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Chapter 8 - Gone


Day 6


(Roy's POV)

An echo swirled emptily through Roy's temporary office.

His old covered in his subordinary's.

"Come in." Roy weakly said, Riza sitting next to him at one of the four desks in the small room, the room large enough for a team of four... If he had that many men left...

Al's large armor echoed into the room, "Colonel..." He spoke sheepishly, unsure of how to approach the situation. "I... I heard..." His huge metal fingers fiddling with each other as he spoke, "I-I'm sorry..."

Silence devoured the room for a few moments.

"You're here because of you brother...?"

Al nodded.

"Sit down. I have some news..."

The child hesitated before taking a seat in front of the desk. If he could have paled, Al would have.

If Roy could pale anymore, feel more guilt, experience more nightmares or have any more sleepless nights, he would have. A thousand times over.

"This is hard for us to tell you..." Roy paused, Riza taking the opportunity to take over.

"We know you love your brother. We all care very much for Edward." She paused, neither herself or Roy wanting to tell Al about Ed. These boys already have gone to hell and lived. But only had they done it together. The moment they were torn apart they will break. Ed already broken, they just didn't want to break Al, "We haven't stopped trying to help Edward... But we found where they were keeping your brother."

"Were?" Al sounding unimpressed and highly worried, "Like passed tense?"

"Yes," Roy said flatly

"We found... Chimera transmutation circles." Riza let her words sit in the thick air.

"Chimera..." Al echoed back, "Have you found, Brother?" Al strongly said back.

"I've seen him." Roy's eyes drifting to Al's left.

"Was he... the one who...?" Al losing his voice in the echo of the void his soul took refuge in.

The silence answered Al's question.

"Can we help him?"

"We can try." Roy said with determination, "We have to. I can't lose another..." Roy's normal confidence swept away into the void of darkness that was his mind.

Silence filled the room.

Roy stood, "Let's get to work." Al standing and following Roy out of the room hearing from behind them as flesh hit metal with an echoed thump.

"You took that very maturely, Alphonse. We'll find your brother. I promise." Riza's honey comfort voice melting both his and Al's guilt for a moment. But only for a moment as the thought of his subordinary's would haunt his closed eyelids.


(Al's POV)

"Here." Roy passed Al the small rectangle box. "This should knock Fullmetal out for a few hours. Long enough for us to get him back to my place and for Doctor Knox to look him over for any injures."

Al simply nodded, "So we plan to just walk around and hope Brother finds you?"

"It may not seem like the most intelligent plan... But we can't forget Edward is fully focused on the Colonel and myself. It's all he can think of... This will work, Alphonse." Riza ensured, "Trust us, please. We'll find your Brother and help him."

All Al could do was trust them.

Trust.

Hope.

Determination.

That was all Al had left...

The three started their steady walk around Central, Al keeping a few meters back, trying to keep out of Ed's sight. Hopefully.

Al heard the odd word of the others conversation, something about 'funerals' drifted into his ear. All of Roy's subordinary's but two had died, one of those had killed them all. Yet he still strives to help him, even after all the pain he has caused. All the times Ed had called him a 'Bastard' and accused him of being heartless... He was wrong in so many ways.

They took a left down an alleyway. They had done this many times. Ed had killed everyone in the privacy of the public, he was still sane enough to understand that if someone saw him attacking people, it would be harder for him to continue his 'revenge'.

Al kept at the corner, not entering the alleyway until the two reached the other end. Then he heard it.

The thunk when shoes met the ground, echoed in the empty alleyway. Muttering filling the spaced surrounding them.

Roy and Riza spun around to meet the slowly approaching chimera. Riza brought her gun up, Roy pointed his gloved hand, Al froze, standing in the entrance, box in hand, unprepared.

"Brother?..." Al spoke quietly as if he would spook this wild animal if he spoke too loud. Ed paused his motion and mutters, "Is that you, Brother?"

Ed spun around and paused just to look at him, almost skeptical. He was covered in blood, his face, his arms, hand hands... His whole body was covered in thick dried blood. Both his own and others. His fists clenched in a tight hold, Al was sure he was drawing blood, but you wouldn't be able to tell if he was. His breathing was thick like his throat was full of blood, horsed and rasped like he hadn't drunk in weeks. His eyes covered by his blood covered bangs of hair, when you saw them, black holes in place of his eyes. Nightmares playing in the darkness. Distant and almost dead. He limped as he walked from the bullet Riza shot him with the day before. His left arm slightly limp from the bullet days before.

Al took a step, the echo filling the space Ed's muttering left open.

"Brother?" Al took another step.

"A-Al...?" Ed's legs became weak and he began to shake, he unclenched his blood covered hands, "Alphonse..." Tears welled in his now brightened eyes as his legs finally gave out.

Al ran to his brother, catching him in his metal arms. Ed violently sobbed into Al, "It's okay Brother. I'm here now Brother." Al hushing his brother.

The box forgotten on the floor beside them, but not forgotten by Riza.

Al stroked the back of his brothers head as Riza got the needle, Al catching the movement in the corner of his eye.

He positioned his brother in a more accessible and comfortable position than what he landed in, a sharp intake of a sob come from Ed. He now laid on his back, sitting on his brother's arms, "It's okay Brother. I've got you now. Shh. It'll be alright. We're here to help you." He gently rocked his sobbing brother. Riza slowly inserted the needle into Ed's arm as Al spoke, Ed not seeming to notice this. He seemed to be in such amounts of pain that he couldn't feel the needle go in, just another pinch of pain through his aching, bruised, broken, ripped body.

Al hushed Ed some more as the sobbing became quieter and he was finally knocked out.

Roy still standing where he stopped, his hands now by his side. Riza crouching next to the two boys, her hand on Ed's shoulder, "He'll be alright. We should get moving. We only have a few hours... He doesn't look in good shape. Doctor Knox will need a lot of time with him."

"Yeah... Alright... I-I'm just worried... About, Brother..." He looked down at his now unconscious brother.

"He's covered in blood..." Roy muttered in disgust and fear behind them.

"Roy!" Riza wailed, "Don't! You're going to frighten Alphonse!" She was now standing near Roy, whacking his arm, "We need to get moving. Let's go."

Al's armor groaned as he lifted his brother carefully. Ed still painfully groaned at the movement, "Sorry," Al muttered.


(Riza's POV)

"I don't know how all of this has happened..." Doctor Knox said as he moved his hand over the unnatural wings that broke out of the child's back, "How many times did you say you shot him? Where?"

"Once. In the leg." Riza replied quickly, she hated the fact that she ever did, shown clearly on her face.

"We'll he's been shot twice. One in the leg, yours. And another in his shoulder. Who shot him the first time?" The doctor questioned.

"When he attacked Victoria, that women I found, who Maes questioned. She was with two other men, dead... They must have... In defense." Roy spoke from his far position from the wall.

"What about all of the torn skin." They all stayed silent, "The broken bones. The internal bleeding. He's been coughing up blood for god sake! What happened to this boy?!" Knox stood in rage, no child should be in all of the pain Ed was in. "He has wings! Who turned him into a-a what are they called... Those alchemy things."

"Chimera," Roy said simply.

"Yeah that... Who would do this!? To a child? 'Cause they did a crap job at putting him back together. I should give them a word or two... If they weren't dead... He's torn and broken up inside..." Knox sat back heavily down on the chair next to bed, rubbing his face with his hand. "I'm not sure I can do anything for him." He quickly interrupted himself before anyone else could, "But that won't stop me from trying. Leave me alone with Edward. I'll see what I can do. I'll do all I can."

Knox shooed them all out of the room, Al staying silent the whole time.

His silence digging into her heart.

"Knox is a good Doctor. He'll help your brother all he can. I'm sure about that." She told Alphonse.

"But will that be enough?..." Al's question filling the empty air.


(Ed's POV)

The first thing that dragged Ed from his blissful rest was the pain. A lot of pain. His adrenaline fuelled rage had past and now all he could feel was the pain.

His leg burned, his shoulder ached, his back pulsed, his whole body sore from strain.

He loudly groaned and heard fogged and blocked speech above him. Soon followed by a flush of numbness, which lasted only a moment before it lessened. But it was better.

He laid for a while, waking up his drowsy mind from its bliss. Words around him became clearer, the pain became more centered in locations he knew to be injured from memory.

He heard his name a few times, followed by what sounded like explanations or descriptions of actions.

He groaned in annoyance. He wanted to know where he was, what was going on, he wanted to be up.

"He's starting to come around." He heard someone say, "I've done all I can for now. I'll need to check him when he wakes up and is calm enough to sit still. I've got him attached to an IV. Painkillers, nutrients the works."

"How long until he wakes up?" An inpatient voice interjected.

"Soon. It's hard to know. If you're worried, go sit with him. Talk to him, that'll help. Just call me when he wakes up, alright."

"Thank you."

"We can't thank you enough." Another voice spoke.

Footsteps wandered in and out of the room, an echoed metal pair came towards him.

A cold hand slipped into his and he heard, "Please wake up, Brother." Quietly spoken to him.

He scrunched his eyes closed further and groaned again, his head shifting to the side, towards the voice.

The hand squeezed tighter around his and he squeezed back.

"He's waking up, Riza," Was that Al?..., "Colonel."

Ed jerked violently at the name, painful memories uprooting in his dark mind, behind his closed eyelids.

"Calm down, Brother." He heard the echoed voice sooth him.

"Will he be calm when he wakes up?" He heard spoken over him.

"We can calm him down if he isn't. It was easy enough in the alleyway."

"Yeah."

Ed interrupted them with another groan. His eyes dancing under his eyelids as he attempted to open up his eyes. His eyes finally fluttering open drowsily, "Al...?" He asked with his quiet rasp voice, with no reply he tried again, "Al...?" Squeezing the hand he held, he got a response.

"Brother! You're awake! How are you feeling?" His words full of excitement and worry.

All Ed could manage was a smile and, "Been better." He was sure his smile was drowsily placed on his face.

"Doctor Knox is going to come in and ask you some questions and look over you."

Ed groaned at Al's statement.

"I know you hate doctors brother. But he needs to look over you."

"Yeah-yeah..." He muttered.

A pair of footsteps come to his bed. Opening his eyes to see a flashlight cover his vision. He snapped his eyes shut and groaned.

"I need your eyes open, Edward." Knox stated coldly, "Just a few thing I need to check. Just bare with me." Knox said with a bit more compassion.

He opened his eyes once more and squinted slightly at the light. The light shooting in and out of his vision.

"Now follow my finger with your eyes for me." His finger dragged into his vision. Ed was able to follow it until it changed direction, from left to right, when Ed lost it. "I'm going to poke you. Tell me if it hurts, alright."

"Seems unprofessional..." Ed muttered before he was poked, "Ow. Hurts." The taste of iron started to line his mouth, "Ow. Hurts. Ow. Hurts. Ow. Hurts." Knox pushed his finger lightly into just below his heart and he wailed with pain, he shot up in the bed he laid on. His head finding the edge of the bed. Blood flowing up, burning the back of his throat, iron coating his tongue before shooting past his teeth and onto the floor. He felt the acid burn at his digestion track as he panted over the bed's edge. He took light quick breaths until he started to hear someone's voice.

"Deep breaths, Edward. Deep, slow breaths."

Ed following the instructions, still bent over the bed, panting and sucking in air, slowing his breaths.

Ed thinking it was over became unprepared when the second flood of iron rushed upwards. Forcing its way past his throat, leaving a burning sensation in its wake as it landed on the floor with a mix of red and green.

His vision swayed and blurred until his gasping became deep slow breaths like instructed. Tears running down his face, gasping hiccups every few breaths.

"Are you done?" He heard over him.

He shook his head 'yes'. Tears still turning down his face. Exhaustion making his body limp in someones arms.

He felt someone lift his upper body from over the bed to sitting, curled up, on something warm and upright. Someone's lap.

His mind drifted away from that fact as he sobbed and hiccuped and he drifted to sleep hearing, "He'll be alright. You have a strong brother." Ed just wished it was true. Why would he have gone insane if he was strong? Whoever called him strong didn't know the meaning. Being strong in Ed's scene was a 24/7 role and he was not. Not even close.


(Roy's POV)

Roy couldn't even look at the child that laid in Riza's lap, fast asleep from drugs, blood loss and exhaustion.

How could he look at the kid?! He'd killed his men.

He was a kid, Roy understood that... But he was a monster... It wasn't until he really looked at the kid that he resisted how much of monster he was.

The blood that originally coated the child just stuck in his memory, along with the corpses of his men when he closed his eyes.

The first order of Doctor Knox was to clean the kid off. He couldn't 'work with all of that mess. I can't see an inch of the boy. Wash him off, change his clothes.'

But Roy didn't touch his subordinary. Has bearly looked at the kid since he was washed and cleaned.

Once Knox had finished his first look at Ed he had gone out of the room with him. He couldn't stand the sight of the chimera.

Knox noticed, "Why don't you look at him?" As he lit his cigarette.

"He killed my men," Roy said solidly.

"Isn't he one of your men?" Taking an intake of smoke.

"That makes it worse."

Blowing out his smoke as he said, "He's just a kid."

"He's a soldier."

"He's a kid solider, Roy. He couldn't handle the trauma the transmutation applied to his body. He's blaming it on all he could think of. He's insane Roy. You can't be unforgiving about that?!" Knox questioning Roy's moral compass.

Roy just closed his eyes, "I still can't..."

"You need to look past it... He's just a kid. He needs a support network. Other than those two." He heard Knox take a deep breath of smoke and let it put before he continued, "He looks up to you. He'll need you." He paused, "But not Colonel Mustang. He needs Roy. And he's Edward, not Fullmetal."

Knox was right.

But Roy still wouldn't be able to look the kid in the eyes... Not for a long time.

A killer wasn't his subordinary...

But definitely, Ed was.