"Hughes, honey, can you please come out? Please?" Winry now held her head to the door of the room her son had been hiding in. Her worried and left-of-sleep eyes were closed as a silent beg came from her. It had been nearly five days since he had come out, as well as ate. How would losing two of her children soothe the woman's soul?

"Hughes, please. No one is angry with you. Your father and I are worried sick that you aren't eating. Can't you at least have a bite of something? Hughes..." Winry Elric leaned herself into her son's door. Her voice became a small whisper as she closed her eyes. "Can you at least see Henrietta? She's still asleep, Hughes. You haven't been in there at all with her.." She had called him by nothing but his name in those long days. Never had Hughey's usual nickname touched her bitter lips. She blamed him. They all did. Wasn't Henrietta absolutely seething with rage, even as she slept? Hughey knew. He knew it all too well. He had been the one to cause this, and he needed to be the one to fix it.

Winry shook her head, collapsing it to her knees. She tucked her arms around her eyes as a shield to block the horribly cruel world around her.

"Your father and I... We're heading into town to find another doctor. Uncle Mustang said he might help with Henry... We're all trying to brave through this, Hughes. So could you please give me a bit of strength? Please..?"

Hughes set his head back to the wooden door he leaned against. His closed eyes breathed words he could never find to soothe his poor mother's worries. He hated hurting her like this, but he wasn't ready to speak just yet. What would he say? What could he possibly find to say? An encounter with any one of his parents would only end up in more disappointment or crying. He had had enough of that.

The sound of an empty house had never really been heard by the boy. It had always been filled with the small laughter of either him, his sister, or even a combination of the both. He never thought such a lapse in sound could hurt him so hard. It was only now that he realized no greater a torture existed in the world than the still air in which a child's playful screams should occupy.

Hughes wandered through the house, knowing he wouldn't be interrupted in anything. His parents had left the town to search for a doctor that could never really do anything, and his sister... Well, he would give anything to have his sister stop him with a voice or a bump in the desolate hell he walked in.

Even after fasting for so long, no growl came from the boy's stomach. Perhaps that too had been killed in the horrible tragedy being entirely his fault. He wandered for quite some time, feet barely making a sound across the wooden planks of the kitchen. What finally gave him the courage to approach the pink-painted bedroom of his sister, never to this day shall he know.

His cold fingers found themselves wrapping to an even colder brass knob. His thick breaths rocked the house with an undeniable energy, yet it took several seconds for him to bring that strength to his hand. He turned the knob, a slight creak sounding throughout the air. How often did he hear that sound down the hall from his room? How many times had his father walked into his daughter's room, a muffled cry he thought no one could hear coming out? And how many times over had that crushed Hughes?

A slight push sent the door to his sister's room to a crack. He cringed at the motion, instantly regretting stepping out of his jail cell. This had been a bad idea. Such a bad idea. But what kept driving his energy into opening that door? What calories were spent in moving his body into the room and over his lifeless sister's bed?

Sparkling blue eyes turned dull stared down to the closed eyelids of an amber hue he had spent many years harboring a jealousy for. Strangely enough, no such emotion welled into Hughes when he stared down to the skin turning white and lips fading blue on Henry.

Instead, Hughes reached out. No emotion stained his face as his fingers pressed into Henry's neck. Not even an ounce of liquid spilled from his indifferent eyes as the loss of a pulse was felt. His finger stayed under her chin for many minutes, all without feeling even the hint of a pulse he had lost.

How long had she been gone? Had she woken up before it happened? Or had she died peacefully in her sleep? Either thought chilled this brother's body to a coldness rivaling Henrietta's.

Hughes' hand dropped back to his side as his cold blue eyes stayed glued to the empty face before him.

It looks like she's sleeping.

"Hey, Henry. Wake up, Henry." He spoke lowly, fists tightening in thought over his sister.

He had seen this many times before. When the dog next door was hit by a car, Hughey and Henrietta were the only ones nearby. The beast whined for minutes with sad and painful eyes before it collapsed back onto the ground.

Hughes had seen this happen to so many creatures on the earth's surface, but never did he ever think it could happen to anyone he knew. Never could anyone he cherished leave him so selfishly. Why did he have to suffer while they just looked like they were sleeping? Why did this cold empty shell of a thing have to look so much like the sister he always took for granted? They couldn't be the same thing, right? Henrietta could never leave him like this. He would turn around and she would be standing behind him, huffing and breathing hard because he ran ahead without her again.

Hughes closed his eyes as his body slowly began to rotate. He didn't open his eyelids before he was present to the door.

He was alone.