(Age 16)
Elizabeth bit her lip anxiously as she waited for the nurse to give her the go-ahead to leave her own hospital room. She'd been admitted with minor burns, some laceration and a suspicion of a concussion, but she was much more worried about Jean. She wanted to know how he was, if there really was something wrong with his legs. Whatever pain she felt was numbed at the thought that she was almost the one without her legs. Whatever anger she felt towards his past actions paled in comparison to the awe created by his instinct to protect her.
Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the nurse walk in with a clipboard and her lips pressed in a taut, disapproving line. She huffed, "You may leave to visit Mr. Havoc," Elizabeth's eyes lit up as the nurse gained her undivided attention, "As long as the clothes you change into are very loose and you keep the IV in your arm."
A gurgled groan escaped the girl's lips, the IV attached to her arm was beginning to itch and she could feel the needle shift ever-so slightly inside her vein with every movement she made. The woman gave her a pointed glare, "I don't know what was going on down where they found you," She scolded, "But you were latched onto your comrade with a hot automail blade slowly burning through your clothing. You were dehydrated from the heat in that room. The officers took the temperature when they got there, it was nearly one hundred degrees! And you want to go visit that man? Without your IV?"
Elizabeth hung her head sheepishly, "I love him. And he might be hurt because of me." She glanced at the IV, "And I promise not to take it out."
The nurse gave her a strained smile and nodded, giving her some clothes that Riza had brought by. "I suppose there's nothing to do when love's involved." She gave Elizabeth a slight wink, walking out where she came in to let the girl get dressed.
A sigh filled the silence as Elizabeth breathed, "I suppose." She gingerly stepped out of her bed and slipped on her bra and underwear before shimmying into the big baggy shirt that had to have been Havoc's. It reached her mid-thigh, only slightly shorter than her normal skirt, so she figured it would be fine.
With one last deep breath, she grabbed the pole that held the IV and made her way to Havoc's room.
As Elizabeth neared the men's hospital room, her heart skipped at the sound of one of Jean's calm retorts, "...blindly onto the battlefield?" She chuckled to herself silently, still pulling her IV. Jean must have been talking to Roy about entering the room with Solaris in it.
A sharp, defensive cry resounded as she turned to corner, "Shut up!" It definitely came from the second room, making her pick up her speed slightly, wanting to know what the commotion was about.
She reached the nob and began to turn it right as Havoc replied, "Please don't yell so much," Elizabeth opened the door to see Riza standing guard, Jean laying in his bed with an IV attached, and Roy with his feet over the edge of his bed and a hand holding onto his side wound. "It's making my wounds sting." Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the statement, but the joke made her feel much better about his condition.
Both men turned their attention to her, the darker haired of the two with a much more positive response to her presence. The blond man, on the other hand, had his gaze irritatingly fixed on the IV she was dragging along with her. "What the hell are you doing walking around when you still need to be attached to that?" He asked angrily, sincerely concerned for her health.
Before the girl was able to recover from his seemingly sudden anger, Roy had chuckled and retorted, "Is that how you talk to the girl who saved your sorry ass?"
Jean looked up at Elizabeth with surprise. He'd seen the scars and he'd been told how much blood there would have been. The sadness he looked at her with forced her to avert her own eyes. She couldn't handle a look of pity like that, especially not from him and especially not when he was the seriously injured one. "What are you talking about," Elizabeth gritted out, forcing her gaze to Mustang, "You're the one who torched him. You don't have to lie to him just to make me look good or to cover for having to undress a man." She looked back at Jean and rolled her eyes, as if she hadn't just lied through her teeth.
To her relief, he no longer held a look of pity towards her. Instead he was already facing Roy, nonchalantly remarking, "Well damn, couldn't you have fried me a bit more carefully? Women don't like ugly scars, they'll drive them away."
Mustang, clearly irritated by Jean's lack of observation and gratitude, snapped, "Quit being so needy. I saved your ass, didn't I? You're alive and in a hospital rather than dead and six feet under!" Jean's response was a quick grunt, which only added fuel to Mustang's flame. "And why in the hell am I sharing a room with a man, anyway?" He threw his hands up in the air for emphasis, "I should be in a private room with my own, beautiful nurse!"
Elizabeth barely caught Riza's eyes rolling as she replied promptly, "Bear with it, Sir. The enemy could finish you off in your sleep at any point. The shared room makes it much easier to guard you two."
Roy clapped his hands in an epiphany and pointed at his woman, "Exactly!" sobering from his previous banter with Havoc in a heartbeat, he continued, "Why haven't they taken this perfect opportunity to kill us yet? In a hospital, death isn't uncommon, so why not?"
Before anyone could respond or expound on his statement, the hospital door creaked open. At once everyone was on hyperalert, proven to be useless when Kain and Alphonse popped their heads into view. "Excuse me for interrupting your conversation." Kain stated formally, saluting with one hand while the other was occupied by a rolled up piece of paper.
As the two entered farther, Alphonse became more visible as he added happily, "Hey! I tagged along to see how you guys are doing." When he noticed the unexpected extra, his sister, he realized too late that she had not been informed of his 'bodily' harm. With anger evident in her features, Alphonse raised his one hand, as the other and the arm attached were broken and the hole covered with a white cloth, in attempt to appease it. "S-Sister! I see you've come to visit," He glanced at Roy and Jean, trying to determine in a split second who would reward him the better response, "Jean and see how he is!" He finished quickly, practically sighing in relief as she gave a small smile.
"Alphonse," Riza addressed with worry, "Should you be walking around like that?" Though she had an almost motherly tone with the young boy, it was clear she was scolding him, "Do you know that someone could be trying to kill you?"
"Ah, it's okay!" He defended quickly, "I have someone accompanying me that can sense homunculi!"
Bewildered Roy and Riza muttered about in confusion, "Sense humunculi..." and, "How is that...?"
"I don't understand how, either, but it's definitely true!" Alphonse assured.
Riza, suddenly remembering something, faced Kain with an outstretched hand, "Did you bring what I asked?" She prompted.
Kain held up the rolled paper, "Here it is!" Earning himself a nod of approval, the young man turned to leave the room.
She followed, thanking him briefly before ordering him, "Please watch the door."
Saluting obediently, Kain replied, "Yes, Ma'am." and shut the door silently to let the others work with what Riza had in her hand.
Rambles of the circle Hawkeye had drawn based on measurements of her stride and the buildings that fell within it were lost on Elizabeth. The fact that both the second laboratory and a corner of the Fuhrer's office were some of those surely reached her ears, but she couldn't concentrate on any of it.
She was looking at Havoc, trying to determine why he hadn't said a word to her. Was he well again? Was he still hurt? She was mad at him for leaving her hanging, but even angrier that he had gotten hurt trying to save her. How could someone be so unobservant? How could she have not see that bitch's hand there?
The rustle of paper as Roy took the map from Riza's hands snapped Elizabeth out of her worrisome thoughts. "Could the Fuhrer be connected to the homunculi?" He wondered aloud, his voice slightly hushed in fear of prying ears.
"But," Alphonse interjected in a normal volume before adjusting as well, "The Fuhrer led the troops that wiped out the pocket of homunculi in Dublith. The Major even fought along side them." A tone of confusion arose in his voice as he added, "Does that mean that the Fuhrer regarded Greed as a threat to the military?"
Riza nodded curtly for Roy, who was still lost in thought, "Possibly."
"Then..." Elizabeth finally joined, almost smiling at the memory of the odd homonculus Greed, "Why would he try so hard to completely obliterate them?"
Roy removed a hand from the map to touch his chin as he hesitated in thought. Then he turned to his roommate, Jean, and asked, "The Fuhrer is the one who called the ambulance, right?"
The blond looked slightly confused as he replied, "Yeah, that's what I heard." Elizabeth smiled sadly, once more reminded of falling unconscious at his side.
"Would he be an ally?" Roy's eyes hardened as he added, "Hughes said that the military is in danger. If this enemy is strong enough to overtake the entire military, we have no idea how many of the higher-ups are in on it." He glanced back at the paper with nothing less than a look of sheer determination. "This won't be an easy task."
Riza understood the gravity of the task without fail, "But if we were to lure them out and finish them all at once..." She trailed off, waiting for the confirmation she knew would come.
"Yes." Roy nodded slightly, "I can rise quickly and become the leader of this country." Elizabeth looked at the colonel and saw him for the first time in proper lighting. She saw a strong man who had a cause, an ability to fight for it, and plenty of people to back him up. And she was honored to be one of those people.
The man she was currently admiring spoke again, this time beginning with a chuckle, "I thought this was something small when we were chasing down Barry, but it seems like we caught something so much bigger than ever expected." He scoffed lightly, "At least it's worth fighting for." He glanced to the side at Hawkeye, "I'm going to need you to continue working hard along side me, got it?" Riza saluted in response as he added, "And a few more loyal officers would be appreciated."
Just as Elizabeth moved to say she would also be along side him, Jean spoke up sheepishly, "Eh, about that. You're going to have to count me out." Just two sentences crushed her spirit. She'd been praying to whatever higher being there might be that the doctor would have fixed him. What would she do, knowing he'd lost his legs to save her? She stared at him with wide, hopeful eyes, silently begging him to say anything but what she feared most. He glanced down to his legs, confirming it wordlessly to her, "I can't feel my legs. I couldn't since Beth was talking to me in that damned room."
Elizabeth, forgetting her IV completely, dropped the pole and knelt at the side of his bed. Though she winced at the pain of the needle slipping out, she didn't really care.
"I-I'm sorry." He continued, taking Elizabeth's hand. Though it was directed at the colonel, she caught the double meaning. He was apologizing to her, too. His eyes met Elizabeth, this time clearly speaking to her and letting Mustang interpret the second meaning, "I'm out of the game."
Elizabeth didn't even notice her little brother leaving, as she froze from his words. Once the curtain was drawn between the two men for as much privacy as the circumstance allowed, Elizabeth stared at Jean, nearly speechless. "Out of the game?" She laughed nervously, "What game, Jean?"
Havoc smiled at the fiery pixie at his side, as he placed his palm to her cheek, "I can't fight for you anymore, Beth. I love you more than anything, but I can't fight for you like this."
Elizabeth's vision blurred from the tears. They threatened to spill, but she tried to keep them at bay as she took a shaky breath, "There is no fight, Jean. You don't have to fight for me, you never really did."
His thumb brushed away a single stream of water, "Beth, you should accept Bradley's proposal. How am I supposed to compete with that? He has a house, a job, and he can walk."
It pained him to say it, but she really was better off with him. It pained him even more when she pulled away from his hand, fearing she would take his advice. When she grabbed his hand though, he knew she wasn't giving up on him and that gave him a bit of hope. "I won't marry someone I don't love, you idiot. And as soon as you're up and walking again, I'm expecting you to be down on one knee for me." Jean's eyes widened at her seriousness, shocked that she was actually okay with the idea of getting married. Even if his recovery would probably never happen. "Do you understand me, Jean Havoc?"
He grinned at the girl, "Loud and clear, sweetheart." His eyes flicked to the ring still on her finger. "But do me a favor and chuck that thing into the nearest river, okay?" Elizabeth giggled for the first time in a long time without being influenced by alchemic side effects or hospital drugs.
Elizabeth and Alphonse spoke for a long time after visiting hours were over, discussing each detail of their adventures while they had been separated, so as to help one another decipher the different puzzles they had encountered over the months and weeks.
Sorry it's been so long, guys! I've been busier than a bee! I hope you liked it though! I can't believe how emotional I got over this chapter though, I've been wanting to say the line about being down on one knee since like chapter three.