CHAPTER 2:
"Sir!" Riza burst in the door of Roy's office in a panic. She was breathing heavily, sweat dripping from her brow. Roy stood in surprise. It was rare to see Riza so flustered. Something had to be very wrong.
"What is it?" Roy said, worry edging in his voice.
"It's Ed. The mine he was sent to, it collapsed!" She said, her voice cracking.
Roy's heart sank into his stomach. He almost fell back into his chair, but gripped his desk to remain balanced. Ed was his responsibility. Ed was his comrade, his teammate, but most of all, Ed was just a child. Roy knew this much. Even though he put on a good front, Roy knew that Ed was fragile. He was a scared, sad child deep down. Roy always felt a sense of protection over the boy ever since he'd come under his care. This kid had seen shit no person, let alone a child should ever see.
"He made it out, right?" Roy said quietly, looking down at his fingers gripping the side of his desk.
"There is no sign of him, sir." Riza said. "A search party has been sent to the area."
"We're going." Roy replied. His voice was low and husk. Riza nodded and quickly left to bring the car around. Once Roy's door shut, he allowed himself to slump into his chair. He covered his face with his hands and let out a deep sigh. "You better be okay, fullmetal…" He slipped on his gloves and hurried out to join Riza. He had to find him, safely. Alive.
The car ride was quiet. Too quiet. All you could hear was the thumping of the pavement below. Roy and Riza sat in the back, while Al took up the entire back seat. They had swung by the apartments to pick him up. They knew Al wouldn't sit still knowing his brother was missing and potentially severely injured… "Or worse…" Roy thought to himself. He quickly pushed the thought away, not wanting to think about it.
When the trio arrived at the scene, military personnel were swarming the area. Caution tape was put up and an ambulance was parked near the entrance to the mine. Roy gulped. The entrance was completely sealed off with a large pile of rocks. Fullmetal could be underneath any of these. Pulverized. Al didn't hesitate. He quickly jumped out of the car and began running to the scene.
"Hey! You can't go near there, it's dangerous!" A man said. Al ignored them. Roy and Riza quickly got out of the car. The military personnel saluted him.
"Anything?" Roy asked.
"Nothing yet sir, we are still searching." An officer said. Roy cursed under his breath.
"You keep searching until you find him."
"Yes sir!" The officer quickly scurried off to join the rest of the soldiers in pulling away rocks and debris. Al was amongst them, ferociously pulling away rocks and flinging them behind him, not giving a damn if someone had the misfortune of getting slammed in the face with it. Al was a quiet kid, kept his emotions in check. Unlike his explosive brother. Al was the rock for Ed and Ed was the rock for Al. When one of them was in danger, the other felt lost. Roy knew there was no stopping Al from searching. The other military members looked at Mustang with confusion, they didn't know what they were supposed to do with a giant suit of armor rummaging around like no one's business. Roy nodded to them to assure them it was alright. The men nodded slowly, and awkwardly got back to work. It would almost be funny seeing how confused they were if they were in a different situation. Riza put a hand on his shoulder.
"We need to get in there and help." She said, grounding him back to reality. He couldn't let emotions get in the way right now. He had to keep himself strong and be a leader. He spotted Havoc a bit aways, he was looking down at a blueprint of the mine with other soldiers. Mustang quickly rushed after him, Hawkeye tailing behind.
"Talk to me." Roy said when he got up to the table. Havoc looked up at him with an unusual sternness in his eyes. Havoc was usually carefree and jolly, it was weird to see him so serious.
"The mine is really fragile. If you dig in the wrong place, the entire thing could come crashing down, then there really wouldn't be any hope for Ed." He explained, pointing to the schematics. A local miner was standing across from the table. Roy looked up at him.
"What do you suggest we do?" He asked. The miner was a burly man, probably late thirties. His beer belly was enormous and his five o' clock shadow was even worse than Roy after sifting through papers all day. The man also reeked of grease and dirt. Probably from working all those years in a mine.
"Well, it's gonna be tricky. We don't know where the lad is. I suggest we begin from the entrance, slowly taking rocks out in a way where they won't collapse. It'll be tedious, but it's the best bet this boy has if he's still alive." The miner said. Roy's heart dropped at that last part. He had to be okay.
The next few hours went by at a snail's pace, Roy was commanding different officers on what stones to remove, Al helping with some of the heavier ones. It was going too slow. They had to be faster.
"Don't you dare be dead fullmetal."