Leave A Scar

We were on the outskirts of Central, when it hit.

I only caught sight of a small bomb, a figure high in the sky, and a sweeping kick aimed at my head.

I ducked as an explosion rang out, and when the smoke cleared, when the shaking stopped, a small part of Al's front plate was missing. A sacrifice, an exchange for Ed's safety.

"Al!" Ed's voice, but before he could do anything, he jumped, narrowly avoiding a cleaver for an arm.

I focused on the Homunculus in front of me, its long neck reaching out, face shining into a mirror.

I only caught the glimpse of my jaw before my eyes shut.

I was weak

useless

Nothing.

There wasn't anything I could do.

I heard Ed calling, shouting my name but I was deaf. Dumb. Mute. I couldn't do anything but stand there, feeling the Homunculus pull back his arm in an attempt to attack.

My eyes opened, wanting to see the color of my own blood. But his red coat was a blur, a flash as he slid in front of me, blocking the attack with his automail arm.

"What the heck are you doing?" he called over his shoulder, arm shaking from the weight against it. I just shook my head, taking a step back from it all.

What was I thinking? I couldn't do this.

An alarm went off in the back of my head and I ducked, feeling the wind sweep upwards as a blade sliced the air above me. I pivoted, ramming the front of my ankle against the Achilles's of the Homunculus trying to attack. It worked; balance was lost instantly and they fell, landing on the ground bottom-first.

I pressed my shoe to the Earth, and that's when the pain began.

It was sharp; a bullet to my calf muscle. I grounded my teeth in pain—a rebound?!

They stared at me, wind sweeping through both of us, and then they charged.

I stepped to the side, avoiding the attack, and reached out to their outstretched arm. Popping the elbow and breaking the limb. With them in place, I activated the transmutation circle on my left shoe. A spike sped out of the concrete, embedding the monster from the groin to the forehead. Blood spraying out like a fountain.

"W-Winry..."

I turned, seeing Ed wide-eyed. Nearly looking like he might cry from the fear. He stared up at the Homuculus, and I heard a voice I hadn't heard before.

"You hurt me... you just left... just like your father!"

Electricity rose in volume, behind me, and I quickly ducked.

I didn't think, as my hand slammed into its ċhėst. I only thought this is how we get it done.

My makeshift claws were submerged in tendon and muscle and blood. The points all came together, all five of them, and just as fiercely, I ripped out the stone. Reducing the Homuculi to ash.

My first real kill.

"Brother!"

I turned at Alphonse's voice, seeing Ed bowed forward, hands threaded through his hair.

"They only show you what you're scared of!" Al continued, fighting off a Homunculus of his own. "It's not real!"

Ed took in a sharp breath, and charged, automail fingers transformed into spikes.

His arm wound back, and with a faking kick, he slammed his metal spikes into the ċhėst. Using the same tactics as I had.

That just left the third Homunculus, and before I could do much, Ed had a stick of dynamite in each hand.

"Some idiot once told me 'four makes a party'," he said, and the grin on his face grew to malicious lengths. "Think these make some pretty great candles, right?"

The Homunculus stared at him, confusion in his eyes but grin still confident. "You really think those can hurt me?"

Ed's smile softened, head turning away as his wrists rotated, air circulating and smoking out the fuses as he spoke.

"Nah," he said. "But I thought they'd make a cool distraction."

As soon as his words ended, my creeping steps stopped and my hand drove through the space between the Homunculus' shoulder blades. My mind was still absent, for the most part, but I couldn't distract myself enough from feeling how the tendons and muscles and soft tissues split and separated against my fingers. The claws I was driving through them. It. Him.

These were people...

My fingers curled, tips of metal latching onto the stone. I couldn't feel it, at least not very much, but I knew the spot by now. I knew when to stop, when it came to destroying physical existences.

I yanked my hand back, hearing and seeing the blood follow my hand out. Spray towards me, on my legs, landing and raining onto the pavement below. Painting it in dots of red.

Just like blood.

Tears threatened my eyes, stinging the bases but never rising far enough to affect my vision. I still saw the ash of the body sweep away, reduced to the nothingness I had caused. I still saw Ed standing there, looking down at the unlit dynamites in his hand.

"Ah, it's kinda a shame," he began. "I was sorta hoping I could actually use these..."

I couldn't smile at the joke, knowing he had gotten such a childish mischievous look in his eye when he first saw them, walking past a shop on the way out of Rush Valley. He must have noticed my lack of response, because he turned towards me. And I didn't look away from that worried stare, the corner of my focus watching his hands release the dynamites. No longer caring about them.

He put his hands back in his pockets, still regarding me with that careful consideration.

A moment passed, and for a moment I thought I knew what he was going to say. But then he looked away, the smallest of sighs pushing itself out from between his lips, and then he spoke, voice quiet.

"That was quite the battle, eh?"

"Al..." I began, and Ed nodded.

"It's a small piece," he began. "I can lengthen my automail and use it to cover the hole. No biggie!"

Oh.

I took a step before feeling my leg begin to crumble. The muscle... Some sort of attack, some last retribution, some final retaliation?

Ed didn't notice; I had made no sound, nothing to indicate anything was wrong. Al remained lying down, and both of us watched Edward work.

He clapped his hands, and snapped off a four-inch piece of metal from his arm.

With a flash of red, Al's body was restored.

Or at least, it should've been.

"S-shit," Ed blinked at the body, mutated into some new twist of metal. With his voice a little strained, he asked, "Dammit, what the hell did I do?"

"Brother...?" Al's eyes were incredibly wide, and I could only stand in shock.

"Don't worry about it, Al," Ed was on his feet again, leaning over to poke the spiral but then his finger stopped an inch or so away. Curling back, thinking better of it. He leaned away, straightening, hands finding his pocket again.

"You wanna help me out here," he asked me.

I bounded by his side instantly, hands in front of my skirt. "Yeah, sure! What can I do?"

My heart was beating fast, thumping in my ears and the top of my throat. What could I POSSIBLY do? Besides fuċk everything up even worse?

What if I killed him?

"—hold down his arm for me."

I blinked, stare snapping back to Ed. Seeing him crouched down near the broken piece of Al's body, peering up at me with determined eyes. I could do that. I could match that.

"Okay," I replied, and went low to the ground as well, hands on Al's opposite arm.

Ed sighed a little, and for a split second I felt my wall break, somewhere in the outer rim. What the hell did I do? How badly did I just mess up?

Before I could move my stare, expecting to see Al's eyes gone, Ed rolled his neck in a circle. Speaking quietly to himself.

"Alright, let's do this," he said quietly. "Nothing we can't handle."

Something about that just sank ice into my gut. Even if he was trying to pump himself up...

I didn't say anything, just seeing him glance to me and taking that as a cue to put my hands on Al's arm a bit more. Adding pressure he'd never be able to feel, even if it was attached to his body...

I focused, hearing and watching gloved hands clap, listening to that sound ring out and embed itself in the space between my mind.

I could do this.

"When I tell you to," Ed began quietly, "lift your hands off him, okay?" He added my name, and I felt that ice crumble into something of a blizzard.

I couldn't do this. I couldn't help him.

But I spoke anyway, knowing he'd waited long enough for one eye to open, waiting on me to open my mouth again.

"Y-yeah," I replied. I nodded. "Okay."

He took a deep breath, pulling it in through his nose, and separated his hands.