For you I would do anything
To protect you, I would sacrifice everything
And in the end, I would give a part of myself in order to save you.
Roy woke up a couple of minutes later feeling groggy and faint, he was lying on something soft, he opened his beady eyes sleepily and found himself staring into darkness. Well, not really, he was actually staring into the darkness of the blankets he was snuggling in; Roy struggled to sit up and when he did the bed sheets slid off him. Almost immediately, the brightness of the room blinded him, he squinted a little to get some view of where he was and was greeted with a wooden table and on it a jug and a cup, slightly to the right was a sofa and to where he was lying on – a hospital bed.
"Why am I here…" as the words left him, he answered it himself as he looked down to his own body, an IV tube inserted to his hand and a stitch wound at the area where his pelvis bone were located. He peered at the IV bag and caught some hand written words "Leuc donor, 20ml q 1hr", at that moment, some of the memories returned rapidly to him, things that had happened the night before…
"Roy, your bone marrow and blood are compatible to hers…"
"Good, use them then."
"But the risk is too high; we have to perform more testing to ensure that there would not be any unseen problems."
"She is dying in there; you can't expect me to wait!"
"You must wait, at least until the blood final testing is out. I cannot risk my own patient to such danger, do you hear me?"
Roy had pounded the wall next to him exceptionally hard, even though half a night passed since that confrontation, his knuckles was still hurting. His frustration had brought him to the roof, though it was rough, the results that returned was negative; he was cleared and with that relief, he was wheeled into the theater next to where she was.
"Are you feeling alright?"
Roy gave small thumbs up to signal that he was feeling good and closed his eyes; even with anesthesia he could feel a needle piercing his skin through his left arm. But he was no stranger to pain, compared to what he had been through in the war, throughout his career and what she was going through at that moment, this was really a bite of an ant.
"Okay, Roy, we are going to start, you might feel a little ache but it will go away very soon."
He heard the doctor, but the feeling he experienced next was nothing he could imagine. It was as though someone had stabbed him in his waist and was dragging a knife through his skin, he took a deep breath and held his pain in, slowly and surely the ache began to ebb away. He was not sure what was happening to him, Roy caught the doctor brown eyes and with his last strength nodded curtly. His world was knocked black, and it stayed in this manner for a long time.
"I see that you are awake." Roy snapped from his memories. He peered to the door where a person in a white jacket stood; he relaxed when he realized who it was. Dr knox let himself in and closed the door behind him sharply, "You know, your subordinate is a tough cookie." The word subordinate kicked the sleepiness far away from the colonel mind; he had not known what happened to her after the transplant, it was very likely that his worry was showing on his face for Dr knox added wearily; "Don't worry about her, she survived the operation."
"Where is she…?"
"In our observation ward." Dr knox finished simply, "she is having a slight fever, a normal rejection phase…" the colonel had every intention to cut in when he was waved down by the doctor.
"Which is a good thing, initial rejection is good. This shows that her body understands that a foreign body had entered and is trying to get use to the new marrow." Roy's jumping heart calmed down a notch, so she is alright then?
"Once she is feeling better, you can see her." Dr knox said quietly and left the room, leaving a thick wade of files on the colonel's table. "Read those first…" was what he said as the door closed once again.
Roy was wondering what he meant as he opened the first file, the more he read the wider his eyes were.
-Riza Hawkeye diagnosed and confirmed Leukemic, date: 26 September 1989. -
_Occupation: 1st lieutenant Central headquarters, immediate superior: Colonel Roy Mustang-
-Drugs prescribed and instructed, follow up required.-
-Requested for confidentiality protection-
-Riza Hawkeye confirmed chronic Leukemia, date: 18 November 1989 –
- Lung infection and severe fever-
-Previous drug prescribed and instructed, refused admission due to private matters-
-Requested for confidentiality protection-
Riza Hawkeye chronic Leukemia, date: 8 February 1990-
-Rejection of drugs prescribed, new medication and injection given –
-No symptoms reported, bruises seen on left shoulder and arms-
- Refused to be admitted due to private matters-
-Last blood count; reduction and minimal improvement-
-Requested for confidentiality protection-
Roy closed the file and threw them onto the table, she had been suffering all this while and I had no idea? Ever since last year she had been ill and yet I was blind to all of it. Roy had his hands over his eyes; in his mind a single sentence kept repeating "requested for confidentiality protection' the only law existent in medical settings that allow patients to keep their medical records far away from even the military, so she was prepared to keep it away from me even if I had tried to find out. Roy rubbed his eye furiously as they were burning painfully, and her refusal to be admitted to the hospital due to private matters, he know what matters they were. Her job in the office as well as her second job of babysitting him, it was because of him that she did not seek proper treatment early? You are so silly, why did you keep this secret from me? Why wouldn't you let me help you…?
Roy got up from his bed carefully and walked towards the door slowly, he was filled with deep emotions; feelings that he could not describe. A piece of pain, sorrow and indignant mixed together, the ache in his bones summing them. Was he that much useless and unreliable at all?
The colonel had deposited himself on the bench outside his room, when he heard a voice. "Colonel Mustang!" He looked to his right and noticed a dark hair woman making her way to him. Her close friend.
Roy decided to great the woman first, "Rebecca…"
"You saved her…Thank you…" was the spark that made him erupt uncontrollably; it felt as though he was the only person in the world who did not know about her illness. "You knew?" His tone was reasonably calm as he spat the words out.
Rebecca smile disappeared as quickly as it came; she clasped her hands over her mouth.
Roy faked a grin, "I wonder why she would not bother to tell me anything…even though I knew her since young…she still thinks I am unreliable…"
"No, Riza does not think that you are unreliable, it is just that..."
"Just that what?" Roy had not meant his tone to be ugly, but he could not conceal his feelings any longer. "I read those letters from Edward, and the cards from my other subordinate, the gifts from Gracia, they all knew about her illness…"
"Riza" Rebecca tone was much higher "did not want them to find out either, they just found out by themselves…"
"And I did not realize it until that single moment she fell in front of me…" Roy finished, I am really useless as your superior huh? As friends as well…
"Sir…" But Roy waved it aside, he left Rebecca standing there. It was guilt that was eating his heart; he just took her for granted…as usual…