Pills and Buttons

Jacket Buttons

Luna cried out, again shocked by her horror of a father. All I could do was helplessly watch and listen to the painful scene. Her back arched and her side sunk in with the pain. It was only copper and aluminum, which made it all the more painful. She was only trying to be nice! She had brought me a cookie from when she was baking and he had caught her in the act of feeding it to me.

I watched her limp body take in ragged breaths and hang from the shackles melted to the brick wall. Her bottom lip quivered and her hair was a tangled curtain to hide her face. He had ripped out my braids, leaving the would be waves to curl up.

"What did I tell you?!" Shou screamed at her, Luna barely even flinching. "Well? What did I tell you?!" She reminded silent, seeming to listen for something in the forest. All I could hear were the birds that chirped annoying songs all day.

"What did I tell you? I told you that you would be caught," I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Hughes! Relief floods over me when I see the glint off of his glasses. I never thought I would see them again. "I told you that this was not a one sided war." She laughed and I winced at the insane tone she possessed. Her body rose to her full 5'1" height and she ripped off the electronic plugs from her skin. Her fingers locking together melted the chains away as well, covering her fists with iron gloves. Shou grabbed for a scalpel but Luna was quicker. She tackled him, punching his nose and snapping it pretty loudly. Hughes and Maria moved in, prying my friend and ally off that bastard. The Major was unbuckling my restraints when that idiot shot something into my IV. What ever it was burned in my head, the edges of my vision going black... I screamed, curled up and scratched at my head, eventually falling coma just as his laughter joked up at me.

==========

Fullmetal gasped, lurching forward out of Mustang's warm grip. They had fallen asleep reading last night, naturally curling into each other. Al was also asleep in a chair across the room. May was pacing around, finally noticing him. "Ed!" He flinched, closing his eyes. "Edward? What's wrong? It's me. May." Her feet clicked on the tile and stopped when she sunk into the mattress next to him.

"What isn't wrong?" He croaked, unaware he was crying. His eyes were still numb and his whole head was full of smoke. "It hurts..." he couldn't feel any weaker than he did right now. "I wanna go home."

"Ed, you're awake!" He flinched again, but knew it was Winry by the sound of her piercing voice. "Mustang called last night and I came as soon as I could." She touches his foot, not realising he couldn't feel it.

"Did he tell any of you what was wrong with me?"

The question threw everyone. "No, he said you were in the hospital. That's it." Winry answered, a groan coming from Al. "Looks like your little brother's awake." Edward's metaphorical dog ears perked up and he wiped at the red pinkish tear on his cheek.

"What about me?" He yawned, looking at Edward and the girls when they giggled.

"Come here, I wanna give you a hug. I'd go over there, but I can't." He pointed to his legs, letting his hands land in his lap. Alphonse inched over between May and Winry, collecting his slightly smaller brother in a gentle hug. Winry squeals in delight, watching the two hug it out. "I missed you all." He murmured into Al's jacket, feeling a cold button pressed to his cheek.

"We missed you too! Five years is a lot of time! We missed you at Christmas especially because no one was stealing the cookies I was baking." Edward laughed at May's comment, pulling away from his brother and reaching for Winry. He kinda knew where she was, but not really. She supplied a hug as well, wiggling him back and forth. May came next and she squeezed what little life was left out of him.

"Hnnn..." Mustang groaned, squinting against the harsh light from the ceiling.

"The pony's awake." Edward softly chuckles, having came up with the idea because of his last name being a horse.

Mustang narrowed his eyes, sticking his tongue out childishly. His black eyes opened slowly and took in the Calvary before him. "The gang's all here. Where's Riza? Then it's a party." His back popped when he sat forward and he looked at the book in his palm.

"Outside, standing guard." May said in nonchalance, shrugged.

"Ah," Roy smirked, "designated driver." He wasn't sure where most of his brain was, but he was pretty sure it was asleep.

"How drunk are you?" Winry rose a brow, crossing her arms.

"He's just tired. We were up late reading. Well, more like I was listening and he was reading." Ed rubbed at his eyes, wincing when they started to hurt.

"I know you can read." Al sat in a chair, wiggling it and himself closer. "Did you just want to be read to?"

"I am mentally able, but not physically able, to read. There's a difference." The three visitors exchanged a look.

"What happened?" They were in unison and that alone scared Mustang just a bit.

"Depends on who you wanna hear it from, really." Roy gulped silently, sheepishly grinning. "His version is a lot worse than mine."

"And yours is hear say. Accounts from others." Edward was teasing a bit, sitting up against the pillows. His wince didn't go unnoticed as he let out a breath. "So, where do I start?"