THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE STORY! Yay! I DID IT! Thanks for all my supporters, it really meant a lot to me. It still does.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, and I don't want to because if I did it wouldn't be as good as it is.
A FATHER THAT'S NEVER PRESENT
Chapter 27
Father and sons
Tomorrow I'll find out if they're the boys… Well, they were found in Darx, so it's most likely but… If it's them, what the hell happened? The officer talked like Al would've been just an ordinary boy. Ordinary. Not a soul in a suit of armour. I'm not sure if it's the kids, but if they found the philosopher's stone and succeeded bringing their bodies back I guess it's possible. But they still should've called me before they did anything! Stupid brats.
"Alright Roy, this is too much. You haven't worked properly in a week, I'm getting really frustrated. Enough is enough. Tomorrow you aren't going anywhere before those papers are finished", Riza stated angrily. "It isn't easy for me either, but this is getting ridiculous."
"Damn it Riza! You don't have two disappeared kids! I haven't heard about them in days! And I have to leave at five o'clock, then two boys, assumed as Ed and Al are arriving to Central hospital, I have to find out if it's them. I just have to." He looked at her pleadingly. Riza sighed.
"And what if they aren't? What are you going to do then?"
Probably take the earliest train to Darx and go looking for them myself.
"I don't know. I just don't. I'm so worried, Riza, I just want to see the boys again. I need to know if they're alive. They have to be." He buried his face in his hands. "God, they must be Ed and Al."
Riza smiled sadly and rubbed his shoulders. "OK. Today you can leave at that time, but only if you take your work to the hospital and do it in there. And I'm coming with you to make sure you really do it."
Roy looked up. This wasn't Riza like at all.
"You're a good father. You really are. This kid is lucky to have you, and so are those two. I think I've became softer after… well, this."
Roy smiled at her. "Thank you Riza. For everything."
The seconds. The minutes. The hours. Everything was just so unfair. No father should go through anything like this. He had always ended up waiting to know if Ed was going to be alright. And now it wasn't only Ed, now it was Al as well. It was his sons. His dear sons. They hadn't even solved their fight yet completely. And now he wasn't sure about anything related to their well-being.
He and Riza walked in the hospital. There had been traffic so they were about fifteen minutes later than he had planned. Well, if the kids hadn't gotten stuck in the traffic as well, which shouldn't be so, because they were coming from the different direction that seemed to flow smoothly, they should be there already. Roy's hands were shaking and Riza was holding his hand lightly. Supporting him, no matter was she like a mother to the kids or not.
He cleared his throat nervously as he stopped one of the nurses that didn't seem to be in a hurry.
"Excuse me… Two teen-ager boys were supposed to arrive here about fifteen minutes ago. Golden hair, assumed as Edward and Alphonse Elric..?"
"Oh those weird boys. Yeah, they arrived about fifteen minutes ago. Are you Colonel Roy Mustang?" the nurse asked smiling and shaking his left hand that wasn't in Riza's hold.
"Yes. Can you show me their room so I can see if they are them or not?"
Please, just be them. Be them. After all this waiting.
"Of course. Just follow me." The nurse started heading through white doors on pretty empty hallways. Roy looked around him nervously. He hated hospitals. Especially if it had something to do with the kids.
"Weird cases. Everyone in here is confused. They haven't woken up since yesterday, I heard. No wonder actually, they seem exhausted. The sleep is helping though, that's pretty much all we can do now." She opened one of the doors and led them in a room with two beds. "So, do they look familiar?"
Roy walked slowly to the nearest bed. The boy in it… well he wasn't sure. There was something familiar, long golden hair, a little darker shade than Edward's and some same facial features. Was it Alphonse? Could it be? He looked at the other bed. Edward was lying in it. Both boys unmoving. Both pale, dark circles under their eyes.
Ed… Al!
"Yes… I guess these are the boys. Thank you so much…" he muttered in shock of relief.
"Thanks for confirming their identity. I'll be going to clear the records and make a few calls." The nurse walked away. Roy ran his hand on Alphonse's face. Riza was staring at the boy right next to him.
"Do you think it really is Alphonse?" she whispered. Roy raised his shoulders and Riza walked to Ed and pulled his right arm on the blanket. It wasn't metal anymore.
"I can't believe it… I thought it was a doomed road", she said unbelievingly. Then she checked Ed's left leg as well. Flesh. Though she could see scars in the places the leg and arm were once cut off.
Roy got up and walked to Ed as well, slowly studying his new limbs.
"It's weird. All these scars… they must be from his life before. These are his limbs. They aren't new or anything, they really are his." Ed twitched and opened his eyes slightly, lips moving but no words were to be heard. Roy gently brushed his hair.
"It's me, Ed. It's Roy. You're alright", he whispered gently and hugged the boy. Ed's eyes focused on him briefly. He felt like melting.
"…A..l…" he moaned, his sentence hardly being heard.
"It's alright Ed, I'm not sure but that boy in the next bed might be Alphonse. You did it."
Ed's eyes lost focus but he didn't give up yet. He tried to lift himself up but he had energy hardly to even move his limbs. Roy helped him. Ed was so limp, it scared him. He looked at the next bed. A little smile rose on his lips.
"……Al." Then he fell asleep again. Roy laid him down gently. Taking a blue rubber band and tying his hair back.
Riza clapped her hands. "Well now you know that they're alright. To the paperwork!"
"Riza, you can't honestly-"
"Yes I can. Back to work, Colonel." Her voice was confident and hard and Roy, knowing Riza very well knew that there was no chance for him to win this argument.
The days passed by, Ed and Al waking up every now and then for a while. Roy was having hard time adjusting to Al's new body, he had already gotten so used to the big armour and now there was… a little kid. He couldn't really tell his exact high while just lying on the hospital bed. But it was something about Ed's.
The boys were getting better, their strength coming back. Both were too stubborn to give in to the sleep once they finally woke up. Roy always took his work to the hospital where he worked with it while the kids were sleeping. Which was almost all the time. But always when they, or at least one of them, woke up he was there to give support and comfort. He loved doing it. And Al… well, Alphonse seemed to love physical contact. He liked being hugged, his hair fluffed, his hand rubbed. Roy assumed it was because of being in armour for years and years, unable to feel everything. Had the boy already forgotten how it felt to be touched? He didn't know. Most likely.
"…Roy."
Roy raised his head from the paperwork and saw Ed looking at him.
"Where am I?" he asked. The boys had been mostly too tired to really talk, but now that they were getting their strength back he assumed he had a lot of questions.
"In Central's hospital. I thought you'd already figure that out." He smiled and put his work on the floor. Ed didn't smile.
"Why are you in here?" he whispered, feeling uneasy. Roy blinked.
"You're my sons and I care about you Ed. Of course I'm in here, I'll always be in here. You're never alone."
"I'm sorry."
The words came as a shock for him.
"There's nothing to be sorry for Ed."
"I… It wasn't right to yell to you. It wasn't right to be mad, it wasn't right not to call. I'm sorry, I remembered it all the time, I just didn't want to. I was being stupid. I'm sorry." The boy sniffed slightly, tears in his eyes. "How is it you still care about me? After everything I've done?"
Roy hugged him. "A father is always present, he's always there for you, no matter what you've done or what you haven't done. He's always present to love you and comfort you and tell it's OK. I guess we're just stupid that way, but we can't really help it."
Ed laughed sadly. "Then I guess sons exist to make fathers miserable. To make them worry and feel bad."
"Not only that. They also exist to make us proud. To give us something to work on, raising them up the right way. Something for us to protect and love."
"So you really care about us?"
"Yes Edward. I really care about you." The boy fell asleep, smiling warmly to him.
Some weeks later the boys had recovered. Roy assumed that the transmutation had used all their energy. Especially the part where they got back what was theirs. Bodies weren't supposed to just grow back to the way they were in a matter of few seconds. It wasn't the way it was supposed to be, human bodies grew slowly because they couldn't use all the energy that the body obtained.
Roy had gone shopping to get clothes for Alphonse. He had been found naked, well of course, the boy had just had the armour, no clothing. He had bought black jeans and a green T-shirt. The boy's eyes were interesting. Unlike his brother's pure golden eyes, his eyes were like… hot chocolate with a glimpse of gold.
The boys didn't unpack.
"We need to go to Risembool and meet Winry and aunt Pinako. Though I'm sure I'll get beaten up because I don't know where I lost the automails. I'm sure she would want them back but… oh well." Ed smiled and fluffed Al's hair. As soon as Al had been able to be awake for fifteen minutes he had takes scissors and cut his hair. Now he had pretty short front hair and the rest of his hair was about three inches over his shoulders while not being dragged up to a pony tail.
"Brother, you're ruining my hairstyle!" Al yelled annoyed and slapped him. "God, that felt good. Finally I felt what it's like to slap you. You have pretty soft skin you know, unlike Roy's. His skin is rougher. But it's actually pretty nice."
Ed sighed. "Al, aren't you now a little too obsessed with all these… long forgotten feelings?"
"Nope! Hey Roy, I want to eat something else than that bloody hospital food. Now I know why you always hated it Ed, it tastes like plastic…"
"Have you tasted plastic?" Ed asked curiously. Al blushed.
"Don't look at me like that…" he muttered and walked in his room. Ed chuckled.
God, Roy hated the train stations. They always meant that someone was leaving. Or many someones. Now it was the boys… once again.
Well, now at least they had solved everything. The boys were actually pretty excited about the baby. Al was always dragging on did they know was it going to be a girl or a boy. Well, of course they didn't know, god, Riza was on her third month!
The four of them were on the station saying good byes. Ed had resigned from the military. He wasn't a dog anymore, and Roy was actually pretty happy about it. Though it meant that Ed and Al weren't able to come in the Head Quarters that easily anymore. But at least they weren't on immediate danger anymore.
He hugged the boys.
"You better come back soon. You travel too much for my liking."
The boys smirked. Their smirks were so alike.
"I don't know how long we'll stay. We aren't busy with the stone anymore and Risembool is still our home in a way. We have family in there as well, waiting for us", Al said.
They got in the train. Riza was resting her head against his shoulder as he looked sadly at the train. Two heads popped out of one window.
"DON'T BE SAD ROY! WE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW WEEKS!" Ed yelled.
"HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU NOT TO PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE WINDOW LIKE THAT, YOU DON'T WANT TO LOSE IT NOW THAT YOU GOT YOUR LIMBS BACK!" Roy yelled back furiously, but still smiling.
"THE TRAIN ISN'T MOVING YET, IDIOT!" both, Ed and Al screamed, which was a shock, knowing that Al wasn't a person to yell something like that most of time. Roy guessed it was the kids latest obsession: to say every word he knew with his real lips, just to know how it felt like. What a weirdo.
The train started moving.
"WELL IT IS NOW, HEADS BACK IN KIDS! AND YOU BETTER GET A TRAIN THAT GETS BACK BEFORE LUNCH TIME!"
The heads disappeared, leaving two hands waving for him. Roy felt like two pieces of him were in that train.
"Come Roy. Let's go home and have fun now that we have the house just for ourselves…" Riza smiled and kissed him. He smiled back.
"Sometimes it's fun when the kids are gone for a while."
As long as they're coming back soon.
THERE IT IS! THE STORY IS FINISHED! My first story with more than one chapters that I've actually FINISHED! God, I'm proud. Thanks for reviewers. Without you I'd never been able to do it. God, how am I able to live without writing this anymore...
And a happy ending. Well, you know me, I'm an emotional freak so it would break my heart to write a sad ending.
And I think now I need to explain a few things:
The philosopher's stone disappeared because of the huge transmutation. All of it's power was needed to accomplish it.
Ed and Al were found because Roy had contacted the police which had started looking for the two boys. Though it took them a few days to find them.
Remember that it's never too late to review.