Authour's note: Alright I just wrote this. Didn't revise or edit it in any way. It was just kind of a 'got at it' type of thing after I watched an inspiring advertisement on Youtube about a communication product or something. So I just really wanted to write a story for FMA with it. I honestly recommend watching it. It is called All Expenses Paid 30 Years Ago.

Three Packs of Painkillers and Veggie Soup

Roy was walking down the street in his usual patrol, not minding much. It was a beautiful day, hot like any other summers, and it seemed peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it could be. People shopping in the market street were bustling around and Roy knew that though the people honking their horns in the street were quite upset with the usual weekend traffic, the shop owners were quite happy with the company of their customers.

He strolled through the crowd, dodging half minded pedestrians in his navy blue uniform, which caught the eye of many in the form of wary looks or glares. However, Roy didn't mind. He was their for their protection, not for their praise. Let them believe what they may, it was simply his job. To the occasional person that did smile back at him, he greeted them a good day, keeping conversation short, and continued his walk. It was too nice of a day to keep still on one thing. He intended on enjoying it. Besides, Hawkeye would rip him a new one if she caught him slacking.

Suddenly, Roy heard a shriek come from behind him and he turned around curiously to see what it was. Though the market place was usually busy, every day he was on his routes was a peaceful one. Nothing ever happened. And on a day like that one, he wished for it to stay that way. An old woman was stumbling out of a convenience store, cursing with a mouth that Roy thought was beyond even her years. Her one gnarly hand was latched around the small thin forearm of a little kid and the other one was giving him light but meaningful whacks on the head. The little golden haired kid was cowering from her, tears bridging his eyes yet he refused to cry. He was attempting to pull away from her but she was too strong despite her age. Roy started to make his way over to the scuffle and when the woman caught sight of him she looked rather relieved, the child damned.

"Officer!" she exclaimed, dragging the little boy over to him. With the amount of force she had she practically threw the guilty kid at his feet. "I caught a thief in my store! He came in and tried to steal my goods! This isn't the first time I have seen stuff missing and I bet it won't be the last if you don't do anything with this insolent brat!" The old woman seethed. Roy looked down at the kid curiously but the boy knew he had been caught and didn't even dare to look up at him. His golden eyes were staring straight into the ground with a look of lost hope in them.

"Mam," Roy said, interrupting the woman's ranting for a few seconds. "What was it the boy was taking?" The elderly lady reached into her apron and practically threw the few measly items into his arms. She was enraged, rightfully so but when Roy looked down to what he was holding he was rather surprised. All that he held was three packs of painkillers and a small insignificant can of veggie soup. It wasn't unusual for children to have sticky fingers for simple things they couldn't buy. They would usually get a slap on the wrists for their attempted thievery but it was usually for something simple, like candy or a toy. But for a child to steal this… Roy looked down at the little boy, the old woman still badgering in his ear about the whole thing. The boy didn't appear to be sick or need any use of painkillers or veggie soup aside from the fact that he was on the skinny side, near bony to be precise. The kid didn't even look up at him. He appeared to be fighting tears but they didn't seem to be the same as a child who just got caught for stealing candy. They seemed more of a child who just disappointed someone. They were desperate. The medication was not for him.

"Drugs! To think that they would start this young. You know it all starts with something simple like this and then-" the woman continued but Roy held up his hand, silencing her for a moment, his eyes not leaving the distressed child. He knelt down in front of the boy, hoping to get eye level with the kid but he just turned his head away, not wanting to look at anyone. He knew he was guilty.

"Hey," Roy said softly, his voice deep. "Am I right in saying these weren't for you?" he asked in hopes of a response. There was a long pause and Roy was afraid he wasn't going to get an answer however there was an ever so slight nod of the head, the kid still refusing to look at him.

"Is it for your parents? Are they sick?" he pushed lightly and there was another long pause before the kid nodded his head again. The child turned away from him, the guilt seeming to have taken over him. The child couldn't stand even looking at him anymore. Roy sighed as he massaged his face. He knew that when parents got sick the children worried, but for the kid to be so scared as to try and steal some medicine… it had to be bad. Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, looking at the few measly dollars he had in there for emergencies only. He looked down at the kid who was fighting his tears even harder now, some of them spilling over. This was an emergency right? For all he knew a person could have been dying. He pulled out the bills and handed them tiredly to the owner who looked rather shocked at his offer.

"Here," he said. "Get a bag from your store and buy these plus whatever small goods you can with the money and bring it back out here." The woman looked shocked, a bit upset that he wasn't punishing the child but instead of retorting and fighting with an officer, she nodded her head and scurried back into the store. Roy stood next to the child, making sure he didn't run away and waited for the woman's return. The kid remained silent for the whole exchange and Roy just let him be. He was probably scared and Roy wasn't at all good with comforting children. When the woman returned, the small bag full with light goods like soup and vegetables along with whatever the child stole previously, Roy thanked her and handed it down to the little boy. He seemed reluctant to take it, not understanding, thinking that maybe it was a trick but Roy persisted until the small little hands of the child wrapped around the small grocery bag. The golden eyes, wide in shock, looked up to him surprise. Roy smiled gently down to the little kid but that seemed to be the last bubble in the kid's pride. Tears started to overflow as the child lunged forward and grabbed a hold of his leg, hugging it desperately. The kid cried, thankful tears wetting his face in an ugly sniffling mess. Roy was almost sent backwards with the kid's emotional attack but he balanced himself luckily.

"Th-thank y-you," the boy mumbled, the only two words that Roy heard him speak that entire day. He patted him lightly on the head and the golden eyes looked up to him, a light hopeful fire shining in them where it wasn't before.

"Come on, kid, I got work to do. Go take that home," Roy sighed as he pried the child off of him. With a silent sign of gratitude, the child went running off into the crowd, disappearing in the millions of people. Roy watched even after the kid disappeared. He wondered if he would ever see that boy again. However, with a shrug he apologised to the shop owner and turned around to resume his patrol. After all, it was too nice of a day to keep still on one thing and he intended on enjoying it. Besides, Hawkeye would rip him a new one if she caught him slacking.

…

Roy sat on the edge of his bed, the darkness consuming him. He held up his hand right in front of his face still disbelieving the fact that he couldn't see it. He couldn't see at all. All it took was for one accident, one slip up, for him to lose everything. Everyone in the hospital was telling him to be thankful that he still had his life. The terrorist bombing could have killed him with as much shrapnel that flew everywhere. But they didn't know him that well if his life was what hey thought he was concerned about. He wasn't thankful at all. He couldn't see and therefore he couldn't work. He couldn't imagine leaving the military over something so trivial as eyesight. He had worked too hard to get where he was he couldn't just give up halfway through his career. And yet…

"How much did you say it was? The surgery?" Roy asked the doctor, who he hoped was still in the room and didn't leave when he was stuck in his horrible thoughts. He heard the rustling of paper which relieved his fear of talking to a wall.

"30,000 even with your insurance pitching in," a woman replied. Roy felt his hopes drop instantly. He couldn't afford that on simple military pay. The damnation of the whole situation started to fill him and Roy massaged his head, hoping to keep the horrible thoughts at bay. He didn't feel like crying, it wasn't what he did. His dwindling pride couldn't take it. The doctor seemed to know this and he heard the woman stand up to leave. "Colonel Mustang, I will go get the nurse to help with your discharge papers. He will give you further guidance on how to go about after you have left the hospital," she told him quietly yet robotically like a calculator. Roy dumbly nodded his head and closed his eyes for a moment as he heard her footsteps fade.

Roy waited in silence for a few minutes. Sound was the only thing he had now and yet there was nothing to listen to there by himself. He sighed sadly wondering if this was what it was going to be for the rest of his life. The nurse that was going to be coming in was going to talk to him about his 'future'. What future that was he couldn't even begin to imagine. He knew it was all going to be the same thought, a chipper happy nurse with an optimistic naive view on what it was like to live without his sight. They said he would get used to it. Roy highly doubted that. He didn't know what was going on around him, hell he didn't even know what the room he stayed in looked like, he couldn't begin to describe anything.

As time wore on, he thought for a moment that the doctor left him by himself to dwell in his in turmoil when he heard footsteps come into his room, probably of the nurse that she promised him. He sighed to himself, just wanting to get this nightmare over with. He heard the nurse stop for a moment and he felt eyes bore into the back of his head as he imagined the nurse to be staring at him.

"I know I can't see anymore but I have this strange feeling that you are staring at me. I would like it if you could just cut it out," Roy grumbled sadly under his breath. Was this what it would be like? Would people just begin their day staring at him like a freak? The footsteps picked up and soon rounded the end of the bed so that the person was right in front of him. He heard the nurse sit heavily down in a chair and papers were flipping back and forth like every other hospital staff did. It always seemed to be paperwork with them.

"Colonel? Wow you are really high up there aren't you?" the light hearted voice of the nurse whistled. It was a male nurse and Roy rolled his eyes, the man's conversation not easing his distress one bit.

"Yeah but it doesn't look like I will be promoted any time soon," Roy muttered. "You were supposed to talk to me how to deal with this aren't you?" There was a light hearted laugh and Roy felt rather insulted.

"Yes but trust me, my job, for your case is going to be a lot easier than you think," the nurse said happily. "A lot more enjoyable because I hate being the bearer of bad news."

"So you think telling me about my pointless future is good news?" Roy asked sarcastically but he didn't hear the man reply, rather hum to himself as he flipped through more of his papers. Roy was getting rather annoyed with the young nurse and wished to have the grim reaper of a doctor back in there instead of him.

"Let's see," the man hummed as he seemed to have found the paper he wanted. "You can either retire from the military and find an assistant to help you around with your bills and help train you to live with your current state-"

"You must absolutely be loving this," Roy mumbled under his breath. The nurse must have heard him but didn't seem to say anything else about it.

"OR," the man said exaggerated, upset he was interrupted, "you can have surgery to get a cornea transplant. You will have to wear glasses after the surgery but you would be able to see and return to work within a few weeks, month at most considering you might want to take some time off after the whole event."

"Have the surgery? Now I know you are taunting me. I can't afford the surgery. That's why you're here!" Roy argued defensively as he could practically picture a mocking smile on the nurses face. There was a light hearted chuckle as if the man didn't even insult him or didn't seem to care. Roy felt his face grow red in anger.

"Colonel Mustang, you can't afford a surgery that costs nothing?" the man asked in humored disbelief.

"Nothing? The Doctor told me that it was 30,000. I can't afford it! There is no surgery in the world that costs nothing!" Roy scolded the nurse like he was a child but that only gave the man another laugh. Roy just grew even angrier. The man was surely taunting him. It was like he was dangling hopes of seeing again right in front of him yet just out of reach. The laughter of the man died down and Roy heard him get up for a second and come closer. He didn't know exactly where he was until he felt the bed dip next to him as the nurse sat beside him on the edge. Roy wished anything that the man would get away from him. He was blind but he would have liked to put in a bet that he could still give a few good punches if the matter arose, which he bet it would very soon with as many buttons the nurse was pushing.

"Cornea transplant surgery 30,000 total. Amount due $0. Payed off in full 20 years ago with three packs of painkillers and a can of vegetable soup, given to a boy who desperately needed to help his mother," the nurse read aloud like he was reading the bill for the surgery right to him. Roy's eyes widened as he listened to the man's statement. He couldn't believe what the man was saying. He could feel the smile of the nurse bear into him now but it wasn't taunting, he realised that now, it was thanking.

"What-" Roy stuttered, complete shock taking over him and making him absolutely speechless.

"My mother was ill, Colonel. Really ill. I didn't know what to do. I was only eight and trying to help my mother and raise my brother by myself. We didn't have any income with my father gone and so no money for medicine. I tried to steal it when my mother got really bad but… I knew it was wrong so I was a very lousy thief. When I was caught I thought that my family was done for. My brother was too young to really do anything and my mother was in too much pain to even get out of bed. However a soldier, instead of turning me in, bought the stolen goods and gave them to me," the man said, retelling a story Roy had all but forgotten about. That was 20 years ago and yet as the nurse told the story, Roy could faintly remember the relief in the boy's face as he handed him the small bag of goods. There was a chuckle that faintly rose and fell from the nurse's mouth as if he was remembering something funny.

"I had a hard time realising it was you because you were only a Sergeant when I met you. It was hard for me to believe you became an officer!" the nurse laughed. Roy would have retorted to the kid's insults but he felt numb as he stared across the room, grasping the concept.

"You… you're that… kid," Roy muttered in disbelief. The man hummed, confirming his suspicions. "I-I didn't even know your name."

"Edward Elric, if you want it now. But… I could never forget yours," the man smiled. Roy knew that he had grown up since their encounter. It had been 20 years since Roy had patrolled the streets as a sergeant. But he could only picture the nurse as that young little child he met in the market place as he had nothing else to go by. He could feel the beaming smile right next to him and the kid, for once, felt truly happy.

"So should I call an assistant for you or should I ask the doctor to prep for the procedure?" the nurse asked knowingly. Roy turned his head, his eyes still wide as if afraid the man might do the former but the kid seemed to get the idea. "Alright I will get them on it. Don't worry. You will be back to work in no time. I couldn't picture Central being run by anyone else." The nurse got up from the bed and picked up his pile of papers. His footsteps started to head towards the door leaving Roy still muddled over what happened.

"Wait," Roy called out before the man could leave. He heard him stop and Roy tried to gether coherent thoughts together. "Why… Why did you-"

"You saved my mother using what little you had in your pocket, Colonel. I am simply doing the same," the man sighed. "I honestly can't thank you enough but I think this might just have to do." Roy didn't know how to respond and he heard the man walk out of his room. He could still picture a smile lingering on the man's face because one was slowly growing on his own. It was 20 years ago, but even then he didn't know what was to become of three packs of painkillers and a can of veggie soup.