The Same Coin

Your Patron

✅

Winry awoke with the dawn in her eyes, alone on the balcony.

She didn't recall having fallen asleep. She'd eaten her meal and resigned to sitting in silence when Hisoka had shown no inclination to leave. Every so often a question would come to her, but she quashed each without asking. She must have simply drifted off without realizing it.

Hisoka hadn't left long ago. The concrete around the pool had a few remaining footprints that had yet to dry. The idea that he'd swum in her pool while she slept was almost as unsettling as how he'd accessed her balcony in the first place. He'd been inside her suite. By her bed.

Everything about his visit was an unwelcome invasion, and she was glad — relieved — he was gone. While Pakunoda and Shalnark had seemed odd, they had not struck her as particularly malicious. Chrollo was darkly charming; despite the rough start, she decided now she did not mind his company. Hisoka's, however...Less so.

Winry ordered breakfast to her room, and spent the early morning setting up the new cellphone she'd purchased the day before — barely resisting the urge to take it apart. She reminded herself that once she went back to Amestris it probably wouldn't be worth having anyway, and reassured herself that she could wait a little longer to dismantle its fragile frame.

In the afternoon she returned to the Bull Market, and found a few more items to bid on — and none of the counter bids were as off-putting as they had been the day before. Looking back, the severe price jumps on all her bids should have been suspect, but it was her first time at the market. She hadn't known better then, and was glad she did now. She would not be letting Hisoka insert himself into her itinerary any further. She checked her holster often to make sure her gun stayed where it was supposed to. Come the end of the day she'd won the majority of her auctions — Garfiel would be pleased.

She ordered dinner from one of the hotel restaurants, and deliberately avoided the balcony. Instead she drew the blinds and made herself comfortable on the floor in the center of the sitting room to work — until a knock on the door of her hotel suite drew her attention.

Winry glimpsed out the peephole and saw one of the hotel staff outside her door. She opened it. Hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Miss Winry Rockbell?"

"Yes, that's me." The young man offered her a sealed envelope. "What's this?"

"It came from the Bull Market for you, miss."

She accepted the envelope and he gave a cordial bow — only to gape when he saw past her into the room. Winry's eyes followed his gaze to the thing called a television, which laid dismantled in pieces across the carpet.

"I'll put it back together shortly," she promised, blushing hotly. "I'm just looking."

He began to stammer something, but Winry gave a wave and shut the door before he could say anything else.

Winry turned the envelope over — and stared at it for a long minute before realizing what was wrong. There was no wax seal. Instead, there was a thin film she had to rip open. Inside was a letter.

Miss Rockbell,

Thank you for your attendance at the Bull Market. Per the waivers and disclaimer forms signed prior to entering the auction, there are tiered rewards available based on the level of financial participation and support for our humble organization.

Our vendors appreciate the participation of your patron, Hisoka Morow, who has deferred to you the corresponding gift for your financial investment in excess of 30,000,000 Jenī.

We are pleased to sponsor an inclusive trip for you to the Republic of Tentai, as a token of our gratitude. Accommodations will be awaiting you at the Hotel Dosei, with access to Heavens Arena and tickets to the scheduled event on 26 June. Please contact—

Winry read the letter several times over before it sank in. Hisoka had spent a threshold amount buying her items away from her, and had the reward sent to her rather than accepting it himself.

She hesitated, uncertain of what to do, and it took her far too long to decide she needed to talk it out. Winry picked up the receiver of the phone in the hotel room, and it connected to the operator.

"I need to make a long distance call," she said hesitantly.

"Of course, ma'am. To whom and where are they located?"

"Edward Elric. He's in Dublith, Amestris, at the home of Izumi Curtis."

"Please hold, ma'am, while I attempt to connect your call. It may take a few minutes to go through."

Winry returned to the place she'd been sitting and half-heartedly sifted through the pieces of the television strewn across the ground. She began to put it back together while she waited, her enthusiasm for it waning.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"I have Edward Elric on the line. I will connect you now — please hold."

"Thank you." There was a pause then a click as it transferred. "Ed?"

"Hey, Winry!" Hearing his voice made her smile, and Winry absentmindedly wrapped the cord of the phone around her arm. A tension in her chest relaxed. "Did you get there okay?"

"I'm here."

"But did you get there okay?"

"What's with the interrogation?" she avoided. If she told him about the airship, he would lose his mind.

"It's just not like you to call me, normally it's me calling you—"

"—To fix your automail," Winry finished for him, laughing. "I promise I'm fine, Ed. It's so different here! I found so many things at the auction, I can't wait to get them back to Garfiel."

"That's great, Winry."

"I won a prize because of how much I spent at the auction."

A manipulation of the truth and doing it made her feel guilty. He would have been upset about the airship — and that would pale compared to his reaction if she told him about Hisoka.

"What did you win?" He sounded skeptical. Not good.

"It's actually another trip, to a northern province called the Republic of Tentai. They're giving me a hotel and everything."

"I don't know about that, Winry. It sounds off. I think you should just come home — I need you back here."

"You don't need me," she said with a roll of her eyes. "You and Al have been doing fine for yourselves."

"No, it's not that. I—"

"What. Did you. Do."

It was Ed's turn to sound nervous, his chuckle a little high-pitched and anxious.

"I mean, I'm a State Alchemist, it's kind of a given that I'm going to need maintenance."

"You tell me what happened right now, Ed!" she warned.

"Al and I may have gotten into a fight."

"I thought you were just going to visit Izumi. Why are you fighting?"

"It's going to happen, Winry! That's a risk that I have to take if I'm going to be serious about restoring Al and me."

"How bad is the damage?" He didn't answer, and she groaned. "It would take me three weeks to travel back, Ed, I'm sorry. You should talk to Garfiel and see if they can make the repairs you need in the meantime."

"You shouldn't have left in the first place," Ed countered. "You have no business going so far away all on your own, and I really don't think you should be going to the Republic of Tenten."

She was too infuriated to bother correcting him, and his objection gave her the clarity she'd been looking for. Albeit she'd not planned to reach it this way. Winry flung her screwdriver across the room as she stood, sulking back to the receiver.

"Luckily it's not up to you, Ed. Go call Garfiel and see when you can get squeezed in, because it'll take me three weeks to get back — after my trip to Tentai. Bye."