Fullmetal Alchemist Part VII

The Silver Limbs

I sat there at the operating table in the middle of the room, with trays and trays of surgery equipment around me. Al was standing outside the door, making sure no unexpected visitors happened to interrupt Pinako or Winry during their work. Automail attachment was a very serious operation, and even the slightest mistake could cause lifelong problems for the person being operated on.

Pinako walked over to me, with Winry at her side, and looked me in the eyes.

"Now you're sure you want to go through with this? I mean, I know how to do this, and do it well, but you realize it's going to be extremely painful…"

"I told you already, Pinako, I don't care how painful it is, and I never will. After what Al went through, I don't think there's any pain…mental or emotional, that could equal what he felt."

Pinako gave a nod, and laid me back on the cot.

"Now Ed, the first thing we're doing here is attaching each one of your severed nerves onto the parts of the automail, one by one."

She took a pair of tweezers and grabbed one of the nerves on my arm, sending a huge pain searing through my entire body. She then proceeded to bring it to one of the electrical notches on the automail, and manually attached it to the metal arm.

She was right about it being painful. I had never felt something as unbearable in my life! With every nerve came this feeling like I was going to faint from all the pain, but I kept my screams in and gritted my teeth the entire time.

"You're taking this pretty well," Pinako said as she continued attaching parts. "Most people at this point can't take it anymore. Even adults end up screaming their heads off like little kids."

I managed to smile a bit as she finished up attaching everything.

"Pinako, it doesn't matter to me. I'm going to do whatever it takes to become a State Alchemist. I heard they have resource materials that no one else can access, information that people would spend their whole lives trying to learn. This may be the only way for us to get any closer to finding the philosopher's stone…"

Pinako finished the final processes, and let Al back in the room, then turned to us one more time.

"But you listen here, and you listen well. You two are still kids, even though you went through some pretty adult-like things. Just because you have automail doesn't mean you can go slinging it around at whatever you want. You have to be careful, you hear?"

Pinako never got those last two sentences out to us, because by the time she even started talking we had run out the door to go battle each other in the yard by the pond, so I could try out my new limbs.

Pinako turned to Winry and shook her head, her hand on her forehead.

"They go through something horrible, yet within 2 days they're already out and being rambunctious again…Those boys never change, do they Winry?"

END OF PART VII

NEXT TIME:

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: PART VIII

The Solo State Alchemist

I don't care brother… this wasn't your mistake, it was mine. And I'm going to be the one who fixes it….