Chapter twenty-six

"What?" was all Al could think of saying.

"The Führer offered me a deal as I am the only adult that Ed actually seems to trust. I'm not allowed to live alone and we'll have visits from a psychologist twice a week, but it keeps Ed from being locked up in a lunatic asylum."

Al didn't know what to think or what to say. They were going to live with Colonel Mustang? "Oh … So you're our guardian now?" Al asked, still a bit dumbstruck by the sudden change of plans for their future.

"Yes and no. I've been given a month's trial time, then a year and then they'll figure out if they'll grant me guardianship. After all, it's unusual to let someone who's just got back from …" He paused, looking awkward and his eyes spoke of a complete exhaustion when thinking about what had happened. "… from something like that … deal with raising two boys on their own, especially when Ed is the way he is." He looked so sad at that last remark and Al honestly didn't know how to respond. They'd been through so much and Al just didn't know how to talk to the man anymore.

"Mhm," was all he said.

Al was in utter turmoil. Everything was wrong and Brother was … like this. That strong and stubborn big brother of his was currently mewling gently as he lay down and rested his head on the Colonel's right thigh, curled up into a ball. Ed looked at Al and held out his hand slightly. "Bo-uh."

Al did as he had done earlier and held out his index finger for Brother to take, and the fingers gently closed themselves around the leather digit. "Bo-uh."

How could anyone do this to you, Big Brother?

There came a couple of knocks on the door and Ed yelped from where he was lying with his head on Roy's lap. Roy looked up to see Hughes, Hawkeye and Breda enter the room. "Hello, sir. It's good to see you again," Hawkeye said softly. He had been breathless to see her and Maes an hour earlier, but he'd been too focused on Alphonse to really let their presence sink in.

Now, however, that voice was really what brought it home to Roy that he was actually out. The sound of the voice that had promised to stay by his side forever. Who would follow him into hell if he asked her to.

And the voice who couldn't be there when he was.

Which had made it all so much worse.

If Ed hadn't been resting on his lap, then Roy would have walked right over and hugged her.

Ed was tensing and he grabbed Roy's index finger instead, squeezing it.

"It's okay, Brother, they're friends," Al said gently.

"Bo-uh," Ed repeated like he did every time the word was uttered. Roy didn't know exactly why that was, but it meant that Ed was communicating at least slightly. He was responding to the word. Maybe he was trying to recover something from his memories by saying it.

"That's new, is he remembering something?" Breda asked, trying to look unfazed, but the hopefulness in his eyes was evident.

"It's a word he associates with Alphonse, but that seems to be it. He repeats it every time we say the word "brother,"" Roy explained.

"Bo-uh," Ed said, still looking scared.

Hughes was looking heartbroken, and Roy could understand why. Maes had a daughter that had been born only a few months ago after all. He had been good with kids before, but ever since Elicia's birth, he had been overprotective of just about every kid he saw.

Which meant that he was looking like he wanted to use Gregor for target practice when throwing his daggers now that Melanie was dead and not an option.

"Hi, Maes," Roy said, trying to get his focus on something else as the angry looks made Ed tense. "It's been a while, huh?" Roy tried to give him a weak smile, but he was pretty sure that his lips only trembled slightly. To suddenly have his entire team and his best friend back around him meant the world to him.

He was finally home.

Hughes shifted his attention to Roy and his eyes were almost bursting with all the emotions behind those green orbs. Instead, he employed the same approach that Roy did. "Hi, Roy. I'd say it's been too long."

There was some awkward silence and then Breda stepped forwards, pulling out a folder from under his arm. "Listen, sir, could you look at a few pictures to see if you recognise any of the three people you described?"

He didn't bother adding Melanie because they all knew that Roy had snapped that bitch's neck with his own hands.

Roy nodded, not knowing how he'd react to seeing the pictures. Ed followed the black folder with his eyes and whimpered slightly when Roy placed it on the bed next to his left thigh. Roy opened the folder and his eyes fell upon a very familiar face despite only having met the man once and only having seen the bastard's eyes. "That's the surgeon," Roy said.

"You're sure, Boss?" Breda inquired. "There were a few other surgeons in town too."

"Those were the same eyes that looked at me as the bastard cut into Ed's nerves," Roy growled. "There's no fucking doubt."

Ed whimpered at the sound in Roy's voice and it made him curse himself inwardly. If he should happen to trigger memories of when he killed him or when Ed was under the influence of the hallucinogen, then he would probably lose him.

That couldn't happen.

Never.

And so he flipped through a couple of pages of unknown Ishbalans and Amestrians alike with increasing queasiness until he came upon the mechanic. "That's the mechanic," Roy said coldly, trying to keep himself from just grabbing the picture and rip it to pieces.

"Gotcha, Boss," Breda said, obviously memorising the page, not asking for confirmation this time.

Then came a large group of pictures of Ishbalans with burn scars, until Roy felt his stomach clench as his eyes fell upon the man who was without a doubt Gregor. "That's him. That's Gregor."

Then there was a scream from where Ed had silently turned around in order to have a look without Roy noticing it because of the wave of emotions that were flooding through him.

Now, however, Ed was panicking and Alphonse grabbed the folder and slammed it shut as Ed tried desperately to get away from the picture of his tormentor. Roy had grabbed Ed around the middle with his right arm to keep him from falling off the bed and was shielding his face with his left as he moved off the bed. He held the thrashing and shrieking boy under his arm and then placed him on the floor and let go of him. Predictably, Ed immediately dragged himself over to what Roy had mentally dubbed "the safe corner". Ed laid himself down in the pile of spare duvets and blankets that General Grumman had negotiated out of the nurses so that Ed had somewhere safe and warm during these types of incidents. The boy returned to whimpering as he pulled a duvet over his curled up form all the way up so that it covered his head too.

Roy got back to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, looking up at the others.

Maes was pale as a ghost and Hawkeye had a tear running down her right cheek. Breda was biting his lip, having been here since the safe corner was set up, but it still didn't make it any better.

And Alphonse, whom this was affecting the most, remained unreadable as he was stuck in that armour shell.

No, none of this was right.

"He'll come out when he's ready," Roy said, noticing that his own throat was dry and choked. "Some of the nurses scare him so he prefers to eat over there for instance … Also after we take him to the toilets and we have to use the wheelchair," he explained, his voice heavy with both sorrow, guilt and anger. "He gets scared when he meets larger groups of people because …" Roy really didn't want to say it to Alphonse, but Ed was his brother and he deserved to know. He would still ask him if he would like to wait, though. "Al? You're allowed to leave if you don't want to hear about it."

"No, I should know … I want to understand him better…" Al said, his young voice telling him that he'd rather not listen, but these were facts, not fiction.

And ignoring what had happened would probably damage their relationship later on.

And so Roy sighed. "…Because the second night after Ed … I was so worn out after that day's … lessons … I didn't hear those bastards coming and kept sleeping. They were just drunk, but from what I could gather when I woke up, they had crept up on Ed when he was asleep and grabbed his collar before one of them hooked his belt through it and tied him to one of the cage bars, partially choking him just for some sick sense of entertainment. I was woken up by Ed's screams as they forced him to drink a beer bottle full of pee." Roy felt sick thinking about it. The panic and the utter disgust at seeing Ed as he choked on the yellow liquid that dribbled down his chin and chest and those bastards who just stood there laughing. Roy had ran forwards, only for them to step out of his reach and run off laughing, leaving Roy to get Ed free as he choked and gargled at that damn stuff while also trying to fight Roy off.

And that was why Ed would only fall asleep close to Roy.

Hawkeye, Hughes and Breda all looked sick.

After a little while, Breda spoke up. "I'm not sure if you're going to be happy about it or not, sir, but we've arrested one-hundred-and-seventy-four of the townspeople for attacking military personnel during the search at least."