I always wanted to ask Al if he hated me. If he hated me for what happened. I was always afraid of what the answer would be, but there was always some hope left in me. That is until-
I was walking down the path that led to the house that Winry and old granny Pinako lived in when suddenly Al disrupted my train of thought. "Brother, what was it that you were going to ask me this morning?" I smile and wave my hand at him dismissively. "It's nothing, it's stupid." I wonder if he thinks I'm acting suspicious. Like I'm trying to lie about it. Well I mean technically I am. "No it's not stupid, brother. You can always tell me." "Of course I can tell you. You're my brother. I swear it's nothing, just forget it. We better hurry back to Winry before she throws a wrench at us." Al chuckles and we run the rest of the way back to the house.
For a split second I was worried that he'd force me to spit it out. I was so nervous. I guess he forgot about it. I casually open the door when the smell of stew catches my attention. I turn to granny Pinako and she has a small grin on her face. "Edward do you mind setting up the table?" "I don't mind." As I said that a small grin could be seen on her face. I brush it off and walk to the kitchen when I see it. A glass of milk right in the spot where I usually sit.
"Granny, ARE YOU CALLING ME SHORT!!??"
"Of course I am Edward. Drink that milk and you'll become big and strong."
"HEY, AT LEAST I'M NOT THE SIZE OF A FLEA LIKE YOU."
"WELL YOU'RE ALMOST THERE."
"SAYS YOU."
I start setting up the table as my anger settles. I place the spoons and the forks in a slightly symmetrical way. I then turn to grab the napkins which were behind me.
After I finished setting the table I turned to Alphonse and smiled. "When I get your body back I'm setting the table to look perfect just for you. Al laughs a bit and pats my back. "It's okay brother. You don't have to do that." I look at him an obviously stubborn look starting to show. "Are you sure? I want it to be special." "Yes I'm sure brother. Now go help granny serve the food. I'm pretty sure the foods ready." I nod and walk to the kitchen where granny is. "Hey, old hag, is the food ready?" She turned to me an agitated look settled on her face. "Yes yes it is."
After eating I made my way upstairs with Alphonse so I could go to sleep. One of the good things about Al's armor body is he could keep watch over me at night in case something goes wrong.
I throw myself onto the bed like a little kid and curl into myself. "Goodnight Al." I say trying to surpress a yawn. "Night brother."
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When I woke up from my sleep I noticed I didn't see Al. I rub my eyes get dressed and walk downstairs. I stop in my tracks and listen in to a conversation between Al and Winry. "You don't mean that Alphonse. Do you?" Winry asked, a hint of sadness evident in her voice. "I do mean it, I'm sorry Winry, but I tried to stop him." I heard a loud clank and a thud. "You idiot!! You know how much Edward was afraid of hearing that answer? He always ALWAYS blamed himself for what happened and you blame him too? That's just not right. Why do you blame him?" "He took my body from me." I felt my eyes sting. No I can't. I can't cry.
Suddenly Winry let's out a light gasp and I notice she was staring back at me in horror. Then Alphonse turns around and sees me, he freezes in place. In a panic I run out of the house. I keep running until I find myself lost in the woods. I collapse against a tree and sob. I couldn't stop sobbing. "Of course he blamed you, you idiot. You took his body away from him. Of course he's gonna blame you." I bury my head in my knees and continue to cry.
After a while of crying all my tears suddenly dried out and I was left with a shaky voice and a runny nose. I look up at the sky and it seemed about noon. How much time has passed? Shakily I bring myself to stand up and look around. "Where even am I?" I start walking the way I hope is back to Winry's. As I was walking I noticed a fox was staring at me taking a defensive stance. I then noticed that I had subconsciously transmuted my automail into a sword like thing. "Oh shit, It's not what it looks like." I wave my hands dismissively at the fox. Quickly I try to transmute my automail back to normal. Suddenly the fox attacks me to the ground. I try to push it off, but it had already bitten from my left arm. I let out a scream of pain and with all my strength push it off causing the fox to pull a chunk of flesh off my arm. I whimpered in pain. Quickly I stand up and run not caring in which direction I was running. As long as I got away from the fox.
I turn to look behind me as I was running noticing the fox was nowhere in sight. Suddenly I tripped over something and fell down what seemed to be a small hill. At this point I couldn't hold in the tears I didn't notice I was holding in. Laying on the ground I started to cry. As I was crying I try to stand up, but the loss of blood kept me from standing up. My vision was blurry and I was developing a headache. Soon enough I was unconscious.
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When my eyes opened it was already dark out. I was so very weak from the blood loss. With all the strength left I stand up and start walking. The smell of food in the air was guiding me. I was so very hungry. I walk and walk till I see the house in the distance. Slowly I make my way to the house in front of me.
When I reach the doorstep I collapsed onto the ground. My eyes were getting heavy again. Did they even look for me? Do they care? I knock on the door as loud as I could as my consciousness was slowly fading away. Before I could pass out I see Winry and Alphonse looking at me in a panic.
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A couple hours earlier.
"Oh my god Alphonse!!! Look what you did. You made Edward mad!!! " Winry yelled as she threw her wrench at Alphonse. "I'm so sorry. I didn't- I-." Al let out a noise of distress as he ran out the door to try and find Edward. "Brother! Where are you?" He yelled as he ran the opposite direction of Edward.
About two hours into his search he heard a scream of pain which sounded awfully familiar to his brothers. "Brother?"
If Alphonse was able to cry tears would be streaming down his amour. He searched and searched until the sun started setting. Hesitantly he made his way back to Winry's. As he opened the door she looked hopeful for a second before looking disappointed. "I thought Ed was with you." Al looked down at the floor before replying. "I couldn't find him."
"Oh." Winry then had another hopeful look on her face. "Edward likes to eat. Maybe he'll come if he smells food?" "WINRY, THAT'S A GREAT IDEA."
And so they started to cook. Alphonse set the table and cleaned while Winry cooked. As Winry was just about to finish there was a loud knock on the door. Both Alphonse and Winry looked at each other hopefully before rushing to the door. Quickly they opened it and they were horrified. Edward was lying in a small pool of his own blood and he was passed out. "Winry call an ambulance, hurry!!" And so in a hurry Winry called the ambulance as Al tried his best to stop the bleeding.
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Quickly the paramedics rushed into the house and took Edward. Only one person was allowed to go with Edward so Winry allowed Alphonse to go with his brother. The ambulance rushed off. A couple of times Edward woke up only to fall back to sleep again. In those moments Alphonse seemed to regret everything and he felt so guilty. He was just so mad at the body he was trapped in that he took it out on his brother.
He knew his brother did it to help him. Hell, he even sacrificed his arm to get his own brother back. How many people can say that their sibling loves them so much that they'd sacrifice a limb for them? Not very many. From experience he could say. There were so many siblings who hated each other so much. Alphonse just couldn't understand why. He loved his brother so much so he just couldn't understand.
His brother was rushed to surgery. The doctors suspected that whatever bit him might've had rabies. Alphonse was afraid. Winry had also met up with Al. She decided to keep him company.
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It was a long wait. Five hours to be exact. Alphonse was afraid the whole time. What if his brother died? What would he do then? How would he handle it? Alphonse just couldn't handle the thought of that. He would shake in his amour and although he couldn't cry he let out sounds almost as if he were.
At one point Alphonse couldn't handle sitting there so he stood up and walked out. He paced back and forth for an hour stuck in his own thoughts. Afraid that he had messed up. That he'd never get to apologize for what he'd said and although he knew Edward wouldn't blame him he was still afraid. He had to apologize to Edward no matter what. Edward had to survive he just had to.
When he went back to the place where Winry was he saw her talking to the doctor. He saw her smiling. He was hopeful, so he ran.
Turns out that Ed would be just fine. Nothing went wrong, although he lost a massive amount of blood. They said he'd be weak for quite some time. They said to make sure he drank his milk, Alphonse and Winry had laughed knowing that Ed would hate that, thinking that people were making fun of his height. Alphonse and Winry were happy.
During that time Alphonse made sure to buy plenty of milk. Hughes and his family visited while Edward was still unconscious. They brought gifts and such.
All through this Edward was having a nightmare of the night they tried to bring back their mother. It was a bad dream, but it soon ended and was replaced by a dream of him and his brother as younger versions of themselves. They were playing in the sun. A field of flowers. Transmuting flowers into crowns and such. Their mom was watching joyfully, she was proud of her young boys. She soon joined them in the field of flowers and played with them like any other kind mother would with their child.
When Edward awoke he was crying. Alphonse was worried for his brother, but soon found out his brother was perfectly fine. He took that moment to apologize to his brother. He told him how he was just frustrated that he had to deal with that mess of a body and how he missed eating. And so he took it out on his own brother. Edward weakly and awkwardly hugged and brother and explained that he forgave him.
Winry watched the exchange with tearful eyes.