Chapter 15: The Truth

Roy spun around on his heels, taking in the sight in front of him.

His parents.

He visibly paled, having no clue what he was about to say to them, but apparently the opposing knew quite the opposite.

"My goodness! What happened? Are you hurt? They called us from the school, we had no idea where you were! You scared me half to death, Roy!" His mother immediately commenced her bubbling sequence, making Roy's insides lurch with unsureness.

He opened his mouth once, and- finding that no words would come out of it- closed it again.

"I-"

"My parents..." Came a feeble, strange-sounding voice from behind him. Roy spun around again, finding himself getting quite dizzy from all the sudden movements, and stared at the blond speaking.

Good one...

Roy knew Edward was lying, and he was damned good at it, too. He always knew when he lied, his voice pitch changed, almost like if he were on helium, but most people didn't notice. And it was a good lie too. Ed could really think on his toes when he needed to, and what better to say than the 'abusive parents' spiel? He knew alto about Roy's mother already, and how she couldn't resist a good sap story- this would definitely get her. (And sure enough-)

She gasped. "Oh, you poor child!" She immediately began fussing, her heels clattering as she crossed the room to his bedside.

"Yeah...well...It's nothing bad." Edward turned his head away, attempting to act like he was one of those 'tough guys who could take stuff like this'- his mom would definitely fall for that too.

"What are you talking about? We can't stand by and let this happen! Do you have anywhere else to stay? Aunts, Grandparents, any family?" She continued, completely 'suckered in' as some would say.

Edward shook his head, folding his arms.

"Just my parents and I."

Five words, and ding ding ding ding Match over.

"Oh, you must stay with us, We can't let this happen!"

(Two words, boo-yah.)

"Are you sure, mom?" Roy chimed in. He knew if anyone put resistance, she'd only want to do it more. That was how his mother worked. He knew it, even if she didn't.

"Of course! Yes, we'll take you home right when you get out of the hospital. However, I'd like to speak to your parents first, and give them a piece of my mind! This is just unacceptable." She continued, causing the boys to look at each other worriedly.

Roy turned back to his mom, shaking his head and mouthing; 'Alcoholics' until she sighed and said;

"Well then, Im going to leave you boys here for a while, so behave. Im going to go home and keep an eye on your brothers, Ill be back in about an hour, how does that sound?"

The boys both nodded without a word until she left.

Roy breathed out a sigh of relief, collapsing into the nearest chair.

"I told you we'd get caught." He said.

"But we got out of it, didn't we?" Edward said, smirking happily. Roy nodded in response, and the room fell silent for a minute, before Ed made a small gasping noise, remembering something.

"Why..., Why did you come? I mean, how did you come? What..." He furrowed his brow, thinking the question over for a few minutes, then trying again;

"How did you know...to come?" He said silently, looking up and locking their eyes.

"I...I don't know." Roy said, looking away.

"You're lying."

"I know, am I doing a good job?" He asked hopefully, but Edward just shook his blond head. "You suck at lying. Now stop screwing around and tell me." He replied with a rather calm manner (as calm as you can get when you're Edward Elric).

"I...I really don't know." Roy said again, looking down at his hands. "It was like...this feeling that I had."

"You ran over two kilometers on a feeling." Ed said with a '-.-' look on his face.

"Okay, Fine. It was more like...this sense. Like subliminal messages or something, I can't explain it. I knew I had to help you."

"Roy." Edward said, a very blank look on his face as he hardly payed attention to what Roy was saying anymore.

"Mm?"

"Why is there blood on your sleeve." He said, pointing and saying it more like a statement than a question.

Roy looked down, then immediately tried to wipe it off, or hide it, or anything to get rid of it. But dried blood is a lot more stubborn than dirt is, so he was unsuccessful.

"Roy!" Edward commanded, making said person jump a little in his seat.

"I dunno, maybe it came off of your clothes when I carried you here!"

"I was on your back, idiot! Give me that." He grabbed Roy's arm and pushed up the sleeve, seeing raw, red marks and a small gouge across his wrists.

"Roy." He said again, seemingly one of the only words in his vocabulary today. He pulled one of the bandages from his own wrists, revealing an almost identical mark where he'd been pinned by the teacher against the chalkboard. His wrists had started bleeding when he tried to turn them and perform alchemy.

"It was just a feeling." Ed said again, meaning for it to be a question, but just got that same blank, monotone sound in his voice. Roy retrieved his arm angrily.

"I don't know why it did that, so don't think it was me! I had nothing to do with it, so don't get any bogus ideas!" He growled, crossing his arms.

"Yes, it was.

It's your fault." He whispered the last part, leaning back on the bed, the white sheets crinkling at the movment.
"Ed..." Roy leaned forward, feeling a sudden guilt trip from snapping at the golden-eyed boy, and seeing the moisture building up inside of them.

"Edward..." He said again, softer and quieter, as he saw tears had started bubbling from his eyes.

"I didn't-"
"Shut up!" The younger of the two yelled, the tears coming loose and streaming down his eyes. "Shut up...this is your fault. You shouldn't have saved me! You should have ran when I told you to! Now...Now..." He trailed off in his sentence, breaking into small sobs, and causing Roy to jump from his seat and embrace the boy warmly. He stroked his blond hair softly, calling his name.

"Edward...Edward, what's wrong? What are you talking about? What have I done? What?" He whispered softly, nervous as it was that Ed would actually break down crying in front of him. That was really bad.

"Edward, come on...talk. Talk to me." He held him at an arms length, gripping his shoulders comfortingly.

"Tell me what's wrong." He said again.

"Baka..." Ed mumbled, sniffing. "It's your fault you're getting hurt. You and that stupid blood seal. I should destroy it." He said, more to himself than anyone.

"But Edo...If you do, you'll disappear!" Roy pleaded, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I'd rather have that than sit and watch you get hurt because of me." He sniffed again, regaining some composure.

"What are you talking about? Explain to me..." Roy said, placing a small kiss on Edward's head.

"Haven't you learned anything since I've been teaching you? What does the bloodseal do?" He said, looking up at Roy.

"Keeps your soul in this world." He answered obediently, as if they were studying in the attic.

"Right, and why can people see me now?"

Roy remained silent.

Edward sighed. "They can see me, because when my bloodseal was destroyed, you used some of your blood to keep me here, too. But since you are still alive, it gives me the privaliges of a body as well."
"You never told me that!" Roy interrupted, extremely shocked.

"Oh, I haven't? Heh...cough So anyway. What I was saying was; Since It's partly your blood keeping me here, when Im injured or killed, the bloodseal is going to want to take you with it. To get rid of anything in the way of me going to where I should be."

"And wheres that?"
Edward just smiled bitterly. "That's another story, one not meant for telling in a place like this." He said, looking around the room.

"So you mean, If...If you die, Im going to die, too?" Roy asked, fear tinging his voice.

Edward nodded sullenly.

"And, what if I die?" He asked, his grip on Edward tightening.

Ed frowned.

"Ill probably pass on..."

Roy's expression matched that of the blond's. There was silence for a minute, and then;

"Don't think about that, now. Are you hurt badly?" Ed asked, leaning against Roy's chest, enjoying the comfort and warmth.

Roy shook his head. "Not as bad as you." He looped his arms around Ed's waist, sitting there for a minute, burrowing his face in his hair.

He loved this boy, he truely did.

He loved that hair, the color of ripe corn, silky to the touch. Those eyes, so big and shiny and bright. They held every emotion the human body could posses, sometimes all at once, sometimes nothing. He loved his overall figure, his small body, how it seemed to require protection. So small and fragile, much as the owner would hate to admit it. He loved how he always smelled like freshly baked cookies, that was a fact he'd never forget, and that cookie smell. That was the best he could do to describe it, and he wondered if it was from when his mother was alive. Had she baked cookies, sometimes? Had that smell been preserved from that? Roy couldn't bring himself to ask. Yes, homebaked cookies, that was the Edward Elric smell. He'd never told him he smelled like that before, it would probably kill his pride.

Edward cuddled up inside Roy's encompassing arms, feeling drowsy from the painkillers. He could hear Roy's heartbeat thumping inside his chest. So soft and soothing, thump thump thump. He loved that sound, to know that someone who lived on this earth cared enough about him to go through all this. To want to know his problems, to want to help. It was a wonderful feeling. That one person, out of the six billion people that walked this earth, loved him more than anything. It was wonderful, that's for sure. And his smell. Coconut and porridge, or something like that. He couldn't really tell. He'd never say it out loud, it would kill his pride. He was so warm and comfortable, he couldn't keep his drooping eyelids from hiding the rest of his sight and slowly slipping into sleep.

Roy looked down at the sleeping blond, smiling to himself. He laid him back down on the bed, pulling the sheets up to Ed's chin. He looked positively adorable when he slept (at least, when Roy could actually see his face, rather than the Blanket/Edward chimera). He somewhat resembled one of those little blond angels in the pictures all

over his grandmothers house. They were quite popular with old people for some reason, blond angels. They always had the finest of white wings that curled up around them while they slept. That was what he looked like right now. Perfect. Roy nearly killed himself for not having a camera. Now he was just being like Hughes.

Roy's eyes snapped up, brows furrowed, a frown tugging his mouth.

Who was it of him to talk about that?

He nearly slapped himself across the face, and clenched his fists until his nails dug into his hands.

He felt his eyes getting moist, but he blinked his eyes rapidly. There was no way this was going to happen. Not now, not ever. There were some things in this world meant

to be forgotten, and that was one of them. This was not the time to be starting that again.

Never again...

Roy tucked the sheets on Edwards bed underneath the bedframe and shut the light off, leaving the room with one last glance, before heading out into the cold autumn night.

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Omfg. Yay fluffiness, sorry it was so short. I might not update for about a week, but if I do, It'll be double this at least, that's a promise. Sorry for the shortness, again. Got some fluff in there anyway, Ill probably put a lot more of that in from now on. I don't have enough time for a grammar check, so sorry if I used wrong words, or repeated something, or whatever. Im crammed for time, so until next time...REVIEW!!!