The Same Coin

Quite the Demonstration

It took the Heavens Arena attendants making two trips with six trolleys to get all of her grandmother's crates upstairs.

Taking it to Hisoka's suite was the logical decision. There was too much equipment for her to store in her employee quarters, and she would need access to most of it to perform the amputation and installation. She didn't give him a courtesy of a warning, instead just leading the attendants upstairs to the 200th floor. When they'd seen whose suite they were going to, the men had exchanged uneasy glances but said nothing while she knocked.

Hisoka opened the door. She could tell he had just showered; his hair was wet and hung around his face. His arched brows rose in surprise as amber eyes scanned the sight of their small party outside his doorway. A smile crossed his lips.

"Hmh. Come in then," he said, stepping aside.

Winry passed him and the attendants followed obediently before unloading the first set of crates in the corner, working together to get the heavy boxes off the trolleys without dropping them. Silence hung between Winry and Hisoka while they watched the men work, until the attendants left to bring up the next set.

"Illumi said you gave quite the demonstration," Hisoka said at last, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "I'm jealous."

"Then you can sleep well tonight knowing that I still didn't give Edward a full demonstration," she countered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Still afraid of what your alchemist might do if he were to see you for the monster you are?"

She wanted to balk. To argue about the merits of his accusation. But instead Winry bit her tongue, holding her scathing retorts back. For all the things he was — for all of his perceptiveness — Hisoka wasn't a person who had the depth to be capable of understanding something like this. Here, he was as shallow as his sink.

Instead of responding, Winry turned her back on him and sat down in one of the armchairs. It was the same one she'd sat in when she'd first been invited to his room — the night he had faced Kastro for the very first time. The tear was still there from where he'd thrown her appointment card back at her. The material had begun to fray. She ignored the impulse to touch it.

"I'm surprised you decided to come back."

Winry glanced at Hisoka. "Why?"

"I thought for certain that your alchemist would convince you that you should stay."

"He didn't ask," she said, looking elsewhere.

Ed hadn't had to ask, and even if he had asked her outright she still would've said no. It had cut so deep to say goodbye, but it would've hurt her more if she had stayed. She would've had to quash a part of who she was — and Nen was a part of who she was now, whether she wanted to admit that or not. She'd believed, not so long ago, that Nen had destroyed her life. After what happened in Central though, she realized that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Are you ready for me to take your arm?" Winry asked.

"I am." He leaned his head back to look upward, his lips curving upward in a dreamy smile. "I had one more fight to fulfill after you left."

"You seem to have fared no worse for it."

"He isn't ready to fight on my level yet, but I had promised him the opportunity. He will be worthwhile one day. Much like you." Hisoka leered at her from the corner of his eye. "Especially since you're getting less shy about it."

"Push me," Winry warned as there was a knock on the door, "and I'll amputate more than your arm."

The door opened and the attendants entered with the next set of crates. Neither of them spoke while the crates were unloaded from the trolleys, and Winry handed them each a tip as they left then shut and locked the door behind them.