Roy sat at the small desk with his ballot and pen, looking at the choices carefully.
"You said Susans wants to increase school funding and make the train schedule rigid. Trevors wants to restructure taxes and better waste disposal. And Xavier...?"
"Wants to slash the police budget to 'keep the cost of living down'." Ed frowned, looking unhappy at the notion. "I was actually headed towards the theater yesterday to see if I could catch the end of the debates when I found the newest victim."
"Right." Roy paused for a moment, thinking, before marking the box for Susans and standing, casting his ballot in the box and leaving, Ed quick behind him.
"So- how long until the election results come out?"
"Tomorrow morning. The voting closes at nine, and they'll be up until the wee hours of the morning counting votes. The morning papers will definitely be running the results."
"Huh. Neat." Ed stuffed both hands in his coat pockets as they kept walking along.
"Why the sudden interest in politics, anyways? You never really cared about rank." Roy admitted.
Ed shrugged. "I don't care for politics. But you do. You want to be Furher someday. And it's not a bad idea- having a basic understanding of the politics surrounding you can help you make a good decision and avoid getting stabbed in the back."
"So you've actually been paying attention to some of this stuff then?"
"That and any report I can get my hands on about this serial killer. People say things to me- people nobody listen to. The frustrated farmers, the miners in the dead end towns in the middle of nowhere- a lot of powerful people don't pay attention. But I do. I try to catalog it all away so I know the best decision to make. And who I can count on to back my interests in a crisis. Even the politicians let things slip to me, because they think I'm just a kid."
"Really, like what?"
"I... that promotion that was happening? Where Colonel Lincoln was made Brigadier General in west city?"
Roy stopped walking and his eyes hardened. He'd been more qualified for that position, but he hadn't even been considered.
"I knew you weren't going to get it." Ed said lamely.
Roy caught the boy by the shoulder to stop him walking and spun him around. "How?"
"I was at a bar in west city, chasing a lead on the stone. I ran into some drunk local- was trying to find the mineral broker's shop. But all the guy kept bragging about was how his brother was going to be brigadier general in 3 weeks. Cheated his way to the top."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Roy's features were stern, and he was pissed.
"Because... it was just going to frustrate you. There was nothing you could've done-"
"You don't know that! If you'd have told me, maybe I could've done something to out-compete him. You're my subordinate, you're supposed to report those things to me!"
"There's no way you could've beaten him-"
"And how do you know that, Ed?" Roy seethed.
Edward stepped closer to Roy, his eyes steely and voice sharp and barely above a whisper. "Because you wouldn't have let Lieutenant General Atkins fuck you. Lincoln did. I know you want to make it to the top. But I've been under your command long enough to know you wouldn't sacrifice your principles for it."
Roy's fists unclenched, and he found himself dumbfounded. "You're sure it's not a rumor? Just some drunk guy rambling?"
"No. It's not. I checked the current assignments when I got back- Lincoln and Atkins had been sent to a remote post near Drachma for reconnaissance together. Apparently they'd made an... arrangement... while they were there. Sex for rank. I wasn't sure if it was true, but when news of the promotion came about I knew it was..."
Roy sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "And why didn't you tell me this?"
"Because... you'd have gotten mad at me. Like you just did." Ed looked defensive and slightly angry as he glared at Roy, before his eyes found the ground. "Besides, it happens all the time. People try and trade... favors... for rank."
"No, Ed, they don't. Not in my office."
"I know you don't..." Ed bit his lip, kicking a stone with his boot.
Why wouldn't Ed meet his eyes? Realization hit Roy like a spark exploding into flame, and his eyes widened.
"Who? Who propositioned you, Ed?"
"You're gonna get mad again. It's nothing, can we just drop it?" there was a note of pleading in Ed's voice, and Roy frowned.
He took a deep breath and sighed. "No, Ed, we can't. Because you're a child and I got you into the military, and it's my duty to protect you."
"What are you gonna do, anyways? Anything you do will get swept under the rug, you're gonna throw away your whole career for one stupid kid?"
"I didn't say that." Roy took a breath, steadying himself. His heart pounded and he felt shaky. "More then likely, Ed, I won't be able to do anything. Right now. But I want to know because you are my subordinate, and it's my duty to protect you. And even if I can't do anything about it now, I want to know the name, so that I can put them at the top of my shit list when I have the rank to make their life hell. I'm not going to do anything stupid- but I'd like to know what happened."
Ed's eyes darted around the room. They were in a mostly empty hallway- the voting poll closed soon. "Not here." he said finally.
Alphonse was upstairs reading, out of earshot.
Ed sat morosely at the kitchen table, and Roy angrily put on the kettle, slamming it on the burner with more force than necessary.
What was most unnerving was that Ed still wouldn't meet his eyes, staring at the table like it was the most interesting thing in the room.
He opened the cupboard, pulling out their two favorite mugs, parking them on the counter and splashing a little milk into the bottom of both cups, before squeezing a generous amount of honey into the other cup- Ed's cup. Ed always seemed happier after he'd drank tea that was very sweet. He hung two teabags over the rim of each cup.
The kettle started to sing, and Roy plucked it from the stove, filling both cups before taking them both by the handle, walking over to the table and sliding the forest green mug across the table to Ed, and nursing his own yellow mug close to him as he sat down.
"Well?" Roy cocked an eyebrow.
Ed glanced up at him, before he was staring into his mug. It was rare that the Fullmetal alchemist was without words, and it settled like a block of ice in Roy's gut.
"Did they do more than talk? Ed, did they hurt you?"
"No! I... let me drink my damn tea. I'm trying to figure out how to explain it." Ed groused, frustrated, before he was taking a minuscule sip of scalding tea.
Roy waited one moment, two... The silence made him anxious. But he needed to be patient with Ed, couldn't push the boy.
"Remember when Major General Cole came up to visit from South City?" Ed said finally.
Roy frowned. "That was 8 months ago. You'd just passed the state alchemy exam." Ed had just turned 13. He remembered because Hawkeye had insisted they share a cake in the office with the boy the day before the visit. Ed had seemed surprised but please, and thanked her for the cake. He'd devoured his piece happily, and licked all the frosting from his fork. Ed really did like sweet things. Ed had been quiet for the next few days, but Roy had assumed it was because he was sad Al couldn't have a birthday like a normal kid as well...
"Yeah. Well I was in the washroom that day, and I was... using the urinal..." it was hard for Ed to keep the blush from his cheeks. "And this guy walked in. And he went behind me into a stall, and I thought, no big deal, he's gotta go too."
"And when I was washing my hands, I felt a hand on my shoulder. And I turned around and this guy is staring at me. And I saw the bars on his chest- I didn't even know what rank he was, just that he was higher than you- and I tried to salute him because I was nervous, but my hands were all soap, and it was just a mess. I got soap in my eyes."
Roy suppressed the urge to smile. While the mental image was funny, if he'd laughed Ed would've thought he was laughing at him, and been more embarrassed. And there was nothing funny about this situation.
"He told me to relax. Said he was Major General Cole from South city and he wanted to know if I was the Fullmetal Alchemist. So I said yeah, and he said he'd heard I was a prodigy. He said that with how far I'd moved up the ranks already- I was a major- he said if I transferred to under his command, he'd make me a Lieutenant Colonel in 3 months. If I worked for it. And I thought that was really cool, to be the same rank as Hughes, but then I noticed he was getting closer to me and so I stepped back."
"He reached up and touched my braid. Said I'd have to put in work to make it happen though. Spend late nights at the office with him so he could show me what I needed to know. That was when I started feeling kinda weird... Then he told me I looked like a girl. And that a face like mine would be appreciated in his office.
"I told him I wasn't interested. He asked whose command I was under and I said Mustang, and I lied and told him you'd be mad because I was supposed to be back with an urgent report. I know I lied but I was scared and I didn't like him and so I turned and left. I knew he might try something if I was alone, but he thought you were expecting me, so he didn't."
"And you didn't tell me any of this." Roy was disappointed- both that Ed was too scared to tell him, and that he'd been put in that position in the first place.
"I didn't want to make waves. I'd only just got my state alchemist watch, and I figured it wasn't important. I didn't want enemies."
"You didn't trust me and my team to protect you?"
"No, I did, I just... It wasn't important at the time, alright? I had bigger things on my mind. I mean, yeah, it was weird, but I had to start looking for the stone with Al, so I put it aside because I had work to do. Even now, I just try to stay clear of officers from South City."
Roy sighed. "I wished you'd told me sooner."
"Yeah, I should have... What are you gonna do to him? Major General Cole, I mean?"
"I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to mention it to Hawkeye. And she's going to watch his every move until he files a report late or misses some paperwork or drops the ball. And then an anonymous report will get put in and he'll get in trouble. He's gotta drop the ball sometime. And if he doesn't- well, when I'm fuhrer, he'll clean latrines for the rest of his damn life."
"Right. That's good." Ed sipped his tea, looking slightly relieved. It was almost 10, now, and Ed looked at the clock, acutely aware of the time. "Any news from Hughes on the investigation?"
"No." Mustang sat up a little straighter, acutely aware. "And you're not sneaking out to try and catch the killer tonight either, understand?"
"Hey I was just asking." Ed put both hands up, defensive. He took a long pull of warm tea and yawned. "I'm tired, anyways. Hughes can handle it. I was just gonna do some reading and go to bed. Oh..." Ed paused, looking up at Roy hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"Can... can we get a newspaper tomorrow morning? I want to know who won the election." Ed was almost shy about asking, and Roy smiled.
"Yeah. Yeah, we can get a newspaper tomorrow."
"Cool. I hope Susans wins. I hate waiting for trains." Ed punctuated the statement with a yawn, taking his half-full mug and standing, heading upstairs.
"'Night."
"Goodnight, Edward.".
If Roy knew Edward well enough, the boy would be asleep soon after he finished his tea. That was one of the little things about Edward he hadn't known until the boy had moved in with him. That the boy was much more relaxed and easy to send to bed after he'd had warm tea with a considerable amount of honey in it.
Edward climbed the stairs and was about to head to his room when he noticed a candle burning in the study. He paused, mug in hand, before he was ducking inside. There, on the desk, was a worn journal opened to a page. There was an alchemic array he hadn't seen before sketched in the middle of the page, and for a moment, his fatigue was forgotten, replaced by curiosity.
The handwriting was old and spidery, hard to read and definitely not Roy's. But the array looked familiar. It looked- it almost looked like the array on Roy's gloves.
Ed paused, looking down at the book in awe. It was a manual on flame alchemy- something rare and hard to understand. Something he'd been able to think about, but never perform.
He wasn't sure he should be looking at it. But now that it was in front of him, it was hard to tear his eyes away... There was no such thing as forbidden, was there? Not when he'd already committed the ultimate taboo of human transmutation. Besides, if flame alchemy could help him reach his goal...
Ed swallowed down his racing heart. Since when was he afraid? He'd never been afraid to break rules before. He picked up the book, pocketing it, blowing out the candle and ducking into his own room, lighting his own candle and starting to pour over the book.
When he heard mustang start to climb the stairs, he quickly blew out his candle and ducked beneath the covers, hiding the book beneath the sheets and feigning sleep. He heard Mustang pause at his door, checking he was asleep, before he continued on down the hall, to his own room. Once Ed was sure he was gone, he struck another match, re-lit his candle, and continued reading, pulling a notebook from the nightstand and starting to take notes.
Flame alchemy was the most complicated thing he'd read of, let alone attempted, since human transmutation.
