Febuwhump Day 3: Blood Loss
Word Count: 683
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Edward Elric
Warning: Blood (obviously)
Summary: The pain was awful. The situation was horrific. But the blood loss was the most difficult to deal with.
Notes: N/A
Blood Loss
The pain was bad. It was probably the worst pain Ed had felt up to that point in his life. Later, he would experience worse pain, like getting automail, or being skewed with a metal rod. But at that point in his life, Truth taking his leg was the worst pain he had felt. It was merciful in that he didn't feel the actual process of it being taken. It was simply gone. But the mere fact that it was gone was causing every nerve to go crazy, and that equated to pain to him. He would, a mere few minutes later, experience the same type of pain with his arm.
The worst part, though, was not the pain. The worst part was the blood loss.
The blood poured from his leg, spurting out in time with his beating heart. Later, then, he wasn't sure when it hit him, but some part of his brain logged that at as being arterial, and that was a very dangerous thing indeed. In mere minutes he would bleed out. He had mere minutes to act.
But that wasn't the only problem with the blood loss. The blood was quickly covering the floor where he was. The smell of it filled his nose, trying to ignite a primal panic in him. Humans weren't meant to smell that much blood. If they did, there was a problem. It was also making everything slippery and that made it hard to move. Even when he did take action, it wasn't easy to move, and not just because his leg was missing. He didn't have good traction around him either.
And then, of course, there was the lightheadedness that came with it. It made it hard to think clearly, to formulate a plan, to try to understand what was happening around him. Pure stubbornness and adrenaline kept him going, but it was also a curse, because that only caused his heart to bleed faster and the blood to pour out more.
Still, despite all of that, Ed dug in deep. He wasn't a genius for no reason. He formulated a plan, designed the array, calculated the costs as best he could. He put the pieces into play, even with all of the problems the blood loss caused him, and hoped for the best.
He wasn't sure if what he got was the best, but it was good enough at that moment in time, especially as more blood loss began. Al had been horribly confused, of course, and later, thinking back, Ed couldn't blame him. He would have been horribly confused as well. Fortunately, Al was just as much of a genius as Ed was, and honestly, he was sometimes better at prioritizing. Although there was clearly a lot to deal with, he had been able to assess the situation quickly and accurately, moving into action almost before Ed had time to say anything.
He never was sure what he said, and Al couldn't remember either, in too much of a panic at that moment. All he could remember was Alphonse binding his wounds up as best he could, quickly, trying to stymie the blood loss. Somewhere in there, he had passed out, and the next time he had awoken, he had been in the Rockbell's clinic area, with Pinako watching over him with worried eyes. She had told him as it was, not holding back, although it was not unkind. His blood loss alone had almost been enough to cost him his life, not to mention everything else he had been through. But Ed had been fortunate. Pinako had always kept a supply of blood on hand for her patients when they had recently been through automail surgery, and a customer they had happened to have the same blood type as Ed. She had managed to get enough into him to keep him from dying.
It had been both shocking at not. But if his arm, his leg, and some blood loss were what he had to pay to get Alphonse back, Edward knew he'd do it again in a heartbeat.