Blood.
Rivers of blood... no oceans of the viscous substance flooded the terrain around him.
The terrible cloying copper scent invading the nostrils as dull golden eyes, shadowed with overbearing ghosts of the past surveyed the wreckage numbly.

Splintered wood from cart wheels and farm fences jutted up from the mud like bizarre replicas of the masts of shipwrecks, lost forever on the ocean floor; while the roaring flames of what used to be harmless domestic fires danced around the cottages of Risembool.
In the midst of all the chaos, the figure of a tiny child who could only be at the most six years of age, lay prone, boneless in the sea of mud that had been churned up by the treads of military tanks rolling through the small peaceful town.
Long blonde hair lay in matted clumps across an angelic yet achingly skinny face, while heavily lidded eyes surveyed the destruction numbly, tattered clothes flapping in the gentle breeze.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing else wrong with the boy other than a few bruises and scrapes, dried blood crusted in multiple places, at second glance however it was obvious that both the right sleeve of his shirt and the left leg of his trousers were flapping emptily in evidence of missing limbs.
A small keening whimper floated almost inaudibly in the air as the boy bit a lip violently, entire body spasming in pain before falling still and silent as a corpse once more, golden eyes finally sliding shut as a puff of air escaped chapped lips.

The local innkeeper stared suspiciously at the two military personnel, standing straight backed and to attention before his desk, cobalt uniform jackets with golden braiding laid neatly over their arms in the stifling heat.
"What is it that you want from here" he snapped tetchily, "none of us round here hold any love for the military"

The tall man with inky black hair tapped two white clad fingers upon the bar, and his blonde haired companion flung a tattered letter down in front of him, short stubby fingers with dirty cracked nails lifted the parchment up to squinting eyes, before widening almost imperceptibly.

"You won't find him here, he's been gone a good many years sir, left behind a wife and two kids up by Pinako Rockbells'" the innkeeper sniffed and chucked the parchment back, a stricken look flashed briefly across the onyx eyed mans face and he took an involuntary half step forward before regaining control, the iron mask slamming back down, a melodic baritone voice emanated from tightly pressed lips.

"Could you please direct me to the Elric household, it is of the upmost importance that we reach there", there was no outward sign of panic in his expression but the innkeeper could almost taste the tension in his words.
"What would you want to be doin that for, there's naught up there now but ruins and mud after the tanks came rolling through" he sighed "it was a shame, lovely house that one "

In the blink of an eye, the last remaining sign of the military man was the flash of trouser leg as he disappeared out of the door, the blonde woman sighed heavily and snatched up the letter before chasing after him.

"Colonel, Roy!" First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye yelled as she jogged after the mans rapidly retreating back, "don't you think you are being a little rash? We could still have gotten more information from that innkeeper"

Colonel Roy Mustang, youngest ever in Amestris made a sharp chopping gesture with one hand, "No Riza, it was taking too long. Trisha would never have left without letting me know and he obviously didn't know anything so we are going to find out ourselves!
He ran a jerky hand through his hair and exhaled shakily,

"I have to find them" he whispered

They came to a sudden halt at the crest of the hill, Hawkeye clapped a hand over her mouth at the sight of the deserted wasteland that the land had become "no" Roy breathed desperately, "this can't be" he desperately scanned the area in search of some information.

"Roy" Riza began, violet eyes shining with sympathy as she tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, "we should..."

She was cut off abruptly when a keening whimper floated to them from over to their left, Roy was off like a shot immediately, falling to his knees beside a small blonde boy that lay spasming in the mud.

"Jesus Riza" Roy swore, "he's missing limbs"

He gently smoothed the boys hair back from his forehead and stroked a thumb soothingly back and forth over his cheek, the boys pain stricken, terrified eyes locked on his tiredly.

"Hush, it's alright" Roy soothed, "you're safe now, everything's going to be alright"

The boys eyes slowly slid shut as the tension left his body, and he blessedly lost consciousness finally realising he was safe.

Roy gently wrapped the boy in his military jacket, not caring about the blood that was staining it only ensuring that all parts of the boy were covered.
He tenderly swung him into his arms, head resting against Roy's chest and the only sign of life being the tiny, weak puffs of air against his neck.

Riza gripped Roy's elbow and steadied him as he slowly rose to his feet, doing his best to avoid jerking the skeletal child and exacerbating his injuries.
He turned haunted eyes to his Lieutenant, tears welling up as he shook his head "this is what war does Riza, when I achieve my goal, this will never happen again!

The two turned and made their way back down towards the town, travelling as fast as was possible without hurting the small boy, anger and anxiety was visible in every feature of their bodies.
Anger at the neglect of the townspeople and anxiety over the fate of the child that had been left to die.

They boarded a train back to Central and sat with bated breath to see whether the boy would survive.

I hope you like this, just an idea that popped into my head recently and had to write! Please read and review, let me know what you think and we will find out what happens to Ed next time :D

Oh and if any of you are concerned about the progress of Bruised and Scarred, I will be updating soon, it has taken so long as I have a chapter all written out that I was very happy with but have been unable to access the computer it is stored on. I will update it as soon as possible :D