Heart- Ch4- Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction

Roy's head was spinning and his side was on fire. Did he break a rib? He couldn't tell, but he was also having trouble telling up from down at the moment. One thought did ring clear in his mind, though:

He was such an idiot.

The way Ed was splayed out in the middle of the clearing, immobilized and alone, just like bait. It was so obvious.

Fullmetal had even pointed it out, and he just walked into it like a complete moron.

"Mustang!" Ed shouted, jolting him from his stupor. "Get up!"

With a grunt of pain, Roy dragged himself up from the wet ground, eyes scanning blearily for his attacker. The world was spinning too much to make out much of anything, but being caught on the ground would be a death sentence. He stumbled to his feet and yanked his gloves from his pocket.

His very wet gloves.

Roy risked a glance down and saw the entire side of his clothing soaked through from the rain-sodden earth.

"I hate camping," he snarled through clenched teeth, shoving them back into his pocket.

"Mustang!"

Ed was looking at him, golden eyes wide with panic. "I'm fine," Roy said, searching the area, his vertigo finally easing enough for him to see that it was just him and Ed in the clearing . "Where is he?"

Ed didn't get a chance to respond before movement flashed in the corner of Roy's eye. He dropped and rolled, somehow managing to evade the strike to his head. He got his feet underneath him and scrambled back.

Roy finally got a good look at his assailant, and once again berated himself for his stupidity. The man had a tall, strong form, dark skin, hair bleached of all its color, and red eyes brimming with hatred.

And if Roy had possessed any doubt of his attacker's identity, the slivery scar stretched across the man's face banished it completely.

Going this far East had been a mistake.

Getting two of the world's most famous alchemists away from Central and alone in the middle of the woods was a mistake.

Letting Ed out of his sight was a mistake.

Scar didn't give Roy a chance to gather himself before lunging again, lashing his tattooed arm at his chest.

Roy wheeled back, blocking the attack with a forearm and throwing a hasty punch at the Ishvalan's face. The blow didn't land, but Roy's left side flared in pain with the effort and he grimaced, backing away again. Scar pressed forward, driving him back under a steady barrage of punches and kicks.

Roy tried to get in a few hits of his own, but he was barely managing to keep that blasted tattooed arm away from him. The limb sparked red, passing much too close to Roy for his comfort. He was so busy keeping that arm at bay that he let Scar get a knee up on him.

He took the hit to the gut with a sharp exhalation. If he had possessed any air in his lungs after that, he would have screamed as he felt something break clean in his left side. Scar pivoted back and swept out the other leg, taking both of Roy's out from underneath him. He rolled back and landed in an uncoordinated heap on the floor.

Well, this was going downhill rather quickly.

Hand-to-hand combat had always been his weak spot, and though Hawkeye had drilled him on it to make up for his deficiencies, it remained a weakness. With him injured, and no chance of backup, he couldn't possibly hold his own against Scar for very long.

Actually, "holding his own" was being generous. Scar was about to punch his ticket if he didn't get creative soon . . .

The Ishvalan kicked him while he was down, setting fire to his side and he let out a pained gasp.

"MUSTANG!" Ed screamed somewhere to the side, but Roy couldn't see him for the stars in his vision. Another kick, and he was rolled over onto his back. He tried to keep rolling, but was stopped when a booted foot came down to crush his chest and a large hand grabbed his face, digging into his skin with rough fingertips.

He froze, the breath catching in his throat as he saw the tattooed arm spark, the beginnings of a transmutation.

The scarred man glared down at him, his face a hard mask through the curtain of fingers Roy stared past. "I'll give you a moment to pray for forgiveness," Scar hissed, deep voice rumbling over the thunder. "For I can't give it to you, murderous dog."

Ed was screaming something again, but Roy was immobilized, his mind scrambling for some kind of plan as he stared into the Ishvalan's red fury.

If he died here, he would never have the chance to atone for his sins. People like Scar would still be out there, broken and angry and seeking revenge for the terrible wrongs Amestris had dealt them. It wasn't that he didn't deserve to die for what he had done, but if it stopped here, he would never be able to make it right.

But the thought that made dying unbearable was that if he gave up here, Ed would die.

And he couldn't allow that to happen.

His mind was still racing for an idea when the red current sparked brighter, heat searing his face and he felt the air around him shift. A terrible despair stole over him, freezing his heart in his chest.

He was too late.

The ground beneath him tore apart, and suddenly, the pressure against his face was gone.

A fist of stone raked itself from the ground beneath him, tearing itself between him and Scar. It shot into the sky, and the ground undulated beneath him, rolling him backwards and right into Ed.

"Hold on!" Ed shouted, clamping onto Roy's shirt with an automail fist.

They didn't stop like Roy expected them to. The ground kept rolling, Ed's transmutation carrying them all the way to the ledge.

Right over the cliff.

Wind rushed past them as they fell, pushing against their bodies and ripping at their clothes as the river below rushed up to meet them. Roy didn't have much time to process the image, but he saw pointed rocks and rapids and he wasn't feeling too optimistic about surviving the encounter with the rest of his bones intact.

He grabbed Ed, pulling the boy to his chest in a protective embrace before they plunged into the icy water.

The impact almost jolted the air from his lungs, but he kept his lips sealed as they submerged into the frigid darkness, the current ripping them downstream even as they sank. Roy tried to claw his way up to the light, but Ed wasn't making an easy load.

Fullmetal's arm was dragging them down, fighting against Roy's every effort to get them to back up to the surface. Despite the murky water stinging his eyes, Roy glared down at the limb. He did not survive an encounter with Scar and a fall two hundred feet into a river, just to die because of Ed's stupid automail!

His feet touched the sandy bottom and he gathered himself, tightening his hold on Ed as he did, then launched them both upwards with everything he had.

They just managed to break through the surface, taking in a greedy breath before they were sinking again, the water tearing them downstream in its icy grip. Roy flung an arm out to grab something, anything, and his fingers dug into the boughs of a thin river plant that stretched out over the water. He pulled, trying desperately to get both of them above the surface.

Ed let go of him with one arm, reaching his automail hand up to get his own grip and almost sinking back into the water, but Roy grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up, hoping that the spindly plant would hold their combined weight. Ed let go of Roy completely and began moving forward. He was obviously having a hard time of it, with one leg less to balance him, and the extra weight of his arm dragging him down, but he struggled forward. Roy waited until he had almost reached the shore before following, gingerly dragging his body along the abused branches.

He finally collapsed on the shore next to Ed, his legs still in the river, but he was too tired to do anything about it. He laid there and just breathed, relishing the sweet air that filled his lungs and the reassuring pain in his side that meant he was still alive.

Ed panted by his side, chest rising and falling in short gasps before he coughed, spitting water up in the rocky sand. His hacking finally eased and he rolled onto his side, golden hair plastered to his face and his eyes closed in complete exhaustion.

Roy wasn't sure how long they stayed there, and the cloudy sky wasn't giving him any hints, but he knew they had to get moving. He could feel his body temperature start to drop as the adrenaline wore off and his body started chiming in with a round of complaints.

He sat up slowly, wincing and gasping as his side flared with bright agony. As that pain passed, he turned to Ed. He still had his eyes closed, but his breathing had settled into a somewhat normal pattern. "Fullmetal?" he asked, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Ed offered a groan in response.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked, squeezing the boy's arm a bit harder.

Ed cracked open an eye to regard him balefully. "I've been better," he informed shortly, slapping Roy's hand away halfheartedly and dragging himself up to a sitting position. He frowned up at the unfamiliar tree line and surrounding cliffs. "Where are we?"

"The best I can tell, we've gone downriver about half a mile. Maybe more," Roy said, looking over the kid. He looked worse for wear, even though the water had taken some of the blood off. His left eye was bruised, and though Roy didn't notice it before, it had almost swollen shut now, and there was a vicious gash across his forehead that still sent a rivulet of blood down the boy's face. Everything else was covered by his tattered clothing, though, so Roy could only guess at what other injuries he had collected.

Ed caught him looking and scowled. "I'm fine. Just a scratch," he muttered, wiping at his face with a sleeve and wincing.

"Is that what they call losing a leg?" Roy asked lightly, eying the empty port.

Ed grimaced, pulling back the muddy shreds of his pant leg to get a better look. "Winry's going to kill me," he sighed miserably.

"I think Miss Rockbell's the least of our troubles, at the moment," Roy said, leaning forward and gingerly gathering his legs underneath him. It was starting to get very cold, and if they didn't find shelter soon, Mother Nature would finish what Scar had started. Standing up was his first order of business, though, and he found that task daunting in itself.

"Where did he come from, anyway?" Ed demanded grumpily, scowling at Roy like it was somehow his fault. "We're out in the middle of nowhere, for crying out loud!"

"It's not that much of a stretch, really. I don't know about you, but Hughes made it no secret around Central what we were up to this weekend. It doesn't take a genius to put the pieces together and follow us out here. It's the perfect opportunity to get a couple of the State's most famous alchemists in one fell swoop."

The anger seemed to wash away from Ed's face and something else took its place. Unease, maybe? Or something stronger. "What about Al? And Hughes? They're back their on their own!"

Roy shook his head. "Scar's after State alchemists and anyone in the way. No one's stopping him from trekking out into the woods after us, so they should be safe for now. We, on the other hand, are sitting ducks here on the bank." Roy glanced up river, trying to get a better idea of where they were. Despite how close it was to the lake, Roy doubted it fed into it, which meant if they had any hopes of getting back to the others, they would have to go back upriver, or cut back South.

Either way, they were playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse.

"First, we need to get away from the river," Roy said decidedly. It wouldn't be any trouble at all for Scar to just run downriver to finish them off, and Roy wanted to make it a little bit harder on him than that. "We'll just have to hike back into the trees and find a place to dry out."

Ed looked down at the space where a leg should have been. "I don't think it's going to be that easy," he said pointedly. "I'll need crutches or something."

Roy had already thought of that, and his side twinged at the thought of what he was going to have to do. "We don't have time to look for something like that, at the moment. I'll just carry you until we find a place to rest."

Ed bristled at the thought. "No way! I'm not going to be carried around like a sack of potatoes by you, you worthless jerk!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Roy chided. "If anything, you'd be a sack of peas—"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?!"

"—and anyways, we don't have time to argue it. For all we know, Scar is already looking for us."

Ed looked upriver, that same strange, apprehensive expression stealing over his face. Suddenly, his cheeks flushed and the scowl returned, assuring Roy that he had come to a decision. "Fine," he relented.

Roy stepped over to the boy, grabbing his outstretched hand to get him standing. Ed swayed there dangerously while Roy turned around to hoist him on his back. Before Roy could so much as pivot, though, Ed's arms pinwheeled comically and he fell back into the rocky sand with a yelp.

"Can't you help me out just a little bit here?" Roy sighed, running a hand through his wet hair in exasperation.

Ed gave him a look that could wither. "Balancing on one leg without the other leg is harder than it looks!" he informed scathingly.

Roy quirked a dubious eyebrow, but offered his hand out again. Ed gripped it again with his automail, this time applying just a bit more pressure than necessary, squeezing his fingers together in a most painful manner.

Little brat.

Roy kept the wince from his face and got the kid up again. This time, he kept a steadying hand on his arm as he turned and wrestled Ed onto his back.

Ed hooked an arm around his neck, choking Roy as he clamored on. "Ed," Roy gasped, trying to shift his cargo to get the pressure off his windpipe.

"Oops," Ed muttered without a trace of remorse, but he moved the arm regardless and finally situated himself on Roy's back. Honestly, he weighed a ton, and the extra pounds weren't doing Roy's side any favors.

"For a shrimp, you sure do weigh a lot," Roy growled, taking a tenuous step forward.

"Shut up," Ed snarled, resituating himself and making Roy wince as his leg stump dug into Roy's injured side. "It's the stupid automail."

"Really weighs you down, doesn't it?"

"Mustang, if you don't shut up, I'm going to strangle you!"

"If you do that, there goes your ride."

"I'd rather spend quality time with Scar than spend another minute with you, you pretentious jerk!"

"Ooooh, pretentious," Roy mocked with a grin. "Using awfully big words, aren't we Fullmetal? The smaller words suit you better . . ."

The arm tightened around his neck.

"Okay, okay!" Roy choked.