Note: I'm really sorry for not writing anything for so long, but I promise to make it up to you all. :) I'm going to start trying to write during the week and posting on Saturday, if life permits then I can get a schedule going. Wouldn't that be fun! Hope you like the chapter. Thanks for Reading!
Chapter Four: Confessions and Rebels
Alphonse was in serious trouble.
The person they had sent was none other than General Riza Hawkeye herself. One of the only people that could see through anything Edward or Alphonse threw at her. Then to top it off the first thing she said to Alphonse when she walked in was, 'I know that Edward-kun sent the message that told us you were in the hospital, I also know that, that scarf is the very same scarf you transmuted for your brother last year. Not to mention that I found Edward-kun's old watch from his State Alchemist days in that leather coat, and I asked Winery if she sent you those lilies and she said no. And to top it all off, Edward-kun's red coat was used to throw off Black Hayate.' She really covered her bases. Al had forgotten that besides Edward there were only two other people who knew he liked red lilies and that was Winery and Riza herself. It had been ten minutes since she walked in and Al still hadn't said anything. He had been planning on saying he didn't know who had drugged him…until she came in the room.
Al chanced a look at the blond haired women and met her eyes. Her gaze had been trained on him this whole time. It was beginning to get uncomfortable for Alphonse. He looked away again and pulled at the bed sheets with his fingers suddenly very interested. Al heard Riza sigh, then he heard her walk closer to sit on the side of the bed so that he didn't really have any choice but to look at her.
"Another fact I know that you would be more panicked than this if you didn't know who drugged you." She said evenly, looking closely at Alphonse. Alphonse tried to think of way he could get out of explaining what happened, but he couldn't think of a way around Riza's facts and his silence was only proving her right. Not only that but…lying felt wrong; after a few more minutes of silence Alphonse sighed in defeat. It didn't help that deep down he knew if he told her a lie she wouldn't believe it.
Riza looked at him expectantly knowing that she had convinced Alphonse to give up on lying to her. Though Alphonse wouldn't look her in the eye, she could tell by the slump of his shoulders. Riza did feel bad about having to do that to the boy but they had to know if it was Edward that had drugged him and if he knew why. The doctor had said that there were no signs of Alphonse having been forced to swallow the sedative, and that's what had led them to believe it had be Edward who had done it. Then when they entered the room there was more evidence that suggested that the elder Elric had been there. As well as a frazzled nurse who she had convinced to tell her about the other visitors besides herself and the military personnel. And she said a very attractive young man with gold hair had been sitting there with Alphonse and had left moments before Riza and the others had arrived and had been the one and only visitor besides them. Strong evidence pointed to Edward, but they needed to have Alphonse say it, and they needed to know why.
Finally Alphonse exhaled slowly and spoke. "Yes…it was…" he paused for a long time before continuing, "Edward." He finally, softly, said. He shoulders slumped even more and his head lowered. Alphonse felt he had betrayed his brother and couldn't bring himself to look at the General for fear of the expression she was wearing.
"Alphonse. I know you probably feel like you've betrayed Edward. But we needed to make sure it wasn't the same person from before." Riza paused before asking, "Do you know why he sedated you?"
Alphonse twitched angry rearing it's ugly head when he heard the pity in her voice. It was hard to squash the feeling when he remembered the question from his previous situation, "No, I don't. But it certainly wasn't for the same reason as him." Alphonse said sharply looking at Riza. She held her hands in the surrender position until his expression grew less intense.
"I didn't say his reason was the same Alphonse. I just wanted to be sure who it was before I barged into his house and arrested him for breaking his restraining order." Riza said calmly.
Alphonse relaxed a little and shook his head. "No, you don't need to arrest him. It wasn't him. It was Edward. He actually said it was because I looked tired. And before you ask I'm not going to press charges against my brother, he may have his own reasons but I'm sure none of them are ill intended. He wouldn't hurt me."
Riza nodded, "I agree with you. Edward-kun wouldn't hurt you. You two have gone through too much together and love each other too much to turn on each other like that." She paused before reaching over him and pressing the red button, "I assume you want out of here." She smiled at Alphonse, and he smiled back at her.
"Yes, I do. Um . . . Riza." Alphonse didn't know if he was stepping out of line by being so un-formal with her, but he wanted to express his gratitude properly.
"Yes Alphonse-kun?" She replied looking at him with another smile.
"Thank you." Alphonse said quietly. He knew that they were all probably curious as to how he swallowed a sedative without a fight even if it was his elder brother, but still she hadn't asked the dreaded question. Although Al did know he'd have to tell them eventually, it was nice to not have to talk about it right then. Abby came into the room to further distract them. Her black curls as frazzled as ever.
"O.K. Alphonse here are your clothes. You can change while General Riza signs some papers." Abby smiled at Al and then looked pleasantly at Riza as they both left the room closing the door behind them. Getting out of bed Alphonse quickly dressed himself in the new change of clothes General Riza must have gotten from His and Edward's house. Changing his underclothes first, he pulled on his socks next and a pair of boot cut jeans fitting just right to his waist and thighs then flared lightly at the knees then hung nicly down his legs just brushing the tops of his feet. After pulling his belt tight and fastening it, he slipped on a white tank top and a bright red button up shirt with the same white symbol as on Edward's coat. Leaving it open Al began to lace up the leather boots that had been brought in for him. Alphonse looked around for his coat but didn't see it anywhere. Shrugging he picked up the thick leather coat and wrapped the white scarf around his neck. Riza walked right as he was trying to pick up everything on the table next to the bed. Riza sighed a small sigh of exasperation then spoke.
"I see that you're ready Alphonse-kun. Let me help carry some of that." Riza stated as she came in, gently picking up Al's vase of flowers. Abby came in next and handed Alphonse a piece of paper.
"Here you go. The doctor signed this note for your professors when he heard you were going to college." She said cheerfully.
Alphonse almost dropped the books he picked up. "Alphonse-kun is everything alright?" Riza asked worried by the sudden change in Alphonse's face.
"I COMPLETELY FORGOT!" Alphonse then bolted out the door, startling poor Abby as he ran past. Riza tried to stop him by grabbing his arm but missed.
"Alphonse-kun wait!" Riza cried out as she tried to catch up to Alphonse who was already disappearing around the corner at the end of the hall.
Four Hours Later
"I tried to explain to you Alphonse-kun but you bolted away. How did you even run back to your house as fast as you did?" Asked Riza.
After Alphonse had exited the hospital he had somehow beat Riza to his and Edward's house and was about to run to his college when Riza finally stopped him and took him back to Central Headquarters.
"I really should go talk to my Professors there bound to be furious with my sudden disappearance." Alphonse stated a little more than frazzled. "Not to mention I had three papers that needed to be finished yesterday."
"Everything is alright Alphonse; there are perks to knowing the Fuhrer directly." Mustang said as he entered the room, his trademark smirk lighting up his features. "All of your homework and reports, including everything from the past three days will be due next Tuesday. As well as tomorrow you are to go to school an hour early to speak with each of your Professors."
Alphonse sighed in relief and looked at Roy, "Thanks so much, I have no idea how to repay you."
"You could start by telling me how Edward got you to swallow that sedative." Roy deadpanned as he moved around his desk and sat down. Alphonse looked as if he'd been slapped.
"Pardon?" Al asked in a stricken voice.
"You heard me Alphonse." Roy said evenly, his dark eyes intense. Al swallowed hard. He couldn't tell if he liked to look in the Fuhrer's eyes.
"Why is this so important?! Edward would never hurt me! It has nothing to do with what happened before either." Al was irritated they wanted to know so badly. They should know that Edward would never hurt him.
Roy sighed then began to rummage through his desk until he snags the rolled up piece of paper that he wanted. "Edward suddenly disappears with a strange woman, then he sends this note to us that reads 'To my Dear Brother's Military Friends,' as well as drugs you. I personally think there are holes in his memory, and it would help prove if he does or doesn't have holes in his memory if you would just tell me how he did it."
"How?" Alphonse asked stubbornly his cheeks beginning to turn red.
"Well if he handed it to you would be an entirely different story. But if he were to, oh I don't know, kiss you to get you to take it would defiantly tell me there was holes in his memory, say the last three to four months or so." Roy watched Al the whole time and noticed how his cheeks got darker when he mentioned Edward kissing him.
There was a long and tense silence as Roy stared down the blushing Alphonse before he finally broke the silence. "O.K! Fine, yes Edward kissed me. I have no idea how that proves that he has holes in his memory. He acted the same as always with me…besides, you know the kissing thing."
"This month is April corect. Edward had been dating me through the entire time of January through March. That's how I can prove it. He just barely called it off at the beginning of this month because he realized how me and General Riza feel about each other and didn't want to get in the way. I told him that he wouldn't get in the way but he refused. He didn't want to continue to date me just because I was trying to help him forget his feelings for you. There was affection between us but nothing really serious, and that is why he broke it off when he found out about me and General Riza. And although I did enjoy his company and unusual point of view I respected his decision. He is Homosexual and he loves you, he didn't know how you'd react to his feelings, he didn't want to chase you away, and he knows that it's generally not accepted to date your sibling so he hid it from you and asked me to help him forget. So that's what I did." He paused for a minute before continuing, "The letter does not address me as Roy, or Stupid Mustang, or Bastard as he's come to call me, there is no feeling for me and he has no memory of his decision to hide his feelings for you. Somehow this 'Mother of the Moon' has taken his memories and clouded his judgment. That is why it's so important that you told us that." Roy stayed quiet for a while letting Alphonse absorb the information.
It took a full minute for Alphonse to understand what had been told to him and he had a blank expression the whole time then he then simply asked, "Nii-san is gay?"
Roy couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, "Yes Al, Edward is gay." Al walked over to the couch inside his office and sat down thinking about what Fuhrer Mustang had just said, mulling it over.
"If only he'd known." Al whispered quietly.
"What Al-kun?" General Riza said softly, almost motherly like.
Al couldn't stop himself before he suddenly blurted, "If only he'd known that I feel the same for him." He quickly dropped his head when he realised what he had said, afraid of the rejection that he might see in his friends eyes or even worse, disgust. At first everyone was silent only making his anxiety worse, but they were probably stunned. But he looked up as Fuhrer Mustang spoke again.
"It probably would have been better if he did know, but I'm afraid there's something else I have to tell you," He waited for Alphonse to look at him, "Keep in mind that we will still be looking for Edward but there's another pressing matter that I have to bring up. I had wanted to talk to about three days ago when you got back with Riza but Edward interfered. There is a unidentified Rebel Group that is trying to attack us; it's fairly large and we'll probably have to retaliate with military force before they harm innocent bystanders. I'm sorry to ask this but if I can, can I call on you to help in the fight purely for the reason with helping my protection protocol." He continued to look him in the eye and Alphonse slowly nodded.
"What about my schooling?" He asked lightly.
"It's not right now, but I'm sure that I can get you some leeway." He said with a smirk and Al nodded. Al guessed he could tell them now about the note that Edward had left him, but he decided not to. He didn't want Edward to run, or not come. He wanted to talk to Edward. So he kept quiet.
To Be Continued…
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