Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 26

Hospital Hours

"How long do you think he'll be in for this time?" Fullmetal asked Ed quietly. He didn't want to speak too loudly, since Riza was in another room quietly lamenting. It was a big change from just an hour before when she had been hysterical and had been moved to another room by herself to work off all her anger and grief. Leroy sat and didn't move from Roy's door, intent on being the first one to know of any kind of news, good or bad.

All in all, it was a bittersweet day. Al and Alley were reunited with their parents, or more accurately, just Winry at the moment, who hadn't let go of them since she had set eyes on them. Alphonse on the other hand, had been unable to get through Winry's death vise grip and contented himself with looking at them for the moment.

Al squirmed uncomfortably in Winry's grasp, his face slowly turning blue. "Ack, Mom! Can't... breathe!"

"If you couldn't breathe you should've said so!" she said, letting go of them. "Why don't you go say hi to your dad? He's probably feeling a little neglected." She gave Alphonse an apologetic look. "Sorry..." Alphonse waved it off as nothing and looked at his children rather shyly, having seen them for the first time in a long while. Not one of the three had the slightest notion of what to say, not a thought.

"Dad?" Al said hesitantly, trying to break the silence. A strange look came over Alphonse and he grabbed them both tightly in his arms, just as unwilling to let them go as Winry. "A-All these years... I thought you two were gone... gone forever... but you're not!" he cried. Fullmetal nodded to himself and smiled, letting a napping Ed lean on his shoulder.

"Do you think he'll be okay, Mom?" Leroy asked. Riza sniffed and wiped at her eyes, taking a seat in a chair next to him. She immediately stood up again and put her hand on the door, as if thinking on whether to see him or not. "I... I hope so... but I don't know. It looks bad this time, even worse than..." she faltered, thinking of the day that her husband losthis eye. She hugged Leroy briefly and pointed over to the phone. "Go call Mrs.Hughes's house, and ask for your sister. Tell her what happened."

"Me? I have to break it to her? And Maes?"

"Please, Leroy." He saw the pain in his mother's eyes and stopped his complaining. "Okay Mom, I'll do it."

Riza opened the door slowly and she walked inside. "Roy... are you awake?" She sat down on a chair next to him and he opened his eye a crack. His head was bandaged, his leg in a heavy cast and his chest encased as well, but he still managed a weak smirk. "Yeah, I'm okay... heheh..."

"You're not okay! You're... you were... I thought you were dead!" she cried, stroking his cheek gently. "What, I don't get a kiss?"

"Of course you do..." she kissed him gently and he smiled. "I'll be fine... in a while."

"You sure?"

"Not really, but I need to make you feel better. How's Leroy?"

"He's holding up alright... like he always has."

"Remember when he was born, Riza?" he murmured, staring at the ceiling.

"Of course... I was in pain, how could I forget?"

He laughed and his face screwed up in pain."Ah! Ow! Oh, don't make me laugh, it hurts..."

"I'm sorry," she said, arms around his shoulders, face pressed against his cheek. "He's calling Ilia right now... he'll probably have to tell Maes as well, poor thing."

"They'll be okay... remember when he was born Riza? He didn't cry at all, and we were so worried that he would die?"

"Yeah... we thought we were going to lose him... but it turned out that he just didn't like to cry..."

"Yep, just sort of whined at us when he wanted something... he's a tough kid, he'll live."

"Just like you, right, my big strong Fuhrer?"

"Just like me... that about sums it up... like father like son."

"You must know how much I hate it when things like this happens."

"I do."

"Why can't we just live like a normal family?"

"Because we're... not a normal family. I'm Fuhrer, I have a lot of responsibilities. Unfortunately, dealing with formerly dead Homunculi fit into that forte. What bothers me, is how easily he was able to take us down. He knew all of our deadly weaknesses, even my uncle's..."

"What you should be worrying about is healing, not Homunculi. Now why don't you go to sleep for a little while, go on."

Roy sighed painfully and closed his eyes. "But it's so much better with someone to talk to, and I..."

"You what?"

"I don't like falling asleep..." he admitted, a little embarassed.

"Sleep anyway, Leroy and I are worried about you, you know."

"I... I know. I'll try."

"Good. Al and Alley are with Alphonse now... everything alright now."

"Guess that means we're back to a family of five then... I miss Maes and Ilia."

"So do I, now go to sleep."

"Wait! Daaaaad!"

"Oh God, here we go."

"Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!" Roy snapped.

"You're always biting my head off!"

"That's not true!"

"Is too! See, you're doing it right now!"

"Just be quiet and let me go to sleep!"

"Wahhh... fine..." Leroy stomped out of the room and sulked onto a chair next to the phone. "Ungrateful..."

He picked up the reciever and held it to his ear. "Aw, come on, Leroy, Daddy's probably just hurting..."

"Oh, yeah. But he's not hurting enough to stop being all lovey with Mom..."

"You're just jelous," Ilia said through the phone.

"Fine, be that way!"

"Fine, I will!"

"Ugly."

"Idiot."

"Wuss."

"Pyrofreak."

"Loser!"

"J-Junior!"

"Shut up! I'm Leroy, not Roy Junior!"

"Okay okay... I'm sorry... is he okay?"

"Yeah... he'll live. At least we think he will; the docs say his condition is still unstable."

"How long do you think you're stuck there?"

"Months... Dad might have to stay in the hospitol for a year, who knows?"

"Oh... Will you come back to East or Central anytime soon? Mrs.Hughes took us back to East again."

"Maybe. I might come and visit while everyone's holed up here. I'll come, okay?"

"Okay. Next week?"

"Definitely. See you then, Sis."

"Me and Maes'll be waiting, Big Brother."

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