Chapter Four: Quattuor (Four)

A/N: Have you ever thought about Ed in a string bikini? No? Good for you, don't, it's a scary thought. Anyway, thanks to those who pay attention to this story, (and chapter) it's one of my favourites:D

Four weeks away, time for recollection, the suspension of doubts, and time to think where you're going because, as they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Did he love Roy? The grate moved with the weight of his body behind it, albeit a little reluctantly. "Al, I'm in." He called quietly over his shoulder.

"We're clear down here but I don't think that'll last very long."

"Then get up here," the ledge on which his toes were perched couldn't have been more than two inches or so wide and the longer he stood there the more likely plummeting to a paralyzed life seemed. The floor of the vent he'd just opened looked a bit more promising and he slipped inside, dropping to his hands and knees as a necessity. "You back there, Al?"

"Yes, I am. Now get moving before I fall to my dearth out here!" Chuckling, Ed scampered forward, wary to make as little noise as possible.

He wasn't even sure he knew what love really meant.

No trouble arose for the two brothers until the very came to a fork, and Ed stopped dead in his tracks to stare confusedly at it. "This isn't supposed to be here…"

"Ed! You said this led straight to Sakai's main room!" Al complained, and Ed could almost feel him roll his eyes.

"Uhm, it does, after the fork that is." He looked back and forth desperately between the two passages sort of hoping a magical entity would tell him which way to go.

Al groaned, "You should have told me you weren't certain."

"I am certain, one of these leads directly to Sakai's hideout."

"Oh, mighty plan maker, which way should we go then?" Ed scowled irritably.

"Cut the sarcasm! Well, which way's north?"

"Wait a sec, let me pull out the compass I always carry with me when crawling through a vent on restricted grounds in the middle of the night."

"I said cut that out!" Ed had gotten rather loud and Al smacked his leg and told him to quiet down before he got them caught.

"Which way?"

Ed shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and headed right, it was as good a guess as any. Alphonse said nothing but Ed knew he was frustrated. Despite that, though, he was happy to have his brother along on the mission, now that he'd recovered the strength that the Gate had leeched from his body.

Ed knew he loved Al, and Winry, and Granny Pinako, they were family. Comfort, and home, they took care of him and he did what he could to take care of them. It was a little strange to find that Roy fell into that category too.

"Be especially quiet, I see light coming from a few yards ahead," Edward whispered. Alphonse tugged on his coat from behind, "Huh?"

"Light? It ought to be almost five A.M. now, who would have a light on?" He asked heatedly.

"Maybe he's a night owl, it wouldn't surprise me, you know."

"Right." Silently, well as silent as is possible in a hollow tin vent, they scuffled towards the light and Edward started to feel the rush of adrenaline build in his system, readying him for the instincts of a fight. Mentally he cringed, hoping he didn't really get them into a spot that they couldn't get out of, it would be his fault if something happened to Al. "Stop that and start moving," he heard Al murmur, like he'd been reading Edward's mind.

There were other things, too, less prominent but he still loved them. Like a fire, or a particularly beautiful sunset, because they were nice to look at and he enjoyed being around one. Roy was beautiful, too, and there were, as he was realizing, few places he'd rather be than with him.

Ed peered warily from the grate on this side into the room below, he'd been right, this was the layout he'd studied. He gave Al a thumbs up, as his eyes scanned the real layout, it was practically the same as he'd thought, there was only one issue. The man they were after wasn't in the room as had been planned, at least not the man that had been described to him. Ed's guess was the bulky man with his back to them was hired muscle, protection for the master of illegalities; Sakai.

Seeing as how this was no time for secrecy, especially with this thug, Ed slammed the iron grate from its place in the wall, and leaped easily to the well-carpeted floor. "Hey, what the fuck's a couple a' kids doing in here?" The thick bodied man slid an exceptionally hairy knuckle beneath his coat and Ed immediately lunged for him to keep him from the fun that was almost certainly in his waistband. He didn't want Al in any major fighting on only his second mission back so as he wrestled an equally hairy set of arms he told Al to search for the evidence of any illegal transactions. Amazingly, he didn't argue and went to the desk across from the couch and began to alchemically bust the locks.

There were smaller things yet, like a mug of steaming hot chocolate on a cold day, or chicken-noodle soup when he wasn't feeling well. Those things were familiar, comfort, also they made him feel good. Roy made him feel good too, not just that but Roy made him feel like he was special, worth something.

Eventually Edward managed to knock the fun from his dirt grasp and spin him around like a move from some perverse waltz. One solid tap on the base of his skill from a clenched automail fist put him down and the application of bonds made from his shirt and some needed materials from the couch covers pretty much put him on the bench for the rest of the game. "Brother, I've got the numbers!" Al called excitedly.

"Good, now all we've got to do is get that son of a bitch Sakai and we're home free!"

-(0)-

Roy,

Well, there really isn't much to report from this end of the world. For the first couple of weeks chasing this bastard down was ridiculous, but we've almost got him. I think we'll probably be finished down here in a short while, and we'll be back in Central soon. By the way, Al says hi, course he called you Colonel, I'm not going to. Anyway, that's all I really have to say, hope you haven't been shot by the Lieutenant!

Miss you,

Ed

Under the last line the paper was worn thin having been erased much too many times. Roy chuckled and folded the parchment covered in scrawling words and returned it to the envelope. He hoped that was true, that Ed would be back soon because the last line, even if it wasn't what had first been written, held true on this side of the world.