Wow, Chap 5! I'm so excited! I just wanted to thank all my wonderful, wonderful reviewers! Jinn Twins(Still wanna be my beta? Job's your if you want it. ;3), Fading Wind, Roy-Fan-33, AirElemental101, EdwardScissorhands21, Excrutiate, cuylerjade, Ookami-Lupin, JaztheWolf, & Fruitie, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Your reviews make me one uber-happy authoress. Y'all rock! And now, on to the story!
Chapter 5:
It was a week after the shower incident that the sleepwalking began. The nurses began to note that as they went to Mr. Elric's room for bed check, he was sometimes no where to be seen. Knowing they would suffer greatly if they lost an important State Alchemist such as he, they searched the entire wing relentlessly, not stopping until someone found him on the roof, looking upwards. They noticed he just went to the roof, but since the night staff also worried that he may one night decide to throw himself off the ledge, they began locking his door. This solution worked for a few days...before he alchemized the door open.
Needless to say, this terrified the nurses, so they called in his commanding officer. Colonel Roy Mustang, who was not at all happy to be woken up at 1:00 in the morning, grumpily dressed and scurried over to the infirmary. When he arrived, they directed him to the roof, where Fullmetal sat on the edge with his legs dangling over the side. He quietly asked the young nurse beside him, why they hadn't simply woken him up. She replied just as softly that it was dangerous to awaken a sleepwalker. He gave a look of incredulity, but she was already pushing him forward, encouraging him to approach the patient.
Roy walked over to the boy, treading softly. When he was next to Edward, he sat on the edge, parallel to him. He had never said it before, but Mustang was...uncomfortable with heights. He saw no reason for a building to be this high. He looked at Fullmetal-Edward, he quickly corrected himself. This person sitting in front of him was too soft, too...vulnerable to be Fullmetal. Mustang sat there, unsure of what to say, so he looked at Edward. His eyes were glazed, glassy, and unfocused. The teen stared out over the sleeping city, apparently listening to the cars whizzing by below them.
As Roy grew more and more uncomfortable with the silence, he fidgeted before finally saying, "Edward? Are you okay?"
There was no response from the blonde as he slowly rose form his spot, stood on the ledge, and began to move forward. Roy, using catlike reflexes, deftly caught the falling boy, nearly falling off himself. As he held the prodigy in his arms, carefully standing up on the roof, he spoke Edward's name, shaking him.
Finally, he lost some of that glazed over look and Roy knew he was awake. There was no change in Edward's expression, no outraged swear-laden outburst about why the bastard was holding him, not even a narrowing of the eyes. Just that smooth, unfettered, blank look.
Mustang picked him up bridal style and carried him back to his room, laying him down gently, as though he were fragile china, instead of a broken little boy. He stood over the hospital bed, nodding mutely as the nurse came in and told him he really ought to leave now so they could take care of him. He winced slightly when he saw the restraints they slipped over his slim wrists. He turned and left the room, not sparing a backwards glance for the teen who had just tried to kill himself a moment ago.
The next day, Roy quietly asked Lieutenant Hawkeye to make Fullmetal an appointment with a local psychiatrist as soon as possible. She told him that the doctor had an opening for that afternoon at 2:30. He agreed and made arrangements to escort Edward to the office. When he arrived at the infirmary to pick him up, he saw that they had dressed him in his old clothes, the black and vibrant red contrasting cruelly with his pale waxy skin. He had lost serious weight, so the fabric hung off him like he was wearing an older sibling's hand-me-downs.
The nurses looked at the Colonel amazed; they had barely been able to get him up long enough to dress him like he had been a rag doll. To see him walk, however stumblingly, was quite a sight. The two men walked carefully to the waiting car, trying not to attract too much attention. On the way to the doctor's office, Roy caught himself looking over at the emaciated youth. Edward simply sat there, his head turned to face outside the window. He sang under his breath, "What a beautiful time we had together, Now it's getting late and we must leave each other…"
When it was time for the doctor to see them, they walked slowly to the office. The man's name was Doctor Stephen Walker, and he had a kind warmth to him. His hair was black, though it was graying at the temples, and chocolate-colored eyes were hidden behind thin glasses. They sat down in the two straight-backed chairs in front of his desk, watching the doctor look through Edward's file.
When Doctor Walker finally looked up, he took in Edward's worn appearance, his gaunt body, his pale skin. What caught his attention, though, were Edward's eyes. They looked…lost. He had only seen that look a few times in his forty-some years of treating his patients. He had found that you couldn't fake that look, that utterly empty gaze. Doctor Walker folded his hands and laid them on the desk as he turned his attention to the Colonel. He asked, "You say he's not eating, sleeping excessively, sleepwalking, exhibiting suicidal behavior, and showing a general disinterest in life. Is that all correct?"
Mustang nodded, hoping the worry that was playing cat's cradle with his intestines wasn't apparent on his face. The doctor nodded with him, then asked would he mind leaving so he could talk to Edward; 'talk' being codeword for evaluate, Roy thought randomly. Mustang bowed and left the room, hoping Edward would be able to be helped by this man, knowing in his heart that it would take something drastic to bring the boy back now.
Doctor Walker steepled his fingers and leaned his chin on them, appraising his latest patient. He tilted his head to the side slightly as he said in a soft tone, "Edward? Edward, can you hear me?" When he received no response, he tried again in a more commanding tone of voice. When he got still no sign that the person sitting in front of him was even awake, he came around to the front of the desk and leaned back on it.
"Edward, how are you feeling?" He sighed and adjusted the glasses on his face. "What about your brother?"
Nothing. Not even a single twitch. Doctor Walker's warm brown eyes narrowed in concern. He placed his hands on Edward's bony shoulders, trying to see how he would react to touch. The boy never moved an inch. Edward's face was tilted down, making it look like he was staring at his wrists. His shaggy, unkempt bangs fell forward, masking his eyes. Doctor Walker asked gently, "Edward, will you please talk to me?" For the first time since they entered the room, Edward moved of his own volition. He raised his head and simply looked at the doctor.
Doctor Walker found that looking sort of at his eyes was nothing compared to looking into them. It took every inch of his training to not run from the room screaming. It was like seeing…a doll. An empty, lifeless thing. He asked Edward to please excuse him while he stepped out for a moment, not that it mattered much to Edward, and he walked out into the hallway. He took several deep breaths, trying to reassert himself. He beckoned to Mustang, ushering him to an empty examining rooms so they could talk privately.
"Colonel…I'm going to be blunt. That boy is suffering from severe shock. To look at him…it's like…"
"…Like seeing a person with the soul ripped out." Mustang finished quietly. The doctor started at this observation, noting that the Colonel was paying more attention than he had given him credit for. "Yes, just like that. I'm worried about his health. I know he's under the care of competent nurses and doctors, but they're afraid he'll use his alchemy against him when he's sleepwalking. Does he have any family he can stay with?"
Mustang answered, "He has family in the East, but it's just too far for them to come to take care of him. They would say yes, I have no doubt, but I hate to impose on them like that."
The doctor fixed him with a stern gaze as he said, "Colonel, you had better start imposing, because you and I both know that if he stays in the hospital, he'll stay in shock and become a mental vegetable."
Roy Mustang suddenly had an image of Fullmetal, puzzling over an alchemy text. His eyes narrowed in concentration, his tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly. Then, he saw the way the boy's face would just light up when he had finally figured it out. The thought of not seeing that, of not seeing that light, disturbed him greatly. Perhaps that was why he, without thinking about it, snapped his head up and said, "I'll take him."
(A/N: Finally! Chap is up! I know, MUCH too long between chaps, gomen, gomen. I just got back to VA from CT, so it's been a little hectic around here. I realized I didn't exactly explain the song Edward sings under his breath. It's meant to be a song that their mother sang to him and Al when they were little kids. Just showing that he's slipping further away, I suppose. And, I know this chap is a cliffy, I'll get to writing the next one, promise!)