Hey, all. Wow I haven't updated in a long, long time. I'm super sorry, I used to read stories that hadn't been updated in months and I'd say, "Ugh, I sure as heck won't be that way!"
And lookie here what I've done! Again, so sorry!!
Anyway, Disclaimer: I own nothing except my plot.
This is not Beta'd so, it's going to have some mistakes. ( I really just want to get this out there)
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Roy watched in silent horror as the doctors rushed to get Ed's heart to start beating once more. It seemed to pass in slow motion.
Doctor's jaws moving up and down beneath the thin paper masks with long strides, holding out their hands as nurses dropped and picked up bottles and tools trying to get the supplies to the doctors as soon as possible, and Ed's now very fragile looking body being poked and prodded with needles. As terrible as it was to watch, Roy couldn't look away. It was like watching a train wreck; so horrible, yet you can't look away or do anything about it. One doctor whipped his head around to the monitor as his eyebrows drew together and his jaw moved once more and two large black rectangles were placed in his hands. He rubbed then together as another doctor nodded. Roy winced as Ed's chest reacted to the contact and convulsed upward.
Bringing his hand up to stifle a sob, watched as his chest came up again. By the time Ed had hit the table Roy had turned on his heel and raced down the steps. He flung the door wide open as a nurse hollered at him. Roy ran down the too bright hallway and out the doors into the now pouring rain. Roy pulled up his hood as he stepped onto the side walk and just started to walk. He didn't know why but he just had to.
Rain had this cunning ability to show up at the most dismal of times.
Heavy sheets of rain showered down as the wind screamed and whistled. Roy pulled his coat around himself tighter as he shivered as the icy wind made its way through the fabric of his clothing. It was rains like this one that reminded him of Hughes. He'd lost his best friend not that long ago it seems and now he'd lost…
Roy hit his knees and bent forward resting his head in his hands; his breathing erratic and his eyes pouring rain of their own.
Ed was gone. There was nothing, nor anyone left for him. What about Al? God, he'd die without Ed and he'd be to blame for that as well. This was all his fault.
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Meanwhile…
pushed the defibrillator onto Ed's chest a fourth time, going around the opening in his chest and swore.
"Damn it, Regina; amp it up!"
"1500 volts, Doctor."
For a fifth time, he brought the plates down onto Ed's chest and watched as the line on the monitor remained flat. He swore again.
"…I'm going to call it." sighed, handing the plates to another nurse.
Yanking down his mask he exhaled and pulled up his sleeve revealing a small watch.
"5:04 PM on the date of-"
He was cut off by the sound of the monitor beeping. Astonished, he held up a hand, halting the person writing the time of death. He looked down at Ed; amber eyes closed and mouth taped open. He watched as the line bumped up and down.
"What's his vitals look like?" he asked the young nurse by the screen.
"Temperature is 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit, BPM is 86, and blood pressure is 115/75."
Blinking multiple times he breathed, "Uhm, Alright, Team, let's finish this up."
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Drenched, Roy Returned to the hotel room, he and Ed had once shared about an hour after dark. His felt his lip tremble as he looked at Ed's suitcase. He trekked into the bathroom, flicked on the light and looked in the mirror.
A practically middle-aged man with thin black hair and empty deep blue eyes stared back at him. He frowned. He brought his hands to his face and stared back into the mirror. He pointed both of his index fingers at his face and put them at the corners of his mouth. He pushed upwards making a distorted, fake smile. He let his hands drop and watched as the smile quickly faded into a frown again. He sighed; would he ever be able to smile again?
Roy turned away from the mirror, unable to stare at the pitiful man in the reflection any longer. Sluggishly, Roy undressed, his clothes flopping heavily against the floor. He stepped in over to the shower and turned on the water. He watched it run for a little while, just staring, as steam started to roll off the heavy stream as it gushed out of the spout. He turned the dial that turned the shower head on and stepped in. The water burned his skin slightly turning it red upon contact, yet, he didn't react. Roy slumped against the cheap tile wall and realized that he must be going into shock, that, or a rather deep depression, he couldn't decide. Though he realized this, he couldn't bring himself to care. His mind was numb; he couldn't even think about anything.
Pulling himself forward, he grabbed a small complementary bottle of shampoo that was described to smell like mint melon. He poured a small amount in his hand and ran it gingerly through his hair and rubbed it in until his head was just a bubbly mess. Sighing, he stepped under the overly hot stream of water and tipped his head back. He hissed as the water burned his scalp but still stood there until the suds were no more. He glanced at the matching bottle of conditioner, contemplating on whether or not to use it and decided against it. Instead, he grabbed for the soap and scrubbed down his whole body and rinsed himself off. Feeling his cleanliness was satisfactory; he turned the water off and snatched the towel from the towel rack. He wrapped it loosely around his waist and stepped out into the hotel room.
All of his movements seemed like they took more time, like he was measuring the effect each one would have. He sat down on his bed and rested his elbows on this knees; head in his hands.
Ed had lied. He said everything would be okay; that'd it'd be fine. Nothing was okay, nothing is fine! He's gone. Roy clenched his teeth together, angry. Ed hadn't known this, why did he say that? He didn't want Roy to worry? Maybe he had known it wouldn't be okay and he just wanted Roy to except this after the fact? Had he been keeping Roy in mind the whole time? Thinking of this, Roy's anger dissipated and he started to cry. Lifting his head from his hands, he went over to his suit case and pulled out a pair of boxers, slipping them on. Wiping a hand across his cheeks, he sniffled and walked over to Ed's belongings. He grabbed a piece of clothing, not really bothering to see what it was. He brought it up to his face and inhaled. He could imagine Ed walking in and freaking out:
What the hell, Mustang!? What are you doing with my clothes?
Roy smiled sadly and felt more tears well up in his eyes as he realized it could never happen since he was…
Mustang dropped the fabric back into the case and went over to his bed and got under the thick material of the hotel blankets. He sighed. He just wanted to go to sleep; escape into oblivion. But sleep would not fall upon him. He tossed and turned for sometime
Huffing a breath, Roy threw back the covers and over to his own suit case. He reached into the rather large side pocket in which he kept most of his toiletries. Bending down, he dug around in the pocket, feeling his way around it looking for something specific.
His eyebrows rose in recognition and he pulled out a bottle of sleep aids. They had been prescribed to him when Hughes had died and he had a very hard trouble sleeping. The nightmares had plagued him; Hughes dying, scenario after scenario. The pills just blocked everything out, most of the time he'd wake up confused or disorientated, but it was better than the nightmares. He had brought them, thinking Ed would be rather loud or find some way to keep him awake, this was a professional mission and a man needed his sleep.
Now he was taking these pills not just to block Ed out but to block everything out.
He dropped two pills into his hands, the recommended dosage, and popped them into his mouth swallowing them dry. He rolled the bottle in his hands and the thought of suicide entered his mind. It'd hurt people around him, he'd never make it to the top, nothing would be accomplished, and he knew Ed wouldn't want it. Shaking his head clear of the thought, he walked back over to his bed, pulled back the covers, and waited for the darkness to take him over.
Roy awoke at 9 AM the next morning, confused for a few moments. He closed his eyes and threw his head back down onto the pillow when he realized where he was and what had happened. Still, as bad as things seemed, he couldn't allow himself to dwell on the fact Ed was gone. Last night had been his time to grieve and now it was gone. He was a trained professional and Ed was his deceased subordinate. He had to act like he was just another fallen military dog. Walls had to be built, sure, but Roy could overcome this. Dragging himself from the bed, he pulled on a pair of light brown slacks and a light blue button up shirt. He walked over into the bathroom to relieve himself and glanced in the mirror as he did so. Black circles enclosed his eyes making the iris look black and added 10 years to his face. Stretching the skin underneath his eyes he sighed and shrugged to himself. Things had to be done.
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Roy walked into the hospital and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the overly clean air entered his lungs. He blinked against the brightness of the lights as his eyes adjusted. Roy hated hospitals probably as much as Ed had.
Damn.
Ed.
Roy exhaled sharply as his eyes once again became moist. Blinking away the tears for now, Roy strode over to the front desk as the slightly overweight blonde lady looked up from her computer screen and smiled.
"May I help you?"
Roy swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Uhm, yeah, could you direct me to the…morgue?"
The lady frowned for a moment and then a sad smile appeared on her face, "take this hall," she pointed to her left, "all the way down and turn right, go through the double doors and it's the first door on the right. I'm sorry for your loss, sir." The lady sounded sincere and Roy secretly wondered if she had seen them the day before holding hands.
Roy muttered a "Thank you," before walking off down the hall. The hall was rather long and he tried his best to smile at the few people he passed but they felt more like grimaces. His steps slowed in pace as he passed through the double doors. Roy considered just high-tailing it back to his hotel room. He didn't know if he could stand to look at Ed's lifeless, overly pale body as they pulled it out of the metal drawer. Reaching the door, he paused in front of it. The door was simple, like all the rest. The small plastic tablet beside the door read, 'Liberty Wing Morgue.'
Roy's hand turned the knob and opened the door quickly. Trying to catch it, Roy winced as the knob flew out of his hand resulting in the door slamming against the wall. A brunette man at the desk just inside the door jumped as the door hit against the wall.
"Oh! Holy sh-…uhm, hey, may I help you?" the man picked up a pen off the floor that he must've dropped when Roy made his entrance.
Roy glanced around the plain room, unable to make stable eye contact.
In a voice barely above a whisper, Roy said, "I'm here to see a body."
"Hah, of course you are. What's the name?"
"Ed….Edward Elric." Roy choked out his name and coughed as his voice broke.
The man's green eyes lit up in recognition, "The Edward Elric? Full Metal Alchemist, Ed Elric? He's dead? I didn't even know he was here! Let's go have a look see; stay here, have a seat if you'd like." The man almost ran to the door behind the desk that read, "Keep this door closed; refrigerated area!"
Roy sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, taking a seat in front of the man's desk. He felt a bit nauseous as he stared at the baby pink walls. Roy hoped this man didn't pick the colors.
The man returned a little while later and looked almost disappointed, "he's not back there."
Roy whipped his head around and looked him dead in the eye, anger lacing through his voice, "What do you mean, 'he's not in there!?'"
"The man set a chart down in front of Roy on his desk, "Read this; it's everyone in the drawers, he's not back there, I checked every drawer, too."
Roy read the chart three times before pushing it back towards the man. "What does this mean, exactly?"
The man sighed and tapped his pen against the desk, "Well he could have been transferred, perhaps, maybe there was a mix up, I'll call the main office and see where he's at."
Satisfied, Roy leaned back and waited. He hoped he hadn't been transferred. That didn't make sense though; he hadn't even been contacted about anything regarding Ed. Roy huffed another breath, frustrated.
The man picked up the receiver and dialed a number, holding the receiver to his ear.
"Hey, Tina? This is Jim Eckkard down at the morgue and I have a man here looking for Edward Elric and I can't find him…yes, the Ed Elric!"
Roy rolled his eyes. If Edward were here, what an ego boost he'd be getting.
Jim continued, "Alright, thanks, Tina." There was a pause before Jim's eyebrows knitted together, "What," his eyebrows rose as well as his voice with surprise, "He's in recovery? No kidding? Damn, Ren tried pretty hard, huh?"
Roy mimicked his expression. He had seen Ed die with his own two eyes.
"You're sure, Tina? Room 156? Alright, thanks again, I'll tell him."
Jim hung up the phone and said, "Ed Elric isn't dead, but he got pretty darn close, Dr. Ren Kasiki had to resuscitate him five times and was about to pronounce him dead when his heart started to beat again! They finished the surgery and apparently, as far as they can tell, it was successful. You can go see him now; room 156."
Roy jumped to his feet and bent over the desk and hugged the man.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Eckkard! 156, room 156."
Surprised, Jim replied, "Uh, yeah, sure, anytime; just doing my job."
Roy released him and ran out the door without another word. Following the signs, Roy located the recovery wing of the hospital. He roamed the halls until he found room 156. He hesitated in front of the door. What if Jim had been wrong? What would he do if Ed wasn't in there?
Frantically Roy searched for something that would confirm this room to be Ed's. A small black plastic box was hooked onto the wall beside the door, inside it, were a few manila folders. Looking to be sure no one was watching, Roy took them out and opened them. He read Ed's name across the top of the first paper in the folder and released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Just as he placed the folders back into the box a nurse came out of Ed's room.
Roy grabbed her arm, "How is he?"
The nurse smiled and said, "He's doing fine, he's weak, but awake if you'd like to speak to him."
Roy let go of her arm and smiled, his eyes becoming moist again for an entirely different reason.
She smiled and walked off after placing another folder into the box beside Ed's door.
He turned the knob and walked in, closing the door softly behind himself as blue irises met golden ones; ones Roy never thought he'd see again. The lights were dim but Roy was sure Ed could see the tears in his eyes.
Ed smiled weakly, "What'd I tell you, Roy? I told you things would be okay; I'm fine."
Roy returned his smile as two tears of joy made their way down his cheek.
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Now, what'd I tell you guys! I couldn't kill Ed! I'm not that mean, that, and I had never planned to kill Ed in this story. I hope this satisfied you guys for now; review for update? Please? Haha.
Once again, I'm sorry, oh so very sorry, for not updating in so long; never intended for it to be so long. This chapter is a little short but we are looking at two more short chapters or one very long one to finish this story, and then an epilogue.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Means a lot!
-Lynn
