Chapter three

No… This wasn't right. Ed couldn't see because his eyes were gone and Al… Al was…

"Where is he?! Where's Alphonse?! Tell me!" Ed panicked, once again beginning to kick and fight to get out of Mustang's grip. Al was all that mattered and Ed would crawl his way through this hospital with only his two remaining limbs to get to him if he had to. "WHERE'S ALPHONSE?!"

"Edward, your brother is fine and is currently having his hearing examined. Hawkeye and Gracia are with him while Maes is getting some food in the cafeteria. Now you need to calm down or the doctor will probably have security escort me off the grounds as I was technically not supposed to remove the restraints," Mustang said sternly.

Ed stopped shouting, his entire body feeling like it was being ripped apart and he had to fight hard against sobbing loudly. He knew he was crying, he just couldn't show that to Mustang. He'd already embarrassed himself quite enough earlier when he'd sobbed his heart out into his bare chest.

"Take me to him," Ed said, his voice all croaky and not hiding his tears one bit to Ed's great annoyance. "Now, Mustang!"

Oh, fuck! He's even pulled me onto his lap like I'm some toddler throwing a tantrum!

Ed tried to wiggle loose, needing to get away from this and back to his brother. Al was the only person that mattered right now. And this was Ed's fault. He'd failed to protect Al twice and now Al…

Al doesn't even know who I am. Doesn't know who he is himself. He's not gonna be the same person he was because he won't have Mom and he won't remember anything and it's all my fault!

And now Ed would never get to see his little brother ever again. He would never know what he'd look like after he turned ten. He wouldn't get to see what he would look like as a grownup.

Truth had given him his little brother, but Ed would never get to see him. He wouldn't get to see anything other than this complete blackness for the rest of his life.

Ed couldn't help the shaky sobs that found their way out of his throat. He was blind and he was … alone. He didn't have his only family to talk to and lean on and Al wasn't there to worry about him because he was a baby now. He was all alone in the darkness.

And it hurt. It hurt and it hurt and it hurt.

And he couldn't let anyone see just how bad this was because then they wouldn't let him keep Al. Ed could never ever lose him. Because he couldn't let him be alone in this place too where they were poking and prodding and attacking Al with needles and surely he was terrified and needed his big brother right now!

"Let go of me, Colonel. Leave me alone," Ed said, fighting back the tears. "If you're not even gonna take me to my brother, then I don't want you here!"

Mustang just kept his tight hold on him. "Edward, they will take him to you within the hour once they have finished the medical examinations."

Ed didn't even bother to object anymore. Al was more important than Colonel Bastard's cooperation. Having an accomplice that could read signs would have been helpful, but Ed certainly wasn't going to waste anymore time on him.

His mind was getting less foggy by the second, meaning that he was beginning to remember that Mustang had betrayed him when they were driving here. He had betrayed Ed brutally. Because the bastard had actually told Havoc to stick the sedative in his neck before they drove so that Ed fell asleep while they talked about some strangers with a baby that were apparently trustworthy because they were Mustang's friends and they knew what to do with newborns.

Which meant that somewhere in this building there was some pervert that thought that because her boobs were currently able to secrete baby sustenance, she had the right to pop her tits into his baby brother's mouth.

And Ed didn't give a damn about the fact that Mustang vouched for this woman. Ed was responsible for his little brother, meaning that he had to approve of this lady.

And so Ed began to fight Mustang without using his full strength, evaluating the man's responses and restraining strategies, quickly deciding just how to do this with the highest possible chance of success. Then Ed yanked his left arm to him and sunk his teeth deep into the fleshy area below the bastard's left thumb, earning a few choice swears and blood in his mouth, but now his wrist was free and the hand gripping his automail port had loosened its hold slightly. Using his advantage, Ed slammed his head backwards, knowing that tears due to a direct hit to the nose even if it didn't break it was a highly effective way to distract someone long enough to twist around and plant a fist in their stomachs. Having stunned the man and using his wheezy coughs to pinpoint the location of his jaw, Ed delivered the final blow, knocking the bastard out cold and they both fell to the floor in a heap.

Ed pushed his unconscious CO off of him and sat up as he spat out the blood in his mouth. "That's for sedating me, you bastard." Locating Mustang's face because of the sound of his breathing, Ed then hit his face a second time, knowing that the man would have a very distinct shiner before long. "And that is for separating me from my little brother."

...Al was truly the greatest of motivators.

Now, however, came the harder part…

Because where the hell is the door?

Ed felt his chest constricting with grief and fear, but he had to push it away right now. He had to make sure that Al was all right and then…

Then he could feel like shit. Then he could let the emotions that were trying to tear him apart engulf him.

Ed dragged himself away from Mustang and then crashed against something metal.

An IV stand.

Ed got a sudden idea. He knew the compositional elements and Mustang never went anywhere without a piece of chalk, being a State Alchemist.

And so he dragged himself back to the unconscious man and began to blindly search him for that chalk. Thankfully, he found it in the Colonel's chest pocket, meaning that he wasn't going to have to search his trouser pockets as he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of what would easily turn into accidental groping of Mustang's ass.

Just the fact that the Colonel was being so unhelpful that he put Ed in a situation where that could have happened, made Ed instinctively smack the back of Mustang's head.

And so Ed found his way back to the IV stand, accidentally smacking his fingers into it and biting back a curse as he was pretty sure that he just partially broke the nail of his pinky. Ed then drew up a transmutation circle and placed the IV stand in the middle of it before he activated it and soon had a metal circle with five wheels that he could use to get around a lot easier. He climbed up on it and was soon good to … roll.

Because Ed wasn't useless even if he was blind. With the training that Teacher put them through, being useless just because of a little vision loss was an insult to Izumi Curtis. After all, Mason had chased them with a club inside a forest at nighttime for their month on Yock Island. Ed had learnt to depend a lot on his instincts, especially as Teacher had a very dangerous and quick fighting style that if you only relied on your eyes would land you with your whole ribcage broken.

Ed began dragging himself forwards, soon finding the most efficient way of moving about. Turning was easy and he was very pleased with his contraption.

So as long as he kept the lump in his throat, chest and stomach at bay and kept fighting the tears that had begun to make the insides of his bandages hot and moist, he'd get to his brother.

As long as he kept repressing the thought that this blackness was going to be there for the rest of his life, then he could be there for Al.

And if his lips could just stop trembling then this would be a hell of a lot easier.

"Dammit, Ed, just pull yourself together!" Ed told himself as he felt his way along the wall, trying to locate the door. "You can't let yourself be weak!"

Ed finally found the door at the second wall he tried and turned the … thingy … around so that he could push the handle down with his left hand while using his right foot to push himself out the door and out into the hallway outside.

And so he just needed to find his way to Alphonse.

He got a few metres down the hallway, not even knowing if he was going in the right direction, before he heard a voice call out. "Mister Elric! What do you think you're doing?!"

Ah, fuck.

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