Me: Phew, finally got one up!

Danny: So this chapter is where the story really takes off. Well, this is kind of a filler, but, still. No more prologues XD

Me: Have fun reading!

A New Way to Bleed Chapter 4: His Home in Resembool

Maes' hometown of Resembool actually barely resembled a town at all. Houses were few and far between and most of the land was used for farming.

It was, without a doubt, a beautiful place – undisturbed, tranquil countryside for miles. The weather was almost always perfect, but when it rained, it really rained.

In fact, it was one of those times now, and all he could hear was the sound of the downpour and his father's constant moaning. Inside Ed's automail port was a huge open wound, so that the nerves in his leg could connect to the metal and he could move it. It never caused him any trouble (the metal that encased it was really like his skin anyway) but the humidity and dampness that came with the terrible weather always made his stump ache. It was the same for all of his mother's other patients, too.

The boy's thirteenth birthday had come and gone and a week had passed now. He'd also had that amount of time to try and catch up with Edward, but he'd start talking and then it would either get awkward and they'd stop, or Maes would get mad and end up storming out of the room.

Now though, he was being forced to help Nina serve him tea as Ed lay sprawled out on the sofa with a thick blanket over him. His face was pale with the fever that had set in earlier in the week – it had been raining ever since he arrived home.

"Surely this happens all the time when it rains?" Maes set the tray down on his father's lap and sat on the other end of the couch, one hand pressed boringly against his chin.

"It has," Ed replied, his voice a hoarse whisper, "sometimes I'd had to stay in my hotel room for days."

A look of sympathy managed to flash its way through Maes' blank expression. The pain must be close to unbearable and the boy winced just at the thought of what it could be like.

Maes turned his attention to the fireplace to stop himself adding a sarcastic remark and stared at the flames until his eyes began to sting. He had nothing better to do; he had finished the little amount of the books in the house that counted as fictional reading material, including his birthday presents. And he couldn't even begin to think about going outside to play in this weather.

"How's Jacob?" Ed looked up at his wife, who was sitting up straight beside him, with what appeared to be an automail foot in her hand. She had blatantly refused to leave him and instead brought her work up into the family room so she could work at the same time.

"He's doing fine," Winry replied, "the nerve attachment should have been done by this evening, but I want to give him a break, the rain's done a number on him, just like you, but worse. You know, because the port isn't sealed yet." Jacob was the current automail patient staying with the Elrics down in the basement in the surgery room. Maes had spoken him quite a lot during his stay, and had learned about an interesting way to lose a leg. He wondered if it was the same for his father, but he didn't think of Edward as one to be fighting any animals. Or fighting at all, for that matter.

"Oh, and Nina, sweetie," Winry looked over at her daughter.

"Yes, Mum?"

"The Sheep Festival's been cancelled this week because of all the rain."

"But I just finished making Bette look all pretty!" Nina whined.

As well as the automail shop, the Elric family also owned a small farm. It was mostly crops, but there were a few chickens and sheep too, plus a cow (which Ed absolutely refused to have anything to do with). Bette was Nina's favourite sheep, the ewe that the young girl had entered into the sheep shows that came to Resembool since she was a lamb (with the help of Maes and her mother, of course). Resembool's annual Sheep Festival was a big occasion, with travellers coming from far and wide to see the event.

"Don't worry about it," Winry gave her a little hug, "they'll re-schedule it, I promise."

Nina seemed a bit more enthusiastic now, and she smiled again and left the room, saying something about playing with her dolls.

"She's quite mature from her age, isn't she?" Maes heard Ed say.

Winry put the metal foot down next to her and picked up a different sized wrench, folding Ed's blanket away from her slightly to reveal the automail port on his leg.

"There's a small hole between the edge of the metal and the skin, which is probably why you're feeling worse than yesterday. The metal's contracted from where it's been so cold this winter, and the late spring hasn't helped. Let me get the rest of my tool kit – I'll be back in a second, OK?"

Winry had put a lot of thought into her line of work, and Maes liked that a lot about his mother. She was the most kind and caring woman he had ever known, always gentle when performing the operations. People weren't allowed to be sedated for any of it, or the nerve attachments wouldn't work. Maes always shuddered slightly when he thought of that. The pain must be excruciating. Sometimes, people even died. But not his mother's patients. She took every precautionary step to make sure they stayed alive.

He hoped he would never have to go through with an operation like that.

"Yeah OK, Winry," Ed didn't really seem in the mood for talking. His face had gone bright red and dripping with sweat.

"Can I… get you anything?" the boy asked his father just to block out the annoying sound of the rain, frowning slightly. Why was it so awkward talking to him? He found it easier to speak to Jacob, and he had known the man for less than a week!

"No, thanks," he answered, smiling weakly.

And that was yet another thing that intrigued Maes. His father seemed to completely ignore the fact that he'd constantly been away from his son for all of his life. He was treating the boy like he had been there every day, and Maes thought that that just simply wasn't fair. How could one be a father to someone when they weren't there doing their job as one? In fact, he had no idea what Edward did on his travels. He never bothered to bring back any souvenirs, so usually Maes had no idea where his father had been unless he told him, which was rare.

Maes shrugged and sat down on the sofa. What was he supposed to do now? It wasn't like the rain had suddenly disappeared. The signal on the radio had stopped because of the weather, too.

"Hey," he heard Ed say.

"What?"

"Go and fetch my suitcase and bring it here, will you?"

"Why?" Maes asked, "and you still haven't unpacked it yet?"

"I haven't exactly had the chance, you know. And I'm not in the mood or condition for a fight right now. Just get it already."

Grumbling, the blonde boy stood up and went out into the hall. The old brown case was in exactly the same position as it when Ed had returned last week. Just by looking at it, you could tell what it had been through. One of the handles was almost broken, the stitches that bound the leather together were thinning and fraying and one of the two locks on the top had been snapped.

Suddenly Maes heard a knock, barely audible above the sound of the downpour. He looked up, putting the suitcase back down.

Getting ready for the rain to come into the house, he kicked the shoes out of the way of the door further down the hall to avoid them getting wet.

Bracing himself, he closed his eyes and grabbed the handle. It was freezing and he almost pulled away.

He opened the door as quick as he could. "Get inside!" he shouted, not even bothering to see who it was.

Two figures hurried in, soaking wet and icy cold. Shivering himself, Maes closed the door and the sound of the storm became muffled again, but still just as loud.

"Now then," he gasped, catching his breath from the sudden rush, "who are you two and why did you come all the way our here to our house? You don't need automail, do you? I can see that you've got all your arms and legs."

The first person – a man in his late twenties – eyed Maes curiously. A young Xingese woman stood behind him, shaking from the cold. Her long black hair was plastered to her pale face and dripping wet.

"My name is Alphonse Elric," the man said, "and you must be Maes, right?"

Maes' eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back. This guy was his uncle? He looked up in disbelief. He'd imagined him kind of like this – with short, neatly cropped dark blonde hair and brown eyes, but to actually meet him was something he was never really prepared for. He knew that Alphonse was supposed to be visiting, but it still seemed a little strange.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," he smiled weakly, unsure what to say.

"So this is your nephew you were telling me all about!" the Xingese lady said, smiling, "I'm May Chang," she said to Maes, putting her hands together and giving a short bow, "Alphonse's fiancée."

Before the boy could reply, he heard a startled noise come from the other end of the hall.

"Al! May!" his mother dropped her tool box and ran up to them, but hesitated to give them a hug. As happy as she was to see them, she didn't really like getting wet when there was no need.

"Hey, Winry," Al laughed, "it's great to see you again! Sorry we're so wet. We weren't prepared for all this rain. There's barely any in Xing and I'm kind of used to the weather over there now."

"I'll get some towels for you both so that you can dry off," Winry replied quickly and turned round, jogging down the hall and upstairs to the bathroom.

"Thank you!" May called out behind her.

"You look very different from this photograph I have of you," Alphonse suddenly turned to his nephew and pulled a slip of paper out of his inside coat pocket.

"Well, that's probably because I was five when that was taken," Maes pointed.

"No, really," his uncle said as he turned it round, "your hair is different."

Maes looked at the picture in the surprise. "You're right," he observed. His hair was a much darker gold in the picture – almost brown, in fact. And he had bangs hanging down the side of his face in it. Now, there were just a few loose strands of hair that refused to stay tied up.

"You look a lot like your grandfather when he was young," Al smiled.

"Seriously? That's… cool."

Maes had a feeling that his new-found uncle would be willing to tell him lots of information on the man he was being compared to and a bit more. Right now though, he wanted to find out a little more about where his father had been – something that would most likely be brought up in the adults' conversation. But would they talk about it if he was in the room?

Even though Alphonse hadn't been to the Elric household in eight years, he still knew the place inside out. Clutching May's dripping hand with his own, he led her down the hall and into the living room.

"Brother!" Maes heard him exclaim before he caught up, remembering to grab the suitcase, "what happened? Are you OK?"

"Don't worry, Al. It's just the rain," Ed replied as his son set down the case beside him.

At this point Winry had returned with some blue towels and May was already wrapping one around her shoulders, beginning to shake a bit less.

Alphonse sighed happily, a warm smile spreading across his face at no one in particular.

He was home.

Selim screamed at the top of his lungs, clutching his head with his hands. His nails dug into his skin and he swore that he felt something slide down the side of his face, but it was too dark to see and he couldn't find the will to care anyway. There was too much pain.

"Make it stop!" He shouted at no one, "Stop it!"

His mother could do nothing but hold him as tight as he was able to take, and softly wipe his face of any gore.

"Please!" He cried desperately, voice cracking in agony, "Go away!"

It seemed like his nightmares had managed to push their way into his waking hours, causing him physical pain instead of mental. They hadn't disappeared from his sleep, either, so he had woken up without a break to the extreme torture.

"Please!" he let out another shrill wail of anguish and tears rolled down his face with the rest of the gore and stained his shirt as well as his mother's.

"Stop it! I said stop!"

Suddenly the waves of pain seemed to retreat back into his head and the agony died down a bit. The tiny fifteen-year-old managed to open his eyes to thin purple slits. Mrs Bradley's own eyes were full of worry, but comforting at the same time. Yes, she was still there, holding him, even if there was nothing she could do to help.

"Are you OK now?" she loosened her grip on her only child slightly and lifted his chin up, causing him to look directly at her. His eyes were bloodshot and dark liquid was pouring out of his nose, so she took another tissue and gently dabbed it away, then left some more in place as an attempt to stop the flow.

"N…no. Yes. Maybe. I don't…" Selim's speech was short and sharp, and after each one he took a gasp for breath. His head still throbbed, and his heart rate was up. He was shivering again, too, even with the pyjamas, blanket, jumper and jacket that had now been put around him in an effort to keep the boy warm.

Mrs Bradley put one of her index fingers on his lip to keep him quiet. It was too disorientating for him to form intelligent sentences, and he should not be pushed at a time like this. He didn't need to be in more pain than he already was.

"Stay right here, sweetie," she put on the most calm and soothing voice she could, "I'm just going to fetch you some nice cold water. I'll be back before you know it."

Gently, she pushed her sniffling child away and laid him back down on his soft bed, then stood up and went straight to the kitchen.

"So Auntie Pinako is dead," Alphonse frowned, "I was wondering why you were doing the cooking with Maes, Winry."

The blonde woman nodded sadly, "seven years ago today, actually. We don't even know what happened. I came home from doing the shopping and just… found her body in here by the stove. There wasn't any evidence, but I knew that she'd been murdered."

"So a bit like Hughes, then?" Al offered, "you know, no leads…"

Maes from chopping the carrots, "who's Hughes?"

"He was a friend of ours," Winry explained after a moment, "back when we were kids."

"I still think about all the things he did for us," Alphonse put on a cooking apron, deciding to help, "and that reminds me, Winry. How are Gracia and Elysia?"

"Ed went to Central a while ago," Winry replied, "they're fine. Actually, he's going back up there soon, to visit the Bradley family. Poor Selim's been having a few nightmares recently."

"I'm going too," Maes added afterwards, sliding the freshly-sliced vegetables into some boiling water.

"Is that so?" Al laughed slightly.

Maes had decided quickly in the past few days of his stay that Alphonse seemed like a nice man to have for an uncle. He looked young for his age and acted like it, too. May was a pleasant woman as well, always polite when asking for or receiving things. And she still kept all her personal Xingese traditions despite having an Amestrian fiancé. In fact, it seemed like some of them had rubbed off on Al.

Al stopped suddenly, and a thought seemed to appear in his head. "Do you think it would be OK if I go to Central with Ed too? There's actually some people I want to see."

"I'm sure it would be fine," Winry shrugged, "I don't see why Ed wouldn't take you."

Maes stared out of the window at the rain. If he squinted hard enough, he could just make out Resembool station in the distance at the bottom of the hill.

Providing Ed recovered from his fever, he would be catching a train from there in a few days' time. Then, finally for the first time in his life, he would leave his hometown and get to see something instead of miles and miles of grass.

Now he just had to wait.

Me: filler chapter is fail

Danny: The next chappie will be Maes actually going there, and if I get enough reviews, something surprising might happen. I won't say what, you'd just have to review and find out. (If there are only a few like last time, that surprise won't happen, so remember!)

Me: Until next time!

Danny: Bye!