Title: He's Dead To The World

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Life sucks. Like, really sucks. Life's a bitch and then you die. Seriously. I finally get a nice shiny new computer, then the motherboard dies. Said computer sits in my dad's office waiting for a box that never came because my dad told the tech dude to slow down because he couldn't understand him, so the tech guy got angry and cancelled the trouble ticket. Box finally comes after another call, and the computer is currently in Memphis, accidentally with a friend's music cd in the drive. And considering my luck, it will arrive Sunday night, right when spring break ends. And my shoulder is sore from sleeping on packed snow and ferry floors. Now I'm just complaining.

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Chapter Brought To You By: Crappy Computers, Inc.

A black hell butterfly fluttered into Fifth Division and alighted on Hawkeye's fingers. Hawkeye paused in what she was doing, her mouthy slowly forming into a small 'o'. The butterfly finished delivering its message and left her fingers, heading for the door.

In less then ten seconds both Hawkeye and the butterfly were gone. And the butterfly lost the race to the door.

"I think something just happened," Havoc mused from the hole in the wall.

Hawkeye shunpoed as fast as she could to Fourth Division, speeding by each and every shinigami in her path. As soon as she got to Fourth Division she raced in the direction of Unohana's office, only stopping when she nearly ran into the taichou. "Unohana-taichou, is it true?"

Unohana smiled softly. "It is. Come with me." Hawkeye started following Unohana down the hall. "Elric-taichou is alive, though he's suffered some near-fatal wounds. His new arm has been ripped off, and his mechanical leg appears to have been blown up. He was stabbed in the gut twice, and as far as we can tell was severely wounded by his own kidou." They reached the door to room fifteen and Unohana stopped, turning to Hawkeye. "But be quiet. He is still unconscious, and will be for another week at least."

"Another week?" Hawkeye exclaimed, her shock beating her façade into the depths.

Unohana gave Hawkeye a reproachful look. "Be patient Hawkeye-san. We all thought he was dead. Another week won't hurt."

Taking a few deep breaths to calm back down, Hawkeye walked forward and grasped the door handle. Turning it, she entered the room and shut the door softly behind her. There was silence, save for the slight whirring of the life saving devices next to the single bed in the corner. A bed that contained one Edward Elric.

An oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, while the rest of his face was a mess of burns and bandages, his hair in a loose golden halo around it. The blankets fell crookedly over his crippled form, two distinct lumps missing. Moving forward, Hawkeye noticed something and lifted a small bit of the blankets up. The twisted metal of the broken automail was still attached to his leg, as Unohana apparently hadn't been able to get it off. Reaching down, Hawkeye found the appropriate switch and flipped it, pulling. The automail slid off nicely, and she put it on a small end table. Standing there for another few minutes, she left.

Heading for Unohana's office to ask something, she ran into Isane. Ah, it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Isane, do you know who brought Elric-taichou in?"

Isane jumped. "Oh! I believe it was Hitsugaya-taichou."

Hawkeye smiled. "Thanks." She then left the Fourth Division compound, aiming for Tenth. She was stopped near the outer wall though by none other than…

"Miss Riza!"

Winry Rockbell ran up to her. "Winry?" Hawkeye exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Winry got close enough that Hawkeye could see the tears welling in her eyes. "How's Ed? Where is he? Will he be okay?"

Hawkeye threw up her hands. "Woah, slow down!" Then she smiled at the younger woman. "Don't worry, he'll be all right. You brought him in, didn't you?"

Winry nodded. "Yeah, and then this kid with white hair took him." She then got a quizzical look on her face. "Hey, are they related?"

Hawkeye frowned. "A word to the wise: don't ever bring that up again, especially if you're in the company of one of them. Also, I need to know: Is Scar dead?"

Winry looked down. "Yes… Ed blew him to bits. Just like Ed, to go overboard like that."

Hawkeye smiled. "Come, I'll take you to him."

Hawkeye went back into Fifth Division smiling. "Something good happened."

"What, did Mustang finally get you pregnant?" Havoc asked from the hole in the wall. He then lost a few hairs thanks to one of Hawkeye's throwing zanpuktos.

"What then?" Mustang asked from his pile of paperwork.

"Edward's alive. He was brought in about an hour ago."

Mustang shoved the pile of paperwork away from himself. "Finally, an excuse for a break."

"Hah, so when do I get to go shock the boss?"

Hawkeye shook her head. 'Not for a while Havoc. He's been pretty beat up in at least two fights, and Unohana-taichou doesn't expect him to wake up for another week at least."

Havoc's face fell. "Oh."

Mustang propped his head up. "Well if he's dead to the world…" he broke off at Hawkeye's angry glare, looked away, and tried again. "Well if he's completely knocked out, how did he get here?"

Hawkeye smiled. "An old friend. After the first attack he stayed at the home of the then-absent Winry Rockbell. In the middle of the second attack she showed up just in time to distract Scar, then Ed performed a high-level kidou and blew him up."

Havoc's jaw dropped. "Ed… blew up Scar? Since when does Ed blow people up?"

"He's not a child anymore Havoc. He doesn't like it but it's part of his job description, so if he must blow something up then he will."

Mustang had grown quiet at the mention of Winry Rockbell. Silently he pulled a stack of paperwork towards himself and started working on it.

Winry Rockbell stood at the side of her childhood friend's sickbed. She hadn't held a conversation with him for… wow. It must be nearly eighty years by now. Physically, he didn't look like he'd grown an inch (she would make him regret that later), but mentally he had grown decades, she could tell. Don't ask her how, it was one of those things she just knew about him.

Like how she could sense that he had no clue where Al was, and hadn't for a very long time.

She smiled softly. It was almost like that one time, so long ago, when a ten year old boy had lain on a bed, wracked with fever, his arm stump bandaged tightly. Riza had told her that he had recently regained his arm thanks to the help of a human from Earth, but only because he had broken his automail beyond repair without the help of an expert. She smiled at that.

Then she frowned. He had broken her automail… not only had the entire port been ripped off, but he had managed to get his leg blown up as well. She would definitely make him regret that later too.

And then she would make him a new set, as always.

She left the room and called out to the first shinigami she saw, a small black-haired girl with her hair held up by a light blue piece of cloth. There were a few pink forget-me-nots in her hand, and she was singing softly to herself. "Excuse me, but could you show me the way to Fifth Division?"

The girl looked up, a dreamy look in her doe eyes. "Sorry, but Aizen-taichou isn't here right now."

Winry shook her head, somewhat confused. "I don't know anybody named Aizen. I'm looking for Riza Hawkeye."

The girl's demeanor changed instantly. Her eyes filled with fire and the flowers dropped to the floor. "You dare to speak that woman's name to me? You dare? You shall die!"

Whether or not the girl was entirely sane would be a good thing to debate, but right now Winry was kind of running for her life. She sprinted down the hallway, took an abrupt right turn, took a few more turns, and got hopelessly lost, a raving madwoman hot on her heels.

"Hinamori-san!"

Both girls stopped and turned to who Winry recognized as Unohana-taichou. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now!" Hinamori snapped back.

Unohana frowned slightly. "Hinamori, please sheath your zanpukto and go back to your room. You know that you shouldn't attack people randomly."

Hinamori hung her head. "Yes Unohana-taichou." She walked back down the hall past Unohana.

Unohana then smiled at Winry. "Are you lost?"

Winry nodded. "Yes. Could you show me the way to Fifth Division please?"

Unohana nodded. "I was just about to send Iemuro over with some paperwork, but I can take it instead."

"Oh, don't go out of your way just for me!"

Unohana smiled motherly. "Oh, it's no problem. I should probably go myself anyway to make sure that no one gets the wrong idea about Elric-taichou."

"He will be all right, right?"

Unohana laughed. "Of course he will. Don't worry, Winry-san." Their conversation had carried them to Unohana's office, where she picked up two folders. "Now come on, I'll show you the way to Fifth Division." They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Just curious, how do you know Elric-taichou?"

Winry looked at the ground. "We've known each other our entire lives. We were neighbors back when we were alive. And…"

Unohana smiled softly. "You made his prosthetics, didn't you?"

Winry looked up, startled. "Mmm… yes. And… could I make it again?"

Unohana tilted her head, still smiling. "Of course. You can have everything you need at your disposal. When you're ready, I can show you the way to Twelfth Division, our research division. Maybe they have some stuff you haven't heard of before that you can use."

"That would be wonderful… thank you, Unohana-taichou."

"It's nothing. We wouldn't want our little taichou having second-rate gear."

Winry laughed for the first time since arriving in Sereitei. "Just don't let him hear that."