Title: Pound of Flesh

Summary: The Gate is well known for taking its pound of flesh from foolish alchemists who come before it, but what if it didn't take that pound from Alphonse in the 'traditional' way? What if Alphonse Elric remained flesh and blood? What if the Gate did something far, far crueler than taking his body? FMA manga compliant. AU Concept. One shot.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

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Edward sat in the wheelchair, blank eyed and lost in horrible memory. His stump of a leg was bandaged and his hands gripped the arms of his chair. He stared at his brother and considered the other boy's figure as Alphonse shuffled about, rubbing at his hands. While he'd been glad that Al hadn't been hurt, he was also embittered about it. Al had escaped unscathed. Al had not lost his leg or his arm or any part of him.

Al was whole.

And Edward was broken.

Their mother was still dead.

They'd failed miserably.

Al was still whole.

He averted his gaze, not noticing the confusion in his brother's eyes due to bitterness. He felt lost, hated himself. The equation was supposed to have been perfect. The equation was supposed to have brought their mother back. It hadn't. Everything had gone so wrong and Edward had been the only one to suffer. Not that he hated that… Well, not completely. He was still angry he'd lost his leg, pained that he'd failed, and horrified that he'd very nearly dragged his brother into this mess, too.

But, still, Al was in one piece and Ed had lost his leg.

Edward had lost his leg while Alphonse had escaped unharmed.

Consumed again by the thoughts of that night, he barely heard the sound of shattering glass or the horrified shriek. Darkened and somber yellow eyes looked over to see Alphonse cradling his hand, staring at the bleeding appendage with shock and awe and notable confusion even as he stepped away from the shattered remains of a glass cup. He saw Pinako hurriedly taking a towel, moving forward to him hurriedly, urging him up, and ushering him to get the wound bandaged. He didn't really hear the mumbles or the worried words. Turning his eyes away, he fell back into his own darkness, thinking of that night. His brother would be fine, he thought. Granny was there to take care of him.

But what Edward didn't know was that as his brother sat and received a line of stitches across his palm, he didn't make a sound and the wound hadn't been numbed. Pinako worriedly frowned at him as Winry fretted.

"Granny?" he asked hesitantly before pausing, licking his lips and shifting noticeably, fiddling at pants and flexing the row of stitches.

"Yes, boy?" she asked.

"The stitches… Weren't they supposed to hurt?" His words were hesitant and he looked at her in confusion. She watched him carefully.

"Yes, they were. Why?"

"I couldn't feel it," he said. "I can't feel it. Any of it." Winry, the poor girl, looked very confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Sun. The clothes. The stitches," Al offered, poking at his hand in demonstration. "I can't feel it." Looking worriedly at Pinako, he added, "I haven't been able to feel anything. Is that normal?"

Contemplating her adoptive grandson, she circled around him. As he turned to watch her, she said, "Keep looking forward."

"Yes, ma'am," he immediately complied. Standing behind his seat, she gently tugged a pinch of hair. No reaction. Brushed fingers along the back of his arm. Again, no reaction. Reached up with both hands and pressed them to either side of his face, careful to keep the digits out if his line of sight.

"Granny? What are you doing?"

"Can you feel that?"

"Feel what?" He tried to turn but found his progress impeded and she released him quickly when she realized he didn't understand nor comprehended what she was doing. As tears burned in her eyes and her heart caught in her chest, she realized the horror that had come to pass. Edward hadn't been the only injured one. Alphonse had been, too, and in a way that couldn't be patched over by a bandage or have automail affixed to.

"Oh, sweetheart!" she sobbed, taking him into her arms and was further saddened when the ten-year-old didn't respond. "Oh, how could this have happened?" She clung to him for a long while before releasing him again. Gently taking his hand, she drew him over to where Edward sat, staring off into the distance. "Edward," she called. He shifted eyes to her and the confused, lost Alphonse. She saw the hurt, anger, and jealousy there. "Ed… Alphonse… You weren't the only one hurt that night." Al shifted, wanting to get away from that dead, ugly look. He knew his brother was angry at him. The silence held for a long moment and just as it seemed the elder brother would speak, there was a knock at the door. "What poor timing!" bit out the old woman even as Edward mentally withdrew again.

And then came a time of revelations. As Edward and Alphonse listened to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang wax poetic about the State Alchemist program, Pinako glared at him in anger. And as he finished his pretty speech up, she snarled. "I don't think so," she bit out, startling the man as Edward and Alphonse sat silent, looking at the table. "Not after everything that those two went through! Edward losing his leg and Alphonse losing his entire ability to feel!" That caused the elder of the brothers to blink at his lap and Mustang to look at Al to assess him.

"I'm not sure I understand…" The Xingese-appearing man seemed uncertain, unsurprising really, and Pinako continued.

"Just today he broke a glass, sliced his hand open, and got stitches! Not once did he cry out in pain! Not even after I conducted some mild tests did he react! Putting him in a military situation where he cannot even know he's able to feel being injured is wrong beyond belief!" She jabbed a gnarled finger at the Lieutenant Colonel. "I want you to leave. Now."

"There is a possibility of regaining their bodies using military resources," he returned smoothly. "I am sure there are also doctors in Central that might be able to diagnose and fix his problem."

"I'm a doctor and I'm well versed with nerves, Lieutenant Colonel! I know it when I say there's not a medical treatment out there for Alphonse's condition and there's no medical procedure that can restore Edward's leg!" The two children were still sitting there, but Edward was looking at his brother in shock even as Al fought not to twist his hands up in his lap or do anything that might injure himself. He was rubbing at his legs like he'd been since sitting down and Pinako reached out to stop him, her angry face gentling in microseconds. Pulling the closer of his hands away, she turned it over and showed the redness.

"There is the possibility to fix it using military resources," reiterated Mustang, staring at the reddened and somewhat raw looking palms as Alphonse turned his other hand over to stare at it.

"And you're telling me you want them to commit human transmutation again, yes?" she growled. "You can see, Lieutenant Colonel, that I'm not lying." There was a silence.

"Do you not wish for them to at least try?" he asked softly. She returned his somber gaze.

"I am afraid that they will lose more than a leg or one of their five senses," she returned. "I cannot say I don't want them to be fixed, but I cannot say I am fine with the idea of them going into harm's way again."

They stared at each other and then Mustang nodded and fluidly stood. "I understand. The offer is still open if you so wish." He directed the words to the two children and observed them carefully. The younger of them was distracted, probably trying to divine the feeling of pain in his hands if the way he stared at them intently was any indication. The elder of the two was staring at the hands, too, before turning his head to look at the officer. And what he saw there surprised him. There was a kindling of flame there again.

Edward was in shock all over again. He wasn't sure what was worse, him losing a leg or Alphonse losing his entire ability to feel. Finding out about his brother's debilitation was, simply put, shocking. The hands he'd been rubbing on thighs were raw from the rough twill of his pants and Edward hadn't even thought about it at all. But to see the damage, to see the line of stitches on the back of a hand that flexed and showed it wasn't hampered by pain when it should have been, to know his brother wasn't feeling anything…

His mind swirled under the words Mustang had given, clung to the thought that perhaps the military had resources he'd not touched on yet. He considered it dearly even as Granny stopped another nervous tic from hurting Alphonse.

And then the enormity of his selfishness descended upon him. He had promised to protect his brother. He'd promised to defend him, to take care of him, and one accident. One accident that Alphonse had seemed to escape unharmed while he bled for their mistakes, he'd turned on the person he'd sworn to protect in anger and jealousy. He was horrible. He was so mean and selfish and cruel to his brother. A selfishness that he'd never thought he'd have towards his first friend, his best friend, and his only remaining blood family that he dared count. He'd wished Alphonse to know his pain and now he knew that Alphonse couldn't.

Alphonse couldn't feel.

At all.

Reaching a trembling hand out, he took the raw fingers of his brother's opposite hand from the one that Pinako still held gently and delicately shifted them. There was no grimace of pain, no flinching back, and Edward's pain returned threefold. He wanted to cry. He wanted to go back to the Gate and kill that damnable Truth. Because Truth had been cruel. Unbelievably cruel. It had taken his brother's ability to feel.

But there was a possible way of fixing it. And he was going to fix it. He was going to protect his brother like he should have.

Looking to Granny, he said, "I want automail." She looked at him sharply.

"What are you nattering on about?" growled the old woman.

"I want automail. I can't do anything like this." He glared at his leg. "I want automail." Pinako considered him carefully.

"That Lieutenant Colonel's words affected you, it seems," she said slowly. He shook his head.

"No. I screwed up…" He looked at Alphonse, who stared at him in astonishment. "I screwed up." He felt a bit feverish in his need to communicate his pain and fear and heartache. "I… I gotta fix you." Staring at his brother, he saw Alphonse's eyes widen a bit.

"Brother. I'll be fine."

"This isn't fine, Al!" he shouted, startling the other boy and earning a gasp of surprise as a result. "This!" He pointed with his still feeling right hand at Alphonse's damaged ones. "This isn't right! I got us into this mess. I'll fix it!"

Winry, who'd reentered the room upon the retreat of the two military people, watched the pair with wide eyes. "But, what are you going to do?" she asked warily.

"I'll get into the program," Ed said with surety. "Get access to those materials!" He grinned, though it was more feral than anything. He felt a bit mad at the moment, his mind raging with possibilities and determination. "And I'll fix Al so he can feel again!"

There was a heavy silence in the wake of his fevered words and Pinako sighed. "While I'm glad you're not semi-comatose anymore, are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Alphonse considered his brother as well before nodding firmly. "Then I'll join, too."

"No!" The word was not just half-shouted by Edward. It was spoken by Granny, too. She continued even as Ed blinked at her concurrence, her expression serious. "I won't have you in the military where you'll be in danger of getting hurt and not even know it. You're exceptionally vulnerable now, Al. You could get cut and not even know it. You could pass out from blood loss, infection, or any number of things. You could die in this state before you even realize you're hurt." Alphonse gave her a helpless look and he turned those eyes on Edward.

"She's right. It's bad enough I lost a leg, but…" Turning the thought over in his mind, he continued even as he gripped the bandaged stump and feeling sick when he felt a thin streak of pain. Al couldn't feel that anymore. "While not feeling pain sounds like a good thing, you rubbed your hands raw. What if we're told to do something dangerous and you get cut up or something? How long would it take for you to think to check yourself for blood? What if you broke an arm? Isn't that scary that you'd not notice it until you couldn't get something to function right?" The look Pinako gave him was one of astonishment and amazement.

"It is," admitted Al soberly, looking at his hands and seeing how much damage he'd done just recently to them. "You're right."

"But I'll fix this, Al. No worries." Gold eyes lifted to meet yellow and Alphonse slowly nodded.

"I believe you, Brother."

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Author's Note: This was a thought that I'd had when thinking about what the Gate had done to various people. It had not removed Mustang's eyes though it could have. It had removed Al's entire body even though it could have just cut off nerve signals. The thought was pretty unnerving (no pun intended, but it is freak-some).

Also, Edward retains both his flesh limbs due to not having to reach for Alphonse's soul and bring him back from the brink. So, not only is Alphonse keeping his body and losing feeling 'alternate universe', but Edward keeps his right arm, too. But could you imagine how careful Edward would be while near his brother, how protective the Rockbells would get, and how Alphonse being in such a condition is actually more finicky for the whole FMA plot? Al, who is Edward's conscience most of the time, would not as easily be able to follow along behind his brother.

If someone chooses to take this idea and run with it into an actual alternate universe story and delve into the possibilities, go right ahead. Just let me know in a PM or review so I can read it.