Chapter Eight

"Hey, Chibi," I called out to Ed. "Do you think you could find me a teacher? I need to train, become stronger."

It had been five days since Mustang left. He had offered Ed a change to become a State Alchemist, and nodded to me before leaving. Since then, both of us had recovered fully. I had decided to use this time to become friends with Winry and the Elric brothers. Al was very welcoming, but Ed was wary. It took a bit before he began to relax around me.

"Why do you need a teacher? You only have one arm and leg." He looked at me oddly. "And what does 'chibi' mean?"

I smirked. "To answer your second question, it means pipsqueak." I ignored him as he tried to kill me, restrained only by Al. "To answer your first one, I'm going to get automail. I know that you're thinking of taking Lieutenant Colonel Mustang's offer and I'm going to help you, whether you want me to or not."

He looked a bit surprised. "Why? You barely know me."

It was a very good question. After all, I had already done my part in the story-retrieve Ed's Portal. What else would I need to do?

The answer was simple. Truth could manipulate the story more after this-after all, it was God. If I wasn't there to stop it, bad things could happen. Not only that, but I was a fangirl. It would be stupid to leave my idol to fend for himself, even if I was struggling to contain my fangirl screams around him. The automail surgery may be excruciating, but it was a small price to pay for limbs that would function as well as I needed them to.

I decided to give Ed the simplest answer. "I appeared here for a reason, and I'm going to do everything I can to do what I need to." I grinned evilly. "You're never going to get rid of me."

He sighed, resigned to his fate. "You could go to my teacher, Izumi Curtis." Exactly what I wanted to hear.

"Are you going to get automail, too?" I asked quietly. "It's gonna hurt like hell and take about a year to adjust to."

He gave a small smirk. "Hey, you're going to do it, too. And I lost two limbs a few days ago. Getting a few limbs can't hurt as much as that."


Yeah, right.

The surgery hurt like hell. I was in agony, but losing two limbs had helped-I could handle it and not scream.

Next to me, Ed shook with the same agony that I was feeling. His hand bunched up the sheets as he gripped them tightly.

As we lay on the beds, racked with pain, I vaguely heard Ed start to speak to Winry and Pinako.

"...It's all my fault Al has that body...He can't eat, sleep, get hurt, or feel...He blames me...He definitely blames me…!"

"That's not true!" Winry protested. Pinako backed her up."Al isn't the sort of boy that would blame you. You'll see by asking him."

"I'm afraid to...I'm too scared to ask." I could tell that he was crying. "That's why I have to restore him as soon as possible…"

On pure instinct, my hand shot up and grasped Ed's, comforting him. "You will do it." I whispered. "I will help you even if I die. I was sent here to help you. I won't ever stop trying to help you. You'll get through this, you will."

We stayed like that until our fevers subsided, each comforting and encouraging the other to keep going.

Of course, we didn't talk about it after we recovered.


10.9.14: I just edited this. A reviewer pointed out that he had only one hand at the time, which, to my embarrassment, was true. I have fixed it, and I want to thank that reviewer. Thank you so, so, so much! Yeah, it's a bit fast. I'm working on that.

Ciao, bella!