Protect Me
Written by: Luna
Chapter 3 – I'm Here For You
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!
Winry left the guest room after Edward fell asleep, leaving the door part way open just in case he woke up and needed anything. She walked briskly down the hallway and started downstairs wanting to see how her granny was doing with Al.
Al was still laid out on the couch and Pinako had gotten a bowl of warm water with a washcloth to clean the young boy of all the blood that still remained on his body.
Pinako looked up as Winry came into the room, then back down as she gently rubbed the cloth over one of Al's arms. "I've gotten him mostly clean now, but his body is still in a state of shock. I have to wonder what happened to him for all these cuts to be here." She paused, "We are going to need to move him to a bed so he can be more comfortable." She looked up to meet her granddaughter's eyes and spoke quietly. "It's going to take a few weeks for him to fully recover if he pulls through this."
Winry's eyes widened slightly. "If? You mean he might not make it? Granny, no, Al can't die! You have to help him!" She caught herself and lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was for Ed to hear her.
"I will most certainly do everything I can, you know that. I love these boys just as you do and I don't want to see anything bad happen to them." Pinako went over the boy's face softly with the damp rag. "Al is a strong boy. He won't give up on life so easily. Have faith in him."
Lowering her gaze to the floor, the young girl nodded in agreement.
It was almost three in the morning now, and things had settled down a bit since an hour ago. Ed was still sleeping and Winry, with the help of Pinako, was able to move Alphonse to another spare bed. There the boy relaxed to some degree, yet still flinched with pain once in a while.
When they had Al situated on the bed, Winry pulled out some spare clothes, from the dresser drawer beside the wall, and began to dress him with her grandmothers help. Winry had picked out some loose fitting pants and a large t-shirt so the clothes wouldn't be too tight on his skin.
After several minutes, they finally finished dressing him.
Alphonse was having a hard time dealing with the pain and kept moaning in his sleep. Winry had held his hand and spoke quietly to try to calm him while they both finished putting his clothes on.
Winry was torn on what to do after that. She wanted to stay up and watch over her friends to make sure they didn't need attention if they happened to wake up, but she was so very tired. She had yet to sleep any, but she decided to stay awake a while longer anyway.
"Granny, you can go back to bed if you want. I'll stay up and watch over them." She said quietly as she sat on a chair next to the bed that Al was in.
Pinako walked over to the bedside and looked down at him. "It's amazing that they were able to retrieve his body and both of them still be alive. They're lucky on that account, but we'll just see what morning brings." She looked over at the young girl. "Alright, if you insist on staying up with them, then I'll see you in the morning, sweetie."
Winry smiled at her grandmother and kissed her on the check goodnight. "Thanks for the help."
The old woman grinned slightly. "No need to thank me, dear. I would have gotten up to help either way. Who else is going to look after these boys when they get in trouble?" she sighed and then with a final 'goodnight', left the room and went down the hall, her door closing a moment later.
The room grew silent once again and Winry looked over to Al's sleeping form and whispered softly. "Al. It's so good to see you again. I can't believe you really have your body back. Now you just need to get better. You'll be alright." She reached over to his hand and gripped it lightly. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, she decided to go see how Ed was doing so she quietly got up and walked across the hallway.
It was dark in the room except for the hallway light that shown in from the doorway. Ed still lay in the same position she had left him in. Winry walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair that was kept beside the bed, along with a small table to hold a lamp, clock and other personal items.
Ed was looking a little better so the warm blanket must have helped him. She reached over and gently brushed the fallen hair out of his eyes. At this, Ed's eyes shot open, startling the young girl.
"Ed, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She pulled her hand away and acted like she was about to get up.
Edward's voice was ragged when he spoke. "No, please don't leave."
She looked back at him and saw the desperation in his eyes and could tell that he wanted to know how his brother was doing.
"Al's in the next room. He's still sleeping, but he's doing better." She answered the unasked question. Then she looked down towards the floor.
"I'm sorry about all of this." Ed spoke softly as he looked up at the ceiling. "This was the only place I could think to come to."
Winry looked back towards Ed, but remained silent. She reached over and squeezed his hand, giving a sad smile. "You don't have to apologize, Ed. I'll always be here for you."
I was early morning; around 6:00, when Pinako found Winry sitting in the chair and leaned over resting her head on her crossed arms, asleep on Ed's bed. Ed was asleep too, under the big comforter Winry had put around him. She walked across the hall and looked in on Al, who was also still asleep. So she decided to go downstairs and start on breakfast, as she was sure the boys especially would be hungry.
Winry was the first to wake as she heard her grandmother cooking in the kitchen. She looked up and noticed Ed still asleep. They hadn't really talked that much when he had woken up, but she didn't want to ask her questions right then since he was still tired and she knew it was not the time. Winry had watched as Ed drifted back off to sleep in their silence and it wasn't too long after that she found sleep as well.
She stood up from her chair and stretched her back, trying to get the few kinks out that sleeping in the chair had caused. Then she left the room to go into the kitchen.
Pinako wiped her forehead with her arm while holding a spatula in her hand as Winry came into the kitchen; she turned to look at her. "You can bring Ed his breakfast to him if he doesn't want to get up yet, though I'm sure he'd want to. He's never been one to sit still for too long."
"Yeah." She responded quietly and went over to lean on the counter. Something was worrying her about Al. Why hadn't he woken up at all since she had found them?
Suddenly, a terrifying scream came from upstairs.
"That was Al!" Winry cried as she rushed up the stairs and into Al's room.
Ed had just gotten up and was putting on the dry clothes that were left at the foot of the bed. He had the pants on and was just pulling the shirt over his head at the time. He had been fast on his feet when he heard his brother scream and had made it to his side just before Winry ran in the room, Pinako close behind her.
Alphonse was convulsing on the bed, kicking the sheets off and all around him. His eyes were squinted closed and he had tears running down his face as he continued to scream. His arms were thrashing wildly around him. Al seemed to be having some kind of nightmare.
"Alphonse!" Ed called as he reached over him to bring his flailing hands down.
Winry grabbed his legs as gently as she could while trying not to get kicked in the face. Al was still hurt and she didn't want to hurt him more, but she knew that they had to get him calmed down. "Al, calm down! We're here!" she yelled over his screams.
Pinako had left to go get another bowl of warm water and a cloth to help him relax.
Edward had knelt down by the bed and was holding both of Al's hands in his own, while stroking his hair with the other. He whispered reassuringly to him that it was going to be all right.
After a few minutes, Al calmed down and relaxed as Pinako placed the warm cloth on his forehead and whispered to Winry that she would be downstairs if they needed her.
Winry nodded and looked back over to Al as he lay there, sweat beaded on his face.
Ed took the rag from his forehead and gently wiped over his brother's face and then after placing it back in the water and ringing it out, folded it and placed it back on his forehead. He was trying to stay calm, but this was too much for him. This was one of his few weaknesses, seeing his brother in pain like this. Ed tried to hide his held back tears from Winry, but she noticed.
Before he knew it, Winry had slid to her knees on the floor beside him and brought him into a hug, holding his head to her shoulder. She shook with tears and it didn't take anymore than that for Ed to do the same.