A month passed.

Then two.

Ed still hadn't woken up.

And that was why Pinako and Alphonse were arguing.

Pinako wanted to move him to a better hospital in Central, preferably, while Alphonse was arguing that he should stay in Resembool, where he'd be more familiar with his surroundings and would heal faster.

And all the while, Edward was content in just floating in the peaceful, if at times painful, blackness.

He could tell his brother was worrying, but he also was human, and humans were selfish.

All he wanted was to stay in this peace for as long as possible.

Sometimes he could hear Winry humming, hear his brother let of a ragged sigh as he was forced to move from his brother's side.

Sometimes he could hear distant yelling.

Sometime he could hear his brother crying quietly beside him.

And yet he still couldn't wake up.

He wouldn't.

He didn't want to.

--

Things were looking worse and worse as the days and weeks drew on. Pinako had finally won, and Ed had been moved to a Central hospital, where he was watched constantly.

He grew thinner and thinner in the bed he laid in, his face growing sharp in an healthy sort of way due to him being unable to eat in his comatose state. A endotracheal tube was in his throat, a ventilator pumping air in and out of his lungs through it. It was a truly saddening thing to see.

But something happened one day. The hospital was quiet, for once, and then he was there.

Roy Mustang. 

"Edward Elric. I heard you were in here. You probably can't hear me, but if you can...you're a shrimp and you damn well owe me some answers for all the stuff you knew. I prevented the state from executing you and your brother by falsifying a report. Which, if discovered, could very well cost me my job. Be grateful, brat." Roy snorted derisively.

"Did you know I was here not all that long ago? A few months, maybe. Pneumonia, of all things. Apparently I almost died. Hell, I did die. Thankfully, they were able to bring me back. But just between you, me and Maes...if I get it again...that's it. Why am I even telling you this? It's not like you can hear me." Roy laughed dryly. He rambled on about various trivial things for a while before sighing, standing from the uncomfortable plastic chair he had attempted to make himself comfortable in, fixing his shirt as he did.

"If you wake up, when you wake up, whatever...I expect to see you at the State Alchemist Exams." There was a slightly smug smirk on his face.

Ed's eyes opened, those murky gold yes still vibrant under the florescent lights.

Then squeezed shut, unprepared for the sudden brilliant light that pervaded his vision instead of the blackness he had become accustomed to.

Roy seemed shocked for a moment, internally panicking because holy fuck a kid that hadn't woken up for anyone, not even his family and best friend apparently, just fucking woke up when he was talking.

He practically ran to the door, shouting for a nurse. Soon enough, the room was basically flooded with nurses checking vitals and a few doctors who seemed rather perplexed by the child's sudden return to the land of awareness,

Pinako and Alphonse and Winry were immediately alerted, and arrived only fifteen minutes later. Roy knew it was a forty minute drive from their hotel to the hospital, and he shuddered internally to think of what laws they had broke whilst driving to the hospital in order to have gotten there so quickly.

They joined Roy in pacing the hall outside of the room, as they had gotten kicked out in order for the staff to be able to properly do their job.

--

Ed was confused. He had heard the bastard talking. He swore he had. But his vision, bad as it was without his glasses, could hardly make out individual faces as his eyes darted around the room. People who he assumed were nurses swarmed around him moved quickly, only causing them to appear even more blurred. That, combined with their rather loud voices, gave Ed a rather intense headache. God how he wished he could talk so he could tell them to shut the fuck up, please.

And so he could tell the bastard he wasn't short.

He couldn't tell how long it was before the people finally deemed it okay to leave him alone, leaving the room but leaving the accursed tube in his throat. He could breathe just fine, dammit!

The door opened again, and the gray and black, blurred figures of his brother, Winry, Pinako and the bastard himself. He managed to twitch a finger in greeting, his body feeling like lead as he did.

God damn he needed his glasses. At least with them he could make out expressions somewhat clearly, without them, he could see blobs and that was about it.

"Brother..." Al whispered, pure disbelief, shock and happiness rolled into one as he uttered that single word. Even without his glasses, he could tell that Alphonse was too skinny, and guilt immediately overtook him with a force equivalent to a tidal wave. This was his fault.

--

The four had visited for an hour before they were kicked out by the staff, which left Ed alone in his thoughts, staring blankly at the door, hoping someone, anyone, would come through and alleviate his boredom even if only somewhat.

He ended up drifting off every now and then, his dreams filled with the image of Alphonse as he was, too skinny and looking terrible, the knowledge that Roy was going to die because of him, and the knowledge that he had been too weak to fight against his own selfishness and drag himself from the coma. And, of course, there were the usual nightmares of Alec.

Those combined made sure he wasn't able to fall asleep completely.

--

It was around seven in the morning when Ed, who had given up on sleep, heard the door click open. There was the sharp yet quiet sound of new shoes on the floor, and when Ed managed to focus in on the person who by that time was standing by his bed, he immediately wanted to curl up into a ball and just sob uncontrollably. His vision may be bad, but he could still tell who it was. God he wished he couldn't. He wished they would go away and just leave him alone already.

"Hey there, Edward. Miss me?" Alec smirked, leaning over Ed and taking pure enjoyment in the sheer terror and hate and resigned defeat in those dulled, murky gold eyes.

~1128 Words~
God I'm evil. ~The_Sin_Pride