Chapter eight
Roy woke up sharply at the sound of Ed yelping and whimpering with pain from where he was using Roy's left shoulder as a pillow.
...And found Ed looking terrified and panting with Melanie's teeth in his neck, blood coming from the wounds as he pressed his head into Roy's shoulder. He would have punched the bitch if it hadn't been for the fact that she was pressing Roy down into the bed, giving him zero room to move.
Ed suddenly yelped as Melanie grinned and tore a chunk of flesh out of his neck, instantly causing a lot of blood to come out of it in a spurt of red from what was obviously a severed carotid artery. Next second, Ed had been dragged to the floor and was lying inside bright blue lightning and his neck was healed up again by three of their Xingese tormentors.
But the results were still grotesque. Because there was still blood surrounding the stretched skin. The stretched skin due to the fact that Ed's neck hadn't been healed in a way that look normal. The severed ends had been joined together, meaning that Edward's neck was still missing the piece that Melanie had just torn out of it.
Roy looked up at the bitch, and barely repressed the urge to retch as he saw that she was actually standing there with Ed's flesh in between her teeth.
Then she damned well slurped it as it disappeared into her mouth and she swallowed it down, her lips and face covered by Ed's blood. She just grinned hungrily. "Why do you look so sad, Daddy Roy? I would have thought that as his daddy, you'd seen that as a compliment, what with how he is simply good enough to eat." Her smile widened, just as Roy heard wheels approaching from the door, and he turned around to find a large washbasin with a lot of ice cubes sloshing back and forth inside the water being rolled towards them by Gregor. "But he got ever so messy, so how about you pick your dear puppy up from the floor and help give him a proper bath to wash off the blood?"
Roy knew he didn't have a choice. He didn't have a choice as he would be causing Ed pain through the icy water. As he would undoubtedly cause Ed some level of instinctive panic because of Roy hurting him because of the bruising in combination with his touch and being in the damned water.
And when he turned around and looked back down at Ed with the blood around him, he saw the sheer fear that was easily visible in his eyes in between all the other emotions that he was going through.
He felt his stomach clench again at the sight of the small, naked, terrified, bruised and bloody child with two missing limbs. He was just lying there, completely still.
But Roy just did as he was told and knelt down and picked Ed up in to his arms, earning a hiss of pain from the young boy.
And a slight flinch of fear at being moved by Roy that was obviously instinctive.
No, something between them had broken yesterday, and it was something that was also impossible to fix.
Because it wasn't possible for Ed to just erase the memories of Roy inflicting all these bruises that were covering the small child in his arms.
Ed was in continuous pain because of those bruises. He wasn't able to get a break from it. Everything that the boy did was causing him pain. Even lying still hurt.
And now Melanie had gone and eaten a piece of Ed's neck. And it looked so wrong.
And it would continue to do so for the rest of the boy's life.
For his boy's life.
Because Edward was Roy's now. He wasn't Melanie's and Roy was going to look after him and care for him for as long as possible, because he had to look after his kid.
And as he had been looking down at Ed as he had thrashed about and had screamed and yelled with fear, and had then woken up, then it had become even clearer to Roy that the boy needed to be his cub. Ed wanted to be Roy's cub because he needed Roy to be a grownup for him. One who would hold him and give him a slight sense of safety.
And the look in his eyes right now made it clear just how much he instinctively wanted Roy to save him.
It was odd just how much psychological torture could do to the human mind in less than two weeks.
Roy felt a stab of fear in his stomach at the thought.
His kid was in pain.
He would keep doing so and he would only be getting more and more afraid as time went by.
Which caused that burst of emotional pain burst in his stomach. Because they could end up living here for the rest of their lives.
And Roy was just as terrified as the child in his arms was.
The boy whose bruised body betrayed the fact that he shouldn't be alive after acquiring those.
...The bruises made it clear that Roy had killed him yesterday, even if Ed had never died because he had been put back together again by someone else after Roy had broken him.
Ed should not be alive because Roy had killed him with his bare hands.
And now Roy was about to hurt him again by washing him with icy water.
He still had trouble believing it. Believing that this had happened. That he had done this to his boy.
But he remembered full well the terror of when he had been separated from Ed as he had come back to himself.
Roy panicked as the sand around him was suddenly replaced by water, and he pushed himself back up so as to draw in breath. He opened his eyes sharply, and found himself to be back in the bathroom with Gregor crouching down in front of him on the edge of the bath.
Roy, however, only had one thought in his mind at that point, because his cub might be dead.
No, not cub, boy. His boy. His Ed. Because this might mean that Ed wasn't dead after all. That none of them were.
And so he looked about himself frantically.
Then he froze at the sight of the bloody water and the bloodstained purification circle two metres away from him. "WHERE IS HE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!" he demanded, fear that he hadn't felt before coursing through him.
Gregor began chuckling. "Oh, we've just healed him up and given him a nice, soft and warm bed to rest in after what you did, Colonel Mustang."
Roy felt his stomach lurch in horror at the Ishbalan's word. And at the way that his hands and wrists were hurting.
And he found himself terrified of learning whatever the object that he was clutching in his hand was.
But yet he still leant back on his knees and then lifted his hands to see just how bloodied and bruised his knuckles were.
Then he gagged as he saw that he was holding a small lock of blonde hair in his hand.
...With a small piece of the owner's scalp still attached to it.
Panic slammed into him even more, and he immediately got to his feet at the realisation that there were two people missing from the room.
Which meant that Edward was alone with Melanie.
"TAKE ME TO HIM! NOW!" Roy bellowed, not able to let go of the chunk of hair in his hand. Just letting a piece of Ed fall to the bath like it didn't matter, when Roy had been the one to have torn it off, felt like he was only being practical about something that he shouldn't be.
Because he had obviously almost beaten Ed to death, and while Ed had been unable to even have tried to escape him because of his broken digits.
Gregor tutted at him. "All in due time, Colonel Mustang," he said as he unplugged the bath. "First of all we need to fix up your knuckles and get you a new shower, what with how the bloody water is hardly sanitary."
A burst of frustration and fear exploded inside him as he quickly began wading over to the shower so as to get himself cleaned up as soon as possible. "TELL ME JUST WHAT THE HELL SHE IS DOING TO ED!"
"Don't worry, Daddy Roy, he is in good hands and he is still under the protection of our promise as the game has yet to be completed."
Roy froze, eyes widening in horror, but he was interrupted by Gregor's chuckles. "And before you ask, no, she isn't doing anything of the physical kind based on loopholes."
That only made Roy even more scared, however, because there was an obvious loophole in Gregor's sentence. "WHAT THE HELL IS SHE GOING TO INJECT HIM WITH?!"
Another smirk and a chuckle from Gregor. "You'll just have to wait and see."
Roy just glared at the Ishbalan, because he could tell that there was something very wrong and that Gregor wanted to torture him in dragging his explanation out. "What is she doing to him?!"
"Oh, she's just giving him a good bowl of tomato soup and then she's going to give him a little kiss so that your dear puppy won't have to be so scared by the pinprick in his neck because we heard that he doesn't like needles much."
When Roy spotted Melanie opening the door to what was obviously Ed's room fifteen minutes later, Roy saw red, desperately trying and failing to get loose from the strong grip around both of his arms courtesy of Dusk and Midnight. "I'LL KILL YOU FO-!" He went silent at the way that she pressed a finger to her lips, and Roy knew that if he behaved now, then he might get to Ed in time to at least fool Ed into hallucinating about Roy killing him with Roy back in his boxers. If Ed was going to have his mind be tortured even more by reliving Roy's attempts at killing him, then at least his memories shouldn't contain a loincloth that would make the boy ashamed of his tormentor.
And so Roy was dragged by his armpits over to the bedroom door, before he shouted loudly at Edward, feeling like a complete fool at his words. "I'M IN MY BOXERS AGAIN!"
Then he was thrown inside the room and he landed hard on all fours, finding Ed to have disappeared from sight.
His location was quickly revealed before Roy had even had enough time to get back to his feet, because the twelve-year-old boy suddenly started roaring with fury far stronger than the one he had employed during his claims about not being short.
And there was something about Ed sounding downright wrathful that terrified Roy, because that wrath didn't belong to anyone but the one that Ed was pretending to be. "YOU KILLED THEM! ALL OF THEM!"
Roy sprinted around the bed towards the source of the shouts, and he froze in horror at the sight that met him.
Ed was lying slumped there on the floor by the bed, his body bruised in a way that was completely unnatural. Tears were streaming down his cheeks from his closed eyes as Ed panted slightly, his entire body tense with torment and fear.
Nobody had told Roy about the bruises. They weren't supposed to remain.
And Ed was muttering a rapid stream of the terrified thoughts that were going through his mind as Roy picked the bruised child up from the floor. Gregor had told him that they had healed him of his injuries, so this must just mean that they had sped up the bruising and had let it remain whilst everything else had been healed up. "Please don't do this I don't wannna go through this again please stop this and hug me because I need a hug and- I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THEM!"
Roy flinched at the change in Ed's voice as he placed him on the bed and tucked him in, feeling anger surge through him at the sight of the little blowdart on the floor below where Ed had just been lying. And Ed was naked and cold and drugged and Roy had no chance at stopping this. And trying to do so would most likely just serve to exacerbate his fears because of Roy coming into contact with the bruises. "I need to hide and please don't find me because I don't want to you to hurt me again and please don't find me until you're back to normal and please let me stay safe under here without you knowing that I am here because I can't do this again and it hurts and I don't want you to hurt me even more and please don't find me until you're able to hug me because I want a safe hug and please don't find me because she's angry this time and she'll only heal me up to the bare minimum and I can't take it so please just stay up there and don't hurt m-YOU KILLED THEM! ALL OF THEM!"
Ed choked on his tears as Roy pinned him down with the duvet, feeling sick beyond words as Ed just kept speaking. "Please don't find me because I don't want more pain and I can't take any more right now and I just wanna be safe and go home so I need you to hug me because I'm scared and I don't want more pain so please just stay away this time until it's over and you're back to normal."
"Well, Daddy Roy, now I want you to place your puppy in the washbasin and then we're going to have a little training lesson," Melanie told him cheerfully as Roy stopped in front of the metal container that would soon cause Ed even more pain.
And he saw Ed's eyes widen considerably in fear at the words 'training lesson,' his stomach obviously clenching just as much as Roy's was. But it was also pointless to ask before he had done as he had been told to. He would only be increasing the chances of Ed's prolonged pain.
And so Ed gritted his teeth and gave Roy a small and frightened nod. Roy had decided to walk with his back turned to Melanie so that he could shield Ed just a bit, which was why the psychotic bitch hadn't seen Ed's face.
Because Roy wasn't going to let her get any closer to Ed than absolutely necessary after what she had done the day before. Ed had told him about her wording, and he had no intentions of letting her make his boy into her 'plaything.'
None.
And so Roy pressed a kiss to the top of Ed's head before he quickly lowered him into the water, as he knelt down, knowing that Ed didn't want to drag things out.
Though it was already hurting Roy's arms and he couldn't imagine what it must be like for Ed to be completely submerged all the way up to his neck. He was breathing through clenched teeth, trying to keep it steady, but obviously struggling to do so.
In fact, he was looking like he was far too reminded of the last time that he had been trapped in a bath where Roy had been the one to trap him.
And, unlike it had been when they had made Roy hurt Ed before, this time Ed was looking at Roy and was genuinely fearing him instead of what Roy would be forced to do.
It gave him a sudden urge to cry.
"Very good, Daddy Roy," Melanie said approvingly. "Now, as for your lesson..." Her voice was maliciously silky as she walked up right behind him and kissed his neck, leaving Roy with a strong urge to punch her, smelling the iron scent Ed's blood on her lips as she smeared it over the side of his neck. To tell her to get the hell away from him. To get the hell away from his boy. He wouldn't put it past her to bite his neck too and force him to sit in another washbasin.
...And have Gregor clean Roy up while Melanie washed Ed.
But that would be far more likely to happen if Roy acted up. Obedience earned them a little piece of freedom.
...Just like with being a military dog.
He barely kept himself from growling at her, but then she straightened up again and stood there behind him. Making him an inferior pawn to do her bidding.
And yet Roy just kept looking at Ed the entire time, hoping that he would see the softness. The way that he actually cared. The way that he so desperately wanted to keep him safe. To hug him. To share the pain with him. To not leave him alone.
He wanted him to see just how much pain that this was bringing Roy to do this and just how desperately he wanted to take Ed's place.
But he couldn't.
He just couldn't.
"Well, Edward, we all know how you were being a disobedient puppy yesterday..." Melanie said silkily, and she suddenly knelt down next to Roy and cupped Ed's left cheek in her right hand. Ed stiffened, his eyes widening in terror.
"He's not your plaything," Roy growled at her. "He's choosing the pet option, so don't you dare do anything like what you did yesterday. He's still a minor, and I'm technically his temporary guardian as his CO, so I get to choose!"
Melanie just laughed lightly at him. "Ha! That only further proves my point, Daddy Roy! Because he's yours, and yet he was so disrespectful towards his Daddy Roy yesterday that he disobeyed not just me, but you too! Which makes this lesson so much more important. Because now you've made it clear that he needs to learn his place."
And then she leant towards him and whispered into his ear. "And so as his Daddy Roy, it should be you who teaches him his lesson."
Roy felt his stomach clench. He had very possibly made things a lot worse by talking just now, and Ed was looking at him with even more fear than before, barely keeping himself from shying away from him as Melanie removed her hand. "Just tell me what it is!"
She laughed lightly once more, and then looked directly at Ed. "Well, Edward, like I said, you need to learn your place and your role and you need to start doing as you're told. So from now on, you're going to call your dear Colonel Roy Mustang by his proper title, which we both know is...?" she asked as if she was working in a nursery school.
Ed just stared at her and at Roy, but by the time that he opened his mouth, Melanie was suddenly grabbing his hair and pressing his head too underneath the water.
Roy moved instinctively and punched her at the terror in Ed's eyes at the way that his mouth had been open as he had been pressed down.
She answered through slashing her claws across the left side of Roy's face, making him gasp in pain at the feeling of the cuts and at the way that he realised that she had actually blinded him on one eye.
Then he was being dragged backwards and on to the purification circle and his sight on his eye was instantly restored before he had even had the chance to panic.
As scare tactics went, that was not a bad one. He had just lost the sight on his left eye completely for less than ten seconds.
...Just like that.
He found Ed looking at Roy in terror from over by the washbasin in a way that could only mean that the scars were still there.
Which meant that even if they got out, then Roy would see this every time he would be looking into a mirror.
He wanted desperately to strangle her.
But instead he got to his feet instantly, tasting his own blood in his mouth, but hardly caring, because the bitch was holding his boy by his hair, obviously ready to push him back under the water should Roy act up in any way that she didn't approve of. And so Roy just went back to kneeling down in front of the washbasin like he had done less than a minute ago.
He could barely believe that this was happening. Because there was no way he could deny that most of his face was probably covered by his own blood, based on just how deep the cuts had been.
"Well, let's do this again, shall we?" she asked, her voice both irked and gleeful at the same time, before she returned her gaze to Ed. "So, what is his proper title?"
Ed was much quicker this time, obviously not having good associations with drowning after yesterday. "D-Daddy Roy."
"A simple 'Daddy' is more than enough, Edward, now how about Daddy Roy help you out with all that blood, and then Gregor can do the same for him?"
Roy wanted to stab her repeatedly. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to grab Ed's hair just like this, just to really make him understand instinctively just what you are to him. What your name is for the rest of your lives."
Roy felt his stomach clench even harder, making his entire body hurt. "And what do you want me to do from that point on?"
In answer, Gregor suddenly grabbed Roy's hair, and then shoved his head under the water so that it crashed against Ed's knee, making him instinctively panic and try to get some purchase in order to push himself back up.
Ed suddenly moved, and next second, Roy was being pulled back up while he heard Ed yell with pain. Roy whipped around instantly, and he froze.
Melanie had just gutted Ed. He was lying on the floor as she pulled his insides clean out of his stomach, just because he had tried to stop Gregor.
Roy instantly got to his feet and attacked Melanie, only to freeze at the thought of it possibly not being Ed at all. Maybe this was another nightmare? He could have been drugged. He could be attacking Ed again.
She wouldn't have killed him like this.
Then Roy found someone sitting down on his knees, which was impossible when he was standing up like this.
A gun went off and pain suddenly spread throughout the left side of his abdomen.
Roy opened his eyes wide, the gun still pressed against his stomach.
...And this time, the pain was far too real for it not to be a nightmare.
Even if Ed was the one sitting on Roy's knees as he pressed the gun further against Roy's wound, making him yell out from the pain. But Ed didn't even seem to mind. He actually found pleasure in it where he sat, dried blood down his side and arm from the healed over missing chunk in his neck.
"Good morning... Now that I've got your attention, I'd like to show you just how much I appreciate what you did to me yesterday." There was a small prick of blood that was clearly visible now that the bruising had suddenly been removed. "You had a little pinprick on the back of your neck as you moved to pick me up, just so that they could offer me a bit of an exchange in return for me doing this to you now... And so I figured that you'd prefer to have me shoot you, just so that they would heal up my bruises, don't you agree, Daddy?"
Ed was pissed off. He was pissed off with Daddy and he was pissed off with everyone and everything, and so at least he had been given a chance to let Daddy get what he had wanted more than anything else, besides them getting out of this hellhole.
Namely for Ed to stop being the one who got hurt. "This is what you wanted, right, Daddy? To let me catch a break? For you to not have to hurt me? Well, I just said yes to their deal about me doing this, including letting them stuff this thing in my neck so that I wouldn't go back on my word, because we'll still get one hell of a prize."
Daddy seemed terrified. "Ed, what are you talking about?" he asked through clenched teeth, obviously in a lot of well-deserved pain for what he had done to Ed yesterday.
"You and me are gonna move out into our new home in the garden in an hour from now, after you've dug out that bullet and have been healed up again... And then we'll get to stay in our new home, alone, for two whole weeks where they'll bring us human luxury food, warm meals, and even cocoa, but without any pain or drugs or anything. I thought that it sounded too great for me to say pass, also because it would make you frustrated if I did... Don't you think so too, Daddy?"
He watched as the man before him nodded, tears of pain in his eyes. "Y-yes... Thank you, Ed... It was a good decision you made."
Ed pressed his gun into the wound again, making Daddy yell out, before Ed put the gun away, having only been provided with that one bullet. "So you grab that first aid kit right next to your shoulder, and then I let you have a piece of my mind about how much I appreciate what you did to me yesterday."
He then pressed his hand flat down on the wound, making Daddy yell out once more, as Ed leant forwards so that his face was only about ten centimetres away from Daddy's. Ed's long hair was streaming down on both sides, trapping Daddy so that his eyes were locked on Ed's and Ed's alone as he growled down at the older man, pressing down on his wound even harder. "Because it's time for some equivalent exchange for what you did to me, Daddy."
Sorry about the cliffhanger, and please leave a review! I didn't get any for the last chapter, which was a bit disappointing, so reviews help inspire me to write faster! So please no flames, as they can be rather discouraging and thereby counterproductive.