Remember, this fic is unrelated to the previous one (Smell). Just a reminder to avoid confusion.

Sight

Edward had seen some bad things in his time, even though he was only sixteen. His failed transmutation of his mother came to mind, along with that horrible thing with Shou Tucker and what he did to poor little Nina. So what he was seeing then, while definitely up there—possibly the worst thing he had ever seen—should be disturbing him, yes, but it shouldn't be…

Well, what it was.

Before him was a mother and her children. This could have been a very happy picture, but the children were all tied up and inside a transmutation circle. The mother was walking around them, singing a lullaby—a fucking lullaby of all things—and then picking them out, one by one, to transmute. Their tiny screams filled the air, but Ed couldn't move.

He just couldn't. He was watching their skin boil, watching them mutate into hideous beings, but he couldn't manage to move. Edward was paralyzed, eyes wide and staring.

This…this was the worst.

He began to sway, even as he saw Alphonse rush in to stop the woman. He couldn't think—his head hurt. Edward registered the black creeping at the edges of his vision; he was going to pass out.

Perhaps it was just that he could only take so much. After seeing all he had, Ed just couldn't stand any more, and he finally snapped.

Whatever the reason, Edward found himself careening downward, unable to stop the encroaching darkness.

When Ed woke up, everything was black. He opened his eyes…nothing. Was there a bandage over his face? Edward brought his hand up to check—

"Ow!" he muttered, after poking himself in the eye. Then the realization hit.

His eyes were open…there wasn't a bandage covering them…

Ed couldn't see.

He'd never been afraid of the dark, but this…this was terrifying. He couldn't seem to control his breathing, which was becoming more labored by the minute. Hell, Edward didn't even know where he was—was anyone with him?

"Al?" he called out. No one answered, but…Ed didn't know that he was safe; what if someone was watching him, waiting? What if he was a prisoner? That was ridiculous; he'd seen Al taking that crazy woman out as he passed out, and who else would have captured him, especially with his brother around? No. It wasn't possible.

But still, with the loss of his sight, he couldn't assuage that tiny pinprick of fear. Edward couldn't be a hundred percent sure nothing was amiss around him.

Taking a deep breath, Ed began to take inventory of what he did know. He felt fine, aside from being fucking blind. So he wasn't hurt. He was sitting on a bed, it felt like, and that was good. Immediately his swung his legs to the side, over the edge. No, he couldn't see, but he could use the wall, see if he could find his way out of wherever he was and find a person.

Anyone would do, at this point, just so Edward could figure out his situation.

However, walking was a lot more nerve-wracking when you couldn't tell where you were going. Ed took ginger steps, hands out in front of him to both keep his balance and test where he was going. Every squeak of the floor made him nervous.

And then a doorknob turned—amazing how he could hear even that now—and startled Edward so bad he tripped on…well, something or other and fell to the ground with a crash and a shout.

"Ed!"

The voice froze him. "C-Colonel?"

"What are you doing!?" Yes, that was Roy alright. It had been hard to tell—Edward couldn't remember the last time the man had called him by his first name. He felt hands grab under his arms and stiffened, before he realized Roy was just helping him back up. Ed huffed as he was placed back on the bed.

"I was trying to find someone. I wake up and can't fucking see and no one was here to explain…" Edward hated the desperate tone his voice took on, but he just couldn't help it.

"Ed," Roy sighed, "why would you think walking around is a good idea?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" he shouted. "I—I don't know anything. Where I am, what happened, who's here—I had to do something!"

Again, he felt a hand on his arm, this time resting on his shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry no one was in here, but you're going to get hurt. To answer your questions, you're at the hospital. Al's here, he's just…he had to step out. As for what happened…if you want me to go get the doctor, he'd definitely be better at explaining this than me."

Something about these words made Edward incredibly nervous. Perhaps it was the frighteningly gentle tone Roy had, something he'd never heard before. Regardless, Ed nodded.

He couldn't seem to preoccupy himself as he waited. He couldn't look at anything, obviously, and without that…Edward was a little lost. It was odd, how okay he was with this; but then again, it probably just hadn't really sunk in yet.

Moments later, two pairs of footsteps walked through the door. The doctor spoke rather loudly, which was irritating, though Ed supposed this was meant to be so he knew where to look. That was a new thought—he might be facing the wrong way and not even know it.

"Mr. Edward, you had a question?"

And apparently Roy couldn't even brief people. "Yeah," he answered. "What the hell happened? I know I passed out, but—my brother was taking care of everything, how the fuck did I wind up blind?"

Though he couldn't see, he could picture the doctor shuffling in the awkward silence that followed his question. Ed coughed impatiently.

"Well…to be perfectly honest with you, nothing happened," the man finally answered.

But that wasn't any help at all. "Doc, I don't mean to be an ass, but you're obviously drunk or something. People don't stop seeing for no reason."

"Mr. Edward, have you ever heard of a psychosomatic illness?" the doctor asked, ignoring his rude comment.

"Psycho-what?"

"I guess not. A psychosomatic illness is an illness that involves both the body and mind. In your case, I believe you are suffering from a somatoform disorder—more specifically, conversion disorder. Because of something you experienced, the trauma and stress of the situation caused your brain to shut down the ability to see."

Roy interrupted at this point. "I'm sorry, Ed. It's my fault for sending you on that mission. You saw something your subconscious probably didn't want to see, and so now you can't see at all."

Edward couldn't seem to move as the doctor continued. "Exactly. Now, there are treatments for stress we can give you, but…I'm afraid that until you're ready, I can't just magically make you see again."

So that was it? Ed couldn't see because…because of how horrible that woman's actions had been. It made sense, in a way—seeing those poor kids paralyzed him, made him want to vomit. Now he was frozen once more, unable to comprehend how he was supposed to fix this. Only he could get rid of his blindness, but…were stress treatments really the best he could hope for as help?

"Can…can I have a minute?" Edward croaked. "I—I need to absorb this."

"Of course," the doctor answered, exiting. But Ed only heard the one set of footsteps, and—just faintly—he thought he could hear breathing. Roy's breathing.

Moments later, he felt the bed he was sitting on lower as the man sat beside him. Edward found this painfully uncomfortable; he couldn't see, just feel Roy next to him. It was a disquieting sensation, made even more so when the man wrapped his arms around Ed.

He squirmed. "Okay, who the fuck are you!? You're not the Colonel—no way he would do this, be this fucking touchy—"

"Actually, Ed, it is me."

But Edward couldn't believe that. Roy was a hard ass, he couldn't imagine the man hugging anyone, let alone him. Ed. No, no way. He began to panic, realizing that he had no way to know if the people talking to him were who they said they were—what if they were just mimicking the voices he knew…? His breathing became more labored and finally, finally the man beside him let go.

"Ed, calm down. Please. Here—" The man lifted one of Edward's hands, placing it on his cheek. "Go on, feel my face."

Slowly, Ed did so, moving his hand across the man's face, over his nose. He inched his fingers upwards, feeling eyes close under his light touch, and all the way up to the hair. Then back down, examining through touch the man's chin, and—even more hesitantly now—his lips…the man sighed contentedly as he did this, and Ed pulled his hand back, feeling more than a little awkward.

It sure felt like Roy; the features all seemed to have the right shape, as far as Edward could tell, but… "What if you're a shape shifter or something?"

He heard a sigh. "I'm going to use my alchemy—I know you can't see, but you'll be able to hear the fire, okay?" Ed nodded, and exactly as promised, he heard a snap, then the soft wooshing, crackling sound of fire.

The face, the voice, the alchemy… "Okay," Edward muttered, and as soon as the word was out of his mouth again there was that arm around his shoulder. "So I'm convinced you're the Colonel. But still, the hell are you hugging me for?"

"Because I want to," the man answered casually.

Ed didn't know how to respond to this. Why would Roy want to hug him…?

"Ed? I know you can't see, but turn towards me."

Unsure, Edward did as he was told—even if he hadn't, the man probably would have forced him to, so why make it harder that it should be? Ed wasn't in the mood for those kinds of shenanigans right now.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," Roy murmured. "But I have to be honest, a little bit of me is glad you can't see right now."

"Why?" Edward asked, jerking backwards. A hand was brought up swiftly, pulling him in close again, and Ed felt breath on his face.

"Because," the man answered, "it's given me the chance to do something I've wanted to do for a long time."

And with that, Roy kissed him.

Ed's body went into lockdown. His brain, already overloaded simply couldn't comprehend what was happening. Warm lips, moving slowly, Roy—the two things seemed entirely disconnected, except they weren't.

Why, why would Roy kiss him?

As soon as it began, it was over, and Edward found another question popping into his head. Why hadn't he stopped it?

The man stood up, pressing another kiss to Ed's head. Still stunned, he couldn't seem to say anything. "I'll go get your brother. I'm sure you'll want to talk to him," Roy whispered, walking out the door.

Edward couldn't manage a word, couldn't even move, until several minutes later when Al rushed in and broke the spell.

Do we want a second part to Sight, or do we like it cut off like this? Let me know in the reviews, please!