Chapter 2: Needles
Alphonse awoke to find Ed's arms still wrapped around him. He shifted a bit in bed, his muscles aching in protest. Every attempt at movement brought pain. Ed's hold on him tightened slightly, and he found himself being turned on his back. Ed was now propped up on his elbow, looking down at Al. Edward's hair felt soft to Alphonse as it hung down from the elder Elric's head and brushed against Al's shoulders and chest.
"Good morning Al," said Ed, pushing his hair back so it wouldn't spill all over his brother. "Did you sleep well?"
Al yawned. "Yeah. My first night's sleep in years and years. Brings back memories." Al noticed that Ed's face looked a little more ashen now, and dark circles were starting to form around his brother's eyes. "Brother, did you sleep at all?"
Edward shook his head. "Afraid not. Too many things on my mind. Yesterday was a rough day."
"Certainly was." Al reflected back on the attack on the Central Command Center, the encounter with Father, the hideous monstrosity's ascension to godhood and subsequent downfall, and seeing Ed emerge through the doorway of Truth to bring him back to the world of the living. Those few hours had felt like days. "I really appreciated you holding me last night. Reminds me of when we were little kids and we'd get under the covers together on a cold night."
Ed had a nostalgic smile now, as if doing some reflecting himself. "Things certainly were simpler back then, when we didn't have to worry about getting killed, when we weren't running all over the country, when Mom was still alive."
"Yeah, but even if she didn't pass away and we never went on our journey, that bearded guy would have executed his plan anyway."
"Very true." Ed sat up and stretched his arms out. A sudden cringe seemed to indicate that he had made his arm laceration hurt worse in the process. "Hey, look, I think I should get back in my own bed before the nurse comes in, if there's anything you need, I-"
Ed was interrupted as the nurse opened the door and almost screamed in shock. She was huge, almost six feet tall and at least three hundred pounds, with a seemingly seamless connection between turkey-wattle chin and over-leavened-muffin torso. Her immense fat deposits wiggled and swayed to and fro as she walked. "Edvard Elric!" she bellowed in a Northern accent so thick Al wondered if it could be cut with a knife. "Vat ze hell are you doink in your brother's bed? You could have pulled out all ze IVs we put in him!"
Ed now had sweat running down his face, and fidgeted nervously as he began stammering out excuses. "Well, n-nurse, Al was cold last night and wanted me to keep him warm, so-"
"I don't care vat he vanted, you idiot!" The nurse's face was deep red now, her double chin jiggling like a gelatin mold. "Get out of his bed!"
Al started to giggle at the nurse's obesity, screaming tirade, and ridiculous accent. This just made the nurse turn to him and shoot him a withering glare.
"And you, Alphonse! Do you think I am funny, you shriveled little scarecrow? Do you?"
"Yes!" Alphonse's gaunt face was now split by a wicked grin as he clapped his hands together and the room filled with blue light. The blanket flew off his bed, wrapped itself around the nurse, and sealed itself into a tube of cloth that bound the fat nurse tightly. Now Ed was laughing, bent double over the floor and struggling for breath. Al didn't care that transmuting the blanket had left his naked body exposed; the thrill of seeing the fat harridan of a nurse writhing on the floor was easily worth it.
"You won't be laughing for very long, you scrawny little imp!" the nurse shrieked as she struggled against the alchemically-created straitjacket. "Dr. Knocs, get in here!"
Both Ed and Al immediately stopped laughing. "Dr. Knocs..." Al whimpered, pulling his knees up against his chest to cover himself.
"Oh, shit," muttered Ed.
"Are the kids giving you a hard time, Heidi?" said Dr. Knocs as he surveyed the room with disgust.
"Vell, I think you could say that, yah. Edvard vas sleepink in his brother's bed, and Alphonse used his alchemy to turn his blanket into a straitjacket and tie me up with it!" The nurse attempted to get up, but immediately lost her balance and fell over again, bouncing off the floor as her gut hit the tiles.
The doctor rolled his eyes. "Well, aren't you two a couple of little delinquents? I guess I'm going to have to make sure you stay in bed for a while." His voice as icy and menacing.
Al said nothing, frozen in fear, shaking both from the cold air and from terror. If his bladder had anything in it he would have wet himself. He looked over at Ed, only to see that his brother had completely hidden himself under the covers of his bed, with only a few locks of blond hair sticking out.
Dr. Knocs walked over to Edward's bed and flung the covers off. "You know what this is, boy?" he said as he took a syringe out from inside his lab coat. "Phenobarbital. Your face shows that you didn't get much sleep last night, so now you're going to be making it up and then some." Al watched as Ed meekly extended his arm, too frightened to resist, and the doctor plunged the needle into a vein, and gave Ed the injection.
Now it was Alphonse's turn. he looked up at the doctor, trembling in terror.
"Give me your arm, kid."
Alphonse complied. He winced as the doctor roughly snatched his arm by the wrist and pulled it straight, sending pain shooting down his arm and into his chest.
"I can't give you a full dose because it would kill you in your pathetic state, but this ought to keep you quiet, at least for a while." Dr. Knocs stared at Al's arm. "At least this way your veins are easy to see."
Al felt a pinprick as the needle went in. The syringe only seemed to hold a third of what the injection Ed received was, but it was probably enough to render him helpless. He looked over as the doctor took out a knife and cut apart the blanket restraining the nurse, and then gave orders as she stood up.
"Take off Edward's pajamas and give him a bedpan. He's going to be out for a while."
"And vat about his brother?"
"Alphonse is still on TPN, he won't be excreting any solid waste." Dr. Knocs threw the torn rag of a blanket over Alphonse's body.
Alphonse clutched the blanket and watched Dr. Knocs leave the room. Ed was now whining and squirming as the nurse undressed him and put a bedpan underneath him. Already the sedative was starting to take hold, and Ed's complaining rapidly receded from Al's awareness. By the time the nurse left the room, Al was already in a semiconscious stupor.
"Is anybody in there?"
Winry Rockbell grumbled when no response met her after knocking on the door and calling out. This was certainly the Elrics' hospital room—their names were written in marker on a sign taped to the door. Were they still asleep?
Guess I'll find out, Winry thought to herself as she opened the door.
The room was as quiet as a tomb. Ed was asleep, his jaw slack and drool running down his chin. He didn't move a muscle when Winry wiped the saliva off of his face with a handkerchief. Al was completely zoned out, staring into space through half-lidded eyes but obviously not aware of her. Both had butterfly bandages on their arms, signs that they had been sedated. "How much did they give them?" she muttered. "Ed must have received enough barbiturates to knock out a horse, and Al's not much better." Sighing in frustration, she pulled up a chair to Al's bedside and sat down. Al didn't look to be entirely asleep; maybe she could get him out of la-la land. She laid a hand on his face, stroking his protruding cheekbone.
Alphonse stirred a bit in his sleep and moaned. Obviously he felt it, but it was not enough. Winry decided to take more drastic action, and pinched the skin of Al's arm with her fingernails, hard.
Alphonse let out a cry and his eyes snapped open, darting around the room in confusion. After a few seconds, they appeared to focus. "W-Winry?" he slurred.
"Hey, Al. Why are you and your brother all drugged up?" Winry touched Al's hair; it was dull and brittle from malnutrition and she let go when a few strands came out in her hand.
"Felt cold...had Brother...get in bed with me last night...keep me warm." Al tried to reach out with his arm. Deducing what he wanted to do, Winry took his hand.
"Awwww, that was sweet of him. They knocked you out for that?"
"Nurse...got mad at us...I used alchemy...wrapped her up...in blanket...so she couldn't...get out." Al's speech was slow, halting, and slurred from the drugs, and Winry struggled to understand him.
"You transmuted your covers so they bound her up? Is that why the blanket is torn?"
"Mmmm-hmmm. You...should have seen her. Very funny. Not so funny though...when Knocs took out...the needle."
"You two always start trouble, don't you? But you're so sick I really feel sorry for you. Let me look inside my bag, I might have something to reverse the drug with." Winry dug through her purse, looking for an antidote. "Ah. Here it is. This one's an injection, too. It will take a few minutes to kick in." Winry slid the needle into one of the many prominent veins in Alphonse's arm and depressed the plunger.
Over the next few minutes, Al's eyes opened wider, his jaw set, and he started to move more. Once satisfied that Al was more or less awake, Winry tried talking to him again. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was hit by a train. My whole body hurts. I'm really hungry but they're only feeding me through an IV because my digestive tract doesn't work right or something." Al groaned as he shifted into a different position in bed.
"You look starved, Al. You're so scrawny, and I can see bones sticking out everywhere." Winry took Alphonse's hand again and looked at his nails. "Look how long and ragged these are. Let me clip them for you." She pulled a nail clipper out from her purse and cut Al's nails, filing the freshly cut edges with an emery board to remove any sharp points, and then repeated with his other hand. "There we go. Much better." She pulled Al's covers back and felt a chill as she saw the boy's protruding ribcage and sternum, his dry, thin skin, and his sunken belly. "You really are starved. It's a miracle you're still alive."
"Maybe that's why I kept feeling my soul being pulled away from my armor in the last few days before yesterday. I think my body was dying. I don't think I could have lasted much longer."
"Well now you're safe, Al, and you're going to get better. I just hope you can make a full recovery."
"I hope so too, Winry. It would be terrible to have to depend on other people for the rest of my life. Especially after all that Brother went through. Speaking of him, do you think you could wake him up, too?"
"I don't have another shot, and I don't think it would be enough to properly rouse him anyway." Winry heard the door open behind her. "Huh?"
It was Dr. Knocs. "Miss Rockbell, I presume?"
"Yes, doctor. I was here to visit the Elric brothers."
"Would you mind telling me why you woke Alphonse up?"
Winry glared at the doctor. "Because I didn't take a train all the way from Resembool to talk to the walls, doctor. If you want a problem, doctor, I can give you a problem!" She pulled a wrench out of her purse and thumped the end of it against the palm of her other hand.
"Fine. Have it your way. Just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble. At least you didn't wake up his brother. Edward's the more annoying of the two. He whines and complains and bitches constantly."
"I'm quite familiar with his whining. After all, I built his automail and assisted with the automail surgeries. But I really want to talk about Al. He looks really bad."
"Alphonse is badly malnourished. When he was admitted he was on death's door, with severe hyponatremia, hypokalemia, and dehydration. He was able to stand briefly after the fight with that...thing in the command center only through sheer force of will."
"Will he get better?"
"I don't expect him to make a full recovery, Miss Rockbell. His kidneys are in bad shape, and his liver and heart have significant damage as well. His muscles are so atrophied that he'll probably be frail and weak for the rest of his life. The best case scenario is that he starts walking with a cane but still needs help with activities with bathing and dressing, and it's unlikely that he'll make it to sixty with what's happened to his organs."
Winry felt tears coming to her eyes, at the thought that Edward had poured so much sweat and blood and toil into getting Alphonse back only to get a crippled, broken shell of a brother after all of his hard work. "You mean, Ed did all this for Al...and he won't recover?" She began to sob.
"It's okay, Winry," said Al, now sitting up in bed and putting an emaciated arm around her. "Even if I'm not strong and healthy I'll still be there. Brother is so happy to have me back, and if he's happy, I'm happy."
"Alphonse!" Winry pulled Al against her chest, hugging him tightly. Alphonse groaned a bit but did not try to get out of the hug. She buried her face in his bony shoulder, her tears running down his chest and belly onto the sheets.
Dr. Knocs physically pulled Winry away from Alphonse. "Stop that, Miss Rockbell! He's very fragile in his condition and you'll injure him if you manhandle him like that."
"All right, I won't hold him upright. Can I still touch him?"
"Gently."
"He wasn't gentle with me!" Al interjected, his lips in a pout.
"Shut up, boy, or I'll strap you to the bed. I'll be back in a few hours. Miss Rockbell, keep an eye on those boys. Make sure they stay in bed."
"Will do, doctor. Thank you." Winry harumphed after Dr. Knocs closed the door. "God almighty! What a jerk!"
"That's Dr. Knocs for you," said Al with a wry smile. "That's what he does." Al looked over to Edward's bed as a series of groans came from the other side of the room. "Winry! Brother is coming around!"
Winry sighed. "I guess it's time to tell him the bad news then."
Medical jargon footnotes
TPN = Total parenteral nutrition, or providing all nourishment through an IV.
Hyponatremia = Sodium deficiency.
Hypokalemia = Potassium deficiency.
