Title: Worth More Than Words
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: December 21, 2014
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: "Fullmetal Alchemist" belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, Square ENIX, Studio BONES and various other parties.

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            “Lieutenant Colonel Hughes has been shot.”

            Those words coupled with Hughes’ cryptic final call had propelled Roy Mustang into action.  And, it had still taken far, far too long to reach the hospital.  A day wasted on the train, waiting and wondering.  A day with no news on Hughes’ condition.

            Now, he was hurrying down hospital corridors, reading off room numbers.

            318, 316...

            Hughes had a room number.  That was a good sign.

            314, 312... 310.

            Roy pushed the door open without hesitation.  And, froze.

            Hughes was propped up in bed, just tucking away the last of what was unmistakably Gracia’s quiche.  Seeing Roy, he grinned and waved, if a bit stiffly.

            “Roy!”

            Slowly, Roy shut the door behind him.  “They said you had been shot.”

            “I was,” said Hughes.

            “Where?”

            Hughes’ smiling face sobered.  “Straight through the heart.”

            Before Roy could ask for a clarification on that little revelation, Hughes had whipped out a familiar wad of photographs.  “My Gracia and Elicia saved me!” he proclaimed, bright smile back in place.

            Roy did a doubletake.  The wad of photographs - over an inch thick - was crumpled and bloodstained.  And, pierced through the middle with a single, jagged hole.