Something had been brought to my attention and I think it's a good topic to address. So I have some questions for you:
a) Do you think this has pretty much ceased to be a "one shot" collection?
b) If yes, do you think it could be returned to being one?
c) Do you think it should be returned to being one?
d) If no, should it be rewritten to be a continuous story or should it simply be put in chronological order and the AUs removed?
I would really like your guy's opinions. They mean a lot to me! Please please chime in! Especially if you have any ideas ;D
Al really did not want to wake up.
At all.
In any way shape or form. He didn't want to be half awake, half asleep. He didn't want to almost be asleep. He wanted to be out of it cold, no clue about the world around him.
But his brain simply wouldn't comply.
"Noooo," he moaned, trying to squeeze his eyes together even tighter.
Then they shot open when he felt something very forceful slam into his chest.
"What the—!"
"Al!" The black hair was unmistakable. Or at least it was to him.
"… Mei?"
"You're alright! Thank goodness!" She got off him (he was lying down on something hard, what was it? Where was he?) only to grab his head, looking into his eyes, then hug him again. With his head squished uncomfortably against her shoulder, he was able to see with the one eyes not seeing purple fabric, small room with two windows. A colorful and green landscape was flying past.
"I was so worried! I knew they had given you drugs but you still weren't waking up and I was checking your breathing every few minutes and Al don't you ever scare me like that again or I will kill you myself!"
"… What?"
She let go of him and scooting backwards until she was sitting on a stool just next to him. It seemed he was on a bed in a train? But they weren't traveling from Xing to Amestris because the landscape outside was green. Then he looked at Mei and winced.
It was obvious she hadn't been getting enough sleep recently. There were dark circles under her red eyes (she had been crying?) and her clothes were wrinkled. None of the servants in the palace would ever let her stay in wrinkled clothes which must have meant they weren't near the palace.
He was very confused.
"You don't remember?"
"… Remember what?"
"In the palace. The court session was over and we were leaving when you saw a bomb…. It exploded and then a group of men came, probably to try and kill Ling and some of the other prominent leaders. You held them back, but you got hit by a lot of shrapnel. You were bleeding heavily and would have died if I hadn't —well, me and the guard— hadn't saved you."
"Really?"
She nodded solemnly.
"My leg?"
She nodded again a reached over to pull the blanket covering his legs off. He propped himself up on his elbows so that he could see and felt slightly faint when he did.
"... I think I remember now…"
Mei bit her lip, but he hardly noticed. His leg was covered in scars of different shapes and sizes, as if the flesh had been fed through a shredding machine and sewed back onto his leg. It was a horrible red and black blotchy color that made him slightly scared. His other leg had fared much better, but it was still covered in numerous scars.
He didn't realize he was breathing heavily until Mei told him to breathe slower.
"It's going to heal. They wanted to amputate but I told them they weren't allowed to. I thought that you had worked too hard to get your body back to lose any part of it."
"Yeah…" Al forced a smile onto his face. "But think about how cheap automail would be for me? I've got a family connection."
"Al… how can you take this so calm?" Mei asked, rubbing the corner of her eye.
"Maybe I'm just taking Ed's example. You wouldn't believe how calmly he took almost dying. He would freak out in the moment and then in the hospital, even if it made him spit up blood, he would be yelling, screaming, and fighting to get out as soon as possible."
"Don't you dare do that!" Mei said quickly, standing up and pointing at him authoritatively, which only made him laugh.
"Okay, okay!" She sat down only after he promised that he wouldn't try to be his brother and take care of himself while he was healing.
"Where are we?"
"We're on a train in Amestris. As soon as we were sure that you weren't in immediate danger, Ling gave me permission to get you on a train and take you directly to Ed in Rushvalley. There are probably a lot of Elders that aren't happy about it and they're probably going to create quite the storm when I get back, but I really don't care. The hospitals are probably better equipped to care for you here and there are a lot of medical facilities in Rushvalley that can care for problems like this. Plus, being close to Ed and Winry should help you a lot."
"Thanks Mei," Al said sincerely. He was really touched that she was willing to take heat from the Elders for him. Especially in the situation. And though he wasn't happy with the fact that she had been in serious danger, he was glad that she had managed to save his life.
"Yeah… you're welcome. Just… don't ever make me do that again. My heart's stopped over a hundred times throughout this whole ordeal." A small flutter of hope started in Al's chest. Did that mean that she possibly cared a more for him than just as a friend? If she was that worried about him…
"And you couldn't have done that to Ed or Winry! Ed's going to throw a fit when he finds out about this, and probably try to blow something up."
"He doesn't have his alchemy anymore, Mei," Al said, smirking slightly as she railed against his brother.
"Oh he'll find a way. I wouldn't trust him to control himself in a situation like this. He might even get so angry he'll punch Truth in the face and get his Gate back."
He laughed and she joined in with him a little. "I wasn't completely joking," she said through the giggled.
"Yes. The real secret to getting things for nothing is to punch Truth in the face. Then he'll give you back anything he took from you. Wish I had known that."
"Of course it's not getting something for nothing! He'd be getting his alchemy back in return for a lot of guts and daring."
"Something Brother has in spades."
She laughed with him before throwing her arms around him again.
"Don't you ever almost die on my again, okay?"
"Deal."
"If you think you're ever going back to banana country again—"
"Banana country, Ed?" Ed turned a light shade of red and looked away from his brother's teasing look.
"Winry's been trying to get me to stop swearing around the kids. Banana's the closest she'll let me get to swearing without the wrench." Al laughed and reached down for the luggage at his feet. He was in a wheel chair that Mei had taken (stolen) from the palace. She had also packed for him and when he was looking through it earlier, he was pleased to see that she had done a good job of it, bringing the essentials that he had brought with them in the East as well a number of other things she knew he would want back home.
"But if you keep doing that they'll think that every time someone's offering them a yellow curved fruit that they're swearing!"
"Good point Al. You can bring that up to Winry and see how she likes it, okay?"
Ed started pushing Al forward and Mei followed behind with her own luggage. "I will Brother. Wouldn't want them to avoid their potassium because of a little word issue."
"Of course not. It's for their own health!"
"Of course, Brother." Ed grinned and ruffled the top of Al's head.
"I've missed you, little brother. I meant it when I said you're never going back to that country. I won't let you."
"I think you missed the part of the equation where I've been appointed by the Fuhrer to continue to go to that country, Ed. I'm getting paid to do so. And plus, you'd be surprised, but I actually like it there."
Ed stopped dead and Mei almost walked right into him. Al turned around to look at his brother, but Ed had turned around and pointed angrily at Mei.
"How dare you and your brother poison my brother's mind? You've polluted it! There will be retribution beansprout!"
"Poison his mind? You've got to be kidding me! Xing is a country rich in tradition and culture and it wasn't created by a mad man looking for souls to sacrifice! We have more diversity and—"
Al was laughing so hard as he was pushed through the streets of Rushvalley (successfully avoiding any of the fanatic engineers who would likely jump on Al in the hopes he needed the wheelchair because of missing limbs) that he almost added punctured lungs to his list of injuries.
They approached the shop proudly boasting the name "Garfeil-Rockbell" and as soon as they got within eyeshot of it, a small blond missile came firing at them, shouting.
"Daddy!"
"Hey!" Ed said happily, reaching out and catching his son in outstretched arms. "How you doing little man?" Al raised his eyebrows at the use of their mother's nickname for Ed, but didn't comment.
"I'm good! Mommy's with baby Sara!"
"Yeah? Why don't we go show her a new guests, huh?" Benny frowned slightly then looked around and caught sight of Al in the wheelchair and Mei standing behind him. His eyes widened.
"Who are they?"
"That's your Uncle Al. He's my brother." His eyes widened further and he started squirming to be let down. As soon as his feet touched the ground he hurried over to Al in the chair.
"Hi! I'm Benny! Daddy says you Uncle!"
"Yeah, I'm your Uncle Al."
"Why you in chair?"
"I got hurt really bad and my leg's don't work for right now. But I'm going to work really hard so that I can walk again and won't need your daddy to push me around all the time."
"Okay! Who you?" he asked, pointing at Mei this time. She looked worried for a second, not quite knowing how to introduce herself, until Al answered for her.
"She's your Auntie. Aunt Mei. She's gonna be here as long as I am helping me get better, alright?"
The toddler nodded and started chattering happily, even though most of what he was saying was along the lines of "Mommy had baby Sara. Baby Sara was hungry and crying. So Mommy feeding baby Sara!" Mei took over pushing for Ed who went up ahead and grabbed his wife.
"Al? Al!" Winry said happily as she came into view. Al smiled when he saw her, happily shouting "Winry!" and, laughing when she tried to hug him awkwardly in the chair.
"What happened to you?"
"That idiot Ling has been endangering him again."
"Brother!"
"Al was actually being incredibly brave. He saved the lives of probably every member of the Xingese court, even if that did lead to him endangering his own," Mei answered, smiling at his blush.
"She's trying to make it sound better than it actually was. There were a lot of guards around that actually protected all of them. I just held off the threats until they could all get to safety."
"And thereby saved everyone."
"Of course he did," Ed said confidently. "I wouldn't expect my brother to do anything less. Benny, when you grow up if you can't be like me, be like your Uncle. But try to be like me more."
"Okay Daddy!" Benny chirped happily, smiling. He was still sitting in Al's lap and playing with his hands. "Auntie Mei! Take me to Mommy!"
Mei blushed a little and picked the boy up, handing him to Winry who placed him on her hip.
"You don't mind do you? Him call me Auntie, because if you do—"
"No, Mei it's fine!" Winry said enthusiastically, reaching over and giving the Xingese princess a hug. "You practically are already."
Mei blushed deeper.
Little Benny's cute, huh?
Please answer the questions stated at the top. If you've forgotten and don't want to scroll up and check, I'll copy and paste them here:
a) Do you think this has pretty much ceased to be a "one shot" collection?
b) If yes, do you think it could be returned to being one?
c) Do you think it should be returned to being one?
d) If yes to both, should it be rewritten to be a continuous story or should it simply be put in chronological order and the AUs removed?
I would really like your guy's opinions. They mean a lot to me! Please please chime in! Especially if you have any ideas ;D The review buttons just down there, folks. I don't care if you review anon or signed. I would prefer signed so that I can thank you, but if you don't want to log on that's fine :D Please and thank you!
