Roy wakes up well before he would expect anyone to check in on him. At some point over the last few days, his bag had ended up at the hospital, and he pulls out his laptop. If everything went according to plan today, then he would never be coming back, would never go home at all.

Because he is going home, finally. Back to Amestris, back to Ed. There are things about this world that he has loved, that he has enjoyed, things he will certainly miss—the very laptop he's using for one. It's time though.

He pulls up a list of important people, submits his resignation to his job, effective immediately. He sends an email to Mercedes, along with doing a quick google for steps to get a will or last wishes into place in a hurry, and sends off the most barebones of required information that he can as quickly as he can. He's surprised when a message box pops up on his computer.

[Where are you? When are you coming back? What the hell is this email about? Your house? Your bank details?] she demands. [Roy, what's going on? I haven't been able to get through to your cell in days.]

Mercedes is a better friend than he's given her credit for. [I really can't explain.] he types in reply, his hand flying over the keys with ease. He remembers the pain of first learning. He remembers typing while Ed dictated before they found an older, metal keyboard that held up better to his automail hand. He remembers Ed taking that keyboard into work, and bringing it home a week later when Penelope had ordered him another one for work. To his knowledge, Penelope had ever asked Ed why he needed the old-style keyboard. Laptops were not Ed's friend, and touchpad devices could a minefield until he found gloves that allowed him to use both hands. Even then, they'd had to get commercial quality protectors on their devices to keep Ed from accidentally cracking a screen.

[Please, just call me. Wherever you are. I just want to talk.]

Roy can hear Mercedes's voice as clearly as if she were sitting next to him, pleading with him. Part of him wants to reassure her that, regardless of what this looks like, he isn't committing suicide. He doesn't, though, because if this works, he'll be going away, will be as good as dead to her. It will probably be what they tell people—that Ed and Roy died.

[You're up unusually early.] he replies instead, hoping to deflect. He hadn't expected her to see the email until this evening. [Workload or can't sleep?]

[The workload's fine, just been worried about my friend who suddenly took a leave of absence and I haven't been able to get a hold of for days] she replies.

[I'm sorry to have worried you.] he says. He is, sincerely, deeply. Mercedes is the only one at work who knows about him and Ed, and she took that knowledge with far more grace than Ed's team had.

[You're worrying me far more now] she replies. [Please, Roy. Call me? Whatever's going on, we can talk about it. Did something happen to Ed?]

Roy smiles at the message box on the screen. Mercedes would jump to the correct conclusion of anything being wrong with Roy originating with Ed. She has been a truly good friend. He wishes he had time to be a better one.

[Ed is fine.] he tells her. [I'm going to give you the information of a Dr. Spencer Reid and a SSA Emily Prentiss. Should anything happen, talk to them. They should be able to explain.] He gives her the details in his Address Book, glad he was—as Ed would say—neurotic about keeping it up to date with Ed's team. He did it because he always wanted to know if one of Ed's team were calling him, but it apparently had other uses.

[Roy? You're really scaring me] Mercedes sends.

[I know.] he replies. He does know. He's sorry to hurt her this way, but it does reaffirm his decision on who to leave everything to. [Are Rachel and Evvie still thinking about moving out here?] he asks.

[I know what you're doing, and I'm not going to let you.]

He smiles again. [Ed and I have no one else here but Ed's team. They don't need anything, but Rachel and Evvie are young parents.]

[Roy] she sends, then on another line. [I'm not kidding.]

[Neither am I. I sent the documentation off to the lawyer this morning, but I'll also leave word with Ed's team. They'll be able to corroborate.]

The cursor indicating typing starts, stops, starts again, stops again, then finally, a message is sent. [Please don't kill yourself. Please, Roy. Please.]

[I'm not.] he tells her, unable to lie. An idea occurs to him, and he starts typing quickly. [But people will say I have. They will say Ed and I are dead. They will have to. There will probably even be a funeral. It'll be ruled a lover's suicide, I'm sure.]

[ROY]

[Just saying my name at me doesn't exactly facilitate the conversation] he replies, hoping he gets a chuckle from her. He's sure he's made her cry, so it's only right that he also makes her laugh. [We are not dead] he tells her, and he hopes with everything in him that it's not a lie. If it is, it's unlikely anyone in this world will ever know anyway. Let her have the comfortable lie. Let her believe they are in Witness Security.

[You're an asshole] she tells him.

[Ed's preferred pejorative is "bastard."] he tells her and can imagine her teary laugh.

[I think you've told me that] she replies.

[Probably.]

There's no sign of typing from either of them for a long moment, and then comes the quick message, [this is real, isn't it?]

[It is.] he tells her simply.

[You're not coming home, are you?]

[I am, just not to a home that will allow me to see you or others again.] He hits send then quickly adds, [Please, do talk to Dr. Reid and Prentiss. They should be able to tell you something. It will probably sound crazy, but it will likely be true.]

He can imagine her sighing, the typing sign starts slowly, stops, starts again.

[You're going to be missed, Mustang] she tells him.

[We will miss you too.] he replies, opens the checklist, makes sure he sent all the messages he needed to—including the passwords to his gradebooks and his notes—and closes the lid before he can tell her anything more.

Then he stands, gets dressed in the new clothing that was bought for him since he didn't bring enough with him, and makes his way down the hall. He overhead where Rossi's room is. Moving around without his depth perception is going to take some getting used to, but other than feeling clumsy for not being able to judge how far things are from him well—a problem solved by simply putting more space between himself and people and things—the trip is uneventful. If any of the nurses familiar with him are on duty, they haven't noticed him.

He knocks on the door softly, then lets himself in. Rossi startles awake as he steps in.

"Mustang?" he asks, groggy, but there's enough light to see by, and Roy pulls up the chair to sit at his side.

"Good morning, Agent Rossi. I'm sorry to wake you."

Rossi rubs at his eyes and feels around the bed, looking for and finding the remote to raise it up. "I wondered if you'd come see me or not," he says, voice still gravelly. Unlike Roy, he's still hooked up to IVs and other machines that are monitoring his health, though at this point, he's likely past the risk of infection. "Prentiss said you're going to try this transmutation thing?"

He nods. "Yes. Today. This afternoon, in fact."

Rossi nods. "I'd ask why you're in such a hurry, but I think we both know why," he says.

Roy lets a little smile curl his lips. "Ed is waiting," he says.

Shoulders rising and chest expanding with a heavy sigh, Rossi says, "You kids really think this will work? This soul bonding thing?"

"It has to," Roy says, and if he sounds a little on the edge of desperate, well, he is.

Running a hand over his face, Rossi groans softly, then asks, "So why did you to come to see me? I can't help with any of this mumbo jumbo."

Roy chuffs. "There's no need to play coy with me, Agent Rossi. You are the one who started Ed down this road, brought him into your team, into this family of yours. You're… not a father figure, but certainly a favored uncle. I think it's only right that I pass along his farewell to you."

He can tell he's caught Rossi off guard by the way he starts. "He sent a message with you? For me?"

Letting himself smile for real, Roy confirms, "Yes, he did." Despite the odds they have been at in the past several days, it's hard to hold a grudge against the old man. With his background and experience, he was doing his best to protect Ed. Whether he's finally accepted that Ed doesn't need protecting—at least not from Roy—or he's just accepted that Ed is not in his power to protect, Roy doesn't know, and he doesn't intend to ask. "He wanted to say 'thank you.' For taking a chance on a mouthy, too-smart brat missing half his limbs. For giving him a job here where he felt like he was doing good."

Rossi looks away, lines of sadness and hard years seeming deeper in the dim light of the hospital room. "He's always been a surprising bright spot among us," Rossi says, wistful. "This job… seeing the worst of people? It burns so many of us out. Makes a lot of us lose faith in humanity. But not Ed." He shakes his head. "Never Ed."

"The wonder and horror of our world is that the evil that people can do here is almost… mundane in comparison to what people can do to one another with alchemy. But he also has a way of seeing the best in people, bringing the best out in them," he admits. "In our world, Ed was not just the Fullmetal Alchemist, the youngest State Alchemist in our history. They called him the People's Alchemist. It comes from an old quote in our world—'Alchemist, be thou for the people.'" Roy has to shake his head in affection. "Ed never forgot that. Despite the terrible things he's witnessed alchemists do—and they're so terrible and fantastic that you wouldn't believe me if I told you half of them—Ed has somehow never fallen out of love with alchemy, never lost his wonder for it."

Watching him with keen eyes, Rossi says, "It's one of the things you love about him most."

Roy nods. "Though there are many others," he says.

"'Be thou for the people,' huh?" Rossi repeats, a little wonder in his voice as he says it, like pieces of a puzzle he's been staring at for years but hasn't quite managed to figure out are clicking into place.

"Ed joined our military because it was necessary to help his brother. He had no love for it, precious little respect for rank or authority, and could not possibly have cared less about propaganda and making people think well of the military."

Rossi chuckles, and Roy smiles as well.

"He must have been a handful," Rossi says.

Roy nods, then sobers. "He was. And too damned skilled to sideline. He attracted danger like no one I've ever seen before and I hope never to see again."

"The kidnapper?"

"I'm honestly shocked that in three years, it only happened once," Roy admits.

Rossi coughs, and Roy raises an eyebrow. "Well…" he says, drawing out the word. "There was technically only the one kidnapping incident."

Covering his eyes, Roy says, "Don't tell me. I'm certain I don't want to know."

"If he didn't share, then I will spare you the details," Rossi says, chuckling until groans. "Don't make me laugh," he chides, as if Roy had done it on purpose. But for once, it's a teasing tone, and Roy lets it slide.

Standing, Roy says, "Ed both liked and respected you a great deal, Agent Rossi."

"Please make sure he knows that the sentiments were wholly returned," Rossi replies. He takes another deep breath and then says, "You take care of my people, Mustang." Then he looks up and meets Roy's eye. "And you take care of him."

"I'll do my best," Roy says, standing. "I've sent off instructions to people as to what to do with our things. I gave Dr. Reid and Agent Prentiss's contact information to Mercedes Adelman. She may come asking questions, looking for answers. She knows about Ed and I, so what you decide to tell her is… up to you. I left most of our money and our home to her and her family."

Rossi's brows raise. "Good friend?"

"Better than I deserved," Roy confirms.

He nods. "Is there… anything else I can do for Ed? Or you?"

"Just… take care of them, and take care of yourself. In the end, Ed values people above all."

Rossi gives a little chuff. "What a place the world would be if we all valued people a little more," he says.

"What a place indeed," Roy agrees. He gives Rossi a nod, then leaves. He doesn't apologize or say he wishes they'd gotten along better, gotten to know one another better, that Rossi had been able to trust Roy's intentions more. Rossi hadn't offered an apology either. In his eyes, he was just protecting a member of his team, and however much Roy respects and appreciates that, it is a line that will always divide them.

Roy has done his due diligence; now he can turn his attention to getting home. To Ed.

.o.o.o.

AN: If you're wondering about Mercedes, she's introduced in my sidefic, Emotional Gifts and Giving Thanks. It's both here and on Ao3.