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Somewhere along the way, the fever made it a little too hard to follow events to their exact timing. Order? Whatever. Something happens, it has to be slot into the thing that happened before and Ed’s head is really starting to hurt.
He’s pretty sure that he isn’t actually sick. He didn’t have any symptoms before he got down here, and even once he did, the fever and the sweats and the aching and the pounding in his skull didn’t start until that gash in his side started getting puffy and swollen around the edges. Something about correlation not equaling causation, but he’s pretty sure that these two things actually do have quite a lot to do with each other.
Of course, the fever also only started after he showed up down here, so maybe Ed’s wrong, and the overbearing Colonel is actually the one that got him sick. It would make sense, wouldn’t it? The bastard does have a specialty in making things burn.
That was good one. Ed would laugh – even if only to himself – if laughing didn’t make everything hurt so damn much.
“Focus on me, Fullmetal,” the Colonel’s words sound hazy and far off, despite the visual evidence that he’s right there, framed by crumbling concrete and dimmed, flickering lights. The chalk remains of failed transmutations dot the walls behind him. The Colonel – arrogant bastard he is – hadn’t believed it when Ed told him that their alchemy wouldn’t work down here, and just had to test it for himself.
“...’m tryin’...” Ed grumbles. His vision is fuzzier than it should be, but he can make out the Colonel’s face hovering above him. Pulling his hand away from his side, he can see that the gash is still weeping. Not a good sign, right? The bastards need him alive, don’t they?
Even that sick fuck wouldn’t just leave him down here to die in a pool of his own blood. And if that was the plan, then why drop the Colonel in here with him?
“I’m going to change your bandages,” the Colonel narrates. Ed wishes he would just do it already. The longer he waits, the more it sucks.
“...just fuckin’... do it already…” Ed mutters, wincing at just how bad he sounds even to himself. The Colonel winces too, used to Ed having a lot more bite when he snaps.
“Yeah, yeah,” the Colonel mumbles and Ed can feel his left hand being gently pried away from the wound. Instinctually, he wants to fight. To drag it back. He takes a shuddering breath. Even that is starting to hurt.
“You’re okay, Fullmetal,” the Colonel says. Ed can feel the bandages being carefully wrapped around his bare torso. His discarded tank top is around here somewhere. The Colonel decided, unilaterally, without Ed’s input, that he was sweating way too much to keep it on. Plus it could get in the way of the bandages, or something.
“You’re okay,” the Colonel repeats. Ed would have to strongly disagree. Each tug and pull of the bandages sends a fresh wave of red hot pain through his body, and the damn Colonel is taking his fucking time with it, obviously trying to be considerate or careful or something, but it hurts so fucking much that Ed just wants him to get it fucking over with.
He gasps roughly for air, feeling the bandages being tied over the wound. The Colonel’s hands finally move away, and Ed can breathe a shaky, desperate sigh of relief. He feels a hand on his face. Checking for a fever? Probably. Ed certainly doesn’t feel like the fever has gone down, but–
The Colonel’s thumb rubs under Ed’s left eye. Weird. That’s got nothing to do with checking for a fever. Then he does it again.
“It’s done,” the Colonel’s voice is low, soothing. “I know, kid. I know. I’m sorry. You’re okay. It’s okay.”
Oh.
Ed is crying.
From pain? Isn’t that pathetic. No matter how much it hurts, this isn’t anywhere near the worst pain he’s ever been in. He doesn’t need to be babied. He doesn’t need–
He takes a desperate, shaky breath. His chest is tight and his ribs feel like they’re rattling around his lungs. The Colonel doesn’t take his hand off of Ed’s face, and after all this bullshit and the fever and the pain and the wound and the blood and–
Ed leans into the Colonel’s comforting touch.
(And once they get out of this, he will absolutely pretend that this never fucking happened.)