...meep...

5 months ago

Alphonse opened his eyes immediately wishing he hadn't. They still felt to thin, to flimsy, to weird, and much too painful to worry about. He decided to move but had to think exactly which part of him he wanted to move, as if he was a doll and his mind was the person moving him.

Cords seemed to come out from every direction, plugging up every vein or muscle with a sharp and paining needle. His eyes burned as he blinked again desperately wishing he didn't have eyelids, for they continued to tug at the muscles in his face.

He closed his eyes as he painfully pulled his left arm up to touch his stomach but as soon as he did he felt the needle that had in his vein slid up, completely going into his arm.

A weak whine escaped him and Winry, who had been sitting in the corner of the room, jumped up running over beside him. She leaned over him and quickly noticed he had moved his arm and now blood was slowly running out. His eyes were tightly shut, with tears in the corners and a soft whimper coming from his throat.

Gently, she picked up his arm and slowly guided it back to rest beside him. He flinched when she did and her eyes widened as she saw and the needle jammed up into his vein much too far. She pushed his hair away from his brow as his eyes blinked and he opened his mouth to speak but only a low thick moan filled the air where words should have been.

Al's cheeks streamed with tears from pure agony. His chest began to throb from the staggered breath coming out between his cries. The thought of how pitiful he looked made him feel sick. Was this what life was worth?

Winry closed her eyes, not able to watch the small shriveled boy in front of her. Only when through his gasping and sobs and she made out a single word, did she glance back up to him. She held in her breath tightly not wanting her nervousness to show. If it had been easy to give him what he wanted she would have done it without thought, but…

Winry sat beside him and leaned over putting her hand to his shoulder. He looked up at her with lifeless eyes and quickly shut them again. His body was trembling under the sheets as she pulled her arm behind his back. She leaned over, resting her cheek on his head, in a weak attempt to comfort him. But it was all she could think to do.

Al wished he had the energy to reach over and pull out the needle in his arm. He wished he could rip off his eyelids to stop them from burning his face or reach down his throat and scratch where he could feel the back of it itching. Honestly, he wanted to tear every wire plugged up out of him; to actually sit up so he could hug Winry back or to even talk to her for that matter. But more then anything, he wanted his big brother there.

As he slowly wiggled under the sheets Winry held him tighter making him freeze, "You have to stop fighting it Al, otherwise you'll never heal. You could die."

Al rolled his head into Winry's shoulder, "…Don't…care…" She barely made out the thin words and almost froze when she did. There were the softest words, and yet crushed her as if he had screamed them. "What do you…you don't care?" Winry felt herself shaking now and she bit her lip to avoid it from trembling.

It wasn't her fault Ed couldn't hold him right then, and the guilt sloshing in his stomach rose making him fell nauseated. He was suppose to be the strong one now, that's what his brother had told him, and somehow thinking of Ed's voice hovering over him made the pain dissipate. Besides of course that stupid needle piercing through that left arm of his, which was becoming quite unbearable now.

Winry looked up as Al moved in a weak attempt to reach over with his right arm this time, but was stopped from the pain and the cords in his stomach. Winry reached over and gently touched his left arm, "Do you want me to pull it out?"

Al reached up over with his right hand and grabbed onto her wrist. He hoped she understood. There was no way he'd be able to pull it out, and he'd surely go crazy if it didn't come out soon. Even if it really wasn't, he swore he could feel it sliding slowly up further into his arm.

Winry sighed and looked down at him. His eyes were still shut, but he was now turned more toward her, leaning into her. She looked back at the needle, "Alright, but you have to promise to go to sleep and stop moving. The doctors say it's like your organs and limbs have been in hibernation, and there slowly waking up. They also told me, that because your body left you when you were ten, it's catching up with you. Five years ago, right? But you'll be alright… I promise." Her voice slipped on the last note and the tears came.

Al lay motionless; the only thing keeping him from sleep was the burning still in his left arm. He squeezed Winry's wrist as much as he could, which couldn't have been a lot considering things.

The girl looked down and nodded, "Alright." She pinched the edge of the needle and as it slowly slid out Al completely tensed up. She stopped and looked away from him, grabbing a clean material on the side table. Pinching the needle again she slid it out quickly and pressed the cloth on his arm.

As Al leaned his head back and began to relax again and he felt a strange warmness to him, as if someone was on the other side of him. He opened his eyes to try and look, but he was too weak to try to turn to see it. Winry kept her arms close around him and he realized how worried she still must have been. "…uh…sorry..."

Winry nodded her head and smiled, "Sure…just…remember…" She leaned her cheek on his forehead and noticed how quiet he was now. And if her arms had not been around him, where she could feel the thrumming of his working body, she might have thought him to be dead. "Remember that you're like a little brother to me, that I'm always here and…and that I love you."

Al smiled as big as he could without hurting his face. It was like she said, he'd be alright. At least he wanted to believe he would. At this moment it seemed quite impossible but an argument, with Winry, while being this hurt, now that just wasn't smart.

Of course Ed would have corrected his brother and said an arugment with Winry is never smart, (since she'll always try and kill you). And then Al would would say something clever like, "Is that why you always pick a fight with her?"

lol, anway...tell me what you think: (yeah, ney, it's crap, it's perfect, i hate u, go fish, eat cake, etc) so-forth and so-on...u know what you must do! it's calling u and chanting your name...(your name inserted here) u must review...(your name inserted here) u must review...etc...