A/N: SOOOOO SORRY FOR THE LATENESS! I have no excuse other than... well I became addicted to another anime and ideas for stories have been coming to mind and squashing inspiration to actually write this. BUT, I got my Muse back and we are working on this again. Hopefully the ideas will keep flowing in the proper direction for the next couple of months. Thanks to everyone for being patient. That being said, I would like to put in a tiny reminder (not an angry one though) that even though I am dedicated to writing this fic, I do have a life outside of it and would appreciate it if we all kept that in mind. Now, I hope this chapter makes up for the lateness and makes you guys as giddy as it does me and my sisters.

Guest Review Replies: May 24th - Oh. My. Gosh. Thank you so much! I'm so glad the use of adjectives and nouns for names got to you in the way it got to me. They truly are disgusting, vile creatures, aren't they? Just, gah, thank you so much for your input and kind words. It thrills me to know people are getting things out of this story. :) :)

May 22nd and 27th - Thank you so much for your support! It's nice to know I have so many people reading. Keeps me going even when I'm not wanting to. Lol

Disclaimer: Well, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood rights... but I do own the series on DVD! Well, actually my sister does... hmmm... It counts because we're related, right?

Injuries and Intimacy

Shock. Confusion. Shock again. Guilt.

All those things whirled around inside Mustang until just the latter remained. The second he had crouched beside the frozen figure that was Edward, he'd collapsed to his knees, digging the boy completely out of the white powder that encased him. Somewhere in the midst of doing that, Falman had called the others over, but Roy hadn't even looked up. He just sat there, staring at the blond, taking in his appearance.

The first thing the Colonel noticed was the fact that Edward's hair was not in its trademark braid, but whipped around his head, sticking to his face and the ground around him. After that, he saw the dark bruises that encased the teen's horribly thin face. Not much else was visible since his ever faithful red coat was wrapped around him, but Mustang wouldn't doubt if the rest of him was just as sickly skinny.

The Colonel reached out and brushed shaky fingers against Ed's neck, fearing the worst. When he didn't feel a pulse for several seconds, his breath caught in his throat. Then, just before he pulled away, there was a small, extremely weak thump against his fingertips. The Flame Alchemist let his eyes slip closed in relief and he kept his hand against the teen's pale, freezing skin, scared that if he pulled away the small heartbeat that screamed life would disappear.

The others stood beside and behind their leader, watching carefully as he checked their younger, former teammate for signs of life. None of them came close to Mustang, seeing he was in shock. They all were. Instantly upon their arrival Fuery had clamped a hand over his mouth to cover a rather loud gasp and both Havoc and Breda had just stared with wide eyes. Hawkeye, for her part, took a strong stance directly behind Mustang. She watched as her commander seemed to mentally fall apart when he touched Edward and she shook her head, knowing this was not something they could be doing right now. Her sharp gaze traveled to the horizon and saw the storm clouds were only a mile out at best.

"Colonel." She spoke only just loud enough to be heard, voice unwavering despite her immense surprise at finding Edward.

But Roy wasn't listening, he was pulling Edward closer so he could flip him onto his back. Riza could almost see the thoughts going through his head, running rampant, tearing at his heart. She saw his question of "what happened?" in the way his shoulders tensed; the "who is responsible for Fullmetal's sorry state?" in the gloved hands curling tightly around thin shoulders; the small bow of the head that wondered, "how could I have let this happen?"

"Colonel." She kept her voice as level as she could, trying to draw her superior out of his stupor. Roy ignored her though and the Lieutenant tried to keep her eyes from widening when the Colonel turned Edward onto his back, revealing giant purple, black, and yellow bruising across the teen's chest. Riza immediately noted the widening of Roy's eyes and she knew he was beyond soft words. Gone were Ed's shirt and that ridiculous leather abomination he called a jacket, and that was not something any of them would ever be okay with.

"Colonel!" Hawkeye steeled her voice, chasing away any semblance of warmth it may have held moments before. Soft words were not going to reach her Colonel now, not when he had that burning fury in his eyes. Not when he unconsciously curled protectively around the boy.

Roy shook his head and something new briefly flickered across his face that Riza easily identified as disgust, and wondered what he was seeing. From the corner of her eye the sniper noticed Havoc take a step forward and went to warn him not to get near, but the second lieutenant was already crouching down, reaching for the shoulder Roy wasn't touching.

The Colonel's reaction was immediate and sent a small ripple of unease through everyone in the group, save Hawkeye, who had known it was coming. Roy gathered Ed's limp body into his arms faster than one would think humanly possible and snarled at Havoc, "Don't touch him!"

And that was the final straw which caused Hawkeye to take another, sure step, towards the Colonel so her legs were mere inches from his back when she all but shouted, "Sir!"

Roy seemed to snap out of his panic instantly by her voice snapping like a gunshot. He turned quickly and met her steady gaze, but she kept everything, save her eyes, completely unreadable. But that was all she needed to get her message across to him, telling him he needed to calm down and think rationally. Then before he could open his mouth to speak, she did, with all the authority of someone holding a much higher rank than Lieutenant. Because that was what the Colonel needed at that moment. He needed stability; he needed someone to give him orders; he needed something to focus on.

"We need to get to shelter, Sir."

The blonde watched as her superior's grip on Edward loosened and he nodded shakily in response before turning back to Havoc, who was eyeing the black haired man carefully. Roy's guilt for his behavior was visible briefly as he muttered, "Sorry." Havoc shrugged and turned his attention back to Ed. Despite all the yelling and jostling, the teen had not stirred even slightly. That seemed to worry everyone more than they cared to admit. Ed was known for being a deep sleeper, yeah, but not this deep. This wasn't by any means natural.

Nobody voiced those thoughts though, and a minute later, Roy had his trench coat shrugged off and was laying it across Ed's shoulders, wrapping the teen up tightly. When that was finished, he took the little alchemist into his arms and stood up, heading for his horse.

Havoc suggested Roy setting him in the wagon until they got to the cave, but Roy flat out refused to release the teen, and with some difficulty he got onto his nutmeg stallion, placing Ed in front of him so the blond was leaning into his chest. With a quick order to Falman telling the gray haired man to lead the way, the group was off again.

When they came to the large mouth carved into the cliff side, the snow and wind had picked up and made the team immensely grateful for the reprieve. Everyone dismounted and brought their horses into the cave, tying them to the posts of the supply wagon and covering them with heavier blankets than they had previously been using.

Riza had tied Roy's horse since the alchemist would not let go of Edward. She understood what was likely going through his head, so she did not comment on it or begrudge the Colonel's inability to properly do anything at the moment.

For his part, Mustang sat in one of the farther corners of their stony housing where it was a bit warmer. He kept Edward balanced in his lap a moment before he realized that if the teen were to wake he would probably try to punch him for his close proximity and he set the blond down beside him.

Once the others had taken care of the horses and had gotten their sleep gear, they came to sit beside the Colonel. Riza occupied the spot on the other side of Edward so the blond was positioned between her and Mustang, Havoc sat in front of Roy with Breda and Falman flanking him, and Fuery sat beside Riza, completing a small circle.

Nobody spoke for what seemed like hours, choosing instead to stare at the pale, battered body of their little alchemist. Roy resisted the urge to wrap an arm around Ed's shoulders in an attempt to warm him up and instead turned to Fuery and nodded towards a pack in the wagon that, up until that point, had been untouched.

The black haired man quickly scrambled for the bag and handed it over to Mustang's waiting hands where the Colonel opened it and began removing various items. Antiseptic, water, rags, and bandages were Roy's main focus and once he had those in his hands, he turned to Edward. Even in the faint light he could make out the bruising and dried blood that covered nearly every visible part of the teen's body and when his eyes flitted over the black marks littering his stomach Roy felt his guts twist painfully as rage tried its best to curl around him.

Shaking the feeling away, Mustang shifted so he was crouched in front of Ed. The others had backed off slowly when Hakweye shooed them, sending a look that told everyone to give the two alchemists space. Roy barely noticed that though because he was opening the water canteen and beginning to pour some of the liquid onto a clean rag. The first step to this would be getting all of the dirt and grime off Ed so he could see just how bad the damage was.

Once the fabric he held was suitably wet, Roy leaned forward to start cleaning the teen's face, but just as the cloth reached inches from him, the young alchemist stirred. The Colonel immediately froze, and he briefly registered a small gasp from one of the men.

Mustang didn't realize he was holding his breath until Ed's eyes started blinking open slowly and he released it in a quiet sigh of relief. That relief was short lived however, because the moment Edward had blinked away whatever black had been in his vision and taken in his surroundings, he fixed Roy with the most dull, unimpressed look the man had ever seen.

"Go away."

Those were the first words Ed spoke- well, wheezed- and Roy felt like he'd been punched in the gut by a Central train. "What?" The man wasn't even aware the word had slipped from his mouth until Ed spoke again, curling into himself a little as he did.

"M'not in th-the m-mood." The shivering in his voice tore at Roy's heart in a way he hadn't even realized was possible. "Fullmetal-"

"Shut up."

Roy flinched inwardly at that and stared at the teen in front of him with eyes slightly wider than normal. "What?"

"Not now. G-go away." The way Ed continued to curl tighter into himself like he was trying to disappear did not go unnoticed by Roy, but he found he couldn't deal with that just yet. He was still trying to figure out what Ed was going on about.

"What?" Apparently that was his new favorite word, because nothing else seemed to want to form on his tongue.

"You're s-so original to-today."

Now that sounded a bit more like Edward, but the bite was missing from his tone and Roy swallowed a little harder than was probably necessary. "Full- Edward, what are you talking about?"

"Y-you tell me." Edward wasn't even looking at him at that point, choosing instead to bury his face into the lapels of Roy's coat, as he could somehow disappear into them. For some reason that action spurred Mustang into pushing his still outstretched hand forward so he touched Ed's shoulder.

The reaction he got was not at all what Roy expected and it sent him stumbling back onto his butt. Ed's head shot up and his eyes widened as he practically jumped out of his skin and bashed his shoulder against the cave wall, causing his face to momentarily contort with pain. He was drawing his breath in ragged gasps and his jaw was clenched so tightly Roy wondered if he would shatter his teeth.

The two of them stayed like that for several seconds, staring at each other stunned, before Roy felt a hand tap his shoulder and he heard the ever collected voice of Riza tell him to say something. He cleared his throat and almost winced when the sound bounced around the slowly darkening cave. What exactly was he supposed to say? He was still trying to figure that out when Ed's voice startled him.

"You're real…" It sounded like both a question and a statement and Roy felt his mouth go dry. Wait, what? That was not what he'd expected. Nonetheless he answered with a nod. "Of course I am," It came out much softer than he thought it would, and before he knew what he was doing, Roy was reaching forward to touch Ed again.

When his fingers brushed against the teen's bicep, Ed flinched again, but not as violently as before, and the reaction the Flame Alchemist got from that was certainly not something he was prepared for.

"You're real." The words sounded choked in Ed's throat and before Roy knew what was going on, the teen was barrelling -even if it was weak and barely made the Colonel stagger it was the only way one could describe it- into his chest, pale fingers coming up to immediately latch onto the blue jacket of Roy's uniform.

"Uh," Was the only intelligible sound Mustang managed to get out as Ed continued to frantically whisper, "You're real," over and over, as if the mantra was the only thing making what he said true.

Roy hadn't noticed his own arms were circling the boy tightly until he looked over his shoulder to see five sets of eyes locked onto him and the slight form he had cradled to his chest. He gave them all a quick sweep before landing on the rich brown ones he desperately needed and sent the woman a plea for help, mouthing, "What do I do?"

Never before had Edward shown any interest in being anywhere near him and now he suddenly wouldn't let him go. Roy didn't even think he'd ever done more than haul Edward up by the collar of his shirt before this, so he was at a complete loss. It didn't help that his mind was a whirl of painful thoughts.

"What happened?" seemed to be the most popular of them, as it had been for the last hour, but it wasn't the one that could be answered at the moment, if the way Edward was shaking was any indication. "Is he all right?" Was by far the dumbest one in his head, but it still refused to leave for some reason. Still, not one he was going to address right now. Then there were the three that weren't questions at all, but more like things that needed to be said, but he couldn't get out of his mouth: "Let go" "We need to look over your wounds" "You're okay".

For the life of him, Roy could not figure out why he was doing nothing but holding Edward when he had been in situations like this before and handled them just fine. Okay, that was only half true; he had been in similar situations before. When those things had happened in the past, they had never included a teenage boy clinging to him like he was the only thing keeping him grounded. But dammit, he was a Colonel, The Flame Alchemist, he had most certainly had to deal with worse things before! So why was he turned into a sputtering mess when it came to Fullmetal being injured?

Maybe because you care a little more about the kid than the others… For once Roy heard his inner voice as someone other than Fullmetal, but somehow having Hughes' serious tone telling him what he knew, but certainly did not want to hear, did not help anything.

In the midst of his thoughts Roy had started carding his fingers through Edward's hair and Riza had positioned herself behind the teen. She appeared to be debating whether or not she should interrupt, and despite Roy having asked for her help a minute ago, he found he didn't want her trying to remove Edward yet. He had a gut feeling that doing that would cause more harm than good.

When Hawkeye leaned forward to grab Ed's shoulder, Roy shook his head quickly and she drew back with a frown and raised brow. She wanted to know what he was planning on doing. Roy had no clue. All he knew was that instinct told him that touching Edward when he didn't initiate it was a bad idea. A little of that was based off the fact that if anyone Edward didn't like or trust tried to touch him on normal days he flipped out.

Still, he knew something had to be done. Coal eyes looked down at the body pressed tightly against him and his hand paused in the blond locks that he'd been brushing through. Ed had stopped shaking sometime during his exchange with the sniper and gold eyes were now staring at him. Roy was shocked when he saw the emotions swimming just underneath the surface of those molten orbs, because although there was hurt and confusion, fear and surprise, there was no anger, and that had been something Roy had expected from the blond.

"Fullmetal?" He kept his voice just above a whisper and tried not to notice how Ed tensed. When the teen didn't reply verbally, only dipping his head carefully, Roy spoke again. "I… I'm going to need to-" The Colonel stopped himself before he could finish, shaking his head and cursing inwardly. He couldn't start like that. He couldn't interrogate the kid right off the bat or ask to poke and prod at his body. Judging by the burn marks he'd been prodded enough to last a lifetime. The thought of the black scars had Roy swallowing bile and he unconsciously tightened his arms around Edward, earning a tiny whimper. The alchemist gasped and loosened his grip immediately, trying not to notice the pain in Ed's eyes.

"I'm sorry," He found himself murmuring when Edward slowly released the lapels of his uniform. The Colonel refrained from biting his lip when the blond leaned away from his body, as if he was trying to get away, and he drew his arms from the teen, letting Ed scoot backwards. He would have hit Riza, but the Lieutenant had obviously known something like that was going to happen and had changed her position so she was perched to Roy's left.

The light of the cave was almost completely gone by that point and the wind outside had picked up along with the snow and Roy knew it was going to be a long night, especially when he saw that Edward was trying to hide a grimace everytime he took a deep breath. Going from the bruising they had seen upon first finding the boy, Roy was positive quite a few of the teen's ribs were broken, so the pain the blond was likely feeling didn't surprise him. It did make him feel extremely guilty though, because tightening his grip on the kid had probably made it all the worse.

Ed was suffering and in pain, and the only reason it wasn't getting better for him was because Roy couldn't get his act together. For the life of him, the Colonel could not figure out where to start, and the look of disbelief Ed was sending his way, as if he didn't quite think what he was seeing was actually real, wasn't helping.

To his surprise, it was Fuery who abruptly took control of the situation, apparently having seen the discomfort Ed was experiencing with breathing also. "Breda, I'm going to need light."

"Right." The redhead snatched the nearest lantern and lit the wick inside before following the smaller man over to Edward's side. "Hey Edward," He greeted softly, cautiously, as if he was approaching a wild animal. But then, with the distrustful way Fullmetal was eyeing them with bared teeth, Fuery might as well have been.

"It's okay, Ed, it's just Fuery. Remember? And I'm Breda."

That earned the men a glare, and as much as Roy would have loved to laugh and clap Ed on the back for how normal the expression looked, he could see it lacked fire and was bordering more on defensive. "I know! I'm not s-stupid." He snapped.

That caused Fuery to smile his easy smile and he slowly crouched down beside Edward where the water and bandages had been discarded. "We know you aren't," He soothed and the blond seemed to calm down slightly. "Hey Edward, is it okay if a check your wounds? They look pretty bad and they should be wrapped before they get worse."

That got a very negative reaction from Ed. "NO!" He all but shouted and pushed himself further back until he hit the wall. The teen brought his flesh hand up to grab at the clothing at his arms, tightening it around his frame as best he could. It was then that Roy noticed the fact that Ed wasn't using his automail arm at all. It hung limply at his side and seemed to be dragging him down more than anything.

"What happened to your automail?" He asked slowly and Ed's eyes narrowed as cracked lips stretched over his teeth in a snarl, "Nothing!"

"Edward, you have to let me help you, or else you're going to hurt yourself more." Fuery was trying again to get Edward to let him near, and the teen stopped baring his teeth at Roy to spare the man with glasses an irritated glance.

"No. Y-you can't touch me."

Roy was about to tell Edward to stop being stubborn and let Fuery help him when Havoc spoke up. "Can he if the Colonel helps?"

That question threw Roy as off guard as it did Ed and both males looked up sharply. Roy wanted to ask Jean why he would even bother with such a stupid question, because of course Edward wasn't going to want him near him, but his inner comments were cut off when Ed uttered an almost inaudible "fine".

The Colonel's eyebrows shot into his hairline and he numbly accepted a few of the medical supplies Fuery handed him as he got to his feet and approached Ed. He knelt down and went to push aside the jackets around his shoulders and Ed bit his lip, muttering a request for the others to not be so close, which threw Roy through a loop because Edward never muttered. Nonetheless he ordered everyone except Fuery away. While Havoc, Breda, and Falman went over to the wagon which was several feet away, Hawkeye stayed a bit closer, her keen eyes following their every move as they tended to Ed's wounds.

The state Edward was in could not be described in one word, but if Roy had to try, he would use "horrific".

After Edward had removed the jacket and red cloak, Fuery and Roy had forced down hisses. If his chest and face had been bad, his arms and back were worse. His automail had been ripped apart in a way that made Roy's stomach churn, and when checked Fuery at the corner of his eye, he saw tears forming behind the man's glasses.

Edward had not been the most cooperative of patients either. If one of the soldiers poked a sensitive area -which was pretty much everywhere- they would get a growl, whimper, or twitch that made it rather difficult to work. At one point Roy had narrowed his eyes at the teen and ordered him to sit still. He'd instantly regretted it though when Edward had nodded mutely and refused to meet his gaze afterward.

The men worked in relative silence, only speaking when they were muttering apologies to Ed when he flinched or hissed in pain. Fuery probably stayed silent because he was on the verge of breaking down and wouldn't have been able to talk to the teen if he'd wanted to. Roy stayed quiet because he wasn't sure if he would be able to speak without screaming. Every new wound they found, every bruise, cut, and fracture they had to carefully try and fix made his blood boil, and all he wanted was to was find who was responsible for his charge's condition and kill them. Burn the flesh off their bones slowly and make them feel half the pain they made Ed go through.

By the time they finished cleaning, disinfecting, and wrapping what they could, Roy asked Fuery to grab something for Ed to eat and the young man returned a minute later with bread. There wasn't much of it and for that Roy was thankful; with Ed being as thin as he was, a lot of food in his system would not be a good idea unless they wanted to be cleaning stomach contents off the stone floor.

Fuery held the bread out to Edward and Roy watched the teen's eyes flick rapidly between the food and Fuery several times as if he was having an internal struggle, trying to figure out if he could take what was offered. Then he was suddenly lunging forward and ripping the sustenance from Fuery's grasp with more force than necessary.

Roy watched in fascinated horror as Edward savagely tore at the food, devouring it in a matter of seconds and leaving not a crumb when he finished chewing. The effect of having food in his stomach was instantaneous and Roy watched as Ed's eyelids drooped just slightly and he opened his mouth slightly, eyeing the water canteen at Fuery's feet. Mustang retrieved the drink immediately and held it out to the teen. When Edward took it that time he wasn't nearly as violent as he had been with the food, and while he still drank quickly, it wasn't so fast Roy feared he would choke himself.

The teen's eyes seemed to be growing heavier as the minutes ticked by, yet he refused to close them and after observing, Roy realized the blond was waiting for everyone else to settle down for the night before he did. The Colonel would have said something, but Hawkeye, Falman, and Fuery seemed to pick up on the fact too, and soon enough everyone was undoing the ties to their bedrolls and lying down.

Havoc brought a spare blanket over to Roy before he went to sleep, and even though no words were exchanged the dark haired man knew what it was meant for. Mustang unrolled his own bed a foot or so from Edward, catching the teen's gaze from the corner of his eye as Ed carefully watched his every move. Once the Colonel was situated, he unfolded the blanket and set it in front of Edward. "Go to sleep, Fullmetal." He murmured before lying down on his back, resting one hand on his abdomen and letting his eyes close halfway. He watched as Edward looked at the adults spread around him, their even breathing and snoring assuring the alchemist they were asleep.

Roy could see the tension leave Edward's shoulders and the teen's eyes slipped closed almost as fast as he collapsed onto the material beneath him. The Colonel let out a pent up sigh and closed his eyes the rest of the way when he decided the blond was actually going to sleep, his exhaustion getting the better of him.

The older alchemist started dozing almost immediately, which is why when he felt something press against his side he started and jerked his head up to see what was touching him. He relaxed when he saw it was only Edward. The teen had shifted in his half asleep state and was now curled against Mustang. When Roy felt a small tug on his arm, he looked down to find thin fingers grasping the material around his elbow loosely and a small smile of surprise curled his lips as he settled back onto the bedroll.

Before sleep took over completely, Roy pulled his arm from Ed's grasp and wrapped it around the teen's shoulders, drawing him closer. For a brief moment the alchemist feared he woke the boy, but when Ed's hand only groped the air before finding another hold closer to Roy's heart, the man relaxed. He wasn't worried about how Edward would react if he woke before him, because after all, he was doing it to keep the teen warm.

And if Roy drew the small boy a little closer and brought a blond head to rest on his shoulder when Ed sighed in his sleep… it was only because a breeze swept through the cave and he didn't want the teen to be woken by the cold.

A/N: *wheezes like an old cat with a hairball* This one was sooooo fun and difficult to write. I haven't had the gang together like this since chapter one, and that seems like ages ago! I hope I did our babies justice with this, and I hope the feels were as lovely for you as they were for me! Drop a review and let me know if I made ya laugh, cry, squeal, etc?

Stay Nerdy!

~WhoLock