The Same Coin

The Same Coin (Part II)

Winry wasn't sure if this place had been someone's home, or maybe a store, but that didn't matter now. It had four walls to keep the wind at bay for a night while they continued on their way to Asbeck. Marcoh and Scar had found paper to use as kindling, and Scar had worked with Jerso and Zampano to pull some boards from an upstairs room to use to make a fire to stay warm.

She had seated herself alone near where they had laid out Al, in pieces. She'd considered reassembling him, but the fact of the matter was simply that if the morning came and he hadn't come back yet...then they would need to carry him in pieces again anyway. No one had suggested leaving him behind.

Scar left the fire to squat beside her.

"Will it work?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Tell me. What was it? That wasn't alchemy, or alkahestry, though someone unfamiliar with it would've thought the latter."

She knew Scar wouldn't leave this until she answered, and it was better if she did it when Ed and Al weren't here to hear.

"It's not from this country. I learned it overseas," she admitted, "though I'm still a novice."

"What is it?"

"I don't really know myself."

"What you tried to do for Al was pure. But when you blocked me from attacking Fullmetal, you did something then, too, that was full of rage. Was that part of it?"

Winry nodded, searching for a way to explain before settling for only, "Yes. They're two sides of the same coin."

"Where—Where am I?"

Winry's head snapped to look at Al's helmet, the tightness in her chest releasing and she leaned forward to look into the eyes of the helm for confirmation. Two red orbs stared out at her.

"Al! Thank goodness you're okay! I was so scared you might not wake up, I didn't know what to do!" she sobbed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out like that." He sounded ashamed, and she scooped his helm into her arms, squeezing tightly. She wondered if he could feel it at all — but, regardless, she could. She needed the contact. "So where are we? And why am I in pieces?"

"You were too heavy to carry whole, so we had to dismantle you," Scar explained.

"Has this ever happened to you before?" Dr. Marcoh asked.

"Just once when I was trying to find you guys. But this time felt so much worse. I was so much closer to being gone — I don't know what happened, but something pulled me back, even though the pull of my body was so strong."

All eyes turned to Winry, but no one spoke of it.

"Well, then I can't imagine it's very comfortable being scattered about like that. Why don't we start putting you back together?" Dr. Marcoh finally suggested.

"Please, if you don't mind."

"Can you hold onto this while we fix him?" Dr. Marcoh said as he handed the book of notes to May.

Winry set about getting Al put back to sorts, and it barely registered on her radar as Dr. Marcoh and Scar abandoned helping her to instead look at the pages of the book Scar needed to translate. She continued putting Al together while they laid the papers out meticulously, and she almost had him fixed by the time Al told them they needed to turn the pages around.

She didn't give a damn about their alchemic mysteries. She wanted to get to Asbeck and go home from there — there was nothing for her here. She couldn't do alchemy or alkahestry, and if she wasn't able to have her shot at Scar then she was only wasting her time in this frozen tundra.

Her spine went ramrod straight as she realized that when she'd thought of home, she'd thought of Izumi's. Then remembered Hisoka wasn't there now anyway. He'd gone back across the sea and she knew in her gut that he would never return to Amestris again.

Did she have it in her to go back to her life at Rush Valley and pretend the past year never happened? It's what she'd lamented wanting to do for so long — what she'd raged on Hisoka for trying to take from her — and now that the possibility was on her doorstep she wasn't sure that she had it in her to do it.

They left their shelter at dawn and, while it had taken most of the day to walk, they reached Asbeck before the last light had died from the sky. One of the villagers agreed to take her to the next village down, where someone with a car would be able to drive her to the station in North City.

She interrupted a conversation between the others — they were talking about going after something called a homunculus with May's alkahestry — to say her goodbyes. She hugged Al and Dr. Marcoh, and put her hand on the top of May's head. Scar had met her gaze, and Winry swore to herself that next time — if she ever had the opportunity again — she wouldn't let Scar walk away alive.

He took a step back from her, brows furrowing as his eyes narrowed into slits. Winry inhaled deeply, realizing she'd been trickling Ren at him. Bloodlust. She didn't tap it off, instead raising her chin in defiance.

Let him know who would kill him.