OMFG. HEEEELP. (OPEN)

Cheryl's head lolled limply in the man's arms, completely unconscious. She had tried the forbidden and brought her brother back to life. But Envy had taken is body. The price she'd paid for seeing Alex again had cost her both of her arms. She could still see the white-man-thing smiling at her behind her eyelids as she was dragged, screaming, into the Gate.

Phinny jumped and let her pan crash to the floor. She was in the kitchen part of the house, and the crash at the door nearly gave her a heart attack.
"What the hell was that?!" She yelled.

Drake Rockbell, a taller man with short red hair, walked into the living room, an angry look on his face for a second, until he saw the colonel holding a teenage girl with no arms.
"Holy mother..." Drake muttered. "Yes, yes, come here. This way!" Drake ushered the man down the hall way. The Rockbell home had become much bigger now that their business had expanded.
"It's all right, Phinny! Just an emergancy!" Drake shouted. Then he looked at the girl, who may start bleeding at the arms harshly any second now.

Phinny hadn't even bothered to pick up the pan as she rushed out of the kitchen and into the hall way.
"Oh, lord." She muttered, fiddling with her apron. "Drake, just an emergancy?" Phinny eyed her husband. "This girl needs immediate medical attention!" The woman put her fading blonde hair into a bun and put on medical gloves she had fetched on her way out of the kitchen.

Drake rolled his eyes at his wife.
"I see that, as the girl is not obviously bleeding from the arms." He said sarcasticly. "SAMUEL!" Roared the man.

Samuel, a boy of thirteen with long red hair in a braid and amber eyes had already launched himself down the stairs from his room. He didn't need his father to yell his name, as he was already on his way down stairs at the sound of the door being kicked open. He eyed it's broken hinges sadly, but tore down the hall to see a military man holding someone. A teenage girl.
"What's going on, dad?" Sam's eyes widened as is eyes fell upon the girl with no arms. He thought he was going to be sick. Never had he seen an injury this bad. The worst he had seen in the past six years when he had started his job at home was a broken ankle. No one had actually needed automail.

Samuel's amber eyes widened in horror. His arms started shaking, but he had to be strong. This was his chance to show his father that he could do his job.
"What should I do, dad?" Samuel asked, backing up a bit.

Drake looked at his son.
"Stay out of the way." Then he turned to the colonel and the girl.
"In here." Drake motioned, opening a door. "Put her on the bed. Phinny," Drake turned to his wife, who nodded and went inside to gather medical supplies.


Samuel was a bit taken aback. His father had only told him to stay out of the way when he had been a little kid. The past few years, he had always helped. What was different now? Samuel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, a bit annoyed. But at the same time, he was a bit glad that he did not have to see that girl, glad he did not need to see such a horrible injury.

Cheryl moaned softly, being set down on the bed. She opened her eyes half-way, seeing blurry figures moving in and out of the room. "Where am I?" Her voice was faint, and it probably sounded like a hoarse whisper.

Her arms... Wait! It must have all been a dream! Yeah, that was it! She hadn't tried to resurrect Alex. She hadn't met the Homunculi. She tried to lean up, but cried out in pain as agony shot through her body. Starting from her shoulders and moving down, making a tight knot in her stomach. She fell back down, her hair a soft golden veil around her face in the bright lights.

She tried to move her hands, to brush her hair from her face. But all she could feel was an ache in her shoulder. Her eyes widened into dark golden pools of misery. No. It wasn't a dream.

Phinny had already started bandaging the girl. The blood had started leaking, so she had applied more bandages to stop the blood.
"I don't know hat the 'ell you did, but you're at the Rockbell's automail center." Phinny said.

Drake put the money in his pocket after counting it to make sure that the right amount was there, then he looked at the colonel.
"Did you say that... she attempted human tansmutation...?" Drake gasped, handing Phinny some more supplies when needed.

"Thanks." Mumbled Phinny to her husband, then nearly stopped dead wen she heard human transmutation.
"This true, miss? You been messin' round with the gate?"

Sam had had his ear to the door the whole time. He heard the girl wake up, asking of her location.
So that's what happens when you break the rules.... Samuel thought, noting to not do that. Sam was working on medical alchemy, the kind that came from Xing.

Cheryl felt anger pound through her for a few seconds. "Yeah,"she muttered, her voice anguished. "I tried to bring my older brother back." Again she tried to sit up, hair falling away from her face and around her shoulders as she sat, looking crippled and weak.

Phinny stiffened.
"Wait a second... You had an older brother?" She asked. "By the way, you're arms'll have to wait a few days before going through the procedure. ou sure you're up to it?"

Drake lookedat the colonel long and hard, then sighed.
"Well, at least you're not dead, kid. You got this under control, Phin? 'Cuz I gotta go. Don't worry; we won't tell anyone anything."

"You mean you gotta go on that one trip you were tellin' me about? Yea, I got everything under control." Phinny assured her husband.

"Yea, that trip." He leaned down to kiss and hug his wife, the left with a wave.

Sam jumped when the door opened, and he stood to the side, trying to hide his quilt.
"Hey, dad." He said nervously.

"Hey, son. Listen, I gotta go now. You help mom out, ya hear?"

"Yep. Crystal." Sam replied. His father smiled then rubbed Sam's hair, screwing up his braid.

"Bye."
"Bye."

Both said at the same time, then his father left. Sam looked down the hall, then hesitantly stepped into the room, fixing his red hair into a respecful braid again.
"H-hi."

"Yeah." Cheryl looked down, her eyes troubled. "I'll be fine." She looked over at Phinny, then at Sam, before looking up at Colonel Char. "You're really gonna let me be a State Alchemist after this?"she asked dully.

Honestly she looked like a doll, tiny and pale, in the bed. "How long with the recuperation take?"she asked Phinny, not waiting for his answer.

"Hmm..... You're a quick one when it comes to recovering, so I think for you, it'll take about a week and a half to get your full use of your new arms. You'll need to wait a week until you even get them, though." Phinny answered. She looked weakly at the colonel.
"One, I'm the doctor here, and two, you're recuperation had to have taken longer then that... She's really a State Alchemist?"

"Woa, you're a State Alchemist? That's really cool! I bet you're really good, or else they wouldn't have let someone your age get in. What are you, twelve?" Sam guessed, not prepared for the grief he would face in the next two minutes.

"I remember you kids. You owned that house on the hill!" Phinny explaimed out of the blue.

Cheryl narrowed her eyes and glared at Sam. "I'm fifteen!"she yelled, flailing in the bed. Then she winced. "Yeah. I'm a state alchemist. I got in when I was about thirteen."

Then she looked over at Phinny. "Yeah, why?"

Sam's eyes widened and he backed up.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean it!" His lip quivered nervously.

"So, that kid's really dead?" Phinny said softly.

(My friend called me in the middle of this post, so it took a while.)

Cheryl smiled apologetically through the pain. "Sorry. It's uh..." She couldn't think, so she shrugged and winched again. Then she heard Phinny's question and hid her eyes, looking down. She didn't reply for a second. "Yeah. Alex died." Her voice croaked slightly, so she didn't say anything else.

"What a shame he never got to meet his cousin. At least you do." Phinny looked at Sam, who had no idea what was going on.
"Cheryl, meet your cousin, Samuel."

"Woa, what?" Sam cried, his eyes going wide.

Cheryl jerked her head up. "What?" She stared at Sam in shock. Then she looked at Phinny. "What?"she repeated, confused. "Alex was the only family I had!" She blinked. Well, she was at the RockBell house. Maybe they were her cousins? Her last name was Elric. Well, if you didn't count that she used her mother's surname more frequently than her father's. But still!

"You didn't know...?" Phinny looked confused, then went on. "Well, you're descended from Edward and Alphonse, your great grandfather and uncle. Which makes us family. I'm your aunt, and Sam's your cousin. Ta-da!" Phinny said.

Sam looked as if he had been slapped.
"Really now?" He muttered, looking from Phinny to Cheryl. "I though my only cousins were in Rush Valley..." Sam said.

"No I didn't!" Cheryl looked really confused. Then she smiled slightly. "Er, I guess that means we're family!"she said, forcing a bright and cheery voice. "Ummm, and Edward's only my grandfather. I never met him, but my brother used to tell me about him."

Yep. Alex always told her about the great adventures Edward and Alphonse Elric used to take together. Mainly because, just before their parents died, he used to spend a lot of time over there, at his house. And then a few days before Cheryl was born he'd died.

She smiled again, this time more easily. Alex had also told her that she looked a lot like Ed, though she had darker hair and eyes. Unlike him, who had short blonde hair, was taller than her by a mile(XD), and had green eyes.

"Right. Just grandfather. Well.... You need your rest. It's great that we'v all met each other and everything, but it's time for bed." Phinny ordered.
"Sam, I don't want you practicing that alchemy from Xing tonight. You hear?"

Sam nodded, quite guilty, as he would have gotten right back to practicing the second he went up to his room.
"Well, night, Cherryl." Sam gave a wave, an left the room. It felt strange meeting family that had been unknown.

"Good night." The armless girl lay back down, looking uncomfortable. "Uh, you said it would take at least a week before I could get automail, right?"she asked, waiting for confirmation. At least the bleeding had stopped.

So she wasn't gonna bleed to death. She almost wished she had. Tears filled her eyes at the hazy memory. Alex walking towards her, his eyes, once so gentle, filled with evil and contempt. Then his turning into a figure that resembled neither a man nor a woman. What had she created?

Phinny turned to the colonel.
"So, will you be in need of a place to sleep?"

(Let's wait for Glutty to post.)