Ed and Manami spent the first night in the hospital, but were discharged the next day to make room for other patients that needed the medical attention more.
The hospital was pretty full after the Promised Day, with lots of casualties and injuries.
Roy Mustang saw to it that Gracia and Elicia Hughes returned to Central the next day. Manami and Ed stayed at their estate while Al remained in the hospital.
Al, meanwhile, was in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, confined to a sterilized room and monitored around the clock.
There was no definite time that the doctors could give that he would be released. What was worse, Manami wasn't allowed to visit him. Ed was the only one who could, and even then he had to wear a mask when he did.
Still, Manami went with Ed every day to the hospital. She always had a small hope that they would walk into the lobby, and today would maybe be the day that she could visit with Ed, but…
"I'm sorry, Miss Manami," The receptionist, Julia, told Manami with a sympathetic smile. "But he's not ready to see anyone else today."
"Sorry, Manami." Ed would force a smile to her as well. "Like always, I'll let him know you came."
"Thanks…" Manami could barely force a smile back today, as she watched Ed go through a pair of double doors that she wasn't allowed to enter.
She hadn't been too happy lately… as time went on, she found herself overthinking more and more, blaming herself that Al was in this bad of condition…
She kissed him, without any clue of what she could have passed to him for his weak immune system to fight off.
The concern that Al wouldn't live through the recovery was short-lived, thankfully... but it still hurt that she now went a whole month without so much as seeing or talking to him… only every now and then would a letter be exchanged between the two of them, but according to Ed, Al had trouble doing much of anything for more than a few minutes... and that included writing.
Regardless... it wasn't the same.
Manami sighed and turned to walk out, but stopped as she glanced over to see something in the corner, hidden under a sheet. She always saw it there in the corner, but she never asked what it was...
Today, she decided to ask.
"Hey, sorry to bother you again Julia…" Manami pointed to the corner. "But I was just curious of what that was, under the cover?"
"Oh," Julia looked up from her work. "That's a piano, Miss Manami… though it hasn't been used in years."
Manami blinked. "Why's that?"
"We had someone donate their piano, and they volunteered to play for the patients and their visitors to enjoy… but they passed some time ago." Julia answered.
"It then became a decoration for a few months, but even the nightly janitor stopped keeping up with cleaning it… so we just covered it." She continued. "We've been trying to sell it, but I hear that we may just get rid of it. It's a shame..."
"..." Manami glanced back to the covered piano for a moment.
"I mean…" She looked back to Julia. "Could a volunteer play it now?"
"It may be out of tune… and dirty." Julia replied. "You play piano, Miss Manami?"
"You could say that…" Manami turned to walk to the cover and pulled it off to see a beautiful grand piano.
Julia was right, it was quite dusty.
"Just needs a little love an elbow grease…" She hummed. "Could I?"
"By all means." Julia smiled at her.
It took half the day for Manami to clean the piano, as well as pay a visit the library to figure out how to tune it... but she finally managed to do it!
She sat herself down and started playing with the keys, playing whatever random melodies she could think of. She would get lost in thought, and just let her fingers play whatever she thought…
This wasn't too bad of a way to pass the time while Ed visited with Al...
"My… so beautiful."
Manami looked up from the piano keys and see an old woman in a wheelchair, being pushed in the room by an old man, who Manami assumed was her husband.
"Thank you, ma'am." She smiled back at the woman before looking back down to the keys, continuing to play.
It would be another two days that Manami would play the piano while Ed visited Al, and the old woman and her husband would sit in the lobby to listen to her play.
It was the third day, when...
"I'm sorry…" A nurse was talking to a mother and her young son. "But… he didn't make it."
"..." Manami continued playing the piano, her heart twisting in pain as the mother held her son close, and they both silently sobbed together.
It wasn't unusual for this kind of news to be given. In fact, Manami had seen this happen a lot more than the would have liked, but… that day, something in her inspired her to play a familiar song: the same one that she played at Shiori's funeral.
It just came to be a song that she associated with the passing of a loved one… and it was the best way she felt that she could give her condolences.
"Oh my…" She heard the old woman gasp after Manami finished playing.
"Young lady… how do you know that song?"
"Huh?" Manami looked back to only see the old woman and her husband sitting together. The mother and son must have left.
"Oh, the song…" Manami smiled back to the piano. "Well, my mother taught me to play it…"
But then she blinked. "Wait, how do you know that song?"
"That song was a hit! Erm… how many years ago, dear?" The old woman looked to her husband.
"Maybe twenty?" He answered.
"But… how?" Manami blinked.
"Oh, what was her name?" The old woman asked, her face scrunching up as she thought.
"Wolfe," Said her husband. "Renee Wolfe."
Manami raised an eyebrow. "I've… never heard of her."
"She was before your time, dear. Still, she was the most beautiful pianist in Central…" The old woman sighed dreamily. "People came flocking to her concerts— they were always sold out."
"But then she announced that she was eloping right at the end of a performance." The husband added. "And that was the end of her career."
The old woman put her hand on her husband's arm. "Dear, I have some newspaper clippings at home. I would like for her to see them."
"Oh no, you don't have to go so far for me…" Manami smiled nervously.
"I insist," The woman grinned back at her. "You remind me so much of her."
Manami couldn't help but blush. To be compared to a celebrity pianist...
"Th-Thank you…"
"Hey, Manami." Ed seemingly came out of nowhere and approached her. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah…" Manami stood up and closed the cover for the piano.
"Is Al okay?" She asked.
"Yeah," Ed sighed softly through his nose. "He's just… frustrated. He started physical therapy today, and…"
He paused, and his eyes averted.
"Well, I can tell you later." Ed shook his head. "Let's get goin'. I'm craving a milkshake."
"Sorry to rush you out of there," Ed poked at the straw of his milkshake. "I just… wanted to get out of there."
So he really didn't want milkshakes… he just wanted to leave the hospital.
"You're kind of scaring me." Manami raised a brow. "Is Al okay?"
"The short answer is yes." Ed frowned, his eyes lowering. "But..."
"What's the long answer?" Manami inquired.
"Like I said, he started physical therapy today…" Ed started. "And he... pushed himself too hard."
"He hurt himself?" Manami asked worriedly.
"No, thankfully." Ed sighed through his nose. "But… because he didn't make as much progress than he had hoped, he kind of had a meltdown."
Manami's expression saddened a little.
"He hates it there…" Ed down frowned at his milkshake. "He's miserable. And there's nothing any of us can do but wait."
"Which is your least favorite thing." Manami chuckled weakly. "You guys are ones to take action to get what you want, but…"
"Yeah." Ed sighed again. "I just thought, I don't know… I'm the impatient one, you know? Seeing Al flip out like that…"
"..." Manami stared down at her milkshake for a moment. She could only imagine how that was... how he was feeling… what could even be the right thing to say to that?
"We've come this far..." She finally spoke. "Fighting for our lives, shedding blood and tears..."
She looked up to meet Ed's glance.
"The worst of it is over..." She said quietly, offering a small but sad smile. "But that doesn't change the fact that we're so close to going home, that it feels harder than ever…"
"What a lot of it boils down to," Ed paused to sip his milkshake. "Is that he misses you. A lot. He tells me every day."
Manami felt a slight burn to her cheeks, and she looked away.
"I-I see..."
It went without saying, how much she missed Al. She didn't necessarily hide her moping about not being able to see him.
"I guess the saying is true… 'home is where the heart is.'" Ed said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Manami looked back at him and raised a brow.
To her surprise, he smirked at her.
"You know exactly what I mean, Miss Make-Out Kami."
Manami's face turned a bright red, and she stammered for a moment.
"What kind of name is— ugh, aren't you supposed to be uncomfortable with that type of talk?" She grumbled, avoiding his eyes as she went back to sip her milkshake.
"Sure, but it's kinda worth it if it means I get to make fun of you." Ed snickered, going to sip his milkshake as well.
"I don't make fun of you about Winry." Manami snipped, and Ed almost inhaled his straw.
"Anyway," Manami didn't hesitate to change the subject. "I meant to ask you something."
"Yeah? Shoot." Ed replied, with his straw in his mouth.
"Well, I figured it's not your top priority right now, but…" Manami looked up to meet his eyes. "You're gonna retire, right? Since you can't transmute anymore?"
Ed's eyes widened a little in surprise, but he shrugged.
"Yeah," He said. "I guess so."
But he understood where she was going with this.
"So, what about you?"
Manami sighed through her nose. "I guess I've been leaning more towards retirement myself." She admitted. "Just because we won a war a month ago, doesn't mean there couldn't be another one tomorrow."
"Right." Ed nodded.
"So… you don't think it's a bad idea?" Manami asked him. "To retire now?"
"I mean…" Ed shrugged again. "It's your life. I can't tell you how to run it. If you're worried about money, I got an idea of how much savings you got from the few years you've been in the military."
"And you still owe me some money still." Manami said, giving him a look.
"Yeah, yeah…" Ed waved his hand dismissively. "I doubt you'd retire for life, but you should be good on money for a good couple of years. Who knows what could happen by then."
"Hmm…" Manami mindlessly nibbled on the end of her straw as she thought.
"If you're asking me for advice on what I think you should do, I'd hold off on saying anything until everything settles with the new Furher." Ed told her. "You could probably milk that salary for a little longer."
"I guess…" Manami chuckled weakly, but then got lost in thought for a moment.
"..." Ed's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of her. "You okay?"
"... I guess…" She mumbled. "As okay as you and Al are, it seems."
"Yeah…" Ed slowly nodded. "But, like you said… we just gotta push through this one last game of waiting."
"Mm..." Manami hummed as she finished her milkshake.
"Yeah…"
The next day, Manami and Ed made their way to the hospital, where she once again was denied access to see Al.
Manami honestly didn't know why she bothered asking anymore. She knew that Julia would tell her... but something in her made her feel guilty any time she considered not asking.
With a small sigh, she sat at the piano and opened the cover for the keys. She would normally warm up and stretch her fingers by playing random melodies, but then started playing music that she recalled writing down in her journal.
Part of her regretted leaving the journal with Winry in Resembool... but she knew if she kept it, it probably would've been destroyed on the Promised Day. In the meantime, Manami wrote short bars or measures on scraps of paper, and would play what sounded best to her.
"Miss?"
Manami looked up from the piano keys and saw the husband of the old lady who would come listen to her play. He seemed to have a small bundle of papers in his hands.
"My wife wanted me to give these to you. Don't worry about returning them."
"Oh, I couldn't…" Manami trailed off when she looked down to the bundle he handed her and saw…
Her mother.
"?!" Her eyes went wide. She blinked a few times to make sure her eyes weren't betraying her.
There was no questioning it… that was her mom.
"I…" Manami looked up to the old man, who was grinning down at her.
"I had a feeling." He said simply, then turned to walk away.
Manami watched speechlessly as the old man went through the same double doors Ed would go through, before looking back down to the picture of her mom on the front page. She flipped through the newspaper clippings, finding more and more pictures of her mom, but found after the majority of the stack that she also felt something made of cardboard.
"?" She pulled it out to find that it was a record case. The cover didn't have a picture, but it had her name…
"Renee Wolfe…" Manami whispered.
She knew that her mother's name was Renee, but... it had just occurred to her that she didn't know her mom's last name was before it became Kami… until now.
Suddenly, she stood up and closed the cover of the piano before rushing to the door. It was like her legs were moving on their own, but she soon realized why… she wanted to go to the library, while she had her military resources, and look further into this…
"Miss Manami?" Julia looked up.
"If Ed asks where I went, tell him I went to the library!"
Manami didn't look back and bolted out the door.