Edward had slept through the night and then some. It was well past noon, and he was still out like a light, snoring softly on the couch.
The rest of the team had been awake and ready for hours, all out of their pajamas and back into their military blues like any other day. They worked quietly, not daring wake the small bundle on the couch. It was obvious that Ed needed the rest after last night.
The room was filled with only the sounds of pens on paper, until a firm knock at the door broke them all out of their trains of thought.
After making sure the noise hadn't woken Edward, Roy hurriedly answered the door. He eased it open, holding a finger to his mouth to urge the soldier on the other side of the door to be quiet. A young man with short brown hair was standing in the hallway, giving Roy a stiff salute with one hand and holding a white envelope with the other. Upon looking into the room and seeing the small kid asleep on the couch, he smiled and gave Roy a small nod.
"This was given to someone at the front desk for you, sir." He whispered, holding out the envelope. Roy took it, giving the soldier a nod of thanks and closing the door.
He tore open the paper envelope, pulling out a thin sheet of paper that appeared to be a letter. Written with the black ink of a typewriter, it read:
Dearest Colonel Mustang,
I see you have a soft spot for that little subordinate of yours, lucky me.
Don't worry, we're not trying to kill him. This whole thing is more like a little bit of... incentive.
I bet it was hard to see your little boy like that last night, huh? A little concoction from the brilliant minds of Drachma. A pain inducer, affects the nerves and drastically increases any pain you're feeling.
I have to admit I was impressed, the dose we gave him is enough to make grown hardened soldiers three times his age scream. Tough little brat you've got there.
It was so exhilarating watching all of you sleep while we injected your helpless little alchemist.
Don't believe me? Check his neck.
Sincerely,
You wish you knew.
Roy felt his heart drop in his chest. He let the paper in his hands fall to the floor as he ran over beside Ed. His heart was in his stomach as he dropped to his knees next to the couch where Ed slept. He pushed the blond hair away from his neck, and sure enough, there was a small red pinprick of where a needle had been. The realization that he could have easily lost Ed last night began to sink in. He lifted Ed's upper half into his arms, hugging him closely against his chest. The motion didn't even cause Ed to stir, showing just how much the drug-induced agony the night prior had drained him. He held the back of Ed's head and ran his hand through his hair, minding the stitches in his scalp. Ed was still alive, still breathing, his heart still beating strong in his chest, and that made Roy feel like the luckiest man in the world.
The others in the room were quickly by his side, all trying to see what had been written on the note that had caused Roy to freak out like that. Hawkeye picked up the sheet of paper and held it far out in front of her, allowing herself and the others around her to read it.
Slowly, fear and understanding crept into their eyes, and soon they were all staring down at Ed, who was still sound asleep on Roy's shoulder.
"Oh, Ed..." Riza murmured, not being able to gather the words to say anything else.
"Those bastards. They were right under our noses! How could this happen?" Havoc raved, gripping his hair tightly in his hand and pacing anxiously. They all shook their heads slowly in disbelief.
"What kind of inhuman pain tolerance does that kid have?" Breda queried, his eyes wide and voice breathy with astonishment. "He's thirteen, didn't make a sound after being shot twice, and was apparently injected with some kind of torture pain drug, and he was trying to deal with it on his own!" They all just stared down at Ed in silent shock.
Ed must have heard the commotion through his exhaustion, as he stirred in Roy's arms with a low, croaky groan.
"Y' guys're so loud..." He muttered into Roy's shoulder. He inhaled a deep breath of Roy's jacket through his nose, his eyes cracking open. "Colonel... Why're you hugging me?" He squirmed in Roy's grasp and pushed him away drowsily. He leaned back into the couch, his eyelids sagging as he glanced around the room, wincing at the office's fluorescent lighting. He squinted in confusion upon seeing the team all staring at him with concern and vague amazement.
"Why are you all looking at me like that? What's going on?" He asked with a yawn, rubbing his eyes with his automail hand. They all side-eyed each other nervously, wondering whether or not they should tell him the truth.
"We just got a rather concerning letter, Ed." Roy explained, covering Ed up again with the blanket. He furrowed his brow in confusion, his mind still fuzzy with sleep.
"Hm?" He hummed sleepily, his eyes hazy and glossed over. Roy smiled at him affectionately.
"Why don't you go back to sleep, and we'll talk about it when you wake up?" He proposed, laying a reassuring hand on Ed's shoulder.
Ed blinked owlishly at him for a moment, taking in his words through the fog of sleep through his head before nodding and snuggling back up underneath the blankets.
"Souns' lika gud' plan." He slurred, his heavy eyelids slipping shut. Roy ran his hand over Ed's hair, and almost immediately after his head hit the pillow, he was back in dreamland. Roy hoped his dreams were much better than his current reality. He stood up and turned to face his team, professional mask back on.
"I want that letter and the envelope it came in sealed in evidence bags and sent to investigations immediately. Have a medic come and take some of Ed's blood and send it to the lab, see if they can find any foreign elements. I'm calling Hughes." He ordered, his voice softer than usual in order to not disturb Ed. They all gave him a firm salute as he dipped into his office to contact his best friend, who luckily doubled as head of investigations.
He looked out of his doorway, seeing Ed fast asleep despite the chaos around him. Ed was still alive, but he could very well be dead right now if that was the enemies goal. While that made Roy feel lucky, it also made him feel incredibly useless.
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"How the hell did they get in without anyone noticing?" Hughes pondered aloud, lovingly brushing Ed's bangs behind his ear to get a look at his neck. He brushed his thumb over the red mark just under his jawline. Ed recoiled sleepily and tucked his head down with a moan of protest. Hughes furrowed his brow. "Sorry, Ed. Does that hurt?" He asked softly. Ed cracked open his eyes a sliver.
"Hm?" He hummed, stretching his flesh arm inside the sling with a wince. Hughes smiled down at him.
"Does it hurt here, Ed?" He repeated, gently prodding the needle mark. Ed let out a quiet grunt of discomfort, backing away from the touch and bringing the cool metal of his automail to soothe the sore spot.
"Ow, yeah." He mumbled, sobering up from his sleep. "Why does that hurt?" Hughes frowned, looking over to Roy with an accusing look on his face.
"You didn't tell him?" He asked through gritted teeth. Roy looked away, scratching the back of his head.
"He was asleep, when he woke up he was too drowsy to understand what I was saying anyway." He defended, shrugging his shoulders. Hughes sighed, rubbing his face with his palm and handing Ed the letter, which was now sealed in a large evidence bag. Ed raised a brow as he sat up in his place, taking the plastic covered paper and scanning it over.
His expression was first confusion, then went slack with shock, before finally scrunching up with anger. He threw the paper aside, practically red with fury.
"I AM NOT LITTLE!!!" He shrieked, throwing his arm around.
A collective sigh filled the room. Hughes couldn't help but chuckle.
"Of course you'd be upset about that, Ed. Did you miss the part about you being dosed with a pain drug?" He asked, looking stuck between sympathy and mirth. Ed's features softened as his shoulders loosened up.
"I mean, that does explain a lot." He admitted, scratching the back of his head. "It hurt really bad where I got shot, but it also hurt in the automail ports and kind of burned everywhere else too." He shrugged, laying back down on the couch. "Also explains why I still feel like crap." He added with a yawn, curling back up under the blankets.
They all blinked owlishly at him. How could he not be freaking out after just learning that someone had injected him with a mystery drug while he slept?
"Can I go back to sleep now?" He requested, the dark circles against his pale skin telling them all that he needed it. Hughes smiled warmly at him and mussed up his hair.
"Sure thing, kiddo. Rest up."
He pushed off of his knees and stood from his crouched position, turning around to face Roy and his team, who were hovering around him anxiously.
"How long has he been asleep?" He whispered, worried about just how much the drug had affected the kid.
Roy hummed in thought, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, he slept from around 10 last night until around 3, then he was up in agony for about an hour until he fell back to sleep after we gave him some pain medicine, and he's been asleep since then, only waking up for a few minutes at a time." He recalled, eyeballing Ed as he lay on the couch, still sound to the world. "And now it's 3 o'clock." He added quietly. Hughes did some quick math in his head.
"The kid's been asleep for 16 hours?" He asked breathily, worry pooling in his stomach.
"Yeah, that drug really took a lot out of him." Roy remarked, looking down at the exhausted bundle on his couch guiltily.
It was then that a young blonde man dressed in crisp white clothing knocked at the open door, carrying a large duffle bag over his shoulder.
"I was sent here to draw some blood, is this the right room?" He asked, his eyes darting over the soldiers skittishly. Roy hurried over to him and shook his hand.
"Yes, you're in the right place. Thanks for coming. I'm Colonel Roy Mustang, we need some blood taken to the lab from Edward Elric, but he's kind of exhausted right now." Roy explained, gesturing over to the couch, where Ed was quietly snoring.
He smiled at Ed, all bundled up with blankets and pillows and looking impossibly tiny as he slept. He returned Roy's handshake.
"I'm Adam, I can do that for you." He smiled warmly at the group, padding over beside the couch and kneeling next to Ed, who was covered in blankets up to his chin. He set his bag down beside him, eyes scanning over Ed.
"Should we wake him?" Hughes asked quietly, looking opposed to the idea of waking Ed when his body clearly needed the sleep. Adam hummed uncertainly.
"I just don't want him to be scared if he wakes up with a needle in his arm." He reasoned, pulling out some vials from his bag. He turned to face the group of soldiers. "You all know him better than I do, what do you think?"
"Well I do know him, and I know that if you wake him up there's no chance you'll even get the needle in his arm." Roy reasoned, remembering the feral look in Ed's eyes the last time he had been given an injection. "Just do it, I'll keep him distracted if he wakes up."
Adam nodded, and took Ed's flesh arm from underneath the blankets. He carefully untied the sling and straightened out his arm, being careful not to move his shoulder or bump his broken fingers. Ed slept on, unbothered by the movement.
He pulled a blue strip of latex from his bag, and tied it around Ed's arm as a tourniquet, just above the elbow. Ed stirred a bit at the new pressure, his eyes cracking open a little.
Roy was quick to block Ed's view of his arm, not letting him catch a glimpse of the needle steadily approaching his skin.
"Whas happenin?" Ed asked with droopy eyes, unaware of the needle piercing his skin. Roy shook his head.
"Nothing, Ed. Go back to sleep." He soothed, surprised at the medic's skill, Ed hadn't even felt when he had been poked. Ed narrowed his sleepy eyes.
"My arm feels weird. What are you doing to it?" He queried drunkenly, swiveling his head to try and see the source of his discomfort. Roy was quick to shift his body, not allowing Ed to see anything.
Adam was on his sixth or seventh vial of blood, deftly unscrewing and rescrewing them into the port in Ed's elbow. The others watched with vague concern as the blood steadily poured from Ed.
"Everything's fine, Ed. Just look at me." Roy tipped Ed's head towards him with his fingertips while Ed eyed him warily.
All of the needed blood had been taken from Ed, neatly lined up in a little case. Adam pressed a cotton ball against Ed's arm and the needle before removing it with a swift pull. He pushed the cotton ball against the needle mark and taped it down, before finally untying the tourniquet. Roy moved away from the couch with a smug grin, allowing Ed to observe the cotton in his elbow and the medic packing away his supplies. Ed lifted up his arm to get a better look, before Roy gently eased it back down to the couch. Ed narrowed his wide eyes at Roy accusingly.
"That was a dirty trick." He groaned, pulling his arm away from Roy.
"Quit moving your arm, kid. You're gonna hurt yourself." He lectured, pushing Ed's arm down again and searching for the sling.
Ed was quick to pick away the cottonball, causing a small stream of blood to start streaming down his arm.
"Woah there, you're gonna wanna leave that there for a few more minutes." Adam warned, pressing the cottonball back down again. Ed looked at him with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing his white uniform.
"Who're you?" He murmured, watching warily as the medic taped back down the cotton.
"I'm Adam." He answered with a smile, obviously seeing the anxiety behind Ed's actions. "I just took a bunch of blood from you, so you're probably gonna feel a bit weird for a while. Don't go standing up too fast and such." He cautioned, zipping up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He turned to face Roy, who he had deemed as the leader of sorts. "I'll have the blood sent to the lab right away. Need anything else before I go?" He asked politely.
Roy scanned over Ed, who was now sitting up on the couch, glaring at the cotton ball in his arm disapprovingly.
"No, but could you please let me know as soon as the blood results come in? They're really important." He requested, biting his nail anxiously. Adam gave him a reassuring smile and a nod, before dipping out of the room. Roy turned his gaze back to Ed.
"How are you feeling, kid?" He asked gently, sitting down on the couch next to Ed. Ed looked up at him, looking pale, but much better than he had the night before.
"Would be better without a hole in my arm." He retorted, glaring at Roy in betrayal. Roy smirked and put his hand on the boys uninjured shoulder.
"Sorry kid, we needed a blood sample to send to the lab. We need to find out if there's any traces of that drug left in your blood."
Ed just grimaced as Roy smiled at him apologetically. Havoc padded over between the two carrying Ed's sling. Ed groaned with annoyance as his arm was restrained again.
"You know, I only have two limbs as it is! This sucks." He griped, leaning back into the couch with a pout.
Even though Ed was visibly okay, even having the energy to complain, Roy just couldn't take his eyes off of the red pinprick on his skin.
How could he have let this happen? He had been in the room when those bastards had hurt him, and he hadn't even known. He had sworn he would protect him, and he had failed.
Roy took a deep breath through his nose, when his breath caught on something thick in the air.
He took a few good whiffs, looking around the room and noticing the atmosphere seemed cloudier than usual, heavy with something sinister. That's when he realized.
The smell in the air, it was unmistakable, and it sent shivers down Roy's spine.
Smoke.