AN: Here it is folks. It's been a long crazy ride and I wouldn't have been able to do all of this without you following me. The next chapter is just poetry I wrote while writing this fic.
Again, thank you.
THE END
They found the house in it's tiny glen once more, late in the afternoon and bizarrely felt lost. There was no more walking to be done, no more construction of shelters. All that needed to be done in preparation was the re drawing of the large faded around that took the entire floor of the foyer. They both stood there, staring down at, the motes of slight illuminating the tiny eddies of dust. Roy heard Edward swallow heavily and lick his dry lips. In the dim, dusty room he could feel that dark place, like after Ishbal, creeping up from the ground. He was an empty well filling with poison, and bodies bobbed in the black liquid. He could see that darkness filling Edward too.
"We should find dinner. We'll need all the strength we can have for tomorrow," Ed mumbled, before turning on his heel and marching out the door. Roy made himself useful and went to stumble through the underbrush, while he saw Edward bring in armfuls off wood from the scanty pile beside the house. It didn't take long before he was able to return with two rabbits and a small quail, all of them smoldering lightly and devoid of fur and feathers. Edward was seated next to the empty hearth, loaded with the partially molded wood and what appeared to be smashed furniture. Beside him was a clay pot filled with colorful blooms that Roy recognized as edible, as well as a large tin pot already suspended over the fire fuel. Roy lit the fire happily as Edward cleaned and broke down his catch.
They picked and pried at the boiled flesh until their hands and chins, and some of their clothes were greasy and Ed let the water boil away till all that remained was a thin, viscous layer of fat that they poured over the blooms as a crude dressing. They ate until their bellies were swollen and taut. Without a word they both began to search for a bedroom then crashed heavily down onto the mattress of dry straw, sending clouds of dust into the air that burned their eyes and made them choke.
Tomorrow the moon would be at apogee, furthest from the Earth and gravitational pull at it's weakest. It' would be the perfect time to work their alchemy and have the greatest effect. The already heavy silence between them was becoming more taught, as if somebody was pulling back the hammer of a pistol in slow motion. Roy shuddered at how easily it was to feel the phantom muzzle of a gun at his temple and taste gritty gunpowder. He was perfectly content to wallow in resignation.
Ed was on the opposite end of the spectrum, his whole frame trembling with manic energy, teeth grinding and jaw clenching. The Colonel did his best to try and sooth away the tension in Ed's shoulders with gentle presses of his hands, and the now permanent furrow in his brow with presses of lips.
Occasionally Ed would tip his head up with a whine, and they would share gentle, languid things, that ended tasting of salty wetness that trailed from Edward's eyes. They were so used to each other's sour taste to even notice it anymore. Even the sharp bite of unwashed bodies was familiar and comforting. To Roy it was less stale sweat and dirt and more like Ed undiluted and he savored it pressing his face to that lovely juncture of his neck and metal shoulder. He kissed the scars too, trailing wet kisses over the rough tissue and even lingering on gritty automail. Then the blond inhaled sharply and shuddered, roll off of Roy and onto his back, throwing an arm over his bruised eyes.
A stuttered breath later, peppered with insect hums and dripping water, and the arm slid to the side.
"I'm scared," he whispered.
Ed could hear Roy shifting, rustling the straw of the mattress, to lean over him. There was another gentle press of lips to his, rough with thick, patchy, stubble, then a cool, callused hand cupping his cheek.
"Me too." Against his hand he could feel Ed pulling a grimace.
"Your breath reeks," he grumbled and Roy couldn't resist a snicker before he kissed him again, straddling the narrow hips and running both hands beneath the filthy shirt to roam the valleys of ribs.
That night he dreamt of birds and reapers. An army of tall cloaked figures sweeping swaths of grass, and dark birds rising from the fallen blades.
Roy woke dry and comfortable for the first time in months.
Downstairs he found Edward fiddling with the ash in the fireplace, scooping a handful into the pot that held the dregs of fat from their rabbit. A clap and flare of light and he turned to Roy with a small smile.
"I made soap. How does a bath sound?"
The weather was offensive in it's cheerfulness, bright and warm with the hint of breeze. Together they walked to the small stream that bordered the property. If Edward took his hand, Roy didn't say anything about it. Just squeezed back.
The water was bitterly cold, and the soap harsh and sub par, but they scrubbed themselves till their skin squeaked clean. They paused waist deep in the stream, staring at their filthy clothes, then drug them into the water and scrubbed them vigorously, slapping them against the rocks to free the filth. The weather was warm enough that they laid their clothes on the rocks till they dried and they stretched out bedside them. Briefly, Roy indulged in the thoughts of a future. That they could have this, that they could hide here. Then the poison crept in again, and the bodies of their squad watched them accusingly and the ashes of the Capital filled his lungs. He rolled over and held Edward tighter, sneezing when his clean, frizzy hair tickled his nose. Ed continued to sleep, snoring softly.
As the sun began to set they woke and dawned their stiff, but fresh clothes and lumbered back to the house. Without a word they repeated their domestic ritual they had performed the night prior and sat sated and anxious by the light of the fire.
In his periphery he saw the sudden movement as Edward reached over and fisted his hair, bending his head back cruelly and mashing their mouths together so hard he could taste the blood. The kiss continued frantically until they were both tired and sore and Edward sat back on his lap and stared at him with bloody, kiss swollen lips and his light eyes dark with pupil. Just as suddenly he leaned forward and pressed his face to Roy's sweaty clavicle and wrapped his arms around him.
The wait for the moon to reach it's zenith was long and painful, but still they sat beside the fading fire with books open in their laps. They'd never admit it, but they flicked through the pages without ever taking in the words.
They knew it was time when the energy changed, as if the transmutation circle pulled at them, humming somewhere at the back of their minds. Roy felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with fear and the animal in him wanting to dart from the danger. If Edward was afraid, he didn't show it, his steps resolute and final. Something was swallowing the sound of the forest, like the eerie silence before a storm that sends the animals scurrying for cover.
Both of them knelt, stiffly and painfully, at the circles edges, the steady hum rising to ring in their ears. It would be genocide again, not slow and painful like Ishbal. There would be no suffering, just a sudden mammoth increase in pressure. A whole country suddenly crushed flat under the weight of alchemy. Their last meal churned in his stomach. He wanted to vomit.
Across the room, Edward was staring at him, eyes wet and welling, the corners of his mouth trembling.
"I wish it could have been different," Ed stuttered, swallowing thickly.
"I know." Roy answered, coughing around the swelling of his throat. "I love you." He heard more than saw the pain in Ed's quiet keen.
"I know."
Edward's bare palms slapped together, and in unison they pressed their hands to the circle. Sick, yellow light flooded the room, blinding and acrid and roaring. He felt pressure well in his ears, the drums rupturing and blood seeping from his nose. His stomach heaved, and he felt the strange sensation of the vessels in his eyes rupture.
And as soon as it began, everything was gone.