Chapter thirty-three

Roy walked through the double doors to the large hall they were using as a ballroom. There were people everywhere and Ed gripped his left hand tighter. The band was playing some cheerful tune and military uniforms were to be seen all over the place. The lighting was dowsed a bit in order to make "a cosier atmosphere" probably, making the candles on the buffet extra visible.

"Daddy? I'm hungry," Ed said.

"Then I guess we'll find some food." Roy was more than happy to have a goal in mind, a kind of predetermined destination. Until Roy was recognised at these balls, he always became the odd loner in the corner for the first half hour. And so they joined the modest crowd around the buffet.

Ed was eyeing the many plates of food with awe, probably trying to figure out where to begin. After walking along the table, they came upon a large, juicy piece of roast beef that had been neatly cut, revealing the perfectly cooked meat. Roy had to admit it smelled heavenly. Ed's eyes grew wide and he pointed towards it eagerly. "I want that, Daddy!"

I think Daddy wants some too in fact…

And so Roy brought two big pieces of meat onto both plates and then found some chopped potatoes on the tray next to the roast beef and dumped some on the two plates. After finding a knife and fork each, Roy carried their plates over to a table and the two of them sat down while Al was kind enough to find them something to drink. Showing up a bit early had obviously been a good idea, because the meat was still warm for once and Ed was grinning broadly as he chomped down on the food.

"Hey, Ed! I found you some orange drink," Al said cheerfully, coming over to them and placing a pair of glasses in front of them.

"Yay! Thanks, Al!" Ed was grinning, the little boy's fondness for good food was actually quite entertaining. Roy too got a glass of the orange drink that Ed was so fond of.

Roy suddenly had a hand on his shoulder and looked up at General Grumman. "Hello, Mustang! It's good to see you again. I've been missing my chess partner."

"Why don't you have a seat, General?" Roy smiled.

"Don't mind if I do," the man smiled, sitting down. He looked over at Ed and Al and smiled warmly at them. "Hello, boys! I'm General Grumman, I used be Colonel Mustang's boss over at East."

Edward was looking scared up at him. Al had met him before, Roy knew, but to Ed, this was a complete stranger. And so Roy put his hand on his shoulder. "He's also Auntie Riza's grandfather."

Ed relaxed at that and stretched his arm across the small table. "I'm Edward Elric-Mustang, sir. It's very nice to meet you."

Grumman chuckled at that and shook his hand. Roy could see just a hint of sadness in those eyes, but the man hid it well. "It's very nice to meet you too." He then shook Al's hand. "And it's good to see you again, Alphonse."

"You too, sir."

"So I knew you too?" Ed asked, getting that slightly shameful, guilty look he always had when realising that he was treating people he knew like complete strangers. Like it was his own fault. Roy squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Mostly just from rumours. We met a few times, but it was mostly Colonel Mustang and Riza who would keep me updated. I met Alphonse a few times when you went missing."

"Oh. I see."

Grumman was noticing how awkwardly Ed was acting and smiled at him. "That looks really good, Edward, do you recommend that?"

Ed looked back down at his plate and realised that he had stopped eating. He immediately put his fork into the meat and started shovelling the food into his mouth. "Yup!"

They chuckled fondly at Ed's response and talked about this and that as Roy and Ed ate. They were interrupted, however, as another General asked to speak to Grumman and so the man had to leave the table. Al offered to help Ed with getting his second helpings. And so Roy just watched his boys as they went off to stand in the now large line. People were everywhere, getting food and talking and whatnot. Roy kind of wished that Maes would be here too, but he was staying home with Gracia because Elicia had the flu.


Ed kept getting pushed by the large crowd around him as he looked through the buffet again. Al shielded him from a lot of it, but it still made it hard to reach the foods.

"How about you go and get yourself something to drink instead, Brother? I know what you like and then I can fill up your plate for you," Al suggested.

"Okay, thanks, Al."

And so Ed found his way over to the table with the drinks instead. He had to stand in a line, though, surrounded by big, uniformed officers. The mention of Daddy's name made him interested in hearing what they had to say, however, and he focused his attention on listening to the large men talking behind him.

"I thought Mustang had been removed from his duties as a Colonel?"

"Yes, but he still retains his rank. Don't know how he didn't get demoted after that mess with the Fullmetal kid."

"Judging by what people are saying, though, those people really did us a favour. He was more trouble than he was worth."

"You're talking about the boy, right?"

"Of course! Apparently he couldn't go a single week without costing the military at least a million cens in destroyed property."

"But he was the Hero of the People, though. He was good PR at least."

"Yeah, but he was a pain in the ass as an officer. He did a case with my office once, probably the most unpleasant brat I've ever met. He kept scowling and ranting and he had a really short temper. Acted before he was thinking. I really just felt like hitting that stupid kid after talking to him for only a minute. Too stubborn for his own good."

"You don't say. You know what happened to him?"

"Heard he was honourably discharged after the kidnapping. Good riddance in my opinion."

"Why was he discharged though? I'd have thought it would be big news, but it's all been hushed up."

"Kid probably lost his mind or something. He clearly wasn't all there, the way he snapped at everyone. Too short temper if you ask me."

"That's so sad."

"Trust me, if you'd met him, you'd think it was a blessing. Never met such an annoying person in my whole life. Really wish I had hit him while I had the chance."

"Hey, kid, the line's moving."

Ed felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't care, tears were streaming down his cheeks. So this was what people really thought of him? Had Daddy and all the others lied to him?

Ed felt the hand on his shoulder turn him around and the man to his right froze, his eyes wide. He seemed to recognise him. "You wanna hit me?" Ed asked, trying to wipe his face on his right sleeve. "Was I that bad?" Ed wanted to run, but the hand had only tightened its hold and he couldn't get away.

"How the hell?" the soldier to his right asked. He was tall and had blonde hair and moustache. He was gaping.

"You wanna hit me?" Ed asked again, beginning to sob. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry for what I did!"

The man didn't say anything, neither of them did. Ed began crying loudly.

"Hey-hey-hey, take it easy, kid," the man still holding his shoulder said as people began talking.

"DADDY!" Ed bawled. He wanted to go home. He wanted to get away from here. These people hated him. They hated him because he had been bad and they didn't want him here.

"Hey, kid, relax!" the guy with his hand on his shoulder said. "He wasn't talking about you!"

"HE WAS!" Ed wailed.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Ed heard Daddy shout and next second, he was being lifted into his arms, getting a tight hug. Daddy was really mad. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

"THEY HATE ME, DADDY! I WANNA GO HOME!"

"What did you say to him?!" Daddy hissed, hugging Ed tightly. "TELL ME!"

"He wanted to hit me!" Ed sobbed into his shoulder. "I wanna go home!"

"Why the hell did you threaten my son?!" Daddy demanded. He was really, really angry.

"We didn't threaten him! It's not our fault he thinks he's Edward Elric!"


Al had dropped the plate in his hands at the first scream. Ed was shouting for Dad, and judging by his voice, he was crying. Al was immediately panicking. He had been in charge of Brother, so if he was in trouble or had hurt himself, then it was Al's fault. Al tried to find him, but there were a lot of people everywhere. He made his way towards the table with the drinks, but he heard Dad shout before he found his way through the crowd.

And Dad was really angry. His eyes were blazing with fury and Al was just happy that he wasn't wearing his ignition gloves or the two officers in front of him would be charcoal by now. Al got over to them just as the blonde officer said something about Brother thinking he was Edward Elric. "What's going on? Did you hurt Brother?!" Al demanded.

Ed was sobbing into Dad's shoulder. It made anger flare within him. Al had got even more protective of his brother now that he was five again. And when people made Ed sad, then Al got angry.

"H-how can that be him?" A black-haired officer said. He was in his thirties and a Colonel judging by his uniform. The other one, a blonde, was in his forties and a Brigadier General. Al had met the General before.

"They hate me!" Ed sobbed. "He wanted to hit me!"

Al put his hand on Dad's shoulder. "I've got this, Dad, you just find Brother something to eat."

Dad left and Al stood there, crossing his arms, using his size to intimidate. That was the good thing about being in this suit of armour, when he wanted to scare people, it worked. The two soldiers cowered under his glare. "Do you have any problems with Brother?"

"Y-you mean to say that that kid really is Edward Elric?" the blonde said.

"It's General Richardson, right?"

The man nodded.

"I remember that case we worked together with you. You didn't like Brother much back then too. I know he wasn't behaving his best back then, but that could only be expected in the middle of a thunderstorm like that…"

Richardson looked confused. "Why does that have anything to do with it?"

Al was smiling inwardly, he was going to show this man how they had no right to judge his big brother. "Because of the automail, of course. Weather like that is really hard on it and makes the stumps ache a lot." Al had to say that he felt some relief at not having to see Ed go through that kind of pain again. It hurt even more when he knew that Ed didn't even allow himself to be in pain. That he had built up an insane pain threshold just to spare Al from worrying. But Al knew his brother and he could see that he was in pain anyway, so all Ed accomplished was that he created his own bubble of pain that he wouldn't let Al enter to help him or treat him.

"He had automail?" Richardson asked.

"Yes, that's where his title came from. He lost his arm and his leg when he was eleven during an accident."

"I-I didn't know that… But he joined the military just a year later? Recovery takes years, doesn't it?"

"He pushed himself through it so that he could start providing for us himself."

"Oh. That was brave of him…"

The other soldier nodded.

"When he was kidnapped they experimented and tortured him until he was left as a five-year-old. They deleted his memories and everything from the last ten years. Learning about what has happened hasn't been easy for him and he still has nightmares from the experiments."

"That's horrible!" the younger of them said, looking pale. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Alphonse."

"Thank you. I'm sorry about Ed's behaviour when you met him that week, but he was in a lot of pain and he slept really badly because of fevers."

Richardson looked embarrassed. "N-no, Alphonse, I'm the one who should apologise. I should have figured that the kid had a bad week or something. Come to think of it, he had some rather prominent rings under his eyes. I shouldn't have said what I did. I better go and apologise right now. You're good boys, you two, just keep it up." He then turned around and walked over to the ice cream bar where Dad was standing with Ed, preparing at least four scoops.

Al was pleased with himself. Making them feel bad about their behaviour was the best way to stop them from saying stuff like that and it taught them a lesson.

And it was kind of fun manipulating pompous jerks, although Al would never admit to it out loud…