Illusion of the Bluebird

By Gozilla

A/N: Thanks a lot to all who you have read and / or left a review! Hope you will enjoy this chapter.

Special Thank: I would like to give my special thank to Hitokiri-san for beta-ing my story and correct my messy English! Thanks a lot!

Credits: Please refer to the previous two chapters. Again, many thanks to the BBI team, kier and h2oblue! You are the best!

Summary: (Spoiler to Bluebird's Illusion and the TV series) The Elric brothers had finally found the philosopher's stone and Al was finally restored. But there was something wrong with Al's body. Would Ed find the solution in time?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!

Please excuse my poor English. -

Reviews are most welcomed!

Enjoy!

Chapter 6 – Nightmare

-In the morning-

Al woke up tothe warm morning sunlight. He was surprised to find his brother's bed empty. Al was always the one who woke up first and prepared breakfast, especially after the transmutation as Edward seemed never to have enough sleep.

Quickly, Al dressed and went to the kitchen. He was very surprised to see Edward making breakfast, or, should one say, trying to make breakfast.

Edward was trying to make scrabbled eggs. But he had put in too much oil in the frying pan and the hot oil was spilling all over the place.

"Niisan!" Al smiled as he took the pan from Edward's hand, "I will take care of this. Sit down and wait for breakfast, alright?"

Defeated by the simple cooking, Edward quietly handed over the pan and obediently sat by the table.

It took Al a few minutes to prepare a rich breakfast. When he put the plate of food in front of his brother, he suddenly noticed that the eye bags lingered under Edward's eyes had significantly darkened.

"Niisan, did you sleep well?"

"Not really." Edward said casually, "No worries about it. I am all right." and he gave Al an assuring smile, decided not to mention anything about the wound on his left arm.

Knowing his brother well, Al decided not to push on to the topic.

"These are cases which the General expects you to complete by the end of this week." Havoc said as he put down a large pile of files onto the desk.

"Are you kidding?" Edward shouted in disbelief, "I already have 10 cases in hand which you said need to be completed this week! How am I suppose to finish them all in just four days!"

"Don't ask me." Havoc said that he walked out of the room, "I am just telling you what I have been told to tell you."

Edward sighed heavily as he saw Havoc left the room. He knew there was nothing he could do but to finish as many cases as possible, for he was now working directly under the President and the annoying General.

Putting aside the unpleasant thoughts, Edward focused on the case he was reading and started to make notes on the case.

"Colonel Elric." Hawkeye knocked lightly on the half-opened door to Edward's room. She wanted to check and make sure that Edward was settling in well with the new job.

No response.

Hawkeye knocked again and still got no response. Suspecting that Edward had left the room, she gently pushed open the door and looked inside. She was slightly surprised to see Edward by his desk, going through a 10-inch thick file.

Hawkeye smiled as she remembered Al once told her that his brother tended to ignore the whole world when he focused on work. Quietly, she closed the door, not wanting to disturb the young alchemist.

'I think I should check on someone else.' Hawkeye frowned slightly as she thought, "That someone is more likely to be not doing his job properly.'' as she walked towards General Mustang's room.

The day passed by relatively peacefully and Edward dragged his exhausted body home late in the evening.

As usual, the brothers chatted happily at dinner.

It was only when Edward went to take a bath that he remembered the wound on his left arm. It seemed to him that the wound was not healing, with blood still seeping from the wound. He checked for any sign of infection and found none.

Decided not to worry about the wound, Edward took a quick shower and cleaned the wound before wrapping it with some clean bandages.

It was dark, uncomfortably dark. Edward found himself in a strange maze-like place, having no clue how he had gotten to the place.

After turning around a dozen corners in the narrow alleys, Edward now faced a large open area with dim light. He saw a familiar figure lying in the middle of the area, facing away from him.

"Al?" Edward asked, approaching the figure quickly, "Al, why are you sleeping in such place? Do you know that you can easily catch a cold if you..."

Edward stopped hesitantly as he reached the motionless figure. Carefully, he held his brother in his arms, "Al?"

Al seemed to be sleeping deeply and gave no response. Edward shook his brother. "Al? Wake up."

Still no response.

Edward felt panic washing over his body. "Al? Come on, wake up. This is not funny."

No response.

Before Edward could do anything else, a hollow and distance sound came to his ears.

"Why..."

It was Al's voice.

"Al?" Edward looked up, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Why..."

"Al, where are you? What's going on?"

"Why didn't you make me right?"

Edward was stunned by the question that had been haunting him for years. Sensing his brother stir in his arms, Edward turned to look at Al and felt as if his heart had skipped a beat.

Al was breaking down into small pieces of earth and dirt in Edward's arm. He looked at Edward with sad eyes and asked, "Why didn't you make me right?"

Edward shot up from his bed, screaming in terror.

Al was woken by his brother's blood-chilling scream and rushed to his side. He was shocked to see Edward sitting on his bed, stunned and unmoving.

"Niisan!" Al shook Edward's shoulders, "Niisan! Please wake up! It was just a dream!"

Slowly, Edward's eyes focused and saw the person standing in front of him, "A... Al? Are... are you all right? I... I saw you... you were..."

"Yes, it's me." Al said in relief, "You just had a nightmare. Everything is all right."

"A nightmare?" Edward repeated mindlessly.

"Yes, just a nightmare." Al gently embraced his brother, like their mother always did when they were small, "Everything is all right."

Al was relieved as he felt Edward's tense body relax slowly. He let go of his brother. "Now get back to sleep, OK?"

Al helped Edward to lie on the bed and noticed his brother wincing slightly as he touched his left shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Al asked, concerned.

"Well... it is just a small wound." Edward's mind cleared at the question. He had lied as he did not want to make Al worry about him.

"Let me see." Al pushed the loose sleeve of Edward's nightgown. He inhaled deeply as he saw Edward arm, from shoulder to elbow, was wrapped with bandages with blood seeping through it.

"What happened? Did you fight with someone?" Al quickly took some clear bandages and cut the old bandages carefully with a pair of scissors.

"I... I think I hurt myself in sleep last night." Edward lied. He frowned as he saw the wound; it seemed to have grown over the past hours. The wound was now forming some kind of pattern over his arm.

"How could you hurt yourself in sleep?" Al said as he busied himself with cleaning and re-wrapping the wound. "This wound is serious. You'd better see a doctor tomorrow."

"OK." Edward replied softly. He felt extremely exhausted and dizzy. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep as Al took care of the wound.

Al gently laid his sleeping brother on the bed. He was worried when he found his brother acting strangely. But he decided not to push on the issue, hoping that it was simply the pressure from work that had caused Edward's strange behaviour.

End of Chapter 6