Days have melded together as the doctors and nurses tended to their severely injured patients, deciding to put them in the same room together. After her thorough cleaning and stitching, Kia started to make a full recovery while Jaylene's health continued to deteriorate. Nerves and panic started to set into the colonel to the point he started to sleep in the room with the two women.
One day, Jaylene wouldn't wake up, no matter what happened. The doctors feared the worst would happen, telling Roy to be prepared to say good bye. Least to say, Mustang was not pleased. He stayed right by Jaylene's side the entire day, gripping her hand and even attempting to pray. Kia observed all this with bored eyes, glancing up from her book now and then to see if he change. Giving out an exhausted sigh, Kia slaps the book closed and slowly starts to get up, holding her wounded side as she stands. Roy hears the movement and looks up.
``What are you doing? You need to stay in bed,'' the flame alchemist protested as he moves to get up.
``Stay where you are, worry-wart,'' Kia dismissed as she stands by the bedside, looking down at Jaylene's face. Leaning forward, the older woman gently prods and touches Mustang's sister's body, testing the reactions. Nodding mostly to herself while she mutters under her breath, Kia lifts the blanket off Jaylene's body and inspects her stomach.
Even with her prompts, Roy can't help but stand up and slowly goes onto her side of the bed, wondering what she sees. To his horror, he finally gets a good look at his sister's stomach, which was discolored and slightly swollen with blood. He hears Kia groan as she stands up to her full height, loosening her sore neck in the process.
``This is gonna hurt.....'' she mutters softly when she finally claps her hands. Gingerly, she places them onto Jaylene's stomach. Almost immediately, an alchemic reaction occurs and the bruising and swelling slowly vanishes. While Kia focuses on this, Roy couldn't help but let his eyes bulge in realization that Kia was doing human transmutation. When he was about to pull her away, Kia lifts her hands away, holding her own wound firmly, gritting her teeth.
``Wh-when she wakes, make sure she's properly fed,'' Kia manages to gasp out softly before turning away to head back to her bed.
``Wait a second, what just happened?! And what wrong with you?'' Roy demanded as he quickly helps her to the bed and notices that her arm sleeve was slowly getting seeped with blood.
``Nothing that concerns you!'' she cries out and shoves Roy away with the arm that wasn't bleeding and grabs some gauze. Before Roy could make another move, a sound from the doorway drew his attention. Ed stood there with some food and books, but what made Roy grimace was the wide eyed look he got while he was staring at Kia.
``Shit, Fullmetal, don't-'' Roy tried to intercept Edwards actions, but Ed was too fast. He bypasses Roy and shoves Kia against the wall hard.
``Where is it?!'' Ed snarled, holding his transmuted arm against her throat, the food and books forgotten by the door.
``What are you talking about, shrimp?'' Kia said with a scowl, holding her arm close to her chest to protect it from further injury.
``Don't play dumb, I know you have the philosophers stone!!'' the younger alchemist screamed at Kia.
The injured girl studies the angry alchemist holding her. She notices the frantic look in his eyes, the way he trembles while he holds her against the wall. Slowly closing her eyes, she lets out a long sigh. ``Put that away before you cause anymore harm to those around you, idiota.''
Ed jolts at the way she spoke to him, like she was bored and could care less at the threat he poses for her life. He gaps at her for a moment, not sure how to respond until she pushes his arm away from her throat and goes over to the bed after shuffling around him. He stares numbly at her as she climbs back into bed and gets comfortable. Growling to himself, Ed returns his arm to its normal state before turning to Kia. He extends his hand expectantly. She turns her eyes back to him blankly.
``I don't have a philosophers stone, so stop asking for it. I did do equivalent exchange, dumbass. What I did was medical alchemy by offering a portion of my cells to help fix her insides. It from Ching's alchehiestry,'' Kia stated gruffly at Ed as she settles into the bed while resting her injured arm across her chest, snatching up her book and returns to reading.
Ed looks at her flabbergasted before regaining his senses, straightening up and shoving the book down. ``Don't lie! Alphonse and I have done our fair share of research into the surrounding country's history and that ain't how alchehiestry works!''
Kia looks up at him once more and sighs in defeat, shifting weakly on her bed. ``Just drop it. I promise, its not the philosophers stone.''
``Then what is it? As far as I've researched, this is a form of alchemy, but I've never seen it before,'' Ed demanded angrily, not letting her dodge it.
``I said drop it,'' Kia said defiantly, refusing to look at him.
``Ok, that's enough Fullmetal, give her space,'' Roy commanded, grabbing Ed's arms and pulling him away from Kia.
Ed glares at Mustang before shoving his arms away and marches out the room. Roy sighs heavily and gathers the books and fruit that Ed had dropped earlier, setting them onto a nearby table. A heavy silence filled the room that was filled with the soft sound of Jaylene's even breathing.
Roy begins to slice the fruit up into edible bites, working quietly. Without turning to her, Roy murmurs softly, ``Thank you.''
``You're not going to interrogate me?'' Kia immediately questions, finally opening her eyes to gaze down at her arm.
``You have your reasons to not explain. I'm sure after a time, you'll trust us enough to indulge into our curiosity. In the meantime, I think it would be wise for you to get more rest. You've really done a number on yourself,'' Roy said lightly, finally turning to Kia to give her a charming smile. Her cheeks faintly powder with a dust of red, still avoiding his gaze. He come over quietly and places a plate of the sliced fruit with napkin for her to use.
``Eat up, you'll need your strength,'' Roy encourages softly before turning back to his sister and takes her hand gently. Kia studies the colonel for a time before smiling to herself and indulges into the sweet treats.
