My P.O.V.
I can't take this. Too many, too many deaths! And now my parents? No, I don't have anyone! They were the only ones that cared!
I sob, staring at the gun wounds in their heads, the blood seeping all the way over to me. I raise my hands and look at the blood that stains my fingers. "No, no, they didn't deserve this…" I whisper, too shocked to speak to anyone in particular.
I know that the leader did this, and he says something about making me feel terrible if he couldn't have me. Edward and the other guy are in the room now, and I see the leader point his gun straight at Edward.
No, he can't die too! I think desperately, and the other guy screams, "Brother!" before the gun is fired.
The bullet blasts into Edwards's left shoulder, and his blood runs down onto the floor. He falls to the ground, unconscious, and I scream out in agony. I quickly draw a transmutation circle on the floor and clap my hands together before pressing them to the floor.
"I HATE YOU!" I scream at the leader as I use my alchemy to freeze him in a solid block of ice. "Damn you." I whisper before I realize Edward needs help.
"Y-y-you're an alchemist?" The other guy asks me, and I nod.
"Kind of. What was your name again?" I ask; I have to stop referring to him as 'the other guy'.
"Alfonse Elric, I'm Ed's brother. You can call me Al."
"Nice to meet you Al, now help me before your brother dies of blood loss." I say calmly. Al gets supplies for me as I treat Edward's wound.
I've become something of a nurse by treating injuries the other girls had, but they were never this serious. I can see Al is really worried, and since our town has no hospital, I'm the only one that can save Edward right now. He has passed out, and I know I must work quickly, or it'll be too late.
I focus on helping him, not letting all the sadness of recent events cloud my working. I manage to remove the bulled and sigh in relief when I see the wound isn't as deep as I thought. I pull out the needle for stitches.
"If he wakes up, you'll have to hold him down Al. any sudden movement and I could seriously mess up." He nods and I begin my work.
After a half hour, I have a rough stitching done. Well, it actually looks really good, but it's not professional. I sigh in relief and take a wet cloth to wipe away the blood on Edward's shoulder. I take another wet cloth and lay it on his forehead.
"Thank you Jade. You saved his life." Al looks at me and I could swear he was smiling at me from under that armor.
"I guess we're even then." I smile back, washing my hands of Edward's blood. "When he's fit to move again, we should have a real doctor look at him." I say as I stand and stretch. Al nods and I turn to face the other way to go get some fresh clothes, seeing as mine are stained with blood, when I catch sight of my foster parents again.
Now that I don't have to worry about saving Edward, I feel all the pain coming back to me. "Al, watch your brother. I have to do something." I say quietly. Al seems to understand and I walk past him, out of the house and to the garage. I pull out the shovel and I begin to dig two graves in the yard.
They didn't deserve that. I think to myself. They shouldn't have died. It's all my fault. I keep digging until I have two graves done. I know I'll have to move their bodies, but I don't know if I'm ready. I engrave two large slabs of stone instead, dreading actually burying them. I mount the stones beside the holes and walk back into the house.
Edward is still out; Al still watching him. I move the bodies of my foster parents out onto the lawn and put them in their respective graves. Using the shovel, I start to cover their bodies with dirt. Tears slip down my cheeks, and I put on the last shovelful of dirt before I fall to the ground again. I kneel in between the graves and cry.
"I'm sorry." I whisper as if they could hear me. "You didn't deserve this." I try to brush away my tears, but more come to take their place. "It's my fault, I'm sorry." I close my eyes and hand my head sadly. "It would be better if I had just died."
"Now don't say that." My eyes shoot open and my head jerks upward to see Edward in the doorway. There are fresh bandages wrapped on his injury; Al did a great job.
"Edward." I say quietly, looking away again. "It's true though. This is all my fault. Their deaths, your injury, it's because of me."
"Jade, you're also the reason I'm alive right now." His voice rings through the air. "Al told me what you did. Thanks." I'm glad I was looking away, because I blushed.
"It was nothing. You saved me, I saved you." If I had only been looking at him, I would've seen him blush as well.
"Equivalent exchange."
I sigh and shrug. "I guess." But if everything is equivalent exchange, what did I gain by losing my foster parents?
I wouldn't know it then, but in exchange for my parents, I gained two new friends, Edward and Al. I had no idea just what that meant at the time.