Red Roses2:
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. It belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.
!#$%^&*()_+~
Mei's scream caught in her throat. A hand – the size of a child's – grasped the air, trying to find something to grab hold to. Blood bathed it, and a wrist forced itself to enter the world outside the gaping wound in Ed's abdomen. A bicep slowly followed, making a squelching sound.
Al could only gape, terror pulsing through his body. He hurt his brother. He had used Scar's technique – the same technique that the military had ordered him never to use again – to seriously maim Heinrich, and he hurt his brother instead. His brother – his brother could die from this. And what was that thing?
An elbow finally emerged, and the thing managed to pull its torso out after it. Its head broke through the blood and muscle like it was water, gasping for air. It spat blood out of its mouth viciously. Its long black hair fell in its face, matted to its skull and dripping with blood. Its tunnel-dark eyes glared up the stairs at its siblings. It held out a hand, reaching for Pride and Little Greed.
Little Greed leaped down the stairs and grasped its hand. The third homunculus grunted as he and Little Greed pulled his lower half out with a resounding pop! He spit Ed's blood out of his mouth and snorted, red flying from his nostrils. He wiped his eyes and flicked specs of red onto the wall.
Pride raised an eyebrow. "You're a little big," she said.
He glared at her as he pulled his blood-drenched hair back, using one of his own strands to tie it into a pony-tail.
Pride took her time descending the stairs. She stood over Ed's body and frowned.
"Shouldn't Envy be out by now?"
Little Greed rolled up his sleeve. "Want me to get him?"
Pride bit her lower lip, then nodded. Heinrich grabbed Little Greed's arm.
"What are you doing?" Heinrich asked weakly.
Little Greed grinned at him.
"Pride can't heal Mother if our little brother's still in there. Not when he's ready to come out. So I help Envy, then Pride heals Mother."
Little Greed broke away from Heinrich's grasp, knelt down next to Ed, and plunged his arm into Ed's body with a sickening squishing sound. Al, Mei, and Heinrich whimpered. Ming began to cry.
Ed just lay there, unconscious.
Little Greed moved his arm around some, then he grinned.
"Got him!"
Little Greed pulled with all his might, and, with the most gruesome sound the humans had ever heard, released his youngest sibling. Blood splattered in frightening amounts onto the floor, Al's and Heinrich's clothes, and the wall. The body of Envy crumbled in a heap on the floor, struggling to get to its feet.
Pride immediately went to work, spreading her spit-covered hands across Ed's wounds and hacking up loogies like they were bullets and she a machine gun. Saliva dribbled from her mouth. With every application of spit, Ed's wounds healed astronomically. In a matter of minutes, the only evidence that Ed was ever hurt was the blood covering the hallway.
Pride stood up once she was finished and stared right at Heinrich.
"Mother will need lots of rest. You should take him to bed. Brother Greed and I will handle Brothers Wrath and Envy." Pride shot a glare at Al. "You, dear Uncle, will have to leave." Pride swerved her eyes onto Mei, expression already softening. "You may stay. Mother will be able to talk about baby-sitting in a few hours. There is tea in the cabinet if you'd like some while you waited." Pride settled her glare on Al once again. "Here is your only warning: Wrath has no sense of restraining himself. Wrath will kill you once given a reason to, no matter what. You've dodged this bullet, since it gave birth to him, but don't expect to get away Scott-free again. Now get out."
Heinrich carefully picked Ed up, cradling him like he would a child – except he realized he had never held Pride like this. Only Ed. Now certainly wasn't the time to think about it.
Al practically tripped his way through the front door, Pride closing it firmly after him.
Mei crept farther into the kitchen, horror pounding in her veins. Ming still cried against her chest. Mei was grateful the one-year-old hadn't seen any of the blood. . . .
Unfortunately, Mei couldn't read Ming's mind. Ming was a special little girl, who would grow up to have a talent for alchemy like her father and uncle. But though she didn't see the blood, she could sense the homunculi. And they scared her more than any bloodshed would in the future.
"Greed, I want you to get clothes for Wrath and Envy," Pride ordered.
Little Greed dashed to fulfill her wish. Pride spat into her hand once more, and wiped Wrath's face. Pride noticed that there were no similarities between his face and her own. She smirked as she realized who he must've looked like: a younger version of Van Hoenheim.
Wrath glared at her, but she didn't mind. She understood that was the only look he was capable of.
"He ruined my development," Wrath growled. He brought a bloody hand to his right ear. "I can't hear with this one, and I couldn't taste the blood."
Pride continued to spit-bathe him. She didn't even spare Envy a glance. Envy lay huddled in a corner, nothing more than a blood-red imitation of a human body.
"He ruined Envy's, too," Wrath continued bitterly. "He won't look like anyone for a while."
Pride finished her chore and pressed a kiss onto her brother's nose.
"Don't worry, Brother Wrath. Envy will get his revenge." Pride's grin widened. "He'll look just like Alphonse Elric now, after all."
Wrath's scowl twisted into an evil grin. "That he will, Sister. That he will."
~!#$%^&*()_+
Blood still covered the hallway when Scar, Winry, and Hoenheim returned. The three stared at the hall, jaws hanging. Winry dropped her purse. Blood stained it as it hit the floor, drops splattering on her shoes.
"W-what - ?" Winry gasped. Scar tightened his hold on her shoulders.
"Is anyone here?" Scar called out.
Mei poked her head around the kitchen wall.
"Yes. Ed and Heinrich are upstairs. . . . The homunculi are in the living room. . . ." Mei said quietly, Ming asleep in her arms.
"What happened?" Winry asked.
Mei flinched as she remembered her husband's blood-stained hands and the child ripping himself out of Ed's body.
"Th-there are two more homunculi children. . . ." was all she could say.
Hoenheim's eyes widened, and he hurried up the stairs. He pushed open the door to Heinrich's – no, Heinrich and Ed's – room and sucked his breath in.
Ed lay on the bed, deathly pale, shirt ripped and crusted with dried blood. With his eyes closed, Hoenheim prayed he was just asleep. The subtle movement of his chest eased his worries – slightly.
Heinrich sat near him, not daring to disturb the bed or Ed. His jaw was set and his eyes shined with moisture. His body trembled with fear. His lips twitched between frowning and moving in sobs. He was struggling not to cry.
Hoenheim stood next to him, taking in the frightfully pale color of Ed's cheeks, lips, and hands.
"What happened?" Hoenheim breathed, irrationally fearing that, if he spoke too loudly, Ed's life would just slip away.
Heinrich's face tore with pain. He gritted his teeth, strangling sounds escaping his throat. His body trembled more violently.
"Al and Mei came by to talk to Ed about maybe baby-sitting Ming," Heinrich said weakly, his words fighting hard to not come out as sobs. "Ed and I had been talking about what happened yesterday, so his eyes were a little red from crying. . . . With that and the bruise, Al got overprotective and . . . it was supposed to be me like that. It was supposed to be my blood all over the hallway. But Ed pushed me out of the way. . . and . . . ."
The German could say no more, and Hoenheim didn't want him to. Hoenheim hesitated, then reached his hand out to stroke Ed's bangs. Like he did when Ed was sleeping as a toddler. Like he did when he calmed Ed down from his breakdowns. Like he wished he could more often. If only Ed would let him.
Hoenheim wondered if he was supposed to feel embarrassed as he broke into tears. He wondered what it said about him when a young man who had seen the horror could hold back his sobs and screams and he couldn't. He wondered what it would have been like to just not have to deal with incestuous sons, boyfriends from other dimensions, homunculi grandchildren, and overprotective brothers who just didn't stop to think about the consequences.
He wondered what Trisha would think of his parenting skills. Because they really did suck. Maybe if he just kicked Heinrich out on his ass when Ed failed to, Al wouldn't have felt the need to lash out. Maybe if he had stayed instead of going on that walk, he would've been there to keep Al from hurting anyone. Maybe if he had just stayed home all those years ago, when Ed and Al were three, he wouldn't be regretting so much.
Then again, they may all have been dead.
All of the guilt he had been feeling ever since he started holding Ed when he cried poured out of him as he wept for his deathly pale son.
Hoenheim wasn't sure he'd be able to go through therapy after all.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Envy Elric finally stretched out of his huddled form in the corner. He stood up and shot a glare in Pride's, Wrath's, and Little Greed's direction. He pushed his newly acquired bangs out of the way – bangs of a dark brown more than a black. His midnight eyes injected his cynicism and frustration into his siblings. He pulled at his somewhat chubby cheeks and tweaked his nose. He already knew who he looked like, but he already detested it. How come he couldn't be beautiful like Brother Greed? Why did he have to get stuck with the hideous appearance of the ignorant, stupid, brainless Alphonse Elric? In fact, why did he have to be the only one who wasn't sure if Alphonse or Alfons was his damn father? Not that the damn thing even mattered; he'll probably just kill them both for being so goddamn annoying.
Not that he'd physically met Alfons Heinrich yet. The damn German was upstairs with Mother and Grandfather.
Speaking of Grandfather, he'd even rather look like Wrath, the youthful form of Grandfather. Or Pride. He didn't really like her hair, but it was better than this stupid short hairstyle with the stupid bangs going off to his right. And why the hell wasn't his hair black, like his siblings? Why was it fucking dark brown? Another screw up that Alphonse Elric caused.
He prayed to whatever thing created him that Alphonse Elric was not his father. That fucking idiot. Forcing him to be like this.
Wrath matched Envy's glare.
"Are you going to wear the damn clothes or not?" Wrath spat; Envy wouldn't even be able to get away with the damn cursing once he actually talked. Wrath had an excuse, being incapable of feeling anything other than variations of anger. But no, Envy was just envy – jealousy – and couldn't possibly have an excuse to curse. Urgh, he was going to hate existing!
Envy snatched the clothes away from Pride, ignoring the frightened looks he was getting from the blonde woman and the tanned man. He forced his legs into the pants and violently shrugged on the shirt. He pouted as he looked at himself in the only reflective surface in the living room – the coffee table.
"It hides the ouroboros," Envy complained.
Pride shrugged. "My turtleneck hides mine, but you don't see me complaining."
Envy glared at her. "Only partially. I can still see its wing poking out onto your jaw line."
Pride rolled her eyes. "Only a homunculus would notice, Brother Envy."
Wrath sat next to her, dressed only in pants. His ouroboros tattoo stood out clearly on his pale chest; it marked right where a heart would be – if any of them had one.
His own tattoo was currently hiding under the – hideous – clothing on his knee. The tattoo was the only thing he liked about his current appearance, and he'd be slicing the pants to pieces as soon as Pride wasn't looking. The world would know what he was if he damn felt like telling them.
But he wished the tattoo was in a more attractive spot. Like Brother Greed's. He wished it was in the small of his back, or at least in a sexier spot, like the inside of his thigh or something. Maybe his navel. He didn't really care. Then again, clothes that would show off a tattoo in those areas would probably look horrendous on an Alphonse Elric clone.
Ugh. He hated Alphonse Elric.
Did he mention that already?
"When does Mother wake up?" Brother Greed inquired, shuffling his feet. Why the hell did Greed have to make everything look cute or sexy anyway? Why couldn't Envy do that!?
Pride looked up at the clock above the mantel. "In a few more minutes."
Greed nodded and took a spot next to Wrath on the couch. Envy grinded his teeth.
Why couldn't he at least have looked a little attractive? Just a little? Have Greed's hair, have Wrath's muscle, have Pride's eyes. Any of that would make this hell of being the Alphonse Elric copy be bearable. But no. Alphonse Elric had to be completely unattractive in every way.
Damn. It. All. To. Hell.
"Edward!" Alfons Heinrich's panicked voice shot through the air like a harpoon.
Winry whimpered, and Scar tightened his grip on her hand. Mei held Ming tighter, flinching. No one had dared to clean the hallway yet. The homunculi froze, listening to what was being said upstairs. Pride's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She stood up quickly.
"He wants to come down here. To see you two."
Wrath and Envy raised an eyebrow each.
"What's wrong with that?" Brother Greed asked.
"The hallway! I can't clean it up that fast! You two go up to him!"
Wrath grumbled something under his breath, but complied. He walked – barefoot – through the bloody hallway and up the stairs. With most of the blood dried, spreading it across the house wasn't much of a problem.
Envy cursed his appearance some more as he followed his brother.
Wrath knocked on the open bedroom door. Hoenheim looked up as he picked Ed off the floor. Envy chuckled at the sudden image of Hoenheim and Heinrich flailing to catch Mother as he tumbled out of bed.
If there wasn't a person he envied right now, it was Alfons Heinrich. He looked terribly similar to Alphonse Elric, and he couldn't even do alchemy! He was more useless than the baby in that woman's arms! He wondered what was worse: being useless or being an idiot like Alphonse Elric.
Hoenheim laid Ed back on the bed, Ed groaning slightly.
"You're not well enough to walk around yet," Heinrich said, standing next to the bed, looking horribly awkward and scared. "B-besides, they're up here with you now. . . ." He glanced fearfully at Wrath and Envy.
Envy smirked. Oh, yeah, being feared felt good!
Wrath's fists tightened and started trembling. Envy raised an eyebrow. What the hell was eating him now?
Envy finally took the time to actually look at Ed – and feel a little bad about ripping his insides to shreds.
Ed smiled weakly at them. Envy wondered if he even knew exactly how they ripped themselves out. Mother had been unconscious at the time, after all. But did that mean he didn't feel it?
"So, your names are - ?" Ed said, sitting up despite Hoenheim's attempts at laying him down.
Envy glanced at Wrath. His brother's mouth trembled.
"Envy Elric," the – youngest? Was he really? – homunculus answered. "This dumb ass is Wrath."
Wrath stiffened. Envy felt better. At least an insulted Wrath was predictable instead of . . . whatever the hell he was a second ago.
"Don't call your brother a dumb ass," Ed admonished, voice weak but meaning strong.
"Mother?" Wrath said, his voice trembling. Ed tilted his side to the side, Wrath's piercing glare somehow not penetrating that curious expression. "Never do anything like that ever again. If it weren't for Pride, you would have died."
Ah. Now he made sense. Wrath was always angry, but there were different kinds of anger. This was anger at – not only Mother – but at himself. It was the "I Love You" anger. Envy wasn't sure he liked this kind, but at least he wasn't angry at him.
Ed laughed feebly. "I certainly won't be doing it any time soon!"
Wrath narrowed his eyes. Envy rolled his.
"Come over here, both of you," Ed said, holding out his arms. Wrath took a deep breath and tried to keep himself together. Something he could only do around Mother. Envy strutted right up to him and sat down on the bed next to him. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror – and hated Alphonse Elric all the more. He looked hideous!
Ed ruffled his hair. Envy tore his eyes away from the mirror and gave Ed an annoyed look. Ed smiled at him.
"You're adorable," he said. Envy raised an eyebrow at him.
"Adorable?"
"Yeah!"
"You call this adorable?"
Ed nodded. Envy looked in the mirror again. Nope, he still had the hideous brown hair, the chubby cheeks, the stupid nose, the midnight eyes – were his ears malformed? A quick look at Wrath's confirmed that they were shaped a little differently. Was that because he looked like Alphonse Elric or because Alphonse Elric screwed up his birth? He pulled at the ear he could see in the mirror. Ugh!
Envy almost didn't notice Ed pulling him into a hug; had he not noticed it in the mirror, he wouldn't have realized it. A hug would explain the sudden warmth surrounding him, though. Envy looked at Ed. A small smile weaseled its way onto his face.
He supposed the one thing he had going for him was that Mother liked how he looked. Why would he sleep with two people who looked so much alike, if he didn't?
Maybe – maybe it was like Pride. Pride looked like Trisha Elric, Mother's mother. Mother did say Brother Greed was cute, but not with nearly as much gusto as with Pride. Not that Brother Greed cared. He smirked as he realized maybe looking like Stupid Alphonse wasn't that bad after all.
~!#$%^&*()_+
When Ed finally could come down the stairs, the hallway was spotless. And Pride was gulping down a hundred glasses of water. Little Greed kept refilling, and refilling, and refilling per her direction. Mei, Scar, and Winry sat around the kitchen table, watching them.
"Are you all right, Edward?" Mei asked hesitantly.
Ed smiled at her, arms circling Hoenheim's neck and legs circling his waist, ankles locking together just above Hoenheim's belt buckle. "Yeah. Um, what were we talking about earlier?"
"Um. I don't remember." Mei lied. Ed's face still held its corpse-like quality. "I'll probably remember later."
Pride pushed another glass into Little Greed's hands. "Give Mother some juice."
Greed nodded and proceeded to do so.
Hoenheim gently set Ed down in a chair. Heinrich cautiously sat next to him, still scared. Wrath went to stand next to Pride, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. Envy leaned against the kitchen wall, looking bored.
Ed scanned the room one more time, his lips twisting into a frown. He looked back at Mei.
"Where's Al?" he asked.
Heinrich tensed, and Mei practically shrunk into her chair. Winry furrowed her eyebrows.
"Al was here?" Winry said. Scar narrowed his eyes; that didn't sound right. . . .
Pride turned away from the sink and looked Ed right in the eye, gaze stern and features schooled. Ed stiffened.
With no sympathy – with no hesitation – Pride answered.
"I kicked him out. For his own safety and my own desire to never see him again."
"If I ever meet the man, I will snap his neck in two – if I'm feeling merciful," Wrath added, not bothering to look at Ed as he said it. "I'm deaf in one ear thanks to him. He almost killed you. He tried to kill Father. Envy's first hour in this world was filled with pain. He's going to pay for that."
Envy shrugged. "I honestly don't care for Alphonse Elric, either."
Little Greed set the glass of juice in front of Ed. Ed looked at him, his eyes questioning. Little Greed threw his shoulders back and set his hands on his hips.
"It would be ungrateful of me to dislike Alphonse Elric. He is my father, after all." Little Greed said; Heinrich flinched at the admittance. "However, I have no aversion to his death. Homunculi need not a second parent." Little Greed glanced at Ming. The one-year-old stared at him with bright gray eyes – the same eyes as her father. "Humans are different. Always will be. If Alphonse Elric's daughter wants him alive, I'll make sure he is." Little Greed tilted his head to get a better look at Ming.
Ming gurgled fearfully. Little Greed stepped back until she stopped.
"Ming Elric will be a great alchemist one day," Little Greed announced, surprising everyone, even his siblings. "I am happy to be her half-brother."
Little Greed knew Ming understood his words. He smiled a human smile when the baby finally relaxed.
~!#$%^&*()_+
She felt like there was something that she needed to remember. Something important. But what was it? All she could remember was the bright white space and her current companions. Now they wandered the streets of a place that she somehow knew she'd never have recognized, even if she could remember.
In the fuzzy background of her mind, she knew she would only recognize grassy hills and small houses, a beautiful lake and a herd of sheep. A graveyard and a dog, and a boy with golden hair.
The chimera next to her sniffed the ground and whimpered as it sat on his hindquarters. The man ahead of them turned around.
"Everything okay, Nina?" the man asked.
That was right. The chimera's name was Nina. She was part girl, part dog. Her father had transmuted her.
"Ed~ward," Nina said, her voice garbled and morphed. "Ed~ward hurt. Ed~ward sad. Must find Ed~ward."
The man – why couldn't she remember his name? – walked up to her and patted her head.
"I know, Nina. That's why we have to find him."
She was glad the man remembered so much. But she knew he didn't remember everything. He couldn't remember the name of someone very precious to him. But both he and Nina remembered Edward, and they kept telling her that she should remember him, too. The man said that she would remember; she just had to give it time.
Every time she heard the name Edward, she felt the spot where her heart was supposed to be throb painfully.
She felt like she had done something terrible to this Edward.
But why couldn't she remember what it was?
"Are you able to smell him, Nina?" the man asked.
Nina shook her head morosely.
"No. My nose does~n't work any~more."
The man sighed and pressed a hand against his temple.
"That's okay. We'll go to the Central Headquarters and dig up his home address. It's bound to be there."
He pushed his glasses farther up his nose and started walking again. Nina lifted her back legs and continued to follow him.
She trailed after both of them, now trying to remember what her own name was. Why would they think that she knew this Edward? Her chest throbbed again.
"What is your name again?" she asked the man.
The man turned around, looking at her, surprised.
"You don't remember? I told you when we met back in the white."
She shook her head. He smiled sympathetically.
"Guess you would have it worse off than Nina and me. My name is Brigadier General Maes Hughes. Do you remember your name?"
She shook her head again, feeling stupid.
"You're Trisha Elric."
She tried to remember where she had heard the name Elric before. She gasped as she realized it.
"Elric. That's the last name of the boy we're looking for."
Hughes nodded.
"Yep. Edward Elric is your oldest son."
Trisha lowered her head as she processed this information.
Wait.
Maybe she did remember something about him.
"I think you'd really like him, Mom. He's really sweet. He can be a little overprotective at times, but that's okay. He's just looking out for me." His words wavered with the sounds of sobs, but happiness laced his voice. Leaves blew into Ed's blond locks. The hair tie was no longer keeping Ed's hair back, and that beautiful golden mane whipped about in the wind. Ed ran his flesh hand through his hair, fingers catching on a few tangles. "Guess the wind stole my hair tie," Ed joked. Sun glinted off of his automail arm. His clothes rippled with the wind and his movements. "Here, Mom. I transmuted them on my way here. Al got married. Did you know that? His wife's name is Mei. She's really sweet. Pretty, too. 'Course, she doesn't compare to you! They have a little girl named Ming. I swear, she's the cutest niece ever!" A twig snapped, and Ed looked over his shoulder. The wind cooled hot tears as they rolled down Ed's cheeks. A man she didn't know placed a hand on Ed's shoulder – his automail one. He pulled Ed into his arms and held him tightly. He pressed his cheek against the side of Ed's head, breathed in the combined smell of machine oil and raspberry shampoo, rubbed his right hand over the place where automail arm met flesh and his left hand down the small of Ed's back. Ed tilted his head confusedly.
"Hei - ?"
"Alfons."
"Huh?"
"I liked it when you called me Alfons. It sounds wonderful when you say it."
Ed smiled as he nuzzled the man's neck.
"Okay, Alfons. But what are you doing here?"
The "Alfons" pulled away from Ed, a small sad smile lingering on his lips.
"I was hoping to say hello to your mother."
Ed matched the man's smile and turned towards the grave."Mom, this is Alfons." Ed's flesh arm circled around Alfons's waist. The wind blew Ed's hair onto the man's arm. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me."
The man pulled Ed's automail arm to complete the circle his flesh arm had started. Ed gasped. He looked up at the man and met his incredibly pleased smile.
"You – you don't mind the automail?"
The man's eyes curved upward as his smile widened.
"Why would I? It's part of you, and I love you."
Ed's face flushed adorably. He bowed his head and looked back at the grave.
"Told you he was perfect."
That man – she knew she had never met that man before. How she knew that, she didn't know, but it was a fact. She knew she wasn't in the grave, though. So why was he talking to a grave?
"Hughes?"
Hughes looked back at her once more. "Yes?"
"Are we dead?"
Hughes lowered his head. "Yeah. We're dead."
"Then why are we here?"
Hughes shrugged. "I don't understand alchemy in the slightest. All I know is that something bad is going to happen, and it's going to happen to Ed. And I can't just sit back and let it happen."
"Nei~ther can I," Nina said.
"I knew what it was before we came here, but now I can't remember. I'm hoping it'll come back to me soon." Hughes admitted, shoulders slumping.
Trisha lifted her head.
"I remembered something."
Hughes and Nina's expressions brightened – Trisha wondered if it was strange to be able to tell what a dog chimera was thinking from its expression.
"There's a man. Named Alfons. Edward is in love with him."
Hughes's face darkened. "Oh. That son of a bitch."
Trisha furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
"While trying to figure out how to get here, I managed to gather a little bit of information about him. Yeah, he was the perfect boyfriend up until the point he smacked Ed across the face."
Trisha's eyes widened.
"This 'bad thing' has something to do with him – I know it. And he's not going to get the chance to destroy Ed. Right, Nina?" Hughes said.
"Right," agreed the dog chimera.
Trisha fidgeted. She tried to remember more, but it wasn't any use. All she could conjure up was the image of vintage armor, and a voice she couldn't attach to a face.
"He's the perfect little knight, isn't he, Trisha?"
"Yes he is, honey. He'll make a certain someone very happy. But for now, he's our little knight!"
Cheerful laughter chased her out of her own memories, the pain in her chest increasing.