A Home for a Boy Named Ed

These are the misadventures of Roy Mustang and his little son, Ed. A series of one-shots that take place before the events of A Boy Named Ed. Not written in chronological order.


A.N. Okay, so I am inching my way towards 50,000 words and the end of NaNoWriMo. And while I've already written almost 4,000 words today… I'm gonna write more. Here we go, all the way back to the beginning. Let's take a look at Roy's first day as a daddy.

Disclaimer: Ed, Al, and all their friends are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I do not own them, but am grateful for the opportunity to use them in the unleashing of my own imagination.

Rating: This story is rated K+


Hush Little Baby

Age: 1 day

Five tiny fingers and five tiny toes.

He was pretty sure that wasn't how it was supposed to work, but he counted them again just to be sure.

Because this couldn't really be happening.

He'd gone to the warehouse district early that morning on a hunch. Fullmetal wasn't due to report back until noon but he had been up half the night with a horrible feeling that something had gone wrong.

It was supposed to be a simple mission – reconnaissance, information gathering. Observe but do not engage. That was the order. Surely Fullmetal could follow such a simple order. He'd gone alone, for several reasons. Stealth was the first; it was kind of hard to hide a six foot tall suit of armor. The second reason was so that Al could continue researching; hopefully they wouldn't lose too much time during this mission. And third, the reason Ed had insisted that Alphonse not know where he was going – the target was known for blowing things up. The armor-bound-soul could withstand bullets. He was impervious to swords for the most part. His only weak spot was well protected. But getting blown up… well Fullmetal wasn't willing to risk that. Al had been in too many close calls recently. No, better to keep him in the dark, Ed had said.

That plan had worked out well enough until Alphonse had barged into his office demanding information on the whereabouts of his brother. He couldn't have revealed anything if he wanted to – not with Bradley breathing down his neck and potentially listening in from anywhere. The building wasn't safe. The younger Elric had left fuming. Roy wasn't sure he'd ever seen Alphonse so angry.

It wasn't much later that the little bug of apprehension had started in his brain. It had bothered him through dinner, distracted him from reading, disturbed his sleep, until it finally drove him from his home in the wee hours, determined to put his worries to rest so that he could get some rest.

But his journey to the train yard had not managed to ease his mind. Because after half an hour of searching for the delinquent young alchemist, he had finally stumbled upon a most horrific scene.

The floor was covered in blood.

Too much blood.

The Flame Alchemist had not been able to move at first. His mind had screamed in denial. No! It's not his. It can't be! There has to be another explanation.

But a thorough scan of the warehouse had not revealed a body – either Fullmetal's or anyone else's – only that atrocious red coat, left carelessly on the floor with some other clothes… and shoes… Is he naked?

He'd almost bypassed the bundle completely, eyes still roving for the missing teenager. But then a strange sound had caught his ear, prompting him to turn back and take a closer look.

What he found there… it wasn't possible.

At first he was merely baffled by the presence of baby, all alone in such a dark and abandoned place. Surely its mother was nearby. But when he moved to pick up the child, determined to wrap it more securely against the cold, he'd been shocked by the absence of two very important limbs – right arm and left leg – the very same limbs Fullmetal was missing.

But even this strange, coincidental deformity had not been enough for him to realize the truth. It wasn't until the infant opened his eyes that Roy knew… he knew who this child was. Because those fiery golden eyes couldn't belong to anyone else.

Except Alphonse… Al had golden eyes too, right? He didn't actually know. But Al wasn't missing two limbs. No, he's just missing his entire body. Shit… Alphonse. What am I gonna tell him?

He didn't have any more time to ponder the question however as the baby… Fullmetal… Ed… baby Ed, decided to make his presence known – loudly, very loudly.

Roy panicked.

"Oh… shh! Don't do that!" He looked around, anxiously, certain that someone was going to come barging in on them. But the train yards were still abandoned this early in the morning. "C'mon, kid. Stop crying. What? Are you hungry? Of course you are. You're always hungry. Well, you're just gonna have to wait because I don't have anything for you."

He took a moment to spread out the red coat, thankful that it wasn't covered in blood as some of the other clothes were. What the hell happened to you, Fullmetal?

Laying the baby down atop the coat, he quickly swaddled the child as best he could. It was awkward. He wasn't sure what to do about the missing arm and quarter leg. The stumps looked healed over but… he didn't want to cause any damage or hurt the kid by putting pressure in the wrong places. The stumps hurt, right? Or was that just from the automail? The result was an oddly wrapped bundle with a still screaming head poking out the top. I officially have no clue what I'm doing. The Colonel scooped the bundle up in one arm and then gathered the clothes and shoes with the other before hurrying out of the building and back to his car.

Roy didn't have a clue what he was going to do. What did one do with a teenager-turn-infant? He couldn't very well turn him in to child services. He had to try and reverse this. But how? It was alchemy, right? Alchemy must have done this. Nothing else could cause changes of this magnitude. But not even alchemy could normally do this. What was powerful enough to do something like this? A philosopher's stone? Maybe?

It still didn't make any sense. And he couldn't think straight – not with all the screaming.

"Knock it off, Fullmetal! I'm trying to think."

His own words made him pause and actually look at the child in his arms. He tossed the clothes absently through the open window of his car and maneuvered the infant into both hands to get a better look. The change in position seemed to startle the boy out of his tantrum. He blinked those wide golden eyes and hiccupped through his nose.

"Fullmetal… are you really Fullmetal?" He whispered to the baby. "You certainly look enough like him – like a baby him anyway. I probably shouldn't call you that though. It sounds weird. Ed then, right? I'll have to call you Ed for now. At least until I can find a way to get you back to normal. Don't worry, okay? I'll figure this out, somehow."

Roy turned the child so that he was cradled in the crook of his arm once more. Little Ed gurgled and burped causing the Flame Alchemist to smirk. "Actually… you're kinda cute like this – when you're not crying anyway. Maybe I'll just leave you this way."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because the boy started up again, wailing his crocodile tears for all of Central City to hear.

"Alright! Alright, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Please stop screaming!"

He bounced the baby. He rocked. He walked. He tried everything he could think of but little Ed wouldn't stop crying. Roy needed help but he didn't think he could bear to trap himself in a car with that sound. He'd go deaf.

"Please, Ed!" He pleaded with the child as though that would get some kind of response. "I'll get you something to eat as soon as I can but I need to you stop crying so that I can drive." He wracked his brain for something that could calm a baby. The only baby he'd ever been around before was Elicia. Hughes! What would Hughes do?

Out of the recesses of his mind, where he stored memories of the best friend he had lost, Roy pulled up the day he first met the little girl. Tiny Elicia hadn't been happy in Uncle Roy's awkward arms. He'd quickly handed the girl back to her father. Hughes had just laughed and called her adorable and started to sing.

Singing! Right a lullaby! Roy started with excitement, hoping this would work. But his excitement faded when he realized one key point. I don't know any lullabies.

He pulled at his memory, trying to recall. What did Hughes sing? Hush… hush-a-bye? No… it was…

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird." He sang, surprised to remember the tune as well as the word. It worked. Little Ed blinked and hiccupped, but he had stopped crying and seemed to be listening.

Roy smiled, victoriously and then he frowned. "What a stupid song. What would a baby do with a mockingbird?"

Apparently Ed did not agree with this assessment because he let out another small scream in protest.

"Okay! Okay! I'll sing! Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. You know that doesn't make sense, right? And I don't know the rest of the words." The tiny face scrunched up and Roy hurried to continue the song. "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird…"

He kept repeating the same line and miraculously, little Ed stopped crying completely. He even burbled a little in what Roy thought might be a happy sound. But the moment that the man stopped singing, that little nose would wrinkle up again, spurring him to resume the refrain.

Several minutes passed in this way. Roy wracked his brain while he sang, trying to make a plan. I'll take him to Gracia. She'll know what to do. But I have to get him there first. I can't drive with him like this. But if I put him down he might start crying again. I need him to go to sleep or something.

Somewhere in the midst of his singing and brainstorming, little Ed had wriggled his tiny left hand up out of the red coat swaddling him. Roy absently touched those five tiny fingers. He didn't even realize what he was doing until that little hand latched onto his own, glove-covered finger.

"Hey, that's mine." Roy interrupted his singing to berate the child gently. He tried to pull his finger away only to have it grasped more firmly and pulled into a curious mouth.

The Flame Alchemist froze, struck with awe by that simple, innocent action. Is this really the same kid who's been such a pain in my ass for the past four years? Seeing him like this… he's so... small, fragile. He felt a tiny tug, somewhere in his chest, and a fierce sense of protectiveness overcame him. You'll be alright, kid. I'll take care of you. Don't worry.

He smiled even as he felt moisture seep its way up the glove from the baby's gumming. "You know these things don't work very well when their wet, right kid?" Little Ed let out a sudden yawn and then went right back to chewing on the Colonel's finger. "You're doing this on purpose. I'm sure of it." But there was no heat in his words.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird."

Three refrains later, the baby was fast asleep. Roy quickly made a nest out of Ed's clothes in the car. Two minutes later, Roy was making his way through the city, towards Gracia's apartment, on and hand on the steering wheel and the other holding baby Ed steady on seat beside him.