Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter Thirteen
"Daddy? How long till we get there?" Ed asked, getting tired with the trains. They had been travelling for five days now, and Daddy looked like he really needed a proper bed. He had bags under his eyes and he looked really tired. Even Auntie Riza was looking slightly worse for wear. Ed was the only one that had got enough sleep for the last five days because he could use Daddy as both pillow and mattress. "You and Auntie Riza need some sleep."
Ed had begun calling her that two days ago, he had just thought that it fit, also because her and Daddy were obviously close, but not romantically, at least he didn't think so, so the nearest connection then would be that she was Ed's Auntie from now on. She hadn't been opposed to it, so Ed had even hugged her now that she was his official Auntie.
"We'll be there in a few hours. We've rented a couple of horses to take us through the desert and into town."
Ed had to say that that sounded good. He had been riding a few horses back in Resembool, so he wasn't scared of them.
"Good. And then you need to sleep. You need to be rested to work properly, otherwise you could get hurt."
"We'll be arriving at about seven, so that's the plan."
"Good."
And so Ed just snuggled up to him and fell asleep shortly after.
Al had to say that watching Brother sleeping so contentedly was something that made him happy. He still missed his Big Brother so much that it hurt, but part of Al was actually happy for him. So many of the bad things that had happened to them, was simply erased from Ed's mind. He actually had his limbs. He had a living parent that loved him, that gave him all the love and the hugs that he craved. And he didn't carry the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
Al still hadn't told him that he had done a bit of calculations about where in the timeline he was, and he had figured out that where Ed had been memory-wise before they found him, had been about four days before the two of them had found Mom collapsed on the floor.
He found it equally funny and sad to think about how his old Ed would have reacted if he could see himself right now, curled up on Roy's lap, smiling and calling him Daddy. Al found the attention from Roy both nice and odd. But Al had seen how the man had realised how much he cared about the two of them the moment he almost lost them, and in a way it was good to have an adult to talk to about things with. Even though it had brought him so close to Ed, not having to be each other's emotional crutch was a relief of sorts. For the first time since Ed joined the military, they were both allowed to just act their age. And Ed seemed so much happier for it.
And Roy really was being a great dad to Ed, and he seemed to want to be one to Al too when Al was ready for it. And he found himself wishing from time to time that he was back in his real body just so that he could feel the warmth of one of those hugs too.
Al had been talking a lot to Riza about all this, seeing as how Ed still demanded a lot of attention from Roy because of his trauma and his age. Riza had been very kind and understanding and had explained Roy and his actions and his rather sudden affection for Al and Ed. It was interesting to see just how much Riza knew Roy. Al had never seen him as an emotional man, but he was. And it felt good to know that he could talk to both of them without feeling silly.
So it really left Al a bit confused, because he had lost a lot, but he had gained so much too.
"Daddy! It's time to wake up! Breakfast closes in forty minutes!" Ed was sitting on his knees, patting Daddy's cheeks. He woke up slowly, blinking sluggishly. "Hmm? Ammawake!"
"You don't sound like it, Daddy."
Daddy's black eyes focused on his and he smiled. "Good morning, Ed."
Ed hugged him. "Morning, Daddy!"
Daddy laughed and hugged him back. "How long have you been up?"
"Only about five minutes. We need to get downstairs or we won't get any breakfast! It closes in less than forty minutes and I'm hungry."
"Hungry, are you? Like right … here?" Daddy tickled his belly and Ed laughed, twitching a bit in his arms.
"Stop it, Daddy! We have to go!" But Ed couldn't stop laughing even so.
"Okay, Ed, I'll just take a shower first. You could go downstairs with Riza and Al if you want."
"Okay, but come quickly."
And so Ed climbed out of the bed and went out of the room. There wasn't really any problem with eating breakfast in his pyjamas after all.
But the second he closed the door behind him, a pair of strong arms lifted him up while clamping their hand in front of his mouth.
Ed panicked, he couldn't get loose.
"You heathens need to leave us in peace," a gruff voice told him.
Then the hand covered his nose too and Ed couldn't breathe and Daddy was right there in the next room, but Ed couldn't shout for him.
Then everything turned black.
Roy walked out of the bathroom, ready to go downstairs and eat his breakfast for the twenty minutes that were left. He opened the room door, but it bumped against something halfway. Roy turned his head around the door curiously and felt his heart stop. Ed was just lying there, face down.
Roy slipped out of the opening and kneeled down in front of him, turning him over on his back and checking his pulse. He let out a relieved sigh when he found it to be steady. He lifted him up to his chest and began tapping his cheek. His pulse may be steady, but healthy five-year-olds don't just collapse out of the blue.
After about half a minute of calling his name, Ed opened his eyes slowly and looked up at him blearily before he suddenly gasped and was obviously panicking. "Daddy?! There was a man and —! I couldn't breathe! I thought he was gonna kill me!" Then Ed began sobbing into Roy's uniformed chest.
Roy hugged him tightly, kissing his forehead. It wasn't a medical issue, Ed had been attacked again. Being a defenceless five-year-old made him an easy target, and people had obviously already found that out. Roy felt the anger boiling inside of him.
"I thought he was gonna kill me, Daddy!" Ed sobbed.
"Ed, did he say anything to you?" Roy hated having to go so directly to the point, but he knew that if there was a chance of being attacked again, then they needed to be prepared.
"He said something about us heathens leaving them in peace. Why would he say that, Daddy? Why did he attack me?" Roy carried him back into the room. Hawkeye would probably come in and check on them soon and Roy didn't want to stress out the kid more than necessary. Besides, there was a chance that whoever had done this to his son had actually been aiming to kill him and would try again if they found out that they hadn't been successful.
Roy kissed his forehead again. Ed could have been dead. He could have been dead because Roy didn't ask him to wait for him. And this was all about this weird religion that Roy hadn't even heard about before. Someone had nearly killed his boy because he was a so-called heathen.
Roy was going to have a long talk to this priest about what he taught his followers.
"Daddy?" Ed asked between his tears, obviously wondering about why he hadn't received an answer.
"I'm sorry, Ed, Daddy's just thinking. I got really scared when I found you like that." Roy sat down in an armchair, still holding Ed close to him. He sighed. "Sometimes people believe that not sharing the same religion makes them dangerous and they lash out."
"Isn't that what's been happening in Ishbal?"
Roy froze slightly. Then he remembered that Ed didn't really know about the Ishbalan massacre, but he had seen the effects of the skirmishes as he had been growing up so close to it. For him the war was still going on. "In a way, yes."
"So he attacked me because it was easy to get away with it while scaring you?"
Roy had to say that he was impressed with Ed's conclusion. He was definitely a sharp kid and had figured things out just from a few answers. Once again Roy felt extremely lucky with getting those two boys. "Yes, Ed. He did." Roy had stopped apologising for things like this, for not being there to prevent them, because Ed just got angry with him. And like he had said earlier, it made him sad.
Roy wiped Ed's tears away and held him closer again, just letting their fright pass for a few seconds.
There was a knock on the door. "Yes?"
"Sir? Is everything all right?"
"Please come in, Lieutenant."
Hawkeye entered the room along with Alphonse. The two of them had been getting close especially since Al found it hard to spend the nights in the same room as Ed because of the nightmares. Hawkeye was an early riser and so Al would usually just sit in the hallway, waiting for her to wake up, usually with about five books strewn about him.
Al was getting more and more relaxed around Roy, but he could tell that he was still trying to figure out just how close he wanted to be. Roy was just waiting patiently for him to decide, trying not to push him. It would come, little by little.
"What's wrong, Roy?" Alphonse asked, taking in the sight of Ed still in his pyjamas while crying into Roy's chest.
"Somebody attacked him, I found him unconscious in the hallway. Apparently someone wants us "heathens" gone from this town."
"Brother! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" Al was immediately kneeling in front of him.
"They cut off his air supply until he blacked out. Otherwise he's unhurt." Roy held him instinctively closer to his chest.
"I thought he was gonna kill me," Ed whimpered.
"Sh-sh-sh, Ed. I'm not going to let anything else happen to you." Roy looked straight at Hawkeye and Alphonse. "We are, however, going to have a word with the priest about his teachings."
