Yup! Dittley! I know little to nothing of sign language but that's ok! –Goes and googles it- Neyahaha! Sorry if it's a tad late, evil site won't let me do anything…but that's a rant that'd take up one whole chapter, heh. Let's see, what else…oh yeah! –Snap- X. Death to the master dude! How shall I kill him? –Ponders in dark corner of scary evilness-. But anyway, yeah…

Three days had gone by sense I lost my hearing. When I got the chance, I'd go visit Alphonse, in doing this it made the bitter thought of what may come seem…better. Sitting down next to Alphonse, he smiled and pointed to his ear, at first I wasn't really sure what he ment by this, then I caught on. I shook my head and said,

"Just muffles…I still can't understand what anybody is saying."

Al crossed his legs and rested his arms on his knees, I could see that he was still rather upset about everything that has happened. Not liking to see my younger brother so upset. With this in mind I held up my hand, Al looked up at me questioningly. With my hand still up I lowered my middle and ring finger, keeping my thumb, index finger and pinky up. Al could tell that this was a new sign and he seemed to cheer up a little, eager to know its' meaning.

"I showed you the sign for love right?" I said, Alphonse nodded and showed me the sign. "That's great Al, this sign is similar, it means 'I love you'."

Alphonse smiled and made the same sign. It had been some time sense I'd seen him smile, I couldn't help but smile too. We continued practicing the different signs, I'd been shown the alphabet a day ago, so I started showing Al those signs as well. He caught on pretty fast and learned all twenty-six letters fairly well.

Finally, I got up and brushed off my pants. Then I held up both index fingers, one next to my mouth the other just a few inches away. I then twisted my wrists and moved my fingers back and forth. Alphonse copied this motion,

"Yes…" I said, "I'll do my best to make it so you can again."

Al just blinked as I left the shack, he got up and peeked out of the small hole in the wall I had made with my fist, he rapped on the door of the shack…but I didn't notice. I continued walked back to the house and made my way towards the kitchen door. I placed my hand on the door handle and turned it, I didn't hear the creak that would turn an already good evening into one of the most unpleasant.

As I opened the door someone from behind slammed it shut again, I spun around and was face to face with my master. He looked very unhappy about something, I wasn't wholly sure whether it had something to do with me or he was just in a bad mood. Either way it seemed I'd be getting the short end of the stick.

"Just where have you been! There are countless other things I needed you to fix!" he ranted. Apparently he was too busy yelling at me to remember that I was deaf, he then noticed the slightly worried, but still annoyedly confused look on my face and stopped yelling. He then grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me to the front of the house. We came to a stop near the front door, the master pointed.

He wanted me to fix a burnt down old shed, which was really odd. That shed must have burnt down at least four months ago. There was no way to restore it, not properly anyway. I turned my head and gave him a nod that said 'no'. This made him very angry, he forcefully let go of my shirt then hit me, he also shouted something at me. But I didn't hear it, nor did I feel like hearing it. My blood started to boil as I placed a hand over the side of my face. My master then pointed to the shack Al was in and seemed to make threatening motions. I got the gist of this and glared at him,

"I can't fix it, it's been like this too long. All the pieces might not still be there." I snapped. He hit me again, then pointed to the burnt down shed then towards the one Al was in and ran his thumb under his chin to imitate cutting his throat. I couldn't let anything happen to Al, not seeing any other choice I clapped my hands together. I took one last glance over at the shack.

I set my hands down on the chard remains of the old shed and there was a flash, the alchemic energy rebuilding it with impressive ease. Once the light was gone, there stood the shed, my master was smirking and nodding his head. I glanced at the newly restored shed and gave it a small scowl, it wasn't stable.

My master was just about to lead me back to the house when, sure enough; two of the small, spindly legs holding up the shed gave way. Involuntarily I shoved my master out of the way as the shed came crashing down. The next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground, unable to move. It felt like I was pinned to the ground, I glanced around and noticed that one of the support beams had landed on top of me.

I tried to move my legs, they seemed all right. I then checked my arms, my left shoulder was dislocated and I couldn't seem to move my right arm at all. I glanced down at my right and found that another support beam had caught it between the first one. I was stuck…and without a doubt my right arm was busted. If things got any worse then they are now, I'm not sure if I could take much more of this.

It felt like an eternity, finally somebody had managed to dig me out of the mess. It was a strenuous task but I was out, I hesitantly glanced down at my now free right arm. It was irreparable…busted all to heck…this wasn't going to get any better. The doctor soon came over and had a look at my remaining limbs. He said apart from all the really painful bruises I should be able to walk, with a small temporary limp, he then took a look at my left shoulder.

"Yep, dislocated…I'll have to put it back in place." He'd said this like it was him that would be suffering. The doctor took out an old gardening glove, he indicated that I should bite down on it. I muttered I didn't need it and that I'd been through worse, he just scoffed and shoved it in my mouth anyway. He took hold of my upper arm and readied himself, with one very sharp tug I soon realized just how handy that glove proved to be.

The pain was like none I'd ever experienced; it was heart wrenching and didn't go away. I couldn't hold it in any longer, in all of my life I don't think I ever screamed so loud in my life. The doctor then made a makeshift sling, he place my arm in it and seemed to then turn his attention to my master. They both talk about something, all the while I sat on the ground unsuccessfully fighting back tears. I tried to convince myself that my shoulder was the only reason why I was crying, but that didn't make things better.

I knew that now that my right arm was busted there was little to no chance that'd I'd be able to use alchemy until it got fixed. Also, if I couldn't perform alchemy then…I looked over at the shack Alphonse was in. That's when my master came walking up to me and grabbed the back of my shirt forcing me to stand up, that kind of hurt too, he then spoke real slowly so that I could try and read his lips, he said,

"You are now a useless cripple, now how am I supposed to insure the safety of your brother?"

"You wouldn't…not because of this…" I said, it must have been a bit loud judging by how the look on my masters face went from irritated to mad.

"You can no longer perform alchemy! You're useless!" he shouted, I may not have heard him but I knew what he was saying.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd listened to me in the first place!" I shouted back, he glared at me…I'd done it now.

"I am the master and you are the slave. Your words mean nothing to me, therefore this mess is all your fault and you will be punished." He turned and walked away. When he was gone I looked back over at the shack Al was in, I could see him looking out the hole in the wall. I'd greatly hoped he hadn't seen everything that happened, he didn't need to see me like this, not now.

I sorely lifted up my left hand and spelt out 'I'm sorry' in sign language. I didn't know the actual sign for that phrase but sense I'd shown Al the alphabet I was sure he knew what I was saying. Resting my arm down again I looked at the ground with a sinking spirit. Things just kept getting worse, I wasn't sure what to do…then a thought crossed my mind.

That woman, she'd been at the masters house, I had to find out why. She'd helped me before, and we had started that plan. Maybe by her coming here was a sign, was she still going to help me if she knew about Al? I had to find her again, I had to get Alphonse out of this place, and I have to help get my fellow Amestrians out of this country. It was odd, the more I get hurt, the more the thought, need, to escape seemed to bubble to the surface of my thoughts. It was going to end, it had too.

-To Be Continued-

T.T Awh…I ran out of mojo (for the dumbest reason I just thought of Austin Powers). Heh, yeah…I've said scarier things after staying up till four thirty Saturday night watching movies! W00t! But anyway…(sigh) oh darn, I made Ed save the sorry blankety, blank. Maybe Mel-chan (see…that just sounds better then the one I came up with) will kill him in the next chapter…slowly…very, very, slowly… (Creepy shadows and lighting). 3

Heh, you and the reviewers are sure keen on getting the guy killed off, aren't you? Hehe…I honestly have no idea how the story will turn out. My stories usually write themselves, so I don't know what's going to happen from one chapter to the next, but we'll see I guess. Your chapter was awesome, by the way. You really handled that sign language bit well! I'm impressed!

Anyway, please leave us some reviews, so that I can get the motivation I need to update, okay? It really does make a difference in the motivational level, believe it or not. Thanks a bunch, and hope to see you back here soon!