I don't think I will be able to update tomorrow, so Merry Christmas to everyone :D My best wishes for you and thank you for all your support. See you in chap 38!

"King of the world"

Ed felt like he was falling, so he opened his eyes and sat up removing some locks from his face. He looked around and noticed that the bed was empty, so he rose and walked out of the room hearing some voices in the living room which seemed to be talking quietly.

When the blonde saw the scene in front of him, he had to rub his eyes since he thought his mind was fooling around with him, but he saw Roy and Hohenheim talking as the day before hadn't happened at all, his dad drinking a coffee too.

Roy quickly noticed that Edward was there, so he placed the cup on the table and stood up to approach the boy, who just stared at him not believing that everything was over, his dad looked really tired, but he didn't have that unhealthy appearance he had a few hours ago.

The man smiled and patted the boy's head lovingly, "Thank you"

Edward just smiled him back and nodded, so Roy put the hand on his back and walked towards the table where Hohenheim was already on his feet.

"I'll go to warm up your food, I didn't think you would sleep for that long", he said as the boy narrowed his eyes, so the man smiled and walked out of the living room.

Ed sighed and took a seat almost collapsing in the table, so Roy took a seat too amused, but his face changed immediately when he saw the eyes of the blonde. "Ed?"

The boy glanced at him for a moment before he sat up and tried to fix his messy bangs, "…Aren't you mad?"

Roy stared at him slight confused for a few seconds, but then he understood what he was talking about and shook his head grabbing the cup of coffee, "No, Ed, of course not", he said trying to sound that it wasn't a big deal, "You can be sure that I would have done the same if it had been you instead of me". Ed lowered his head, but he nodded as he was avoiding showing any particular facial expression, which made Roy suspect that wasn't the entire story, "Something else is bothering you?"

The boy threw a glance at him sidelong, but he immediately looked away. "It's just that…this time was really close"

The Brigadier General swallowed the coffee he had on his mouth and placed the cup back in the table as he crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling, "Yeah, it really was".

The blonde saw how Roy stared at the roof deep on his thoughts, so he fixed his eyes to the table. He wasn't brave enough to tell him what he did and what he planned to do before he went to find Hohenheim, he knew the man would be really disappointed for his reaction, so he decided to keep that to himself…and he hoped Hughes would do the same.

"I've already called everyone and told them will meet in the afternoon", the man said suddenly making the boy look at him and nodded.

"…What were you and Hohenheim talking about?", the boy asked curious, he never thought something like that would happen even though the man helped them.

Roy almost dropped the cup at the question, but he quickly held of himself and put the dish in the table, just in case, "He and I had some pending stuff to talk about"

"…Me included?", he said not really mad, he seemed slightly amused for the situation instead.

"..I guess we said your name a couple of times", Roy answered trying to tease the boy, so the blonde smiled.

"Are you still angry at him?"

"I wasn't 'angry' at him", the man said lifting a brow at the innocent question of the boy, "You know that my only concern about him was that he would try to recover you"

The boy didn't say anything else, he just looked away making the man staring at him confused…maybe there was something else he wasn't telling him? However, he didn't have a chance to ask him since Hohenheim entered the room in that moment and handed the boy his breakfast, who thanked him and ate in silence. Hohenheim threw a glance at Roy and he looked him back…yeah, the boy definitely was hiding something.

One hour later, Roy and Ed was at the door of Hohenheim house while Hughes waited for them in his car to take them home relieved to see his best friend on his feet as anything happened.

"I guess 'thank you' seems slightly banal in this moment", Roy said putting one of his hands into his pocket, "But I really mean it"

Hohenheim nodded smiling, so the man put a hand on Edward's shoulder and walked away towards the car. The boy remained motionless staring at Hohenheim as he was looking inside of his head what was the right thing to say in that moment, but nothing seemed good enough.

"I'm really proud of you, Edward", he suddenly said as the boy flinched, "You really are a great alchemist"

The boy looked at him for a brief moment, but he drew a shy smile, "It could have been hereditary, I guess". The man was really surprised for the comment, and maybe quite ashamed, "…I hope you want to come to visit us, if not, I will come", Ed added trying to control the tone of his voice. He didn't want to look even more nervous as he was already.

Edward noticed that the man face changed drastically, smiling as he was…really happy, and nodded, "Of course, I'll visit you two"

The blonde then raised a hand as goodbye sign, and then turned around and walked towards Hughes' car while Hohenheim stared at him happily. The boy was pretty curious.

When Ed got into the car, Hughes started it while he kept talking to Roy about how crappy he looked in that moment since he had bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess, but he almost laughed when he saw that Edward wasn't much better.

"However, It's nice to have you back", he said trying to show how worried he was for him all this time.

Roy noticed it, so he smiled slightly ashamed, "I'm sorry that I had all you worried"

"…Just don't do it again"

The dark-haired man nodded and glanced at Edward through the rear-view mirror and saw how the boy appeared to be staring to the front, but he seemed quite uneasy.

"What's wrong, Edward?"

The boy looked at Roy through the rear-view mirror too, almost slapping his face for being too careless. Anyway, the only one there was Hughes and that wasn't a problem at all. "...I told Hohenheim that he could stop over the house…"

Ed saw confused through the mirror how Roy didn't even move at the news, in fact, he smiled, "Don't worry, I've already told him that he could if you allowed him to do it"

"…Really?", he said almost not believing his father's words, but he just nodded, "…What did you and him really talk about?"

Roy noticed that Hughes threw him an inquiring look, so he leaned on his seat, "We talked about the obvious main subject. He told me that he didn't want to fight for your custody or coaxing you to go with him. He just simply asked me for permission to get to know you"

The boy blinked several times as he was processing the information…Roy had been pretty direct, "I see"

"…You want to do it?"

Ed stared at him for a moment before nodding, "I think I own him that after all he did for us, besides, that way I will be able to ask him about Okaasan"

Both Roy and Hughes smiled as the boy leaned on his seat and glanced at the window. He felt particularly happy about his decision, and Roy noticed it, so he was sure that everything would be fine.

……

"You have to be wrong, that's not possible"

Kimbley clicked his tongue annoyed and leaned on one of the walls of the office frowning. Raven was looking at him with wide eyes not believing what the Crimson Alchemist had just told him, it wasn't possible that Roy was alive, it simply was impossible.

"Chibi-Mustang saw me and smiled mocking of us. I'm sick of this game, Raven"

The Fuhrer narrowed his eyes and threw the man a dirty look; he really didn't appreciate the fact that Kimbley named all this a 'game'.

"If you had let him do it, neither of the two will be walking in the streets and the stupid shorty wouldn't have made fun of me"

"Shut your mouth, Kimbley. In a few days they will give me the document where you will be absolved from your old charges since you 'helped' us to catch Scar. Any mistake – which surely you would have made – and you could have ended with death penalty".

The man just smirked, he really liked to know that Raven wanted him free to have him as a loyal dog. It was a pretty sophisticated way to manipulate him without Raven notice it. "What do you think to do since you little plan didn't work out?"

Raven stared at him for a moment, but then he walked towards the window, "Do you know who helped them? They told me that they moved Roy to his house, but I'm sure that Edward doesn't know a thing about medicine"

Kimbley shook his head, "No, and now your head could be in danger, doesn't it?"

The Fuhrer glanced at the Crimson Alchemist out of the corner of his eyes pretty angered. Of course, if they managed to isolate the virus, they could prove that it was developed by Military Scientists, "My head? You're wrong this time, my head is safe from all this mess"

"Of course", Kimbley added finding the situation quite amusing.

Raven decided to ignore the man, now he had more important stuff to worry about. He really was counting that Roy would be already dead by this hour, and with him, the leader of great part of the militaries that now respected him after how he managed to control the riots along the year. He couldn't risk having such a powerful enemy, and now it was clear that it wouldn't be easy to get rid of him. What a nuisance.

"We have to call all the staff back, too much free time gives them the chance to conspire", he said trying to sound unconcerned, but failing miserably.

Kimbley nodded gladly. The closer he had Mustang, the easier it would be to keep an eye on him and take advantage on any mistake the man did, so Raven grabbed the phone to give the order to notify everyone that they had to come back to work the next day.

The Crimson Alchemist took a seat in one of the couches and stared at Raven amused. He seemed scared, actually, very scared. Thing weren't as smooth as he had planned since some of the Generals wasn't that happy with him and his attempt to kill Roy failed, he surely hated the feeling that he was losing control.

"What's so funny?", the man growled suddenly making the alchemist almost laugh.

"Your panic face"

Raven hit the table with his fist and looked at the man with anger, "Instead of laughing, go and do something with Scar, he almost escaped yesterday again"

Kimbley's smile erased and lifted a brow, "What a pain in the ass, let me kill him for the last fucking time"

"You and your killing obsession", Raven said annoyed, "Behave for this time at least"

The man stood up and walked towards the door raising his hand in sigh that he would do it, but Raven sometimes wished to put him back on his jail, he wasn't that loyal as he said. In the other hand, Roy was alive…he had to do something about it, Raven wasn't ready for this scenario and the fact that Edward had made fun of him angered him.

"You'll pay, both of you will pay"

……..

Roy did his best effort to hold back his laughs when he saw the half sleep face Edward had in the car, the boy looked like the fact that they had to go back to work had really affected him; he had had to forgot about his vacations and wake up early again. The boy raised a hand and pointed a finger towards Roy accusatorily with his head leaned on the window.

"This must be your fault, Raven must be furious that you're alive and kicking"

The man smirked, "This is because I didn't give up from such a stupid virus"

The boy glanced at his dad out of the corner of his eyes, so the man moved his hand in sign that he was joking, of course he was alive thanks to the efforts of Ed and Hohenheim, otherwise, he surely wouldn't be in this world at this hour.

"Be happy, sometimes is good to come back to the routine after that long"

Edward agreed to that, so he shook his head trying to wake up entirely when he saw that they were close to the Headquarter. Roy ruffled the blonde's hair with his hand leaving it as a mess. Ed narrowed his eyes seeing the smirk on his father's face, so he took off the rubber band and hold his hair in a ponytail.

Both got out of the car and said goodbye in the hallway, so Edward walked towards the Colonel Douglas' office saying hi to all the officers that he knew, most of them he haven't seen them since he had left a year ago. He knocked at the door an opened it when he heard the man say 'come in' and got in closing it behind him.

"Edward, punctual as always", the man said as usual while he read some documents…what time did he always arrive to the Headquarter? He was always already working when he got there…

"It's nice to see you, Colonel", he said as he took a seat in front of the desk.

The man turned the page he was reading and grabbed the pen to sign it, "I'm glad to know that Brigadier Mustang is back too"

The boy stared at Douglas for a moment, "…Did you know?"

"No", he said shaking his head, "I just found out, you know that I would have warned you"

Ed sighed and looked away towards the window. He had been right, Raven surely was furious and had given new orders to his 'allies', but he couldn't ask the Colonel about it, it would be too risky. He didn't know why, but he was really enjoying all this and he knew he shouldn't…However, he was sure that Raven took this as a challenge and Edward was willing to take it. Nobody, nobody messed with his family and much less with his father.

"Edward, what are you waiting for? Bring some tea", the man said suddenly as the boy narrowed his eyes.

"Can't you send to a mission or something yet?"

"…I would hate to be left without my personal secretary for now"

The boy threw the man a funny dirty look, but Douglas just smiled and kept signing documents while the boy stood up and headed to the cafeteria. He was back to his routine officially now, it could be said. The women of the place greeted the boy warmly telling him how much he had grown up, which only made the boy think that the day wouldn't be that bad after all.

When he opened the door of the Colonel's office, he noticed the man had the back of his chair faced towards him, which he rarely did, only when the call was personal…or from someone giving him orders. The boy placed the plate in the desk and poured some tea in the cups while he took a seat and heard the voice of the man whispering, but he couldn't understand a thing.

Finally, Douglas turned and hung up the phone grabbing his cup of tea while Ed stared at him quietly and curious, but he didn't say anything. However, he noticed how the man seemed to be clenching his hand on the cup furiously and almost burst it on the table as the boy looked at him confused.

"Edward, the Fuhrer requested to send you to his office"

The boy stared at him for a moment, but he took a sip of his tea trying to swallow as much as he could before he put the cup back on the table and rose drawing a smirk on his face, "Fine, if he wants to play dirty, let's do it"

"Be careful on what you say, you know what that man is capable of"

"Yeah, but I know what I'm capable of now"

Douglas flinched when he saw the boy's eyes full in anger, but he just saw how Edward turned around and got out of the office almost slamming the door shut. This wasn't good at all…

Edward walked through the hallway with his fists clenched and frowned, which made the officers look at him confused, but they didn't dare to say a thing, they knew for a while that they shouldn't bother the boy when he was that mad. However, the blonde saw how a boy was walking in other hallway without noticing that he was there.

"Al?"

The boy almost jumped and saw Ed as he smiled happily while he approached him and both raised his hands to knock their fists as their way to say hi, "It's been long time, Ed"

"Yeah", he said trying to smile and forget about Raven for a moment, "How have you been?"

The boy almost shrugged, "The usual, but how have you been?", he asked him with a hint of concern on his voice, so Ed moved his hand trying to tell him that there was anything to be worried for.

"I'm fine, happy to be back"

Al nodded and both walked through the hallway, "Wasn't all of you supposed to have a free week?"

"…Yeah…but apparently there were a few problems and we were needed sooner", he lied trying to sound convincing, but for some reason, the boy looked at him slightly puzzled.

"I see, do you still are Colonel Douglas' secretary?", he asked with a innocent mocking face, so the boy narrowed his eyes offended.

"Don't make fun of me", Al laughed quietly as Ed shook his head. Everyone loved to tease him with that…." Were you looking for someone?"

"Yeah, Otoosan"

"I'm going to the Fuhrer's office", Ed told him walking upstairs while Al followed him, "Can you come up?"

"Yes, he probably is there if they asked you to come"

Edward nodded so both walked upstairs talking about all they had learned about alchemy and Ed boasted of his new medical knowledge which impressed Al.

"It's really amazing that you had learned years of medical research on just one night", the boy told the blonde with wide eyes. Ed had just told him that he had helped an uncle with an exam, "Sometimes I don't understand why you're a State Alchemist"

Ed stared at the boy for a moment, but then he smiled ashamed, " You're not the only person that have told me that"

Before any of the two could say anything else, they reached the Fuhrer's officer door and the Secretary told them to get in since Raven was already waiting for Edward and the boy assumed that Al's dad was there since the office was full with Generals and Lieutenant Generals in a line in front of the man.

However, when both walked in, Ed noticed that Kimbley was in the middle of all of them being given what seemed to be some important document since it had the Fuhrer's stamp. Raven glanced at Edward, who just frowned.

"Zolf J. Kimbley, Crimson Alchemist, welcome back to the Military"

The blonde's eyes grew wide in shock when he saw how Raven and Kimbley shook their hands while the others Generals applauded. Al glanced at Ed since he didn't really understand what was going on, but the boy was petrified.

"Major Edward Mustang Elric", the man said suddenly as everyone turned to see the blonde, "You will be reassigned under Kimbley command immediately", he said drawing a wide smirk as he was saying the boy that this was what he got for challenging him.

The boy's jaw almost dropped, but everyone in the hall was staring at him so he was forced to salute the bastard, who was at the edge of bursting in laughs.

"Congratulations Kimbley", Raven said finally, "Your office have been assigned and it's ready for you use"

The man saluted Raven, but he looked around catching the Fuhrer's attention, "You know, I'm already used to this office"

Raven seemed perplexed by the comment, but he held back a laugh, "You must work hard if you want an office like this in the future"

However, Kimbley shook his head, "I think you didn't understand what I said, I want this office"

The Fuhrer looked at him confused and lifted a brow, not really liking the malicious smile the Crimson Alchemist had in that moment, "Stop fooling around, you're dismissed"

"No, you are dismissed", he said almost between laughs. The man made a sign with his hand and all the General took out their guns aiming them towards the shocked Raven.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"You're stupid, Raven, you didn't see what was almost in front of you all the time and now you will pay for it with your life. You never understood that what I always wanted was this"

"OTOOSAN!"

Edward reacted at Al's scream and saw how the boy approached Raven and stood in front of him…He was Al's father?! The man put a hand on Alphonse's shoulder harshly so the boy didn't move away.

"Are you brave enough to shoot a kid?", he said smirking, but his laugh erased immediately when the Generals prepared their guns pointing them directly to his head. Then, he took out his gun and put the cannon in Al's head, "If you don't lower your guns now, I'll shoot him and this will warn the guards"

Alphonse's eyes widened in horror and remained motionless while his dad held the gun on his head. However, Edward quickly clapped his hands and transmuted a block from the floor that hit Raven and released Al, so he ran towards him and grabbed the boy from the arm when he heard gun shots and both fell in the floor.

Al tried to sit up immediately, but he saw in shock his dad on the floor bleeding…and possibly dead. When Ed noticed that Kimbley glanced at them, he clapped his hands and transmuted a wall between them that stopped the shots from the Generals.

Edward grabbed the petrified Al from the arm again and pulled him until he reach the bookshelf that Major Armstrong moved that time, pushed it and transmute a hole in the wall which where both entered. Ed transmuted the wall back and pulled Al downstairs at top speed.

Kimbley finished drawing the transmutation circle and touched it to transmute the wall back, but he saw that neither of the two boys where there anymore. He frowned and turned to face the Generals.

"Find them and put in prison all persons that are in the list"

The men saluted him and got out of the room quickly while Kimbley smirked. He approached the desk and pushed Raven with his boot while he took a seat on the chair and drew another transmutation circle. He put the paper over the plaque that had Raven's name and his title and changed it to his name while he drew a wide smile.

"Say hi to the new King of the World"

……..