Title: Explosion
Author: Evil_Little_Dog
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I won't ever own anything of this, no matter how much I might dream.
Summary: Edward wants out.
Notes: Alternate reality, where Edward stays in the military after the Promised Day.
Roy startled at seeing Edward waiting for him in his darkened, makeshift office. "Fullmetal?"
Edward raised his head, and even the feeble light flashed on his eyes, making them glow like a wild animal's. "Been waiting for you," he said. He gestured with a bottle, one Roy knew he'd left locked in his desk drawer. Even without alchemy, Edward managed to open the door. Lockpicking was the least of his skills, obviously.
"Have you been drinking?" Roy pulled his gloves from his hands, tucking them back in his pocket.
"I'm not drunk." Not an answer to the question, or not the real answer, but close enough. Edward sat up with a fluidity Roy envied. He set the bottle on top of the desk, following it with a glass that bore evidence of use. "And you should have your suppliers get you better booze. This is crap."
"Do you really think I'd keep the good stuff where anyone could find it?" Roy settled in the chair across from Edward. "What's this about, Fullmetal?" Using Edward's title sometimes got his attention.
Edward said, "I'm out."
"Out?"
"Out," he repeated.
Something inside Roy froze at the lack of expression on Edward's face, in his voice. "You're what?"
"Out. Gone. Leaving." Edward picked up the glass again, spinning it in his fingers. "I have a wife, and children, and they need me. And I need them. I didn't think when I signed the contract to be an adviser, I'd be doing this so long." He snagged the bottle and uncorked it, pouring himself a finger of whiskey. "I thought, a few years, what's it gonna hurt? But those few years turned into six now, and I want to go home. My contract's been up for renewal for months now. I let you talk me into staying on for just one more case, then another, and." He shook his head. "I'm done, Roy." He tossed back the booze, setting the glass on the desk top. "I just wanted to tell you to your face."
Roy took a glass out of the desk drawer and held it out to Edward. He poured, and set the bottle down. "Thank you," Roy said. "And if that's what you want, of course, you're free to go." A knot of ice built in his stomach, and the whiskey wasn't hot enough to melt it. He felt Edward's eyes on him in the dim light, studying him. Roy knew his façade would hold. It'd been tested in bad weather over the decades. "Did you think I'd hold your feet to a fire, and force you to stay?" He met Roy's eyes, and there was something in Edward's gaze, something like approval. Roy turned away first. "There's a train leaving in a half hour, but I'm sure you already know. Feel free to be on it, Fullmetal."
With a grunt, Edward got to his feet. He didn't hold out his hand. "Thanks," he said, "I will." He hesitated for a second, saying, "We did good work together, but there's something else I need, and I can't get it here."
"Families are important," Roy said. "Go, be with yours." He bit his tongue on the words he wanted to say, to try to make Edward stay. Inside his belly, the ball of ice turned into a blizzard, roiling through his body. Freezing everything in its path.
Edward eyed him again, but nodded once, turning on his heel and walking out of the room. The door swung on its hinges behind him. The creak sounded like the lid of a coffin closing.
Roy poured himself another glass of liquor. He remembered Maes, telling him he was joining Intelligence. "I have a family," Maes said in his memories. "I need to be with them." And he'd walked away, just like Edward. Taking a drink, Roy wondered if he'd have enough to break through the storm inside him this time.
~ end ~