What if the gunshot Hughes suffered was worse?
Ayala heard the gunshot a mere second before she leapt for Fake Gracia, teeth ripping into the back and side of her neck, sinking into her flesh. She felt the warm blood rush into her mouth, coating her tongue and teeth as it ran over her muzzle as she bit down on the spinal cord, jugular vein, and carotid artery. The blood tasted foul, like that of a months-old corpse, and she fought against her reflex to swallow it as her weight and gravity brought Fake Gracia crashing to the ground where, once Ayala was on her feet, she shook her head viciously and with a wet tear, she tore the chunk of flesh she had a hold of off her neck and caused even more blood to spurt out, splattering the wolf, ground and anything close by with the black blood. Spitting out the chunk of flesh, Ayala trotted over to Ed, Hughes and Leo to check on them.
Though she knew Ed hadn't been hit by the bullet, thanks to the fact that she hadn't felt any new sympathy pain, Ayala wanted to make sure both Hughes and Leo were alright. To her dismay, Hughes' military issued jacket was darkening rapidly from the bullet wound and to her horror, Ayala realised it was spreading from the left side of Hughes' chest. "Ed! Hughes is hurt!" Ayala said, her voice slightly panicked.
No sooner had she spoken to her human was Ed picking himself up from where he'd fallen. Ayala's sympathy pain flared as Ed pulled at his still-healing injuries in his haste to get to Hughes' side as quickly as possible. "Shit," Ed said as he saw the blood pool rapidly seep into Hughes' jacket. "Shit," Ed repeated as he grabbed one of Hughes' throwing knives and quickly cut the jacket and shirt open to reveal the wound. "Dammit," Ed said when he realised he wouldn't be able to get Hughes' jacket and shirt off by himself without hurting Hughes further. "Ayala, is Leo alright? Is he alive?" Ed asked urgently and Ayala immediately nodded.
"He's alive but his breathing is weak and he's unconscious," Ayala warned Ed, who was pulling off his black jacket without care for his own injuries.
"Fuck," Ed swore again. Using his right hand, he pressed his bunched-up jacket against the bloody wound as hard as he dared, knowing from all of Pinako's and Havoc's teachings, as well as the medical books he'd read that keeping pressure on the wound was important. Raising his left hand to his mouth, he ripped his glove off and pressed it to Hughes' neck and almost sobbed in relief when he found a pulse. "We need an ambulance, Ayala. He'd gonna bleed out if we don't get him to the hospital," Ed told her as panic and fear started rising in him. He'd seen the wound before he covered it and it was far too close to Hughes' heart for Ed to risk wasting time. "Ayala, I need –" his words were cut off by red energy crackling over the Gracia Ayala had taken down.
The red light caught their eyes and the two of them looked over in horror as red alchemic once again swarmed over the figure before them and Fake Gracia climbed to her feet. The chunk of flesh Ayala had torn out of her neck disintegrated before their eyes, leaving only the blood stains on Ayala, the ground and fake Gracia's face, neck and clothing as proof of what had happened to her. Ayala snarled as she climbed to her feet and Ed nearly flinched backwards from the sadistic grin twisting Gracia's features. Ed knew the gun she had been armed with lay only a few feet out of his reach but he didn't bother to even glance at it, refusing to risk that small action being what reminded their attacker it was there.
"Well, Pipsqueak, I certainly didn't expect to see you here but no matter. It looks like your efforts were useless in preventing me from stopping that one from ruining our plans," Fake Gracia said, throwing a disinterested look at Hughes' prone form. The nickname that should've sparked some kind of annoyance in Ed was what tipped him off to who their attacker really was.
"You're that palm-frond lookalike from the Fifth Laboratory," Ed stated, making sure the pressure he was placing on Hughes' chest didn't abate in the slightest. He could still feel Hughes' pulse beneath his flesh fingers but – to his horror – it was becoming slower. Refusing to show any sort of weakness in front of the creature that had tried to kill Hughes, Ed glared at him. "Why don't you lose the disguise, Palm Tree? Looking like a cheap version of Gracia isn't going to save you from us," Ed snarled at him.
"Hm, considering how our last match went, I don't think you hold much hope against me," Palm Tree said with a confident grin. "Not to mention," their eyes slid to Hughes, "I don't think you'll risk your friend's life just to fight me," he said, his eyes and grin turning smug. "But this form is definitely not my type and it's not like he's going to survive to identify me and you certainly won't be running your mouth if you don't want any other unfortunate tragedies befalling your more… expendable friends," Palm Tree said, voice falling into a chilling warning.
Ed glared at him as red energy danced across Gracia's form and the sight caused a memory to come to the forefront of his mind. "Do you think he has a Philosopher's Stone on him somewhere?" Ed asked Ayala, using their bond to keep the conversation from their attacker.
"He has too. There's nothing else that causes that colour energy," Ayala said, her golden eyes raking over the person in front of them. "I can't see where he's hiding it though," she told him.
"Maybe it's not on him. Maybe it's in him," Ed said to her. "Cornello had to touch his before it would work but this thing doesn't and from how you described his blood tasting, I'm not certain he's even human. That injury you inflicted should've killed him too quickly for him to think of using the stone to heal him," Ed said rapidly, knowing that Palm Tree wouldn't be waiting quietly forever.
Just as that thought crossed Ed's mind, a voice interrupted Ed and Ayala's conversation. "Well I don't have to wait around for him to bleed out. I know he's a goner already," Palm Tree drawled. "At least now you might think twice about looking into things that you have no business knowing," he added casually, as though Hughes was nothing more than a minor obstacle in his path and Ed felt himself bristle at that.
Nodding to Ayala, he watched as his wolf launched herself at Palm Tree just as he turned his back on them. Like she'd done so before, Ayala grabbed him by his neck but she wasn't able to grip onto him enough to ensure maximum damage when he grabbed at her with an enraged shout to pull her off him. Ayala landed on her feet, spat out the chunk of flesh in her mouth and went straight back in for the kill, making sure to push Palm Tree away from the abandoned gun so he didn't get any ideas on grabbing and using it against her.
Only moments passed after she'd gone in for a third attack, Ayala felt Ed's panic ratchet up another notch and knew their time really was running out. She couldn't kill the creature she was fighting – not permanently anyway but she didn't have any other plan except trying to keep the non-human down as much as possible until her human could do something. She could hear his thoughts and knew that he was starting to panic about everything in this situation. Hughes was slowly bleeding to death and no one they knew who could help them was close by enough to do so. Ed couldn't leave Hughes' side to phone for an ambulance because the pressure he was putting on the wound was the only thing slowing the bleeding enough to give Hughes a fighting chance and it wasn't like Ayala could call an ambulance herself, even if she wasn't currently fighting an extremely pissed off non-human.
As she pulled Palm Tree down by his arm, teeth tearing through the skin and ripping the muscles, nerves and artery underneath to shreds, Ayala remembered something. Palm Tree roared in pain and annoyance as he swung out with his leg to kick at her but she dodged the blow. "Didn't Leo say Hughes was trying to reach Mustang?" Ayala asked Ed as she moved in and grabbed Palm Tree by the other arm and repeated what she'd done to the first to it.
"Yeah, he did!" Ed exclaimed through their bond. "He can call for an ambulance. I'll speak to Nala. Keep that thing busy but start bringing him towards me again if you can. I have a plan," Ed told her and she gave a mental nod of acknowledgement as she tore out the hamstring of the leg Palm Tree tried to kick her with. The creature fell to his knee before levelling Ayala with a glare filled completely of hatred. She matched it as she glared back before she moved to do as her human had asked.
"Nala! Is Mustang on the phone?" Ed asked desperately the moment he'd connected to their bond.
"Ed! What's happening? Roy isn't telling me anything but he said there's a fight and you're there?" Nala asked, her concern completely evident.
"I don't have time to go into details but I need Mustang to call an ambulance for Hughes," Ed told her. "He's been shot in the chest. I wasn't quick enough to get him out of the way," Ed whispered the last part before he shook his head. There was time for guilt later. "We're in Central's main park, near the middle of it and next to a payphone," Ed told her, not giving the lioness the time to try and comfort him or get more information out of him. "I don't know where exactly we are," Ed said, a little apologetically but Nala brushed it off.
"That's enough information for Roy to give to the hospital," Nala told him. "Where was Hughes shot exactly?" she asked a little hesitantly.
"The left side of his chest. It's close to his heart, Nala," Ed told her. "He's losing a lot of blood. I'm doing what I can but there's not much I can do! I'm not medically trained and I don't –" Ed felt himself starting to hyperventilate, a sure sign of a panic attack approaching. He tried to force it away but it kept building up in him and his vision suddenly went blurry at the sudden onslaught of tears.
"Ed! You need to calm down! You can't panic right now!" Ed startled at Nala's raised voice. The lioness very rarely yelled at him and it was quick to get his attention. "Maes will be fine. Roy is on the phone to the hospital and they've dispatched an ambulance. They'll be there in a matter of minutes and everything will be okay but you need to calm down," Nala said soothingly and Ed felt his breathing return to normal.
The pulse under his fingertips was barely more than a flutter and Ed found himself praying to anyone, anything he could think of that the ambulance would turn up in time. A noise a short distance in front of him caught his attention and he saw his wolf sink her teeth into Palm Tree's right arm and yank him with all of her strength, sending him reeling towards Ed, though his attention stayed firmly on Ayala. Cutting off his connection to Nala with no warning, Ed focused on his wolf. "Get him a little closer and then on my mark, get ready to switch with me," Ed told her and he felt her acknowledgement through their bond.
Taking his left hand from where it had been sitting against Hughes' pulse, Ed searched the lieutenant-colonel for more of his throwing knives, never once taking his eyes off the fight between Ayala and Palm Tree. Placing the knives within quick snatching distance, Ed's flesh hand went back to Hughes' neck to find his pulse once more. Ed felt his panic build rapidly the longer it took him to find that pulse but after a few tense moments, he found it and breathed a sigh of relief. Risking it, he pulled his eyes from the fight and glanced at Leo. The fox was still breathing but only just and Ed had to forcibly remove himself from the memory of Chester's still form on the night they'd tried bringing their mother back from the dead.
Finally, Palm Tree was sent sprawling when he didn't dodge Ayala's tackle and resulting bite to the back of his neck. "Switch!" Ed called, grabbing the throwing knives as Ayala raced for his side.
Leaving Hughes' side was something that went against all of his instincts but Ed forced himself to do so, knowing it would take Ayala only a couple of seconds to put pressure back on the wound while he dealt with their enemy. Palm Tree had barely gotten to his feet when a small metal dagger buried itself in the base of his throat, causing blood to spurt out as Ed's aim hit true. Not letting Palm Tree do much more than grab the knife and rip it out of his throat, Ed threw the next one and the next one, making sure they were aimed for somewhere extremely painful and fatal in an extra effort to prevent Palm Tree from attacking him in retaliation.
With every dagger thrown, Ed got closer to him, his face stony as he continued launching killing or crippling blow after blow. Finally he was down to his last knife – which was thrown right into Palm Tree's right eye – and Ed found himself only two feet away from the shapeshifter. Yanking the dagger out of his eye, Palm Tree snarled at Ed. "What are you gonna do now, Pipsqueak? You're all out of weapons and I'm still standing! Don't think I'll go so –"
Palm Tree's voice cut off in shock as within the space of a single step Ed had clapped and closed the distance between them. "I don't know what you are and honestly I don't care. You're nothing more than the person who almost took someone I care about away from me," Ed told him, voice level as he placed his hands on Palm Tree's shoulder and allowed the energy needed for the transmutation to leave him and dance over the shifter's body. "I know you've got a Philosopher's Stone in you and I'm willing to bet it's basically your life force," Ed said, voice flat. "The array I just used destroys stones," he revealed, taking two steps backwards as Palm Tree looked at him in shock. "Let's see you recover from this."
"That's not possible," Palm Tree gasped even as his fingers started turning to dust. "You can't kill a homunculous. We're immortal!" he snarled, taking a step forward as though he was going to try attacking Ed only to fall to his knee as his lower leg disintegrated.
"Nothing is truly immortal," Ed informed him coldly before he paid the dying homunculous no more attention as he rushed back to Hughes' side. "How is he?" Ed asked Ayala, gently pushing her out of the way so he could take over applying pressure once more.
"Ed, he needs a hospital now," Ayala told him, her voice quiet. "He won't survive much longer without medical help."
"Nala said Mustang called for an ambulance," Ed told her, his voice choking. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the last of the homunculous disintegrate and felt a tiny amount of relief when it didn't reappear. "They'll be here in time. They have to be," Ed whispered as his left fingers searched for Hughes' pulse once more.
For a few seconds there was nothing but silence between the two of them as Ed kept applying pressure to the wound, a silent mantra playing on repeat in his head. You have to survive, Hughes. You can't leave your family yet. You can't leave us. Finally, Ed noticed Ayala's ear perk at something and knew it was the sirens of the ambulance she heard before she verbally confirmed it. It took a few more seconds for Ed's hearing to pick up on the frantic wail of the sirens and he didn't think he'd ever been so happy to hear them before in his life.
"It sounds like they're driving straight onto the park grounds," Ayala told him and Ed nodded. It made no sense for the ambulance to park on the street and the medics to drag their equipment to them when every moment counted.
"If you think you can figure out where they're coming from, go and meet them and lead them here," Ed instructed his wolf. She gave a nod but didn't leave right away, though Ed could see her muscles were coiled so she could move into a sprint at moment's notice. "I can hear the ambulance," Ed told Nala. He wasn't startled when Ayala took off, heading in the same direction the two of them had desperately raced in from when Leo's frantic call for help sounded in Ed's mind. "Ayala's gone to guide them to us," he added.
"He'll be alright, Ed. Roy's called Riza and told her what happened. He's going to try and get to Central a few days early while everyone finishes the packing for the move," Nala told him. Ordinarily Ed would've made some kind of protest about having Mustang near him but he couldn't help but feel glad he would be. Hughes would be happy about having his best friend there when he woke up. "We're hoping to leave soon so we should be in Central in a few hours," Nala continued saying.
"Okay," Ed said dully. The adrenaline from the ambush had lasted throughout Ayala's fight with Palm Tree and was bolstered by his own fight but now that help was only a couple of minutes away, Ed's adrenaline was being replaced by panic and worry once more. He could still see Leo and Hughes' chests rising faintly and he could still feel Hughes' pulse fluttering weakly against his fingers but his fear that Palm Tree would be proven right was almost overwhelming him. "Keep fighting, Hughes. Don't give up yet," Ed whispered to the unconscious man just as he felt Ayala approaching him.
Glancing over his shoulder, Ed almost melted in relief when his bloody wolf appeared with two men dressed in the uniform of ambulance officers following her, dragging a stretcher between the two of them. He barely noticed that she was the only Animal with them as he raised his left hand and waved at them to hurry up. Ayala reached him first and with a thought and look to Leo, she was quick to jump over Hughes' legs and grab the fox gently by the scruff of the neck to pull him out of the way of the ambulance officer heading for that area. "What happened?" the man asked as he knelt where Leo had just been.
"He was ambushed. I was in the area and his Animal contacted mine for help," Ed told him, not moving an inch as the other paramedic knelt next to him and started rifling through his kit. "He was shot in the left side of his chest by an unknown assailant who fled the scene when my Animal and I turned up," Ed said. "My Animal managed to injure them but they got away when I called her back to help me with Hughes and his Animal. His pulse is getting weaker and I've been applying pressure the whole time but I don't know a whole lot about gunshot wounds and haven't been able to do anything more," Ed told them, speaking rapidly as he fought to keep his voice calm so he didn't trip over his words.
"I need you to move," the paramedic closest to him said. Seeing Ed's hesitance, his eyes filled with understanding but his voice stayed firm as he spoke next. "I can't help him if I can't see the severity of the injury and I can't do that with you right there," he told him. "You need to move so we can help him."
Those words finally convinced Ed to do as they said and he lifted his hands before shuffling rapidly back from Hughes. The paramedic barely waited for Ed's hands to leave the jacket and Hughes' neck before he dove right in, removing the blood-soaked jacket from the wound so he could get his first look at what he was dealing with. Not even looking up from his work, the paramedic spoke to his partner quickly. "Radio the hospital and have them prep an OR immediately. The bullet's lodged in his chest. He's lucky it missed the heart and lung but he's lost a lot of blood. He'll need transfusions." As he spoke, the paramedic was placing thick wads of gauze over the wound, taping it down. "Get the stretcher," he instructed as he placed an oxygen mask over Hughes' nose and mouth, switching on the portable oxygen tank as he did so.
His partner was still talking rapidly into the radio that sat on his shoulder as he grabbed the stretcher and wheeled it over to Hughes' side. Ayala was quick to move Leo further out of the way and Ed finally moved from where he was kneeling so he could take the fox from Ayala. The paramedic who wasn't tending to Hughes fiddled with the stretcher until it folded down on itself so they would be able to get Hughes on it easier. Unable to sit still and noticing the six throwing knives he'd stolen from Hughes, Ed quickly gathered them up while cradling Leo in his right arm. By the time he had all six placed safely in his waistband, the paramedics were moving Hughes and the oxygen tank onto the stretcher.
"Do you have his Animal?" the paramedic who had grabbed the stretcher asked and Ed nodded. "You'll ride in the ambulance with us then," he told him, not giving Ed a choice.
"I would've anyway," Ed informed him stiffly. "He's my friend," he told them as he followed them, snatching up his black jacket out of instinct as he passed it. His flesh hand was quickly coated in cooling blood and Ed swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise.
"Good," the paramedic told him as they rushed to the ambulance. "Keep his Animal with you and once we're in the ambulance, we need you to give us many details about him as you can tell us," he instructed and Ed nodded.
They passed the bushes that hedged the crossing walkways and Ed spotted the ambulance immediately. They hadn't been able to drive it in between the trees – the ambulance being too wide to fit between them – so they'd pulled it along parallel to them. The paramedic who had told Ed he was going with them entered the back of the ambulance first and helped his partner get the stretcher in and secured to it wouldn't move during the race for the hospital. Ed, Leo and Ayala went next at the second paramedic's insistence while his partner climbed through a small gap separating the back of the ambulance from the driver's seat.
The back doors of the ambulance slammed shut and Ed had barely managed to take a seat on the chair the paramedic in the back with him pointed to when the ambulance pulled forward. Jolting forward with the movement, Ed braced Leo in his arm while he grabbed Ayala to stop her from falling into the paramedic who was tending to Hughes. The moment the ambulance's wheels hit pavement, the paramedic in the back slipped an I.V needle into Hughes' right arm and started a drip, hooking the bag filled with clear liquid up on the only clear section of panel available.
"Alright, I need to everything medically relevant to this man that you can think of," the paramedic told him and Ed nodded.
"He's Lieutenant-Colonel Maes Hughes…"
"Ed!" Only the shout of his name and Ayala's warning prepared him for Gracia's arms tightening around his shoulders to the point of where it was almost painful. "Are you okay? What happened? Is that blood?" Gracia's rapid questions stopped when she took in the amount of blood on him and Ayala and the grey fox curled up on his lap. "Ed, what happened?" she asked as she sank into the empty chair next to the blonde. She startled when the first tear rolled down his blood splattered and smeared cheek.
"How much –" Ed stopped to clear his throat, the words having stuck in it. "How much were you told?" he asked.
"The hospital called and said Maes had been rushed into surgery with a gunshot wound," Gracia told him and Ed nodded. "They didn't tell me anything more but they asked me a lot of medical questions before they mentioned you came in with Maes. I had to leave Elysia and Lilith with a neighbour before I could get here." That had answered Ed's unasked question in relation to the young girl and missing fox.
"Leo contacted us just on sunset, telling us that the woman who attacked me and Ches in the lab had confronted them," Ed said, keeping his voice to a whisper. "They fled to Central Park so Hughes could call Mustang and pass along a message to him but they were approached by someone who looked like a friend of ours," Ed told her, keeping his eyes on Leo so he wouldn't accidentally meet hers. He didn't want to see the blame in her eyes. "We tried to get there as quickly as we could, I swear," he told her, his voice cracking. "We got there in time to see the person shift forms so they looked like you and they aimed a gun at him," he heard Gracia gasp but he didn't stop, "and Hughes froze. He knew it wasn't you but it looked like you and he couldn't make himself move to defend himself. Ayala went for the fake you while I tried to get to Hughes. The gun went off just as I got there but I wasn't quick enough to get him out of the way completely and he got hit in the chest," Ed told her, his voice becoming raspy as he fought down sobs. "I'm sorry, Miss Gracia. I really tried." Ed couldn't stop his voice from cracking and his hold on his tears failed despite his best attempts at keeping them at bay. Ayala immediately pressed the cleaner part of her face against her human's as she leant as much of her weight against his side as she possibly could. Leo being in his lap meant she couldn't be but she didn't have to be to give Ed as much comfort as possible.
There was firm grip on his left arm and Ed glanced up to meet Gracia's worried but determined eyes. He kept his gaze locked with hers for only a moment before he looked back down at Leo's curled up form, unable to keep eye contact with the one person who had a right to hate him in this moment. Ayala gave a small whine in protest with his thoughts but Ed ignored her. He couldn't, however, ignore Gracia when she spoke, her grip on his arm still tight. "Ed, I –" whatever else she was about to say was interrupted by a harried looking nurse.
"Hughes?" she called, looking around the waiting room before her eyes fell on the four of them.
"I'll be right back, Ed," Gracia told him, her hand squeezing his arm once more before she got to her feet and walked over to the nurse.
"She doesn't blame you," Ayala told him immediately and Ed sighed.
"She should though," Ed's soft voice said. "Hughes only got involved in all of this because of me. If I hadn't decided to leave the hotel room that night, we wouldn't have been in the Fifth Laboratory and I wouldn't have gone up against those homunculi. Hughes wouldn't have had the information I gave him and he wouldn't have been digging into things he shouldn't have been for me," Ed told her. "She should blame me for this."
"You begged Hughes and Armstrong to stay out of it after the Fuhrer's visit. You asked them half a dozen times to not go digging. It wasn't your fault they didn't listen to you and you couldn't have made them," Ayala told him, her voice gentle but firm.
"But they wouldn't have had anything to go digging into if I had just decided to listen to Armstrong that night," Ed argued and Ayala had to force herself to bite back her sigh of irritation. She knew that if something didn't happen soon to dislodge Ed's guilt before it cemented then he would carry it around for the rest of his life and would be another thing he felt he owed an unpayable debt for.
Unfortunately, before Ayala could try once more to convince Ed that there was no reason for his guilt, she spotted Gracia heading back towards them, evidently finished speaking with the nurse now. Ayala was a little ashamed to admit that she was a little worried about what Gracia was going to say to Ed. Part of her hoped the news would be good and that Gracia would be telling them that Hughes was past the worst of it and expected to make a full recovery but part of the wolf also dreaded that Gracia would be telling them that Hughes had died on the table, though that part was small since Gracia wasn't crying or any more emotional than she had been when she arrived and Ayala could still see Leo was alive. An even tinier part of Ayala's brain was thinking that Gracia was going to do exactly what Ed was afraid of and tell the blonde this was his fault and that she didn't want him anywhere near her or her family.
"Ed, the nurse said you refused to be examined by one of them," Gracia said as she took her seat once more on Ed's left. "Are you sure you don't want to be?" she asked, looking at the blood that covered him in concern.
"The blood's Hughes'," Ed said dully. "I didn't get hurt in this fight and I didn't reopen any of my old wounds," he told her, voice listless.
Gracia looked a little stricken to hear that the blood Ed was covered in belonged entirely to her husband but she did look relieved that Ed wasn't hurt and she told him so. "Are Leo and Ayala alright?" Gracia asked, moving the conversation along even though Ayala could see that she really wanted to talk about the soft, disbelieving scoff Ed had given at her previous words.
"They're fine," Ed said. "Ayala was only bruised by the person we were fighting and as far as I can tell, Leo is only unconscious because Hughes is," he told her.
"I'm glad you and they aren't too badly hurt," Gracia said honestly and Ed gave a small nod. Gracia didn't comment on how Ed had hesitated before calling their assailant a 'person' but she knew not to press for information right now. That could wait for when everyone was home and there was no chance of someone dangerous eavesdropping on their conversation. "You know that this wasn't your fault, right, Ed? That Maes wasn't hurt because of you?" Gracia asked softly after a couple of moments and Ayala saw Ed's eyes squeeze shut tightly as he fought the urge to sob. Ayala wasn't the only one to notice this. "Oh, Ed," Gracia sighed as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him for a hug, ignoring his half-hearted protests.
"This is not your fault and no one blames you for it," Gracia told him soothingly as she twisted slightly in her seat so she was facing him a little more to make hugging him a bit more comfortable. "I don't blame you and I know that Maes and Leo won't either when they wake up," Gracia said. Ed wasn't quite struggling to pull away still but both Ayala and Gracia could see and feel just how tense he was. "You saved their lives. Both of their lives," Gracia went on to say. "The nurse was just telling me that if the gunshot had been only a couple of inches to the right, he wouldn't have…" she choked on her words for a moment before forcing herself to say them out loud, "he wouldn't have survived long enough for someone to call an ambulance," she told him. "You got there in time to give him a chance to see me and Elysia again and I can never thank you and Ayala enough for being there," Gracia told him, her voice thickening as she struggled to keep herself together enough to get the words out. "So don't you dare blame yourself, Edward Elric, because there is nothing for you to be sorry for, you hear me?"
Ayala had never wished that she could bond to another human before more in her life than right now as she watched Ed's frame slowly lose tension as he listened to Gracia's words. So because she couldn't speak to her, Ayala settled on showing her gratitude towards Gracia in the only way she could, by nuzzling Gracia's arm. Gracia moved her hand to scratch Ayala's ears – the first time she'd ever touched the golden wolf without Ed passing on Ayala's permission – before she took up her position of hugging Ed once more.
A questioning hum sounded from Gracia after a moment, reminding Ed that he hadn't answered her question. "I hear you, Miss Gracia," he told her, his voice rasping slightly from the tears he'd let escape and from the ones he fought so hard to keep back.
Ayala leaned further into her human as they settled in to wait for more news on their wounded family member and all the wolf could hope for was that Hughes would pull through with no complications and that Ed truly did hear and take to heart what Gracia had said.
It had been hours since Gracia had arrived at the hospital to find a bloodied but unhurt Edward holding an unconscious but uninjured Leo with an equally bloodied and weary Ayala curled up next to them, watching everyone passing by with a suspicious glare that would've made Hawkeye proud. Gracia hadn't moved from her position next to Ed, keeping a hold of his left forearm with her right hand. Lilith had spoken with her briefly a few time during the wait, mainly just to keep her updated on Elysia and if anything was happening at their home, which she was dutifully keeping an eye on from the room the Sheppard's had kindly set Elysia up in for the night. Gracia made a mental note to herself to thank the Sheppard's profusely for their help. They didn't have any children of their own but doted on Elysia the few times they'd managed to interact with one another since they'd moved in next to the Hughes' seven months prior. Asking them to agree to take on a six-year-old and her mother's Animal – even for the night – was bigger than any favour either family had asked of the other but Gracia didn't even hesitate to call them when she'd hung up with the hospital and they hadn't hesitated to look after Elysia and Lilith for the night. She didn't know how she was going to repay them for this but Gracia was determined to do so.
In the meantime, Gracia was planning on making sure Ed stopped blaming himself for what had happened to Maes. She knew just from Ayala's significant looks at her alone that what she'd told the teenager next to her when he'd told her his version of events hadn't been fully believed by him. The fact that Edward had only moved when a nurse had tactfully mentioned that Leo would need to be clean before he could rest with Maes once the man was out of surgery was very worrying to Gracia. Especially when after fifteen minutes, both Animals, Ed's black jacket – which Leo was now wrapped in –, and his white gloves were spotless but the blonde himself was still smeared with blood and other things Gracia would rather not think of at this time. When she'd asked why Ed hadn't cleaned himself up, Ed had shrugged and muttered something about not wanting to leave Gracia alone by herself for too long and that he would've needed more than alchemy to get himself acceptably clean. Gracia had wanted to protest and say she would've been fine for an extra five minutes but she decided to drop it, not wanting to delve into the real reason while the blonde was still this withdrawn and despondent.
Now, here the four of them were, sitting in the exact same seats they had been all night as they waited for news regarding Maes' surgery. Ed had been quiet for most of the last couple of hours, barely responding to Gracia's questions of whether he was okay and turning down offers of coffee but Gracia had a feeling that he and Ayala had been having plenty of talks in the meantime. She just hoped the golden wolf was having better luck at getting through to her human than Gracia seemed to have had. Just as she was thinking of offering to get them both coffees once more – it was now close to dawn and they'd been there all night – or trying to talk to Ed again, Lilith spoke.
"I can sense Nala approaching you," her grey fox warned.
"Thank you," Gracia said before she looked over at the entrance doors. She debated for a moment about passing on the warning before she realised it was highly likely Nala had warned the blonde herself.
Just as she saw Roy and Nala approach the front doors, a doctor still dressed in surgical scrubs accompanied by a nurse with a clipboard entered the waiting room. "Hughes?" the man called, checking the board to make sure he called for the right family.
Ed jolted, having obviously not noticed the medical pair's approach, but Gracia saw the moment he realised Nala and Roy were about to enter the hospital. There was something akin to fear in his eyes for a moment and Gracia didn't need to be bonded to Ed to realise what that fear meant. He was scared about what Roy was going to say to him or – Gracia thought wryly – more specifically, he was scared that Roy was going to say exactly what Ed was telling himself: it was his fault.
In a split second, Gracia made a decision. Squeezing Ed's arm, she got his attention. "Would you mind speaking with the doctor?" Gracia asked. Ed's mouth gaped slightly but Gracia pressed on before he could process. "I'll speak to him myself but I think the sooner Leo is with Maes, the better for both of them. I'll talk to Roy and bring him up to speed," Gracia said kindly but firmly.
"Okay, Miss Gracia," Ed said, still looking confused about the request but obviously unwilling to keep Leo from his human any longer and more than happy to avoid Mustang, if the quick glance the blonde gave him told Gracia anything.
"Thank you," Gracia said with a kind smile. "I'll be over there in a couple of minutes," she told him, pressing a fleeting kiss to his temple before she could stop herself. She didn't notice his reaction as she got up and strode towards her husband's best friend.
Ed sat stunned for a moment after Gracia left his side to speak with Mustang. It wasn't until he felt Ayala leave his other side that he remembered Gracia's request and gathered Leo up securely so he could make his way over to the waiting doctor and nurse. The doctor took in his bloodied appearance, notably the blood smeared on his cheeks from when he'd wiped away his tears before he cleaned his gloves but didn't comment.
"You're Hughes' family?" the doctor asked, needing confirmation.
"His friend," Ed corrected. Part of him almost faltered before saying the word 'friend'. He wasn't sure Hughes would count him as one after what he'd caused tonight. Ayala whined at him but he ignored her, pretending not to notice because he was shifting Leo in his arms.
"I can only give medical details to his next of kin," the doctor said, not unkindly.
"I know," Ed told him, not bothering to demand answers as he might've at any other time. He could see Gracia, Nala, and Mustang in the corner of his eye and from the frown on Mustang's face and the glances he kept giving Ed, the blonde knew Gracia was now telling him what Ed had told her earlier that evening. "I just want to know if he's going to be okay and if I can take his Animal to him now," he said.
The doctor seemed to contemplate for a moment before nodding. "Nurse Amelia will show you to his room, assuming his Animal is clean?" the doctor asked and Ed nodded. "Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes will be in hospital for a few days, a week at least, but I have no reason to believe he won't make anything other than a full recovery. You made sure he got here in time, Major Elric," the doctor said, giving him a kind smile.
Ed didn't snarl or protest at the use of his rank, too tired from the long night and the events that had happened to do so. "Thanks," he said, a little dully. He was glad he'd figured out a way to get Hughes an ambulance in time and that his friend was going to make a full recovery but his joy was overshadowed by his recurring guilt. "Miss Gracia is his wife and the man she's talking to is his best friend. They're his family. You should be able to speak to them in a minute," Ed told the doctor.
"Thank you," he said, looking over at the couple before he took the clipboard from who Ed assumed was Nurse Amelia. "If you're ready, you can be escorted to his room now," the doctor told him, nodding to the nurse, who gave Ed a friendly smile.
Ed returned it before nodding his thanks to the doctor and gesturing silently for the brunette nurse to lead the way for him, which she did with no hesitation. Ed could feel Nala's worry for him when he and Ayala followed the nurse but Ed couldn't bring himself to try and lie to the lioness and tell her he was fine. There was a small warmth pressed against his mind as Chester let him know silently that he was there, that he'd felt everything that happened that night and was still waiting for answers and Ed sighed lightly. Ayala glanced up at him with concern but Ed was quick to put her worries to rest.
"I just remembered that I need to bring Al and Chester up to speed," he told her.
"I can tell Chester and ask him to pass it on to Al, if you want?" Ayala immediately offered, eager to take any amount of burden off her human she could.
Ed shook his head almost before she'd even finished speaking. "Al deserves to hear what happened from me, not through Chester from you," he said. It was obvious to Ayala – and would've been even if she weren't his Animal – that Ed didn't want to tell his little brother that Hughes had almost been killed because, at least in Ed's mind, of Ed's actions regarding the Fifth Laboratory but that he was going to tell him because it was his job as Al's big brother to be the one to tell him this sort of thing without relying on the Animals.
"This is Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes' room." The voice of Nurse Amelia startled Ed out of his thoughts and he nodded in thanks to her. "I'll be heading back to Doctor Murphy now, so long as you don't need anything else?" she asked politely.
Ed shook his head in response to her question but politely added, "thanks for escorting us here, Nurse Amelia." The nurse gave him a warm smile before she turned on her heel and headed back the way they'd come, leaving Ed, Ayala, and the unconscious Leo in the hallway by themselves.
Before he could talk himself out of doing so, Ed opened the door, being careful not to hurt Leo in the process and entered the room. He breathed in sharply as he saw Hughes on the bed, unconscious and with a startlingly white bandage wrapped around his chest, sitting just under his armpits to cover the wounds caused by the surgery and the bullet wound. His glasses were on the table next to his hospital bed and there was an oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose. His torso was bare, bar the bandages, and the hospital-issue sheets that covered every bed was only pulled up to just above his hips. Ed spied the I.V. needle in his arm and followed the line to the I.V. bag that was connected to it and likely contained fluids to keep Hughes hydrated and painkillers to keep any pain Hughes felt at bay.
"Ed?" Ayala asked gently when she heard her human's heart start beating faster and his breathing start becoming erratic.
Ed startled at Ayala's voice, tearing his eyes from Hughes' unconscious form and settling them on her as he tried to get his thoughts together. He had never seen someone he cared for in a hospital and unconscious before. He briefly wondered if this was how Al felt every time he wound up in one of these beds and he mentally sent his younger brother an apology for every teasing comment he'd made about Al being a worry-wart every time he saw his brother in a hospital again. Knowing Hughes was in here because of him and unconscious because of an injury he should've never suffered in the first place, Ed suddenly found himself unable to stay in the hospital room any longer. Placing Leo on Hughes' bed, making sure the fox and Hughes were able to touch and leaving Leo in his black jacket, Ed all but ran out of the room, unable to face Hughes, unconscious or not, any longer.
"I have to call Al," Ed told Ayala, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to calm his heartbeat and breathing down once he'd shut the door to Hughes' room behind him.
"Ed, it's the middle of the night. Whoever he's with won't be happy to be woken up at this time," Ayala tried rationalizing, wanting her human to calm down and realise that what happened to Hughes wasn't his fault before he called Al. Ayala knew that Al would listen to what Ed told him happened before he told Ed the truth and that it wasn't Ed's fault which would more than likely lead to Ed snapping at Al before he hung up the phone and Ayala didn't want that.
"I'll have Chester warn him and it's not like I'm calling to chat, Ayala. Whoever he's staying with will understand why I called right now," Ed snapped, before sighing in regret almost immediately. "I'm sorry, Aya. I shouldn't have snapped at you," he apologised.
"No, you shouldn't have but you were right. Whoever Al's with would understand why you called at this time," Ayala told him, leaning against his left side.
Ed gently ruffled her ear as he took a few moments to work up the courage to make this phone call. No one liked telling their little brother bad news but Ed especially wasn't looking forward to telling Al that his rash decision to investigate the Fifth Laboratory had almost gotten Hughes killed. He felt Ayala's protests at that thought but he brushed them aside as he stood back up. "Let's go and find a phone," Ed said just as he sensed Nala heading for him. He knew that she wouldn't have left Mustang's side right now just to check on him and Ed was in no condition right now to deal with Mustang yelling at him for landing his best friend in hospital.
Ayala sighed when she felt where Ed's thoughts were going but she didn't bother trying to convince him to stay or that Mustang wouldn't blame him. She knew it would be a waste of her breath, so to speak, and she'd rather let her human have this one for the moment. "You'll need to contact Chester and ask him for the phone number of wherever he and Al are staying," she pointed out and Ed nodded.
"Already asking," he told her as he led them down the hall and around the next left corner to where he knew there were public phones there for him to use. He tried to ignore the pang of worry he felt from Nala when the lioness spotted him just as he turned the corner but he didn't try and offer her any kind of reassurance. He didn't feel like coming up with a lie to tell her right now.
A/N - This is a two-parter but I won't be posting the next chapter until next Sunday since it will be the final pre-written chapter for the "What if...?" series. After that one is posted, I have another small crossover that merges the Spirit Animal universe and my Alchemists Meet Agents universe that will be posted. There's only three chapters to that one so in four more Sundays I will be able to start posting my sequel to Spirit Animals! I'm pretty excited about that lol. Anyways, I'll see you all next week for the follow up to this chapter!