Disclaimer: Don't own DGrayman or FMA
Obvious Grief
By: animeroxsmyworld
Chapter 14: Resolve
His hand slams into her face with more force than he anticipated and her face lets out a sickening crunch as her body jerks back from the momentum, but she catches herself before she can go reeling too far, the helmet falling from her hands and clattering to the roof in her surprise.
Al stares at the damage he's done.
Her face was caved in, her nose broken and bleeding profusely while her eyes looked like squished grapes, blood gushing from her lips with bits of shattered teeth. He's never done that type of damage to anyone before. Even when he and Edward rough housed. He's never done that type of damage to someone with a single hit.
It's aweing and terrifying.
And then her skin shifts. It bubbles and moves and pops, her skin going a greyish hue and her eyes turning to gold as her skull puffs back to normal, her face reforming itself to its original glory in front of his eyes. She looks completely unfazed by the fact that he had attacked her, her expression blank.
"I didn't know you could move." She states, amusement colouring her voice as she stands and absently touches her neck, the bones cracking as she moves the muscle. Al grabs his forgotten helmet up quickly and places it back onto his chest plate, taking several steps back to distance himself.
"What do you want with me?"
Her eyes go large and she smiles. "You talk too! Does that innocence do anything else for you? Make you fly? Take over bodies?" She asks almost excitedly as she stares at him, her head cocking to the side in silent fascination.
"What do you want with me?!" Al repeats in pure frustration, having yet to receive an answer.
Road sighs although he can tell she's having fun as she as she props herself up against the nearby chimney, blocking his only safe exit. Unless of course he wants to just throw himself off the side of the house, which was looking ever so tempting the more time passed.
"I want the innocence inside you." She replies calmly.
"Innocence?" Al repeated in confusion.
"Yup. I'm going to rip it right from your body. Don't worry it shouldn't hurt you much. I expect you can't feel pain being a suit of armor. Or else you'll die when I take it. Either way it'll all be over for you." She says simply, waving one hand in the air as she grins
Al chooses to run.
He's willing to risk the fall of the roof.
Her eyes narrows and suddenly a candle appears in the air, the bottom pointed to a razor sharp point. Her finger flicks and it whistles through the air. Al turns at the noise and the candle slams into his hand sending him crashing to the tiles below his feet and pinning his arm.
He struggled with his other arm to pry the flaming candle from his hand but it wouldn't budge. It held fast like a massive nail. Her footsteps are as silent as the air until she rests a foot on his chest plate with a small thud and he freezes in his attempt.
"Oh, whoops."
Her face is no longer amused and her golden eyes look like ice as she regards him.
And Al's scared.
Her finger twitches again and another candle appears, suspended in air next to her head.
He begins to try to rise in a panic but she stops him.
"Nuh uh. Unless you want to be scrap." She replies, her voice threatening. To add emphasis to her threat the point of the candle suddenly point to where his heart would be. He doesn't doubt that the blow would be deadly.
How would he be killed? Would it really be so simple? He can be taken apart and put together, this he knows…but how does he die?
Maybe it is so simple.
He hates himself.
He hates her. She can't be human.
He gives up.
He lays perfectly still and yet her candle drives like lightning into his chest. He gasps more out of surprise than pain as it continues to drill through the thick armor.
"This is for hitting me." She explains easily as she watches the candle finish and Al hears the small churning sound as it begins work on the other side of his chest plate when his vision suddenly flashes white and pain flares through him, the boy howling loudly in pain and withering underneath the candles pain.
Road steps off the suddenly convulsing armor when he suddenly goes limp. She raises a brow but silently leans over to reach for the helmet when green light emerges from him.
"What!" She yelps as it shoots off of him like an explosion, ripping through the sky and burning like flames as it burns her skin off her bones and forces her scrambling to the edge of the roof for safety.
The sudden lightshow disappears leaving her seeing spots and regenerating more than half her body. Yet she can see Alphonse is gone, her candles piles of ash on the charred tile. She scrambles to where he was and can just see his metal frame disappear through the manhole.
He supposed it was better to paint in the sunlight but there was just something so captivating about this bridge in the moonlight that he felt the urge to hunker down on the side of the road and prop up his easel.
The scene began to flow from his brush onto his canvas as he stared at the scene before him, the man barely breathing or stopping to make sure he was indeed grabbing the right colours to capture the moment perfectly.
Some of his students found his need to just sit and paint very annoying, especially since it seemed they always needed to be somewhere.
But that's why he needed to capture everything while he still could. So when the world became so rushed that he had no time to appreciate its beauty he could look at these pictures instead.
He's just filling in the shadow beneath the bridge when a scraping noise fills the air and pulls him from his artistic trance. He manages to just locate the manhole on the road barely 20 feet away from him when the top slides away and a suit of armor comes barreling out, scrambling as if life itself depends on it.
"I'm coming to get you! I'm coming to get you!" A voice sings from the sewer pits and not a second later an akuma follows the armors footsteps, a snake looking thing, most unpleasant looking.
"Oh dear." Froir mumbles to himself as he watches the mad dash before he sets his paintbrush aside and stands up. Tiedoll doesn't really register if it's smart or not but his lower lip tucks under his teeth and a loud whistle pierces the air.
Both runners stop and regard him momentarily. The armor is still while the akuma recognizes the rather paint smeared, but still visible, uniform that peeks up at him.
"Exorcist! It's an exorcist!" It hisses before curling back as if scalded by his presence. "I was told to merely retrieve, not to fight! What should I do mistress?" It wailed into the night.
Tiedoll gave the creature little attention as it wailed about its problem between facing him or continuing its chase, and looks around. "Oh dear, looks like all this noise has upset him." He hums to himself. "Or did I just whistle too loud? I wonder…"
The snake continues to wail when a sword suddenly cuts through its head, wrenches out and rounds out and decapitates the lizard looking abomination, the head flying into the air like a ball.
"It was both. And you shouldn't have distracted it." A male voice calls gruffly in annoyance, black eyes watching as the head hits the ground and proceeds to reduce to dust.
"Come now Yu." Tiedoll replies lightly as the younger man sheathes his sword with a huff.
"Was barely even a fight." Kanda mumbles irritably under his breath when the sound of creaking metal interrupts. Tiedoll returns his gaze to the apparent victim in all this to see the armored man staggering back where he had been standing. With all that armor on they can't tell what he's thinking.
Shock?
Confusion?
Gratitude?
It's usually shock. Or fear.
Kanda's eyes narrow and he changes his stance solidly to face the towering armor. "You! What's with the armor!" He barks harshly, his hand resting in preparation on Mugen, the sword practically humming in response to its master's mood.
"Yu!" Tiedoll scolds as he cuffs his student lightly on the shoulder.
He can feel no ill intent coming from the armor before them. It's almost confirmed when a child's voice stutters to life before them, shaking and stumbling from what he could only assume was fear.
"I can't take it off!" The boy replies quickly, most likely due to Kanda's irritable demeanor. Any stranger would be intimidated by it. Anyone who spent time with him would know that's just how he was.
Kanda's eyes narrow in suspicion but Tiedoll's brow furrows in confusion. "Really? How strange…" The Marshall mutters before gesturing the boy closer.
He doesn't move to which Tiedoll smiles.
"Don't worry we won't bite. Please, come closer." He waves and a few hesitant seconds later Alphonse is before them, hands covering a gaping wound in his chest plate. Tiedoll frowns in worry.
Had they been too late?
Had he been injured?
Akuma poison?
"Did you get hit? Are you bleeding?" Tiedoll asks and before Al can protests the scruffy artists pries his fingers away, a green glow bathing his form and spreading over his fingers.
"What the…?" Kanda almost yelps, his guard lowering in surprise while Tiedoll stares, flexing his fingers and watching the light glow across his skin.
"…interesting. I believe we have a new accommodator."
It wasn't unusual for patients who were unable to move to receive automail surgery right inside the hospital. It wasn't unusual, but it wasn't exactly normal either. It required the automail mechanic to pack up at least half of their shop and carry it inside the hospital in a transportable way, especially if it was the patient's first time receiving surgery.
So when Hex arrived at the front of the hospital with what appeared to be a small mountain spilling out from his back, all the new nurses began to whisper back and forth while the older nurses began to look around for earplugs to block out the oncoming screams that were sure to follow. Hex was a short stocky man with red skin and a scruffy beard creeping along his jaw and down his neck. With his ginormous bag on his back he looked every bit intimidating as one would expect.
The woman at the front desk was able to gather herself together long enough to figure out that he was here to see Edward and point him along to the right room. Hex lumbered along, cursing every now and then when some screws or wrenches fell from his back and he would have to stop and find a way to stoop down and retrieve it without losing all the contents of his bag.
Hughes was waiting for him just outside Edward's door.
"Thank you for doing this." He greeted. Hex nodded as he shifted the weight on his shoulders.
"It's my job." He replied. Hughes only nodded in turn and opened the door, the two entering the room. Edward was already sitting up in his bed, trying for all the world like this was just a casual meeting, but his skin was deathly pale and a thin sheen of sweat was already forming on his forehead.
"You ready Edward?" Hex asked as he set his bag down, tiles seeming to crack from the sudden weight bestowed upon them. Ed seemed to tense as he stared at the bag in a fleeting look of terror, but he regained himself just as quickly.
"Yes. I'm ready."
Hex let a grin show on his red face as he pulled out a stool and began to pull out his tools from the bag, spreading everything out on a table that had been brought in in preparation for his arrival. "Your brave. That's good."
His hands disappeared into the bag and returned with an arm, all metal.
All Ed's, made custom after Hex's visit not two days ago.
Ed's eyes were glued to it as the stocky man placed it on his table, the metal making a small clink before suddenly an equally metal leg appeared next to it. That was all Ed saw. He didn't see the arm or leg ports that followed out of the bag. He didn't hear Hex try and make small talk and explain each thing as it began to fill his table, each little gadget, each little piece of metal that would give him functioning limbs.
His mind was elsewhere.
And then the bandage on his arm was being pulled back.
He startled like a cat and found Hex pulling at the bandage casually. Ed was suddenly nervous as he shifted away from the mechanic, Hex giving an apologetic look but reaching out for the bandage once more. "This is where I need to put the port." He explained as he grabbed what was left of the bandage and pulled.
The bandage fell away and his brow furrowed.
"…you never told me about this." He muttered to the golden haired boy in front of him who was in the middle of looking ashamed and afraid.
"What? Is there a problem?" Hughes asked in concern.
Hex sighed and pushed his stool away from Ed's bedside. "His joints have been stitched over. I can't get to the nerve ends. I'm guessing your leg is like that too?"
It was a second before Ed slowly nodded, his hand holding the stump of his missing arm, touching the still healing skin.
Hex shook his head sympathetically. "In order for me to attach the automail I need to get to the nerve ends. He has to be re-amputated. On both joints." He pauses to stand up and after a second he glances over at Edward.
"Do you still want to go through with this? Say the word and I will cancel all of this right here right now. I won't force this on anyone. If he wishes to quit at any moment I will refund all your money and find another patient to fit these limbs to." Hex explain turning the later words to Hughes.
"No." Edward cuts in quickly. "I'll do it. I want automail. I need automail!" To emphasis his point he struggles to get his leg stump above the cover and struggles with the bandages for it.
The two adults watch for a second before Hex nods and sits down to help the golden haired boy with his bandages.
"Go get a Doctor. And maybe sit outside for a while. The surgery is going to start."
The moment Hughes brought Edward into the house Gracia fussed over him the best her pregnant state would let her, even going so far as to slap Maes' hand away so she could help the child properly.
Hughes just knew their own child would be spoiled rotten.
Not that Ed really remembered.
The surgery had left him almost delirious, his body thick with sweat and his mind shot from all the pain he was forced to endure. Hex told Hughes later that Ed was dead set against screaming and had actually bitten clear through his bottom lip in an attempt to muffle himself.
The mechanic said he had never seen anything like it.
"Grown men openly weep and howl during this kind of surgery. I see a 12-year-old kid who won't even peep. He's either the bravest kid I've ever seen or the stupidest. I've yet to decide."
But now came the truly challenging part.
Learning how to control his limbs. Rehabilitation was known to take 3 years but Hughes doubted Ed would be willing to wait that long. From what little he knew of the Elric he already knew of the boy's incredible stubborn streak.
Some would call it determination.
Hughes shook his head as he filled a glass full of water in the kitchen, the soft footfalls of his wife upstairs letting him know that she was still fussing over the new arrival. He hoped Edward would be hospitable to Gracia.
Considering all he was going through his moods could switch easily and being a pregnant women ready to pop at any moment, her moods could do just the same.
He didn't need either of them to fall out with each other.
The glass filled and Hughes shut the tap off absently. Straightening he went to find his wife and, if she was still being maternal towards Edward, even though he would be dead asleep right now, have her place the glass on his bed table. Heaven knows he couldn't do that right.
He blinked when he saw her standing perfectly still in the doorway to the guest bedroom where Ed was currently presiding, the lights off save for the sliver of light flowing in from the hallway.
"Gra—" He started and stopped immediately when he heard it.
Sobs, wet and shaking. After a second more he realized that every second one was a word, morphed and almost unintelligible.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Alphonse. I'm sorry."
From the slur of the words Hughes could tell he was asleep, though not in the least bit peacefully. Hoping to save whatever dignity Ed could maintain Hughes closed the distance like a shadow and closed the door, the tiny click bringing his wife around.
She blinked but unshed tears clung to her lashes.
She clutched the pillow in her hands to her chest as if suddenly ashamed. "I had only wanted…to see…if he needed his leg propped." She explained her voice soft and incredibly sad. "I didn't mean…I never…"
"I know." Hughes replied as he slowly pulled the pillow away from her with his free hand, leaving her free to wander away if she liked. She stood there for a second more before she reached forward and grabbed the full glass of water, taking a full sip of it as she turned.
She stopped.
"Maes…"
"Hmm?"
"You're going to help him…right?" She asked quietly. He wants to respond that he already is. He's taken him to the hospital, he's given him automail, but he knows that she isn't asking about any of that. He's told her about his whole trip, about the Elric brothers and their separation. She knows to some degree what Ed is crying about in his dreams in the dead of night.
He tightens his hold on the pillow as he stares at the ground, afraid to look at her. "I'm really going to try."