Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Notes: For daily15 word #223. I got this done in 15 minutes, but then I had to go back and change a few details so it would make sense, and while doing that I sorta edited it. And my entire first paragraph was this huge run-on sentence at first. x.x So I cheated. And it still doesn't make sense, but I'm not going to edit it any more, because that would be really really cheating, so sorry about that.
Oh yeah, and I should thank my friend yamnotensama for partially inspiring this. Yamnotensama helps my Pinako-muse greatly. And don't even ask what this is about or where it came from.
When Pinako and Winry find her, Sheska is curled up by the river, covered in blood and so close to the water that it is a violent shade of crimson. Her brown hair is soaked and matted to her face, waves continuously washing over her body. She shivers, closing her eyes and clenching her hands into fists. There are tears on her cheeks and though she isn't crying anymore, she is shaking.
Winry doesn't ask any questions, just holds her for a second and then lets go, so that she can pick the other girl up and carry her back inside. Pinako, lagging behind, glares down into the forest path, and glimpses a flash of bright blue and black.
I knew you shouldn't have trusted that Mustang character, Pinako says, once the three are back inside. Sheska is sitting in a chair by the fire, slumped over and lifeless. She smiles, once, at Winry, who is rummaging through her desk drawers, gathering screws and nails and metal pieces.
You're lucky we live so close, Pinako says again, walking over to Sheska. Anywhere else, you could have died without any legs. The wolves might have eaten you. And if anyone else found you, you'd have to pay for the automail. She smiles.
You two sure are talkative today. When Pinako still doesn't get a reply, she lights a cigar and stands back against the wall to watch the procedure.
Winry is finished assembling the pieces, and with nimble fingers she lifts up what is left of Sheska's right leg and begins to attach the automail. Sheska is still shivering, even though the room is warm, and she winces when Winry begins the process. Pinako would help, but she knows this means something to Winry, even if Winry doesn't yet know it herself. Pinako is
everything but blind.
A good twelve hours later, Pinako is still smoking by the wall, watching but not speaking. Winry is covered in grease and sweat, and her weakening fingers drop the wrench that she is holding to the floor with a loud metal clank as she sighs in defeat.
Sheska is smiling again, sitting up straight in her chair, and she has stopped shivering. The color is back in her cheeks, and as she opens her mouth to speak, Pinako watches Winry kiss her.
Smiling, and still smoking, she walks outside to watch the sunrise.
