Sorry, felt like writing another angsty fic. I seem to have an obsession with Ed dying, for whatever reason that I don't know.

Summary: An explosion during an investigation mission crushes Edward under a mountain of debris. Will he be rescued in time or will the military be too late?

Waiting to Die

"Fullmetal, you have a new mission."

The blonde alchemist threw the colonel a scathing look. "What? I just got back from the last one you sent me on, which was a load of bull if you ask me," he seethed.

"Nii-san, don't be so rude," a hulking suit of armor reprimanded the teenager gently.

Edward cast the armor an exasperated look and whined, "Al, whose side are you on?!"

If Al had eyes, he would definitely roll them at his brother's childish behavior. "Nii-san, Colonel Mustang just said you had another mission. What is so bad about that?" he asked.

"If we weren't so busy doing these crappy wastes-of-time, we could be researching the Philosopher's Stone, Al!" Ed said, shooting another angry glare at his smirking superior.

"Would you like to be court-martialed, Fullmetal?" Roy asked in a casual tone that seemed to suggest he was merely talking about the everyday weather.

"Why you –" Ed gritted his teeth in anger. "Fine! I'll do your fucking mission, happy now?!"

"Quite."

And that was how the Elric brothers ended up on a train to South City, a fairly large civilization that was south of Central. Ed was muttering darkly to himself while glaring out the window as if the Colonel could see it. Al wisely let him be.

In a few hours, Al noticed that Ed had stopped talking to himself and had fallen asleep with his head pressed against the window. Shaking his helmet, Al carefully laid his brother down so that he was lying horizontally across the seat, soft snores emitting from his parted mouth.

The train ride passed rather uneventfully, and mere hours later found Al gently shaking his brother's shoulder, "Nii-san, we're here. Wake up."

Ed groaned and just turned over on the seat, "Five more minutes, Al . . ."

"In five minutes the train will be going again and we'll have missed our stop," Al said, shaking his brother with a little more force. "Wake up."

Ed swatted Al's gloved hand away as he sat up, rubbing the traces of sleep from his eyes, "Alright, alright, I'm up! Let's go."

Ed pulled out the piece of paper Roy had given him, looking it over once again to make sure he was in the right place.

"Nii-san, there's the park next to Yura's house," Al said, pointing up ahead to the wide expanse of grass that was littered with various trees and benches.

Ed tucked the paper away and picked up his pace, "Come on, Al. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

As luck would have it, the woman they were supposed to investigate wasn't at home, so Ed climbed in through a lower window, which was unlocked.

Ed walked through the hallways, face twisting in disgust as he discovered the numerous blueprints of the weapons Yura was supposedly making to destroy the human body more easily. There were also other sheets of paper that depicted diagrams of which section of the body would be the best to destruct to kill a person.

He then came upon a locked door that seemed to reek of suspicion. There was a messy note taped to the door that read:

Remember 3:00.

Weapon administration confirmed.

5:00 destruct.

Must be no survivors.

The note was clearly meant to be a job for the woman. Five o'clock destruct, no survivors? Ed's brow furrowed as he attempted to grasp the situation. The current logical assumption was that Yura was supposed to blow up something at 5:00 and leave no survivors. But what?

Ed looked at the clock ticking away on the faded cream-colored wall. There was still plenty of time before then, but in any case, Ed should hurry up and –

Click.

Ed was startled when he heard the sound of a door open. He glanced at the locked door, but it was still closed, so that meant . . .

Yura was back.

Ed cursed profusely as he glanced around for a place to hide. Why didn't Al warn him, damn it?!

Click. Click. Squeak.

The footsteps came closer to the hallway. Ed panicked and dove into the nearest room, hiding in the shadows as he tried to calm his erratic breathing. It wouldn't be good to be discovered now.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

The footsteps passed the room Ed was in. He bravely leaned a little out from the darkness and saw someone walking down the hall to the locked door.

The person had black hair that was twisted into an elaborate bun with a pair of red chopsticks sticking through it. The person was apparently female, by the way she was wearing a tight-fitting black dress with white frills and laces. She was holding a large blueprint of what appeared to be a large-scale bomb.

This woman must be Yura, Ed deduced.

Yura glanced at the clock, then back to the blueprint. "It's almost time," she whispered. "Those military bastards will get their worth soon enough."

Ed discreetly checked the clock too. To his horror, he realized there was only fifteen minutes left!

Yura unlocked the door and walked inside. Ed strained to see what was inside the room and just barely managed to muffle his gasp of surprise. The room was a laboratory! And from what he could see from his position, the room had several bombs inside of it.

Yura timed each bomb before picking them up individually and running around, putting them in different places. Ed ducked under a table to prevent being seen, but inside he was panicking.

Shit, I need to get out of here!

Once the woman had left the house entirely, unaware of the intruder in her house, Ed darted out and attempted to stop the bombs. Unfortunately, Yura had created a bomb with an auto-timer. Once it was set, it couldn't be stopped, no matter what.

Ed saw that he only had four minutes to get out, so he scrambled to the window he came in through and tried to warn Al.

"Al! Alphonse!"

The armor came into view, luckily unseen by Yura and the neighbors.

"Go tell that bastard colonel that he was right about this woman. I'll meet up with you back at the dorms, okay?"

"What about you, nii-san? Aren't you coming?" Al asked, clearly confused.

"Worry about me later! Just go!" Ed said urgently.

"I-I won't leave you, nii-san."

Ed sighed in frustration. "I'll be okay, Al. Just go," he said. "Be careful."

The armor trembled, clearly indecisive. "Alright," he said with a defeated sigh. "You'll be okay, won't you, nii-san?"

Ed forced a grin, "Yeah, I will. Go, Al!" And he disappeared from the window.

Alphonse hurried away, but when he got to the end of the street, he heard the terrible sound of a tremendous explosion.

BOOOOOOOOM!

He turned around.

"NII-SAN!" he screamed, seeing Yura's house blown apart and ravaged with flames. Some of the closer houses had also been caught in the blast, creating a giant pile of rubble and debris with a couple of incinerated corpses lying about.

Al, although merely just a soul attached to a suit of armor, felt numb with terror. He ran back towards the disaster zone, uncaring who he was seen by. "Nii-san! Nii-san! Nii-san!"

With a loud sob, Al dropped to his knees next to pile of rubble and began to dig furiously, hoping and praying that Ed was still alive.

Some of the other neighbors, who were unhurt during the initial blast but still shocked by such a large explosion happening so near to them, came out to investigate the commotion. One family even called the police and hospital.

Al didn't care about his surroundings. All he wanted to know was if his brother was alive. All he wanted to see was that Ed was still safe. It nearly tore his invisible heart in two just thinking about the possibility of Ed being dead. He couldn't, he couldn't! Not after everything they'd done.

After much futile digging and still no sign of Ed, Al collapsed to the ground next to the monstrous pile of rubble. If he could cry, he would have.

"Nii-san," he whimpered, his helmet bowed low enough for the horn to scrape the dirt. "You're alive . . . right?"

"Colonel Mustang!" a frantic Fuery burst through the doors to the colonel's office. "Bad news from South City Headquarters!"

Roy regarded his subordinate with a raised eyebrow. "Did Fullmetal get in trouble again?" he asked.

"It's worse than that, sir," Hawkeye said, a terribly dark look overcoming her features. "You assigned Edward a mission today, did you not?"

"I did, why?"

"The house that he was supposed to investigate blew up," Fuery said. "The authorities there mentioned an odd suit of armor making crying sounds next to it and keeps murmuring, 'Nii-san, Nii-san', so we can only assume that Ed was inside the house when it exploded."

Roy shot out of his chair, eyes wide and face paling rapidly. "Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed. "Havoc! Get us the quickest train to South City!"

"Sir!" Havoc ran off to get tickets.

"Colonel?" Hawkeye spoke quietly, watching the once-calm man she'd known for so long get panicky over an important subordinate who could be dead.

Roy did not answer, but the tense silence and the way he kept clenching and unclenching his fists in the blue fabric of his uniform told her everything. The colonel could get insanely worried about Ed sometimes. Not that anyone could blame him; Ed was a valuable ally, friend, and co-worker, and served as comical relief. Losing him now would be a harsh blow to anyone.

Am I dead?

That one thought ran through Ed's mind as he awakened, hazy golden eyes squinting to see in the darkness. He didn't feel dead, and from what he could tell, he certainly wasn't dead. However, the crushing pain in his body, mostly concentrated on his chest and flesh limbs, told him that he may as well be dead.

What happened, exactly? All he could remember was running back towards the room when the bombs had gone off with a thunderous roar. Then everything went black.

Ed attempted to move his left arm, only to hold back a cry as a terrible pain made itself known in his lower arm and his shoulder. He tried to free his right arm, but the heavy debris holding it down wouldn't budge.

An excruciating pain wracked his chest as he tried to yank his right arm free, making him bite down on his bottom lip to prevent the scream of pain from rising out of his throat. He tried to see what was causing him so much pain, only to pause in sheer shock and utter numbness.

A jagged wooden beam speared his chest. Luckily, it seemed not to have hit anything vital, but it was damn close to his heart and right lung. Ed swallowed thickly, his head drifting back down to the ground. He could die here. Would anyone know?

The beam seemed to be pinning him to the ground, so it momentarily stopped too much blood from escaping his diminutive body. However, he was surrounded entirely by rubble, so it was likely he wasn't going to be rescued any time soon. He couldn't even feel his right leg anymore.

How disappointing, to have gone through so many trials in life, yet dying in the aftermath of a giant explosion. Ed tipped his head back, staring at the wall of rubble. He was tired. He should just sleep. Ed's eyes closed and his mind drifted away.

It was a painful, agonizing five hours for Alphonse, watching as the military of Southern Headquarters attempted to sift through the giant pile of debris, searching for survivors. Al cynically quipped in his mind that there probably wasn't any, not even his brother. The very thought made him want to kill himself. The pain was agonizing.

He was in too much shock to help the military. All he could feel was a strange blankness, which he associated with the side effects of traumatizing shock. Having the one person you trusted the most probably blown up with the houses could certainly do that to a person.

Colonel Mustang and his unit arrived soon, their pale, ashen faces growing even whiter when they saw the actual site of the explosion.

"Alphonse," Roy asked tightly, kneeling next to the suit of armor, "was Fullmetal inside when this happened?"

Al's glowing red eyes seemed not to see the colonel in front of him as the helmet bobbed up and down slowly. "I think he's in shock, sir," Hawkeye informed him.

Roy ground his teeth together. "We . . . we should try to find him," he said, turning towards the pile of debris, which was growing smaller as the military shoved rocks and wood and other things aside.

"Nii-san," Al whispered, staring down at the ground and trembling, replaying the moment he had last seen his brother over and over again. "Nii-san. Nii-san."

Mustang's unit's hearts clenched at the broken tone. It became rather obvious to them that Alphonse Elric was in a severe state of shock and wouldn't snap out of it until his brother had been found and confirmed either dead or alive.

Two more hours passed, yet no sign of the Fullmetal Alchemist turned up. Several other corpses, identified as the former neighbors of Yura who'd been caught in the explosion, had been found, most of them charred a bit and either impaled or crushed.

Alphonse was steadily growing more and more depressed. He had stopped repeated "Nii-san, nii-san" a while ago and tried to help the military. But there was no Fullmetal Alchemist. Nothing.

Another hour passed before they found something.

One of the military men found several shreds of bright red clothing amongst the ruins of Yura's house, presumably from Edward's cloak because some of the pieces had black markings on them. They searched more quickly, uncovering more ground.

Alphonse worked fast, praying that Ed was still alive somewhere and not already dead.

Twenty minutes later, they found him.

Roy and Havoc hewed a huge pile of rock away from another pile, uncovering a broken wooden beam that apparently was stuck into the soil so that it pointed almost straight up. When they looked over to study how deep the beam was stuck, they were shocked to see the familiar face and clothing of Edward Elric.

"Alphonse!" Roy called to the suit of armor. "We found him!"

The suit of armor let out a hysterical cry and rushed over to the pile, sobbing, "Nii-san! Nii-san, are you okay?"

Edward did not answer. There was no way he could have answered. As the military pried away the rubble surrounding him, everyone started to see how bad the damage truly was. Al let out a sob of despair as he gazed down at Ed's motionless body.

Roy felt sick as he observed the damage. The wooden beam skewered his subordinate straight through his chest, narrowly missing his heart and spine, but had barely clipped the edge of Ed's right lung. His left arm was clearly broken, and his right arm was a mess. His left leg was a mangled mass of steel, the foot had been blown off by the explosion it seemed, and his right leg was fractured. There were numerous cuts and scratches on his body and a deep gash was carved into his temple. His torso was clearly singed, but not too bad compared to the chest wound.

The military ambulance rushed over to the scene and they quickly took a stretcher to the site. However, they were unable to put Ed on the stretcher due to the wooden beam sticking out of his chest. If they left it in there, Ed would die from lack of medical treatment. And if they pulled it out, Ed would die from blood loss in a few minutes. Either way it was a lose-lose situation.

Roy felt like crying. How would he have been so fucking stupid?! Now he had to watch as another person close to him died, and he couldn't do anything about it. Life was so unfair sometimes.

It was even worse for Al. He had lost his father, then his mother, and now he was losing his brother. He desperately wracked his brain for any medical information he had read about before the transmutation incident.

" . . . We'll have to pull it out," the medical team decided, "and hope for the best."

"I-if I break off the top part of the beam, can he be lifted on the stretcher?" Alphonse asked, voice wavering.

"No. Apparently the beam sticks all the way through his body and out his back, therefore the other end of it would rip a hole in the stretcher and we can't have that," someone explained.

If Al had a body, he would definitely cry. "What if I . . . used alchemy on the wound to stop the bleeding?" he asked, desperation make itself known. If his brother died, right here in front of him, Al would blame himself for his stupidity and most likely suicide in order to be with his brother again.

"That's human transmutation though, isn't it?" Roy asked.

"No, it's medical alchemy. Nii-san and I read some when we were – before that accident . . . "

"We can try, but it'll be risky," the medical team replied gathering around the unconscious and dying State Alchemist.

Al almost wished he could take a deep, deep breath to calm himself as he drew a transmutation circle on the cement with chalk and the medical team moved Edward as gently as they could on to it.

"Ready, men? Pull!"

They tugged on the wooden beam, pulling it out inch by inch. Roy and his unit could only sit back and watch. Breda shivered when he saw the jagged edges of the beam come out. Roy was just glad that Ed remained blissfully unconscious.

Al activated the transmutation circle and the familiar crackling of blue light whirled up around Ed's injury. With a zap, some of the flesh knitted back together and the bleeding stopped. The medical team quickly lifted him on the stretcher and carried him into the ambulance. Alphonse wanted to climb into the car and watch over his brother, but apparently his armor was too big to fit.

"The hospital isn't too far away," a medical man said. "Just go down this street to South Avenue, turn right for about three miles, turn left for half a mile, then turn right and you're there."

"Alright, thank you," Alphonse said, watching as the man shut the door and the ambulance went speeding down the street.

Nii-san . . . please be okay.

Ed was admitted into the emergency room and multiple surgeons attempted to fix him up. It was a long process, but thankfully Ed remained unconscious the entire time. Three days later, he was finally stabilized to the point where he could come out of the emergency room.

A doctor went into the waiting room and called, "Is anyone here for Edward Elric?"

A giant suit of armor and several military personnel jumped to attention. The suit of armor rushed over to the doctor worriedly, "Is my brother okay?!"

"He'll live, but he's got quite a wide range of injuries," the doctor said, scanning the clipboard in his hand. "Also, your brother seems to have fallen into a coma. We don't know how long he'll be out."

If Al had a body, he would slump to the floor, boneless, and cry for half the day. Instead he trembled, gloved hands shifting into fists. "Can I . . . can I see him?" he asked.

"Follow me."

The doctor led them into a room, where Ed lay on a bed, oxygen mask over his face, an IV cord and heart monitor attached to him.

"Nii-san," Al trembled, collapsing next to the bed. "Nii-san, please wake up. Please . . ."

The doctor looked on with sadness on his face. He suddenly looked a lot more weary and older than he seemed.

"So that boy is his older brother? What about their parents?" he asked, turning to Roy Mustang.

"They have no parents," Roy replied quietly. "All they have is each other."

"I see. Such love is really heartbreaking sometimes, isn't it?" the doctor asked quietly.

Roy managed a thin smile. "Yes. But it's what makes them so strong."

Alphonse finally stood up and asked the doctor, "Do you have a phone around here?"

"Yes. Follow me."

"Alphonse, who are you calling?" Hawkeye asked.

"Winry. She has the right to know."

The phone rang. Pinako picked it up, replying gruffly, "Rockbell Automail Shop, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Granny Pinako. Can I talk to Winry?"

"Alphonse! How are you and Ed doing? You should come by for a meal sometime."

"Sorry, we can't take you up on that offer right now. Something bad happened to Nii-san. I need to tell Winry."

"Well alright. Winry!" Pinako called up the stairs

A few moments later, the blonde girl came down the stairs. "What is it, Granny?" she asked.

"Al's on the phone for you."

Winry took the phone, saying, "Al? Is that you? How are you and Ed?"

"Well, I need you to remake Nii-san's arm and leg. Something bad happened to him and he's . . . he's . . ."

Winry frowned. "You two are always getting into trouble. What's wrong this time?" she said.

"Nii-san was on an investigation mission, but then the house he was investigating exploded with him still inside."

Winry froze, face rapidly paling. "Oh no! Is he okay? Tell me, Al!"

"The doctor said he'll live. But Winry, the damage was terrible! Nii-san's fallen into a coma!"

Winry was silent, the phone nearly slipping from her fingers. Nii-san's fallen into a coma. Those words repeated themselves again and again, causing tears to well up in Winry's eyes.

She slumped to the floor, still holding the phone. "Al? What hospital are you in?" she asked, tears falling freely from her eyes and dripping to the floor.

"South City Hospital. Are you coming?"

Winry sniffled, "Of course I will! I . . . I just need to see . . ."

"Don't cry, Winry. Everything will be okay."

"I'll see you there, Alphonse. Goodbye."

Winry hung up. Pinako approached her cautiously, seeing the tears still visible on her granddaughter's face. "Winry? What happened to Ed?"

Winry launched herself into Pinako's small arms and began crying hysterically. She trembled and shook, all the while Pinako wondered how badly Ed was hurt.

White surrounded him. Ed looked up at the massive, looming Gate in front of him, feeling an odd sense of tranquility. "Am I dead?" he spoke, not expecting an answer.

"No."

Ed turned to see the faceless white blob that held the shape of a human body. "Truth, was it? How am I not dead?" he asked.

"Your body is just recovering. Your soul is just separated from it, causing your body to fall into a comatose state," Truth replied. "Let's make a deal. I could heal all your injuries, right here and now, but you'll have to stay here for the next six months."

"S –" Edward sputtered, "six months?! I can't stay here for that long, I still need to search for the Philosopher's Stone!"

"Just so you know, time passes by quicker here. Spending a year here would mean only about one month in the real world."

Ed gaped. "So six months here would be . . . two weeks?! That's so unscientific!" he said.

Truth sighed, "Once an alchemist, always an alchemist. So, do we have a deal?"

"What do I do for the next six months? Talk?" Ed huffed, crossing his translucent arms.

"Precisely. Talk with me," the Truth said.

"About what?" Ed said, turning away. "You're the Truth; you know everything, don't you? Will I live if I . . . agree with you?"

"I'll make sure you do, little fool –"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT AN IDIOT WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS COULDN'T EVEN SEE HIM?!"

"Calm down, I didn't say any of that. So, deal?"

Ed hesitated, eyeing the Truth suspiciously. "You don't backstab, do you?"

"Of course not," Truth scoffed, offended.

"Then we have ourselves a deal."

Winry arrived at South City Hospital hours later. She dropped her automail case when she saw how badly wounded Ed was. Her eyes filled with tears and she rushed over to his bedside, dropping to her knees to examine the crushed automail.

"Al . . . tell me –" she took a shaky breath "how bad was he when you found him?"

"Nii-san was impaled with a wooden beam, his left arm was broken, his right leg was fractured, his automail was crushed and mangled, he was burned and there was a deep cut on his head."

That only made Winry sob harder as she clutched the bed sheets in her hands. "That idiot . . . why does he have to get himself in so much trouble?" she whispered, tears soaking the white linen sheets under her hands.

Both of them were suddenly drawn to the abrupt twitch Ed made. "Nii-san?" "Edward?"

A pale-blue light, almost white, washed over Ed's body, but almost immediately died away afterwards. Winry looked back down to the automail and gasped in shock.

"Al! His automail –"

Al peered to look at the mechanical limb and was shocked to find it in nearly brand-new condition. "W-what just happened?" he stammered.

Winry gripped Ed's left shoulder, but felt no sign of a broken bone or dislocation. "His arm is healed," she stated, bewildered.

Al gently unraveled the bandages from Ed's head and gaped when he discovered smooth skin instead of the angry red gash that had formerly marred Ed's temple.

"I don't know what that light was, but I think it healed Nii-san," Al concluded. "I hope he wakes up soon, then."

The next two weeks passed in a blur, yet Ed still hadn't awakened from his coma. Al and Winry were getting depressed each passing day. Winry curled her fingers around Ed's left hand, wishing with all her heart that he would wake up soon.

To her surprise, the fingers twitched, then, ever-so-slightly, curled around hers in response. "Ed? Are you awake?" she asked.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw his eyelids crease in a frown, then flutter open, revealing hazy golden optics that stared up at the ceiling for several seconds before swerving to meet her own set of blue eyes.

The first words out of his mouth were, "Huh. So I really am alive."

Winry launched herself at him as he attempted to sit up, crying tears of joy, "Ed! You're back!"

The door opened and a moment later the sound of a tray crashed to the floor. "NII-SAN!" the giant suit of armor that was Al rushed over to the bed and looked down at his older brother.

"Hey, Al," he said weakly. "Has it really only been two weeks since . . ."

"Well, it took three days for the surgeons to fix you up, but other than that, yes, it has. Why?"

"I spent six months with the Truth. Time seems to pass more slowly here than the Gate," Ed replied, sitting up and patting himself down.

"But you're alive, Nii-san," Al said. "Do you have any idea how worried all of us were?"

"No, but pretty damn scared, I'd say," Ed said, looking down at Winry, whose face was still buried in his hospital shirt. "Hey, Winry, you can stop crying now."

"Alphonse, why did you leave this mess here?"

Roy Mustang entered the hospital room, picking up the spilled contents of the tray. "I know hospital food isn't the best, but –" He trailed off in shock when his own onyx eyes met with Ed's golden orbs.

"Hey, Colonel, how's it hanging?" Ed asked, grinning cheekily.

"You're awake, Fullmetal?" Roy set the tray off to the side and walked over to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Ed scratched the back of his head, flushing, "I don't feel injured, if that's what you're asking."

Havoc and the others entered. Havoc smiled and said, "Hey, Boss, you had really had us worried. The damage was pretty nasty-looking."

Ed grimaced. "Don't remind me. It was damn painful when I woke up the first time," he complained. "Then I fell unconscious again and wound up in front of the Gate. Spent the last six months talking with the Truth."

"Six months? But you were unconscious for only two weeks," Breda piped up.

"Right, time passes by quicker at the Gate," Ed muttered. He looked up and smiled. "In any case, it's good to be alive."

"Yeah," Roy moved to pat Ed on the head. His subordinate scowled up at him for the gesture. "It's good to have you back, Fullmetal."

"Damn colonel, stop treating me like a little kid."

"We're just glad to see that you're alive, you little twit," Winry said, smacking him gently on the arm.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT HE COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR AS A GRAIN OF FOOD AND BE EATEN BY ANT BECAUSE THE ANT DOESN'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CRUMB OF FOOD AND HIM?!" Ed screamed.

Everyone started laughing at that.

"Same old Nii-san," Al sighed, watching Ed and Winry bicker back and forth. "I'm glad he never changes."

Owari

O^O ZOMG I'M DONE. It's only twelve pages long, but it feels longer to me. EDO-KUN LIVES! Yeah, I may somehow like it when Ed dies, but I let him live in this one so we can have a "happily-ever-after" instead of death. Hope you liked it! Please review, no flames or harsh criticism without a solid reason.

Nii-san – means "older brother" in Japanese

owari - means "the end"

MangaFreak15