Alphabet meme prompt from schellibie: "assistance, Al/Mei"

"Mei. Please."

Her tears streak down his rusty helmet. There is a gaping hole where his chest plate should be, a fissure snaking between his shoulders.

It strikes her that she has never considered that Alphonse is a shell, that the person she loves cannot truly be seen. She has been carried by a nonexistent pair of arms, had conversations with a voice not housed in a throat.

Alphonse takes her hand, and when she squeezes his fingers she feels no pulse.

Mei can heal flesh. She can mold bones, seam muscles, and bend blood; she cannot piece Alphonse back together.

But she can free him.

"I hope you get your body back soon," she whispers, wiping her eyes.