Fullmetal Alchemist: The Midnight Eclipse

Mr. Sig raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Friends of Ed and Al?" He restated. "I'll show you to their room... What might you be doing here so late though?" He questioned the teen. If she was dangerous, she didn't look like she posed much of a threat to them. It was still odd that their friend would show themselves at such a weird hour. The girl did look strangley familiar to him though.

 

"To be honest, I just arrived but it's important that I talk to them. It's about their mother." she said.

 

Mr. Sig nodded. He wasn't too sure how pleased the brothers would be to continue talking. He was sure they would like to rest before they left tomorrow. Sig led Winry in through the house and to the door of Ed and Al's room. He knocked on the door. "You have a visitor." He said gruffly.

 

Ed was asleep. He heard Sig talk. He woke up a little and saw Winry. "Win-ry?" he asked.
"Hey." Winry said.

 

Alphonse looked up as the familiar face entered the room. "Winry!" He exclaimed happily and stood up. "What are you doing here?"

Xioimara awoke at the sound of Alphonse's rather high-pitched voice. It didn't sound like anything bad was happening. She decided she would investigate it in the morning. Xioimara sighed heavily and fell back asleep.

"That girl seemed familiar..." Sig said as he met back with Izumi. "Perhaps we met her before when she was younger?" He wondered aloud. "We should go to bed. You look tired." He concluded and headed for their bedroom. He was anything except disappointed to be going back to sleep.

 

"Yeah, ok." She started back up the stairs. "So Winy came to visit huh? I wonder if Edward will work up the guts to ask her out." she said.

"Hey Al. I need to talk to both of you."
"What about?" Ed asked her.

 

Mr. Sig gave a huff of laughter and smiled. "He'll figure it out for himself."

Alphonse turned to all-ears. "What is it?" He asked. He picked up the small traces of urgency in her voice plus that concerned expression she always carried on her face when she was about to talk about something important.

 

Izumi climbed into bed. "Maybe... Good night." she said before she fell asleep.
"We checked your mom's grave, and her body's gone." Winry said.
"Al, leave Teacher and everyone else a note. We're going home." Ed decided at that moment. "I know you'll say we should wait but this isn't in their best intrest." he told his younger brother.
"Ed! Don't just leave them like that! You owe it to them to wait. A little boy told me you would've ben killed if two Xingenese people hadn't shown up." she said.

 

"I understand what you mean Winry but I think I agree with Ed on this..." Alphonse started. "We don't need to be bringing them into our personal buisness..." He tried to explain to her. It was already hard enough to comprehend if that woman was really their mother... All points certainly suggested it now unless someone decided to rob their mother's grave which would be illogical...

Xioimara's eyes opened as a female voice pierced her eardrums. Xioimara stood up tiredly. This was getting annoying. She dragged herself out of bed and out towards Ed and Al's room. "Please, shut up..." She said as she tiredly looked in the room at the three. The air seemed tense enough to cut. "What's going on?" She picked up, looking around at their faces.

 

"Something. You guys can wait for us here or go on to Reole without us. Something important came up, and Al and I have to go back to Resembool." he explained to her.
"And who's this Edward?" Winry asked. She got jelous when Ed had girls around him for some reason.

 

"I don't think so. The last thing we need is to be split up." Xioimara re-enforced. Plus she didn't want to be trapped with Ling, Xerom and Armstrong. In face, she wasn't going to allow that. "Xioimara Dwyre." Xioimara added looking towards Winry. The girl didn't have the friendliest look in her eyes when they made eye contact. "And you are?"

 

"Winry." Winry said. She studied Xioimara for a second, and then added: "You don't look smart. How have you helped Ed and Al?" she said.
"Hey, grls chill!" Ed said.

 

Xioimara cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. "Best be taking that back, friend." She said. Xioimara thought of punching her across the face but could well feel the pain of Lust's attack and her stitches. "You should respect your elders, kid." Xioimara added. Xioimara knew she was at least a year or two older than Winry. Xioimara stopped leaning on the doorway and did the only thing in her life she never liked to do. She swallowed her pride, only because of her condition, and went back to her room. Xioimara had plenty of come-backs swarming through her mind and a fist full of rage but she left it be. The last thing she needed was to be on Ed and Al's bad side.

"Winry!" Alphonse startled, looked at Xioimara as she simply walked away. "What's gotten into you?"

 

"I just get a bad vibe off her that's all." she said.
Ling went into the room. "Ho ho!" he said when he saw Winry. "Someone's jealous about her Eddy!"
As soon as Ling said that, Winry felt herself blush. She saw Ed do the same, but the latter looked angrier.
Ed felt himself blushing. "Get out." he told Ling.

 

"You didn't need to attack her like that though..." Alphonse started and dropped the topic once Ling walked in. The only way she could have shot lower was if Winry laughed at Xioimara's alchemy, Alphonse guessed. He looked back and forth at Winry and Edward as the two blushed. He faintly recalled arguing over who would marry Winry as a child...

Xioimara stopped herself from slamming her door shut. "Brats." She scoffed as she paced back and forth. "I bet she's never really worked a full day in her life..." Xioimara rolled her eyes. 'She's just a brat. Ignore it. Just because you took a blow to your pride doesn't mean anything.' Xioimara tried to reason with herself. 'No use in living if you're going to throw away your dignity like that...' Her mind argued back. 'Whatever.' Xioimara looked out her window, it was still dark. The sun was near but still about an hour away she guessed. Xioimara jumped out of her window and left for a run or to go find a decent place to howl.

 

Almost as if he could read Al's thoughts, Ling said: "So who's marying her?" he asked.
"Get. Out." Ed said dangerously.

 

"Ling, just leave." Alphonse said, standing up. Things were getting too tense for him. He was about ready to leave as well.

Xioimara made her way through the dark city and towards the outskirts of the city. She was thoroughly outraged for such a small comment. She needed to do something. Xioimara continued up towards a forest that was located outside of Dublith. She happily made her way through the woods. They were darker than in the city despite the rising sun. Xioimara stopped and howled into the chilly air.

 

"Ok, ok jeez." ling said as he left.
Ed finished packing his things. He scribbled a not to Teacher and the others adding an apology because they went without them. "Let's go. There's still one train running." he said.
Winry could see there was no chnging Ed's mind. "Alright."

 

"Brother, are you sure we should leave without someone? Xioimara is right... We shouldn't be splitting ourselves up." He started. "What if that's what they want?" He added, thinking back about how their mother's remains were now missing...

Xioimara settled down in the grass. The air felt fresh. It relaxed her. She didn't want to go back but knew better than to stay out alone for too long. She was too vulnerable to defend herself out here or even back in the city. Xioimara headed back towards the house as the sun started to rise.

 

"This is our business Al. We don't need them to know the story. Armstrong does but Xioimara, Ling, and Xoram aren't the people we want to know about this." he said.
"But... Al's right, Ed." Winry said.
"Winry, I know you wanna help but this isn't your business!" Ed snapped at her.