Title: Keep You Safe
Author: PwnedByPineapple
Summary: In which an attack is made, Alphonse is hurt, and Mei takes matters into her own hands. Post-manga. Al/Mei.
Rating/Warning(s): K+; none
Notes: Part of a gift exchange and written for the lovely Artemis Day.

Disclaimer: This fangirl owns nothing.

There was always an element of danger in crossing the desert that lay between Amestris and Xing, but the risk had markedly increased after the Promised Day and the ensuing battle; several supporters of the former Fuhrer had managed to slip away into its unforgiving terrain, and very few of them had been caught since then. There was, of course, a likely chance that most of them had succumbed to the heat by now or long since fled even farther, but the peril of bandits remained until a proper trade route could be constructed. As such, it was with a wary eye that Alphonse Elric and his two unofficial "bodyguards" traveled, making for the Xerxian ruins that had been designated as the rendezvous point.

Alphonse smiled, even at the worrisome topic. He wasn't the only one who was concerned; Mei had, in her letters, insisted on meeting them halfway there, and Alphonse found his eyes straining to search the ruins as soon as Xerxes were in sight. He didn't fail to notice that his heartbeat was elevated, and he couldn't quite contain the butterflies in his stomach. It had been two years since he'd last seen Mei, and in the past few weeks, a day hadn't gone by when she hadn't been in his thoughts. He'd been wondering so many things - how she'd changed, how she'd see him now that they were both a little older. It was enough to make him quite jittery.

"Thinkin' about the little girl?" Jerso asked teasingly, and Alphonse nearly fell off of his horse.

"What makes you say that?" he asked sheepishly; his face was heating to nearly match the repressive warmth of the desert around them, and the two chimeras laughed at him.

"Got a dreamy look on your face. And you're kinda twitching." Jerso reached over to pat Alphonse on the shoulder as the boy ducked his head, hiding it within his hood. "Don't blame ya one bit. Young love is like that."

Alphonse managed a weak grin. He hadn't been aware that he was that transparent, but he supposed he hadn't been doing anything to hide it, anyway. His eyes found their way back to the ruins in the distance, and he took a moment to rein in his impatience, wishing that it wasn't quite so far.

However, as they drew nearer to the mess of the deteriorated city, Alphonse also grew cautious, scanning not only for Mei, but for any less pleasant company that could be lurking amidst what was left of Xerxes. The chimeras were doing the same, and Zampano sniffed intently at the air, using whatever senses his animal side had given him to test for danger.

"Seems pretty clear to me," he said at last, after they had halted their horses at the outer edge. The sun, halfway past the four o'clock position in the sky, was beginning to cast long shadows over the ruins - perfect for any unsavory individuals to lurk within. "Although if I'm not mistaken, that'd be Mei rounding the corner any second now. There's some others with her..."

Zampano's nose was as good as his word, and a few moments later, Alphonse saw a smallish figure emerge from around a crumbled building. He couldn't help the grin that stole across his face, and Mei's expression was much the same. By the time Alphonse had dismounted, she'd already reached him, and he heard a happy cry of his name before he staggered underneath her flying hug.

"Don't break him, now," Zampano warned somewhere in the background, chuckling.

With a cheerful laugh, Mei squeezed Alphonse and released him, beaming. "Alphonse!" she said again. "You're looking so well!"

The last time she'd seen him, he'd been in a sorry state after his body had returned from the other side of Truth's Door, where before he'd been only cold armor. "I could say the same about you," Alphonse replied, grinning and wishing he was a little less sweaty and dusty. Two years had given her more curves and an even more beautiful face, and the green and silver outfit she wore now suited her perfectly. Xiao Mei peeked over her shoulder; the little panda looked much disgruntled at having been subjected to Mei's excited movements, but she graced Alphonse with an affectionate rub as he reached forward to pet her head.

Zampano had also been right about Mei's companions. Two Xingese men stood a little off to the side; they were nearly identical in appearance, except for a slight color variation in their outfits. Both of them were eyeing Zampano and Jerso warily, with much the same appraisal from the chimeras.

"That's Jiang," Mei told Alphonse, paying no mind to the miniature stand-off taking place; she gestured to the man who had blue lining on his tan silk outfit, "and that's Xining," who had the red lining. Other than their respective colors, it was nearly impossible to tell them apart; must've been twins. "They're also from the Chang clan. Ling was insisting that I shouldn't travel alone."

"He was right," Alphonse said, hiding a smile as the two chimeras and the Xingese twins seemed to come to some sort of silent understanding. The military postures that both duos had assumed relaxed, and respectful nods were exchanged. Then, both Jiang and Xining turned to Alphonse and bowed, much to his surprise.

"It's an honor to meet a close friend of Crown Prince Ling and Princess Mei," Jiang said formally, in heavily accented but otherwise flawless Amestrian. "And one who bears such resemblance to the Philosopher of the West."

"Thank you," Alphonse said uncertainly, resisting the urge to self-consciously rub his hair, and after a moment, he returned the bow, with Mei's prompting. "Uh... it's an honor to meet you, too. Your Amestrian is perfect."

Xining grinned, which changed his countenance profoundly and immediately marked him as the more gregarious of the two. "Our father was an Amestrian who moved to Xing in his youth," he explained, further surprising Alphonse; they looked like full-blooded Xingese to him. "Language was the only thing we inherited from him."

Zampano stepped forward, his nose still twitching a little. "Don't mean to break things up," he said apologetically, "but I'd feel better if we kept moving."

"At least until we can get away from these ruins," Jerso added. "They don't exactly feel safe."

This was agreed upon, and the twins led the way toward the small camp that the Xingese trio had set up in the center of the ruined city. "Have you been waiting long?" Alphonse asked in some concern. He walked side by side with Mei, following the twins, while the chimeras trailed behind and led the four horses - their respective beasts of burden and the packhorse.

"Only about half a day," Mei assured him. "We explored the ruins while we waited. This place has many memories." She smiled up at him, and Alphonse felt her hand brush his. "Still, I'm glad you've finally shown up. I've missed you."

Alphonse opened his mouth to express a mutual sentiment and didn't have time to get the words out.

He heard Jerso's roar behind him, heard the alarmed whinnies of the horses, and felt enormous arms sweep into both him and Mei, crushing them against a large chimera body as a bullet zinged past them - a very narrow miss. After that, Alphonse's senses kicked into overdrive and dizzied him for a moment, and when he forced himself to focus, he found Jerso shoving him and Mei into the shelter of one of the more intact buildings, as Xiao Mei hissed in alarm, clinging to Mei's shoulder.

"How many?" Alphonse gasped out, hardly able to see past Jerso's enormous form.

"'Bout a dozen or so, I'd say," the chimera growled. "I knew this place felt wrong!"

Jerso's head snapped up, spikes bristling, and Alphonse clapped his hands together and slammed them against the dusty wall, sending alchemical energy pulsing through the building against which the three of them sheltered. It erupted at the top, scattering the three assailants perched on the roof and causing two of them to slip and fall off. As Jerso went after those two to make sure they didn't get up again, Alphonse stole a quick glance at Mei to make sure she was unharmed. He found her assessing the situation with a grim look on her face.

Alphonse did the same. The horses had vanished, long since bolted at the sudden attack. Jiang and Xining had already taken two bandits down and were currently after three more who were situated on the top of the building opposite Alphonse and Mei. Zampano, in his chimera form, was engaged with the remaining bandits on the ground - three of them and one already down, which brought the total count to twelve. Trusting Jerso to handle the one remaining on the roof above, Alphonse immediately leapt to Zampano's assistance, with Mei wordlessly by his side.

They attacked together seamlessly, Mei halting to knife a quick alkahestric design into the sand as Alphonse took a few steps past her and brought his hands together once more. His own attack blasted one of the bandits clean off his feet and knocked the gun from his hands, as Mei's attack snaked toward a second and erupted beneath him, literally pulling the ground out from under him.

With a snarl, Zampano lunged at the remaining assailant, who looked shocked at the sudden alchemic attack, and the chimera crushed him to the ground. Alphonse couldn't tell if the man was unconscious or dead, but he couldn't bring himself to care at this point - there was blood dripping from Zampano, from somewhere in his upper body region, and Alphonse rushed forward.

"Where are you hurt?" he demanded, as Zampano slumped a little, panting heavily.

"It's not so bad," the chimera rumbled reassuringly. "Bullet caught me in the shoulder. I think it's still in there, though, so if it's all the same, I'm stayin' in this form for a bit."

Alphonse bit his lip, turning toward Mei, who had also hurried forward. "I can heal him," she said confidently, and Alphonse gave her a grateful nod. His eyes darted up to scan the surroundings, as he absently wiped the sweat from his face as best he could; no more bandits seemed to be on their feet, and the twins were scampering down from the roof on the left. Jerso was already on the ground once more, sniffing suspiciously for any others that might have been lurking in the shadows. However, calm seemed to have returned, and Alphonse breathed a sigh of relief. The attack had come out of nowhere, but he couldn't say he hadn't been half-expecting something of the sort... though perhaps not so violent or with so many of them.

He glanced back at Zampano and felt his leg jerk oddly, against his will, as Xiao Mei hissed in alarm and Mei gasped. The feeling was utterly strange, and Alphonse looked down to see a knife embedded in his right thigh. The sight seemed to awaken the pain, and he gasped, looking up wildly as a stinging ache arched through his entire body.

The bandit he'd taken down was clambering to his feet, livid behind his lower face mask. His left arm was twisted at a horrifying angle, but his right hand, though shaking, held three more knives. Alphonse knew the man had to be taken out; he'd probably only missed doing real damage because of pain, but that didn't mean they'd be so lucky a second time. However, Alphonse's body, injured as it was, was not as quick as his thoughts, and he would never have reached the man before another knife was let loose, probably right into Alphonse's chest.

Mei, though, was more than fast.

She'd never been very big, but size meant nothing compared to speed and leverage. With a little cry of rage, Mei reached the bandit first, expertly grabbing him by the uninjured wrist and twisting the projectiles from his hand. And she didn't stop there. Alphonse could hardly follow, but the next thing he knew, the man was slammed to the ground, shrieking in pain as Mei released his broken arm.

Jiang was speaking quiet Xingese as he and his brother hurried up to the scene, and Mei nodded and pulled away, hardly sparing a glance back as the twins dealt with securing this bandit as well. Mei fairly ran back to Alphonse and Zampano, and with a dazed start, Alphonse realized that he was looking up at her and that Xiao Mei had taken up residence on his shoulder now, peering at him concernedly. Odd. He must have fallen over at some point, and he winced as the sudden remembrance made his entire leg throb.

"That was amazing," he said earnestly, as Mei frowned down at him and looked on the verge of tears.

"It was nothing," she said, wiping at her eyes. "Just... stay still. I'm going to need to heal you both, and we need to get that knife out..."

It hurt, but all that escaped Alphonse was a sharp, quiet intake of breath. He clamped a fistful of Mei's jacket over the wound as soon as the knife was free, tears of pain stinging his eyes, and gave her a quick nod to show that he was ready. Mei tossed the bloody knife aside after giving it a glare and absently reached forward to rest a hand briefly on his shoulder, before glancing at the chimera.

"Don't move at all, Zampano," she warned him. "I can get the bullet out, but too much movement will disrupt the process."

Zampano nodded and braced himself. "You just take your time," he grunted. "I've had much worse."

Mei knelt down, sketching out an alkahestric healing circle in the sand, and past all the pain he was in, Alphonse felt a sudden urge to pull her into a hug. He would have done so in a heartbeat if he'd been in any state to, and he settled for simply watching her, feeling a thumping of his heart that had nothing to do with the waves of pain radiating from his leg. Mei had been that angry for him, he thought, his foggy mind pleasantly a little dazed by the notion. He'd already known she was a skilled martial artist, but to see those skills put to use for his sake... well, the pain didn't seem quite so bad. Or maybe that was just her healing setting to work.

"Amazing," Zampano said later, for the umpteenth time, giving his shoulder a flex. "Pushed the bullet out and everything."

"Yes, but don't move it too much," Mei said anxiously. "The wound is still there; I just accelerated the natural healing by several days."

Abashed, Zampano stilled, and Alphonse hid a grin. He'd stretched his leg out towards the fire, letting the heat wash over the still-sore limb, and the coldness of the desert night was temporarily banished by the crackling flames. Mei sat beside him; she'd surprised him by wrapping his arm in hers as soon as she'd settled on the ground, but the move wasn't unwelcome. In fact, Alphonse had found it hard to stop blushing, as Jerso kept throwing him grinning, knowing looks from the other side of the fire.

Of the twelve bandits who had attacked, half were dead, and two of those from taking their own lives. It had sparked some debate, deciding what to do with the remaining six, and eventually they'd agreed that, in the morning, Jiang and Xining would take the prisoners to the nearest Amestrian outpost, to be dealt with by the local authorities; afterward, the twins would catch up, able to move through the desert much faster on their own than a larger group could.

"I reckon that's the group that struck that caravan two months ago," Jerso said in some disgust, throwing a glance at where the remaining assailants huddled together some distance from the fire, all of them bruised and injured to some degree. The twins were taking turns keeping a careful watch over them. "Border patrol's had their hands full trying to catch 'em, but they've only gone for vulnerable groups. Lucky they underestimated us."

Lucky in a lot of things, honestly. Even the horses hadn't gone far; Xining had assured them that the animals wouldn't stray from the ruins, where water could be found, and they'd been discovered lurking with the Xingese trio's horses, at the center of the city.

And even better, no one had been seriously hurt, although Alphonse could still feel his leg twinge every time he moved it.

"Think we have to worry about any more attacks?" he asked.

"I wouldn't," Zampano answered thoughtfully. "I figure those guys had been following us for a while and doubled around once we reached the ruins. Ain't smart to attack in the open, so they planned to use the buildings to their advantage. But there's not many fools who'd run around the desert like these have been, and a couple other groups have been caught in the past few years. If these aren't the last big threat, then I'll eat my own foot."

It made sense; his words were reassuring, and Alphonse let himself relax with a sigh. His journey to Xing had certainly begun with a bang, and he could easily imagine the look on Edward's face if he decided to tell his brother about it one day. The thought brought him a smile, but also a pang of homesickness... or rather, a wanting to simply be wherever his brother was.

Mei gently squeezed his hand, and Alphonse wondered if she'd sensed it. He smiled down at her to let her know he was alright, and she returned the expression, which did a lot to ease the wistful ache. "Thank you," he told her quietly.

"For what?"

"Protecting me," Alphonse answered, because the other thing hardly needed to be said. "You really were incredible."

"It was just one guy," Mei said modestly. "And he was injured. It wasn't that hard."

"Says the girl who's got martial arts and alkahestry under her belt. I don't think anyone is safe from you, are they?"

Mei giggled. "You're too much, Alphonse."

All of a sudden, Jerso let loose an enormous yawn, the effect of which was rather diminished by the fact that he still managed to grin through it. "Well, I'm gonna catch some sleep," he said. "Got to give the two lovebirds privacy, right, Zampano?"

"I'm sure they don't want two old men around right now," Zampano said with a wink. "Crazy youth and all."

Alphonse was wishing he was able to control the heat that rose to his face, but the light of the fire revealed that Mei had much the same reaction. Chuckling, the two chimeras withdrew a little distance away from the fire, dragging sleeping rolls with them, and Alphonse and Mei found themselves quite alone beside the dancing flames, save for little Xiao Mei curled up close to the fire, fast asleep.

Alphonse found that words had suddenly failed him; he wasn't sure what to say, and he scrambled for something to start conversation, anything to make him not look like an idiot. But he didn't have to, because Mei suddenly spoke up.

"You know," she said, quietly, thoughtfully, gazing into the fire; she was still holding his arm, "I used to daydream all the time about finding a prince or handsome man. He was absolutely perfect, in my head. I knew, deep down, that reality probably wouldn't give him to me, but I didn't care. It was fun to dream."

Alphonse had to croak out an answer. "Did- did you ever find him?"

"No," Mei said, after a moment, and Alphonse felt his heart sink a little. "I think... I've found someone better."

That took a moment to register, and when it did, Alphonse couldn't help the broad, embarrassed grin that spread across his face. "I see," he said softly. "... I didn't think I'd find anyone w-who liked me, when I was in the armor. A big hunk of metal isn't something that many people would fall for."

Mei giggled again. "Even if I started out with silly reasons?"

"Especially because you started out with silly reasons," Alphonse avowed, feeling a little bolder, now. "I owe you a lot, Mei. And I don't know if I'm all that fit for a princess, but I'd like to be. If you'd have me. I mean... if you really do like me, because I like you, and if you'd want to... be together, then... I guess, if it's alright, you being what you are, then..." His brief moment of eloquence was fading rapidly, and inwardly he cursed himself for an idiot.

However, Mei only laughed some more - gentle, slightly teasing, but a definite yes. "Don't be silly," she said. "As if I'd let anyone tell me what to do when it comes to this. It's my choice and no one else's." She leaned against him, tucking her head against his neck, and Alphonse wrapped an arm around her shoulders, sighing happily.