Hey guys! So I had this idea sitting in my head for a while and wasn't sure how to incorporate it into the story, but then I thought "I'll just make a one-shot out of it!"
This one shot is based on a scene from the movie "Serenity" where the ships mechanic, Kaylee, is shot accidentally. The doc, Simon, gets really worried about her, so when the captain, Mal, tells him that Kaylee is dead, he freaks out. So this story is based off of that.
Enjoy!
Ed paced anxiously up and down the tiled hallways, heart pounding and automail fisting in his bangs. This was bad, really bad, beyond bad, possibly the worst thing to ever happen, how could he have been so stupid?
"Brother," Al's hand brought the older Elric's pacing to a halt with a nasty jerk on the shoulder. "She's gonna be okay."
"She's got a hole in her body! How is that okay?" Ed protested, gesturing frantically to the operating room at the end of the hall.
"The doctors know what they're doing; she's in good hands. Now calm down; you're just gonna make yourself sick." Al shoved his brother down into a chair. Ed sighed and dropped his face into his hands. How had this happened?
Everything had been going so well: a mini mission from Mustang to apprehend a petty criminal who'd been hiding out in the warehouse district for the last few days, bring him in, and be on their merry way. EJ and the Elrics had managed to sneak into the warehouse and bring some heavily armed friends, but the criminal had made a break for it in a panic. EJ and Ed had charged after him, but after getting him cornered at the edge of a roof, he'd pulled a gun from his pocket. He'd held it shakily, like he didn't want to use it and possibly didn't know how to use it.
"Just come quietly and no one has to get hurt." EJ put her hands up in supplication, her only weapon her alchemy bracelet. Ed had his automail arm at the ready if he did need it, and Al stood a little ways back as a secondary line of defense.
"Don't come any closer!" the criminal yelled, pulling the safety off the gun. EJ paused, one foot forward. At least she was smart enough to know that when a person running on fear and adrenaline has a gun, it's best to keep your distance.
The soldier who came charging forward was not.
In a moment of panic, the criminal fired the gun and went sailing off the roof from the force of the ricochet, but that wasn't Ed's focus. His focus was on the large red spot that was rapidly blossoming on EJ's torso. She had her hands covering it, but then her eyes went out of focus and her face turned white. She let out a small, "Oh sh—" before her legs gave out on her.
"EJ!" Ed ran to her side and caught her before she whacked her head on the ground. He could vaguely hear Mustang's yells and the scrambling of soldier feet, but that was all drowned out as EJ stared at the bullet hole in her belly.
"My legs feel weird . . . is this how your leg feels all the time?" She asked, looking up at Ed with a glazed expression. Hawkeye had torn off some of EJ's jacket to help put pressure on the wound, which was helping a little.
"What's she talking about?" Al asked, applying pressure on the hole.
"She's going into shock; try to keep her awake until we get to the hospital." Hawkeye ordered.
"I need some air." Ed stated, standing and exiting the hospital, not seeing the infamous Colonel Mustang come down the hallway.
Mustang paused when he saw Alphonse sitting alone in the hall.
"Hey there, Al. Where'd Fullmetal run off to?" He hadn't seen hid nor hair of the blond since the fight, but knew he had to be close by.
"He said he needed some air." Al replied. Mustang nodded his understanding as the doctor exited the operating room.
"She's gonna be just fine." He said happily, though his expression showed exhaustion. "It was a bit dicey at first; she'd lost quite a bit of blood, but we managed to safely remove the bullet and patch her up. You can see her if you like." The doctor gave his permission and went to remove the rest of the blood from his person.
Mustang and Al poked their heads into EJ's room to find the redhead sitting up, still pale but healed and drinking from a large glass of juice. She smiled at the two of them as they walked in.
"How do you feel, Angel?" Mustang asked, gently touching her shoulder.
"I'm . . . shiny, Colonel; A-OK. They fixed me up real pretty." EJ said; she must have still had some of the painkillers in her system.
"That's good to hear. I'm gonna go get Brother; will you stay with her Colonel?" Al asked and turned to leave, but Mustang stopped him.
"Actually, I'll go get him. She gets along better with you than me." He reasoned, and strode from the room.
He found Fullmetal hunched over on a chair near the entrance of the hospital, elbows on knees with his face buried in his hands. Mustang had the perfect idea to screw with Ed's mind, so he had to morph his expression into one of barely contained anger.
"Fullmetal." Ed jerked his head up at the clipped tone his superior used.
"How's EJ doing?" Ed mumbled as he stood up.
"Never mind that right now; what were you thinking going after him like you did?" Mustang scolded. Ed was about to get in his face when the colonel cut him off.
"Because of your recklessness, we're short one more State Alchemist."
Ed said nothing, choosing instead to give Mustang a blank look of incomprehension.
"EJ's dead. She lost too much blood trying to get the bullet out. Al's with her right now, saying goodbye." Mustang left his subordinate there in shock, smirking to himself.
Ed felt all the breath go out of him. Mustang had to be lying, right? EJ was too strong to die from blood loss; she couldn't just be dead! Despite the numb feeling in his human leg, Ed took off down the halls to EJ's room, hoping to get there before they moved her body, to at least say goodbye and apologize and hope her spirit was a forgiving one.
Ed careened around the corner, nearly taking a face plant into the linoleum. He straightened and took heavy steps into EJ's room and looked up to find . . .
. . . EJ, sitting up and conversing in nonsense to his brother, her face horribly pale. She spotted Ed and waved at him happily.
"Brother, are you okay?" Al asked, noting how his brother was suddenly cursing violently under his breath. He slammed his left fist onto the mattress.
"That da** Colonel!"
Mustang could almost sense Ed cursing him out as he smirked amongst the guffaws of his team as he explained his little prank to them. Havoc recovered long enough to say: "You're psychotic, Colonel!"
Mustang just nodded in his usual self-satisfied way.
I don't know whether I should feel proud or upset that this took me a little over an hour to write and it takes me like three months to update regularly. But here's hoping you guys liked this, and I'll see you all again when I update my next chapter!
~~Sady Mordan