Hi there! Long time huh… *nervously chuckles* XD

So I am back with another story, however, this one is inspired by wild-springflower's story 'Apology'.

It was a short one-shot which I incorporated in here as the beginning of this story, from the beginning and until the part where it says "So I'm sorry Fu- I'm sorry, Ed." is written by mentioned author. I highly recommend checking wild-springflower's account; you will find some really good stories and a very captivating writing style.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do not own the profile picture. I do have permission from 'wild-springflower' to use her story. All I own is the rest of the plot.

*Pairings: None

Thanks wild-springflower for allowing me to use your story, I hope that I did just with it and that you approve of it and enjoy it along with everyone else! So here it goes.

Apology

Chapter 1

"We've certainly gotten ourselves into a mess this time haven't we?" Mustang chuckled softly, but it quickly turned into a grunt of pain as the action pulled against his fresh wounds.

"You know, I could never understand how it was that you always got into these situations. But I do now, it's just who you are."

The cavern lapsed into silence save the ragged breathing and the incessant drip, drip of water somewhere near the back.

"And I can't help but blame myself. I know you don't," Mustang paused, sighing unsteadily and shrugging his shoulders. "You shouldn't be anywhere near this. And I know you could give a million different excuses but in the end it's simple: You wouldn't be here if it weren't for me. I don't care how many hardships you've faced, nothing can compare to being one of the military's dogs. And for that, I owe you."

Mustang turned to glance at his young charge. Edward had yet to stir, harsh breath snaking in and out through slightly parted lips, blood dribbling down the side of his face in a lazy river of red, golden braid frayed and in shambles.

"I owe you so much more than an apology. But I'm afraid that's all I have to offer." Mustang took a deep, quivering breath, surprised by how hard he had to fight to keep his emotions under control. "So I'm sorry Fu- I'm sorry, Ed."

"And not just for that, I'm sorry for not being able to help, although I pledged to protect you and your brother, I know there's nothing I could do at the moment" he raised his eyes hopelessly at the complete wreckage around them. "I know that we could only wait for help to come but I never thought I would be this useless and it's not even raining" Mustang said, a humourless laugh escaping his parched lips and he almost wished that Edward would get up, flash him that mischievous grin of his and mock him. Useless colonel bastard! But he was only met with silence.

Minutes and seconds dragged onto long hours and all Mustang hoped, was for the others to have noticed their absence and started a search party. Ed's breathing became even shallower with sweat and blood trickling down his flushed face, so for Ed's sake at least he wished that his team would find them soon.

As more time passed, Mustang grew more and more tired of watching the still face of his subordinate and his worry kept intensifying; Edward didn't as much as stir since he lost consciousness after the collapse, so he decided that the best course of action was to try waking Ed up. He slowly reached for his subordinate, grunting in pain caused by his own injuries and gently nudged Edward's shoulder but to no avail and when he was just about to give up and lean back against the cave's wall he heard groaning from the figure beside him.

"Fullmetal?" More groaning.

"Ed? Come on kid, open your eyes." Mustang said, leaning over the teen's body and brushing his bangs from his face. Ed slowly blinked his unfocused eyes up at him and groggily looked around.

"Col..onel?" he rasped before curling on his side in a coughing fit.

Mustang slowly rubbed the teen's back in circles "Calm down Ed, breathe slowly"

"Colonel, what happened… where, where is the alchemist?" He asked, slowly trying to sit up before the colonel's hands stopped him and gently pushed him back down.

"Stay down Ed. As for the alchemist, he activated some form of alchemic explosion that caused a part of the cave to collapse so currently we are trapped here, I don't know if he managed to escape or got trapped somewhere else though"

"Don't activate it you idiot!" Edward yelled.

"I don't take orders from you, kid!" the alchemist sneered and knelt down by the circle.

"You are going to cause a collapse" Roy bellowed but the alchemist paid their warnings no heed and activated his circle.

"Oh, so what do we do now? Look for an exit?" he asked.

"You have been out for a while there, I checked the whole place, there's no way out and the cave is extremely unstable as it is, so we can't get out with alchemy either. We will just have to wait. I am sure that the team and Alphonse will notice that we took too long and come for us."

"How long have we been gone?" Ed asked, breathing in deeply in a vain attempt to regain his bearings.

"We have been gone for around 4 hours now, I told Hawkeye that we will be back by 2 pm, it's… a bit over 1 pm now." he paused and checked his pocket watch before continuing.

"Well so almost an hour and they will probably wait at least another hour before thinking that there's something wrong then the time they will take to reach here and get out a rescue team, ugh remind me again why can't we just make a way out with alchemy?!" complained Edward.

"Because the place is very unstable Fullmetal, I think you can very well see that or are you too short?" he replied with a taunting smirk.

"Oh shut it, you bastard, I ain't short! Plus that was a rhetorical question, Colonel Idiot." he replied back exasperated, with less heat than expected however, which the Colonel found a bigger reason for concern than he would like to admit. Ed was always pretty enthusiastic and eloquent with his comebacks to put it politely towards anything insulting or even implying his stature or lack there of.

"Hey Ed."

"Mhmm"

"Are you injured anywhere other than that gash on your head?"

"Hm, A gash? That's why my head is bounding like crazy then, I see…" he trailed off, gingerly raising his left hand to touch his head before wincing, letting his hand fall back down beside him and blankly staring at the cave's ceiling.

"Edward!"

"What?"

"I asked if you were injured anywhere else."

"I don't know… but I am pretty sure I have a few cracked ribs, what about you?"

"I do have a deep wound in my thigh but it stopped bleeding already, other than that, nothing big. I am fine just some bruises and cuts here and there" he said trying to sound nonchalant, although that was far from true. Mustang was actually pretty anxious, they have been trapped for over three hours now and are rapidly using up the oxygen, the sound of the boulders holding the cave's structure grinding and shifting echoed around the place, some stone slabs have fallen already. Now, Roy had a gnawing feeling that within the next two hour tops, they will either suffocate to death or get buried under rubble.

A hacking cough interrupted his thoughts and he turned to look at his youngest subordinate, Edward looks more tired by the minute which isn't a good sign, with all honesty he didn't expect Ed to wake up so soon. The kid looked pretty exhausted but Roy was determined not to let Ed fall unconscious again because if he did, he may not wake up after that… No stop thinking like that and focus Roy!

"Edward."

"What do ya want now, bastard?" he managed to mutter between his panting.

"I want you to talk to me."

"What the hell?!"

"Edward just keep talking; both of us need to stay awake if we are to leave this place"

"There's nothing to talk to you about, I won't fall asleep or–" his vision blurred before he shook his head to clear it away "anything" he finished.

"Edward, do you think I am an idiot? I can clearly see how exhausted you are, you could very well black out any minute now, so keep talking"

"Yes" he wheezed.

"What?" Roy inquired, face frowning in confusion.

"I said yes, yes I think you are an idiot, you asked right?" he said flashing him a cocky smile that was all fake bravado but he would roll along with it.

"Yes I asked, I just didn't think you would catch that from down there" he finished with a hollow smirk.

"What did ya say? You calling me short?! How dare you, you bastard?! When I can move, I am going to KILL you!" he half yelled, with a renewed surge of energy.

Yes keep him angry he thought, because that's the only way to keep him going at the moment.

"Oh yes, and how will you do that, pipsqueak?" he teased.

"Shut up you idiot Colonel, I will –" he was cut off by loud groaning noises, then rocks and debris started falling over them.

Damn it, damn it, damn it! I have to protect him…

Roy managed to throw himself over Edward before rocks started harshly colliding with his back. A desperate scream of "Colonel!" from the wide-eyed teen under him, pierced through the air and all Roy could think of was I have to tell him before it's too late, I have to tell him. In a split second, he looked the teen straight in the eyes, gave him an apologetic smile and slowly but very sincerely whispered "I am sorry Ed" before his world plummeted into darkness as the cave crumbled and gave out on them.

So that's it for chapter one! This maybe a two-shot or a three-shot, I am not sure yet. Anyways hope you enjoyed! Later!

*Next update: 10 July 2017, Monday.