It was pretty much fun and games after that and everyone was just playing various games. Riza was watching the kids playing soccer when she noticed a small fair-haired boy smiling at her. She also noticed he had her eyes. She sat down and the little boy walked over. "Hi." he said very quietly. "Hi there." she said. The little boy moved close to her. "Do you know my mommy?" he asked.
Riza paused...she didn't quite know how to answer this. "Well...yes." she said after a moment's hesitation. The little boy's eyes widened and he looked melancholy. "Can you tell my mommy to come back. Me and Randy want her and daddy to come back to us. Tell my mommy and daddy that Randy and me love them no matter what. They belong here with us." the fair-haired boy said. Tears started coming out of his eyes. "A-a-and I...I want my mommy and daddy!" he sobbed. It was like someone had taken a sledgehammer to Riza's heart.
Roy was sitting down, noticing the kids playing soccer too, but from a different angle when Randy walked up to him. "My little brother is sad." Randy said to him. Roy gulped. "He cries because he wants our mommy and daddy every single night." Roy felt his heart sink horribly. "I cry too...but I'm really quiet and I wait for everyone to leave before I cry. If Rory sees me cry too then he'll never stop crying. But I have to hide it and be strong for him." Randy explained. Roy just couldn't hold back. "Randy..." he said, but Randy cut him off. "I don't want you to leave too. I like you." Randy said, hugging Roy.
Riza had calmed the little fair haired boy down. "What's your name?" she asked him. "Rory." he said. "Come play with me!" Rory said happily. So she let him drag her off. Rory took great pride in showing her all of his toys and treasured belongings.
The party was finally coming to a close. Everyone had left and it was dark out. Randy had spent the rest of his birthday hanging on to Roy. "I have to leave." Roy told him. Randy frowned. "No..." he said. "Randy I have to." Roy said. "Take me with you...please. I'll give you anything." Randy pleaded. "I'm sorry Randy." Roy said. Randy hugged Roy and started crying. "Don't cry." Roy said, trying to comfort him. And then when he could do nothing else he left. He and Riza got in their car. It was nightfall. As the car pulled away, Randy chased after the car and it was not until he was miles away from the Rockbell home and lost that he could no longer follow the car. Randy flopped down on the side of the road, feeling useless and he curled up and cried right there and then. And he fell asleep from pure exhaustion.
Alphonse sighed. After an hour and a half's hard effort he had gotten Rory to go to sleep. Rory had eventually cried himself to sleep and Alphonse figured it would be easy to put Randy to sleep. He walked into the living room, expecting to see Randy watching TV but he saw a sleeping Ed instead. "Ed!" Al whispered. "Hmm?" Ed asked, half-asleep. "Where's Randy?" Al asked. "What are you talking about...he's right here." Ed mumbled, patting a large teddy bear on the head. "Ed...that's a teddy bear..." Al said, worried. "WHAT?" Ed cried, now awake. "God damnit!" Ed yelled, seeing it really was only a bear. Then both of the boys noticed the open front door.
As soon as Winry heard the words "Randy" and "missing" in the same sentence, she flipped out. "How could you fall asleep!" she cried, bashing Ed as hard as she could on his head. "D'ow! What the hell was that for?" Ed cried, rubbing his head in pain. Al had an idea. "Den!" Al cried, whistling afterwards. Den ran over to him, sniffing. Leaving the old married couple to look out for Rory and settle their disputes, Al showed Den the shirt that Randy had worn only yesterday. Den barked and took off down the road into the night, with Al hot on her heels.
Den nearly leaped when Alphonse had cried her name out and whistled. Den was a smart dog and she knew something was wrong. When Al showed her Randy's shirt she knew they were searching for him. She had done the same before when Rory had accidentally fallen into the laundry basket and everyone was looking for him. Den smelled a trail in the young master's scent and she took off down the road, barking and wanting to find him...hoping to find him alive.
Al had brought a flashlight and was glad. It was very dark out right now. The young boy was holding his breath in. Den barked very loudly and sped up quickly and Al forced himself to run faster. Den stopped and was sniffing something. "Oh please be alive!" Al thought desperately. Randy was motionless and Al looked on, frozen and absolutely crushed. Then a snore reached him. "Oh...he's sleeping." Al said, relieved. Al lifted the boy in his arms. "Take us home Den." Al said and Den obeyed. She was always a smart dog after all.
Winry was worrying herself into a coma when Al arrived, carrying Randy. "He's okay!" She cried. "Shh! He's asleep." Al hissed back. And so he was. Randy slept peacefully in Alphonse's arms until they got him home. Then he slept on his bed. And at this time, somewhere else, Roy realized he had left his coat there. When Randy woke up at midnight to get a glass of water he noticed Roy's coat. It felt like a childish thing to do, but Randy took Roy's coat back up with him to sleep. He used it as a makeshift blanket but hidden under his real blanket. He was able to drift into a more comfortable sleep than he ever had before.
But then it came to him again. Every night Randy had a nightmare. The nightmare itself made no sense to him. He would see all the people he cared about. Then his mind would just fill with red. Then he would scream and wake up in cold sweat and on occassion he would also run a fever. Tonight it was really bad. Roy was pulled away by a dark something and he saw all red.
Randy screamed and woke up, feeling feverish. Randy ran into the bathroom, straight to the toilet and he threw up violently, his little body shaking. When he finished he dropped to his knees and then he hit the ground and everything was spinning. He could see Alphonse, Edward and Winry coming towards him in slow motion and it sounded as if there were four Alphonses and Edwards saying the same thing at different times. Randy's fingers barely scraped the ground and everything went black.
Alphonse sat in one of those bench seats in the hospital. Little Rory sat beside him, eyes red from crying and holding his teddy in a firm hug. Alphonse was very worried about Randy. Something was very wrong. Randy had first reported that dream to Edward years ago but never had it reached this magnitude. Edward went to the phone at once, where he proceeded to phone Hughes first. Hughes showed up with Gracia and Elicia, Gracia was dressed but Hughes and Elicia were in their pajamas still. Michael had been left in the care of a family friend. Gracia was a super mom. She had brought pillows and blankets and thus Elicia fell asleep in Hughes' lap and Gracia had little Rory asleep in hers. Alphonse tried to swallow but found it hard as he walked into Randy's room.
"Jacket..." Randy was saying and Al knew at once what it was the little boy was talking about. Al called Izumi and Sig Curtis next. "Oh and Roy's coat should be in Randy's bedroom. If you could bring it that would really help us." Al said and they complied. Sig turned the coat over to Al, and Al in turn gave it to Randy, who was able to peacefully fall asleep. Izumi and Sig joined Randy's worried loved ones in the designated waiting room, which was very large and contained only two others.
Alphonse went to the phone while Sig and Izumi watched Randy and he made a call to Scar, who promised to arrive. Sure enough Scar did arrive, with a red-eyed and tousle-haired Sagan. Gracia gave Scar a pillow and blanket and Sagan too fell asleep, in his father's lap. Alphonse also called Alex Louis Armstrong, who promised a visit to Randy tomorrow. He called everyone else on the list but Havoc arrived alone, having left his boys in the care of a loved one. Ed was the one to beat Al to the phone to call Roy and tell him about this.
Roy and Riza arrived quickly, Riza remained with Gracia and Hughes to watch the kids while Roy went right into Randy's room. He noticed his coat with the little boy. "The attack he suffered tonight could have killed him. Your boy was very lucky to survive. Whatever he has is not contagious of course and he seems better but he has to stay here for a while." The doctor explained. "Put him in a room I can stay with him in." Roy demanded. The doctor complied of course. The little boy was quietly moved to a room with a bigger bed, couches and a TV. "Lieutenant Hawkeye. You are under strict orders from me to stay with Rory and watch over him." Mustang added. Riza agreed.
Roy went to Randy's bed and just kneeled in front of it. He reached out and held Randy's hand for a moment, before he let go in his anguished state. But Randy was barely conscious and knew. Randy grabbed Roy's arm, hugging it tightly. "Randy." Roy said. "Yeah." the boy muttered sleepily. "I'm sorry that I left." Roy replied. "It's okay. You're here now and you never have to leave again." Randy said. It was silent for a few minutes. "My wish came true." The little boy mumbled.
Eventually the doctor told the others that Randy was okay. Winry insisted that they spend the night at her place so they could all go to visit Randy tomorrow together. When Rory went to sleep, Riza followed him and was the one to put him to sleep. And Rory didn't shed a tear.
The next day everyone visited Randy, who was ready to go home that night. When they brought Randy home, he was a very happy boy. "Can I have left over birthday cake?" Randy asked, as they had made a pretty big cake. "No." Pinako said, but no one really noticed her sneak the little boy a slice of chocolate cake after dinner. Randy pulled Roy up to his room. "You're staying here." Randy said. Roy sighed. "Fine." he said, almost smiling. That night Randy didn't have to sleep with Roy's coat, he had Roy actually there with him. Not to mention the boy's race car bed was large and comfortable. When they were in Randy's room playing with his hero action figures Randy looked up at Roy. "Can you be my daddy?" he asked Roy. "No." Roy said. The five year old looked up at him, dismayed. "Why not?" he asked. "Wait here." Roy said, leaving the room. Randy stayed, wanting to follow Roy to make sure he wasn't going to disappear but also wanting to listen to him.
Roy made a phone call to Fuhrer Grumman. "Grumman...Riza and I want to take care of our sons. They need us." Roy said. A pause. "No forget the rules, I'm staying with Randy no matter what." Another pause. "Thank you." He went back to Randy. As soon as Randy saw Roy in the doorway he ran over and hugged him. "Randy." Roy said, and the five year old nodded to show he was listening. "I'm your real dad." Roy said. Randy hugged Roy, even tighter than any other time he had before. "We have to tell Rory! He wants to know!" Randy cried out, running to Rory's bedroom next door. "Rory this is our real daddy!" the five year old cried, running Roy into the room behind him. Rory reached out of his crib and so Roy picked the two year old and held him. "I knew you'd come back daddy!" Rory cried. "Hi mommy." Randy said to Riza, hugging her. It was a very happy reunion.
They moved into a house not far from where the new Elric home stood. The new Elric house really was the old Elric house brought back by alchemy for Ed and his kids. Which made it better for Randy. Randy was excited of course, he loved Resembool. "Daddy this is my favorite place in the world!" the five year old had proclaimed. Of course this made the boys happy also because Sagan lived next door and not far from their house was also where Havoc lived, and near that was where Mrs. Bradley and Selim lived.
That day, while they moved into the home Randy went to stay at Sagan's house and Rory went to Selim's. Randy sat in Sagan's bedroom. The boy had his room painted in a very soothing green and he had all sorts of cool toys. Sagan also had a lot of books and was quite intelligent for his age. "I'm excited Randy." Sagan said, playing with one of his favorite toy race cars. "Why?" Randy asked, surprised. "We're going to go to school next year!" Sagan cried. Although Randy had no idea what a school was he nodded. "You know we get to eat lunch and play and learn there. It sounds like a bunch of fun!" Sagan added for Randy's benefit. "They have a whole big old playground just for us and they feed us yummy food like graham crackers and apple juice. And they read us books during story time." Sagan added. Randy was awed. "Wow that sounds like fun!" he cried. "Of course it's fun." Sagan added, grinning.
Sagan led Randy outside. "Come on Randy. I found a cool place to play." Sagan cried. Roy noticed them running past and smiled. At the Bradley residence Mrs. Bradley was giving Selim and Rory a snack. "Thank you very much Mrs. Bradley." Rory said, he had very good manners. He enjoyed Mrs. Bradley's chocolate pudding. Selim was Rory's best friend so after snack they put on play explorer clothes and went outside. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll find a lion!" Selim cried. "Or a tiger!" Rory added. "Or both!" Selim cried and they laughed. Selim raised his binoculars. "Look Rory!" he said pointing. "It's an elephant!" Rory looked up and saw Selim was pointing at a tree that rather looked like an elephant. The boys practically played like that all day. They were a whole happy family once again. And that night those boys got tucked in by their real parents. And neither of them shed a tear.