Chapter 14: The Flashback

Edward stared into the cold, unfocused eyes of the man pinning him against the wall.

'Theres no hope for you.' They said. Mocked. Ed squirmed, trying to find some lapse in the teachers strength, but there was no way out. He couldn't jump, move sideways, or forward thanks to the leg pinning his where they were. He couldn't hit him, or head-butt him, because his hands were pinned together.

That's it...His hands were pinned together!

Ed clapped his hands together fiercely, but (much to his horror) he realized he couldn't make them touch the chalkboard digging into his back. The grip on them was too tight to turn them sideways.

"What do you think you're doing?" The spectacled teacher drawled in his face.

"Fuck you!" He spat, though it was not exactly the most intelligent thing to say at the moment, he couldn't help it. He continued moving, squirming, fighting for some minor weakness in the iron grip pinning him against the wall.

And then...

(Slap)

Then, everything happened again.

There was a faint pop noise, like someone gently smacked the side of their cheek. It came from inside, but there was a difference. This time...This time he knew what it was. This time, it didn't take until the warm liquid filled his mouth that he realized his jaw had been broken. He already knew.

Edward looked up and was greeted with the face of his father. And there was no question in his face, it had been just like before. That look of hatred and hopeless sorrow. And then his father grabbed his shirt in his hands and slammed him against the fixture behind him, no longer the chalkboard, but the wrought-iron staircase. He felt something trickle down his neck and settle in his shirt. And just like before, he did nothing in response, because he was scared. And he knew why...

He could feel it.

His body slowly, gently, softly stopping. Shutting down. He could feel it slipping away, but his eyes were still working, and he wished they would stop working before he died again. He didn't want to have his eyes open, just like last time, to look up in his fathers eyes and only wonder why he hated him so. He was his son, was he not supposed to love him? No matter what he was like, or what happened, you were supposed to love your children...but he didn't. And he didn't want to have to look and stare into this face of sheer hatred and drunkenness, and just sit and watch as he slowly lost the use of his legs and then his arms. But not his eyes, no.

And he could see him. The one person that made him regret having to leave. To die. That person over there, standing in the doorway. The one person he cared about, more than anything, the one person who accepted him, and cared for him. And the only reason why feeling slowly itched back into his limbs before his father could see...

Alphonse.

He didn't know it was possible, after all, he was a man of science. Being such, he was supposed to know that once your body started shutting down, you couldn't come back. You were finished, and could only watch as you slowly slipped away from the world of the living, being pulled and grabbed by the cold, clammy hands of death. And they lifted you from the ground, and pulled you upward into a darkness comprised of fear. But they started letting go, he slowly landed back down on earth into the arms of his brother. And he had to protect him.

"Alphonse, Im so sorry...I was supposed to always be there for you. But I died..." He said to the figure in the doorway.

Why? Why did it all have to happen again, why all the same way? He could feel fists connecting with his face, and he said something that he himself didn't understand. He just stared at the person in the doorway, and was saddened that this time wasn't the same. This time, he wasn't coming back. There was no feeling in his entire body, he'd had his second chance, and that was apparently too much. He just stared at the person in the doorway until all his eyes could see was white, and the silhouette of the person in the doorway. But then...

Then it stopped.

The light slowly dimmed, until he could see the person really standing in the doorway.

Roy Mustang.

Edward never knew he'd had so much appreciation for a thing or a name before.

Roy Mustang.

He loved it, to him, those words were better than immortal life, better than anything he could ever hope to see or do.

Roy Mustang.

"Roy Mustang..." His lips formed the words, and he felt his arms slip to his sides and fell forward, but Roy caught him.

"Roy..." He said again. "Im so...tired..." Ed barely whispered the last words, feeling darkness surround him and coax him into unconsciousness.

"No...No! Edward!" He felt Roy shaking him. "Edward, you can't fall asleep, just stay awake, okay!? Stay awake..." The last words were a pleading, begging whisper spoken into his ear. The concern and passion just filling those words was enough to bring him back to the classroom.

"Roy..." Ed couldn't think of what to say, he didn't care. He just loved the comfort in that name.

He looked up at the dark-haired boy still holding him in his arms, and gently reached up and kissed him.

"Don't leave..." He said after he pulled away, leaving Roy somewhat shocked.

"I-I won't leave...just...just stay awake. Im going to get someone to help you okay? Just stay awake." He shifted Ed onto his back and ran out the door at a speed he didn't know he could reach, even without a person clinging to him.

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Roy sat in the waiting room, slowly, slowly, beating his head off the wall, trying to get a straight thought through his head.

Looks like it wasn't coming along anytime soon. His thought process went something like this;

Kill the teacher.

Ed's gunna die.

Kill the teacher.

Why hadn't I come sooner?

Did I kill the teacher?

Why won't he die?

What about my parents?

Kill the teacher. (If I didn't already)

What about Ed?

How will I explain this to my parents?

WHY DIDN'T I KILL THE TEACHER!?

The door opened and a red-headed nurse came out.

"Um...Roy Mustang?" She said, looking at him. "The doctor said you could go-"

Swish.

"- in..."

She looked over her shoulder at the speeding black dot that had once been a person.

(Oh Yeah. Yeah he was so his boyfriend. Cindy owed her five bucks...)

Roy slowly opened the door, extremely pissed at the fact that he wasn't allowed into the room when he first brought Ed here. Then again, the other half of him was still in shock and sadness that this was actually happening, that Edward could have actually died again. That couldn't happen, right? He had to stay here, he just had to...

He quietly made his way to the bedside, though for what reason he wasn't sure, and gently leaned over the bars on the side of the hospital bed, peering at the sleeping Elric.

He had bandages wrapped around his head, wrists, and from what he could see, his shoulders as well. He bowed his head and sighed, not sure what else he could do. He couldn't accept this had happened, he needed to call his parents.

No, I can't call my parents...were his immediate thoughts. I can't explain this to them, they'll ask how I knew Ed was getting hurt, and where his parents were, and where he lived, and...and...ARGH!

He nearly started beating his head off the wall again, but a shift from the blob below him stopped all process of thought.

Ed rolled over again, trying to get comfortable in the small, itchy hospital bed. Roy wanted to call his name, or touch him, but his body just wouldn't move. He just couldn't...

And then the golden orbs opened, and there was light. Animated, shining beacons lighting up the entire white room, and then there was life. And suddenly everything seemed so real, the cold steel underneath his hands, the shivering slowly creeping from inside of him, the rasping breath emanating from his throat, the injured blond boy standing in front of him, and the knocking and entering of someone else...

His Parents.

And somewhere, somewhere far away in an indistinct land, A man named Murphy sat and laughed. And laughed and laughed until he couldn't take it anymore, and just sat back to watch the mess he'd caused, and laughed yet again.

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Omg sorry, I haven't updated in like a week! Im not dead, I promise! I have a contract with the fanfic gods! I've just been so busy and haven't found the time to write, I know it's a bad excuse, but I couldn't really think of what to put anyway. Sorry its so short, I just wanted to get something out there, and this all does have a point eventually, so don't think I've gone totally random and insane. You'll see next chapter, or maybe one after that (Which will be soon!)