The Same Coin

The Right Time

Shorter chapter, it's been a busy few days. Should be back on schedule tomorrow.

Winry counted the days to Hisoka's inevitable return with mounting dread.

Food was bland. Her work was dull. She had difficulty sleeping. Her world in Rush Valley seemed slow and mechanical in comparison to recent weeks, and the cost of her visit across the sea had been steep. Steeper than she had told anyone — not Garfiel, nor her grandmother, or Al, and especially not Ed. Garfiel commented she had returned more focused and invested, but the fact of the matter was simply that she didn't know what else to do to pass the time it took for the clock's hands to circle twice. It felt as though there was a void she wasn't sure how to fill.

She didn't want to pursue Nen any further. She wanted to return to a time before she had gone to Yorknew City, when her greatest frustration was also her greatest joy — Ed and his frequent mishaps and automail adjustments. Instead now her waking thoughts were of how she could have avenged her parents' deaths and stopped countless others, but she hadn't. Scar had gone on to commit more murders, she read about them in the papers and heard it on the radio. She could have been the answer, but she hadn't. Her conscience also told her that Hisoka was not the resolution she needed for her moral dilemma, and she hoped he wouldn't return.

There was no avoiding it though.

Winry opened the door to her dark room after finishing her day — overalls stained and singed, her shirt not faring much better, with more than a few grease marks on her face — to Hisoka perched on the sill of her previously locked window.

She recognized his silhouette against the moonlight and street lamps immediately. His hair was back to normal, as was his attire. Winry just shut the door behind her instead of speaking, and lit the oil lamp on the nightstand beside her bed. Hisoka's face slowly turned in her direction.

"Quite the setup down there," he commented. "Business seems to be booming."

"You already said you know my country is fond of war. War means amputations and amputations mean prosthetics," Winry replied, not even feeling energized enough to be angry about his presence or observations. "Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters — my grandmother's shop in Resembool—" He nodded. It was a knowing nod. She wondered exactly how much he had taken upon himself to learn about her. "—became what it is today because the civil war went right through our land. The right place at the right time."

"Blood money runs in your veins," Hisoka said.

Though he sat across the room, the dim light from the oil lamp lended itself well enough for her to identify the staple of private amusement on his face. Always. It was as though disappointment or even common decency wasn't on the spectrum of emotions he possessed.

"Insulting me won't get you into my good graces."

"I'm not interested in your good graces anyway," he countered, and she thought she saw his tongue in the corner of his lips, but she couldn't be sure in the shadows. "Only your potential."

"I'm not interested in learning Nen."

"You don't have much of a choice. But the Ishvalan could have already been dead in the time it took you to draw your gun, if you had used Nen. He wouldn't have had any warning at all. He'd simply be gone."

"You just wanted to see me kill — you don't care about the reasons why. I won't do it."

Hisoka's eyelids lowered slightly and his smile broadened into something wicked. "I wouldn't mind bearing witness to that deflowering."

Winry shuddered and sat as far from him as she could, in the chair at her desk beside the door.

"I already told you about Nen — your aura. I talked you through how to stop it from leaking, and how to keep it around you. That part of Nen control is called Ten. Ten will slow how quickly you age, and it is the most basic line of defense."

"I'm too tired to do this right now," she objected.

"You're not tired." Hisoka rolled his amber eyes at her. "You're bored. You lack stimulation here. I can fix that.

"Ren will be your next lesson. Ren is when you project your aura outward — violently. Doing so magnifies your physical strength and resilience, and deepens the pool for you to draw aura from. It can be malicious, or neutral. Even non-Nen users can pick up on Ren when you charge it with hostility." His eyes closed in satisfaction. Winry thought of his match with Kastro —

"And what happened at the end? What was that awfulness I felt?"

"That was Hisoka's bloodlust."

So that had been Ren. She gave him a nod for him to continue.

"Ren can give away your ill will without you meaning to though," he warned. "And, sometimes, it can be felt even after you leave."

Hisoka climbed out of the window and let his arms fall to his sides. Winry remained seated until he gestured for her to stand as well.

"It's time for the hands on segment of this class. I want you to attack me." His voice lowered to a husky note, and she could hear his excitement. Hisoka shut his eyes then beckoned with his fingers. "I want you to attack me with Ren until I can't take it anymore."