The Wrong Side

Chapter 5

Now when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Not even a stump is left of my arm. I feel my chest contract when the realization sinks in that it is really gone.

"Wha-"

Venning raises a hand and cuts me off from speaking. I fall silent, but I can hear my heart rate increase dramatically. I feel light headed and I inhale deeply to try and calm myself down. I look at him intently and he sighs; his expression a cross between disappointed and melancholy.

"It was the only way to save your life," he says. "The poison on the knife would have stopped your heart if we hadn't acted the way we did. I know it's upsetting now, but losing an arm is better than losing your life."

I blink a few times and then I realize that there are tears in my eyes. Crying feels weird since I haven't done it since I was very young. There's only one prominent question in my mind, so I ask it:

"What now, sir?"

He shrugs, seeming almost indifferent for a second. I wipe my eyes and cheeks before they get tear-stained. Venning walks up to my right side with his hands behind his back and he looks down at me. His expression of emotion which I saw earlier has vanished and his hard cold old self has returned. He takes his arms out from behind his back and rolls up the sleeve of his right shirt, exposing his robotic prosthetic.

"We're going to get you one of these," he says.

------

"The original design of these prosthetics used titanium," Venning says as he faces me on the roof of the apartment which I fell off of. "They were lightweight and strong enough to withstand a lot. Those were the older models. The one you have now has a carbon-fibre base. It's lighter and stronger but titanium is more heat resistant. The carbon-fibre you have now is more flexible and is completely rust resistant."

I close and open my hand -- my right hand; my new, artificial arm. Venning is telling me what it's made out of as we circle each other on the roof. The arm was weird and hard to get used to and it was totally badass.

"There is a padding on your fingers and the palm of your hand in order to gain a better grip when you grab things," as Venning speaks, he shows me his hand which has the rubbery padding as well. "Since we had to amputate so high up on your arm, we were able to attach the arm directly onto your spine and nervous system. Tell me the advantages of that."

I look down at my arm as I answer. "More control, right?"

Venning nods. "Correct. Any disadvantages?"

I grimace as I remember the process of Ada and Dr. Gerald putting in the arm. I don't want to go too much into the painful details, but I blacked out during the operation even after they froze the remaining part of my shoulder and my upper right back. "It hurts like hell," I say.

Venning grins. "I've heard some interesting combinations of cursing before, but nothing I heard compares to what came from your mouth that day."

I scowl at the memory which elicits a laugh from Venning. It's been three months since the amputation. Most of that time, I spent it waiting for the building of the arm to finish. About a day was spent on the operation and a week for recovery. When I managed to get a little bit used to the sensation of the arm, Venning had dragged me up here so that I could get used to fighting with the arm.

"Sir," I say, "do they still make the titanium design?"

"Yes. It's still available for those who can't afford the carbon based arm. I was one of the first people who got a robotic prosthetic and my old arm was titanium. I upgraded to the carbon when they made an efficient design."

It's late August now and today is a particularly cool day for the summer. I'm wearing a loosely fitting tank and Venning is in a grey tee-shirt. You can see my prosthetic extending up a quarter way across my chest and all the way to my spine in the back.

"Your arm is bulletproof and a lot stronger than your real one," Venning continues with his lesson. "It's also extremely lightweight and isn't bulky whatsoever. It was designed with the intent of being better than your original arm. If it's damaged, you don't feel any pain. While that is a big benefit to combat, can you tell me a general disadvantage with the artificial arm?"

"You don't feel anything with it," I reply almost instantaneously. "Your sense of touch with the prosthetic is completely gone."

Venning grimaces and nods. "I've had this arm for fifteen and a half years now and I still can't get used to the feeling of not having my sense of touch."

"If you could get your old arm back," I start asking, "would you, sir?"

"I don't know," Venning replies with a shrug.

I nod and look down at my new arm again. I know I've been missing my real one for only three months, but I can't remember what it feels like to have an arm. It feels like my prosthetic has always been a part of me.

Without warning, Venning suddenly comes at me and and tries to land a kick to my stomach. At the last second, I manage to jump back but his fist comes straight at my face. Being the idiot that I am, I block his right punch with my left arm and a sharp pain shoots through my forearm, up to my shoulder. I can tell that it's going to bruise tomorrow. I give a grunt of pain and Venning's eyes narrow. He holds his arm in the position that it's in, slowly pushing in towards my face. My weaker arm isn't going to hold long against his mechanical one, but I notice that he left himself undefended. I kick him back far enough for me to recover slightly and get into a fighting stance.

For a lot of his combat lessons, Venning will take me outside -- usually on a roof, and he will talk for a bit and then without warning, he'll begin a sparring session. Generally, it's a good opportunity to have my ass handed to me on a shining silver platter. Venning said to me, "If you know that you're not going to win, then the object of these exercises are to hold out as long as possible. When your objectives in the battle have changed, the way you fight the battle will be different."

I'm faster and smaller than Venning, I also have have a better endurance than him. He's strong though; very strong even though he's in his forties. Now that I have a stronger arm than him, I may actually have a chance of beating him for once in almost fifteen years. As the realization dawns on me, a smirk spreads across my face and I smile at my feet. I look up at Venning who has gotten into a fighting stance as well and has his eyebrows raised.

I attack first, catching him a little off guard, but not enough for me to land a punch with my new arm. He catches it with his right arm and twists my torso to the left, giving him the perfect chance to deliver a swift and sharp kick to my kidney. I cringe and my knees buckle a little bit. He twists my arm behind me and kicks my knees in. He'd do this before and it would hurt so much, but now, I don't feel anything. Venning pushes me to the edge of the roof so that my head and shoulders are hanging off the edge and he leans in beside me.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hisses, "You're stronger now. Show me."

I grit my teeth as Venning lets go of me and kicks me onto the ground. I'm dangerously close to falling off the roof, so I roll back into a more stable position. I stand up and get back into a fighting stance. Venning copies my stance and he attacks first. I block all of the punches he throws and manage to throw few myself. After a few minutes, Venning sweeps my feet and I fall backwards, almost going off the roof, but Venning catches my wrist before I actually fall off the building again.

"Pathetic," Venning growls. He pulls me back onto the roof and I collapse on my knees, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. "Get up," Venning says as he gets back into his stance. I manage to get up and I mirror him. "Again," he says and I attack before he gets a chance to.

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His arm's gone, but he got a robotic prosthetic! He's part metal.

After writing this I started watching FMA. Ed was my fav when I discovered he and Damon were alike.

I'll let you keep reading.

Love you all,

Ever