Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 011: Fear

"Ugh," Ed grunted, standing in the sidelines as he watched the guests mingle in the living room. The entire first floor was flooded with guests due to a surprise visit from Winry's former automail mechanic, Garfiel, who brought along the barrage of mechanics she knew from Rush Valley. Personally, Ed didn't want to be there. He would much rather be upstairs in the sanction of his bedroom, immersed in another novel rather than pasting up fake smiles and pretending he actually gave a damn about what they were talking about.

"Edward-kun!" Mei sang, bouncing next to him. She handed him a note, which made his frown deepen.

"What is it?" he asked, opening the note.

"Winry-chan told me to give it to you," Mei glanced around him. "Have you seen Alphonse-sama?"

"Out by the back," Ed jerked a thumb absently, reading the note quickly. He let his hand fall to his side, eyes shifting to the far right, where he saw Winry laugh with a bunch of her friends; in a perfectly good mood although the note she had subtly sent him spoke other stories.

Be nice, Ed, or else! I mean it!

Love, Winry.

"Love, huh?" he groused, crumpling the note in his hand and sticking it in his pocket. He supposed he was being a terrible host, off to the side brooding and all, but what the hell was he supposed to do? He wasn't good with this type of stuff and she knew that damn well!

"Ah, you must be Edward Elric! A State Alchemist, right?" a fellow mechanic addressed, causing a wave of murmurs to commence. He swallowed, sweat breaking out on his forehead when he noticed the too-interested looks he was receiving from the other mechanics nearby.

"Yeah, that's me," he confirmed, causing another ripple of interest through the crowd. "Although I'm no longer in the military. I quit."

"I hear you have the most marvelous arm automail!" the woman ignored his last statement, walking forward. "It's your right arm, correct? Of course it is! I saw it the last time you came down to Rush Valley! Simply a wonderful design! You are so incredibly fortunate to own such a model!"

"Actually, ma'am, I don't have automail—!"

"Of course you do," she cut off briskly. "Everyone knows!" Agreements spread through the room, as a couple of mechanics cornered him and grabbed him, making him struggle as politely as possible (Winry's threat still stood) but everything was starting to seem rather suffocating. He had never been the one to like it when people butted into his personal space and in that moment, surrounded by the flurry of mechanics, he was beginning to feel the symptoms of claustrophobia in the shape of shaky breathing and darting eyes.

The feelings of suffocation were greater now than ever before and he supposed he had gotten that fear from being swallowed up by Envy and being touched and howled and screamed at by the seemingly endless pit of souls he carried inside. It was an experience he still had trouble getting over. And with the rough shoves and intermingling chatter he heard from all around him, he had no trouble picturing those lost masses of energy begging him for release.

His breathing became too shallow, heart rate too fast.

"U-uh, I don't have my automail arm anymore! I never had it in the first place!" he shouted, voice growing louder as they kept pushing and shoving; trying to pull his shirt off to gander at the mechanical limb he no longer had; having been left behind in the battle with Father, where his brother restored his arm successfully at the expense of his own metal body. "Let go – I don't have it – I said, let go!" he shouted, voice edging dangerous but they didn't seem to care. "Hey, I said don't touch me!"

The claustrophobic sensation grew with every grabbing hand. He could feel it bottle up in his chest; a pressure that made it hard to breathe or even think right. He had another flash of the mourning faces within Envy's body; the despaired cries that had threatened to deafen him.

Someone managed to grab his shirt, rip off a button in an attempt to take it off so they could look at the genius work of Winry's automail and that was when he had it; the pressure that had been building in his chest, suffocating and terrifying, bursting at the seams.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he roared, gold iris shrinking to form a dangerous glare that shushed the entire room. His heavy, shaky, breathing was the only sound he could hear aside from his insanely beating heart. His eyes widened, shame overcoming the previous fear when he flashed his eyes to Winry, who had stopped trying to push through the crowd and worriedly stared at him.

He looked away, fear dissolving into weariness. "I-I'll be outside if anyone needs me. Excuse me," he cleared his throat, an unsteady hand gripping his collar and closing it within his fist as he shoved through the silent crowd and out the door; making sure to slam it before he breathed the free air of Resembool.

He felt better now, outside; alone.

He felt better than inside; surrounded.

He ran a hand down his face, noticing it was shaking and hating the fact that a couple of Rush Valley hicks got to him the way they did.

"Edward?" Winry's soft voice came from behind him a few minutes later. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, voice tight. "Just go back inside and keep talking to those fuckin' freaks...I'll be fine out here for a while."

She was quiet, then he felt a hand touch his arm and he looked down to see her concerned blue eyes. "You don't look so fine," she whispered. Her other hand rose, touching his cheek before touching his sweat-shined forehead. "What happened in there? One moment you were all alone in the corner and the next you're being swarmed..."

"Someone recognized me and they made a big deal out of it," was his short reply. "That's it. It wasn't anything that wouldn't have happened to me if I'd gone to Rush Valley..."

"But before you didn't completely freak out like you did today," she bluntly pointed out.

"I didn't freak out!" he shouted, defensively. "What would you have done if a bunch of random strangers tried to tear your clothes off so they could touch your fake arm?" he scathingly asked, flashing embittered eyes to her. "I'd bet you'd cry."

Winry pursed her lips. "I would not!"

"Right."

It was silent. Then she said, voice softer: "You don't have to worry about that anymore – I think they got the idea that you don't have your arm anymore. I convinced them that you never had it in the first place although some didn't really believe it..."

"Who gives a damn what they think?" Ed scoffed. "They wouldn't understand, anyway. Automail might look cool to those who have all four limbs but to those who don't it's nothing but a goddamn stigmata for others to mock!" He abruptly shut up, snapping his head to Winry, who had her head bowed in guilt.

"W-Winry, wait, I didn't—!"

"I...never you knew you felt that way about automail," she whispered, voice laden with shame. "I wouldn't have made such a big deal out of it...if I had known how you really felt."

"No, that came out wrong..." he whispered, urgently. He turned, grabbing her by her shoulders. "What I meant was that a lot of people like to make a big fuss about automail, okay? I'm not speaking to you directly...I pretty much know you have your heart in the right place...it's just—people like them! Who make a huge deal out of some arm you've explained over and over again but they just don't seem to understand it," he smiled encouragingly when she looked up, eyes watery. "Automail does have it perks – it's saved my ass more times than I could count when I got into fights with the Homunculi!" he threw out there recklessly, anything to ease the tears that were brimming in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter!" she cried, tone morose. "I always made a huge deal out of automail...I never considered your feelings about it! I'm sorry!" She bit her quivering lip. "I'm really, really sorry..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, stupid," he breathed a chuckle, raising a hand to gently pat her head. "You gave me an arm to work with and a leg to stand on – that's good enough to brag about, isn't it?" he smiled softly, her eyes searching his own.

She sniffled, wiping away the few tears that managed to escape her eyes. "I-I guess..." she mumbled.

"Right. So, go back in there before one of those grease-heads decides to raid your workshop and steal your prints or something," he joked, lightening the atmosphere.

Winry went still. She looked up, horrified. "I forgot to lock the basement! Oh, no!" She darted back inside, Ed's bewildered eyes following her until she disappeared into the throng of people; confusion draining to amused exasperation when he heard her fuming screech come from inside her broken-in workshop.

A/N: It's sad how slow I update (I know, I'm insane, right?) but I'm already on Theme 040 and I'm dying to post them all up! But, no, I cannot! I must resist...although you will probably get double-updates one of these days, when I can't take waiting the usual 2 day waiting period XD

Review!

Scarlett.