Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters and likenesses thereof. This is a fan-made work created purely for entertainment, and I am not in any way affiliated with the author or publishers. In other words: It's not mine! I'm just having fun with it! Thank you to Chibi Hayaku Hashiru for letting me adopt this story!
A/N: Well, this is the end. I hope you enjoy. Thanks muchly to baconinthesoap64, Daku-DarkNess316, InfinityOnTheRun, Simply Complex Mind, foreverforgotten5, colorfulquirkcutieanimefan, Inicol1990, Shandrial and Very Swampeh for your wonderful reviews! Forgive me for the long wait, but moving into college does that to you.
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
She sat in the quiet room alone, alone with the man she loved. It had taken her a long time to admit it, but it was true and it was there. His heart beat under her right fingers. She ran her free hand over his forehead. It was drenched in sweat.
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
He had never woken up after he killed the Fuhrer. That had been six months ago, and each minute that he had not regained consciousness dragged on for what seemed an eternity. So quiet… always so quiet…
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
He twitched suddenly, and she jumped nearly out of her skin. She leaned forward, trying to catch the words she now realized he'd been forming silently for quite some time.
"Hey, hey… No need to cry, Ed. Al will be okay; we'll find him, okay? You said he was still alive. I bet he's waiting for us to find him! He might even be here in one of these rooms. Probably the rest of his armor is broken and he just can't move. Don't worry, we'll find him."
She felt a lump form in her throat. Some trauma is just too much for the soul. It seemed that now his very mind had betrayed him, creating nightmares he would never escape because they were not real.
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
"Don't worry… We'll find him, and maybe we'll go have a picnic. I'll have Fuery make sandwiches and Riza can bring Black Hayate and you can help me carry the basket and we'll all sit down on a big blanket and have a good time! I'll bring Al a kitty to play with and we'll laugh at Breda running from Black Hayate and we'll be just like a family! Riza can be your mommy and I'll be your daddy! How does that sound?"
Tears came into her eyes, pooling at the thought. What a beautiful world her beloved would have envisioned for them. She sighed and wiped her eyes.
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
"Why do you keep calling that thing Al? It's not alive…Why? Inside you? Why would you do that? That's not funny, little alchemist. Stop it… Of course you're not… Now come and help me find him. He's in this building, right? No, he's not, and this is not him either, Ed… Can't do it! Get it into your head, Fullmetal. Al's not in this helmet, and he's not in you… I'm helping you find Al." The once strong man smiled reassuringly, and she felt the little pieces of her heart shattering into her chest cavity, making it hard to breathe.
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
His eyes were open now, but she knew he could not see her. Would he ever see her again? She worked so hard not to burst into tears, focusing, focusing on him, focusing only on him. His expression faded through several emotions one by one, settling finally into confusion.
"No, you didn— I'm sure he just lost his arm… I'm sure he's running around looking for…"
She shuddered, the simplicity of the statements only punctuating the true horrors they implied. What was he seeing? Why was he there? Why wouldn't he come back, back to her? Why? Why?
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
His expression transformed into a white-faced determination, and she could almost see him marching forward the way he used to do, determined to confront the monsters no matter how terrible he might find them to be in the end. She gripped his wrist tighter, holding to the only part of him that she had, feeling the beautiful blood rushing through his veins, keeping him with her, with her…
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
The emotion changed once more, shock and terror, ultimate terror and betrayal and horror, the silent sound of a cracking mind's last gasp. He gasped aloud, mouthing phrases and words and syllables…
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
He screamed, his back arching as he fought the horrors, his eyes wide and staring in horror as he jerked about in the throes of the nightmare. She gasped, clutching his arm as his head fell sideways, his tongue lolling out as he stared glassily ahead into something she would never understand…
Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…
Silence.
"The body cannot live without the mind."
--Morpheus, The Matrix
Review! I hope this took the story to new heights, but I cannot be sure. My apologies to Shandrial for doing that to Roy-boy after she asked me so nicely not to... Please review!