Disclaimer:

…………..Okay, well, I'd better just say it; I don't own the rights for FMA, okay? Are you all happy now! Haha, nah, it's okay!

Library of mini FMA shorts!

Too heavy—

Winry couldn't put her finger on it. She just couldn't imagine what had happened to bring the Elric boys to her door, soaked to the bone, and trailing a bunch of automail behind them. Alphonse had to support his brother from falling since both his leg and arm were detached from the nerves.

"Winry, I need another arm and leg…"

Ed and Al were on another "unofficial" missions, chasing down a thief who broke into Central bank. They followed him into a forest on the outskirts of town on foot. The thief didn't have a chance to steal anything, so why were they chasing him? Why else? Obviously, on his way out running from the police, he bumped into them and called them names, more specifically, the "s" word, short, among others. Al was usually far behind when his brother was in one of THOSE moods, but this time, for some reason, he was keeping pace and even went ahead of him sometimes. Al, curious, looked down (yes, DOWN) at Ed. He was breathing hard and sweating.

"Brother, are you okay? You look tired."

"I'm… fine…! Lets keep …going!"

Ed's automail made a lot of cranking and grinding noises as he ran, and soon, it caused him to stop altogether. Al passed him and then he noticed that he was alone. He turned, jogging in his place. Ed had his hands on his legs and his head was down as he caught his breath. Still jogging in place, Al looked from his brother to the running thief and back down to Ed.

"Come on, brother! He's getting away!"

"What's the point…? We'll NEVER catch up to him now! My automail is just too heavy after Winry changed it…it's totally weighing me down…"

"But brother, you've never let anyone who has called you small get away with it before!"

Edward's head shot back up, an odd expression on his face; is brother was right! Al was into it, too, since the thief had insulted him, too, by calling him a tin can. Man, Ed may have been somewhat of a bad influence on his brother, but that didn't matter. What mattered was getting revenge!

"You're right, Al! We can't just let him get away with what he did! We have to keep moving, but…"

Ed tried to move again, but the weight of the new arm and leg seemed to be holding him in that one spot. He frowned and pouted.

"I'm too tired to even MOVE now…! I need to stop."

"Okay, I'll go and catch him for us and you can rest a little. I'll be back in no time at all!"

"Okay, I'll catch up soon!"

Ed waved off his brother, and sat down next to a pond. He picked up a pebble and tossed it in, watching as it fell deeper and deeper… how deep did that thing go, anyway? Huh. Ed did feel really tired, and the automail Winry installed two weeks ago started to feel like they weighed a ton. Why had Winry outfitted him with such heavy materials, anyway? Oh-yeah, she said she was worried about all the fights he had been in and didn't want him to get killed. Sure, he understood that she wanted him to be safe, but maybe at the same time… she WANTED him to come back to her with busted automail?

Sound crazy? Maybe not. Nearly every time he'd broken it he would go to her and she built some sort of flaw into it! Anyway, it's not like he was complaining or anything! It gave him an excuse to forget his military duties and go and see her… He and Winry had gotten a bit closer, and even Al has found someone who he had a crush on back home, …but that didn't fully make up for her trying to kill him with automail!

Ed looked up. You could barely see the sky through the dense canopy. He sat there for a moment before taking out his silver pocket watch. Flipping it open, his eyes laid on the small message he wrote in it. He still couldn't believe that Winry had looked at it that one time, despite him telling her not to… He had made her sad that time and that killed him… the silence around him, though, was so calming and peaceful-

"CAW!"

Ed nearly fell over as the loud, irritating sound had reached his ears. He looked up and saw a black crow flying next to him, just above his head. He glared and waved his arms around as he shouted at it in an angry tone.

"Caw!"

"You stupid bird! You should know better than to scare someone who is lost in thought like that!"

"Caw!"

"WHAT! WHO are you calling short!"

"Caw!"

"THAT'S it! I ought to EAT you for that!"

The crow wasn't happy about that, and it flew at Ed, pecking him on the head and flapping its wings in his face. Ed wailed, shouting 'I'm sorry' at it several times while trying to make it go away. The crow finally flew off after Ed had hit it with his automail arm. It flew up into a tree. Ed cheered in victory, but then it struck him when he looked to his hand and saw that… his watch was gone! One minute it was in his hand, and the next…

He looked up to the tree, on the branch that extended above the middle of the pond, and there, dangling in the crow's mouth was his watch! The bird taunted him and Ed rose to his feet and walked to the tree.

"Oh, you ASKING for it, you stupid birdy!"

Ed got his footing and started to climb up.

In another area, not too far away, the thief had double back down the trail he had taken running away. He stopped on the path and looked around, guessing that he had lost his tall pursuer. He took one more step forward, but a light shone from under him and he looked down in horror as he found that he had walked onto a transmutation circle! Bars of clay formed from the ground and created a cage around him. He was completely trapped! He sank down to the ground in defeat as Al emerged from the bushes.

"Aha! I got you! But don't you worry, I'm sure the proper authorities will be here any moment to take you away, and then you can apologize to my brother and me for what you said."

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…!"

The thief was whining, which Al found to be kind of funny. He turned to the direction where he had left his brother and called him.

"Ed! I caught the guy! Come and look!"

There was no reply. Al told the thief not to go anywhere, jokingly, and ran off to find his brother. He stopped when he reached the spot by the pond where Ed was before, but didn't see him!

"Brother! Where did you go?"

"Shhh! I'm up here!"

Al looked up and gasped. Ed was on the far branch of the tree that was suspended above the pond! He hung onto dear life as he slowly inched towards a bird on the end of the weak-looking branch. Al was worried. Ed wasn't exactly the best climber…

"Ed! What are you doing way up there!"

"That stupid bird stole my watch! I NEED that!"

"Caw! Caw!"

The black bird hopped around a little and Ed slowly reached out for it with his left hand.

"That's it… nice birdy… good birdy…Come to uncle Ed, you freaking stupid bird…!"

The bird tilted its head as Ed reached out for it and then it glared and squawked loudly. It opened its mouth and then flew off, dropping the watch. Ed just barely caught it before it fell into the deep abyss below. He sighed and then praised himself. He held up the watch and showed his brother, safe on the bank.

"Ha ha! I got it! Mind over bird-brains wins again! Who said I never use my head, huh, Al? See?"

"That's nice, brother, but I would feel a lot better if you come back down now, before you LAND on your head and get hurt! That branch you're on doesn't look very stable!"

"Okay, here I come!"

Ed slowly backed up (w/o turning around) and headed back for the way down, until, all of a sudden, both Elric brothers hear a loud cracking sound. Ed looked back, horrified, at seeing that part of the branch behind him was breaking. I guess… not only was the automail too heavy for HIM, but it was too much for the tree, too! It was too weak to hold him! Despite the yells from his brother to get off, Ed couldn't move an inch. It cracked some more, and then…

"Oh, crud…!"

Just like that, the branch broke! Ed held onto it, hoping that in some way, it would brace his crash against the cold water below. It fell into the pond, and it took Ed with it. Al ran to the edge of the water just as his brother surfaced, kicking his feet and gasping for air. Ed tried to find something to grab onto to keep himself up, but there was only water! Though he was normally a good swimmer, his fear and the added weight made it hard for him to concentrate on swimming. Ed's automail weighed him down and he started to sink deeper as he got too tired to keep himself up. The running he did earlier only did to make him more tired and now, less able to swim. He was already up to his neck in the water and then to his chin. He had to lift his head so he could breathe still, but water occasionally spilled into his mouth, anyway. Al ran into the shallow part of the large pond, up to his knees (THAT is SHALLOW!) WHEN Ed shouted at him.

"No, Al! Don't get wet!"

"But brother, you'll drown!"

"You can't! If you get in-"

Water filled his mouth again and he coughed before he could finish his sentence.

"-in the water, your seal will be washed away!"

"But BROTHER!"

But Ed didn't hear the call. He went under the water again, and this time, he didn't come back up. Al gasped and yelled for him again, but didn't go in any further, knowing that his brother was right. He'd die if the seal was gone. He got out of the water and looked around, desperate to find something- ANYTHING that he could use to save his older brother. He then spotted a couple of large stones and some dried up leaves nearby and got an idea.

Ed was quickly being pulled into the deepest part of the pond by the weight of his overly heavy body, even though he still tried to make an attempt to swim back up. He wouldn't be able to hold his breath, and swimming wasn't getting anywhere, so he knew that there was only one choice left! It would be painful, he knew, but he had to do it!

Winry had told him she installed a quick-release lever on both his arm and leg in case he needed to get them off in a hurry, and the pain wouldn't be as bad, she said. He wrapped his watch around his left arm for safe-keeping and he rolled up his pant leg and felt around for it. The fact that it was pitch-black down there wasn't helping. He finally found it and firmly took hold of it with both hands.

'Well, here goes nothing…! One… two…'

Ed closed his eyes and gritted his teeth and on three, he pulled it. His nerves instantly disconnected from the leg and started to sink down into the pond. Ed nearly let out the air he'd been holding in, but he managed, until most of the pain had turned to numbness from the ice-cold water. He then slipped off one half of his coat so he could find the lever for his arm. He could feel himself shiver violently from the cold, feeling also that the skin and the fingers on his flesh hand were starting to tingle. He finally found the lever and prepared himself like before, but when he pulled on it, it wouldn't move. He cursed himself. He was cold, still too heavy and sinking, too tired to swim, and now his arm wouldn't come free! If that wasn't bad enough, he was getting to the point where he just couldn't hold his breath anymore! Sheesh, what a dumb way to die… Ed pulled on the lever once more, not even expecting it to give, but it DID, and when it came loose, he opened his mouth as if to scream and he had no more air left! He cursed himself unconsciously. The shock couldn't have hit him at a worse time, as his head got light and his lungs felt like they were on fire. His vision blurred… now, he KNEW he couldn't make it back up. He looked back up at the surface as he drifted into unconsciousness, but just then, he saw something, a rope tied on a stone sinking down towards him.

'Al…'

He thought, as he lazily reached for it.

Al waited rather impatiently by the tree, holding onto the other end of the rope that he looped over the part of the tall branch that hadn't broken and went strait down into the water. He finally felt a slight tug on it and started to pull it out. Soon, a patch of blonde came up from the water, one weak hand gripping the rope from what Al could see. He continued pulling until most of his brother's body was up out of the water. He was holding weakly onto the rope, soaking wet and shivering. He was also missing his fake limbs.

When Al pulled his brother completely onto the shore, Ed was lying on his stomach. Al patted him and rubbed circle on his back until he was done spitting up water, freeing his lungs of the filthy substance. When he could breathe again, he took a deep breath and lifted his head a little. He shivered again against the cold air around them.

"There, there, brother…"

"T-thanks, Al… I owe you one…"

"You're lucky to be alive! Now, haven't I told you a hundred times not to so dumb thing like that?"

"Yeah, y-you did… I'm sorry…! … Hey, did that guy ever apologize..?"

"I'm sure he was plenty sorry for what he said."

Al sighed. Relieved that his brother was at least alive. He wouldn't be surprised if he got a cold, or maybe pneumonia after this.

"We should get you to a hospital, brother."

"No…"

Al looked down at him, somewhat surprised at his brother's response. Surely Ed knew he should go get checked out, but maybe he had another idea- something he had to do before that. Ed moved his left arm in front of him and rested his chin on it, taking a short rest.

"…A doctor isn't who I need to see right now…"

Winry didn't understand why the Elric brothers were there, standing on her doorstep, without so much as a call. Both were wet, Ed more than Al, and Al had to support his brother from falling, as he chose to stand to face their friend; his automail parts trailed behind them, also wet. Winry would have feared the worst until Edward's expression changed and he gave her a soft smile.

"Winry, I need another arm and leg…"

Winry smiled also. She silently praised herself, as her lure had worked again! Ed and Al were home again, and she could make an excuse to keep them there for quite a while! Al let go of Ed, when he looked up at him, expecting what would happen next, because he fell right into her arms and she led them inside.