I know it's Christmas, and 2020 is a wacky year, so I hope everyone is safe and well, and I hope this chapter provides you with a welcome present and acts as a distraction if you can't see your loved ones right now.
Ed blinked, looking around the ward nervously the next morning at breakfast.
Lucy was gone.
"Where's Lucy?" he asked a passing nurse, trying to calm the unease in his gut.
"Oh- she's not here anymore." the nurse said simply.
"You mean she got discharged?" Ed asked.
The nurse nodded. "Yeah. I think so. Your breakfast is getting cold- and you're getting discharged this afternoon."
Ed couldn't help the excited way his heart fluttered.
"Your Colonel is coming here at noon to pick you up and take you back to the apartment."
Ed blinked. "Apartment? I don't live in an apartment. I live in the military dorms..."
The nurse frowned. "Ah. I guess they must not have told you yet. As part of your patient safety plan and discharge conditions, you're going to be living with your guardian for awhile so you can be supervised..."
Ed blinked. He was going home... with Mustang?
A few weeks ago the thought would've enraged him and sent him into a flurry of cussing.
But after having the man care enough to take him to the infirmary when he was sick, bail him out of more than a handful of dangerous situations, and fall asleep beside his hospital bed a few times, he was finding it hard to be upset at the idea.
He was starting to realize he trusted Mustang.
But he couldn't deny the brief flare of uncertainty at the realization he'd be living with his commanding officer, and a splash of hesitance.
He trusted Mustang. He did. But living with someone that wasn't a seven foot tall suit of armor that he called his little brother.
Living with someone... an adult that wasn't Granny Pinako and was actually, legally his guardian, responsible not only morally but also on paper under the law with an obligation to care for him... he hadn't had that since Mom had died.
Mustang would be fair to him. Logically, he knew that. In that infuriatingly Mustang way he had, the man would encourage him and push him just hard enough that he had to stretch and grow a little- it was what the man had done this whole time, afterall, how he'd fostered Ed's talent since he'd come to East City to take the state alchemist's exam.
Still, he hesitated at the thought of Roy being only a bedroom away.
You could wake him up if you had a nasty dream at night.
The thought crept into his mind unbidden, and he physically shook his head, as if to clear it.
The thought of sitting down to dinner with the man- probably something simple like pasta or canned soup, maybe grilled cheese- at a small but worn table, talking about alchemy and drinking juice and reading in the livingroom he furnished with his imagination- came to mind next.
You could talk about alchemy with him. It'll be nice- not to have the quiet of the dorms all the time.
If your automail pain gets bad, you won't have to hide it. You might be able to ask him to bring you aspirin, instead of having to crawl across the floor...
Ed jolted slightly.
No. Can't do that. What am I doing, thinking thoughts like that?
Since his mother had died, he'd been the older brother. The one who had to swallow his pain and sickness and cope, because Al needed someone to take care of him and he had to be the one to do it.
You learned pretty fast how to do things yourself when there was no other option.
Granny Pinako had been a blessing when their mother had died- but the woman had a business to run. She couldn't spend all day helping them.
She was kind enough to teach him and Al how to wash clothes in the clear spring-fed creek that ran through the meadows. And kind enough to let them use her drier machine- a contraction of a tumbling chamber and gears that blew warm air and fascinated them as small children.
But there had been times when there were storms, when the Rockbells had to leave for a few days, when Pinako had been busy- and they'd been just fine on their own.
Ed still remembered the stinging, refreshing cold of the creekwater on both his flesh hands in the spring when he and Al were washing their clothes. It was one of the memories he held onto when his automail arm ached in the rain and his stumps throbbed.
He remembered days when he didn't feel well- and he got up anyway, sore throat be damned, headache pushed to the side- because someone had to gather eggs from the freerange chickens that wandered outside and make breakfast for Al.
Don't get soft now. You're still the older brother- just because people are around to help you now, doesn't mean you can get used to it. You've been fine on your own all this time- Mustang could get called off to war in the blink of an eye. You can't depend on him.
His mind let the unwelcome thought surface without much effort, and Ed frowned.
Every logical bit of his childhood told him to believe his cynical mind. It was always so. Adults never cared. Or, if they did, they never stuck around. Wether they were pulled apart by choice or circumstances beyond their control.
Dad left. Mom died. Izumi taught them everything she could, and he lnew they were welcome there- but he'd truly believed they could bring their mother back. And that had gotten them in the mess they were in now.
Pinako had picked up the pieces, but they'd been desolate- no mother, Al trapped in a metal shell, Ed horribly maimed. He'd figured he'd spend the rest of his life rotting away in the backrooms of the Rockbell residence, a cripple. And that Al would stay by his side until he went mad and erased his bloodseal.
He'd known there were other options. But he'd been so beaten down, he didn't even know how to comprehend it.
And then Roy Mustang had come crashing through the door, lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, and given them a chance. Hope. That was all he'd needed.
Don't rely on him. Adults never stick around.
But in his heart, something tugged at the thought of Mustang turning his back on them. He helped you. He gave you a chance when nobody else would. Why would he put in so much effort if he were going to abandon you?
His mind fumbled.
He might not have a choice. Some lowlife thug might put a bullet in him on a rainy day. And then you're back to square one- no help, nobody to rely on. Only your own efforts and job as a state alchemist to show for it. You don't need help, you don't need friends. You just need Al by your side and Winry waiting back home. You're fine on your own. You always are.
He couldn't deny the way his heart jumped slightly when just after lunch, a familiar blue coated figure stepped onto the ward, nodding to Ed.
He found himself falling into step beside Roy as the man made a beeline for the nurse's station.
"Ready to get out of here, Fullmetal?" Roy asked with a smile.
"Yeah. But you didn't tell me I'd have to stay with you." Ed said, looking at his shoes.
Mustang faltered for a minute. "The psychiatrist said it was a condition of discharge yesterday, and it honestly slipped my mind. I didn't think it would be a problem- I figured you just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible."
Ed paused. "Yeah. I do." he didn't say anything else, and Roy was left uncertain as to what was going through the boy's head as they reached the nurses station, where Nurse Kim was, for once, absent.
A distracted looking younger nurse started handing Mustang the discharge papers, which the man signed with practiced ease.
The nurse kept craning her neck to look around them at the emergency exit door.
Still, Roy was too preoccupied by Ed's odd aura to notice.
"You realize this is just temporary, right, Fullmetal- it's just a condition to make sure you're really okay and back on your feet. You're cleared to return to duty effective immediately." Roy paused, stopping after a signature and reaching into his coat pocket.
"I figured you'd want this back." he withdrew a state alchemists watch that was slightly scuffed by still shining, and Ed's eyes widened, cupping his palms together and eagerly letting Mustang deposit the coveted possession into his hands. He ran his fingers over the emblem in the raised metal, let himself comb the chain through his fingers, and calmed the moment he tucked it into his pocket and felt the familiar weight of his achievement- his accomplishment, his hope for atonement- in the pocket of his sweatpants.
"If you'll just sign here and here acknowledging the discharge plan, treatment plan, and potential risks, he'll be in your custody." the nurse spoke hurriedly.
Roy nodded, signing quickly, before he turned to Ed, giving the kid a small smile.
"Welcome back, Fullmetal. You're offically a free man, and back on duty as a state alchemist."
Ed let a crooked grin cross his face. "It's about time, you bastard."
The door of the emergency exit stairwell slammed open, and a quartet of nurses stumbled into the room, dragging a body with them.
"Children! In your rooms, now! We have a code black!" Nurse Kim's uniform was bloodstained, and the injured form held by their limbs was gentlyt laid onto the sterile white floor.
The children scattered like mice, unnaturally silent, toys and crafts abandoned, retreating to their rooms.
Two nurses had grabbed a couch from the recreation area and were moving to use it to barricade the emergency exit, while one say to their injured comrade- the nurse behind the desks had abandoned Ed's discharge papers, rushing forward with a first aid kid, and Nurse Kim stalked forward, eyes wide and the blood on her uniform standing out starkly.
When she laid eyes on Mustang, some of the tension in her shoulders seemed to relax.
"Colonel. For once, your visit is convenient." she said simply.
Roy frowned, already peering around her at the injured form on the floor. "What's going on? Someone's injured?"
Nurse Kim nodded, looking disturbed. "There's been a breech on the unit for the criminally insane. We were able to bring one injured nurse out, but there are still two nurses and a guard unaccounted for inside. The outside doors of the unit have been locked down, but if a patient is quick enough for a keycard, they might have been able to get onto the stairway behind us." Nurse Kim's eyes darted over to the emergency exit stairwell.
"Since the unit it staffed by the military, your assistance is much appreciated."
Roy nodded, charcoal eyes already calculating. "How many are in the unit? Who do you know escaped?"
Nurse Kim frowned. "Two inmates escaped. One has... cannibalistic tendencies, attacked our staff member. The other was a serial killer and rapist."
"So we're only looking at two? And they aren't alchemists?"
Nurse Kim's lips were pressed into a firm line. "To my understanding, only two. Not alchemists." she hesitated. "However- if the two escaped prisoners have the presence of mind to attack a guard and manages to get a set of their keys- they may be able to unlock all the other cages. In which case we have all twenty prisoners freed and able to attack one another and staff as they see fit. Five of them are alchemists. I'll be calling the military for assistance, of course, but your early intervention here could save a lot of casualties."
Roy was already reaching into his pocket, pulling on his gloves. "Of course."
"There's only one hallway that winds through for security purposes. Locating any injured staff and subduing our residents with non-lethal force." she eyed his gloves suspiciously.
Roy nodded. "For once, we can agree on something."
"Finally. I've been looking forward to some action." Ed cracked his knuckles in anticipation, and Nurse Kim looked at him with concern while Mustang eyed him cautiously.
"You sure you're ready for this, Fullmetal?" Roy gave him a sideways glance.
Nurse Kim bristled. "Absolutely not! He is a patient and a child, he's not going into that ward of psychopaths! This is absurd!"
Ed smirked. "Hate to break it to you lady, but I don't take orders from you anymore." Ed reached into his pocket, palming his state alchemist's watch and thrusting it forward for her to see. "I'm freshly discharged and officially a dog of the military again. You no longer hold my leash.".
Nurse Kim turned to Mustang, eyes burning. "If you take him in with you, I will petition to end your guardianship of him."
"Look here, lady- you're in no position to bargain with anyone." Ed shot right back, matching her glare with one of her own. "You have two dangerous criminals running around your nuthouse trying to eat people and shit. You've got a specific window of time to get them under control before they let out all their buddies and go on a homicidal fieldtrip to the rest of your hospital and then the city."
Ed jerked his head towards Mustang. "You send Sparky in there alone and he gets eaten by cannibal Hannibal, there's nothing left stopping that freak from letting out the rest of the crazies, or the hospital- including you and this ward, and all the others."
Nurse Kim frowned, gaze darting over to Mustang, who shrugged. "He's got a point. Having him there can help- Edward had dealt with these types pretty often. It wouldn't be the first time we've done this. We can work faster and safer together- and evacuate any injured staff quicker this way."
Nurse Kim narrowed her eyes. "You make confetti with alchemy, Edward. What use is the boy to you besides a human shield?" she was glaring at Mustang with mistrust again.
There was a resounding clap and a blue glow, and when Nurse Kim turned around, Ed's metal arm was transmuted into his signature blade. Her eyes widened.
"I assure you, I may be young, but I am a military dog." Ed growled, eyes flaring and hard. "I have teeth. I kept my alchemy pretty PG to keep you calm, but I'm quite skilled in nonlethal combat as well."
Nurse Kim had paled. She was nearly as white as the tile floor. "You could do that the whole time? He's been capable of crafting a weapon like that this entire time?" her voice had taken on a hysterical note to it, and she glared at Mustang.
"Sure can." Ed remarked calmly.
"He could've made a blade and killed the patients if he'd had the slightest urge!"
"And you could've taken a steak knife they gave you for lunch and done the same thing! I'm not crazy, and we don't have time for this shit! Mustang- we have to do this now." Ed growled.
Mustang nodded. He felt the urgency of the situation too.
"Right. Stay close to me, Fullmetal..." he was already moving towards the emergency exit doorway, Ed in step beside him.
"This is absolutely irresponsible!" Nurse Kim shouted over her shoulder.
Ed grinned. "I don't have to listen to you anymore, you horrible woman!" he flashed his watch one last time, before he was jogging behind Mustang, ducking into the emergency exit stairwell and mounting the concrete steps behind him, heading towards the fifth floor.
"Who knew I'd get another mission so soon!" Ed was slightly excited as he jogged beside Roy.
"Keep focused, Ed. This isn't going to be a fun one. Get the injured out, subdue the insane. I expect you to stay close to me- if any of the alchemists have been let out, then we may actually have to take up a defensive position and hold them off."
Ed blinked. They were at the fourth floor landing of the concrete stairwell, now, and the fluorescent lights overhead hummed impassively at them from above as they flickered.
Ed paused. "Defense? We're two of the strongest alchemists in the military..."
"And the enemy is criminally insane. And some of them may be alchemists. If they get out and start working together, we may be in trouble. That's why we have to move quickly. Keep your blade up and be ready to clap."
They'd reached the fifth floor landing- a large black metal door on the landing and white words spraypainted 'Ward for the Criminally Insane' jumped out to greet them under the flickering fluorescent lights.
A trembling nurse was cowering in the corner of the landing, looking rattled.
"Do you have a key?" Roy asked her.
The woman nodded, fumbling with her keyring and looking at the door anxiously.
"Y-yes. They've injured a nurse and at least one guard... If I let you in, I'll have to lock the door behind you. For security. If they were to overrun you... they'll at least be slowed down by a lock...".
"We understand. When we come back to the door and ask you to unlock it, the phrase "Cold December" will let you know we're not under duress and signal you to let us out." Roy said seriously.
The nurse nodded, fumbling with her keys and managing to unlock the door.
Ed was instantly hit with the smell of stale water and antiseptic, as well as plaster and electricity.
He swallowed. Whatever was behind these doors, he'd face it like he'd faced constant atrocities before. He was ready.
Did you like it? This chapter got a little bit deeper than I was expecting- it steps into Ed's attitude towards adults and his mindset. He's had to take care of himself and as a caregiver to Al for years, so he's a bit hesitant to let himself rely on anyone else physically or be comfortable, because he's not ready to let his guard down yet.
Emotionally, he trusts Roy. But he's still struggling to come to terms with the fact an adult has decided to help them and stick around.
Merry Christmas, I hope you are all well! Feel free to comment what you liked/disliked, or if you need Christmas cheer/ holiday season encouragement. Winter can be a tough time, especially now. I hope this brightened your day a little!