Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

For Our Lives

My thoughts left me, my brain rendered completely useless before I heard Ed finally make a sound.

He laughed once, and that's what got my heart kickstarting again.

"You stupid brat."

The girl flung away from him, squealing in the air. She laughed, the sound wicked. "Just kidding!! That didn't hurt!"

Without clapping his hands, a wall appeared, separating us from the small Monster. The lightning, blue with red highlights. I needed to focus... I couldn't worry. Not now.

The screaming of the boy caught my focus next. The high-pitched squealing curse.

I saw Ed's lightning again, hearing the snaps as his stomach and skin healed. He clapped his hands, producing a cannon that immediately fired.

"Get him to somewhere safe, okay?!"

The child. The non-evil one. Okay.

"Yeah," I sprinted towards the kid, bending down to scoop him up in my arms, hold him against my chest. His chin bounced against my shoulder, continuing to scream in my ear. I flinched away at the sound of it.

"WHAT THE HELL'S HAPPENING SHE JUST STABBED THAT GUY!" His voice grew even louder, commenting on something I couldn't see. "AND NOW SHE'S GOT THESE WEIRD THINGS COMING OUT OF HER WHAT THE HELL!?"

I did not want to know WHAT those 'weird things' were. My spine was crawling just at the thought of it!!

My eyes shut tightly, as if that could block out the ringing in my ears. "Please stop," I said, and felt him relax a little against me. Good.

I stopped near some building, dropping him from my hold and feeling him slip from my shoulder. His breath was ragged, just like mine, and we stayed bent with our hands on our knees.

"Are you okay?" I asked, eyes closed.

"Yeah," he responded. "You?"

I nodded, feeling bile rise in the back of my throat. My mind almost shot to this morning, feeling Ed slip down my throat and my stomach twitched with butterflies. But I couldn't escape in memory. Not now.

I sprinted back, and when I saw what lay before me, I skidded to a stop, stumbling over my own two feet.

The sound of something firm against hollow metal caught my attention. But it wasn't enough for me not to stare at Ed's hunched figure. He was on all fours, expression nothing but a grimace.

Why... Why wasn't he healing?

I wanted to move, gently put a hand to his shoulder and arm, try to help him up. I kneeled beside him, wanting to give something. Anything...

"Are... Are you okay?" An idiot's lament. But it was these four words that brought his golden stare to me. However brief.

"F-fine," he sputtered, sending a few drops of blood to the concrete. He continued coughing, spurting out pools of blood. I stared at the puddles, seeing part of my reflection in them. I didn't know what to do; my own walls at a stalemate, torn between breaking and rebuilding.

Another wave splattered, hitting the pavement of the station. I focused, knowing Ed was more important than I was.

I knelt down, hand finding his back, mouth asking the useless question of what I could do.

He steadied himself, knuckles scraping against the pavement as his hand curled. Sweeping streaks of blood along the paths his fingers made. His blood-stained glove.

I caused this, too.

"Ed...?" I needed him to say something.

He breathed, the sound horrible and weak. Like his lungs were dying.