Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Closer Than We Thought
Edward Elric walked down the empty street looking up at the dark clouds above him while muttering curses under his breath.
"Darn that Mustang! Making me take his clothes to the cleaners on a day like this! Not to mention Al and I had to cancel our trip out west for this! When I get a hold of him I'm gonna…" Ed muttered darkly as a light mist started to fall. "Great! Now it's raining!" He yelled looking up at the sky in distaste as he continued walking, the rain growing harder and harder every second.
'If I don't get back to base soon I'll end up sick and then Al and I will never get a chance to follow our lead! Better take the shortcut.' Ed thought quickening his pace so that he was now running over the slick ground as hail started to fall. Slowing his pace a little, Ed turned down an empty alleyway that led him back to back to Eastern Command. Just as he made it to the end, however, a dark shadow loomed in front of him and he stopped, face pale.
"What the-"
Roy Mustang looked out the window of his office, watching the rain fall. It had been almost four hours since he had sent Ed to take his jacket to the dry cleaners and he was starting to worry for the boy's safety. Behind him Alphonse sat nervously. Ed had made him stay behind, saying it would only take an hour or so and he didn't want to risk taking him out in the weather. It was a good idea seeing that the city had already started to flood in some parts. There was a soft knock on the door before Lieutenant Colonel Hughes walked in, careful to close the door behind him.
"Any sign of him yet?" Hughes asked, walking to look out the window and looking out it expecting to see the elder Elric walk up to the door.
"Not yet. I'm starting to worry though. He wanted to get out of here fast so he wanted to make this a quick job. Plus he told Al he would only be about an hour. I think that it's about time to send out the search parties."
"I agree. We'll have them sweep the city and check all the public venues. Why don't you wait here for him to return?" Hughes asked, turning and heading to the door as Mustang nodded.
"Report back every hour. I want to know the second that you get any leads." Hughes walked out, barking orders to Havoc who stood right outside the door.
"Colonel? Do you think that Brother is okay?" Al asked, the sound of a sob coming out of the armor softly. Faking a smile Mustang attempted to ease Al's pain.
"I'm sure he's fine. He probably got caught in the storm and stopped until it eased up. Since people all over the city are losing power I bet he wasn't able to call us and tell us that he was okay. Don't worry, they'll find him in some bakery having dinner before they cart him back here." Al nodded, praying that Roy was right.
'Edward, where are you?'
"Sorry, Colonel. We checked everywhere and no sign of him." Havoc sighed, walking into the office dripping water all over the carpet.
"If you had looked everywhere then you would have found him by now!" Mustang almost shouted looking away from the window to glare at Havoc.
"Roy, calm down! He's only been gone for six hours, I'm sure we'll be able to locate him." Hughes desperately said, walking into the room behind Havoc, also dripping.
"It's taking too long. I'm joining the search, as is Alphonse if he so wishes. Have all remaining troops sent out as well, I want everyone we have looking for him, this case will be closed within the hour." Roy stated as he grabbed his coat off the rack in the corner and then walking out the door, Al following close behind him. As they reached the front door, they ran into Lieutenant Hawkeye and her group coming back from an unfruitful search.
"Colonel, what are you doing?"
"He has not returned yet and I'm going out to look for him myself. Bring your group and follow me." Quickening his pace, Roy walked outside, stopping at the front gates and turning to face the crowd behind him. "Split up. I want groups of two people each searching. Use the signals if you find him. Hawkeye, Hughes, stay with me." The crowd saluted and broke apart, each small group running in a different direction.
"Hawkeye, you go with Alphonse. Search the west side. Leave no rock unturned. If you come across other search parties while you are looking, relay the message." Hawkeye saluted and ran off to the left, Al on her heels. "Hughes, you and I will search the east side. Are there any places that we might not think to look?"
"Now that you mention it, there is a series of alleyways that connect the back roads to the one that runs right in front of HQ. I don't think anyone has thought to look there yet."
"I remember those. Go around the front and look, I'll run around the back." Hughes nodded and ran off to the right while Roy ran back through the gates and around to the back of Eastern Command and out through the back way, looking for the alley.
As he made his way down the road, a horrible metallic scent reached his nose. He knew that smell. Dreading what he would find, he followed the odor making his way closer and closer to the alley, the smell getting stronger with every step. With bated breath, he turned down the small gap between two buildings, the smell now suffocating him. He stepped in something sticky. Looking down he noticed that the sticky something was blood… and a lot of it. Moving quicker now, he half-ran down walkway looking in all directions for what had produced so much blood. And then it was in front of him, a small body lying on the ground, unmoving. Stopping almost completely, he inched foreword, hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was. Something cracked under his boot and he looked down to see that he had stood on a piece of metal. Looking more closely at the ground, he saw that pieces of metal were scattered everywhere, one of them looked horribly like a finger.
As he reached the body he bent down, trying to get a better look in the darkness that surrounded him. Lying in a puddle of blood was a blonde head. As quickly as he could without harming the boy, Mustang turned him over only to look into the familiar face of Edward Elric. He had hoped, no prayed that he was wrong when he had seen the small body lying on the ground, seen the automail finger resting ten feet away from it's owner. Trying to shake himself from his stupor, Roy reached down to feel the boy's pulse. It was slow… not a good sign. Reaching down to his holster, he grabbed the pistol there and shot three times into the air. It was the signal that he had found Ed, and that he was in bad shape. Throwing the gun aside, Roy looked over Ed's small form for any wounds. He noticed almost immediately that his automail arm and port were both gone, a steady trail of blood flowing from it. Feeling Ed's chest and finding nothing, Roy decided to move down to his stomach, pulling his hand away when he felt how wet it was. Hearing the sound of running feet, Roy gently picked Ed up, rising just as Hughes and Havoc came around the corner.
"What…" Havoc's breath caught. There was blood everywhere, including the steady drips coming from the lifeless body in Mustang's arms.
"Let's move." Roy said in a quiet, worried voice as he started to run down the alleyway, heading to headquarters. The only thing that he could think about while running was the cold body in his arms. He had always joked about Ed being small, but he had never seen him this little before, never thought of him as weak, Ed had always been invincible, no one ever beat him. He would fight and usually win, throwing in a smart comment here or there.
'What did you do to yourself, Edward?'
"Colonel, what happened?" Havoc shouted from a few feet behind Mustang as the rain beat their already cold skin.
Bending over the small, frail body in his arms, Mustang answered. "I'm not sure, I found him like this." Why was his voice shaking? He had to stop. Ed was going to be fine. As if to prove him wrong, Ed's breathing grew even more shallow and ragged. With a sharp intake of breath, Roy sped up, ignoring the protest of his legs. Within minutes they saw light they had almost reached HQ. Not slowing down, Mustang raced through the front gate and burst through the double doors, startling the few officers that were standing in the way and sliding down the hallway heading to the infirmary.
"Colonel?" The nurse asked as Roy ran into her with Ed still in his arms.
"Please… help him." He managed to force out through his heavy wheezing. With a quick gasp, the nurse took Ed from Roy's arms and laid him down on the closest bed before shoving Roy into the chair in the room outside and telling him sternly to wait there. Taking deep even breaths and trying to calm down Roy looked impatiently at the door. He had to be okay, didn't he?
"Colonel, where is Brother?" Al asked nervously, noting the blood all over Roy's coat and becoming even more nervous. "He's okay… isn't he?"
"I… I don't know." Roy answered truthfully, looking up into Al's glowing red eyes with guilt. It was his fault that Ed was out that afternoon; he had asked him to take his coat to the dry cleaners. If he had done it himself then Ed and Al would be on their way out west right then and none of them would be in this situation then.
"It's okay, Colonel. Relax, I'm sure he'll be fine." Riza said as she put a comforting hand on her superior's shoulder, unable to hide her shaking voice. Havoc and Hughes nodded and gave him comforting looks. Mustang nodded and looked at the clock on the wall.
'7:10,' He thought, staring at the floor intently. Riza never took her hand off his shoulder, sitting on one side of him while Hughes sat on the other and Havoc stood with his back against the wall and Alphonse paced back and forth looking at the door to the infirmary every now and then. Mustang sat and looked at his feet, only thinking about how it was his fault.
After what felt like an eternity the door opened and the nurse walked out, dying her hands on a towel. Quick as lightening Mustang and Al were in front of her with worried looks on their faces, trying to see into the room.
"He'll make it. He lost quite a bit of blood and I have no idea how he survived as long as he did, but he'll make a full recovery. Would you like to see him now? I think he might be waking up and I would hate for him to wake up and not have his friends with him." They nodded and she gave them a knowing smile, leading them into the room.
Ed was lying on a white bed with a mask over his face. He took long deep breaths, but he was breathing. The white bandages on his shoulder already had a bit of blood soaking through them. Al ran up to the bedside and got down on his knees, hands on the bedspread.
"Brother?" Ed's eyes flickered and he tilted his head over to look at Al.
"Hey there Al." Ed said weakly, a small smile on his face.
"Hey Fullmetal."
"Hi Colonel."
He was alive. He was going to be okay, make a full recovery. But who had attacked him? For now Roy would not worry about that. For now, all was well.
A/N: So what did you think? I've had this typed up for a while and I just decided to post it since I had to wait on something to load for my project. I have the sequel typed up and I just need plenty of reviews to encourage me to post it. It starts basically where this one leaves off, and I know that you want to know who did that to Ed so that you can go and attack them right? Review and I'll give you the sequel soon!
Thanks!
EdElricFan1001