lecturing just yet.

---------- 

“Stupid Greed. Stupid Winry. Ugh, why do they all need to be so damn noisy?! Can’t they just take care of their own business and not butt into mine?!” Ed growled, kicking a rock from the path in anger.

He sighed heavily, looking up at the dark, starry sky, lost in his scrambled thoughts. Ed shook his head when an image of his childhood friend appeared in his mind and he continued walking aimlessly, observing the quiet landscape around him.

 “She is sobbing you know?” the voice of his little brother startled him, Ed whipped around looking up at the suit of armor that hosted his brother’s soul.

Golden eyes widened, “W-what?” his voice was quiet, unsure. Hearing that Winry was sobbing, possibly crying…because of him no less…it tore at his heart.

“She isn’t crying but…” it made no difference to Alphonse, but knowing of his promise to Winry, thought he should add it before his brother completely lost it.

Edward being Edward, ever the stubborn guy since he was a toddler, he turned his head in the other direction, huffing in annoyance, resting one hand on his hip while still holding his white shirt with the other.

“Tch…she thinks it’s all so easy, defeating a guy who claims to rival God, fighting against the Homunculi…we are only humans Al, we may have Greed on our side but that can’t turn the tables in our favor. She has to realize there is a chance for us never coming back.” He paused, “She didn’t fight them Al, she doesn’t know their power, Father’s power, she has no idea what we are up against and yet she has the guts to just tell me to come home safe and sound?!” he crossed his arms in anger.

He could hear Al sigh behind him, “Brother…Winry is just worried about you, you know that.” Ed’s head lowered slightly, enough so his golden bangs covered his eyes.

“Yeah…I know…” he sighed and turned to face his little brother, “ But does she have to be so damn noisy? And bossy?! That annoying woman! Remember that one time I bought her a new wench? Because apparently I broke her old one because I have such a thick skull! Thanks to her throwing random wenches at me!

You remember what the first thing was she did with it right Al? She threw it at me when she saw my arm wrecked and you in a cart, demolished, General Armstrong just kept striking those weird as hell poses… Of course, when somebody buys you a new wench the first thing you do with it is throw it at someone’s head and try to kill them with it!” Ed’s nostrils flared in anger and Al swore he saw steam coming out of them.

Ed sighed heavily after a while of growling in displeasure, he rubbed his face and ran a hand through his hair.

With his automail arm.

Edward paused to look at it, to really look at it. He saw the careful detail dedicated to it, the strong, very durable metal used here, reinforced, adjusted so it wasn’t too heavy but also that it could endure a good beating. The shape looked very human-like, aside from the visible bolts and screws of course but otherwise if it was covered by cloth it looked like a normal, human arm.

Ed remembered all those times where he returned to Winry and Pinako, all beat up, either his automail arm or leg gone, or even both after a very hard fight. He remembered all the times where Winry scolded him, threw her precious wenches at his head, attempted to kill him, chased him around the house.

Remembered all those times where he learned that when he bought her jewelry, most notably earrings, she wouldn’t be so quick to anger or physically lash out at him or Al – though it was obvious Ed took the main beating every time. It wasn’t just about saving his ass from her wrath either, he had enjoyed seeing the look of pure affection and joy in her face, similar to when she saw another mechanic’s work which was superior to her own.

“You know…” he scratched the back of his neck, feeling embarrassment creeping up on him, “Maybe I….maybe I had been a bit too…hard on her…” Ed smiled softly then, “I mean, she always stuck with me, even if I was unbearable and kept annoying the screws out of her, she still stuck with me and fixed me up. No matter how bad I wrecked her automail, she always pulled countless of all-nighters to get them fixed and never complained about them once.”

He looked back up at the stars, saw them twinkling brightly, others more so than the rest.

He made a decision.

Ed closed his eyes and smiled, he turned around and wordlessly passed his brother, heading back in the direction of the Rockbell home.

“Where are you going brother?” Alphonse asked, watching as his older brother walked toward the old house.

“What does it look like? I gotta tell some stuff to my mechanic after all.” Ed grinned and turned briefly to look at Al.

Only to see his brother having a chibi smirking face, he could almost see the hearts swarming around his head and that cat-like smile on his face.

“K-knock it off Al!!” Ed shouted out in embarrassment and Al just giggled, watching in amusement how Ed was now firmly walking toward the house, with intent.

Al sighed, the smile still present even though you couldn’t see it.

“I hope he uses the right words…” well, there was no point in standing there any longer, he could only hope that his brother wasn’t forced to share Den’s dog house again after his talk with Winry.

---------

Ed was smiling, he finally knew what to say. As much as he hated to apologize first, he knew it was his fault in the first place.

At times he had to make sacrifices in order to prevent further chaos. 

When Edward closed the door behind him, he saw Pinako sipping what looked to be tea with what Edward dubbed as their squad. Granny spotted him standing at the entrance and sent him a sly grin, raising her mug slightly in his direction.

Ed swore the woman knew too much at times…far too much.

He ignored the knowing look from her and continued up the stairs, he briefly wondered where Greed/Ling had disappeared to, since he hadn’t seen him downstairs with the others and he wasn’t leaning against the wall anymore either.

He shrugged, he didn’t want to dwell on it too much longer.

Edward didn’t bother to knock, though he should have.

He definitely should have.

What he saw….Winry with….with…with

Greed.

And they….they were….oh my god…they were…

 Talking.

A shiver ran up Ed’s spine, his human hand twitched, itching to transform his automail into a blade and make Greed make a run for his money.

What the hell was the Homunculus doing here? Inside Winry’s room? With Winry?

The two noticed him, Greed had already spotted him from the window, going back to the house. Winry however, was more than surprised to see him here back so soon.

She was sure he would be too mad to even look at her and only offer her a dry goodbye the next morning before they left.

“E-Edward? W-what are you doing here?” she blinked, utterly confused.

Greed then decided it was the best time to smirk, with a devilish aura surrounding him.

Ed suddenly wished he had some sort of weapon, similar like Winry with her wench, to throw at Greed’s grinning face. Oh how he wanted to bash in his ugly mug-

“Ed?” Winry interrupted his murderous thoughts, looking at him expectantly.

He was still standing by the door, Ed’s lips drew into a thin line, straightening to his full height, locking gazes with Greed.

The mischievous Homunculus loved to rile up the older Elric brother, his reactions alone were priceless. Though he had enough common sense to notice when it was the time for jokes and now was not the time. He sensed the alarm and wariness coming from him, he had to talk his way smoothly out of this before the other man suspected the worst.

“Well, then, thank ya for telling me how to harden my Ultimate Shield further toots. Now not even Fullmetal can beat me,” he offered a rebellious grin, winking at Winry before casually walking past Ed and outside.

“By the way, don’t be too loud kids, the walls are thin and we Homunculus have good ears ya hear?” Greed chuckled deeply, “’Sides, no need to give ol’ granny a heart attack so early already.”

“Who are you calling old?!” it seemed as if Granny Pinako heard him, because a second later, there was a deep yelp, followed by continues “ow” sounds coming from Greed. At least Pinako was brave enough to discipline the Homunculus.

“So…what was Greed doing here?” Ed asked suspiciously, eyeing Winry up and down. It seemed like she was fine, the greedy bastard hadn’t hurt her or laid a finger on her as far as Edward could see.

“We just talked Edward, he said he had to be at his best tomorrow so he told me what the problem was with his Ultimate Shield. I told him a couple of things and he said he was willing to try them out,” Winry crossed her arms, annoyed at Ed for interrogating her like some criminal.

Ed could see this was quickly going out of control and not into his favor. He cleared his throat, before he could utter his next sentence, he noticed the broke pieces on the floor, behind Winry’s feet. He recognized it as the vase that had been resting on the desk…had been…

He felt his heart constrict slightly, Winry was so angry that she broke a vase? Because of him? She had been known to violence, mostly though towards him, but he hadn’t really taken into consideration just how strongly she felt about all this.

Edward wordlessly approached Winry, he kneeled down and began to gather the larger pieces of the vase, Winry, without saying anything as well, kneeled next to him and helped him pick up the pieces.

By the time they gathered all the broken pieces, not a single word was spoken between them.

“I’m sorry…” surprisingly it had been Winry who apologized first, Ed clenched his fist in anger, anger at himself. He had made her suffer so much…and in the end it was her who had to apologize first?

It certainly went against his firm beliefs of alchemy. She had given him so much…and he had taken more than he deserved, far more. It wasn’t fair, those definitely weren’t the laws of alchemy he had sworn to uphold and go by in his life…

“This isn’t equivalent exchange…” he muttered, standing tall before Winry, who was now slightly shorter than him.

Her blonde head quickly shot up to look at him, blue eyes wide in surprise, before she frowned, “Ed, I’m really not in the mood to hear about alchemy right now,” before Winry could wave him off and leave, he grabbed her wrist, stopping her dead in her tracks.

“Listen Winry…” Ed took a deep breath and turned to look at her, releasing her wrist, “You were always there for me and Al, you and Granny saved me after our failed human transmutation, you fixed me up after I came home and wrecked your automail, you actually went out of your way and endangered yourself, just so that we were one step closer to finding the Philosopher’s Stone.” He could see how surprised she was at the direction where this conversation was taking them.

“I always complained, kept annoying the hell outta you, never thanked ya for repairing my arm and leg, never showed gratitude when you would pull all nighters just to fix my automail, I always left you behind, I was so hell bent on getting our bodies back that I completely neglected all the people supporting us this whole time,” Ed grit his teeth, his gaze directed at the floor. He was still hell bent on getting their bodies back, especially Al’s, but he realized just now, years later, what severe mistakes he had been making by ignoring his family and friends around him.

“Ed…” Winry didn’t cry but her voice shook slightly, her emotions getting the better of her.

“Please, just…just let me finish,” Ed took another deep breath, finally looking into her eyes, “The things you said earlier…about coming back alive after the battle…” he hesitated and this time Winry cut him off firmly

“I know it’s not that easy Ed, I know you may as well all die tomorrow and that I’m left alone with the flashbacks and memories here with grandma and Den. I know that Edward! And that scares me! This is different than when you and Al would go on your journeys, I had faith you would come back, beat up but alive because I know you would kill yourself before you let anything happen to you two. But….but…” she bit her lip hard

“And you think I won’t do the same now?” he watched as her eyes widened a fraction, looking at him astounded, “We may face powerful opponents, possibly the most powerful ones we ever faced. But we have back up Winry, we have friends; Greed, Ling, Lan Fan, Mei, Major Armstrong and his sister, Mustang, Hawkeye and everyone from the military.

There is a chance we…may die, but I’ll damn make sure it’s a small one! After all, I promised you the next time you cry, it would be tears of joy right?” he grinned at her, his expression warm and reassuring.

Emotions overtook Winry’s entire being, she released a half sob, half laugh, rubbing furiously at her eyes to not cry.

“Ed…” Winry sighed, before she could tell him something though, Ed suddenly stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand with his automail arm, bringing it to rest against his chest.

 She could hear the strong beating of his heart beneath her hand, his muscles as they contracted and relaxed, she looked up at him, her face pink.

“I won’t break our promise Winry, I’ll do my best not to.” He nodded, fixing her with a serious expression. She wasn’t sure when was the last time Ed had looked so serious at her but she believed him, believed that he and everyone else would make it out ok.

She nodded ,unable to speak, she was afraid she just may break down into tears. It seemed like he understood, because Ed rested his other hand on top of her head and pulled her against his chest.

They said nothing, just stood there, Winry in Ed’s embrace.

She was starting to become sleepy, she vaguely registered Edward picking her up bridal-style, pulling the cover away and laying her gently into bed, covering her with the blanket again.

She felt his automail hand slipping from her grasp, so she tightened her grip, afraid he would leave and that this was all a big, cruel dream.

“Heh, figures, you’re such a automail freak,” Ed lightly teased her, before she moved to leave room for him so he could lay in next to her. There wasn’t much room, but it seemed like both didn’t mind.

Before succumbing to sleep, Winry managed to tease back, “Alchemy freak…” the last thing she heard was Ed’s deep, warm chuckle and both his hands tightening on her own.

-----------

The next morning came all too quickly, when Winry shot out of bed in a panic, she kept searching everywhere for the familiar figure of one Edward Elric. He must have already left…

She bit her lips hard, intent on not crying. It wasn’t the time for crying, not until Ed and Al came back in their own bodies.

She got dressed and as she finished, she saw the vase, the same vase that was in broken in shards on the desk, was now fully repaired.

Winry smiled, “Ed…” she could hear her grandmother saying something, it sounded like she was outside the house.

Wait…that meant…

Winry quickly stormed outside, just in time to see Ed, Greed and the rest telling their goodbye’s. Ed’s gaze softened upon spotting Winry storming out of the house, Pinako just grinned with the pipe in her mouth.

Greed shot her a smirk and a reassuring nod, Winry smiled at him.

“Ed!” Winry shouted, stopping next to the short, old woman. There were so many things still unsaid between them, mostly on her part, Edward had been doing much of the talking yesterday after all. Words failed her though, she didn’t know what to say.

“Wait for us with a freshly baked apple pie. Deal?” Ed said, looking back at her over his shoulder with a warm, happy smile.

Winry’s expression softened, she blinked back the stubborn tears, “Deal!” those were the last words they exchanged before they departed on their journey, though small and insignificant to everyone else, to Winry they meant the world.

Ed would come back. She was sure.

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“Say Greed, what were you really talking about with Wintry last night?” Ed casted a sidelong glance at the Homunculus inside the prince’s body, carefully analyzing his facial expressions.

Greed was well aware of that, so he kept his face neutral, “Whatcha mean kid? I told ya, we talked about how to harden my shield and make it so my old man couldn’t penetrate it as easily. Gotta say, she’s a smart girl your mechanic.” He grinned.

Ed smiled, “Yeah…my mechanic sure is amazing,” 

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Conversation between Winry and Greed 

There was a knock on her door and then it opened, Winry, out of sheer anger at Edward, thinking it was him, threw her wench straight at his face.

Only instead of a pained yelp, there was a resonating metallic sound. Wait…she hit metal…?

Winry turned around fully only to not spot Edward but Greed instead, his hand having caught her wench, which was protected by his Ultimate Shield.

“Honey, I’m Greed the Avaricious, the guy with the Ultimate Shield, you gotta do better than that to hurt me,” he smirked, setting the wench on the desk beside the door.

Winry blushed in embarrassment,” I-I’m sorry! I….I thought you were…someone else…” she frowned, huffing in annoyance.

Greed’s easy going grin dropped, he closed the door and sighed approaching the Rockbell woman.

Winry regarded him with curiosity.

“Let me guess – the kid has no idea how to read women and you’re pissed at him that you let the poor man sleep outside huh?” he half joked, expecting a slap, a punch or another wrench. However, nothing came.

He blinked, the woman really looked hurt…

“Tch, he’s just so…insensitive! Such a jerk! All he thinks of is getting their bodies back! I understand that he’s doing this for Al, but how can he even think that Al and everyone else will be happy if he dies by trying to bring their bodies back?! He’s so reckless! Always destroying my automail, making me worry, he’s….he’s…” Winry groaned in frustration, running her fingers through her hair.

Greed observed her quietly and sighed, pesky humans.

“I see. Sounds like you want everything, huh?” he shot her a sidelong glance, the brief, mostly one sided conversation with Edward surfacing in his mind. 

“What?” she looked at him aghast, “N-no I don’t! I don’t want money or fortune or anything at all! I just…I just want them back…safe and sound…” she clenched her teeth

His earlier words fell from his lips, “You humans think greed is just for money and power, but everyone wants something they don’t have.” He smirked when her wide, blue eyes widened only further in recognition.

“Admit it, you’re greedy just like everyone else. Whether it is the desire to have money, to be surrounded by women, to have power like no other…or simply to have your family home with you…that’s all greed. Greed comes in many forms and most of the time, humans don’t even know what it’s true form.”

“You mean like you?” that took Greed entirely off guard…what? 

“Oh, she’s good,” commented Ling inside his – their – mind.

Greed snapped at him mentally:” Shut the hell up princie! I wanna hear this!” 

“Don’t know whatcha talkin’ about toots,” he regarded Winry warily, his arms crossed. Where was she going with this?

“You are the embodiment of greed itself, you have many forms to show too. The bodies you host, the facades you show to people…what is your true personality like Greed? Is it really just a monster lusting after power?” this time she smiled, though her smile was soft and understanding. 

Greed frowned, “Now, now, where did this come from? Guess there is something else inside that pretty head of yours besides screws and bolts eh?” he tried to rile her up, but she stood her ground, fixing him with a glare.

“Don’t try to ignore the question, Greed.” The Homunculus sighed heavily 

“You know…I can tear you apart with only one swipe of this,” he showed her his hand, now coated in the Ultimate Shield, sharp claws upon his fingers, to his surprise it didn’t even faze Winry.

“You wouldn’t hurt me, if you wanted to you would have hurt Granny and everyone else long ago,” Greed’s shield disappeared and he smiled, not a smirk or grin, but just a normal smile. 

“Damn…you’re more perceptive than I thought. Women and their minds, not even the greatest Alchemists or doctors can figure out what you’re thinking,” he flashed her a teasing smile, before turning serious again, “The kid is like that too, he has many layers but doesn’t show em all. He’s as loyal to you as that dog of yours, maybe even more. He was on the verge of death countless of times, from what I’ve gathered, you and the tin can were the main reasons he kept going on,”

Winry’s shocked expression didn’t deter him, “I know he messed up, bit time, but forcing him to promise something none of us are sure could be fulfilled…isn’t that greedy too?” 

“…You still didn’t answer my question, Greed.” His back was turned to her.

He paused, contemplating his answer, Ling was oddly silent this entire time, sans for his little comment earlier before he turned to face her again. 

“Looks like that will have to wait a little longer huh? Let’s just say I’m not a complete greedy son of a bitch alright?” he sent her a wide grin before he heard the doorknob turn.

Winry smiled, Greed may have many layers, but she figured it wasn’t so bad either.

She was happy to see that Ed had entered, she wanted to talk to him anyway. 

“Thanks…Greed,” as if the Homunculus heard her thoughts he sent her one last wink before he left her and Edward alone in her room once again.

“Kids these days…man, my medical bills are gonna be damn high from all those pills I gotta chuck down to get rid of that nasty headache,” he smirked, descending the stairs to join the loud bunch in the kitchen. 

“You did the right thing Greed, I’m actually surprised,” Ling commented, arms crossed with a satisfied.

“Oh really? What, having such low opinions of me eh? I may be Greed the Avaricious but I ain’t like my old man,” Greed paused before he again, talked to Ling in his mind with a devilish smirk, “Ya think I should have tried to grope her rack? Maybe that would have done it too…after all the kid caught a glimpse of em’…” 

Greed winced when Ling’s loud, enraged voice rang in his mind, raging at him to shut up and to quench his perverted demons.

Greed just grinned and laughed.