Gah, it's almost been a month and I have no excuse for not updating. I mean… THERE WAS THIS HUGE FLOOD, GUYZ, AND THEN A GIANT FISH STARTED EATING MY BRAINS, AND ON TOP OF THAT, I GRADUATED AND HAD REHEARSALS FOR THREE DIFFERENT TEN-MINUTE PLAYS AND I HAD TO DIRECT MINE AND I TOTALLY SCREWED UP THE SECOND NIGHT AND CRACKED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE OF MY LINES AND IT TOTALLY SUCKED BUT THE THIRD AND FINAL NIGHT WAS MUCH BETTER AND if you actually believed the flood part then I laugh at you. I live in the middle of Colorado, and the only flood would come from tons of snow melting all at once, and while we have had snow here last week, it wasn't enough to flood the place should there be an unnatural heat wave…
And yes, that was definitely the most pointless author's note I've ever written, but I don't care. XD
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Roy watched in shock as Ed's limp body fell to the ground. He stared for a second as Envy stood up, scratching his head.
"Ah, jeez. This is going to be hard to explain…"
Roy lost it. He snapped his fingers and sent a fireball in Envy's direction, sending the homunculus flying. Envy regenerated and ran away from Roy, not in the mood to fight someone who was in such a bad rage. They made their way out of the tunnel and outside, where Envy managed to shake Roy for a while.
Falman saw Roy chasing after Envy in the tunnel and was about to follow when he realized something. Only Roy was going after Envy. Falman bit his lip and ran the other way, in the direction that the two had come from.
"Edward!" he shouted, hoping for an answer. He held his lamp in front of him, hoping to see something that would give away Ed's presence. After a few seconds, he saw something rather disturbing. He put the lamp down and ran to the figure on the ground, watching in shock as the body regenerated. After a minute, Ed pushed himself to his knees with a groan. He looked up at Falman in surprise.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping the others?"
"Wait… you… What's with the…"
Ed looked down at himself and realized that his 'tattoo' was showing through the tattered remains of his shirt. "Oh, um… The Colonel didn't tell you about this?"
Falman shook his head. "No. You're a homunculus?"
Ed cringed. "No," he replied as he stood up. "I'm just… I don't really know, actually. Where'd everyone go?"
Falman stared blankly for another minute before shaking his head. "Ah, yes, the Colonel ran out a few minutes ago. He was chasing after Envy."
Ed nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
Falman watched blankly as Ed ran off before remembering what he was supposed to be doing, and quickly ran back to accomplish his task.
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After a while, Ed found his way outside, looking for Roy and Envy. Part of him was afraid that Roy thought he was dead, because knowing Roy, he probably would have gone insane with rage. Ed sighed as he continued running, grateful that he had been completely healed by this point in time.
Too bad I lost those extra abilities, Ed thought as he ran. Although I still seem to be in better shape than I ever was…
I'm still here, Edward.
Ed started and nearly fell over. "What the-"
But I'm barely here. I'll be here until you come close to death again, so I can help until that point.
Ed continued running. Somehow, he could sense Envy, but the homunculus was far away. I'm glad you told me about the third chance before Envy tried to kill Mustang. Will I stop being able to sense Envy when you're gone?
I don't know, but most likely. You'll still have that mark, though.
Ed frowned. Great… He stopped as he saw some movement in the distance. After a moment of observing, Ed unwittingly let out a cry of joy and ran forward, only to stop in surprise as Roy turned on him and snapped his fingers. Ed threw himself down in the snow.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Ed shouted as he brushed the snow from his clothes.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid, Envy?" Roy shouted back, his fingers in a snapping position. "You kill someone and then take their form with the hopes that I'll fall for it?"
"What are you-" Ed ducked as another explosion went off. "Hey! That's not-"
"I'll kill you!" Roy screamed. Ed turned and ran.
Shit, this isn't what I had in mind…
The voice was quiet for a while. At least I can help if you get a fatal wound.
But how will that convince him that I'm really me? Ed thought desperately. He's gone crazy!
No, he just doesn't know that I'm still inside you. You just need to prove yourself.
Ed stopped running and turned to look at Roy, who was still behind him, but fairly far away due to Ed's greater speed. Prove myself…
"Hey! Ask me something!" Ed shouted. "I know it looks like I died, but-"
"I heard about Hughes, you bastard! I'm not going to fall for that!" Before Ed could reply, Roy snapped his fingers and caught Ed off guard. Ed shouted in pain as the flames licked his skin, but the blast wasn't as powerful as he'd thought it would be. Ed fell back in the semi-melted snow, whimpering at the cold and the pain.
Soon, he saw a shadow pass over him, and Ed looked up to see Roy standing in front of him. Roy looked very pissed, but after a minute of holding his hand out in a snapping position, he seemed to realize something. "Why don't you regenerate?" he asked, confusion evident in his voice. "I thought-"
"That's only something the homunculi can do freely, you bastard!" Ed managed to shout before squeezing his eyes shut. "Don't you know anything?" he whimpered, tears running down his face.
"Oh, god…" Ed felt a hand on his forehead. "You're alive…"
Ed opened his eyes and managed a very weak smile. "Yeah. You're still stuck with me."
Roy laughed with relief before looking down at Ed's side. "Ah, I… shit, I'm sorry…"
With some effort, Ed moved his arm out of the way as Roy began some very basic burn treatment. "Yeah, you should be sorry. How am I supposed to help you get Envy now?"
Roy ignored Ed and began pulling off Ed's ruined shirt. "Can you make a bandage?"
Ed nodded and transmuted the fabric for Roy. "Is it bad?" Ed asked.
"Obviously it isn't too bad if you've got this much energy. So what happened down there?"
"In the tunnel?"
"Yeah. Obviously you were lying when you said two chances. Unless I'm bad at math, that was your third death."
Ed nodded. "I didn't lie. I was just telling you what I knew at the time. Didn't you tell me once that it's best to prepare for a worst-case scenario?"
"Yeah, but what if you hadn't had that?"
"Then I might not have gone so far with Envy. I would have done something else, but I needed him to think I was dead to catch him off guard. And now he thinks he just has you to deal with, right?"
"But then I did this to you… You're an idiot."
"Maybe so, but we have other problems to deal with now, don't we?" Ed paused. "Envy's getting close. You should get ready to fight."
Roy nodded. "Right. Can you help?"
Ed nodded. "I'll let you do the hard part."
Roy rolled his eyes. "Gee, how surprising."
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As Envy approached, Ed stood in front of Roy, his eyes narrowed. Envy paused when he saw Ed, and immediately moved into a defensive position. "You. How did you not die from that?"
Ed smirked. "Isn't it obvious?"
"I suppose it is," Envy replied, his eyes narrowing. "But now it's time for you to give up."
"You can't scare me. I heard what you said in the tunnel."
Envy raised an eyebrow. "Eh?"
"You used your shape-shifting ability to make me think you had Winry. I should have guessed you'd do something like that."
Envy grinned. "You humans are all alike. Part of me had hoped that you would have been different, brother."
Ed punched Envy in the face and ran, giving Roy a chance to prepare for the final attack. Envy chased after him for a short time, but Ed proved to be too fast, and Roy began his attack seconds later.
Ed watched from a distance as the explosions went off. Part of him was relieved that Envy would never be able to hurt anyone again, but some very small part of him wondered if this was really the right thing to do. He sighed and continued to watch, hoping that once the conflict was over, Roy would manage to get rid of the need for this sort of thing.
He continued to watch as Roy forced Envy back into a fairly large crevasse in the ground and snapped his fingers one last time. Then, Roy stopped. Ed watched for a moment longer before getting to his feet and going over.
"Why did you stop? Is he gone?"
Roy shrugged and pointed. The crevasse was filled with water, most likely due to the snow that had been melted by Roy's fire. "He's too heavy to swim to the top. Unless he changes form, he'll drown in there."
Ed decided not to look. "It's too small of a space for him to change into anything big enough."
"Exactly. He's trapped."
Ed's legs were shaking, and he decided to sit down before he fell down and hurt himself even more. "It's over…"
Roy looked back into the crevasse. "Not quite yet."
"What?" Ed tried to get to his feet, but he had sat down right before his legs had completely quit working.
Roy smiled. "Don't worry, Envy's dead. I just saw him disappear forever." Then he looked at Ed with a serious face. "But this fight isn't over. We still have Central to deal with."
Ed nodded. "We do…" And with that, Ed passed out.
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"Ugh, Second Lieutenant Falman, you just had to go and accidentally free Sloth, didn't you?" the medical lady said as she began dressing the man's wounds.
"You don't have to remind me," Falman muttered. "I didn't mean to."
"No, but now I have four times as many people to treat. I'm just glad Major General Armstrong's all right. She would have been one tough patient."
"I still can't believe she managed to take out the Fuhrer with barely any help from us. That's true strength right there."
"Well," medical lady said. "The law up here is survival of the fittest."
Falman stared off into the distance for a while. Medical lady finished her job and stepped back. "You're worried about those two, aren't you?"
Falman nodded. "They'll probably be fine, but Edward-" Falman cut himself off as the door opened. He stood up and pulled on his uniform before saluting medical lady. "I'll leave you to your work."
A while after Falman left the room, there was quite a commotion in the hall. Medical lady looked out the doorway and saw two people walking toward her. Or rather, one was carrying the other.
Buccaneer came into the medical room and gently placed the unconscious alchemist on a bed. "We found him just outside with that idiot Flame Alchemist. Apparently Mustang thought that this one was Envy in disguise and tried to grill him."
"Oh, great, more work for me," medical lady groaned as she pulled off the makeshift bandages on Ed's chest. "What is with this kid? It's like he goes out of his way to get himself hurt." She paused when she saw the extent of Ed's latest injury. "Ouch. Mustang really got him good. What's he doing now?"
"Mustang? I don't know. He's probably moping around because of what he did."
"Most likely." Medical lady began applying something to the burns, which was soon accompanied to a sharp gasp from Ed, who had finally regained consciousness. Ed didn't move, though, which made medical lady's job easier.
"You got lucky, shrimp," Buccaneer said from nearby. "Not many people have survived an attack from the Flame Alchemist."
Ed glared at Buccaneer, but didn't say anything. The giant man got up and left the room, only to return a few minutes later. "We just got an emergency call from Central. It seems Scar took out almost all of the higher-ups before being killed himself."
Ed tried to pick up his head. "What?"
"You heard me, shrimp. It seems there are going to be a lot of changes in the military from here on out. The Major General has been summoned to Central, along with Grumman from East City. The death of the Fuhrer has been written off as an accidental death. His wife and son aren't doing well with the news."
"Wait, what about-"
"Shut up and wait for someone else to tell you. I have things to do."
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Roy sat on the stairs as he stared quietly over the landscape. He could see the area where he had mistakenly fought against Ed, and for some reason, he couldn't look away, although that might have been because the place where he killed Envy was very close by.
He heard footsteps behind him, but he didn't move. He had a lot to think about.
"We're leaving for Central. You and Fullmetal are going to have a lot to deal with when you get back," Olivier said.
"Yep."
"I'm putting you in charge of him. With the higher-ups out of the picture, there is barely any evidence against you two, but I expect you to follow orders if you want to be cleared."
"Of course."
Olivier nudged Roy in the back with her foot. "You gave the kid a few burns. You didn't kill him, and neither did Envy. You should be grateful you were able to make that mistake in the first place."
"I'm sure."
"Look, if you're so worried about this, then ask him yourself. He's on his way out with Hawkeye right now."
Roy continued to stare straight ahead as Olivier went past him to the waiting vehicles. He stood up when he heard footsteps behind him, and forced a smile when he saw Ed and Riza. Ed was wearing a loose shirt, and Roy could see bandages on his chest and arms, as well as his neck.
"H-how are you doing, Fullmetal?" Roy asked, trying to hide his guilt.
"Fine." Ed made to cross his arms, but he winced halfway through and dropped his hands. "What about you?"
"Why would that matter?" Roy asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're the one who's injured…"
"And I just said I'm doing fine," Ed shot back.
"Well, I'm fine, too. Happy?"
Ed nodded. Riza gave Roy a questioning look as she helped Ed get down the stairs and to the second car. Roy knew exactly what that look meant, and after they got Ed into the car, he turned to her.
"Edward told me what happened, sir. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. Edward's young, he'll heal, and besides, he said that even he would have made the same mistake."
"Even so…" Roy shook his head. "I was trying to do whatever I could for him, and instead I tried to kill him. A bigger explosion and I would have… It's like Ishbal…"
"Sir…"
Roy shrugged it off and got into the car, giving Ed as much space as possible, which was fairly difficult in the small vehicle. After a moment, Riza and Miles got in the front seat, and they drove off.
-----dashdashdash---
Once they boarded the train, Ed made himself as comfortable as he could in the private car devoted to their small party. Someone had prepared someplace for him to sleep in one corner of the place, with a low false wall separating him from the others, and blocking out some of the light.
Ed lay on his back as the train began moving, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what he had to do once they returned. After a few minutes, he realized something, and decided to ask the next person who talked to him a question. The next person happened to be Riza. She sat next to him and handed him a glass of water.
"You really should try to sleep. It's going to be a long ride."
Ed nodded as he sat up and sipped the water, using his right arm, which was in better shape than the rest of him, and being careful not to touch his chest. "I know." Ed was quiet for a while. "Do you know what day it is?"
Riza blinked at the strange question before giving a smile of understanding. "You're seventeen today, right?"
"Yeah."
Riza smiled sadly. "I'd say happy birthday, but it doesn't seem like today's going to be very happy."
"It's just an injury. I'm fine."
Riza sighed and looked across the car to where Roy was sitting. "Somehow, I doubt he'll believe that."
Once again, Ed tried folding his arms, but he had the same problem, and left them at his sides. He looked at Roy for a moment, his expression emotionless.
"No, I doubt he'd believe even me." Riza looked at him with confusion for a minute before Ed continued. "Back then, when it all happened, I was really afraid. I really thought he was going to kill me, and…" Ed paused. "Before he figured it out, it seemed like he was… enjoying that fear. And then afterwards, he didn't really say anything about it when it happened, but that was probably because we had other things to deal with…"
"He looked back on that fear and was horrified at what he had done to you," Riza finished.
"But I can forgive him for a mistake. I would have done the same thing."
"Then you have to tell him that. Otherwise he'll continue to hate himself for what happened."
Ed looked at Roy again. "I don't think I'm ready to talk to him yet… Could you maybe send him over later?"
Riza smiled. "I can. Get some rest, we have a long way to go."
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The train came near to Central, and Riza decided it was time for Ed and Roy to have a nice little chat. She asked Roy to wake Ed up, and quietly watched as Roy walked over to the bed.
"You going to watch the show?" Olivier asked. "Should be interesting."
Riza was quiet as Roy woke Ed up and began walking away from the bed – only to have Ed grab the back of his uniform. Riza couldn't help smiling as Roy turned around and eventually sat down at the foot of Ed's bed.
Roy, on the other hand, was not so happy about the situation. "What is it, Fullmetal?" he asked tentatively, hoping to get away from Ed as quickly as he could.
"You're acting stupid," Ed replied, getting right to the point.
"And what makes you say that?" Roy asked.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
"Because you're injured and I don't want to get in the way of the healing process."
"You've never done that before." Ed narrowed his eyes. "Why is it different this time?"
"Fullmetal, you're-"
"I'm trying to get an answer from you. You've done this to me several times, so why can't I do the same?"
"I outrank you."
"So? I'm leaving the military as soon as we get to Central."
"What? Why?"
Ed looked down at his hands. "Now that the higher-ups are out of the picture, it just… I don't really know, but Father's bound to have someone spying for him in the military, and I don't want them to be able to hear about me as easily. But this isn't what I wanted to talk about."
Roy made to stand up, but Ed glared at him so fiercely that the older man sat down again. "What do you want, then?"
"I want you to say why you've been trying to avoid being around me. I don't care what your excuse is, I have to know."
"Fullmetal-"
"And stop calling me that."
"Stop trying to tell me what to do!" Roy snapped. "First you're afraid of me and now you're trying to boss me around? What am I supposed to do with you?"
"You could try being honest or something," Ed replied. "If you injure someone the least you could do is listen to what they have to say."
Ed instantly regretted saying that, because Roy looked very upset at this, but simply said, "Fine."
Ed looked over at where Riza was sitting, trying to signal that he needed help, but she signaled to him that he was on his own. He sighed and looked at his hands. "I really don't see why you're so upset about this. It's not like I won't heal."
"You'll be scarred for the rest of your life."
"I'm already scarred, in case you didn't notice," Ed muttered darkly.
Roy was quiet. "Sorry."
"Jeez, what's with you?" Ed asked. "It's not like this is the first time you've done something stupid, so why is this time such a big deal?" Ed saw the pain in Roy's eyes and softened his voice a little. "You've hurt me before."
"I've never tried to kill you before."
"You've been pretty willing to kill other people. Why am I so special?" Ed growled.
Roy gave an exasperated sigh. "Full- Edward. Do I really have to spell it out for you?"
"Well, obviously I don't know what the hell you're thinking, so yeah. I'd say you do."
Roy was quiet. Ed waited for him to speak for two or three minutes before smirking. "What, is it really that hard to explain?"
"Okay, fine, you win. I'm unhappy because I thought you were dead and then was too damn stubborn to figure it out when you tried to prove me wrong. I didn't even bother trying to listen to what you had to say, and then…" Roy looked out the nearby window, unsure of how to voice his thoughts. "You looked so horrified. Before I figured it out, I was enjoying it. I felt like I was giving Envy what he really deserved, and I was happy about that."
Ed frowned. "Envy was a bastard. It's his fault for everything that happened. He's the one who made you think I was dead, but it's also my fault for not letting you know sooner that I still had a chance. I'm sorry for that, and I don't want you to hate yourself for a mistake. Besides, we have other things to worry about."
Roy was dead silent for a minute, so Ed decided to continue. "Earlier, in the prison, didn't you say you wouldn't give up on me?"
"I did, but that was different."
"Yeah, it was, because right now you're giving up on yourself. You're making me want to give up on you."
"Then go ahead."
Ed wished he could punch Roy in the face. "What, after your big speech about not giving up? Do you think I could do that? Do you think any of us could do that?"
Roy stared at the ground, but something about his demeanor had changed. "I'm sorry I did this to you."
"And I'm forgiving you. Can you accept that?"
Roy raised an eyebrow at Ed. "You're not going to leave me alone until I do, are you?"
Ed smiled. "Nope."
Roy shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Then I suppose I'll have to accept it." Roy stood up. "But that means you can't rub it in my face."
"Fine."
The train pulled into Central station, and Roy and Riza got ready to play their roles as suspected criminals. Ed played his role as well, except for in a different manner. He was officially the severely injured state alchemist who had been forced to undergo inhumane experiments at the hands of the government, and was soon to be forgiven for deserting. He played his role wonderfully as he was transported to Central's best military hospital.
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And you guys were afraid that I'd kill off Ed and/or Roy. HA!
(I'm too wimpy to actually do that… XD)
oh, and… OMG GUYZ 20 CHAPTERS YAY! This is officially the longest fanfic (and fiction in general) I've ever written, and the only one that might even come close is Alchemists of the Caribbean, which you should totally read because it's got FMA and PotC all in one, and you can't ask for more than that. XD
Oh, and I'm thinking of making another story, which wouldn't really be a story, but just random chapters of mix-ups of all my different stories, like Forsaken Memories!Ed and Al getting stuck in the Alchemists of the Caribbean story or something else, just random stories that I don't really want to make into their own story but that I still wanna write… so yeah, you can look forward to that soon… and by soon I mean eventually… I have to actually do stuff this summer, not to mention I'll be gone for three weeks in July… (but I'll be in Korea during that time AND going to Japan, so it'll be worth it)
So yeah, this is pretty much completely pointless and you get a internet cookie if you read it all. XD