I sigh as I sign more papers at my desk. My phone goes off and I answer it. "Hello?" I answer with annoyance.
"Colonel, it's me Al." The voice says and he sounds in distress.
"Hi Al what's up? Is Ed being a headache again?" I ask.
"No and…. Ed is missing I can't find him at all. It's been a week and I have no idea where he is." He says with deep worry.
Fuck! What he do now? Great more paperwork and more cleaning up his mess. Why is he such a pain in my ass? "Where are you?" I ask in anger.
"Still where you sent him. We got separated and I lost him. Please colonel help me find him. He could be seriously hurt." He pleads with me. I sigh in agitation while pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Yeah we'll be there soon." I say with a sigh. I hang up and call Hawkeye into the office. "Assemble my men we are going to find Fullmetal. He got himself in trouble like always." I say in anger. She nods and leaves.
Three days later we meet up with Al and start our search. It's a mess here. The people don't trust us and still rebuilding from the war. We learn they arrested him and took Ed into custody and threw him in a military prison to use him to make demands with us. Hawkeye, Havoc, and I go retrieve him and arrange for them to release him to us in return we give them more protection. The guard takes us down to the basement where the cells are and opens the door. What I see shocks me to my core.
On the floor lay a naked boy covered in his own filth and blood. His wrists cuffed and chained with a long chain to the wall.
I turn when the guard starts to laugh at the sight. I glare at him and he stops immediately. I turn and go over to my subordinate and pull my jacket off to cover him up. "Unlock these cuffs on him now!" I yell at the guard and he quickly does as I say. I pick up Ed and carry him out. He's unconscious and weighs nothing. He's been missing for almost three weeks now.
I get him in the car and we go to the nearest hospital. They stabilize him and I order for him to be transported to central because I don't trust the hospital there. "Is he stable enough to travel? That's all I need to know." I demand the doctor who cleaned him up and examined him.
"Yes. But he really shouldn't leave this hospital until he is more stable but yes he will survive the trip." He finally caves.
"That's all I needed to know." I say. We get Edward ready to leave and take him through the desert and to the train to go home. It's an hour to the nearest train station. I sit in the back of the truck with him as did Al.
"How bad?" I hear the younger brother ask.
"He's very sick but this bag right here going into his body will save him. A few bruised ribs and malnourished and dehydrated." I answer. I leave out the worst part. The part I can't come to terms with myself. The doctor didn't fully examine him since I wouldn't let him.
We finally get on a train and go home. Once there we had a medic take him to the hospital. I follow after telling Alphonse to wait. Once the door is shut I turn to the doctor and nurse. "I need proof and need a complete exam including an anal exam of his anal area. I do believe they used him for sex." I explain. They nod and I oversee them as they pull off the blanket and turn him on his side. They shine a light on his backside and I swallow the bile rising up as I see the bruises, the cuts, and tears on the inside as they spread him open. White fluid leaks out and oozes onto the bed. Fuck!
They take samples and the doctor probes and sighs in sorrow. He then opens him up and looks deeper to see the damage inside. He finally finishes. He tosses his gloves as he walks over to me.
"Definitely signs of sexual abuse and assault. He's what? Fifteen?" He says.
"Sixteen but yes he's young. I thought that might have been the case when I found him. I know what they do to boys in military prisons. I've seen it many times where they use the younger boys for sex and pass them around to other soldiers and inmates too. I was trying to protect him from that. I got worried when he joined the military at twelve years old. The older he got the safer I thought he'd be but I was wrong. He's still a kid." I say. The doctor nods. "Tell no one. I will take care of it myself." I add.
"Yes sir. What about the brother?" He asked.
"He doesn't need to know." I answer. They nod and clean Edward up and treat his injuries and give him more antibiotics for his sepsis he got from infections he contracted from being raped and the tears inside him got infected from not healing and them not letting them heal. I'm assuming he was raped daily.
I pull a chair next to him once they were done. "I'm sorry kid! I shouldn't of sent you there if I knew this would happen to you." I say in a low voice. I look at his shallow face. His face is thinner and his hair not as golden like it usually is. His skin an ashy color. He looks like death. I guess after being held captive for three weeks would do that to anyone. I wonder about his spirit? Did it finally break? He been through hell and back but he was still that brat I loved to pick on and yet keep him protected without his knowing.
Alphonse comes in and sees his brother and sobs a bit at the sight. Soon my unit come too when they hear the news.