Screaming.
So much screaming.
It was as if a banshee had escaped Hell and pierced his ears with screams.
The screaming was also broken up with cries of a name. Not really a name but a word. It meant something to Edward, although he didn't want to open his eyes. It was too scary. The word suddenly turned into a coded message but Edward was so scared that he couldn't figure it out. He cowered in the corner, holding himself and wishing someone would come and save him. Suddenly, the screaming stopped and he finally opened his eyes. He looked around for a little bit, cold air blowing through wherever he was when he spotted a pile in the corner on the ground. After staring at it for a few moments, Edward crawled over to it and looked inside.
"Edward! Edward! Wake up!"
Edward woke up, finding himself sweating and breathing hard. Riza was looking at him with worry.
"Edward?"
He turned to her and launched into her arms, burying his face into her chest.
"What happened?" She asked softly.
He shuddered, trying to catch his bearings. The nice blonde lady was here. Roy's jacket was about him... He was safe..."
"Scary dream..." He mumbled.
Riza smiled and touched his head softly.
"Will you be alright?"
He nodded, not wanting to leave from the comfort of having her so near.
Riza smiled and pushed him from her to look at him.
"You need to get some sleep, Edward, you have a big day tomorrow. You'll need to be good and rested."
He lifted his head a little.
"What does edward mean?"
"What do you mean? It's your name." Riza said with a bit of concern. "Why do you ask?"
"The people have been calling me that but I didn't know what it was... I didn't know I had a name."
"Everyone has names... What did they call you in that place?"
"Jin Wawa... Mr. Tang said it meant 'golden child'."
"I see... If you didn't know what Edward was then why did you act like you did?" She asked, genuinely curious about the decision to take on a name he mentally seemed to not understand.
"I... I just... I didn't wanna make him mad! The black haired man that came to the place. He... He kept calling me that and when I acted like l knew what he was saying, he didn't yell at me." He looked away. "I just didn't want you to hurt me..."
The explanation seemed clear enough, given the circumstances. He'd been conditioned to seek the path of least pain, doing whatever it took to keep himself alive and away from affliction. If answering to a name he'd didn't know got favorable results and no pain, why wouldn't he go along with it?
"Are you mad at me?" He asked tears in his eyes and a pleading look. "I won't ask again. Honest. Please don't hurt me..."
Riza sighed and reached to pull him to her. He flinched but she gathered him in her arms and pulled him into her lap. He looked up as she moved a hair out of her face.
"I could never be mad and I would never hurt you. None of us would hurt you."
"Even... Even the black haired man?"
"Most definitely him. He would never, ever hurt you. He wants to help you, just like me. He wants to save you."
Edward thought about it for a moment and sunk into her arms as well as the jacket.
"Edward is my name?"
"Edward Elric. We didn't make it up or anything."
He looked up quizzically. "What's your name?"
"Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."
Edward's eyes brightened and for the first time since his rescue, he laughed.
"That's a funny name."
As soon as his mouth upturned into a smile, as if he'd been stung, he gasped and immediately stopped. He looked away and fighter in Riza's lap.
"I- I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I promise."
"It's alright, Edward, it's perfectly alright to laugh."
He looked at her tentatively. He'd heard things like this before and he'd been foolish enough to believe it. But this was the nice blonde lady... She would never be that cruel... Right?
"It... It's okay?"
"Of course."
He nodded, although still not trusting the news. He'd believe it when he saw it.
"My name is Edward?"
"Or Ed."
"And you're Lieutenant?"
"That's my rank. My first name is Riza."
"Riza... I like that."
Riza slid down to lay back.
"I like it too."
"Does... Does the nice black haired man have a name?"
Riza hesitated. She didn't want to dismiss Roy but telling Edward that his name was Roy seemed like bad idea. She feared he would go off the deep end again and she had made so much progress in so little time...
"You can call him Colonel."
"Oh..." He yawned and snuggled up to her. "I'm sleepy."
As if on cue, he fell asleep almost instantly.
Roy woke up to the smell of breakfast and mumbled something in his sleep before opening his eyes. He sat up and although there was a crick in his neck from sleeping on the couch, the sleep had definitely rejuvinated his mind and body. He stretched a little and leaned on the back of the couch, trying to wake up.
"Good morning, Colonel." Riza said.
He looked over at her in the doorway.
"Morning... where's Ed?"
"Uh..."
"Rar!" He said, popping up from behind the couch.
Roy looked over in surprise and Edward smiled. It was the first time Roy had seen him smile since he was rescued and his heart swelled.
"Were you scared?"
"Most definitely."
"I'm a goat! Rar!"
Roy looked at Riza and she shrugged.
"Not aure about that one. He just decided that on his own."
"Are you gonna eat with us, Colonel?" Edward asked.
Roy looked at Riza again and she moved her head from him to follow her into the kitchen.
"Uh, yeah, I am." He said, anseering Edward's question as he followed Riza.
Edward watched them curiously.
"He called me Colonel... Does he know?"
"No. He was asking about names last night and asked ehat ours were. I figured it was easier and less detrimental if I said your name was Colonel. If ehat you say is right about his recognition, then insisting you wefe someone he believes you aren't would have only caused issues, I'm sure."
"Agreed..." Roy watched Edward as he crawled on the floor in his play. "He looks like a regular kid."
"His mind is free to do what it wants without fear of being tortured in one way or another."
Riza walked over to the stove and looked in the pot of boiling water.
"Eggs should be done soon. Seeing him so happy almost makes me want to not have Copplestone talk to him."
"True, but we need apprehend those black market men. The fact that they think they can steal children and get away with it needs to be addressed. We also have to get Ed back to normal somehow. He's not a four year old boy, but a teenager. I mean, what about alchemy?"
"I've been trying about all that too. It's just... after seeing him so broken and now that he's halfway decent, making him remember seems cruel."
"I know what you mean but... we have to. I also need to look up those abbreviations again. Now that I'm clear headed, I can finally *think*."
"This will be a long road."
"True."
Edward ran in and hid behind Riza.
"Riza, Riza! There's a black haired man outside! Don't let him take me!"
Riza and Roy looked at each other when there was a knock at the door. Roy got up and opened it, finding Maes.
"Oh, it's you."
"Who'd you think? How's Ed?"
"Very well, actually. Quite lively."
Maes smiled bright, knowing how much Roy had waited for that.
"I'm so happy for you!"
"You'll have to be cautious though because he's afraid of your hair."
"Ah, I see."
He walked in as Riza came in with Edward clinging to her tightly.
"Morning, Lieutenant Colonel."
"Morning."
Edward peeked from Riza's chest and looked at Maes with curious eyes. He looked back at Riza.
"He got the same name."
"It's a little different. That's Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, or just Maes."
Edward watched Maes for a moment.
"Is he a nice black haired man too?"
"He's even nicer than me." Roy said with a small smile.
Edward's eyes widened, looking at Roy.
"Even nicer than you?" He said, seeming truly astonished.
Maes' heart went out to him, seeing how amazed an act of kindness seemed to him. The fact that these emotions were so foreign to him now when he used to have problems just keeping them at bay before -not wanting people to even know he had them- just made the scenario that much more heart wrenching.
"Yup, he's ten times nicer than me." Roy added.
Edward turned to stare at Maes in awe and Roy smiled.
"I promise that here, a lot of black haired people are nice. They would never hurt you. Not while I'm here anyway."
"Or me."
"Or me. We won't let anyone ever hurt you like that again, Ed."
Edward gasped, looking at Riza. "He knows my name!"
"Of course I do, we're friends."
"Friends?" He thought for a second and looked at sheepishly at Riza. "What are those?"
Riza smiled, putting her forehead to his. "They're people who care about you and will protect you always."
Edward seemed to understand.
"Roy is my friend." Roy stiffened at his name. "He must be because he always protects me!"
Roy looked away and Edward smiled, seeming pleased to have made the connection. He looked at Maes' military uniform and suddenly became serious. He looked at his 'new' friends and then went back to the uniform. He had Roy's jacket... He looked quizzically at Riza.
"Riza, Roy is my friend, right?"
"Of course. He's more than that though."
"He'd cross deserts for you... Never sleep if anything ever happened to you..." Roy said quietly.
"You know him?" He asked.
"Yeah... Pretty well."
He looked straight at him and turned his head.
"Then where is he? Where's Roy?"
Aaaaand lets put another knife wound in Roy's heart.
Sorry if it was short but we needed a little bit of rainbows and starlight before things could get stormy. Eds recovery is actually not quick but more like his brain is breathing haha.
and I don't know why Ed thinks goats roar. Why shouldn't there? They're kinda weird...