It was a cold night with rain pouring from the sky and Ed was walking down the street in Central in a rather bad mood. He really didn't like the rain, it usually made his auto mail hurt like hell if he didn't keep it under his clothes so it wouldn't get wet. And to top it all he had to finish his latest report and hand it to the Colonel at 7:00 am and he wasn't even close to being finished. He had about 4 hours left, he could already hear Mustang's remarks, but before he could start guessing what Roy Mustang would probably say about his report he heard a scream.
"What was that?" Edward whispered as he started running in the direction of the now very loud scream. He finally reached an alley at the corner of a grocery shop that currently was closed and slowly he walked into the alley.
"There is no one here, that's strange." He said to himself. But before he could do anything he got hit in the back of his head with something that had sharp edges and he fell to the ground unconscious and his was head bleeding. In the morning Colonel Roy Mustang woke up like he always did, but rather early because he was expecting Full Metal to hand in his report about the situation in a small village up north. He wasn't really planning on reading it, he just had to see Edward's face drop when he told him that it was due in less than 7 hours and at the time it seemed pretty funny but now he just realized that he had to wake up a lot earlier then usual. After drinking his coffee and getting into his newly ironed uniform he took one good look at himself in the mirror and sighed.
"This is going to be a very long day" He muttered to himself as he locked the door. On the way to the office Havoc came running in Mustang's direction.
"Sir, Al just informed Lt. Hughes that Edward never returned home after the meeting at the office..!" Havoc barely managed to get out because of loss of air.
"Isn't it just possible that he saw a pretty girl and got distracted and then he just lost track of time..?" Mustang replied even though he didn't really believe it. Havoc just stared at him still trying to catch his breath.
"Fine, alright let's get a search party to find him shall we, all we can do is interrogate the people who last saw him, which would be all of us so let's head to the office and decide what to do from there" he slowly said while he started to think what they would do to find Full Metal. Couple of hours and a lot of coffee later, First Lt. Riza Hawkeye stormed into Mustang's office with a single note and a worried look.
"Sir, I've been calling hospital's all day and finally one of them called me back and informed me that Major Edward Elric is in their care, it took awhile to be sure that it was him but when she said that the patient had an artificial arm and leg, I was pretty sure it was him. Here's the address." She said and handed Roy the note that had written down in a fast handwriting an address. On the way to the hospital Roy was lost in his own thoughts "what did you get yourself into this time, kid…after all that's all Ed is at the moment, a kid and it doesn't matter how grown up he acts he's just a child"
"Hi, where's my brother, my name is Alphonse Elric, I need to see my brother" Al cried out to the receptionist at the hospital.
"What's your brother's name?" The receptionist said with a firm voice.
"It's Ed, or well Edward Elric" he said
"He's in the recovery wing on the 9th floor, room 206" she answered as she double checked to be sure she gave them the right information.
"Do you think he's okay" Al said
"I don't know, Al. We don't even know what's wrong with him to begin with, let's just take one step at a time, okay" Riza told him in a comforting voice with the hint of fear.
When they reached the 9th floor, they saw a doctor waiting for them.
"Hi, my name is Colonel Roy Mustang, we're here to see Major Edward Elric."
"Hello, I'm Doctor Gerald, Mr. Elric is in my care. But before you can see him, you should know about his condition." The doctor said
"Yes, of course" Mustang said in a low voice.
They all exchanged worried looks as they waited for Doctor Gerald to continue.
"Apparently, Edward got hit in the back of his head with something sharp. We were very lucky to have found him when we did or else he would have bled out. But there is one more thing, we had to put him in a medical coma to survive the surgery and if things went as we have hoped he should wake up any minute, but we don't know yet if the injure caused him any head trauma of any sort." Dr. Gerald said sympathetically.
Mustang stared at the doctor, he didn't really understand what the doctor had just told them, and it just seemed impossible because that was Full Metal that they were talking about here, not just any other kid, this kid was a real child prodigy. He finally snapped out of his thought when Riza put her hand on his shoulder.
"Can I see my brother now…please..?" Alphonse whispered but loud enough for them all to hear.
"Yes, of course, follow me" Dr. Gerald said while he showed them the way to Ed's room.
When he opened the door they saw Ed lying in a hospital bed with a bandage around his head, there was a hint of blood on it. They could all hear Al quietly sobbing.
"Brother..?" Al whispered
Mustang walked to him and put his hand over Al's shoulder but because of the suit of armor it looked really strange to the doctor.
"I'll leave you to it then, but remember that it always helps to talk to him because he can hear you and that's great comfort and it help to stimulate his brain." Dr. Gerald said as he left them.
"Brother what happened..? You're going to be alright, I promise, I'll help you pull through, okay…" Al whispered to his brother.
The next morning Dr. Gerald came back to check on Ed. When he walked into the room he was quite surprised, Riza and Roy were lying on a sofa by the window looking asleep, Havoc was sitting in a chair next to the sofa looking like he was about to fall off it. Alphonse was sitting on the floor next to Ed and Hughes looked really uncomfortable lying on the floor with a blanket which seemed to be rather small for him.
"Ahemm…" Doctor Gerald made a little coughing noise and everyone woke up. Riza nearly fell off Roy because she hadn't realized she fell asleep and apparently she had used him as a pillow all night but before she fell, Roy grabbed her waist but let go just as fast when everyone was looking at them.
"Uh... Sorry" Riza muttered quietly.
"Yeah…" Roy said to himself.
"I'm very sorry, but it seems that Mr. Elric here is being reluctant from waking up." Doctor Gerald said.
"Isn't there something more you can do?" Mustang said, he was staring at Ed again, it seemed so wrong that things always happened to Full Metal.
"Well, I could always decrease his medication but that could be dangerous so I'll allow you to think about it." Dr. Gerald replied.
"Yeah, thanks" Roy said
The whole next hour they were all just staring into spaces trying to think of something to do for Edward. After another long while of silence Hughes had to leave for his adorable little girl.
"You're leaving?" Al asked
"I have to leave for my adorable little girl" Hughes said and showed Al the newest picture of his daughter.
"Yeah, I too, though not for his daughter, I've got tons of paperwork to finish or else my boss will kill me" Havoc told Al as he walked out the door before Roy could reply.
"I understand, you should all just go home and if Ed wakes up I'll give you a call or something"
"Are you sure, because I can stay if you want me to?" Riza told him.
"No, it's fine, you can leave"
Al walked to his brother's bedside and watched him sleep. Mustang mumbled something about forgetting his jacket when they reached the hallway. Suddenly they heard a very husky scream or more like a yell more the sound of it.
"What was that…?...!" Roy yelled back to Riza as they ran up the stairs.
"Call me crazy but that sounded a bit like Full Metal, sir" Riza yelled back.