Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. In exchange for waiting so patiently this chapie is extra long! Enjoy!
Rena: Thanks for the support. I know how hard it is to find a story in fma that isn't Ed/Roy. I like yaoi, but I don't like that pairing. Here's the next chapter
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Weeks had passed. The brothers had blended in well. Ed quickly had enough proof to had several more charges to the list that Geist had collected and frankly, Ed couldn't wait to get out of there. The number of times they had almost gotten caught was enough to make both Elrics nervous. Privacy, apparently, was a foreign concept to these people.
Ed collapsed on the small couch that served as one of bed in the tiny room he and Al shared.
"Ed? Are you alright?" Al questioned. It still felt wrong to call his brother that, but Ed had said they would be out of here soon. Still, it seamed to him that his brother's health was declining. Whether it was paranoia or not, he wasn't sure.
"I'm fine." Ed answered automatically. This question came often and so far, the answer hadn't changed. He was itching to get out of this dump of a bar and relax. If his plan worked the two of them would be out of here by tomorrow morning.
"Did you eat?" Al continued his questioning. It had almost become a ritual. They would growl at each other and get the information they needed to prove any more charges and continue to gain the trust of the criminals they were to turn in. Then when the day was over they would go back to their small room, lock the door and Al would question Ed as to how he was doing and make sure he wasn't doing anything that could make him worse.
"Yes" Ed said defensively. It was true; he had eaten a sandwich at lunch. It wasn't his fault that he was never hungry. It seemed like even the idea of eating was enough to make him sick to his stomach. He was trying to eat, he honestly was. But for some reason his stomach had decided to go on strike.
"When and how much?" Al pressed.
Ed sighed. There was no escaping Al once he had made his mind up. Al knew him to well for Ed to be able to lie and get away with it. "Lunch".
"How much" Al repeated, more firmly. He stood up from the small other small couch that was tucked in the corner and walked towards Ed, looking as if he were about to fight a battle rather than question his brother on his eating habits.
"A sandwich. Happy now?" Ed glowered and mentally prepared himself for the scolding that he knew Al was about to deliver.
"A sandwich isn't lunch. It's a snack, and it's passed 8:30. What happened to dinner? Ed, you're going to get sick again! If you don't start eating I'm going to have to start force-feeding you! Besides, don't you think the Colonel will notice how thin you've gotten?" Al ranted. Why couldn't Ed understand how worried this was making him? If he wasn't careful he was going to collapse.
"Al, I'll be fine. Don't worry. I'll eat more once we get back. It's probably just that the food here is so bad." Ed tried to calm his younger brother. It seemed odd for him to be the one calming Al down instead of the other way around.
Al sighed in defeat. "Alright Brother." He sighed
Ed sat up, hissing "Al! Don't call me that! You're gonna get us caught!"
It was Al's turn to wince. "Sorry Ed. I forgot."
Ed sighed, lying back down. "It's ok. Just be careful alright?" Closing his eyes, he murmured "Gonna get some sleep. Night Al. Wake me up around midnight alright?"
Despite having his body back, Al still fell into his old habits when he was nervous about something. With their plan going down tonight, you could bet on Al not sleeping more than a couple hours. "Sure thing Ed" he muttered, smiling, to his older sibling's sleeping form.
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"You sure?" a voice asked
"Ya. I heard them talking about it with my own two ears." Came the meek response
"Fine. Leave" the first voice said, only half paying attention to the dark form scuttling away at his words. "This should be fun," he murmured, grinning.
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"Ed. Ed, wake up" Al shook his brother's sleeping form.
"Nng…Wha…?" Ed muttered finally stirring. "What time is it?"
"Five to twelve" Al responded, "Time to go". Ed stood up, almost instantly alert.
All right. Let's go Al!" he whispered, grinning.
The brothers crept out of the room and down the dark hallway towards the door at the end of the hall. Al quickly wrote a transmutation circle just below the door handle and activated it with a small flash of blue light before opening the now unlocked door.
Ed stepped in first. Looking around, he mentally cursed. Geist wasn't there. Al looked at him questioningly. Ed shook his head, letting Al know that the room was empty. Al's eyes widened slightly before he pointed behind Ed.
Ed was confused for a moment before he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck and midsection. Looking towards his brother, he saw two men restraining him as three more stood near the door. 'Shit' was the only thought going through his head before his instincts kicked in.
He elbowed his captor in the stomach before spinning out of the hold. Ed ran towards Al. He aimed a kick towards the closest thug's. Having successfully gotten the man's attention, knocked the man unconscious with a well aimed punch to the temple.
Al had disposed of the other man that had been holding him quickly once Ed had distracted the first. Ed and Al turned towards the three remaining men standing near the door as they rushed towards them, two aimed at Ed and one at Al.
Ed did a spin kick, knocking the first man into the second. He was breathing heavily. He was too tired to be doing any serious fighting. He had to end this quickly. Clapping his hands together, he got ready to form his customary blade from his automail.
"Now let's stop all this. Surely you don't want your brother hurt, do you?" Ed turned around to face Geist, the one holding the gun, but the words weren't aimed at him.
Geist was talking to Al.
Al was holding a sword he had transmuted in his hands and was facing Geist. Geist was grinning triumphantly, gun aimed towards Ed. The three remaining thugs had surrounded Ed, leaving him nowhere to go but toward Geist and the gun he held.
"Now, put down the sword and I'll leave your brother in one piece." Geist said, still grinning. Al didn't move to put down the sword. He simply glanced from Geist to Ed and back. "Alright" Geist said, his grin turning slightly crazed.
It was as if everything was moving in slow motion. Geist aimed at Ed while Al had dropped the sword and was running towards the arm holding the gun. Ed couldn't seem to move. It was as if he had been glued to the spot. Suddenly everything sped up again. Al grabbed Geist's arm and pulled as the gun fired twice with twin booms. Ed still couldn't move.
Al had managed to change the aim of the gun so the shots didn't kill Ed, but they hit all the same. Ed flew backwards from the impact. He lay there unmoving for a moment.
"Brother!" a scream tore from Alphonse's throat. He tried to run to Ed but was restrained by Geist. "No! Brother!" he screamed, trying to free himself from Geist's hold.
Slowly, Ed began to stir. Coughing slightly, he sat up. His right arm hung limply at his side but no blood came from the holes through which the bullets entered. He shakily stood and chuckled mirthlessly. "Never thought that I'd be happy for this arm." He commented, looking down
"Brother, you…you're ok…" Al stopped struggling and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face.
"B-but…I shot you! How can you be ok? You're not even bleeding? What are you?" Geist questioned, a look of terror on his face.
Ed looked up. "What am I? I'm human Anton. Just like you. That's all I am. Just a man." With that Ed began walking toward him
"You can't be human. I don't know what you are, but I'm not just going to let you kill me" he yelled, hysterical. He raised the gun again and aimed, his arm shaking. Ed simply continued to walk toward him, looking far to calm for a man who had just been shot.
"I'm not going to kill you Anton. Put the gun down." He stated calmly.
"Shut up! Shut up! I won't listen to you!" he yelled, and fired the gun twice, this time hitting Ed in the left shoulder and just above his hip.
Ed faltered for a second as he heard Al call out his name, but continued to walk forward and repeated "Put the gun down Anton"
There were three more shots all hitting Ed; one in the elbow his automail arm, two more grazed his right side. He faltered again and looked towards Al, giving him a reassuring smile. Al seemed to be beyond words at this point but tears silently trailed down his face. Ed was right in front of Anton now.
Ed firmly grasped the gun in his left hand, the only one that was functioning, and said, just as calmly as before, "Give me the gun Anton". One last shot echoed through the room and connected with his left shoulder once again. Ed simply took the gun from Anton's now slack grip and watched as Geist collapsed on the floor in shock, unable to move. The other three men had fled the room long ago. "Thanks" Edward murmured quietly. Before collapsing on the ground.
Al was at his side instantly. Edward looked up at Alphonse's tearstained face and murmured "Don't cry Alphonse, it'll be ok." He broke off coughing. "Looks like I busted my arm again. Guess…we'll be seeing…Winry and…Aunt Pinako…again…" he trailed off, eyes closing.
"Brother?" Al gently shook Ed's still form - to still - part of his mind told him." Brother! Brother! No…" Al desperately tried to remember what he knew of life-saving procedures. He tore off sections of his shirt had desperately tried to stop the bleeding from the many bullet wounds Ed had sustained. 'Please let him be breathing' he thought, images of his brother, dead and buried flooded his mind. No. He wouldn't let that happen. He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he noticed the shallow rise and fall of Ed's chest.
Suddenly he heard someone come bursting through the door. Al instinctively shielded his brother's body with his own.
"Alphonse?" a familiar voice asked
He spun around "Colonel?"
Mustang caught site of Ed's still form. "I-is he…He isn't…?" he questioned, unable to say that word.
"No" Al responded, instantly understanding. "Please, help him. He's going to bleed to death!" desperation coloured his words. Mustang seemed to snap out of his stupor as he started barking orders people. Several medically trained officers came and began treating Ed and soon had him on a stretcher and were taking him to the hospital, Al right beside them.
Mustang turned toward Anton Geist. "You." He hissed, venom covering his words. "He's seventeen! He came here to help protect people! He has been willing to give his life for filth like you, and you shot him how many times? Four? Five? Answer me!" he roared.
Anton simply laughed, a crazed look in his eyes. "He's not human. He can't be. He can't be"
Roy simply shot the man a look of disgust. "He's more human than you'll ever be." Before roughly grabbing the man and locked a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. "You, Anton Geist, are charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault on a military officer, six counts of breaking and entering, avoiding arrest, position of a stolen firearm, and position of a non-licensed firearm. I hope you rote in jail for the rest of your life." He said, leading Anton out of the room and into a military car.
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It was the second time he had been in the hospital waiting to know that his brother was all right in under a month. He didn't like it. He liked the fact that said brother was having an operation to remove the three bullets that were lodged in his body and repair the damage from the other two bullets that had gone all the way through. It had been an hour since he had gone into the operation and all he could do was hope that he would be ok. He sighed. At least the military was covering the hospital expenses.
"Alphonse Elric?" a voice rang out form the door.
His head looked up immediately, hoping that perhaps it was someone with news on how his brother was. "Yes? Over here." He called.
A young woman, maybe about twenty five, with bright red hair that went about mid-way down her back and brown eyes approached him. She had a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and wore a military uniform. "Hi. I'm 2nd lieutenant Klarissa Albers. I was recently assigned to work under Lt. Colonel Edward Elric and I heard that he got hurt…" she trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed.
'If that isn't the understatement of the century…' he thought bitterly. Why are you here? I mean, you've never even met my brother?" he asked, trying to remain polite.
"No, I haven't met him but…I've heard of all the good things he's done for people and…the man who shot him. He broke into out house about six months ago and shot my little sister. She almost died. I…wanted to thank him for making sure that that man would end up in jail and not be able to hurt anyone else." She explained.
Al smiled tiredly. Klarissa seamed nice enough. Besides, it would be nice to have someone to talk to. "He's in the operation room right now, so you can't go to see him right now but you can wait if you want. Though I'm not sure if they'll let you see him right now.
"That's ok. To honest, the reason I came right away is because when my little sister found out that Edward Elric was the one to take down the one who hurt her, she wanted to thank him so she made him a card. She asked if I could give it to him." She chuckled. "She can be so cute, I can't say no!"
Al chuckled quietly as well. "How old is she?" he asked, curious.
"Eight" she answered
And eventually another hour passed, with them just talking. Until eventually a nurse came out. "Alphonse Elric?" she asked, looking around.
He stood up immediately. "Right here. Is my Brother all right? Can I see him?"
The nurse walked towards the younger Elric. "He's alright. We managed to remove all of the bullets and repaired most of the damage but he's going to have to stay in the hospital for at least a few weeks. You can see him if you like. He's should be waking up soon." She turned around and began to lead the two through a pair of doors and down a hall until she stopped at one of the doors. "Here he is. Remarkably lucky kid. Shot that many times and still alive? Not many who could pull that off. But then again, he is the Full Metal Alchemist. Oh, and miss? You'll only be able to stay for a few minutes unless you're family. " She commented before walking back down the hall.
Al pushed the door open and walked over to the bed and held his hand before sitting down in a nearby chair. "Brother? Are you awake?" he questioned quietly. Klarissa hesitantly walked towards the bed as well.
"Al? He croaked out. "Shit. Why the hell am I in the hospital again?"
"Brother, don't you remember? Anton Geist? You got shot. Five times, not including the times your automail got hit." Al reminded.
Ed gowned. "Double shit. I broke Winry's automail again. She's gonna kill me. At least tell me we caught the bastard." He muttered.
"Ya. We caught him. He'll be in jail for the rest of his life. If he doesn't end up dead for almost killing you." He explained.
"Ed glanced over at Klarissa. "Who's she?' he asked
Klarissa straitened, saluting. "2nd lieutenant Klarissa Albers. At your service."
Ed looked mildly amused for a moment before he said "um… At ease? You don't need to be all serious like that. Why are you here just out of curiosity."
"She's one of the people working under you Brother. Remember, Mustang told you that you would be getting staff?" Al explained.
"I came here on behalf of my little sister. She wanted to thank you for catching that man. Anton Geist. He shot her and she almost died. Also, she wanted to give you this card she made." Klarissa explained, still somewhat nervous, before grabbing a hand drawn card out of her pocket and handing it to him.
Ed took it examined it before looking back at Klarissa. "Thanks. Tell your sister thanks too." He said, smiling.
"I better go." She said, saluting, before quietly leaving the room.
"Well, I guess we'll be visiting Winry soon huh?" Ed said, grinning.
"Maybe in a few weeks. The nurse said you'd probably have to stay here for at least a few weeks. To make sure you heal alright." Al explained
"Aw man! I'm stuck here for the next two weeks. Gah." Ed moaned. "This is going to be loads of fun. What do you wanna bet Mustang's gonna get me doing paper work the whole time?" he chuckled.
"Brother, are you sure you're alright? I mean you got shot. Several times." He asked
"I will be." He chuckled slightly at the look on Al's face, before breaking out coughing. "Al, I'm dieing. I can't let a few bullets get in my way. If I don't get out of here and start finding a cure soon, it'll be to late. I can't afford to wait." He looked out the window at the rising sun. "I'm not just gonna sit here and let myself die. So as soon as I can move, we're going to Resembool to get my automail fixed up and then I" he paused at the look Al sent him that clearly said don't-you-dare-think-your-doing-this-yourself-you-idiot. "We have to start doing some research. Then it's back on the road again." He finished. "I'm tired Al. I'm gonna get some sleep. You should too." He murmured before falling asleep.
"Sure Brother. I'll sleep. Just don't die on me. Alright?" Alphonse whispered to Edward's sleeping form.
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A/N: Yay! Ed didn't die! Weeeee!
Anyway, please review!
