Title: Last Awakening
Author: WingedPanther73
Pairing(s)/Characters: Alphonse
Rating: PG
Summary: I find it interesting to consider what it's like to completely lose a major sense.
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist, its names and characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa.
Beta Reader: Sybil Rowan
Consciousness came to Alphonse suddenly, and with that burst of awareness, he knew that everything had changed. He hadn't opened his eyes. He couldn't close his eyes. He couldn't feel his eyes. He couldn't feel anything.
"Brother!" Alphonse felt instant, complete terror. He couldn't feel his body at all. Lifting his hand, he saw, instead, a gauntlet. The desire to clench his hand was translated into the gauntlet clenching, but he couldn't feel his fingers touching anything. He couldn't feel the joints in his knuckles shift. He couldn't feel the pressure of folds of flesh against each other within the joint as his fingers finished curling together.
"Edward!" His eyes hadn't blinked yet. He could see his wounded brother in the dim light. He was missing an arm and a leg. "Oh, no! Brother!"
There was no time to think as he scooped up his... smaller?... brother in his arms. Alphonse couldn't feel Edward's weight in his arms. As he fled from the room to the Rockbell place, he couldn't feel his lungs breathing, either. His chest didn't heave in and out to gasp for air. He wasn't breathing at all!
He pounded on the door as blood leaked from his brother's wounds. "Winry! Open up! Edward's in trouble!"
"Just a minute, Al!"
"He doesn't have a minute! He's dying!" That got motion from the house. Winry registered shock when she saw them, but was efficient in an emergency.
"Bring him in here."
Al had to duck through the doorway, but followed. He set Ed on the bed and stepped away, letting Winry do what she did best.
It was Pinako who made the observation. "You boys really screwed up this time, didn't you?"
"Yeah." He looked down at himself. He couldn't fit into the armor he was wearing and move it. He didn't remember what had happened after they finished the alchemical change, but it clearly hadn't worked. He was clearly this suit of armor, and Ed had paid dearly as well.
"Are you hungry, Al?"
The question sent a shock through him. He had no sense of hunger, fullness, or when he might be hungry. He had no sense of his bowels or bladder. He felt nothing. His only senses were sight and sound. He had no mouth, though he was somehow able to talk.
"No, Ma'am, I'm not. I think I'll just wait."
"Very well."
Al never slept again.