Strapping on all of his braces, crutches, and making sure his bindings were in just the right position just to walk to the bathroom was a tedious chore. He grew to hate every strap and every buckle and even the sound of his crutches hitting the tile floor.
Though he inwardly complained of the discomfort the devices gave him, he relished in his newfound independence. He only had two weeks left until he only used the crutches and the leg braces were long gone.
Two weeks was still a long time.
He had only frowned a little bit when Mei told him to put them on, so that was something, at least.
The nurses had gotten used to seeing the odd pair of a Xingese princess and the Fullmetal Alchemist's brother tottering down the hallway at odd times in the day. A few nurses even waved good-naturedly as they passed.
Mei ushered him into an abandoned hospital room, with the beds pushed up against the far wall, leaving the floor bare and empty.
The room looked quite inhospitable and uninhabited.
When Alphonse had settled comfortably onto one of the abandoned bed frames, Mei dumped several pieces of chalk out of her shoulder bag.
"While you've been doing physical therapy, I've been reading up on some things," She said, pulling out a yellowed slip of paper from her pocket and studying it. "Alkahestry things."
She had piqued his interest. He limped to Mei's spot on the floor, and slowly settled himself beside her.
She brought the paper over just a tad to allow him to see what was written on it.
A complicated alkahestry circle was drawn in scrawling lines across the paper, in thick black ink. All around the inner edge were indecipherable symbols, Xingese words, and alkahestry runes that Alphonse couldn't begin to decipher.
He shook his head and smiled inwardly. "I don't know how you even begin to understand this, Mei."
"Well, I don't understand alchemy that well, so I think we're even." She joked. Grasping a cylinder of white chalk in her fingers, she began to scratch out the lower edge of the outer circle.
"So, what are you doing this for?" Al asked, genuinely curious.
A slight twinge of worry toned her next words. "The nurses say you developed something called 'osteoporosis' because you didn't eat much while you were away. It makes your bones brittle and you can break them a lot easier."
She shifted to the left to continue the circular arc. Al furrowed his eyebrows and grabbed a cylinder of chalk in his fist.
He'd heard of osteoporosis. That was something Granny Pinako had. He was under the impression that it was something that only old women developed because of their age, but apparently not eating did that too.
"But…what is this for?"
Mei tapped the chalk against the floor. "I'm going to try to cure you. Alkahestry can do some amazing things! See, the rune for 'strengthen' will go right- there." She pointed to a spot adjacent from where Al had settled himself down.
"I can't read Amestrian, so Ms. Curtis helped me research this circle. She was really helpful! She helped me when I was confused, because alchemy and alkahestry are so similar. She's a really nice lady- when she's not mad." Mei and Al shuddered in unison.
"Agreed." Al affirmed.
The long, smooth strokes of Mei's chalk turned into short, sharp scratches as Mei wrote alkahestry runes and several Xingese characters. Mei began to translate as she wrote.
"'Strength return to their body, rejuvenate the soul, lighten the burden…'" She muttered.
A moon, surrounded by two circles, marked the halfway point of the circle. As Mei drew closer and closer to her starting point, characters tracing the lines all the way, Al's sense of bewilderment grew.
"Have you ever done anything this big before? It's got to tire you to actually cure someone of a chronic ailment," Al said. "If it's going to take too much out of you, I don't think you should do it." Mei looked up at him, pausing in writing the character for 'brittle'.
"Alphonse," Mei smiled. "Am I not your friend?"
Al was taken aback. "Well, yes, of course-"
"Don't friends want to do things for their friends? Don't friends care for each other?"
He didn't answer.
"When you told me you were going to get your brother back," several sharp scratches became a rune resembling a flower, "You convinced me. You were so determined- and I'm ready to help you get him back. Alkahestry will help me do that."
A thin hand laid itself on top of Mei's short, pudgy one, stopping her from connecting the ends of the circle.
She looked up to see Al smiling softly at her, his eyes filled with warmth.
"Thank you."
Mei's face brightened as she nodded. "Hm!"
The chalk finally met the other end of the circle. Faintly, Al could feel some sort of energy begin to leak out of the circle. It was somewhat reminiscent of the pressure that thing exuded, but somehow more of a benevolent version.
Mei nodded towards the centre.
Clacking and creaking of metal crutches hitting the floor and leather braces straining against Al's movement accompanied Al's slow steps to the centre.
"Ready?"
Al hesitated. Did he really want Mei to try doing something she'd never done before, just for him? It would be difficult to traverse the country and find a way to get his brother back if he broke a bone every time he slipped.
Mei seemed determined to get him to do this. She wanted him to accomplish his goal just as much as he did.
Their nods were simultaneous.
Al didn't know when Mei activated the circle, but all he could remember, when he thought about it later, was the feeling of warm hands weighing down his limbs and tingling electricity racing up and down his body.
_000_
It was early August when Nurse Gertrude had nodded in approval at the number that was on the scale.
"Well, look, Al! You're still a bit on the thin side for 170 centimetres, but based on your improvement rate, I think you'll be out of here in a week or two!" She chirped. Her words had made his day just a bit better.
He suspected Nurse Gertrude's words were correct. He only had to use his crutches after a lot of walking (namely, chasing after Mei after she stole his left boot and hid it somewhere), and he had noticed his ribs weren't visible anymore. Physical therapy had caused him to gain a healthy amount of muscle for a fifteen-year-old boy.
On the seventh of August, Al woke up to see discharge forms, a very familiar suitcase, and an old photograph on the foot of his bed.
_000_
The train station was loud and crowded. The high ceilings and marble floors echoed its noise thousand-fold, but Al didn't notice the volume. He was focused on the two Xingese women in front of him.
"You're welcome to visit Dublith any time you like," Teacher said. "But remember that I'll check to see if you're still competent in my teachings!" She cracked her knuckles for emphasis.
Al thrust his unoccupied hand in front of him. "Yes,yes, I'll remember!" The memory of his last visit to Dublith was still fresh in his mind. He couldn't feel pain or even get bruises then, but he was sure that he definitely would the next time Teacher threw him bodily across the street.
Mei burst into loud tears and flung her arms around him. "Be careful!" She cried. He was reminded, painfully, of the last time she had hugged him like this.
He hugged her tightly. After a moment, he pulled her arms off of him, and bent down so their eyes were at the same level. "Don't worry. I will. You be careful too, okay?"
Mei nodded tearfully, and embraced him one more time before stepping back. Teacher rested a wide, calloused hand on the top of his head (which, he now noticed, was a couple centimetres above her own) and gave him a light smile.
"It'll be dangerous. Remember to send me a letter every so often, okay? Don't…" She paused, her smile not quite meeting her eyes anymore. "Don't make me worry about whether you're alive or not."
He could hear the unsaid statement in the air: Don't be like your brother.
Al stood, quiet, for a moment. "How's one a month sound?"
Teacher smirked. "Good enough."
Mei tugged on his coat lapel. Tears were still tracing wet tracks down her face, but now she didn't look so desperate. "Don't forget about me."
"I won't."
The train whistle punctured the air. Wheels hissed as the train began to pick up speed and depart from the platform.
"Oh!" He exclaimed. Alphonse waved one more time at the two, and sprinted off towards the train's door. His hand wrapped around the cold metal of the rod bolted to the side of the door, and his booted feet found unsteady purchase on the steps leading to the inside of the train car, just in time to dodge a man walking a bit too close to the side of the train.
He turned around just in time to see Teacher waving, her figure quickly shrinking into the distance, and Mei running along the side of the car until she couldn't keep up anymore.
He hung out of the niche watching the two, waving with the hand (that was still holding his brother's old suitcase) that wasn't keeping him from falling to his certain death.
His last image of Mei before he retreated into the train car was of her standing on the train platform, hand high in the air, looking oddly constricted in an Amestrian-style skirt and blouse, tears running down her face.
_000_
Alphonse fell asleep on the hard wooden bench, with the rattling of train tracks lulling him and the green hills of the countryside flashing past his eyes.
He didn't think it was fair that the only dreams he had since he was able to dream had only been nightmares.
This time, it wasn't the recurring nightmare that had plagued his dreams for months. A new nightmare had sprouted from his subconscious.
He was standing in an empty train car at night. It was moving much faster than he was used to, so fast that he couldn't distinguish what was flashing past the window.
Three darkly shadowed silhouettes stood in front of him, with their backs turned. One was an adult female, one was a shorter male, and the third was a young child.
The adult female spoke in a low, contralto voice. "Alphonse."
The child exclaimed in a high voice. "Big Brother!"
The male, in the middle, refrained from speaking until the other two had finished. He turned his head, his face still in deep shadow, the colour of his eyes shining out like a searchlight in the dark.
A splash of gold in the black.
A scratchy tenor voice came from the male. "Al."
The screech of metal against metal. From the female's chest exploded something dark and viscous.
The screech of a child in pain. The child hunched over, and lumbered away on all fours like a wolf-child, becoming hairier with each step.
Nothing happened to the male in the middle for several seconds, until his muscles and tendons seemed to ripple and twist.
His body convulsed in a warped and unnatural way.
He fell to his knees, shuddering, both arms grasping each other as if the figure was trying to hug himself, so tight that Alphonse could almost hear bones crack.
His arms went limp, the fingers brushing the ground.
He wrenched his head back to look at Alphonse, the splash of gold in his eyes now a deep plum.
White teeth shone out in the dark in a wolfish grin.
Alphonse gasped, his eyes flying open. He gave himself a few seconds to gather his wits and stop trembling like a leaf in a rainstorm.
"Uggghhh." His groan was long and drawn out. Falling asleep with his eyes aimed right towards the window was not a good idea, now he reflected on it. The sun was now high in the sky, bright rays shining directly into Alphonse's equally golden eyes.
After rubbing his eyes with one of his hands, his eyes met another pair of big green ones.
He blinked a few times. A child was staring over the back of the seat in front of him, staring directly at Al with eyes widened in curiosity.
Al smiled and waved. Emerging from the seat, a small hand waved right back.
"Where's your mommy and daddy?" The child asked, the rest of their face rising up into Al's view. A smattering of freckles brushed across the child's cheeks, stretching from ear to ear and bridging a round button nose. Shorn brown hair brushed the tops of the child's ears, which stuck out from the sides of his head.
"I'm riding the train alone." Al indulged him. "Where are you going?"
The child smiled widely and stabbed a chubby thumb at his chest. "I'm going to visit my grandma with my mommy in Bellenau. It's Grandma's birthday- she's turning sixty and I'm turning six!"
"Oh, happy birthday." Al grinned. This child reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't place who.
The child's grin widened further."What's your name, mister?" The child tilted his head to the side.
"My name's Alphonse. What's yours?"
"My name's William! My mommy likes to call me Will. We both think Willy is a silly nickname."
"I agree. Willy's pretty silly."
The door to the car from the dining car rolled open.
"Will, why are you bothering that boy?" A female voice, obviously his mother, called from the doorway. Will moved over to reveal a woman with long chestnut hair, holding a paper bag that probably had a pastry from the dining car in its contents.
"Oh, he's not bothering me. It's okay."
She flapped her hand at Will. "Well, that doesn't mean he gets to get away with not sitting down. Go ahead! Sit! Sit" She chided.
The woman mouthed an apology before settling back down into her seat.
Alphonse made himself comfortable, or as comfortable as one could be on a wooden bench, and resigned himself to staring at the window until the train arrived in the Elgach City station.
_000_
When Al emerged in the warm August air, he closed his eyes and let the heat of the sun warm his eyelids.
He wasn't sure he'd see the sun for the next few hours, during which he was going to be holed up in a cold, musty library, surrounded by a wall of boring alchemical texts. The Elgach City Mythos Library was famed all around the East Area for their extensive collection of alchemical lore and research second only to the Central Military Library in Central City, which was only accessed by State Alchemists and military officers.
If he was going to find a way to reclaim his brother, an alchemical mythology library was a good place to start. To most people, homunculi were little more than legends from ancient civilisations, with little more real substance than air.
Researching was going to be long and hard. Long stretches of just reading on subjects that may not even help him accomplish his goal was going to take up most of his day- and may stretch on into multiple days. Al would have to find lodgings somewhere.
Scouting the train station, he spotted a bulletin board next to the tickets booth, crowned by a big wooden sign marked with black letters that read, "INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES". The bulletin boards' surface was littered with scraps of paper, faded signs, and several missing pets posters. An odd newspaper or boldly lettered Bed and Breakfast advertisement broke up the white carpet of paper every so often.
Among these nondescript signs, a single piece of paper stuck out. It was a long, handwritten sign advertising temporary lodgings in someone's home for 'passing tourists, over the age of fifteen, party of one'. The address listed was at 566 Aspen Street, which based on a very faded map next to it, was only a short walk from the train station.
The creator of the sign (who wrote their name at the bottom in illegible, loopy cursive), didn't seem like an untrustworthy person or even someone who would make him feel too uncomfortable while he stayed there. One thing made the deal for Alphonse: the owner promised a full breakfast each day at the renter's request, but only if the owner was home.
He nodded to himself. Yes, this room would do.
Al sure hoped that the creator of the sign didn't mind their roomer's lights staying on well past midnight and into the wee hours of the morning.
