Title - Fractured and Fragile

Author – D M Evans

Disclaimer - Arakawa owns them

Timeline/Spoilers - post 108

Summary - His body is still fragile

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Al gnawed his lower lip raw, barely feeling it. The pain in his ankle drowned out everything as he lay on a gurney in Granny's house. She peered at her x-ray light box. He heard the bone snap when he stepped off the porch wrong. He didn't need the radiograph to know he had broken a bone.

"Alphonse, you have the bone density of a woman my age," she huffed, using the stem of her pipe to illustrate the oblique fracture.

"This body didn't really move for years," Al rasped. "The doctors in Central said I needed to slowly exercise and rebuild the muscle and bone."

"They were right."

"How bad is it?" Ed peered at the x-ray.

"It's not bad," Winry replied, filling a syringe. "Granny and I can set it."

"This is all my fault." Ed scowled.

"Ed, you had no idea what would happen when you two did that transmutation. You didn't know his body would end up wasted." Winry put her hand on Al's shoulder. "Can you roll onto your side a little, Al?"

Al gritted his teeth, twisting while trying to keep his ankle still. The ice pack slipped around. "He means it's his fault I fell off the porch. We were horsing around."

"I said I was sorry," Ed protested. "What's in that syringe, Winry?"

"Morphine." Winry didn't wait for Al's permission. She jerked his pants down and shot the medicine into his butt. Frankly, he was happy to have a little oblivion.