A/N: This is based off of some edits by ask-royai-lty on tumblr, and the tags, in which she came up with a fantastic idea. AU where instead of taking Roy's vision away, it gave Roy a horrendous mustache. Earlier today, I knew I just had to start writing this, because it makes me laugh so hard, and because I always love mocking the roystache. This is literally the second fic I've written dedicated to mocking the roystache.
So I hope everyone enjoys! Tell me what you think!
"Equivalent exchange, Flame Alchemist," Truth's sadistic grin spread and he gestured toward Roy with one hand, "You dared trespass on God's domain, and now, you pay the price."
All Roy could do was stand, petrified as the white creature mocked him for something he hadn't done. He hadn't wanted this. He had refused to let himself become a pawn in Father's sick little game. No, he was the king of his own, and he had refused to do the transmutation.
Yet here he was. Surrounded by blinding white light and a horrifying monster. This thing, this truth Fullmetal had described to him was even more terrifying in person, and Roy honestly had no idea how a child as young as Edward had survived this. He had no idea if he would survive this.
"So, Flame Alchemist, what will it be?" Truth stepped closer, it's body seeming to sap the heat from Roy's away.
"Should I take your hands; so you can't do that pesky alchemy? Or what about your feet, so you'll never be able to step forward in life?" Then, Truth paused, and slid uncomfortably close to Roy, who attempted to scramble away, but found that his feet only hit air, leaving him caught in place.
"How about I take your eyesight, then?" No, "The man who looks to change his country will never get to see the fruits of his sacrifice," Truth's impossibly white teeth came close to Roy's face, but unnervingly, as it spoke, no air, no warmth, and nothing else came out. Just distorted, pitchy words.
"No, that punishment would be too lax, don't you think?" It stepped away, but turned again to face Roy once more in all of its terrifying glory, "I know the perfect thing for you, Flame Alchemist. I know what will hurt you more than anything."
And with his last, cryptic words, Truth spread its arms wide, and a gray gateway behind him opened, pitch black and screaming.
Once more, Roy tried to run away, but his legs could find nothing solid to stand on. Each second, his heart threatened to tear out of his chest, and his lungs burned as his intakes of air grew more erratic. No. He couldn't let himself be dragged in, into that abyss, to be deconstructed and reconstructed to Truth's heart's content (That is, if that beast had a heart).
Roy tried to turn, but every which direction just showed him that gate, inky shadows streaming out and reaching for him, until Roy felt pressure on his legs, and saw black shapes crawling upwards, getting tighter and tighter and tighter. He batted them, only causing more black tendrils to shoot out from the door, and forcibly take hold of his hands and chest and neck. He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't think. He couldn't act. He only knew terror, and as the primal feeling sized his heart, Roy saw less and less, his vision growing black. And before he fell limp, unconscious, a violet eye opened in the doorway and pierced into his soul.
"And here comes our last," Father held his hands out, and be lightning surged across the ceiling, indicative of an alchemic reaction. Who was the final sacrifice?
Ed snapped his gaze to the person materializing out of the lightning, and watched his black form drop to the ground with a thud.
"Ow," The man groaned, and Ed immediately recognized his voice, "Where the hell am I?" A very disoriented Roy Mustang jumped up from the floor, his overcoat fluttering around him in the process.
"We're down in Father's lair, Colonel," Ed chose to be somewhat polite to the man, and at the sound of his voice, Mustang turned to face Ed, giving the young alchemist a clear view of his face.
Oh god, what had they done to him?
Edward knew the homunculi were twisted, sadistic beings, taking great joy in the suffering of human beings; but the sight in front of him- what the homunculi had done to Mustang- it was worse than anything they'd ever done before. Even for inhuman monsters, he hadn't expected to see anything as awful as this befall his superior officer. This was unforgivable.
"Mustang, what the hell happened to you," Ed's voice came out as a growl, anger toward the homunculi bubbling over the surface and practically emanating off of him.
"They forced me into a transmutation," He began, and carefully stepped over some pipes on the floor, even the difficult to see ones, "The last thing I saw was some kind of empty white place, and a gate, and then blackness until I got here."
The closer Mustang got, the better Ed was able to see the Colonel's face, and he cringed, unable to keep a straight face at the monstrosity of it. But soon, he managed to regain his proper thought process, and Mustang's words sunk in. The gate. Truth.
"You performed human transmutation?!" He practically screamed at Mustang, now understanding exactly what had happened to his face.
Truth was the single most horrifying entity in the universe, and even Edward still had nightmares about the creature's cruelty; taking an arm and a leg was brutal. But this... This was something else entirely. Not even Truth should be able to wield enough power to do something like this.
"Of course I didn't!" Mustang snapped back, and with every movement of his mouth, Ed's stomach churned.
So they had done this to him- Mustang had been defaced not because he was stupid enough to commit the taboo, but because the homunculi forced him through the portal, and Truth decided it was enough to exact divine punishment.
"It's very true," Pride smirked, taking joy in all of the suffering happening.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Father asked, his own demented smile on his face, "The two brothers, seeking only their mother's warmth once more. One lost his leg on which he stood, and the other lost his body, rendering him unable to ever feel the warmth he so desperately missed," He gestured to Ed and Al, then turned to Izumi, "The woman wishing to reunite with her dead child, given a body that will never again bear the seed of life."
"And the man wishing to change his country forever," Father stepped down and looked at Mustang, who had a defiant gleam in his eye, "Stripped forever of his image, rendering him unable to be taken seriously or make the changes that we're so important to him. This, alchemists, is your truth. And it is a cruel, fitting thing, don't you think?"
"No!" Shouted Ed, his anger at Father and discomfort at looking at Mustang's face taking over, "That's bullshit! It was one thing for me and Al; we performed human transmutation on our own, and we paid the price. But this," Ed pointed at the Colonel, "He didn't agree to this. He doesn't deserve his punishment! Your truth is not one I'm willing to accept!"
And with that, Father only glared at the Fullmetal Alchemist, contempt obvious in his eyes.
Colonel Mustang, meanwhile, processed what Father had said, and brought a hand up to his face, accidentally smearing blood all over, trying to decipher what the homunculus had meant. And when his hand grazed the top of his upper lip, he understood, and fell onto his knees in defeat.
"Lieutenant!" Riza heard a familiar voice call her, and relief flooded her system. Colonel.
She turned, and saw Roy, running toward her, leaving behind his company of other alchemists such as the Elrics' teacher. In the movement of it all, Roy's face was moving too fast, and obscured, but she knew it was him. His jet black hair waved as he approached, and his great overcoat flew after him, turning him into a darkened blur, but Riza still knew it was him; she could just feel it.
And she ran to meet him, not caring about the still-tender wound still adorning her neck. Ever since Roy had been forced through the portal, all Riza could think of was what sacrifices he must have made. All she could think about was how Roy could be hurting, and how the homunculi planned to use him as their pawn. But now, she saw her Colonel here, running toward her with open arms, whole and uninjured. That sight alone was almost enough to make her cry.
"Lieutenant," Roy reached his most precious subordinate, and wound his arms around her, paying careful attention so not to aggravate the wounds on her left side. Riza relished the warmth, and fraternization laws be damned, wrapped her own arms around Roy, breathing in his familiar scent of smoke mingled with cologne. He truly was safe.
"I was so worried, Colonel," She whispered into his ear, and tried to pull away so to look into his eyes, but became caught by Roy's arms as he squeezed her tighter, "You can let go of me now, sir. I'm alright as well."
"Lieutenant," He almost choked out, and made no moves to release her, "I'm not alright."
The portal... The Truth... It is cruel than you could ever imagine with its punishments. And after it forced me through, it dealt out justice to me as it saw fit," Riza's heartbeat quickened, and her mind raced through all of nightmares once more.
Roy's arms, and his legs all remained attached to his body, and his senses remained intact, so what could Truth have done to him?
"Colonel, whatever happened to you, we can work around it," Riza reassured, her hands on the small of his back, stroking softly, "You're still in one piece, and that's enough."
"Is it really, Lieutenant?"
With that, Roy untangled his arms from her torso, and moved backward. When he lifted his head so his face was visible to Riza, she almost cried.
How could this "Truth" being have possibly concocted a punishment as malicious as this? For arms and legs, one could install automail, and become functional once more, but for something like this- something that changed Roy's once beautiful face so drastically, he could do nothing if it was permanent.
This abomination on his face was something that would forever alter every interaction he ever had. It would ruin his entire public image irreversibly, and there was nothing Roy could do about it.
Riza's lower lip drew up, her face morphing into an expression so sad, so mournful, and so utterly heartbroken, that she felt the gaze of all the other occupants of the room shift to her as her mahogany eyes prickled with tears.
With one gentle hand, she reached out to Roy's face, his gaze locked firmly on the floor and her ever-blurring one locked onto the monstrosity on Roy's upper lip.
Smears of red blood caked the black hairs of Roy's horrendous "punishment", but Riza payed them no mind as her finger touched the fuzz. God, it was real. In the recesses of Riza's mind, she had hoped that it was just the blood loss playing tricks with her mind, but no.
The Truth really had given Roy the most disgusting, noisome mustache she had ever seen in her lifetime.
For that, a tear slipped from Riza's eye, and ran into her bloodstained cheek.
"I'm so sorry, sir," She managed, both for her loss of composure, and for the tragedy which had befallen him. If only she had been able to protect him better, this may not have happened. If only she could have brought down Bradley and Pride before they could complete their nefarious scheme, and save Roy before it was too late.
"Lieutenant, it's not your fault," Roy reassured, and Riza squirmed as she watched the black mustache move as Roy spoke. He noticed, and scooted back from Riza a little, "I know the condition I'm in is just awful, and this may be presumptuous to ask of me, but will you still fight with me, Lieutenant?"
He looked her in the eye, pleading silently to Riza, and she moved closer to him. Had he really just asked that? Was he so insecure that he thought a change in his appearance, no matter how ghastly, would scare her away? Even though Riza hated the way Roy's face had been defiled, she still loved Roy, and nothing could change that.
Underneath the monstrosity on his face, Roy was still the same person, and with time, Riza could learn to see beneath the mustache and view only Roy. She was certain she could do it, and she was now stubbornly determined to as well.
"You idiot, of course I will," With that, Riza hardened her face, and looked up, to where Father was locked in combat outside, "We will fight, and make them pay for making you go through what you had to go through."
Heartbreak for the loss of Roy's beauty soon became replaced by a fiery anger threatening to consume Riza. Nobody could do this to the most important person in her life and walk away unscathed. There was no way in hell that she would just allow the homunculi to win after having dealt such a personal blow as this.
Resolve within Riza returned, and she stood up straighter, hands gripping the pistols strapped to her person.
Yes, they would make Truth, and the Homunculi, and everyone else involved in their plots pay. They would emerge from underground; ignoring the crippling, horrendous punishment truth had given Roy, and light the battlefield up with fire.
They could somehow move past the irreversibly cruel punishment Roy had been dealt, and come out of the fight victorious. After all of the nightmarish events of the day, there was no way Riza was about to lose. Roy would be avenged, in some way, and get restitution for the tragedy which had once been his upper lip.
Additional fun little note: Since Roy's 'stache was forced upon him by truth, whenever he tries to shave it, it just regenerates itself. Basically like the homunculi regenerate with the red sparks and stuff, that's how the roystache does it too. RIP Roy.