He dreamed he was by the woman in the brown shawl by the canal.
She was sobbing, sobbing, crying. She raked her fingernails down her face until she drew blood, her guttural cries frightened him.
He knew she was sad, but she didn't say a word.
All he could tell was she was in great pain.
He stood beside her and asked question after question- but she never answered. She just cried.
When he looked down he saw there was a ring of blood on the sidewalk beneath her.
And just like before, she melted away into black tar and sunk to the bottom of the canal.
He woke up in a cold sweat a little after midnight.
He was on his feet before he really knew what he was doing, tugging on his boots and a shirt and looking out the window.
Mustang was a light sleeper. He'd wake up if he used the door.
He didn't know where Atkins was, but judging by the light peering out from the crack in the bathroom door, he was in there.
He was hit with a moment of indecision. Half of him wanted to talk to someone- anyone- about what he was seeing.
A wave of nausea washed over him, and he bit back a whimper at the feeling.
Everything had changed when he got to this town and saw that woman by the canal. He couldn't explain why.
He'd just sneak down to the canal and make sure she wasn't there. Why would she be there? He'd been looking for her for days, but he'd never seen her. He needed to be sure she wasn't real, then he'd come back here and go to bed.
He got to his feet- he didn't have a headache, and for once, he had some clarity. His mind was sharp and made up, and he wordlessly opened the second floor window of their hotel room and let himself out onto the fire escape, dropping down to the sidewalk below. He'd go to the canal just to make sure the lady wasn't there. And when she wasn't, he'd head back to the hotel room.
He took off at a dead sprint- it was only two blocks from the hotel after all, and he tore down the sidewalk and stood beside the canal.
The woman wasn't there.
But a spring breeze seemed to bite into him, and on the wind he could hear a woman's sobbing.
And his breath caught in his throat, because though there wasn't a woman kneeling by the canal, he could see the single human hand reaching above the water, begging for help.
Words swirled around him just out of reach. He could hear them being whispered on the wind, but he couldn't understand them.
But still, he knelt beside the water anyways, looking at the lady's hand anxiously.
She needed help. He'd take her hand and pull her out of the water, and then he'd help her as best he could.
He reached over from where he knelt and placed his hand in her own, intending to pull her from the canal. But she pulled him downwards instead, and he fell headfirst into the freezing water.
The only reason they realized he was gone so fast was because he'd taken off when Atkins had decided to get up and take a leak.
A moment later the light was being switched on and Mustang was being shaken awake.
"Mustang- get up!" Atkins was already pulling on his boots. "The kid's gone, door is locked from the inside, and the window's open."
"What the fuck!? He took off on his own again?"
"Yeah, he did. We have to move."
Mustang was already tugging on his pants and boots, trying to ignore the way his heart was pounding.
"Do you think he went back to the morgue?" Atkins was sounding unnerved.
"There's a good possibility." Mustang didn't even finish lacing up his boots, and they took off down the stairs.
He was underwater.
The shock of the cold took hold of his body and assaulted him.
He hadn't expected to be pulled under the water, and he wasn't even holding his breath.
If I showed you my biggest regret, my only choice... would you judge me?
A woman's voice- so tearful, so desperate- sounded in his head above the roaring of his own pulse in his ears.
No. I want to help you.
There was a hand in his own- he'd sunk to the bottom of the canal by now, and the hand pulled him in deeper- he bent his knees, sinking into the soft dirt at the bottom.
Something was being shoved into his hand.
How do I know I can trust you?
I'm going to die down here. His chest was on fire, he was begging for air. I can't swim. I'm half made of metal.
The hand was touching his face now- pale white, icy cold.
Once you think you can't go on anymore- I'll find you. the woman's voice promised.
And then he was alone in the dark, sitting at the bottom of the canal.
He got to his feet and pushed off the bottom of the canal- he kicked and clawed at the water feverishly, and by some miracle, he managed to break the surface and gasp in a single breath of air before his automail weighed him back down.
He needed to get to the side of the canal, to claw his way onto the banks.
He was stuck in limbo- he managed to get his hand above the surface, but his strength was fading fast.
He was going to drown.
Mustang and Atkins were running along the sidewalk when Atkins paused.
He could've sworn he heard something in the canal. A desperate gasp, like someone was in there...
He paused, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, before he saw a hand disappear beneath the surface of the water.
He yelled in alarm and dove into the water fully clothed.
Mustang turned at the massive splash of his companion diving into the canal, but he didn't have time to question it, because a moment later Atkins was surfacing, struggling to stay afloat, and he was holding something.
"Mustang! I got him!"
"Shit! Fullmetal..." Mustang's voice was stolen from him.
Ed was gasping raggedly, and Atkins quickly handed him to Mustang, before he was pulling his sodden self out of the canal to lay on the sidewalk beside them, shivering.
As soon as he was out of the water, Ed turned to the side, spitting up a mouthful of water and wheezing, gasping...
"How long was he in there?" Mustang sounded alarmed, and Atkins shook his head. "I don't know. But he's still breathing..."
Ed had curled into the fetal position, something clutched to his chest.
He was still gasping raggedly, catching his breath, and Mustang brushed his sodden blond bangs out of his face and looked down at his charge nervously.
"Fullmetal. What the hell happened?"
"The lady." Ed wheezed. "She pulled me in.".
His nose was steadily dripping blood onto the cement sidewalk. "It was so cold..." his teeth were starting to chatter. "She's coming back for me. She promised. She gave me something..."
He was clutching a soggy woman's shoe to his chest.
"Holy shit." Atkins muttered. He had to pry it out of Ed's grasp. Atkins looked at Mustang uncertainly. The man was soaking wet and starting to shiver convulsively as well. "Does he need a hospital?"
"No." Ed rasped.
Mustang had stripped off his blue coat and stood, wrapping Ed in it and picking him up. "He needs to get the hell away from here and out of these wet clothes.".
"S-sounds good to me." Atkins agreed.
It took Roy a moment to realize the other man was also drenched in freezing water.
They must've looked a sight when they stumbled back into the hotel room- him carrying Fullmetal and Atkins drenched to the bone in his own clothes.
Mustang held his tongue the whole way upstairs- it made no sense to chastise Ed for running off on his own when he was freezing cold.
He filled the tub of the hotel bathroom with as warm water as he could stand and dumped the teen in fully clothed, boots and all.
Atkins was a grown ass man- he had the sense to get out of his own wet clothes and take care of himself.
Fullmetal shivered but closed his eyes, looking marginally more comfortable in the warm water.
"Why the hell did you do that? What possessed you to run off on your own like that?" Mustang demanded, unnerved.
Ed's nose was still sluggishly bleeding, and he gave a wet shrug from where he was laying in the warm water, sopping wet, his hair like a halo in the water behind him.
"I had a dream about the lady. She only comes when I'm alone.".
"You almost drowned. You could've died. You would have- it was purely dumb luck we were out looking for you! If Atkins hadn't got lucky and heard you drowning we'd be pulling your body out of the canal in the morning! What would happen to Alphonse then?!"
Ed looked to be close to tears. "I don't... I dunno. I wasn't thinking about that...".
"Clearly, you weren't thinking about anything!" Mustang spat. He was going back to what he knew- like the first time he'd met the Elric brothers all those years ago, grabbing Ed by the shirt and shouting at a wheel-chair bound kid- when he was afraid and uncertain, the unwavering discipline the military had instilled took over.
Edward laughed. It was a hollow, humorless laugh, and he gave Mustang a sad smile.
"She asked for my help. She's the first one who's asked for it, during this entire case. I have to go back to the canal. I have to go back.".
"Jesus Christ Ed- you're going to get yourself killed. You're out of your mind." Mustang looked horrified.
Ed shook his head. "No- I'm close to answers. I'm close. You don't understand.". He'd stopped shivering and was laying in the tub apathetically now. "She was going to tell me everything. It was all making sense. I was so close.".
Mustang grabbed the boy by the shoulders, making him sit up. "You almost died. Do you want to die, Fullmetal? Do I have to take you back to the psych hospital, because I really don't want to, but if I have to to keep you safe, I will..." Mustang actually looked broken up about this.
Ed looked offended. "I'm not crazy. And I don't want to die. I just want to solve this case..."
"Nothing is worth your life." Mustang said seriously.
"I know." Ed said, looking equally as serious.
"Do you? Do you really?" Mustang said, looking at him uncertainly. "Because I'm not sure you do. Running off in the middle of the night, almost drowning- if you'd asked me to come with you, I'd have gone without a second thought. You don't think these things through, and one of these days, we might not find you in time...".
"Look, I'm sorry. Okay?" Ed looked sincere. He looked like he meant it. "I just had a feeling she was there, and I got carried away- I didn't mean to fall in. Honest.".
He was getting to his feet, still fully clothes and dripping water. He fumbled to pull off his wet coat and shirt, still standing in the tub sopping wet.
Roy frowned, handing the kid a towel and moving to grab him fresh clothes.
Five minutes later, Ed ducked out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and boxers, looking pale but more himself. It was nearly 1 in the morning.
He moved to go back to his own bed, but Roy shook his head. "We have two options here. Since We can't trust you not to go running off on your own- you either sleep in my bed where I keep an eye on you or one of us stays awake to watch you.".
Ed sighed, but said nothing, grabbing his pillow and climbing into Mustang's bed, turning to face the wall the bed was pressed against. He traced designs in the wallpaper for a few minutes before he was dead asleep.
Atkins was sitting up in his cot- he'd gotten himself into dry clothes and was wrapped in his blankets, but he looked over at them both a bit nervously.
"Is he alright?" he asked, looking at Ed with clear concern in his silver eyes.
Mustang sighed. "I don't know."
Atkins heaved a sigh. "Now probably isn't the best time to bring this up, but he gave me this after we pulled him from the canal." He held up the damp women's shoe. "It belonged to one of the victims. She was found further down in the canal with only one shoe. And she was the third victim in this whole thing. I only know this because I was there when she was pulled out of the water. It's not very clear or linear- but the kid is making progress.".
Mustang barked a laugh. "You call this progress? The kid almost died tonight. It was dumb luck that we were out there looking for him. Hell, I didn't even notice- I walked right by him while he was drowning. If you hadn't seen him we'd be fishing his corpse out the next day. You call this progress?"
Atkins sighed. "I agree that what happened tonight was unacceptable. But I don't think we should abandon the case so soon. I think his judgement is altered due to his paranormal gift- one of us needs to be supervising him at all times. For his own good. But he's onto something. This shoe- it's a new lead. We know where the third victim went into the canal. We can get a more accurate time of death and determine the time of the attack... I'm not going to let anything happen to the kid, Mustang." Atkins looked serious. He'd turned on the small desktop lamp and was holding the shoe in his hand.
"You might as well sleep. I'm going to be up looking at maps and the reports on the third victims and the shoe. I'll make sure the kid stays put."
Roy frowned. "Are you going to let him go back to the morgue tomorrow?"
Atkins looked hesitant. "I don't think it's a good idea. I was going to let him sleep in and then take him back to where the third victim was found, since he seems to have some sort of connection with her...".
"If this case keeps going like this- I might have to take him back to East City. For his own good." Mustang looked over at the sleeping blond beside him.
"I get it. The kid's life is more important than solving my case." Atkins admitted. "But with both of us, we should be able to keep a close eye on him and be sure that nothing like this happens again.".
Mustang frowned. He hoped Atkins was right.
He laid back on his bed, and to the scratch of Atkin's pencil making new report findings, and the chill of a cold metal foot against his leg, he fell asleep.