Author's Note(s): Welcome to the incomplete collection of 100 drabbles of Fullmetal Alchemist - formally titled 'Automail Collective.' Pretty swank, if I do say so myself.

First and fore-most, I likely ought to define what types of drabbles can be found here: In generally, a drabble is thought to be of 500 words or less, but I've decided to take this from a different approach. Rather, for each story, I'll ask a certain individual for a word limit that I am to meet - specifically, not generally. And one way or another, I shall meet that limit. Nifty challenge, no?

Future questions and the like will be answered at the beginning in each author's note. And each fic will be titled based on, oh, the song that likely most inspired me to write the aforementioned text. Believe me, I'm easily inspired. On with the show!

This particular story is: 1020 words, Roy x Ed. Provided by Tia.

Disclaimer: Afore-noticed, I don't own FMA in any shape or form, nor do I have any particular ownership over the characters. Alas.

He could hear it. The soft pitter-patter as the rain beat against the concrete, drumming a wild rhythm to a dance he dare not step. Figure bent against the sanction of a neglected fence, the youth wrapped his arms around his knees, and buried his face into the provided flat of his lap. Rivulets trailed through his blonde locks, the young alchemist's tendrils astray from a panicked dash.

But it seemed entirely senseless now. Living in a utter loss.

Gradually, Edward bid his head against the stone tablet against his back, his gaze roaming the weeping heavens as he milked his mind of thought. But even to the pitied caress of the rain, he could not detain himself from complete sorrow; Thus, he melted back into the shadowed shelter of his memories, drowning within the few moments that remained of a lost friend. A lone, little girl, tortured by the cruelty of her father.

She had been within arm's reach, right beneath his nose and yet she had endured torment in the final moments of her father's detested glory. Ripped from the world, thrown into another, forced to live the life of a beast, a blasphemous creature not meant to breathe the clean, fresh air. And yet it had ended within a matter of mere seconds, crazed moments of a barbarian as he raped her of a life of pain and misery. Painted on the wall, her blood had trailed crimson into the wash of a evening drizzle, staining the cool cobblestones with what had been, but could never be.

"I... Could have saved her," he murmured to himself, brow knitting as an ache tore through his chest, causing the boy of fifteen summers to choke on a sob. Tears engraved upon his cheeks, damp digits burrowed into the familiar touch of his broken frame, and he sacrificed another moment of his time to allow his eternal anguish reign free. Hope had been blind to the child's life, her fate completely ignored by the mercy of all living.

A figure stood near, quiet in their resolve as they observed the boy's continuous reaction to the strain of death. They held a stressed silence, hands lost within the cavities of their pockets, an obvious desire to reach forward toward the tormented youth but kept their range all the more. Successively, Edward's attention roamed, gathering upon the nearby male, his features darkening instinctively. Even in his misery, he was not meant to be alone.

"Is there something that you want?" the blonde began, tone unintentionally bitter, but naturally defensive. "Because if you're here to make fun of me, I don't need-"

"I'm not going to make fun of you, Fullmetal." Roy Mustang stepped forward from his refuge, eyes flickering briefly toward the gloomy skies. "It seems you aren't the only one to mourn Nina Tucker's death." Casting the boy a side-long glance, the elder male released a series of held tension, his shoulders drooping to a near sulk as he searched the puddled walk for means of explanation. And as he slipped into a prolonged silence, Edward's eyes bore into him, daggers of absolute malice intended for another. But anger never chose favorites.

Finally, he retreated with deliberate hesitation to join the child prodigy where he sat, merely looming over the boy's dimpled figure. Hence, allowing another instant to steal by, he dropped his gaze to the alchemist's soaked figure, a pitied smile lighting his lips. Their relationship with the other had always been starved, but even now, the Colonel could not find particular reason of compassion to comfort the child.

"You're to catch a cold if you continue this behavior, Fullmetal," he remarked in a pitch best saved for scolding. "And you'll be of no use to us sick in bed-"

"Just leave me alone," Edward interrupted, burrowing his face once again between his arms. A heartbeat past as Roy regarded him in a lighter respect before he came to crouch at his side, a hand briefly levitated to gather the wounded figure closer. But after a moment of debate, he let it fall, his expression set with equal determination to battle Edward's own stubbornness.

"How will your brooding help Nina?" Roy finally asked, a frown touching his lips. "You could put this energy to better use."

"What the fuck do you know, you half-baked, rotten, sonofabitch!" Slamming his palms against the granite floor, Edward cast a dirty scowl at the adjacent male, face suffocated with breaths of detest. "I doubt you'd bat even an eye if anyone in your jurisdiction died!"

"That isn't true!" A sudden hush fell between the two as the blonde regarded the older male with a hint of surprise, oblivious to the foreign track of emotion cultivating his features. "I'd first see myself dead before I allowed anyone, and I do mean absolutely anyone, die beneath my control. That includes even you, Fullmetal."

The blonde considered his company's words as he settled back against the wall, his angered gaze hopscotching with the pleasant drill of the rain from stone to stone.

"I could have saved her," he repeated in a crack of affliction. "Somehow, we could have found a way to save her..."

"We're not God. Alchemy is a science deplored entirely by equivalent exchange. Or have you forgotten that, Fullmetal? What could you have exchanged for her life?"

"We could have found a way! Anything! Somehow, we could have saved her-"

"Then find a way." Standing in a grace of fluid motion, the Colonel removed his jacket with idle patience. "Find a way to save others like her, before they suffer the same fate. Or would you rather sit here whining?" Casting him a moment of regard, Roy dropped his jacket around the boy's shoulders and flicked his hand in leave.

"Report back to Headquarters." Watching his departure, Edward sighed and drew the jacket around him with a paled grin.

"At least I'm not useless in the rain..."

There you go. First drabble: Complete. Ah... Much harder to meet a limit than I thought it'd be. But I enjoy a challenge! Hope you peeps enjoyed it.