I n f l u e n c e

Chapter 5: Fire & Ice

"You both... deserve to die."

The words hung in the air like some sort of poisonous gas and she heard a sharp intake of breath beside her.

Nothing happened.

Absolutely nothing. At all. Her words had no effect.

Well, that was going to mess up her plans.

Instead the two figures - Winry could see them getting closer now and realised that they were dressed all in black, dark straight hair hanging down to their thighs - one male and one female getting closer, anger flooding their faces.

"You don't trick the Malus. We gave you a chance, you pathetic human and you've gone and..." The female's voice hissed to a close as a shadow appeared in the doorway behind her. They turned. And then swiftly moved out of the way.

Winry's first impression was how she was dressed; black, leather-like but thin armour tightly clenched to her body, belts hanging round her waist as her bare feet slapped against the floor.

Then there were her eyes.

Same as the others: one a deep emerald green and the other a rich firey red. But these were the eyes that even the most cold-hearted, merciless, violent serial killer on the whole of Earth couldn't ever come close to having.

She was almost impossibly pale, practically white, her slender fingers curling and uncurling by her sides.

And oh, those eyes just stared into Winry's ice-blue ones and they kept her there, frozen stiff.

She couldn't move.

"So this is the one who he's been holding in his heart, all this time..."

Her voice was different from the others. It still had the same sharp edge, but, hers was an edge that was thinner than any blade, a blade that could cut through anything.

A cold touch brushed her shoulder, making Winry jump, until she realised that it was Ed, bringing her out of her frozen state.

Winry stood, facing the enemy with a look of sheer determination, sealing the stare between them with a cold gaze.

"And he in mine. You had no right to take him from me." Winry was tempted to add 'bitch' onto the end but she'd save that for later. Now was not the time to be angering these... freaks even more.

The - woman, if she could be called that - laughed softly. The laughter that was never amused, merely condescending.

"Your powers are very strange. So are his. But together, you are unstoppable. We had to stop you from destroying the universe. Are we so wrong for doing that?"

Winry felt her mouth drop a few inches and she blinked.

Destroying... the universe?
Could she and Ed really do that?

Instead, she shook her head. "No. We're not that sort of people. We wouldn't ever do anything like that."

"But what if you couldn't help it? You were going to be joined in the ultimate symbol of your feelings for each other, and I have studied human life enough to know what comes after that. You will become one and then, your powers will clash and you will destroy everything."

Was she talking about marriage? And...

Her cheeks burning, Winry narrowed her eyes at her.

"That's just creepy... and I know it's not true. We couldn't do that... Not at all."

And with that, she turned and spread her hands out, sending out such a rush of power that the window's glass froze and shattered.

She didn't know how she'd done it. But that urge inside her had worked.

Her desperation to protect Ed from the glass made her stumble but there was no need; he was already stumbling to his feet, unharmed, turning his head this way and that in confusion.

Without even as much as a quick glance behind her, Winry ran, grabbing Ed's hand and pulling him out of the room into the brightness of outside- and freedom.

Silence echoed behind her until one of the figures yanked a piece of glass out from her shoulder, a slow grin erupting across her lips as fresh blue blood travelled down her skin.

"Anya? What do we do?"

The question, directed at her, paused in the air- and then she fixed her subordinates with an cold gaze.

"We leave them. For now."

"Winry... Winry!"

They were running down urban alleyways and couldn't stop even though he was stumbling and she was dragging him along because his hands were still bound but all that matter was getting away so they couldn't take him again and-

"WINRY!"

The yell made her stop suddenly and the blonde turned, just in time for Ed to crash into her and make her fall backwards.

Pain shot up her back as she landed, groaning as she felt his weight on top of her body which, only fortunately for him, provided a soft landing.

"Win...?"

His nose was inches from hers and with a jolt of realisation- he was still blind to the world.

With a pull of his blindfold she revealed the world to him once more.

Oh and it was beautiful... Especially her smile.

"...Hey." Ed breathed.

A moment passed between them in which their eyes met and they just gazed at each other, expressions becoming so full of affection and awe that soon there was a flurry of kisses in emotion's wake.

"Oh god, I missed you so much..." She paused between pressing her lips to his as she felt his face twitch into a cringing look- his hands were still tied together and whilst their position was perfect, it was also awkward.

"Come here." She took his hands and began to tug the chains off, unbinding him after only a few minutes with a sigh of relief.

Rubbing his wrists and mumbling a 'thanks', his golden eyes found hers again and lit up.

"I'm so glad to see you again, I thought..." He paused as Winry's finger softly brushed his lips fondly.

Then she spoke. "I missed you... so much. I thought I was going to lose you, Ed... I never realised how horrible that feels. How painful."

A tear fell down her cheek, soon stopping in its watery path as a hand wiped it away.

"Shh... We're alright now. They'll never separate us again, I promise."

With a smile, Ed rose to his feet, head tilted back to search the stars above them as Winry's hand found itself by his side.

"Promise?" She sniffled, becoming the young girl that she was so many years ago; alone and afraid on that day when her parents had died.

Golden eyes gave her the same look as they had done that day. Fire had met ice and melted it down to her very core.

"I promise."

ED AND WINRY DESERVE LOTSA FLUFF AFTER THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH..

Fluff. ~

By the way, if you're wondering, the Malus are my own creation; had them for a while now, lingering through this other story about my own character and yadda yadda.

Oh and Anya was the name of the baddie in my dream. I don't know why 'Anya' at all, I really don't. Heheh.