The Same Coin

A Weak Stomach

"I—I can't feel my legs—"

"Don't panic just yet," Dr. Hirano said with utter calm. Winry knew the doctor had seen far worse than this on more than one occasion. "I want you to just look up at the ceiling and wiggle your toes for me."

Winry's eyes moved between Dorado's face and his feet. His red skin was shiny with the residue of his sweat, and the black tattoos on his face creased as he strained to feel himself move them. It was for nothing, though. His toes didn't so much as budge.

Dr. Hirano held out a hand, and Winry tore open the package containing a capped hypodermic needle, and handed it to her.

"Can you feel this?"

Dorado went still, though his brow didn't relax. His white eyes found Winry and clung to her. She did her best to keep her expression blank as Dr. Hirano sat with her hands in her lap, not touching his feet.

"N-No."

"Okay. And this?" She didn't move.

"No."

The doctor slid the capped pen down the sole of his foot a couple times without saying anything, and Dorado didn't react.

"How about now?" she asked, taking off the cap and poking his big toe with the sharp end of the needle. He didn't so much as flinch.

"No."

"I'm going to send him to imaging."

Dr. Hirano capped the needle and handed it back to Winry, who dropped it into the garbage can near her. They both removed their gloves them and they followed the needle into the trash. Dr. Hirano's eyes were focused on the man seated in a chair beside Dorado's bed. The man was oddly beautiful, with long white hair and an elaborate black coat with a fur neck that reminded Winry of Chrollo. He was Baka Ki El Dogra — Dorado's sponsor.

"Visual inspection of his back didn't reveal any signs of internal bleeding or foreign objects, so we're going to keep him stabilized on the stretcher. Winry, page for a team to come up to take him downstairs to imaging."

Winry did as she was told while Dr. Hirano returned the sparse medical items she'd taken from her black doctor bag back to it.

"My gut says you probably have an incomplete spinal cord injury from compressed bone," Dr. Hirano continued, looking at Dorado once again while she and Winry rose to leave. "I reviewed the footage and I don't believe that kick should've had enough force to cause any permanent damage. It's the swelling causing the paralysis, and once we get that swelling to go down you'll be as good as new, but the imaging tests will confirm it."

Dr. Hirano offered Baka Ki El Dogra then Dorado her hand, and each shook it. Winry followed suit. She kept her expression placid and relaxed.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Dorado-san," she said with the slightest bow of her head while he still held her hand. "You fought tremendously and I look forward to watching you fight again in the near future."

He let go as she rose and nothing more was said between them as Winry followed Dr. Hirano out of the fighter's suite. Dr. Hirano was already standing outside the door, keeping it propped open with a foot while Winry caught up. Behind them, as the door slowly eased itself shut. But, before it closed, she heard Dorado suddenly call out, "Wait! Wait, doctor, I can move my toes!"

She didn't say anything, or call Dr. Hirano back. Instead Winry just let the door snicker shut behind her and followed Dr. Hirano down the familiar orange hallway, past the suites of the 200th floor fighters.

The hours after Ed left were nothing but a blur. She remembered her grandmother coming in to comfort her, then becoming furious when she relayed what Ed had said. Then further refusing to consider leaving Amestris — her customers needed her there and, even though Edward had crossed lines, her grandmother still had faith that Ed would do whatever it took to keep their country safe.

But Winry couldn't stand to be there a moment longer. Her chest was caving in. It felt as though every rib was cracked and her heart had been ripped out. She remembered crying until she couldn't breathe, and opening her eyes to see her grandmother's doctor standing over her to give her a sedative. The pain had cut deeper than any acetylene torch. She could remember, too, the moment she'd wrapped her trembling hand around her grandmother's, and whispered, "I want to leave. Send me back to Yorknew City."

She awoke the next day, and the house was as though nothing had ever happened. Her grandmother was downstairs working with her assistant, and from her room above the workshop Winry could hear the steady, reliable sounds of tinkering. She'd dressed and gone downstairs, but her grandmother had shooed her away to a stool before she could touch any of the work orders.

"I did as you asked," her grandmother had said, not looking up. "I've arranged transportation for you back to Yorknew City, in Saherta. Your ship leaves Xiamen in two weeks. You'll need to pack and leave in the next day or so in order to make it."

Except there had been a layover by Heavens Arena, and she'd abruptly decided she was just going to stay there for a while instead. The Arena was one of the main places of employment for the city, and it had been easy to be hired on as a doctor's assistant — her interviewer had admitted the medical staff didn't usually last long, because the injuries were so overwhelming. Especially after surpassing the 200th floor. Her background in amputations, however, made her an especially appealing candidate.

"We need someone who doesn't have a weak stomach for blood," they'd said.

She didn't.

So they'd paired her with Dr. Hirano, who usually dealt with the fighters on the 200th floor and above, and usually dealt with the more severe injuries on the lower floors. It had only been a few weeks, but she'd quickly settled into the routine of the arena. Follow-ups in the mornings, paperwork in the afternoons, then on-call for main events in the evenings.

The routine numbed her to thinking about Amestris. Her life there was over now and, regardless of what Ed said, she had no intention of returning — of her own volition.

She'd learned to hide her Nen, too. She let her body drink her aura back inside her — she'd overheard fighters discussing the technique while tending to them bedside after a match. It let her go about without drawing the attention of other Nen users at Heavens Arena.

Winry had accepted she could never have her life back. The things she'd loved and hoped for back in the days of living as an apprentice in Rush Valley were a thing of the past. She needed to look to the future available to her now instead.

Heavens Arena brought its own bittersweet pain. She'd found herself looking for Chrollo more often than she wanted to admit. Chrollo had called this place his home; he had a room here that was always his to return back to whenever he wished. He might come back, although she'd heard he was the Floor Master who was least requested to fight.

She'd looked for Hisoka, too. She'd seen he had a match scheduled for when she arrived and, against her better judgement, she had bought a ticket. He'd been a no show. Winry wondered if he was still at the Hunters Exam.

"Okay, we just need to do our follow-up with Sadaso," Dr. Hiranoo was saying, and Winry pulled out the clipboard as she walked to scribble notes down. "He lost his arm so it should be your specialty—"

They rounded a corner and Winry gasped as both women crashed into a man. Dr. Hirano tumbled backward, and Winry reached out to catch the doctor in her arms. Hisoka's amber eyes went wide and his lips parted into an 'O' of surprise when he saw her. Then his lips curved into a terrible smile.

"My, my," he drawled. "It seems I've found a cemetery mink."