AN: This is a complete piece of crap, but I need to update this fic. Sorry for the wait.
Ed sighed, trying his damndest just to focus.
Mustang gave him a small, encouraging clap on the shoulder. "The MPs have him surrounded. He's ready for a fight. He's not going peacefully."
He was about to be in battle. Alchemy, burning, destruction and gunfire… What was wrong with him? Why was it so hard to believe?
Interrogating himself had never ended well in the past. Ed rolled his eyes. Why was anything anything? If he'd expected one damned thing to make sense in any of this, he was fooling himself. Hoping to put his auto-argumentative side at ease, he glanced around, trying, in what seemed like an increasingly rare feat of intelligence, to actually see what was going on.
Aside from the number of soldiers posed for attack, surrounding their enemy's stronghold, it hardly felt like the preface to a battle. He'd been expecting the guys to just burst out, going against them with all they had…
If he wasn't going to go peacefully, why bother making them wait?
He got his answer.
"Get down!" He heard Mustang yell. In an instant, he felt Mustang's weight on top of him, his back turned to the battlefield behind him. Before he could ask what the hell was going on, every nerve in his body was jolted into response by the crackle and crash of a transmutation.
Ed sucked in his breath, feeling the tension in the air as the very world around him seemed to compact and then expand in an explosion of light and energy. His surprised cry was drown out by the sheer volume of the blast.
He could feel the shift in elements – the change and reconstruction, the force of the transmutation. He cried out again, desperate, still, to know what the hell was going on, but Mustang held him firmly down, holding his own body low so as to better conceal himself.
Before the dust could settle, his eardrums were pounded by the sound of gunfire. Shouting. The smell of sulfur and gunpowder assaulted his nostrils.
"Mustang!" He shouted, pushing desperately against the man. It only occurred to him that Mustang's position – besides restraining him – also served to shield him. The Colonel was…
The Colonel hunkered down still lower, seemingly unaffected by the dust, roar, and occasional debris of battle. "Stay down!" he yelled back, and then abruptly pushed to his feet, grabbing Edward by the wrist and dragging the startled teenager with him as he ran.
"Make up your mind!" Ed shouted. The Colonel's mouth gave an irritated twitch, and Ed nearly fell into him as he came to a sudden stop, pulling Edward with him, and hunkered down behind a thick, twisted gnarl of bramble.
"We're going in, Fullmetal. Get ready."
"Understood," Ed responded, his body reacting to the command on its own accord. He sat up straighter, heart pounding in his ears. Adrenaline seared through his veins, and his limbs seemed to tense. It was enthralling. Whatever doubts he'd had about the battlefield earlier where gone. He was ready to fight. He was ready to…
"Now!"
He didn't need to be told twice. He ran, falling into place beside Mustang. He saw their opening – a couple of confused-looking chums wielding handguns in front of a seriously pissed-looking alchemist…
He saw the crackle of energy, could feel the heat of alchemic power radiating from the figure. He spotted the array pendant – such a simple one, really – and in an instant, saw the flow of energy working to form the reaction.
SNAP! He'd forgotten how loud the Colonel's snap was. He felt the air around him once again compact and expand, and red streams of flame burst forward. He automatically shielded his face, wincing at the sudden burst of heat in his face.
The enemy clearly knew what he was up against. The array around his neck trembled and exploded into light in an instant. Hands reached up, and the reaction broke out with a loud crash. The instant before the two reactions cancelled each other out - which was merely an instant after the colonel had snapped his fingers - Ed's hands were on the ground, and a third burst of energy and a flash of blue light signaled a third transmutation. The resulting shaft of alchemic energy seemed to send vibrations down from the point of impact and up his limbs as it shot towards the enemy in a narrow shaft of light. Transmuted earth shot up as the light grew nearer to its target, and the reaction panned out, creating a shockwave of pure, unbridled power.
He loved it. The entire world was at his fingertips – his for the alteration. Everything in front of him – everything! – was made of elements he could break down and reconstruct. The sheer power sent its own tiny shockwaves down his limbs – enthralling little sparks that seemed to work in sync with the adrenaline and rush pounding in every inch of his body.
He would win. He wanted to. He wanted to fight. He wanted to destroy this guy…
Another loud snap, and another burst of alchemic force. The flames didn't so much as bother Edward. He wanted to feel the heat on his skin. The air - altered to adhere to the wishes of its manipulator - forcing too-warm gusts into his face. He was alive.
The blast was beautiful.
---
"Damn!" Hughes exclaimed, staring in wonder at the various displays of alchemy.
Beside him, Fuery hunkered down, looking as though he'd like nothing more than to cover his ears.
"Looks like the Colonel found his target. Shouldn't be long, now. The two of them can make short work of one alchemist," Fuery said, and while he looked fairly intimidated, there was no doubting his faith in his words.
"I'm no alchemist, but even if I were, I wouldn't want to cross paths with those two. I know what they're capable of…." Hughes grumbled, scratching his head.
While Hughes had known that calling in this many troops to take out one guy and what were likely to be inexperienced cronies was borderline unnecessary, it certainly paid to be careful. He wasn't an alchemist – never would understand it – but if Roy said that their enemy was capable of terrible things, he wasn't about to doubt him. Much as Roy seemed to love sending Edward off to do his bidding when it came to everything from fetching groceries ("This is an order, Fullmetal.") to having him investigate high-end alchemic mysteries reserved for the topmost alchemic minds in the state, he never wanted to send the kid into battle. His reasons for this reluctance varied ("He's not experienced in proper combat. The assessment match is no display of his skills on the field."), but for the most part, he denied any personal connection to his dislike for having the kid in open combat ("I'm his commanding officer, Lieutenant. I'm trying to think strategically. This would be better suited for the Red Wood. She's had experience.").
For Roy to bring another valued State alchemist – and one who, for whatever reason, he didn't want in proper combat – into battle with him was quite an undertaking. Even bringing the Major in…
Something didn't sit quite right with him. It was almost as though the Colonel knew something the rest of his bewildered men did not.
And then he sighed. Of course there was something behind all of this that Roy wasn't telling them. And while Maes could never doubt for a moment that his best friend's reasoning for this was logical, and that everything would work out with his careful planning, he wondered exactly where the Colonel himself would fit into it.
"You'd better not fuck up, buddy," he murmured under his breath, low enough so only he could hear.
- - -
As the dust settled, Edward's triumphant smirk spread into a small smile. Beside him, the Colonel stood, stoic and seemingly unaffected, albeit perhaps a little bemused.
"You suck," the young man said, rolling his eyes as though he'd been the subject of a practical joke. To the contrary, he was tightly encased in alchemically created bindings, completely helpless, and yet seemed almost entirely unconcerned. It continued the day's trend of things popping up that made no sense to Edward.
Mustang flinched. At what, Ed had no idea. Perhaps he was surprised by the guy's nerve. Whatever it was, the Colonel seemed to straighten, and turned to address the man.
"Chas. Seems like you're as bratty as ever."
It was Ed's turn to flinch. Did the Colonel know this guy…?
Well, obviously, if he could address him by name, but while Edward was used to surprises, this was getting a bit hard to wrap his head around (not that that was anything new). If this guy was their only threat – well, him and his useless grunts – then why did they need three State alchemists, not to mention an oddly high amount of troops, to take him down?
The man, apparently named Chas, simply gave a small snort. "Lay off, Colonel Dickweed. It's not like I was expecting to fight you. Ma gave me 'strict orders' not to, but then you come in threatening to fuckin' torch my ass."
The Colonel's mouth quirked up a small fraction. "So, Chas, how's your ass?"
A growl. "I thought the fact that my last name rhymed with ass had long since stopped being funny, dammit."
Ed was bewildered. They were talking on almost friendly terms. As though the life-or-death struggle they'd just went through were little more than a friendly sparring match.
"Colonel, what…" Ed started, utterly clueless.
The two of them seemed to acknowledge his presence then, and Chas gave another snort.
"Who's this? Your boyfriend?"
Not that he'd had much going for him in the first place, but Edward decided that he hated this guy, and let him know it with a firm kick in the ribs.
Judging by the responding cry, the military boots had something going for them.
"What, jealous?" Roy retorted, raising an eyebrow as Chas seethed, desperate to rub his side.
"Uh-huh, right. Yeah, I know you're some kind of crazy gay pedophile, but I don't go for little boys. OW! Dammit!"
"Who are you calling little?!" Edward all but screamed.
"More importantly, who are you wasting your time tastelessly calling a pedophile and smart-assing to when you should be telling me what the hell is going on!?"
A long, heavy sigh. "I don't know what you and your boyfriend are so hyped up about. It's not like I've done anything. If I'd known it was the Flaming Alchemist, I wouldn't have attacked."
"Would one of you mind telling me…!"
"Fullmetal, ease up," Roy commanded quietly, as though telling an annoying child to quiet down. It was infuriating. Question after question pounded Ed's mind, the burden of knowing nothing about the scene in front of him almost hurt him physically.
Roy reached down, and forcefully yanked Chas up by the collar. "Come on. Enough of this. You might get away with this bullshit around everybody else, but if you approach me as an enemy, kid or not, your behavior is going to be dealt with as though you were an adult. And in case you weren't already aware, adults get away with a lot less, kid."
Chas's glare only hardened, and then he snorted before rolling his eyes and blowing it off with a "whatever".
"Come on, idiot. Your partner – and I'm pretty sure that applies in ways outside the military sense – is just a friggin' little kid. Don't lecture me about being an adult when a friggin' little kid is in the military. What the fuck. Either I've forgetten what those epaulettes mean, or the kid's a Major. A State alchemist? Jesus Christ."
It took every single ounce of restraint Edward had not to pummel the older boy's face in.
"Actually, he's not much younger than you. Little over half a year, maybe. While most of the time, he's hardly more mature than you are, he at least puts effort into being an adult when he needs to."
While Edward wasn't sure if this was a compliment or another reason to put a fist in the bastard's face, he was sure that he hated being talked about while he was standing right here…
"You're kidding me! But… Damn… He's so small. I thought he was, like, twelve…"
Edward wasn't sure if he'd broken a rib this time, and he didn't really care. "Dammit! You can talk about this shit and leave me out of the loop, call me gay for whatever fucking reason, and piss me off a different way everytime you open your mouth, but do not call me small!"
Chas, as it was, likely hadn't heard him over the string of profanity coming out his mouth faster than Edward could register. He heard words he'd never heard before – even after hanging around Havoc when the man was denied a smoke break – and, from the look of the Colonel's face, a few words were new for him, too.
Whatever he did, the Colonel did not reprimand Ed for his outburst. Aside from his surprise at Chas' reaction, he didn't seem to acknowledge that it happened at all. The term boiling point seemed to almost take on a literal meaning then, and Ed could almost feel the anger bubbling up inside him. It was unlike the rush of battle or the desire to win – while he was seemingly always irritated with something, true anger was an unwelcome rarity to him, and at that moment, for no reason that, logically, he could ever come to understand, he wanted to kill the Colonel.
He wouldn't expect it. He wasn't on his guard. All he'd have to do is clap, and before Roy Mustang could turn around, he'd be impaled on the blade of Edward's own arm.
He wanted to kill Mustang. For jerking him around. For treating the lives of people as if they were nothing but pawns… Abusing the loyalty of his comrades, of Hughes, and acting as though none of it were important. And now, this kid – who Ed knew to be a murderer, no matter how young he was – was on reasonably good terms with the Bastard.
A dark thought occurred to Edward. Maybe this wasn't a confrontation, but a planned meeting of the two. If he'd brought so many soldiers here so that he and this guy could… No! Dammit…
"Fullmetal! Kid! Dammit, what's wrong with you?" Ed stumbled back as soon as he realized he was being shaken. He growled and stepped back.
Roy sighed, looking utterly defeated. "Edward, listen."
His voice was the same authoritive, professional tone he expected from his commanding officer, but the use of his name both unsettled and comforted him.
"Fine," was his only answer. And as simply as that, the intensity of his anger seemed to simmer down – again, the feeling was almost literal – replaced with horror that, moments before, he'd contemplated killing Roy Mustang.
"I don't really know what's happening, either, but you're going to have to trust me. I don't have the time – nor the patience – to explain what's going on right now, but I will tell you everything – or as much as I can – as soon as possible. Until then, I need you to follow beside me as you normally would. I get the feeling we're about to face our culprit."
Edward seemed to nod of his own accord, despite every logical part of him screaming to say no. Dammit. What was wrong with him today…?
He was trusting the Colonel's good intentions. And he was trusting that he was telling the truth. He was putting his trust in a man he hated when everything about the situation said that he shouldn't.
It occurred to him then, the Colonel's last sentence. As urgent as it should have been, the realization that the kid they'd just fought wasn't the alchemic murderer they needed to take down wasn't high on his list of concerns. He was more concerned about the damn bastard than the current battle…!
"Gay," Chas grumbled.
A glare. "If you're done with the adolescent insults, kid, I believe you know a certain depraved alchemist we need to see."
" 'See?' Look, Colonel Douchebag. We're not looking for a fight… At least not from you. But judging from the battle going on outside, I guess you're not here to talk. Fine. Whatever."
The Colonel didn't respond, and instead grabbed Chas by the arm. "Take us there, or you're not going to be able to open your mouth for a while."
Chas shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. "Fine. Whole gang's here. Should be pretty cool."
With that, the three of them set foot, and Edward was left following the word of a man who he now felt he had no reason to trust. And, for the first time since he was summoned, Edward was scared for what consequences his choice could bring.