A/N: So I know it's been 5 months. I can't tell you what happened. This last chapter was just supposed to be a short epilogue, wrapping everything up, so I don't know why it gave me so many problems. I'm glad I finished it before the new year at least. Please excuse mistakes, I was rushing to get to my final. Warnings for discussion of suicide.

Chapter 10: Epilogue

"You're sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes."

"Call me if you need to."

"Mustang, seriously. Al and I are fine."

It was Roy's first day back at work. Edward had been doing well, but the Colonel still felt on edge about leaving the boys alone in his house. He knew it didn't make sense to feel that way. They had been on their own before, they weren't infants.

And yet...

"Alphonse, call me if you have any trouble."

"Yes, Colonel."

"Hey! I'm not going to do anything!"

"I know, I know. I'll be back early."

"Just go already!" Edward waved him off, before turning away to finish his breakfast at the kitchen table.

Roy was surprised by the heavy feeling in his chest as he left for the office. He knew Edward would be fine. He knew Al would call him if there were any problems.

But still...

The worry settled there in his heart and he sighed against the feeling pressing against his lungs.

Edward would be fine.

"Working through lunch?" Hughes asked as he entered Roy's office without knocking. Mustang nodded without looking up from the mind-numbing form he was signing.

"I finish this and I can leave early; before Ed destroys my house."

"I'm sure they're doing fine."

Mustang nodded, giving a noncommittal grunt before he moved onto a new set of forms. He was just beginning to sign his name, when Maes pulled up the spare chair and slowly eased down into it.

That wasn't a good sign.

"Something happened." Roy put his pen down. "Are you being suspended?"

"No, nothing like that." Hughes waved his hand through the air. "I have a written warning in my file. They're not suspending me now over a punch. Seems I've fallen into the good graces of some of the higher ups."

"Well, you did catch a serial killer not long ago."

"That should keep me out of trouble for at least another few months."

Roy sighed, eyeing the large envelope that he had noticed Hughes had in his hand. Nothing good ever happened when his friend brought him files on a lunch break.

"What is that?" Roy finally asked, motioning to the envelope.

"It's a copy of the coroner's report for Sam Barringer."

"Why do you have that?"

"Well, you told me you thought he killed himself, you said that Ed thinks he killed himself... So I looked into it. The report came in this morning."

"I suppose you had to cash in a few favors to get it." Roy said as he reached for the file. Hughes shrugged and handed the envelope over.

"Small favors," Maes muttered and he sighed. "You can read through it, but... Well, it doesn't look like suicide, but it doesn't paint a pretty picture."

Roy grunted, scanning his eyes down the document.

"The strychnine was given to him to treat breathing problems he was complaining of. He didn't take very much. I mean, he did take too much, but he left over half the bottle. If he was really intent on ending things, why would he leave most of the pills? It looks more like he took a double dose on accident."

"He was drunk." Roy said flatly as he set the report down on his desk. There had been proof of alcohol consumption on the scene and in his blood.

"Yes, reportedly, he had a bit of an issue with that."

The Colonel shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

They both went silent for a long moment. Roy frowned deeply and tapped his fingers on his desk.

"Roy..." Maes started. "If you think it will help Edward, you can tell him about this. Tell him it wasn't on purpose. It just... happened."

Roy stared long and hard at the cause of death.

Accidental poisoning.

"He was too damn young," Roy said under his breath.

"What?" Maes asked, tilting his head to one side.

"They're all too damn young," Roy snapped, abruptly standing from his seat. Something that Mustang had been barely holding together for weeks, or maybe even months, finally snapped in his chest. He needed to leave. He couldn't stand to sit still a second longer. "I'm going home."

"Wait, Roy." Maes grabbed the file from the desk. "Wait a second."

Mustang had already grabbed his overcoat from the coat rack and he was moving towards the door.

"I'm done. I'm done today, Maes."

"Roy, hang on," Hughes grabbed his friend's shoulder, forcing him to face him. "What's going on with you?"

Mustang bit back a retort. He didn't know what was going on with him. All he knew was that the pain in his chest had spiked into something else and he felt like his lungs were being crushed. Something about the coroner's report had set something dark and suffocating loose in his mind.

How easily could his own name fit on the top of that report? How close had the name 'Edward Elric' almost been penned into a document like that?

He was so sick of having nightmares about that.

He couldn't do this anymore today, he needed to go home, check on Ed, make sure he was breathing and alive, alive, alive.

Hughes' fingers dung into Roy's shoulders as he pulled his friend into an embrace.

"Just breathe, Roy."

That was ridiculous, he was breathing... Wasn't he? He felt lightheaded and a burning in his lungs. The Colonel took a deep shuddering breath as he forced air into lungs. He dropped his overcoat to the floor and brought his hands up to clench Maes' jacket in shaking hands.

When had the world become this big? When had he started to fall apart?

"Breathe, I'm sorry. I should have told you I was going to get the coroner's report."

Maybe he had never really been put together in the first place.

"I'm fine, Maes," Roy forced out, though his voice shook and betrayed him. He pushed himself away from his friend, though he still grasped Maes' shoulders, grounding himself. "It's been a long few weeks."

"It's been a long lifetime," Hughes smiled sadly.

Roy huffed out a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I will tell Edward about the report. Maybe it will help him," Mustang said finally as he stooped to pick up his overcoat.

"Want me to go with you?"

"No, I can handle it."

Maes beamed at him and Roy sighed, realizing Hughes was acting pleased with him again. Honestly, did Maes have to be that way every time Roy did something vaguely parental?

"I'm really proud of you, Roy."

"All right, enough of that." The Colonel turned and headed out of his office.

Hughes followed him out with that grin on his face the whole time.

Edward went still and didn't say anything when Mustang told him the results of the coroner's report. He had sat Ed down on the couch and asked Alphonse to wait in the other room, though he suspected the younger brother was listening in on the conversation.

"Edward, did you hear me? It wasn't a suicide-"

"You're sure?"

"It doesn't seem like it. It really seemed like an accident."

"You're telling me the truth?"

"Yes. I am telling you the truth. Why-"

"You're not just making stuff up to try to make me feel better?" Edward was staring at him with a sharp intensity.

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Because you would do something like that."

Because it was something a kind person would do. And the Colonel, though he was a bastard, was kind.

"I am telling you the truth. Trust me."

Ed blinked and then nodded.

Not a suicide. But still horrible. Still unfair.

It still hurt.

Ed angrily wiped at his eyes. The Colonel cautiously slipped one arm around his shoulder and Edward wished he hadn't, because it made it worse. Tears spilled down his cheeks and he buried his face into his hands.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. Why did everything have to be so damn hard? Why?

Not fair.

"I know, I know." Roy muttered, patting Edward's back. Ed was mortified that he had been actually talking out loud. "It isn't. You're right. It isn't fair."

They stayed like that for a long time, until Al couldn't keep away any longer and came into the room to offer his own quiet reassurances. They stayed close together, huddled in Mustang's living room until Edward was breathing easily again and the tears were gone from his face.

Roy announced he would make dinner and he left the brothers alone for a while.

"Thank you," Edward said later over his plate of food. Roy nodded.

"Eat the vegetables," the Colonel muttered. Ed rolled his eyes, but stabbed at his peas with a fork.

Slowly but surely, they were going to be alright.

It would come as a surprise when they woke up the next morning to find that they had endured sleep without any nightmares.

While he lay awake in bed that following morning, Roy breathed in and out, listening to the noises of the brothers fill his home.

A feeling of contentment filled his chest.

It felt like peace.

The end.

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and supporting me while I wrote this. I appreciate all the follows and reviews. I hope everyone has a great day!