Disclaimer: Legendarily Quiet does not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Edward had been wrong.

A notion that was usually so foreign to him seemed to be pointing at his face and laughing, and he scowled up at the white hospital ceiling even harder. The miracle cure hadn't worked, and now his head was pounding and his bones were aching and he felt so damn hot–

"Here."

Edward closed his eyes as the pain spiked. He tried his best to keep his breathing even as Roy leaned over him to drape a wet cloth across his forehead. "Dr. Westwood is reluctant to give you anything," the man said. "He isn't sure what's happening, and doesn't know how best to proceed."

Well, if Edward knew one thing, it was that if he ever got better, he was never going to set foot in another hospital for as long as he lived – all the staff were evil, useless, clueless bumbling idiots who couldn't even do their job right.

"If that's the case," Edward said through gritted teeth, "can you just take me home now? You know how much I hate it here."

Edward took a chance and opened one eyelid to peek at Roy. He was staring right back at him, brow wrinkled with a small frown on his face. Edward closed his eye quickly and turned his head the other way. He heard the colonel sigh – he seemed to be doing that a lot lately – and say, "Ed, you know I can't take you home when you're in this much pain right now."

"Well, what else can we do?!" Edward's temper could always be counted on to flare up, and it reared its ugly head now. He whipped his head back around to glare at Roy, causing the damp cloth to fall off his head and ignoring his headache as it intensified. "Nobody has any idea about what's going on, and nobody has a clue on how to make this – this condition go away!" Edward knew that he was acting like a child, complaining like this, but he was damn tired of everything. He didn't even remember how he had come to be this way, and he couldn't trust anyone to make him better again. "I want to go home now."

"No, Edward. I refuse to take you home when you're like this." Roy's stance was firm, but his face softened and his voice suddenly quieted, "What if – what if I took you home and the pain overwhelmed you again? What would I do then?"

Edward didn't have a rebuttal for this, and a sinking feeling in his gut told him he had lost the battle this time. Roy had a point; they obviously couldn't carry on as they had before, now that Ed was experiencing physical pain. He breathed out a loud sigh of his own and said, "Fine, then. I'll just lie here and hate every second of my miserable existence in this hell hole."

Roy didn't even bother to admonish him for his description of the hospital. He simply reached out to pick up the fallen cloth and dipped it in the basin of cool water beside him. He replaced it on Ed's forehead, and Ed breathed out slowly.

"Do you think you could – leave me alone for a while?" He stumbled over the words, but he needed to get this out one way or another. "I hate to say this, but you're still causing me pain."

Edward regretted his words immediately as Roy's face sort of closed off, but the man didn't make any move to leave. "About that," he said in a carefully neutral voice, "do you think you could explain just what it is about me that causes you pain?"

There it was, the moment of truth. Ed had the chance to finally come clean, to explain everything that had been going on the past few days, but he hesitated. What would Roy think if he spilled everything? He opened his mouth, and then closed it. "It's kind of hard to explain," he said slowly, not meeting Roy's eyes. Did he even want to say it?

Roy scooted his chair away from the hospital bed and leaned back. "Take all the time you need, Edward."

With those words, Ed felt his walls break. He owed this much to Roy, at least. "You have to promise not to interrupt; this is going to sound kind of crazy," he said.

"I promise that I won't interrupt, and I'll believe every word you say."

Roy's voice was no longer neutral, but soft and gentle. Edward winced at the sound and steeled himself. "It's just – the more you show you care, the more it hurts."

He chanced a glance at Roy and saw his face scrunch up in confusion. Edward struggled to find the right words to explain. "I mean – it wasn't always like this. It's just – in the beginning, at the start of all this, I didn't want to believe that you could be anything other than a selfish, uncaring bastard."

Edward took a deep breath. "But then, I'd get these feelings, whenever you did or said something nice. I would suddenly feel so damn happy, and it was really confusing, because, since when have I ever been happy around you, you know?"

Edward closed his mouth suddenly. Gosh, was he really going to say all of this? Already he was sounding like some over-emotional girl, but, there was Roy, nodding and encouraging him to continue. Edward summoned his courage and forged ahead.

"At first, I tried to deny it," he said quickly, "to crush my feelings and hope that they would go away. But that didn't work. It happened more and more often, and then with the littlest things – one pat on the shoulder and I'd be overwhelmed with conflicting feelings. And you did it a lot, you know? You said so many things – did so many things – that I loved and hated at the same time. And I just couldn't deal with it all. That's why I ran away that one time; I was just so confused. And then, when we went to get lunch that day, it just became too much, and from then on it caused me physical pain to deny my feelings, instead of just the confusion I felt before."

Roy's eyes widened in understanding, and Ed looked away, embarrassed about what he had to say next. "And then – gosh this is embarrassing – I decided that yeah, you do care, and I just, you know, accepted it. I thought that the pain would go away if I got all my feelings lined up. But it didn't. It didn't, Roy, and now whenever you show that you care, even with just your tone of voice, it hurts. It hurts a lot, and I don't know what to do anymore."

Edward looked Roy right in the eyes. "Actually, I never did know what to do, so please, tell me that there's something out there that can fix this?" He felt his eyes begin to moisten, and he blinked rapidly. "Fate really loves screwing with me, huh? The first time I want to be in your company, and I can't even have that without pain."

He looked away from Roy and squeezed his eyes shut. "I just . . . really don't want to do this anymore."

Roy's chair screeched as he stood up abruptly. Ed barely opened his eyes before military blue obscured his vision, and he was wrapped in Roy's embrace.

"Edward – I'm so, so sorry," Roy said. Edward could feel the man shaking. "I never knew. If I had known, I promise you . . ."

"Roy, it's okay." His head was aching and his bones felt like they were on fire, but Edward wouldn't deny Roy this small level of comfort.

He lasted fifteen seconds more before Roy was showered in a spray of blood and Ed felt himself lose the battle to staying conscious.

Cassandra felt like she was floating. A huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she couldn't help but laugh as she picked up her daughter and swung her around. "I did it, Anna!" she said, smiling so wide she felt like her face would split. "I made things right, I made everything right again."

Anna was joyful right along with her. "Good for you, Mommy!" she said through her own shrieks of laughter. "You did a good job!"

Cassandra pulled Anna close as their laughter died down. "That's right sweetie," she said. "Your mother did a good job."

It didn't matter that she had overstepped her boundary again and angered the Flame Alchemist. Edward was better now, and that simple fact alone would be enough to calm down his monster of a guardian. She, Cassandra Bell, had cured Edward Elric, and now everything was as it should be.

"Come on, Anna," she said, standing up and patting herself down. "It's time for us to leave. Let's go get some ice-cream."

Sparkling eyes beamed up at her. "Okay, Mommy!"

Anna was quick to put on her shoes – all by herself! – as Cassandra packed their few belongings in the suitcase she had brought with her. They couldn't go back to their house by the forest, but Cassandra already had another place in mind. She locked the door to the Hughes' household with the key she had found hanging on a hook, and then placed it under the doormat. Cassandra took her daughter by the hand, and together the two of them started off down the street, Cassandra humming a happy tune.

People parted to the left and to the right as Roy thundered down the halls. The cure hadn't worked, and it was all her fault. Edward wasn't able to even be in the same room as him without feeling pain, and it all because of her. Cassandra Bell had made a mess, and hadn't even been able to clean it up. Such vermin should only be disposed of.

Roy stormed out of the hospital and got into his car, slamming the door shut behind him. He didn't know what he was going to do, or how he was going to do it, but he knew why. That woman was probably laughing at him somewhere, proud that she had been able to play him for a fool. She probably had had no intention of helping them from the start, and had just wanted to do Edward in.

The more Roy thought about it as he swerved from side to side down the street, the more it made sense. Cassandra Bell hadn't even told anyone what the original purpose of the drug was, so who was to say that she hadn't been planning for things to turn out this way from the start? And they had just let her. Roy, who was supposed be protecting Edward, had stood aside and watched as the wolves tore into him, not even knowing that it was something he was supposed to be stopping.

Roy slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt in front of the Hughes residence. He all but jumped out of his car and ran up the steps to the door. He rapped on the door incessantly, violent thoughts running rampant in his mind. He didn't want to do anything in front of Elicia or Gracia, he'd have to take Cassandra outside –

"Whoa, there!"

Roy stopped his fist just before it hit Hughes' face, and had to force himself to restrain from charging in there and dragging the she-devil out by the hair. "Where is she?" he ground out, fists clenched hard by his sides. Hughes took one look at him and then stepped outside, shutting the door behind him gently. His next words had Roy seeing red.

"She's gone."

Alphonse stared gloomily at the wall in front of him as he sat scrunched up in the hallway. Cassandra had left . . . and took with her the best chance they had of curing his brother. He felt betrayed, somehow. He had been the one to capture her and bring her to Mr. Hughes, offering her a second chance to redeem herself, instead of just turning her in to the proper authorities to be locked away. Alphonse had put his trust in her – had trusted that she, together with Mr. Hughes, would be able to fix this big mess. But Cassandra had just turned around and ran at the first opportunity. Alphonse clenched his fists until his gauntlets began to creak, but none of his pent up frustration was released.

He shouldn't have trusted her. And he hadn't, not really. Cassandra had been under close supervision – though nobody had acted like it – and that was an unspoken agreement that hadn't been broken until the aftermath of the administration of the 'cure'. Why had nobody bothered to accompany Cassandra when she said she was going to head back to the house? Why had nobody had the slightest suspicion that she would do something like this? Alphonse shook his head slightly. They had all been delirious with hope, and that was why nobody had paid any attention. He too, was to blame. He had wanted so badly to believe that Ed would be cured and that it would finally be all over, that he had completely forgotten about Cassandra until it was too late.

And now, his brother was stuck in the hospital, fighting an enemy that he didn't know existed, and nobody was able to help him. Alphonse wasn't able to help him. His only big brother, and he had failed him by not being able to keep track of one person. Some brother he was. When it came down to it, Alphonse really couldn't do anything right, could he?

Alphonse abruptly let his thoughts trail off as he continued to stare blankly ahead of him. He knew where this kind of thinking would get him, and he really didn't want to go down that road – not when his brother needed him to do something productive now.

With a firm resolution, he got to his feet, his armour clanking loudly. Al knew exactly what Ed would do in this kind of situation, and it was not sitting around moping. Well, Ed did do that sometimes, but not during times when action needed to be taken! With a firm nod to himself, Alphonse walked down the hallway and headed towards the front door.

He would find Cassandra, hunt her down and make her fix all of this. And if she couldn't, well, then she'd only get what was coming to her. All her theories, ideas, notes, everything would have to be taken, and he'd find a cure himself if he had to! Enough was enough; Alphonse was done playing nice, and was ready to take things into his own hands.

Nobody messed with his big brother and got away with it.

"Alphonse?" Mrs. Hughes stepped out from around a corner just as Al reached for the doorknob. "Where are you going?"

Alphonse turned around and gave her a short bow. "Thank you very much for having me, Mrs. Hughes," he said, "but it's time for me to go now. I can't sit around and do nothing when I know that a criminal is out on the loose."

Mrs. Hughes wrinkled her brow at the term, and Al thought for a moment that she might reprimand him for calling Cassandra a criminal, but she only set her mouth in a firm line and nodded. "I know that I can't keep you here, Alphonse, but please be safe," she said. "And remember that you're always welcome here at any time. It's been a pleasure to have you."

Alphonse thanked her one more time and stepped out the foot door.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"I meant exactly what I said Roy, she just left!" Hughes held up his hands, no doubt trying to placate him, but Roy was having none of it.

"You were in charge of a criminal Hughes, and you just let her get away! Do you know what this means?!"

Hughes opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of the front door opening cut him off. Roy looked past him to see Alphonse exit the house. The suit of armour closed the door behind him and regarded the two men warily.

"Um, am I interrupting something?"

"No, Alphonse," Hughes said gently before Roy could say anything. "Roy is just upset that Cassandra got away."

"And he has all the reason to be!"

Roy's anger gave way to shock at the boy's outburst.

"We trusted her, and she did the unthinkable. I think it's time that she was brought to justice."

The boy's voice was hard, and Roy was reminded that this was Edward Elric's brother, a child who had all the determination in the world and no boundaries when it came to protecting the people he loved.

Hughes looked from Alphonse to Roy and then back again, an unreadable expression on his face. "I guess there's no stopping the two of you," he said at length. "I'll get an arrest warrant and we'll be on our way, shall we?"

Roy looked at Alphonse and then nodded.

The rest of that day was very productive. Roy got his team together, and an arrest for Cassandra Bell was issued. Several soldiers were dispatched to find her, and her name and picture were posted all over Central by the end of the day. Any chance of keeping this low-key had been blown out of the water, and any chance of letting her off similarly abandoned.

Because of her involvement with the Fullmetal Alchemist, she had been placed at the top of the priority list, and Roy smiled to himself as he drove back to the hospital. Visiting hours were nearly over by that point, but as Edward's guardian, he got permission to stay the night.

Roy was pleasantly surprised to find the boy fast asleep when he creaked open the door. A cot in the corner had already been set up for him, but he walked over to Edward's bed first. The boy's breathing was even, and his mouth was open slightly. A strand of hair fell across his face, and Roy brushed it away with a small smile.

Everything was going to be taken care of. Fuhrer Bradley now knew all the details concerning Ed's condition, and while he had fixed Roy with a disapproving stare when he was notified, he had let him off without any punishment, just smiling in that easy way of his. Roy had been a bit perplexed at that (after all, not disclosing such critical information about the state's most important asset – well, that had to be a crime) but he was just grateful that the military's greatest minds had been put to work on a cure.

Roy made his way over to the cot in the corner, and sat down on it with a sigh. The public in Central didn't know the details about what happened to Edward, but just knowing that someone had dared lay a hand on the People's Alchemist assured Roy that no one would try to harbour Cassandra Bell. He took off his boots and jacket, then lay sideways on the cot.

Edward wasn't cured, and Cassandra Bell wasn't captured, but just the knowledge that he was finally doing something was enough to lull Roy to sleep.

Legendarily Quiet: I'M STILL ALIVE.

Lest: Seven months must be a new record!

L.Q: Yeah . . . sorry about that. I wanted to give you guys a longer chapter to make up for the wait, but I just want to be done with this and start a new one already. Let's wish our luck to make the next chapter better.

Lest: Please review, if you feel so inclined.

L.Q: Till next time!