Enjoy~

Mustang was currently vacuuming his carpet furiously. Each time he manouvered the vacuum in a different place, he let out a subtle growl or snarl. He thrusted it forward with a great force- making his blatant distaste quite obvious.

"'Lets have a party at your place' he says…" Roy murmured to himself with a scowl, "'I'll help clean up afterwards' he says…" He finished with a grimace. "That buffoon. I should have known this would happen… Seriously, Hughes…." He carried on silently.

Slowly, Roy came to a stop. Sighing, he pulled the plug on the vacuum wire, 'He didn't infiltrate the fridge, did he?' Mustang internally shuddered and looked up to the ceiling as if he was asking God why he was doing these things to him- Not that he believed in God, anyway.

A sound coming from the upstairs guest bedroom startled him out of his thoughts, though. 'I thought I cleared everyone out last night… Joy... ' Mustang thought to himself before he grabbed a broom from the corner of his kitchen and started to walk up the stairs silently. He didn't know a lot of Hughes' friends personally, only the ones who worked in the office, and he knew that his hard-working platoon squadron would never lolly-gag at his place. They were always so hyped for work for some reason, Roy wished he knew the secret.

He heard a moan of discomfort and sheets rolling from his guest bedroom. Then he heard soft clinking of footsteps as they made their way over to his bathroom.

'Since when do footsteps clink- Oh...' Mustang thought to himself, 'I didn't know Fullmetal was at the party...' He inwardly noted and perked up his bottom lip subconsciously as he looked over the banister at the young blond in his bathroom. A look of shock covered the boys young features as he seemed to have finally realized that this bathroom was not his own.

A loud girly shriek was heard through-out Mustangs (Now dirty) penthouse, and Roy ran over to see what was wrong.

"The hell, Fullmetal? What's wrong? And why on earth are you still here?!" Mustang groaned, running his hand down his face when he realized that his subordinate had just screamed because he didn't know he fell asleep on my guest bed.

Mustang was about to ask why his underling had suddenly gone quiet, but he was cut off as Edward ran straight past him, bumping into the railing of the stairs as he practically flew down the steps.

"Be careful, Fullmetal! You'll fa-" But he cut himself off as he watched the young boys right foot slip off in the air, Edwards body would have tumbled down at least 20 more steps if Mustang hadn't rushed over and caught him before his fall.

"You should run down the stairs like that when you just wake up- scratch that, you should never run down stairs like that. Period." Mustang groaned, scooping the boy up, hoisting the teen up against the railing of the side of the steps, he scanned his subordinates features.

"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Roy asked with a hint of worry in his voice, Fullmetal was rarely this quite. Something was definitely up.

"No… No…" He heard the boy murmur, Edwards hands were currently clasped over the sides of his head, as if he were holding something down, or suffering from a horrible headache of some sort.

"Fullmetal…? What's the problem? Did you hit your head? Do we need to go to the hospital?" Mustang was starting to panic now. The boy wasn't answering him, instead he was covering his head with his head, and squeezing his eyes closed.

"Fullmetal, remove your hands, I need to see the extent of your wounds." Roy ordered, when he received no reply, he leveled his eyes with Edwards and gave a stern look. The boys eyes had been squeezed shut, yet tears were emerging from the sides of his eyes.

"Fullmet- Ed, I need you to remove your hands, please. I need to see if you need medical attention." He tried softly, he knew something was off with the boy, and he decided to leave military formalities out of this conversation.

"No… No. I wasn't supposed to sleep here… There's nothing wrong with me, Roy! Don't look! Don't let them take me…" Edwards breath was hitched, he was on the verge of a full out melt down.

"Edward, I will not let them take you away no matter how bad your wound is, why would we do that?" Roy was seriously confused by now and he needed answers.

"It-its not a wound, Colonel bastard…" Edward admitted softly, "I really need to get out of here… I need to go back to my dorm. Now." Edward was finally snapping out of it, but he refused to reveal the top of his blond locks to the colonel just yet.

"Edward. What is wrong with you if it isn't a wound?" Roy pried, he was not just letting this slide. It was too uncharacteristic.

"None of your damn business, y'dumb fucker…" Edward sounded desperate now, he stumbled as he tried to run down the rest of the steps to the front door, but Mustang beat him to the chase and pounded his hand against the frame. Unenabling him to open it.

"Fullmetal, what is wrong with you. Tell me. That's an order." He said sternly, earning a soft whimper from the young boy in front of him.

"It's none of your damn business! I won't let you take me away!" Edward was going into hysterics again, tears stung his eyes as he started to look for another rout out of the penthouse.

"It is my business if you want to continue your search for the stone as a state alchemist and restore your brothers body." Mustang said coldly- it had come to this. He needed to know what was wrong with his subordinate.

"You wouldn't…" Edward said almost pleadingly.

"You know full well that I would, Fullmetal." he finished with a cold stare.

Edward had now slowly crumpled down to the ground. His eyes squeezed tight again as he tried to depict and register what was going on.

"Please don't… Don't take me away… Please no… Not that…" Edward had begun to panic again. "Please… Please…" He mumbled, his breath was labored and forced. He had started to shake aggressively and he wasn't calming down.

'Shit…. He's hyperventilating...' Mustang noted as he crouched down to the shaking teen and grabbed his shoulders firmly.

"Edward, I need you to listen to me. You need to take deep breaths and exhale slowly. Try to calm down." Mustang stated soothingly as he started to rub the youngers back soothingly, "Inhale with me…" He inhaled a deep breath, "And exhale." He let his breath out. He repeated the process with Edward until the boy and calmed down.

"Edward, I promise I won't take you away, I promise." Mustang reassured, the young boy still held his hands desperately over his head, but looked up at his superior officer with unsure eyes, his golden orbs swimming with distrust.

"Y-you wont…? How do I know you aren't lying…" He murmured, looking up at Roy once more with unwavering fright.

"No, I wont. And have I ever lied to you, Edward? What makes you think I would lie to you about this?" Roy saw hurt in Ed's eyes at that moment, someone had betrayed him once.

Edward stayed silent for several more seconds before slowly moving his hands away from his long golden locks. A quiet gasp was heard from Roy as he revealed his ears. In the place where normal ears should have been, were golden cat-like ears that were a shade darker than the kids normal hair. They looked rounded and soft- So touchable, yet at the same time made his stomach churn.

Someone had transmuted Edward into a chimera. Edward was a chimera.

"Wh-when did this happen…" Mustang was almost speechless, the boys eyes were as wide as platters and the tears had yet to subside, they were now rolling freely down his cheeks as Mustang continued to stare.

"Before I joined the military… Be-before the accident…. Before that bastard left…" Edward said slowly, earning a piercing silence from the older male.

Roy knew that the process in which a human is merged with a chimera is one of the most painful things a living creature can undergo, and the chances of the heart giving out from just pure pain are at least 70%. This boy has been through more horrors that he could have possibly imagined, and all Mustang could do was stare at the broken boy before him. He knew that Ed's father had left before Edward had turned 7 or 8, meaning that Edward had went through this while he was still so young… Did Alphonse even know? Where his parents aware?

"D-did your parents ever find the person responsible? Do you know who did this to you?" Roy asked, but he soon regretted asking when he saw the boy cringe.

"My parents were aware… But they never tried looking…" Edward said, his breath was becoming more and more hitched.

"Why not?" Mustang asked quietly, wondering why the boy's parents never bothered with a subject so critical.

"Because… Because…. Be-ca-aus….." Edward was beginning to breath violently again, he was going to go into another fit if Mustang didn't do something quick.

Before Edward knew it, Mustang had embraced the boy in a tight, yet reassuring hug. "Edward… Shhh… It's okay, it's just me." He hushed and soothed, rubbing the trembling boys back in a circular rhythm

"Y-yeah… I'm sorry..." Edward apologized, it made Roy cringe. Fullmetal was so broken right now, this was definitely a hard subject for him- Of course it was, his subordinate was a damn chimera and he didn't know. The boy Mustang always thought of as a son was a chimera this whole time and he never knew.

"It was because it was my father who transmuted me." Edward finally admitted, yet right after he said it a wave a nausea took over the both of them.

"Y-your own…. Father…" Mustang was struggling to grasp it, sure he knew their father was a douche for disappearing out of their lives, but he never knew Hohenheim… He never knew what this man was capable of… No wonder Fullmetal despised his old man…

"What did Alphonse do…?" Mustang asked, the boy would always defend his father whenever Edward would go off on how sick and disgusting he was- Was it possible that Alphonse didn't know?

"No… I never told anyone…. My father knew… Obviously.. And he told my mother the next day, but aside from them, I never told anyone. Not even Winry or Pinako." Edward was crying hard now, his eyes were red and he was still shaking, although it had calmed down since Roy's embrace.

"And you were using fake ears to cover them up?" Mustang asked, he did remember Edward having human ears all this time after all.

"Y-yeah… Can't have myself shipped off to a laboratory until I restore Al's body, y'know?" Edward chuckled darkly with a fake smile. He was hurting- And god dammit Roy felt so useless.

"Why did your father transmute you, Edward…?" Mustang asked sadly, 'Why would a father make his own son a chimera…?'

Ed lost it at that question. Rage surged through him as he slammed his fist down on the ground. "Because he was a sick fuck that got off on raping his own son and transmuti-" Edward cut himself off in the middle of the rant, though. He quickly covered his own mouth and furrowed his eyebrows. 'I wasn't supposed to to tell him that part...' Edward thought to himself sadly as more tears poured out of the youngers eyes.

The whole world stopped at that moment. "E-Edward…" Roy was unsure of what to say, "I'm so… I'm…" Mustang was speechless. He felt tears falling down his own cheeks as he struggled for the right words.

"Don't bother… I don't need your pity. Spare me, please. I already got… Over it… Long ago…" Edward lied with a smile. He'd never been able to tell anyone, and he had always had to take care of his little brother. He never had time to get over it. And Roy could see it in his eyes.

He could see right through him.

Warm arms embraced him once more, and told Edward something that he needed to hear….

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through this… None of this is your fault… I will not think of you differently at all… You're one of the strongest people I have ever met and it's an honor to know you. I will not tell anyone, although I do advise that you tell Alphonse. I know he wouldn't think of you any different, he is your brother after all…" Mustang said slowly, squeezing the boy in his arms affectionately before releasing him.

"Wh-Why are you saying those things to me? Why are you doing this for me?" Edward asked, he was so confused. Never in his life had the colonel been so kind and understanding towards him.

Roy reached up and scruffed Edward's hair a bit, "Because you've always been like a son to me." he smiles. Standing up. "Now go get cleaned up, you can take a shower before leaving if you'd like. But I expect you at work by 12:00." He ordered.

"Thanks…" Edward said gratefully as he wiped his red eyes and walked towards the bathroom.

"Thank you…"

"No problem, Fullmetal. No problem."

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