This update has been a long time coming and I'm sorry to anyone who has waited! I think I lost a bit of inspiration with this chapter, finding it hard to keep it interesting to write- which probably would make it boring to read. I had to do something, so I did. Also, I've come to a point in my writing where I guess I've started to expect more from myself. So nothing ever really feels good enough. But hey- enough with the whining! I accept that my language will probably never be as diverse as a native English speaker and my best has mostly been good enough until now!
Please enjoy the chappy!
The trip to the social worker's home had been less than uplifting and Al was left quiet and upset.
To be fair, they had arrived unannounced, but the woman had been unrelentingly unpleasant, and her indifferent attitude told a tale of someone who had lost the passion for their profession years before their retirement- also apparently well before the Elric brothers appeared into the system.
In spite of that, because of the morbidity of the case, she did remember it without having to look at the old files they'd brought. Her explanation of what had happened though, didn't make any of them feel better.
"I don't remember ever saying the words that the older Elric was actually dead," she claimed huffily. "But, he was handicapped, so he might as well have been for anyone looking to adopt. Separating the two brothers would provide young Alphonse a much better chance of being adopted. You should be thankful, Mr. Elric, that we gave you a much better deal in life. If the invalid had to come along as some kind of package deal, you would simply both waste away under the care of the system. That wouldn't have served anyone any favors."
Al was fuming at the sound of her words. He wanted to just shake the old hag, but he knew Granny Pinako would be disappointed in him if he resorted to such violence.
"It- it would have done Edward all the favors in the world," he said weakly instead, clutching his fists, fighting back the urge to snap.
He felt the steady hand of Riza Hawkeye on his shoulder, but he continued with determination anyway.
"You didn't even give him a chance! Granny would have taken us both in! I know she would! She works with prosthetic limbs for goodness' sake! If you would have taken just one fu-f-freaking second to do your damn job (aaand now he was going to get a scolding from Granny when he told her about this later)- he could have lived an actually decent life!"
His outburst earned a door supposed to be slammed in their faces, but not before Roy could stick his foot in it.
"Something to consider," he said coldly. "Listening," he added, before allowing her to shut the door completely, hearing her lock it behind her.
The three were left at her front door, defeated and unsatisfied.
The drive back was stained by the unsettling revelations. Roy couldn't help but wonder how many kids had suffered the same injustice as Edward at the "mercy" of tired, miserable social workers, caregivers, nurses, doctors and whoever else that should have been protecting the disadvantaged children. Instead, children like Edward were being neglected and mistreated- abused, and he swore to make sure that every single soul that played a part in Edward being sent off to Drachma, would be held accountable in one way or another.
"How... how could they do that?" Al asked disbelieving, breaching the long silence in the car and stating what was on everyone's minds.
"I'm afraid I expected that," Riza said regretfully, glancing in the rearview mirror and meeting Alphonse's gaze. "I guess I just wished she would prove me wrong. That somehow, a horrible mistake had been made that separated you and your brother. Because this means that Edward isn't the only child that something like this has happened to."
"It's not right," Alphonse stated bitterly, quickly wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt when he believed no one was watching anymore.
Roy, who sat in the passenger seat, was looking straight ahead with a serious, but other than that, unreadable expression on his face.
"How are you doing, Colonel? You've been very quiet this whole trip," Riza asked, stealing a quick glance towards her superior, before shifting her concentration back on the road.
For a while, he didn't answer. Just kept his stare out of the window while keeping his same expression, until he finally decided to speak up.
"One day," he said distantly, before falling silent again. A couple of deep breaths was inhaled before he continued. "One day, was what it took before I started to care for Edward. Before that, I thought he was an annoying foul-mouthed brat. Which, don't get me wrong, he still is. A likable annoying, foul-mouthed brat."
He noticed Alphonse shift in the back seat, probably ready to come to his brother's defense, but Roy decided to ignore him. "One conversation with him, made me understand that he is extremely smart. One action proved to me how brave and capable he is, even without an arm and a leg. One word was all it took from him, for me to understand that he was though as rocks."
Roy paused.
"And that's me. I'm horrible with kids. I don't like them and they don't like me. It's a mutual understanding- trust me. But, it just proves how little effort it would take, to assess if he might have had a bright future or not. If he would have been too much work for a regular orphanage, instead of being sent away to an institution, or if he would be able to adapt. I cared for him within twenty-four hours. That's not too much to ask anyone to give a child. If they have two legs, one leg or fucking none. Twenty four hours isn't too much."
Riza and Alphonse knew to keep silent while Roy finished his train of thoughts. Even if it had been clear that he cared for Edward, it wasn't obvious that he would share his feelings in such an honest way.
Even if Al had only met him a day ago, he understood that this, what was happening here, wasn't an everyday occurrence, if not only from the way Riza was acting.
After a short while of tranquillity, Al was relieved when Riza spoke up.
"You are absolutely right, sir. Unfortunately, what's done is done. We should focus on Edward's recovery from now on. Both physical and psychological."
No one disagreed on that statement. There wasn't that much left to say after all. The injustice had already been done.
They did not speak for the rest of the ride until they got close to the hospital again. Riza decided to break the silence.
"What do you think we should tell Edward?" she referred herself to both of the men in the car. Roy for the practicality of it all and Al, of the emotional part.
"I think we should tell him it was a mistake," Al said, while Roy answered at the same time, "we should tell him what happened."
A sigh was uttered in reaction to the totally opposite replies. It wasn't easy for any of them to know how Ed would react to either one of the scenarios. None of them had actually known him for the past years, so knowing what would be for the best, was hard for anyone to anticipate.
Al was the one to give in.
"You're probably right Colonel Mustang. I'm just worried that brother will..." he paused for a moment, looking for the words that would truly express the complex emotions he really felt. "...agree, I guess."
"It isn't unlikely," Roy murmured in agreement. "But I'm sure he can handle it."
Riza kindly reminded Roy of neglected paperwork and a couple of rescheduled appointments that needed to be addressed at the offices, and therefore, the two military officials left Alphonse outside the hospital, promising to come by a little later.
Al had to admit that it was a bit scary to go meet with his brother all by himself after what he had just learned. Not that he hadn't had the choice to wait, they did offer to drop him off at the hotel, but he had promised, ever since they had gotten the call from Central, that he would never leave his brother again.
Edward had been on his own for far too long already.
He stalled a little on his way to the second floor, taking the stairs and stopping to look at random artwork in the halls. He really, truly dreaded the conversation he was going to have in a few short minutes.
Outside of Ed's room, he stopped; breathing and thinking over how he wanted to lay all of this out to Ed.
He wanted him to know- no, not just know- really understand, how wrong the decision of sending him to Drachma had been. How little thought the social worker actually had put into it, while still making sure that he knew just how valuable he was to Al, Winry and granny. As well as Riza and Roy. Maybe especially Roy. He wasn't sure if he should tell him about what Roy had said in the car or not. Perhaps it would be better coming straight from the source, but his words were so right. Right and important. It was the words of an outsider looking in, as well as having given his brother a real chance to shine, without even trying to.
Just taking him for what he was, and not writing him off as some broken and useless injured nuisance.
Al inhaled sharply, moving his hand to knock, waiting a couple of seconds for courtesy and walked in.
For a moment, he was relieved to see Ed sleeping. But, as he approached, he noticed his brother's sickly pallor. Beads of sweat from an elevated fever trailed down his face, while his breathing was much more labored than what he remembered from the day before.
"Ed?" he asked carefully, making his voice soft and reassuring, suppressing any sign of anxiety from his speech. His brother reacted with a small twitch, turning his face towards the sound without opening his eyes.
Alphonse wasn't sure if he was awake or not. Likely, he was dreaming vividly.
"Al?" his raspy voice called back in bearly more than a whisper. Something, not quite a sob, but close to it, left Edward's throat as the uneasiness of his already fitful sleep increased.
"I'm right here, brother," Al hurried to reply, as he dashed to his older brother's side, gripping his hand as tight as he dared to, to put his brother's mind at ease to the fact that he really was.
"I'm sorry," Ed's cries continued, not being able to pull out of the nightmares that tore at his body and mind inside the fever induced sleep. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault. It's... my fault, i's all m'..."
Ed's ramblings made Al grip tighter onto the wounded hand, and he clutched Ed's hand to his forehead while forcing his eyes tightly shut, trying to suppress how his brother's febrile whimpers were ripping up the barely healed wound in his heart, as he for the first time became conscious of how much guilt anguished the small and frail body in the bed before him. His neglected and abused older brother. The one that was forgotten about, but was still carrying the weight of everything on his one shoulder all the same.
"Don't say that..." Al tried to comfort him, but the hurt look on Edward's face only got worse as he uttered painfully, "m'so, so sorry."
Tears from the creak of his eyes blended almost seamlessly with the droplet's of sweat, making it hard to know where the fever started and the sorrow ended.
Al started to worry about the worsening state of his brother's sickness. Wasn't he supposed to get better? He decided to pull the red thread that alerted the on-call nurses, hoping they wouldn't take too long.
Alphonse kept holding his brother's hand while whispering soothing words, trying to give solace to his brother's restless pleads for forgiveness.
After a couple of minutes, a short rap was heard outside, and one of the nurses Al recognized from the day before entered the room with a smile on her face. At the sight of Edward, the grin quickly turned serious as she walked long-legged across the floor to feel her patient's forehead.
She got an iffy look on her face, as she decided to check his vital signs and turned a keening eye to the machines and IV bags, apparently getting much more information out of them than Al had.
"How long has he been like this?" she asked huffily, without looking at Al.
The question felt accusingly to the teen, as he took a deep breath to keep himself from asking her what the hell she meant by that. As if he was the one who was supposed to know while his brother was under their care in the hospital.
"I don't know," he answered slowly instead, keeping his voice as low and strict as he could. That was the problem of being a teenager who still possessed the voice of a child- at least that's what it felt like to him. It always sounded way too chipper, in spite of how much of boiling hot rage he felt on the inside. "I just got here."
Winry always teased that all of his bottled-up anger was going to give him an ulcer one day. The price to pay for always being the nice guy.
The nurse clearly didn't sense the tension he felt when she proceeded to nod and check the charts of the back of his bed. Al's eyes followed her every move closely until she seemed to find what she was looking for.
"I have to ask you to leave while I call for a doctor, Mr. Elric," she said, voice silky and pleasant again. Al became visibly apprehensive by her request.
"Don't worry," she cooed. "I'm pretty sure we'll only have to change his antibiotics, but we need the doctor to assess that. You can go and get yourself a bite to eat while you wait."
Pretty sure, Al thought, but let it be. He knew she couldn't make him any promises, so she had to word it like that.
He gave her a faint nod in reply, reluctantly letting go of his brother's hand and trying to ignore how it seemed to feel around for the comforting touch when left on the blanket, before he forced himself to turn his back and walk out of the room.
Aimlessly, he walked down the long corridor, once again deciding to take the stairs. Maybe he should do as the nurse said and go to the cafeteria, he was a little hungry. Actually, he was always a little hungry.
Arriving back at the ground floor, he vaguely recognized a face, just entering the hospital. He tried to avert his gaze from the familiar man, not really in the mood to talk, but then, his name was yelled eagerly and he had no choice but react, as the tall bespeckled man approached, excitedly demanding his attention.
"Alphonse," he grinned widely, picking at his pockets, retrieving a bunch of photographs that he shoved in Al's face with an anticipating smile.
"Look at my precious little Elysia! My dear Gracia sewed her this costume for Halloween! Can you guess what she's supposed to be? Oh! Isn't she just adorable?"
Alphonse looked at the young girl in the pictures, dressed as a cat while being held in the air by her adoring father. Something about the pose reminded him of a kids movie.
"Yeah, she makes a very cute cat," Al nodded, a little uncomfortable.
"She's a baby-lion!" he retorted, still smiling as he wrapped the pictures back into his pocket.
"I came by to see if Roy was around," the man that Al finally remembered was named Hughes explained. "We were supposed to meet for lunch today."
"Oh, uh, no- he's not. He had to go back to the office. He-" Al got interrupted by a noise, sounding like a whale's mating call. A stiff smile appeared on Al's face, laying a hand on his growling tummy with an apologizing chuckle.
Maes Hughes' attention was also drawn to the younger man's complaining stomach. An understanding smirk trailed onto his lips as he spoke.
"Well, since my lunch appointment apparently just got canceled, I think a slot just opened up in my schedule. Want to join me? I already packed for two and my wife's cooking is simply a-mazing."
Al was grateful that he didn't have to eat whatever the hospital had the audacity to call food and gladly accepted the invite, following Hughes to get seated at one of the tables in the cafeteria.
Maes unwrapped a brown paper bag and took out several small plastic casings with delicious looking food, making Alphonse's mouth instantly water.
"Looks great, doesn't it?" he asked knowingly, radiating pride as he pushed several boxes in Al's direction. Stars appeared in the teen's eyes, as he threw himself over the homecooked meal.
They ate in silence for a minute, only interrupted by the occasional grunt, chewing noises and murmurs in appreciation of the food.
"So, how's your brother doing? Last I heard he seemed to be recovering well," Hughes commented in-between mouthfuls of quiche.
The taller brother suddenly stopped chewing, frowning at the question before swallowing it down. "Yeah, he was. But his fever has picked up a bit. I just got kicked out of his room so the doctor could attend to him."
Maes smile weakened a little and a furrow became visible between his eyes as he nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, as long as he looks better than what he did when we found him, I'm sure he'll pull through."
"He will," Al responded quickly, picking at his food. "He always does. It just doesn't feel right that he has to all the time. All he has ever done is fighting to survive."
Hughes sensed that there was a story there, beyond all the terrible things he all ready knew about the brothers. Fortunately, he didn't need to dig any further, since Al gladly elaborated.
"He was born prematurely at 28 weeks. He bearly weighed 2 pounds. I- I wasn't even born, so I don't know too much about what happened, but I know his heart wasn't working the way it should and they had to keep it beating until he was strong enough to survive the surgery. They had to get surgeons from Central to come in and do it." A great sigh was uttered, and Al looked depressively down at his meal.
"Dad was always fidgeting whenever Ed was running around and exerting himself. Even when he was healthy, he always had to turn his back so he wouldn't yell out and scare him," Al reminiscent with a sad smile. "So yeah, there hasn't really been a time in his life that he didn't have to fight to survive."
"What happened to your dad?" Maes asked curiously, receiving a shrug in response.
"I don't know really. I don't actually remember him. I only know what I've been told. Granny knew him pretty well from when they were younger," Al explained. "He walked out on us. He was supposed to come back apparently, but he never did. He's dead now."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Another shrug.
"You don't seem to be angry with him though."
Al quirked his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not."
"Why not?"
Al had to think about that. He never gave it much thought. "I guess, it's always just been like that. I don't really know things to be any different. But don't ask Ed about it though," Al added with a chuckle. "He'll bite your head off. He hates talking about him."
"Isn't it difficult to always be the level headed one?" Maes suddenly asked, almost bemused. "The calm, happy-go-lucky guy?"
"What do you mean, Mr. Hughes?" Al was surprised by the sudden turn-around.
"Wouldn't it be liberating to be the one to snap for once? The one that went off on a tantrum, leaving the clean up to the calm, situated guy? That's us, Alphonse. We're the cleaners. But, do you know what I've learned?"
"What?" Al asked, hardly any sound left his throat.
"We can. And it's so much more effective. Nobody takes Roy seriously whenever he starts arguing and raising his voice. But if I do, the whole room goes quiet. Not everyone who wants to be heard needs to yell."
Alphonse was taken aback and crossed his arms, wondering what kind of sorcery this man was exercising to know so much about him. Or, more likely, what kind of vibes Al was giving out that categorized him so obviously as the giant push-over he was.
"Just something to consider," Maes smirked, letting Alphonse digest this possibly life-altering information.
Instead, Al decided to change the subject. "This really is the best quiche I've had my entire life."
Hughes face lit up like a match, happy to continue his rant about his lovely wife and enchanting daughter. At the end of their lunch, Al had agreed to bring Winry, Pinako, and Ed over for dinner before leaving for Risembool when Edward was healthy enough to travel.
Al walked Maes back to the entrance, about to say goodbye when the colonel walked in the door.
Mustang visibly cursed at the sight of his annoying supposed best friend, walking as if something was forcing him to move towards them.
"Roy!" Maes singsonged, already pictures in hand. "I thought you'd like an update on your gorgeous goddaughter!"
"I'm sorry Maes, no time right now, Al-" he cut himself off, resting a weary face in his hand, he turned back to his bespeckled comrade. "And I'm sorry about lunch, I totally forgot."
"No problem, big guy. Also, quit the bullshit and just admit that you got all squishy feely about leaving Alphonse here by himself, calling me to make sure he was all right." Al felt a hand patting his back before the bespeckled man also gave the colonel a pat on the head, as he strolled mundanely out of the hospital, whistling cheerily on his way out.
Alphonse looked on, as the tall man walked off as if nothing in this whole brutal world could ever touch him, even with such a loving family combined with such a dangerous job. His thoughts were quickly pulled aside though, as he grew more concerned about the agitated look on the colonel's face. Something told him that it had nothing to do with an unwanted picture update or the unmasking of his stunt.
"Alphonse," Mustang addressed him, gloomy eyes burying into his hazel. "Have you talked to Ed's doctor?"
"N-no," Alphonse stuttered. "Nobody has talked to me. Not since they sent me out of his room. Has something happened?"
"The hospital called me ten minutes ago. He's gone into septic shock."
Alphonse looked at the older man in disbelief.
He was right here. He was right fucking here, and they didn't even bother to tell him.
Well, fine. If they really wanted him to lose his cool so-damn-much, they had finally succeeded.
Thank you guys so much for reading! Please leave a review and let me know how I'm doing! This story isn't proceeding how I planned it, but I needed to change something to get inspired again!