It is What it Is (FMA Fanfiction)

No More Apologies

Upon hearing the door open, Roy already knew that neither Riza nor Alphonse would be happy about the sight that greeted them when they entered. And it wasn't like there was any time to clean up the blood to make things look less bad than they did.

Naturally, a sense of panic entered Riza as soon as she saw the blood that was covering Roy and Edward, who looked down after seeing both her and Alphonse enter. Without a moment of hesitation, her first instinct was to immediately rush over to Edward, Black Hayate following by her side. She would chew Roy out later. Edward had pulled the sleeve back down over his injured arm. The boy's shoulders slumped and he bowed his head guiltily, knowing exactly what she had approached him over.

"Edward... Can I see your arm...?" she spoke softly, as she kneeled in front of him. She tried her best to keep her voice under control and calm to show she meant no harm.

The boy didn't respond, certain that all of them were disappointed in him. He felt sick, he couldn't speak.

Even as Riza took his guilty silence as a go-ahead, reaching out and taking his hand - even as she gently rolled up the sleeve, he stiffened, preparing to be scolded. He tried not to let out a hiss when the fabric rubbed against his freshly created scratches. His white gloves were abandoned on the floor beside him.

At seeing the damage he'd inflicted upon himself, Riza wanted more than anything to pull the boy into the hug, but she forced herself to keep her composure, knowing that by the look on his face, Edward didn't want to be coddled right now. She gave him a small pain-filled smile, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.

"...These will get infected if we don't do anything about it. So let's get you cleaned up, okay...?" Riza asked softly.

"...Okay..." Edward got up after a moment. "Sorry..."

"There's no need to apologize, Edward." Riza murmured, as she gently placed a hand on his back. Leading him to the bathroom, she briefly met Roy's gaze. "Like I told your brother earlier, We all make mistakes, even Roy and I."

Roy knew in that moment that he was definitely gonna hear Riza's griping later for not having acted sooner. And it wasn't like he could blame her. She was just as scared for Ed's well-being as he was, if not more so. She had put her trust in him to look after Edward for a mere thirty minutes and he completely botched it. Riza has every right to be angry at me.

Alphonse wanted to say something, wanted to apologize, wanted to embrace Edward more than anything, wanted to do something, but he was practically froze in his spot. He didn't know what to think anymore, didn't trust himself to speak or do anything, and if he had had a body, he would've definitely been sick. This is all my fault... Dammit, I'm such an idiot...! If I had just kept my big mouth shut, he wouldn't have...

"Al, can you clean up the table?" Riza interrupted his thoughts, gesturing towards the blood that had been smeared on the table's surface.

"O-oh. Right." Alphonse said, rushing to get a rag from the sink. No, I can't be thinking about this...! Brother's well-being is all that matters right now!

Riza thanked him before heading to the bathroom. She gestured for Edward to sit on the side of the bathtub as she took some bandage wraps out of the storage cabinet above the faucet. The woman then turned on the water, and took a moment to adjust and check the temperature. "Ed, hold your arm underneath the faucet."

Edward immediately stiffened a bit in response. The nurses had had him do that at the hospital too, and it had been a huge hassle. Even though the water didn't sting that bad, it wasn't completely painless, and there had even been an issue with one of the wounds reopening and taking forever to stop bleeding, as a result staining several bed sheets. He looked away.