Author's notes: Just a little something I started working on back in November of last year… I sat on it for a while before deciding to do anything with it, not sure if it was good enough to show to anyone else, and then fighting with myself about whether or not I should post it…
Regular Disclaimers apply… I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist… It and all characters from it are the sole possession of Hiromu Arakawa-Sama…
And now, without further ado… Here is my little fic…
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Edward Elric looked around himself groggily. He felt ill and shortly after waking he found himself leaning over the edge of a sofa releasing the contents of his stomach into a bucket. He shakily wiped his right hand over his face and he was surprised to feel the smooth hand on his cheek instead of the automail he was used to. His eyes widened and he held his right arm out for inspection. He saw a flesh and blood arm and he gasped. He sat bolt upright and scanned the room for his brother. He was frantic until he saw Alphonse walking into the room from the kitchen, carrying a cup of tea. His flesh and blood brother… Wait… What the hell was going on here?
"How are you feeling, nii-san?" Alphonse asked.
"I'd be a lot better if I knew what the hell was going on…" Edward rasped. His throat burned raw after purging his stomach and he felt as if he had done so more than once.
"What do you mean, nii-san? We fixed ourselves, don't you remember?" Alphonse looked at Edward earnestly. His eyes pleading with Ed to remember what happened. He didn't want to have to explain it to his feverish brother again.
"No, Alphonse… I can't remember it… All I remember was Scar using you to make the Philosopher's Stone and we were on the run. I remember killing Sloth and hunting the homunculi… But other than that my mind is a blank."
"Envy almost killed you, nii-san. It was actually quite simple to heal you. Then I used the Stone to fix you. We used the last of the Stone's power to get my body back to normal. You've been slightly ill since I healed you, but I think you're coming around. I think you might have gotten a bit taller since I healed you too… your feet didn't hang over the edge when we first got here."
Ed looked at his brother, dumbfounded. Al looked like the body he was in was a lot younger than he should have been, but Ed thought that was to be expected… What he didn't expect was what came next.
"Where are we?"
"Central. Mustang has allowed me to keep you in my lodgings."
"Your lodgings?"
Alphonse looked around nervously. His eyes pleaded with Ed to not go over the edge. "I passed the tests to become a state alchemist months ago… I am a dog of the military, as are you whenever you are back to yourself…"
Ed fixed his brother with a look so cold it could have frozen flames. Then his gaze softened and his expression was lost… He looked like a child, almost. "What do you mean months ago, Al? How long have I been out of it?"
Alphonse frowned in thought. He counted backwards in his head and he looked at Ed apologetically. "We've been back in our original bodies for a year now. I passed the State Alchemist tests with flying colors about four months ago. Until then we were staying with Mrs. Hughes and Elicia. Once I passed my exams Brigadier General Mustang, Colonel Armstrong, and Second Lieutenant Havoc helped move you and our stuff into my lodgings, so we would be out from under Gracia's feet. She didn't want to see us go, nii-san… But I couldn't justify imposing our presence on her, especially since Brigadier General Hughes passed on."
"So I've been dead to the world for a year now? How often have you had to leave me here alone while on your military missions?" Ed asked, his tone slightly accusatory. He sipped the tea that Al set down on the table next to him.
"I have only been doing research since being licensed. Mustang hasn't sent me away; in fact he said that he doesn't want me going on any missions unless I am being accompanied by you. Personally I think he wants to keep us here for a while so he can watch over us." Al said; trust in his superiors evident on his tone, though tentative to judge his brother's reaction.
"Right, well, I think I am going to go use your facilities, Al." Ed said with a sigh. He stood up and let out a jaw popping yawn while stretching out his back. He started to walk away from the sofa when Alphonse stopped him.
"Nii-san…"
"Yes, Alphonse?"
Al sat there stammering for a moment. He looked at Ed, who stood there facing his younger brother with an eyebrow raised in question.
"You aren't mad at me for becoming a State Alchemist, are you?"
"No, Al… How could I justify being angry with you when I did the same thing…"
"I was worried, is all. Especially seeing as how you don't care much for General Mustang…"
"He used us, Al! Was I supposed to like being a pawn to him?!?" Ed entered the small bathroom connected to his brother's dorm and slammed the door behind him. Almost at the same time as the door slammed, a knock sounded on the door to the dorm. Al walked over to the door, rubbing his hand over his hair. He opened the door to reveal Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda at his door, preparing to knock again. Alphonse saluted Breda and stepped aside to allow him entrance into the dorm.
"Good morning, Major Elric." Breda greeted, saluting Al back and stepping into the room.
"Hello, Lieutenant Breda! How are you today?" Al responded in an enthusiastic greeting. He closed the door after Breda was inside and leaned against the door frame.
"How's Ed, Alphonse?" Breda asked, and before Al could respond he quickly rephrased his question. "Where's Ed?"
"He woke up about 5 to 10 minutes ago and he is the most alert I have seen him in a year! He's in the bathroom." Just as Al said that, Ed walked out of the bathroom. His golden eyes were bright and he was actually smiling.
"Al! It's seamless. There's no evidence of scars or anything!" His smile faltered a bit upon seeing that Breda was there. "Well, hello Lieutenant Breda… Or is your rank changed now?"
Breda smiled at Ed. "I'm still a lieutenant, Ed. You can call me Heymans if you'd like… I may be a military man, but it isn't all about Major this and Lieutenant that." Breda said laughing.
"Alright, Heymans." Ed said, tentatively.
"How are you, Ed? We've all been quite concerned about you."
"I feel alright, sir, though I can't be sure until I've been up longer, I guess. Have all of you worried? Even General Bastard?"
"Mustang has been more worried about you than even the rest of us, Edward. He's had specialists from Xing to see if they could break you from unconsciousness with their medical alchemy and he's come to see you twice a day, sometimes even three times!"
Ed looked genuinely surprised to hear that. He glanced at Alphonse who nodded to confirm what Breda said. He frowned and closed his eyes, rubbing them with the thumb and index fingers of his right hand. He sighed deeply and walked back over to the couch. He plopped down on it and leaned against the back of the couch, crossing his left leg over his right. "How is everybody else, Heymans? I mean, it's been a year since I last knew anything about anyone…"
"Well, as you know Mustang is the Brigadier General and word is that he's going to be getting that promotion that he has been trying for most of his career in the next couple of months. Hawkeye is a Colonel now and she and Havoc are engaged to be married. Havoc is a Lieutenant Colonel. Fuery is a Lieutenant now and Falman has retired."
"Hawkeye and Havoc?" Ed asked, disbelievingly.
"Haha! That was my sentiment exactly, Ed! We didn't even know there was anything going on between them and then they waltzed in and had the oddest googly eye thing going on. When Mustang was trying to get them to chill out with it because it was distracting everybody, Havoc yelled at Mustang to leave him and his fiancée alone. I think Mustang fainted right then and there… the rest of us were shocked, happy for them but shocked."
"And General Bastard is getting ready to be made Fuhrer?"
"That's how the rumor goes anyway."
"Are we still a military state, Heymans?"
Breda looked surprised at the unexpectedly mature question from Ed and he quickly rearranged his expression to be more thoughtful than surprised. "Well, Ed… After Mustang killed Fuhrer Bradley he went straight to Congress and alerted them to the situation. He was prepared to meet stiff punishment for the assassination of Bradley, but Congress thanked him and declared him a hero. They decided that they would run the country without a public figurehead and only recently did they realize it was a bad idea to do that. They called Mustang in for a meeting recently and rumor after rumor sprang up then. We think that although he was told to stay quiet about what took place, that this meeting is the cause of Mustang's excellent mood of late."
A sharp rap is heard on the door then, followed by the melodic sound of a woman's laughter. Al smiled and opened the door. Once the door opened Black Hayate charged into the room and jumped onto Ed's lap before he even realized the dog was in the room. "Hey there chief." Was Havoc's easy response to Al opening the door. Al stepped aside and let the pair enter his dorm. "How's Fullmetal?"
"I'm good, Lieutenant Colonel Havoc." Ed said, effectively drawing Havoc and Hawkeye's attention from Al to himself. Hawkeye quickly released Havoc's hand from hers and bowed in greeting to Ed. When she stood, tears rimmed her auburn eyes and a big smile was on her face. Ed looked uncomfortable at the sight of her tears.
She slowly walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a light embrace. "Welcome back, Edward. We've missed you." Ed felt the tears streaming onto his shoulder through his shirt.
"Thank you, Colonel Hawkeye, ma'am." Ed said, raising his free arm to pat her on the back. "I feel good… it's good to be back and to see my brother the way he is now."
Hawkeye pulled back from his shoulder, tears still running down her cheeks. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from her cheeks and then tucked the handkerchief back in her pocket. "How long ago did he wake up, Alphonse?" She asked.
"Maybe about fifteen minutes ago. Breda arrived shortly after he woke up and then you two showed up shortly after Breda did."
"Have you called the General yet, chief?" Havoc asked, seeing where Riza was going with her question.
"Not yet, sir. I'll go call him now! How could I forget…" Al said, heading towards the door to the kitchen. Havoc put a hand on Al's shoulder.
"Allow me to, Alphonse?" Hawkeye said, rising from the couch. Al nodded and Hawkeye entered the kitchen. Once the door closed behind her, Black Hayate jumped off Ed's lap and ran to the kitchen door. He whined at it and then sat at attention right at the door. Havoc walked over to the couch and reached his hand out to Ed.
"Welcome back, chief. You had all of us worried as hell. Riza didn't want to actually get married without you in attendance. And to tell the truth, neither do I, because I want you to stand up for me, Ed." Havoc said. Ed looked dumbfounded at what Havoc said.
"You want me to… But, Lieutenant Colonel…"
"Just call me Jean, Ed. Drop the formalities. We are like a big family, Mustang's crew… And while I may have seemed indifferent to you, I was always concerned about you. At times I wondered who was more concerned, Roy or I." Havoc laughed and shook Ed's hand. He then pulled Ed into a quick hug. "It's good to have you back, kiddo."
"It's good to be back, Jean. Thank you. I would be honored to stand for you at your wedding…" Ed smiled. "Congratulations, by the way. You two are good for each other; I always thought you'd end up together."
Breda laughed at that and shook his head. The door had barely been closed when another knock sounded on it.
"Do you always have so many visitors at one time, Alphonse?" Ed asked, chuckling.
"The whole company usually meets here about this time, General Mustang is usually much later, due to meetings though." Al explained right before he opened the door. "Besides, it's not me they come here to see, nii-san. They come to check up on you."
"Hello, Al. How's Ed?" Fuery's light voice streamed into the room as Al stepped aside to let him in.
"See for yourself." Al answered, grinning ear to ear. At seeing Al's smile, Fuery brightened up and looked towards the couch.
"It's good to see you awake, Edward. It has been really difficult seeing you catatonic when you were so animated before." Fuery said with a smile. He walked over and gave Ed a hug in greeting and took a seat across from the couch. "Has Mustang been told?"
"Yes, and he's skipping his meeting with Parliament to come see Ed." Hawkeye said, coming out of the kitchen. "I told him to just come after the meeting, but he wouldn't hear common sense. They're going to strip him of that promotion before he even officially has it."
Breda laughed then, bringing the room's attention over to himself. "Yeah, but that's all secondary when it comes to Fullmetal, isn't it?"
"What do you mean, Breda?" Ed asked, warily.
"I mean that Mustang has been extremely worried about you and part of the reason that he has been working steadily like he was to ensure that he would have the proper connections to get you all the help you'd need to get you to regain consciousness."
Ed grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. "That bastard did nothing but use me the entire time I've been under him and you expect me to believe it?" The sound of a cocking gun stopped Ed from going any further.
"Edward, I have only seen Roy Mustang get emotional enough to cry on a handful of occasions. The first time was when my father, his mentor, died. The second time was when General Hughes died. The rest of them were whenever he got specialists out to check on you and they couldn't tell what was wrong and couldn't heal you." Hawkeye lectured. "Roy Mustang cares for you a lot more than you give him credit for!" Her eyes got teary again and she went back into the kitchen before anybody could see her shed tears again.
"She's right, nii-san. It's been kind of scary seeing Mustang like that." Al piped up. "I mean, we're used to seeing the teasing and yelling side of him. To see him cry, apologize and blame himself for them not being able to help you was really frightening."
Ed's eyes widened at his brother's revelation. He opened and closed his mouth, looking for words but instead resembling a fish out of water.
"Wow, the boss is speechless. That's something…" Breda said jokingly. Ed closed his mouth quickly then and got up, storming into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him.
The knocking on the door got everyone's attention. Al opened the door quickly and the man in question walked in quickly, muttering a greeting to the younger Elric. Mustang looked on the couch to see Ed gone and he glanced around the room. Breda pointed to the bathroom door and a smirk placed itself on the superior officer's face. He went over to the door and knocked lightly on it, waiting for an answer.
"Leave me alone!"
"Colonel Edward Elric, Fullmetal alchemist, get your little ass out of that bathroom before I burn that door down." He smirked as he got just the reaction he was waiting for.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULDN'T BE SEEN WITH A MICROSCOPE NEXT TO MOLD BACTERIUM IN A PETRI DISH?!? YOU BASTARD!!!" Ed yelled as he opened the bathroom door to find himself almost eye to eye with a smirking Roy Mustang.
"Hmmmm… guess I should have said skinny ass… You aren't so small any more, now are you?" Mustang said in an amused tone. Ed looked Mustang in the eyes and frowned.
"Did you say Colonel?" He asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Yes, yes I did, Fullmetal." Mustang said before expertly changing the subject. "I'm overjoyed to see you up and about this morning, Fullmetal. Especially hearing that your spirits are high as well. I think I'll grant you another two weeks of leave to make sure you feel 100% better before I reinstate you as an active member of the military."
Ed leaned against the wall before sliding down it to sit on the floor. He was muttering to himself and he looked totally surprised. He hugged his legs to his chest and rested his head on his knees.
"Ed?" Mustang asked, kneeling down next to the younger man. He tried getting Ed's attention. "Fullmetal?" He lightly smacked Ed's right cheek a couple times until he snapped out of it.
"So why the promotion, General Bastard?" Ed asked, still not looking at Roy, missing the hurt look on his face at the insult.
"Because you went above and beyond what anybody at the rank of Major should do. Hell, you went above and beyond Colonel, but they wouldn't let me promote you any higher than that." Roy said with a sigh. "Look, Ed, we need to straighten some things out between the two of us. I would like to have an open working relationship with you, like I do with the rest of my staff, but it isn't possible if we are continuously trying to one up each other with insults and the like. Truce?"
Ed looked up, taken aback by the tone and words used by Mustang. He gave a little smile and held his hand out to shake Mustang's hand. "So long as you treat me and my brother with the respect we deserve, it's a deal."
"You have to give respect to get respect Colonel Elric." Mustang answered, shaking the younger man's hand. He then stood helping Ed to his feet. Ed swayed a bit, but Mustang caught him around the waist and steered him to the couch where he plopped down.
"Now that you've seen him, sir, you should go to your meeting." Hawkeye said from the kitchen doorway.
"Parliament can wait, Hawkeye…" Mustang started before he heard the familiar sound of the safety being released on a handgun. "Or I can go to my meeting and come back to see Fullmetal at lunchtime." He raised his hands and walked to the door. He looked at his watch and cleared his throat. "You all had better be in the office when I get out of my meeting…" The sound of the gun cocking rushed him out the door.
Once Mustang left, everybody got settled in, Hawkeye sitting on the couch next to Ed.
"You know, Hawkeye, you are really terrifying." Ed said, nervously watching the gun she favored.
"I only do that to emphasize any points I have to make, Edward." She said quietly. "I might come close to shooting somebody, but when I pull my gun out to intimidate the shots will always miss. I don't think Roy is aware of that yet, and it's been years that I have been doing that to him."
Everybody laughed at this point. They all knew that Colonel Hawkeye meant business and she did all her best talking with a gun to emphasize her soft spoken words. They all respected her before she brought out her guns; afterwards it was an intimidated respect.
Ed's growling stomach got everyone's attention and Al went right to the kitchen. "Hey, boss, come back out here. I'm feeling a little generous. What say you we go out to breakfast, my treat." Breda said, calling Al out of the kitchen.
"You sure, Heymans?" Ed asked, glancing over at the larger man.
"Yeah, I know a nice little place that I can get a discount at." Breda said laughing.
"You just want to introduce your girlfriend to the famous Edward Elric you have told her so much about, Breda!" Havoc said with a laugh.
"Like there's something wrong with that, Havoc?" Breda said jokingly, still laughing.
"Not at all, chief." Havoc replied, turning his attention to Ed. "You feel alright to go get something to eat, Ed?"
"Sure, let me get a quick shower and some clean clothes on and we can go." Ed answered, feeling a bit stronger on his feet now that the important news had sunk in. He got up and went into the bathroom before walking right back out of it. "Hey, Alphonse, think you can get me a fresh set of clothes to wear out?"
"Sure, nii-san. Get your shower and I'll have clothes ready for you to wear when you get out." Al said, heading for the doorway across from the bathroom.
Ed entered the bathroom, closing the door behind himself. He quickly stripped out of his clothing before starting the shower. He quickly washed his hair and body and then stood there under the hot water, letting it relax his muscles and soothe his tired body. He got out once the heat started leaving the water and he quickly got dried and changed into the set of clothes that Al set on the counter top. It was an outfit just like the one he used to wear when he and Al traveled around Amestris. He dried his hair and combed it through before putting it in his customary braid. His worn clothes went into the clothes hamper and he stepped out of the bathroom, greeting everyone with a nod and went to get shoes. He chose a pair of sandals instead of his trademark boots, complaining about needing to get a new pair. They were all filing out of Al's apartment when Ed joined them.
Read and Review, please… That way I know whether to start uploading the other chapters I have written….. This author thanks you…