Heeeey, look who's here... I admit I was lazy. There's no other explanation for taking so long. You may hate me.

In case it confuses people: The italic parts inbetween of what Roy tells Ed at the grave are what Roy actually said.

Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 28

Father Before The Grave

Edward ran for the cemetery. It felt strange to run because usually he went there at a rather slow and sad pace, but he had to catch the colonel so he ran there anyway. If the colonel had woken up and slipped out of the house around the time that Granny Pinako came down to the kitchen for her first coffee then he must have been at the graves for almost more than an hour by now and Ed had no idea why he would stay there this long. Mustang hadn't known Al that much. So chances were that he was on his way back already and Ed had to catch him because the boy was not sure he would manage to explain to Mustang why the colonel needed to accompany him to Al's grave. So Ed sped up, only to come to a panting stop at the cemetery's gate and with no colonel in his line of sight.

He frowned, confused. Had Mustang gotten lost somewhere on his way back from or to the cemetery and was now aimlessly wandering around somewhere? No, the colonel might be a desk jockey most of the time but that didn't mean he would get lost on this short way, especially when all you had to do to find the Rockbell house again was to walk up the nearest hill and have a look around Resembool's peaceful countryside.

So where did that idiot wander off to? Ed decided to climb the nearest hill because you cannot only spot the Rockbell house from there but people in the fields and on the dirt paths around, too. He trudged up the hill and turning in a slow circle looked over the fields, taking a moment to revel in the warm breeze and appreciate the wonderful view of his small hometown. Then he looked closer. The only people he could see were two farmers, one busy with hitching a horse to a wagon, the other one checking on his cows that peacefully chewed the grass, and two men walking down one of the dirt paths. Not a single lone person in blue. But then his gaze drifted back towards the two men who were walking towards the train station it seemed. And realisation slapped him in the face.

There was no blue because Mustang was wearing his black coat over his uniform. And he had been out so long because he had met someone. Someone who Ed hadn't seen in a long, long time yet who was just as familiar as the black haired colonel he walked with.

Anger boiled up in Ed, anger and a strange panic. That man was walking away from Resembool again and Mustang was walking with him, down the path towards the train station. What if that man had told the colonel the reasons why he left in the first place? And what if those reasons would make Mustang leave too?! Ed ran down the hill, chasing them, nearly falling over his own feet several times.

"YOU BASTARD!" he yelled when in safe hearing distance. Funny how the one time it wasn't meant for him Mustang turned around first yet the man Ed was talking to was completely confused and turned a second later and only to see what that screaming was about. "Don't you dare walk away again without an explanation and DON'T YOU DARE TAKE HIM WITH YOU!" He tried to jump at the man and punch him in his damn surprised face but was held back by two strong arms wrapping around him and pulling him with his back against their owner's chest.

"Calm down, Fullmetal."

"No! It's his fault, it's all his fault for walking away!" He tried to wriggle out of Mustang's grip but the colonel held on tight and so all Ed could do to unload his anger was scream it into Hohenheim's face. "It's your fault mum withered away waiting for you to come back! And now you're here to make sure Mustang walks away too because I bet you think it's my fault, you think it's my fault that mum died before you finally moved your ass back here! But it isn't, I tried to help her you bastard, I DID TRY! I EVEN TRIED TO BRING HER BACK! And now Al is dead too because you weren't there to stop me from being so stupid, YOU WEREN'T THERE TO LOOK AFTER YOUR OWN SONS! So it's all your fault, IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TAKE MUSTANG AWAY JUST TO PUNISH ME SO I'M ALONE AGAIN WHEN IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

He was out of breath from the screaming now and panting and seething in anger he stared at the still startled Hohenheim.

"Edward, he's not taking me anywhere," Mustang then calmly said behind him and Ed snapped his head around, staring into black eyes, begging their owner to speak the truth. "Even if he tried to, I wouldn't let him. All we did was exchange some information. So calm down now, okay?" Ed nodded slowly, clinging to the words, and relaxed his combat-ready body. "Okay, then I'll let go of you now and you'll refrain from punching him for the moment, deal?"

"Deal," Ed mumbled and Mustang released his hold on him. He felt oddly exposed now that there were no more arms around him but he ignored that and continued glaring at Hohenheim. At least now the man looked slightly sad.

They looked at one another in tense silence then the colonel, ever the diplomat, spoke again. "I've been away from my lieutenant for quite a while now, I better go back and appease her crave for filled out paperwork. So how about you bring your father to the train station, Fullmetal?" And have a conversation with him on the way.

Ed could hear the unspoken words very well. "I don't want to talk to him, I've got nothing more to say to him." He crossed his arms and would have walked away had he not been waiting for the colonel, still afraid that the man might leave him too. The fear was probably childish and irrational, hell, Mustang even said he wouldn't leave, but still. Ed would feel better once they were safely somewhere far away from Hohenheim.

"You really want to miss the opportunity to get to know your father again?" Mustang asked, casually, his usual practical self, any implications that he who too had lost his father early thought of Ed's action as an ungrateful waste of luck hidden away, if they existed.

Ed stubbornly stared at the fields in direction of the Rockbell house. "Yes, I don't care about him anymore."

"I thought you wanted an explanation why he left?"

Just why was Mustang pressing the matter so much? Wasn't saying he didn't want to deal with this once enough? What did the colonel expect to happen? Some intensive talk, then making up and a tear-filled reunion, followed by building a new house to live a happy ever after in Resembool? Ed swallowed. Maybe it was just that. Maybe Mustang didn't want the responsibility of looking after Ed any more now that the one who should have done that was back. Maybe he hoped to just push Ed at Hohenheim so he could resume his normal life again. A life where he didn't have to look after an emotional wreck of a teenager who never made things easy for him. Ed did have a father so there was no need for Mustang to extend his care for a subordinate to this level anymore. He had done his part and now he'd hand the task back to the one who should have handled it but didn't and probably would never. And that prospect hurt.

"I-..." What was he supposed to do? If he'd cling then the colonel would probably just be annoyed and think of Ed as even more screwed up than he was. But he couldn't just let it happen either. "I-..."

For once Hohenheim did something useful. "I do have some time still, maybe I can come along to the Rockbell house? I haven't seen Pinako in a while. Then we can still see about that talk," he suggested. Ed just nodded. Good, that would give him some time to figure out how to tell the colonel that he really didn't want to go with Hohenheim just because the man was his biological father.

They walked towards the Rockbell house in silence, though Ed slowed when they neared the cemetery they had to pass on the way. He knew that if he wanted to take the train back to central with the colonel then he'd have to go there now, there was no time to come back later. And he felt that he should really go there, even if facing his brother's grave frightened him. But not without...

He glanced at the colonel who steadily walked forwards, face not telling what he was thinking about and eyes languidly drifting over their surroundings, partially appreciating the view, partially just being a bit paranoid. If he just asked for the man to come with him now then that wouldn't help him make sure the colonel would think of him as less damaged than he was. But then...

"I admit it's sometimes hard to look after you but it's no burden because I get a reward. I get to see that I helped someone back on his feet. I'm so used to bringing people down, you don't know how good it feels to finally help someone get up."

That's what the colonel had said. Right before telling him that he'd somehow managed to become quite dear to the man. Ed clenched and unclenched his fists in indecision, then grabbed for the colonel's sleeve after all. His gaze was stubbornly locked on the graveyard but he could see the black haired alchemist turn to him in slight surprise in his peripheral vision. The dark eyes followed the line of sight of the golden ones, then understanding dawned.

Well, not complete understanding. "Do you want us to wait for you?" the colonel offered, only having understood that Ed wanted to visit the graves of his brother and mother. So Ed tugged again, still unable to get the actual question out of his mouth. "Does that mean you want me to go with you?" Ed's hand tightened around the sleeve. "I think I already told you to just speak up if you want something." Mustang good naturedly rolled his eyes but then his face became serious again and he followed Ed towards the cemetery gate.

"You go on or stay there." Ed growled at Hohenheim. How can an angry demand to push someone away be so much easier to get out than asking for someone to stand by you?

Ed still had a grip on Mustang's black coat when they walked up to the two graves yet he wasn't dragging the colonel along, the older man followed on his own, allowing Ed to use his sleeve as a lifeline. The boy had ignored the colonel casting a kind of apologising gaze at Hohenheim before they left the man standing outside the graveyard. In Ed's opinion there was nothing to apologise for, after all Hohenheim was the one who left Ed behind first.

Now his grip on the black fabric tightened as they came to a halt in front of those two graves, those two tombstones peaking out of the green grass right next to the other, staring at him like accusing eyes. His throat felt constricted and like there was a lump stuck in it, yet his eyes remained so dry that it stung. Ed didn't know why he couldn't just cry, maybe he was punishing himself by denying himself the outlet of sadness. But maybe it was because he also just feared for the emotions to swallow him up and leave even less of him than there was left now. There was no office couch here to fall asleep on after crying and he wanted to show the colonel he wasn't that difficult to take care of anymore. And he didn't want to end up a numb vegetable again once he dropped his shields.

He looked at the tombstone of his mother. This one was bearable, the ache still present but over the years something like acceptance had settled in. But finally he focused on Al's grave and that pain was still so fresh he could almost physically feel it. There was the name of his baby brother in stone. Tombstone. Because he hadn't listened to Al. He felt the beginning of a tremble come up and swallowed hard. He needed something to distract and ground him to bear his.

"Mu-... Mustang?"

"Yes?" calmly, quietly.

"Did you- did you come here before you met him?"

"Yes, I met Hohenheim when I left the cemetery."

Ed nodded. He stared at the tombstone some more, then offhandedly asked, "Do you believe in a god?"

Mustang raised an eyebrow but refrained from speaking his answer in a 'that was a stupid question'-tone. He simply stated, "I'm an alchemist. I don't believe in gods. Only in monsters. Because if there really is some higher force out there then that's what it is."

"So you don't believe in an afterlife either?" Ed concluded.

"Are you asking me if I believe the dead can still hear us?"

"I... yes, I think that's my question."

They stood there for a moment in thoughtful silence then with a small sardonic smile Mustang said, "I don't believe in an afterlife. But on the off chance that there is one after all I tell them what I wanted them to know anyway."

"What did you tell Al?" he couldn't help being curious. Maybe he hoped the answer would help him with finally telling Al something himself.

Mustang shrugged lightly. "Just said-
Hey Alphonse... bet you didn't expect me to show up here again, huh? But then I did know you, even if only fleeting, and I feel that's why I should visit you.
-hello. And told him-
It sounds stupid and I know it's too late but I really wish I had taken the time to get to know you better. I'm kind of looking after Fullmetal now. No, I always looked after Fullmetal. What I do now is look after Edward. Really look after him. Care for him, I guess. And it makes me think about if maybe I should have started doing so earlier, when you were still there. If I should have really looked after the both of you instead of now only picking up the shards of the brother left. But then you always had each other so maybe it really wasn't necessary for me to do more then try and filter out the more unpleasant assignments that wouldn't help you with your research anyway but give you some nightmares still. And then there was Hughes who was cut out for looking after you so much better than I will ever be. But still, I wonder if I haven't missed out on something, if maybe there would have come something good from really getting to know the two of you earlier and keeping an eye on you in less superficial ways. I don't know if you care, if you ever thought that I should be nicer to you or something, but I think I maybe should have tried. And that's what I wanted to tell you. ...I think Ed will come along later. Don't be angry with him for taking so long, he still feels guilty. Though I bet you'd agree with me that it really wasn't his fault. I promise you I'll try to help him get over it. ... Farewell Alphonse, I hope you are with your mother should afterlife exist.
- that I'll look after you."

Ed glanced at the colonel who was still looking down at the graves with a determined expression. He had a feeling Mustang had said a bit more than that but he'd let the words between the lines be unread, for one because those words were meant for Al and not for him and then because the colonel had just said something that calmed his fears and made him smile ever so slightly. Mustang would stay and look after Ed.

"Thanks," he said, the weight that had settled on his heart ever since he saw Mustang walking with Hohenheim, his back to Ed and making the boy afraid that this would be the last thing of the man he'd ever see, falling away from him.

"You're welcome," Mustang answered, smiling just the same way as Ed.

Ed let the moment be for a while, absent-mindedly rubbing the fabric of Mustang's coat between his fingers. Then he looked back at the graves and let go of the black sleeve. Finally he crouched down, wrapped his arms around his knees and put his chin on top. With his gaze on the name now on eye level with him and with Mustang's shadow falling over him reminding him he wasn't alone, he started talking.

"Hey Al..."