Hoenheim, Elicia, Winry, and you all stared after the purple-eyed man, frozen in place. After several moments of silence, you finally spoke.

"Wh-who was that? And, why is he trying to kill you, and Ed and Al as well?"

"That was Envy. He has a bit of a grudge against me. We need to move quickly and warn my sons, Envy isn't easy to stop," Hoenheim said worriedly, moving towards the open door. "Is Pinako well enough for us to leave to go after him?"

"Sh-she should be fine for a little while. Oh, I feel so stupid now. If I had kept my mouth shut, then," Winry began.

"You were trying to stop him from killing me, it's not your fault that he decided to go after them," Hoenheim reassured her. "But we can't waste time worrying about that, anyways. We need to get moving quickly. He doesn't know the exact location of the castle, but we know the way there. If we're lucky, we could get there before him."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" You said, grabbing your bag and placing Elicia inside it quickly and carefully. "Let's get moving!"

Winry raced down the hall to inform her grandmother of where you all were going. Once she returned, your group raced into the forest towards the castle as quickly as you could.

***

By the time you had reached the castle's iron gates, your lungs were heaving from exhaustion. Your muscles burned, but you hadn't slowed down for a second.

The three of you, since Elicia couldn't help at all in her state, pushed the gate open with tremendous force. As you all raced forward and looked at the castle's front doors, your heart sank.

The doors were broken, ripped and smashed from their hinges.

You all raced forward without a second thought, panic rising in you.

Inside the entrance hall, servants were cowering behind inanimate pieces of furniture. Several peered out at you from their hiding spots, and you quickly recognized Maes and Gracia Hughes. They took notice of you as well.

"(Y/n)! Winry! You came back!" Maes shouted.

"Sure did, where's the guy that came in here?" You hurriedly asked.

"He's trying to fight Edward out on the balcony area, but Ed wasn't putting up much of a fight. Izumi's defending him instead, but we're not sure for how much longer," he explained.

"Thanks for the information. Winry and Mr.Hoenheim, go on ahead. I need to do something before I go see for myself," you said.

The pair nodded in understanding, then ran towards the fight's location.

You kneeled down and opened your bag. Elicia poked her head out and looked to see her parents' faces.

"Elicia!" They both cried happily.

Elicia sprang forward into her parents' embrace. It was a pleasant sight, but you needed to hurry.

"I'll explain how she ended up with me when this ordeal is over. Gotta run," you hastily said, getting up and running after the two blondes.

'If anything happens to me, at least she'll be safe with her parents,' you thought as exhaustion finally started catching up with your limbs, making you move slower than you would have prefered.

When you arrived at the balcony, Edward and Envy were locked in combat. Edward looked fairly beaten up, but his eyes held a newfound fight in them, which you assumed was due to the fact that Winry had returned.

Izumi was off to the side, looking a little more bruised, her husband standing in front of her protectively. She looked like she would live, but it would certainly take some time to heal.

Hoenheim and Winry stood a short distance ahead of you, watching the battle with silent worry.

There was no sign of Alphonse. Unsure whether that was good or bad, you decided you weren't likely to find out until the present combat ended, one way or another, so you watched alongside Winry. Neither of you could do anything to help at the moment.

Edward had his automail arm transmuted into a blade, while Envy was fighting with only his fists. Occasionally they would land a blow on each other, but Envy seemed almost unaffected by the injuries.

Blow after blow, Envy's attacks were not letting up, almost as though he wasn't growing tired at all.

"What's wrong, pipsqueak?" He teased after a while."Getting exhausted?"

Ed seemed to get a new burst of stamina at the insult. He shoved Envy backwards, causing him to go over the railing. His arms flailed, before he disappeared over the edge, out of sight.

Edward was breathing heavily, the fight had taken a toll on him. Slowly, he turned back towards the group of you. His eyes met Winry's, and Winry took the opportunity to move towards him.

"You came back," he said quietly, not noticing anyone else there.

"Of course I did, I couldn't have just let that guy," Winry trailed off. She walked closer to him.

"Winry."

"Edward, I," Winry began, taking hold of his hand.

You watched, smiling behind them. This is how it was supposed to be.

Suddenly, Ed's faced contorted into one filled with pain. A roar erupted from him as he fell forward.

Envy had a dagger stabbed into Ed's back. As Edward fell forward, Envy fell backwards from the railing he had climbed back up and disappeared once again. A few seconds later, a thud was heard on the ground below.

"No," Winry said quietly, holding onto Ed. "No, this is all my fault. If only we'd gotten here sooner."

"Winry, maybe," he winced from pain,"maybe it's better this way."

"Don't talk like that. You'll be okay, we're together now, we can be happy," Winry's voice cracked, tears forming in her eyes.

Out of the corner of your eye, which was now tearing up as well, you saw Hoenheim moving and hurrying back towards the entrance. You pushed it out of your mind, you didn't care what anyone else was doing right now, you were focused on what was happening in front of you.

"At- at least, I got to see you, one last time," Edward said, before collapsing fully, still holding onto Winry.

You silently watched, heart full of sorrow, as Winry continued to hold onto him.

"No, no," she cried. "Please don't leave me," she held him closer, crying into his unmoving form.

"I love you."

You turned away. You couldn't watch anymore, it was too painful. You simply listened, hearing Winry's muffled crying.

But then you heard a different sound mixed in, a sort of plinking sound. Izumi gasped.

"Look," she said. When you looked at her, she was pointing at where Edward and Winry were. You turned your gaze towards them.

Colored light appeared to be swirling around Ed's body, which was now floating in the air. It was no wonder Winry had backed several feet away.

Surrounded by the light, Ed's body started to change. The fur changed to normal skin, the beastly features melted away to reveal human qualities. His arms and legs changed to recognizably human, even the automail shifted to mimic the now human limbs. Long, golden blonde hair swished around him, and his now tattered clothes were hanging loosely on him.

No longer a beast, he landed standing, facing away from everyone.

He looked down at his hands, registering they were no longer furry, at least, the one that had been wasn't. He looked down at himself, then put his hands on his face as if to make sure it was all real.

"Edward?" Winry asked hesitantly.

He slowly turned around, golden eyes locking with her blue ones.

"Winry?"

He walked towards her, a surprised smile on his face. Winry looked hesitant for a second, before walking forward as well.

"Is, is it really you?" She asked.

"Yes, it's me. You've turned me back to my normal self. Thank you Winry," Ed said, stepping so there was only a few inches between their faces. Blushing madly, he quickly leaned forward and kissed her.

It took all your self control not to squeal aloud and ruin the moment.

Winry looked surprised at first, her face blushing red, but she quickly melted into the kiss.

Around them, the castle seemed to transform. Where it had looked dark and menacing, it now looked warm and inviting.

You could hear cheers of joy, and you turned to see several servants, no longer objects, coming towards the balcony.

"The curse is lifted! We're human again!" A voice you recognized as Alex's shouted.

"No more candle head for me, now I can make flames by just snapping again!"

"Sir, I suggest you don't do that indoors."

A muscular, bald, save one blonde curl of hair, man, a black haired man with an air of confidence, and a woman with blonde hair and a focused expression came into view. They all stared at Edward and Winry, piecing two and two together in their minds.

"So, you finally confessed your feelings," Roy teased.

"Shut up, Mustang," Ed grumbled.

Behind them, you saw more people coming. Among them, you recognized a black haired man with glasses, his arm around the waist of a woman with short, light brown hair. With his other arm, he was holding the hand of a little girl who was obviously their daughter. The little girl raced forward and tackled your legs in a hug.

"(Y/n)!"

"Hey Elicia, how are you feeling?" You smiled down at her.

"Great! I'm so glad you guys are here again," Elicia smiled back at you.

You saw Hoenheim standing a little ways behind, next to a girl with short, brown hair and glasses.

"I need to go talk to people, Elicia. Do you want to go say hi to Winry?"

She excitedly nodded, then ran off towards her.

You stood up and walked over to Hoenheim.

"Why did you run off when your son was dying?" You asked him, just above a whisper so that no one else could hear.

"Envy wouldn't be dead from that fall, only injured. I went and took care of him so that he couldn't do any more damage," he told you.

You looked down at the ground, contemplating what exactly he meant by that. You decided that you couldn't judge him for whatever actions he had taken. Envy clearly hadn't been hesitant to commit murder, so whatever had happened to him had perhaps been for the better.

You turned to look at the brunette with glasses, making an estimated guess.

"Sheska?"

"How could you tell it was me, (Y/n)?" She asked.

"Wild guess," you told her.

"Hey (Y/n)!" Winry shouted.

Everyone was looking at you as you turned to see why she wanted your attention. Winry held onto Ed's arm, smirking slightly.

"Remember how the night of the ball I said if one of us told the guy we loved how we felt, the other one had to do the same?"

Your face immediately became dusted in pink. The fact that all eyes were on you didn't help.

"Alphonse is probably in the library. I told him to go and hide while I fought the intruder. He tried to argue, but I insisted. Good luck," said Edward.

Everyone continued staring at you, even as you slowly backed away and bumped into a wall before you rushed down the hall towards the library.