Thank you to those who left lovely reviews of my first chapter!
This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I decided to finalize the story a bit.
Hope you enjoy, and please review!

It was quiet in the hospital. Nurses went about their business and doctors briskly walked past, but generally, it was quiet.

Inside Ed's room, Roy and Alphonse sat without sound. The Colonel would occasionally turn the pages of the newspaper. Al sat quietly reading an old text on alchemy. There wasn't much conversation between the two of them.

What would they say?

Roy Mustang silently racked his brain for any conversation starters that didn't begin with, "I'm sorry I almost let your brother get murdered," but he couldn't get his mind away from the sight of Edward hanging lifeless off the ground.

Alphonse was participating in a similar activity, but other than his major question of, "Is it my fault Edward almost died?" he couldn't think of anything else to say.

So they both sat there, silently blaming themselves for the person who lay between them under white, sterile sheets.

Edward's breaths were still a little raspy, but better than before. When they finally got him into the hospital his neck was swelling fast, and along with the usual wear and tear that went along with a fight to the death, he was in rough shape.

The minutes spent in the waiting room were the longest, going by at an agonizingly slow pace. After pacing back and forth a few times, Jean had to step outside for a cigarette. Roy joined him.

"Edward's going to be fine, Colonel," Havoc said, holding the cigarette between two fingers, "You got to him in time."

The Colonel looked at the ground, fixating his eyes on a splatter of blood on his boots, "I should have got there sooner."

"Don't do that to yourself," Havoc interjected, "you got there in time. He's going to be okay."

Roy turned to the wall and punched the brick surface, ignoring the pain, "I never should have put him on the case, Havoc, I knew how dangerous it was-"

"Mustang, it's okay-"

"It's not okay!" Roy shouted, desperately hoping no one else was around to see this little outburst. He took a deep breath then raised his head, eyes meeting with that of his subordinate, "It was stupid. I was stupid. I promised to protect those under me, not put them in harm's way."

Havoc calmly took another puff of his cigarette, blowing smoke into the air above him, "Military officers in Central? Colonel, we're always going to be in harm's way. Edward is always going to be in harm's way," he flicked the remaining ashes on to the ground and turned to leave, "What's important is that you got him out of harm's way."

Sitting in the hospital room, listening to Edward's shallow breaths, Roy didn't feel that way.

"Alphonse," Roy said, finally breaking the silence that hung between them, "this is all my fault and I'm sorry," Alphonse sat up straighter, turning to face the Colonel, "I knew the dangers involved in this case and I shouldn't have assigned your brother to work on it, if it weren't for me-"

"Wait, you think this is your fault?" Alphonse questioned, cutting off the rest of the Colonel's prepared and surely lengthy speech. Roy blinked in surprise, not finding any words fast enough before Al started talking again, "Is that why you've been sitting in silence the whole time? Because you're blaming yourself?"

Roy looked down at the blood on his shoes, "Well, yes I-"

He was cut off again, but this time by laughter. It was always nice to hear Al laugh, but he wasn't sure what was so funny. He looked to Alphonse, perplexed.

"We humans really are silly, aren't we?" Alphonse finally said, "This whole time I was sitting here worrying about how this is all my fault, how if I'd stuck with Ed maybe this wouldn't have happened… while you were thinking the same thing."

"And why is that funny?"

"Because if one of us had admitted that at the start, we probably wouldn't have spent the past two hours hating ourselves," Alphonse answered, then after a moment of pause, he added, "I don't think it's your fault at all, Colonel."

Roy smiled, bemused by how wise Al always turned out to be, "I don't think it's your fault either, Alphonse." When Al didn't reply, Roy continued, "It's Hadfield's fault. No one should be taking the blame but him."

And for the second time that day, Alphonse believed that if he had his original body, he would be grinning ear to ear.

Soon, Roy and Alphonse fell back into silence, only this time, it was comfortable. The nurses hurried past and the doctors shuffled through their paper work, but there were hardly any noises.

The hospital was very quiet.

Until Edward started screaming.

Edward was standing alone, trees growing tall all around him for as far as he could see.

He smile; he loved the forest. It reminded him of home, where there weren't so many roads and building and cars; more fields and trees and flowers.

Suddenly the trees started moving. No, not moving; growing. Growing taller and larger until they were so tall they blocked out the sun. Edward started to run- needed to get out of the forest, needed to see the sunlight- when a tree reached out a branch and wrapped itself around Edward's throat, throttling him backwards and upwards.

All around him he could hear the wind screaming, "You'll be a corpse you'll be a corpse you'll be a corpse!"

Edward's hands clawed at the branch that was starving him of oxygen, his legs flailing out underneath him.

"You'll be a corpse."

As a tide of consciousness began to pull Edward back to the surface, memories flashed through his mind; throat strangled, feet suspended, hands clawing, Hadfield's smiling face, and finally, "You'll be a corpse!"

And then, as Edward's eyes flew open, he started screaming.

It was incoherent but for a few choice words; stop, no, please, help, let me go.

Edward's eyes were unadjusted to the light so he squeezed them shut, though he still kept screaming. He didn't know where he was, he didn't know if he was safe. All he could remember was that feeling around his neck and that smiling face and that goddamned voice and there was nothing left to do but scream.

What felt like two hands grabbed him by the shoulders; it was the gentleness of the grip that made him stop screaming.

"Edward," the voice was familiar, and he knew it wasn't Hadfield's, "Edward, it's me, it's Mustang, open your eyes, you're okay."

Slowly, Edward's eyelids parted, his pupils adjusting to the bright hospital lights. The Colonel was standing over him, a look of concern painted across his face.

Embarrassed by his outburst, Edward scowled. He sat up slowly, adjusting the pillows behind him to lean against. Looking around the empty room, he was immediately concerned, "Where's Alphonse?"

"He went to find a doctor. We were instructed to notify the staff as soon you woke up."

Edward nodded, relieved that his younger brother was safe.

"Hadfield?" Edward asked, reaching a hand up to feel the raw skin around his neck.

"Dead," Roy confirmed, "a bullet to the throat."

"I can't remember anything after," Edward paused, he felt a tremor run through his hands and he tried to calm them. He tried again, "After the um, vine…" he trailed off, hoping Mustang would understand what he trying to ask.

Roy nodded matter-of-factly, "I'll fill you in, you fill me in?"

Edward nodded in reply.

The Colonel sat in the chair beside Edward's bed, crossing his legs and clasping his hands together, "We got a very frantic call from your brother a few minutes after three o'clock. He explained the situation as best he could; Hadfield was chasing you, heading towards Oakview Park. Hawkeye, Falman, Havoc, and I immediately set out towards the forest. Alphonse got there at the same time we did."

Roy once again fixated his gaze on the blood crusted onto his boots, "Despite Hawkeye's protests, we split up, needing to cover more ground. I found Hadfield with his hand on the tree and you… hanging," Roy nearly lost his composure, remembering the way Edward had just hung there lifelessly, "Without looking, I shot Hadfield, then the vines. You were incoherent, floating in and out of consciousness, so we rushed you to the hospital."

Roy finished recounting his side of the story and looked up, meeting his eyes with Edward's.

Edwards started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Roy demanded, thinking simultaneously, why do the Elrics laugh at the strangest times?

"'Despite Hawkeye's protests', you split up?" Edward let out another laugh before smiling, "You mean she was worried you'd forget you're useless in the rain?"

"I have other skills!"

Edward laughed again, "Whining doesn't count as a skill!"

Roy sighed exasperatedly, "Your turn."

Ed quieted.

He was about to begin his recount when he heard the familiar clunking of armour.

"Brother!" Al shouted as he ran into the hospital room, "How are you feeling?"

Edward smiled at his brother as Alphonse awkwardly tried to fit his large body past the Colonel, around the bed, and to the side of his older brother, "I'm okay," Ed answered.

Alphonse looked down at his brother. Edward's neck was visibly bruised, a ring of purple wrapped underneath his chin. He was smiling though, that was something. Quietly, Al said, "You know brother, you really scared me."

It became immensely quiet in the room. The Colonel shifted uncomfortably in his chair, feeling as though he were intruding on a personal family matter.

Ed looked down, the smile leaving his face, "I know Al, I'm sorry."

Al looked down at his hands, "I just kept worrying if I had made the right call, if I should have stuck with you to help fight off Hadfield, I was so worried and I-"

"Al," Edward said earnestly, cutting off his younger brother, "Al look at me."

Alphonse looked up.

"I'm alive," Ed tried smiling, "and you're alive. I know it was a close call, but it wasn't anyone's fault. I'm a little banged up, but we're both going to live to fight another day, right?"

"Right."

"Alphonse," Ed continued, "I'm not going to die before we get our bodies back."

Edward looked intently at his brother. He wasn't God, he wasn't psychic. For all he knew he could get hit by a car tomorrow and die. I'm not going to die before we get our bodies back.

As a human, Edward knew he had no right to be making promises like that.

As a big brother he had no other choice.

"I believe you," came Alphonse's quiet reply.

Soon after the brief conversation between the brothers, a doctor had come into the room, running assessments on Edward, checking his vitals to determine when he would be permitted to leave.

At one point, the doctor and Alphonse stepped outside into the hallway to discuss how Edward was to be looked after over the next few hours; what to look out for, what kinds of activities to avoid, and so on.

It was during this time that Ed quickly summarized the incidents prior. The initial walk to Headquarters, when he first noticed they were being followed, when Edward told Alphonse to split off, the chase to the forest, and finally, the incident in the forest.

Roy jotted down the last couple notes from Edward's story, trying to cross every 'T' and dot every 'I' for his report.

"And there's one more thing, Colonel," Edward added, albeit hesitantly, after his recount, "the whole time- while he was chasing me, and fighting me, and," Ed hesitated, then continued, "hanging me. The whole time he just kept repeating the words… 'you'll be a corpse'."

Roy faltered, nearly dropping his pencil as he looked up wide-eyed at Edward. He had tried to imagine what Edward had gone through during the hours that he had lain unconscious, how traumatizing the whole experience must have been for his subordinate; this new information chilled Roy to the core as he imagined that phrase repeated over and over.

Edward was looking at him with golden eyes. How could such warm eyes have been through something so traumatic?

Roy stood, tucking his papers under his arm. He placed a hand on Ed's shoulder and said, "I'm glad you're okay Edward, next time I promise, we'll get there sooner."

The Colonel started to leave. He was nearly out the door when Ed called out, "Hey Colonel Bastard!"

Roy turned, more bemused than shocked.

Ed was smiling cheekily from his hospital bed, the smile on his face more prominent than the bruising around his neck, "We'll always live to fight another day, right?"

Roy smiled, "Right."

As a human, he had no right to be making promises like that.

As a friend he had no other choice.

END

I hope you guys liked it!
Please please please leave a review letting me know what you think, it really means the world to me!

-Timshel Bliss