Alright! So this is my first FMA fanfic, in fact this my first fic that I am publishing!
I intended it to be a one-shot but it turned out to be too long and so I decided to make it 3-4 chapters at max.
*Important details: Here Edward is 15 years old so obviously Al is 14. Alphonse is in the military. Winry lives with Ed and Al in Central. This takes place in the brotherhood anime.
*Pairings: None, this is a parental and family fic!
*Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters. I only own the plot.
Now enough with my blabbering! Enjoy!
The Most Unfortunate and Unexpected Encounter
Chapter 1: The meeting
Amidst the blowing wind, the cold breeze and the autumn leaves, four of the best soldiers of Amestris slowly walked down the train station and towards Central Head Quarters. Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, Colonel Roy Mustang and the famous Elric brothers had been on a mission that fortunately, went pretty well unlike all their expectations.
When they were about to reach HQ, Alphonse spotted a person whom he didn't see in ages, he stood with blank expressions, starring at the back of the familiar figure in front of him.
"Brother! Look here" Al called to his brother hopefully.
"What is the matter Al" sighed Edward, he was so bored and just wanted to go home and sleep as long as he can. He reached over to Alphonse and glanced at the man that his brother was starring at; blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a long brown coat and a leather bag where what marked the man. It didn't take Ed a second to register who the person standing before his eyes was.
"Brother, isn't … isn't that our dad?!" asked Alphonse in ecstasy.
Hearing that, Roy and Hughes froze and got lost in thoughts, 'the boys' father?! If he was alive then where have he been all those years?' They wondered.
Ed on the other hand, looked more frustrated than he ever had, all his exhaustion and weariness changed into pure anger.
"Damn it! Why the hell is he here…now?" Ed said gritting his teeth together and clenching his hands into furious fists.
"Father-" Al ran towards the man calling out to him happily.
But before Al could complete his sentence Ed had already sprinted past him and as soon as the man turned to look at the boy calling him he was sent flying away with a hard punch from none other than his elder son.
"You bastard! What the hell have made you show up here and now?!" asked Ed with an angry tone that caused everyone around them to freeze and silently watch them non-daring to utter a single word.
"Edward and Alphonse! Glad to see you both okay" The man said after getting up and recognizing the faces in front of him.
'Glad to see them okay?! Are you nuts?' Roy frowned.
"I came looking for you boys of course. But why would you punch your dad like that Ed?" asked Hohenheim plainly with a small smile on his face.
"Who said we wanted you to ever come back?! And I don't consider you my dad in the first place, you bastard!" roared Ed, turning away and grabbing his brother's hand "Come on Al, let's leave" Ed said stunned by the unexpected reaction that followed, Al pushed Ed's hand violently and stepped back.
"I am staying here brother! I am staying with dad! We finally met him after so long." Al yelled.
"It's not that we wanted to meet him Al!" Ed shouted back.
"Well, sorry to break it to you brother but I did want to meet him ever since!" Al bawled in a frustrated tone that he never used with his brother, actually one that he never used before.
Ed was shocked for a moment at the sudden reaction from his brother before snapping "Fine Al, it's up to you but I am not staying one more second with this man!" and ran away angrily.
It took the people around a moment to register what happened and get back to what they were doing before the incident they just witnessed.
"Roy go find Edward before he goes too far and I will stay with Alphonse for now" Hughes slowly whispered to Roy.
"But Maes-"
"No buts Roy! Don't tell me you will let Edward wander about like that! As if it wasn't bad enough for him to meet his dad but no he had to fight with Alphonse too." said Hughes knocking some sense into Roy.
"This is just great!" Roy said furiously.
"Alright, I will get going then." he said and went in the direction Ed had run towards earlier.
After around 15 minutes of running around and searching, he saw the young alchemist walking down a pavement. He hurried towards him and called out "Fullmetal".
But Ed intentionally ignored him and continued walking.
"Stop right there Fullmetal, it's an order!" Roy yelled now.
Ed turned with an angry face. Roy knew that this won't end up easily since both of them were short-tempered and with Edward's stubbornness it was impossible.
"Now what the hell do you want from me?!"
Trying to be considerate of Ed's feeling Roy went towards him and put a hand over his shoulder.
"Edward, I understand how you are feeling but running around like this won't help you" Roy said in a slightly comforting tone which he himself was puzzled at, he just hoped that it would work but in a split second all his hopes faded away as Ed pushed off Roy's hand and grew red out of anger.
"Don't touch me you bastard! You can't and won't ever be able to understand so don't act as if you do! You don't know a damn thing so just shut up and don't play father and treat me like some child now!"
After Edwards' outburst Roy completely lost it.
"Fullmetal now listen to me carefully because you are really pissing me off! I am not trying to act like a father or anything. It's my fault that I tried to comfort you in the first place but that too isn't the reason I followed you all the way down here. I came because I don't want any more problems since you act so recklessly whenever you get angry" Roy snapped giving up on solving the matter serenely.
"I don't act recklessly!" Ed frowned.
"You act recklessly and you know it!" Roy replied.
"Damn it" Ed cursed under his breath knowing that he can't argue anymore because what Roy said was obviously true.
After Ed stopped arguing and calmed down a bit. Roy slowly spoke.
"So where are you going now? Want me to drive you home? The car isn't far away from here"
"I don't wanna go home… I know Al would take that bastard there plus I am sure Al is angry with me too so I guess I would spend the night in a hotel or something" Ed said with a barely audible voice then tucked his hands into his pockets and continued walking slowly, Roy looked sadly at Ed's back before taking a deep breath and saying "Seems there is no choice then, come Ed let's go to the car, you can stay at my place for now" he sighed.
"Whaaa… No way!"
"Calm down Fullmetal, it's not that I want that either but it would save me the trouble of looking for you when you run off somewhere" he said putting on one of his usual smirks and turned.
"Follow me" he then started walking to where his car was parked, after a moment Ed followed hesitantly. Roy rode the car and waved at Ed to enter as well. Ed opened the door and sat in the passenger's seat beside Roy putting his seat belt on. After 5 minutes of driving on the road Ed had already given in to sleep, looking so peaceful. Roy chuckled at the sight of the small figure beside him 'It's ironic to think that this kid is actually the famous strong, hot-headed, repulsive, reckless Fullmetal alchemist who carries heavy responsibilities over his shoulders'
After reaching to their destination Roy got hold of Ed's shoulders and shook him slowly to wake him up.
"Fullmetal"
"Hey fullmetal … wake up, we reached my place"
Edward got up rubbing his eyes "I.. wanna…sl..eep" he complained.
Roy smirked "Come on you sleepy head"
"You are annoying colonel, did someone tell you that before?" Ed said and yawned.
"Oh thanks, it's an honor to hear that from you Fullmetal" Roy replied sarcastically and closed the cars' door behind Edward.
Once Roy opened his apartments' door, Ed threw himself on the comfortable soft fabric of the couch in the living room and buried his face in the pillow. Roy smiled slightly before going to his room to change then he made a phone call to his office.
"Hello this is Colonel Roy Mustang's office, how can we help you?" asked Hovac.
"Hey Havoc it's me, Roy" he replied
"Oh hey boss! So how is everything going? You were supposed to come today but you didn't. Hughes already told us the reason. So where's Ed now"
"Well as things have led… he is staying at my place for now and I don't want any comments from you Jean!"
"Oooooh! How did chief accept this?" Hovac said annoyingly as he chuckled.
"He did after fighting in the streets Hovac! Happy now? And didn't I tell you no comments" Roy sighed.
"So what did you want boss?"
"Well I might not be coming off to work tomorrow as things are getting complicated, I will tell you if anything new is up. Just keep me informed about how work is going"
"Sure thing, take care of Ed" Hovac said evilly and hung up the line.
'I will kill you Hovac!' Roy thought then he sighed, dialing yet another number.
"Hello! May I know who is speaking?" a soft voice of a woman asked.
"Hi Gracia this is me Roy Mustang, can I speak to Hughes if he is home" he asked.
"Oh hi Roy, yes he just came home half an hour ago, I will call him right away, wait a second"
"Sure no problems Gracia"
After a moment Hughes took the phone from Gracia.
"Oh Roy you know what my little angel Elysia told me today" Hughes asked with sheer happiness.
"No Hughes and I don't want to know, I got no time for this, I am sure it's something sweet as always" Roy said trying to hide the sarcasm.
"Now tell me what happened after I left?" Roy asked seriously
"Oh that okay – but first where's Ed?"
"He is staying with me for now" Roy said knowing that Hughes will make another joke.
"Oh how sweet Roy taking care of little Ed" Hughes said with the full intention to piss Roy off.
"Hughes I said I have no time for banter especially with that sense of humor of yours" Roy replied angrily.
"Okay okay calm down Roy… I will tell you everything… geez" he muttered.
"So Al took his dad home and they invited me to come with them so I went as I wanted to know the reason why their father left, well after a while Al asked him the reason and then he replied 'Al I am sorry I didn't mean to abandon you boys, I left you for your own safety since I was being chased by dangerous terrorists for some secret information I had and after they were arrested and executed I got clung up in an important research for sometime then I decided to look for you boys, it's my responsibility as your father after all' well Alphonse being the kind kid he is, believed him right away and was so happy. Winry then made us some food and privately asked me about Ed, I told her not to worry since you are with him so she was a bit relieved and I made my way to the HQ then back home… Well that's the gist of what happened" Hughes said in a soft tone that showed a bit of dissatisfaction.
"His responsibility as their father like hell! He abandoned them and then he comes saying that?! That bastard" Roy spoke angrily but in a low voice so Ed won't hear him.
"You started speaking like Ed" Hughes giggled.
"Jokes aside, I don't like how this is going" Hughes said with a bit of concern in his voice.
"Yeah, neither do I, Let's see what will happen tomorrow, as for now I have to close before Ed comes hopping in here to see where I have gone." Roy sighed.
"Good night then, talk to you later Roy"
"Yeah Maes, good night"
Roy went into the living room, putting on a smirk and sarcastically saying "Fullmetal I will go make us something to eat so don't cause any troubles till then"
"Yeah yeah whatever" Ed murmured without lifting his head from the pillow.
Roy smiled and went to the kitchen. After sometime he came out with 2 plates of fried eggs and cups of noodles then kept them over the dining table.
"Come on fullmetal, food is ready"
"'kay!" Ed said while rubbing his eyes. He didn't seem to be in the mood, like obviously he just quarreled with his only family members thus Roy refrained from teasing Ed as he usually does.
They sat on the table and ate silently; none of them spoke a single word. Edward left to wash his hands and on the way he broke the silence "Thank you colonel" he said without turning around to face Roy and continued walking.
Wait Ed just thanked Roy! He did calmly and … respectfully which honestly worried Roy more than it relieved him.
Edward wasn't acting like Edward!
When Edward came back he sat on the couch, raised his knees up to his chest, kept his arms around his legs and pushed his face onto his knees. He started recalling the whole day which obviously wasn't pleasant, he sat there cursing, frowning and tightening his grips over himself. Roy was sitting on an arm chair opposite to the couch. He looked at who seemed overflowing with emotions; frustration, anger, sadness, hatred and kind of guilt, of course not for snapping at Hohenhaim but for yelling at his brother. Everyone knew how close the Elrics were, they hated to hurt each other moreover fighting, yeah they often fought over silly things before, though those were either for banter, fun or out of concern but this one was different…
Roy knew that he definitely didn't like the sight before his eyes. He wasn't used to seeing Edward like this; yeah he saw him depressed and exhausted a couple of times before but this took a wild turn that Ed actually seemed ready to give up and just break down. It's not like anyone could blame him though, he went through too much for someone so young, he barely acted his age that the people around him often forgot that he was just a child; yes that's what he was, a child who was forced to be an adult before living a proper childhood!
Seeing his father after all those years, after abandoning them and not being there for them through their hardships; the hardships that many adults wouldn't be able to overcome and moreover fighting with the person dearest to him, didn't help the situation in fact it just worsened it…
Looking at the boy in such a miserable condition, Roy decided to take action.
"Fullmetal" he called softly but received no response.
"Hey Fullmetal!" Roy said in a slightly louder tone but not that of anger or scolding.
Edward suddenly raised his head as if he forgot that Roy was actually present all the time.
"Oh colonel … Well .. yeah … What were you saying? Guess I didn't hear you" replied Ed.
"Fullmetal, you okay?" Roy asked trying to hide the concern in his voice.
"Yeah colonel, I am totally fine"
"You sure?"
"Yes colonel, I said I am fine!" Ed said annoyed by the repetitive question.
"Oh well, but you don't seem fine to me. Something bothering you?" he asked and mentally slapped himself at the question, both of them knew what was bothering him.
Ed just turned his head to the window and stared at the outside world blankly without saying anything.
The sky was gloomy. Thunder and lightning grew more and more frequent and it was raining heavily. Just like those days; the day their mom died, the day of the transmutation, the day when Nina was turned into a chimera and the day she was killed. It seemed that the sky felt when it should pour like that; always on miserable days…
"Your father?" Roy asked hesitantly, regretting letting those words slip out of his mouth, however he didn't receive the expected reaction, there was no yelling, punching or kicking. Hell he didn't even get angry! Instead Ed just looked at the floor with dull golden eyes full of misery and hurt.
"You know Colonel…"
Roy was taken aback by Ed's response and just sat there with wide eyes, listening to the boy as he continued.
"There were times when I really loved him; times were I thought of him as the best father in the whole universe"
'Alright this is good, at least the boy finally decided to open up' thought the colonel.
"Once, I got sick. Mom had taken Al and went to visit her friend in a nearby village, the Rockbells were having a family trip and dad had to stay back to take care of me. I rarely got sick but whenever I did, it would be so serious; I had an extremely high fever and wasn't supposed to leave bed which I really hated… Dad knew how bored I get if I don't move around so he used to read me stories and teach me card games and whenever he did that, the time seemed to pass so fast. It used to be fun though I was sick" Ed smiled at the memory.
"You know there was this time where mom was at the Rockbells' place to help them in some stuff. Dad stayed with me and Al and we asked him to make us paper flights but he said he was bad at them and ended transmuting a model plane for us which was a hundred times better than a paper flight. We were so fascinated by his alchemy that we used to intentionally break the flight just to see him perform alchemy to repair it and when he figured it out his expression was priceless" Ed chuckled.
Roy stayed silent afraid that the boy would bottle up again if he said anything.
"Although he was so busy with his researches and all, he still spent time with us but …" his voice started cracking.
'This isn't good anymore, if he continues this way this conservation won't end nicely' Roy thought worriedly.
"But all of a sudden on one night he just left. Me and Al coincidentally woke up at late night and saw him opening the front door and mom was crying, then he just glared at us with a look that I never understood and left without even saying 'good bye'. I don't remember much about him but that scene is carved in my memory …"
"Why?"
Roy just looked at him trying to comprehend the situation.
"Why now?"
'Oh this is bad' Roy thought
"Why did he leave? Where has he been all these years… Where was he when mom was sick… in her funeral?" Ed asked particularly no one, trying so hard to hold back his tears.
"Where was he when we were left all alone… when we committed a taboo and nearly died… Where was he when we were searching for our bodies… He was a knowledgeable alchemist… he… he studied the philosopher's stone… he could have helped us"
'Now this is getting worse' Roy felt uneasy as if his heart shattered into pieces upon hearing Ed's voice so faint, so vulnerable and …depressed.
Ed started shaking and his voice cracked even more than before.
"Why was he never there for us?... why is he coming.. now… he has no right to call us his sons anymore… damn it … just why? Why?!"
Now Ed couldn't hold it anymore, he dropped to his knees feeling hot tears streaming down his face, racing across his cheeks; he tried to get a hold of himself but failed terribly and cried even harder.
Roy didn't know what to say, after all he wasn't used to dealing with such situations; he kind of wished that Hughes was here since he was the man for such things.
He got up and moved towards Ed, kneeling down beside him, putting a hand on top of his head and rubbing it gently.
He stayed silent for a minute not sure of what to say, he started softly "…Ed… it's okay… let it out…"
Roy had the urge to just hug the boy to make him feel better and comfort him; to his surprise he did. He pulled Ed into a tight, warm hug. The boy didn't do anything to resist the gesture; he clutched his hands on the man's shirt and pushed his head onto his chest, sobbing and tightening his grip on Roy as time passed. Ed honestly felt comforted and safe in between Roy's arms, he didn't usually show weakness so now he was letting out all what piled up; he cried till he could no more.
After Ed had calmed down, Roy pulled himself away from Ed and guided him to the couch again; he got a cup of water from the kitchen and gave it to Ed who drank it all at once.
"Better now?" asked Roy with a firm smile.
"Yeah I guess… Thanks colonel" Ed said and blushed slightly.
"No need Fullmetal" Roy said as he ruffled the boy's hair.
"I am not a kid colonel!" Ed said and moved away.
"Oh really?" Roy grinned but refrained from teasing Ed about what just happened, afraid that if he did so, the boy won't ever open up to him again.
"Yeah bastard" Ed said and they both laughed out.
Roy looked up at the clock that read '1:30 am'
"Alright Edward, it's late already, let's go to sleep" Roy said and guided Ed to his room.
"Here this is my room, you can sleep on the bed" Roy told Ed as he switched off the lights.
"Good night Fullmetal"
"Wait up colonel, if I am sleeping in your room so where are you sleeping?" Ed asked raising an eyebrow.
"I will sleep on the couch in the living room; it's okay"
"Eh? Do you think I will sleep in your room and leave you to sleep on that small couch outside" Ed asked angrily.
"Then what do you expect? You are my guest Fullmetal so obviously I won't have you sleeping on the couch!" Roy frowned.
Ed looked around at the extremely small portion he was occupying from the bed then moved slightly to one end.
"A..Alright I still can't let you sleep out there after all it's your room and bed …" Ed moved his hands towards the large area at the bed beside him.
"You can sleep here… The bed is big anyways …" He said avoiding eye contact with Roy.
Roy stood by the door staring at Ed before smirking.
"Is the bed really big or is it you who is so small?" he asked mockingly.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA SMALL TINY MIDET WHO CAN'T BE SEEN ON THE BED WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS?!" Ed yelled at the top of his lungs
"Let's see…" Roy looked around
"You Fullmetal" he grinned.
"You are driving me crazy colonel!" Ed replied annoyed
"Oh but I doubt the driving part" Roy said sarcastically.
"Ahhhh" Ed screamed and threw a pillow at Mustang, luckily for Ed, it hit him directly in the face and Ed dropped laughing at Roy's expressions.
Roy rolled his eyes at the childish act but was actually happy to see Ed at least a bit better.
"Alright Fullmetal let's sleep" he yawned as he walked towards the bed.
He climbed the bed and lied beside Edward who looked so exhausted right now.
"Good night Ed"
"Good night colonel"
And they slowly drifted into sleep.
I love Parental Roy!
Well this turned put to be too long, I guess I got a bit carried away XD
Hope you enjoyed! Review and Follow!
Compliments and criticism are equally welcome... You can also give me an suggestions that you would want to see in my fics.
I will hopefully post the next chapter soon.
The more reviews, the faster chapter 2 will be out!
See ya!