"I'll go get it!"
"Remember to be generous to our guest, Elicia."
"OK daddy."
Hughes peeked his head out towards the door as his absolutely irresistible adorable perfect daughter welcomed Roy and Edward. It had only been a month since Hughes met the boy but he figured a night over for dinner was good compensation for their first meeting. Uh, a meeting Hughes didn't remember so well, which is why he invited the two over. It would be a shame to not make proper accommodations with the little prodigy especially after the volumes Roy had spoken about him.
He wasn't sure what to make of the boy. As nice as he sounded something about his presence raised questions. His friend Roy had expressed his worry over the time Iscariot had taken Edward. Apparently Edward dodged the subject.
"It's good to see you ..."
"Who's the short one daddy?", Elicia asked innocently.
Hughes hid a growing smile when he saw the alchemist's reaction, a face caught in mid smile, definitely twitching from withholding certain doom.
"Hi there, I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist and I'm not shrimp sized."
"Daddy, stop it your beard tickles!"
Hughes couldn't stop himself from embracing his daughter and cuddling his face against her own. Child laughter enriched the forever growing smile on his face. Elicia was gently tugged away from his arms. Shoot, he thought to himself, why won't my lovely wife let me show off my daughter to everyone?
"Honey, you should really entertain our guest", she laughed out.
"I am!"
"Without the use of Elicia I mean."
Hughes sighed in defeat. No fair! A tingling buzz directed his view towards Edward. He sat stiffly on the velvet couch beside Roy. Eyebrows were raised in skepticism and awe while his jaw was set tight in anxiety. He quickly looked away when Hughes caught him. The man wondered whether the little alchemist was accustomed to being around people, specifically other families. Although he was still young he didn't appear to be very playful for his age or very expectant of some parental advice.
"You're a single child, right?"
The boy was startled by the question. He fumbled with words before answering, "Y-yeah. I don't have any siblings."
"I understand that both your parents are gone also?"
A cautious air had settled in at Hughes words so he continued, "You know you're welcomed to come here at any time. If there's anything you need you can ask. My family would be happy to have you come over more often. The more the merrier."
"T-Thank you,sir, uh, ."
"Then you'll come to my daughter's third birthday party!"
Once more the boy fumbled with a series of sounds while Hughes shook both of his hands ecstatically. Hughes began to search for a picture of his daughter but not before registering the shy honest smile on the boy's face.
"So where did he learn alchemy?" Gracia asked .
The question echoed in the absence of the alchemist who had gone to the balcony of Hughes's study to catch the night time breeze. Roy became his voice as he answered, "He learned from the books his father kept. Since he was home schooled he had plenty of spare time for reading."
"It's so amazing to see how intelligent someone can be."
"Well, he's not just anybody. Extremely gifted he is to have such a beautiful mind and be able to work with it."
That was when he heard it. A spell being spent out, a turmoil of songs that couldn't possibly be sung but by sirens and dead men. Gracia and Roy continued to nibble on soft cookies despite the virulent smell that swelled in the air. That sound... it was beautiful. Excusing himself the man followed its trail. He needed to know where it came from. The singer's voice caused him to lean in for if he ever missed a single word he would surely regret it, and that fact alone made it no less charming. His study. Yeah, that's where the sound came from. There was only one person there.
A cool breeze filled the entire room. Books snuggled tighter against their bookshelves and the furniture awaited the warmth of the living. The balcony doors were open wide. Outside stood Edward. The voice... it came from him. It had changed to simple but harmonious songs of whispers. Hughes understood nothing from the words that were said. They were in a language which he faintly recognized. At one point he had heard similar words. Where?
"MAES!"
Hughes heard the sound of bodies struggling in the living room, his wife calling out to him desperately. The disoriented state he had been in lifted. He took a step to begin the journey down the hallway that had brought him here before remembering what he had witnessed moments before. He turned his head to the now vacant study, balcony doors closed. There was no sign of the Fullmetal Alchemist. He cursed under his breath as he took the only choice and went to see what was occurring inside his home.
His wife's call was muffled by the gloved hand of a large man while her own were bound underneath another arm. Hughes noticed two other men fighting Roy who was visibly more than an adequate challenge. Their punches and kicks became faster and stronger the more the older alchemist dodged and blocked. He couldn't afford to attack or his defense would fail. He was already being backed into the next room.
Hughes did the sensible thing and charged against his wife's attacker. Like a rag doll she was thrown aside to the better safety of the wooden floor. He threw a punch expecting for the other man to grab at his fist or wrist and pull him in for a different attack. When the intruder went along with it Hughes bashed his skull against fragile nose. The hand that gripped his wrist loosened enough for him to back away and ready himself for a proper punch this time but seemingly not fazed by a broken nose, the intruder tackled Hughes down.
Petrified by fear, Hughes's wife had scrambled away from the thrashing men. She disappeared down the hallway he had entered seconds ago, becoming hazy in the distance.
Her husband attempted to escape from underneath the weight of his attacker only to be pulled back down as he tried to get back on his feet. Arm muscles wrapped piercing tight around his neck, oxygen immediately deprived from his lungs. Long legs were equally tight around his waist. They sat forcibly together against the wall with one unfortunate man growing red in the face. His sight began to blur and his efforts to escape weakened. Down the hallway a figure crowned by gold slowly emerged, it's upper half swinging backwards and forwards with a snap.
The body that suffocated him became pinned to the wall and went limp. Hughes threw himself forward, retching at the need for air. He felt warm wetness on his hair and face being smeared by his hands. A familiar shiver traveled down his spine. The Fullmetal Alchemist stood in the open, a long fire poker in his grasp leaning with leisure on his shoulder. The second arm lay condescendingly on his hip while the boy's chin was held high in opposition. Hughes could feel the trembling of his own nerves.
His previous attacker had been penetrated by another well aimed fire poker to the eye. There he lay bleeding profusely from a irreversible wound. Hughes could only wonder how close that piece of metal had whistled by his face. The end of the tick was not visible behind the dead man's head. Its edge dug deeply into the stained wall.
The shattering of porcelain and glass splintered the momentary silence. It caused for the young alchemist to turn in its direction, a frown adoring his face. He allowed for the poker to fall from his shoulder and to be twirled in his white gloved hand. Hughes followed him to the dining room where his table stood amidst debris. The plates and cabinets sprinkled the glossy floor. He couldn't blame Roy for breaking so much of his property though when he was the one being repeatedly smashed into every piece of tolerant furniture.
Before he could help fend off his friend's abusers the Fullmetal Alchemist raced forward. The men barely registered his presence until the slender but painful metal poker whipped across one of the mans' faces, partially tearing the mask that clung to the unknown. A scream emitted from behind the cloth and hands that attempted to caress the deep gash on its flesh. The short alchemist whirled around to deliver an even more painful wound to the other man, the sharp metal cutting along the neck and collarbone. With that, Roy elbowed the first man square in the face while the boy landed a satisfying round house kick to the other's gut. The two bodies joined the rubble on the floor.
The evening crawled on as military investigators shuffled about the apartment, a light drizzle resting on coats. The building residents were chattering crickets under streetlight. Hughes sat under the shadow of a vehicle alongside his family, an umbrella extended over their heads. His wife shook lightly despite the warmness of the night.
"Investigators are counting this as an attempted robbery. They found a vehicle a couple of blocks away filled with equipment and valuables. The two men that were arrested have a history with local police too." Roy spoke as he approached the family.
"How unfortunate that our neighborhood was the target," expressed with a saddened sigh. Knowing better than to stick around for details, she asked Elicia to walk with her to converse with the neighbors. Waiting for them to be out of ear shot, Hughes said, "Don't you think that it was a little bit more than an attempted robbery?"
His friend nodded in agreement but admitted his skepticism. "Those men were decent fighters." Yet he shrugged dismissively. "Could just be street bandits getting bolder. Still amateurs in other ways though."
"What about him?" Hughes discreetly pointed his chin at the hooded boy that sat on the sidewalk at a distance. Roy uncharacteristically responded with silence. The three of them had walked by the impaled corpse, the little alchemist only pausing to rip out the poker. He hadn't given his victim a second glance. Hughes had seen the way he had avoided Roy's gaze even more, an ashen shame visible in the way he did so. That shame was in no way dedicated towards the dead man though.
"It was a complete over-kill. Literally," Hughes continued, "I didn't think it would be so easy for him." The Ishvalan War bloomed horrifically at the back of his mind. As a soldier he had committed himself to his country, was suppose to be able to follow orders without hesitation even when death was the outcome. No man could accommodate themselves with it. Hughes could not explain the Fullmetal Alchemist's willingness to take a life and still be capable of shame. Deep down everyone knew of the endless cycle.
We've all become weapons. Just look at us now.
He made him way towards the boy and sat down beside him. Edward stopped in the middle of nervous fidgeting to turn his attention to Hughes.
"I, um, I'm sorry about what happened today. I don't know if you can tell but I'm very high strunged," explained Edward.
"It's alright. You helped keep my family safe after all. I just wanted to remind you that there are people here you can trust. The military can be a tough place to be in... I'm pretty sure you found out how difficult it can be to understand its motives."
The last part was intended as a sort of apology for the experiences that Edward had surely gone through and were yet to come in the life of a soldier. Common it was to be ordered to kill. There wasn't much to be done when a superior stepped over you and demanded the job to be completed. Questions would occasionally arise within one's self yet they still remained a soldier. If Edward was going to go down this path then at least he should use it to improve his country.
In a low content voice he responded, "I know it may not seem like it... I do understand the life I've chosen. Harsh it is... but I don't plan on giving in."
At the time Hughes could have never understood what Edward Elric meant.
This wasn't real. He knew it was all imaginary. Yet it was real and they both could feel. No, all the pain was just inside his head. He was a flame drowning in a sea of longing, broken by a serpentine. Something within his human side was changing. Violently it changes...
Roy stirred in his sleep, reaching up to unbutton his shirt before it suffocated him. He needed to get out of this skin that threatened him so often now rather than enchant his supposed womanizing attitudes and behavior. Most of the military knew him as such, a highly ranked officer for his age, a mysterious character with powerful connections. No one could understand where his heart laid.
Oh, but there was someone.
His body began to shift beneath sheets. The weight upon the mattress was not only of his own he realized. The air he breathed was dangerous. The bed he was on part of sin. Scandalous yes he was. Edward Elric slept beside him, metallic hand resting on the only space that separated the two bodies. A heat built itself within Roy. Nausea rolled over his very bones.
There was no turning back now, no way to undo his crimes. This child had woken up a demon in him. The sickness was rising and did not allow him to deny what he felt. His morality that was once good has died. It was a fast decay that settled within his decency. He was having trouble dealing with these changes, living with these changes.
Why did this keep happening? Why did he continue to find himself along side the sleeping form of the one person who was forbidden to him. No, he wasn't forbidden. Roy had had him before and he did now. But he should be.
