I haven't forgotten about this one, I promise! I've just been extremely focused on Rewriting Fiction.

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Cerise [suh-rees, -reez]
adjective, noun

1. Moderate to deep red.

[French: Cherry]

(from Dictionary . com)

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Winry Rockbell

Winry spent the rest of that day in the makeshift garage, Roy's words spinning through her head time and time again.

"There's nothing left in any of the warehouses nearby. We're almost into September now, which means that winter is approaching fast. If we don't relocate, it's unlikely that we will make it through to the new year."

She had known it was inevitable. After all, she had been on just as many supply runs as everyone else over the age of fourteen. When she had arrived with Edward and Alphonse a little over half a year ago, the city had already been fairly bare of provisions. There had been enough for everyone at Eastern HQ to live decently on, but it had been painfully obvious from the get-go that they would have to move on once more.

The question was, where to? She'd heard the term 'Central' bandied about quite a lot, but she was skeptical. Surely their group wouldn't be the only ones who had sought refuge in the nation's former capital. Chims were one thing, but if it came down to it … fighting other people? The thought made her shudder. She had long since learned it was necessary to fight the Chims in order to survive, and the daily monotony of it had desensitized her to the point she was uncomfortable with the fact she was so comfortable with it.

She hadn't fought real people since she was fourteen, in Liore.

It was an experience she would much rather forget, let alone repeat.

Edward and Alphonse had disappeared shortly after Roy's announcement, much to her chagrin. One moment they were there, and the next they were gone. She tried not to hold it against them, but sometimes those boys forgot that they had been a team of three since the very beginning. She had tried to bring it up on more than one occasion, but nothing had ever come of it.

With that thought in mind, she had decided that she would make herself useful elsewhere. Wherever they were going, they were going to need the cars unless they wanted to walk the entire way. Winry was determined that the machines would be as silent as possible by the time they left. It was her one area of expertise – expertise that no one else at Eastern HQ had – and thus she would perform her task to the best of her ability.

Perhaps Edward might actually see that she could pull her own weight.

It was ridiculous, she thought as she loosened a panel from the vehicle. She had been on the road with them for just about a year and a half before finding Roy and Elizabeth. She had killed her share of Chims, saved their asses about as many times as Edward had (albeit in different ways), and had done her part in getting them the hell out of Liore.

And now that they were relatively safe? She had gotten pushed aside like … like … like something!

She tightened a bolt with perhaps a little more force than was really necessary in her frustration. He had told her that it was because he didn't want to lose her, but that didn't excuse his trying to wrap her in cotton. She appreciated the sentiment, but …

Her thoughts fell back to that afternoon on the rooftop about a week ago, and her cheeks a brilliant red. It had just been her, and Edward, and it scared her a little how much she couldn't stop thinking about it. It wasn't even like anything had happened, she told herself, but she knew it was a lie. Sure, she had hugged her best friend before, but it had never felt like that.

It was a ridiculous notion to entertain, she berated herself. They were in the middle of fighting for their lives. They were about to be plunged into even more danger. There was the possibility that he was strongly infected by the Chimaera blood that he had come in contact with over the years. There was an even stronger possibility that he had been infected from the start, when his mother turned on them.

It was an all-around Bad Idea.

Cars were much safer.

Speaking of, she replaced the panel back over the machine's inner workings and pushed herself to her feet. She tried to wipe her forehead without covering herself in grease, but knew that she had most likely failed. It wasn't like she minded much – unlike most people, she enjoyed the smell of the grease she so often worked with.

She wiped her hands on the rag she kept nearby before she picked up the keys from the coffee table that served as a workbench. She started the car, and then grinned when it purred like a contented cat. A quiet contented cat.

"I could probably reroute the exhaust pipe just a little more," she mused as she turned the engine off. "I've messed with the gear shaft as much as I'm comfortable with, so there's not much more I can do there … perhaps I could smooth out the axels and oil the pistons." She sighed. "But, all that can be done after dinner," she decided.

Winry cleaned her area and her person as best she could before stepping out of the place that had become her haven in the last eight months. If there was one thing she regretted the most about being forced to leave, it would be leaving the first actual workplace she'd had since leaving Resembool. She hadn't even gotten her own room when they stayed in Liore.

She shuddered at the past memories, and then continued on.

Dinner that night was a measly fare of canned peas and beef jerky. Roy had implemented ultra-rations after announcing they would be moving in an effort to conserve food. It wasn't pleasant, but she had endured worse over the years. After all, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Hey, Riza?" she asked after she finished eating, "Have you seen Edward or Alphonse anywhere?"

The older teen paused in her journey to wherever it was she was going and considered. "I think they said they'd be up in their room," she said.

"Oh, alright. Thank you!"

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She knocked on the door before opening it.

"Edward? Alphonse?"

"Oh, hey, Winry!"

The boys were both sitting on Edward's bed, looking intently at … a map? Winry tried to get a better look as she stepped closer to her friends.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

The brothers exchanged glances.

"Oh, come on! You're not keeping this a secret from me too, are you?"

Edward sighed. "We're considering alternate routes to Central," he said.

"Alternate routes to Central?" she asked, taking a seat on Alphonse's bed. "Why?"

"We have an aunt that lives in Dublith," Al told her, "our mother's sister. With this move, we have the opportunity to see if she's alive or not."

Winry immediately understood where they were coming from. She understood the desire to check on remaining family – she would give anything to return to Resembool for her grandmother. And with what happened to their mother, she assumed that they wanted to be the ones to break the news to their aunt.

"Okay," she said simply. "But it's extremely likely that she won't be there anymore …"

"Aunt Izumi?" Edward snorted. "She wouldn't move even if you set her house on fire. If anyone could survive the Chims, she could. Single-handedly."

Both he and Al then blanched. Violently.

Al began to quiver. "She's going to want us to practice," he said fearfully. "She's going to want to practice on us!"

Winry observed the fear on her friends' faces. "Are you sure you want to go see her?"

"Yeah," Ed told her, "she's awesome. Just … scary."

"Well," she then said, "I can't wait to meet her."

Edward and Alphonse exchanged looks again, and Winry's heart fell down into her toes.

"It would be better if you just went with Roy and the rest of the group," Edward said slowly. "It –"

He never got to finish his sentence.

Winry stood, clenching her fists as tears welled in her eyes and a righteous fury rose within her. They were not leaving her behind, not after they had been through so much together.

"How dare you," she said. "How DARE you! We are a team, Edward Elric, a fact that you seem to have forgotten. How dare you tell me that I should go with someone else just because I'll be safer? We spent a year and a half on the road when we were fourteen and had absolutely no clue what we were doing! I'm sixteen now, Ed! And you cannot tell me what I can and cannot do! What happens if you automail breaks? I'm going with you!"

She was breathing heavily, relieved at finally having snapped. He had it coming, she told herself. He's had it coming for months now.

"I told you she wouldn't agree," Alphonse reprimanded his brother in a small voice.

Edward sighed. "Fine."

"Besides," Winry said, breathing deeply to calm herself, "If we're going that way, we'll most likely be passing near Rush Valley – the automail capital of Amestris! I'm sure there are enough spare parts left over that I could build you a new arm and leg. You've grown these past few years – I know they're getting uncomfortable."

"Yeah, yeah. I just – I'm sorry, Win."

Winry felt herself deflate, and she gave her best friend a small smile. "I know," she said, "'you don't want to lose me.' But pushing me away isn't going to accomplish anything."

The sheepish smile he returned to her made her heart flip. "Yeah," he replied, "I get that now."

And that's when she knew she was in trouble.

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It's short. I know. I'm sorry. But it's an update! I know there are probably some time/continuity errors due to the fact that I wait so long between writing chapters :/

Yes, there will be answers about Liore down the line, but you can probably guess – consider Liore, and then consider what plot point is usually used in zombie apocalypse stories.

I look back now and see my science of Chims is really wonky, but there's not much I can do about it now. Thank you for accepting it all at face value!

Can I self-promote? I strongly recommend you check out Rewriting Fiction, because I've put so much effort into it. It's an OC story, yeah, but I'm trying to do things differently. The chapters are long, and I update it like clockwork – 11 am every other Saturday.

So if you're looking for more FMA stories to read …

I won't promise a quick update. I can't. But I can promise that I will update.

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