Title: Allotted Design.
Pairing: Envy and Ed.
Rating: PG-16 for language and mild violence.
Two chapters in the same day? What has the world come to!
My apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors; I was a bit rushed reading this over so to get it online before I go to bed, and had no one else to read it over for me.
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"Guu-uuys, do you like, know where like, the bathroom is?" The young woman twirled a strand of her neon blonde hair between two tanned fingers. Ed nearly bit a chunk out of his clipboard and spat it at her, but decided against it in fear that it would puncture her implants and he'd be soaked in silicone through to the bones.
"Oh, yeah," Marcus pushed his way ahead of Ed and Tarl, grinning and adjusting his hair as he stood close behind her and pointed down the hallway to their left. "Just down there past the book store."
"Thanks!" The woman's high pitched voice was nearly enough to pierce the ear drums of a dog, but luckily she skittered off as soon as she had some idea where she was going.
"Dude, sick!" Marcus pointed after her and at the red blotch staining the back of her white pants.
Ed laughed a bit, "That's what you get for checking out every girl we've passed today." He sighed and checked his watch for the umpteenth time that hour.
"Fuckin' period blood." Marcus returned his attention to his own clipboard and their current assignment; they'd been given a scavenger hunt in the local mall, but due to its size and the lack of intelligence in most of their group, they hadn't made it far despite the hours they'd already spent wandering the labyrinth of stores.
"Are you sure your phone is still on? Maybe you turned the ringer off and forgot."
"Dude, I would have felt the vibrations. Calm down, I'm sure your little boyfriend is fine. Let's just get this done an' over with. We just gotta find sixteen stickers with the school's emblem, and then we're done."
The trio had only just boarded a local transit bus when Marcus's cell phone rang. Ed lunged at him and nearly tore his pants off in attempt to get the phone from his pocket; sure enough it was his own cell phone number on the display.
Fumbling to hit the button, he raised the phone to his ear. "H—Hello?" At first there was no response, only a few incoherent voices yelling in the background, and then the recognizable wail of sirens. "Hello? Envy?"
"Is this Mr. Edward Elric?" A deep voice finally answered him.
"Uh, yes, it is. Is Envy there? Is he okay?" The sirens seem to get louder, but he quickly realized they weren't growing louder through the phone, only closer to him in person; just then an ambulance passed the mall full speed with its lights flashing and sirens wailing. "Oh my god…" Ed murmured into the phone, clasping a hand over his mouth.
"Listen, sir, I can't talk now but I need you to meet us at the hospital; just go to reception and they'll tell you where to find Mr. Culus."
"But wait, please!" Ed cried desperately, but his only response was a click on the line and then dead silence.
"Dude, what's going on?" Ed raised his head to meet Marcus's eyes, barely acknowledging the stares he was receiving for his sudden outburst from the other passengers on the bus.
"It's Envy; we have to go to the hospital and find him."
The woman sitting across from them leaned close. "The hospital you say? This bus goes to the hospital, but it's not for a few stops." She stood in the center of the aisle. "Hey, driver, there's an emergency; y'think you could skip a few stops and go to the hospital right away?"
"No can do, lady, it's against regulations." The driver tugged the crank to close the folding doors, and pulled the bus from the parking lot. The woman walked to the front of the bus, steadying herself by holding onto the silver railings lining the aisle.
"Excuse me? Did you not here me? There is an emergency; I bet if there was a sudden emergency with someone you're close to you'd drive straight to the hospital and forget us passengers."
"Here, here!" A bearded man near the back called, pumping his fist into the air. Ed had to chuckle a bit through clenched teeth; despite all the bad he'd heard about this town, the people seemed willing to go to extents to help someone in need, even a stranger.
The driver didn't speak again until they were stopped at a red light, when he turned to face all the passengers. "Alright, I'll do it, but this ain't gonna become a regular thing! Just this one time, any protests?"
No one spoke up, so he turned his attention to the road again and floored the gas immediately with the green light. The passengers lurched back, but no decisions to skip the stops seemed faltered as they all chuckled nervously.
Ed was on his feet before the bus had even stopped in front of the hospital; as he passed other passengers down the aisle, some touched his arm and others only smiled. "Good luck."
Marcus and Tarl followed suite as Ed ran through a side door, not taking the time even for the rotating doors. Once inside, he paused to read the directions hanging from the ceiling; no hints as to where to go, so he ran forward to a woman sitting at a desk.
"Excuse me, I don't know where to go—"
"Just read the directions, sir." The woman didn't bother to look up from her magazine.
"Yes, but you don't understand, I have to hur—"
"No sir, I don't think you understand." She pointed to the small closed sign resting on the edge of the desk. That was enough to set Ed off; with a mixture of annoyance, exhaustion and desperation, he flung the sign off her desk and crashing to the floor amongst a few papers and pens.
"You will tell me where to go!" He hissed with a finger pointed threateningly in her face. She only nodded, and slowly lowered the magazine. "An ambulance brought someone in earlier; Envy Culus, where can I find him?"
"H—Hold on." She turned in her swivel chair to her computer and typed in Envy's name. "He's still logged as unknown, but it says here they expect to have him logged in ICU within another two hours."
"ICU? Two hours? Oh Jesus." Ed tore at handfuls of his tousled hair.
"Listen sir, just calm down."
"I will not calm down!" Ed spat, leaning over her desk and in her face. She cowered back, and passed him a small, laminated card.
"T—This'll get you through to the ICU waiting room. Just go to the elevators down the hall, go to the fourth floor and then to your left." She waved her hand around as little to no help at all; Ed barely caught the end of her instructions, already running for the elevator.
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"Mr. Elric?" An elder man in a crisp lab coat stood in the doorway; Ed could have kissed his feet in praise for finally being called upon.
"Yes! That's me!" Ed jumped to his feet and ran for the man, who only smiled politely and raised his clipboard to eye level.
"You're here for Mr. Culus, correct?" He peered at Ed through thick rimmed glasses; Ed nodded. "Perfect, follow me." He turned and led Ed through a set of swinging doors; without being told Marcus and Tarl knew to hang back; this was Ed's time. "We haven't yet been able to find out what exactly happened to him, but he was picked up just outside the city after calling 911 on a cell phone. He then demanded that one of the attendants in the ambulance call you, which was done, correct?" Ed nodded again. "Wonderful. We've fixed him up as best as we can right now, but he's gone through quite a bit of trouble."
"Oh god." Ed whimpered, wringing his hands nervously. The doctor stopped outside a closed door, and placed a hand comfortingly over Ed's.
"Don't worry; he'll live, and heal to be as good as new within a few months." He smiled reassuringly. "But before you see him, I wanted to warn you that there is a fair bit of bandages, and he's hooked up to an IV and several other machines; but no worries, we're only monitoring him as a precaution."
"T—Thank you." Ed fidgeted, wanting only to be by his Envy's side.
"Now listen, he isn't awake yet from us putting him under for closer inspection, but I'd expect him to wake any time now." The doctor finally stepped aside and motioned for Ed to enter the room.
The sight immediately before him upon entering the room was barely enough to drown out the haunting beeping of the various machines clogging the wall around the hospital bed. Envy's frail form was barely outlined by the white sheets that seemed to envelope him entirely, but it wasn't enough to cover the sight of the casts on both of Envy's wrists, and the bandages; one entirely circled his head, and just the edge of a large one poked out around his neck from under the hospital gown.
"Oh god." Ed nearly broke down at the sight of his Envy in such bad shape. He staggered over to the bed and collapsed into a cushioned seat set complementarily beside the bed; Envy's chest barely rose with each shallow breath through cracked lips; already a large bruise was forming on a cheek bone, illuminating a dark cut in the center. "Ohgodohgodohgod, I should never have let you go with them!" He wanted to touch Envy; to feel his warmth and to reassure himself that the boy was still alive, but he was scared to hurt him even more.
The doctor stood in position at the foot of the bed, frowning at the grim situation before him. "Them? Who are them, Mr. Elric?" When Ed didn't answer, he cleared his throat and asked again, more persistent. "If you have any information on who may have done this to him, you must tell me so they can be caught!"
"No," Ed shook his head and babbled between pitiful little moans and cries. "I can't; I'm sorry, doctor, but it'll only make things worse."
"Very well." The old man sighed in defeat, but scratched something down on the clipboard before lowering it to his side. "He suffered multiple breaks in both wrists, three fractured ribs and a bruised lung, a twisted ankle which we've bandaged for support, and quite a bump to the head, although there are still no signs of a concussion or brain damage. Other than that it's all just bumps and bruises; he should be up and as good as new within two – three months tops."
"Even with broken ribs?"
"Well, ribs honestly heal just as quickly as a broken arm or leg; they're only far more painful. We've already opened him up to correctly reposition the ribs, though we cannot immobilize them with a cast like we would with something like a broken arm in fear of causing severe lung problems, such as pneumonia, or even a collapsed lung. Really all we can do is give them time to heal on their own, but considering that our ribs move whenever we breathe, it's quite a difficult and painful process. Either way; he's alive and that's what we should be happy for right now."
Ed nodded and eyed the colorfully bruised boy before him. "I should have been there to help him." He murmured to himself, burying his face amongst the blankets at Envy's side. The doctor watched for a moment, then hooked the clipboard to the foot of the bed and left the room.
Ed had finally calmed down when Envy's eyes first fluttered. Almost immediately his face contorted in pain, and he groaned, catching Ed's attention.
"Envy! Oh god, Envy, does it hurt?" He jumped to his feet, prepared to help although he knew there was nothing he could do.
"It does." Envy wheezed, nodding his head but the expression that immediately after donned his face was enough of a confession the movement had only jostled more pain through his head and body.
"H—Hold on, I'll get a nurse." Ed turned to run for the nurse's station, but already a woman in white was entering the room.
"He's awake," She began.
"And in pain!"
"Calm down, sir, I'll give him another shot of morphine and that will calm him down for a while." The nurse dug through a syringe filled cabinet beside the bed, and then pulled out a particular one, shed its plastic wrapper, checked for air bubbles and immediately injected the morphine through Envy's IV. Almost immediately Envy's face smoothed and his breathing slowed, a tiny bit of a smile curling his lips.
"Better?" The nurse leaned over the bed; Envy barely nodded, still in fear of more pain. She smiled, and turned to leave the room. "I'll be back to check on him soon."
"How can someone be so cheerful in such a morbid atmosphere?" Ed shook his head in disbelief, and turned back to his precious Envy. Leaning forward over the crisp white sheets with eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, he delicately stroked Envy's bruised cheek. "Oh Envy, I'm so sorry I allowed something like this to happen to you."
Envy's eyes didn't open, but his lips twitched a bit further into a pained smile before parting to murmur "Don't worry, Edo."
"Is the morphine making you feel better?" Ed entwined his fingers with Envy's, and though he was on the heavy pain killer, he was careful not to jostle the cast bound wrist.
"Yeah, a lot."
"That's good…" The room fell to a heavy silence, periodically cut with slivers of high pitched beeps from the various machines hooked to Envy. "They did this to you?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry." Again; the silence.
"Ed? You know, the police'll get involved in this, and they'll figure out who I am; they're still looking for me for that murder."
"Shit…" Ed slouched back, further amongst the cushions of his chair. He couldn't help but wonder how many people had cried and said good-bye to their loved ones in this chair. "Can't you just tell them the truth? That it wasn't you? That is the truth, right?"
"Of course it is." Envy's voice was gradually growing quieter. "But I can't just hand Gluttony over to them."
"Can't you tell them the truth; that it wasn't you, without telling them it was Gluttony?"
"I could, but they probably wouldn't believe me; everyone in this town is against me, even my parents would probably vouch for the aspect of me being the murderer and being sent away again." His voice faltered slightly at the mention of his parents.
Ed could tell the sedative side of the morphine was kicking in, and Envy was slowly drifting farther and farther from reality, so he allowed the touchy subject, no matter how urgent it was, to drop.
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Having not planned to fall asleep, Ed was more than surprised to be jerked away by a heavy hand on his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes, trying to blink away the sleep before his eyes clearly focused on the man standing over him; it was a police officer.
"Uh," Ed coughed to clear his voice. "What can I do you for?"
"I think you know what I'm here for, sir." The officer forced a polite smile as he dug in a small pouch on his loaded belt and pulled out a small pad of paper. It had an elastic blocking the used sheets off from the fresh ones, and looked about as old as the officer himself; a town like this doesn't get much action.
"Well, perhaps we can wait until Envy is awake?" Ed shifted uncomfortably in the chair; he knew that putting off the conversation wouldn't look good to a man trained to notice shifty behavior, but at the time he didn't know what Envy would want him to or not to say.
"You're out of excuses." The officer pointed his pencil over Ed's shoulder; he turned to see Envy awake, though pale and his eyes were still heavy-lidded, obviously not fully there.
"How are you feeling?" Ed turned all his attention to Envy, reaching across to clasp a frail hand in his own. It took all he had to fight back tears at the sight of the man he adored in a state such as this, but it wasn't the time to cry. No, right now he had to be serious and strong for the both of them.
"Alright." Envy shifted ever so slightly, but didn't seem in pain where he would have been if he'd been without the morphine still plugging his system. "Feel about ready to pass out again." He smiled sheepishly.
"That's understandable; you've been through a lot, and you'll be able to rest again soon as I get a few answers from you." The officer didn't bother to pull up a chair, but rather just stood with his feet planted firmly to the floor near the foot of the bed, eyes shifting below bushy eyebrows from the two boys before him to the notepad in his hand as he frantically scribbled down notes.
"Who did this to you?"
"I don't know."
"That's a lie, sir, and we both know it."
"Alright," Envy sighed. "It was my parents; Dante and Greed Culus."
"Can you give me their address?" Envy did. "Good. And why did they do this to you?"
Envy nibbled on his bottom lip with a bit of uncertainty, not sure how far he should go to tell at a time like this. "I don't know; they don't like me."
"Did you do something to deserve this?" The cop arranged all of his attention on Envy now, surely trying to suggest that Envy had a part in the murder just a few months ago.
"No." Envy replied sternly without hesitation. "Never."
The cop took a moment to scribble down a few more notes, then tucked his pen behind his ear and stepped closed to Envy, brow furrowed with determination to get Envy to admit to something.
"I'm sure you remember the murder of a student at the local high school not too long ago; according to reports I've received from the officers who handled that situation, you'd had a past with the victim, and he was killed soon after many reported he was planning to… sexually abuse you. Does this have anything to do with you suddenly leaving the city that same day?"
"I left because I knew I would be blamed."
"So you're telling me you're innocent?"
"Of course he's innocent!" Ed leapt to his feet; the anger he'd previously held in over the officer's ignorance now boiling over and stemming a new urge to protect Envy. "Why would he have willingly come back if he'd murdered someone here?" He kept out the part where Envy hadn't actually come to the town willingly.
"Sir, please, calm down." The cop motioned with a large hand for Ed to sit again; the blonde huffed a bit, but when Envy nodded for him to sit, he did just that.
"You're not being fair."
"With all due respect, I believe I am being fair; I'm only trying to find out some information about what has happened; a lot of people in this town will give their lives to see this boy punished for the murder of the local teenager."
"Envy was just nearly killed by his parents! Why are you giving an incident that happened months ago priority over this?"
The cop took Ed's mood and expression of determination to prove Envy's innocence as a hint that it was his time to leave; with a tip of his hand and the reassurance that he'd be back within a couple of days to talk to Envy some more, he left the two alone again.
"Frig."
"You didn't have to react quite like that, Edo. It was quite understandable why he was acting that way… the boy who was murdered had a lot more friends in this town than I do; I'm sure none of them would care about what happened to me, but only want me punished for what they think I did."
"Ehh…" Ed groaned in defeat and slouched lower into the chair until he was more on the floor than the cushioned seat. "I guess; it just made me so mad that he didn't seem to care about what had happened to you."
"Don't worry about it, Ed." Envy smiled reassuringly. "I've got you caring for me; that's all I need."