"Guys! GUYS!"

Finn burst onto the bridge yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Guys," he said, "you're not gonna believe what's going on!"

"What?" asked Piper. "What is it?"

"Guess," said Finn. "I can't tell you, just guess!"

"You finally changed your socks?" Piper suggested.

"No, but-"

"There's an ice cream truck going by outside?" asked Junko excitedly.

"I wish there was, but-"

"Ooh! Ooh! I giant swarm of brain-consuming mosquitoes from Terra Amazonia are flying this way to suck out our frontal lobes through our nostrils?" guessed Stork.

Everybody else stared at him in shock and confusion.

"Hey, you said guess," he pointed out.

Finn let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan.

"Do you want me to just tell you?" he asked.

"Go right ahead," said Piper.

"Okay," said Finn. "Aerrow just took all of his painkillers at once and he is tripping out!"

"He what?!" Piper sprang to her feet in shock. "Is he okay?"

"I dunno, but he is saying some really weird things," said Finn. "Does anybody have a camera or something? We have gotta record this!"

"Finn, this is serious!" Piper objected. "What if it turns out he's allergic to something?"

"Then I would've come and told you guys he was having a reaction, I'm not stupid!" Finn insisted, and then looked to his Wallop friend. "Junko, could you help a buddy out? Pleeeeeeease?"

Junko hesitated, his face betraying his worry.

Finn clasped his hands together in pleading, along with his best puppy-dog eyes and pout.

"I'll go get the camera!" cried Junko as he gave in and leapt up with a massive smile.

"Awesome!" said Finn.

"Guys, you..." Piper trailed off as the two rowdy boys left the room.

She sighed.

"What am I gonna do with them?" she asked.

"Strand them in the Wastelands until they grow a sense of self-awareness?" Stork suggested, and at Piper's glare he said, "Hey, you asked."

Aerrow's head was pounding like a bass drum when he finally awakened. He rubbed his temples in the hopes of easing it, but that didn't do any good whatsoever. It didn't help either that his stomach felt like it was doing acrobatics inside his body.

When he opened his eyes he was faced with Radarr, who was staring at him with a look of concern.

"What?" he said. "What happened?"

Radarr held up a finger, indicating for him to wait, and then scampered out of the room.

Aerrow awkwardly pulled himself into a sitting position and carefully cradled his left arm with his right, and adjusted his sling a little for extra comfort. He'd hoped those pills would stop his shoulder from hurting, but the ache was back full force and he honestly wanted to scream, but didn't for all the chaos it would cause. And also his stomach felt like it was tap-dancing on his insides and if he opened his mouth too wide he'd probably throw up.

He didn't touch his shoulder. He'd just make it worse if he did.

"Aerrow, you're awake!"

He looked up as Piper entered the room and Radarr returned to his side.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Not good," Aerrow confessed. "My head's killing me and I feel like I'm gonna hurl."

"It's your own fault for taking all those pills at once," Piper scolded as she sat on his bed. "What were you thinking, Aerrow? Is your arm really hurting you that much? Couldn't you have told someone?"

The redhead bowed his head in shame.

"Could you let me have a look?" Piper asked.

"Piper!" Aerrow's face flushed the colour of his hair. "You know I'd have to-"

"You don't have anything I haven't seen plenty of times before," his female friend pointed out, and she reached up and gently removed his sling, laying his arm down by his side. "Now come on, don't be shy."

Aerrow nodded, slipped his right arm into his shirt and pulled it over his head, but hesitated when it came to his left shoulder.

"It's just me," said Piper. "Well, just me and Radarr. Come on."

Radarr gave his Sky Knight friend an annoyed look, and Aerrow reluctantly slid his shirt off his left arm.

"Wow, no wonder you took all those pills!" Piper exclaimed, gently brushing her fingers over his inflamed skin. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this? I can't believe how painful it looks; how long has it been like this?"

"I dunno," said Aerrow, who would have shrugged if he could. "Since the surgery?"

Piper sighed.

"I warned you this was gonna happen," she told him. "You shouldn't have been walking around when it isn't properly healed yet. I want you to lie down as flat as you can. Radarr, you go and get some books out of my room."

As Aerrow lay back down and Radarr ran out again, Piper dragged the box being used as a bedside table over to the other side of the room. This way Aerrow's arm could rest on it, rather than lying next to him on his bed.

"I know you want to get back to work as quickly as possible, but the sad fact is that you aren't going anywhere until your shoulder's healed properly," she told him, and lifted up his left arm.

She paused.

"Piper?" said Aerrow. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She gently held his metal hand. The look in her eyes was heart-wrenching.

"Can you feel that?" she asked. "Can you feel my hands?"

Aerrow shook his head.

"It's weird," he told her. "I can't feel it, but I can sorta remember what it would feel like, so I almost... it's kinda hard to explain."

The door opened, but it wasn't Radarr.

Unfortunately.

"Well, well, well." Finn smiled smugly as he crossed his arms. "I come to see if Aerrow's still tripping and what do I happen to find?"

"Drop dead, Finn," said Piper, and she threw Aerrow's shirt at his face.

"Tripping?" Aerrow was baffled. "What do you mean, 'tripping'?"

"You didn't seriously think those pills would just stop your shoulder hurting, did you?" Finn asked as he unceremoniously dropped the garment on the floor, and to Piper he said "Has he said anything else about pudding?"

"Pudding?" Aerrow said, and glanced nervously at his female friend.

"You don't wanna know," said Piper. "Just get out of here, Finn. There's nothing to see here, move along!"

"Okay," Finn said, and smiled slyly at them as he turned the corner. "Stork wants me to pack up the film stuff anyway. Bye-bye, love birds."

He left. Thankfully.

"What was he talking about?" Aerrow asked. "No, on second thought, don't bother. Whatever it was, I'm guessing it's embarrassing."

"He got it all on tape if you ever do want to know," Piper informed him. "What's taking Radarr so long?"

As if on cue the door opened again, and a large stack of books slowly slid into the room.

"Here he is," said Aerrow.

"Radarr!" Piper exclaimed in shock. "You didn't have to bring all of them!"

The small blue creature poked his head around the stack, his face a picture of pure annoyance. The two teenagers couldn't help but laugh.

"Thanks for the thought, buddy," Aerrow said.

Piper took a few off the top of the stack and arranged them on the box, and gently laid Aerrow's arm on top of them.

"I know this is really annoying," she said, "but until that shoulder of yours heals properly, you can't be trying to lift this arm. I'm sorry, but it's just too much strain. And don't OD on painkillers again, okay?"

"They take a whole half-hour to kick in," Aerrow pointed out. "What am I supposed to do?"

Piper hesitated again.

"I don't know," she said sadly. "This is all still a pretty big shock."

Aerrow looked solemnly at his artificial arm.

"I know how you feel," he said.

It was a quarter past four in the afternoon.

Three weeks after the departure of Edward Elric.