Revisited the 25th of May 2020
Chapter 7: I poured myself another cup of sober nights
Roy fell silent for a long time. Tention strained his sight as he read through the adoption papers and report files on the incident that supposedly had killed Alphonse's entire family, including his brother Edward. Riza waited, carefully observing her superior.
When Edward Elric had rushed out of their office a couple of days ago, she had become worried about him. He had looked like a limp, cornered animal, finally escaping from capture. No wonder, as he had been wheeled in, strapped to a wheelchair.
After some consideration, she had decided to go after him. How he could have disappeared so fast was beyond her, because when she reached outside, he was nowhere in sight. After that, she had not been able to focus on her work. That was when she decided to look further into the case. There had to be someone left with ties to his family.
It took nearly an hour before the doctor returned from the examination room, without Edward. In his hand, he held a large envelope. Roy frowned, feeling uneasy by the lack of tiny runts, and stood up to meet the medical.
"Colonel, I'm sorry for the wait," the young doctor said, and slipped a couple of pictures from the envelope and handed them to Roy, who recognized them as x-rays. He looked at them for good measure, not being able to establish more than that they were images of Ed's ankle.
"As you can see here-" the doctor pointed to the bottom part of the ankle joint, "he has a fractured talus bone."
Roy rolled his eyes back, wondering how this day could get any worse. "How bad is it?"
"It is an unstable fracture, but it doesn't look too severe. I don't think surgery is necessary, but we have to keep an eye on it."
Roy nodded.
"He's getting a cast now, and we will provide him with a wheelchair while he is recovering."
Roy realized that the shorter man was wearing a concerned expression, and was about to ask about it when the doctor continued to speak. "I don't know where you found this boy, but he seems very malnourished. He is pale, way too thin, and to be honest, just from his physical appearance, I thought he was much younger."
"I know."
Munk sighed and continued his report. "We will also have to treat his hand and leg for frostbite, and give him a tetanus vaccine."
This day is getting worse, Roy thought. How could he not have noticed that the kid had gotten frostbite, and why did he not take him for a checkup sooner? A loud screech sang through the infirmary, and Roy answered his own question. Roy followed the doctors' quick trot further down the hall. From the distraught sound of the voice, there was no doubt who it belonged to. As the two men reached the door the sound was coming from, they could hear glass shatter. Dr. Munk swallowed a lump in his throat and opened the door. "No! You get away for me, and take your hell-spike with you!" Then, the doctor quickly shut it again, just in time to avoid a tray flung through the air and hitting the door.
He looked at Roy's harsh expression. It was the exact opposite of his own nervous look. In one swift motion, Roy shoved the doctor aside and opened the door.
"EDWARD!" he yelled, eyes fixed on the boy who was currently using a metal tray as a shield, while verbally terrorizing the helpless nurse with a hypodermic needle in her hand.
Ed shrank by the sound of the Colonel's harsh tone and looked towards him with an accusing and pleading look in his golden eyes.
"She was gonna stab me!" he yowled and pointed to the nurse's hand, still hiding behind his makeshift buckler.
"Don't be overdramatic. It's just a small prick."
Ed pressed his lips together and scowled at the nurse. Roy rolled his eyes, and firmly walked over to the boy and grabbed the tray.
"H-hey," Ed let out a silent whine as his hand desperately reached for his protector. Roy made sure to place it way out of Ed's reach.
The older man got seated on the examination table next to Ed, and grabbed the boy's shoulders, shifting him to look at him. "Do you trust me?" Roy asked simply.
Ed's wide eyes looked at the sudden change of mood with confusion. "Huh?"
Roy repeated his question. "Do you trust me?"
"Hell no!" Ed bellowed.
"Whatever," Roy groaned, "Anyway, I'm sorry."
Ed gasped as the needle quickly poked his thigh. Roy's hold on the boy did not budge as Ed's arm curled around the steady grip for support. The nurse worked steadily, and slipped the needle out before covering the small orb of blood with a cotton ball, and covered it with a band-aid.
Ed was speechless, as he gawked on Roy with a newly found distrust, pouting and feeling horribly violated. Roy gave Ed a sad smile and patted him on the shoulder.
"I really am sorry." Roy softly grabbed onto Ed's heavily bandaged hand and looked at it. "It's to prevent your wounds from getting infected," he explained and looked Ed in the eyes. Edward still felt betrayed but gave in to Roy's apology.
"I really don't like needles," Ed explained as if it was a well-kept secret.
A small gulp came from the nurse as she quickly stepped in front of a counter, hiding the tray of capsules and instruments for the upcoming blood tests.
Ed was fuming after the visit to the infirmary. Not only did he feel like a pin cushion, but now he had to use a wheelchair and his hand was completely useless because of the bandages that covered it.
No, his hand wasn't useless. He was. All of the people from the orphanage who told him that he had no future and should be committed to a long term care facility had been right. The entire time from when he left Drachma until now, he had been completely dependent on other people. He had never been so dependent his whole life. If Ivan had not met him on the way to the train station, he'd be dead, buried in the snow.
And Roy...
Ed gazed at his broken leg and wounded hand, anger burning in his eyes. Roy didn't sign up for this; Being some kind of glorified babysitter to a worthless, good for nothing gimp. Just like everybody else, Roy felt sorry for him and had been unfortunate enough to be the one standing closest to the trainwreck that was Edward Elric.
In the next few hours at the office, Ed did not utter a single word. He didn't even touch the books Roy had brought him from the library.
Frequently, Ron looked up from his paperwork to check on the boy. He had really messed up at the infirmary, hadn't he? Betraying the boy like that, and now Ed seemed so depressed and hurt. Roy wanted to say something, but could not think of anything that would make it better. And now he also had to keep this potentially major secret from him. He needed to ask Hawkeye if she had any new information about the surprising discovery from earlier.
Straightening his jacket, Roy got up from his desk and casually walked across the room. Ed finally lifted his gaze from his lap tp looked at Roy. "I just need a quick word with First Lieutenant Hawkeye. If you need anything, Second Lieutenant Havoc is right outside."
Ed replied with a small nod and mustered a shy smile. It took Roy off guard, but he returned the gesture with a warm grin of his own that plastered to his face as he opened the door and stepped out of the office.
His subordinates took in the extraordinary sight with adamant skepticism, a row of raised eyebrows and wide orbs meeting the raven at his entrance.
"Shell shock?" Furey asked Falman quietly.
"Definitely some kind of war neurosis," the older answered thoughtfully.
"I'm getting flashbacks from Ishvala," Havoc shuddered bleakly.
Roy quickly wiped the smile off his face, replacing it with an annoyed grimace and stomped through the room and waved Hawkeye follow. The blonde obliged without hesitation.
Locking the door to one of their large conference rooms, Roy turned to face Riza. Her expression was stern, and she looked deep into his eyes. Roy paused for a moment, letting the sight of his most trusted subordinate and friend sink in. Her auburn eyes shone beautifully in the sunlight illuminating through the tall windows. Her hair was getting quite long these days, he realized. She always used to wear it short. His gaze followed the length down beneath her shoulders, feeling a strange urge to brush it over her shoulder.
She tilted her head. "Are you okay, Sir?"
And with that, Roy snapped back to reality. "Yes," he rushed, then hesitated. "Well, no- I'm not sure."
Riza gave him a curt nod and sat down on one of the chairs. "Okay. Talk to me."
Roy smirked as he realized that their roles had reversed from earlier in the day. "I think I screwed up with Edward," he heard himself say, pulling a chair up to sit beside her. This wasn't actually what he had come to talk to Riza about. "In the infirmary," he explained, "I think I really hurt him."
Riza looked at Roy's hands, fidgeting with the bottom of his uniform jacket. She reached out and stopped them with only a touch, and rested her hand on his. Roy didn't look at her. Instead, he turned his hand around, catching hers between his rough ones, feeling her thumb gently caress his palm. They sat like that for a minute, before Riza broke the comfortable silence. "You are doing a really good job, Roy."
Roy shook his head lightly, still not moving his gaze from the long-awaited caress.
"Yes, you are. He is lucky to have met you. And now we are going to find his family."
Roy smiled wearily and looked up to be met by her reassuring smile.
"I'm going to make a phone call to the Rockbell's. Let's just get it out of the way, and hopefully get the answers we're looking for directly from the source. All this 'how and why' can wait."
Hawkeye stood by the rows of phone booths at the HQ. She eyed the piece of paper she'd written the number on precariously, feeling strangely nervous in anticipation of the phone call. She had found the number of a Pianko Rockbell, which was also connected to, moronically, a small business called Rockbell Prosthetic Outfitters. Riza had wondered if it was some kind of cruel joke that someone had planted in the folder, but, as she found an advertisement for Rockbell Prosthetics between the pages, she realized that the only cruel joke here was faith.
She dialed the digits scribbled on the note, resting her forehead in her palm as she waited for them to pick up.
"Rockbell Prosthetic Outfitters," a lively voice that Riza assumed belonged to a young girl answered. "How can I be at your service?"
"Oh! Ah, h-hello. My name is Riza Hawkeye." She decided against mentioning her title right away. "I'm trying to reach Pinako Rockbell."
"Just a minute!" Riza heard the voice call out for 'Granny'. Not long after, the phone was picked back up.
"This is Pinako." This voice sounded more like that of an elderly woman. According to the file, she'd been nearly sixty years old when she adopted the supposed younger Elric brother.
"Hello, I'm Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye." She hoped that it might add some credibility.
"Is that so," the old woman murmured mundanely.
"I'm calling to ask you- I'm sorry, this might seem a little out of the blue, but, did you adopt a young child called Alphonse Elric, about 12 years ago?"
The line went silent for a few moments. "Why do you ask?"
"So, you did?"
"Yes, but I don't see what-"
"Did you know that Alphonse Elric had an older brother?" Riza interrupted, not wanting to let the elderly woman get a chance to think too much about her answers.
"Oh, yes," Pinako confirmed wistfully. "Yes, that poor child died in the hospital after that awful fire. Alphonse was lucky he came out of it with only the bad memories. It was truly a miracle. If you believe in that sort of stuff," she added.
Riza held her breath. So it was really him. She had to approach this carefully. "Do you know for certain that his brother really succumbed to his injuries?"
"That's an inappropriate question," the older woman spoke sternly. "The social worker reported it as Al was sent off to our local orphanage. We saw the death certificate, and we held a funeral for the poor child. I don't care about your military rank, this is something I won't talk about with a stranger. I am going to hang up now."
"He's not dead!" Riza wailed urgently into the handset.
"Excuse me?" Pinako exclaimed.
"I mean... I think you were lied to. I don't know why, but..." Riza sighed. "I'm sorry for springing this off on you. We've met Alphonse's older brother, Edward. He thinks Alphonse is dead, and it's stated in both of their personal files that the other is diseased."
"W-what?"
"I know this comes as a shock. You're free to do with the information as you want, but I thought Alphonse had the right to know. Edward too."
"I do appreciate this information, Second Lieutenant. I have to process this for a bit," she said slowly. "Can I get a number where I can reach you?"
Riza left both of her office and home number and hung up. Now, all they could do was wait.
She transcribed her phone call with Pinako Rockbell and disguised it as a report, before handing it over to Roy in his office. Edward was laying with his back rested on the armrest of the red couch, with his newly casted leg raised on a pillow. His bandaged hand struggled to turn the page in an old-looking book. She smiled at the boy and leaned over to help him.
"Thanks," he said weakly and smiled carefully at her.
"No problem, Edward. How are you feeling?"
"Fine," he answered straight away. Riza looked back, unconvinced, and he realized his mistake.
"Just a little tired," he added, hoping she would leave it alone.
Roy was done reading the form Riza had put on his desk, and their eyes met. He nodded, as to confirm that he had read it, and stood up.
"If you're tired Edward, we can go home a little early. I can finish some of this at home."
"Don't worry about me. If you need to stay, I'll wait," Ed assured as the idea of him being a burden on Roy still haunted his mind.
"We're going home for the day." Roy decided and placed the stack of files, including the one he just received from Hawkeye, into his bag.
Ed kept his silence throughout the evening, only speaking when spoken to and averting his attention anywhere by Roy. Roy wondered if he had gotten a fever in addition to the cold, but the boy kept assuring that he was fine.
After helping Edward to bed, Roy went back downstairs and poured himself a glass of an old Evan Williams bourbon. Tiredly, he sat down in his favorite chair and closed his eyes. Riza Hawkeye had not called yet, which meant that the Rockbells had not called. Roy had mixed feelings about it. First, of all, he hoped above all else, that Edward would get his brother back, while something in the depths of his mind was feeling worried that they would take him away.
What was wrong with him today? He had only known the kid for a couple of days. He also realized that he had not even once thought of Edward as a brat for the past 24 hours, even after his display at the infirmary.
Roy scoffed and looked at the golden liquid in his glass. If this was his thought pattern tonight, he needed at least 2 or 12 more of these.
The next morning, Roy woke up at five o'clock as usual. He had not slept well, and a hint of a hangover lingered behind his eyes. He got up and moved to the bathroom connected to his bedroom. His reflection showed a man that looked older than his thirty years, black rings underlining his grey eyes, and the usually smoothly shaved jaw studded. He sprinkled some cold water in his face, still not feeling much fresher. Had he taken a sick day off from work this year? Maybe today was the day, but he shrugged it off, undressing from his boxers and got into the shower.
About 20 minutes later he was standing in the kitchen, freshly shaved and clean. He felt more and more like a human being as his morning routine proceeded. He tapped impatiently on the countertop, waiting for his coffee to get ready. That would be the last piece that would put him back together again. A cup of coffee to get ready for the day with. A day filled with paperwork and trying to mend the relationship with the boy that he had broken yesterday. As the thought struck him, he immediately felt like he was going to fall apart again.
Newly equipped with a cup of fresh coffee, he walked upstairs to wake up his sleeping guest. He knocked on the door that he was sure he had left open the night before. Hopefully, Ed had not struggled with nightmares last night. Roy waited a while, still not getting an answer, so he knocked a little harder. "Wake up pipsqueak, you need to get washed up before we leave."
Roy opened the door.
No. No no no no!
Ed was not there.