Happy New Year everyone! The final chapter is here, at last!
Sorry for the delay, I've had some troubles with my internet connection. Fuck that. And everything gets explained in here! Okay, not everything, but pretty much.
This was inspired by a dreak of mine. But to not spoil you, I'll tell you more about it in the end. Have a great time reading!
Oh, and this doesn't make if you've only watched the anime. This is based on the manga. Sorry about that, but it was the only way I could make it work. And... yeah, there's a huuuge manga spoiler ahead... but it's only if you know the spoiler, otherwise I'm not sure if you can make it out. Maybe.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA!
PROTECT
Chapter 17
Running through his veins
Roy was sitting on the couch wondering if there were still some bottles of alcohol he'd be able to drink so he could get at least a little of the horrible feelings raging inside of him away. Riza was sitting next to him, her light arm curled around his shoulders in a supporting way.
"Have you already calmed down and pitied yourself enough?" she asked strongly. Roy snorted. "Good. Because if this goes according to plan, we're going to take care of the kids for a long time. Having one of them pissed at you that badly isn't going to make things any easier. I think you should go and talk to him."
"I don't know what to say anymore", Roy muttered. "He's just pushed aside everything I have said so far. I'm clueless with what to do with him anymore."
She just smiled gently as she ran her hand through his raven hair. "Just make him know that you're sorry. I bet he already knows but make him really realise it. And give him some support, he's going through a rough time." She leaned closed so their lips almost touched. Roy tried to lean forward but she backed away and put her finger on his lips. "You won't get anything before you've gone there and talked to him. Are we clear?"
Roy groaned. "Riza… You're evil."
She smirked. "Learned from the best, I think. Okay, just go. I'll wait here."
He nodded and got up, walking upstairs to the door of the study which was watched by Breda at the time who was sitting on the floor and playing with cards. Breda didn't even raise his head as he entered the room to see the two kids on the other sides of the room, both staring into nothing. He hawked.
"Ed, I was just wondering if I could have a word with you", he said, making Al look up and see his brother still sitting motionless and he lowered his head again. Roy leaned down to take Ed's hand in his own and motioned him to stand up which he did and they walked out of the room, Roy locking the door behind them as they left and led Ed to a room which was probably the boys' own room. He motioned Ed to sit down which he did and sat next to him, curling a hand over Ed's shoulders. The boy didn't pull away but he didn't lean in either.
"How are you holding on?" he asked gently. Ed shrugged, looking at his own feet against the wooden floor. The room was tidy and clean which wasn't to be expected, especially while thinking of the rest of the house which seemed to be a complete chaos. Roy put his head on the boy's one and sighed. "Is it because of the shock or why are you turning to a robot again?"
Ed didn't answer as he kept staring at his feet, some kind of cold ignorance glowing from his slightly strained body. Roy could tell that the boy's emotions were getting mixed and messed up which made it hard for him to decide which ones were the important ones and which weren't. Roy ruffled his hair over his right ear.
"You know I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help you and give you a lighter future. You don't have to carry all that weight on your shoulders after this. You can be a normal boy of your age, going to school and playing with friends. You can have it all, you can have a loving family and even a pet if you like. Before we found you Riza was talking about wanting a dog. Wouldn't it be fun to have a dog?"
Ed shrugged again and made an almost unnoticeable sniff. Roy rubbed his back. "I just wanted you to know that even after all of this, I still love you. It's not going anywhere. I don't think your father will stop loving you either. And as I've said, you can meet him at times. When we know a little more of his judgement we can start planning how often you can meet. It can be at least once a week if you want to. I guess."
Ed turned and buried his head in Roy's chest, his right hand grabbing the fabric of his blue military shirt. Roy shushed. "Are you alright, Ed?" he asked worriedly. Ed shook his head. "What's wrong?"
Ed couldn't hold it in anymore and blew up. "Why did you have to find me!? Why did you have to do this all to me!?" he sobbed. "It'd been better without you. Everything would be alright without you! You did this to me! You did this all to me!"
Roy curled his hands around the shaking body on his lap and rocked the boy gently. "I'm sorry Ed. I know you'll never forgive me. All I'm asking is that you'd be able to live with it."
"Why are you manipulating me? Why is it so important to make me feel good and free and all that and then crush me down again, make me notice that I've changed so much that I can't go back and I have no one there for me anymore?"
"What are you talking about Ed? You have people for you, sure you've realised that? You have us and you have your brother who surely loves you a lot. Remember how he took care of you when we arrived? Remember his face? He cares. He'll always be there for you. Nobody's leaving you", Roy tried to calm the kid down but Ed shook his head.
"I don't want to be alone. Al hates me. I'm so alone", he sniffed. "I don't even know why I'm talking to you anymore. I just can't stop it! I can't control anything!"
"It's alright, Ed. It's alright", Roy said as he stroke the boy's head gently. "I'm sorry I've been acting like a heartless asshole for a while. I admit it. I've been an idiot. But I promise to try to be gentler from now on, alright? And if you feel like talking just ask for me. I'll come."
Ed shook his head stubbornly. "I am not asking for your company."
Roy smiled. "It's alright that way too. How's your wound?"
"It doesn't hurt. Just like any other wound. At first it hurts, and then the pain faints away. It just feels a little sore", Ed answered as he sat up straight again. "And it's getting dark so the room we're in is starting to get pretty dark. And I bet Al's bored to hell. Usually when we don't have anything to read he starts cleaning up but he's too afraid to clean up Dad's study so… Yeah. Could you put lights there and give us something to do? And Al must be starving, can you bring him some food too?"
"Yeah. Of course. Sure. You're a good brother, worrying for your brother like that. We'll get you something to eat. And do you want read something? Is there any books you haven't read yet in this room?"
Ed nodded and picked up the book under his bed and several others from the shelf and one under Al's bed before they left the room and walked back to the study, Roy turning the lights on from the button outside the room's door before Ed slipped in again.
"One more question", Roy said, making Ed look back. "When I found you, you called him 'that man'. Now you call him 'Dad'. I'm just curious why?"
Ed smiled sadly. "You never really realise what you have until you start losing it."
Roy closed the door to get the promised kiss from Riza and some food for the starving children.
Ed, in another hand, walked quietly to Al and offered him the small pile of books, making the kid look up.
"I thought you might want something to read… They're getting food for you too", he said. Al eyed him and took hesitantly one of the books, the one that had been lying under his bed and Ed hesitantly took the one that had been under his bed but Al grabbed his hand.
"There's something that's mine", he said quietly. Ed nodded and handed him the book and Al opened it and took a leaf from it and smiled briefly to Ed. "Though I don't know if I really need it anymore", he continued, still quietly. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry."
Ed smiled briefly. "It's okay", he said as he sat down next to Al. Al lied down so his head was on Ed's lap as they started reading, both really not focusing to the books as they enjoyed having the other one around again like the old days.
"He's arrived", Fuery said to the walkie-talkie as he saw the golden haired man step out of the train. Falman glared at him, motioning for him to talk a little more quietly. In another line, at the Elrics's house, Roy nodded, motioning for Breda to go and guard the children's room again and stay alerted. Breda nodded and left the hall, leaving Havoc and Riza drawing out their weapons and Roy rolling his eyes for his subordinates rushed reactions. The man was at the station, not at the house!
"Follow him", he said to the walkie-talkie, making Fuery and Falman straighten up, say "Copy that" to the walkie-talkie and put their hats better on as they started walking down the streets, about 15 meters behind the man like they'd be normal Resemboolers on their way home. Hohenheim didn't seem to notice them. Thank god.
"We're about in the halfway. He just disappeared behind the hill, we're still getting up. Should we run and get him in our sight again?" Falman asked. At the house Roy grunted.
"You think he's noticed you?" he asked. Falman and Fuery looked at each others.
"I don't think so, sir. Though we aren't 100 percent sure. If he has, he's a good actor", Fuery said. We should get him in our sight again in less than a minute if we keep up this speed."
"Alright, let's not risk getting caught", Roy said as he leaned to the front door which Roy had fixed with alchemy. "Keep up the speed. If something goes wrong, report immediately", he continued. Riza and Havoc looked out of the windows to the road leading to the house. It didn't take a long time to walk from the train station to the house. The action should start in about five minutes. Roy wiped his forehead.
Fuery and Falman climbed up the road to the hill and looked down, eyes wide. "Colonel, he's not in our sight", Fuery said immediately. "We can't see him. There are a few trees behind what he could be walking, still heading to the house. If he isn't, he has sped up and should be there any minute."
"Damn it!" Roy swore. "Havoc, get to the backdoor-!"
A shot cut the air and Breda bellowed upstairs. Roy started running upstairs.
"HE'S HERE! Surround him, surround him, don't let him get to the study!" he bellowed to Riza and Havoc who were right behind him running upstairs. They heard the lock of the door. Damn it, the man was in the study! Just then the door disappeared as the wall swallowed it. Roy swore and hit his hands to the wall, noticing it was still hard and there was no way they could get through it soon. Breda was nowhere to be seen.
"Breda?!" Havoc yelled. They heard a muffle coming from the wall. Wait, that part of the wall hadn't been there a few minutes ago!
"I'm running out of air! Someone get me out of here!" Breda's voice yelled. Behind the wall was coming horrified screams as well. Roy panicked.
He snapped his fingers two times, first time aiming for the wall Breda was in and the second to make a pathway to the study. Breda coughed and Havoc ran to help him up and check for injuries as Riza and Roy stepped in the study, the dust starting to set down, horrified crying of Al reaching their ears. They couldn't see anything but a slight light of probably alchemy shining, but they couldn't be sure who it was as all the three could perform it so they didn't shoot. Ed's pained and fragment breaths cut the air and a disgusting sound of someone cutting one's flesh. They smelled the metallic scent of blood in the air.
As the dust finally set down and let them see, Al was crying his eyes out in the corned and Hohenheim was over Ed with a pained look on his face and tears glimmering in his eyes as he whispered something to the child who was holding his shirt with his last strength and looking at him with his pained eyes, Hohenheim pulling a knife from Ed's chest, making the blood rush out quicker. A line of blood was coming from the corner of Ed's mouth as his hand let go and eyes lost their focus.
Riza and Roy had frozen as they watched at the dead boy lying on the floor, his last gaze towards his little brother who was watching the scene fearfully from the corner.
A shot cut the air and Breda bellowed out of pain, making Ed and Al run to the door fearfully trying to find out what was going on. Was their father already there? Had he gotten shot? Was Breda hurt? Was someone dead? They felt the warmth of alchemy warming the cold door.
The door flew open and Ed and Al who had been hitting the door furiously were sent flying back several meters from the sudden burst of energy on their way. Their father stepped in the room, locked the door and laid his hands to the wall, the blue light of alchemy blinding them momentarily as the door disappeared in the slightly thinner wall and their father turned back at them.
He grabbed Ed from the collar, yanking him up. "So it's true", he whispered. He pushed the boy against the wall and put his hand on the boy's chest, feeling something inside of it. He threw the boy to the floor. "Where is it?!" he yelled as he threw Ed's jacket away and started looking for something from Ed's arms. Al got up and stepped forward.
"Dad, you're hurting him!" he yelled but Hohenheim threw him to the corner, making Al freeze seeing his father acting so violently. Hohenheim grabbed Ed's hair and pulled it up, seeing a mark on the back of Ed's neck. He shook his head with teary eyes and turned Ed on his back, looking at him fearfully.
"Dad-!" Ed started but was cut off by the hand of his father gently on his mouth. Hohenheim took a knife from his pocket, making Ed start fighting to get away but didn't let him as he struck it on the boy's chest, to the little part that looked like it was swollen and moved it down towards his heart. Ed's eyes started watering from pain as he grabbed his father's shirt, looking at him with eyes, almost asking for "why?". Hohenheim let go of Ed's mouth, letting him take in a pained breath as he ran his hand through Ed's hair, Al screaming in the corner as he saw the knife in his brother's chest.
"Heal the wound, Ed. You can do it. Use it. Heal it", he said as he moved the knife to the "swallowed" part of Ed's chest, something red, different shade of blood glowing in the wound. Ed felt its energy rushing in his veins. He closed his eyes to get strength and the blue light of alchemy glowed as the wound healed, but his father kept moving the knife, cutting it open again after he healed it. The pain was unbearable and Ed opened his eyes in order to stay awake. He couldn't die yet! He couldn't die in front of his terrified little brother! Why was the man doing this to him?! Why?!
The wall blew up and dust filled Ed's lungs, trying to strangle him. Ed was sweating. The pain was overwhelming and he held his father's shirt even harder with his hand as he tried to heal the wound again. How was he able to do this? How? He hadn't drawn a circle and it wasn't like he knew anything of human transmutation! He shouldn't be able to do this! Why could he?
Hohenheim stroke his hair and cheeks in a relaxing way as Ed felt the taste of blood coming to his mouth from his lungs. No! He was running out of energy. He wasn't able to transmute his body so well anymore! The alchemy on his chest burned like hell and made him nauseous, so did the smell of blood. He gagged more blood from his mouth and tried draw in another fragmentary breath, starting to get black spots to his vision. No, no, no! He needed help!
The dust landed and his father leaned closer to his ear, whispering "I'm sorry, son", to him before pulling the knife from his chest. He couldn't heal the wound anymore. He was out of energy. The red thing in his chest shattered and vanished to the thin air. He couldn't breathe anymore.
He turned to see Al who was crying in the corner before he felt his consciousness slipping away. He knew he would never wake up again.
Ed's hand dropped. Hohenheim took Ed's bloody corpse in his hands and embraced it tightly, hugging him gently. He looked at the vanishing mark on the boy's neck. Roy came out of his shock.
"LET GO OF HIM AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" he bellowed furiously as he felt Riza shaking uncontrollably next to him, Fuery and Falman coming to the scene and peeking at the room, covering their mouths, Havoc demanding to know what was going on and Breda bellowing for everyone to shut up because his head was hurting. Al stood up and attacked their father furiously, drawing his hands back and starting hitting and kicking the man as hard as he could, Roy rushing to the scene and pulling Al away and giving him to Falman so he would take the boy away. It's needless to mention that Al didn't let anyone take him away.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU… YOU… YOU AREN'T EVEN HUMAN! HOW COULD YOU!? HOW COULD YOU!?" Al screamed as he fought, trying to get to Hohenheim to get his revenge for the death of his brother. Roy took handcuffs from his belt but Hohenheim raised his hands.
"Don't do it, please don't do it. Not before I'm finished. Let me revive him. Let me save him!" Hohenheim demanded, making Roy shook his head furiously.
"You aren't touching him anymore! You aren't touching either of your sons anymore! Haven't you done enough? How was it like watching your own son bleed to death in front of your eyes because of you!" he bellowed. "Let go of him and let him rest in peace without having your filthy hands around him."
"Don't judge me before giving me a chance to explain. Calm down and let's talk about this", Hohenheim demanded seriously, Roy shaking his head.
"What? You want to talk? Say one reason why I should listen to you!" Roy bellowed as Riza stepped forward and put a calming hand on his shoulder. He swallowed for a few times, trying to hold his pain inside.
"You want to hear why I killed him and you don't want to do anything rushed because we have only about an hour to revive him before his soul is found and moved behind the gate by the gatekeeper. And you really want him alive. After this, you can do whatever you want. Kill me. Arrest me. But you've got to let me do this", Hohenheim said. Roy sighed and fell to his knees.
"What could you possibly say to make your actions forgivable?" Roy asked. Hohenheim shrugged.
"Probably nothing. So are you listening?"
Roy nodded. "Take others out of here. Give Alphonse something to drink. This shouldn't take long."
Al bit Falman's hand and broke free before rushing to the room. "You aren't pushing me away. This is about me too. I want to know why my brother's dead. You can't leave me out of this!" he hissed furiously. Roy understood him.
"Riza, take care of Al. You can listen too. Everyone else, go away. Treat your wounds. Start packing things. We're leaving after this", he said. The others nodded unwillingly and closed the door, walking away. Roy turned to Hohenheim. "Explain."
Hohenheim moved Ed's hair away and showed Roy the mark that was barely to be seen anymore, still fading. "You recognize that mark?"
Roy shook his head. "Never seen it."
"It's the Ouroboros mark. Sort of like a tattoo, but you don't really get it done and you can't remove it any way. Homunculi have these marks."
"Wait, wait, wait. Homunculi are unreal humans. Are you telling me that Ed isn't a human?" Roy asked. Hohenheim shook his head.
"My son is a human. But he has philosopher's stone running through his veins. Do you know how a homunculus is born?"
Roy shook his head, making Hohenheim continue. "Homunculi are humans at first. Ordinary humans. But then someone puts red stone, the philosopher's stone, in their blood. It can go through a wound or it can be put there with a needle or any other ways you can think of. But in Ed's case… I'm the philosopher's stone, so he had it in his genes."
"What? You can't possibly be the philosopher's stone!" Roy yelled. "There's no way! Humans aren't the philosopher's stone!"
Hohenheim raised his hand to quiet Roy. "I am the philosopher's stone. Centuries ago a city disappeared in one night. We were trying to make our king immortal. But the… thing that led us fooled us. I was the only one who survived. Everyone else's lives are stuck in me and that thing that took a body like mine. He's called 'Father'.
"Anyway, I became the philosopher's stone. I've lived for centuries, watching my friends age and die. Then one day, I fell in love. For the first time, I was able to sacrifice my heart, even while knowing that I shouldn't and it would break me. I got a family. Wife and two sons.
"My wife died. That's when I realised that I didn't want to see my sons die too. I didn't want to live centuries after they had died. I wanted to die before them like a father should. I couldn't stand being immortal anymore. So I started studying. I tried to find a way to become mortal again. I got closer and closer to my path and I heard of Father's doings, including the homunculi and how they were born. I started getting worried but my sons seemed to be just fine.
"Then, one day several months ago, I realised that things weren't alright with Edward. I had known that he had part of philosopher's stone inside of his chest since he had been a baby. But he had been safe because it hadn't gotten mixed with his blood. But when he hit puberty… the hormones in his body made the philosopher's stone mix with his blood. The day I realised it, Edward changed his hair colour out of nothing. Of course, as he didn't really know about his talent he couldn't control it. He couldn't use it willingly. With my help he managed to change his hair back to golden again. But it kept bugging me.
"Ed didn't know about the philosopher's stone inside of him. He hadn't even sensed it. Otherwise he would've been able to do alchemy without a circle, but as he needed the circle, he didn't know about it. So I let him be and hoped he'd never notice how different he was. And as he became immortal too… I'd have a son to live by my side even if I wouldn't find a way to cure myself. But with some examination I realised that Ed's stone held in only a few human lives: it wasn't a major one. As I visited Central, still studying for how to make me mortal and getting money to be able to feed us, I bumped into a few homunculi, sent by Father. He told me that when Ed would fully turn into a homunculus, he'd come and get him because homunculi were his idea and possession. I knew I'd lose if we'd have to battle of Ed: it was just me against him and several homunculi. I had no chance. So I started looking for a cure for Ed.
"I searched. I studied. Finally, I was able to find out, that if I'd kill him and he'd realise the stone and use its energy and then die, he wouldn't be a homunculus anymore. Only problem after that was death, but as I was the philosopher's stone, I'd be able to revive him. But after a while I snapped. I'd been in a bad condition for years, but thinking of killing my eldest son… it's really painful. I couldn't control it. I just wanted it done. But I didn't want to do it either, I kept telling myself 'tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow, tomorrow will be the day', but I never did it. The kids started getting on my nerves more and more. They were on my way always when I tried to study for another way, and I found no other way and I knew I'd have to kill my son and live with it.
"Then one day, I really got angry. I couldn't control it, the fury was like poison running through my veins. I wanted to kill him like I had to, but I didn't want to watch. So I took him to the sea and left him to drown…" Hohenheim told and took a small pause, burying his head in his hands. Roy felt bad for the man. What he had done was wrong, but the man had been out of options. But he should've at least explained it to Ed and stayed there for him as he died. Just throwing him in the sea and being like he didn't care… It was heartless. Hohenheim raised his head again and took in a breath.
"I hoped Ed had realised the philosopher's stone. Otherwise he would've died and if a homunculus dies with the philosopher's stone still having power inside, the gatekeeper senses it quicker and it'd be the end. When a living human arrives to the gate, the gatekeeper finds the person in mere seconds. It'd mean his soul would go through the gate sooner than I'd be able to pull it back to a living body again.
"I didn't go straight home as I came back. I came to a silent place in the middle of those hills and tried the transmutation after several hours. I met the gatekeeper and then I found out that if I'd want to revive a person, I'd have to collect the soul before he does. I also found out that it had to be done within the following hour. Ed wasn't there. The keeper refused to tell me if he had collected his soul yet, but I didn't think Ed would be able to swim anymore. So… I… I thought I had failed. I thought I had murdered my own son just like that and I'd never get the chance to apologize. The pain was unbearable.
"I came home and started working on how to become mortal again so I'd at least have a chance to live a normal life with Al. My mind was totally messed up. It's hard trying to stay strong for your child when you've just killed the child's brother. I kept forgetting things and such. Due to the shock, probably. I left for Central again for a business trip but in there I found out that Ed wasn't dead. The Homunculi said they were looking for him already but it was like he had vanished. Kept hidden. Or maybe he was just walking under their nose and they didn't see him. I decided to come home, get Al and start looking for Ed.
"On my way home, I realised that two men were following me. I still can't believe you were stupid enough to think I wouldn't notice. At first chance I ran. I broke to my own house from the back door, saw you talking on the front door, got upstairs, took the gun from the guard and shot his leg, transmuted him in the wall and got here.
"You know pretty much everything from there on, but you might wonder why I stabbed the knife in his chest. Ed still didn't know about the stone. He had been close dying, and he didn't know about it. I stabbed the stone in his chest. His body noticed it. I kept him healing the cut so he'd waste the energy. I succeeded, the stone shattered and vanished and as we can see…" he moved Ed's hair again, revealing his son's neck. "no Ouroboros mark anymore. It's over. So, are you letting me to save him?"
Roy bit his lip. "I shouldn't let you. It's a taboo. But if that happened to Ed, what about Al?"
"The stone didn't pass down to Al. We philosopher's stones sense others that have it in their veins around us. Al doesn't have it", Hohenheim stated. Roy narrowed his eyes.
"You said it mixed with Ed's blood because of the puberty he hit, which in another words can be said that a child can have it in his or her veins without becoming a homunculus. You are an adult. Why aren't you one?"
"I became the philosopher's stone when I was an adult. It never touched my blood, so it didn't mix with it. Homunculi nowadays are adults or teenagers with the stone put in their blood. So I'm not."
"Alright. As I can tell from some myths I remember now, when a homunculus dies, its body disappears. Why didn't Ed's body disappear?" Roy asked again, motioning at the corpse on Hohenheim's lap. Hohenheim smiled.
"He hadn't fully transformed yet. The stone had started mixing up with his blood, but he wasn't ready yet. In Ed's way, the hormones kept turning him into one slowly. Usually it happens within a minute. Ed's still part human which keeps his corpse in here", Hohenheim explained. Al seemed confused but didn't say anything.
"…Alright. Do it", Roy said. Riza shot a look at him.
"Are you sure, Roy? It can go wrong. It can go horribly wrong", Riza said. When I joined the military before Ishbal, a state alchemist had tried it. I was cleaning up the mess. And I cleaned… the result up. It wasn't a human, Roy."
"I said do it", Roy said. "If you succeed, I won't tell the police about you killing him. Which means your only charges will be about child abuse and we can put your mental state in there too which should help not getting in too big trouble. Just revive him."
Hohenheim smiled. "Thank you", he said as he laid his hands on Ed's chest, healing the wound. After that the light was so bright that they couldn't see. The light wasn't the usual blue, it was yellow and it had a little green in it. Al had gasped and grabbed Riza's sleeve out of shock.
When the light faded they heard coughing. Hohenheim was holding Ed against his chest, Ed coughing the remaining blood from his lungs and forcing air in them, squeezing his father's jacket, eyes wide. Roy released Ed's grasp and took him further away from his father and laid him down to the floor on his right side.
"You should let him rest. He'll be dizzy for several days. His brains can be damaged, we can't know how badly yet. Dying and then coming back to life takes a lot of energy and strains the body. He's going to be alright but he needs a lot of rest now.
"…Al…" Ed whispered quietly and reached at his brother who crawled to him and took his hand gently.
"I'm here, brother, I'm here… It's okay… It's okay…" Al babbled as he burst into tears of relief and Ed fell asleep.
Roy sighed as he handcuffed Hohenheim. "Alright. Now were getting the hell out of here and start heading back to Central."
"Mmmhmm…" Ed moaned as he woke up, his mind still dizzy and limbs heavy, not to mention a horrible headache. He opened his eyes and waited for a while for his eyes to get used to the darkness. The room was familiar. This was his room at Roy's place!
He sat up shakily and noticed a figure sleeping next to him. Al! Al was there…
Wait… he shouldn't be there… He should be dead… Was it a nightmare…? Then how had he ended up in here? Why was he alive? Or was Al dead?
He felt nausea hit him and lied down again, turning to Al and shook him slightly. "Al… wake up…"
Al's eyes shot open and he looked at his brother's sleepy ones for a brief while before hugging him tightly. "Brother! Brother, thank god you're alright! Thank god, thank god!"
Ed whined. Al sat up quickly. "Mr Roy! Mr Roy, he's awake!"
Roy was in the room in no time with Riza. "Ed!" he said, relieved, and stroke his hair. Riza smiled gently and glared at Roy in warning so he moved aside and let her hug him. Ed blinked his eyes.
"Am I alive?" he asked hopefully. Riza nodded as she stroke his cheek. "But why? How?"
"Your father saved you", Riza answered. Ed froze and started trembling.
"…I don't ever want to see him again", he said, getting flashes of the man stabbing him with the knife. Riza smiled gently.
"Yes you do", she said. "Don't lie to yourself. You never really realised what you have until you almost lose it. And you almost lost everything…"
Ed glared up at Roy. "You bastard, have you told everyone about our private conversation?!"
Roy laughed. "I wished he would've forgotten about it."
Ed smiled. "…Thank you", he said. "Thank you for everything. I just wanted to say it."
He didn't have to say more. They understood him without more words anyway.
Finished! Another long story that I finished! How proud I feel! Yeah!
I know it's really unclear. Oops. But I tried my best and I tried being original again... not sure if I managed. It's your decision. I'd like to hear about that in your final reviews.
And yes, what part of this was based on my dream? Ed's death. Unfortunately I was Ed in that dream. I'll kill the person who said that dreams don't hurt, because they do. Though in my dream it wasn't a knife Hohenheim stuck in mine/Ed's body, it was a bunch of about 15cm needles. Yaiks. Right through my/Ed's heart. Though, unlike Ed in my fic, I crawled after that and the needles went even deeper. Ouch. And Al was present that time but Roy and others weren't. But anyway, when I woke up the dream kept bugging me and it didn't let go until I put it in here, changing the even stupider ending I had been planning. First I planned Hohenheim to snap and shoot Ed's leg so he'd get automail but it's a little stupid to cut of many times shot leg and get an automail, isn't it? So I went with this one.
Thanks for everyone for reading and reviewing this story. It means a lot to me to have readers. A lot. All this time people keep supporting me and asking for me to update and I feel so bad for being so late all the time. But when I hear about you again, I'm happy again. I can't discribe it. It's just... awesome. Thank you!
And to those who wonder... Hohenheim was put in therapy and jail and after about 10 years he got out. He met his sons about once a week except for the times they were on vacation with Riza and Roy. When he got out, he kept searching for a way to turn mortal again. It's up to your choise whether he found it or not.