Spirit Animals

Chapter 18

Alphonse, Ayala and Chester watched as Ed slept soundly in his hospital room. Though they knew it was a good thing as his body needed the rest to help him heal faster, they were still worried. Ed hadn't woken up once since they'd brought him into the hospital the previous night and it was now nearing sundown the next day. Al wasn't alone in wanting Ed to wake up quicker so they could hear his voice and know he was okay.

Alphonse and the Animals hadn't been left alone for more than a couple of minutes at a time while they sat a vigil next to Ed's bed. Maria and Brosh, as well as their Animals, were still under orders to stand guard over the Elric brothers so they'd been continuing with their rotating shifts, with one bonded pair working with the human standing outside the room and the Animal watching over everyone inside the room. Hughes had left the previous night, a couple of hours after he'd called Mustang, as he still needed to go into work the next day but he'd called in before work and had promised he'd be back later that night. Major Armstrong had paid a visit with Gary on his lunch break and promised – loudly – that he would be back the next day when he had some spare time.

None of them had strayed away from Ed's side more than strictly necessary, the two Animals only leaving the bed to go to the bathroom or eat the meals Maria or Brosh brought for them. Al, not needing to do either of those things, never left Ed's side except when the doctors made their checks on his brother and needed the room. He took the opportunity those times presented to call Winry and tell her the watered-down version of what had happened and beg her to come to Central to look at Ed's automail wrist. After scolding them for doing nothing but worry her once more, she agreed to get on the morning train the next day but told him she needed to stop over in East City to pick up the some tools she'd specially ordered that would help her with Ed's wrist so she wouldn't actually be in Central until the day after. Al had thanked her before hanging up the phone and heading back to Ed's room to speak with his doctor and get an update.

Maria and Kaia had left to go pick up some dinner for Al, Ayala and Chester when Ed received an unexpected visitor. Alphonse hadn't even noticed them until Chester and Ayala had sat up, alert and watching the door. Since Al had been expecting Hughes, he hadn't really reacted until he realised their reactions were different to what they should've been. Looking up, he was shocked to see Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye talking to Brosh and Ajax, who had switched with Maria and Kaia while they were out of the building getting dinner. Naturally, Nala and Soren were with them though they looked like they wanted to be in the hospital room more than they wanted to listen to their humans.

Maria soon appeared, paused beside Brosh as she murmured something before he nodded and she came into Ed's hospital room. Nala and Soren both took this as their opportunity to enter the room with her and Kaia as they gave Al the bagged dinner she'd gotten for them. Once he'd thanked her and she'd gone, Al split the three meals between Ayala and Chester, ignoring Ed's commanding officer and Hawkeye for the time being. They hadn't entered the room yet so he was content to wait for them to finish what they were doing without his interrupting them.

Al looked up just Mustang nodded to Brosh and Maria and entered the room with Hawkeye. "How is he?" Mustang asked, glancing at Ed's prone form and his lioness, who had taken up residence next to Ed's bedside with Ayala. Soren looked up as Hawkeye entered from where he'd perched himself on the foot board of Ed's bed.

"He's going to be okay," Al said. "The doctor said he woke up briefly while he was checking on him when I was on the phone to Winry but he was in too much pain so they gave him more painkillers," Al told him, despite knowing his brother wouldn't appreciate Mustang knowing he'd been in a lot of pain. "The doctors are optimistically hopeful about him waking properly before morning," Al added, his voice perking slightly.

"That's really good to hear, Alphonse. How are you doing?" Hawkeye asked when Mustang made no move to respond.

"I'm doing alright," he told her before he turned to look at them for the first time since they'd entered the room. "If you don't mind me asking but why are you guys here? How did you even know Brother was injured? Did Nala sense something?" Al questioned; his confusion obvious.