*coughs into hands* uhhhhh me again? i honestly can't think of anything more on brand than updating this story randomly after seven months but hey here we are. this is the first of a serious of 'explanation' chapters so probably not all that exciting but it should definitely help answer the SLEW of questions yall have been leaving me in the reviews (which I love, rest assured) All i can say is Lord Maes Hughes is here to drop some knowledge on our favorite royals that should have been dropped ages ago. Not everything is answered in this chapter but at least the cogs should start rolling. Hope you enjoy (also plz don't tomato pelt me for the wait, writing is hard yo)
The King of Amestris sat back in his chair, the single candle on a nearby table illuminating only a miniscule portion of the massive room. The quiet tapping sound of the familiar jeweled ring on the old wood was the only thing that could be heard. Roy's fingers aimlessly twirled it around on the side table, his mind continuing its frantic wandering.
He looked at the familiar painting before him in the archives, and remembered when it had been commissioned. It was one of Isabella's first duties as the Queen of Amestris to sit for the portrait, and he remembered how regal she had looked as the painter's brush whooshed delicately across the canvas. His crest necklace had been painted perfectly to match its proud wearer. Isabella never hid from her true feelings. She had worn the necklace, and her title, as proudly as anyone would have expected.
Roy continued to tap the ring on the table.
He shouldn't be thinking like that. He shouldn't be comparing the two, especially considering how obvious it was that Riza had been doing a fair share of it herself the last few months. He shouldn't project his frustrations of his current love to his former one, despite how easy of a thing it was to do.
The metal of the crest necklace burned from where it rested against his upper chest. In a fit of wallowing self-pity he had replaced the simple piece, never having expected it would be returned. For the second time in his life, he'd had to wear the symbol of his promise to a woman after watching her go. With Isabella, her death. With Riza, her betrayal.
He let out a small scoff when he thought about how pathetic he must look right now, sat in a chair before his dead wife's portrait, absentmindedly twirling the ring of his estranged betrothed in the barely lit archives room of his home castle. What a place for a powerful king, he thought bitterly. He knew he shouldn't be throwing his own private pity party like this, but he couldn't think of anything else to do. It wasn't like he could go back out after Riza and Lord Grumman. He had known where to find her before, but he had no idea where Grumman was planning on taking her now. His old mentor had always been cryptic with these types of things. He was sure he had some kind of hideout, but its location had certainly never been shared with Roy.
And now he had to swallow the guilt and self-loathing he felt after leaving Winry, Ed, and Al in the dungeons. Even with all the pain he had been feeling since he had awoken at Grumman's and realized Riza was gone, none could really compare to how it felt to turn his back on the ones he trusted most. He knew he had no other choice, but Winry's pleading look had almost made him cave in. He was certain she and Ed didn't pose a threat but, then again, he had been certain Riza wouldn't have either. He couldn't protect his heart, he might as well protect his throne.
Noiselessly, the king arose and pocketed the ring. He blew out the candle and maneuvered his way through the dark, empty room. He felt numb as he began to move toward the private royal family wing of the castle, uninterested in dwelling further on all this negativity. He had just lost his most powerful ally and an even more powerful enemy would only grow stronger once the news spread. He had work to do as the ruler of this kingdom. He'd let himself have his moments, but he needed to focus most of his energy on figuring out who his true allies were and developing some sort of plan.
If even the woman he loved had turned out to be a threat, he was doing a terrible job of protecting what he had inherited.
"Roy!" a voice called out suddenly from behind him in the corridors. The king immediately stilled, recognizing the voice instantly. Not that many people were familiar enough with him to yell out his first name.
He inwardly groaned as he turned and saw his best friend and former advisor at the other end of the hall. In the hecticness of everything, he'd completely forgotten that they'd been expected to arrive earlier that day. Roy wondered how long Hughes and his family had been here.
He wondered if they knew.
Judging by the expression on his friend's face as the nobleman rushed to where Roy stood frozen, that was a pretty safe bet.
The king didn't even have a moment to register Maes's frightfully angry expression before the man had quickly approached him, fisted his hand into Roy's tunic, and shoved him against a nearby wall.
"Have you lost your goddamn mind!?"
Roy's eyes instantly narrowed and he attempted to get his wits about him after the sudden move. His voice was low and dangerous as he replied, "Have you lost yours? What the hell do you think you're doing, Hughes?"
"Don't even try and start with that on me, Roy. What are you even thinking turning your back on everyone you trust? What kind of king does that?"
Roy's hand went to where Maes had a grip on his tunic and made to push him off, even though his best friend wasn't budging. "Who told you?" was all he asked.
"Havoc. And if you really thought I wouldn't find out the moment I got here, then you're even more of an idiot than I imagined."
Sick of his friend's insults, Roy finally managed to gather enough strength to push Hughes clear off of him. The two powerful men stepped apart and breathed heavily, each shooting daggers at the other with their eyes.
"This has nothing to do with you, Hughes," Roy finally spoke with the same emotionally charged voice.
"Like hell it does! I may not always be around, but I'm still your goddamn advisor. My job is to keep you from doing stupid shit like this."
Roy's eyes flashed. "You gave up that title long ago, Hughes. You said you didn't want to be a part of this court after everything that had happened…" with the Homunculi, was the implied end to his statement. The king wasn't about to go down that particular route in the middle of one of his castle's corridors.
"Don't be a fool, Roy. Don't push me away like you're pushing everyone else away. That's not who you are. That's not the kind of king you are." Lord Hughes's voice softened a touch as he spoke these words.
Roy's shoulders slumped as a bit of his anger began to dissipate. "I don't know what the hell kind of king I am anymore, Hughes. I don't even know what's going on. You've been hiding things from me. Lord Grumman has been hiding things from me. And even Riza…" his voice trailed off and he closed his eyes against the onslaught of emotion he had been trying desperately to hold back. "I don't know what to believe anymore."
Hughes sighed. "I may not be able to help you with Grumman, and I know there's more going on with you and Riza than any of us could possibly understand. Something to have made her run away like that." Roy was silent as Hughes continued. "But...I can at least tell you what I know. I can tell you why you're making a mistake and if it's true that Amestris and Aerugo's treaty has been dissolved...it's happened at quite possibly the worst time."
"What does that mean?" Roy asked in a low voice.
His former advisor merely shook his head. "Not here."
At this, Roy could only narrow his eyes before he shrugged and led his "friend" to his upturned study. The pair walked in silence until, once they had entered and Hughes saw the mess for himself, he let out a low whistle through his teeth.
"Shit," he muttered quietly. "I didn't think it'd be this bad. How did she find everything?"
Roy's voice was bitter as he answered, his feet knocking away papers and books that were strewn about the floor to sit himself on the part of his couch not covered with something. "She knows me better than I know myself at times. She was able to work herself into my mind...figure out how I chose to hide things."
Hughes shook his head. "This is more than just the Homunculi. Hell, this is probably more than just whatever was going on between you two privately. For someone like her to have done this much damage...searched that diligently...something else was fueling her."
Roy's jaw clenched at his friend's words. He had figured as much. He had known almost as soon as Havoc and Helena had showed him everything. He knew what time of year it was. Despite the intense rainstorm, he knew exactly why, after what must have been months of her own silent agonizing, she had chosen this particular morning to do something like this.
The room was thrust into silence after this as Hughes continued to marvel at how Riza had gotten so far and Roy tried to rein in his severe emotions.
Eventually, the king grew tired of the quiet and finally spoke up. "So...are you going to actually tell me something or are you going to keep it hidden?"
Hughes turned toward him fully. "I will, but I'm waiting for everyone to get here."
"Everyone?" Roy questioned.
As a direct answer, footsteps and familiar voices were heard approaching the open study door before a group appeared. When the king got a look at just who Hughes had been waiting for, his eyes widened and he immediately stood to his feet, anger flaring up again within him.
"Havoc! Just what the hell do you think you're doing? I didn't give any orders to release them."
His First Knight looked beside himself with guilt, but still withstood the brunt of his ruler's anger, while Ed, Al, and Winry resolutely stood beside him. He barely registered Sir Breda there, as well as a few other members of the court, probably having been called to provide Havoc some backup from the king's inevitable explosion.
"I issued those orders," Hughes spoke simply from his side, and Roy immediately turned on him.
"I don't care what position you used to hold in this castle, Hughes, you do not get to go running around defying my commands."
Not backing down, the veteran lord took a self-assured step toward the king. "I can and I will defy them if they're unjust. I don't really care about what's happened over the last twenty-four hours, you don't get to put your anger and your guilt onto your friends. They're your allies, Roy, they should never have even been detained."
"How can you possibly say that!?" Roy exclaimed before he turned toward the group watching silently at the door. "How can any of you claim to be my ally? If I couldn't even trust Riza…" the king had to use all his strength not to let his voice crack with emotion. "I can't trust any of you."
With a determined air, Winry moved through the mess and walked right up to where the king stood. "Roy...I know you're hurting. I am too. And I'm sure Riza is out there right now feeling exactly like you're feeling, but this is not the time to turn against each other. I believe in you, just like I believe in my sister."
"She's right, Roy. The last thing we should be doing now is fighting with each other. We have much bigger enemies," Hughes spoke resolutely.
It was deathly silent a moment before Roy's eyes turned back toward his friend. "And are you ever going to tell me more about these 'bigger enemies'? I am goddamn sick of people keeping things from me. Tell me what you know now, Hughes, or I'll have you locked away too."
The veteran lord let out a humorless scoff at that. "I'd like to see you try." The king and his former advisor held a staring match for a few moments before Hughes let out a long sigh and collapsed on the couch. He crossed his hands under his chin and made eye contact with everyone present in the room. They all watched him with varying levels of anticipation.
"Roy...I can't claim to know what happened to drive you and Riza apart. I have my suspicions but, in the end, that's between you and her. What I can tell you is that...you both might have been purposefully driven apart...and for much darker purposes."
The king stiffly sat opposite his 'friend' while Ed, Al, Winry, and the rest of the court who was in the room walked closer with rapt attention.
Hughes continued on. "I told you that I was going to go on a little trip. I only just returned and the knowledge I've brought with me can hopefully shed some light on this situation. Roy...do you remember last year, not long before that initial battle with Creta here in the city, when our border reconnaissance team went missing?"
The king's brow furrowed but he still answered truthfully. "Yes, it's the team who Breda used to lead. We always believed they had been taken out by the Republic to prevent anyone here from knowing about the Cretian army's movements. Is that not true?" Roy couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"It's mostly true. But they weren't killed...they were temporarily redirected."
"By who?" Roy asked gruffly and Hughes couldn't help but let a small, knowing smile pass his lips.
"Ah, you know me too well. I'm assuming the rest of you thought the Cretians or the Republic or whoever made sure they weren't found, but they were led not very far from their base...by our allies. To a safehouse hugging the border between Creta and Amestris." Hughes briefly paused before his face became blank and he added, "It's where Queen Riza is right now."
"What!?" gasped Winry suddenly in shock as Roy immediately stood to his feet, his eyes as wide as everyone else's in the room.
His voice was deadly as he spoke, "You know where she is?"
Lord Hughes, as he had been doing since he first confronted the king, didn't back down at the vehemence behind his ruler's glare. If anything, his eyes sharpened. "She's with Lord Grumman right? I don't know for sure, but I can't imagine him taking her anywhere else."
A beat passed through the room before Roy spoke up loudly. "Then what the hell are you just sitting for? We need to go there. We need to find both of them."
"No!" Hughes immediately countered, startling everyone. "No, that's the worst thing we can possibly do now. We need to stay here. Amestris must be governed…it must be protected."
"From what?" Ed asked angrily from the side. Hughes's eyes drifted to the rest of the group and his face became even more serious.
"From a war."
The silence was suffocating as everyone processed these words. Hughes turned back to a positively incensed Roy and he continued. "Don't you see? There's more to all of this than what's happening between you and the Queen of Aerugo. Something vastly more important. You said you wanted to know everything, right? Well let me explain myself before you go charging off to Creta."
Roy's jaw clenched but he slowly sat back down, more antsy than ever now knowing there was someone who could lead him to Riza, but also wanting to know the extent of what his friend was talking about. If he was telling the truth and there really was something on the scale of a war brewing...he needed to pay as much attention as possible.
Everyone else also crowded around, mentally preparing themselves for what Lord Hughes would relate.
"Now then," he began. "As I was saying, the reconnaissance team wasn't led away by our enemies, but by our friends. They and many others have been working together near Creta this entire time, trying to gather as much information as possible."
The king couldn't let that bit slide. "You mean to tell me there's been an entire group of you fighting off this enemy and plotting behind mine and Riza's backs? You never once thought to tell either of us before now, even though it's as earth-shattering as you're claiming?"
Hughes brushed past the king's obvious anger. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Look at you, Roy, you're far too emotional about things like this to stay rational. And, whether she wants to admit it or not, Queen Riza is too. Not involving you both until this stage was the only thing we could think to do."
"And how's that working out for you, Hughes? Amestris and Aerugo don't even have a treaty now!" Roy said, his voice growing in volume, even though he knew he was just proving his friend's claims about him being too emotional.
Before the king's former advisor could offer a rebuttal, Alphonse spoke up suddenly. "I'm sorry for interrupting, Your Majesty, but I need to ask something. Lord Hughes, you said the reconnaissance team was led away by our allies, but that doesn't make any sense. If they had been allowed to give us the message on the Cretian army's movements, that initial battle might have never happened. Why would you want Amestris to be under attack?"
Hughes's eyes turned toward the young knight and he smiled, despite the tense atmosphere. "Oh good, looks like someone here actually is using their brain. Excellent question, Alphonse. I think some of you probably figured out by now why the Republic wanted to send part of the Cretian army to come attack us. They knew they would lose, as they had practically been the ones to tell Riza and the Aerugonians they were coming, and it would've been easy to get rid of Prince Sergio some other way. Their purpose in that battle aligned with our intentions as well."
"Which were?" Roy asked through gritted teeth. He didn't like the look Hughes flashed him when he turned back to face him.
"To join you and Riza. Amestris and Aerugo were allies, yes, but I don't think any of us were kidding ourselves into thinking the relationship was as friendly as it had been. Ever since your birth, Princess Winry, an Aerugonian royal hadn't even stepped foot into Amestris. Riza and Roy lead two of the most powerful kingdoms, it would've been far more beneficial if they were to unite in some way. Given the queen's former feelings on Amestris, it seemed only a threat against her sister would bring her here."
"So what were the Republic's motives?" Ed interjected, his arms crossed and his face stoic. The reminder of that battle didn't sit well with him, especially given what Lord Hughes was saying. He hated to think people like him had intended for Sergio to come after Winry, let alone that the Republic wanted it as well.
"Ah," Hughes began with a shift in his tone, "That gets to the trickier part of what I have to say. Ever since that first battle, we always assumed that the Republic intended for Riza to come to Amestris as well. For a time we thought they wanted to do harm to either her or Roy, or that they wanted to conquer Aerugo while the queen was absent. It seemed to make the most sense, especially after her knight's betrayal.
"But the information we've been gathering the last few months, and really this last year, led us to a more sinister conclusion. One that needs to be addressed right away."
"What kind of conclusion?" Roy asked, his voice low.
Hughes met his hardened gaze head on. "We believe the Republic drew you and Riza together purposefully, and then purposefully pushed you apart."
Roy's eyes narrowed. "Why? To conquer both our kingdoms?"
"That would make the most sense wouldn't it? But no...believe it or not the Republic is not after Amestris or Aerugo. They could care less about taking over either kingdom."
"How do you know?" Alphonse asked, a stunned expression on his face.
Lord Hughes's smiled slyly. "I'll tell you once I finish."
"What is it that they're after then? If not to grow whatever empire they're trying to build," Roy asked, focusing his former advisor's attention.
"I think their intentions are rather simple, once you know their motives. What they want isn't power. They just want a place to call their own. They want Creta."
"But they have Creta, don't they?" Havoc finally spoke, his face twisted in confusion. "I thought they were the ones who overthrew the first king and arranged for the prince to be killed by Riza."
Hughes delicately shook his head. "That's if you still believe the Republic is made up primarily of Cretian nobles. The truth is very different."
"Then who is the Republic truly made up of?" Winry asked.
Here, Lord Hughes's eyes flashed back to Roy's and an understanding passed between the longtime friends. The meaningful gaze combined with his cryptic words led Roy to the conclusion he hadn't wanted to imagine, especially after what just happened.
Even though he knew this was going to lead to a very different discussion, he still sighed and answered for his friend. "It's the Homunculi, isn't it?"
Hughes gave a brief nod. "Like I said earlier, I don't know everything that happened to make Riza run away...but I can bet that was at least part of it."
"Wait...who are the Homunculi?" Winry asked, looking between the two powerful men in confusion.
Hughes lifted an eyebrow at the question before shaking his head. "Oh good, she doesn't know about it either," he commented sarcastically.
Roy heaved a long sigh. "The Homunculi were...are a group of people who used to reside primarily in the southeastern region of Amestris."
"What happened to them?" Winry asked, her voice becoming more wary.
"The Amestrian monarchy happened to them," Roy responded bitterly. He paused before meeting the questioning gazes of Winry and the rest of the court members. "Some of you know about what drove them away and some of you don't. It's a mistake my father started and I perpetuated. I suppose it's only fair that after everything I finally become more transparent."
The king took a deep breath before diving into the story of the Homunculi people, explaining his father's reasoning in wanting to get rid of them as well as his methods. He spoke of how he had been forced to take on the issue, handling it less than gracefully while he was still a new king, and where that led them all to today.
As he finished, he gingerly looked at the princess's face and wasn't all too surprised at what he saw. Her eyes reminded him of Riza's and spoke plainly of her thoughts.
Well no wonder Riza was disgusted enough to run away, were her unspoken words. She kept them to herself and Roy couldn't decide if he was grateful or not for it. She pursed her lips and shook her head against the roiling emotions.
"So I guess now the perpetual wanderers are willing to do whatever it takes to find their own homeland," she spoke in a quiet voice.
"Essentially," Hughes added, finally rejoining the conversation after Roy's explanation. "Between Amestris and Creta it was only inevitable they would want to claim one as their own, and by comparison Creta wronged them in far more sinister ways than we did."
Roy scoffed. "Fat load of comfort that is."
"To be honest, I'm not that opposed to their motives. After everything, they deserve to have something," Alphonse spoke candidly, appearing to still be coming to terms with all this new information. Beside him, Ed stood uncharacteristically quiet.
"And in a perfect world, we would have eventually given it to them. But they've been ruthless in their tactics. They've let anger get the best of them and have resorted to violence as their only way to be known. You all have been removed from the situation in Creta but it's...it's gruesome. As much as I can sympathize with them, I know that they need to be stopped," Hughes said, his voice cracking. He clearly was aware of far more than the rest of them were.
"Which begs the question," Havoc began. "What exactly is our role? If this is truly between the Homunculi and Creta, why were we even involved? Why tear Amestris and Aerugo apart?"
Hughes again nodded, glad that they were finally getting somewhere. "As a distraction, for one. If it weren't for the group of us gathering close to the situation, it all would've gone unnoticed with everything that's been happening here in the capital. And I'm sure they're all more than willing to enact revenge. They want the Amestrian monarchy to feel the same loss they felt."
Everyone's eyes turned to where Roy sat, but he ignored them. He passed a hand across his face wearily and tried to make sense of his jumbled thoughts. He was far too internally preoccupied trying to process everything that had been said to even come up with some kind of response to that.
"So you said you would tell us how you came to know all of this. While I can see some information being found by the spies, I still doubt they figured all of this out on their own," Winry wisely spoke, making a mental note to discuss this business with the Homunculi with Roy privately. Knowing this history made her look at him in a completely different way, and she wasn't alright with it in the slightest.
"No, they didn't. We've been gathering our network at the safehouse for quite some time, pulling together allies from all over both our kingdoms. Many prominent lords and court members have been in and out, gathering as much as they can. Your cousin is there now, Princess Winry."
Winry's eyes widened. "Matthew knows about this?"
Hughes nodded. "Yes, he does. We've been working together for a while now and many have joined us. Lord Grumman was one of the first to start gathering people together. He was the one who got me involved."
"So where does all the information come from? Most of these people have spent more time in their respective kingdoms than away in some safehouse. We know that from Grumman himself," Roy finally spoke.
Again Hughes flashed that secretive smile. "The majority of our intel has come from the best source we could possibly ask for. There's no way the Republic is so incompetent to allow this much to be known. We could only rely on someone who's seen it all first hand."
They waited with baited breath as Lord Hughes revealed what he knew.
"Lord Grumman may have been one of the first to help gather our team of leaders together, but it was our main source who started everything. He's directly fought against the Republic and whatever Homunculi that lead them. He's seen what they can do."
"Who?" Alphonse breathlessly asked in anticipation.
Steeling his gaze, Hughes simply answered, "King Andres."
The shock rippled throughout the room, but no one was as taken aback as Winry, the only one who had known him personally. "Sergio's father!?" she incredulously asked before Hughes nodded in answer.
"I thought he was dead!" someone else in the room exclaimed.
"As did I," Hughes agreed. "The Republic wanted us to believe that they had disposed of both him and Prince Sergio, but that isn't true. He's been hiding out in the safehouse ever since he was overthrown, using his own allies to feed us information."
"So you mean to say you're actually working with a Cretian king? That's nearly blasphemy!" another court member added.
"King Andres is not, and has never been, an enemy. Queen Riza understood that better than anyone. It was his son that was his ultimate downfall."
As Hughes spoke, Winry's face shadowed over and she wrung her hands together in her lap. Already she was becoming overwhelmed with all this groundbreaking information but this? She didn't know what to think about this.
King Roy, on the other hand, was busy undergoing far too many emotions to be healthy for one man. His fists clenched as he thought of the implications. He had never dealt directly with the Cretian king, never truly wanting to after what had been done to his late wife. He didn't know what to make of his character or his role as their newfound ally.
But he did know one thing.
"I never told anyone this...not even Winry. But before I came to Amestris, before Winry came to Amestris, I had been fiercely and deeply in love with the old Cretian king."
Riza trusted him. She had trusted him when no one else had...in much the same way she had trusted Roy.
The king's stomach immediately twisted.
And now she's at this safehouse reuniting with him. If it weren't for the depth of the conversation they were locked in he would have shaken his head against the thoughts slowly creeping up. Riza had told him, in great detail, how things had ended between them. She knew that after what Sergio did, she'd never be able to forgive him. He had broken her trust.
And now you've done the same thing, his treacherous mind immediately reminded him.
This was a dangerous and not at all productive thought process. He was already overcome with guilt, both from Riza's words about the way he treated her and his reaction to her betrayal. He couldn't handle this uncertainty and...dare he say...jealousy. It shouldn't matter that Riza was on a collision course for a man she used to love...a man that was apparently frontrunning the resistance against the Republic...he had more important things to sift through first.
"He was...kind. More so than I've ever seen any other Cretian be. He was handsome, to be sure, and intelligent. He treated me like I was his equal. It was the first time in my reign anyone had done so."
Roy had to use immense strength to ground himself back to the ongoing conversation.
"So what exactly is our goal? Where do we go we go from here? I'm with Alphonse in feeling like we might be fighting the wrong enemy. I'm sure the Republic has grown to be something sinister but it doesn't change how wrong it would feel to fight against a group trying to find a home that we took from them," Havoc eventually commented once the uproar at Andres's involvement had died down.
"Right, if it was really Amestris that drove them away, how can we stop them from conquering the land they ended up in?" Alphonse affirmed in a conflicted tone.
"There's more to it than that, though. More than we even know at this point. While at their core, the intentions might be noble enough, they're still being driven by something we can't see. Something beyond this world. The Homunculi have always been the people closest to the spirits and dark sciences and all that. Here in Amestris, we don't give it much credit, but it's that philosophy that made King Phillip so worried," Hughes added.
"What is King Andres's goal in partnering with us?" someone else asked.
"It's almost as simple as the Republic's. He wants to take back his throne...and change Creta for the better. It's always been a dark land and its people need to be ruled right for once. The Homunculi certainly aren't going to do it. For all we know they'd rather slaughter everyone there and live peacefully by themselves. But we can't let them do that. Andres is convinced we can negotiate to find them a home between all our kingdoms...while I only see the beginnings of a war."
A grave silence enveloped the group as they all couldn't help but agree with Lord Hughes's words.
"The situation is dire. And we clearly don't have all the answers. We all need to remain vigilant. But none of this changes the fact that Aerugo has been cut off from everyone. I'm more interested to hear Riza's goals at this point," Roy spoke, his voice deadly serious.
"And the group at the safehouse is prepared to inform her of everything once she arrives. I'm sure she'll have to figure it all out just like you, Roy," Hughes said, his eyes locking once more with his friend.
"My, my. This is certainly quite the pickle," a new voice spoke from the doorway of the study. Everyone in the room instantly turned to find the Xingese emperor, casually leaned against the door, dressed in his usual royal garb. His bodyguard was tensely stood just behind him, with the princess beside her. They were clearly listening in as Emperor Ling made his way precariously through the upturned study.
"I guess I must have lost my invitation to this little meeting," Ling spoke, his voice carefree but his overall aura giving off something far more serious. "Don't worry, though. The Xingese are excellent at hiding away in the shadows."
Roy lifted an eyebrow at that. "I apologize for all this mess, Emperor Ling. This should have been a celebratory day."
"No need to remain so formal, Your Majesty. I think we've gone far past the point of niceties." With these words, the emperor's entire expression shifted into something many in the room had yet to even witness. His shoulders straightened and his carefree attitude dissipated. "If it's a war we're talking about, there's no point in keeping secrets. Not to mention...there's still even more you couldn't possibly know."
The way he said these words had every Amestrian in the room eyeing him warily, the king included. Roy supposed he should've known Emperor Ling and his group wouldn't quietly keep to themselves amidst all the turmoil. As they were set to sign a major treaty today, he had no reason not to trust the younger man, but he was still curious what possible role they would have.
The migraine was quickly forming as all the key players were revealing themselves. Roy had already given up on any sleep for the next few weeks.
Ling's frightfully serious expression was gone almost as quickly as it came as he leaned against the side of the couch and spoke with a deceptively sweet tone. "Now then, if we're all done moping, how about we discuss an actual plan, hm?"
I think my whole point with this chapter was to show the moral greyness of nearly every character in this fic. like, the homunculi's motives really aren't all that bad but their methods? Yikes (more on that to come later) And obviously Roy and his father weren't *violent* per say but not motivated by the right things. Idk, you're free to make your conclusions about where you lie in this struggle, but I'm also hoping Riza's reaction will help iron out the creases. Also the drama...The end really is near folks. If you've stuck around this long, you deserve it!
