Drabble Rating: PG
Status: 51/100
Word Count: 200
Secondary Genre: Fluff
Theme: Roy/Al #11, "Healing"
Few people who hadn't gone through the procedure knew what attaching automail really entailed. Contrary to popular opinion, the surgery itself was only the beginning of the pain: after that came endless bouts of rehabilitation for the body to acclimate to the new appendage; long nights of fever and pain as Alphonse's own body tried to reject the graft; frustration as the limb never seemed to work quite as well as Alphonse wanted it to; and even moments of utter panic, as the skin and muscle around the automail tore and only rapid action saved Alphonse's arm from becoming infected.
And through it all, Roy felt the burden of utter uselessness. Any time that Alphonse suffered, all he could do was alert Winry or Pinako and then get out of the way so they could work out a solution. Every cry of that soft voice as some new torture was inflicted only reminded Roy that he was entirely superfluous.
He stayed anyway, though. Whenever Alphonse fell in pain, Roy was there to catch him. Roy was always there, and with his persistence, the healing process could finally begin... and eventually, in time, it would end successfully.