Author's Notes: Okay, so it's not exactly like the prompt, but I got really inspired and managed to crank this out while at a coffee shop waiting for my laundry to get finished. I'm also happy since a few people have asked for this before and I didn't think I would ever write it, but here's the second part. Because I am weak for parental!Royed if nothing else. I don't think you have to really read the first one to understand this one though. It's kind of self-explanatory.

By the time they managed to drag Roy and Edward out from underneath the rubble, they were looking more than a little worse for wear. Roy was covered in scratches, bruises, and dirt from slowly blasting his way through all the debris that had collapsed around them. It had had been difficult and extremely dangerous, considering that one wrong move could have caused the rest of the rubble to fall and crush them or maybe even an explosion, but he had worked painstakingly, forcing his way through until there had been enough space for him to scrape his hand through a hole and into the air.

Honestly, Riza could not remember the air tasting so sweet as it did the moment she heard someone shout out that Roy had been found, even though dust had been all around them.

They'd spent hours attempting to dig through the debris, but because it lied so precariously, they were forced to go slow and be just as patient. It had been a real fear that they might kill Roy and Edward in the attempt to rescue them. No doubt Roy had thought the same thing. When they'd started to hear muffled booms and thuds from underneath and even felt the broken concrete shift from under their feet, they could only think of the worst. Roy's alchemy would have been volatile at best to use down there if he was conscious. She didn't need to know flame alchemy to know that and of course Roy knew the same thing.

The fact that he had used it anyways, even in the most controlled way, meant that he had been desperate.

"Colonel, are you alright?" Breda asked as they pulled piece after piece of concrete away.

"I'm fine!" Roy called back, his voice still muffled. They couldn't see him now. He had pulled his hand back so that they could safely make an opening for him. "Edward needs medical attention right away though! He was knocked unconscious."

Riza waved a signal to Fuery, who nodded and immediately dashed off to gather the nearest medics who were tending to any other survivors. She glanced back at the slowly enlarging hole. It would've taken an idiot to miss the obvious concern in Roy's face, but perhaps she was the only one to catch the hint of fear in it as well. Not for himself, of course, but for the young alchemist that served underneath him. Most people thought that Roy didn't give a damn for Edward except to use him in order to further his own ambitions, but Riza knew differently.

The tell, of course, was Roy's use of Edward's name. He almost never used it, opting for Edward's State Alchemist title or maybe even "Ed" sometimes.

Finally, finally, after what felt like hours, a large enough hole was made and they were able to reach down to haul Roy out of there. But Roy waved them away and lifted Edward up first. It was an awkward angle and Roy strained to do so, his arms trembling from exhaustion while sweat and dirt covered his red face, especially since two of Edward's limbs were made of heavy automail. He'd been working for at least an hour to get them to the surface, so it stood that he had little to no strength left in him, and yet he was using every last bit of it to protect Edward.

As carefully as they could, Breda and Havoc reached down to lift Edward out of Roy's arms. The moment the weight was taken away from him, Roy visibly sagged and almost fell back down in the hole again, but Riza reached forward and snatched him by the arm. He looked up into her eyes, haggard and worn down, but she could only think about how much she loved him in this moment.

A tiny lopsided grin quirked onto his lips. Even that managed to look tired. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Lieutenant."

Tears threatened to well in her eyes, but Riza shut them down. "You're lucky I'm a patient woman, sir."

With Falman's help, the two of them were able to pull Roy out of the hole. He staggered forward, collapsing against her slightly, but still standing. She didn't care if it looked inappropriate. The man could barely stand and she didn't want to let go of him for anything. She wrapped an arm around him, gripping him tightly with both hands, and they helped Roy walk through the mess of debris.

Even though he looked like he was ready to pass out right then and there, Roy swiveled his head around. "Where is Edward?" But before she could say anything, he spotted the paramedics hovering over the blonde alchemist, Alphonse standing behind them nervously. Roy jerked his way in that direction, despite both Riza's and Falman's protests. "If I need any medical attention, the medics are right there with him, are they not?"

Riza clamped her mouth down shut. There would be no persuading him. Once his mind latched onto something this strongly, it would take knocking him unconscious to get him to stop and more than likely his body would do just that soon enough. If he had been stronger, Roy would've dragged them over there, but despite his insistence, it was more like the two of his subordinates dragging him there. His feet could barely make it off the ground. When he finally reached them, his legs began to buckle, but he refused to be lowered down. He wanted to look strong, even if he didn't feel it.

"C-Colonel!" Alphonse gasped upon their arrival. "You should be getting looked over!"

"I'm fine," Roy assured gently, a smile on his face. It didn't look nearly as tired as the one before, but the strain was in his eyes nonetheless. He was trying to look strong for Alphonse.

Alphonse teetered on his feet, somehow managing to look anxious for a suit of armor. "But…you're bleeding in so many places and…you must be so tired from using alchemy like that for so long…"

"I've been through worst, trust me," Roy told him. Riza pursed her lips. He may not have been lying about that, but she still didn't like it. Just because he'd been through worse did not mean he wasn't in need of help. His gazed went down to the medics looking over Edward. "What's his condition?"

"Stable," the female paramedic stated, sounding relieved. "We won't know if there is any internal bleeding until he's taken to the hospital, but from what I can see, he only has a broken arm, concussion, and some minor cuts and bruises." The paramedic glanced up at Roy, curiosity in her eyes. "The head wound could've bled out, considering the depth, but it appears to have been…"

"Cauterized," Roy said in a stiff voice, pulling away slightly. "He'll be pissed when he wakes up that a bit of his hair was burnt in the process."

The paramedic blinked for a second, confusion written on her face, until she caught sight of the now gray and brown gloves on Roy's hands. Then her eyes widened and she returned her attention back to her patient. Riza bit her lip, watching as Roy's own eyes grew distant for a moment. He had burned Edward's wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. It had worked. If he hadn't done so, Edward could have been in a lot worse shape. But she knew that he was also remembering the last time he had burned someone whom he cared for.

When Riza slipped her hand into his to squeeze it tightly once, Roy looked up at her. She smiled at him, trying to convey how grateful she was for him - for what he had done for her then and for Edward now. Roy merely nodded his head to himself as so many thoughts swirled around in his brain. She'd caught the guilt in his eyes. He would act flippant about it when Edward woke up, maybe even teasing him, as Edward would be aghast, but right now, what he had been forced to do weighed on him heavily.

Once the paramedic left to attend to another survivor while another went to find a gurney so that Edward could be loaded into an ambulance, Roy's legs finally gave out and they were forced to lower him to the ground. Riza nodded to Falman, who went off to rejoin the rescue group, while she and Alphonse stayed with the two State Alchemists.

"Is Brother going to be alright?" Alphonse asked.

"Yes," Roy sighed, the exhaustion all too evident in his voice now. His body was beginning to give in.

Alphonse balled his hands tightly into fists. "Thank you, Colonel. I know Brother might be stubborn about saying it, but… You saved his life."

Roy shook his head. "I didn't do much except blow up a few things. The rescue team did most of the work."

Despite being dismissive and playing down his role in the matter, Alphonse's silence told her that he didn't believe the Colonel and honestly she didn't either. The way Roy was leaning against her now said just how tired he was and how hard he had worked to get the both of them rescued.

Without warning, Roy's hand creeped out and hovered over top of Edward, just a few inches away from his head, like he wanted to push his dirty blonde hair of his face and examine the wound again. She noted the way his hand slightly trembled, but this time she couldn't tell if it was because he was tired or scared. She could only imagine how he had felt trapped down there in the dark underneath all that concrete, alone with an unconscious kid. Because whether he thought about it or not, that was what Edward was, State Alchemist or no. Roy had come very close to losing a child that was under his care and it had frightened him in a way he hadn't considered before.

Slowly pulling his hand back and letting it fall to the ground, Roy turned his gaze to her. He will be okay, won't he? his eyes seemed to ask.

When Riza nodded her head, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She had never seen him look so afraid before, not even when they had been in Ishval and she had watched him almost die. The only time that came close to this was the second after he burned her back. Back then, it had been his own doing. This time, the circumstances were completely out of his control.

And all alchemists loathed when things were out of their control.

"Sir, we need to get you looked at," Riza told him, now that his concerns were mostly assuaged.

"Yes, of course," Roy said, his eyes back on Edward and distant, his mind still down in that dark hole. He didn't move until the paramedics came to take Edward away and only allowed someone to look at him after the ambulance drove off into the distance towards the hospital. He leaned against her, eyes closed, muttering responses to the medic examining him as another attended to his various wounds. He would pretend none of the fear and concern he had displayed existed later on, but for now, it was all he could do to hold it at bay. Riza knew the truth when she saw it, especially when it came to him.