Big brother! Look what I did!

Brother? Why did Mom have to die?

Big brother! Help me!

When we find the Philosopher's Stone-!

-the Philosopher's Stone-

-Philosopher's Stone-

-Stone-

Goodbye, Ed.

"GAAHHH! URKK!" Edward Elric had enough sense in him to bend over the side of the bed and get sick. He felt himself shake before callous fingers helped him back onto his pillows before he fell in the puddle of his own vomit

"Al?" Ed whispered, his eyesight blurry as he looked up at the dark, hulking figure above him.

"Huh? Hey, Alphonse, you sure you don't know this guy?" The figure asked, despite the voice seeming detached from its body. And the voice sounded-feminine...

"No, I don't. I just found him on the side of the road..." Another voice said out of his line of vision, sounding masculine, and only slightly familiar...

"And you brought him here instead of a hospital? Are you mad?"

"No! Of course not! You were just the first I thought of, and if he's a axe murderer, you can handle yourself! Like that one time that guy broke into your house, and you knocked his head in, despite him having a gun!"

"I don't tolerate idiots." The...was it a woman? told the other.

"Well, I need to get back to work. Call me when he's able to talk coherently?"

"Whatever. Get the hell out of my house, you ungrateful whelp!"

The other 'eep'ed and apparently left, if the slight scuffling of boots was any indication.

Edward heard most of the conversation, despite fading in and out of reality. He was freezing and on fire at the same time. He moved to kick his blankets off, but his legs wouldn't obey his brain's commands.

"M-my legs..." Edward whimpered from cracked and dry lips. He felt a cold sensation melting on his poor lips. A ice cube?

"Just stay quiet. I'll get something for the pain." The woman said, and the dark silhouette left his field of vision. Ed waited until it was dead quiet before he attempted to sit up, only his right arm actually responding to pull himself up, tipping over and off the bed. Someone must've cleaned up the puke, as he smelled it nowhere nearby, despite landing on the same side he had gotten sick on.

Ed groaned weakly, coughing as he landed on his hard and metal arm.

Wait...metal...? He could've sworn...his mind raced, despite the pain in his temples. Does that mean only Al got his original body back? Just as well. He was an idiot for dragging Al into the mess in the first place. Al...where was Al? Where was he? The woman called a guy 'Alphonse', but he sounded nothing like HIS Alphonse. What about Rose? Mustang, Hawkeye...Havoc, Breda, Falman...

"What are you doing out of bed?" A voice yelled, a loud clatter, footfalls heavy as...she? It felt female. Females were generally softer-skinned then males...but that didn't matter as she easily picked him up and back into his bed. So strong if she could lift him up as easily as Major Armstrong could...or was he that small? Ugh, he must be sick if he just called himself small.

"Who...?" Ed's voice cracked, coughing a bit.

"The name's Kira. Kira Mustang. Do you know who you are?"

"Ed...ward...El...ric..." Ed gasped out around the ice cube she had reapplied to his lips. "Al...where's Al...?"

"He left. He'll be back when you can talk without coughing blood." Kira told him, pulling the ice cube away and holding a bottle to his lips. "Take a good, long drink."

Edward obeyed without question. There was hostility, yes, but if she truly wanted to kill him...she would've already. He was weak, defenseless. Unable to breathe or talk properly, let alone yell or scream.

The drink was cold and thick on his throat, coating the cracking dryness that lined his throat. It also made a pleasant tingling run through his limbs and make his eyelids seal themselves back into a deep sleep.

Kira sighed as she placed the bottle down on the bedside table and took up her patient's clothes so she could patch up the rips and tears.

"Edward Elric..." She said to herself, looking the boy up and down. A crinkle sounded from the jacket she had in her lap. Curious, she patted around for pockets until she came across one. Digging her pale hand in and clasped onto the source of the crinkling.

The culprit was an envelope, with EDWARD ELRIC scrolled across it in a masculine script.

"Tch. I'll give it to him when he's stronger." She decided, throwing it into the bedside drawer where it could be promptly forgotten.