"Ngh…"

Manami struggled to open her eyes. She felt like she had gotten run over by a truck… maybe two.

"Hngh…"

"Nami..?" She could hear a distant voice, her hearing fading in and out as it was calling her name.

She couldn't make out who it was…

"Manami..?" It was a little clearer now, and with another groan Manami finally managed to crack open her eyes.

Wherever she was, it was awfully bright… no… it was just a white room with white walls. It made her eyes hurt, and she squinted them shut for a moment before trying to open them again. She saw something tall and grey, hovering over her.

"Don't push yourself…"

She could tell from the gentle voice who it was, despite that her vision was still blurry.

"Ahh…" Manami groaned, blinking slowly until her vision finally came back.

"Al… where am I..?"

"The hospital." Al answered quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt… better…" Manami sighed, going to try to sit up, but Al put a gentle hand on her shoulder to keep her down.

"You need to stay down. You really got hurt."

"Man…" Manami sighed, her voice finally sounding more awake now. "I'm never gonna hear the end of it from Ed…"

"Well... he got hurt too, so…"

Manami's eyes widened a little as she watched Al went to sit back down in the chair beside her bed.

"He's next door." He pointed with his thumb to the wall behind her head.

He seemed... off.

"Oh… well, why are you in here with me instead of him?" Manami asked quietly, and Al didn't immediately respond.

He couldn't tell her how he was currently feeling. There was no sense in burdening her with that right now. Though he did realize there happened to be a good excuse.

"W-Winry is working on fixing his automail right now." He told her, and Manami immediately shot up in her bed.

"WHA—owww..!" She flinched after she sat straight up, and Al reached to her.

"I asked you to stay down..!" He whined.

"I-It was a reflex..!" Manami groaned through gritted teeth, as she hunched to ride out the rest of her pain in her stomach. She could feel every bruise. She also noticed that her right arm felt funny, and noticed that it was because it was in a sling.

All these injuries, and what hurt the most... was the thought of Winry.

"... she's really here..?" She whispered.

"Mhm…" Al gave a nod, and Manami whined softly.

"Does she know that…" She trailed off.

"I haven't said anything… but I've been in here, watching you." Al said quietly, and Manami suddenly felt her cheeks sting. Thankfully, Al wasn't looking at her.

"I doubt that Ed said anything, though." He said.

Manami gave a small nod, then looked down to her lap.

"From what the doctor said…" Al picked up a clipboard that was hanging next to her bedside table. "You have a mild concussion, big bruises on the back of your head and abdomen, some scratches, and…" He paused. "A hole in your right shoulder."

"..." Manami looked over to her bandaged shoulder, and reached to gently feel it. It made her wince at the touch.

"They said it was the size of something like a bullet wound, but…"

"That was no bullet." Manami shook her head, recalling the memory vividly. "It was—"

The door swung open and Manami almost had a heart attack— until she realized who was walking in.

"Mr. Hughes..!" Al breathed the same sigh of relief that Manami did.

"Glad to see you're finally up!" Maes greeted. "How are you feeling? Heard you got beat up real bad… are you alright?"

"Yeah," Manami forced a weak smile. "Well, I'm here, anyway…" She watched as he went to pull up a chair next to Al.

"What happened? I want to know everything." His smile faded into a serious demeanor.

"Sorry, but…" Manami exchanged glances with Al before looking back at him. "I don't know if I can. At least right now? I need to talk to Ed about it all first…"

"Alright, I'll go let him know you're up—"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Both Al and Manami quickly protested, Al even getting up to stop him.

"Huh? Why not?"

"I, uh…"

"Ohhh, I get it." Maes nodded. "Its that girl with him, huh?"

"Yes..." Manami sighed in relief, glad that he understood.

"Don't let her swoop him away before you can make your move!"

"Huh?!" Manami's jaw dropped. He didn't understand after all?!

"That is absolutely not the case!" Her face had turned red and Maes laughed.

"I was just kidding. But you're also blushing, so..."

"Because its not even close to a thing! And the thought is making me red with anger!" Manami retorted, but she had noticed that Al had gone quiet. She had assumed he felt awkward too, but little did she know this was just adding on to his already warped feelings.

"Alright, well I'll keep it quiet for now. You got my word." Maes said as he approached the door.

"Thank you." Manami sighed heavily as he exited, but then noticed Al stand up too.

"You also leaving?" She asked, as he turned his back to her.

"Yeah. I need to go check on something." He didn't sound convincing, but before she could ask any further, he was out the door.

She sat there in silence, looking at the door for a while, before moving her glance to her bandaged hands in her lap.

What was she going to do, now..?

Manami managed to sleep for an hour or two, but woke when the nurse came to check on her and bring some water. A few minutes after she left, the door opened again.

"Hey." Ed had stepped into Manami's room, wrapped in bandages like she was.

"Hey…" The brunette greeted him. "Have you seen Al?"

Ed blinked in surprise to the sudden question. "No, actually…" He went to sit at her bedside.

"How are you feeling?"

"Depends on how you feel." Manami chuckled weakly. "I'm sorry... I talked big like I could fend for myself and I totally blew it…"

"No, don't worry about it." Ed stopped her there. "That wasn't an ordinary situation. I underestimated the danger there. I... should have listened to you and the Major..."

"Whoa... you usually don't admit when other people are right." Manami tilted her head. "You sure you're okay?"

"Just because I can admit when people are right doesn't mean I like to!" Ed retorted, his brows furrowing. "Just accept it."

"Okay, okay..." Manami thought for a moment. "So... did you see them too..?"

She asked as she met his glance, and he nodded.

"Yeah."

They discussed a little more about what each of them saw. The lady with the extended fingers, the guy with green hair, both of which remembered him being called "Envy."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Ed sighed. "They brought you to me when you had been knocked out, and I thought you were dead..."

"I actually think they intended to kill me, but…" Manami glanced at her right shoulder, recalling the interaction. "They mumbled about some kind of sacrifice. For whatever reason, that was enough to spare me."

Ed nodded. "Yeah... they said the same to me too."

Both of them were quiet for a long moment.

"Well, you rest up. We'll talk more tomorrow." Ed broke the silence, and went to get up and head towards the door.

"Al... told me Winry was here." Manami said suddenly, making Ed stop in his tracks.

"... is that true..?" She whispered.

"... yeah… I haven't said anything to her, if that's what you're worried about." He replied, still not turning around.

"..." Manami looked down.

"The way you handle this is up to you." Ed looked back at her over his shoulder. "It seems she's going to be here for a day or two more. You just woke up, so I honestly think you should rest your head today—"

Suddenly, there was a light knock at the door, and it opened to reveal Al.

"Oh, Alphonse…" Ed blinked.

"Al?" Manami went to peek from behind Ed, smiling a little at the sight of him. She was glad he was back.

"... were you leaving?" Al took a step back and held the door open for Ed. His tone was cold, throwing both Manami and Ed off.

"Y-Yeah… thanks." Ed tried to ignore it and walked past him.

"Your dinner will be ready soon." Al told him, and Ed hummed to signal that he heard him, and then Al stepped inside the room.

"Same goes for you, dinner will be here soon. How are you doing?" He looked over at her, but she looked more worried than anything.

"I feel like I should be asking you that…" She said quietly. "Are you okay, Al?"

"I'm fine." Al shook his head, still not sounding convincing. "I'm just kind of... mentally exhausted." He went to sit.

"Do you want to talk about it..?" She asked him, noticing his hands clench a little.

"... what was your favorite memory of us? You know… as kids?" He asked quietly, and Manami blinked in surprise.

That was an odd question to bring up out of the blue.

"Umm…" She looked up in thought. The only thing that came to mind was…

"Well," Manami felt herself blush, turning her head to look out the window to hide the redness in her cheeks.

"There was a time where Ed and I had a really big fight. It wasn't like we hadn't had a fist fight or two before, but I would usually throw the first punch, so then it would be fair game to him from there." She recalled. "But this one time, I kept pushing his buttons and daring him to hit first. I dunno if he really was going to, but… you still got in between us and stopped it before it could even happen."

That was the moment she realized her feelings for him were a little bit more than platonic. She was young then, but those feelings never wavered since then, even now… but…

"... I… don't remember that…" Al whispered.

For different reasons, both of their hearts broke.

Manami could only think of how he didn't remember her fondest memory of him. Al could only think that this memory might not have even been true.

Maybe it was someone else that Manami was thinking of? But how could she even be in on this facade? He couldn't wrap his mind around it.

They both stayed silent for what felt like forever.

"Sorry… I should go." Al went to stand and before Manami could say a word, he swiftly left the room.

"..." Manami felt guilt wash over her.

She understood that maybe it wasn't as important of an event to him as it was to her, and that was okay... and she knew that this pain she felt was nothing compared to the pain she inflicted on them when she left Resembool. She deserved to feel this lousy, but…

She rubbed at her eyes with her sleeve, wiping away the tears that stung the corners of her eyes.

Somewhere in her moping, Manami had managed to doze off again. She felt like she had jerked awake, but she couldn't tell from what? Little did she know that it was the sound of Edward slamming his fists down on his meal tray.

There was a brief moment of silence, until Manami jumped at another loud sound.

"YOU IDIOT!"

BANG!

"!?" Manami looked at the wall behind her to realize two things:

One, this was happening next door.

Two, that shriek came from Winry.

"Winry..?" She whispered to herself before forcing herself to sit on her knees, despite the pain in her abdomen, and turn to face the wall so that she could place her ear against the wall. She couldn't really hear that much, other than soft sobbing.

"Why would he… fake brother…" She could vaguely hear Winry's voice through the wall.

Fake brother..?

Manami wanted to get up and go ask, but… Winry was there.

"Now, go get your brother!" She heard Winry say more clearly, and then heard Al's clanking footsteps followed by a door opening and closing.

He left the room… maybe Manami could follow.

She looked nervously to the floor where she slowly shifted in her bed and dipped her toes to touch the ice cold floor. She noticed a pair of slippers nearby and she put her second foot on the floor, hand still on the wall for support, and then she went to put each foot in a slipper.

She slowly shuffled across the room and approached the door, feeling her heart start to pound. She listened for any noise before slowly pulling the door open and peeking out. She quickly retracted as she noticed the door to the room next door open.

"Let's go find them…" That was Maes...

"I don't know if I should…" She heard Winry speak.

"Come on, it'll be okay." Maes said, and Manami peeked again to see them walking down the hall.

There she was... Winry. Her blonde hair was so long now... that was all she could see before they disappeared out of her sight.

Her chest hurt, and she couldn't tell if it was because of her heart pounding or because of her guilt.

Maybe it was both.

She knew she should be with Winry, going to support Ed and Al, too… but as usual, she was held back because of fear.

No... not this time. She had to go, too. She would just be careful and stay out of Winry's sight.

Manami gritted her teeth as she pushed her door open and went to shuffle a distance behind them down the hall.