Chapter 3: Assigning Blame

As always, trigger warning for language, graphic content, and sensitive material.

Mustang lurched forward just as Ed's body hit the carpet with a soft thud. Kneeling, he rolled Ed over and quickly pressed two fingers to the pale boy's neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, albeit a little quick for someone who had merely been standing for a while. The blond's skin held a faint warmth to it as well, most likely the beginnings of a low-grade fever.

Roy glanced up at Ed's forehead, which was red from hitting the ground. He didn't think Ed would have a concussion or anything, but it would probably be sore later.

Just as Roy was about to get up and call a medic in, Ed's eyes opened slowly, and he glanced around in a confused daze.

"What happened?"

Ed blinked wearily up at the ceiling as his surroundings began to make sense to him and his vision became less blurry. He was laying on the carpet in Mustang's office, which was weird - considering he was pretty sure he'd been on his way out.

Ed glanced around, confused, before he settled on Mustang's concerned gaze. Roy was kneeling and facing him, but looked seconds away from bolting to the door.

"What happened?" Ed asked, wincing at the slight shakiness in his voice.

"You fainted in my office," Roy explained, "Your heart rate was elevated, and you seem to have a low fever."

Ed scrunched his eyebrows together at the details Mustang provided. He'd fainted? In Mustang's office? He'd be more embarrassed if he wasn't so distracted by how shitty he was feeling, and the gap in his memory, though the fever Roy mentioned was news to him.

"Can I help you sit up?" Roy asked hesitantly, watching as the alchemist seemed to start zoning out once more. His prior dismissal of a concussion was being altered; Ed's confusion and distant look were leading him to believe otherwise.

Ed sighed and turned his head so he was facing the ceiling once more, wincing as the bright lights assaulted his already sore head. His throat felt dry, and his limbs felt weak and flaky. However, having embarrassed himself enough, Ed wasn't about to rely on the Colonel for help.

Taking a deep breath, Ed propped himself up on his elbows and from there managed to quickly push himself into a sitting position. Too quickly. His head spun and he opened his mouth in surprise as the room seemed to swirl together into a sickening blend of color.

Roy watched Ed sit himself up without answering the question he'd asked, though he couldn't say he was surprised at that. However, he was surprised when the boy suddenly tilted forward, his eyes seeming to glaze over.

"Hey, hey take it slow, don't you go passing out on me again," Roy snapped, trying to keep Ed's focus. He quickly caught Ed's shoulders and pressed him back so that he was leaning against the coffee table for support. It probably wasn't too kind on his back, but he had greater concerns at the moment.

He waited until Ed seemed to stabilize before leaning back and taking a deep breath.

"Do you know where you are?" Roy asked, worriedly.

"I'm with you, bastard, in your office," Ed grumbled half-heartedly.

"What's your name?" Roy questioned.

Ed gave him a look, "I prefer Ed, but you prefer Fullmetal. How am I supposed to know which one you want?"

Roy rolled his eyes at this, concussion removed from his list of pressing worries.

"Just had to check. I'm going to get a medic in here to look you over and-"

"No! No, I don't need a medic," Ed was quick to interrupt. He knew the only reason he'd...fainted…in Mustang's office was because he hadn't eaten and his automail had left him on empty. No reason to get the full check-up for something as simple as that.

"I'm ok, really. I didn't sleep well last night, and forgot to eat dinner yesterday so I'm just a little tired. As soon as I get lunch I'll be ok," Ed attempted to reassure the skeptical man knelt in front of him.

"You forgot to eat dinner?" Roy perked an eyebrow at the statement. "You? You who could out-eat Havoc and Breda combined?"

Ed scoffed at the comment, but his stomach churned with panic. How was he supposed to explain this one away? 'I'm sorry, my so-called-father didn't let me eat and it's hard to sleep on an empty stomach'.

He couldn't tell Roy about Hoenheim. Ed doubted Roy would believe him anyway, but even if he did, he was scared of how Hoenheim would react. His father was a powerful man, and if the military came to inspect his treatment of his children, Ed had no doubt Hoenheim would be able to put up a façade so good they'd only be angry with Ed for lying. And of course, that wouldn't settle well with Hoenheim.

Ed shivered as he thought of what Hoenheim might do if that happened, and decided it most certainly needed to be avoided.

"I got busy ok? Unlike some people, I'm actually busy with work and get things done."

Roy sighed in frustration. He was worried at first, and still was, but he was relieved that the alchemist seemed to be acting like his old self.

At least, as close to his old self as he could be after taking a nose-dive in his office just a few minutes ago.

"Fine Fullmetal. I'm going to get Lieutenant Hawkeye in here to stay with you while I run down to the cafeteria and get some food. Just stay put," He stated plainly, standing up to leave.

"What?! No way! I can get food myself you don't have to babysit me, I'm fine!" Ed argued back, shakily pushing himself to his feet to prove his point and get himself out of the office that now felt like it was trapping him.

He made a quick step forward before his vision swam once more, and his automail leg shot a sharp pain through his thigh at the sudden movement. If Roy hadn't been there to grab him, and help lead him over to the couch, he most likely would have fallen again.

Scratch that.

He would have fallen again.

"You're clearly not fine, and I don't want to get reports about you passing out in the hallway on the way down. That just makes more work for me, and you know how much I love work," Roy smirked.

He really did hate paperwork, but his seemingly careless persona was just that. Roy was worried, and he didn't want to see Fullmetal hurting himself by being reckless.

"Fine," Ed snapped, turning away to look at the floor. His cheeks were bright pink with the embarrassment of being treated like a baby, but deep down he was relieved. He wasn't sure he'd have made it to the cafeteria with how badly his leg was aching.

Ed kept his gaze trailed on the floor, listening to the office door open and close a couple times. He knew Hawkeye was standing to his side, watching him intently, but he didn't want to look up and see her concern.

"Fullmetal? The Colonel told me you weren't feeling well, would you like me to get some ice for your head?" Riza asked after walking in and watching the boy continue to stare at the carpet.

"I'm ok, thanks," He muttered, doing little to shake Riza's worry. She knew Ed didn't like to show weakness, but his distant behavior had been getting increasingly more distant over the past couple of days.

"Can I at least look at your forehead? I want to make sure it doesn't need bandaging," Riza attempted. From what Roy had told her, she knew it wasn't anything serious. However, she wanted to take proper stock of the child in front of her, something hard to do when said child was clearly ignoring her.

Ed grunted a soft reply and turned to look at her. She took note of the small circles under his eyes that she hadn't noticed before, and the still pale complexion of his skin, before pretending to analyze the miniscule rug burn.

"I think it's going to be ok," She said with a small smile. "Just a small rug burn; it may ache tomorrow but it's ok for right now."

Ed nodded softly to her.

"Thanks," He muttered, his tone genuine.

"If I may ask, Edward, skipping meals isn't a healthy habit to pick up, but it usually takes many skipped meals to affect someone. Is there something you're not telling us?" She asked softly.

Ed's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically, flinching back when the motion made his already angry brain even more angry.

"No! No, it's not like that, I just missed dinner that's all," Ed said quickly, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. "But with my automail, I need to keep a pretty steady diet to keep it functioning. It's uh, it's pretty taxing stuff."

The pang of dread that had initially filled Riza dissipated at Ed's response, and she allowed herself to relax slightly.

"I understand. Are you sure you don't need to just, 'get it moving'?" She asked coyly.

Ed's face flushed slightly, and he averted his gaze.

"It's ok Edward, I understand. Just please feel like you can talk to someone about these things. The Colonel would have understood you stopping by the cafeteria first as opposed to immediately coming in for your report, no matter how late you were," She explained to him softly.

Ed nodded, but his chest constricted with guilt. He so desperately wanted to talk to them, plead to them to force Hoenheim to leave Central and put him and Al back in the military barracks. He so desperately wanted to tell them how angry Hoenheim got, how mean he could be.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't do that to Al, who was elated to have a father again. Al, who was too young to understand that Hoenheim had abandoned them initially, too young to harbor resentment for the man.

He couldn't do it to himself either, he didn't want to admit it but Hoenheim scared him. His unpredictability and potentially violent nature were incredibly unnerving, and Ed worried what would happen.

He also couldn't do it to Mustang or Hawkeye. A small part of him had latched onto what Hoenheim had said, about how Ed only wasted the military's money. He didn't need to waste their time and resources too.

Ed must have lost himself in his thoughts again, because the next thing he knew the smell of cafeteria food was wafting through the door, Mustang following soon after.

"Thank you Lieutenant. Fullmetal, this one is yours," Roy set the plate down on the coffee table in front of him, moving to sit across from him with one of his own. Ed glanced at him, unsure as to why the Colonel was casually sitting down to lunch with him.

"What are you doing?" Ed questioned.

"…I'm eating?" Roy cocked his head warily, unsure as to what the alchemist in front of him was getting at.

"No, what are you doing with me? Why are you suddenly being so nice, and helping me out? I'm just a dog to you," Ed pondered.

Mustang was taken aback for a moment, before quickly regaining his composure.

"I care about all of my subordinates, Fullmetal. That includes you. Don't forget, you're still under my legal care, it's my job to watch out for you and your brother. Speaking of which, where is Al? He usually comes in with you," Roy asked.

"He…I left him at home. He had some stuff he wanted to take care of with Hoenheim and I figured he didn't need to walk all the way over here just to report in with me. He's not military anyways," Ed lied carefully. He wasn't about to tell Mustang he was too scared of walking past Hoenheim to ask Al if he wanted to come, much less say goodbye before he left for the day.

"I see. You walked all the way over here on an empty stomach? Why didn't you stop in somewhere on your way? You were already late, and if you were feeling so bad you should have eaten sooner."

Ed blanched, not expecting that kind of a question.

"What's it matter to you?" He snapped defensively. "I was in a rush, I knew if I made you wait any longer I'd never hear the end of it."

If I stopped somewhere and spent money on food Hoenheim might never let me have dinner again.

Roy sighed and set his fork down. "Despite whatever ideas seem to be floating around in that small head of yours, I do actually care for my subordinates' wellbeing. I'm not completely unreasonable."

Ed scoffed at that. "Maybe not always," He muttered under his breath, ignoring the comment about the size of his brain.

If Mustang heard him, he made no show of it, instead continuing to eat the food he'd brought up.

Ed couldn't lie, his stomach was so blissfully happy to have a warm meal, and his limbs seemed to regain their steadiness the more he shoveled down. Once he was done, he leaned back against the couch, satisfied. He was still exhausted, and he'd need to eat dinner later for certain, but he felt light years better than he had when he'd walked into the office originally.

"If you're looking to take a nap, a bed would do much better," Roy smirked at Ed, who seemed minutes away from dozing off.

The subject in question snapped his eyes open and glared at Mustang.

"I'm not taking a nap," He muttered. "Just waiting a minute before I head out to fulfill my duties as the Fullmetal Alchemist: Alchemist to the People and now, local plumber."

"Sure you are, but after that minute you're heading home. I already had the Lieutenant secure a car to take you."

Ed jolted up at that, pleased to realize his vision didn't swim with the effort, though his head still ached something terrible.

"What?! You can't just decide that Bastard, I'm fine to work. I was just hungry, and I ate. There, everything is fixed so now I can go fix the stupid drains."

Before Ed could continue his argument Roy had slipped a glove off and leaned across the table, slapping a hand to Ed's forehead.

"That's still a fever," Roy stated. "You're going home."

Ed grit his teeth together and glared at Roy with as much anger as he could muster.

Considering how drained he still felt, it wasn't much, and it did little to phase the Colonel sitting in front of him, casually eating a lunch much earlier than he normally would.

"You wanted me to fix the damn drains, so I'll fix the damn drains. What happened to the 'I'll send you out on the first train' for that stupid rogue alchemist bullshit?" Ed argued, though his exhaustion wasn't helping him make a very good case for himself.

"That was before I realized you weren't taking proper care of yourself. If you aren't going to look after yourself, I'm not going to continue to assign you missions. Besides, this is just a construction job. It can wait another day while you take it easy, before you push yourself to a point that'd be a lot harder to come back from," Roy explained calmly, which was unusual for him.

Ed bit his lip and averted his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew Mustang was right. If he went out and did that job, there's no telling how it would end up. He'd either botch the alchemy, or more likely, hurt himself in the process.

Still, he had one more option.

"What if Al-"

"You're going home. That's an order, end of discussion." Roy snapped. He stood, extending a re-gloved hand to Edward, who looked at it with frustration.

"Fine."

Ed turned and pushed himself to his feet, pointedly ignoring Mustang's attempt to help. His leg was feeling better than it had, after sitting down for a little and getting some food, but it still hurt enough to give him a slight limp.

Lieutenant Hawkeye was standing by the door, waiting. She gave Ed a sympathetic glance that he nodded to as he brushed past her and towards the front of the building, exiting Mustang's office.

"I want a full status report after you drop him off, Lieutenant."

"Of course sir, I'll see to it."

"And Riza?"

Riza paused and turned back from her pursuit of the young alchemist to meet Roy's eyes. He was stoic, but she could tell he was concerned for the boy's wellbeing.

"Please, look after him. Something's not right, something he's not telling us. I don't expect him to talk about it but just…look after him," Roy asked.

Riza smiled warmly at him.

"Of course Roy, I'll keep him in my sights," She turned to catch up to Ed. "But he's going to need you too. Someone to lean on. I know he has Hoenheim back, but that doesn't mean you can't still be someone he can trust in and rely on."

She paused for a moment.

"We're a team after all."

With that Riza quickly made her way through the hallway, a little bit discouraged when she caught up to Ed rather soon. He was usually hard to keep up with, always on the move, always moving like he was running out of time.

Although, she supposed there was some truth to that matter. At least in his eyes. After all, everyone knew binding a soul to an object only bought so much time.

Roy watched her go, before slinking back through his office to take a seat at his desk. Running a hand through his hair, he let out a deep sigh. The day had only just started, and he was already drained from the morning's events. Seeing Fullmetal splayed out on the carpet, not knowing what was going on, it was unnerving.

What he really wanted was to take a swig from the whiskey he had stored in his desk for late nights, and to curl up to take a long nap. However, the stack of paperwork Riza had left him this morning was calling his name, unfortunately. He'd been getting his work done faster and more efficiently – working under stress was apparently good to him – but there never seemed to be a shortage of things to get done.

Sliding the file for the drains that Edward had left on the floor into the top drawer of his desk, he pulled out his pen and got to work.

The car ride to Ed's, no scratch that, Hoenheim's house, was quiet and awkward. Ed leaned his head against the glass and watched absentmindedly as the streets of Central flew by in a dazing blur.

Riza glanced at him from time to time; Edward could tell she was concerned at his silence and disposition, but he couldn't bring himself to make idle chatter. Not when his heart was pounding in his chest, and his throat seemed to clench up every time he took a shaky breath.

Hoenheim was going to be so angry.

Between him being sent home, and the military showing up at the house (though not for the reasons Ed wished they were there), Hoenheim was bound to be furious.

As they got closer and closer to the house, Ed's breathing was steadily gaining speed. His leg bounced incessantly, and he clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly.

"Are you alright Edward?" Riza's voice broke him out of his thoughts and he shot her a glance.

"I'm fine," He muttered, looking away.

Riza hummed a response, but didn't press the matter any further. They arrived shortly, and she opened the door for him as he slunk out of the vehicle. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he continued to mess with them, and he kept his eyes trailed to the ground.

Riza followed closely behind him as they made their way up to the front door. She expected Ed to pull out keys, or let himself in, and was a bit confused when he knocked and waited.

Ed didn't dare explain to Riza that Hoenheim wouldn't give him a key, this being his house and not Ed's. Ed wasn't deserving of one, and Hoenheim didn't trust him with it.

Heavy footsteps made their way to the door, and Ed tensed up, nervously awaiting the expected outcome.

Riza watched as Ed grew tense, his body locking up. This only added to her confusion, and it didn't leave her with a very pleasant feeling in her gut. However, she chalked it up to being embarrassed about being sent home. He didn't use to have anyone to report to when coming home, so having a father in his life again must be hard to adapt to.

The door opened, and Hoenheim stepped through. His appearance surprised Riza, the way his glasses sat atop his nose, protecting a set of kind looking eyes. Bright golden hair was tied back in a loose ponytail.

"Edward, I didn't expect to see you home so soon," He stated, a gentle sounding voice.

Hawkeye wasn't sure what she had expected, but after hearing Ed's tales of a cold man who abandoned his family, this was the furthest thing from her mind. He seemed like a decent guy, who was trying hard to be a decent father. At least, this was her first impression.

Hoenheim looked up at her, nodded his head slightly. He took notice of her uniform and was quick to extend a hand, which Riza shook slowly.

"Lieutenant, it's a pleasure to meet you. What can I help you with today? Has my son been causing you trouble?" He chuckled lightly.

"Hoenheim, sir, your son has a low-grade fever and passed out after reporting with Colonel Mustang. He has strict orders to stay home and rest for the day, and is to report back to Central tomorrow morning, only should his condition improve. He also needs to make sure he remembers dinner tonight," She said with a pointed glance at Ed, who was picking at his nails nervously, standing as far from Hoenheim as he could without making it seem awkward.

"Of course," Hoenheim smiled at her. He turned to look at Edward. "I'll make sure he stays in bed for the rest of the day."

Ed gulped nervously. He knew it was Hoenheim's way of getting past Riza's soul-seeing gaze, but the words only sounded like a warning to him. A warning that as soon as Riza left, he was in for a world of trouble.

"Thank you, sir, that will be all," Riza nodded to him.

"Thank you for seeing that he got home safely, and for taking care of him. It's nice to know he has people out there looking after him," Hoenheim said, and Ed felt his stomach flip.

Fake, it was all fake, and he knew it. But the charming words seemed to appease the Lieutenant, who only smiled and turned to Ed.

"Mustang wants you to report in at 10:00am tomorrow, if you're feeling better. He still has your case file for the job for tomorrow," Riza explained to him. She turned and headed back to the car.

"Take care of yourself Edward."

Ed watched as her car moved away, his heart aching to be sitting next to her once more, driving far away from here.

Suddenly Hoenheim's hand was on his shoulder, the touch jolting him out of his daydreams, almost as if it burnt. Ed couldn't help the jump he did.

"Inside, now."

Ed was quick to comply and he made his way inside, wincing as the door shut behind him, trapping him in.

Metal creaked as Al bounded over, and Ed quickly put on a fake smile for his brother.

"Ed! I missed you this morning, you were running late again weren't you," Al chuckled. Ed only nodded sheepishly.

"You know me Al."

"Did the Colonel not have any work for you? Why are you home so early? If you wanted to do research with me, you could have called, instead of making the trip all the way over here."

"I-"

"Ed's not feeling well, so the Colonel sent him home to rest."

Hoenheim's presence was suffocating to Ed, but Al seemed at ease with the man.

"What? You're sick?! Are you ok? What happened? You should go rest, here let me help-"

"Geez relax Al," Ed chuckled lightly, "I'm fine just didn't sleep well. I'll head upstairs to rest and be back down for dinner."

Al huffed in frustration as his brother brushed him off again. He'd been doing that more and more lately, and it was starting to rub Al the wrong way. Was there something he wasn't telling him?

However, seeing the bags under Ed's eyes and how utterly exhausted he looked, he decided to let it go. Ed needed rest more than he needed an intervention.

"If you say so, brother. If you need anything I'm here to help!" Al reassured him.

"Heh, thanks Al. I appreciate it, but don't worry about me I'll be fine. I know Hoenheim needs your help around the house anyway, you guys are almost done moving everything in," Ed muttered.

"I'm never too busy for you though Ed, so let me know if you need anything."

Al would have frowned if he were able; he still didn't understand why Ed refused to call Hoenheim 'father', especially after all he'd done for them. Al figured it was still just past resentment, or maybe Ed was just nervous about it. Regardless, Al made a note to talk to him about it later, when he was feeling better.

"I think it's time he heads upstairs to rest, why don't you head up Edward?" Hoenheim glanced at him, and Ed knew it was not a request but a demand. "I'll bring up some soup for you once you get comfortable."

Ed nodded, and made his way into his 'interrogation room' as he chose to call it for the moment. His leg was sore, his shoulder was sore, and his head still hurt like a bitch, but he didn't dare make a sound as he sat on the edge of his bed, and waited.

He heard Al and Hoenheim chatting about something downstairs, no doubt Hoenheim was giving Al something to do to keep him busy. What Ed didn't expect was the sound of the front door, and Al's metal clinking dissipating as soon as it was shut.

Fear bubbled up inside him, and his eyes grew wide as Hoenheim made his way up the steps. His footsteps were slow and menacing, as he trudged up the wooden staircase.

Ed tried and failed to control his breathing as it only picked up the moment Hoenheim stepped into the room.

"Stand up."

Ed's body moved without him and he stood quickly.

"Why are you here?"

Ed continued to stare at the floor, "I was sent home." You know that, he wanted to add.

Hoenheim advanced swiftly and grabbed Ed's face, jerking it up so that Ed's eyes met his.

"You look at me when you're talking to me," He snarled. "Why are you here?"

"I said I was sent home, you heard it from the Lieutenant herself, would she lie to you?" Ed challenged nervously.

Hoenheim grunted in contentment. "Watch your tone with me," He snapped. "You were sent home because you were weak, is the answer I was looking for."

Ed opened his mouth to defend himself but Hoenheim quickly cut him off.

"You couldn't take your punishment for one day before giving up; you're nothing but a weak puppy. The military was wrong to hire you to be their dog."

"My automail," Ed huffed, the fingers holding his jaw were tight and Ed feared they would leave a bruise. "It drains my body, I need to eat to keep it functioning."

Hoenheim sighed, releasing Ed from his grasp to pace, lost in thought. Ed brought his flesh hand up to rub at the skin gently.

"Fine. You will eat only as much as you need to get by, nothing more," Hoenheim stated, his words final.

Ed flinched at the harsh tone but was grateful his father at least saw enough reason to stop withholding meals from him.

"However, you still need to be punished."

Ed's eyes widened and any words he had intended to say were lost in his throat.

"You wasted the military's time in making them drive you home, you wasted their money. I know the military isn't going to be quick to punish you for their lost resources, so I guess the job falls to me," Hoenheim turned to Ed, sending a burst of cold through his body. His automail leg shook, with fear or exhaustion he wasn't sure.

"Is that why you sent Al away?" Ed asked shakily.

"Smart boy," Hoenheim nodded to him. "I didn't think you wanted him to have to hear anything that would upset him. I doubt he wants to learn how much of a failure his brother is."

Ed gulped at that, his hands curling into tight fists.

"Why are you doing this?"

Hoenheim paused at that, and gave Ed a quizzical look.

"Why are you treating me so poorly? What did I ever do to you?!" Ed snapped, fear making him desperate.

Hoenheim stepped closer, the tall man towering over Ed as he backed him up until his legs hit the edge of the bed.

"It's your fault," He growled, eyes wide with anger. "I left Trisha with you, and when I returned she had died and you were off in Central fucking around. Pinako told me what happened, how you brought her back only for her to suffer even more and slip away once again."

Ed was crying at this point, the painful memories and the harsh blame quickly overtaking his weak composure.

"I-I didn't kill her, I, we tried to-"

"You brought her back! You made her suffer even more! You may not have killed her the first time but her blood is still on your hands!" Hoenheim was shouting now, blazing with anger.

"And to top that off, you got your brother killed! He's a hollow fucking suit of armor for Christ's sake, all because of your selfish needs and idiocracy!" Hoenheim screamed.

Ed said nothing, the only reason he held eye contact with Hoenheim is that he feared the consequences should he not.

"The only reason I'm providing for you and taking care of you is because I know Al would be devastated if I didn't let you live here. You don't deserve this, you don't deserve to be treated like a normal human being after what you did to your mother and Alphonse," Hoenheim growled. "You make me sick."

"I-I didn't know! I didn't mean to hurt Al, I didn't…I didn't want to hurt him! I didn't know what would happen!" Ed pleaded.

"You…you should have been there! You could have taught us! The only reason we tried to bring Mom back is because we didn't want to be left alone, especially since you'd already left us!"

Ed heard the slap before he felt it, as Hoenheim whipped around and brought a hand against his cheek harshly. Ed's head whipped to the left as his voice died out.

"How dare you try and pin this on me, this is not my fault. The only one here to blame for what happened is you!" Hoenheim screeched, punching Ed swiftly in the stomach. Ed crumpled to the floor, clutching his stomach with desperation.

It hurt, he hurt. Tears flowed freely down his face at the horror of the situation. He had expected Hoenheim to scream at him, call him names, give him more rules. The last thing he had expected was for him to get so physical.

Yet some part of Ed knew what Hoenheim was saying was the truth. It was his fault Al was stuck in that damned suit of armor, and his fault their Mom had suffered not once, but twice. That didn't make it any easier to hear, however.

Seemingly satisfied, Hoenheim unclenched his fist and took a step back.

"Alphonse is at the store getting ingredients for soup. If you aren't feeling up to joining us for dinner I'll have him bring some up to you. You had better not still be on the floor if he does," Hoenheim warned, before leaving the room.

Ed let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, and struggled to lift himself off the floor. He made his way into bed shakily, curling up so that he faced away from the door.

Ed hugged the sheets around him to his chest, and let himself cry.

A huge thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos! You guys keep me motivated and working as hard as I can. Thank you as well for being patient while I worked on this chapter, it was a long one!