lostmoonchild: Okay, I'm thinking that this will be the last chapter of the story. Somebody's probably thinking "Oh, thank God! The nightmare's over with!" so I'm kinda laughing at that one since right now I'm thinking that. Anyway, let's get this last chapter down so you guys can celebrate the end of this story even though I'm probably going to listen to whatever song I feel fits this story best for the slight sadness that I always feel when a story ends.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or anything else unless I say otherwise.

Chapter Thirteen

He didn't know where he was but he knew that it was probably somewhere that he really didn't want to be. His chest hurt and he couldn't figure out why it was hurting so much. What had happened?

Oh, right. He had gotten shot in the chest. Hold on a minute. He had gotten shot in the chest so why in the hell wasn't he dead?! Okay, maybe this was some kind of alternate reality and he hadn't gotten killed but instead he had been transported to another universe.

Nah, that couldn't happen. It was scientifically impossible for someone to be sent from one universe to another. The logical explanation was that Ed had gotten him to a hospital before it was too late and somebody clearly wasn't ready to meet him. With that mystery figured out, Ross looked around the room. "Well, it's about time that you woke up." A familiar voice said with a laughing tone.

Ross turned his head and stared at Ed for a few minutes before giving the blonde a weak grin. "I had a nice nap. Why aren't I dead?" Ross questioned. "I know I got shot but why aren't I dead?"

Ed sat down next to the bed and gave him a weary smile. "What are you talking about, pal?" Ed questioned. "Do you want to be dead?"

"I think I'd rather die from a gunshot wound than from a damn virus. Is there some kind of alchemy thing that I don't know about that makes State Alchemists act crazy?"

The blonde started laughing, amusement flashing in his eyes. "Okay, what do you remember?" Ed asked when he settled down.

"We had cornered the scientist that created the virus. He had gone insane and then he was shot. I didn't shoot the gun, but somebody else had shot him. Then we got into a game of Duck-Duck-Goose with guns and then I got shot." Ross looked completely serious. "I don't remember anything else."

"Well, you killed the guy that was shooting at us and I barely managed to get you to the nearest hospital. You nearly died but something kept you among the living. It was like somebody was trying to keep you from going anywhere." Ed looked completely serious. "The military looked through that whole building, Ross, and they found something really important."

There was something in the blonde's voice that told the brunette that they had discovered something. Whatever they had found, it was something important. What had they found? "Ed?" Ross questioned.

Ed sighed for a moment before answering, "There were reports like the ones you make when you're doing an experiment. There was an entire file dedicated to Rose's interactions with the virus."

"Can I see it? I want to know what he thought about my sister wasting away to nothing."

"Sorry, but you can't see it yet. It's still being studied as well as the virus and the anti-virus."

Hold on a minute. Anti-virus? "What anti-virus?" Ross questioned with a serious look. "Ed, tell me. What anti-virus?"

Ed sighed a bit before looking completely serious. "I told the doctors here that you were sick with an unknown virus that was developed with the original intent to help soldiers but turned out to have a violent reaction with certain people." Ed stopped and stared at him calmly for a minute. "I tried to tell them not to, Ross. I really did."

"What did they do?" Fear was starting to creep into his voice. What had they done to him?

The blonde looked at him with a serious expression for what seemed like eternity before answering, "They used the anti-virus on you."

Ross stared in shock. "They what?" Ross asked in disbelief. "Did it work?"

Ed looked away for a moment and Ross felt his heart sink into his gut. He was shocked to find that he was disappointed since he hadn't even been aware that he had been hoping for anything. Suddenly, Ed grinned at him.

"It worked."

His whole world seemed to freeze as Ross stared at the blonde-haired alchemist. "Don't you dare lie to me, Edward Elric." Ross said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Don't you dare lie to me."

Ed looked completely serious. "I'm not lying. It took a couple of doses but you're cured. You're not going to die but the damage that the virus caused is apparently permanent." Ed told the other man.

He didn't dare believe that this was true. Ross stared in disbelief before looking up at the ceiling. Holy crap. He had known since he found out that he was sick that he was going to die and suddenly he was being told that he had a second chance? How in the hell did somebody respond to that?

For what seemed like an hour, he wasn't entirely sure what to feel. Did he feel happy or did he feel sad? What was he supposed to feel? Was he supposed to feel something other than numbness or was being numb perfectly acceptable? "I'm… not going to die yet?" Ross asked in shock.

Ed laughed a bit. "Nope. You're going to live to a ripe old age… maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Is seeing tomorrow ever promised?"

Ross shook his head. "I guess not." He smiled faintly as he looked out the window. "I'm not going to die young then, huh?"

Ed grinned and laughed a little. "When you get out of here, pal, we're going to find you a girlfriend and you're going to marry that girl. Then you're going to have a bunch of babies with her and they're hopefully not going to endure the same hell that you guys did."

A family? Ed was going to help him find a girlfriend that might one day be his wife and then he'd be able to have a family? Was that even possible? Was there really a girl out there somewhere that was willing to stick by his side no matter what? He didn't want to think about that just yet so he simply smiled a bit. "You know something, Ed?" Ross questioned.

"What?"

"That'd be nice. A second chance and I'd be able to keep on listening to the wind. Every time it blew, I could hear my sister talking to me."

Ed smiled a bit. "I think that virus damaged your brain, bud." Ed answered.

"Maybe. Either way though, I'll keep listening. Just incase."

Yeah, that sounded right. He'd keep listening to the wind just incase his sister had something else that needed to be said.

lostmoonchild: And the story's done! Since I've never been given news like that, I just imagined how I would feel and so far the main thing I felt was numbness and shock. Deciding that I'd have to work with those, you have Ross's reaction. Now the story is done, feel free to leave a review and I will accept flames.