A/N - I'm back with another FMA hurt/comfort fic! This one is probably heaviest on the Roy whump, but there's also some Ed whump, Havoc whump, and Hughes whump thrown in for good measure :)
This one should be approximately 14 chapters, or so - it's a bit on the longer side.
Title is from "Little Miss Why So" from The Amazing Devil.
Hughes leaned against Roy's desk at a precisely calculated angle, just enough to make the wood creak alarmingly. Roy glared at him, and Hughes smiled back.
"Get off." Roy pushed at him, and Hughes got one more solid groan out of the desk before taking his weight off the wood and circling around behind it, next to Roy. The Colonel growled at him, but Hughes could see his friend smiling slightly behind his hair.
"It's too early for this," Roy complained, and Hughes wasn't sure if Roy meant his antics or just the situation in general.
Hughes was doing some investigations in East City, and he'd decided to take an extra day off after his work was done to see Roy. He and Roy had been planning to go out the previous night, before Roy had received word that he and Ed needed to be at some sort of urgent State Alchemist meeting the next morning at the godawful hour of 5AM. Luckily, Maes was staying in the same military hotel as the Elrics, and he'd offered to drive Ed to Eastern Command for the meeting, since he wasn't planning on getting much sleep anyway. Al had come along too, as far as Hughes could tell simply because he went everywhere that Ed did.
Now, the four of them were sitting in Roy's office, waiting for the meeting to start and, in Roy's case, complaining about it.
"You know, I have to work a full shift after this," Roy said loudly. "I don't know how they expect me to be productive, after getting this little sleep last night…."
"Well, they probably expected you to go right home after you heard about the meeting," Hughes pointed out. "Instead of going out anyway."
There was a small snicker from Ed, who was sitting on the couch with Al. Hughes expected him to make some sort of follow-up snide comment, but Ed looked pretty exhausted himself, and seemed content with just laughing at the Colonel.
Roy's cheeks flushed ever so slightly, and he crossed his arms. "It's all your fault, Maes. As usual, you're a terrible influence."
"Yep," Hughes said happily. "Speaking of, you're gonna share those cookies, right, Roy?"
The cookies in question were in a basket on Roy's desk. Apparently, they'd been part of a gift basket that had arrived the day before, a sort of "thank you" for State Alchemists, and Roy had so far been very resistant to sharing them.
"Are you a State Alchemist, Maes?"
"I'm a hungry Lieutenant Colonel," Hughes tried, and Roy shook his head smugly.
"State Alchemist perk, Hughes."
"They weren't that good anyway," Ed said, looking more lively at the mention of food.
"Oh, do you have any left?" Hughes asked hopefully. "I prefer to make my own decisions in terms of cookie quality-"
"I, uhh, kinda ate the whole basket yesterday."
Hughes frowned, Ed's comment tipping him into Dad-mode. "Ed, that's probably too many cookies-"
Ed looked like he was about to argue, but they were both interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. As much as Hughes tried not to think about Ishval, it had left him as twitchy as the rest of the Colonel, and adrenaline swept through him before he had any idea what was happening.
And then he spun around, and saw the bomb.
Hughes registered a few things at once, so quickly he wasn't able to process them consciously. The bomb - it looked like some sort of grenade - had come in through the window, breaking it as it went. Al was closest to the bomb, but it wouldn't be able to hurt him. Ed was between the bomb and Hughes.
Two things happened at once. Roy, moving faster than Hughes thought he had ever seen him move, and with a strength Hughes hadn't known he'd had, flipped his desk. His typewriter crashed to the ground in a sea of unfinished paperwork. The desk formed a sort of makeshift barrier against the bomb.
At almost the same time, Hughes tackled Ed to the ground. He just laid there on top of him for a single panicked heartbeat, but the bomb seemed at least a few seconds from going off. Hughes manhandled the kid behind Roy's barrier. He seemed too stunned to even struggle.
The bomb still hadn't gone off. Hughes locked eyes with Roy, who looked so panicked Hughes wasn't even completely sure he recognized him.
And then a faint hissing sound filled the room.
Hughes peaked around the barrier. It...it wasn't a bomb then. It was emitting gas.
Hughes realized too late that he probably should have held his breath. But he hadn't been expecting this, and by the time he shut his mouth, the room was already filling with a thin, white smoke. It didn't taste like anything, and Hughes didn't feel any immediate effects. But he knew it was only a matter of time.
Hughes looked back at Roy again. To Hughes' surprise, Roy's face had lost some of the feral edge. His eyes were wide and almost glassy-looking. He blinked once, twice, and then slumped against the back of the table. He seemed to be fighting to keep his eyes open.
"Roy?" Hughes asked, suddenly terrified that his friend was hurt. He realized only too late that he should probably try to avoid breathing in any more of the gas, but at this point that was honestly the least of his concerns.
Roy swallowed hard - he'd gone pale, and looked like he might be sick. As Hughes watched, his abdominal muscles gave out, and he slipped further down the desk, unable to even keep himself sitting upright.
"Full-" He seemed to be struggling to form words. "Fullmetal-"
Hughes whirled around. Ed was lying sprawled on the ground, seemingly already unconscious.
"Ed!" Al stepped around the desk, going to his knees beside his brother, metal body curved protectively over Ed. "What-?"
Hughes turned back to Roy, any questions that he may have had dying on his lips. His friend's eyes had slipped closed, head falling back against the desk.
"Come on, Roy," Hughes muttered, reaching out for Roy's shoulders with shaking hands. He still wasn't feeling any effects from the mysterious gas, and part of him knew that was strange, but there was far too much adrenaline flooding through his system to allow for clear thought. Roy was down, Ed was down, and someone must be deliberately targeting them. Was there more to their plan than just gassing the office?
Without the need for conscious thought, one of Hughes' daggers appeared in his hand. He wrapped his fingers around it, and his hand stopped shaking.
Beside Ed, Al stiffened, cocking his helmet towards the window.
"What?" Hughes hissed, feeling the leather wrap of the knife dig into his fingers as he tightened his grip.
"Someone outside," Al said quietly. "He said 'go in and get them.' I'm sure they're here for Ed and the Colonel…. They must have thought they were alone."
Hughes could hardly hear Al over the sound of blood rushing in his ears. He was barely thinking anymore, the only thing on his mind protecting Ed and Roy.
"I'm taking Ed's place. I don't know what they want him for, but it can't be good," Al said suddenly. "And they can't hurt me like they can hurt him."
Al pushed Ed a little further behind the desk, making sure he was fully concealed, then picked a piece of paper off the floor and began to scribble on it, presumably writing Ed a note.
As soon as he spoke, Hughes felt his mind clear. He'd been ready to fight, but Al was right. They had no idea how many people were about to walk through the door, or how those people would be outfitted and prepared. Hughes only had a standard military issue pistol with one clip, and a few knives tucked into his belt. And if they got into a firefight, they could inadvertently endanger their unconscious friends.
"Good idea," Hughes said, shoving Roy's head down to the floor, out of sight. "I'll take Roy's."
The desk drawer that contained Roy's extra flame gloves was shattered on the floor, and Hughes reached down and pulled on a pair. Then, regretfully, he took off his glasses and placed out of view. The Flame Alchemist's exact appearance wasn't widely known, but Hughes was pretty sure that it would be suspicious if he was wearing glasses.
"You don't have to do this," Al said. He didn't sound like he was ready to start an argument. He just sounded resigned.
Hughes could hear the sound of footsteps in the hallway now, even over the sound of his heart thudding in his ears.
"It's better this way," Hughes said. "We don't know what these guys want. We can't let them be captured."
Hughes knew it wasn't just that. Hughes and Al couldn't let two powerful State Alchemists fall into the hands of a dangerous group of people with a completely unknown agenda. But also...it was Ed and Roy. They were helpless, and Al and Hughes were in a position to protect them. Hughes knew he didn't have to do this, but…he did.
There was a small creaking sound as Al nodded, and Hughes knew that he understood.
It suddenly occurred to Hughes that these people would be expecting Roy to be unconscious. Hughes had no idea how they had managed to develop something that could knock out both Ed and Roy but not Hughes, but that didn't matter now. Al had an excuse - Hughes was sure they would soon find out that he was just an empty suit of armor, however much he tried to hide it. But if Hughes was conscious they would realize they didn't have Roy, and Hughes wasn't sure that was something he could fake. Especially not if they did...god only knew what to him.
The footsteps were right outside the door. Hughes figured they had ten seconds before their assailants would enter the room. Maybe less.
"Al," Hughes said frantically. "They'll be expecting me to be unconscious like Roy and Ed. If I'm not…"
Hughes didn't think Al would understand at first. He expected the kid to hesitate. But Al just turned towards him, and then there was a metal fist coming at his face so fast Hughes didn't even have time to blink.
There was a bright explosion of pain, and Hughes felt his knees crumple. Then, he knew no more.
Hughes went down like a sack of laundry, eyes rolling up in his head. Al didn't have time to be regretful about that. A second after the Lieutenant Colonel had hit the floor, there was a splintering sound as the door to the room was kicked in. Al automatically backed into a defensive stance, even though he knew they weren't really trying to fight.
Six men entered the room. "What's going on?" Al yelled, as soon as he had a line of sight on them. He knew they would be confused that he wasn't unconscious, and that would make them suspicious. Al needed to attract as much attention to himself as possible, to ensure they didn't search the room and notice Ed and Roy. He drew himself up to his full height, knowing exactly how imposing he looked.
"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist," Al yelled. "You can't do this to me! What do you want?"
"What- he was supposed to pass out," one of the men whispered to the guy that Al assumed was the leader.
"Your little knockout drug won't work on me," Al said proudly, lifting his helmet off and displaying the empty suit of armor. He knew he was taking a huge risk by showing his hand like this, especially knowing there was a chance it would get back to the military, but he wasn't sure what other choice he had. "Haven't you heard of me? I said I was the Fullmetal Alchemist! I don't go down easy!"
Al half-expected the combination of the empty armor and his best impression of Ed's overconfident grandiosity to make the men turn tail and run. Unfortunately, the leader seemed to be made of sterner stuff. The other five looked as shocked as Al had hoped, but the leader put his hand out, demanding calm.
"Body or no body, we can still get a good price for him," he said, and the men nodded, their fear apparently overcome by their greed.
"A price for me?!" Al shouted, trying to give his voice the same indignant edge that Ed got right before he caused a lot of damage. "You dare - I'm gonna kill you all, just watch me!"
"Steady there, Fullmetal," the leader said, training a gun directly at Hughes, still prone on the ground. "One move, and I kill the Flame Alchemist. It'll still work with just one of you."
Al had no idea what "it" was, but it didn't matter. He hadn't even really been planning to fight, he had just wanted to distract them from the overturned desk and what it was guarding. Besides, if they'd done any research at all on the Fullmetal Alchemist, then they'd probably expected a little shouting.
"Okay, okay," Al said, carefully raising his hands and keeping them spread far apart. "What do you want?"
"We want you to come with us," the leader said. "Chain his hands, boys."
Two of the other men moved behind Al, each one grabbing one of his wrists and pulling them behind him. Al heard the clink of metal on metal as they wrapped a chain around his wrists, holding them tightly in place. Two of the other men grabbed Hughes under the arms, hoisting him upright until they could support him well enough to drag him out the door.
"Where are you taking us?" Al tried, not really expecting to get an answer. Sure enough, the leader shook his head.
The two men behind Al began to push him out the door, following the two who had taken Hughes. Al went willingly, refusing to let himself look back as he left Ed behind.
Riza skidded into the parking lot at Eastern Command, stopping her car in front of the building. She didn't bother to find a parking space, just left the car there and sprinted towards Roy's office.
She'd been woken about half an hour before by a frantic call from the military high command. They'd received a phone call from a mysterious group who claimed to have captured both the Flame Alchemist and the Fullmetal Alchemist, and was holding them for ransom. Apparently, they'd been extracted straight from East HQ. Riza, as Roy's second in command, had been the first to be notified. She was supposed to be investigating Roy's office, to see if she could find any kind of clue that could possibly lead them back to the kidnappers.
Unless there was an emergency, first shift started at 7:30, and it wasn't even 7:00 yet. Because of this, Eastern HQ was virtually empty. Riza didn't know if this was good or bad - it would certainly make it easier for her to investigate, as well as keep the capture of Ed and Roy quiet, if that's what the Military wanted. But Riza was a bit worried that some of the terrorists would still be inside the building, which could be dangerous, and she knew once an Investigations Team got involved they'd be much more likely to find clues….
Hughes. As soon as she had access to a phone, she needed to call Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. He'd been in East City the past few days - maybe she could even catch him before he left. She knew no one else but him would match her determination to find the Colonel, and there was no one else she would rather have by her side.
Riza pushed her way through the front doors, and made her way as quickly as possible up to Roy's second floor office. As soon as she walked through the door, Riza's heart started pounding. The office was in complete disarray. The window was shattered, and there was some sort of smoke grenade on the ground in front of it. Roy's desk had been flipped. Everything that had sat on it was scattered about the room.
There were no real signs of a struggle, aside from the flipped desk. A barricade, perhaps? But no signs of blood, or anything like that. Maybe that had been the purpose of the smoke grenade - to deliver some sort of drug. She hadn't even considered that possibility before entering the room, and she felt a pang of relief that whatever it was seemed to have dissipated.
She made her way around the desk, looking for further signs of damage. But then, her breath caught in her throat.
Ed and Roy were sprawled on the ground behind the desk, completely still.
Riza felt a fear like nothing she had ever known go through her. She was on her knees without being aware of moving, and she took one of Roy's wrists in her hand. She realized distantly that her breath was coming in shuddering gasps.
Roy's pulse thudded reassuringly beneath her fingers. Just unconscious then. Riza immediately felt that she was on steadier ground.
"Colonel? Colonel? Wake up." She gave his shoulder a gentle nudge, but nothing happened. His eyes didn't even flutter.
She tried Ed next, first making sure he had a pulse, then shaking him lightly in an attempt to wake him. He was also completely unresponsive.
When the Military had called her, letting her know Ed and Roy were being held for ransom, they'd given her all the information they'd received from the initial phone call. They'd told her Ed and Roy had been dosed with a paralytic agent. There was medication to combat it, but there was no chance they would escape on their own - they would collapse without the medication.
Ed and Roy had clearly not been captured. But was there a chance they had still been drugged? Riza didn't know much about poisons and chemicals, and she wasn't sure how to tell if Ed and Roy had been hit with something like a sleeping gas, or with the paralytic in question. She wasn't even sure if the paralytic could knock someone out. The higher-ups had told her that the hospital had been informed of the situation, and she'd been given a contact there. Military Command probably expected her to call them first and tell them that Ed and Roy were safe, but if Ed and Roy were in danger from the unknown substance, then a hospital was definitely her first call. Military Command would be after that.
She wouldn't really have any answers for them - in fact, so far, she only had more questions. Ed and Roy had clearly been attacked, which meant the phone call to the military couldn't have been entirely a bluff - at least the attack, and possibly the paralytic agent, were based in truth. But if the kidnappers had managed to knock Ed and Roy unconscious, why hadn't they taken them? And why were they trying to claim that they had them now?
But none of that mattered quite yet, not until Riza confirmed that Roy and Ed were safe. Without getting up from beside Roy, she pulled the telephone towards her. As she picked the phone up off the cradle, a scrap of paper fluttered free. Riza caught it, unfolding it and frowning as she read the cramped handwriting.
Men came for Ed and the Colonel. Lt. Col. Hughes and I took their place. Find us. The note was signed "Al."
Riza put her head in her hands, feeling suddenly off-kilter. What Al and Hughes had done...was probably smart. If the kidnappers wanted the two State Alchemists, it was probably best to interfere with those plans however they could. But still, they were putting themselves in massive amounts of danger. Clearly, the kidnappers had wanted to take Ed and Roy alive. She wasn't so sure about Hughes and Al.
"Hospital first," Riza whispered, taking a deep breath, trying to keep herself on track. Five minutes wouldn't matter to Military Command, but they very well might to Ed and Roy's health.
The contact that Riza had been given was both efficient and knowledgeable, and Riza hung up feeling marginally better about the situation as a whole. The doctor hadn't been able to confirm whether or not Ed and Roy had been dosed with tychine (the paralytic agent), but she had told Riza that a single dose of the antidote wouldn't do them any harm, even if they didn't have tychine in their systems. As it happened, tychine was a common enough chemical used in knockout gas grenades that all Military Headquarters stocked at least two doses of the antidote - called Kyrenol - in their infirmaries. The antidote was a temporary measure, lasting about an hour, and the hospital would send over more Kyrenol as soon as they could.
Riza called Military HQ from the phone in the infirmary, so she could talk to them and rifle through the medications looking for Kyrenol at the same time. They seemed worried, which was to be expected, and also confused. Apparently, they were planning to shut down East HQ for the first part of the day, to give Riza a chance to clear Ed and Roy out. The Military wasn't planning to actually fake Ed and Roy's death, but if they kept the fact that the two State Alchemists were not in custody quiet, it might keep Al and Hughes safer. Riza was to call the rest of Roy's squad, and inform them that they had the day off, and then keep the Military apprised of any new developments.
By the time Riza had finished up that conversation, she also had two injections of Kyrenol in hand. She hurried back up to Roy's office, where Roy and Ed were still unconscious. She started prepping the injections. She was a little nervous - the hospital worker hadn't told her the Kyrenol would be in a syringe, and she'd never given an injection before. Should she do it on the upper arm, like a shot? Somewhere closer to the heart? Should she call the hospital back?
She ended up settling on the thigh, thinking that would be easiest since there was a large muscle there. She dosed Ed, trying not to think too hard about the fact that she was injecting something into him, and at the same time she picked up the phone from the ground. She called Havoc first, but was unable to reach him. She dosed Roy while listening to the empty ring. She couldn't worry about that now.
She was able to reach Fuery, Falman, and Breda without too much trouble, and told them not to come in that day. She didn't give them time for follow up questions.
Riza kept the phone nestled between her cheek and shoulder as she talked, so she could monitor Roy's pulse with one hand and Ed's with the other. It had to have been...at least three or four minutes since she'd administered the Kyrenol, and both of them still showed no signs of waking up. What if they had actually been hit with something else, and this wasn't going to work? What if the Kyrenol wasn't enough? What if…?
Roy suddenly moaned groggily, stirring vaguely under her hand. He seemed to be struggling to get his eyes open, but unable to quite manage it yet.
"Colonel?" she whispered. "Colonel?" She transferred her hand to his shoulder, hoping it would help keep him calm.
And Lieutenant Havoc chose that minute to walk through Roy's door.