Roy paced nervously in the waiting room, causing even more stress on the others. He had lost the ability to wait patiently long ago. How could he wait patiently when he knew this was his fault, that the reason Edward was hurt was his doing?
Roy's mind wandered back to when they had first arrived at the hospital. Alphonse had panicked slightly when the nurses took Edward and wheeled him away to surgery. It wasn't too much of a surprise when Alphonse tried to follow, but was pushed back. The only questions the nurses had voiced were asking them if Edward was allergic to anything and what was his blood type. Roy shuddered when he remembered how pale Edward looked as he was taken away.
No! Don't think about that! It just makes the guilt worse.
Roy stormed away in the direction of the pay phones; he needed to make a call.
Without much thought, Roy dialed the number he always called when he needed support. Most of the time it was literal support, after one to many drinks at the bar on a reallyhard day. He wasn't an alcoholic he just, sometimes, went overboard.
Roy felt kind of bad, considering he was calling him on his day off, but it was too late now. The ringing stopped. On the other end of the phone a voice answered.
"Hello? This it's Maes Hu-"
"Hughes, it's me Roy. I know it's your day off, but I need you. Fullmetal is-" This time it was Maes's turn to interrupted.
"Ed?! What's wrong with Ed?"
"There was an accident and-" Today seemed to be the day for interruptions.
"Where are you?" Hughes was stern.
"We are at the Saint Ander's hospital."
"I'll be right there!"
The clicking sound of the phone being hung up filled Roy's ear. Turning around Roy started back to where the others waited.
In the time it took for Hughes to arrive, more people from the accident had come in, the ones with more serious injuries that needed immediate attention. The others with far less serious injuries were taken to other hospitals so as not to swamp this hospital.
Hughes didn't know why it was so crowded, considering he didn't know what kind of accident Edward had been in. He searched the faces of the people in the hospital waiting room his eyes falling upon the familiar faces of Roy, Alphonse, and Riza.
Maes approached the quiet, waiting group silently, only speaking when he was within a few feet off them.
"How is he?" Maes asked startling the group, who hadn't noticed his approach yet.
They all looked up, but Mustang was the one to answer. He closed his eyes and sighed.
"We don't know."
Those words did nothing to help Hughes's stress level.
"At least tell me you know what happened?" Hughes was desperate now.
"The train flipped," Alphonse said in a hushed voice bowing his head to look at the floor. Roy and Riza both looked at the boy slightly surprised, this was the fist thing he had said since his brother had been taken back into surgery an hour or so ago.
Hughes gasped. A train crash was dangerous and could often times kill lots of people. He bent down infront of the boy and placed his hand on the kid's gauntlet.
"I'm sure your brother will be okay. He's strong and would never allow himself to get in the way of you guys getting your bodies back." Hughes gave Alphonse a smile, and the kid seemed to brighten.
"Thank you, Mr Hughes. That makes me feel better."
"You're welcome, Al."
Hours went by and the group just sat there waiting, that was all they could do, was it not?
Havoc frowned as he moved towards them.
"No word yet?" Havoc asked. The others just shook their heads "no". As if on que a doctor came out from behind the double doors and called out in a calm, traveling voice.
"Anyone here for an Edward Elric?"
At the name Alphonse jumped up moving towards the doctor. The others followed right on his heels.
"I'm his brother!" Alphonse answered.
"And I'm Colonel Mustang, his commanding officer and legal guardian," Mustang said stopping in front of the doctor.
The doctor was an average height with short brown hair and deep blue eyes. He held a clipboard against his chest.
"Mr. Mustang," The doctor started. "Major Elric has been stabilised and is now out of surgery. the gash he has along his right side has between stitched up and several of his ribs were broken including one that pierced his right lung. We found some internal bleeding as well. The burns he received covered half of his back and most our his left arm are third degree burns. And on top of that he has a concussion. He didn't need any blood transfusion, but he did lose quite a bit of blood, and he isn't out of danger yet there is still a chance of infection." The doctor was quiet letting his words sink in and giving them time to ask questions.
"Can we go back and see him now?" Alphonse said, barely trusting his voice. The doctor hesitated before answering.
"Yes, That's fine. He's still unconscious so you will need to be quiet, and so as not to stress him out when he wakes up, don't be too loud, and try not to have too many people around." The doctor guided the group through a set of doors and down several hallways to a room.
"Room 141," The doctor said. "Now I'll leave to give you some privacy. Find a doctor or a nurse when he wakes up. I'll come back to check on him later." The doctor walked away to tend to other duties elsewhere.
Taking a deep breath, Mustang opened the door to the room. Like the doctor had said Edward was uncontious, on his face was an oxygen mask. Roy held back a gasp when he noticed just how pale Edward was. Alphonse followed Roy into the room, but he didn't try to hide his surprise when he saw Edward.
"Brother," Alphonse gasped.
Everyone was equally horrified at seeing their usually fiery subordinate lying motionless on the hospital bed, pale and looking like death itself. This wasn't a look they liked to see on the boy.
Alphonse moved towards the hospital bed looking down at his brother. Edward's flesh arm was almost completely covered in bandages. On his face, smaller bandages covered cuts and burns. If it weren't for the hospital garb and blankets covering Edward's chest they would have been able to see even more bandages wrapped around the boy's torso.
"Poor Ed," Hughes said, looking down at the bed's occupant.
"Don't let him hear you say that," Mustang warned his friend, though silently he agreed. That kid had gone through so much. If the world really did work on the basis of equivalent exchange then that kid had a future to look forward to, but at the moment Edward was forced to face yet another trial of pain.
The room fell into silence. No one spoke, they just sat there. Alphonse reached out and took his brother's flesh hand, carefully as not to accidentally pull out the IV. He sat there holding his brother's hand and feeling a sense of guilt creeping over him. If only he'd been there he would have been able to help. Alphonse knew that Edward wouldn't blame him, but that just made it worse. He also knew that his brother would feel guilty about not being able to save those engineers.
If only I had just been there!
An hour or so passed without much change. Against their wishes and demands, Havoc and Hawkeye were forced to leave. The doctor had stated that having to many people around when Edward woke up might tire him out or cause him unwanted stress.
The doctor had technically said that only two people should be allowed in with the patient, but there was no way either Mustang or Hughes would be talked out of staying, and Alphonse was out of the question, he wouldn't leave his brother for anything. Not that either Mustang or Hughes would try to make him leave.
All four of the room's occupants were quiet, leaving the heart monitor's steady beeping as the only sound to be heard.
Half an hour passed in silence before the sound of groaning coming from the bed, grabbed everyone's attention.
"Brother?" Al whispered. The groaning didn't cease.
Edward's face scrunched up in pain, before his eye lids flickered open revealing two confused, sleep-dulled golden irises.
"Brother? Oh, Brother I was so worried. I'm so glad your okay!" Alphonse sighed in relief.
"Yeah, Ed, you really scared everyone. We were really worried," Hughes said; a smile filling his face.
"Fullmetal, next time you plan to do something stupid, check the height requirements," Mustang teased, in an effort to rid himself of some of his guilt.
Edward just looked at them in a confused action like something wasn't right. His eyes bounced from one person too the next, the confusion never leaving his expression.
"W-why can't I-" Edward's muffled voice broke off. A look of absolute horror filled his face as if he just realised something horrible.
"No," Edward's voice was shaky. "No."
Edward's whole body hurt. He groaned from the pain. Somewhere in the back of his mind alarms flared, signaling to him that something wasn't right, but his brain was too numb to piece it together.
Edward was sure that if anyone could see him now, they would see his face mirroring pain. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt so weighed down. After much effort, his eyes finally flickered open.
Edward's eyes were met with a blinding white light, as his eyes adjusted to the light he noticed he was lying in a hospital bed. Looking around he also noticed that the room wasn't empty sitting next to Edward was his brother, and behind Alphonse he could see Hughes and Mustang.
Edward was confused he could see Hughes's lips moving, but why couldn't he hear his voice? Mustang too.
"W-why can't I-" Edward stopped himself short, he was horrified. He couldn't even hear his own voice.
"No, no." Edward couldn't hear his voice as he said it.
Why can't I hear anything?
A/N: There I finally got it out! How is it? Did you like it? I'm so happy! I can't wait to finish the next chapter!
disclaimer:
I don't own fullmetal alchemist. I really wish I did, but I don't.
Please review! Thanks for reading! And thanks for reviewing!
I love all the readers thank you!
-UNAU/IME