Annnnnd, here it finally is. The final chapter. Wowza. Thank you all so much for reviewing and sticking with me this long! This was always a little different for me; normally I at least have some vague experience with the things I write, but I've never actually been close to anyone who's died before. So, this was a whole exploration into unknown territory for me (sorry, Al!), so it was a fun/painful struggle all the way through. Thanks for enduring it with me :) Next up is a return to more familiar territory, aka serious trauma for Ed and Roy, though I have no clue when it'll be up because my schedule is eating me alive. Seriously, I haven't even been able to pre-write any of this fic for months ;_; I'll also be posting a Hughes angst thing up on ao3 in the meantime, if you wanna check that out. SEE Y'ALL NEXT TIME

Hin und Zurück: German, for "There and Back Again". (if you don't know LoTR then, my uncultured swine of an internet friend, kindly go do yourself a favor and go read/watch yourself some seriously magnificent fun :)

"Ed, please just listen to me..."

Ed whirled around mid-stampede away from him, hair spinning wildly around him in the wind as he jerked to point at him with one shaking hand. "You lied to me."

"It's not what you think-" Roy tried to plea, earnestly taking another step after him, but Ed wasn't hearing it.

"You lied to me. Again!" He stumbled backwards another few steps, backpedaling into the night while Roy again chased after him, following each step away with one of his own forwards. "You said I could stay in Central! You said I didn't have to come here if I didn't want to! And then you just- just- lied! Again!"

"Ed!" Roy shouted after him again, pale and almost stricken in the night. "I know what I said, and I know why you're angry, but will just let me explain?! Please? Ed-"

Ed pushed his reaching hand back with an angry growl, feeling almost like a cornered animal in a trap and hating himself because of it. He already knew he'd feel pathetic for this later, reacting so vulnerably like this, but right now he didn't care. Right now he was angry as fuck, and Roy, the cause of it, was right there in front of him. He wanted to punch him again. "You bastard," he snapped, and somehow, when Roy didn't even attempt a protest, his anger was provoked even hotter. The god damn bastard- how could he stand there like that, not even fighting back or trying to defend himself?! That just- just made it fucking harder-

But Roy didn't say or do a single thing in his own defense. "I know," was all he said, just nodding calmly,this time standing his ground when Ed drew another step back no matter how much he seemed to want to follow, and his fury blazed red hot at the almost despairing acceptance in his lone eye. "I've been told, and many times at that. Will you at least let me explain why I'm not as bad as you seem to think, Ed? Come on, please... haven't you learned by now I'm really trying hard not to screw you over here?" he cajoled gently, voice low and just a hint persuasive- almost pleading. "You trust me at least that much, right?"

Ed nearly growled again, heart pounding so hard and hot, wounded betrayal coursing through him so fast he could barely even make himself stop and think. Pretentious prick. Smug, pretentious, always right prick.

Yeah, Roy- Roy had not really done anything to make him react like this. Yeah, he knew that. Could even reluctantly admit it, somewhere beneath the rage and hurt clouding his fucked up brain. As much of a manipulative bastard as he was, Roy was pretty clearly only trying to help him here. He'd more than proved that by now- even if Ed was just a little fucking mad at the moment to care about logic and reason like that now.

None of that, however, changed what he'd just overheard.

Ed clenched his jaw, forcing himself to keep his mouth shut as he glared back at Roy in silence, demanding an explanation. His fists were clenched and his heart was still pounding, a shaky, insecure instinct fluttering through him with every breath- but Ed made himself stand still and glare at the eyepatch instead, and remember everything that Roy had done for him, Roy and not Rainart, and remember that this Roy, at least, he did trust. He'd more than earned that much, and this one, he could make himself stand still and listen to.

His breaths, short and loud in the darkness, sounded almost frantic, and the silence that then expanded between was anything but peaceful.

And Roy, after several hesitant moments spent just watching him, remaining eye wide with earnest, honest sincerity and sympathy, finally lowered his hand, took a deep breath, and began.

"Everything I told you before was true, Ed. If you don't want to stay here, you don't have to. If you truly want me to stay back here with you, then I can, and will, no questions asked. I've already talked with Riza about it, and she's agreed she can take the move east for me and lead things in Ishval while I coordinate back here." He broke off for a moment to just watch Ed silently, eye imploring the truth of the words into him, the look on his face calm and reassuring and just everything that he needed no matter how much his instincts screamed it wasn't true. "All right?" he asked gently, taking a small step forward again. "If you need somewhere to stay that isn't here, I can still be that for you." He went still again for several moments, the look on his face indescribable, almost as if he was waiting for Ed to say something- but he still found himself wordless, throat tight and mouth dry and all words robbed from his mind against the vise squeezing around his chest. Everything about this still just felt too precarious, the dangerous place he'd been standing for months suddenly disintegrating before his eyes and leaving him with nothing to move to and nothing to go back to and something in him, in that instant, was just deathly, unspeakably terrified that Roy really was going to Ishval and not coming back.

"You said... you were going, though," he finally choked out, trembling on the spot. "I heard you! That's- w-what you said, in there. You said you were going!"

Roy winced slightly, pale and still in the darkness. The earnest look on his face faded into one of regret.

Slowly, he averted his eye, and that was all he needed to do for Ed to hear the truth.

"...Yes," the general said at last, reluctance emanating through every bit of the single, quiet, damming word. "I don't have to leave, but, I want to, Ed. I'm not going to lie... I do really want this, and if it was just me and my men, then we... we'd already be gone."

Panic again whiplashed through him, choking out a second breath as he stumbled backwards again and shook his head violently, every bit of the home he had in Central disappearing before his eyes and once again, because this was always how it happened, leaving him with nowhere to go because everyone was gone. "I can come with you then!" he cried frantically, raising an almost desperate hand. "You have to go to Ishval, I know, I get it, I understand- I can just come with you, you don't-"

But Roy was already shaking his head, seeming only to remain standing still through sheer force of will alone. "No, Ed, you can't. I won't allow it."

"W-well- well fuck you, then!" he gasped, breathing even harder now and fighting to crush down yet another surge of anger. "I can come! I-"

"Ed, you're not coming with me here- listen to me for a second, okay? Ed?" Roy broke off for another moment, as if waiting to make sure he was actually listening; when Ed couldn't manage to find the words from his desperation, splintering core to interrupt again the general went on, gesturing emphatically into the night. "Riza and I are not well-loved figures there. We have a few friends, but by and large, the Ishvallan people want us dead. Us showing up there in military uniform, claiming we're trying to rebuild, is not going to change that. It's not a battlefield anymore, but it's still unstable and we are going to count ourselves lucky if the least of what we go through is getting shot at. We're disclosing to anyone who chooses to come out there that working with us means putting a target on their heads for any Ishvallans who want us gone. If you came, that'd include you, Ed."

"So?!" he spat back, still shaking. He just couldn't stop shaking. "You think I don't know what warzones are like?! I just spent the last five years living in one! I don't care if it's dangerous; I'm coming with you, you bastard!"

Roy said nothing for a long moment, just looking at him. Again, his pale face was unreadable in the faint light, looking almost stricken, and this silence was just as thick and oppressive as the last.

"I know you don't care if it's dangerous for you, Ed," he said quietly at last. His voice went even lower. "But, I do."

Another harsh breath left him, almost painful in its vehemence, and once again took any words he'd had with it. Ed clenched his jaw again, shivering violently, then just tore his eyes away, glaring and blinking desperately anywhere but at him.

"...It's not permanent," Roy went on after another long stretch of silence, but his voice was weak this time, sounding like a bandaid over a gunshot wound. "If I do go, if you don't want for me to stay- even then, it's not permanent, Ed. Right now, I can do the most to help them if I'm actually in Ishval, helping to rebuild and put together what we took apart. Someday, that won't be true. Someday I'll be more of use back in Central, getting support for them, passing legislation- anything I can do to try and help them. I'm not going to Ishval forever, Ed. I'll come back home eventually. And... really, that's only if you don't ask for me to stay... I will if you need me to, I promise..." he tried to say, but the argument just fell flat and pathetic to Ed's ears when all he could hear was that he was going.

Just like everyone always did. Every single time he found a home, every single time he ever found something approaching a life he could live, something safe and livable and permanent-

Everyone always left.

Something of it must have shown on his face because Roy dropped his weak, tentative smile barely a moment after, seeming to realize his words just weren't working. The general sighed deeply and looked away, dropping heavily to sit on the steps behind him in an almost dejected slump, hands clasped tightly together and head down, looking as if he was still trying to find something, anything to say-

But there wasn't. Because what this was was that Roy was going to Ishval, and he wasn't.

Didn't matter that it wasn't supposed to be permanent, because he knew well how shit like that turned out. Sure, leaving Risembool hadn't meant to be permanent either, and yet here he was ten years later, Al not even with him anymore and no idea if he could even face coming back here ever again. For all he knew Roy and Hawkeye would end up getting themselves blown up in Ishval and oops, there it was- that was it.

Didn't matter that Roy was telling him that if asked to stay, he would. Ed wasn't an idiot. He knew Roy wanted this more than anything else- had been working for it even longer than Ed had been working to get Al his body back. He wasn't a fucking child, either. He wanted Roy to stay- but he wasn't going to sit here and beg and cry and make him drop everything he'd been working so hard for just because it was what he wanted. Roy was trying to give it to him as a choice, but it just wasn't one. He could never do that. He was tired of pulling everyone down with him and tired of hurting the people he cared about, and he was not going to be reason Roy threw away everything he'd worked for. He'd hurt him enough already and wasn't going to let himself do it again.

Which, of course, left only one way for this to end.

Another bitterly cold, fucking unfair wind gusted through the dark silence. Ed shivered, glaring harder at the ground, and kept silent.

At last, just unable to bear it any longer, Ed just crossed his arms tightly and turned away. He tried, for a long, painful moment, to just to stop shaking. It didn't work at all, but he hoped it was at least a little less obvious as he ducked his head, trying to shield his expression with his hair. Maybe if Roy couldn't at least see how vulnerable and pathetic he looked, this wouldn't be quite as bad.

The general didn't say anything, though, and somehow, Ed got the feeling Roy hated this just as much as he did.

"I thought you said they never gave you anything important to do," he muttered finally, a weak, last ditch effort at maintaining normalcy. His voice almost cracked, he could feel it in his throat, but he clenched his fists and refused to let it.

"...They don't," Roy said quietly. A soft note of sour bitterness entered his voice, bitterness, not at him, but at the other generals all back in Central. "That's why they gave this post to me in the first place. No one wanted it."

There was another dark silence, and in it, Ed heard, once again, that he couldn't do anything except let Roy go.

It was his only choice, wasn't it? If Roy didn't go, no one would. The general who went instead would be someone else, someone else who didn't care about rebuilding Ishval, the same kind of soldier they'd had in charge of it for years and nothing would change, ever. And Ed wanted to hate himself for it, but he just couldn't not care. He'd had nothing to do with Ishval, the war or the people now left stranded and without a home, but he'd seen them in Germany every day. It was people like them that Al had refused to leave Germany for when war had broken out- because they'd been able to help. It was people like them they'd both risked their lives for over and over again and it was the one thing about that place he couldn't bring himself to regret because he knew Al would, if given the chance, just make the same choices again- and Ed would follow him in it. That much, at least, he knew.

And he knew he couldn't make a different choice now, and keep Roy here with him when Ishval needed him more. When Roy needed Ishval more.

Ed swallowed tightly, shutting his eyes and refusing to allow himself to show it on his face. No. He could do this. He was fine. He could handle this. Couldn't he? Roy had done more than enough for him, by this point; he'd put his life on hold for months, he'd followed him out here, he'd put up with him for so long when in all rights he should've just been thrown out on the street. Roy had spent the last half a year taking care of him when he'd gotten zilch out of it. And now, all Roy was asking to do was be able to pick up his life again and do something besides keep Ed from dissolving into a fucking mess.

And what was he even complaining about, anyway? It wasn't like Roy was leaving him fucking homeless; he had a place, right here! Roy had gotten him this new research position with the military, and he'd taken him back here, he'd given him a life again where he could make things work- so what that half of him was desperate to run from all the memories of this place, so what if he was still half-terrified of facing Winry inside again and the questions that were supposed to follow, so what if he was terrified of when she realized how different and changed he was and when she'd be expecting him to be someone that he just wasn't anymore? So what that he still wanted to run away? There were a whole bunch of people out there a hell of a lot worse than him, and he didn't hear them complaining. This was fine. This was just how things happened. Roy was going to leave, and Ed was going to stay here, and they'd both be fine. He wasn't going to fall apart, because he'd spent the last half a year falling apart now and he was sick and tired of it.

He wasn't a mess anymore. He didn't need to be taken care of anymore. He was on his two feet again, and it was only thanks to Roy that he'd made it at all. The very least that he could do now back for him was just be a fucking adult about this, grit his teeth, and do it.

"...Fine," he muttered at last. The word came out harder and colder than he'd really meant it to, but at the moment, he just couldn't manage anything else. "That's fine. I understand. Why you have to do this, I mean. I won't stop you. You can go."

"...Ed..."

"I said it's fucking fine! I get it, okay?! It's fine!"

"...Listen-"

Ed spun back to face him fully, once again jabbing a shaking hand at him even as Roy started to rise, plaintive and earnest again even with his face stricken with misery. "I know you have to go- I'm not going to be the thing that keeps you here. You've done enough for me already! I get it, so you don't need to try and convince me to be all fucking happy about it because I'm not going to be- but I get it! I know why you have to go, and I won't stop you! So just- just shut up about it, okay?!"

Roy jerked away from him again, blinking and wincing like he'd been struck by the hoarse shout that echoed over the utterly empty fields. He was shivering even harder in the cold air now as he slowly drew his arms around himself, once again slumping a little, guilt and silent apology twisting his mouth into a miserable, silent forown. He looked as reluctant as ever and this time, Ed really fucking struggled to have any sympathy. Already Ed was trying not to yell at him some more, because he did understand it, he did get why Roy had to do this- but just understanding it didn't mean he was okay with it.

It didn't mean he was okay with being left behind here alone.

Again.

"...Ed, please," Roy begged again, still gentle with him, still calm, still trying to be whatever he needed no matter how much he didn't deserve it. "Just listen to me for a moment, will you?"

"I've already fucking listened," he snapped viciously. Still couldn't stop shaking. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to just be out of here, away from everyone, but he knew Roy wouldn't let him head off by himself if he tried so instead he tried to storm past him, headed towards inside and hoping Roy at least wouldn't follow him there. "S-so- so, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna-"

Roy caught his arm just as he tried to stomp past, pale fingers flickering out so fast to grab him they were almost a blur. Ed jumped at the sudden, tight grip around his wrist and swallowed a yelp, trying to yank away on reflex alone even as he spat out a curse- but Roy didn't give him even a moment's time to try and get away before he started talking again.

"The reason I'm doing this at all is because I don't deserve what I have now, and I know it. I don't deserve to be able to stay back here and enjoy what life I have now with Riza, and my team, and Gracia, and- and you, Ed. I love what I have now, but I don't deserve it. The only way I can ever earn that is to go back to Ishval and try to make things right again. I've known that for a while. I've accepted that." His grip tightened a little, pulling Ed a stumbled step closer as Roy turned to face him again, looking down at him again, and Ed suddenly had to suppress a gasp at the look on his face.

It was strangely pained, something so pale and drawn he almost couldn't stand to meet his eye. It wasn't something he'd ever seen on Roy before, a thing that reminded him like a punch to the gut that he wasn't the only one this was hard for. It'd be almost easier, if it was- but Ed could see right there on his face how much Roy didn't want to do this. He wasn't the only one who didn't want this to happen, and as angry as he wanted to be, that knowledge was enough to temper it into misery instead.

Because neither of them wanted it, but that didn't change the fact that that it was going to happen anyway.

"But, Ed," Roy went on, almost unsteadily now, the pained look in his eye so clear and powerful once again he almost flinched, equal parts driven to look away and yet still somehow transfixed. "You're different. Okay? You do deserve that chance. You have at least earned the right to have a home. So I'm being serious when I say if you want me to stay, I will. I'm not lying- it won't be easy, but I can coordinate things from here or East City. I'd probably be gone a lot, and I'd be at work more than before, and I'd probably still go to Ishval for a few months, but- but if you want me to, I'll stay. I'll stay, and I won't resent you for it. I promise, Ed."

"...But you don't want to."

The pain pressed into his remaining eye somehow grew even bigger, almost overwhelming him as his face twisted again. Roy couldn't deny it. And even if he'd tried, Ed would've known it was a lie.

"...This isn't about what I want," he answered finally, voice weak and unsteady again, but that was all the answer that Ed needed.

He looked away, swallowing the tiny protest still locked in his throat, the part of him that wanted to just shut the rest of his mind off and take this chance and tell him to stay. That was the same part of him that even now begged for his brother to just come back. That was the same part of him that had drawn that circle with Al and tried to bring their mother back. That was the part of him that wanted too much, needed too much... and hurt too much, because of it.

He needed to let go of it all. He needed, for once in his life, to step back, and just let go of what he couldn't have.

Carefully, when he could manage to do it without shaking, Ed withdrew his arm from Roy's grip. One by one, he extricated the cold fingers off his arm, then took one firm, final step away. "Apparently not," he returned back, just as quietly. "But it shouldn't be just about what I want, either."

Once again, the look on Roy's face was almost as if he'd been slapped.

Once again, he knew, Roy understood just as well as he did exactly how this was going to end up.

This time, Ed was the one to walk away, dragging himself away from the general's stock still form to sit limply back down on the porch steps, head in his freezing hands. Roy didn't follow him this time, remaining standing away in the darkness, back to him, a stark black and white figure that didn't even shiver when the wind cut through once again, and Ed sighed, dragging his gaze back down to the dirt again.

"...I am sorry, Ed. For... all of this. If there was any other way... I'm sorry, Ed."

He shook his head slowly, somehow feeling too exhausted and defeated to respond back with the biting remark that he usually would have. He heard the heavy sincerity in the mournful words. He knew it was true, and it somehow just fucking hurt.

"There's no reason for that," he mumbled back, eyes still on the ground. "This is just how shit turned out. We don't have to like it but that doesn't make it your fault." He hesitated for a moment, drawing into himself a little bit more. "...I should be thanking you, really. For making me come back here."

Roy paused again; out of the corner of his eye, Ed saw him stiffen. "I thought you hated it here," he murmured, sounded a little startled- and, still quiet with barely subdued pain and regret. "You... didn't really seem all the inclined to stay..."

Ed made himself shake his head, sinking even more into himself. It was all just more than he wanted to think about now, but he knew he'd been more angry at being lied to- not because he'd been able to carry it that far and realize it meant he was almost definitely staying here. "I don't hate it," he fired back, more on reflex than anything else, then just sighed. "I don't know. It's... I haven't been here long enough to really know, yet." He just barely stopped himself from turning to look back at Winry and Pinako, still inside, probably alarmed and unsettled out of their minds after everything that had happened tonight. It wasn't as horrible as he'd been dreading it to be, no. But who knew how things would be, when they were settled? He knew it was going to be hard, and painful, being here like this... all the memories of this place... all the adjusting they'd all have to do to achieve anything even approaching normalcy...

When they asked him what really happened to Al...

"I don't know if I want to stay," he murmured finally. "But... I know I can't run from here, at least until I've tried it." He hesitated, again fighting with the agonizing lump swelling in his throat. "Al's... not coming back. I can't keep trying to run away from here just because he's not going to ever be here waiting. And he wouldn't want me to, either. I have to at least try to stay. So... so, I'm going to. And if doesn't work out, I..." He trailed off for a moment, swallowing thickly. What would he do, if staying here just ended up being too much and he had to get away? Roy... Roy wouldn't be an option, anymore, and...

Once again, Ed vehemently shook his head to himself, forcing himself to stop before he could panic again. He owed it to Roy to be able to keep it together better than this, after how much he'd done to try and help him. He owed it to Al, to actually pick up his feet and keep moving on, no matter how hard it got. If he couldn't stay here, and if Roy was in Ishval, that was okay. He'd find something, somewhere. He always did. He wouldn't run away again, either. He wouldn't leave Winry in the dark this time, he wouldn't disappear and make Roy have to drop everything again to come back and find him- no matter what happened, he could do this. He wasn't going to run away from the people that he still had this time, and he wasn't going to fall apart anymore. He would do this, because he had to.

Not just for Al, anymore, either, he realized, with an almost anguishing sense of reluctance. Not just for Winry or Roy. He had to do it for himself, too. If he kept trying to do things just because it was what his brother would've wanted, he would never stop.

He wouldn't let Al go- never. With every fiber of his being, with his entire heart and soul, Ed knew that he would never let Al go, and he would always love him just as much as the very day that he'd died. He knew he was going to be pulling himself through the agonizing pain of his loss every single day for the rest of his life.

But... he had to live for himself, too. Or he never would get out of Germany and find a life and home here again.

Which, after all, was all that Al would've wanted for him.

"...I'll be fine," Ed said quietly, and was proud of himself when he managed to keep it steady at last. There was a painful lack of conviction, though, and he said it again, this time with his brother in his mind's eye, reminding himself over and over again that he could do this, because it was what Al would've wanted for him, and now, it was what he had to want for himself. "I will." He chanced another glance at Roy's back, slowly pushing his face into another weak little smile. "Like... like you said, it's not permanent, anyway, right? Either you'll come back here, or I'll follow you out to Ishval and find work out there, just to bug you." He smiled weakly again, even managing to chuckle, but when Roy didn't respond in the slightest, his smile slipped away, trembling until it fell apart, and with it went any semblance of the pathetic levity in his voice. "But, for now, I... I think this just seems like something we both have to do."

Roy had to go to Ishval for his past. Ed hadn't been there in the civil war, and really didn't know all that much about it, but he did understand and could at least accept that much. He truly believed Roy when the man said he didn't have a choice. But as hard as it was, Ed knew he needed to do this, too. Just like Roy had to go back to Ishval to try and forge a new way into the rest of his life, one he could finally truly live with, Ed knew he had to face his past here and everything he couldn't bear to remember or relive so he could try and make a path into his own future.

They both had to do this. And, with a deep, trembling breath, Ed told himself that he would do this. For Al, and for himself.

It was the only choice he had.

"You're... you're always doing this, you know," he ventured weakly, and his voice was unsteady all over again as he looked back at Roy. Somehow he'd ended up smiling again, but it felt even more broken than his words. "You've made me do a lot of things now, things I didn't really want to do but that I had to. ...Really. Thanks."

Roy finally responded, shaking his head slowly even though he still hadn't turned back to face him. "I didn't-" he started, voice low and cracking.

"No, you did," Ed cut back in smoothly. "You've done a whole lot for me that you really didn't have to. That no one else would've done for me. That if you hadn't done, I'd... really probably be dead by now. I know I wouldn't be anywhere near here, or... even close to... to, happy." He clenched his jaw again, trying for a moment to force his voice back into something steady again, then just gave up on the fight and let something weak crack into it. "And, this- I understand why you have to do it. I do. And it's really something that I should... should probably do, too. Like I said, in the long run, this'll probably be good for the both of us. We'll both be fine." He swallowed tightly again, hands clenching together, and fought hard against the exhausted, agonizing throb of his heart. "...S-so, just... just don't do your usual thing, and ruin it by apologizing or guilting about it or anything, and then... then we'll just be all good. Everything... everything'll be... fine."

For a beat of silence, there was no answer.

Then, in one smooth motion, Roy turned back around, a pale, uncompromising figure in the black night, swept back over to him, and pulled him forwards into a tight hug before Ed could do anything more than blink.

The hands grasping his shoulders were freezing, but it took Ed a moment to realize that wasn't why they were shaking.

"...Idiot," he mumbled, and at first it actually did sound strong and like he had it together but his next breath, a tiny gasp that broke in the middle, just ruined it completely, and he knew Roy had heard it, too, when his arms tightened. "I t-told you not t-to- to ruin it like this..."

Roy coughed out a grating, broken laugh, pressing him even tighter against him. "You have no idea how much I'm... going to miss you, Ed."

"I t-told you, quit ruining it," he groaned, because he wasn't going to fucking cry, then pressed his face against a fold in the man's jacket and hid his eyes in the fabric. "You're supposed to say you're g-gonna- gonna put me in your suitcase or something, because I'm short enough to fit, and- and-..."

Roy managed a laugh again, one still faintly trembling hand lifting to ruffle his hair. "Would it make you feel better if I did?"

"...No, b-but..." He worked his mouth for a moment, trying to say something, anything helpful, but then the words just fell apart into nothingness and Ed just gave up, shutting his eyes and face still hidden in the warm jacket. He felt Roy clutch him even closer, the hand on his shoulder grasping spasmodically tight, and Ed hiccuped through what was almost the start of a sob as he dragged an arm up to embrace him back.

"...I'll be fine," he promised weakly at all, but with all the sincerity he could muster. "I- I will. I really will. ...I'll be okay."

"...I know you will." There was another short pause, Roy's hands alternately clutching him tighter and trembling even harder, and when he heard the already unsteady breaths above him break he just kept his face hidden, not wanting to see it.

"...Thank you, Ed," Roy told him at last, and he could hear from the man's voice just how hard he was trying to keep his voice steady, too. "I mean that. Really. For... for all of... just..." Roy sighed weakly, hand squeezing even tighter, then just shook his head. "Thank you."

And Ed found himself with nothing to say or do except just hug him back tighter.