Rx 555028

Fullmetal Alchemist: Manga

Edward turned again in his bed, then once more, wincing at the tightness that assaulted his left thigh. The ache of it burned up and down his leg like a broken bone. The throbbing had long ago faded into a consistent tight agony that centered itself at the junction of surgical steel merged with skin. Usually it was something he could deal with. When it rained his automail always became achy, but it was tolerable. He had to tolerate it, because Alphonse couldn't have any kind of sensation. That's what he thought. What he always told himself.

The truth was that he was too scared to complain. Winry and Granny knew of his fear. They had comforted him as he had cried himself to sleep during those long days attached to the machines that would cleanse his body through the raw wounds of his stumps of all bacteria to prevent any form of infection or rejection that could come about from his automail surgery. They couldn't risk exposing him before the automail was in place, thus Al was banned from the rooms that were in use during that period of the process. For several days it was just him, Winry, and Granny.

Winry and Granny were safe to talk to, safer than Alphonse. He didn't have to fear the rejection he feared so desperately from his little brother. It was to the two of them that he muttered his misgivings, whimpered his guilt, and wept until exhaustion claimed him and he fell into the fitful dreams that came with the fever of his body. Edward doubted he would ever tell Alphonse about the fear that ate away at his heart in silent companionship alongside the guilt of his mistakes.

He, the Fullmetal Alchemist, dog of the military, human weapon, was afraid to ask his younger brother the simple question of if he hated him for what had happened to them.

If that didn't embody the perfect example of pathetic then Edward didn't know what did.

He turned again, and this time gasped, the knee of his steel leg creaking loudly. He carefully pulled himself up, leaning over the leg and moving the blanket. The flesh didn't look any different from that of his normal leg. Automail wasn't like arthritis. It didn't swell or misshapen at where it connected to the body during such times. If it did that then automail wouldn't be anywhere near the worth of pain endured to obtain it. The joints would never swell or redden, but underneath the connection of skin and metal, inside where muscles and nerves were joined in faux harmony with wires and cables discord still remained.

"Brother, is your leg still bothering you?" Alphonse asked as he lifted his head from the book he was reading at the sounds his elder brother had made from the last motion. "You've been tossing about for a while."

"It's just the rain, Al, no big deal," Edward said flippantly, moving to swing both legs off the edge of the bed, staring at them as though his eyes would make the pain go away.

Alphonse stood up, closing his book with a soft smack and setting it down on the nightstand. "I'll get your medicine. It's still in the suitcase by the door, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but Al, I hate taking that stuff," Edward said, somehow managing to keep the whine out of his voice as he puffed up his pillows into an upright position, covering his legs and laying back. A glance at the clock showed that it was indeed predawn light shining through the window, the numerical face reading 6:55 in the AM. "It makes it hard to move my arm and leg," the older Elric went on to say, "and I get sleepy."

Alphonse sighed as he returned to the room, the distance between the living room area and the bedroom tiny and letting him hear everything that Edward had said to him. "That's the whole idea, big brother," he told the alchemist. "I don't sleep, and you hardly have. You need your rest to be at your best condition, and we can't travel until the train wreck is cleared off of the Mideast Line." He came over to the bed holding a medicine bottle in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Rest while you can, okay?" he requested, holding both out to Edward.

Edward sighed, looking at the bottle and the glass of water with slightly disguised disdain. Pinako had prescribed it to him when they found out his leg was going to give him more trouble than normal. It was no surprise. His bone had been cut through when the rebound had taken it from the thigh down, marrow mixing with the blood as it had seeped from the stump. Capping and preserving the bone so it wouldn't die had been the biggest part of the struggle to stabilize him before he had decided to get automail. His arm wasn't that bad. He'd had to undergo as touch up surgery when the ball joint that still remained embedded in his shoulder died, but the flesh hadn't caved it, making a good base for the automail. His leg though, despite all the operations performed to stabilize it would always give him trouble, with or without automail adding to it.

Trouble like he had experienced all throughout the night.

"Please, brother?" Alphonse requested as Edward continued to hesitate both because of his disdain of medication and the meandering thoughts that moved through his head.

Edward looked up at Alphonse and back at what his younger brother held in his hands, taking them with a sigh and glancing at the bottle's label.

Rx 555028 10/11/1913

ELRIC, EDWARD

TAKE THREE (3) GELCAPS BY MOUTH DAILY AS NEEDED FOR PAIN.

QTY 15 DRUG EXP 02/11/1914

PINAKO ROCKBELL OrgRx 07/23/1911

May Refill 5x by 04/11/1914

CALL IN REFILLS 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE.

NOTE: Take Medication With A Snack Or Small Meal If Stomach Upset Occurs. May Cause Drowsiness & Weakened Motor Control Of Automail.

He hated the medication, and reading the label only served to remind him how much he hated it. But Alphonse was right. Unscrewing the cap of the bottle he shook out one gelcap and chased it down with the ice cold water with a grimace. After all the pills he'd had to take during his surgery, despite the years, he still had trouble swallowing them. He'd personally nicknamed it the dread reflex. Considering the many effects automail surgical medications had on the body, it may have been more of a developed phobic fear of what the pill would do to him.

"Brother…."

Edward hesitated before setting the bottle and partially drained glass of water on the nightstand. He knew that tone. Glancing up for a split second at his little brother he quickly turned his gaze out the window. "What?" he questioned shortly.

"Full dose is three pills," Alphonse told him, pointing to the label.

"I know that," Edward replied, lifting his right knee and resting his chin in his mechanical hand.

"You only took one," the younger brother pointed out.

"I know."

"Edward…."

"I don't want to be doped up," Edward said, finally turning his eyes on Alphonse, hoping his younger brother would understand his trepidation. "They make me do nothing but sleep."

"But you didn't sleep hardly at all last night," Alphonse pointed out, his voice echoing with more intensity within the hollow cavity of his makeshift body. "Big brother, please?"

Edward growled violently as he snatched the bottle back up and shook out two more pills, downing them with a wince and most of what was left of the water. "You just had to say please, didn't you?" he whined childishly once he was done trying to fight the pills down his throat.

Alphonse chuckled. "It only worked because you know you should take the full dose for it to even start to help. Sometimes I feel like your conscience instead of your younger brother."

"Yeah, yeah," Edward said, dismissing the subject and pushing his pillows down, setting on his side. His left hand wondered to the connection port, rubbing slightly even though it did little to relieve the pain. It would take about an hour for the medicine to take effect, but then he could sleep. He raised his arm back to the pillow and snuggled further into the blankets, feeling Alphonse add another. "Thanks, Al," he said softly, and it wasn't for the blanket.

"… I'll go make you a sandwich," Alphonse said, standing and heading towards the door to the bedroom. "It's not good to take those things on an empty stomach."

"Yeah," Edward half said, eyes looking out the window.

While Alphonse was in the kitchen side of their living room Edward could feel the medication quickly take effect. The pain in his leg eased up, the muscles finally relaxing and unwinding from their tight painful coils against the unyielding cold of the automail. The extra blanket helped, and laying there warm, pain fading, and comfortable he realized exactly how tired he was. He really should stay awake to eat the sandwich. His stomach would be messed up for the rest of the day if he didn't, but… but he was so tired.

When Alphonse returned, plate in hand, ready to speak a greeting to his brother, he stopped. He couldn't help but feel the smile warm his unfeeling being. Laying still partially propped up on the pillows, head slightly turned to the window but eyes shut was his brother, sleeping peacefully for the first time in hours. He knew he should wake up his brother, but why not give him an hour or two to feel better? It would probably help his appetite, too.

So he sat the plate down on the nightstand, and moved as quietly as he could to pick up his book and settle himself beside the bed to read by the light coming in through the window as the rain trickled away and the clouds let the sunshine in.

"You're welcome, Ed," he whispered, his response also not being because of the extra blanket.