Turn Back the Clock
By Henrika

Henrika- Yet another short fic. Inspired by manga chapter 46, so spoilers abound if you haven't read the manga or read it up to that point.

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How many times had he wished to turn back the clock, erase his sins, his actions, his stupidity? He had wanted to go back to before he had joined the military, back before the taboo human transmutation, back before his mother had died, sometimes he even wanted to go back to a time before his father had left. He knew it was pointless to look back, but he indulged in 'what ifs' sometimes, wondering what he would have become if the Full Metal Alchemist had never been created.

He regretted many of his actions, but at the moment the one he regretted most was not keeping his mouth shut. He regretted not telling Granny Pinako, not telling her the truth, not breaking it to her gently. No, he had been a coward and this was how she found out, hearing him shouting it in the streets.

And here they were now. The beautiful, feisty, caring friend who he had known since he was a child was collapsed on her knees in the street, tears flooding her anguished face. And clutched in her shaking hands was a gun, her finger at the trigger as she pointed the weapon at her parents' killer. The scene seemed frozen. Scar was staring at her with an unrecognizable expression. Al was too far away and so was he. He didn't know if he could stop her in time, if he should stop her. "Winry?" She didn't look at him, couldn't hear him with the blood pounding in her ears.

And Edward wanted it all to stop, to go back to times when the Rockbells and Elrics were good neighbors and friends who let their children play together, back before everything had led to this moment. He knew he couldn't change the past, so he did the only thing he knew he could; he tried to save Winry from the path to hell that he was already walking.

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Henrika- I sooo hope that the next chapter comes out soon!