A/N- Sorry for lateness. I have been suffering from a severe addiction to Iron Man and The Avengers. Here's the new chapter hope you like!

Chapter Nine

Ed's world was very hazy, all he could make out were blurry shapes. He had the distinct impression that he was in pain, but he really couldn't feel anything at the moment. The shapes above him were rushing about frantically, and he could hear them speaking to each other, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. It sounded quite serious.

He lay there, and for the life of him couldn't remember how he had gotten there. All he could think of was how upset and annoyed Alphonse would be if Ed was really hurt. And he didn't want to see Winry cry again. Also Mustang would be smirking at him and cracking even more short jokes. Ed wanted to punch the man in the face sometimes. Actually, he wanted to do that most of the time.

More voices interrupted these thoughts, and Ed couldn't help but observe that these voices seemed to be rather urgent. He wondered why. He was also wondering how bad he was hurt, because it was pretty obvious that he had been hurt. Somehow.

His face was feeling really numb, as well as pretty much the entire left side of his body. He hadn't realized before, but he was having trouble breathing. This worried him, and against his will made his breathing speed up, which is not something you want to happen when you're having trouble breathing in the first place. His lungs were on fire and he thrashed, trying to break free of the invisible bonds that held him down. This seemed to initiate a lot of shouting from the shapes above him. He felt something pierce his skin, on his right shoulder, next to the automail. It felt like lead was flowing through his veins. He stopped struggling, and his breaths became more even and controlled. He closed his eyes and slipped away into the dark abyss in front of him.

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When Ed awoke, when he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything apart from what looked like a white wall directly in front of him. He wondered only for a moment what it was, but then logic told his brain that it must be a bandage. He tried to breathe on deeply, but he found he couldn't, it just hurt to much. The unfortunate after affects of this was sending him into a coughing fit. His throat was parched, and each cough was grating his throat. It felt like he had been eating stone or something. Stone...

Oh. So that's why he was here. Looking back, he realized that what he had done was possibly not the brightest idea ever. But thats what everybody says, isn't it? What was that saying again? Hindsight was... bliss? He shrugged internally, guessing that if he tried for real, it would end up with him in even more pain. Which was definitely something he didn't want.

Above him, he could hear someone talking quietly, probably trying not to disturb him. Ed shifted a bit in the bed, slightly uncomfortable. When he did that all the talking suddenly ceased. He stopped, and had the distinct impression that they were staring at him. Ed tensed his body, but nothing happened. Nobody came over and touched him to see if he was okay, nobody spoke to him, and nobody suddenly appeared in his blank vision to surprise him. Then the voices started up again.

"Can you hear me?" It was quite a deep voice, so Ed presumed it was a man. He waited there for a few seconds before coming to the realisation that the man had been talking to him. He opened his mouth to speak, them remembered what had happened the last time he had tried that, so he shut his mouth and nodded instead.

"Good. You are in hospital specializing in burns. Can you remember how you got here?"

Here came the questions. He nodded again. Inside of his head he was having a panic attack. Burns? That did not sound good. Fire never ended well. He really regretted what be did now. He tried to pay attention to the person (presumabley a doctor) but he was just too tired. His voice drifted into the background as Ed shut his eyes to the piercing white of the bandages, grateful for the darkness he received.

A/N- I know, this chapter is absolutely rubbish, but I felt the need to update, and I will try to ypdate sooner next time. The reason I took so long to do this chapter was because of an organisation I am part of called Rock Challenge. Look it up, its really fun.

It's the holidays right now so we are trying to preform as many rehearsals as possible and get ready, cause the competition is in a week. So I spent yesterday, as well as today, from 10:45 until 5:30 at the school working on it. Kinda busy. Sorry :(

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