The Same Coin

The Guise

Winry rested her chin on her palm, elbow on the arm of her chair, as she watched Izumi and Sig playing cards. They'd been playing Rummy, but had switched to War after both of them had drawn knives on each other before deciding to kiss and make up. Now they were both leaning forward over the table between them, brows furrowed, their stares alternating between the cards in their hands and the cards on the table.

She was on the verge of dozing off. There was a blanket draped around her, and a fire warmed the room against the chill that came over Southern Amestris at night. It was comfortable. Sleep was wrapping its arms around her.

Hisoka had opened Izumi's nodes shortly after dawn. Most of the morning had been him working with Izumi, talking her through closing them off again. Winry hadn't realized to what degree Nen really didcome to her naturally until she had watched Izumi struggle for hours with what had taken her minutes. Although Ed didn't speak much of his time with Izumi, when he did discuss her it had always been with such high regard. As though she were capable of anything. It was disconcerting to watch the woman flail. Even now, she focused her aura into her eyes to watch Izumi, and she could see the woman's aura wisping away into the air.

The afternoon had been for Hisoka. Izumi had given him a book and told him to read it, then went back to the butcher shop to work. Winry hadn't even known where he'd gone off to until Izumi had sent her to feed the chickens at dinnertime, when she found him outstretched on a limb of the tree in the backyard, reading. He had glanced down at her, made that "Hmh" noise, then returned his gaze to the book.

"Damn Joker," Izumi snapped.

"The Jester is king," Sig said.

Winry opened her eyes as Sig chuckled, and Izumi leaned away from the card game, turning her nose up.

"What happened?" Winry asked.

"I laid out the Jester," he explained. "And the Jester beats all other cards."

She had realized the obvious significance of Hisoka leaving her the Jester card from his deck back in Central, when the Fuhrer had come to see her. She was aware that it was his calling card — what it represented. But with this new information, she wondered if her deduction had been too shallow.

The Jester is King.

"How did you get involved with a man like that?" Izumi asked as she shuffled the cards again, the cards clicking heavily in her fingers while she did. Her eyes watched Winry with suspicion.

"She saved two hundred lives," Hisoka said abruptly, and Winry's head tilted back to see him standing behind her chair, leaning on it with his arms folded across the top rail. "She has a special power when it comes to machines."

Chilling. He was chilling in the most absolute. She didn't hear him enter, walk across the room, or take up residence behind her. Neither had Izumi given any indication she'd seen him do it either. If he ever wanted her dead, it would be merely when he found it convenient — not when he found the opportunity. His hair was wet and his face clean, and it wasn't any less disconcerting to see him like that now than it had been the first time. Hisoka didn't play a persona with how he dressed, or in his mannerisms. It was exactly who his true self was.

"How did you do that? Does Ed know?" Izumi demanded, and Winry's face grew hot.

"I didn't tell Ed, and please don't you tell him either. I didn't say anything to him because I knew he'd worry and interfere—"

"There was a mechanical failure with the airship we were on. Winry repaired the ship, and saved many lives." Hisoka poked the top of her head with one finger. "Mine included. And my...boss."