Alright, so this is pretty different from my other stories.

It's written from Roy's POV, just to be clear. :P

Anywhos, enjoy! c:

Edward Elric was different.

Aside from his being an alchemical prodigy, he was different.

You would have never guessed at the truth about him.

Not even his younger brother, Al, knew. That was saying something, seeing as Al knew just about everything there is to know about Ed.

But not this.

No one knew.

When I found out, I was in shock. I couldn't respond, I had no idea what to do.

Ed had been…self-harming, so to speak.

The only reason I knew, was because I had accidentally hurt him.

He was going to try to confront the homunculi, specifically that one called…what did they call him? Oh, yeah, Envy. That was it.

Ed was going to try and confront Envy directly after we had just come out of a conflict with Scar. Fullmetal was already injured, and profusely bleeding. Being the stubborn brat that he is, he was refusing to come along with me – he insisted on going to track down Envy.

As Ed prepared to make a run for it, I had grabbed onto his left arm – his left wrist more specifically.

The younger alchemist had screamed in pain and jerked his arm away from me, eyes blazing. I looked down at my gloved hand, only to find that there was now a warm crimson liquid soaking into it.

No one else was paying attention to us, we were away from everybody else at the moment.

I had looked back up at him, full of shock and confusion.

"Fullmetal…?"

My voice had lost its commanding tone. It now came across softer, more concerned than anything else.

Edward wouldn't look at me.

"Edward. Let me see your wrist."

He had looked up at me then, and his eyes were full of fear.

I softened the look of shock on my face, and hesitantly took a step towards the blonde.

Ed had been cradling his wrist in his automail arm.

I had hesitantly uncrossed his arms, and slowly pulled his sleeve up, careful not to be too harsh on the raw skin.

It was worse than I had thought. In my head, I had envisioned 3, maybe 4 cuts on his wrist.

In reality, his arm had been covered in scars – both old and fresh. The most recent ones had been harshly reopened due to my previous stronghold on his arm.

I felt a sharp intake of breath as I took in the reality of the situation.

How…how could this happen? What on earth would drive this boy to such measures, that he felt the need to slit his own wrist?

….That was what had happened, only hours before now.

I was currently seated at my desk, lost in thought. I had forced Edward to come back with me.

It was clear I needed to do something, anything at all, about this.

I just didn't know what to do.

"Colonel?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard Ed's voice float towards me, uncharacteristically soft.

Ed had been sitting on the couch, but he was now standing before my desk. He looked so helpless, and it was in this moment that it was evident he was still just a child, lost in this world of adults.

"Yes?"

I looked up at him. He stared back at me, clearly conflicted.

I wish that I knew what to do.

Ed dropped my gaze, and stared at the floor. Silence hung in the room.

"Ed… Would you please tell me what's been going on?"

He remained staring at the floor.

He remained silent.

I sighed as I stood up and walked around to the front of my desk. I then lifted his face to look at mine,

"I want to help you. But I can't do that if you won't tell me anything."

If we had been in any other situation, Ed would have screamed at me for touching his face – not to mention I wouldn't have done that in the first place….

But right now, things were different.

Ed was different.

He looked at me for a moment, before questioning,

"Why do you even care?"

His tone was harsh, and guarded.

"Edward, whether you like it or not, I do care about you. Your safety matters to me, and it's a part of my job to look out for you. Even aside from all of that, I still care about you. I need to know what's going on."

He now yelled at me.

"Why? So you can make a full report about it, and then ship me off to some mental hospital?"

He had taken a step away from me, and a tear escaped from his golden eyes.

I had only ever seen Edward cry once or twice, when he was younger and had first joined the military.

Now, seeing him cry at the age of 16, it was much different.

I saw how truly broken he was.

"No, Edward… I need to understand what's going on, I want to be able to help you… I don't like seeing you like this."

Ed's expression remained the same – angry, hurt, afraid…

Another tear fell.

And another.

And another…

I instinctively stepped towards the smaller boy, and gently pulled him into my arms. I felt him tense for a minute, before he just gave in and leaned into the hug.

I closed my eyes. I could feel the tears beginning to form in my own eyes, and that wasn't going to happen. I needed to figure out what was wrong, and if I was crying, I doubt that Ed would tell me anything.

If he would tell me anything to begin with, that is.

I slowly let go of the younger alchemist, and walked him over to the couch to sit back down.

"I'm not going to force you into telling me anything, Ed. I just want you to know that I'm here, if you want to talk."

Ed seemed to be extremely interested in his own shoes.

"I… I don't know what there is to say…"

I remained silent. He had spoken, and wasn't yelling. This could go somewhere. I shouldn't push it.

"I guess… I've just… I've made so many mistakes, and I've caused so many people so much pain. I destroyed my own family, and I didn't even realize how empty and lonely Al has been feeling all these years. Al has every right to blame me for everything, because it's true. It is my fault. Everywhere I go, I hurt people and mess things up. No matter what I do… I just can't seem to do anything right… Whenever Winry shows up, I always make her cry. I don't know how to show people that I care… I just hurt. And no one hurts me in return. So… I guess I turned to…cutting, because I deserve it."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Is that really how he felt?

Did he really believe he deserved to cut himself?

"That's not true. You may not be the best at expressing your emotions, but people know you care. Especially Al. I doubt Al blames you, you're the one who brought him back. You gave up your right arm to get your brother back, and have devoted your entire being to fixing your mistakes. You put everyone else ahead of yourself. I know that you do your best to make things better for people, and to do the right thing, just sometimes you do go about it the wrong way. But that doesn't make you a bad person, Ed, it makes you human. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone learns from their own mistakes. You most definitely do not deserve to be hurting yourself. I know for a fact that you deserve so much better than that, Ed. Don't go down this road. It isn't too late to get help, to turn from this."

"How do you know that it isn't too late?"

"Well, you're still here, aren't you?"

Ed slightly nodded.

I stared at him for a moment.

"How long has this been going on?"

He was silent.

"…Almost a year, give or take a few months."

What?

A year? And no one noticed until now?

I felt my stomach drop.

I didn't think it would be as bad as that.

But I didn't notice.

The kid is clearly a good liar.

Too good.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door, before Lieutenant Hawkeye entered.

As she took in the scene before her – Edward sitting on the couch who had visibly been crying with his bloodied wrist slightly exposed, and me seated next to him, she widened her eyes and said,

"Oh! Forgive me, sir. I did not mean to interrupt."

"Relax, Lieutenant. It's fine."

I glanced at Ed, who seemed to know what I was thinking, and said,

"She's already seen. It doesn't matter to me now."

He sounded so… empty.

I looked up at Riza, and beckoned her closer. She slowly walked towards us, and kneeled before Ed.

"May I…?"

Her voice was hesitant, as she gestured towards his wrist.

Edward gave a slight nod.

Hawkeye gently took his hand, and pushed back his sleeve in order to examine the damage done.

While inspecting his arm for a moment, her brow became furrowed and her eyes deep with concern.

"I…I think I should go get the first aid. The cuts aren't severe, but they're deep enough that they could become infected. I'll be right back."

With those words, she swiftly stood up and exited.

Once the door was closed, Edward spoke.

"Are you going to tell the others?"

He was obviously referring to the rest of my team, who was currently in the work room on the other side of my office door.

"No. This doesn't concern them."

Ed visibly relaxed a little, but then added,

"What about Al? Are… are you going to tell him?"

"No, that's not my place. He is your brother though, and he has the right to know. He's bound to find out sooner or later. Things like this can never remain secrets. They always find a way to coming to the light. Like today…"

Ed took a deep breath.

Silence resumed.

Hawkeye then returned with the first aid kit, and immediately set to attending to Edward's arm.

"Now, this will probably sting a little… I'm sorry…"

Ed winced a little as Riza gently rubbed a disinfectant onto his open wounds before taking a bandage and wrapping it around his arm a couple times and then securing it.

"There. That should help with the healing…"

I realized now that Ed's injuries from earlier were still unattended.

"Ed… We should probably get you to a hospital." I saw his eyes flash, and quickly added, "Not for that. For what Scar did."

He seemed to accept this with defeat.

"But… If I go to the hospital, won't they see…?"

He nodded slightly towards his bandaged arm.

"Probably. I'll try talking to the doctors, but I don't think I can work anything out for you…"

Ed hated hospitals and doctors already. Sending him there now wouldn't help that.

But there was no other way.

I stood up, as did the Lieutenant, and reluctantly Ed followed suit.

All three of us exited my office, and were now in my car driving to the hospital.

Ed surprisingly hadn't put up a fight in getting into the car.

I guess he was beginning to realize that there was no way around it. The truth would be known, one way or another.

I just hoped that this meant he would stop.

It kills me to see him like this.

"Colonel?"

Ed's voice quietly sounded from the backseat.

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks."

Alrighty, so let me know what you think!

I am open to make this multi-chaptered... It depends, on how this is received by readers and also on my time management XD

So feedback is encouraged :3

I wrote this to take a break from my other FMA story, just to change it up for myself a little bit.

Also, in case it might have seemed like it, I do NOT support self harm, in anyway whatsoever. I just wanted to write about it.

Thanks for reading!

Review? c:

- HazelEyes8D