Thirty Four: Aftermath

If you ask Edward about how many times he had been in a hospital, his answer would be "I have no idea". He had lost count of how many times he had to stay in a hospital for wounds he received in his missions.

He had hoped that he could avoid that in this mission. After all, it sounded simple enough – get in character, lure killer, catch killer, take off and never look back because Fullmetal Alchemist in school would make a really good comedy novel and he didn't want that. But alas, fate had different plans for him and he still had to see those pristine white walls he had come to dislike. The good news was that he thankfully didn't have to stay the night there. The bad news was that he wouldn't be able to use his left arm fully because it hurt and the doctor told him to let it heal. Normally he'd ignore it, but this time he was inclined to agree.

The bullet Riza fired pierced him, right around his collarbone. It was miraculous that it ended up not being life threatening. The same couldn't be said about Vic, however, who was immediately put into surgery.

He didn't make it.

At the moment, he was sitting next to Vera at the park near the hospital Vic was operated in. As soon as she heard the news, the girl had staggered out without words and left the hospital premises. Edward, Roy, and Riza all followed her, but the adults then left Edward to cheer the girl up. Which was stupid because he sucked at the whole talking to people thing.

The silence draped over them as Edward stared at the girl, not knowing what to do. She was staring off to nothing in particular, eyes glazed and mouth parted slightly. Several times Edward opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and closed his mouth back.

A sudden broken chuckle from Vera caught his attention. He stared at her in confusion, seeing nothing in the situation that could be deemed even remotely funny. "Vera?" he called softly.

"Fourteen years," she breathed between the chuckle that sounded more and more like a sob. "Fourteen years, and orphaned. I've only seen this kind of premise in my novels."

"Vera?"

The girl sniffed and looked up. Tears ran freely down her cheeks. "I never thought I'd encounter that kind of situation in real life, let alone living it."

Edward simply waited for the girl to stop crying. He sat there awkwardly, watching her sniff and sob while occasionally patting her shoulder with his automail arm. It was weird for him. He never had to comfort a crying girl before and he honestly didn't know how to. He wanted to help, but he didn't want to make things worse instead. He wanted to help, he really did. He knew how it felt like to lose a family member. The fact that said family member happened to have wanted to turn him into lamb chop just made it a bit hard to be sympathetic.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Vera to calm down, though she still hiccupped every now and then. "I'm sorry," she said suddenly as she wiped away the last of her tears as she sniffed.

Edward shook his head in confusion. "What for?"

"For what Pa did."

"It wasn't your doing."

"A father's sin is his child's to bear," Vera spoke softly, and the detached way she said the words made Edward sure that it was something she quoted from her books.

"I don't believe in that," Edward argued. "He did it, not you. It's not your fault, so it's not your responsibility to apologize."

Vera was silent for a moment. "But he's not here to do that," she said. "I'm the only one who can do it for him, so I apologize for his behalf."

Edward stared at her. "Thank you," he said at last.

There was another moment of silence that was only broken by Vera's occasional sniffs. She soon broke it, though, asking, "What will happen to me next?"

Edward shrugged. "Foster care… most likely."

Vera stared at him for a moment and looked away.

Edward stared back suspiciously. "You're thinking about something," he observed. When it was apparent that Vera was reluctant to tell him, he urged, "Come on. Just tell me."

Vera sniffed. "It's just that… I feel that you're not very good at comforting other people."

Edward snorted. "Thanks, I noticed."

"And… your mom is probably not really a baker…" when Edward stared at her, Vera shrugged uncomfortably. "People don't normally use guns, so I just assumed… um… military?"

Edward nodded. "You assumed correctly."

"Okay," Vera muttered softly as she nodded and looked down. She closed her eyes as newfound onslaught of sobs surfaced.

Again, Edward simply waited for her to finish.

Edward walked down the corridors of his school with Roy and Riza in tow. They had just left the headmaster's office, announcing that Edward was to move to another school because the recent events had them thinking that maybe this town wasn't their town after all and they should relocate to somewhere more peaceful.

"Shouldn't you say goodbye to your friends?" Riza asked Edward when she realized they were heading to the school gate. She walked ahead of him, looking at him, taking the lead.

"I'm not good with goodbyes," Edward muttered. He let Riza lead the way, following her almost blindly.

"You're not good with people in general, Ed, but you managed to make friends here anyway," Roy pointed out. "Don't ruin the relationships you've built."

"But what should I say?" Edward asked. "I'll just ruin everything anyway."

"So you gave up trying? Is this really the attitude the Fullmetal Alchemist should have?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Edward snapped, voice growing louder immediately. "It doesn't matter that I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, I still suck at social interactions!"

"You're the who?!"

Edward started. He looked around to see the faces of his classmates staring at him in shock and disbelief. Riza had lead him here. He groaned loudly as he glared at her, but she simply shrugged with the barest hint of smile in her face. Roy, though, was grinning madly right next to her.

"Ed, stop joking!" Cara scolded. "You're a nerd, there's no way you're the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"You… might want to rethink that statement," Matt announced. He pointed at Edward's automail hand that peeked from his coat, since he didn't wear his gloves because pulling on gloves with only one fully functional hand was too difficult. "He's got two metal limbs, people."

Words buzzed immediately, and Edward glared at Matt. "You've already known," he accused.

"I've had my suspicions," Matt admitted, "but I can only confirm it now."

The rest of his classmates, however, weren't in the same state of calm and victory that Matt was in. It was easier to say that they were in total panic.

"Oh my god I let him know about how I like him," Cara muttered with a red face.

"But you still consider him your idol, don't you?" Sherry asked her.

"Of course I do." Cara whipped her face to Edward's. "Ed, sign my face. Please. I probably will never wash my face again but it's worth it."

"I am so, so sorry I stepped on your foot purposefully during the dance," Sherry apologized.

"I wonder if my parents will believe me if I told them I was classmates with the Fullmetal Alchemist," Stanley wondered aloud. He was surprisingly calm compared to the rest of the class.

Noah and Liam, however, were freaking out. "We were in a real big trouble with him back then," Noah practically shrieked to Liam. "We tried to pin a crime on him."

"Well at least you were the one to apologize first!" Liam shrieked back, more shrilly. "I pretty much mocked him for his disabilities!"

"That's probably because you didn't think things through, Liam," Matt commented casually.

"You're one to speak! You almost fought him in the cafeteria that one time!"

"D-don't bring up the past when we've already made up!"

And suddenly, Edward was swamped with questions, just like the first day he joined the class. This time, however, he could predict what would happen, so he decided to flee the scene. "Guys, guys!" he yelled above the commotion, and it thankfully died down pretty quickly. "I'd love to stay and answer but I seriously need to go now."

"Wait!" Cara yelled. "If you're the Fullmetal Alchemist… does this mean that you won't come back?"

Edward scratched his head. "Well… I won't. All my business here is done. I gotta go back to my own work."

"Oh," Sherry muttered. "That's… a shame." She blinked and looked at him straight in the eyes. "But we can still call you, or send you letters!"

"Calling sounds great!" Cara beamed. "What's your phone number?"

"I, um, don't have a phone," Edward admitted.

"But he will soon," Roy cut in all of a sudden, walking closer to them and whipping out a notebook and a pen. "So, kindly write down your number, please. Edward will call you sooner or later."

"Are you saying that you're buying me a phone?" Edward asked Roy weirdly as he eyed his classmates enthusiastically jotting down their phone numbers.

"Yes, since you're really hard to get ahold of sometimes," Roy told the boy.

"Hey, I'm not – " Edward began to protest, but he stopped halfway. "Yeah, fine, I admit that I get too invested in the books I read sometimes, but it's not really that hard to look for me when you really want to…"

"Yeah, tell that to the people I've asked to track you down."

"Done!" Sherry yelled as she gave the notebook and pen back to Roy. "Most if not all the kids in class have put their numbers in."

"Thank you, Sherry," Roy smiled to the girl. "Edward will call soon, I assure you."

"By the way, are you part of the military too?" Sherry asked. Her eyes gleamed with insatiable curiosity.

"Me and Riza both," Roy nodded.

"If I may ask, Sir…" Cara leaned forward, eyes grim. "What will happen to Vera?"

Roy froze. "Ah, about that… I'm sure your teacher will tell you about that soon."

Cara turned to Edward instead. "Ed?"

"It's really not my place to say," he responded.

"Roy," Riza called softly, "we need to go."

"Alright then…" Edward muttered awkwardly, "I guess this is goodbye."

Matt stared at him before punching him lightly in the arm. "What are you, some crappy novel's protagonist? Who even actually say that?"

"Yeah, that was seriously lame," Stanley agreed. "Just promise us to call, okay?"

Edward grinned. "Okay."

"We'll be holding to your word," Cara pointed at his nose.

"Yeah, or else we're going to spill about the time you were here to the press," Sherry threatened playfully with a large grin across her face.

Edward shook his head as he retreated. "Bye, guys. I will call, seriously."

"You'd better!"

"Another mission?!"

"Not so loud, Edward," Roy rubbed his ear as he hissed as the golden boy. "Use your indoor voice! But yes, this is a new mission."

"Is it another undercover mission with you and Riza?" Edward asked curiously. His hand reached down to stroke Tiny's fur. Somehow, she had become the office cat, as Roy agreed to take care of her but refused to bring her home. Thankfully, she and Black Hayate got along well.

"No," Roy frowned. "Are you actually looking forward for another one of that?"

"Are you kidding me? I get to eat delicious food for free!" Edward yelled, eyes wide, as though Roy had just suggested something scandalous to him. "Of course I'm looking forward for it."

"Sometimes I wonder if you think with your brain or with your stomach," Roy sighed, shaking his head a little. "Anyway, that's your mission. You're to leave tomorrow morning."

Edward simply hummed, more to give some sort of response to actually answer. Then he cried out. "Mebdo? That's a backwater place!"

"And why does that matter?"

"Because me and Al had just gotten an idea that may turn out to be a lead!" Edward announced, the hope in his voice clear. "We can't research it there!"

"You're supposed to do your mission there, not do research," Roy huffed loudly. "It's an easy task. Just do it and come back soon, then you can research all you want."

"But we need to do it now!" Edward stared pitifully at Roy. "Give us more time here. Just one week is enough."

"No, you will go tomorrow and that is final."

Edward stared at Roy still.

"No, I will not fall for that trick," Roy growled. "Stop puppy-staring me, Fullmetal. I'm not going to postpone your mission."

The desperation in Edward's eyes doubled. "But – "

"Fullmetal, I'm warning you. Don't even say it – "

"But Dad!"

Strings of curses escaped Roy's mouth, so loudly that Riza glared at him from across the room. Edward knew instantly that he had won.

"Fine!" Roy shouted, clearly upset that his defeat was brought upon by a pipsqueak. "Four days, and you hop on a train and go for Mebdo. Take it or leave it."

Edward pumped his fists. "I owe you one, Roy."

"You owe me a lot. You just don't acknowledge it," Roy grumbled. Then he straightened up. "And you were asking about Vera, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Edward looked at him. "Did you get something?"

"She moved with her new foster family," Roy told the boy. "They got a place in Hughes' apartment building. He told me they were a good family. I'm sure she will be fine."

"That's good," Edward sighed, smiling. "Maybe I should visit her sometime." He stood up. "Well, I'll be going. Go check the library if you want to talk to me."

"Oh, Ed?" Riza called out. "Don't forget to eat lunch later, okay?"

"Okay."

"And please take better care of yourself."

"What? I always take care of myself." At Riza's glare, Edward rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom, I'll take better care of myself." With a wave, he exited the room and headed straight to the corridor, oblivious to the stares of disbelief the rest of Mustang's Unit was throwing at him.

"Did he just call the colonel 'dad'? And the first lieutenant 'mom'?"

"I never thought I'd ever hear the chief call them like that."

"And did you hear him whining to the boss earlier?"

"Do you think he can do that again? This time to give us some more holidays?"

"Men!" from inside the room, Roy bellowed, and the four members of his unit jumped immediately. "Get back to work."

A/N: so sorry for the really late update! School's being a dick, with all the mock exams and practical exams and tests and whatnot. I just had my PE practical exam today, actually. My legs still feel like they're about to burst, ow.

I think this is a little of a lame ending, actually. I'm never really good at endings, so I'm not really surprised, but I'd like to apologize if it feels weird. I don't think it's going to get better, if I rewrite it again, though. But I think I've got all the stuff that I want to put in this story, so that's good.

Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and basically sticking with this story to the end. Honestly, some chapters feel like crap after I reread them again that I wonder just why I thought they were good enough to publish, but you guys gave me the encouragement I needed to go through with this. If you didn't, this story would have been abandoned, probably. So thank you again.

A bit of self-promo-slash-announcement here: I've had plans for my next fic. It's kind of like an expansion of my one-shot fic Artificial Human that somehow ended up being somewhat of an AU to that, even though Artificial Human was already an AU to FMA. The story is basically one where the FMA world's technology was advanced enough to have Androids around. The focus will be on Roy and Riza, and Riza will be an Android in this story. I haven't gotten a good title for it yet, but at least I've had the AU figured out and decided on a starting point. Hopefully I can upload it soon.

Again, thank you so much for your continued support. I hope I can see you again through another story. Bye, and have a great day!