Crazy
Chapter ten-Questions
It had been bad enough that Roy hadn't gone to bed till early morning, but then not being able to sleep made everything worse. Starting with his mood. In the back of his mind he contemplated the idea of just beating the answers out of Ed, however he also knew Hawkeye would not let him do that. Besides that, he could never really do that when the kid was already so beaten up as it was. At some point he needed to talk to Ed but he wasn't sure if he would even cooperate at this point. A yawn forced its way out of his mouth reminding him he hadn't slept well. Pushing the office door open, he was cheerfully greeted by Hughes.
"Morning, Roy. How'd you sleep?" Mustang glared at his friend and let out a growl.
"I didn't." He slowly made it over to the desk and collapsed in his chair. "Just couldn't shut my mind off." Hughes leaned forward in his seat, readjusting his glasses, a stern look on his face now.
"Of all the people that I would suspect for something like this, Ed was at the bottom of the list. I mean sure he gets mouthy every so often but not enough to go against us. Any ideas yet as to why he did it?" Roy sighed loudly, rubbing his temple as though it would help him come up with the answer.
"I was thinking about it all night but I don't see him as a traitor. There has to be more to it then that."
"Well have you gotten to talk to him yet?"
"To be honest, I don't know if he'll even talk to me. The fact that he ran, has me wondering what's really going on." He glanced over wearily. "You wouldn't want to talk to him? I bet he'd tell you more then me."
"Yeah well, as true as that is, remember the other night when we were chasing him in the rain, I think I hit him with one of my knives. It just grazed him I think but even so."
"He'd still probably talk to you over me."
"Have you spoken with Alphonse at all about this. You might get an honest answer from him."
"I don't even know if he's in on what's been happening but it's worth a shot."
"Started any of the paper work on this yet"
"No. I don't want Ed taking the blame for all of this. I'm sure there's someone manipulating him. Not to make it sound like the kid is easily duped or anything. Judging by his injuries it took quite a bit of persuasion."
"How bad is he?" It was typical for Maes to worry about Ed's health, just his fatherly concern coming out.
"Pretty bad from what I saw. I know he can take quite a bit of damage but considering how much time went by since any of us last saw him, who knows how long he's been walking around, hurt like that."
"Leave it to Ed to not take care of himself when Al's not here. This could be much bigger then we think it is. Hope you're up to the challenge."
"Someone beats one of my men and convinces him to betray me, you can bet I'm up to the challenge."
oOoOo
"Aw come on, are you serious?" Edward pulled at both wrists that were now securely cuffed to the railings on either side of his bed. His hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and his left arm was practically covered with white bandages. "This is ridiculous." He slouched his shoulders, looking indignant.
"Would you have preferred it if they had taken your automail? We wanted to make sure you wouldn't escape." Riza was looking over some paper work as she sat next to the bed.
"Well if you really think I'd try to escape then maybe I should." She turned to him as she brought her hand around to retrieve her gun. He started to sweat at the thought of making her angry.
"You've really gotten yourself in a lot of trouble here Edward, I don't think it's the time to be cracking jokes." He seemed to sink his head lower as though her words were a weight above him.
"Lieutenant?" He spoke softly, not looking in her direction. She glanced over, waiting quietly for him to continue. "I really wasn't trying to hurt anyone...it's just...I didn't have a choice. Honest." She dropped her gaze and nodded back.
"I know this wasn't easy for you to do. And that there's something else going on here." She noticed he flinched some when she mentioned that. "Do yourself a favor and just tell him this time what's really going on." Ed sighed back in response before the door open and no more words would be spoken between them. The Lieutenant stood from her spot and saluted as the Colonel walked over.
"The doctor said you've got five broken ribs. How long have you been walking around like that?" Ed didn't bring his head up but just sank further into the realization he'd been caught and wouldn't be able to help Alphonse. "You do realize the questions are going to get harder from this point?"
Still nothing.
The door opened again and Hughes walked in, still in the middle of another conversation. Once he was finish talking with the one nurse, he moved further into the room.
"Boy, the nurses here are a little to nice. Talk about barking up the wrong tree." He glanced down at his wedding ring proudly.
"Hughes, can we focus?" Mustang was all business now and was not in the mood for anything else.
"Yeah, yeah. Here yah go." He handed Roy a small stack of papers. Edward glanced over through the loose strands of blond hair that blocked most of his vision.
"According to this report, Hughes and his men weren't able to find the missing documents you stole from us in your dorm. Wanna explain that?" Finally an actual emotion swept over the teen's face as a flash of anger entered his amber eyes.
"You searched my room?"
"What choice did we have, Ed? You were caught stealing from us. Oh and I called the Curtis residence." Edward dropped his gaze again, not allowing them to see the pain that had replaced the anger in his expression. "Alphonse isn't there. So you lied about that too. This is beyond serious. Both lying to a superior officer or stealing documents is enough to put you away."
Still nothing.
Roy watched as Ed just slouched more and his hands gripped at the blanket. Mustang inhaled loudly through his nose. After the silence lingered for awhile longer, he turned to the Lt. Colonel. "Maes, is this the only copy of the report?" He kept his voice low as if he thought someone could be listening in.
"Yeah, and the men that accompanied me to Fullmetal's room weren't told any specifics of the case." After another odd moment of silence, there was an unexpected snap that caught Ed's full attention. The report in the Colonel's hand lit up in flames for a few seconds before shriveling into a black pile of ash in a nearby trash can. Finally taking a seat, Roy made eye contact with Edward.
"Ed, just tell me what's going on. Let me help." His tone was soft and even sounded sympathetic. Everything Ed had been holding onto, all the worry and concern that had been piling up all week, all the guilt and sadness finally overwhelmed him. The mismatched shoulders began shaking and he turned his face away so that they couldn't see his perfect mask begin to break. But as quiet a whisper his voice came out, all three of them could hear his statement as if he were screaming it.
"They have Al."