The two arrived at the front gates of Central somewhere around what Ed would have guessed was 9 PM. Roy was behind Ed, and came to a halt when the younger man did, staring up at the massive fortress he once called his workplace. "Here? You live here?" Roy muttered, looking somewhat impressed as he put a hand over his forehead to get a better look. "How do you get up? The stairs must be ruined by now," Roy speculated, his eyes darting down to Ed.
"Nope, there's only a few stairs that are missing. You just have to hop over them." Ed explained quietly, his voice becoming easier to control now that it had been warmed up. "We better get going, c'mon." Ed instructed Roy, and proceeded to make his way up the never-ending stairs. Roy let out a small sigh, and followed the younger man, shifting the jacket on his back.
They arrived later back at Roy's office, Ed pushing the door open with his good hand, producing a squeak. He glanced around warily, to ensure there were no soldiers, and then limped inside, sitting down carefully on his couch. Roy followed the alchemist in, a somewhat surprised look on his face. "Well I'll be damned." He breathed, noticing how clean and tidy the office looked. "Out of all the rooms, you had to pick this one?"
Ed nodded silently, moving so he could grab the peroxide and bandages off of the floor. "Yeah. Just to keep my sanity, I needed something familiar, I guess." Ed explained, as he began to unwrap his left forearm, the old wound that had never healed beginning to reveal itself. The skin was still missing, and the muscles and partial bone was showing. He let out a small huff, and dabbed a small portion of peroxide on an area that looked discolored, whimpering when it made contact.
Roy directed his feet towards Ed, getting a good look at his office again. It'd been too long. He was surprised Ed had kept it in this good of a condition. A small twitch of a smile appeared on Roy's face, upon seeing the unfinished paperwork, neatly organized on his desk. "You were waiting for me, weren't you?" He murmured, returning his gaze back down to the teenager as he awaited an answer. However, the whimper caught his attention and his stomach lurched upon seeing Ed's deteriorated arm. He sat beside Ed and moved closer to get a better look at his arm, one hand moving to grab his shoulder firmly. "What the hell did you do?" He asked, sounding curious and concerned as he watched the alcohol sizzle into the muscle.
"One of the soldiers. They tore at my arm, and part of it came off, basically." Ed said simply, motioning with his head towards the smear on the wall. "It was pretty early on." He clarified, "The skin never healed so I just have to keep it wrapped, and watch for infections." He began to wrap the wound up again, starting at his wrist.
Roy felt his heart drop upon Ed's explanation. This was not something a boy his age should have to go through. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help." He apologized, although his tone was still authoritative, his voice somehow still retaining that after all these months.
"Forget it. I'm just glad you're here now. I thought everybody was dead." Ed whispered, finishing the wrapping silently, giving it a tight tug. He felt something warm well up in his throat, something that didn't happen often. What was it this time? It felt like fear. Fear and relief at the same time. Another moment passed, and Ed couldn't help but begin to shake, his head hanging low. "I was so scared. I thought I was going to die. I thought you were dead. And if you were dead that meant that there was no way any of us could have made it." He whispered, his hand tightening around the roll of bandages he held in his hand. "Riza, Breda, Fuery, and Falman, they're all—"
"Dead. Yes. I know." Roy cut his sentence off and finished for him, his voice deep with sorrow. His head turned to meet Ed's golden gaze, an unreadable expression on his face. "But you did survive. Which makes you one of the strongest." Roy told the young alchemist. "And like you've told everybody else. We just have to keep moving forward. We're all we've got now." He then turned to the desk again, and let another smile crack onto his face. "Thank you for taking care of my office for me while I was gone." He thanked Ed quietly, giving his shoulder a small squeeze. He then released his hand from Ed's shoulder, and relaxed his muscles, giving Ed a once over. "Is that bandage for a wound on your back?"
Ed lifted his head when Roy spoke, his eyes making contact with the dark, piercing eyes. "I figured when you came back you would want some kind of surprise, right?" He asked sadly, raising his hands to fix his ponytail, which was drooping. "Yeah. It's from yesterday." He muttered quietly at the mention of the wound on his back.
"Did you clean it out?"
"Yeah."
"Come here, and let me have a look."
Ed let a small scowl spread across his face. But he knew that if he hadn't cleaned it thoroughly then the wound could get much, much worse. "Just be easy okay? It tore a muscle, I think." He warned Roy, who was already unlatching the harness around Ed, and removing his bandages.
"I see you remembered about my holster." He observed, noticing his own engraved initials on the holster around Ed's belt.
"Yeah. It's come in handy." Ed responded evenly, wincing when the sticky bandages tried to cling to his wound, producing a ripping sensation. He ignored it however, knowing it was unavoidable. "Where've you been all this time?" Ed asked, his curiosity peaking.
"I left Central for a while, I figured that would be the worst place to be at the moment, since it was the source of all of them," Roy explained, taking the wrappings and tossing them to the side. He pressed lightly onto the bloodied part, waiting for a reaction from Ed. When he winced, Roy lifted his finger, and went to grab the peroxide. "I tried to find anybody I could to bring with me, but you were nowhere to be found, Falman and Breda had already gone another away, and the Lieutenant and Fuery.." he paused for a moment, before returning to his explanation. "Havoc and I headed East. Turns out, they had already spread there and were ransacking everything in their way." Roy gently dabbed a piece of cloth with the alcohol, and began to gently apply it to Ed's wound evenly. "We remained there for a couple of months, and one day Havoc and I got ambushed. It was like nothing I can explain. There were hundreds, Fullmetal. All coming at us at once. I wasn't able to flame them all until one of them had Havoc. They..they ripped his throat right out of his body." The tone of Roy's voice sounded like he was reliving it, his voice full of remorse and regret. "After that, I started heading back here, to see if anybody was alive. The reason it took me so long was because I was checking around everywhere for survivors. The only one I've found so far is you, Ed." Roy finished, the cloth wiping away some of the smeared blood around Ed's deep wound, the faint sound of the alcohol sizzling against infection. "You're beginning to get an infection. I'll have to keep applying more peroxide daily, in order to keep it from getting worse." Roy informed Ed. He grabbed the bandages, and began to wrap the younger man tight and securely, to insure no dirt could find its way in.
"For one thing, I sure am impressed, staying alive for this long. Me, I've got my flames, but you? All you've got is alchemy and a few resources." Roy said to Ed's surprise. He let a small grin cover his face. "Yeah? Well, when you're forced to survive on an island for a month with only a knife as a resource, these guys are nothing compared to that," Ed commented, giving Roy a grateful look. "I'm glad you're alive. And I'm..sorry about Havoc." He murmured sympathetically, feeling guilt pang in his chest. Havoc hadn't done anything to deserve that. Hell, nobody had. This was all a sick, cruel, joke.
Roy's lips curled into a small smile at the mention of the infamous island that he would always talk about, and turned his head away to gaze out of the bullet-ridden window.
"So. How're you holding up?" Ed asked his former superior, raising his dulled, golden eyes to meet what was now the side of Roy's face.
Roy flashed Ed a look before he returned his gaze to the window. "Only a few scratches. Nothing too serious." He reported, noticing the suspicious look Ed was giving him out of the corner of his eye. "Right. I guess long-range flame alchemy does come in handy, doesn't it?" Ed murmured, his eyes drifting to the gloves on Roy's hands. Ed let out a small sigh, and stretched, pausing midway when his burn began to strain. "Hey, how long will this burn hurt?"
Roy glanced back over at Ed, his gaze resting this time. "No more than a few days. I only singed you." Roy informed him, his eyes tracing over the scar as if it were a map. "I apologize, again for—"
"Give it a rest, will you? I know you didn't mean it." Ed slumped over and rested his elbows on his legs, his ponytail falling over to one side. "I don't know about you, but if you want to be able to wake up early we need to go to bed now." Ed told the former Colonel, motioning with his head to the other couch. "And now you can't use the whole paperwork excuse anymore." Ed added, a small grin spreading onto his face.
Roy narrowed his eyes slightly when he mentioned paperwork, and stood up slowly, sighing. "I never used it as an excuse." He objected, moving towards his desk to place the jacket over his chair out of old habit. He wasn't wearing a military suit, to Ed's surprise, but was wearing something more dark – Ed assumed it was to keep the undead soldiers from noticing him. They were black pants and a dirtied white t-shirt, smeared with dirt, ash, and dried blood. "Does the water still work?" Roy questioned Ed. When he received a silent nod, he sat down on the couch opposite to his former subordinate. "Good. I'll definitely be needing a shower."
Ed let a small chuckle escape him, taking his position onto the couch, his legs sprawled out and his head propped up on the arm. "You and me both, Colonel."