Author's Note - This chapter is one I've had in mind ever since I first started this story. More happened on the way to this point than I originally visioned but I'm glad to get it this far. And thank you for sticking with him. There is more to come

Chapter Twenty-Five

Winry ran to the door before whoever was knocking so persistently could wake up Roy. In spite of everyone's protests, Roy had wandered out of his bedroom a few hours ago to sit on the couch and 'read.' It wasn't as if he could actually see out of his eye. Only the tiniest of slits in the tremendous swelling proved there was still an eye in there. Li-Ying had put an ice pack over most of his face and he was busy snoring under it, in spite the pain he had to be in. Winry suspected Roy just couldn't bear to be alone. She wasn't particularly surprised to see the Jassoes on the doorstep. Mrs. Jasso's worry was almost palpable. Dev's eyes were still wild and his skin remained a sickish green-grey. "Riza isn't here," Winry said, wishing she was. She didn't know if she should let them in or not. "And Roy isn't up to seeing anyone."

Mrs. Jasso pointed over Winry's shoulder. "He's standing right behind you."

Winry whipped around, startled, her eyes narrowing at the sight. "You're supposed to be sleeping."

"I'm supposed to be reading. Let them in," Roy replied. "And I wanted to answer the door."

"You can't even see where you're going. Edward!" Winry yelled into the house.

Ed ran into the lobby. "Sorry. I was reading a really good book and when I looked up, he was gone."

"Why isn't Al helping you?" Winry glanced around for the younger brother, her frown deepening when she didn't immediately spy him.

"I don't need one babysitter, let alone two," Roy grumbled but he let Ed grab his sleeve and pull him along.

"Gently, Edward," Winry admonished then turned back to the Ishbalans. "I guess Roy wants to talk."

"I didn't want to disturb him," Mrs. Jasso said. "I'm grateful enough that he hadn't ordered Dev's arrest but my son insisted on coming here."

"I have to apologize," Dev said miserably, staring at the marble flooring. "I need to explain what happened."

Winry touched Dev's arm. "No matter what he says, Roy isn't fine right now, Dev."

"I have to do this." Dev's shoulders hunched. "It shouldn't wait. You know what I have to say."

Winry's eyes widened. "I'm not sure he's ready for that," she replied, trying to ignore Mrs. Jasso's curious look.

"It won't ever be an easy thing. If I explain everything, he'll understand what happened yesterday," Dev argued and Winry shrugged, knowing she wasn't going to win this one.

"Maybe you're right," she admitted, thinking now was the time to call Riza back from work. There was no way this would end well. She led them into the living room. Roy was back on the couch, fighting with Li-Ying who wanted him to lay back down. Ed was stretched out on the rug by the fireplace, head on a pillow, already engrossed with his book again. She heard the kitchen door open and Al came back in, strands of grass clinging to his legs. He must have been out in the garden. Hayate ran circles around him, as if trying to trip him, then went over and bounded on the couch to lick Roy's face. Li-Ying snagged the dog and set him on the floor. "Have a seat," Winry said, sitting on a chair. "Roy, Dev has something he wants to say."

"I figured," he said wryly, losing his battle with his sister who covered him with the thin blanket she had draped over the couch, mostly to protect it from any ooze that might escape Roy's dressings.

"Should you even be out of the hospital? Dev didn't tell me it was this bad," Mrs. Jasso fretted, taking Winry by surprise. She never expected to hear pity in the woman's voice, at least not for Roy.

"I didn't know." Dev slipped down in the chair then roused himself. "I don't even remember hitting you, ba…Roy," he caught himself before the accustomed dirty nickname could escape. "All I remember were the flames."

"My fault," Roy said, waving him off.

"How do you figure?" Al asked, taking a seat.

"I took my gloves, knowing I might need to use them." Roy took a deep breath, then wet his thick, cracked lips. "I should have known better than to bring Dev. Hell, he doesn't even like candles being lit around him. Dev, I wanted you along because the others are your friends and they would feel more comfortable. Sorry."

"And I should have known in a dangerous situation, you would use your alchemy. I mean, that's what you do," Dev said, shuddering as his hands trembled. "I had forgotten how truly terrifying you can be."

"I've never thought of my brother as terrifying," Li-Ying said, perched on the arm of the couch, hovering protectively over Roy.

"You've never seen him fight," Ed said, his book forgotten. "I thought I'd win easy when I challenged him for my alchemy review. All he does is sit on his ass behind a desk. He damn near killed me and took out the whole fairgrounds."

"I had help," Roy protested, somehow managing a glare despite the fact that his eyes were swollen shut.

"The point is, you were barely trying. I didn't want to admit that then but it's true. I didn't even make you sweat. I don't want to imagine you like you were in the war. I don't know the Flame Alchemist the Jassoes remember," Ed replied, uncharacteristically soft spoken.

Li-Ying looked at Ed unhappily. "But he's not a bad man."

"That's not what they're saying, sister," Roy said, sounding already exhausted by it all. "Just that when I use my alchemy in battle, it's frightening and it is. That's why Teacher didn't want me to join the military. He knew and understood what sort of weapon I'd become."

"This is not a good time to talk about this," Li-Ying said sternly and Winry had to agree.

"I need to say this," Dev persisted, ignoring Li-Ying's angry look. "There won't be a good time for it and it really needs to be said." He trembled then pulled his orange robe tighter to his body. "It was the fire, why I went so crazy. I know you already know that but there's more to it."

"Dev…" Winry interrupted.

Roy snapped up a hand to quiet her. "Tell me."

"I didn't get caught in one of your fires during the war."

Roy's swollen face twisted, looking more pained than confused. "I don't understand."

"I'm the boy in your drawings," Dev whispered so low Roy didn't seem to understand. Winry willed her ex to just quit with that but knew there was no stopping it now.

"What?" Roy's voice rasped raw as understanding hit.

"I'm the one you burned on purpose." Dev's head sank into his hands. "Only I didn't die, like you thought I had."

Roy's massive bruises took on a more violet hue as the rest of his face lost color. He flailed on the couch, trying to get up before catching hold of his sister's arm. Dragging himself up, nearly off balancing her, Roy raced off, mostly blind. He careened off the wall and Winry didn't think he made it farther than the kitchen before he threw up.

Al stood up as if to follow him but Li-Ying stopped him. "I'll take care of my brother." She nodded to Winry who showed far too much tension in the lines of her body. "You take care of her."

Al turned to Ed as Winry put a hand on Dev's back. He didn't seem to notice her nor his mother. He saw Hayate getting up to scamper after his master and Ed snagged the dog.

Ed thumped Hayate's ribs lightly before scratching him behind the ear as he held onto the dog's collar. He jerked his chin at Winry. "He okay?"

"I don't think so," Winry replied as Li-Ying came back in. "Roy?"

"He'll be back…eventually. Once he pulls himself together." Li-Ying's face hardened as her gaze swept over Dev. "All this time, why didn't you say anything?"

Dev withered under her gaze. "I didn't know how."

"And now he knows and seeing Dev every day is going to remind him for the rest of his life," Ed said, looking somewhere between downcast and determined.

Hala put her arm around her son's shoulder, almost pulling him out of Winry's grasp. "My son's had the hardest part of all this, working for the man who did this to him."

Dev took her hand. "It's all right, Mom."

"No, it's not. It's hard for me to feel sorry for him when he purposely set a ten year old boy on fire." Hala looked up at Li-Ying. "I know he's your brother but you didn't have to sit at your son's bedside waiting for him to die from all the massive infections he got or be able to do anything for his pain or have to do everything for him in the year afterwards that it took him to learn how to walk again and to use his prosthesis all the while on the run from the Amestrian army. I'm all out of pity." Pale-faced, Hala took a ragged breath, her rant dying on a harsh whisper.

Dev squeezed her hand. "Mother."

"No, it's all right," Roy said, hanging onto the door frame for support. Al went over and helped him back to the couch.

"Why did you do it?" Hala's garnet eyes sliced into Roy.

Roy held up a hand to her, settling himself. "Why didn't you ever tell me, Dev?" His swollen eye tried to focus on Dev.

"I wanted to. Hell, I planned on rubbing your face in it when I took this job but then…you surprised me. You really actually wanted to help us. I've never met anyone who wanted to do that. Before I knew it, I really didn't want to be mean about it any more but by then it was so late, I didn't know how to say it." Dev studied his metal hand. "I don't like talking about it but after what happened yesterday and you not having me arrested, I knew I had to explain myself." Dev's head canted up as he stared at Roy. "I have to know, you let so many kids and women go, if I hadn't had the gun, would you have just let me go too?"

"Gun?" Hala's skin went to the hue of old parchment. "You had a gun? Where did you get a gun?"

Dev winced, letting go of her hand as he huddled in on himself. "I'm sorry, Mom."

She held him tightly. "It's all right, son. I'm not mad. You've already been punished enough." Hala looked up at Roy. "Would you have let him go?"

"I can't say. It happened so very fast." Roy drew the thin blanket around himself, holding on like it was a life line.

Winry covered her mouth as she looked at Dev. "Why would you have a gun? You were just a kid." She saw Ed and Al jump as if they had seen children with guns and wondered what had that other world they had lived in been like.

Dev didn't answer her at first, tears slowly rolling down his face. "Older kids gave it to me, told me I'd be helping, that the soldiers wouldn't suspect me. Mom always told me not to touch a gun but they made me feel…adult." He turned his gaze to Roy. "Answer the question. You know the answer, no matter how fast it happened. If I didn't have the gun, would you have let me go."

Roy sat up straighter, Li-Ying half restraining him as if afraid he'd catapult himself across the room. "You already know the answer. I didn't even know you were a kid. All I saw was the muzzle flash from the sunlight. I reacted on instinct. By the time I realized it was just a little boy, I tried to pull back the flames but it was too late."

Dev curled up on the couch, half resting against his mother. Winry ran her fingers through his hair, slowly. She hated everything about this. She wanted them to just let Ishbal stay buried, like her parents. She didn't want to have to think about how they died, too.

"I stopped it before it completely engulfed you but I thought you were already dead. If I had known you were alive, I would have taken you to the Rockbells myself. I knew they were treating Ishbalans." Roy swallowed hard, looking pained by the action. "I started to check then heard someone coming and just got out of there before I got caught throwing up in a corner by some actual Ishbalan soldiers."

Winry winced. She knew her parents would come up. She just knew it.

"What would have happened to you if you had done that?" Al asked quietly. "We know what eventually happened to Winry's parents."

"I would have met the same fate, only faster, without the warnings to cease and desist or else," Roy replied, wiping at his pale sweating face. He gulped for air quickly.

Hala exchanged looks with Winry and Li-Ying then stood up. "Your brother is going into shock."

Winry moved at the same time as Li-Ying who pushed her brother back on the couch. Winry scooped up his legs, pulling them up to allow Hala to stuff the couch pillows under them. The Ishbalan nurse caught Roy's wrist to take his pulse and Winry saw how blue his fingernails were, much like his lips.

"What's going on?" Edward half started up off the floor.

"What can we do?" Al stood as well, touching Dev's shoulder, the look on his face saying he was hoping they wouldn't have to spend any more time in the hospital.

"We're doing it," Li-Ying said. "Psychological shock is almost as nasty as the traumatic sort."

"His pulse rate isn't too high." Hala let Roy's wrist go. "You just need to calm him down."

Dev gently edged his mother to the side and knelt by the couch in front of Roy. He rested his flesh hand on the man's arm. "We're both made it out of there alive, right? Scarred, yes, but the worst part is over. You didn't kill me." Dev managed a smile. "Though the rough time I give you? You probably wish you could get a second chance."

Roy made a strangled sound that might have been a laugh. Li-Ying reached down and rubbed his chest. "You listen to the boy, brother."

Noting Roy's color was better but knowing how his moods could change with the winds, Winry headed for the kitchen. "I'm going to call Riza and have her come home. No arguments, Roy." It didn't take her long to get a message to Havoc who promised to give it to Riza as soon as he found her. Winry went back to the living room, wishing there was more that she could do. Repairing limbs, that was easy, patching up wounded souls was beyond her.

"Think you're going to get sick again?" Dev was asking Roy. "If not, Li-Ying can brew you up some lavender tea. That will help calm you back down. I know she has it. For some reason, she has all sorts of teas with flower petals in it." He wrinkled his nose.

"For this very reason," she replied then turned to head for the stairs. "In fact I have lavender and chamomile oil for the massages. Al, if he wants the tea, could you brew it?"

"Of course." Al eyed Roy. "Do you want it, sir?"

Roy nodded slowly. "Call me Roy, Alphonse." He shivered. "Still cold."

"I'll go get you a blanket from the guest room," Ed said, seeming happy to have something to do.

They got Roy covered up. He drifted off before the tea even got brewed but he woke every time someone moved so Ed and Dev helped him to sit up so he could drink the tea. Al brought out the pot for them all to have a cup. Roy gulped it down and curled back up. Hala looked like she wanted to take her son and escape but couldn't find a graceful way to leave. Li-Ying was trying to put some of the oil on her brother's chest when the front door banged open and Riza ran in with Hughes in tow.

Her eyes widened, seeing everyone's face. "What happened?"

Al pulled her and Hughes aside and explained what had happened. Afterwards, Riza walked over to Dev, her eyes cool and dangerous. Dev canted his gaze up at her. "I'm sorry."

Riza rested her hand on his head. "I don't know whether to thank you for being honest or just slap you. I suppose the latter wouldn't help."

"If it makes you feel better, you could," Dev offered weakly.

Riza smiled at him. "I think I'd rather do this." She patted his shoulder then sat with Roy, leaning in to kiss his battered face. "Do you want to go to your room and just rest, Roy?"

"I don't want to be alone," Roy muttered.

"Then you stay here with us," Riza promised him.

"We even have a little good news," Hughes said. "About yesterday but that can wait. You really need to just shut your eyes and sleep, buddy."

"Good news?" Roy blinked his eye at Hughes. "What kind?"

Hughes thought for a moment as if weighing his options and deciding Roy would pester him until he answered. "It took all of ten minutes to get all the names of the soldiers harassing the Ishbalans out of those men. We did manage to protect Dressler and can you say the president is most unhappy? Alex Louis seemed confident something will be done and swiftly," Hughes replied.

"Good."

"Now you know so go to sleep," Hughes insisted.

"Yeah, nothing more is going to happen today." Ed patted Roy's foot awkwardly. "Get some sleep."

Roy pulled the blanket tighter as Dev got up off the floor. "Mom and I will go. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I didn't mean for it to upset you so much. I thought maybe, well you'd have less nightmares if you knew that boy didn't die."

Roy sighed. "I hope so. I really do."

Winry watched Dev and his mother go, glad for Roy's sake that they were gone. Maybe Dev was right. This would help in the long run. Ed and Al drifted off to go find something to read and the whole house settled. Still, even in the quiet, Winry wondered if Roy really slept at all.

X X X

Attaway sat organizing the various reports for the president. How had it turned into such a debacle? Mustang should be dead by now. He couldn't allow a treacherous creature like that alchemist live for too much longer. Even after getting beaten in the streets by one of those traitorous desert dogs, Mustang had appeared in the morning's paper as a hero, a defender of the people that just a decade before he had been all to glad to incinerate. Mustang knew how to work the public, making him a deadly threat to President Armstrong.

Staring at the reports filed by the president's brother and the miraculously resurrected Hughes, Attaway didn't want to hand them over to Olivia. She might come to trust Mustang more and that would never do. It was becoming obvious that Flame, Strongarm and Hughes were a dangerous combination, not to mention Fullmetal was back as well. All four of them needed to be removed in the most permanent and potentially painful way possible.

The ringing phone startled him. He picked up, listening to his secretary telling him there was a woman on the line for him. Hoping Anah had more sense than to call him, he had Mrs. Dill transfer the call. Judith's voice shocked him. "I didn't expect your call."

"I had a thought about Fullmetal," Judith replied and he frowned. He didn't like shifting the concentration away from Mustang who was far more dangerous than the young man.

"Oh?"

"I have an operative at the Sleep Inn. Send Rose there and have her leave a folder of names for the families who lost people in Lior thanks to Fullmetal. She's to leave it for a Mrs. Priestly Surely there are soldiers who have not been forgotten," Judith said.

"It's been clarified that Kimbley was responsible for Lior, not Fullmetal," he reminded her but he wasn't sure he believed that any more than he knew Judith did.

"There are people in pain who want their revenge. Fullmetal is directly under Mustang. Any wrongdoing on his behalf will sully his commanding officer," she replied.

"Hard to argue that. I'll have it there this afternoon," Attaway promised with a smile. Maybe things would work out after all.

X X X

Roy stumbled to the front door, cursing under his breath. The Elrics and Winry had gone into town. Li-Ying and Riza had filtered off to do something, wedding planning probably. He wasn't sure if Hughes was even still in the house. He nearly fell over something he couldn't see. In truth he could barely see anything and he didn't even have his glove tucked into a pocket. He shouldn't be opening the door. At this point, the personification of death could be there, angry that Roy had escaped so many times. A handful of Ishbalans, close enough to death, Roy decided. No one looked happy as Roy stepped back to allow Aris, Dev, Uzziel and Kennan, his biggest detractor, in. The man was never going to forgive Roy for sleeping with his daughter in the time he and Riza had been apart. Dev looked like a prisoner off to execution, hemmed in by the older priests.

Uzziel's wrinkles smoothed out a bit as his eyes widened. "Ishbala! He really did work you over. If we had known it was this bad, we wouldn't have come."

"Roy, get back to the couch," the strident tone, so unusual in Riza's voice, made Roy wince. He turned his good eye to her as she strode over to the door. "He's not really up for more visitors."

"They came for a reason, I want to know," Roy protested and her glare told him he was going to hear about this later.

"Fine, but you're lying back on the couch and I don't care if you don't like it. They can talk to you just as well that way."

"Don't fight with her, Mustang. It looks like you shouldn't have even left the hospital," Uzziel said, placatingly.

"It's nowhere are bad as it looks," Roy said, hunching his shoulders as if expecting Riza to add to his stitches count. He didn't really want to hold court lying on his back like an invalid but at this point, Riza probably really would shoot him. He caught sight of Hughes coming from the direction of the bathroom.

"Did he get up? I swear I was gone for a minute," Hughes said, tossing his hands up.

Riza favored Roy with another heated look. "We've guests now that he just couldn't wait for one of us to go and let them in."

"I didn't know where anyone was and I didn't want to be rude," Roy pouted then gestured to the couch and chairs. "Please sit. Riza is right, I shouldn't try to go sit up in the den and do this properly."

"This is fine," Kennan sat stiffly on a chair. "We don't intend to take up much of your time. It could have been done with a phone call but considering the gravity of the situation, we thought it best to come in person," he added in a tone that suggested he hadn't wanted to come at all.

"I don't follow," Roy tried not to yawn but he couldn't help it. Pain radiated through his head and he couldn't stop the grimace.

"After what happened yesterday, we wanted to know if you had any thoughts on who should replace Dev as part of your team," Uzziel said. "He and Aris do have some suggestions."

Roy tried to sit up but felt a strong arm on his shoulder, coming in on his blind side. Damn Hughes. "They what? I don't understand. Why would I want to replace Dev?"

"You have a head covered with bandages and you can barely see or sit up and you ask us why?" Keenan's red eyes narrowed as Dev's shoulders slumped. "Are you playing a game with us?"

"I think what he's saying is he doesn't blame the kid," Hughes said, eyeing the Ishbalan he hadn't met before.

"The way I see it, Dev has the hardest part of our job, not only do half his friends dislike him for working with me, he had to work with the person who left him scarred like that." Roy gestured to him. "It was a shock, yes, but in the end, I get to set down some ugly baggage. I didn't kill him. And I'm not about to blame him for what happened during a flashback. He's had to listen to me having enough of them myself."

"Aris said you wouldn't want to replace Dev," Uzziel said, eyeing Roy intently.

"I would be very disappointed if I would be forced to. He does a good job. I'm used to him." Roy tried to shrug. "He's a pain in the ass, yes, but Riza will tell you I need those around to make me do my work better."

"He definitely does," she agreed a little too quickly. Roy pouted at her.

"If you're serious about it, I don't see why we shouldn't honor your request," Uzziel said as the front door banged open. The old priest ignored the darting black furry thing that streaked past him on its way to the couch. Hayate bounced up with Roy. "Dev, do you want to stay?"

"I do," he said quietly as Winry came in with the brothers. She eyed the crew warily as if sensing all wasn't well.

"This feels odd," Roy muttered.

"Hayate, leave him alone," Riza said, lifting her dog away from his daddy.

"Not him," Roy tried to sit up too fast, plopping back, moaning softly. "Just that the two people I hurt the most are here in this room. One forgives me and the other at least no longer wants me dead and I don't know how to feel about it."

"Feel relieved." Ed shrugged as all eyes turned toward him. "What? It's got to be a nicer feeling than thinking everyone hates him, right."

"Grateful. Feel grateful," Al chimed in. "Like Brother and I are, finally getting home."

"Somehow I feel very…wrong." Roy made a face.

"That's because you'd rather everyone hated you because you think you deserve it," Aris said.

"That can't be healthy," Hughes reached down, tapping Roy's shoulder.

"There are people who would argue," Roy replied wearily.

"At this point, I think even we're seeing what Aris and Dev have said, you're not quite the monster we were expecting," Kennan said, his body tensing as he said it.

A soft sigh bubbled out of Roy and he wormed into the couch. "It must be true then, if you're saying it."

"It doesn't mean I like you," Kennan assured him quickly. "Just that you are not what we expected."

Roy pulled the blanket to his chin. "I can live with that."

"We'll let you get some sleep, Mustang. You obviously need it," Uzziel said, getting up, beckoning his companions to follow. "If this is what you want, it'll be business as usual once you're up to returning."

"At this point, I'll get back to work just in time to leave for my honeymoon. Maybe I should push that back." Roy tried to ignore Riza's pointed look.

"Just go, it wouldn't be like we'd get any work out of you then anyhow," Dev countered, sounding more like himself than he had in the last twenty-four hours.

"Do you ever get any work out of him?" Ed asked.

"Riza, they're picking on me. Make them go away," Roy whined petulantly.

"If you're whining, you might be feeling better than I thought," she replied sweetly and he offered up a non-verbal whine that made Hayate's ears perk. Still, she shooed everyone out of the room then came back to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should go to bed now, Roy."

He fumbled for her hand. "I feel better here," he said. He meant he felt safer, less alone. "No one is going to bother me. I'm not in the way."

She gently stroked his arm. "No, you're not."

"Sit with me awhile."

Riza tucked against his side, holding his hand. Roy sighed, letting sleep claim him.