Of Wolves and Metal

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

(Normal POV)

My eyes snapped open and I jolted upright, forgetting where I was and looked around trying to make sense of my surroundings. I was hyperventilating and I felt sweaty. I saw a blond haired boy kneeling next to me with a worried expression and 2 large armors, one humanoid and one wolf.

Edward. Alphonse. My brother.

It was a nightmare, the memory of the night I killed my brother with my stupid mistake. My fault he was trapped in the wolf armor, and my responsibility to make it right.

"Elizabeth?" The wolf armor came closer, dipping its head to meet my eyes. I stared at it, my brother as I cried silently.

"Hey, hey, hey calm down Elizabeth." Edward said his hands hovering about a foot from my shoulders, debating if grabbing her shoulders would calm her or freak her out more. He watched painfully as tears ran swiftly down her cheeks as she looked at the three of them. "It's okay. You're safe." He placed his left hand on her right shoulder without realizing how high her automail went. There was a soft clink and his hand made contact but he paid it no mind at the moment but just proceeded to shift his hand closer to her neck so she could feel it.

"You're safe Beth sweetie. Now retract your claws." Howard said leveling his eyes to hers before looking back down at her hands.

She followed his eyes, as did Al and Ed to see her torn gloves. Where her fingers were are now large 2 inch long curved claws that had ripped through both of her gloves during her nightmare. Shakily she put her hands together and in a quick flash of blue transmuted bother her hands back to her normal metal fingers. She stared at her hands for nearly 5 minutes before anyone of them had the courage to say anything.

"Are you okay now?" Al asked hesitantly, looking from Elizabeth to his brother and back again a few times, wondering how to comfort the two of them. Ed looked just as pale as she did, and he wasn't the one who had had the dream but Alphonse knew that his brother was tormented by similar dreams and woke up screaming in the middle of the night, sometimes multiple times before the sun rose and made him face the day.

Elizabeth's breathing had slowed and she was sniffling every so often. She didn't want to look up at any of them at this particular moment because she didn't know what she what see or even what she expected to see. Especially from Edward, who still had his hand on her shoulder.

"Elizabeth?" Ed asked softly, hoping to bring her back out of her terror and shock. "Elizabeth?" He tried again a bit firmer, but still no response. He finally raised his right hand and reached out toward her face, cupping her left cheek and gently turning her face to look at him. When she did, she saw a very familiar pain in her watery blue eyes. It was a look he still carried with him even now and probably will never leave.

Sorrow.

Guilt.

Fear.

And even a few that seemed to have no name, but broke his heart every time he looked at Alphonse while he "slept" and Ed would stare at him in the reflection of a mirror or even when he caught his own reflection in the cold steel armor that was his brother's body. He knew that look well indeed and as he looked at her he realized that they were the same. From the same grief to the same pain and guilt, they were the reflection of each other. And Elizabeth saw it too, because her eyes widened as they stared as each other before her emotions took over and her face crumpled in a new wave of tears.

She flung herself into Ed's arms and cried openly on his shoulder. She cried for her brother, herself, Even Edward and Alphonse too, because she too saw the reflection in Ed's eyes that perfectly mirrored her own. Ed was taken aback by her display but that was short lived as his own eyes began to water. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and tucked his head into her neck and they both finally decided to let out all their pain and sorrow to someone who truly understood them.

And the two armored brothers watched as their siblings finally allowed themselves to let go of some of their bottled up feelings, and wishing that they could help.