Short, inspired by a picture.
FMA owned by Hiromu Arakawa.

Automail is heavy.

Heavier than bone, muscle and flesh combined.

This normally isn't cause for alarm, but there's another factor.

Automail can't float.

"What happened?!"

"Sir!" Not even bothering to salute to Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye motioned to the water where she had seen Ed slip into moments ago. "Edward slipped on the wet ground, hitting his head before he fell in."

"Shit," Roy hisses, throwing off his jacket. "Why isn't that little runt more careful?!" Tossing off his uniform 'skirt', Mustang leaps into the icy water after Ed.

Al stays behind with a worried Hawkeye, pacing back and forth. "If only I wasn't.. if only I.. then I could help him.. I'm so useless!"

"Alphonse! Calm down. Colonel Mustang has gone in after him. I assure you, he is an excellent swimmer."

"But.. but brother.." Al, stuck helpless in a suit of armor, watches Mustang's swimming form disappear completely under the water. "Brother is really heavy.."

{Of all times to slip into the water.. in the middle of winter. Fuck, Fullmetal. How do you MANAGE this?} Roy swims down as fast as he can, but Ed is sinking rather quickly for someone so small. Roy spots, through his swimming, Ed trying to swim his way toward Roy; but his right arm isn't pushing him up at all. Ed's swimming furiously, desperately; and still, he continues to sink down.

That look in his eyes.. fear. That utter terror that he's going to sink all the way down and drown in the numbing water, leaving behind everyone and everything he loves. Al.

Roy pushes harder, finally grabbing Ed's automail wrist-only moments after Ed has passed out from lack of air. Lungs screaming, Roy begins the difficult swim back to the surface.

Kick, push, kick, push, Roy concentrates, mind growing foggy and muddled as he struggles against the weight of the water, Ed's heavy form threatening to drag them both down, and the lack of feeling in his entire body. {Shit, I'm losing it.} Push, push, push. A little farther. {Almost.. there..}

{So close.. So... ..ah. Darkness.} Suddenly, Roy relaxes.

Head pounding. Lungs burn. Freezing cold. Can't feel hands. Can't feel feet. So cold.

But alive.

Roy sits up with the aid of Alphonse, shaking terribly from the cold. Disoriented, Roy looks around; trying to figure out why he's so cold and.. wet. ..Wet? The water. Fullmetal. "Ed?"

Alphonse motions to Riza, who is trying desperately to resuscitate a still Edward. His eyes widen as he takes stock of Ed; sprawled on his back, arms and legs spread out, lying limp as Riza forces down on Ed's chest between breathing air into the young man's mouth. "Fullmetal..?"

Riza tries, again and again.. but finally she gives in, breaking down into frustrated, anguished sobs. She doesn't argue when Roy crawls over, shaking Edward; she simply turns away as Roy begins yelling Ed's name.

Roy resumes Hawkeye's endless attempt at returning Ed to life. Breathe, pump, breathe, pump. Several minutes pass, and the exhausted and winded Roy falls, nearly blacking out, onto Ed's lifeless body. "Fu..meta.."

Al is staring at the scene, the design of a powerful, wicked, forbidden alchemic array dancing through his mind. Temptation is an awful thing. Especially when you've lost so much.

Coughing, retching, gasping; a strangled scream.

Three heads snap to the jerking, choking form of Edward, who suddenly rolls to his side, vomiting onto the soaked cement. After emptying himself to the point that he wished for death, he falls back, gasping weakly as he looks around. His golden eyes glaze somewhat as he searches around, confused at the scene before him.

"Brother brother!" Al nearly screams, rushing to Ed to comfort and reassure him. "Brother I thought I.."

"Al," Ed mumbles, looking up at the armor with a weak smile.

Hawkeye, having been shaking with sobs, is now shaking only from the cold and the rush of excitement. Cheeks still tear-strained, she can't erase the relieved smile from her face. {Edward.}

Roy, his job finished, lays back in his puddle of water, relaxing. He closes his eyes, feeling the warmth slowly returning to his body in the painful yet relieving form of pins and needles. As he slips off into an exhausted nap, encouraged by the knowledge that he and Ed woud live, he hears one last thing.

"I saw Mom, Al.."