Protect Me
Written by: Luna (aka Jennifer)
Chapter 2 – Don't Die
Disclaimer – I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, yet any new characters that I have created to fit the story are mine, and part of Protect Me. Thank you!
Author's Note - Thanks to all who have reviewed so far. The story is just beginning and there's a lot more to come so I hope you enjoy it! Oh, and things will be explained further in this and later chapters. Thanx!
The lights in the distance were a welcoming sight. After the long, exhausting journey the young alchemist had taken, all Edward could think of was just making it to the Rockbell's house before passing out.
Unfortunately Al's condition had not improved even now, which was making Ed more nervous by the minute. Al's breathing was shallow and his body trembled slightly as expressions of pain played across his face every now and then.
Ed was near tears from the worry and thoughts going through his mind. What if all he had done was give his brother a slow, painful death? Even though he had received his body, what good did it do if he died only hours afterward?
"We're almost there Al. Look, I can see the house just up the hill. Please hold on a little bit longer." The older brother said in such a tired voice that he could barely be heard, while glancing down at his sibling who was still wrapped securely in the blanket. Ed's eyes were halfway closed and his face was pale. He was so very, very cold. "If you end up dying because of me, I will surely die along with you."
Winry stepped out of the bathroom, letting out a cloud of steam from the shower she had just taken. She had her pajamas on, which consisted of cotton pants and a spaghetti strap top. With her hair combed out, just slightly damp, and a towel draped casually around her neck, she headed downstairs slowly to get back to work on her latest automail project.
It had been a late night already and her grandmother, Pinako, had long since retired to bed. Winry had insisted that she would stay up and continue on her work, since their deadline was fast approaching. So after taking a break to get a quick, yet relaxing shower, she was going back at it.
Passing the kitchen, she decided that some fresh, cool water would be nice before she sat down to work. It was going on 2:00am now and she didn't think she was going to stay up much longer.
Winry went in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, grabbing her bottled water and taking a few sips. She was just about to put it back when she thought she heard a sound outside her front door.
"I'm sure it's just the storm." She muttered to herself since things always made strange noises during the long rainstorms.
When she heard something again she was beginning to get a little frightened. What if a burglar or someone was trying to get in? Why else would anyone be coming around at this hour?
Winry put her water back in the fridge and grabbed her wrench on the way to the door. She stood by the front door, trying to listen to any other noise from the outside. Blinking back tears of fear, she slowly opened the door just enough for her to see outside.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw out in the darkness and pouring rain. Collapsed in front of her porch was Edward and beside him was what seemed to be another person in a blanket, but she couldn't really tell.
"Edward!" Winry wasted no time running out to him. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was hurt. "Ed, talk to me! Edward!" She reached out and shook his shoulder.
She practically had to scream to be heard over the heavy rain. Tears were already beginning to run down her face because she didn't know what was going on. What was wrong with him?
Ed slowly opened his eyes and noticed a figure hovering above him. He could barely see or hear, but with the help of the light coming from the house, after his vision cleared a bit, Ed could tell it was his childhood friend. He had made it.
Suddenly, Ed's memories came flooding back to him and he quickly pushed himself up to his knees in a panic and looked around. "Al!"
Winry was sitting on her knees and had her hands out in front of her as if trying to calm her friend down. "Al? Al isn't here." She said quietly, so only she heard herself. Ed scrambled over to the bundle she had seen beside him.
It didn't take too long to put two and two together. That was Al in the blanket! He had his body back?
Her eyes went wide and she leapt to her feet closing the distance between them. "Ed! We have to get you both inside now!" Edward nodded, his pupils small and his eyes wide.
Winry helped carry Al into the house and she led them over to the couch for now. She was thinking quickly and clearly on what she needed to do in a hurry.
"Ed, listen to me."
Ed was crouched down by the couch and frantically trying to get Al to wake up.
It took a couple times for Winry to get his attention. She grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her, almost gasping at the look of terror on his face.
"I want you to go upstairs and get out of those wet clothes before you get pneumonia. There are some spare clothes in the guest bedroom you can use. I will take care of Al while you're away. Don't worry." She wore a concerned look on her face both for Ed and Al, but her voice was strong and held order.
Ed was reluctant at first, but he finally agreed and left the room to go upstairs. He was so cold that he could barely move, but he managed to get to the bedroom and find the dry clothes to change into.
As soon as Ed left, Winry wasted no time in tending to Al. This was an emergency. She knew that there was nowhere they could have come from that wasn't as least several miles away. Considering that Ed walked here, they must have been out in the storm for hours. It wasn't quite freezing, but it was cold enough to be dangerous if you were out there long enough and wet.
She first removed the soaked blanket, tossing it to the side and soon realized that Al had no clothes on and was also covered in blood from what looked to be slashes all over his body. What had Al been through? This was definitely not the time to get embarrassed at the surprise though. She ran to the hall closet and grabbed a big comforter that was a spare for the wintertime.
After returning, she covered the shivering boy, rubbing his body until he calmed down a little. His body was practically blue from being in the cold for so long. She was sure Ed was in the same condition, except that after quickly examining Al, she could tell that he had just been through some big ordeal. Winry assumed that Al had gotten his body back tonight and things didn't go very well. She was just glad it wasn't worse.
After she had gotten Al dry, she wrapped the blanket around him firmly and ran upstairs. She couldn't do all of this on her own in such a short time that it needed to be done in. After all, Ed needed attention as well.
The teenage girl soon realized that she was drenched as well from running outside to bring them in, not to mention she was starting to feel the cold. So she made a quick detour into her room and changed into dry clothes in record time, then left to go down the hall.
Coming into her grandmother's room, she ran over to the bed and hurriedly shook her awake, not wanting to scare her to death by coming in and yelling.
Pinako came awake easily and listened to her granddaughter's hurried story of what was happening. She got out of bed quickly and put on her housecoat and slippers, then rushed out of her bedroom to help Winry with the boys.
Edward was in the bedroom trying to get out of his wet clothes, but his hands were shaking so badly from the cold and everything that had just happened to Al. He felt like he was going to throw up.
Ed was barely able to make it to the adjoining bathroom before his stomach convulsed and he threw up in the toilet. His shaking became worse as he just sat there leaning over.
That's when he heard the bedroom door open slowly, and then all the way, as the footsteps came towards the bathroom. The bathroom door was open so when Winry appeared in front of it, she immediately noticed Ed trembling on the floor.
"Edward!" The young girl rushed over to her friend and helped him up and over to the bed where she laid him down on a pile of pillows. She noticed that he still had his wet clothes on and the dry ones were on the floor. Her eyes brimmed with tears at seeing her best friend in this condition.
"Just stay still Ed; I'm going to help you." She quickly went to retrieve the dry clothes from the floor and put them on the end of the bed. Then she began to undress him, pushing his hands aside when he tried to weakly resist. "Ed, if I don't get you out of these stupid wet clothes of yours, then you're going to get very sick. You are already delirious. Granny is taking care of Al right now, so don't worry."
He gave up easily and allowed her to undress him down to his boxers, which were also soaked. Winry left just long enough to get another thick comforter from the closet and brought it back.
Ed was shivering almost violently and she quickly took his boxers off, throwing the soft blanket over him immediately afterwards to give him as much privacy as she could manage, blushing slightly as she did so.
"There you go." She said quietly as she began to rub the length of his body for friction. Winry was able to calm him down before long and he began to drift off to sleep. She looked down at his form, his head the only thing able to be seen. His hair was wet and stuck to the sides of his face. Winry gently brushed his hair away and looked down with worry as she spoke softly. "Edo, what have you done this time?"