The Inferno

Chapter 2

'A Dark Woods Where the Straight Way Was Lost'

As soon as the doctors left the room Riza had to stop herself from instinctively reaching for Roy's hand. He gave her a halfhearted smile as she looked for a place to touch his exposed arm. Bandages still were wound around his injured hands, his wrist was swollen and an IV was snaking it's way into the bend of his elbow. She settled for softly stroking his bicep and tried to appear upbeat.

"Riza, it will be fine." Roy could hear the uncertainty in his own voice and cleared his throat. She was wearing a sling from where she had been shot in the shoulder and he could see the dark circles under her eyes that betrayed her restless nights. He could hear Bradley's commentary in the back of his mind, "Colonel, why is it that your team racks up more bills in personnel and property damage than some of our divisions on the front lines of Aerugo?" It was true. People under his command did get hurt and killed. This time it was so much worse, this was his own stupidity and cockiness that put Riza in danger. Yes, he managed to get his hand shattered and the other one shot, but most importantly he almost lost Riza. When he closed his eyes he saw her sliding off the roof of that train as it took that dangerous curve, in his dreams he wasn't in time to save her.

She squeezed his arm again to get his attention. If she ventured to say anything right now she was afraid she'd break down crying. It had been two days since the failed mission, or rather the mission on which she failed to protect her Colonel. She had been shot in the shoulder and he saved her life, at the cost of his own. Sure he was lying here alive in front of her, but she had seen that brave facade crack during the last few days and they both knew the future looked less than promising. The Flame Alchemist without use of his hands. The Colonel who couldn't pick up a pen more or less sign his own name. The hero who was at the mercy of a surgical team to piece him back together. In one swift move, he had been shattered; body as well as purpose. All because of her. She knew he was blaming himself too, which was the hardest thing to swallow.

"It's going to be fine." He took his 'good' hand and reached over to put it over hers. Sad that his usable one was the one with a hole in it. At least the bullet that ripped through his hand left him a thumb and pinkie usable, he needed it to awkwardly reassure her. "Stop blaming yourself."

"Roy..."

"Riza, my whole life I've been defying the odds and I'm not going to stop now." The doctors had given him a very slim chance of a full recovery, but they would try. 'There is always automail', that line made him squirm. Trade feeling for functionality, it was like being in Ishval again. Maybe this was his punishment, losing his hands because he pushed aside feelings to get the job done. Hands that destroyed were now destroyed.

Riza thought about his statement, it was true. He shouldn't even have made it this far. An orphan of mixed race. A boy who grew up in a brothel home schooled by women of ill repute. A self educated alchemist who convinced a hermit to teach him his secrets. A war veteran who would not be consumed by his personal demons. A young Colonel carrying the future of a country on his already heavily burdened shoulders. She reached out and pet his hair, the gesture always brought a smile to his face. He loved to be petted and he leaned into her touch like a cat.

"It's going to be fine." If he kept saying it, maybe even he could start believing the statement eventually. He sat up and shifted back a little, her watery eyes looking at him as she squeezed his upper arm. He glanced at the door before leaning over to give her a kiss.

She smiled and he gave her a wink before settling back down into the pillows. It had taken one day to assemble the best doctors in the country and together they would use alchemy as well as typical pins and screws to try and make something of the mess that was the Flame Alchemist's hands. He was, after all, the pride and joy of the Amestris military; they were obligated to show the world that they could always put him back together again. It wasn't that she doubted the ability of the medical team, it was that when he was in surgery, he'd be out of sight for hours. It had taken a fight on her part to even be here. She simply repeated that she was his bodyguard and this was his most vulnerable hour and his life had already been targeted once. When that didn't work she reminded them that she only needed one hand to fire a gun. "I'll be right outside waiting for you. Everyone else will be visiting later after work."

"Well be sure to keep Catalina on a leash, I don't need her running over to grope at me while I'm unconscious." He said and that got a brief flicker of a smile to flutter across her lips. The idea of Rebecca lusting over him was a ludicrous one, but it did manage to catch her off guard.

"I have your watch, wallet, gloves and uniform, like you requested." She patted the bag on her lap to show she obeyed his instructions. He had insisted he go into work this morning to reassure the staff that he wasn't weak, that this wasn't a setback. In order to do that he had to be dressed like he wasn't checking into the hospital as soon as he left, though she knew he need the assurance himself as much as everyone else did. There was comfort for all of them seeing him as their smartly dressed, cocksure Colonel. He managed to get one glove on his shot hand, the other hand remained wrapped and hidden under the black trench coat hung on his shoulders. Roy Mustang, a master of the charade no matter which part he needed to play. Even she felt a surge of confidence seeing him like that, only to lose it when he got in the car next to her and his face betrayed the pain he was hiding.

"I don't need my lieutenant right now, I need the woman I love." He leaned over towards her and whispered. "Stop blaming yourself and start telling me about all those sponge baths you're going to give me when I get home."

She watched his dark eyes shift to the door before he moved to lay back down. "I'll buy a new sponge."

"One of those Luffy sponges?" He smirked.

"Loofah sponge." She corrected him.

The door opened and Dr. Dresden walked in with a syringes and a clipboard. Roy tried to steel his nerves, the idea of being sedated and immobilized bothered him. "I guess it's time."

"I'll be waiting outside, sir." Riza stood and had to force herself to walk away from him. She was his bodyguard, nothing more, and she didn't get to sit in on his private doctor patient consults. The doctor waited for her to close the door before he walked over to the bed and she turned around and looked in the window of the hospital room door to see the man emptying a suringe into the I.V. She took a deep breath and stood next to the door to wait for them to wheel him out and into surgery. Then she would sit in the room alone and try not to go mad.

Roy had been intrigued, scientifically of course, by the description of the drug Midazolam when Dr. Dresden had initially discussed the surgery with him. Now, however, as he lie under the lights in the operating room it was beginning to sound like a bad idea. Not just because he didn't want to be awake when they filleted his hands opened and started throwing bits of bone in tray next to him, but because the notion of drug induced amnesia was actually terrifying.

He stared up at the light and wondered who had developed this drug and for what purpose. A drug that would make you tired and relaxed, but also cause anterograde amnesia; short term memory loss, helpful when you don't want to recall being awake during a surgery. Yes, it had usefully applications in the medical field but that wasn't his initial thought. His mind drifted back to the alchemists who he had known and the look of abstract horror in their eyes as they told tales of their experiments sanctioned by the state. What had started out as good intentions quickly was corrupted by the military for the purpose of destruction: alchemy, TNT, corn syrup, instant coffee, fangirls...so many things that created for good and used for evil.

He closed his eyes briefly, whatever drug they had given him to immobilize him for surgery was also making him a little groggy. He heard the doctors chattering and just chose to drown them out. Last thing he wanted to hear again was "What a mess!" or "I'm a doctor Jim, not a magician."

"Hello Colonel Mustang."

Roy opened his eyes and looked from side to side and waited for the person to appear. How weird, it sounded like a child's voice. He felt goosebumps on his skin and felt cold, though his muscles were so relaxed from the narcotics that felt detached from the involuntary shiver. It was cool, almost like a freezer, and he wondered if maybe Barry the Chopper was working as a surgeon for the military. Some of those surgeons on the front were butchers, amputating limbs just because they got a cut for automail sales later on. Damn. If his thoughts were wandering and disconnected now, what was it going to be like in a few hours? Too bad he wasn't going to remember any of this, Riza would be amused by some of it.

He heard another 'tink' as a piece of bone was discarded. Did he remember what they told him they were going to do with it? Oh...that's right, they had someone who could use alchemy to restructure the bone into the correct shape: the alchemist with the googly eyes and gold tooth. Wasn't that a neat idea? Broken bones fixed by alchemy? They'd re-craft the bone and reattach the ligaments. If it didn't work he could always have it amputated and get a metal hand. Or maybe a pirate hook. Yar.

He was interrupted in his thoughts as the sound of a chair wheeling over confused him. Was he in the office and dozing off again? Then he saw someone emerge to his right and was even more confused. Why was the Fuhrer's son in here?

Selim Bradley folded his arms and put them on the table, now able to see to the top of the gurney thanks to the chair he was now kneeling on. "I forgot you can't talk after that drug they gave you. It's OK, my Dad says you tend to talk too much anyway. "

This was weird. Of all the things he could hallucinate about, he was thinking about this creepy ass kid? Why couldn't he imagine Riza in a nurse's outfit?

"See, I thought we might want to have a little talk. We have something in common, a little thing called Pride." Selim touched the man's nose and was amused that his eyes crossed watching his finger. "I can see why you'd be so happy with yourself. You're handsome, smart, popular. I mean, I won't bore you with your long list of accolades and achievements, last thing you really need is an ego boost. You really do have everything going for you! Going to be weird to see you having to rub your hands together to make flames, but I guess these guys here are planning to fix that. Perks of having a philosopher stone. You'll be back to your dashing self in no time!"

Wait...what was that about a philosopher's stone? Nah, stupid kid probably believed in unicorns too.

Selim took some surgical clamps and began to put them in Mustang's hair like barrettes. "I thought since you have a few hours to spare we might have a little chat. Plant a few seeds in your brain before we inject you with that memory wipe and see what sticks. Curious to see what exactly we can tell your subconscious and have you recall. They altered the drug a bit for you in one of the labs, so memory of our conversation will be gone but the facts discussed will linger. You'll just process the memory differently and come to your own conclusions. You're an interesting man with a lot going on in your head, some things we're not too thrilled about."

Dammit kid, if you're going to play with my hair at least pull out the gray ones! He could yell all he wanted, no sound came from his mouth.

Selim held up seven fingers. "You know the seven deadly sins right? Well I know you and your little sidekick Fullmetal have been uncovering some information as of late that will eventually lead you down the road to finding out that homunculus are real. There are seven of us, all named quite humorously after mankind's sins."

Roy was feeling the cold grip of panic take a hold of his heart. Secrets, now flowing out of the mouth of some kid as he lie helpless on the table. He wasn't even sure if this was real or if his mind was torturing him like it always did. Still the chill of fear was genuine and he could feel his heart start to thump.

"Pride. That's me." Selim poked the man in the chest. "Your sin too. Thinking you're better than us, thinking you are untouchable. Yet here you are, broken and helpless. Just like a human, weak."

Roy was trying to will his body to obey him, hoping that his racing heart was enough to push the drug from his veins by force. He knew better. The drugs has to be metabolized, it would have to break down before he could be rid of its control over him. Shit! He could think about how to break down the molecular structure of the compound but without use of his body he wasn't able to use alchemy to do a damned thing about it.

"So shall we chat a little? I'd hate for you to be bored while these gentleman are putting you back together." Selim smiled as he saw the fear in the Colonel's eyes. He was glad he still had some minor ability to move his muscles as the expressions on his face were just priceless.