A/N: I was actually going to update three days ago but then the most unexpected thing happened. MY INTERNET WENT DOWN! RAWR RAWR RAWR! But at least I got to go to an internet café and upload it. Heh. Nothing can defeat Victorious-Mind! See what I did there? Victorious!
And yes, I have changed the title because I just realized it made no sense. I CAN'T BELIEVE MYSELF! It took me like 2 months to realize it! Replacement of a Father. What the hell does that even mean? Replacement Father makes sense…
-Here it is guys! The last and final chapter. *cries* Thank you so much for all your reviews! I could never have done it without you! And Edward too!
Yeah you heard me correctly. I had a dream about Edward. I hugged him. And ran my fingers through his hair… And he fell asleep. And I fell asleep beside him. IT WAS SOOO GOOD! WHY DID I HAVE TO WAKE UP?! *cries again* I'm such a lucky bastard. xD Get jealous, my female readers!
*You'll have to excuse me for such a long author's note. After all, it's the final chapter. Also I'm high on caffeine.*
I'll see you at the end, kay?
Now here we go for the last time…. (Okay maybe not if I write another fanfiction… ;D)
ENJOY!
Chapter 11/Epilogue
Milk
Alphonse walked up and down the hospital corridors when he suddenly bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry!" he said glancing up. "You're…"
The woman doctor smiled and threw a glance at the surgery room.
"I can't believe I didn't figure out that he was the Fullmetal Alchemist! I never thought he'd be so young… And then I saw his name on the patient list. No wonder he keeps getting into trouble!" Dr. Katie said. She observed the crowd filling the benches.
"Everyone for him?"
"Yes…" Al replied sheepishly.
"They seem worried. Where's that black-haired guy? You know, the one who brought him to the clinic?"
"Uh yeah, he's Colonel Mustang. My brother works under him. Ed's heart stopped before we arrived and he brought him back. He should be at the bathroom right now. He went to change his bloody clothes."
"Colonel? I thought he was just some body guard, I mean why else would he-"
A nurse came running out of the room. All heads turned her way and it suddenly got very quiet.
"We are in desperate need of zero RH negative blood! Our stocks have run out. Anyone? I repeat zero RH negative!"
Alphonse lowered his head.
I have…but I…
"Mine is zero RH negative." said Roy who came back from the sink. "I'll give."
The nurse took his arm and pulled him inside.
"Thank goodness. Please hurry up sir."
The door closed and a few minutes later, Roy came out holding a cotton ball to his forearm.
"Is he going to be okay?" Al asked fearfully.
"Yes, he will."
Hawkeye walked next to the Colonel as he sat back on the bench.
"Sir, I never knew you were aware of your blood type."
"Me too, Roy, how did you learn it? I don't even know my own!" Hughes asked.
"When I was little, my aunt took me to a doctor when I got sick. They took some of my blood and later the doctor told me my blood type. He said that zero RH negative blood can give blood to anyone but he can only receive from itself. That means I can save anyone's life. You are all in my mercy." Roy smirked.
"That also means you're in Ed's mercy. Because he's the only other person who we know that has zero RH negative blood." Havoc pointed.
"Oh, whatever."
The doctor came out of the room. "Who's here for Edward Elric?"
"We all are. Is he awake?" Al asked, itching to push the doctor out of the way and run inside.
"Yes. We've given him a transfusion thanks to Colonel Mustang and he's been stabilized. The parts of his automail seem undamaged though I'm no expert, one of the screws have shifted. I think that's what caused the bleeding, you should ask his mechanic. I'm not sure if he's totally cleared up from the morphine we've give him but that's all. I saw a scar on his neck. Is he that Fullmetal kid who got attacked?"
Nods.
"Is the attacker caught?"
"Dead."
"Deserved it. I say four days here at the hospital and a week at home. Any questions? No? Okay, you could see him."
Alphonse beat them all to the door and dove in, while the rest followed.
In the bed, half-sitting, half-lying was Ed looking pretty awake.
And bored.
His golden eyes were lit with fire as always. He had a bandage over his left cheek where Ryson had clawed. The bandage from his head was removed. His wrist was heavily bandaged and an I.V. was going in from the top of his hand. His automail arm was still not retrieved. Not that Ed was looking forward to connecting it anyway.
"Brother! How are you feeling?"
"Great! Though, I'd feel better if I didn't have to stay here again. It's just so clean and white and it just reminds me of death…"
"We thought you were really gone…" interrupted Havoc.
Everyone else nodded in sympathy, remembering the terror they had felt.
"What happened to…him?" Ed asked, staring at Roy.
"Lust stabbed him. He died."
"Lust?"
"Yeah, it seems like the news got to the Homunculi as well. They don't want to lose a sacrifice."
"Oh. How are you?"
"I'm totally fine."
Ed looked at the bed sheets. "I did feel like I was going to die. But then there was a little light you know, when you tried to bring me back. It sounds weird when I say it like that. But yeah, if you had given up, it would have disappeared and I-"
Hughes put a hand over Ed's shoulder. "It's over now."
"I heard about the blood. Thanks."
Roy waved his hand in dismissal. "It was nothing."
Then suddenly the door opened with a loud noise.
"EDWAAAAAARD!" yelled Winy. She made her way past everyone, pushing them away and hugged Ed tightly.
"I came as soon as I heard what happened. I was… I was so scared! I thought you might die!"
Hawkeye gave a glance at Alphonse. How did she learn about this?
Al shrugged.
She squeezed him even tighter as her tears began falling on Ed's blue hospital shirt. "I was so scared…"
"It's Edward's girlfriend!" alerted Hughes.
"Girl…friend?" Roy asked ridiculously.
"Ooh…Edward!"
"Way to go, chief!"
"Who could have thought..?"
Roy remembered the library visit, where two girls had basically drooled all over Ed and went totally crazy.
But he never thought…
Wait a second… He'd seen that girl before. When he first went to recruit Ed, she was standing next to the door with a worried look on her face.
"G-girlfriend? WHAT?" Ed turned red.
Al chuckled.
"Oops…Umm…Sorry…" Winry let go and shyly took a step back, making herself as little as possible.
"She's my childhood friend and my mechanic." Ed retorted through gritted teeth.
"Sure, sure." came a mutter from Havoc.
"No one's going to buy that story, kid." Roy said, poking Ed's face in amusement.
"HEY! Don't touch me!"
"Where's your automail arm? Don't tell me it's-"
Winry was interrupted as Fuery handed it to her. "I found it back in the room."
She stared at Ed's automail arm. It was in perfect shape except for the dried blood on it.
Her eyes filled with tears again.
"Is your shoulder hurt?" she asked.
Ed blushed and looked away.
"Come on boss, she's worried about you." added Breda.
"SHUT UP!" he turned to Winry. "The doctor said one of the screws in my collarbone moved slightly. It's no big deal."
"It must have hurt a lot, YOU IDIOT!" she yelled. "The doctor also said you have to rest and take it easy for two week at home. A home." She said, pronouncing the world slowly in emphasis.
Ed gave a groan. "Nobody has time for that."
Winry ignored his protest. "I know! You can-"
"My house is pretty empty. He can stay at my house." Roy piped in.
Everyone stared, their eyes wide.
Roy looked into Ed's eyes. "At least I'll make sure you don't get yourself even more injured. And I like this long break from all the paperwork. I really don't feel like coming back. So what do you say shorty?" he finished.
Hawkeye scowled at the paperwork comment but the rest of the team turned to Ed.
"If those are my orders then alright, bastard."
The team did a double-take. Ed hadn't yelled at him for calling him short. And neither of them protested. Roy actually invited Ed to come to his house.
"What happened to them when they were stuck there, I wonder…"
"Maybe they're clones…"
"You…you guys didn't get drugged, did you?" Hughes asked, a big smile on his face.
"Maybe." Roy said, grinning only to stop by the look of Riza. "Anyways, I'll be back in four days. You just wait here till I come to pick you up and don't do anything reckless." He turned around and walked out of the room.
For a while, everyone stared in silence as Ed leaned back.
"From this moment on, I'll believe everything I hear." Falman said.
Roy drove to his house with Ed sitting in the passenger seat and Al in the back.
"So…do you like lasagna?"
"Yes."
"I talked to your doctor, Ed."
"Okay…"
"He said you needed a bit more calcium."
"What's that supposed to mean, Mustang?"
"For your bones."
"What?"
"To grow taller!"
"Are you saying that I'm short?! And WATCH THE ROAD!" Ed turned to Roy who nearly bumped into another car.
"Milk is good for you and you will drink it."
"You can't make me!"
Al sighed in the backseat. Great. The arguing had already begun and they weren't even at his house yet.
"You just see…"
"Is that supposed to be a threat?!"
"Maybe…"
"Don't drop down your guard, brother."
Ed turned back and winked.
"Don't worry. I won't."
One week later…
Roy put a glass in front of Edward after dinner. There was a brownish liquid inside it.
He hadn't tried to make Ed drink milk ever since he'd brought him from the hospital. It had been a whole week. Had Ed forgotten about their talk in the car?
"What's this?"
Apparently he hadn't.
"Does it look like milk to you?" Roy retorted.
"I asked you what it was." Ed scorned.
Alphonse laughed. "You're too skeptical, brother."
Roy sat down next to Ed with another glass for himself. He took a sip.
"It's a smoothie of my own creation."
"It doesn't look like a smoothie." Ed said smelling the liquid.
"Because I made it. Go ahead. Take a sip. It's sweet, you know."
Ed took a sip. And another one. Then he drained the whole cup. "It tastes like chocolate." He mumbled.
"It's chocolate milk, Edward. I win."
Ed cast a murderous glance at Roy which scared him more than Hawkeye did.
Without giving Roy a chance to run away, Ed reached and pushed Roy's glass away which was still half full.
Roy's own chocolate milk spilled all over him.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT, I JUST BOUGHT THIS SHIRT YESTERDAY! How could you?!" Roy yelled.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO LITTLE THAT HE CAN ONLY BE SEEN BY THE MOST POWERFUL MICROSCOPE?! And how dare you feed me that crap, YOU LIAR?!"
"You liked it didn't you?"
"Shut up! I'm currently resisting the urge; don't make me throw up all over you!" Ed ran to the kitchen to drink water.
Al laughed as Roy glanced down at his chocolate milk soaked shirt.
"Sorry, Colonel…"
"No, no. It's okay, we're even."
Roy stood up to change his clothes.
As he made his way towards the bedroom, he realized that Ed had actually known that it was milk. And that he had drunk it willingly.
Perhaps he really had liked it.
They did understand each other better.
And Roy decided to make sure that Edward had someone to rely on from now on. And that he would always be there for him whenever he needed help.
Not that he was Ed's replacement father or anything.
-END-
A/N: YEAH. AND THAT CONCLUDES MY AWESOME FANFIC. *cries some more* I tried to make the ending great. And it was great! I tried staying away from yaoi as much as possible and I'm pretty sure I did!
-I'm not sure if smoothies existed in Amestris, but just pretend it did. xD
-I have zero RH negative blood. So yeah, I can save anyone's life. But not much people can save mine…
THANKS SO MUCH FOR STICKING WITH ME ALL THIS TIME! I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING/FAVORITING/FOLLOWING! *tries not to sound cheesy* ALSO, THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME MY MISTAKES! I WOULDN'T HAVE CONTINUED THIS STORY IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU! HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT! *Sorry for the capital letters, I can't resist. xP*
-Also I'm going to put up a one-shot soon. It's based on the first anime after the Scar incident. You know the part where Roy mocks Ed ending it with "Oh so tough." Yeah. And then Juliet Douglas is going to stop by to tell something to Roy and upon seeing his mother, Ed will…*Okay, I stop right there. No more spoilers. Hehe.* Yes, I will suffer Ed. So you should read it. I know you're all sadistic people or you wouldn't really read this fic in the first place. DUHHH.
BYE-BYE! And remember! Pride is always watching you…from the shadows! MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA HA!