Author's Note: Sorry for the small delay in posting. I have kind of mixed feelings about this chapter. The Fall does this part of the story so smoothly, you can immediately intuit what's going on and understand all the reasons for it. But, not being a genius like the creators of that movie, I'm afraid my writing might lead to confusion. Hopefully my fears are unfounded and you'll understand everyone's reasons for doing what they do.

When Ed first entered Roy's room again, he knew immediately that he couldn't hand over the pills right away. Old man Grumman sat in his chair while the nurse put new sheets on his bed, and Kimbley was lying in his bed. Thankfully, his eyes were closed, so they didn't have to worry about him yet. Grumman winked at Ed as he passed. Ed smiled back, his mind fixed on the bulge of the pills in his pocket. He wondered if they would help Grumman too.

"Hey, squirt," Roy said with a small smirk. He must be feeling better.

"I'm not short!" Ed protested indignantly as he hopped up onto the bed. "You can't even see me, so how would you know anyway?"

His grin widened. "Just a lucky guess. Do you want to hear more of the story?"

Ed immediately swallowed another protest and cried, "Of course I do!"

"When he woke up in the hospital," Roy said, "Mustang scolded Hawkeye for believing what the enemy told her. 'Never give up on living,' he said. 'Not even if I die.'"

As Roy continued the story, Ed kept an eye on the other occupants of the room. Grumman lay back down and seemed to fall asleep while Roy explained how Edward reunited with Alphonse and the others. Kimbley woke up and grumbled irritably as the story turned to Mustang's daring plan to capture one of the Homunculi and gather valuable information.

But soon Ed forgot all about his surroundings, caught up once again in the twists and turns of the story. The Elric brothers and Mustang's team worked together on an ingenious plan to lure out the Homunculi, until finally Ling managed to tie Gluttony up with steel cables and race off with him in Hawkeye's car. He almost forgot to breathe when Gluttony suddenly burst out of his bonds that night, maddened with rage as he realized that the one who had killed Lust was there.

Just as it was really getting good—when Gluttony in his frenzy swallowed Edward, Ling, and Envy in one gulp—Roy suddenly turned to Ed and said, "Did you bring it? Did you get what I asked you for?"

"Don't just stop there!" Ed whined, flopping onto his back in frustration. "You always do this—you stop right when things get interesting!"

Roy's knee nudged him upright again. "Did you get the medicine or not?"

Ed glanced around, realizing for the first time that Kimbley was gone and Grumman was snoring gently in his bed. He hadn't noticed anything that was happening around him, only the engrossing story unfolding in his head. "Yeah, yeah," he said reluctantly. Fishing around in his pocket, he pulled out a handful of the little while pills and dropped them into Roy's waiting hand.

Roy's mouth pressed into a thin line. "What is this?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice. "Why didn't you bring me the whole bottle?"

"That was all I could get, okay?" Edward forced anger into his voice, but he shrank back from the tone of Roy's voice. Even though he could only see the lower half of the man's face, he knew Roy would be glaring at him if he could. Ed picked at a loose thread in the blanket. "The bottle broke. I got what I could. Will that help you sleep?"

Heaving a deep sigh, Roy leaned back into his pillows. "A nap, perhaps."

Ed supposed he should probably wait for Roy's anger to die down, but he couldn't contain himself anymore. Leaning forward eagerly, he said, "So what happened next? They didn't die, did they?"

For a moment, it looked like Roy wasn't going to answer. But finally he said, without straightening up from his pillows, "No, they didn't die. They found themselves in a deep, dark place with only a few stray flames burning for light. Everything was covered in blood—an ocean of blood that came up to Edward's knees. No matter how far they walked in any direction, there was no escape. There was only more of the same darkness, the same blood everywhere. They were trapped...inside Gluttony's stomach."

Ed relaxed again as Roy continued the story. He didn't seem to be too angry about the slip-up, though he kept fingering the pills in his hand thoughtfully. He explained what Alphonse and Mustang were doing while Edward, Ling, and Envy fought and tried to figure out how to escape Gluttony's stomach. Ed gasped in horror when Mustang's team was disbanded and sent to the four corners of the country, all of them practically becoming hostages to keep Mustang in check.

But just when Edward opened the portal and they all jumped through to try to escape their dark, bloody prison...Roy stopped yet again. "Take this," he said conspiratorially, dropping something into Ed's hand.

Looking down, Ed saw a small key, warmed from Roy's skin. "What is it?"

"It's the key to Kimbley's cupboard," Roy said, nodding in the direction of Kimbley's bed. "He keeps all of his things in there; I think he's afraid we're going to steal them."

Ed rolled his eyes; that sounded exactly like the sort of paranoid thing Kimbley would do.

"I think he's got some morphine in there too," Roy said slowly, as if waiting for Ed to make some kind of connection.

Ed frowned, understanding what he was getting at. "But we can't just take it. That would be stealing."

"Not if your commanding officer orders you to do it."

Ed frowned, shifting reluctantly. He did so want to be like the Edward of the story, who got to do so many cool things and go on so many exciting adventures. Even when he complained about all the work Mustang made him do, he still liked being able to help people. And Roy needed help now. If he didn't take the pills to make the pain go away, he couldn't sleep. And the doctors were always saying that sleep was the best medicine. Besides, Kimbley was a grumpy grouch no matter how much medicine he took.

"Look-" Roy started.

"Okay," Ed said at the same time. "I'll do it."

"Okay."

Moving carefully so as not to wake up Grumman, Ed eased himself back into his wheelchair and moved over to Kimbley's vacant bed. The bedside table had a small locked compartment that the key opened immediately, and Ed looked over the two small shelves inside.

Kimbley didn't seem to have too many personal effects. A few handkerchiefs, a white suit folded carefully that he would probably wear when he got out of this place—and a small brown bottle filled with white pills. There was no label, but it looked exactly like the one he'd found in the dispensary, so he grabbed it and carefully closed the cupboard door.

When he climbed back up onto Roy's bed, Roy grabbed the bottle eagerly and shook it, making it rattle cheerfully with the multitude of pills inside. "Thank you," he said softly. "This is what I need." He slowly opened the bottle and added the pills to the few he already had in his lap. The white mountain of pills looked like a cluster of pearls against the blue ocean of the blanket, infinitely precious.

Roy drew a breath, then said slowly, "When I...go to sleep, you have to go, okay? And don't come back tomorrow."

Ed furrowed his brow, trying not to feel hurt. He was probably just saying that so he could be sure of getting a really good rest this time. It was probably annoying to keep on being bothered by a crippled boy demanding to be told a story. "Okay."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise," Ed said, gripping Roy's pinky with his own. "But tell me more of the story first!"

Ed stayed there for hours, listening to the unfolding story. Roy kept talking, even when his voice grew hoarse. They ignored the doctors and nurses checking on the occupants of the room, paid no attention when Kimbley stumbled back into the room, and didn't even stop for dinner. Every time Roy looked like he was ready to stop, or his hand strayed to the pile of pills, Ed quickly interjected a question to make him keep going. He wanted to get as much of the story as he could, since he wouldn't be able to hear any more tomorrow.

As the hours passed, Roy introduced the leader of the Homunculi, who looked just like the Elric brothers' father. He went on an extended detour, telling the history of the Ishbal War. The story continued on to Briggs as he described the snow-covered peaks and pine forests of that frigid northern land. When Kimbley himself entered the story, Ed giggled at how crazy Roy was making him. The real Kimbley glowered at them and grumbled every time his name came up, but Roy seemed to enjoy making him as villainous as possible.

Ed winced as Roy described the fight between Edward and Kimbley that left Edward grievously wounded, and hung breathlessly to every word as Alphonse's soul kept fading in and out, threatening to disappear altogether. He listened raptly as Roy explained the full story of where Hohenheim came from and how Homunculus tricked him into becoming a living Philosopher's Stone.

Soon everything was in place for the Promised Day, and Ed was afraid that Roy would stop there. But Roy kept going, caught up in his own tale. He described the battle against Pride and the assault against Central Command the very next morning. All the main characters found their way to the underground tunnels beneath Central, fighting the soulless dolls and the Homunculi.

Ed shuddered as Roy described the murderous frenzy Mustang descended into as soon as he discovered that Envy had killed Hughes. He was an inch away from becoming a bloodthirsty murderer, forsaking every ideal he stood for. But Edward, Hawkeye and Scar managed to pull him out at the last possible moment, and Ed breathed a sigh of relief.

Roy finally started taking the pills once Envy had destroyed himself and faded away. Ed glanced up and realized to his surprise that the window was black. Both Grumman and Kimbley were asleep by now, and the nurses were changing shifts. "Then what happened?" Ed asked almost desperately, clutching at Roy's sleeve.

But Roy just shrugged him off and kept swallowing the pills dry, one by one. Slowly, in between swallows, he described the battle against the gold-toothed doctor's bodyguards. Finally he swallowed the last of the pills and lay back against his pillows, explaining how a great eye appeared beneath Edward, Alphonse, and Izumi. They all disintegrated, disappearing to who knew where.

As he described how the gold-toothed doctor threatened Mustang, cutting Hawkeye's neck and letting her bleed out on the ground, Roy's voice began to slow down and slur a bit. Ed could tell he was close to falling asleep, but he kept poking Roy in the side, prompting him to continue. He didn't think he could stand it if Roy left the story hanging with Hawkeye's life in question.

Thankfully, they managed to save Hawkeye when Mei and the chimeras arrived just in the nick of time. But then the Homunculi forced Mustang through the Doors of Truth, sending him into the same room as the others, turning him into the fifth human sacrifice.

"And then he...opened his eyes and realized...that he couldn't see a thing." Roy's voice was fading by the minute; Ed had to lean in close to hear him above the chatter of the nurses in the hallway. Eventually, he ended up lying on his stomach, resting his elbow on Roy's chest and propping his chin in his hand. He could feel Roy's voice vibrating beneath him. "He was completely blind. The Truth had taken his sight away from him. Cruel...he couldn't save anyone anymore. Couldn't help them anymore..."

"Then what happened?" Ed prompted again, hanging onto every word.

"The time...had come. The moon slid over the sun...a total solar eclipse. And...Father started the transmutation. Edward...Alphonse...Izumi...Hohenheim...and Mustang. They were the five points of the circle. The circle Father had made around the entire country... Everyone in the entire country...fell to the ground...and their souls left their bodies...flew into the air...soaring into Father. A massive...Philosopher's Stone...leaving everyone but the sacrifices...dead."

A chill of horror settled over him. "But that wasn't the end!" Ed pushed himself up on his elbow, but Roy didn't even grunt in discomfort. "They had a backup plan in place! Hohenheim had figured it all out ahead of time!"

"Wha...?" Roy's voice came out in a vague grunt.

"Yeah!" Ed continued excitedly. "When the moon moved on, it made a shadow on the earth! And that created a second circle, one that Hohenheim had fixed up already! It reversed Father's transmutation, and put all the souls back where they belonged!"

"Yeah..." Roy whispered. "Yeah, that's right..."

Then he became completely still and silent. Ed waited for more of the story, but after a moment or two he realized that Roy was fast asleep. He lay there for another minute, staring at Roy's mouth as it opened slightly, the man's head settling to the side. Then Ed pushed himself upright, careful not to jostle the bed too much, and settled back into his wheelchair. He took one last look over his shoulder when he reached the door, then wheeled himself out into the hall.

He wished Roy could at least have said good night.

When Ed woke the next morning, he felt the usual rush of excitement as he thought of seeing Roy again and hearing more of the story that made him a hero. But then he remembered that he'd promised not to visit him today. His heart sank down into his toes, and he heaved a huge sigh. Today would be so boring. He had no idea how he would occupy himself until visiting hours.

As he ate his breakfast and let the nurse help him wash up and change into clean pajamas, Ed kept mulling over everything that had happened in the story yesterday. They'd managed to avert the greatest disaster the world had ever known and thwart Father's plans, but there were still so many questions left unanswered. Still so many ways it could all go wrong. There was no way Father would just take his defeat lying down. Ed couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Because he had nothing better to do until Winry and Granny Pinako showed up, Ed meandered down to the back lot behind the hospital to watch for ambulances. To his shock, when he got to the doorway he found a small huddle of men and women in scrubs pushing a gurney out the door to a truck he'd never seen before. They weren't hurrying like they usually did when they brought someone in an ambulance, and they'd pulled the sheet up over the person's head so none of his features could be seen.

Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to him. What if the reason Roy had made him promise to not come back...the reason he was in so much pain...

"No!" Ed cried, causing the adults pushing the gurney to glance over their shoulders. He wheeled himself outside as quickly as he could towards the body under the sheet. "Who is that? What happened to him?"

"Ed, go back inside," a kind-faced woman with black hair said.

But Ed pushed past her and grabbed the edge of the sheet. "No! Roy!" The sheet slipped down and he grabbed one of the pale, greyish feet that lay bare on the gurney. The toes were as cold as ice. "Don't give up now!"

"Take him back inside," a man snapped, jerking the sheet back over the feet and prying Ed's hand away.

The kind-faced nurse pulled the wheelchair away. Ed screamed and slammed his foot down on the ground, but the nurse was stronger. His slipper came off and his foot no longer had enough traction to keep him in place. The nurse wheeled him away, and no matter how loud he yelled, the door closed behind them with a bang. He wilted in his chair, gradually becoming aware that tears poured down his cheeks.

The nurse was talking to him in a low, soothing voice, speaking meaningless phrases like passed in his sleep and lived a full life. People said all manner of meaningless things when someone died, but it rarely helped. The only thing that had helped, after the fire had taken his family away, was Roy's story. A fantasy he could lose himself in. Another world where he could pretend that things had happened differently and he could still put things right again.

But now he had been plunged back into cold reality, and he acknowledged what he should have realized long ago: He was alone.

"Sometimes we have to say goodbye too soon," the nurse was saying as she pushed the button to summon the elevator. "But this is just another part of life that you're going to have to learn to deal with." The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. The nurse wheeled Ed inside and pushed the button for his floor. Before she let the doors slide shut between them, she smoothed his hair away from his face. "I'm sorry you have to learn this lesson so soon."

Ed kept sniffling as he rode the elevator alone, and didn't move when the doors slid open again. He sat there, feeling a cold pit expanding in his stomach. Just when he thought he couldn't lose anything more...

The elevators doors slid shut again and he slowly raised his hand to press the button for Roy's floor. Still crying, he pushed himself down the hall and nearly ran into a couple people in the hallway. He wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings. He noticed a large laundry basket—the huge kind with wheels that the hospital staff piled high with linens every day—sitting in the hallway, and he swallowed painfully. He pushed himself through the open door, and looked up.

"Roy!"

The wheelchair had never moved so fast. In an instant, he was at Roy's bedside, clambering awkwardly up onto the mattress as he had so many times before. He froze in a precariously balanced crouch, staring down at the man in the bed.

Roy, lying in the same position he'd left him the night before, stirred groggily, shifting his head from side to side even though he couldn't see. He didn't greet Ed or offer to tell more of the story. But he was alive.

"Roy..." Ed's entire body shuddered with sobs as his friend slowly smacked his lips and ran his tongue over his teeth. "I'm sorry, I know I promised, but they were taking out a dead body and I thought it was you and I thought you were dead but you're alive and-"

"Oh, would you be quiet?" An all-too-familiar voice snapped. Kimbley shuffled over to them, gripping his midriff as usual. "The old man just died, don't you get it? This is no time for fun and games!"

Kimbley jabbed a finger at Grumman's bed, which Ed realized for the first time was empty. The sheets had been stripped from it, and all of the old man's belongings had been cleared away from his bedside table—even his glasses and hat.

Before Ed could feel more than a small sting of regret, Roy muttered, "Sugar."

"What?" Kimbley snapped.

Roy's hand reached over to his bedside table and grasped the brownish bottle Ed had retrieved from Kimbley's cupboard. "Sugar pills. THEY'RE FEEDING YOU SUGAR!" He threw the bottle across the room, where it shattered against the wall.

"Was that-" Kimbley grabbed Roy by the collar. "Did you steal my medicine?"

"You're not even sick!" Roy grabbed Kimbley's arm so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Stop!" Ed raised himself up on his single knee, feebly trying to break the men's grip. "You're going to get-"

"Get out of the way, you little brat!"

Kimbley swung his other arm at Ed, easily knocking him to the floor. A sharp cry broke from Ed's lips as he fell, slamming the stump of his left leg against the metal frame of the bed. At first, he barely even registered the pain. He stared up at the two men towering above him.

Roy wouldn't be able to tell what had happened, but he had heard Ed's yelp of pain. He launched himself out of bed, throwing all his weight against Kimbley. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The two men struggled on the floor, expending all their pent-up energy from weeks of bed rest. Nurses and doctors rushed into the room at the sound of the commotion, trying to pull the men apart without hurting them further. Ed huddled in a heap on the floor, clutching his throbbing leg and gaping at the men he thought he'd known. They looked more like animals now, snarling and scratching. Even though the upper half of Roy's face was concealed, his jaw was locked in a tight snarl. He looked like he wanted to dig his teeth directly into Kimbley's neck.

Dimly, Ed became aware that a nurse was picking him off the floor, placing him back in his chair, and wheeling him back to the elevator. The sounds of the fight echoed down the hallway after them.