Hey, everyone! Here is yet another one of those weird ideas I came up with, and just had to write about. Heh, will the weird ideas never stop? (The answer is no, I don't think so. Not unless you know of a way to do a brain transplant, because I'm stuck with a crazy neurotic brain! hehe) Anyway, I have no idea whether this is any good or not, it's kind of an experimental fic, so please let me know your thoughts on it. (SakuraSagura, this is the fic I was telling you about. I especially want YOUR feedback on this one! Hehe)
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this fic, regardless of how strange the idea is. (Heck, all of my ideas are strange. Isn't that why you keep reading my fics?)
Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist. Yep, believe it or not, I don't own it. I'm trying to convince Ed and Al that I'm their real owner though. I think that I almost have Al convinced, but Ed's still pretty skeptical about it. Heh.
Edward was dying. The aftereffects of restoring Al's normal body had left him very weak. Now, he was bedridden and coughing up blood just like his teacher used to. He didn't have much time left.
Al wasn't ready to let go of his brother just yet, especially after all Ed had done for him. No, there must be a way to save him. When Al had lost his body, Ed had bound his soul to a suit of armor. Maybe AL could find something to bind Ed's soul to, but what? He didn't want to make his brother endure what he had had to endure for the rest of his life. He wanted him to live as normally as possible.
Al approached Winry with the question one day. Winry was leaning over a desk, reading a book, with several other books scattered around, some open, some closed. They were all about robotics. So, was WInry branching out her skills into other fields?
"Winry, I've been thinking about Brother…" Al began.
"I have too," interrupted WInry, "And I've been studying day and night, trying to find some way to save him."
That startled Al a little bit, though he realized it shouldn't have. Winry loved his brother almost as much as he himself did.
"Have you found anything?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said, "But it would require binding his soul. Are you even capable of doing that?"
"I think so," answered Al, "I've seen the Gate, after all. What have you found?"
"I've been studying robotics a lot lately, because I think that if you could bind Ed's soul to it, I could create an android body for him. That way, he'd look and feel almost the same as with a human body," said Winry.
"You mean you want to turn my brother into a robot?" Al said.
WInry turned around and faced him with an annoyed look on her face. "You want to save him, don't you? Have you been able to come up with anything better?"
Al shook his head, and admitted he hadn't. "I had actually come over to ask you what I could bind his soul too, but I guess that you already answered that for me."
Winry sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. So, do we do it, or don't we?"
Al shrugged. "I don't see any better way. We can't just stand back and let brother die, but we mustn't let him know that we're doing this. He'd kill us."
"Agreed," said Winry, "It'll just be our little secret."
Over the course of the next few weeks, WInry gathered all the materials required to build such a robot and began assembling them. It was a good thing that she was an auto-mail mechanic, or this would have taken her forever. Al dropped by every so often to check on her progress and to remind her that Edward's chin was more pointed than that or that his hair went past his shoulders. Winry would sigh, shrug, and make the necessary adjustments. It really was difficult making a robot that looked exactly like someone you knew.
Finally, she made the last connection, and she was done. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. Phew! That was a big job, but there was no time to rest. Edward's prognosis wasn't for more than a few days longer, at most.
"Al," called Winry, "Come here for a moment, will you?" Al walked over to where Winry was kneeling beside the android, and jumped.
"If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn that that was brother, and not an android look-alike."
"I'll take that as a compliment," said Winry as she reached behind the android's neck and applied a little pressure with her hand. A small door opened, showing a plain, flat sheet of metal.
"This is where his blood seal will have to go," said Winry. "I wanted to make sure that it was in a safe place, so that he wouldn't have to constantly guard it."
"That was very smart of you," said Al, who proceeded to grab a knife, slit his finger, and draw a design on the metal surface with his blood. Winry closed the little door again, and then sat in silence, thinking.
"So, what do we do now?" she asked.
"Well," said Al, scratching his head, "I can't bind his soul until he has left his body, but we'll have to be quick about it, because if I wait too long, it would be too late."
Winry thought for another moment, and then said, "We need to get his body into his room before that happens, so that time will be on our side. Of course, we can't let him know what we're doing. How much of the time does he sleep?"
"Most of the time," said Al, sadly, "He's really weak."
Winry cast her eyes down at the floor, and muttered, "I see," than snapped her attention back at Al and said, "Well, then let's hurry up and get this thing in his room."
The two people carefully carried the android into Edward's room, and lay it on the floor. Thankfully, Edward was asleep. Winry grabbed a sheet and threw it over the android, so that Edward wouldn't see it if he woke up.
Al and Winry heard some irregular breathing coming from Edward's general direction, so the two spun around and looked at Ed. Edward opened his eyes. "Al…"
Al grabbed Ed's hand and held it tight. "I'm here, Brother."
"Where's Winry?" Ed asked.
"I'm right here, Ed," she said, stepping up and grasping his other hand.
Edward smiled, and said, "Good, I'm glad that I could see you both one last time." He paused for a moment, and then added, "I can't hang on any longer. I have to go. I love you." With that, his arms went limp, and his head fell back onto his pillow. He was gone.
"Al, hurry!" shouted Winry. Al rushed over to the android and placed his hands on the body.
"Brother, please don't leave us yet. We want you…we need you…so badly!" The air compressed in the room as the energy level soared. Al's hands shook as the massive amount of energy coursed through them. Winry gasped for air. This was one powerful transmutation.
Finally, the energy level died down and the air pressure returned to normal. Al removed his hands from the android's chest, and waited. He hoped that he'd succeeded. Winry took the sheet and covered up Edward's dead body, just in case the transmutation was a success. He didn't need to figure out that he was a robot yet. It would be too big a shock, after coming back to life.
Al and Winry were both on edge as they waited for something to happen. If only there were a way to monitor whether he was alive or not, but how could that be done when it was an android body?
After what seemed like an eternity, the android's eyes fluttered open. "Al? Winry? Am I still alive?"
Al and Winry were so overjoyed that they threw their arms around Ed and cried. If felt a little strange, hugging an android, but he was still Ed, android or not.
When the two finally released Ed, he stood up and examined his body. "How did I survive? I thought I had died."
"You did," Winry admitted, "But Al…transmuted you."
Edward gasped. "He resurrected my body and soul?"
Winry shifted uneasily. "Sort of." Edward threw his arms around Al and thanked him for saving his life. He then threw one of his arms around Winry too, and the three sat there, crying. Actually, only Al and Winry were crying. Ed couldn't, and he couldn't figure out why.
By and by, the three stood up. "So, how do you feel?" asked Winry.
"Never better," said Ed, stretching his arms and taking a deep breath. Yes, she made him capable of breathing to make it easier to communicate. While speech didn't require him to breathe, certain forms of body language, such as sighing, did.
"I'm glad to hear it," said WInry, as she smiled a very wide grin. His body was truly her greatest masterpiece.
Later that day, Winry was preparing dinner in the kitchen when her grandmother. "He's going to notice that something's going on when he find that he doesn't have an appetite," said Pinako. Winry gasped. How had Granny known about this? Maybe all grandmothers were that intuitive.
Winry sighed. "I know he'll have to find out sooner or later, but I don't want to hit him with the truth just yet. It would come as too big of a shock to him."
"The sooner he knows they he's no longer human, the sooner he'll be able to come to terms with it," said Pinako.
But I just can't tell Edward that we bound his soul to an android body!" Winry cried.
Just outside the kitchen, overhearing the conversation, was Edward. What were they talking about? He wasn't a robot…was he? He felt normal, well almost, and he thought and felt just like a human being. How could he possibly be a robot?
Edward reached back to scratch his neck, but applied a little more pressure to that area than he normally would have. The little door on the back of his neck popped open. Startled, he reached his hand into the opening, and touched the sheet of metal. He gasped. He would know the feeling of a blood seal anywhere. They had bound his soul to this body, this…android…body!
He buried his face in his hands and let out a scream as he dropped to his knees. This was why he couldn't cry. This was why he had no appetite. This was why he felt in perfect health. He was nothing but a robot now!
Everyone came running into the room to see what the matter was. Winry was about to ask him, when she noticed the hatch on the back of his neck was open. He knew. She went and pressed it closed, and then knelt down beside Edward.
"Why didn't you tell me that you had bound my soul to a robot?" Edward cried, "Of rather, why didn't you tell me that you were going to do so? This body had to have taken a long time to make! Why did you hide this from me?"
Winry liften Edward's chin and made him stare into her eyes. "Would you have let us if we had told you?" Edward shook his head. Winry continued to explain, "Al and I weren't ready to give you up, Ed, we love you too much."
"But I'm not even human anymore!" Edward cried.
Winry sighed. "It's true that you don't have a human body, but your soul, the thing that makes one human, is still intact inside of you. To me and Al, you're still human."
"But I'm not human to anyone else!" Ed practically shouted.
"Does it even matter?" asked Winry. "Doesn't it only matter what your loved ones think of you? No one else's opinions matter."
Edward sighed. He knew she was right, but he just felt the need to argue with her right then. "How am I supposed to live in this body? I can't live a normal life, you know."
Winry grasped one of his hands and held it tight. He thought it strange that he could feel her grip. Winry must've created an artificial nervous system for him. She must've poured her whole heart into this project. He choked back a sob.
"I know that you won't have a normal life, Edward, but you can try to live a near-normal life. Even Al managed to live a near-normal life when his soul was still bound to that armor, and I made your body specifically so that you could blend into the crowd, and not stand out."
Edward sighed. He knew that he should be thanking her for this, but he wasn't ready to accept his fate yet. "Can I still do alchemy?" he asked.
"I don't know," Winry said, shaking her head. "Al could when he was in that suit of armor, so maybe you can. Why don't you just try it and find out?"
Ed clapped his hands together and grabbed a nearby object. He felt for the alchemical energy to course through. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to concentrate harder. Finally, he gave up. He had lost the ability.
"I'm so sorry, Ed," said Winry, almost crying.
"Don't be," said Ed, standing up. "I would've been dead right now had you and Al not done what you did. Alchemy was what got me into this mess in the first place, so maybe it's a good thing that I can't do it anymore." He turned to leave, but stopped just before exiting the room, and muttered, "Thanks for everything, by the way." He then walked out of the room.
Winry and Al sat together in complete silence for a moment or two. Winry looked up into Al's and and asked, "Did we do the right thing?"
Al coughed. "I think so. Brother is grateful to us too, though he's having a hard time accepting his situation. It will take him some time to get used to the idea. It'll take some time for all of us to get used to it."
Winry nodded. "I understand that. Poor Ed, though. I hope he's going to be alright."
Al didn't reply. Just then, Pinako stepped up and said, "Well, are you two going to come and eat your dinner before it gets cold?" The two chuckled, stood up, and followed Pinako into the dining room. It was kind of sad that Edward wouldn't be joining them, but at least he was alive. At least he was alive.
Well, there's the story. Do you want to see it continue? Leave me a review, and let me know what you think!