Chapter 25: The Mechanic
*A/N: I'm back! Let me just say in my defense: not enough hours in the day! I also have another, very important note before I let everyone read. I recently watched the new Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood movie and said 'oh crap'. This movie did not have an influence on this story and because of that I'm pretending that it never existed, so sorry if you were hoping/expecting that. So without further ado, here's another chapter: enjoy!
Edward felt the suns heat on his face before he came out of his dream. Rubbing an irritated hand across his forehead he blinked up stupidly, giving a death glare to the irritant.
"Morning, Edward!" he groaned and cast a quick glance over at his apprentice. "Sleep well?"
He groaned again and slowly stretched, making damn sure to keep his leg flat and not to jar the already fragile gears anymore than he had to. "Sure, that's one way to put it…" he propped himself up against the wall the bed was pushed against and winced as his thigh began to twinge in pain along with his aching hip. "Damn it all…" he muttered, furiously rubbing the hip bone and gritting his teeth against the pain.
"What's wrong sir?" Leni asked, jumping up from her seat on the opposite bunk and worriedly looking at the prosthetic.
"Nothing." Edward winced again and coughed out tiredly, "the weight just pulls so much on my damn leg when it's just dead weight and not doing anything."
"Oh…" Leni looked up and quickly finished, "the Lieutenant wanted me to tell you that the mechanic was here and waiting for you." Leni cocked her head at him, "Want me to get you some food before we go down?"
Ed opened his mouth to say yes, his stomach growling furiously, but then remembered the consequences of eating before getting a limb reattached. He'd seen a guy eat and then suffer those consequences before and that had not been pleasant.
"No, I'll grab something later." He leaned over and gripped the automail, careful to support it as Granny and Winry had once said. (If he remembered correctly they had told him how to do it because "it's never broken enough to force you to sit down once in a while".) Supporting the limb at the ankle and the port he slowly turned his body to set it on the floor.
"Are you sure you should be walking on it?" Leni hovered curiously in the background, ignoring Edward's grunt and instead readying herself to be turned into a crutch.
"I don't see the harm," Edward sighed, tugging his boots on and tying them viciously, "At least Colonel Bastard welded it into a solid tree trunk instead of a twisted mesh." He pulled his tattered coat over his suitcase and warily eased himself into a standing position, waiting for the limb to give out. Grinning to himself he took a quick glance around the bunk.
Sparse and getting hotter by the minuet Ed debated for a brief moment on whether or not he should bring their bags along so as to depart as soon as it was over, that idea was mute though as he realized two things. One: there was no guarantee that he would be able to leave after this; and two: there were still some things he needed to discuss with Hawkeye.
Gently he took a step and smiled as his leg held, though his bones screamed in displeasure. Each step brought him closer to the door slowly, and soon his hand was on the doorknob, waiting as Leni patiently waited beside him, offering her hand for balance.
Alphonse was impressed at how two days of rest could improve Mei's attitude and health. There was no more worrying about her premature death at the hands of an attacker she never saw, just as there was no more worrying about when we would next see Edward.
"Our train leaves in a couple of hours, Alphonse." Mei smiled, gently cleaning her knives off and putting them in her pouch. "Are you excited?"
"Relieved more like…" Alphonse sighed and looked at her, "I guess we should just be thankful for once that my brother's not going anywhere anytime soon for the next couple of days; and to Ling for getting us a train to Creta."
"Yeah," she frowned sadly, "he told me yesterday that he would've come and seen us off but with everything that's been going on…"
"I understand." Alphonse tensed as a moment of silence descended upon them.
Mei continued her work, "Well, it was very nice of Miss Riza to call you." The Chang paused for a moment, then looked at Alphonse, "I do have to ask though, why didn't Winry go?"
Al looked at Mei, sitting upright in a chair and finishing up her packing and smiled, "She wanted to but apparently in Rush Valley she had a couple of kids that needed prosthetics and Granny didn't see any reason why she couldn't go and get out of the house."
Mei smiled and looked up at Alphonse, "Well, I'm through packing." She gestured to the door, "Do you want to get going?"
Alphonse looked at her and nodded, carefully standing by as she got up.
Edward Elric couldn't believe his luck. The woman in front of him was definitely not Winry Rockbell, but instead her grandmother.
"What have you done this time Ed?" the woman clucked, shaking her pipe out and refilling it as she examined his leg. The room was just the same as all the others, bare, sterile, and white washed.
"In all fairness I didn't do it." He grumbled, watching her intently as she poked at his joint again.
"Mmhmm." She didn't respond further, just continued her prodding until his nerves reacted.
"Anyway, where's Winry? I thought she had this whole big deal of 'taking care of her automail'?"
"She's back in Rush Valley." Pinako smiled softly, "There were a couple of kids who needed the prosthetics and when she told me that she was going to drop everything to go to your sorry asses aid, I told her that those children needed her more than you at the moment so I volunteered-"
"Speaking of which, why were you here so quickly?" he gave her a sly glance and snickered as she frowned.
"I had to pick up a few specialty parts and medications in Central." She sighed, puffing smoke high into the still air. "I honestly probably wouldn't have come at all had I not been halfway here."
Edward smiled knowingly. One of them would've come, or at least been ready to welcome him home. It was like a Rockbell tradition; pretend that you don't care about the patient, but when shit hits the fan you're the first person there.
"Well, that and the fact that I received a call a few days ago that Alphonse was coming to meet you here and you know how it makes me feel to check up on you two once in a while."
Edward felt his face pale, felt his blood start pounding. "Alphonse?" he asked, almost fearing and hoping in a mixed up slur that he'd misheard Granny.
"Yeah," she smiled, the smell of tobacco gently wafting from her and landing around Ed, "He left sometime today, I don't know when specifically." She watched as Ed's lips gave a small, almost indiscernible smile.
"I- that's good…" Edward winced as his leg gave a particularly sharp throb and caught the expression on Pinako's face. "What?" he brought the heated flesh of his right hand down and carefully massage the bone and smiled slightly at her slight frown.
"Nothing…" Pinako bent over the limb and blinked a few times. What the hell has he done this time? She thought, gently running a hand over the welded metal.
"It's gotta come off, doesn't it?" Edward growled out viciously.
"Sorry Ed," Pinako took another look at the knee joint, "I don't see anyway I can fix it while it's on you… we'll, anyway that wouldn't cause a whole hell of a lot of pain to you." She took another step back to contemplate the damage, Ball bearings loose, the tension wire's gone… for that part most of the gears and nerve receptors are pretty much stuck together by the sound. I guess the best I can hope for at this point is for the port not to be melted all to hell…. "Edward," she began, her tone rising slightly, "What in the hell have you done to it?"
Edward blanched and then gave a snort, "I didn't do anything to it! I was only caught in the crossfire. Jeeze why does everyone always think that-"
Pinako snorted back, "I've dug enough bullets out of that stupid leg and there is no way that mess is just a lot of bullets. The damn things nearly welded solid! What were they aiming at you, hmm? A blowtorch?"
"Of a sort, goddamn flame alchemy more like it." Edward rolled his eyes, "But what's done is done, I just need it fixed…again."
Pinako smiled and gently slapped his flesh and blood hand away from the bone, reaching for a small lever on the side of the port. "It's not that big a deal Ed," she deftly flipped the one on the other side as well and ignored Ed's slight intake of breath as the nerves lost feeling once again, "I'll just do my best until Winry can refine it." She set the newly detached limb off on the nearest counter and set her hands on her hips.
"But you can fix it right?" his tone was almost hesitant, as if afraid of the answer. "I mean, Winry's design isn't too…. Strange from yours?" Pinako almost busted out laughing, but instead she slowly faced him and gave a slight chuckle.
Who does he think I am? She thought, looking at his expression, I'm not that senile yet. "Ed," she smiled, "who do you think spent hours, no, days, helping her design that model?" Pinako smiled and took another puff of her pipe, "I can fix it just fine, it just won't have all the little refinements that Winry can put on it. But trust me, it'll work pretty much the same." Pinako gave a slight frown.
"I don't like it when doctors frown at me," he joked.
"There is one other thing…" she quickly pulled out the spare leg which had loomed in the corner of the room.
Edward groaned, "I hate that thing…"
Pinako slowly slid it into the port and made sure the lever held it in place. Not only is it to big, but it isn't half as good as the one at home. She looked at Ed and was blunt, "I'm gonna have to wing it and get it to fit. I didn't plan on coming out here or I would've brought my own spare." She pulled a small black cord from her apron and tied it around the thickest part of the limb and port levers, "It doesn't connect even remotely to the nerves so it's just a crutch, and as for the size issue… well, I've tied it pretty tight so it hopefully won't slip."
Carefully Edward slid off of the low table and wobbled like a foal on its feet for a few moments, uncertain of the new crutch.
"It's better than nothing." He looked at Granny and gave a sincere smile, "Thanks Gran."
"No problem Ed." She turned to the leg, "Oh! And before I forget," she turned with that mischievous glint in her eyes, "I charge extra for doing personal calls."
Edward hesitated a moment before retorting, "I guess I'll just have to pay it back to you with dinner."
Pinako gave a slight grunt in mock approval and dove into her work.
Edward exited and simply "forgot" to mention that on this base, the food was half rate.