Descent

Chapter Seven

"Surprise!"

Edward and Winry both jumped a mile and a half as Riza, Roy, Ross, Brosh, Armstrong, Breda, Fuery, Falman and Havoc all jumped out from behind the couches with party hats and whistle-blowers. They were all laughing at their reactions, and, after the initial heart attack, Ed and Winry joined in and laughed with them. Maria went into the kitchen and came out a moment later with a huge double-layer cake, (which Winry definitely needed to eat, Ed thought) and Roy, not surprisingly, produced the alcohol. Riza looked at him scornfully for a moment before shrugging. Roy poured everyone glasses and handed one to Ed, who, legally, wasn't supposed to drink yet, as he was only sixteen, so he refused. And then it dawned on him. It was his birthday today. He was seventeen. Still not quite drinking age, not for a few more years, but still...it couldn't hurt. "I'm seventeen today." He said, more to himself than to Roy. "Why not?" So he took the glass and took a tentative sip. The alcohol burned down his throat, but it wasn't a terribly bad feeling. It was good stuff, whatever it was. Winry refused to drink anything but water, she was adamant, so Riza fetched her a glass of tap water instead. She still looked surprised at everything that was happening, and looked to Edward for support. She glared at him when she saw him take another careful sip of the drink, but, thankfully, didn't say anything. But he got the point. No more after this, he thought to himself.

Breda happily offered to cut the cake, (Ed noticed Breda's piece seemed rather larger than his own) and when Edward got a closer look at the cake, he noticed the iced writing on the top of the second layer and around the edges of the first layer. On top, in bold golden writing the same colour as Edward's eyes, it said Happy 17th Birthday Edward! He was quite surprised; he was certain he'd never told any of Mustang's crew or, anyone in the military, for that matter, when his birthday was, but he supposed Mustang, with his network of contacts and spies and whatnot, had done a bit of digging to find it. Or maybe he'd just phoned Alphonse in Xing. Did they have phones there? On the edges of the first layer of cake, in a beautiful blue the colour of Winry's eyes, said Welcome to Central Winry! He made sure his piece had a bit of Winry's name in it. And, oddly, she did the same thing, taking the piece of cake that had the word Ed on it. He was disappointed to see her piece was minuscule. Smaller than a slice a child would be given. He frowned at her and made her trade cakes with him.

The party kicked off brilliantly after that. There was a lot of drinking on Roy's and Havoc's end, and the two ended up completely drunk by the end, so Riza made Roy stay the night and Havoc was driven home by Fuery. Edward managed to convince Winry to eat a few more pieces of cake, much to her disgust. A lot of talking was also done, and at one point everyone had to hide because one of Armstrong's stories had called for a demonstration of his gross amount of muscles. But everyone had fun, and Edward the most. While he had been looking forward to a nice quiet evening alone with his fiancee, that could always come tomorrow. Tonight had been the night for fun. After everyone else left, Riza showed Winry around the house, and Roy, who seemed remarkably sobered up considering the amount of drink he'd consumed, asked Edward if he cared to join him for a walk outside, to catch some fresh air. Everything had been going well between them lately, so Edward couldn't see why not. He agreed and together they walked outside into the chilly night air. Edward took a few gulps of it and Mustang some more, and they walked down the illuminated street. Ed wasn't quite sure where they were going, but, despite the circumstances, he trusted Mustang's judgment, and was content to let him lead the way. As they passed block after block, heading towards the old warehouse district, Edward's nervousness increased. "Ah, Mustang.." he said, "Where are we going?" Mustang ignored him, but suddenly his head snapped to the left, his ears pricked, listening.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Uh, no." Ed said skeptically.

"There it is again." Mustang said quickly, and ran off towards whatever it was he heard, Edward following in hot pursuit.