anyone who read the one from before should forget that. i was half asleep while writing the most CRUCIAL PART of the first chapter of this segment. so... this is better


Edward ran through the battlefront trying to find Roy. He had an urgent message from the higher ups about the battle he was leading and he needed to get it fast. Usually he wouldn't even be in battle at all but the message was confidential and needed to be hand delivered. For once, although he would deny it until Briggs melted, Edward was glad that he was small. He was able to dart in and out of fallen debris and was pretty unseen by the enemy. He hit behind a large part of a broken building and leaned against it, massaging his lower back from having the crouch down so much. He may have been small, but his red coat didn't help his invisibility if he just stood up and walked.

"I hate battle… War is stupid." He mumbled to himself as he held the letter in his hand. "Stupid colonel…"

Although the war and Roy's leading of it wasn't the colonel's fault, the higher ups thought that having Edward deliver the note would let him know the sense of urgency and also they thought he'd listen to him more than anyone else. Edward could only image what little they knew of the relationship between him and Colonel Bastard. He felt like a child around the man, even though he was, he didn't like feeling like one with him. He had pretty much taken his role as father for Al and done everything for the two of them, so having Roy up his ass all the time made him a little miffed.

An explosion behind the piece of building he was hiding behind made Edward jump and he decided he should probably get a move on before he was blown up.


Roy was throwing flame streams left and right, taking out soldier after soldier. Drachma really didn't people set up for the power of State Alchemists and so they were dropping like flies. Roy didn't want to be in war again; he thought the he didn't have to when he became a colonel. Not that he liked sitting behind a desk from 9-5, but he'd rather be doing paperwork than watching men get cooked to death and hearing the sounds of horrified screams. This was starting to remind him of Ishval…

He snapped one last time, sending a group of ten down, leaving one alive and turned to his troops behind him.

"You're in the clear! Move ahead!"

Someone repeated his commands and he stayed back, watching the men go deeper into the broken landscape. Buildings upon buildings had been bombed and were now in a state of rubble and disarray.

"Sir!" he heard someone yell at him.

He turned as Fuery ran to him, holding out a piece of paper.

"I just got this through the telecommunication line. They said that Edward is coming up here with an urgent message from the Fuhrer."

"Fullmetal? What the hell do those people think they're doing? He's just a kid!"

"I know, sir, but whatever he has, you'll need to read it."

"Well of course, Fuery, do you think I wouldn't?"

Fuery didn't say anything as Roy turned around and ran back to the small hut that housed telecommunications and the strategy room.

"When did you get that message?"

"Just now but they said he left a half hour ago."

"Just great! And with that bright red coat of his and his weird golden hair and eyes, he's a perfect target."

"Who did you say had weird hair and eyes?"

Roy looked over as Edward was hunched over in the doorway of the hut, looking at him with a smug look. Roy made a face at him.

"Give me whatever it is you're supposed to give me and beat it. You don't need to be out here."

"Yeah, I don't want to either. Here." He said, handing him the envelope.

Roy took it and ripped it open, looking over it. He frowned and then set his jaw.

"I can't believe they sent you out here for this."

"What is it?"

"It's telling me to fall back; but they could have just sent it through the radio. Why did they make you come all the way out here?"

"I don't know! I just did what they told me to. Something about you believing it more from me than someone else or whatever."

Roy was infuriated. Why would the army send his youngest subordinate out onto the battlefield with a note so trivial as this? What was their motive? It didn't matter now because he had to go and get his troops and get them to fall back.

"Fuery, tell everyone that we have direction from the Fuhrer to fall back and leave his battle. Fullmetal, you're with me."

"Where are we going?"

"I have to go and cut off the battalion I just sent forward before more men are lost than should be."

"But why can't I stay here?"

"I don't need you and your obvious red coat making us sitting ducks before they realize we're retreating. You've never been in war, it's not a playground."

"Well why the hell would I think it was?! I know what war is, Mustang!"

"Not how to act in it, obviously. Just come on, we're wasting time."

Roy went to find a Jeep to go to the front of the line.


As they rode in the Jeep, Edward wondered why Roy was taking him to the front lines practically if he was supposedly trying to keep him safe. He didn't want to ask, already seeing his superior was pissed off beyond words. Traveling over the debris of the buildings came to be pretty dangerous as walls suddenly crumbled, steel rods were jutting out all over the place, beams snapped and pointed edges showing; a menagerie of hazards.

They almost hit the edge of a jagged sheet of metal, almost hitting Edward's arm, and he turned to Roy angrily.

"What the hell?! Watch where you're going!"

"Then hold on tighter. I swear, I have to babysit you no matter where I go."

"Are you calling me a child?"

"Yes, I am. You're fifteen years old, Fullmetal, and you've never been to war. This is not a game."

"Do you really think I view this as a game? You're the one who almost sliced my arm off over there and all of a sudden I'm a child."

"I meant that anyone would know not to wear what you're wearing. The blue at least keeps us a little hidden but red is just asking for it. Do you ever think?"

The Jeep swerved with a jolt as Roy avoiding a fallen beam and Edward glared at him again.

"Do you?! You keep almost killing me!"

"It's not on purpose. You'd know it if it was on purpose."

"Then why don't you watch the road instead of coming up my ass?"

"You know what you're problem is? You're-"

An unexpected drop on the left side of the car made the Jeep miss the road they were on and they went tumbling down into where a building had been blown in half. Edward held on for dear life, hoping that he wouldn't fly out of the vehicle, and closed his eyes to brace for impact.


When they finally stopped, he opened his eyes and started coughing from the smoke from the Jeep and the dust in the air.

"Mustang? Mustang? Colonel?" he yelled, trying look through the cloud of smoke and dust.

The fact that he didn't answer worried Edward and he started to move. He hissed in pain as he realized his foot had been struck by a rock on his ankle. *Of course it was the flesh one…* he thought angrily. He braced himself and moved his leg anyway and began to look around.

"Colonel! Colonel, where are you?!"

Finally the smoke was beginning to fade away and he could just make out someone in the driver's seat of the Jeep.

"There you are. Stop ignoring me-"

He stopped when he felt something press against him and looked down. There he saw a steel rod that had been about to hit him if they hadn't stopped where they did. Edward wiped his brow of sweat at missing the object and moved to get Roy out.

"Hey, Colonel, stop ignoring me for five seconds so that I can help you out… Colonel? Hey, talk to me."

He said nothing, so Edward started to slowly climb the rubble to get closer to his superior when the rest of the dust settled and he finally saw Roy. Edward's eyes widened a little as he saw blood dripping from Roy's mouth onto his uniform his head limp as it hung forward. Edward froze, just staring at his superior in complete shock. He finally pulled it together, swallowing hard as he took his gloves off and reached out shakily to Roy's neck to see if he could feel a pulse. He wasn't sure if it was broken but he found a pulse to his relief… it was tiny, but still there.

"Colonel? Colonel, you better not be joking with me. This is no time to be an asshole about war… Colonel? Colonel, please answer me!" he begged, his voice rising a little from the fear.

Still no answer and Edward started to panic. Sure he had seen blood and gore, he had seen the gate rip his brother apart, he'd endured having Truth rip off his arm and his leg, but he'd never actually seen someone die in front of him. At least, not someone he cared about. His mother passed so sweetly and calmly that it was just as if she fell asleep and never woke up. This though… this was war

Roy suddenly coughed, ejected blood from his mouth as he slowly raised his head up heavily, the heavy skull lolling his head back uncontrollably. Edward made a noise of relief as he began to move the rubble from around his superior.

"You're alive! I thought you were dead, you dirty bastard!" he yelled, trying to keep the hysterical tears at bay.

Roy finally got more control over his head and moved to look at Edward as he cleared away rocks and things that were in his lap. He tried to move but there was a sharp pain in his chest and he looked down.

Edward had been babbling to try and keep his nerves down when he noticed the silence again. He looked up at Roy.

"Are you okay?"

"I… There's…" he said, hardly able to talk.

Edward turned his head a little as Roy looked down again. Edward looked too and finally saw what his superior was looking at. He wanted to cry but he instead gave a warbled smile to Roy.

"You'll be fine, Colonel." Edward tried to reassure.

"Don't try to justify death, Fullmetal!" Roy yelled angrily, blood spattering off his words. "You see it don't you?! If I get off of this, I will die."

"Well we can't stay here-"

"No, we can't. Go, Fullmetal. You have to tell the battalion that we're retreating or innocent men will lose their lives. Leave me here."

"The hell I will!"

"I'm done, Fullmetal…" Roy mumbled, his eyes seeming to drop again.

"Not if I can help it."

"You can't pull the thing out, dumb ass! It's lodged in there."

"Who said anything about pulling it out?"

Edward clapped and before Roy could say anything, he had grabbed a hold of the jagged pipe and transmuted it into a metal flower. Immediately, blood gushed from Roy's chest and mouth.

"Why did you do that?" he asked in shock, looking at Edward as if he had killed him.

"We couldn't pull it out so-"

"Oh… Edward… I told you you're not cut out for this kind of thing…"

"What… do you mean?"

"You just gave me a death sentence."

"What do you… mean?"

"Don't you know anatomy? The pipe was keeping me alive, blocking the blood from leaving me so… so fast…"

As if to prove a point, he vomited and nothing was there but blood. Edward suddenly realized what he had done and his golden eyes widened. He took off his jacket and kicked the rest of the rocks away so that he could lay Roy against him. He wadded up the accursed jacket and pressed it firmly against Roy's chest as Roy grabbed his hands and tried to apply more pressure. It didn't do much, since there was another hole in his back, and Roy's arms were getting weak.

"I'm so sorry, Colonel! Please don't die. Please… Please, I didn't mean to! I just didn't want to leave you here! Please…"

"It's okay, Fullmetal… I know you weren't thinking and just wanted to help me. It's okay…" He gave a bloody grin. "Don't worry."

"I just killed my superior officer because I didn't think past my face!"

Roy reached up lazily and stuck a bloody finger on Edward's mouth to shush him. He smiled at him and cupped Edward's cheek in his hand.

"Such a sweet boy…"

"Wh- what?"

"You're a pain in my side, Fullmetal, but you're a sweet boy."

"Don't talk like that, Colonel."

"I don't think I could ever find someone like you… It was an honor serving with you these past years. I hope you'll get your brother's body back. I'll keep the secret to the grave…"

"Don't say things like that!"

"I won't make it… Fullmetal… Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, alright? I won't be there to…"

Mustang's hand fell and Edward stared at Roy for a second. He waited for him to finish his sentence. Be there to what? Edward swallowed hard.

"Be there to what? Hey! Answer me you piece of shit! Be there to what? BE THERE TO WHAT!? Colonel, wake up! Don't leave me here! COLONEL!"

The only response he got was more blood and Edward burst into tears, crying over the man who he viewed as a nuisance, a superior, a savior, and a father. He had killed him, with one wrong childish action, he had killed the man he secretly respected more than anyone in the world.


and colonel roy mustang is no more... good job edward...