Hello again!
I apologize for taking so long. Two words should explain why it took so long: School, friends. Yup, they do take time. But I'll keep working with this anyway. But thanks to all reviewers and readers anyway.
More angst in this chappy. >:D
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
PROTECT
Chapter 4
One word brings two more
That night Riza had come over to Roy to eat dinner with them. She was cooking, Roy talking to her on his seat and Ed transmuting some of the macaronis to a new shape. He made flowers, stars, cats, dogs, hands, circles and buttons. Riza and Roy always encouraged him, telling how good they were. He had a small smile dancing on his lips as he positioned yet another macaroni on the array.
"You really like alchemy, don't you?" Roy asked him as he tossed teddy-shaped macaroni in the pile. Ed nodded as an answer as he took another one.
"Can you tell us what's your name?" the woman asked. Ed shook his head.
"Why?" Roy started again. It hadn't been the first time since he had muttered the words in his office. He didn't react. "I'm sure it's a really nice name. You want to go home, right? I can assure you that telling your name will fasten the progress of finding your parents."
"Parent", Ed said back as he transmuted another heart-shaped macaroni. "Do you like it?" he asked as he showed it to Roy who took it in his hand smiling, barely even looking at it.
"Yeah, it's great. What happened to your other parent?"
Riza shot him an angry look as Ed took another macaroni a little more robotic way. "She died", he said silently as he handed him a bunny-shaped macaroni. "You like this?"
"…R-Really much", Roy muttered and put the macaronis in Ed's pile and watching the kid pick up a new one. The blue light flashed again and Ed put a sock-shaped macaroni away.
"Why don't you want to tell us your name?" Riza asked after a while. Ed shook his head.
"Just don't", he answered simply. Riza sighed.
"It's really hard to call you just 'you' and 'he'. We would really appreciate to know your name. At least a nickname. Please?" she asked nicely. Ed looked up hesitantly.
"You can't make out my name from my nickname, can you?" Ed asked hesitantly, taking a better position in his chair. Roy shook his head.
"Most likely not. And many people have same names in here."
Ed transmuted another macaroni before answering. "…It's Ed."
"Ed?" the woman asked. "That's a beautiful nickname."
Ed nodded hesitantly before yawning. He hadn't really slept that well last night and his muscles still ached from swimming for over 12 hours a few days before. It hurt if he tried to move his shoulders back.
"Roy, can you put everything ready? This'll be ready in about five minutes."
Ed put the macaronis away and sat still as he watched the adults put the plates and other things on the table and laid the food on the table. Ed looked curiously up to see noodles and chicken.
"You like it?" Riza asked worriedly and he nodded. He had a distant memory of loving noodles. Hmm… actually he might've been obsessed to them… Anyway, they brought back blurry but good memories. Riza smiled as she saw his excited face and put quite a lot of food on his plate. Really nicely done, Ed thought happily.
As Riza and Roy started Ed examined the food with his gaze before putting it in his mouth, absolutely thrilled. It tasted brilliant! No wonder he had loved noodles! They were really, really good!
Roy and Riza smiled. A few hours after the lunch they suggested Ed to go to sleep as he started to slowly lean forwards dangerously looking like he'd fall any minute.
"Well, he's talking a little now…" Riza sighed. "That's improvement."
Roy nodded and curled his arm around Riza. "Yeah, that's good. Maybe soon he'll tell his real name and where he comes from. Then everything will go back to normal."
Riza trembled. "Yeah… back to normal…"
Roy looked at her suspiciously. "You want it to go back to what it was, right? And you know that even if you'd want to, you can't really keep him. His father is somewhere there, probably worrying sick of him."
"I know, Roy, but he's such a nice little boy. And I'm curious about him. He's started to open up but I can't help still noticing some of his reactions. Somehow I feel like he's gotten beaten up regularly."
Roy sighed. "He might've gotten kidnapped and abused badly."
Riza buried her head deeper in Roy's chest. "Do you think we should take him to the hospital for a check-up?"
"That's a good idea. What about tomorrow after work?"
"Yeah… But I've got to go home now", she yawned as she stood up and kissed him. "I'll see you at work. Don't be late."
"I won't", Roy answered as he walked her to the door. She fluffed his hair.
"I'll see you then. Bye!"
"See you… Riza." Roy said as he closed the door and sighed.
His girlfriend was really worried and determined to find out what happened. But she wouldn't start pushing the boy over the edge before he was ready. Roy knew it. She wasn't the type. And the boy… Ed was still very vulnerable. When he had been too humble, he had been vulnerable. But opening up made him even more vulnerable. So he needed protection. Protection only the two of them were able to give him now.
Something was warming up around Ed.
"…Do you think we should take him to the hospital for a check-up?"
Ed curled up and watched the bright line of light coming under his door. He felt cold shivers running up and down his spine. He didn't like the adults' conversation one bit.
"That's a good idea. What about tomorrow after work?"
Ed growled dangerously and hid himself under his sheets. He listened as the conversation ended and the door was closed. He hissed furiously as he buried his teeth to his pillow to get rid of his anger.
Oh, how much he hated hospitals. He hated the smell, the doctors and the check-ups. He had avoided them since he was little and he hadn't been forced to any check-up in many years. And now those two were planning to drag him in there. He didn't like the idea one bit.
He ran his hand over his swollen cheek and some bruises on his neck.
The adults wouldn't probably be happy to see them.
And if the case was going to develop even worse, they were going to realise where they had come from. The man would get angry. He would hurt Al.
He couldn't allow it to happen!
There had to be a way out of this.
Next morning Roy came to Ed's room the kid had already dressed up, a braid hanging loosely and pretty tidily against his neck. He had a distant look in his eyes and the dark circles under them revealed the lack of sleep. Roy sighed.
"You know, when you go to sleep you should sleep. Lack of sleep isn't healthy. You need to gather energy", he said as he walked next to the kid, snapping him out of his thoughts. Ed nodded with a light blush, rubbing his eyes.
Roy sensed anger and fear. His eye twitched out of reflex.
"You alright, Ed?" he asked as he hugged him. The kid nodded.
"Don't lie to me, alright?" he said strictly. Ed nodded again.
"Are you angry for some reason?" Roy asked. Ed's eyes flashed a bright light before they returned to normal. He shook his head.
It was all done as the rules told him to do: if you have something to complain about, don't bother. Be humble.
Roy smiled hesitantly. "Alright, let's get breakfast. You can probably sleep at work. I'll tell the crew to be quiet so they won't bother you. Does that sound good?"
Ed nodded knowing that no matter what, he wasn't allowing himself to sleep.
His little brother trusted in him. His little brother didn't even know that he was alive. He was scared that he would worsen the situation. If Al would get hurt, he would never forgive himself.
Al was probably already hurt…
He lowered his head in shame. Why couldn't he be a better older brother?
Ed rested his head in one of the small pillows in the couch, trying hard to keep himself awake. It was so sot and comfortable and it was so quiet..!
He yawned and grunted as he forced himself to turn and keep his eyes even slightly open. He forced himself to think. He thought about Al. He thought about all.
His eyes started to lose focus…
No! He was not allowing himself to fall asleep. He didn't want to wake up in a hospital. He needed to avoid it. And being asleep would get him there probably in less than ten minutes. He wasn't going to the damn hospital; he wasn't allowing anyone to take him in there! He couldn't risk Al. He wouldn't risk Al.
A shadow was upon him. He raised his head and opened his eyes slightly more, feeling them burning. Riza smiled to him.
"Can't you sleep?" she asked gently as she kneeled down. Ed shook his head as an answer.
"Is there something bothering you? You can tell me if there is, maybe after getting to tell it to someone it'll bother you less and you can sleep", she tried but Ed shook his head again.
"You really sure nothing's wrong?" she asked again. Ed nodded against the truth and smiled faintly.
"Alright… Well, sleep well", Riza said as she went back to her papers.
After a couple of minutes Ed was asleep.
Someone was shaking him slightly. He grunted and opened his eyes, feeling a little more alerted. Roy smiled to him as he caressed his hair.
"Good to see you're awake. Listen, Riza and I have been talking and-"
Alright, here it comes…, Ed thought angrily. He wasn't allowing it, he would say it to them face-to-face. He wasn't going to any damn check-ups!
"-we've decided that it would be best if we'd take you to a hospital to let them check your health. That bruise on your cheek doesn't look so good", he finished with a worrying tone. Ed shook his head.
"Are you trying to say something?" Riza asked. Ed drew in a deep breath. He might got beaten… but he had to do it.
"I'm not going to the hospital", he said and hung his head, waiting for the adults to blow. It was silent for a while. Then the woman kneeled down and hugged him.
"We really need to take you there, we can't be sure if you've gotten badly hurt so we can't notice it. It's for your best, it won't be that bad-"
"I'm not going", Ed repeated. Roy sighed.
"Don't make me force you…" he muttered tiredly. Ed pushed the woman away.
"I'm not going!" he yelled.
"There's nothing bad in a hospital, you'll see. And if you want, we can stand right by your side. Nothing bad is going to happen in there. They're just going to make sure that you're healthy", she said gently. Ed kept shaking his head.
"I can't go, I won't go", Ed growled. Roy raised his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden show of emotions Ed was giving to them.
"Riza, you'll take his legs, I'll take his arms", he said. "He needs to be checked."
"No!" Ed screamed and jumped up trying to get away but Roy managed to get a hold of his hand. Ed jerked his hand trying to release it with no avail.
"Let go of me!" he cried out and tried to kick the man but he sidestepped and Riza lifted him up from his legs. He yelled. Roy grabbed his armpits.
"Please let go, please, it's not about me!" Ed continued to beg as they tossed him in Roy's car's backseat with Riza looking after him so he wouldn't do anything stupid. Roy locked the door.
"He'll kill him… Please don't take me there… Please…" he cried and buried his head in his thighs, trembling furiously. Riza tapped his back, obviously not hearing his words as Roy started the car. Ed sobbed silently, burying his face deeper.
He might've been going to give Al the death sentence and he couldn't help it.
"Your turn", the doctor said to them. Ed had stopped fighting and was frozen out of fear for change. He didn't know what was coming out of this and it scared the hell out of him. Riza held his hand as she led him to the room. Ed looked around fearfully.
"So, you have a time for check-up?" the doctor asked and smiled to Ed who tried to take several steps back but was held still by Riza's warm hand.
"Alright. So I'm checking if there are other bruises or something bad in his body?" the doctor asked. Roy nodded.
"Though I must warn you that he doesn't seem to like doctors…" Roy noted and turned to see Ed who was looking at them with wide eyes. The doctor nodded and smiled. He looked closer to the bruise on Ed's cheek. Ed shivered.
"This one seems to be healing well…" the doctor said. "I need to ask you to remove some of his clothing to let me see better."
Riza nodded and helped Ed to take the coat and jacket away. More bruises and a few cuts were revealed. The doctor looked checked them too. "This one seems to have gotten slightly inflected, we need to clean it."
He cleaned it but Ed didn't react to the pain at all. It was almost like he didn't really care about it.
The doctor moved his fingers. One was slightly weirdly turned and didn't move too much.
"Does this hurt?" he asked as he moved the finger slightly. Ed shook his head.
"We're going to need to x-ray that… Shirt off, please", the doctor said. Ed looked down. Roy stroke his hair and smiled encouragingly. Ed shivered as he removed the shirt slowly.
His chest and back was littered with scars and badly swollen, covered with bruises. The doctor looked at it, cleaning the inflected cuts.
Ed's legs weren't in any better state. A couple of his toes were black and didn't move much. Roy kept fluffing his hair as the doctor asked him questions.
Ed's face was motionless as they sat on the car on their way back to home.
Ed s lied on the couch, his back towards the two adults sitting on the chairs sipping coffee. He hadn't even flinched in ten minutes and Riza and Roy were starting to get worried. Not that they weren't already.
Broken bones, twisted ankle, bruises and cuts were all around the kid's body. Why hadn't they really guessed it? They had seen some of the bruises but hadn't really paid that much attention. No wonder, the kid didn't want to go to the hospital.
Riza sighed and walked to the kid and sat on the couch, next to Ed's head. He was keeping his eyes closed. Riza almost believed that he was sleeping but knew better. She curled her arms around the boy and lifted his head on her lap. Ed didn't look up.
"Do you want to tell what happened?" she asked as she caressed the boy's golden hair. Ed curled up and buried his head deeper on Riza's stomach.
"It might help if you talked", she continued. Ed didn't say anything.
"Was it your father?" she asked again and Roy's head shot up out of surprise. He saw Ed's body trembling slightly. Where had she even gotten the idea?
"We'll be here if you want to talk about it. Maybe we'd be able to help", she said, laying her hand on the boy's left side.
"Or maybe you can just tell what happened."
Ed sniffed and squeezed his jacket's collar.
"…It hurts so much…" he cried silently.
This chappy is finished at last. It took a long time.
And yippee, in next chappy I'll get to explain Ed's background. Mind to review? Pretty please?
