chapter 5

"I'm baaack!" You sing cheerfully when you reach your hotel room. Ed steps in after you, pulling his boots off.

You take off your (shoe/choice) and frown. "Where's Al?"

Ed looks around. "I don't know, I left him a note in our room. I'll go check."

You nod. "I'll go check in my room."

Hanging on to your food, you quietly step into the hallway leading to your room and open the door on the right. Your eyes widen and you make an inaudible squeak. The food drops from your hand as you stare at the scene. The lamp and telephone that used to be on the desk were both shattered on the floor. Your bed sheets were on the ground, and the window was open, curtains flying. But that wasn't what scared you.

On the marble ground were puddles of blood, smeared all over the place. Your bed sheets were stained almost red, and a trail of blood led to the window, where bloody handprints the size if Al's hands crawled up the wall and stained the window sill and curtains. The room reeked of the iron of blood. You drop to your knees loudly, eyes glued to the knife on the window sill.

"Ed..." You whisper hoarsely, as if you lost your voice. "Edward... Come here."

A few seconds later, the pounding of Ed's feet stop as he stops behind you and surveys the scene. "What did-" He gasps.

"Ed... What is this?" You say.

Ed walks down the room, ignoring the puddles of red on the floor, and stops at the window rigidly.

"A-Al." He stutters quietly.

You pull your self up and lock your knees to keep them from wobbling. Avoiding the blood, you step up to the window and look down at the ground. "Look."

Ed follows your finger, and on the ground, three stories below, there is a huge blood stain and a smeared path leading off to the left, into an alleyway. "Al's down there." You say.

Without warning, Ed takes off running and you stare after him. "Wait...."

You think. The front door to your hotel room slams close.

Resisting your gag reflex, you press your right hand in one of the puddles of blood and shakily walk back to the window sill. Clapping your hands together, you attempt to create small ledges for you to jump on. Nothing happens. You wince. You were going to have to draw your own blood.

Pulling out the dull knife from your pocket. You brace yourself and drag the blade down your forearm. The harder the alchemy, the more blood is required. The blood produces the energy needed for the alchemical transmutation.

You flinch at the pain, clenching your teeth and curling up your toes. Letting the blood drip into your right hand, you clap your two hands together and focus on rearranging the atoms in the wall. A bright purple flash, and suddenly, everything was as you imagined. Pushing your hair out of your face, you jump out the window, hopping from ledge to ledge until you reach the ground.

Outside, your weather examination was a success and you see drops of rain beginning to fall. You examine the blood and notice that it leads into a very dark alleyway. You still follow the path. Taking step after step, you follow the smear of blood and imagine how Al would've felt and what happened to him. Was he attacked by the man from yesterday? Or was he shot by a skilled guns man and pushed out the window? You turn to the left. On the walls were bloody handprints that looked like a stamp that ran out of ink. By then, the rain was already falling pretty heavily.

You continue walking. Turning again to the left, you suddenly hear footprints behind you, and using your still bleeding arm, transmit your automail arm into a blade. You hold the blade out in front of you.

Someone turns the corner and they skid to a stop inches away from your outstretched blade. You lower your blade when you confirm it's Ed. Without a word, you turn around and continue following the path, until it suddenly stops in a puddle. Up ahead was a dead end. Al might've turned back. Ed runs all the way up to the wall, and beckons you over. "It's still fresh," he points at a spot of blood, "Al was here."

You transmute steps over the dead end and step on, once again hopping from one piece to another piece. You drop to the ground on the other side, and Ed follows a few seconds after. Up ahead is a dark lump on the ground.

"Al!" You say, running towards the shape. When you reach him, you drop to your knees and examine him. His face was scraped up, scratches running down the sides of his arm. The was a deep puncture wound in his leg, which was still dripping blood. Ed, who was besides you, drops to his knees and stares with empty and horrified eyes at Al.

"Al! Al!" He whispers emptily. "Alphonse.... Don't leave me.. Again.... Dammit."

Ed fumbles for Al's wrist, feeling for a pulse. He relaxes, but the tenses up again when he sees the puncture wound. "What the heck happened!?"

Your knees were threatening to give way. Suddenly, there's a loud rumble, and a man holding a huge knife turns the corner. Ed stands up and you grab his automail right arm, using blood from your still dripping arm to transmute his automail into the same blade you had.

Ed pulls away, swinging the blade around a bit. "No one," he whispers, "hurts my brother." The man laughs maniacally.

"I see! I was after the wrong person!" The man turns his gaze to you. "No wonder he wouldn't show me his alchemy." He laughs again.

Suddenly, the man runs towards you, faster than you expected. He swings at your neck but you dodge last second, slicing him in his sword arm from underneath. He barely flinches and swings at your automail arm, and you hold it up. However, last second, he switches his aim and creates a huge gash on your already injured arm. You scream, but then the man screams as well. He had a cut across his back where Edward slashed his arm. You take the moment to use your alchemy to create the same steps you did to get you across the dead end. He dodges each and everyone of them. You clap your hands together and put them on the ground, pulling out a stone spear. You stand side by side with Ed, and the man laughs. "Think you can defeat me, runts?"

Ed doesn't even move an inch. The man charges at you and you block his swing with your spear. "I hate-"

He swings again, and you block, slipping on the slippery wet cobblestone floor.

"People-"

You attempt to stab him but he somersaults out of the way.

"Who are diff-"

He screams as he falls forwards, clutching his side where Ed had stabbed his arm into and withdrawn.

You back up quickly as the man stands up again. "I'll get you again..." He screeches, turning around. Ed grabs him on his arm.

"Don't you ever dare come back again." Ed growls. Ed pushes the man forwards, and he scrambles away, laughing.

Ed runs back to Al, shaking his shoulders. "Al! Alphonse! Answer me!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, JUST STANDING THERE!? GO GET A DOCTOR!" Ed glares at you angrily and you take a step back, nodding wordlessly. You turn around and flee, following the blood trail back out. You sprint past deserted streets as people ran from the rain and run to the local doctor's house. You knock on the door frantically.

The door takes forever to open. When it does, you stare up at the doctor's face. Ge had brown hair and brown eyes, hidden behind thick eyeglasses. "Please," you whisper, "please, we have an emergency."

The doctor glances at your face, mouth set with determination. He turns around and grabs his supply of medical treatment and steps out. You fast-walk out and and back where you came from, turning two lefts in the alleyway to where Ed was. You step over the dead end with your steps and drop down, doctor after you. The doctor runs up to Al and sets his brown suitcase down. He opens his suitcase.

You close your eyes and lean against the wall, knees finally giving way. Without permission, you start sobbing.

"I'm sorry," you whisper amidst your crying, "I'm sorry Ed... It's all my fault Al was attacked."

Ed stares at the ground quietly before clenching his fists, the automail clinking.

"I made another girl cry." He says simply.

You continue crying, thunder heavy in the background.

"I once made a promise to Winry," Ed says through clenched teeth, "that the next time I made her cry, I would make her cry tears of joy."

You cough violently, spitting blood into your sleeve.

You gasp and fall to your knees, suddenly sobbing even more.

You suddenly remember her. You remember her crying and giving you your arm. You remember her telling you about Ed, about how she was still waiting for him. She was crying. Crying, so, so much.

You look up, tears mingling with the rain.

"You broke your promise, then." You croak. Ed doesn't look up, though you could tell from his shaking form that he was crying too. "She was crying so hard when she told me about you. She told me she was still waiting."

Ed gasps and looks up at you. You lower your head, and fall to all fours as you cough up more blood.

"I see... So she still hasn't forgotten yet..." Ed was smiling, but you could still see tears running down his face. It broke your heart, seeing Ed like this.

The doctor, who you had already forgotten was there, glances over, and stands up. Al had bandages wrapped around his head and leg, a cast around his right arm. His clothes were still bloody, and he was dripping with rain, the rain running off of him red. The doctor walks towards you and reaches into his bag, pulling out a small box and bandages. "These pills will help."

You take the two items gratefully, noting that the doctor had a bright green watch, contrary to his dress attire.

"Do us a favor," Ed says, causing the doctor to look up, "and don't tell anyone about this. We'll clean up."

The doctor nods and walks away.

You sniffle and stuff the items into your pocket.

"Let's go back before we all catch a cold."

******

(November 16, 1917) Don't mind that that's just a reminder of the date. That was sad. Take note, when I say "gasp," it means like in the anime how your eyes widen and you make that odd hiccuping noise. I don't know how to describe it, but Ed's done it many times. Oh, and I took the promise from the Brotherhood series, I wanted something sad, sorry. ^.^ Anyways, if you liked this part, don't forget to comment, vote, share, and, of course, ENJOY!!

~Sky-chan

Word count: 1797 words