Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Uncle Roy ❯ Of Rain and Circles ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

 

 

 

There were voices. Dull voices were floating around him. Some he knew, other he didn't. He recognized the voice of his brother beside him and slowly, the feel of a leather and metallic hand gripping his lightly. There was the voice of a lighthearted four year old somewhere in the room along with the child's mother. Winry's voice slowly registered in his ears to his left and the soft pitter-patter of rain reached him. There was the rumble of thunder and lightening flashed and burned his eyes as they opened. For a moment he couldn't see anything but the sheer whiteness of the room. Slowly though, figures began to form above and beside him. First there was the metallic face of his armored younger brother, however faint it was.

Sound was lost to him at this point, however, as if he had to give up one sense for another. He could feel Winry and Al gripping his hands and slowly, the sight of Winry's pale blonde hair came into view along with her worried face. He felt his head start to back up and sink into the pillows more in an attempt to get away from the faces that were beginning to make him feel choked and panicky. They both backed up to a reasonable distance, obviously at Al's insistence.

“…ther?” Al's voice suddenly became clear to him and he turned his gaze to him slowly. “Brother? How are you feeling?” he asked quietly. Edward blinked slowly and opened his mouth to speak but no words came forth. Winry gripped his hand reassuringly and sat back in her chair so as not to make him feel cramped. Slowly, the washed out room began to become clear to him as a room in the Infirmary. The curtain surrounding the bed was closed partially and the tiles of the ceiling met his eyes. Slowly, as though in a fog, Ed's eyes took in the other people in the room. Hughes's wife and daughter were at the foot of the bed with Major Armstrong standing beside them. All looked relieved that he was awake so soon after his fainting spell and Elisia looked like she was going to leap on the bed and hug him. Thankfully though, her mother was holding her.

“You gave us quite the scare there, Ed,” Major Armstrong said quietly. Ed blinked slowly and pulled his hand free from Winry and his brother. Slowly, he put his arms next to him and began to lift himself up so he could sit properly and actually look at everyone without being rude.

“Ed, don't,” Winry said, trying to push him back to rest. Al on the other hand put an arm under his brother's back and helped him to sit up. Winry sighed and arranged the pillows so that Ed could lean back against them which he promptly did as his head was spinning violently. Once his vision cleared he raised his good arm and rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

“What am I doing here?” He asked quietly, his voice a bit raspy and thick with sleep.

“You fainted,” Al said bluntly. Ed just snorted a bit and looked at his brother, a faint smile on his tired face.

“Well, I know that,” he said. “I wouldn't be in here just for fainting,” a silence fell upon the room making Ed even more uncomfortable. “What?” he asked, looking around the room.

“The doctor said that you had an anxiety attack which caused you to faint and then, because of the stress of finding out about… Hughes and then Colonel Mustang, you started coughing up blood,” Al finished quietly. Ed stared at his brother and looked at Winry who nodded in agreement.

“You've been out for the last five to six hours approximately,” added Major Armstrong. Ed nodded and stretched slightly.

“Where're my shoes?” Ed asked looking around.

“You need to rest here, Ed,” Winry said putting a hand on his shoulder, which was promptly brushed aside.

“Winry's right, Edward, you need to rest not go running out of here after just waking up. Ed ignored them and sat up more looking around for his shoes.

“Ed, please, just rest for right now,” Al started putting a hand on his brother's leg. Ed's gaze turned to him sharply.

“You heard what Hawkeye said, Al, what Mustang is going to try and do,” Even though his voice was sharp and low it still stopped anything else the Major or Winry was going to say.

“Do you honestly want him to make the same mistake we did, Al? Do you want him to end up like us or worse?” Al's gaze turned to the bed sheets before he stood and walked over to a small closet.

“What are you talking about, Ed?” Armstrong asked. Ed opened his mouth to respond but Elisia beat him to it.

“Uncle Roy's gonna bring my daddy back!” She chirped happily. Armstrong stared at the little girl as Al came back with Ed's coat and shoes. Gracia Hughes looked away and turned her gaze to Ed, a gaze that spoke “please stop him,” directly to Ed's heart. Ed nodded solemnly and pulled his shoes on quickly. He hopped of the hospital bed and felt Al's arms wrap around him a bit as his legs began to give out.

“Ed,” Winry started but Ed just shook the spell off and pulled on his coat.

“Let's go, Al,” Ed said.

“Right, Brother,”

 

 

Roy sighed as he set the last batch of ingredients on the cleared floor. Everything that the human body was comprised of sat on his floor. Roy walked to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a piece of chalk from a box he had there. Roy looked over to his desk and spied the picture of him with Hughes and his wife together in the park the day that Roy got promoted. It was such a happy time reflected in that picture and he could still remember Hughes's happy voice as he slapped Roy on the back and congratulated him. Roy turned back to the task at hand and began drawing the circle on the floor.

 

 

Rain pounded upon Ed's shoulders as he followed the directions Al shouted at him. Thunder boomed overhead and lightening flashed making the night seem more like a demon in their path then just some stupid storm cell. Ed's feet pounded upon the sidewalks relentlessly as he skirted around trash bins, people, booths, and stray dogs on his way towards his Colonel's temporary residence. Images of that rainy night when he had Al had attempted the same thing floated past him only this time it wasn't his mother that he saw, but that of some monster that used to be Hughes. The monster's body was flopping around on the floor leaving a trail of some indefinable liquid on the floor towards something that used to by Roy Mustang. Ed quickly erased that image from his head and sped up, barely able to hear his brother's footsteps behind him now. All his mind was focused on was preventing Roy from making the same mistake he had… and keeping from loosing one more loved one to his selfish wish.

 

 

Dark eyes peered out at the stormy night blankly. Lighting flashed again over head and illuminated the dark room lit only with the light of a single candle. Roy heaved a heavy sigh and turned back to the circle with all of the necessary ingredients in the center. He knew the risks involved with attempting this. All he had to do to remind himself was think about Full Metal. He sighed yet again as the image of Ed's laughing face drifted across his vision.

“Please!”

Roy grimaced painfully as Elisia's pleading voice rang in his ears again. He couldn't delay this any longer. He had made a promise to Hughes's daughter, one that he intended to keep. Setting one last thing, one of Hughes's uniforms, in the circle he stepped back and looked around his apartment one last time.

`Please,' he thought. `Please let this work. For Elisia,' Roy knelt down outside of the circle and clapped his hands together. Thunder crackled loudly overhead and nearly drowned out the sound of the front door breaking down. Roy looked up sharply about ready to snap his fingers and burn whoever had entered without permission.

“Mustang!” Full Metal shouted as he ran into the room. Roy stared in open shock at the sight a soaking wet, pissed off, pale, worried, and absolutely steaming Edward Elric glaring daggers at him.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?!” Edward shouted storming over to him. “Do you want to loose your life just to fail at bringing Hughes back?! Are you honestly this stupid?!” Roy's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water and he looked up when he heard Alphonse Elric's metallic footsteps clank into the room.

“Please don't make the same mistake we did, Sir,” Al said quietly. Roy stood still shocked and stared at the older Elric.

“You came all the way here to stop me,” he started. “Didn't you?” Ed just scowled at him and crossed his arm.

“Of course I did. Making the mistake we did won't bring Hughes back. He'll just…. Be a monster,” Ed trailed off. Another boom of thunder rattled the tiny apartment and a flash of lightening made it's way across the sky. Ed held out his hand to the Colonel and offered a weak smile.

“Let's get out of here, Colonel,” he said. Roy reached out but another shock of thunder and lighting made him stop. The candle on Roy's windowsill toppled over and the flame touched the wooden floor. It was as if the whole world slowed down to that single instant when lightening struck the building and merely added to the inferno that had already begun. Roy took a step back in surprise and a loud bang along with a flash lit up from behind him. There was moment of sheer pain, the sound of Ed screaming his name, a hand trying to grip his, the slimy feeling of something wrapping around his bare ankle and then… darkness engulfed him. A darkness so thick that Roy Mustang would never wake from it again.

 

 

A/N: Hello everyone!! Thank you for reading my wondrous fanfic whose concept actually came from two friends of mine! If anyone has cried reading this that means it was really good…. I hope. Thank you for reading!! Buh bye!!