The Assignment
Chapter Seven
April 6th, 1912
Ellicot
Undisclosed Location
10:00 am
"Breda? Breda? Are you still with me?" Vato asked as he gently shook Heymans' shoulder. "Heymans, come on talk to me."
"Sleeping." Heymans muttered in response as he curled tighter into himself.
"I need you to wake up for a couple of minutes. Just long enough to drink some water." Vato said, trying to hide his concern. Just yesterday…was it yesterday? Just yesterday, Heymans had been the one insisting Vato drink something.
"No, tired. 'M not thirsty." Heymans said stubbornly as he attempted to roll over only to jar his side and groan loudly as he slowly sat up. "I-I think I'm in trouble."
"We'll get out of this. I'll get us out of this." Vato said as he helped Heymans drink some of the water that had been left behind.
"I like you Vato, I thought you should know."
"Well, I like you too, you're a nice guy. Even if you do lie about my snoring."
"No, that's not what I meant. You do snore, stop lying to yourself. I mean I like you." Heymans said with a shuddering breath as he laid back down. "Never said anything, can't. Can't risk having to leave Mustang, not when he's our best shot at fixing stuff. So, don't tell anyone, especially Vato, okay?"
"Okay." Vato said as Heymans fell back to sleep. He was right, Vato couldn't afford to be transferred either.
Ellicot Inn
"I watched the entrance all morning. There's another way in and out because I know I didn't miss his return." Hawkeye said in her normal flat tone. Havoc had just returned to the room to report the Innkeeper was manning the front desk when he went down to get them food.
"I haven't seen another way in or out and I went all over the main floor…perhaps the basement?" Havoc suggested.
"Perhaps. We should begin today's grid. We can look into it this evening." Hawkeye replied thoughtfully. She frowned to herself, feeling that they were missing something.
Havoc nodded thoughtfully before folding up the map they had made and sticking it into his pocket. Together they left the room to begin the search for their missing teammates. Havoc knew he should probably have been left out of this search, as Breda was his best freeing most commanders would have considered him too close to the investigation, but Mustang gave him a chance. He felt he needed to do this quickly, not only for their missing teammates but to prove to Mustang he had made the right call-in trusting Havoc.
They made their way slowly down the street, projecting the persona of a vacationing new couple, while watching everything around them. Hawkeye noticed a large man circling back behind the Inn and made note to check the alley for a basement entry this evening. They made their way toward the north side of town, with her looking back once, a bad feeling growing in her chest. She was missing something.
Mustang's Camp
He was frustrated, the team had returned with nothing to report on his missing men. Fuery then had come in to hesitantly inform him that Command had sent word that Major Elric was back in town. Mustang didn't want that boy anywhere near Ellicot, which was probably not rational given the boy's success rate. However, subtle was not a talent Fullmetal seemed to possess. With a sigh, he said to Fuery. "Send word back to Fullmetal that he is to take the rest of the week for research before reporting to Command. There is no reason to inform him of this operation."
"Yes, Sir." Fuery replied before turning back to the phone that he had set up as soon as they had settled camp.
"Fuery? Tell them to avoid forbidding him to come to Command." Mustang said. The fastest way to get the boy to his office, or anywhere, was to tell him not to be there. It was very childish, though to be fair Edward was a child.
With Fullmetal squared away, Mustang returned his attention to the situation at hand. He was pouring over a map of the town, and the truth was there were very few places someone could hold two soldiers hostage without notice. Therefore, either everyone in town was involved in this, or he had narrowed down the search to three buildings.
The Inn. The stable, or town hall. None seemed likely on the surface, but according to the building plans Fuery had borrowed from the town records room last night, all three had basements. Well, the stable had a storm cellar under the tack room. It looked like it would barely qualify as a room, but it remained on his list. This was too important to overlook anything.
He decided then that if his team hadn't found anything in the next twelve hours, he would look into these himself, and he would bring the town out to watch.
Undisclosed Location
5:00pm
Vato didn't have the strength to access his injuries. He had managed to deflect their tormentor away from Heymans, knowing the other man was unlikely to survive more abuse, but he wasn't doing well himself as a result. The idea of somehow finding a way out for them both disappeared in the grinding of bones in both of his legs and sharp pain in his side.
He hoped the team found them soon, but he was losing hope nearly as quickly as Heymans. He knew Heymans had given up. It was the reason behind this morning's confession. Vato was ashamed of his own lack of response. They were likely going to die in here. Heymans deserved his honesty at least.
He glanced over at his companion trying to build up the nerve to talk about a subject he avoided most of his life. His feelings. He had never been good at expressing himself. He barely told his own mother he loved her, and she had long been the most important person in his life.
After his father had died in a skirmish when he was five, it had been just the two of them. He had a lot of regrets, as he laid there on a soaked cold mattress next to his injured, possibly dying friend. One of the greatest was that he had pushed his mother away in an attempt to keep her from being as hurt when they eventually brought her word of his death. Which had been unfair, he cost them years of memories, and it was foolish to think if he was emotionally distant it would help her in anyway. He lived in the dorms, so he didn't really have a place for her to stay, but he had been able to rent her a small room and started making it up to her. They had rebuilt their relationship over the last few months but they had still lost years to his stubbornness.
His other regret was Heymans. He should have replied. He should have told the truth. He had been attracted to Heymans since they met, and after getting to know him, the attraction only grew. He knew, if he allowed himself, it was very likely that sometime soon he would be able to say he loved Heymans. They had to get out of this first. He'd already wasted one chance though; he wasn't going to risk losing another. "Heymans. Are you awake?"
"Yeah, what's wrong? Do you need help over to the corner?" Heymans asked. Vato cringed at the idea, the last thing Heymans needed was to try to lift him right now, as banged up as he was.
"No, I am fine at the moment. I just- I wanted to say me too." Vato said.
"You too?" Heymans asked, confused.
"I like you too. I thought you should know." Vato said.
"Okay."