"The defense calls Ling Yao to the stand." Olivier's strong voice projected through the courtroom. Roy watched silently as Ling was led to the stand, his wrists and ankles shackled and still in his prisoner's garb. The general had petitioned to allow them professional clothing during the trial but unfortunately the notion had been blocked. He knew appearing in prison clothing always looked bad on the defendants of a trial, and he was positive that was the reason they had been denied.
The general cleared her throat, demanding silence in the courtroom.
"State your name and title to the court please." Ling nodded.
"I am Prince Ling Yao, from the country of Xing." He said clearly. Olivier turned to the counsel.
"A prince, locked away in a foreign country for being part of a conspiracy not even concerning his own. Interesting." She turned back to Ling. "Can you tell the court exactly how you became involved in this?" Ling cleared his throat.
"I was searching for the secret of immortality to bring back to my people." He started, a small, sad smile on his face as he looked to Ed. "That's when I ran into Edward and learned of his own search for the philosophers stone." Roy nervously looked at the general, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"And did you discover anything?" Ling's expression grew pained as he spoke.
"I learned that your country was in great danger."
"How exactly did you discover that Amestris was in danger?" Ling inhaled slowly through his nose.
"I allowed my body to be host to one of them. The homunculus Greed and I shared my body for quite some time." He smiled fondly at the memory. "Being one of them I somewhat had an inside look."
"Why do you say somewhat?" The general asked. "Was Greed different than the rest?" Ling nodded.
"Yes. In the beginning, the only side he was on was his own. He didn't follow the rest. The longer we traveled together, the more we came to understand each other, which caused him to shift to the side of us humans." Roy could feel Ling's pain through his entire body as the young prince spoke.
"And who were the others?"
"There was Father, their ruler and creator and his children, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath and Pride, or as you knew them, King Bradley and his son, Selim." A gasp echoed through the courtroom. Olivier waited for the commotion to die down before she continued her questions.
"I apologize if this is a sensitive question, but can you tell the court what happened to Greed?" Ling furrowed his brow.
"In the end, Father was close to death and out of the substance that kept him alive, which was the philosophers stone. Being a homunculus, Greed was also alive because of a stone and when father came for it..." He paused a moment, taking another deep breath. "When he came for it, Greed sacrificed himself to save me and stop father, allowing himself to be swallowed." Roy watched as a single tear slid down Ling's cheek, landing on the desk in front of him.
The general asked a few more questions about Greed and the other homunculi, each answer getting more and more emotional, not just for Ling, but the entire courtroom. Roy looked to Edward sitting to his left, the teen struggling to hold back his own tears. He swallowed, tuning back into the testimony.
"No further questions." Olivier said, stepping back to allow the prosecution forward. Simon made his way to the front, a look so smug on his face Roy wished his hands were unbound so he could punch it off.
"So, you say you shared a body with one of these supposed monsters." He started, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Is there any actual proof of this?" Ling frowned, lifting his shackled hand.
"This mark is what was left over after we departed. As you can see, it's nothing more than a pale scar now." Simon scoffed, stepping closer to the bench.
"So, you mean to tell this court room that your evidence is nothing more than a scar?" He raised an eyebrow at the young prince.
Roy felt his stomach turn with every question the relentless lawyer fired, his faith in their defense wavering with every nervous answer given by their friend. He glanced at Edward out of the corner of his eye, noticing the young man fidget nervously in his seat.
"Don't worry Ed." He whispered to him, the teen visibly relaxing slightly. "It's going to be okay." Ed nodded, focusing back into the trial.
"Thanks..." His voice trailed off, trying to hide the true fear behind his words. Roy swallowed as another wave of nausea washed over him. All of their secrets would be out as soon as Ed approached the bench, he just hoped the broken teen would be able to handle the harsh questioning that was yet to come.
"No further questions." Simon smirked, returning to his bench. Two officers entered the courtroom to escort Ling back to prison, when he turned and smiled at them quickly.
"Good luck Ed, let me know how it goes!" His voice echoed through the silent courtroom as the doors closed behind him. Ed swallowed, knowing that within moments he was about to reveal to the packed courtroom everything he didn't want people to know, not just about himself, but about Al, and his father, his teacher and Roy. He knew he was at the very center of this case, but he worried about what people might think. What if their pasts and their secrets turn the people of Amestris against them? What if he is making a mistake, by telling the court every detail? What if this completely backfired?
"The defense calls Edward Elric to the stand." He no longer had time to ponder the "what if's." He exhaled a shaking breath, slowly standing on weak legs to give his testimony, the chains around his wrists and ankles rattling together as he moved. It took him longer than he had hoped to make his way to the front of the court, his body and health still in bad shape from the island. He could hear the whispers about how "small" and "Frail" the once vivacious, explosive teen had become, and it took all of his strength not to lose it right there.
He finally took his seat on the bench, his eyes immediately spotting Alphonse and Winry, who both smiled at him in encouragement.
"Please state your name, as well as your rank and position." Ed swallowed. This is it.
"I am Major Edward Elric, state alchemist of the Amestrian military." More whispers surrounded him, every eye in the courtroom boring a hole right through him. Never in his life had he felt smaller than he did in this moment. What were these people seeing? He knew it wasn't the regrettably small, but strong for his age stature from before but this new him, this scarred, malnourished, sick and frail version he presented now. He saw Kimblee and Rickert in the back of the courtroom, watching him almost without blinking. He closed his eyes a moment, exhaling slowly while the general began asking her questions.
"Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background, how you were found by the military at such a young age." She shot him a subtle look of sympathy, knowing how hard this would be. Ed cleared his throat.
"When I was a kid, my father left my mom, brother and I. When mom got sick..." he choked on his words, trying to calm himself. "When mom got sick and died, we didn't know what to do, or how to live without her."
"What did you do, Edward?" He froze for a moment, his head spinning with panic and dread. He could do this, he thought to himself. There were many lives hanging in the balance. He could do this.
"I came up with a plan to bring our mom back, using human transmutation alchemy." Ed closed his eyes as the courtroom erupted into a chorus of shocked and disgusted gasps. "The devils alchemy" he had heard said a few times. Opening his eyes, his heart ached at the downright terrified looks some spectators to the trial were giving him. It was as if they were looking at a monster.
"Did the transmutation succeed?" The general asked, fully knowing the answer. Ed shook his head.
"No, it was...the biggest failure of my life. Activating the transmutation sucked both Alphonse and myself into a portal, where my left leg, as well as Alphonse's entire flesh body were consumed." He felt tears threatening to spill, but he blinked them back. "I ended up allowing my right arm to be consumed to save Alphonse's soul, which using my own blood, was bound to a suit of armor in the room." The general nodded, her face stern but encouraging.
"How old were you when all of this transpired?"
"I was eleven, Alphonse was ten."
"That's quite alot to go through at such a young age. To perform that kind of alchemy is said to be quite difficult. Even some of the most skilled alchemists have failed to figure it out. Is this how you caught the military's attention?" Ed nodded.
"Yes. I was twelve when I came to central to work under the colonel. I took my exam, and passed my field test just like every other state alchemist in the military." The general's lip twitched into a smile.
"What happened on what's commonly known as the 'promised day?'"
He began giving a detailed account of that fateful day, about the homunculi, the sacrifices, Xerses and his father, their specific roles in their plan to turn Amestris into a stone. Every single detail spilled from his lips. He had tuned out at the very beginning, it was as if he was listening to his own voice speak outside his body. When he finally finished, he allowed himself to be pulled back into the courtroom, some staring at him awe struck, some shaking their heads in complete disbelief, he couldn't interpret their reactions, and it scared him.
"That is quite a tale. I could understand strong supporters in this cause would try to silence something like that, wouldn't they?"
"Of course. Power like that, it always falls into the wrong hands, and those wrong hands will do anything to keep hold of it." Olivier paused, a machine being placed on the table in front of them. Edward dreaded having to hear his own torture but the time had come. He locked eyes with Roy, who nodded his head in encouragement.
The sounds of pained screaming flooded into the courtroom, Edward instantly recognizing it as his own. He cringed as he listened to his teeth being ripped out, Maes desperately pleading for Kimblee to stop.
"Do you really think it matters to me if he is a human being or not? It didn't matter to any of you that I was a human, yet you still helped contribute to my death" Kimblee taunted on the recording before Ed's screams once again filled the courtroom. He cringed, nausea snaking its way through his esophagus. The recording stopped, leaving the courtroom in silence.
"Can you explain what's happening in this recording?" Edward nodded, exhaling the breath caught in his chest.
"Roy had defended me and in an attempt to prevent him from being harmed as a result, I bit Kimblee." He frowned, placing his flesh hand to his cheek. "As a punishment, I guess you could call it, they ripped out four of my teeth with pliers." He looked to Winry, the tears in her eyes suffocating him.
"That brings us to the comment made by Mr. Kimblee." The general said. "You helped contribute to my death. We have all been aware he survived his injuries, as he stated in his testimony, but the members of your team were not aware of this, is that correct?" Ed nodded his head, swallowing.
"We didn't know. Up until we encountered him on the transport ship we believed him to be dead." Guilt bubbled in his chest, projecting an involuntary look of shame to the courtroom.
"Why would they try to use guilt as a tool against you?" Ed shrugged.
"Because they know I'm not a killer." He didn't look at the general as he spoke. Instead, he locked eyes with Kimblee and Rickert. There was a pause as general Armstrong replaced the tape, the sound of the reel humming as it spun replacing the tense silence. Edwards frantic breathing reverberated off the courtroom walls as the recording began to play, instantly sending the young alchemist into a hellish flashback.
Edward had been strapped into the familiar interrogation chair, his flesh hand already numb from the restraints. He eyeballed the tools being laid out on the table in front of him, his body shaking from a mixture of fear, sickness and low body temperature, but he held still the best he could, refusing to show the fear that threatened to boil over the surface. Kimblee turned to him, the look in his snake like eyes finally sending Ed over the edge.
"I know what you are trying to do Kimblee." He said defiantly. Kimblee cocked an eyebrow, an amused smile sliding across his lips.
"Oh? And what's that?" Ed straightened up in his chair the best he could, despite his various injuries.
"You know how to create more homunculi. You told me this not too long ago. Did you think I'd forget? Do you really think you will get away with this? That by killing us you will somehow silence the truth? You really think, with how many people were involved and the insaneness of this farce of a trial isn't going to get people talking? You really think you are going to win this battle Kimblee?" He fired off his questions one after the other in a single breath, Kimblee's eyes getting darker and darker with every word that passed through his busted lips. He narrowed his eyes, forcing a smirk to stay on his lips. Engage them, he reminded himself. Trigger an angry response.
An angry response was exactly what he got. Kimblee stormed over to the bound prisoner, wrapping his hand in his tangled hair and yanking his head back with such force an involuntary yell escaped his throat. Kimblee snarled, bringing his face inches from Ed's.
"I thought yanking your teeth would have done the trick, but apparently I was mistaken." He squeezed his fist harder, Ed wincing in pain. Keep going Ed, he thought. You almost got it.
"What, are you afraid of the truth Kimblee? Can't handle being the loser once again?"
"If you say one more word, I'll rip your tongue out." Ed stuck his tongue out of his mouth, taunting him.
"If you want to cover up your own crimes so bad, maybe you should cut my tongue out." Kimblee moved to grab a knife, but Rickert stopped him.
"As bad as I'd love to never hear this kids voice again, we can't do that. If he can't testify because of us the whole case will be thrown." He paused for a moment, a dark look blanketing his features. He turned to the table, lifting a large pin. "Of course, we have other ways of silencing him that won't hinder his ability to speak on his own behalf." The dark laugh erupting from inside the hulking man froze Ed to his deepest core. He couldn't give up now, he could feel the confession ready to slip from Kimblee's thin lips.
"You can gag me all you want, you both know the trut..." His words were cut off by a cap being forced onto his head, his jaw held closed by the two large hands securing the straps in place. When they finished, his jaw was held shut by the device. He exhaled loudly through his nose, glaring daggers at the two men busy at the table. They turned, extra straps as well as a large pin and some thread in their hands. Panic clouded his mind as an extra strap was tightly secured around his torso, legs and arms. Only when the final strap was secured around his throat did he snap out of his fog. His protests came out as desperate grunts as Kimblee brought the pin to Ed's lips.
"You really need to learn when to shut your mouth, kid." He snapped, piercing through the bottom of his lip with the pin. Pain shot through his entire face before his weakened body finally gave out from stress, and his vision went black.
"Wake up sleeping beauty!" Rickert laughed, tossing a bucket of cold water at him. Edward snapped from his daze, his head feeling fuzzy. What happened? Why does my face hurt so bad? He thought to himself. Kimblee laughed, roughly tapping his sore cheek.
"Looks like he's awake. A little less chatty though." He winked, placing a mirror in front of Ed. He completely broke down as he looked at his face in the mirror. Kimblee had crudely stitched his lips together, the entry points red and angry, thin lines of blood trickling from the holes and dripping down his chin. He didn't even try to contain the stream of tears that began to flow down his bruised cheeks, or the sobbing that shook his entire chest. He closed his eyes, looking away from the wretched creature in front of him. Kimblee unstrapped Ed from the chair, yanking him to his feet by his wrist.
"I'll escort him back." He dragged Edward down the dank corridor, each step causing a painful throb in his mouth.
"You know Ed, it really didn't have to be this way." He said, the emotion in his voice unreadable. "You could have gone on to do amazing things. Yet you chose this." They approached the door to the cell, Kimblee opening it and stepping in front of him.
"What? No fancy greeting from any of you? What a shame." He said, displeased by the silence.
"Where's Ed?" Ed could feel Roy's anger through his words. Kimblee pulled him forward, tossing him into the cell. He turned, addressing the private standing as guard.
"Let the doctor know she's not the only one whose good at stitching." He laughed as the door closed, leaving Ed, unable to open his mouth, to sob into the arms of the only support he had.
"Are you alright Edward?" The general's voice released him from his flashback, sweat pooling on the back of his neck. He took a deep breath, quickly calming his nerves.
"Yeah, It's...just alot to hear it played back to me." Olivier sympathetically nodded, giving him a moment to collect himself.
"Can you explain what was happening in that recording?"
"I was trying to make them angry so they would mess up and confess the truth." He admitted, focusing on a speck in the wood of the bench. "I thought, maybe if I confronted them with the truth, one of them would admit guilt." He paused, taking a sip of water. "I was wrong."
"What did they do to you for this act of defiance?"
"They stitched my lips together. I was left that way for two days before they allowed Doctor Mena to remove them." His voice shook as he spoke. The general turned to the council, fire in her eyes.
"How symbolic, Edward mentions silencing the truth, so they barbarically stitch his mouth shut." She shook her head, looking at the judge.
"No further questions your honor." She stepped down, Simon taking her place. Ed took another sip of water, his tongue feeling like cotton. He looked to the team, Roy still staring at him with what he swore were tears in his eyes, but he buried the thought as the prosecutor began to speak.
"So, you claim your attempt at bringing your mother back caused your brother to lose his entire body, yet he sits in this courtroom as a flesh human being. How do you explain that?" Ed furrowed his brow, bracing himself for the ruthless prosecutors questions.
"Yes, at the very end, my father was the one to recover Al's body from beyond the gate."
"Yet your father, who seemed to play the biggest role in this story, is not here in the courtroom today."
"He sacrificed himself to retrieve Al's body. He's dead." Simon scoffed, nodding his head.
"Yes, how convenient that the one person who could clear all of this up is no longer around. During your testimony you claimed he had gained immortality. How can he be dead, if he was immortal?"
"Because, like Prince Ling said, immortality is not absolute. There is always a way to kill an immortal.
"Yet you said you weren't a killer."
"I'm not. The lives I took were not human lives, and had we not, all of you would be dead."
"And the stunt with your mother, you are aware by testifying in court about this will implicate your brother as well, don't you?" Ed could feel the anger bubbling in his chest. He exhaled slowly, trying to keep from losing his temper.
"It was my idea, my plan. Alphonse was just unfortunately caught in the crossfire. I made a damning decision, but he was ultimately the one who paid for it."
"You also claimed the entirety of Amestris was prepped for sacrifice into one of these stones." Simon started, drilling holes in the young man with his cold blue eyes. "Where is your proof? So far, any proof we have has been word of mouth from your team. How do we know you aren't spinning a wild story to cover up your crimes?" Ed thought for a moment. What had he been told by Winry and Granny about that day?
"Well?" Simon pushed, his eyebrow cocking in satisfaction.
"The day it happened, there was an eclipse. Everyone in Amestris lost consciousness." He looked around the courtroom, people whispering, looking at him with confusion and fear in their eyes. He looked at Simon, who shared the same aware, but confused look as everyone else. "Had we not stopped the transmutation from happening, none of you would have woken up. We wouldn't be sitting here debating on if it happened or not. We would all be souls trapped inside a philosophers stone." He sat silently as the prosecutor thought to himself, the confusion in his eyes leaving a lingering feeling of satisfaction inside the alchemist. Simon shook his head, turning to the judge.
"No further questions." He quietly said, walking back to his bench. The judge scanned through the papers on his desk quick, removing his glasses and addressing the court.
"Defense testimony will continue tomorrow morning at eight sharp. Court dismissed." Two officers came and escorted the team out of the courtroom and into the waiting transport vehicle to return them to their prison for the evening. Ed exhaled as the courthouse shrunk in view, satisfied he was able to keep his cool on the stand, aside from his episode, but terrified of what his confession would do for their trial. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to relax.
"Edward, are you still awake?" Roy whispered from his cot next to him. Ed rolled over, looking at the older man.
"Yeah, what's up?" Roy rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.
"Why did you do that? Fight Kimblee when you knew what he was capable of?" Ed felt a pang of sadness stab his heart, a sad smile on his lips.
"Because I knew it was going to be you or me, so I thought if I could do it, they would leave you alone for a bit." Roy exhaled sharply, trying to suppress the sob building in his throat.
"Ed..." He started, but he lost his words. He had no idea what he could say to the young man to show his gratitude. He had been there when Ed's mouth was sewn shut, but it was another thing entirely to hear what happened to lead to it in the first place. He swallowed the nauseous lump in his throat.
"I wish you wouldn't have, but I'm grateful. Thank you Ed." He smiled, noticing he had dozed back off. Roy settled back onto his cot, closing his eyes as tortured sleep began to claw at him as well.
I really am grateful to you Ed. I don't deserve a friend like you.