Al stood outside the door. He could hear Rebecca's soft moans of pain. Pinako had informed him that she was fast asleep, before going to bed herself.
Al's hand was on the door handle. The hallway was dark and quiet. Al was scared. What if Rebecca rejects him again? Al didn't think he could deal with that again.
"Al…Alphonse" Al heard Rebecca mumble in her sleep. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
It had been four years since Al had last seen her. Rebecca's brown hair was still short, but the shine had disappeared and it was dull and messy. Her skin was pale, with droplets of sweat running down her forehead. Her hands were clutching the bed sheets and her gentle face was screwed in pain. Rebecca's legs were gone and thick wires were connected to where Rebecca's thighs should be. Al looked at her.
He wanted to call out. For tears to start to whelm in his eyes. He wanted to hold his childhood friend in his warm arms and take the pain away. But Al couldn't do any of that, so he quietly walked over to the bed. There was a chair next to it, which Al sunk into and took Rebecca's hot hand. The crease in Rebecca's forehead decreased slightly.
"Al…" she mumbled.
"I'm here, Becks" Al whispered, rubbing her hand softly with his thumb. Rebecca's grip tightened as she let out a cry of pain. Al put his other hand on Rebecca's forehead. Rebecca's face screwed up in pain again. Tears began to leak from under her closed eye lids
"Rebecca" Al tried to smooth her, stroking her hair slightly.
A couple of hours passed. Rebecca had been in consent pain. She thrusted around in her sleep and yelled several times.
"NOOO!" Rebecca screamed, suddenly sitting up, the best she could. She blinked several times, before hiding her head in her hands as tears rolled heavily down her cheeks.
"Rebecca!" Al said, in concern, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Rebecca jumped and looked up, slowly. Her eyes widened.
"Alphonse!?" she asked, her throat croaked and empty.
"Are you ok?" Al asked. Rebecca looked into Al's red eyes.
"Is it really you, Al?" she asked, reaching out a hand and touching Al's metal face. Al nodded. There was a short pause, before more tears began to fall from Rebecca's dull eyes. Those eyes were once filled with joy and excitement, wonder and hope. All that had vanished, and all that was left was emptiness, despair and sorrow.
Rebecca hugged Al tightly. This surprised Al, but he hugged back, wishing there weren't spicks on his amour.
"Sorry, I'm probably really cold" Al said, slightly embarrassed. Rebecca laughed, weakly and sniffed.
"Yeah, but it's nice because the pain makes me really hot" Al wished he could feel Rebecca's soft skin, and that she could feel his.
"I'm sorry, Al, I'm so sorry" Rebecca cried, clinging to him tighter.
"You were forgiven the day last saw you" Al replied. Rebecca smiled, tears falling heavily from her eyes, before she let out a cry of pain.
She fell back onto the bed, her chest heaving in agony.
"Rebecca!?" Al asked, worry echoing through his words.
"Hey, look! Al!" Rebecca laughed, climbing another branch of the tree, "I'm getting higher!" Al looked down at her and laughed.
"You can see the whole town from here" he told her. Rebecca grabbed hold of another branch, nearly reaching Al. But there was a creak, and the branch broke. Rebecca let out a scream of fear as she fall to the ground ten feet below her. As she hit the ground, she let out another scream, this one was in pain.
"Rebecca!!" Al yelled, climbing back down the tree. He jumped the last three feet, and landed next to her. Rebecca was holding her leg, tears streaming down her face.
"Rebecca, are you ok?!" Al asked, kneeling down next to her.
"My….my leg" she cried, shutting her eyes. Al looked at it, and saw that it was bent at a weird angle slightly.
"MUM!!!" Al yelled, a trace of panic in his voice.
"It…it hurts, Al" Rebecca cried, as Trisha ran out of the house.
"It's ok, I'm here with you, you're be ok" Al promised, hugging her comfortingly.
Al took Rebecca's hand again, and squeezed it slightly.
"It's going to be ok, I'm here, and you're going to bed ok" Al told her. Rebecca tried to smile, as another wave of pain overtook her. she squeezed Al's hand so tightly, that Al was sure if he could feel, it would hurt. Tears streamed down her pale face, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
"How did you get like this?" Al asked faintly, anger and sadness in his echoing voice. Rebecca let out another moan of pain before beginning her story.
"I was on a train…coming home…there was this little boy who looked just like you when you were six sitting near me…there was also a man with dark skin and red eyes sitting at the back of the train with a backpack on" A sob erupted from Rebecca's throat and she squeezed Al's hand tighter, "He blow himself up and the train…one moment I was looking out the window, the next I was lying on the flood, blood everywhere….the little boy was lying near me, and I crawled over to him…but it was t…too late" she looked up at the ceiling, tears blinding her, "He died…and I was left with no legs" Rebecca closed her yes again, her hand clutching at her one of stump which use to be her leg.
"I dream about it every night…the blood, the screaming, bits of people shattered everywhere…them cold, dead eyes" Al listened, sadness filling the suit of armour. Rebecca was only 15 years old. Too young, too innocent to have to face that and the surgery she was undergoing right now.
"Why did you choose automail?" Al asked, stroking her brown hair, gently.
"Rebecca!" Winry said, entering the hospital room. Rebecca was popped up on pillows. She smiled weakly when she saw Winry. Winry rushed over to her and they hugged tightly.
"You didn't have to come all the way here" Rebecca told her, as they broke apart.
"Don't be stupid, we've been friends since we were five" Winry told her, "And Al would kill me if he found out" she added, as she sat down on the edge of the bed. There was a silence for a moment, before Rebecca asked Winry a question.
"Can you do the automail surgery on me, please?" Winry looked at her, sadness shadowing her eyes.
"Becks, the surgery is very painful…you can sill lead a normal live without legs" she told her friend. Rebecca shook her head.
"I need legs…I have places to go and people to meet…I have things I need to do…I need legs" Rebecca told Winry, determined. Winry smiled, faintly.
"Anyway, if Edward can do it, I can do it!" Rebecca laughed, uneasily.
"Yeah, he's such a wimp" Winry laughed.
"Are they ok? Do you know?" Rebecca asked. Winry smiled at her, and took her hand.
"Yeah, they are staying at their old teacher's house at the moment, remember her?" Winry asked. Rebecca nodded.
"Yeah, she was so scary, I'm surprised they came back in one piece last time" Rebecca said.
"They're still looked for a way to get their original bodies back" Winry told her. Rebecca looked down at her sheets.
"I can never get my legs back…that's why I need you" She said, quietly.
"You will have to wait until your legs have healed over, before surgery can begin, that could take a couple of months" Winry told her. Rebecca tightened her hold her Winry's hand slightly.
"Ok, and I can pay you all the money you need, Father left me quite a bit" she said. Tears began form in her eyes. Winry hugged her tightly again.
"You're so brave, Becks, your Dad would be so proud" Winry told her. Rebecca nodded, clinging to Winry's top.
The sun peaked in through the window, announcing morning. Rebecca was asleep again, her head resting on Al's cool body. The door opened, and Ed came in, balancing a tray.
"Good morning" he smiled, before al shhsed him. Ed laid down the tray of food, and stood next to Al.
"I remember that it was so hard to get to sleep, so you should leave her, Becky can have her breakfast later" Ed whispered, but just at that moment, Rebecca stirred and opened her eyes.
"Ah, well done, Big Brother!" Al said. Ed put his hands up in defence.
"Sorry!"
"It's ok, I was half awake anyway, the mention of food woke me up fully" Rebecca explained, stretching her arms up. Ed looked at her and smiled, sadly.
"It's great to see you again" he said, giving her a tight hug, which Rebecca returned, "I just wished it was for different reasons" Rebecca nodded.
"Yeah, me too" she said as they broke apart, "You're still as small as ever"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU COULD SQUESH WITH A BABY'S SHOE!!!??" Ed yelled, his normal anger building up. Rebecca laughed, as Al held his brother back. Seeing the smile on Rebecca's face, Ed began to calm down and he laughed as well. Al joined them.
"You two haven't changed at all" Rebecca said, looking at both of them, "Still the same old Ed and Al" Ed smiled and sat down on the bed. Al sat on the chair again.
"Thanks, after all we've been through, it's good to hear that sometimes" Al said. Rebecca started to eat her breakfast, her shallows painful.
"I never did found out how you ended up like this" she said, looking at Al's armour and Ed's metal arm.
"You…you know I told you we were going to get our mum back?" Al asked. Rebecca thought for a moment, before nodding her head.
"Well….we tried" Ed continued. Rebecca's eyes widened.
"What?!" she asked, shocked. Ed looked at his clutched hands.
"We tried to bring out mum back by using Alchemy" Al told her.
"But that's against the laws of Alchemy" Rebecca whispered. Al nodded.
"It rebounded, and I lost my whole body, and Ed lost his left leg" he said. Rebecca listened, her hands shaking slightly.
"Al was gone, so I exchanged my right arm for his soul and sealed it to this suit of armour" Ed finished.
"But…..but if Al's whole body was lost, you must have got something in return" Rebecca asked. Both Al and Ed fell silent.
"It was a monster…" Ed said, closing his eyes shut and clutching his fists tighter, "It wasn't our mum" Rebecca reached over and took his hand, and then Al's. She smiled weakly at them.
"Your mum is looking down on you from heaven, guiding you through everything and it doesn't matter what you do, she will still love you and be so proud of who you are" Rebecca told them both. Ed smiled and Al hugged her.
"Thanks" they both said. Ed then noticed something on Rebecca's wrest. It was a bracelet with a little charm hanging from it. On the charm there was a small circle.
"Is that a transmute circle?" Ed asked, looking at it. Rebecca nodded, biting her lip as another wave of pain overtook her.
"Yeah….It's easier to….do transmutations without drawing a transmute circle all the…time" she breathed. Both Ed and Al looked shocked.
"Can you do Alchemy?" Al asked. Rebecca let out another groan of pain and nodded. She put her hand over her knife and closed her eyes in concentration. The charm began to glow and the knife slowly bent together, and formed a shape. The glowing stopped and a small figure was left. It was a figure of Al in his armour.
"Wow!" Ed said, shocked.
"That's brilliant, Becks!" Al said, and looked at her. She had fallen asleep.
"With the pain she is in, that must have tired her out" Ed told Al, before picking up the figure and looking at it, "Great detail" Ed gave it to Al, and then went to leave"
"Just let her sleep" Al nodded, and followed Ed out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He clutched the little figure in his hand, sighing.
Rebecca laid on her stomach in her dark room, her legs swinging in the air. She looked at the book laid out in front of her, and began to carefully copy the diagram given. She went over the chalk lines thickly, before moving so she was kneeling.
Rebecca looked at the picture on the desk above her. It was of her and Alphonse when they were about eight years old. They were smiling, their arms wrapped around each other.
"Well, here it goes, Al…wish me luck" Rebecca said aloud, before placing her hands on the circle and closing her eyes in concentration.
Nothing happened for a minute, and Rebecca's shoulders fall down. But then a strong breeze began to fill the room, and Rebecca's hair blew around her face. Rebecca opened her eyes and a bright light shone from the circle. Her eyes widened as a shape formed. A little longer, and the glowing stopped. Rebecca took a deep breath and raised her hands.
In the middle of the circle was a stuffed toy in the shape of Al. it had brown hair and a big smile. The carpet around the toy had gone, leaving exposed floor boards.
"Wow!" Rebecca breathed, picking up the slightly lumpy toy, "I actual did it"
Tears began to from in her eyes as she hugged the toy tight.