Chapter Twenty One: Reality

Any thoughts about the past days events vanished from Ed's mind when he finally saw Winry. Envy's portrayal of her injuries wasn't too far from the truth although her face seemed even more bruised to him. At least she didn't seem to be in any pain as she slept soundly. Andrew decided to leave the of them alone and left the room. Edward carefully sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to brush several stray hairs out of her face.

He thought if he just saw her, he would somehow be able to figure out what to do but he felt just as helpless sitting next to her. Letting out a worn out sigh, he heard the door open and the Furer walked in. His sudden presence caused the Lieutenant Colonel to try to stand and salute at the same time. He failed miserably at this as he stumbled over his feet and forgot his arm was in a sling. Grumman let out a hearty laugh and put his hand up to stop Ed before he hurt himself.

"You're fine, Lieutenant Colonel. I just came by to drop these off." He pulled out a bouquet of flowers for Winry. "I wanted to see how Mrs. Elric is doing. I didn't realize you were here as well." Ed sighed in relief and nodded quietly.

"I actually just got here." He went to take the flowers from Grumman but paused when his side complained from the sudden movement. He winced, letting out a hissing sound.

"So you're injured too," the Furer confirmed.

"It's nothing, Sir. Honest." The older man didn't seem convinced as Ed struggled to sit back down in the wheelchair next to the bed. He got a serious look on his face as he walked over to the window.

"She said she was going to have to convince you. I was worried it was something like this." Edward froze, his shock most likely written all over his face.

"Sir? You know about her?" He received a slight nod from the Furer that caused a chill to run up his back and his stomach turned. He remembered having this same feeling when he first found out the last Furer was a homunculus. "Then why aren't you doing something? She's dangerous and..." Grumman suddenly interrupted him.

"And is capable of doing a lot of damage with little effort." He let out a sigh before pulling his glasses off his face. "I get that you're mad and have every reason to be but I have to take the citizens safety into consideration. We've already seen what she can do, the last thing I want is for more people to suffer."

"But there's no guarantee she'll stick to what she says. How can you even trust her?"

"We can't but I don't have any options. She's more powerful then our military."

"We beat that Father Bastard before her, we can beat her too." Grumman couldn't help but smile.

"But we don't have you." Ed blinked at the statement, not expecting that answer. "She says she can control all the alchemists in the country. I really don't want to see what that means."

"For someone who doesn't even have a name, she sure is calling all the shots," Ed slouched in his seat and grumbled back.

"Her name is Agatha. Guess she never got around to telling you that." Edward sulked even more.

"I can't help it if no one has the decency to introduce themselves before threatening me." The Furer shook his head remembering all the stories he had heard from Mustang about his former subordinate.

"Honestly if you had a full proof plan to defeat her I would be interested in hearing it but unfortunately, for now the best plan is to agree with her demands."

"So what you're saying is as long as the body count doesn't get that high, you're fine handing over the country." Grumman shook his head in disbelief.

"I knew I wasn't going to convince you. Or the General for that matter. Just don't get in her way, okay? I don't want to see you or anyone else for that matter get hurt. I'm not saying I agree with this but for now, it's just best to go along." Edward had to concede the fact that he had no idea how to beat her and the Furer was right, if they fought against her now, she could wipe out the whole country. "So we just have to come up with a plan to beat her," he said softly under his breath.

"By the way, where is General Mustang?" Ed thought about it for a second before realizing he hadn't seen Roy since he woke up. Shouldn't he be getting a lecture right about now for how he bailed him out again.

"Actually I don't know where he is." The Furer nodded and headed for the door.

"Well if you see him, send him my way, okay."

"Uh, yeah sure." And just like that, the head of the country exited the room just as quickly as he entered. Ed let out a tired sigh, glancing back at Winry. He hadn't gotten the chance to ask how the Furer knew she was here and if he knew how she got hurt. Based on what he had said at the beginning of their conversation it sounded as though he spoke with Agatha regularly which bothered him. Before he could get lost any further in his thoughts, the door opened again suddenly causing him to practically fall out of the wheel chair.

"Hey Chief," Havoc greeted with his usual laid back demeanor.

"Damn it, Havoc. Doesn't anyone knock anymore?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were so jumpy. So how's Winry?" Ed shook his head in frustration.

"I don't know, I haven't had the chance to talk to any of the doctors."

"Well I can't stay long but thought it would be nice to drop off some real food for yah." He tossed him the bag that was under his arm. It was unusually light.

"Thanks, but how'd you know I was here?"

"Please. This is always the first place to look." Havoc shrugged. "By the way, I tried to tip the guy who made your sandwich but he told me to keep the change." Havoc's odd statements would normally cause Ed to be suspicious, especially lately but he caught the reference and just nodded back. After Havoc left the room and it was clear no one else was going to barge in, he opened the paper bag and reached in only to find a note. Unfolding it, he squinted to make out the message.

"Get Winry and run," it read. Below that statement was an address.