Chap. 1: Harsh Words

The crimson sun slipped down to the earth, the blackness of night taking over that of the flaming sky, casting the seemingly peaceful village into darkness, lamps their only source of light. All who witnessed the red sun prayed for the poor soul whose blood had been spilt that day.

And whose blood was it that was spilt?

The door burst open with a resounding bang in the quiet of the hospital. A large man, for reasons unknown dressed in a full suit of armo, stood in the threshold. In his arms was a limp figure of a boy, dripping blood from seemingly every inch of himself. His clothes were in ribbons, blood seeping from the skin underneath. The hair that showed gold in some spots was caked with fresh and congealed blood. Wires and pieces of shredded and bent metal stuck out of his right arm, snagging with the shredded clothes.

It was obvious to any eye that the boy was in mortal danger of losing his life.

"Please! Help him! Help brother! He's been... he's been wounded badly..." the man in armor exclaimed. Had anyone been in much sense, they'd have noticed how the large man in armor had a very child like voice.

A doctor and three nurses rushed over, two nurses carrying a stretcher.

Carefully, they lifted the mangled boy onto the stretcher and rushed off. The nurse that had not brought the stretcher pulled the man over to a seating area to ask some questions about the boy, what had happened, and if there was anything they should not use in case he was allergic to it.

The man answered as best he could, though his mind was not entirely in it. He was much too worried about his brother.

"I'll also need you and your brother's names..." the nurse said gently.

"I'm... I'm Alphonse Elric, ma'am, and my brother is Edward Elric. Is... is Ed going to be okay...? He... He's all I have left..." Al weeped.

"Our doctors will do everything in their power. The worst thing was that he must have lost so much blood, and he probably had a bad concussion, but for the most part he hasn't sustained any fatal wounds. Your brother will be fine, Mr. Elric." the nurse smiled encouragingly.

Al nodded. "T-thank you..."

After twenty minutes waiting and feeling nothing but dread, despite the comforting words of the nurse, Al got up and asked for a phone.

"Hello...? This is Winry Rockb-"

"Winry! It's Al."

"Al?" immediately, there was a worried tone in her voice. She was always quick to pick up on signs of trouble with the two Elric brothers. "What's happened? Are you guys okay? Where are you?"

"Ed was attacked. I'm fine, but he's been hurt really badly. We're in a village south/north of Rush Valley."

"I'm on my way." Winry said. "You can tell me everything when I get there."

"Okay... Thank you, Winry..."

"Just stay right there, and keep calm. You know it'll take a lot to get rid of Ed."

"Yeah... right..." Al said, giving a weak chuckle.

Since Winry was in Resembool, it took her the whole night to get there. She had to take the first train, and when she found that the next train she'd have to take the rest of the trip wasn't going to be there for another three hours, she found an abandoned vehicle and did a quick repair, thankfully only a few things were wrong with it and had a full tank of gas. She made the rest of the way on it, not slowing but for to turn into the village.

She quickly found the hospital and was stepping into it just as the sun was rising.

"Al!" she called out, spotting with ease the hunched over armor.

Al looked up and spotted her as well as she walked up.

"Winry..." his voice shook, as well as the rest of his armor, creating a constant ticking to echo around the nearly empty waiting room.

"Oh Al..." Winry muttered, walking up and hugging him.

Once Al had stopped shaking, Winry stepped away, though kept a hand on his metal shoulder.

"How is he...?" she asked carefully.

"I don't know yet. A nurse came out a while ago and told me that there was some shrapnel buried in his chest and stomach. But they said he should be fine, so long has he takes it easy for a while."

"What happened, Al?"

"Brother and I had been investigating, like we normally do. Mustang said that there was a possible lead on the philosopher's stone out in some caves near here. He was right, though it turned out to be another fake. The man in possession of it was using it to turn his body into a bomb and be able to regrow again. We'd never seen anything like it! It was like he was Greed, only with the power to detonate himself. Not only that, but he exploded any time Ed hit him, with anything, even his Alchemy.

"In the end, he ended up using all of the power of the stone and it broke. He didn't realize it though. Ed was on his last legs in the fight, and the man saw his chance and took it. He made everything but his head explode..."

Winry was looking in horror in the distance.

"He died and Ed was blasted to the ceiling, and the stalactites he hit cut into him, and when he fell to the floor, a few of them fell on him. By the time I got to him, he'd passed out and was bleeding all over..."

Al had finished the story and the two sat in silence, Winry keeping her hand on his shoulder and trying herself to keep calm.

After another hour, the doctor walked out. As soon as Al saw him, he was standing, which of course put Winry in alert.

There seemed to be pressure building in the air as the doctor stopped walking and nodded to them.

"Your brother made it through the surgery and will make a full recovery." Al and Winry sighed in immense relief. "His automail is damaged beyond repair and we could not manage to remove it."

"I'll have a look at it." Winry said, and at the doctor's unsure look she smiled. "I'm his mechanic, Winry Rockbell."

The doctor nodded. "For now, he is still deeply asleep. You can wait for him to wake up if you want."

"That would be nice. I can take his measurements while he's under. Thank you doctor."

The two walked into the room that held Ed, both anxious to make see for themselves that he was okay.

When they saw him, shock was their greeting. Gause was wrapped around him, over his chest, his arms, head, and most likely legs too. He looked like a mummy.

But he seemed to be in little pain. They must have used a lot of pain killers. He looked rather peaceful, really. He was also clean. His hair had been stripped of the red mess, and now shone like gold in the sun leaking through the window.

Hours passed by and it was right around lunch that Ed stirred into wakefulness.

"Hmmm..." he murmured.

"Ed!" Al and Winry cried as they shot from their chairs.

"Hm...?" Ed's eyes opened at the call of his name and he looked at the two above him. "Hey... What happened...?"

"You got hurt really badly in the fight with O'gito." Al said.

Ed's eyes flashed, as if remembering something. "The stone... Al, what about the stone!" He practically shouted it.

Al winced, and Winry looked worried. Ed didn't normally act this way. There was a hard, almost crazy look in his eyes.

"Um... Well... Brother, you see..." Al muttered, scared of how Ed would react. "Well... the stone... it was a another... another fake..."

There was silence.

Then, with a shaking voice, Ed muttered, "What...?"

"The stone was another fake. Both you and O'gito were too busy in the fight to realize it had cracked, but I saw it hap-"

"DAMNIT!" Ed yelled, and appeared to have meant to hit the side bar with his right hand, only to find it missing.

"Ed, calm down... It's just-"

"Shut up! You don't get it!" Ed interrupted Winry, as she tried to come forward and calm him. Once again, he was reminded that he had no right arm when his stump flew uselessly to swat her away.

"Ed..." Winry said, tears forming.

"Don't. Just don't." Ed said.

"Brother, she's only trying to help..."

"I don't want help! Just leave me alone, Al."

"B-Brother..." Al muttered, the clicking of his metal showing that he was crying. He turning and ran from the hospital room, Ed looking defiantly at the bedsheet.

"How could you, Ed?" Winry said. "Al didn't do anything to deserve that. If not for him, you'd still be in that cave bleeding to death. Maybe even dead!" There were tears in her eyes as she glared at him.

"Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Ed you're being an ass! That was your own brother! How can you treat him like that. He's all you have left, and you go and yell at him, telling him to leave you alone!"

"Winry, I said leave me alone!" Ed yelled, looking right at her. He almost came up short at the sight of her tear streaked face, but pushed himself to keep the hard face.

She glared right back at him and then finally turned and ran. It was the last look she gave him, one filled with sadness, longing, and rage, that broke through to Ed.

"Win-"

BANG!

The door had cut off any call he made. Sighing, he fell back to the bed, cursing himself.

AN: Hey guys! As I stated in the description, this story was origenally by SasukeUchihaPHTanteiTrunkslove. It is due to this writer that I did this. I adopted the story and have prmised to do my best on it.

I would like to thank SasukeUchihaPHTanteiTrunkslove very much for alowing me to do so, and hope- you they decided to read it- that they will like it.

I can only hope that I do well. I can't promise to have chapters coming in every week or so, but I will try and get them in. I do have other works, so, as some of you can relate, know how it is.

Just keep reading and encuraging! :D