Burning.
Hot, searing pain cascading through his shoulder and along l his arm, throbbing down to his fingers. His leg wasn't spared either, the metal rod that had been hammered into his bone feeling as if it had been heated to a blistering thousand degrees, demolishing the surrounding bone and tissue from the inside.
That was all Ed could feel as he lay awake on the couch in the middle of the night, surrounded by sleeping military officers on air mattresses on the floor around him.
He painstakingly sat up, clutching his leg to his chest and wrapping his flesh arm around his body, biting his lip to keep from crying out and waking everyone around him. He could feel himself shaking with pain and he tasted blood from biting the inside of his lip so hard.
Though he tried to hold them back, pained tears escaped from behind his tightly shit eyelids as he quietly gasped and panted with agony.
Through the haze of pain, he could see orangey light shining through his eyelids as a nearby lamp clicked on.
"Ed? What's wrong?" Called a familiar voice, laying a gentle hand on his back. Through blurred teary eyes, Ed looked up to see Hawkeye, eyeing him with concern and sympathy.
"S-sorry, I d-didnt mean to wake you." Ed stammered through his gritted teeth and shaking, wiping his eyes. Riza shook her head.
"It's alright, Ed. You should've woken someone if something was wrong. What is it?" She soothed. Ed hurriedly wiped the tears from his eyes, biting the inside of his cheek. He shook with repressed sobs.
"S'fine... Just hurts." He muttered, his voice cracking. Riza frowned and rubbed circles on Ed's back.
"Hold on, let me get the Colonel."
She made to leave, but was stopped by a small metal hand tugging her sleeve. Ed looked up at her with teary desperate eyes.
"Don't wake him just because of me." He sniffed, quickly wiping the tears that fell down his face. Riza smiled sympathetically at him.
"He won't mind, Ed. He has some pain medication from the doctor for you."
Havoc rolled over in his bed next to the couch, rubbing his eyes.
"Whas goin' on?" He slurred, sitting up in his bed.
"Ed needs those pills the doctor gave you." Riza replied. Havoc looked up at Ed's curled up and shivering form, and immediately sobered up.
"Hey, chief. What's the matter?" He asked softly, sitting up and crawling over next to Ed. Ed felt guilt welling in his gut. He didn't mean to bother everyone in the room. Havoc sat on the couch next to Ed, pulling him into a side-armed hug and laying Ed's head on his shoulder. He ran his hand soothingly through Ed's hair, Ed trembling in his grasp. He turned to Hawkeye, a frown on his face.
"Wake the Colonel, he has them somewhere." She nodded, quickly padding over to wake Roy. Ed was in so much pain he could hardly register them talking, much less try to stop them. At this point, he was too pained and exhausted to care. Ed gritted his teeth and couldn't hold back the quiet sob that slipped through his teeth. He let himself go, muffling his sobs with his hand and crying into Havoc's shoulder as he rubbed soothing circles on Ed's back. Roy was quickly by their side, looking over Ed with worried eyes, a small bottle of pills in his hand. He placed his hand on Ed's knee.
"Here, kid. Take these. They'll help." He told him, holding his hand out with two pills, Hawkeye close behind with a glass of water. Ed looked up at Roy, tears tracking down his face, his eyes glossed over with pain. He held out a shaky hand, taking the pills from Roy and popping them into his mouth. Riza pressed the glass to his lips, allowing Ed to take a few sips, before he closed his eyes and laid his head back onto Havoc's shoulder. He whimpered softly, still trembling with pain.
At this point, the rest of the team had woken up with the commotion, all huddling around Ed with worry. Ed had calmed a bit, though the pain was still horrendous. He sat laying against Havoc, eyes slipped closed as he sniffled and panted, Havoc rubbing gentle circles on Ed's back as Roy carded his hand through his bangs. Ed leaned into the touch, seeking any distraction from the blistering pain inhabiting his body.
"How are you feeling, kiddo?" Roy asked, frowning down at him. Ed glanced up, pain evident in his hazy glossed over eyes. He just whimpered in response, too exhausted and agonized to form any words. Roy's frown deepened as he smoothed Ed's hair against his head. "I'm sorry, kid. I know this sucks. We're gonna catch whoever did this, I promise." Roy assured him, a look of determination plastered on his face. The others in the room hummed and nodded in agreement. Ed smiled faintly, but it was quickly replaced with a grimace.
Roy wondered just how much pain the kid was in. Even after he had been initially shot, he wasn't anywhere near this bad. He was glad that at least Al wasn't here, the poor kid would blow a gasket if he saw his brother in so much pain. Since Al didn't need to sleep, he had volunteered to stay at the dorms at night to make sure no one else could break in and try anything. Roy knew that the kid didn't like to upset his brother, either.
Ed was still struggling against the constant scalding ache enveloping his being. Moving didn't help, in fact it made him feel worse, so he was stuck, paralyzed against Havoc's side. He felt so terrible that he was burdening them like this. They should all be asleep right now, but they were stuck awake with Ed who was blubbering like a child. Ed wished he could just suck it up and go back to sleep, but there were white-hot fingers of pain continuously yanking him away from the sweet succor of unconsciousness. All he could do was grit his teeth and take it, trembling and weeping into Havoc's shoulder.
He slowed his breathing, taking deep breaths in and out of his nose, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. He could feel the medication beginning to smooth the sharp edges of his pain, calming the piercing and stabbing to a gnawing ache. It was by no means gone, but at least he didn't feel like he was going to regurgitate his organs anymore. There was still a warm hand rubbing gentle circles on his back, and a strong hand calloused with work running softly through his hair. He snuggled closer to the body next to him, laying his head down against it and letting his exhausted body go fuzzy with sleep. The medicine was now actively pulsing through his veins, easing his agony more and more with every heartbeat. Ed sighed in relief. He hadn't been in so much pain since the automail recovery, luckily it still wasn't as bad as the initial surgery.
As his torture slowly subsided, his sleepiness grew. He felt his body become heavy with drugs and drowsiness, and the broiling hands of pain were no longer there to take the sleep away from him. He let himself take refuge in unconsciousness, suspending his pain until he had to wake again.
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Roy and the others watched as Ed slowly became relieved of his pain, his tears drying against his face and his breathing slowing. He gradually slumped closer and closer to Havoc's shoulder, until they were all sure he had finally fallen back to sleep.
"I think he's asleep." Roy observed, earning a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the room. It was torture to see Ed in so much pain, and they had all been praying for it to stop the whole time.
"God, I've never seen him cry before, I never expected it to make me feel so awful." Havoc muttered, frowning with empathy. "It just hurts to see him like that, poor kid." They all hummed in agreement.
"The worst thing is, he wasn't intending to tell anyone." Hawkeye mentioned. "When I woke up he apologized for waking me, and then when I tried to wake the Colonel he told me not to." She smiled weakly. "I don't know how long he was awake by himself before that." She frowned, lovingly brushing the bangs out of Ed's sleeping face.
"That kid... Thinks of everyone but himself, even when he's in agony." Roy commented solemnly. "His selflessness is gonna be the death of him someday."
Over the course of the next few minutes, they were all heading back to bed; after they had all assured themselves that Ed was okay now. Havoc stayed next to him for the night, not wanting to wake him, and also wanting to make sure he slept soundly through the night. The small group of soldiers all silently prayed they would find the bastard that did this soon. They all wanted to give them a piece of their mind, and show them what happens when you mess with their kid.