Roy-22
Maes-22
Alex Armstong-23
Ed-17
Al-16
Kimblee-25
In Another Time
chapter 2
Grumman had been killed by the Ishvalians. They had sent a small group while everyone else had been distracted by the Drachma soldiers. What surprised Hughes was Bas Grand was found dead and it seemed as if he didn't take anyone with him.
Right now things were being rebuilt, but Roy, Maes, Kimblee, and Alex Armstrong where standing in Olivia Armstrong's office. Each being briefed on what was going to happen next.
"You're all going to Ishvale, and you aren't coming back until they are no longer a problem." Olivia said through gritted teeth.
"How will we know when they won't be a problem anymore." Maes asked. It was Roy who spoke, he understood what she was trying to get across.
"When there are no more Ishavlian people to start trouble." he said solemnly. He knew what she was asking them to do was terrible, but it was their jobs to do it. None of them would come back the same, and many people who would come with them wouldn't return at all.
"Each of you will put a group together, fifteen to twenty people, and attack from each side of the village until you all meet in the center. We can not allow something like this to happen again. We need to send a message to the other villages." Oliva said sitting down behind her desk. "Dismissed." She said and waved them out.
Ed and Al were helping the rebuilding of the south side of the village. He watched as Roy trudged past them without even looking at anyone. Ed felt a pain in his chest seeing the man so visibly down-trodden. He was usually so confident.
Al was looking at his brother, who in turn was looking at Roy, who in turn was looking at the ground.
"Whats wrong brother" Al asked.
"Theres something wrong with the bastard." Ed replied after a few seconds.
"When did you start caring?" Al responded.
Ed fumbled through words that made no sense together before he decided it wasn't worth going into and got back, half-heartedly, to the task at hand. His thoughts though were still on a certain raven haired, onyx eyed man who had taken up space in his heart. Though nobody knew, and he didn't expect to ever tell anyone.
When Al saw the man though he could see something was terribly wrong so he ran over to him, with Ed not far behind him.
"Whats wrong Mr. Mustang?" Al asked.
"Grumman is dead. They are sending us to Ishval in the southeast." Roy Mustangs voice lacked any confidence. Both boys eyes went wide when the news that the head of the village was dead.
"What do you mean us?" Ed asked.
"All of us. The soldiers." Was all the answer Roy gave them. He bent down to look both of them in the eyes. "You boys take care of yourselves ok. Somethings are going to change and they may not be for the best." He put his hands on Eds shoulder and then stood up and walked away.
"That bastard." Ed grumbled.
"He does really care about us brother." Al said.
The two went back to helping out the rest of the village. The hours passed quickly until the sun was almost set and that's when they saw the soldiers walking in lines behind each of their commanding officers. First went Maes Hughes, he nodded to the Elrics. Then Alex Armstrong and his men. He looked as if he had been carved out of stone, and so did his men. Then Solf Kimblee, he was psychotic and his men were as well. Lastly they saw Roy Mustang, Jean Havoc and Riza Hawkeye on either side of him.
Roy looked directly at Ed and the younger man could see that not only was his heart not in this war but he could see that there were a lot of things that Roy wished he could have said to Ed. Feelings Ed knew all to well. He ran up to the older man and punched him in the chest.
"You better not die bastard." Ed said all but holding back tears.
"I would never dream of such a thing." Roy said with a smile that Ed melted under.
"We really should be going Roy." Havoc said. Roy nodded and put his hand on Eds shoulder.
"I will come back and maybe then we can talk about a few things." Roy said. Ed nodded not trusting his voice to say anything else. Ed watched as the man he loved walked away to fight in a war that he may not come back from. He smacked himself, he was acting like a girl. Roy was the best fighter in any village there was no way he wasn't going to be coming back.
Ed stood there staring at where Roy's squad had disappeared from view. Al walked up and stood next to him.
"He'll be back. Don't worry so much brother." Al said clasping his older brothers shoulder. He heard Ed sniffle but he would claim otherwise.
"The bastard better."