Hey guys, I just got home from my karate class. About seven of us went out for smoothies afterwards, and I kind of lost track of time (damn you smoothies for being so sweet and delicious!). Anyway, I'd like to say thank you for all of the reviews so far (especially you, Indome…I might have to go through the fight scenes throughout the rest of the story and edit a tiny bit again…thanks for the advice). I do want to warn my readers though that the violence will slow down considerably for the next chapters. Lots of angsty teenager stuff is to happen soon! There will be plenty of more fighting stuff in this story, so do not despair! I might start posting more than one chapter each time so I do not lose any readers (sorry, I'm still kind of self-conscious about this story seeing that it's my first one I've ever posted – I get kind of scared that I'll piss someone off!).
Enough talking…Enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen
First Lieutenant Hawkeye had been assigned to watch over Winry until she woke up. The amount of Scar sightings had diminished in Central, and after hearing of him showing up in Heissgart, the Colonel felt relatively safe at Headquarters. Hawkeye stood watch by the door to prevent anyone from entering the girl's room without prior permission. It had been less than a day since the teens arrived, barely alive, back into Central. The care they received at Heissgart had been less than adequate, and the medical staff now worried about the chance of infections in any of the multiple wounds each body harbored. Edward had only minor injuries except for the one large gash in his side, which was irrigated and re-stitched upon admission to the infirmary. Winry, on the other hand, had not been as lucky. One of her lungs had indeed been punctured slightly by two broken ribs, and she had received a concussion from the trauma to her head.
The teens were stitched up and put into separate rooms, each with a member of Mustang's team watching over them. A small sound from Winry made Hawkeye turn her attention to the girl. She observed as she could see the girl's eyes opening slightly. Then, without warning, they flew open and Winry quickly sat up in bed.
"Where am I? Where's Edward and Al!" she screeched, unaware of her current surroundings. The lieutenant rushed to the girl's bedside and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Winry, it's okay. It's me, Lieutenant Hawkeye. Can you hear me?"
She watched as Winry calmed down slightly, but the toll of sitting up so quickly caused her to cough violently as her lungs protested. Hawkeye helped the girl to lie back down, though she still attempted to get up and out of bed. "You need to stay still! You will make yourself worse if you keep moving around like that," the officer scolded the girl, though gently placing another pillow underneath her head to prop her up slightly.
"Where is everyone, Lieutenant? Where am I? Is this still Heissgart?" Winry attempted to lift her left arm up to shield her eyes from the bright lights, only to remember it being destroyed by Scar. Turning her head to the officer, Winry asked quietly, "Where is Edward? Is he okay?"
The lieutenant's eyes softened, as she understood the girl's worry, "Edward is in the next room with Alphonse and Second Lieutenant Havoc watching over him. I do not believe he has come to yet, for the Second Lieutenant is supposed to report to me as soon as he does." Hawkeye reached for a cloth and wiped some blood from Winry's mouth. "You are in Central, though. You arrived late last night on the train from Heissgart with Al and Major Armstrong. Apparently you two wouldn't have been able to get adequate care from the physicians on hand in Heissgart, so you were brought here."
"I'd like to see Edward if it's okay," Winry asked quietly, causing the officer to frown slightly. "Absolutely not, especially in your state. If you're not careful you'll make yourself worse…"
The lieutenant looked down and saw the sadness written on the girl's face, and felt bad for her outburst. She leaned in closer to whisper in the girl's ear, "We'll see about a little later though after you've eaten something. I don't need you passing out on me." Winry looked up to the Lieutenant, smiled, and nodded her head in thanks.
Looking down, Winry saw the amount of damage that was done to her arm and sighed, "I guess I'm going to have to go home and have this fixed. It looks like it will require another surgery. A lot of the connection points in here were destroyed when he—" she became quiet for a few moments, remembering the amount of fear she felt at that moment, and cringed. "Either way," she continued a moment later, "this is something I can't fix right here. I'll have to get some help from Grams--"
"Do not worry, it has been all taken care of. We have informed your grandmother, and she is preparing for your arrival soon," informed Lieutenant Hawkeye, causing the teen to groan.
"Man, she's so going to kill me…"
"We explained the situation to her, and she understood fully the extent of your injuries. We are going to have you escorted to Rizenbul once you are able to travel," Hawkeye continued, eliciting another moan.
Winry looked out the window and noticed the sun was out, "Wait…What time is it right now? How long have I been here?"
"Why, it's mid-morning. You two have been here less than 12 hours, which is why I'm surprised you've waken up so early. The amount of sedation should have kept you out for the rest of the day…"
Silence encased the room for the next few minutes, as Hawkeye watched Winry gaze out the window. "I'm going to be out of commission for at least a month, if not longer…"
Winry balled her remaining hand into a fist and hit her the bed, "After all I've done to get where I'm at I had to go get hurt and ruin it! No one is going to take me seriously after they hear the poor little girl got hurt!"
Silence filled the room as Hawkeye understood her frustration, "No one is going to hold it against you, at least, no one who matters …" Winry turned her head to look at the officer with confusion. "State alchemists and superior officers understand the kind of power Scar possesses. He has killed at least sixteen state alchemists, but if you count the people who are around them it could easily grow to above thirty. The military isn't taking this sort of matter easy. To have been able to fight him and survive is an enormous feat. Even with Major Armstrong assisting you, the odds of all four of you surviving was small…"
Hawkeye placed a hand on what was left of Winry's left shoulder, "Besides, whoever holds this injury against you is ignorant, so pay no mind to them. And anyone who holds the fact that you're a girl against you, can come talk to me," she said with a smile.
"Now," Riza said as she walked back to her position by the door, "would you like to get some more rest, or would you like to try and eat something?"
Winry smiled at the lieutenant's comment, "I would like to try to eat something. The sooner I can prove to you I won't pass out, the sooner I can see Edward, right?"
Hawkeye nodded slightly and used the phone on the girl's nightstand to call for some food to be brought to the room. Winry wasn't really hungry, but if a meal were the only thing blocking her from seeing her friend, she would see to it that she ate enough.
Later that afternoon, after forcing down some fruit for a late breakfast and a small lunch, Lieutenant Hawkeye finally agreed to let Winry go next door to Edward's room. She carefully helped the younger girl into an available wheelchair and pushed her to the next room. Second Lieutenant Havoc stepped aside and saluted the young girl as the Lieutenant brought her into the room. Alphonse quickly stood up from his place by the window and rushed over to his friend.
"Winry! You're awake already?" he whispered excitedly, "I'm glad to see you're okay, you were pretty banged up when we got here last night." Winry was wheeled up to the side of Edward's bed, as Al sat on the opposite side. Slowly, Winry turned in her chair slightly to face the two officers, "Could we possibly get some time alone, please? I'd really appreciate it…" Lieutenant Hawkeye nodded her head as her and Havoc saluted the girl, "Of course, we'll be outside if any assistance is needed." They quietly closed the door behind them, bringing silence to the room once more. Winry sat quietly next to Edward, afraid that anything she did would wake him up.
"Don't worry, he hasn't woken or moved since we arrived last night," said Al as he noticed her hesitation. Winry gently took his left hand within her right one and lightly squeezed it.
"I'm glad you're all right though, Winry. We were both really worried about you while we were fighting…"
He could see the silent tears slide down her cheek as she continued to study her injured friend. "Maybe if I had helped the whole time…then, maybe none of this would have happened. Edward told me to stay back, but I didn't…and now he's hurt…"
"Things may not have ended so well if they didn't happen the way they did," Al said softly, causing her gaze to rise to his metal body. "We've fought him before, and were lucky to survive then. Scar's only goal is to kill all state alchemis—"
"Why? What does he have against us? What have we done that makes us deserve to die…Was what my parents did so wrong that they deserved death?" More tears flowed down her cheeks as images of her childhood flashed through her head. She gripped Edward's hand tighter as she looked back to him, "And why did he have to go back after the Major showed up?"
Al stayed quiet for a few moments while Winry calmed down slightly. He was worried she would make herself worse if she kept being upset.
"You know, Winry, Brother really does care for you more than you think he does…" the younger brother said quietly, causing Winry to lift her head to stare at him. "It's true…When Scar threw you against that building and you hit your head pretty hard, we were still trying to get through the wreckage of your lightning attack. He saw us coming, and transmuted chains to wrap around us and our hands, so neither one of us could use transmutation to escape. These marks," he said, pointing out the many bruises that lined Edward's arm and body, "he got those as he tried to break free. He became reckless at one point because he thought…because he thought you were about to die…" Winry sat silently, listening to the information as she continued to hold Edward's hand, lightly stroking her thumb over his knuckles. Seeing her silence, Al continued, "I thought he had lost if for a second when Scar blocked both of us from you by creating that pile of debris. I had never seen him so panicked than the way he was yesterday…"
Nothing was said for the next few minutes, as Winry continued to study Edward's features and stroke his knuckles. "Al," she said after awhile, not taking her eyes off of the injured friend in front of her, "Why has Edward been reading books on automail recently?" Her tired face looked up to see Al's face glancing down towards his brother.
"He's been trying to find a way to make it easier for you whenever you have to change out a limb. He doesn't want you to have to go through the pain you do every time. He's also trying to find a way to get your arm and leg back too, along with his limbs and my body," the younger brother said quietly.
"Has he studied anything else during these past few months?" Winry asked. Al shook his head at her question, "Uh uh…I've been doing all the reading on the Philosopher's Stone these last few months, while he's been researching ways to help you. It really is no problem though, because most of the information is the same in all of the books—"
"Al, I want you to promise me something…" Winry interrupted softly as she gently released Edward's hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. "No matter what happens, I do not want you to tell him where I'm going. I will inform the Colonel as well of this. I'm going back to Rizenbul to get my arm fixed, but from then on I don't know where I'll be…"
"Why? He's going to be very upset when he doesn't know where you are and how you're doing…"
"I know, Al, I know…But I am not going to be the reason you don't get your body back. I…I love you two so much…and I don't want to prevent him from helping you like he's promised. I'm just…in the way…"
"No your not, Winry! If it's that important to you, he would probably let you help us out! I'm sure he'd rather have that instead of never knowing if you're okay," Al exclaimed as he stood up to protest.
"You're wrong, Al. He never wanted me to become a State Alchemist in the first place, because of the dangerous situations I would be involved in. He worries about me too much, and I don't want him to be distracted from his goals," she said quietly as she painfully stood from her wheelchair. Wiping more tears from her eyes first, Winry gently moved his bangs from his forehead, and sorely leaned forward to place a light kiss on his forehead. Straightening up, she gently squeezed his hand once more before turning to Al, "It's because I love him that I have to do this. I hope he'll understand as time passes."
Slowly Winry lowered herself back into her wheelchair, "Promise me, Al. You won't tell him anything…"
The younger brother sat in quiet contemplation for a few moments before admitting defeat, "Okay, Winry. I won't tell him where you're at…But he will try to find you when he realizes you're gone."
She nodded in understanding as she slowly wheeled herself to the door, "Please keep him pointed in the right direction, Al," she said as she slowly opened the door to alert Lieutenant Hawkeye that she was ready to leave. The Lieutenant could see the tear stains on the girl's cheeks and decided not to pry into what happened. As Winry was being pushed out of the room, she lightly grabbed the doorframe, and turned around for another look at the brothers.
"Please take care of him for me, Al. I want you two to be whole again…" she said with a sad smile. Al nodded, and Winry let go of the doorframe, signaling she was ready to leave. He watched as his friend was wheeled out, and looked down to his brother again, "You are not going to like this one bit, but I will keep my word," he said to the still unconscious Edward. "We will get our bodies back, brother. And then you can go to her…"