'Edward! Alphonse!' Roy bellowed as he swung open the front door to their house. He stormed to the bedroom door and barged inside without a knock, leaving Riza to close the front door and huff an exasperated sigh as he turned from the empty bedroom and went up the stairs, checking the study. They weren't there either. He spun around in the room, maddened that they were gone and ready to-

'In here, Roy,' Riza called up the stairs.

Roy followed her voice into the kitchen where she was sitting down at the table with a glass of water. There was a steamy haze that made everything look fuzzy and warm as the summer afternoon sun streamed through into a messy kitchen.

Edward was standing at the stove, arms crossed and feet planted facing Roy. Alphonse was sitting in his seat at the table, having been in charge of chopping. Edward was wearing Riza's pale yellow apron which was stained with some kind of brown sauce; he'd had to fold the material a couple of times at his hip to bring up the hem from where it would likely have reached the floor otherwise. In his hand he was twiddling a wooden spoon, also covered in sauce. 'Yes?' he said he glanced back at the pot that had something delicious smelling bubbling away. 'Any reason why you're yelling down the whole street?'

'You told us that your trip to Liore was "fine and not a big deal". Why, pray tell, did I get a case on my desk this afternoon reporting the removal of a figure head by two children?' Roy said, making his air quotes as aggressive as possible. 'You told us that-'

'So what?' Edward cut in loudly. 'We were helping them, those desert idiots were believing in someone that one way or another was going to let them down. Al and I did them a favour by bringing that lying bastard down before he started really hurting people.' He gestured between Alphonse and himself with the spoon, before seeming to remember it was covered in sauce and placed it back in the pot.

Roy wanted to shout back, but instead rained himself in, pinching the bridge of his nose as the headache behind his eyes which had been bothering him since he read the incriminating report flared up. 'You didn't think that maybe that was something you could tell us about your trip to Liore which, might I add, was supposed to be reconnaissance for your research only? You didn't think to let me or the Lieutenant know before we found out like this?' He was livid. Reading the report was like getting a punch in the stomach. He was angry that the boys hadn't told him something so important. He was upset that they hadn't trusted him enough, but most of all, that punch had felt like fear. It was surprising to realise that underneath that anger and betrayal was something altogether more scared, well, what was he even scared for? Roy wasn't quite ready to think about that yet.

As he had signed that report and closed that file, he had been scared. As he ranted all the way home to Riza in the car, he had been scared. As he flung open the boys' bedroom door and the study to find both rooms empty, he had been scared.

Edward and Alphonse had left the house on a bright summer morning, promising calls when they could find a telephone and letters when they couldn't. It had been months since they had arrived on Roy's doorstep, and still all the boys had to their name was a single suitcase full of clothes which they had taken with them. For those days, the house had been quiet and empty, like the house itself was holding its breath. Roy and Riza enjoyed the time and used it to clean and rearrange things, like moving the water glasses to a lower cupboard so that Edward didn't have to climb onto the counter to get them.

Roy had been grateful for the time granted for the two of them. Even through the things they did to keep themselves busy outside of work, he could sense the anxiety she was holding waiting for that phone call. It would be imperceptible to anyone who didn't know her like Roy did, but he could see it in the tightness at the corners of her mouth and her subtle glances to the phone had told him everything. Especially those glances: he could read a thousand words in just the way she looked at something, so much so that they had developed a sort of shared language with it, and during those days he had read her anxiety loud and clear.

Then one day the phone didn't ring. That night over the small (measly compared to what is normally dished up with Edward around) dinner, she had asked him if he thought they were alright.

'They just didn't manage to get to a phone today,' he had said, putting down his fork. 'I'm sure they are just fine.'

She had looked at him for a moment, reading every part of his face for his own tells only she knew, finding the assurance she was looking for, and went back to her meal.

Now to find, weeks later, that the Elrics had been involved in a huge political disaster and caused god-knows how much damage throughout a whole city, that missed call seemed like a betrayal.

Edward stared Roy down, knowing a fight when he saw one. 'What do you want from us, then? You know now, what's the difference where you learnt it from?'

'We knew you'd be mad,' said Alphonse who, as always, was saying exactly what Edward had been meaning to say. 'We didn't tell you because we wanted to come home and not be shouted at immediately- the desert was tough on Brother's automail-'

'Al! Don't say that!'

'- but honestly it was Brother's idea not to tell you, I wanted to but he convinced me not to,' Alphonse finished.

'Al!' Ed sputtered. 'You- you snitch!' He leapt around the table to beat at Alphonse, and Alphonse stood to block the blows, laughing at Edward's fury.

'Out of the kitchen when roughhousing,' Riza said, her command louder than the boys shouting somehow.

'Sorry, haha!' Alphonse said, and ducked past Edward- narrowly missing the chopping board which would have sent the knife flying. Roy barely managed to dodge out of the way as the lumbering boy barrelled towards the door.

'Hold on!' Roy said, and swung round to catch Edward as he ran past with an arm around his middle. 'We're not finished here!'

Edward squawked, twisting to get out of the hold but Roy held tight. 'Let go of me!' he squeaked, his small body wriggling enough to eventually clip Roy in the knee with a very heavy, very metal foot.

Roy bit his tongue to keep from yelling out, instead holding Edward against his chest and leaning back so Edward's legs flailed further away from any important joints. Edward kicked anyway, effectively held like a turtle on its back and far off of the ground.

'You're not going anywhere until we finish this conversation,' Roy grunted. Man, this boy was heavy. He chalked it up to the metal limbs but if this was the weight Edward was dragging around constantly as a 12 year old boy well, perhaps he could excuse some of those extra peanut sandwiches. 'Hell, Elric, what do you even weigh?'

'Not half as much as you, you fat oaf. Let me go!' Edward twisted his head and looked at Alphonse, at which point his braid slapped Roy in the face hard enough to sting. 'Al! Help me!'

'Not a chance, Brother, this is completely on you,' Alphonse said, gleeful and still laughing.

Edward gave a moment to mourn the loss of his brother before renewing his struggling efforts enough to become a real problem for Roy to keep from dropping.

Roy was yelling at Edward to calm down, Edward was yelling at Roy to bite him, Alphonse was holding his face and laughing so much the plates of his armour here jiggling with it, and it all came to a deafening halt with Riza firing her gun into the air.

'I think,' she said, as the shell tinkled across the kitchen tile, 'that we should all calm down and speak like adults.' She bent to pick up the shell.

'Lieutenant! You can't fire a gun in here!' Roy said, dropping Edward who landed awkwardly and crumpled to the floor with a yelp. 'If the neighbours call the police then they'll take Ed and Al without a second look. Sorry, Ed,' he said then, reaching out to help Edward up off the floor.

Surprisingly, Edward took the offered help. Granted, it was with a grumbled 'prick' as he stood, but Roy chose to take that as a small victory with Edward.

'Relax, sir,' Riza said, taking her seat again. 'It was a blank. And if the neighbours complain, perhaps you can explain to them the reason for the noise,' she added, giving him a stern side-eye. 'Now, come and sit down. We'll have a family meeting.'

Roy and Alphonse took their seats without fuss. Edward moved to turn the heat off of the stove and a lid on the pot, taking off the apron- and looking rather dejected about it, Roy noted- before he took his seat.

'Edward,' Riza started, 'why didn't you want to tell us about what you did in Liore?'

Edward fiddled with his fingers for a moment, eyes flicking between Riza, Roy, and his hands. Finally, he shrugged. 'Just knew we'd get in trouble for it, like Al said.'

'And you were quite right, you would have gotten in a lot of trouble. That puts you and Alphonse in a lot of danger, and Roy and I had no idea. If you're in danger, Edward, we need to know it because we need to be there to help you.'

'We don't need-'

'Actually, you do.' Riza was speaking to Edward in a tone that said 'it's time for you to shut up and listen' and Edward did. 'Whether you like to think so or not, you are children, and to be able to run around on your own without supervision is a privilege, but when you get in trouble, you need to tell us or another grown up because you can't handle these things on your own.

'I understand that Roy and I are busy, and that you boys have goals that you might not want to share with us for your own reasons, but I want you, both of you,' she said, looking at Alphonse too now, 'to know that you can trust Roy and I to help you. Whatever it is you need, we can probably help with it- being a Colonel doesn't count for nothing in the military. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?'

'Yes ma'am,' Alphonse said, sheepish. 'We are sorry, we didn't intend for things to go the way they did, we just followed our gut and things got out of hand…'

'Yeah, sorry,' Edward mumbled.

Roy didn't have anything to say that would add to what Riza had said: she had, as always, succinctly made her point. She had successfully de-escalated a situation and got to the point, and Roy was yet again reminded that he had absolutely married the right woman. She was amazing.

Edward stood and went back over to the pot on the stove and checked the food. He seemed satisfied with it and began dishing it up in silence. Beside Roy, Alphonse gently asked Riza how the rest of her day went, and she smiled and told him that it had gone well, but she was glad to be home.

'I remember you saying you liked mushroom soup,' Edward said, glancing over his shoulder at Roy. 'I thought we could make it for you, it's probably no good compared to how you could make it, but we gave it a shot.' He placed a bowl in front of Roy and Riza, and went to get one for himself.

Roy was filled with a horrible guilt at that moment: Edward and Alphonse had spent time making a meal they thought Roy would like, and he'd come home and shouted at them in the middle of it.

'Uh, thank you, boys,' he said, a little lost for words.

'It's not a problem, sir," Alphonse said.

Edward collapsed into his seat with a sigh. 'Yeah well if I'd known you were going to come home all mad at us I wouldn't have bothered with it.' He started eating, pretending the soup didn't burn his tongue by taking short breaths as he ate.

Edward's feelings were hurt, it was obvious in the curl of his shoulders and the pinch in his brow. Roy had been so tied up in his own emotions after finding out about Liore that he stormed into the house guns blazing. He hadn't even considered the boys' feelings at all, and he'd ruined the surprise meal the boys had put effort into making for him and Riza. He resolved to apologise to the both of them later, but for now, this soup was actually surprisingly good.

However, the conversation had left a seed of apprehension in his mind that the Elric's tendency to get caught up in things far bigger than them and cause havoc beyond their comprehension would be a recurring issue.

He was proven right when he found the boys after they had stayed with Shou Tucker. Those 24 hours after Maes had given him the call that Shou, Nina, and the boys had all gone missing had been a nightmare. They'd found Tucker in his basement, but all three children were still missing by the time Roy and Riza had arrived in Central.

'I'm sorry, Roy,' Maes had said when they had pulled up outside the Tucker estate. 'There's no sign of them anywhere. I'm concerned, Tucker's work…'

Maes didn't need to finish, a serpent of nausea had already taken refuge in his solar plexus, as he and Riza left the house to aid the search party looking for the children. It was dark and raining, and any shine of steel in a window or blond person that appeared caught Roy's eye. His fingers were tense in his ignition gloves, despite the knowledge that it was a useless endeavour with the weather. He didn't like feeling useless, and right now with his boys lost out there he had never felt more useless.

Roy had known about Shou Tucker and his work for a long time, and he had sent the boys to stay in his house having felt hopeful that this would be a great opportunity for the boys to learn about Bio-Alchemy and properly prepare for the State Alchemist exam where Roy's house was starting to get a little cramped. They had been excited to go, and they were going to stay for months with Tucker and his daughter. It was going to be great for them.

'Sir!' Riza had called, somewhere to his left. She stepped around the corner of a particularly dingy alleyway and beckoned him over. 'I found them,' she said, and faltered, 'Roy, they seem really upset…'

Roy looked past her. Deep into the alley, where the streetlights couldn't reach, was the shape of Alphonse curled up against the wall, and Edward's coat- a deep red in the shadows and the rain. Roy stepped into the alley, and spotted the shape that coated the wall where Edward stood.

Oh dear god…

Edward clapped, and there was a muted sound of his hands hitting the wall.

Oh no…

Roy's heart was plummeting as he approached.

And then he heard Edward sob. Quietly, and strangled like he didn't mean to let it out.

Alphonse looked up at that moment and spotted Roy. 'Brother…' he said softly. 'They came.'

Edward tensed, his hands dropping from the wall and shoulders rising to his ears. He spun around to face Roy and his blotchy face spoke volumes. 'What do you want?' he croaked, the sound of the rain almost washing his voice away.

'Edward, you can't go around bringing everything that dies on you back to life,' Roy said. He stepped forward, even when Edward scowled and curled away from him. He had blood on his face. The nausea Roy had been feeling lurched: Edward had someone's blood on his face. 'I know it hurts,' he said then, the words coming from somewhere inside himself that he hadn't thought about for a long time, 'but you need to try and let it go.' He reached out then, not sure what he intended to do, but then Edward flinched- so hard that his arms came all the way up to shield his face as if he was expecting to be struck.

Alphonse stood up, calling out and raising his hands as if prepared to intervene if necessary.

Roy caught one of Edward's arms, the Automail one, and held it. Edward gave a tug but otherwise gave no fight. 'I'm not going to hurt you, but we need to get you both away from here. It's…' he looked up, past Edward to the dark stain on the wall, the curve of a spine whiter against the rest, 'it's raining.'

Roy and Riza managed to pack the boys into the back of the car, and they drove straight back to East City. If Maes wanted to interview the boys about what happened that night, he could come down there and do it himself.

The boys spent the following days in their bedroom, inconsolable. Somehow, Edward managed to pass the State Alchemist exam, and Alphonse didn't apply. Riza and Roy tried their best to reach out, and Alphonse seemed to be the only one of the Elrics who was at all willing to reach back, he seemed desperate.

'I don't know what to do,' Alphonse had said one night, sitting on the couch as Riza stoked the fire. Roy was supposed to be upstairs, on the phone to Hughes about the case, but having heard Alphonse call out to Riza and he had moved to watch from a seat on the stairs. Edward was in their bedroom, there was no light seeping out from under the door which suggested he was either asleep or trying to be. Alphonse looked at the door and then back at his hands. 'I feel all messed up inside, Lieutenant, I can't stop thinking about it…' his voice wobbled and trailed off, and he pulled his legs up on the couch, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Riza stood from the fire, rubbing the warmth in her hands, and came to sit next to the boy. 'Alphonse, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Riza when we're at home,' she said, making sure to put her smile into her voice. 'I'm sorry you've had to go through this Alphonse, you and your brother got caught in something you never should have seen.'

'We loved her so much, N-Nina. It hurts so much except I don't know where it hurts, and Brother is hurting too, I don't know what to do to h-help him-' Alphonse's voice broke and he cut himself off.

Riza paused for a moment, and reached over to push her hand between his clasped ones, taking one big gauntlet and holding it in both of her hands. 'You're doing well enough, Alphonse. All Edward needs right now is someone to be there, even if there is nothing you can do. But you need someone there for you too, and I want you to know that Roy and I are here for both of you when you need us. These things hurt, and they might never stop hurting, but it will just take time for that hurt to be less and less frequent.' She squeezed his hand and he wrapped his fingers around her hand and wrist, engulfing them. Roy couldn't tell if it was the flickering light of the fire, but it looked a lot like Alphonse's hand was shaking. 'It will just take time, and one day, you will go a whole day without hurting, and then a week, and then a month, and you will be able to move on.'

Alphonse nodded silently. The fire was casting shadows over Alphonse, making his features look haunting and sharp.

The bedroom door opened. Riza and Alphonse looked over and Edward emerged from the cracked door. Roy couldn't see him from the stairs, but when Edward moved into the room to sit on the floor next to Alphonse's leg Roy saw that the boy looked bad. His hair was braided, but the braid was clearly days old, fraying and greasy. He was in the boxers he used as pyjamas and his black tank top. He didn't say a thing as he leant his head against Alphonse's knee with a soft knock and stared into the fire.

Alphonse put his other hand on Edward's head. 'Are you hungry, Brother?'

'Not really,' Edward croaked.

Roy supposed he might as well join too, it was unlikely that anyone didn't already know he was there anyway. He took a seat in the armchair near the fire.

'What did the Major say?' Edward asked. Roy looked over at him and saw the deep purple under his eyes.

'They have a suspect, a serial killer around Central who's been targeting State Alchemists. They're trying to catch him but he's elusive.'

Edward nodded, his hair making a rough noise against Alphonse's palm.

'You should go and take a shower, Ed,' Roy said.

Edward shook his head. 'I don't want to.'

'I'm not asking,' Roy said, 'you should clean up, and then get something to eat. You need to look after yourself. Go and grab your towel, I'll get the water started.' Roy stood and heard Edward sigh as he moved upstairs to turn on the shower.

Roy held his hand under the stream to feel it warm, but it was slow to rise to anything above chilly. He wondered, as he watched the water rush through his fingers, if there had been anyone to help the boys pick themselves back up when their mother died.

To the boy's credit, it only took a few minutes for Edward to emerge from the landing. 'Alright, get out, I got it,' Edward said, holding the door open for Roy to pass.

Roy left without fuss, feeling content that Edward was at least willing to comply without a yelling match. He stood outside the door for a moment to hear the shower curtain confirm Edward had actually gotten in before he went downstairs. 'Alphonse, would you come and help me get something to eat for Edward?'

Alphonse did, and Roy managed to get a laugh out of the boy with a badly-timed shake of the ketchup bottle which Roy had counted as his biggest victory yet.

That night, Roy and Riza retired to their bedroom. They got ready silently, and when Roy turned out the light, there was no moonlight by which to see Riza lying next to him. He could hear her breathing, feel her weight on her side of the bed, but he couldn't see a single thing.

'I shouldn't have sent them there,' he said into the darkness.

'Roy, don't…' she said back. 'You couldn't have known, none of us knew.'

He bit his tongue. He should have known, he should have kept the boys here in East City where he could watch them. But they'd never allow it, the Elrics were so fiercely independent that any grip Roy could have on them would lead them to struggle harder.

Riza's hand bumped into his shoulder, and then traced its way up to his face where she held it. 'It's not your fault, Roy.'

She must have felt the way his jaw tightened under her palm.

'It's not your fault,' she said again. 'And we'll help them get through it. That's what we're here for.'

He placed a hand on top of hers and turned his face into her palm. Her hand smelled of her moisturizer she used before bed.

Things started to get better for a few days, until they got worse.

Edward and Winry were nearly killed by Barry the Chopper after he kidnapped Winry and Edward had gone to rescue her. The military got there just in time to intervene, but the rush over there once the pieces had been put together was fraught with nerves. They had found Winry in chains and Edward on the ground, littered with cuts from the butcher's knife lying on the ground beside Barry. Roy didn't think he would ever forget the sight of Edward sitting on that stoop next to Alphonse, crying into his mismatched palms so loudly Roy could hear it as he stood by the car. Riza had her hands on Winry's shoulders, but the look in her eyes was telling him that she wanted to go to the boys. The yellow street lights coloured the cuts on the boy's arms a black-red, deceptively hidden. When Riza was dressing those cuts in the bathroom later that night, they were revealed to be much deeper.

That night was the first time that Roy had been awoken by a nightmare that didn't belong to him or Riza. Heart in his throat from the sound of Edward's scream, Roy spent the night in the armchair to keep an ear out for Edward. At least, he intended to do so until Riza gently shook him awake when morning came.

One sunny Saturday morning, Roy was making fried eggs for everyone as his favourite record played on the gramophone.

'Ugh, what even is this?' Edward yelled from here he was sitting on Alphonse's shoulders in the living room, dusting the light fixtures and bookshelves.

'It's called jazz, Edward, it's a very impressive form of art,' Roy replied from his spot at the stove. 'Listen carefully and you might learn to enjoy it.'

'Unlikely, it's so… messy- Ah, Al don't lean that far- like, where's the formula? Music is supposed to me formulaic, this is just a mess,' Edward said.

Before Roy had a chance to argue that 'messy' was an insult to the creative genius that created any jazz song, there was a powerful knock on the door.

'Would you get that, please?' Roy called. 'I got eggs going.'

Roy heard the heavy thump of Edward getting down from Alphonse and the door open.

'Hello, who are you?' Edward asked.

'Hello darlin', is Roy-boy here anywhere?'

Roy recognised that voice immediately. He took the eggs off the heat and rushed into the living room. 'Ma?' He said, seeing the sticky woman standing in his doorway.

Edward stood to the side, holding the door and looking between Roy and Madam Christmas with an open confusion on his face.

'Are you going to invite me in, or do I have to stand here all day?' Madam Christmas said

Roy ushered her in quickie and settled her on the couch with a tumbler of whiskey- the special kind he kept for her visits.

Edward was sitting in the armchair, eyeing the woman sceptically. 'Sorry, you never answered my question: who exactly are you?'

'None other than the mother of this fine young man,' she said, lighting a cigarette. 'Who is asking?'

'Edward Elric, I live here.' Edward crossed his arms. 'You don't look anything like the bastard, what kind of mother are you?'

'The adoptive kind, kid. Where is your mother at, then?' she took a drag from the cigarette, and turned to Roy who stood next to the fireplace. 'Don't tell me you've married a lass with a herd of children, Roy-boy.' Her eyes went down to the wedding band on his finger, raising a thin eyebrow.

Roy felt his cheeks heat against his will, unable to get a word in before Chris was barking out a laugh, shaking her head. 'No really, Roy, why do you have a boy staying in your house?'

'Two boys, actually,' Alphonse said, having previously been standing quite still behind Edward's chair for what Roy saw to be patient but what anyone else would seem… inanimate. 'My name is Alphonse.'

Chris jumped so hard she nearly spilt her drink. 'Christ alive, dear, I didn't know you were in there. Playing dress-up?'

'These are the Elric boys,' Roy jumped in, 'I'm acting as their legal guardian to grant permission to join the military. They're a couple of real alchemic prodigies.' He felt more than saw the boys' stare at him, and he wondered for a minute if that had sounded a bit too much like parental boasting and less like the civil talking point it was meant to be.

Chris raised an eyebrow at him. 'So, these are your sons?'

'Uh- well in a legal sense, I suppose you could say that-' Roy felt his cheeks heat right back up again.

'I have grandsons and you didn't deign to tell me about it?' Chris interrupted. She put down her glass on the coffee table and stood. 'Up you get, boy, let me look at you.'

Edward looked Chris up and down, but stood up without a fuss and let Chris appraise him. She took him by the chin and squinted at his face. 'Gold eyes, huh? Never seen that before, were your parents anyone special?' She squeezed his shoulders, and probably feeling the automail under Edward's shirt, she frowned.

'No,' Edward said, pulling himself out of her grip, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. 'No one of note, it's whatever.'

'You look healthy, and you,' she peered up and Alphonse, 'look even healthier, I can tell my Roy has been looking after you well. I'm impressed,' she added, looking at Roy. 'Or, at least, I would be if you had told me about this significant life event. You boys should come and stay with Grandma Christmas sometime.'

'They will not,' Roy said, and Chris laughed.

'Where's your wife, then? It's been a while since I've seen Riza' She asked, settling back down with her drink.

'How did you..? I never told you she was-'

Chris smiled at him over the rim of her glass. 'Boy, I've known you almost your whole life. I'm only surprised you got your ass in gear so fast, I would have guessed another five years of teenage pining at least.' She took a sip. 'I've always said she's too good for you. Well, I'll take that back if you do good by her. And good by these boys.' She said, giving Edward a wink. 'What do you say, boys? How does the name Mustang sound to you?'

At the same time that Edward said, 'As good as a burning trash can,' Alphonse had said, 'well, we wanted to keep our Mother's name…'

'Your mother, huh? A shame, it would have been nice to have the legacy. But, grandsons are grandsons, I'm not complaining.'

She stayed to share a drink and catch up with Roy, learning snippets about the boys as they talked. Riza arrived home from walking the newest addition of the family: Black Hayate, and Chris gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek to say hi, before she was out the door again.

'You never told us you had a mom,' Edward said, sitting in his seat at the kitchen table as Roy threw away the ice cold eggs and set about making a fresh batch.

'Uh,' Roy said. 'Did you think I was created out of thin air? Edward, I think you need to get your head out of alchemy books and read up on biology.'

'Whatever, I meant you never told us you had a mom like that.'

'Like what, Edward?'

'You know what I mean! Like… like us.'

'... Adopted?'

'Yeah.'

'Well I didn't know you were so interested in my family,' Roy shrugged, 'You could have just asked.'

'Brother, come see, Riza and I taught black Hayate how to roll over!' Alphonse yelled from the living room.

'In a minute, Al!' Edward called back, before turning back to Roy. 'So… Do you have a dad, too?'

That made Roy pause. 'No, Madam Christmas never married so I never had any sort of father figure.'

'What about the Lieutenant?'

That completely stopped Roy in his tracks.

'What's wrong?' Edward said.

'She doesn't have a father either, anymore. He died.'

'Oh,' Edward said. 'Okay.' He paused for a moment, and then got up to look at what Alphonse was doing with the puppy.

Black Hayate, who had now been part of the household for just over two weeks, had quickly become an unlikely favourite of Alphonse's. They boy spent a lot of his down time playing with, training, and taking the pup out for walks. He celebrated every little achievement Black Hayate managed with his pudgy and uncoordinated body.

Edward was less enthused, but Roy always loved to see Alphonse getting such joy from the small dog. It was such a shame, therefore, that Alphonse was still categorically a cat person.

Roy found this out when he went into the boys' room while they were out on one errand or another. Riza was out too, having taken Black Hayate with her. He had to open the window to air out the smell of machine grease and teenage boy that never seemed to leave the space. When he was checking for mould or stains (thankfully, not present), an alarming sound came from a blanket bundled in the corner of the room from the second bed. Roy stopped, and stood very still to try and catch that sound again.

There it was. Like a whine, or a whistle, or something.

Praying that the boys hadn't somehow leaked a gaspipe in the house, he gingerly approached the blacket and began to pull it up. Only when something began to wriggle did he realise oh this is something alive. He narrowly avoided dropping the thing on the floor immediately, instead managing to place it down and slowly start to unfold the crumbled blanket.

Oh, Alphonse.

The little ginger kitten was blinking up at Roy in the sudden brightness. It meowed again.

Roy sat on Edward's bed, bridging his fingers as he appraised the kitten. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

The kitten climbed out of the blanket, and came to rub its body against Roy's ankle. It was then that Roy noticed the slight limp the kitten had when using its back legs. Roy sighed loudly, and the kitten meowed in response.

Later, after Roy had emptied a can of tuna onto a plate and put out a saucer of water in the boys' bedroom and left the kitten there to eat, the boys got home while he was finishing off a jigsaw that he had pulled out a few weeks ago that everyone had contributed to if they had a spare minute or two. He had an old record playing for background noise, and was about to stand and take it off as the boys dropped a bag of books on the floor and Edward took off his boots.

'What is that song?' Edward said, before Roy had lifted the needle.

'This?' Roy said. He considered the song before answering. It wasn't a record he listened to often, but now that he was actually hearing it, the harp and wind instrument created a melody that was at once comforting and haunting.

'Is that Drachman?' Edward asked, and Roy saw the boy had a far away look in his eyes as he listened. The woman on the track was joined by a choir of children and Edward crossed his arms tightly across his chest. 'Something about that song…' he said, trailing off in thought.

'It's familiar, isn't it, Brother?' Alphonse said. 'Do you think mom used to play it? Or Teacher?'

Edward stared into space for a moment, and then shook his head. 'No, I don't remember.'

The song came to an end, and the record crackled and then clicked as it finished.

'There's something I actually wanted to talk to you about, boys,' Roy said, packing the record away.

Edward groaned.

'I thought we agreed to keep military things out of the house?' Alphonse whined. 'Can it not wait until work tomorrow?'

'It's not a military thing, it's a house thing-'

'You found the cat,'

Roy turned around. 'Yes, Edward, I found the cat'

'I told you, Al…'

Alphonse whined again. 'But sir, it was hurt and it wasn't moving- I thought if i just gave it some food and a place to sleep then…'

'Then what?' Roy prodded, then, when Alphonse didn't reply, he sighed and led the boys into their bedroom. The kitten was curled up on the foot of Edward's bed and had its eyes cracked open to watch them from its spot.

Alphonse approached it and cooed gently and reached out a big hand to pet it, the cat almost dwarfed by his palm.

'We can't keep this cat, Alphonse,' Roy said, leaning against the door. 'Riza will be back with Black Hayate soon and it will have to be gone by then.'

'But…' Alphonse said. 'I know we can't keep it for long, but if we kept it in here where Black Hayate couldn't get him then…'

Edward sighed, coming to sit on the bed near the cat. 'Al, you know it wouldn't be right. I want to help just as much as you do, we brought it in to get some sleep and food and we should let it go now,' he said. He reached out a hand for the cat to sniff, and it deemed Edward favourable and rubbed its head against his fingers. Roy could the hint of a smile on Edward's face. 'We aren't around enough to take care of it anymore, and the Colonel and Lieutenant already have a pet. It would be cruel to lock it up here and leave it behind.'

Alphonse was quiet for a long time. 'I guess so,' he said finally. His shoulders were dropped low.

'Take it to a sanctuary now, Al, they'll take it and look after it,' Edward said. He stood and shrugged off his coat. 'Wrap him in this- bring it back though, I like this coat.'

'Okay, Brother,' Alphonse said, and being very careful he picked up the cat in Edward's coat where it sunk its claws in and gave a big yawn. Alphonse tucked it into his arms and left the house.

'That was mature of you, Ed,' Roy said as Edward passed him to get a slice of bread from the kitchen. Roy noticed Edward was favouring his flesh leg as he stood at the counter collecting supplies. Maybe his automail was bothering him?

Edward scoffed. 'If only my mom could hear you say that- I always used to be the one dragging stray animals into the house and she had to turn them all away but I'd give one hell of a fight. He must have picked it up from me. Well, things are different now, we couldn't keep a cat.'

'No, we couldn't,' Roy agreed. He sat at the table and Edward joined him with bread and the jar of peanut butter.

'Al's heart is just too big,' Edward said as he took a bite. ''S gonn' get him in trouble one day.'

They heard Riza and Black Hayate come through the door. She called that she was home, and Roy and Edward called back to say hi.

'I saw Alphonse on the way back, he said he was going to drop off a cat?' Riza took the lead off Black Hayate and the small pup bounded into the kitchen and jumped up against Roy's legs. Roy gave him a couple of scritches behind the ears to say hello. Riza followed and placed a few letters she'd picked up from the postbox onto the counter. 'It looks like it's going to rain, I almost told Alphonse to hurry back before he gets wet.' She laughed and shook her head.

'He would have appreciated the sentiment,' Edward shrugged one shoulder. He looked out the kitchen window at the sky, and Roy saw his eyebrows furrow and the corners of his mouth turn down slightly. 'I heard it was going to be a pretty bad storm tonight, he should get back here just in case something happens.'

'He'll be fine, he'd be worried about the cat if nothing else,' Roy said, waving his hand to dismiss Edward's worry. 'Would anyone like a coffee?' he said, getting up to fill the kettle.

Soft affirmatives came from both Riza and Edward, and once they had a steaming mug placed in front of them, Edward excused himself to his bedroom and closed the door.

Riza sat with Roy at the table. 'Do you think he's upset about the cat? Alphonse told me about the whole story.'

Roy hummed and took a sip of his coffee. 'He was the one who suggested Alphonse take it to a shelter, he seemed to have quite a practical approach to it. I was rather impressed.'

Riza nodded. 'I'm glad, it would have been a difficult situation to navigate if they'd both wanted to keep the cat.' She stood from her seat and took her apron off the back of the kitchen door and put it over her head.

'I thought it was the boys' turn tonight,' Roy said, watching her tie it behind her waist over the rim of his mug.

She shrugged. 'Alphonse is out and I think Edward doesn't feel up to it. He's normally on top of the chores and if he's got something more pressing on his mind then I don't mind taking one thing off it. He mentioned making noodles, so it won't take long.'

'You can be too soft on them, Riza,' Roy said, smiling. He dropped that smile when the corners of her mouth pinched. 'What is it?'

'I'm not sure, but I just have a feeling that Ed was upset about something. I can't shake it.'

As Riza set about chopping vegetables and frying spices for the broth, the tell tale patter against the window suggested it had started raining. Within minutes, it had swelled to a hammering torrent that drowned out the sound of the front door opening and closing.

'I'm home!' Alphonse called and made his way into the kitchen.

'Hi Alphonse,' Riza said. 'Everything go okay with the cat? You took a while,' she noted, glancing at the dark sky out of the window.

'Yeah, the first shelter couldn't take him so I had to run and find another but it wasn't far. I came straight back. Where is brother?'

'In your room,' Roy said.

Alphonse leaned out of the kitchen to spot the closed door. 'Is he okay?'

'I'm sure he's fine, Alphonse. He was the one to suggest taking the cat in, I'm sure he's not too upset,' Roy said, wondering why everyone seemed so concerned for Edward's wellbeing over a cat the boy had dismissed himself.

'No, I mean about the rain,' Alphonse said, and Roy was suddenly very confused.

'Huh?' he said, as an eloquent expression of said confusion.

Alphonse looked at Roy for a moment, and Roy saw that same confusion reflected right back. 'The rain…' Alphonse said. 'Is brother okay with the rain?'

'Does he have a problem with rain, Alphonse?' Riza said, turning away from the stove.

'You mean he..? Ugh, brother, you're so…' Alphonse didn't finish as he promptly left the room and headed towards their bedroom.

'Hold on Alphonse! Come back here for a second!' Riza called, and Alphonse poked his head back into the kitchen. 'What is the problem with Edward?'

Alphonse twisted his head and peeked at the door one more time. 'Well, if he didn't tell you then he probably doesn't want to know, but I'll tell you. He can get pain in his ports in storms sometimes when the pressure change is too great. It seems like a bad one today, so I expect he'll be in a bit of pain by now…' He looked again at the bedroom door.

'What?!' Riza said, pulling off her apron and taking the food off the heat before striding out of the kitchen.

Roy got up to follow and saw her come to a stop in front of the bedroom door. It was a faux pas in this house to enter bedrooms without knocking. She brought her knuckles against the wood and called out to Edward. It took a while before a sound was heard on the other side.

'Go away,' Edward said back, sounding muffled.

'Brother, I'm coming in,' Alphonse said, and Riza stepped aside to let Alphonse through.

Through the open door, Roy saw a lump under the covers on Edward's bed.

'Brother…' Alphonse sighed, coming to sit on the edge of Edward's bed. He put a hand over the lump and shook it gently. There was a gasp from under the cover. 'Sorry, brother, but the lieutenant and the Colonel just want to know if you're alright.'

'I'm fine,' Edward said, making no move to surface from the blanket.

Riza stepped into the room and Roy leant against the doorframe to watch. He was sure Edward wouldn't want him any closer, anyway.

Riza approached the bed and pulled the covers off Edward slowly. Roy could see from his distance that the boy was pale and sweaty, curled up on his side in a tight ball. He was in his pyjamas, which Roy thought was probably a good thing. At least the boy had done that for himself.

Riza pressed a hand to his forehead, then cheek. He let her, surprisingly, but watched her through glazed eyes.

'You seem warm, but I don't think it's a fever,' she said.

'I'm not sick,' Edward grumbled, 'it's just my damn arm and leg. It's fine.'

Riza leant forward. 'Can I take a look?' When Edward didn't reply, she gently pushed aside the sleeve of his tank top to see where the port was bolted onto his skin. 'Does it hurt here?' she said, ghosting her fingers over the redness there.

'No,' Edward said. 'Ow, don't touch-' he took a breath through his teeth- 'it's my arm that's hurting. And my leg. I know they're not there but it feels like they are sometimes and it hurts.'

'Granny Pinako said that it's common for automail patients. She called it phantom limb pain, but I don't understand it much,' Alphonse said.

This wasn't the first time Roy had seen something like this: soldiers coming back from the front lines with missing limbs had reported similar difficulties. It was strange, though, to see Edward trembling with pain from something Roy had always thought to be an adult's misery. Wordless, he stepped away from the room and got a washcloth to wrap a handful of ice cubes before stepping back into the bedroom. He picked up one of Edward's hair bands off the nightstand to tie it closed. Leaning over Riza, he placed the makeshift ice bag onto Edward's thigh where it looked most irritated.

Edward flinched and held his tongue between his teeth to keep from crying out, but his hand came out to hold the ice against his leg as Roy let him hold it. 'Try to keep that held there, it should help with the pain. If you need more ice, just call,' he said.

'Do you think you could eat dinner, Edward?' Riza said. She moved the hair from his face where it was clinging to his forehead.

Edward's eyes drifted shut. 'I don't think so, I'll probably just puke it up if I do.'

That was… concerning. If the pain was bad enough to cause Edward to throw up then it clearly wasn't some common ache.

The rain continued to pound against the window, and Roy went to close the curtains in front of it. 'We don't have any aspirin in the house, but I can run and get some,' He said, not particularly keen to be going out in the weather but equally unhappy to sit and watch Edward clamp his jaw shut against wave after wave of pain.

'Nah, it's fine,' Edward said, and his hand holding the ice bag pushed a little harder. 'It won't last much longer, I think.'

Roy spotted the coffee mug on the nightstand, untouched and probably ice cold. He grabbed it and took it back to the kitchen to tip it out in the sink and filled a glass of water to replace it. While the cup was filling, he heard Edward cry out for the first time and his heart clenched. He hurried back to the room.

'Here, you should drink this,' Roy said, handing the glass to Riza to bring to Edward, but the boy shook his head.

'I don't think there's much else we can do for you, Edward,' Riza said.

Edward nodded, and buried his face into his pillow. 'I know, 's okay,' came the muffled reply. He took a breath, and then his body seized as he cried out again. He stayed tense for a moment more, before the pain subsided and his body relaxed again, exhausted.

They took shifts watching him, Roy first while Riza and Alphonse finished dinner, then Alphonse while the adults ate at the kitchen table, then Riza while Roy played a game of chess with Alphonse to help the boy take his mind off of his brother. The pain didn't go away, and neither did the rain, until well gone midnight. At which point, Edward instantly fell into a deep sleep out of sheer exhaustion, enough that Roy could pull the covers back over him without so much as a twitch, and the adults left Alphonse downstairs to get to sleep themselves.