Here we are, chapter four!
And I just have to say that I'm amazed at the response this is getting! (Originally I was sceptical about posting this story, but I thought that I might as well just see what happens, and I'm so glad I did.)
And I have to say that writing this chapter was hard on me emotionally, because I only now realised what I have done to the fifteen-year-old Ed. And that actually hurts. A lot. And I am so very sorry about that. But I also love five-year-old Ed, and I have to say that he is one of the most adorable things I have ever written.
And so I think I will have to give him lots of ice cream in the future...
And I would just like to add a sort of aid in the mental pictures that you're getting, because I'm using "dungarees" in the British sense, which would mean "overall" in the American one, just so that you get the right pictures of little Ed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter Four
"Hello, Mister Penton," Roy was sitting down in his chair, glaring at the man that had been a part of making his subordinate go through hell. They had found the couple quickly in the files. Lillian and Grant Penton, both twenty-six, both Second Lieutenants, had been transferred to East a month ago after requesting that they should be so because of "a family member that needed medical treatment and support through these trying times".
The only problem was that there were no such relations, which meant that they had been referring to what they had been planning to do to Fullmetal. After reading that, Roy had practically stormed into the interrogation room.
"Hello, Colonel Mustang. I guess this means that the drug is out of your system? It's not very long-term after all." The man was speaking as though he had done nothing wrong. "I hope that you have been taking care of my son? Because if you have hurt him, then we're going to find a way to hurt you. It's our duty as parents to protect our child after all." He said this with a threatening tone.
"How dare you even suggest me hurting him after what you did, how dare you?" Roy sneered, barely keeping it together.
"We weren't hurting him, we were preparing him for his new and happy life with us."
Roy slammed his hand down on the metal table. "Listen here, you tortured a five-year-old child without letting him drink or eat for four days!"
"Don't say things like that, Colonel. You shouldn't talk about things that you don't understand."
This man. This man was patronising him.
"TELL ME HOW TO CHANGE HIM BACK!"
"You can't. It's a one-way ticket back to childhood. You must have seen that? You can't just age him up again, there isn't enough material to do so with. That was why it was so perfect with his automail. With the proper calculations we were able to transmute the excess materials and make them into body parts and similar. We did of course have to cut his hair first and remove parts of his organs, but he was completely unconscious for that part, don't you worry. After that, all we had to do was remove his memories of his hard life. His wrong life. Unfortunately you interrupted us before we found the way to do so beyond what the transmutations did. Seemed that it was quite hard to get him further than to a certain point. So you see, Colonel Mustang, even if you try to transmute him back, all you will do is kill him. And even if you should find a way to get past the problem of the biological material, you will be stuck with a fifteen-year-old boy with the mind of a five-year-old and you will disrupt his growth and destroy every part of his life. Also, his brain was of course highly intricate to work with. If anyone else than me and Lillian had done it, it wouldn't have worked. You see, Lillian is an amazing alchemist. She managed to use her life force to make sure that each transmutation worked out properly. You could say that Edward is our life's work."
Roy was stunned. These people were absolutely insane, yet they had managed to do something so ridiculously advanced. Roy had to say that Ed was lucky to even be alive. Just one wrong calculation, and he would have been dead. He would have ended up like the other children.
"How is your wife not dead, then?"
"That's easy. With the other children, she used their life force instead. But we didn't want to shorten our son's life. Lillian made a great sacrifice, she will be lucky to reach the age of forty. All for our son."
"So you dared to decide that you would just steal the lives of more than twenty children?!"
"Thirty-four. All worth it for our son. You will let me see him, right?"
That was the final straw.
Roy grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, slamming him against the table three times before he threw him to the floor. He beat him and he kicked him and he didn't care that his knuckles were bleeding. "YOU BASTARD! WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?! HE IS NOT YOUR SON, NOT NOW OR EVER! YOU STOLE HIS LIFE FROM HIM! FROM HIS BROTHER! FROM ME! YOU ARE A MONSTER! YOU TORTURED HIM FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT! YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE HIM AGAIN! DON'T YOU DARE CALL HIM YOUR SON! YOU WILL BURN IN HELL FOR WHAT YOU DID!"
Roy was roaring at the end, not even able to put his anger and his anguish into words.
"Sir."
Roy was standing over the barely breathing man. Blood was flowing from his own knuckles, his breathing heavy. Hawkeye had put a hand on his left arm.
"Sir, he's had enough."
"There isn't anything in this world that would be sufficient punishment for that monster," Roy said, stepping away and leaving the room. Hawkeye knew him well enough to leave him alone for now.
Roy walked down the hallway until he came to a broom closet. There was hardly anything in there, it was supposed to be rebuilt as a supply room instead. All that was left was a broom and a bucket as well as a shelf with a single roll of toilet paper. Roy slid down the wall, gripping his hair with both hands, unable to stop the single tear from running down his right cheek.
They had lost him.
They had lost Fullmetal.
He was gone.
He had lost his youngest subordinate. Just because of one stupid mistake. Just because of a fucking dust cloud.
Another tear ran down his left cheek.
It was Roy's fault. All his fault. He should have gone with him. He should have done something. Anything. He had failed Fullmetal. Because fact was, even though Edward would grow up at some point, he wouldn't become the Fullmetal he knew. Because the boy he knew had been shaped by events that hadn't happened and would never happen to Edward.
Life had kept giving Fullmetal hell ever since his father left him. And the last things that he had known were most likely pain and fear. And he hadn't deserved it, any of it. He may have been stubborn and frankly insubordinate, but he was a good kid. A great one actually.
And Roy didn't even tell him so. Not once.
The last thing he had said to him had been "Yes, Fullmetal, you're free to leave." And he had said it in a tired, annoyed voice, because he had thought that he was safe. He had thought that he would see him again. Talk to him again.
But no.
Roy gave a loud shout and punched his right fist into the plaster wall beside him. Both his hands were bleeding a lot, his shirt was spattered with blood, some his, some not.
He drew his fist back, ready to punch the wall again, trying to get an outlet for some of the anger and the anguish that he felt. Another tear found its way down his face.
"Roy? Riza said that you might want to talk to me." It was Edward. He was wearing his new clothes, dungarees with a red sweater underneath.
Roy let his hand fall to his side as the boy walked over to him.
"Why are you crying?" Edward looked at Roy's bleeding knuckles and dried away the tears himself.
Roy gripped his wrists gently and held the small, warm hands against his cheeks. "Edward, do you hate me?"
The golden eyes locked onto his. "No," he said simply, sliding his hands out of Roy's. He then went over to the shelf and took the single roll of toilet paper into his hands and sat down in front of Roy. He took his right hand and held it up in front of him. Then he began rolling toilet paper around his bleeding knuckles. He did the same to his left hand.
"You're sorry for me, aren't you?" Edward said.
"I just realised that you grew up to be a really great kid despite what happened, but I never said it to you. I'm just sorry that I never got to see Fullmetal grow up any further."
It felt sort of okay to say it to Ed. He wouldn't have been able to say it to anyone else, but this little kid was just what he needed right now.
"I'm sorry that I won't be the same. Riza told me. You can't get me back to normal."
"You shouldn't apologise. It's not your fault. And I think that you'll be just as great."
Edward stood up and sat himself down on his lap, putting his arms around his waist. "Thanks."
Roy gave him a tight hug.
No, Fullmetal wasn't dead. He was gone, yes. But at least there was Edward. Roy wasn't going to fail him too. He wasn't going to fail him a second time.
"Edward, how would you like it if you and Alphonse came to live with me?"
Roy had spoken without thinking. He had just said it.
But really, it was the only option if they wanted to keep him safe. He couldn't just go back to Resembool, and besides, they still needed to find the Philosopher's Stone in order to get Al back into his body. Roy was one of the greatest State Alchemists after all, he'd be able to protect him while also look for clues and decipher notes.
And he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he broke his promise about protecting this boy.
Which really just left one option.
Ed was looking at him wide-eyed. "You're keeping your promise."
"Yes, I am. And I mean it. If you ask me, you're my responsibility. I won't fail you again."
"You didn't fail me. You just didn't know and then you saved me from Lillian and Grant. Thank you for that, Roy."
"You know, I don't think I ever heard Fullmetal say "thank you" even once." Roy smiled slightly.
The kid looked confused. "But Mom taught us to be polite."
"I guess you forgot about that. Or maybe you just didn't like me."
"I saw how Al talks to you, there must have been some kind of respect."
Roy just hugged him tighter. "I hope so, Edward, I really hope so."
And so Roy just sat there, holding the boy tight to his chest while trying to sort out his thoughts. Losing Fullmetal had affected him more than he had thought. But hearing it from Grant Penton in that way. Like it didn't matter. Like Fullmetal didn't matter… it just made the loss all the more real to him. The "Hero of the People" was gone. The Fullmetal Alchemist was gone. His annoying little smart-ass subordinate was gone. And it hurt. It hurt so much. Because dammit! He was just a kid! He was just a kid that had had his father run out on him, and the closest thing he had had, had probably been Roy. And Roy had done a piss-poor job of it. He constantly mocked the kid. Teased him. Never gave him a compliment.
He wasn't going to do the same mistake again.
Ed was worth more than that, and Roy was going to give him the childhood that he deserved. Or at least one closer to it.
"Yes," Edward said.
"To what?"
"Yes. I'll come live with you. I trust you. Granny can't protect me, and we need to get Al's body back. So I'll stay with you."
And Roy actually felt cheerful at the thought. And scared as hell.
Holy shit! Did I just adopt Edward Elric?
Yet somehow, the only thing that seemed to matter were the peaceful breathing coming from the small boy sitting on his lap with his small arms around his waist.
I think I did. And it's just as it should be.
Roy was just going to have to read a few books on parenting and get some help from Hawkeye. A lot of help, probably. But it would work out.
Because Roy wasn't failing this boy. Never ever.
He had made a promise to a five-year-old, and you keep those.
