"Flame Alchemist,"
He snapped out of his mind when hearing that deep chilling eastern accent again. I got a baaaaaaaaad feeling about this, he thought.
"I will give you time to pray to God"
"Alchemists do not believe such things as God."
Rain started to drop, and it did not take long before it got harder. The wind made everyone's sights blurred up. Still, over the breeze, the flame alchemist could hear his subordinates screaming for his name.
Great, of all times, why should I die in such a useless state?
BUMP!
What the…? What is this heavy and sloppy thing on my chest?
"Leeve daddee Roy alone yew blute!"
EDWARD?
He tilted his head, and saw a familiar form that he missed all along – it is Ed!
"Hey you – whoever you are, Ishbal guy! Don't hurt this kid! Fine, you can kill me, but leave this kid alone!"
"I won't hurt this kid. Now step aside, boy!"
"Aaa wont!"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The loud cracking voice in the air startles everyone
"Gunshots"
"Could it be that scarred man?"
"No! He doesn't have a gun! If he does have, he would've used it all along!"
"So it must be one of us, but who would shoot in such weather? I mean who can shoot in such weather?"
The men started to stare at each other, then they all blurted out in unison;
"Hawkeye"
"Not me, gentlemen"
They all stared back to the woman they just stated, and she was not holding any weapons.
"I left all my weapons in the office when I was cleaning them"
They all stared each other again.
"Then who?"
As if nature wants to help answering the soaked up soldiers, the rain started to ease, letting them to see and hear better. But it was worse, because now, the scarred man was gone. They only hear a child crying helplessly…
And a blood-drenched soldier.
"ROY!"
Riza ran straight towards the lieutenant colonel, only to see that two out of three bullets whoever had shoot out awhile ago had made it through his stomach and his back. He was holding Ed in his arms, as if he was trying to protect him from the bullets.
"Roy, are you okay?"
"I…I'm fine. I just don't know what made me got up on the last minute…probably miracle"
"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
Right after someone shouted that out, roars of panic broke out. But, between the crowded voices and footsteps of soldiers here and there, he still heard a soft whisper in his arms.
"…Soiee…"
The loss of blood made Roy fell on the ground. But that didn't made him lose his conciousness yet. He then reaches out his rough soldier hands to the soft cheeks of Ed. His hands is now wet and dirty with tears and blood, but he didn't care. He just didn't want to see him crying right now. Even though it hurts, he tried his best to smile to the little innocent boy.
"Why? It's not your fault…Daddy Roy here is gonna be alright"
The last thing that he remembered was an innocent smile, and as his hands fell away from the little boy's cheeks, soldiers lifted him up on a stretcher and took him away. Then, he sees that the rain had stopped, the shining sun, the mild air after the rain…
And everything went black.
Far, far away from the crowd of Central city, in the deepest and darkest part where nobody would ever come. Everything was pitch black, water went drip-drop-drip-drop, and once or twice you will hear a little squeak-squeak from left and right…until you hear a loud splish-splosh from the corner of the place, along with a torch of fire and a figure of a long-haired guy.
"You're late, Envy." The water suddenly moved, making a form of a woman in black suit.
"Geez, you're not the one who's doing it"
"So how's it going?"
"Big failure. Although I've used the same gun and bullets, but Hawkeye has an alibi. She left her guns at the office back when I shoot Mustang and she got witnesses. Gosh, I just hope those bullets won't kill Mustang… yet."
"Okay, I'm going to inform it to Pride. See you soon"
Meanwhile, back at the upper world of Central…
White.
The first color that he sees as he opened his eyes.
Where…Where is this? Where am I?
He blinked his eyes a few times, as he put his mind trying to remember what happened the last time before he was here.
Oh yeah…that Ishbalan man knocked me off. Ha ha…I must be dead and does this means that I'm in heaven? But wait…nowhere in the bible or whatever it is I used to read says that heaven smells like DISINFECTANT…
He opened his eyes wide, and tilted his body straight. He looked in the room and there was nothing except a white bowl filled with water and towel on his right, and tall stick that hangs a tube filled with liquid which was delivered into his body through a long tube and a needle stuck on his wrist on his left.
Idiot, I'm not dead of course! I'm in a hospital! He said, as he sighed and slapped his forehead, only to fall back again with a pain on his head "OWW!"
He squirmed himself, rolling left and right. He didn't realize there was a wound there until he slapped himself and feel the rough plaster the soft cotton underneath.
"Oh, Mr. Mustang! You're awake!"
He looked up and found a nurse at the door. His grunt must've attracted the nurses passing by his room.
"Um…are you okay?"
"Yeah, aside of the pain on my head everything's fine" he said, as he tilted his body back.
"Then may I do the daily checkups?"
"Sure."
The nurse then unbuttoned his shirt and tucked the thermometer in one of his armpits. As she goes on with the checkups, he tried to remember more about what happened that day before he passed out.
…"I will give you the time to pray to God"…
…BAM! BAM! BAM!...
…"ROY!"...
A soft tug from the nurse when she took out the thermometer snapped him out of his memories. As he watched her writing on his chart, he felt that he almost reached the most important thing, or probably missed it. He rubbed his eyes, trying to gain more consciousness.
"Okay, I'm going to inject your medicine now, sir. Then you can take the pills and rest again," She said, as she took a syringe, injected the medicine in and tingle it to make sure she already put the right amount while he rolled up his shirt on his left. When she wiped the alcohol on his skin, the cold sense that he felt reminds him of dripping water on his skin. Are those raindrops...or tears? He thought. But the sudden sting that he felt made him startled, making a cut across his vein. The nurse put the syringe back on the tray and wiped the cut with alcohol to stop the blood.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to…"
"It's okay, sir. Does it really hurt?"
"No…it's just…I was thinking about something else…"
She then put the cotton away and grabbed the syringe again, ready to inject once more.
"Okay sir, please try not to move"
As the needle went through his skin, he ignored the sting that he felt and watched the liquid being pushed into his body inside the syringe. When the needle was removed, a spot of blood appeared and went down his skin.
…blood?
…rain…tears…and blood…
…a smile…
…big, golden eyes…