A/N: Go ahead and yell at me, but I just had this idea and I had to write it down. I have watched quite a few of the Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemis: Brotherhood, but I skip around a lot. I'm having trouble capturing Al. I see him as a boy with a child-like innocence to him who always thinks of others, not even considering himself. Can anyone help me out with him?
Ed sprinted down the dusty road as the sun began to fade behind the land, ignoring his brother's complaints of kicking up dirt on his armor. Ed had finally found some time in-between leads to take a break and go visit Winry. While he wouldn't admit it, he was extremely excited to see the familiar blonde girl-becoming a woman. Through his time away from her and the constant ache to see her, he had begun to understand maybe he wanted to be more than friends with her.
When he finally reached the Rockbell house's front door he leisurely pulled it open and with a relaxed stance called out, "Winry!" The house seemed still and Ed immediately got a creeping feeling of unease. The feeling continued to spread through him, crawling up his spine and invading his mind when his call was returned with silence. "Winry?" He called again in a more cautious voice. At that moment Al reached the door and began scolding Ed.
"Brother, you shouldn't yell so loudly. What if Winry is sleepi-" Al was cut off when groan echoed through the house, sending Ed bolting from the doorway and towards the workshop where the sound had originated from. As he neared the room the putrid scent of blood began to sting at his nose resulting in him running even faster. Ed felt the familiar rush of panic which set him even more on edge. He threw the door open, his eyes frantically searching the room for the person the groan belonged to.
When they landed on the red and blonde blob, he felt a rush of dizziness and he had to grip the door tightly so as to not faint on the spot. Al joined him quickly and screamed Winry's name. There, lying in a puddle of her own blood, lay Winry clutching where her left leg was supposed to be which had been replaced by a blood soaked sheet that was covering the mutilated limb. Ed was quickly by her side, ordering Al to call a doctor. He barely noticed when Al left, too focused on the twisted expression of pain on Winry's face.
"Winry, I'm going to move the sheet and look at it, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, pushing the cloth aside to see the injury which looked like her leg had literally been ripped off by how mangled it was. Her leg, up to her mid-thigh, was gone. "Al!" Ed screamed, fear turning his veins to ice as he looked at his childhood friend bleeding. He put an arm around her shoulders and brought her sideways into his chest. "Come on Winry, you can't leave me. Who'll put up with me constantly breaking my automail? Who'll throw wrenches at me and call me an alchemy freak? I need you, so hang on." His words became strangled, barely escaping his mouth. Al came running back in then, staring at the terrifying scene before him.
"Brother, the doctor will be here in an hour. For now we need to try and stop the bleeding." Ed nodded jerkily, not fully absorbing the information. He motioned for Al to come over and once Al was kneeling beside him Ed placed Winry in his arms.
"I need more sheets, I need a tourniquet." He muttered, scrambling around the workshop and knocking things over before he found several sheets and ripped the rope off of the water bucket. He hurried back to Winry's side, settling beside her bloody sheet covered stump. "Al, look away." Al turned his head to the side, grateful he didn't have to see the condition Winry was in since it would probably destroy his concentration and cool head. Ed quickly tore away the sheet and lifted her leg, sliding the rope under it before tying it around the stump.
"Ed." Winry groaned, tossing her head to the side. Ed was surprised she knew he was here and even more shocked she was conscious. "Ed, I'm sorry..." She hissed, pain filling her voice as Ed continued to move her leg while wrapping it in sheets.
"Shut up you crazy gearhead, we're gonna get through this." Ed growled, pulling the sheets tighter and tighter.
He couldn't lose Winry, too.
The next few hours, putting them sometime into the early morning since the boys had arrived in the late afternoon, passed in a blur of changing sheets, telling Winry to stay alive even after she fell unconscious at one point, and tightening the tourniquet. Upon the doctor's arrival Ed felt a rush of relief, but he wasn't naive enough to believe Winry was out of danger just because a professional was by her side. He and Al were seated side-by-side on the living room couch when the workshop door creaked open. Both boys jumped to their feet, desperate for information on Winry's condition.
The doctor was wiping blood from his hands with an already stained cloth, a bad sign for the boys. "I'm not going to lie, she is still in danger. She lost quite a bit of blood and in the way the leg was removed; there was a lot of damage done to the nerves, muscles, and bone. I did even out the section of damaged leg so it will heal cleaner. For now she needs a lot of rest so her leg can heal. I've surgically closed up the wound and I will be returning periodically to check on the stitches. They will be removed when I see it fit for her to be able to heal naturally the rest of the way.
"Now, she-seeing as she is an automail engineer-will probably be receiving some of it. To lessen the damage, I recommend she does that before the outer skin totally heals so fewer incisions have to be made." The man stooped down and scooped up his medical case. "I will return in a week to check on Miss Rockbell. My orders are for now is for her to be bedridden and eat well so her body can repair itself." Ed nodded, still somewhat in shock over the same thing.
"By the injury can you tell how the leg was removed? Where is the rest of it?" Al asked, voicing Ed's thoughts.
"The leg was rather brutally severed. Most likely, by how it isn't a clean cut but sections appear to have alike depth of removal, the leg was chopped at until it was completely removed. On that note, it seems the leg was removed in a fashion meant to be excruciatingly painful and one that would cause the most damage. Whoever did this was vicious and did not hold back. As for the rest of the leg, whoever did this is obviously sick and twisted so they might have taken the rest of the leg as a sort of souvenir. Currently, she is residing on a bed in her workshop, but I recommend you very gently move her to a more comfortable location since she should be moved as little as possible." With that the doctor strode out, the whole house shaking as the door slammed behind him.
"Brother, why would someone hurt Winry?" Ed, for once, was speechless. Someone had purposely hacked at Winry's leg with something sharp while she was conscious until the leg had completely been taken off. Why would someone do that to Winry? She didn't have any enemies. Sure, lots of people were envious of her and her fascinating skills to be able to do almost anything she attempted, but no one really hated her. He ran a hand through his hair, his thoughts going a mile a minute as he tried to understand who and why someone would attack Winry in such a merciless manner.
He, realizing that he could go see Winry now that the doctor was done, briskly walked to the workshop, dodging scattered things that had been knocked over in his earlier frenzy to get fresh cloths to cover Winry's leg. Upon entering the workshop, Ed felt a rush of relief at how much better Winry looked. With her hair matted with sweat, her body glistening with it as well, her leg wrapped in a lump of bandages, and blood stained cloths surrounding her, she still looked beautiful. Her beauty had been one of the few things he had been able to admit to himself.
He rushed to her side, kneeling down and grabbing her left hand between his metal and flesh ones. Al was quickly by her other side, also clutching one of her hands. Holding a part of her seemed to reassure both brothers she really was still with them and wasn't leaving if they had any hand in the matter. Ed, with a strangled laugh, dropped his forehead to rest against the hand of her's he was clutching. "You can't scare us like that, Winry."
"Brother, should we move her now?" Ed jerked his head up at his brother's words, nodding slowly. They both, almost in sync, got to their feet.
"Put one hand under her knees and-" Ed stopped speaking, realizing she didn't have knees for Al to put a hand under. "Put a hand under her waist and another under her upper back." Al did as he was instructed, succeeding in only earning a low moan from Winry. Ed gathered the extra bandages, water bowl to rinse Winry with, and blankets in his arms before heading out of the workshop. He held the door open with his foot as Al squeezed through the doorframe with Winry tucked against his chest plate. They climbed the stairs up to Winry's room, reaching it with amazing speed because of their rushed pace. Ed spread the extra blankets out across the bed and set the bandages as well as the water bowl on the nightstand.
Al settled Winry on her bed with care, making sure to be extra gentle with her, well, stump. Once both boys had finished their tasks they turned their focus back to the sleeping blond. Al was thinking, Why would someone want to hurt Winry? While Ed was thinking, I'm going to find who did this to Winry and cut off his di-