Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter 7

Al woke abruptly. What's with all the noise? He turned to grumble at his brother, but was stunned into silence at what he saw. A man fell to the ground as his brother swiped at him with a long stick. What the hell is going on?

"Al, wake up!" Ed called out. Their eyes met briefly before Ed practically pounced on the man, pushing himself out of the bed and onto the fallen man on the floor. He watched his brother struggle with the much larger man for a moment, and his senses finally caught up with him. He needed to help his brother. He started to move, but feeling his muscles tremble, he knew he wouldn't be of any help. Cursing internally, he started shouting for someone to help.

He watched with rising panic as the man seemed to be recovering while his brother grew weaker. He gasped aloud as his brother was pushed to the side and slammed into the bed side table. The following crash from the glass jug falling to the floor made him cringe.

"Brother! Brother! Are you alright? Someone help!" He continued to shout desperately.

Why was no one coming? Wasn't there supposed to be a guard outside the room? His shout for help continued as the man mumbled something and starting attacking Ed with that same stick. Was that the IV stand? He was horrified to see his brother whimper as the man shoved the stick into his side.

"That's right. You're just a kid. Cry all you want, it won't make a difference to me." The man said darkly before raising the pole above his head. That moment seemed to last forever and all he could do was watch; frozen with fear. Before he could think to react or shout once more, a loud bang shot through the room. He winced as the lights we turned on, but couldn't turn to look away from where his brother was lying on the floor. He felt absolutely breathless with shock.

"Brother…" he looked on in horror as the man fell forward. He realized what was gonna happen just a second before it did. The pole still clutched in the man's hand, slammed into his brother's head.

"Brother! Brother!" He called out, the anguish clear in his voice. He struggled to get out of the bed and reach his brother. He heard a few people shouting from outside the room, but couldn't turn his eyes away from his brother's still form.

Just as he managed to slip out of the bed, clutching the side desperately, he was shoved aside. Two men in a military uniform quickly approached the man on the ground, securing him with handcuffs. He was swiftly moved out of the room and chaos ensued.

A swarm of people descended on the room. Al couldn't keep track of anything. Someone was asking him questions and he could only mutter distractedly that he had no idea what was going on. His attention stayed on his brother as a Doctor examined him and barked orders at the others. Al tried to reach his brother, but someone had an arm around him to keep him back.

"Ed! Brother! Wake up!" He called out again, but his brother was still not responding. He finally registered that the person holding him back was talking to him.

"Alphonse, you have to calm down. Your brother will be fine."

Al still couldn't look away from his brother. They finally moved him to the bed and kept him surrounded causing Al to lose sight of him.

"How did this happen?" Al muttered distractedly.

"That's what we're going to find out. Why don't you get back in bed?" Al felt someone lead him back to the bed. He sat back and looked to where his brother lay. His body shook as he took in the mess on the floor; broken glass mixed with bloodied water.

It felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, before the commotion around his brother quieted a little. He looked on worriedly as he was approached by one of the nurses.

"Your brother is going to be fine. He got knocked out from the blow to the head, and head wounds tend to bleed more than others, but I doubt there's any real damage. We'll need to keep an eye out for any signs of a concussion over the next few days. He also has two broken ribs, but for those all he needs is bed rest and we'll make sure he gets plenty of that." Al stared dazedly for a moment, prompting the nurse to continue. "He's going to be fine." She assured him again, placing her hand on his shoulder.

He gave a vague nod, but couldn't manage to say anything back. The room was finally emptying out and he got a clear view of his brother. He was a little too still for Al's liking.

"Why does he have a bandage on his arm? And around his neck?" Al asked anxiously.

"Well, the IV got pulled out of his arm pretty hard, but it's not bleeding anymore and should heal in a day or two. So, for now we'll be using his hand for the IV. As for his neck, there were a few nicks from the broken glass. Most of them aren't deep, so he should be fine."

Al kept staring at his brother. He didn't know how to respond.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" She suggested.

He finally looked away from his brother and turned to the nurse. "How am I supposed to sleep after what happened?"

"I guess you have a point. But… why don't you try? It won't do you or your brother any good if you exhaust yourself."

Al considered that. He wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone. He relaxed further in bed, but kept his eyes on his brother as the activity in the room seemed to calm and finally only the nurse remained. As she turned to turn of the light, Al felt his panic rise.

"No, please keep it on. I need to see him!"

He vaguely noticed the nurse looking his way, before finally leaving the room.

Al heard birds chirping outside the window; dawn must be close. He knew there would be light in the room soon enough, but he couldn't wait that long. He needed to watch over his brother.

xxxxxx

Winry felt her jaw drop as her eyes fell on Ed. How could he look worse? And why was he covered in all these bandages? She hadn't even been gone for that long!

After spending a few stressful days at the hospital, with Ed biting her head off every moment he wasn't basically fighting for his life, she had needed a break. So she'd called up Gracia to see if they were up for a visit. The ensuing offer to spend the night with the added benefit of a hot bath sounded like a godsend and was too tempting to resist.

But now, though slightly more rested than the day before, she was regretting her decision to leave the hospital

"What happened? What's wrong with Ed?" She asked Al who she noticed was sitting up in bed. She gasped as Al looked at her. His eyes were slightly swollen with dark circles beneath and he blinked up blearily at her.

"Brother was attacked. This guy came out of nowhere and tried to kill him, but he fought him off."

"Kill him! But, why? Why would anyone want to hurt Ed?" She exclaimed.

"I don't know." Al said quietly. He turned back to stare at his brother. "He still hasn't woken up. It's been almost six hours. And they're worried that he has a concussion"

Winry could tell from his voice that he was fighting back tears. She approached Ed and let her eyes drift over his too still form.

"Don't worry, Al. I'm sure he'll be fine. I'm here now, why don't you get some rest and I'll watch over him for a bit." She assured Al, turning towards him.

"I don't think I can sleep." He said groggily. She watched as he struggled to keep his eyes open before finally surrendering to his exhaustion.

Winry sighed and turned back to Ed. She leaned closer and pushed his hair back from his face being careful not to move the bandage at his forehead. She was startled when she noticed that Ed had opened his eyes and was looking at her.

"Ed… are you alright?" She whispered. "Let me call the doctor." As she turned to leave, Ed mumbled something then cleared his throat.

"What did you say?" She asked, going back to his side.

"I said, wait." He mumbled. "I wanna talk to you for a minute. Could you… could you help me sit up?"

Winry only hesitated for moment before she started helping out. She placed her hand beneath his back, but stopped when she heard Ed hiss in pain. He had his eyes closed tightly and seemed to be trying to breathe slowly. She pushed a pillow gently behind his back and went and got him some water from the other side of the room. After he drank a little, he settled back and looked to Al.

"Is he asleep?"

"Yeah, he fell asleep right before you woke up. I don't think he slept much after what happened."

Ed continued to stare at his brother. "Winry, I… I'm sorry." He said quietly, finally turning to look her in the eyes. "I know I've been treating you like crap."

"It's alright, Ed."

"No, It really isn't." He interrupted. "You came all the way out here and I know you're trying to help, but… I didn't want you to keep seeing me this way. This isn't the first time that I've broken a promise I made to you. And now I'm even worse off than before."

"No, you're not! Ed, Granny and I will install new Automail for you as soon as you come back to Resembool. I can ask them if we can leave tomorrow if you like."

"That's not what I mean. I had to… I don't know if this is all in my head, but I always thought that you and I would… I don't know... that we're close. And I do care about you, even though it's hard for me to show it. Not that I'm assuming you feel the same!" He sputtered quickly.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel… I feel the same way." Winry felt her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Ed's eyes shine for a moment before a dark look passed through them. She couldn't believe they were talking about this; this was the last thing she expected when Ed asked her to talk.

"But, you see, that's why I can never be with you."Winry's heart lurched at that pronouncement.

"What are you talking about?"

Ed looked down at his clenched hand.

"I care about you." He started roughly. "And I can't stand the idea that you could end up with anyone else, but I can't bear the thought that I can't give you everything you could want. I'm … I'm not the same person that started this journey. I'm broken…and…"

"Edward Elric, if you think having Automail means you're broken, then you really are an idiot!" She said heatedly.

"That's not what I meant. It's not just that… I … to get Al back from the gate, I had to… I had to make an exchange…"

"But, Al told me he already made the exchange, that he'd paid the toll from living in a suit of armor for all those years…"

"Yeah, that's what I told him. And that's what he'll continue to believe if I can help it. The thing is, the gate wasn't gonna let him go just like that. What I told him is true to an extent. But, it still wasn't enough to release his body. So, I did the only thing I could think of…"

"What did you exchange?" Winry asked, dreading the answer.

"My future." He said simply, but seeing Winry's horrified look he continued. "Not that my life will be shortened." He hurried to explain. "I just won't ever have children; that was the deal."

Winry continued to stare at him, completely speechless.

"Do you understand now?"

TBC

AN/ I know, I know… I'm a week late with this update! Sorry for the delay, life has no respect for my weekly update schedule and I didn't want to add a chapter I wasn't completely happy with.

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! I guess it was a cliffy after all. I appreciate every addition to the favorites and all the follows.

Would love to hear what you think of the reveal! Please, review!