A/N: I bet you all thought I was dead, huh? Well, I'm not. Sort of. I feel like I'm dead even if I'm really not. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter! And please, no pitchforks!

There it was again. Mustand froze, eyes darting through the almost pitch blackness, as eh tried to find the source of the noise he knew that he'd heard. Twice now, actually. It was a soft sound but so out of place in the rumbling of the setteling mine and Roy knew there was only one thing that it could actually be.

Edward.

It had to be the younger alchemist making that noise, even if the thought of strong-willed Ed whimpering set his stomache churning. If there was one thing that the other alchemist didn;t do, it was whimper. Complain, yes. Whine, all the time. Shout like there was no tomorrow, definatly. He did not whimper. Ever.

The noise sounded again and Roy realized with a jolt that it was coming further towards the middle of the room; away from the wall that he was currantly leaning against. If he wanted to get to it, then he was going to have to walk there with no aid. Something he did not want to do.

Roy had 'woken up' only a few minutes ago. The mine had already stopped crumbling for the most part and he hadn't appeared to have been that injured in the collapse. Until the haze dissapeared from his mind and he realized that his leg, the left one, had been crushed beneath a chunk of rock. With his limited medical knowledge, a quick look over the injured limb told him that the bone was most likely completely crushed. Everytime he moved the limb, bones scraped against each other and sent spasms of pain shooting from his leg up to his tail bone.

The black haired alchemist had taken to leaning against the wall, dragging his left leg on the ground when he had to move. His guess placed the main break roughly around his knee somewhere; he wasn't sure whether it was above it, below it, or both though.

Holding his breath, Roy pushed himself off of the wall and towards where the whimper-noise had come from. The motion sent fire shooting through the limb, a painful throbbing trailing all the way up to his lower back, and he could feel his eyes start to sting. Still it was something that he could easily deal with; especially if it meant finding his subordinate.

As he hobbled towards the denter of the large room, the vague whimpers slowly turned into soft-spoken words. Words that were unmistakably calling out his name. Without thinking, Roy was already responding. "Fullmetal? Fullmetal, is that you?" He wasn't sure who else it could be but...

"M-mustang...You g-good?" Ed forced out. The words clawed at his throat on their way up, catching and almost sticking in his throat. It hurt so badly (breathing, speaking, even thinking was starting to hurt) but he had to know that the Colonol was alright. That the image hadn't come true while he was unconscious or trapped in his mind or whatever it was actually called. Being insane sounded like a good way to put it.

Good? It sounded like Edward was dieing, bad thought, don't think things like that, and he was asking if he was alright? Oddly enough, that thought was almost comforting. It meant that the younger boy was still thinking like he normally did; not a single thought directed at himself. "I'm fine, Fullmetal."

"What 'bout y-your leg?" A weak cough forced its way out of Ed's throat after he spoke. Blood dribbled down his chin, joining the steadily growing puddle on the ground around him, and his chest ached as he tried to bring in enough air to replace what he'd just hacked out. He knew that Truth had told him something about Roy's leg, even if he couldn't remember exactly what it had been.

'It was shattered, Mister Al-Che-Mist~! Can't you even remember that?'

Oh yeah. The thought would have sent his stomache churning if it wasn't already. Though churning wasn't really the right word for it. Trying to turn itself inside out seemed more accurate. Or maybe...Edward blinked heavily in an attempt to clear his mind and push the useless thoughts away. For the life of him, he couldn't remember what had set off that tangent of thought.

"My leg?" Roy furrowed his eyebrows, charcoal eyes narrowing as he did. How on Earth did Ed know that he'd hurt his leg? Running his hand lightly down the no doubt completely ruined pants leg, careful to avoid actually hitting the supposedly broken part, Roy found himself peering into the darkness to try and find his subordinate. Obviously, he couldn't.

"It's busted up pretty badly and I'm almost certain that it's broken. I can still walk though." Sort of. Hobbeling was almost the same as walking, wasn't it? Roy decided that it was. "What about you, Fullmetal? How badly are you hurt and where at?" There was no use asking 'if' he was hurt because he obviously was.

Ed was silent for a few moments, trying to decide just where he was hurt. If he didn't know how pathetic it sounded, he would just say 'everywhere', it felt like everywhere, and be done with it. He still had a clear enough head to know that Mustang would not appreciate that as an answer though. In the end, he settled for just the worst spots. No sense in making anyone worry. "M' arm a-and m' chest. Lots'a r-rocks."

"How badly?" Roy hoped it was just the shock of everything happening so suddenly that was causing that stutter and not an injury.

"M-my arm's stuck." A pause. "I'm s-stuck." That was probably when the panic set in; something that wouldn't have happened if Ed had been fully rested and properly fed and not teetering on the brink of insanity.

He could feel his throat tighten, chest following suit, and his breathing became harsher; less of a gasp and more of a breathless pant. Except that he wasn't really getting enough air for that, something that sent even more terror racing through his mind. "I-I'm s-stuck, Mus-mustang!"

A cold chill swept through Roy at Ed's panic-filled voice. There had to be something more than just being 'stuck' wrong for him to sound like that. The thought of all the things left being unsaid, mind suddenly running rampant with ideas, didn't help lessen the feeling. Still, if the normally level-headed alchemist was so distressed than it wouldn't do for Roy to show how worried he was. Someone had to try and stay calm after all.

Taking a deep breath to steady both his voice and his body, Roy started the trek across the mine once more. "Calm down, Fullmetal. I'll find you and have you free in no time. Just don't pani-"

The next thing he knew, his good leg was slamming against a fallen beam that he hadn't seen in the shadows and he was plummeting foreward. Both of his arms flew in front of him to break his fall, moving on pure instinct, and he slammed into one of the many chunkc of rock now littering the area; gloved hands scrabbling at the craggy rock to try and keep himself from falling.

Roy let himself crumple onto the ground, landing in a painful heap ontop of his broken leg, when a high-pitched wail sounded from beneath him.