*looks around* Early? Me? Whaaaa? XD I'm updating a day early due to the fact that I'm leaving on vacation and will have no internet access. I'll be able to write, though, so my next update will be on time.

Thank you all who review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Things were a little different. After Ed settled back into office life, their existence was returning to a somewhat expected cycle, and if Ed still woke screaming from nightmares and Roy occasionally would inform his charge he really couldn't take the scent of meat today, then nothing was said of the fact. Scars remained, but life went on.

And the wound that never closed, because Al was still gone, was never mentioned. Never healed, not really.

Of course something had to go screw everything over again—naturally.

Roy really shouldn't have been all that surprised with news of the trial.

"Trial?" Roy said blankly. "Who did what this time?"

Maes shook his head, looking perturbed as he sat across from Roy in the Colonel's office. "Not like that, Roy. Y'know, Ed's trial. Where we find out if that slimy snake Hinze gets his just deserts or no."

Something cold curled around the Colonel's heart, and he swallowed as he nodded. "That trial. Right." A sigh, and he dragged his hand across his face. How had he forgotten about this?

"You're going to have to tell Ed." Roy recoiled from the comment with a snort, and Maes leaned forward to set his hands on the desk. "You can't avoid this. He should testify against Hinze—it would help the case a ton."

"He won't do it," Roy said automatically. Maybe that was his own two cents, though—he didn't want Ed to have to stand up in front of God knew how many people and tell them what had been done to him, and then have edited proceedings of the trial aired on the radio as they were sure to be for a scandal like this one. After all, who wouldn't want to know every last juicy tidbit about the personal life of the Fullmetal Alchemist?

If Roy could protect him from that, he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

"He won't do it, even if that could be the thing that puts Hinze behind bars?" Maes said softly. "You know how it is. If we let the jury turn a blind eye to this, they will. Ed's the people's alchemist, and they should be backing him up at a moment's notice, but they're not going to unless he's there, seeing their faces, and then none of them are going to want to fail him. We show a kid who's too timid to go out into the world and they're going to shuffle and hem and haw and let that monster off with a warning. That's it."

Maes paused, watching Roy's face. The Colonel was wavering, but wavering wasn't enough for the situation at hand. "Roy, please. Is it going to hurt Ed more to stand up and tell everyone what happened to him or is it going to hurt more to watch the man that raped and beat him and did hell knows what to his brother just walk away?"

There was a bang as Roy slammed his hand down on the desk, but Maes didn't flinch. The alchemist took a few calming breaths, and that alone told Maes he may have gone too far, but what had been said had already been said.

"Maes, I…" Roy sighed heavily and rubbed at his forehead. "I'm not forcing him into anything. I refuse to drag him to the trial if he's so reluctant he'll just freeze up on the stand. But…" Roy seemed to have a hard time meeting his friend's eyes. "I'm won't take the choice out of his hands, either."

Maes nodded. "That's all I'm asking. But you should tell him how much is hinging on his decision—"

Roy glared. "Maes, now you're trying to get me to pressure him into—"

"He needs to know, Roy. Tell him the flat truth, got it? Or I will."

There was a long moment of silence, and Roy nodded stiffly. "Fine. You can go now." As if he were the one who'd invited Maes in, as if he were complying with a request rather than a demand from a friend. Maes shook his head slightly and rose from his seat, pausing momentarily to glance back at the Colonel from the doorway before leaving the office.

Roy was intensely protective of anyone he thought truly needed it. Before this whole fiasco, he probably would have shooed Ed off to take care of his own problems unless they were vital to Ed's continued loyalty or functionality. Now, seeing a more fragile side of the teen had transformed Roy into someone that, in relation to his younger charge, could probably best be called… a father.

Damn. Maes really should have known that Roy wouldn't have bothered getting a wife first.

Roy walked in the door of his home and was greeted by the sight of Ed nonchalantly looking up from one of the books he'd checked out from the library. A stack of them was piled near his legs, reaching from the floor to a good six inches above Ed's knees, and Roy still didn't know what to think of the fact that Histories of the Four Elements was lying in its honorary place by Ed's side.

He didn't flinch at the sight of his guardian, and even managed to return Roy's smile. Ed was the one to speak first, another thing that couldn't have happened a few weeks ago.

"Can we get Xingese tonight?"

Roy quirked an eyebrow at him as he paused, about to hang his military jacket on the coat rack near the door. "Any particular reason I should know about?"

The question was answered by a careless shrug. "I like it. Haven't had it in ages."

The Colonel nodded. That was enough for him—which probably meant he was turning into a big old softie. "Mind you, we're not getting takeout every night."

"'Course not," Ed agreed easily. "Wouldn't want to miss your home cooking."

After a moment of deliberation, Roy still wasn't sure whether that was sarcasm or not. Just when he was starting to think that he understood what was going on in the kid's brain…

"Takeout isn't good for you anyway," Roy finally said, switching his uniform jacket out for his dark overcoat. "We're walking there, alright?"

"What, you have to work off the calories you'll get?" Ed bantered, grinning slightly.

Roy sent him a half-hearted glare that Ed paused at, analyzing it warily before deciding that Roy wasn't actually angry. "It's not my fault that you could eat a horse every day and not gain a pound," the older alchemist griped. "Some of us have to work a little harder."

"For the ladies?" Ed snickered.

Roy drew himself up with as much dignity as he could muster without actually intimidating the kid. "Yes, as a matter of fact."

Ed opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again as he looked away. Most likely, whatever he'd had in mind was too offensive for him to risk saying to his guardian. He was becoming much more himself, both here and at the office, even if there were still clear glimpses of a boy that shied away from possibility of hurt.

"Let's go," Roy suggested, his voice breaking the somewhat awkward pause left by Ed's hesitation. The blond alchemist nodded and followed Roy out the door.

They were beginning the ten minute commute back home, Ed carelessly munching on what had to be his third helping, when Roy remembered what he'd promised Maes. Anxiety twisted in his gut; he didn't want to make Ed go through something like this. A sigh escaped him subconsciously, and when he glanced over to his younger charge, Ed was looking at him warily.

"Is… something wrong?" Ed queried. He'd stopped eating.

"Ah—" Roy hesitated, sighed again. "Yes."

Ed waited patiently as Roy tried to wrap his tongue around the words he had to say. "Ed, you know that after… what Hinze did…" A wince was expected and a wince came. "He's going to go on trial."

A pause. "And?" Ed prodded quietly.

"We want you to stand and testify against him. Can you do that?"

Ed stopped walking. Roy halted a moment later and turned to look back at him. The look on Ed's face could only be described as a mixture of fear and horror, and Roy watched as it slowly morphed down into something a little more manageable as Ed took a few deep breaths before responding.

"Testify. Like… tell everybody… all the stuff he did to me?" Ed's voice may have started normal, but rose higher in pitch as his nervousness grew.

Roy opened his mouth, closed it, and eventually nodded. "Yes. No one's going to force you to, but… Maes and I both think that…" He had to look away, couldn't meet the boy's eyes—"that if you don't testify he's probably going to get off."

The street was dark, by now, and there weren't many people walking past either alchemist. They stood in silence for a long moment, before Ed suddenly started walking on with a purpose. Roy had to jog a couple steps to catch up in order to fall into stride with him.

Ed didn't speak until they were back inside their own home, Roy hanging his overcoat on the rack as Ed practically collapsed on the couch as if his feet couldn't have held his weight a moment longer. Roy walked over and sat next to him, waiting for Ed to say something.

The blond just shook his head, eyes wide. "I—I can't do that. I really can't."

Roy slowly nodded. "That's okay. I just thought I should make sure you knew about it, in case… well, in case you could."

Neither spoke for several minutes, and finally Roy rose to leave.

"Roy."

He paused, half turned to watch Ed. The blond was biting his lip, eyes nervous.

"Will he really just… get to walk off free if I don't?"

Roy wished very much that he could assure his younger charge, but that just wasn't the way it worked here. "It's certainly a possibility," he said.

Ed nodded once, then twice, processing this.

"Okay," he said quietly. "I'll do it."

Roy smiled at him, both relieved and nervous. "Thank you."

Ed didn't meet his eyes when he whispered, "It's for Al."

Roy couldn't help but notice that Ed was restless all the next day. He'd be reading, then he'd forget to turn the pages and stare at the same page for ten minutes before lifting his head to look out the window with a frown. He'd be drawing an array, and then the pencil would be tapping pointlessly on the edge of a partially completed circle.

"Roy," Ed said suddenly, as they both sat on the living room floor engrossed in alchemy books. The Colonel's gaze flicked up to settle on his younger charge and he raised an eyebrow.

"What am I supposed to say?" he asked with a frown. He was still staring down at the book, but Roy was fairly certain he hadn't actually been seeing it for the past several minutes. "I mean, how am I supposed to tell them? You could say that he—he hurt me, so what would I say that you couldn't?"

"The outcome of the trial is the jury's decision," Roy said. "They're not going to ignore us completely no matter what, so the odds of you having to go back to Hinze is probably in the millionth decimal place." A dark shadow of fear crossed Ed's face as the boy stiffened, and Roy berated himself; he shouldn't have mentioned that possibility at all. "The thing is, they could probably convince themselves that I or Maes or someone was exaggerating. They could justify avoiding the discomfort of putting a sentence to his crime. If you were the one standing there and saying it all to their faces, there would most likely be a higher chance of them feeling the need to actually take action against Hinze."

Ed nodded slowly. "So… it has to be me."

A breath of hesitation, and Roy bit his lip. "It doesn't have to be…"

"If I want him behind bars, it should be me up there."

"…Yes."

"So what the hell am I supposed to say to them? 'Oh, stick this guy in jail because he's cruel and sick and—and—I can't tell them everything," Ed whispered desperately. His golden eyes were wide and pleading.

Hell. Roy had been afraid that this would happen, that Ed would go into a panic as he realized just what he was going to have to tell the entire courtroom.

"Just… the events, I suppose. It's not going to be like going to Dr. Burke, Ed. You don't need to work things through with them or find acceptance, you just have to spit the words out no matter how sour they taste. Can you do that? Just say words at them and you can go, they're not psychologists, okay?"

Ed wrinkled his nose and stared unseeingly at the carpet. "Yeah, they're not. No promise of confidentiality, either."

"Ed…" Roy put a comforting arm around the boy's tensed shoulders. He didn't flinch away from the contact anymore. "Ed, it's going to be hard, okay? But you just—"

"I thought it was supposed to get easier," Ed breathed shakily. "You go to the shrink, chat, and once you can deal with things it gets better. Right? Doesn't it?"

Ed looked up to search Roy's face for an answer and seemed about to cry; Roy realized that his eternal weakness with Elysia's puppy dog faces also applied to Ed whenever the boy's confidence began to crumble away.

Roy slowly shook his head and brought his other arm to join the first around Ed, pulling him close into a hug. "It doesn't work like that, Ed," he said sadly. "Talking does help, but all the psychology in the world can only get you so far. Eventually you're going to have to go out there and add some action to your words. You won't be alone, I promise, but you're going to have to move with your own two legs."

Ed sat slumped in his seat for a long time, and Roy hovered nearby, lending what comfort he could through proximity.

"When's the trial?" Ed asked him.

"Three weeks," Roy said.

Ed nodded, digesting this, and then said, "After it's over, can I start missions again? I'm completely healed now."

Something to look forward to, Roy realized, a reason to bother pulling through such a hard time. "Yes, Ed, after the trial we'll see about finding that philosopher's stone of yours. I think I've found a good lead for you, too…"

Three weeks passed much faster than Roy would have liked.

When Roy entered the kitchen the morning of the day of the trial, Ed was sitting in his seat, hunched over a cup of coffee. He looked up as Roy entered, and golden eyes met dark ones.

"It's today," Ed said, rather needlessly, his voice cracking on the last syllable. His foot tapped rhythmically on the floor in an obsessive movement. For the first time in more than a month, Roy saw Ed cross over the threshold of nervousness into actual fear.

"It'll be fine," Roy assured him. "You've been thinking about it and practicing for it for weeks. They'll listen to you."

"What if they don't?" Ed murmured apprehensively. "What if—I mean, he's a General, and what if they decide to just ignore me and—"

"Ed?" Roy interjected. The blond hesitated and glanced up, anxiety glimmering in his eyes. "Everything will be okay," he assured. "The jury isn't stupid, and even if they were they had better listen to at least one of Amestris's two most famous alchemists."

Ed bobbed his head distractedly. "Right. He's a General, but you're the Flame Alchemist and I'm Fullmetal and—and—" The rambling sentence, probably meant more to reassure himself than to agree with Roy, suddenly cut off as Ed bit his lip hard. Abruptly, he stood, setting the coffee cup on the table and striding in a beeline for the door. "Let's go."

About three hours early, Roy reflected, but they'd both dressed in uniforms almost immediately after getting up. Well, Roy had dressed in his uniform and Ed was wearing his red and leather getup, which was about as close as the kid ever got to any kind of uniform.

They could do this.

"I can do this," Ed murmured to himself, casting his gaze around the street warily. He was walking a bit too fast to be natural, and Roy had told himself several times already not to bother asking Ed to slow down a little. This nervousness was only going to increase, and not for the first time, Roy felt the familiar pangs of anxiety as he thought of Ed trying to stutter through his testimony up on the stand.

He'd broken down before, when it was just them at home, but not all the people here would be as kind with their judgment of his mental fortitude as Roy had been.

"I can do this," Ed said again.

A trial was probably not the best way to test whether you'd accepted what had happened enough to explain it, but there really wasn't any other choice open to them. Hinze was going down if Roy had to set the bastard aflame himself. And that would be well worth it to Ed in exchange for a couple hours of discomfort.

Right?

"I can do this."

Maybe.

"I can do this."

Roy hoped.

"Hell, I can't do this."

Ed had frozen, his feet seemingly glued to the pavement. His mouth opened and closed a few times, and he looked desperately to Roy as if for some kind of answer. Roy raised his shoulders in a helpless shrug; what was he supposed to do at this point? Ed shook his head, once, twice, then faster and too many times to count as he took one, two steps backwards.

Finally, he turned and fled.

Maes found Roy standing pointlessly in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Um. Is Ed…"

Roy shook his head before the question had finished. "We're missing a key witness now. Let's just go get this show on the road."

Roy closed the door heavily behind him, slowly hung up his uniform jacket. Took off his boots, and finally ventured forward to seek out Ed.

Six steps and he saw him, up on the staircase's landing. He was dressed back in the two shirts and jeans he now only wore on weekends, and was staring down at Roy, chewing at his lip.

The exchange of gazes kept up the silence for almost two full minutes, but finally, Ed asked, and a shaking voice:

"Is… Did it… turn out… okay?"

Roy felt his mouth turn up in a strange, disjointed kind of smile that his brain hadn't exactly agreed with. "He can't hurt you. He has no right to ask for custody of you or your brother."

Golden eyes closed in relief and Ed let out a breath that he must have been holding. "I get to stay with you?"

Never in his life had Roy thought Ed would take that as a good sign, or that he himself would be happy that the blond was staying with him. Now, however, his throat closed in relief for that one victory and he nodded.

The smile was still fixed unnaturally on his face, turning to a kind of half-grimace. Ed's relief seemed to slowly fade and he asked, brows furrowed, "What's wrong?"

"He got off," Roy whispered, and any trace of levity that might have been present in Ed's demeanor abruptly vanished.

"… Got off?"

"Barely was even given a warning," Roy said distantly, feeling detached. "He got off. No jail time, not punishment. Just no chance of custody."

No one spoke. Finally, Ed wandered off back down the hallway, looking dazed. Roy sagged against the wall and slid down, finding himself seated on the floor without the strength to stand back up. He couldn't find any breath in his lungs.

Something inside of him screamed and shattered for the boy he saw hurt and the boy he couldn't see at all.

Gaaaaaah I'm sadistic... And mean... And trying to make this realistic. :( I honestly couldn't see Hinze getting jailed for what he did as a General in the military, and so here we are. Hope is not lost, however! I really hate unhappy final endings.

Drop a line if you feel so inclined. XD

~UnAdulterated