Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa does. I only own the OC charcaters.

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When he woke up in the hospital, he could feel bandages swathed all over his entire body. That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing he noticed was the awfully familiar scent of sterility often associated with hospitals. The nights previous events rushed back to him with full clarity. The third thing he noticed was his little brother sitting silently beside him.

Emotions overwhelmed him. He never thought he'd get the chance to see him again. He immediately started bawling, apologizing over and over again for how he had left things between them. He should have never stormed off on his own. Alphonse only responded by gently rubbing at his head, assuring him that it wasn't his fault. He really didn't deserve his brother.

That's when the colonel decided to announce his presence. He was surprisingly gentle with him, details of what happened emerging in his mind's eye. He blushed at the thought, but really couldn't bring himself to regret it. It was... what he needed.

Of course, the rest of the team had their turn to visit him. He found that he didn't mind Hughes' doting that much. It didn't come off as irritating. Believe it or not, he had... missed it. He had missed all of it. He had missed all of them.

During the months of his painful and long recovery, he finally knew the identity of his captor: Keith Tanner. He had been arrested at his workplace. The overwhelming evidence found in his house convicted him in trial, assigning him the death sentence.

His wife and daughter were not aware of his deeds until the day he was arrested.

He still had nightmares sometimes. That despairing realization that he was going to die, slowly and torturously, stuck to him like glue. Mustang practically insisted on putting the boys up in his apartment once Ed was discharged from the hospital, which happened to have a guest room that could accommodate both brothers. The elder Elric was always silently grateful towards the man when his night terrors were too severe even for Al to get him to calm down. For some reason, he always felt safe in the colonel's arms.

Eventually, everything went quiet. He was still far from recovered, much to his occasional chagrin. Most days he would just sit around the apartment doing nothing. It was starting to get stifling and boring. He was sitting on the cheap sofa that served as Mustang's living room when the man himself strode in, bearing an opened letter. "Tanner's daughter wants to meet you."

Ed blinked. "Julia? Why does she want to meet me?" He jabbed a thumb towards himself; his shoulder port was still empty. Mustang shrugged. "I'm sure she just wants to talk," he said. "She's been living in Central City's Sanatorium this whole time, apparently. Besides," the colonel gave him a long look, "you're the only survivor of her father's crimes."

The boy swallowed heavily at that, eyes cast downward. Roy shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Ed took a deep breath before answering. "No, I want to." He could only imagine the guilt the girl must be feeling.

The sanatorium felt just like the hospital, except patients and orderlies wandered around aimlessly. He still hadn't returned to his signature outfit, instead choosing to wear a modest white shirt with trousers. He still didn't feel like the same person before everything went off the rails. He was more comfortable this way.

He was directed to one of the many patient rooms lining the corridor, the attending nurse announcing his presence as he entered. The young woman was facing towards the window, sat on the edge of the bed, an empty chair set in front of her. He circled the bed slowly to get a full view of her, the figure strangely silent the whole time.

Julia Tanner had the resemblance of a walking skeleton. The white clothes typical to the sanatorium hung from her frightfully thin frame. Her skin was pale, stretched tight over her bones. Her cheeks were hollow, her eyes sunken into her skull, black rings accentuating them. Ed felt a pang of sympathy run through him as he sat in the chair.

"Thank you for coming. I know you didn't have to."

It took the boy a moment to recognize Julia's voice, with how small and weak it sounded. The girl was hunched over herself, as if carrying a heavy burden. Ed shifted awkwardly in his seat, wrapping his one arm around himself, suddenly self-conscious of his missing index finger. "It wasn't any trouble. It wasn't your fault anyway."

"But that's just it," Julia responded. "It is my fault. At least, partially." Ed lifted an eyebrow in confusion at what she meant. The girl sighed, long and weary, settling in her position on the bed. "I first heard the scratching when I was very young. Maybe around five or six years old." The blond's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Julia continued. "At first, I thought it was a ghost or a monster behind the wall, trying to break through." She huffed. "A toddler's mind can imagine the most absurd things." She frowned deeply. "My mother thought I was overexaggerating to get attention. My father assured me that it was nothing I needed to worry about." She shuddered.

"Some time later, the knocking started. I remember it getting so loud, deafening even. It made me really scared." Her fists clenched in her lap. "I can remember one time where horrified screaming filtered through. It made my hairs stand on end. My father was quick in taking care of that." She stared off in the distance for a moment, as if caught in a trance. "Eventually, I got used to the noises coming from the wall. Whatever was behind it couldn't seem to hurt me." Her expression increasingly grew more distressed. "I started knocking back. We would interact with each other like this, going back and forth for hours."

"As I grew up, it all faded into the back of my mind. It became background noise. But I knew that something wasn't right. I could feel it. I could sense something awful coming, and I wasn't sure if I was prepared for it. It turns out that I wasn't." She seemed to hunch into herself more. Ed's eyes widened in realization. "I tormented them for years," she said, breath hitching in her throat. "The wall..." She looked up to meet the boy's eyes then, and he found himself captivated. "I saw it. I..." she paused, "I made myself read every single one." He felt a knot clench in his stomach. Julia stared at him intently. "Including yours."

He couldn't exactly name what he was feeling. He felt the urge to take the girl's hand and squeeze it hard, comforting. But he didn't move. Julia broke eye contact then, seeming to stare off into the distance. "I hear them whispering all the time. Even now. It keeps me from sleeping. I only sleep when I'm sedated." She looked lost, adrift on an open sea. "The doctors say if I don't sleep naturally on my own soon, I'll die."

Edward perked up at that, his heart squeezing. Julia looked so calm, having accepted death so easily and readily. It wasn't fair. Why did she have to suffer for what her father did? "You didn't torment them," he replied. She darted her gaze back to him, disbelief in her expression. "You... you were there for them, when they thought they were all alone." He meant every word he said. Julia stared at him for several moments, anxiously waiting for her reaction. Then she burst into tears. "As hard as that is for me to believe," she said, wiping at her eyes, a huge smile on her face, "it's still nice to hear someone say it." Ed found himself smiling with her, a spark that had been missing flaring to life.

A few days later, he received the news that Julia Tanner had passed away.

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Author's Note: A fairly short epilogue, but a bittersweet and chilling end to this, don't you think? Please let me know if you enjoyed this. Your feedback gives me sustenance. And don't worry, there are still more angst and whump coming your way. I've just been writing the stories out of order because one would have more of my attention than the other.

I am really, really anxious right now.

Praise is appreciated and constructive criticism is encouraged.

See you next time!

-The_Mayflower