-Breanna-Higurashi-

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting chapter 2, but here it is. I hope you all enjoy.

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Broken: Chapter 2: The Wait

By the time that Winry was able to calm Edward down, he was covered in blood. The crimson liquid had stained his hospital shirt and blood still dripped from his split lip, where his brother had hit him. Edward's body lost the small amount of energy that it had managed to find, now, his body had become limp in his friends hold as she moved the both of them back into the hospital. Golden eyes had simmered down, becoming a glazed hazel as he began to realize what had just happened.

"Ed, stay awake."

"Al…"

A sigh, shimmering baby blue eyes gazed down at the young man in her arms.

"Well find him. But first, we need to get you some help."

Everything became a blur as the hospital staff gathered around them, some taking the battered broken boy from his friends arms while a couple others asked what had happened to him. Shadows danced at Edward's sight, clawing at him until his entire vision went black. His body finally surrendered itself to slumber at last.

Beep, beep, beep…

"Ugh…" Metal fingers twitched as Edward came out of his medically induced sleep. Blink, blink.. Where was he? Where was his brother?

"Alphonse?"

Winry jolted from her seat which was located beside his hospital bed.

"Ed? You awake?"

Gold met blue and a small nod was the response that she received.

"Y…yeah…"

"Are you in any pain?"

"No…" lie. His heart was thumping in his chest, pain danced across his torn and shredded skin.

"Ed…no one has seen any trace of Al. Hughes has people searching for him all over Central."

Fists clenched, head turned and eyelids opened and closed multiple time, trying to will the tears away before they could surface.

"When can I join them?" his curt response surprised the young woman.

"I'm sorry. The doctors say you cant be discharged for a week."

"A WEEK!?" in that instant golden eyes awakened, gone was the glazed hazel, devoid of emotion and in its place was pure roaring rage.

"You need to heal.."

"NO! What I need is to find my little brother!"

Limbs tangled with the cotton blankets as the young alchemist struggled to leave his bed.

"ED, NO!"

Before Winry could even try to force Ed back down onto the bed, his body gave out, collapsing back onto the mattress beneath him. One moment he was feeling fine, ready to storm out of there and find his brother, and then pain assaulted his body. It was as if someone had stabbed him in the chest.

"Dammit!"

"Edward!"

Within moments, Winry was beside him, helping him to lay back down, hoping he had not aggravated his wounds.

"Stay still. You'll open your wounds if you keep moving. Rest. I know you want to find Al, I do too, but you need to recover first."

Once he was situated back beneath the covers Edward turned his gaze to her face, feeling guilty for making her worry. He knew that she cared about Al too and she was just trying to help him so they could go find him together. However, he knew he couldn't wait a week to go look for Al.

"Two days. If Al's not back in two days then Im going after him. I wont lose my brother….again."

The final word was whispered so softly and so full of emotion that it felt as if he was reliving a memory, or a nightmare.

Alphonse didn't know how long he had been running for, but by the time that he stopped it had begun to become dark and rain fell from the sky. He took notice of an abandoned building to his right, deciding to stop for the night he ducked inside. Walls stained with graffiti and crumbling walls met his eyes once he was no longer out in the rain. It wasn't much, but it would do for the night. The last thing he needed was for his blood seal to be damaged by the rain, if that happened who knows what kind of effect it would have on his soul.

He sat with his back leaning against the plaster behind him. His armor clanked as it connected with the wall, the reverberating sound made his soul shudder, further reminding him that he wasn't human. Why hadn't Ed denied his accusations? Could it really be that he was just a collection of fabricated memories? That would mean that everything could be fake, a lie, his brother, childhood, even their mother.

Could mom really be fake? A Lie?

It tore at his soul that his beautiful, caring mother could have just been a made up lie, created by his brother. The same woman who had cared and loved them throughout their childhood. All the laughs, tears and joy, all of it could never of happened at all. Shaking his steel head he curled further into himself. His inhuman body remained in this position until something caught his eye.

Blood, red living blood covered the back of his gauntlet covered hand. It had long since crusted over and had began to become a reddish brown around the edges.

Brother's blood? Wha…

Oh, he remembered now. In a fatal attempt to get away and think things trough he had stuck his brother. Ed had been wounded, barley even been able to walk for a day without pain. What did he do? He had caused his older brother even more pain, wounding him, and had caused blood to spill from his lips. The look that his brother had given him after he had been able to sit up was one of anguish, his normally flaming eyes had held that of utter pain. It wasn't physical pain though, it was that of emotional distress.

Brother looked so broken, so small. I haven't seen him look like that since we tried to bring mom back to life.

That look, no his brother wouldn't of risked his own life to create a fake brother. No one would put themselves through that much pain for no reason. By seeing his pain alone should have been enough to convince him that what Barry the Chopper had told him was false. Edward had given up everything to make sure that his little brother lived, even now he was sacrificing left and right to try to bring Al back to his human body. His brother needed him, now more than ever, and what did he do, he ran away. Alphonse had left his brother alone, made him believe that he had lost him.

Oh no…

There was no way that he could face him now, not after leaving him. Dammit! He knew how Ed felt about being alone. Leaving him, disowning him as his brother was the worst thing that he could have possibly done to him. The look he saw before he had leapt off the building had been one of a broken man. With his cruel words he had damaged his brother, destroyed his heart. Now, he just had to hope that he could forgive him. Even if it meant that he had to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness he would do it in a heartbeat to get his only family back. It was decided, he would go back and hopefully he would be able to gain back his brothers favor. Get their relationship back on track.

Two days. I'll go back in two days.

Hopefully giving Ed a couple days would help them both and then they can get back to the way things used to be. Al gazed at the entryway where the door was still open, hanging by the screws of the doorframe. The rain continued to pour outside as the darkness covered the town.

Two days…

-Breanna-Higurashi-

There you have it! Hopefully two days will give these brothers some good, or will something get in their way? We shall see. Until next time! Remember to review!