FullMetal Alchemist
Kurushimi (suffering)
Author: Elie-3173
Rating: M (Just to be safe)
So folks, sorry to say, but no yaoi in this fic, this is a rather serious one!
Pairing: Al x Winry (may have newer pair coming up)
Elie: Pls, no flames! And enjoy! Sit back and relax! And my first FMA fic! Yeah! Go crazy
Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist...how I wish I did...
Chapter one: Stress
"Brother!" Al called out. As he stood there without getting a reply from the older Elric, Al waved his hand in front of Edward's face. Noting the dazed eyes and lack of response, Al shook him slightly by the shoulder.
Blinking, Ed looked around, "Huh, what?"
"Brother, snap out of it! Are you alright? You're scaring me brother" Al asked, concerned. It wasn't everyday his brother got caught off guard like that.
"Nah I'm alright! Sorry Al, I was thinking about something." Ed reassured, smiling as he pat the hand on his shoulder. Although deep down, he grimaced and mentally slapped himself, 'Damn it! I lost concentration again and was caught by Al!'
"Where were we again?" Ed asked trying to sound happy.
"Bother, we were about to go into the headquarters to find Colonel, I was asking if we could go in now. The rain's getting heavier and I might rust." Al reminded Ed
"Let's go, then Al!" Ed told his brother as they went into the headquarters.
Giving a half hearted excuse that he was tired, the two brothers headed straight to Colonel Mustang's office, by passing the office where the colonel's subordinates worked.
Ed knocked the door a few times before turning to his brother, "Al, wait outside here for me while I hand the report in. I won't take long."
Before Al could protest, Mustang had already called out a "Come in" and Ed had disappeared inside.
"So, how did it go?" Roy Mustang asked, ever present smirk on his face as he rested his chin on his hands.
Ed's reply was plain, short and right to the point. "Nothing, it was false information."
"What?" Mustang asked in disbelief.
"I said it was FALSE INFORMATION!" shouted Ed impatiently.
"Hmmm… alright then, write me a report on the mining resource…" Mustang said a little surprised. 'Wonder what's wrong with Fullmetal today?'
"It's there." Replied Ed, pointing to the report that was now in Mustang's hand.
"Wow, you finally did one good thing, FullMetal." Mustang commented.
"Hn! Is that a complement?" Ed replied, glaring back at Mustang.
"I suppose if you called it one." Mustang replied with confidence.
"I would see it as a sarcastic one." Ed shot back at Mustang.
"What?" Mustang's eye began to twitch in annoyance just as Ed looked away.
'He is acting weird again. Hm, let's give this a try.' He thought.
"Oi shortie?" Mustang shot out, expecting the usual reply of "WHO YOU CALLING A SHORTIE AS TINY AS A BEAN THAT YOU CAN'T SEE OVER A PILE OF PAPERS!"
But to his surprise, the reaction was quite the unexpected. Ed glared at the colonel.
'Very weird.' Mustang concluded
"Ok, fun's over, now tell me what the heck is wrong with you today?" Mustang questioned.
"What ...is...wr...wrong? What d... what do you mean?" Ed whispered softly, but it was loud enough for Mustang to hear.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I should be the one asking you!" Roy exploded, his patience wearing thin.
'Shit!' Ed's mind raced and he began to sweat, his face turning pale.
"I...I don't get it..." Ed lied as he looked away from Mustang.
"Look at me, FullMetal." Mustang commanded.
Unable to take in any longer, the thin line of his patience snapped and he shouted, "Look at me! FullMetal, I am talking to you, not to a wall!"
"Look at me!" Mustang flared up again.
Ed still wouldn't look; or rather he was too scared, too scared to even face himself.
As Mustang approached the teen, Ed moved back as well, his mind racing as he thought of what to say.
As he caught hold of Ed's automail arm, the teen began to shake uncontrollably and tried his best to get out of his firm grip. However, lack of food and shelter from the rain had finally taken its toll. A headache hit him as the room began to spin.
Mustang realized that Ed's grip began to loosen and his face was paler than usual. Suddenly Ed collapsed on him, and before Mustang could react, the sound of metal hitting the ground alerted him. Looking down, he was shocked to see a pocket knife, covered with blood. By the looks of it, it seemed to be fresh.
As he bent over to pick it up, he noticed that his usually pristine white glove was turning a dark red. Not only that, his normally blue outfit now had a dark stain spreading. 'Blood.'
With shock, Mustang cursed himself for not noticing the blood earlier. Blood was flowing from Ed's hand and there was more blood seeping through his coat and onto the carpeted floor.
"FullMetal!" Mustang shouted trying his best to remain calm without alerting the others. Fortunately for him they were all in the office oblivious.
Picking Ed up bridal style, Mustang carried the unconscious boy over to the sofa. Wincing slightly when he realized that even with the weight of Ed's automail, the boy was very light.
Removing the red coat and placing in on the back of the sofa he thought, 'Geez, it's wet, looks like he was out in the rain for quite a while, can't he just take care of himself?'
Mustang rolled up the left sleeve of Ed's black jacket, revealing the long and bloody wound on his flesh arm. Unable to hold a gasp back as he surveyed the damage. It was obvious that Ed had stabbed himself in the wrist before pulling the knife all the way up his arm. Even now, blood was still oozing out of the deep wound.
"Why?" was all Mustang could say. The question haunting and taunting him ever since his best friend Maes Hughes had died. Why did he have to delve into the matter involving the Elric brothers, eventually leading to his murder? 'Why?'
But what hurt most was that he knew. He knew Maes had been trying to help him, so he could head to the top without difficulty. But why did Maes keep everything from him?
Ed cried out, bringing Mustang out of his thoughts. 'Crap! I need to stop the bleeding!' Mustang cursed as he mentally slapped himself. Running to his table, he pulled open the drawer and fumbled around for the first-aid kit. He opened it, only to find it empty. "Shit!"
Just then, an idea popped up in his head, "The infirmary!"
Standing up, he ran back to Ed, about to bring him along when he stopped. "If they find out..."
'Maybe I just go and come back quickly!' Mustang thought 'Yes! That's it!' With that he hurried to the door.
Pulling it open, he stopped short at the sight of Al sitting on the floor. 'Crap, if Ed is here Al would be here too! How could I forget?'
Clearing his throat, Roy calmly asked "Al, what are you doing here, sitting on the floor?"
Al stands up and look at Roy "Ah, colonel, I am waiting for brother, but he is taking so long, and I heard you shouting, is something wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong. And you seem to be in a hurry..." Roy faked a smile.
"Really? Well I..." Al scratched the back of his head "promised to call Winry today..."
"Oh... but I still got something important to discuss with FullMetal, therefore it is going to be long, why not you go ahead first, and I will tell Ed for you." Roy told Al as he thought 'Looks like Al knows nothing about Ed's arm injury, I better keep it from him too; to prevent any more trouble!'
"Really? Thanks a lot! Tell brother I won't be back till evening, so tell him to eat first, I'll leave his luggage in the room!" Al thanked Mustang gleefully as he bundled off in the direction of the pay phones.
"Sure! I also need to get going, to fetch some important document. bye!" Roy said as he quickly head towards the infirmary
"Wait!" Al called out
"Yes?" Mustang sweat dropped
"Is that a blood stain on your uniform?" Al question as he pointed towards Ed's blood stain that has dried up
"Er.. yeah, that is because I accidentally hurt myself when I was getting a document, so I am also heading for the infirmary, ha, thanks for concern..." With that he ran all the way to infirmary leaving Al a little puzzled
———At the infirmary
Mustang ran in and quickly rushed over to the counter, and pressed the bell. Noticing no one was there, he continued pressing it, until the noise was almost annoying.
"Yes, Coming!" came a frustrated female voice from inside the counter.
A female staff approached the counter with half a mind to scold the culprit, but the moment she saw THE Colonel Mustang standing there, any thought of scolding him flew out the window.
Panting heavily, Mustang called out, "I need five rolls of bandages, five rolls of gauzes, two bottles of antiseptic lotion, three packet of cotton balls, one tong and one empty container please!" Mentally ticking off the things required to treat a deep wound.
"Yes! But... is someone badly hurt?" The staff asked as she took out all the stuff that Mustang ordered and placed them in a paper bag
"No, just that I am too lazy, so I want them topped up all at once before, Hawkeye goes shooting after me!" Roy said as he stuck his index finger and thumb out like a gun, imitating shots.
The female staff blushed and giggled "You are so naughty!" and she continued "there all your stuff is here and this time free of charge, but just this once ok?"
"Sure, thanks!" Roy shot her a wink as he dashed back to his office
Sighing, the female staff swooned before collapsing in a dead faint.
Back at Mustang's office
Mustang quickly ran to Ed's side, but to his horror, Ed's blood had not stopped yet.
'Damn it!' Roy thought as he removed the packaging and ran towards to the personal toilet that he rarely used. Grabbing a basin and filling it with water, he dipped a clean cloth into it and hurried back to the sofa.
Removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he started to clean up Ed's wounded arm. The injured boy winced and tried to wrench his arm away, letting out a small whine as tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Bear with it Ed, just bear with me" Roy whispered gently to Ed, using his free hand to wipe the boy's tears away.
Grabbing the bottle of antiseptic lotion, he emptied half of it into the empty container. Using the tongs, he picked up a cotton ball and dipped it in before bringing it to the wound.
Knowing that even a soft touch would cause the slightest pain, Mustang steeled himself and started to apply the medication.
True enough Ed's movement become more violent and his whines turned to whimpers.
Gritting his teeth, Mustang applied the antiseptic to the rest of the wound before hurriedly bandaging it up. When he was finally done, he sat back with a sigh as Edward visibly relaxed.
Ed's POV
Everything was dark and cold, there was mist everywhere.
"Where am I?"
"Wasn't I reporting to the Colonel?" I looked around frantically amidst the darkness.
Suddenly everything became very clear, so clear, and so familiar, as a house appeared.
"Th... this was my house!" My eyes widened with realization.
Suddenly right before my eyes, the very day that everything important to me was taken away from me happened again.
All I could do is to scream, to run, to plead for it to stop! And... to watch, watch it replaying all over again...I felt the tears stinging my eyes.
I felt that the world in me was collapsing, closing in, the house is tearing apart, and all the bricks are falling, burying me inside, deeper, deeper by each minute, each second and again it turn dark, I could feel as if all the weight is all on me, crushing me with each second. I couldn't help but scream as I felt a stinging feeling on my hand. When I look at my hand it was bleeding, bleeding non-stop…
However, I could felt secure, someone was patting me on my head, and wiping away my tears.
I felt even more painfully, but after I heard a voice telling me I am safe, the pain seems to go away by itself.
Next, everything when back to silent, again something appeared
This time is the Truth from the gate, I took a step back and shouted "Return me the body of my only brother! My only family!"
"Return you? Your brother?" asked the Truth, my eyes widened
"What are you talking about? Aren't you the one who brought back his soul, and attached it to the armour, turning him into something which is neither human nor monster, making him a person who cannot sleep, cannot feel any pain, cannot feel warmth, making him a person who cannot cry...Isn't that you? FullMetal Alchemist! You are the mastermind behind everything! You turned him into this with your very hands!" continued the Truth
I gasped, before I could react, another voice appeared taunting me
"Your brother's body became armour, is not the fault of the Truth..."
I turn around, but was shocked to find Shou Tucker and Nina
"...it's your fault that your brother's body became a pile of hopeless armour, Edward Elric!" Trucker continued "...no, not just your brother's body..."
"Edward..." came another voice and a hand which is as cold as ice pull me
I turn around and I saw the body, which was supposed to be 'Mother'
"...I don't wish to stay in this form forever... revive me! Quick..." it pleaded
"Ed!" the truth called out
"Ed!" Trucker called out
"Ed!" 'Mother' called out
They kept calling
Suddenly lots of tiny hands surrounded me
I couldn't take it anymore... I could only scream, my tears flowed like river as I struggled to be free...
The next thing I heard was a voice, drowning everything around me
"Wake up, FullMetal! It's just a dream!"
'M... Mustang?'
To be continued...
Elie: Sorry! For the cliffhanger ending! XD I will try to update as fast as possible! As long, as people R&R, then I will of course update! Heheee! Suggestions are welcome, but certainly no flames! Bye!
This fic is dedicated to my friend, Chibified kitsunes, for encouraging to go on with this fic! Thanks!
And her wonderful language and beta skill.
A/N: Edited as at 22nd July, btw from now on I've decided to use all the terms in English, expect the title. XD