Roy was frightened. That was saying something, considering his reputation from Ishval. The war hardened flame alchemist, brought down to the same frightening place as he was during his first battle.
The cause for this fear?
One short tempered, golden alchemist.
Edward Elric had been taken as a prisoner of war nearly a month ago by the enemy Drachman forces. The war itself had been going on for little over a year, with the Amestrian army holding just the barest advantage over Drachma allowing them to slowly but surely push back the Drachman menace.
Fullmetal had been one soldier doing some of the most damage to the enemy forces, causing landslides of rock and snow, trademark stone fists and trails of spikes destroying enemy ranks.
The soldier who sat in front of Roy now was a far cry from the Hero of the People. He looked deranged and from what Roy had heard from the soldiers interrogating the blond, it was more than likely that Edward was not all there anymore.
"Answer the question!" A heavily accented voice yelled from the cell.
Edward had laughed, all sanity gone "Ive already told you. It doesn't matter where they are or where they attack next, eventually everyone's gonna die! HAHA! Truth is everywhere and its Truth that controls everything! Once you reach the Gate you're at Truths mercy and Truth oh so loves his little pawns. He'll shove the information into your head and you'll suddenly know everything and you can create and destroy and become GOD!" the mad boy laughed again.
Roy could only picture what the Drachman soldiers had looked like before he snapped, leaving two piles of ash where humans had stood before.
"Mustang!" Ed was speaking again, loudly at that. "Hey bastard come get me out of here would you? The knives are really going to hurt someone if they're not moved."
Knives? What was Fullmetal talking abo- He stopped, frozen at the sight of the elder Elric.
More than a few knives were sticking out of the barren automail ports and welts, bruises and blisters covered every part of the boy's flesh. His left eye was white, some sort of blindness or cataracts caused by who knows what, possibly the infamous injections the Drachman army was fond of. His uniform was in shreds, splattered with blood and gore, all of it presumably his own. The scar above his right eye had opened again, blood had flowed down his face and left to clot and dry.
But the one thing that terrified Roy the most, was the grin perched upon his subordinate's face.
Impossibly wide, all of the boy's teeth showed in a feral expression of amusement. His still seeing right eye shown with insanity and malice and the slightest bit of relief.
"What's the matter, Mustang?" The blond shifted in his bound position- how had Roy only just now noticed that?- causing knives to ting and pus to ooze out of an open wound on his left cheek. "Aren't you glad to see me? I thought for sure you would be. But the look on your face says otherwise." He laughed, finding sick amusement in his commanding officer's terror. "Oh don't worry about me, pony-boy! I'll be fine once Truth shows his psycho face again, then you'll see..." his voice trailed off and Roy took a single half-step closer to Fullmetal.
"Fullmetal...don't strain yourself. We're getting you out of here now." his voice was calm but steady as he inched closer to the captive.
Edward didn't move, his head hung limp as his hair hid his face from view.
Roy stepped behind the chair the boy was chained to, snapping his fingers once again and burning through the locks holding Edward captive.
With a gasp, Ed's head shot up and looked around frantically, scanning desperately for danger. "What the...?" he muttered, his voice soft and higher than before.
"Ed? Are you okay?" Roy mentally smacked himself, of course Fullmetal wasn't okay.
"Huh...? M...Mustang?" the blond moved his head to look at the older man. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"
Roy was baffled. How could Edward suddenly not know when he got here? What was going on, indeed... "Fullmetal, now is not the time for you to be asking questions. We're getting you out of here."
Edward's eyes suddenly brightened and a small smile appeared on his face. "Great! Because my ports are killing me, quite literally, if I might add, and I don't think I could move on my own if I wanted to!" he sounded far too chipper to be the same boy Roy had seen earlier.
"O...kay then..." Roy muttered before he heaved the smaller man's arm over his shoulder and helped him walk. They made it out of the cell and down the hallway when the duo came across Riza, still standing guard where Roy had asked her.
"Colonel." she said, snapping to a swift salute and launching into a status report. "The floor has been secured and the rest of the base is nearing the same status." When she caught sight of Ed, her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly.
"Oh. Hello there Riza. Wonderful day isn't it?" Ed said, his voice changing again to now have a slight accent. "You know, rescuing us, taking control of the outpost. We really appreciate it, even if one of us is just the slightest bit mad at the moment." a small smile overtook his face and his eyes held a warmth Riza had only seen directed at Alphonse.
"Edward...?" she was just as confused as Roy was at this point at Edward's odd behavior.
Ed blinked a few times before staring off into space for a moment. Blinking a few more times, he shook his head once, throwing his disheveled hair to the right over his shoulder. "Not quite." his voice was pitched lower, and his expression was closed off, cold.
"What?" Roy asked looking at his subordinate, extremely confused at this point. "Who else could you possibly be?"
The injured man turned to look at him, his face screaming how can you possibly be this stupid? "I'm Fullmetal. Ed's not having the greatest of times right now, as you saw earlier, hence why he's back and I'm fronting." Noticing the confused looks he was recieving, Fullmetal explained further with a sigh. "How can you possibly be this blind?" another sigh escaped his lips. "You'll find out later, once I converse with everyone on the matter of informing you of our situation. In the mean time, we should really get to someone who posseses actual medical knowledge as well as an automail mechanic, preferably Winry- no wait, nevermind. A mechanic who isn't Winry, due to everyone screaming at me that she'll be hurt if she enters the warzone- to take a look at the body so that none of us die."
Author's Note: well, I'm back after...what, two years? something like that, anyway-
just an idea I had, due to reading too many torture and war fics...
Animus: but you love GhiraLink!
*smothers inner self with pillows* shut it, Animus! *blushes and coughs* Tell me what you think, please? I'd like to know if this actually makes sense. Also, I may continue this past the first few chapters, but I'm not sure yet. I suppose if you guys like it, I'll see what I can do, ne? *smirks, shrugging*
Animus: and if not, then Saph here will just go back to her Ghirahim and Link fics!
...shut up. Ghirahim just..."FILLS MY HEART WITH RAINBOWS!"