Chapter.15 – DOA
Winry was down in the basement, busy trying to finish off Edward's automail. He was busy waiting in the waiting room whilst Winry added a few final touched to the model. After an hour or so, Riza wandered down into the basement, a pleasant grin stretched across her face.
"How is he?" Winry asked.
"Much better," Riza said, stretching her arms, "How's Ed's automail coming along?"
"Nearly finished now. I don't know if you're still interested in learning about automail, but I could do with some help attaching Ed's new limbs on."
"Sure, I'll help," Riza answered, and Winry looked up, smiling at her. She quickly screwed one last screw into place and smiled as she held up Ed's new arm and leg. She handed the leg over to Riza and rushed up the stairs to Edward, who was sitting on the couch, looking tired.
"Done it!" Winry exclaimed, beaming at her new handiwork. "We'll have this on you in no time!"
Edward groaned, he never enjoyed having his automail put back on. He quickly slipped out of his clothes, revealing some blue boxers on underneath.
"Good colour…"
Edward glanced up, finding Roy leaning against the wall at the foot of the stairs. He turned his head, frowning as he waited for Winry and Riza to put them on. Winry went over to his arm, slipping the automail into the slot. There were handles on the automail that would be pulled to effectively plug the automail in. Riza was busy sliding the leg into its place, and they counted down to three before they pulled the handles. On three, both Winry and Riza pulled the handles, and Ed tensed up, wincing at the pain created. He went slightly limp as Winry took her spanner and screwdriver, trying to unscrew the handle from its place. Riza busied herself doing the same to his leg. In no time at all, Ed's automail was successful grafted on, and he stood up, flexing his muscles and testing the automail.
"Once again Winry you've done a brilliantly fantastic job." he said, smiling and giving Winry a thumb up with his new automail. Winry smiled and gave Ed a thumb up back. "Right, sadly me and Alphonse have to leave immediately…"
Winry's smile dropped. She'd been hoping that Ed and Al would stay a little longer.
"Why can't you stay a little longer?" she asked. Ed looked back at her, busy slipping into his trousers and putting his top back on.
"We need to search for more leads. There's a place up north that we need to get to as soon as possible, I'm sorry for busting out like this, but it's important for us." Ed then turned around, putting his coat on as he left the house, Alphonse bowing courteously as he then followed him. Winry sighed as Riza came and sat down by her, putting her arm on her back.
"Don't worry Winry," she said soothingly.
"I know how the Elric brothers work," Roy said, contributing to the conversation, "They've always been like this, shirking responsibilities, not listening to those who're saying something important. But in the end, they always end up doing the right thing…"
He turned around, wandering back up the stairs as Winry nodded.
"It's okay… I just forget sometimes… They've always been the ones wandering around, searching for a way to find their bodies, and I've always been here, waiting for the day when they'll return,"
Riza smiled as she rubbed Winry's back. Winry stood up and wandered down the stairs and into the basement. Obviously to work on another piece of automail, Riza thought. She wandered upstairs to have a talk with Roy, and for the rest of the day, nothing much happened, until late in the afternoon, the front door of the house burst open. Riza, who was in the room at the time, jumped with shock as she looked around, finding Alphonse standing there at the door with Edward in his hands, bleeding.
"Alphonse, what happened!" Riza asked, rushing over to help. Winry ran up from the basement as Roy ran down the stairs. Alphonse placed Edward down on the couch and turned to the others whilst Winry rushed over, tending to Edward.
"What happened Alphonse," Roy said, his face looking full of anger.
"We were attacked, these men on horses. They had guns and they spotted us, saying that 'they' were looking for us. I tried to protect Ed, but before he had the chance to use alchemy, he got shot. I then feigned to get shot myself, and they all rushed off, believing the two of us to be dead,"
"It'll be one of you at the very least if someone doesn't get me some surgical tools. Alphonse, take him into the operating room, he's lost a lot of blood and he won't hold out much longer!"
Alphonse carefully picked up his brother, whose skin had gone a pale white colour. He rushed him into the operating room where he had once waited outside when Ed was having automail installed. Roy and Riza both followed in and watched as Alphonse placed him down on the table as Winry put on a surgical mask and took out some equipment. She ripped Ed's shirt, her stomach churning at the sight of all the blood oozing from the wound the bullet had created.
"I need everyone out now," she said, looking at Alphonse, Riza and Roy, "I need concentration for this. They all walked out of the room, Roy closing the door behind him and turning to Alphonse.
"Where were you and Ed when the soldiers attacked?" Roy asked.
"Huh?" stuttered Alphonse.
"Alphonse! This is important!" shouted Roy, "I need to know where you two were!"
"We'd walked north and were in one of the forests," Alphonse replied, "why?"
"Nevermind why," Roy snapped, "Tell me, where did the soldiers go after they attacked the two of you?"
"I think they went off the long way around to Risemboul, they're probably in the village by this rate,"
"That'll lead them straight here…" Roy said, "Shit… Riza, get your gun, Alphonse, find me some matches… They're coming right here, and we'd better be ready for when they do,"
At that moment, there was a sudden sound of galloping feet, and Roy swore as he rushed upstairs, looking out of the window. Riza and Alphonse quickly followed up, and saw in the distance the band of soldiers all riding along the dirt tracks. Roy watched as they rode along to his and Riza's house, and Roy realised that the residents in the village must have told them where he lived. They watched anxiously as they waited at the house for about 5 minutes before getting back onto their horses and riding towards the Rockbell's house. Roy swore loudly as he turned around.
"They're coming here, quickly, get ready now!"