Some Papa Roy. And Ed attracts attention and friends- some more welcome than others.

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Ed blinked, watching the other kids run around the common area and play with toys.

In the corner, the man sat still, watching him. He was dressed ina blue janitor's uniform, but he wasn't cleaning anything, and it unsettled Ed the way his eyes followed him around.

the girl he'd found at the factory- now dressed in proper clothes, a long white t-shirt and gray sweat pants- bounced over to him, wavy brown hair bouncing and silver eyes as sharp as ever. The bruises on her face were fading. "I remember you. they called you something-metal." she said seriously.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. Fullmetal. I never got your name." he admitted.

"It's Lucy." the girl's eyes darted over to the corner, and she frowned. The janitor was still watching them both.

"You can see him too, can't you?" she asked quietly.

Ed nodded almost imperceptibly.

The girl noticed as a nurse strode by them, picking up on the way the mood in the room shifted.

She reached over, taking his automail hand with her own. "Let's go outside. It's free hour- they can't say anything..."

She led him outside.

There was a playground and a swing set, and they sat side-by-side on the swings, Ed frowning.

"You can see dead people too?" the girl asked quietly.

Ed nodded, looking around to make sure nobody was watching.

The girl blinked her silver eyes. "I've never met anyone else like me." she admitted. "Mommy says I'm special."

The man in the janitor's uniform was at the window of the hospital, and he was watching them both. they were the only children who'd chosen to go outside, it was cold... The playground was surrounded by the building on all sides, anyways. It was secure.

"You shouldn't tell the nurses you can see them. They don't understand, they think we're sick. But we aren't- we're just different." Ed said seriously.

The girl frowned, looking upset. "No. They don't get to tell me what is and isn't real. After all I've seen." she said, looking far older then six. "how do you do that? You broke my chains at the factory, you saved me. I saw your circles. Is that how?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah, it was. Alchemy, it's called."

The girl blinked, cocking her head at him. "Can you teach me? I don't want anyone to be able to trap me like that ever again. If I can learn alchemy, i won't have to worry anymore."

Ed blinked. "Yeah. yeah, I can teach you..."

The janitor had moved to a window that was closer to them. Ed frowned, and both her and the girl glanced at the ghost of a man anxiously.

"Do you know what he wants?" Ed asked quietly.

Lucy shook her head, looking down. "No. but he stands in the corner of my room at night and watches me sleep."

Ed felt cold.

Ed sat beside Lucy at the table in the makeshift cafeteria. The nutritionist had clearly had some sort of discussion with nurse Kim, because she'd slammed down three trays of food next to him before stalking off. Not that Ed was complaining.

He'd explained the law of equivalent exchange to Lucy, and she seemed to understand and watch him with attentiveness that he hadn't seen in awhile.

He turned, starting to sketch a basic array into his mashed potatoes with his fork, when someone leaped across the table and an empty tray slammed into his face, knocking him clear off the bench.

Ed was left reeling on the ground, before a small form was on top of him, screaming.

"You got extra dessert! it's not fair! NOT! fair!"

The first hit took him by surprise, but when the kid advanced again, Ed easily knocked the tray from the kid's hands and stood to his full height.

The kid was a boy of about seven, shouting and screaming, and he didn't seem to care that Ed was bigger than him, screaming and crying that it wasn't fair, wasn't fair, wasn't fair!

Ed placed his hand firmly on top of the kid's head to hold him away from hitting him, but the brt kicked him in the shin.

Ed's entire body tensed- flesh and automail fists alike clenching, and even the kid stopped attacking him for a moment, looking surprised.

ed took a deep breath- he was a coiled spring, a match inches from being struck, a trained soldier. one hit with his automail fist and he could knock this brat out cold.

but looking at the kid- the nervous way his hands twitched, the unnatural narrowness to his face, the way he was still raving despite the fact he'd obviously picked a fight with the wrong person- made him pause.

This kid has some serious issues. What good is beating him up going to do?

The nurses were shouting and running about, and the kid grabbed a fork and came at him,

Ed grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt, automail fist wrapping tightly in the fabric, and hoisted the kid so his feet were off the ground and he was arms length away- no longer able to hit of kick him. even the fork in the kid's grasp didn't hurt when it simply bounced off his metal arm.

"H-hey! Lemme go! Lemme go!" the kid wailed, kicking and screaming.

The side of Ed's face was still throbbing, and he frowned. he kid had actually managed to get a good hit in on him. "Why would i let you go? you just attacked me?"

The kid frowned, tears running down his face. "You got three pudding cups! Three! I only got one! It's not fair, not fair! Like when mom feeds all the other kids but not me!"

Ed paused, taking in what the kid was saying. "you attacked me over pudding cups? ...your mom doesn't feed you?"

"No she doesn't and it's not fair! Not fair! I'm just as good as the other kids!" the boy in his grasp had stopped kicking and screaming and was now wailing limply in Ed's grasp.

They were surrounded by nurses.

"Ed, put him down and we'll sedate him. there's no need for this to get violent." nurse kim had a needle in her hand.

Ed frowned. "He's not going to hurt me."

"Put him down." nurse Kim reiterated, and Ed say her hand tighten on the syringe.

"Oh for crying out loud, I'm not gonna hurt the kid lady. I'm trying to calm him down." Ed rolled his eyes at the woman, turning back to the kid he was still holding up by the shirt.

"Hey- you. Kid. You're upset because I got more food than you did, right?"

The boy gave him a watery nod, snufffling.

"Well, I didn't realize it upset you. If you ask nicely, I will share my pudding cups with you. Would you like that?"

The boy blinked rapidly, giving a watery nod.

"Alright. So go ahead, ask me if you can have some. It's polite."

"c-can i... have?" the kid managed to squeak out.

Ed nodded, setting the kid back down on the floor and releasing his hold on the kid's shirt. "yes, you can." he reached over, grabbing a pudding cup from his tray and handing it to the kid, who was looking at him like he was some sort of otherworldly being, foreign and strange.

"I'm sorry your mom doesn't feed you. But most people will give you food if you ask nicely."

The boy nodded, turning and running off to his room, food in hand, and Ed sighed, rubbing the side of his face. man, that'd really hurt.

Nurse Kim was giving him a look that was half suspicious and half surprised.

"I'm no therapist, but that kid is fucking terrified of not having any food. Somebody should tell him that he doesn't have to worry about that here." Ed turned, heading back to his room and shutting the door as far as it would go, heading to the bathroom and frowning. God, his face hurt.

When he came out of the bathroom and sat down on his bed, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

The janitor was standing silently in the corner of his bedroom, watching him.

They'd finally gotten the files on John Rudolph from the mental hospital.

Everyone was staying late, pouring over them, and quite frankly, it wasn't pretty.

He'd been molested by his stepfather from age seven to age fourteen. been in trouble with the law for underage drinking and drug use. Been kicked out of art school despite his full ride scholarship and brilliant art and symbolism. Been homeless for two years from twenty to twenty three. Apparently gotten his alcoholism under control, and gotten a job as an elementary school art teacher that'd worked for four years, until it came out he'd been molesting young male students. Despite all the evidence, they didn't have enough to prosecute, but he'd officially been fired and dropped off the grid after making a class of elementary school students draw nude art, and fallen off the grid last March. The killings had started three months later.

Another gruesome twist had come up as well.

There were a handful of household pets that'd been found mutilated in alleyways- three dogs, two cats- reported to the police two months before the first killing. the arrangements and mutilations were of the same style of the victims found in the factory of horrors, and Roy swallowed back bile as he looked at the crime scene photos.

This guy had been trawling the streets, working his way up from hunting animals to hunting children.

"Sir- I think we should take a break." Hawkeye said seriously.

Roy blinked. "But... there's still more, we haven't even started on the files from his inpatient hospitalization a year ago..."

"Sir. It will be here tomorrow." Hawkeye glanced at the clock, frowning. "And it's nearly seven. Don't visiting hours at the hospital end at eight?"

Roy jolted to his feet. "It's that late already?" he thanked Hawkeye, hurrying out of the room and getting to the hospital within fifteen minutes.

He'd expected Ed to be pacing anxiously, wondering why he was so late, but instead, the kid was sitting by an open book next to a small girl- the survivor from the factory, Roy realized.

He looked like he was explaining something. The kid's natural fire was muted, though, he'd occasionally glace at the corner- and Roy jolted when he realized the kid had a black eye.

"Fullmetal." he raked his eyes over the kid.

Aside from the shiner and a split lip, the kid was looking relatively unharmed. But even the sight of the purple bruise blossoming around the kid's eye send rage coursing through him, and he jerked his head towards the hallway, away from the prying eyes of supervising nurses.

"Oh hey, you're here." Ed admitted, looking tired.

Of course he was here. He was late, but he hadn't forgotten! Roy frowned, pretending the words didn't bother him. "Yeah. I am. Walk with me."

They strode over to Ed's room- Ed hopped onto his bed, eyes darting reflexively to the corner, before he relaxed slightly.

Roy frowned, gently taking Ed by the chin and turning his face to get a better look at his shiner. "What happened? Did one of the nurses hit you?"

"No, it was another kid..."

Roy blinked. "Another kid? Another teenager attacked you?"

Ed blinked his good eye, shaking his head. "No. Believe it or not, he was like, seven, but he got me by surprise. He was mad because I got more pudding cups for dessert or something."

Roy blinked. "What did the nurses do? Did they help you?"

Ed scoffed. "I guess. They were going to sedate the poor kid- I managed to get the brat calmed down and he asked me to share, so I did."

"Which kid was it?" Roy asked quietly.

Ed sighed. "Look- does it matter? I mean... I'm pissed too that the kid hit me, but he... he's messed up. Got issues. Parents don't feed him or something, so when he saw I was getting more food than the rest he freaked out..." Ed looked hesitant, looking towards the doorway nervously. there was nobody there.

Roy frowned. "Did the nurses tell you to say that? Is someone here hurting you?"

Ed shook his head nervously. "No! It's... look, it's fine..."

Roy pursed his lips. "No. It's not. They didn't call me, or even give you an ice pack..." How am I supposed to trust these people to take care of you when they don't even call me when something happens to you?

Ed sighed. "Look, I know it isn't great, but it happened and I'm okay, and the kid who did it is in the right place to get help for his issues. So it's water under the bridge, alright?"

"Right. They at least fixed the food issue, you've got enough to eat, right?" Crap, I told him I'd bring him a burger from the mess...

Ed nodded. "Yeah. They talked to the nutritionist or something, I got enough food now. I'm okay, really." Ed gave him a smile that was more than a little forced.

Roy tried to look convinced. "You still have your quarters? There's a payphone in the hall, I want to be sure you can call..."

"I got 'em right here." Ed opened the bottom drawer to his nightstand, holding out a sock sagging from the weight that jingled when he shook it.

Roy blinked.

Ed grinned. "Quarter-sock." he said happily. "Also a handy weapon incase I have to fight off a group of ninjas."

Roy shook his head and chuckled. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked quietly.

Ed shrugged, putting the quarter sock back into his drawer and flopping onto his bed. "Hey- I have a copy of 'Basic Alchemic Principles' in my desk at work. You mind brining it to me tomorrow?"

Roy blinked, brows furrowing. "Yeah, sure. Isn't that a little elementary for you?"

Ed shrugged. "Never hurts to brush up on the basics. So- why were you so late today anyways?"

Roy froze. "Case is heating up. A lot of information got dumped on us today. It's... I don't want to talk about it." Roy said simply.

"Oh." Ed looked sad for a second, before it melted away. "I can't wait to see a psychologist and get out of here."

"I know. Hang on- let me get you an ice pack. Your face looks bad." Roy said, wincing slightly.

He stood, ducking out of the room, and headed down to the nurse's station.

Nurse Kim was seated at her desk, long acrylic nails signing paperwork at impressive speed. She gave Mustang a glare. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, actually, you can." Roy didn't even bother to hide the contempt in his voice, pulling out a chair and sinking down into it. "Care to explain to me why I leave the kid alone fine at lunch and when I come back tonight he has a black eye and a busted lip?"

Nurse Kim looked up, scrunching her nose up. "There was... an incident... earlier. Another patient noticed Ed had more food than they did and had an outburst. it was dealt with."

"Was it, now?" Roy asked sarcastically. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"You'll get a copy of the incident report in two days via mail, Colonel. we run things according to hospital policy, here." nurse Kim said, sounding unamused. "It probably wouldn't have happened if the nutritionist hadn't ordered Ed have different portion sizes than everyone else..."

Roy blinked. "So you're saying I should've let my kid get less food than he needs to avoid upsetting the status quo?"

Nurse Kim paused, blinking. "You're the boys legal guardian, Colonel. Not his father."

"Well whatever I am to him, I care a hell of a lot more about him than you and your staff. You do know who i am, don't you? You know i could rain hell down on this place- have every health commission investigator in the city breathing down your necks."

Nurse Kim seemed to pay attention to that, straightening. "Look- we're trying to work with you here. Edward - or... Fullmetal, as you call him- is clearly a unique case. calling the regulatory authorities is only going to make us devote less resources to these kids. So I'll be blunt. What do you want?"

Roy blinked. "I want my kid to be treated with respect. I want him to see a psychologist like he's supposed to. And I want an icepack- kid's got a massive shiner, in case you haven't noticed."

"Right." Nurse Kim looked down at her paperwork. "Your kid will see a psychologist tomorrow morning. i'll treat him with respect and caution like I do with all my patients. Because, as you've seen, these kids can get violent." nurse Kim said simply. "And ice packs are against ward policy. kids have tried to kill themselves by ingesting the chemicals inside. A warm compress will have to do." she turned, tossing him a moist towel.

"There's a microwave in the common room, you'll have to heat it up yourself."

"Oh, that won't be necessary." Roy snapped his fingers.

The blue and then orange flare of alchemic light and puff of steam as the wet towel was instantly heated, and the way Nurse Kim dropped her pen, gave him slight satisfaction as he headed back to Ed's room.

Ed was laying down and under the bedcovers when Roy got back. he looked at the steaming towel in Roy's hands and reached out, taking it and pressing it to his black eye with a sigh of contentment. The heat made it throb slightly less.

"Mind staying- just until i fall asleep?" Ed asked again, his one eye that wasn't covered in a warm towel checking the corner of the room again.

"Yeah, no problem. Sorry I was late today. I didn't realize how late it was until Hawkeye told me." he said honestly.

Ed shrugged. "It's alright."

They lapsed into silence, that was broken when there was a wail from a room down the hall. There was the sound of quick footsteps as a nurse jogged into the room, and two minutes later, the crying quieted to small whimpers.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Kid. You know that, don't you?" Roy asked quietly.

Ed sighed. "I hope so."

"You are. I promise. I'll make sure of it. Nurse Kim said you're seeing a psychologist tomorrow morning. You won't have to be here too much longer."

"It's weird. Hard to believe it's already been two days. time moves different here." Ed said simply, looking across the room at the opposite wall absently.

"Yeah. Try to take advantage of it and relax." Roy suggested.

Ed nodded absently.

Roy sighed. He wasn't good at these things- he didn't know what else to say.

"You want a backrub?" that always seemed to help calm the kid down when he was stressed- had back when he was in the hospital for his anemia, anyways.

Ed hummed and rolled over, and Roy rubbed circles on the kid's back.

Within five minutes, the kid was out cold, breathing slow and even.

Roy sighed, getting to his feet.

"Hang in there kid. Just a little bit longer." he said, more to himself than to Ed, before he turned to go, stopping in the doorway and looking behind him to see the kid was still asleep peacefully before he left for the night.

He jolted awake alone, with a cold wet towel on his face. For a moment, he panicked, note sure why a wet cloth was over his mouth and nose and feeling like he was smothering- he pulled it off his face and breathed deeply, taking in his surroundings and breathing deeply.

It was the middle of the night, he was alone, in his room.

The flashlight of a passing nurse doing bed checks passed his doorway, and Ed tried to ease his racing heart, laying back against the pillows.

He saw the silhouette of the tall, reedy man standing in the corner of his room and nearly screamed.

It was the same janitor from earlier- standing, holding a broom, watching him in his blue overalls.

the man didn't say or do anything- he rarely even blinked- just watching Ed as he laid in bed.

Ed let out a shaky breath.

He didn't sleep much more than a fitful doze after that, instead engaging in a staring contest with the specter in the corner of his room.

What do you think is going to happen next?

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