Chapter fifty-five

"How long's it gonna take, Daddy?" Ed asked. Daddy had explained to him about the code that the documents had been written in, so they were gonna go to the National Central Library to cross-check their references and find facts that could help them break it.

They were in the car that they were borrowing from HQ and Auntie Riza was driving while Ed was on Daddy's lap, looking out at the rain. Daddy had let him keep his jacket, so Ed was really happy and Daddy had even transmuted his socks so that they were extra long so that he didn't get chafing from the boots because he didn't have his trousers on because the fabric would hurt his knees. But his boxers kept his legs warm and the jacket went down to his boots so everything was perfect.

So now Ed was nice and warm and it smelled safe and good and everything was great because their lead hadn't gone up in smoke like he had first thought, and Uncle Maes had even bought him a lollipop.

So Ed didn't really care that his knees and chin still hurt a bit.

"We can't really tell for sure, Brother. It really depends on how complicated the code is," Al said from the seat in front of them. "But we'll break it, don't you worry."

Ed smiled and nodded, sucking at his lollipop. It was a really large, round one in several different colours and Ed knew he had to brush his teeth carefully tonight. Uncle Maes had given it to him because he was really excited about being an uncle, so he had now made it a kind of personal mission to get Ed to kiss his cheek.

Which made it a bit fun to see his face when Ed didn't give him a peck, because Uncle Maes looked funny with all that exaggerated disappointment. So Ed had poked his cheek instead with a "no."

But Uncle Maes wasn't gonna give up, which was gonna be really fun to watch and Ed was gonna enjoy every sweet that it earned him.

"Al, I'm gonna hug you really tight when you get your body back," Ed told him.

"Then I'm gonna hug you even tighter, Brother," Al said, a big smile in his voice.

"Which means that I'll hug both of you the tightest," Daddy said, making them laugh. And so Ed just leaned into his chest for the rest of the drive, enjoying the warm hug and his lollipop and the way Al reached forwards and patted his head.

When Auntie Riza parked the car, Al leaned forwards to open the door and Daddy helped lift Ed back on the ground.

Ed's eyes went wide when he saw the giant building in front of them. They hadn't been here last time because dogs weren't allowed inside, but now Rolf was being looked after by Auntie Gracia and Elicia until they came and picked him up later.

Al, Auntie Riza and Daddy all started carrying the heavy boxes filled with the research documents, so Ed walked in front of them, leading them up the stairs. It was even bigger inside than he had thought it would be. There were signs pointing to different sections and even a map over the building and the separate branches.

And there were so many people, so Ed grabbed the outer covering on the left trouser leg of Daddy's uniform. There was a reception desk in front of them, so they walked over to one of the smiling ladies sitting there. Daddy pulled out his State Alchemist pocket watch and there was some talk about getting a private room in the part of the library closed off to the general public that State Alchemists had access to.

Ed heard a lot of noise behind him and turned around to see a large group of what he thought were college students.

Then his eyes fell upon a woman who looked way too much like Lillian and who seemed to recognise him, gasping.

Before any of the others had seen what the problem was, as soon as she took a step towards him, Ed screamed and ran away as quickly as he could, disappearing in between the crowd.

He didn't know where he was running. He ran through hallways and in between bookshelves and up a couple of stairs, people asking and talking and some even trying to grab his shoulders, but Ed just dodged them and ran in between their legs, frightened tears going down his cheeks and panic was making his tummy hurt. He didn't even know when he lost his lollipop, only that he was running and that Lillian could be anywhere. All these people could be her. All the hands could belong to her. He had to get away.

"Hey, kid! Where are you going?!" A loud voice suddenly said as he felt a pair of big arms grab his shoulders and Ed screamed again. "Where's your parents?!" the man said, pulling him back and turning him around. The man had dark brown hair and a green sweater, looking perfectly normal. People were gathering around him as Ed began sobbing loudly with fear and panic. He was trapped and Lillian could come any second. He looked about him for an escape, but people were everywhere. "LET ME GO! SHE'S GONNA TAKE ME! DADDYYYYY!"

"What are you doing to that boy?!" a woman exclaimed to his right. "You're hurting him!"

"LET ME GO!" Ed screamed, trying to shake himself loose, but the grip was still as firm as ever, making him even more panicked and even more people were talking and flocking around him and being big and scary and Lillian could be hiding anywhere between them and Ed sobbed, just waiting for the feeling of a needle in his neck and then he'd be dragged off to the hospital again. "LET ME GO!" he shrieked. The room was beginning to spin slightly. There were too many people here. Too many dangers. Too much of everyone and everything and he couldn't get away and the hands released his shoulders and Ed still couldn't escape and people were yelling and shouting and surrounding him even more and he just curled in on himself on the floor because his chest hurt and he was too dizzy. "DADDYYYYYY!"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he shrieked. "GET AWAY! PLEASE!" Ed sobbed, gripping his knees, his eyes shut tight. Everything was too loud and too close and he couldn't breathe because everyone was everywhere and anyone could try to hurt him. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Ed kept wailing, trying to breathe. He felt himself shivering and he had to breathe because he couldn't just pass out when he didn't know where he was. But he had to protect himself when people wouldn't let him run away. He had to get away and protect himself and breathe. People were talking and touching and Ed screamed and kicked at every one of them and then felt a piece of chalk in the inner pocket of Daddy's jacket and Ed breathed and cried and sobbed and drew up a transmutation circle as quickly as he could and kicked and screamed at the people around him who tried to stop him before he activated the transmutation and made himself a small, wooden box from the floor with a little hole for air, but where nobody could touch him because there wasn't a lid. Daddy had taught him how to make them in case Ed needed to protect himself quickly.

People kept making noises and shouting and banging on his box, but Ed was safer in here until Daddy came and saved him, and so he just kept sobbing and trying to breathe because he couldn't pass out because Lillian might still be coming for him before Daddy came.

And so he just looked at the little hole in front of him, panicking when he saw that somebody was sitting in front of it, knocking on the box, shouting about how they needed to get him out of there. "GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE!" Ed screamed. "DADDYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"


Roy cursed as he made his way through the crowd to get to his screaming son. He had merely needed to find the confused crowd to find Ed. A terrified five-year-old with no parents in sight could cause large crowds in a matter of minutes, especially in a large place like this. Which also resulted in the fact that no matter how loud his son was shouting, it was barely audible over the voices and shouts from the confused and concerned crowd.

When Ed had set off running, an unknown woman who looked extremely like Lillian Penton had been staring at them, horrified. However, Roy had also been able to tell that she was too young, and so he could only guess that they had met Lillian's little sister.

"Go find Brother!" Al had shouted, grabbing the boxes in Roy's hands, and so Roy had left Hawkeye and Alphonse to deal with the woman who didn't seem to have any intentions of harming any of them, and if she did, then she'd be no match for those two.

Roy had run through most of the library, inquiring with people he met about whether they had seen a blonde boy wearing a blue uniform jacket.

He didn't care that people were blaming him for being a bad father. He didn't care about anything other than finding his terrified son because concerned crowds were only going to make his terror spike even further.

And so he ploughed his way through a group of people that were being very concerned about the shouts and screams coming from his son while a couple of librarians were trying to control the masses with very poor results as it only agitated the crowd further because everyone was going to help the child and had to get through because everyone else was obviously doing it wrong and everyone was going to be the hero of the day.

He couldn't see Ed, he could only hear faint screams for his Daddy to come save him.

"THAT'S MY SON SO LET ME THROUGH!" Roy shouted, his voice louder than ever before as he continued ploughing his way through the crowd. His chest was hurting, his panic making his heart beat harder than ever. He had to shout a lot to get people to get the hell out of his way. Ed began screaming louder, obviously hearing Roy, but Roy had a bad feeling that it wasn't because he heard his Daddy, not with how angry Roy was sounding, but the Roy-thing. He needed to shout to get the people to let him through, however, and he was cursing inwardly with every shout. After what was far too long and then some, he finally caught a glimpse of the small, transmuted box that contained his sobbing son. "EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME THROUGH TO MY SON!" Roy shouted for a final time, giving the crowd around him a glare as the last ten people blocking his way froze and let him through to the sobbing box containing his son.

He kneeled down in front of it. "Ed, it's okay, it's just Daddy and I'm getting you out of there," Roy said, not even sure if Ed could hear him over his terrified shrieks and the loudly murmuring crowd. Roy pulled out a piece of chalk from his trouser pocket and transmuted a lid, earning even louder shrieks of fear, confirming his suspicions that Ed wasn't actually able to hear that he was there. His guts were being wrenched apart by it all, not wanting to scare Ed even further, but knowing he had to, and so he gently lifted the lid off, finding Ed trembling and screaming, eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his head protectively. Roy could barely keep his own tears away at the sight of his son like this.

He reached in and picked Ed up, barely avoiding the bites and kicks and screams as he brought him close to his chest. It was very impractical that the thing that was most comforting to him was also Ed's number one panic trigger until he recognised who it was. "Edward, it's okay, Daddy's here," Roy said, holding the screaming and thrashing child close, gently tilting his head so that he could look right at Roy's face, but his eyes were still squeezed shut. "Edward, look at me, it's Daddy. Not the Pentons, not the monster from Dublith, only Daddy," Roy said patiently, wishing that Ed would look at him.

"PLEASE DON'T TAKE ME BACK THERE! PLEASE!" Ed screamed, and Roy held him tighter, trying to use the one thing that would always snap Ed out of his nightmares. Ed was blinded by panic and Roy held his son's face tightly to the crook of his neck, knowing that the one thing that Ed could use to tell Roy apart from the Roy-thing at any time, was the way that Roy's scent was the thing that that monster couldn't replicate.

Ed screamed and moved to bite him, but then he paused, his face pressed against Roy's neck, still sobbing. "D-Daddy?" he cried.

"Yes, Ed, it's Daddy. Daddy's right here and you're safe," Roy told him, sighing with relief, hugging Ed tightly in a way that wasn't restraining this time as Ed slung his arms around his neck, wailing. There were still a lot of mumbling people and Roy could spot several disapproving faces and people were talking about him being a bad parent behind his back as Roy gently stroked Ed's back and kissed his cheek. Ed was still sobbing, trembling, scared stiff, his breathing uneven and he flinched every time someone spoke a bit louder than the others. It was clear to him that Roy hadn't saved him just yet, but had merely come to protect him.

"Let's get you out of here, Son," Roy said, standing up. Ed just kept sobbing and Roy glared at anyone who tried to stop him. "Nobody's going to hurt you. You're safe."

He passed a librarian on the way who seemed very confused and intimidated by his uniform. "I'll make sure somebody comes here to fix the floor, but right now I need to get my son away from here. I'm sorry about any trouble this may have caused," Roy told her.

She looked at Ed who was still sobbing and hugging Roy tightly around the neck and nodded in sympathy. And so Roy made his way through the crowd, ignoring any questions he got from the condescending and concerned people who had resulted in Ed getting a nervous meltdown worse than any of the others he'd had before.

Roy spotted a bathroom and went inside, getting some privacy from the clueless masses as he locked the door. Ed was covered in snot and tears, but he didn't want to let go of Roy so that he could clean it up. He only sobbed louder when Roy tried to disentangle him even slightly, and so Roy only hugged him tighter, Ed gasping in between sobs. "N-no!"

"Ed, it wasn't Lillian and Al and Auntie Riza are talking with her right now. You're not going to be attacked. You're safe. You're safe," Roy told him softly as Ed just kept sobbing for the next five minutes straight.

There was no way in hell that Ed was going to be staying here, but they needed the resources from the library to cross-reference parts of the code. Which meant that Roy and Al would need to stay here. "Ed, do you want to go back to the hotel?"

"But we hafta break the code!" Ed protested, sobbing even louder, leaving no doubt.

Roy sighed, but then he came up with an idea that might just work. "Only me and Al need to work on the code. What do you think about spending the day at Grandma's with Auntie Riza until me and Al can come and get you?"

Ed was sobbing for about a minute, thinking it through, before he nodded slowly.

"Then let's go find a phone and a lot of ice cream while Al and Auntie Riza gets the stuff ready in a private room and then you and her can go to Grandma's and you can pick Rolf up along the way too," Roy said, feeling guilty relief flooding him. This was really bad timing and this was the best way to do this.

Ed nodded weakly and sniffed, his sobbing dying down a bit and just being replaced by silent tears.

Ten minutes later, they found Al and Hawkeye standing by the reception desk, Al somehow looking worried even if it shouldn't be physically possible with the armour. The mysterious sister wasn't anywhere to be seen, which was a relief. Ed hadn't shifted from Roy's neck at all and he was still trembling a lot.

"Hawkeye, please arrange with a private room while I go make a phone call and get Ed a lot of ice cream. Alphonse, would you be all right with helping her?"

"Of course, Dad! But what about Brother?" Al asked, worry evident in his voice.

"He'll be going to your Grandma's together with Lieutenant Hawkeye and Rolf while we stay here, working on the notes." Roy gave him a look saying that he'd explain more later, but right now he just needed to get Ed away from this place as soon as possible. Hawkeye, thankfully, seemed to have guessed where this was going already, and went over to the reception desk.

"I'll see you soon, Al," Roy said, hating to leave his son here like this, but the sooner they fixed this, the better, and Al would be able to help carry a lot more than any of them.

"Of course, Dad, just get him some ice cream," Al said.

"I will," Roy said, carrying Ed with him down the street, knowing that there was a phone box just around the corner next to a small grocery store. He decided to get the ice cream first, getting soaked on the way over, and ended up buying Ed a one-litre can of chocolate truffle ice cream with cookie dough pieces and one of the employees was nice enough to give them a spoon from the employee room, free of charge.

And so Ed was slightly sated by the ice cream and was eating it rapidly, being held in one arm while Roy stood inside the phone box, phoning his aunt.

"This is Madame Christmas speaking."

"Hey, Madame, it's Roy," he told her, giving her a chance to decide if she wanted to make sure the conversation was completely private before speaking further.

"You're sounding worried, Roy, what's going on? Are the boys okay?" she asked almost instantly.

"We ran into Lillian Penton's sister while working, so would you mind having Ed and Hawkeye staying with you for the day? They'll be bringing Rolf too."

"I see, of course, Roy, they can stay here as long as they need, but all of you'd better be coming for dinner too at some point."

Roy was thankful that there were a lot of explanations that wouldn't need to be given at the moment because his aunt was both very good at reading between the lines and was able to work with the most important details. She would ask Roy later, of course. "Thank you, they'll be coming in about twenty-five minutes, then."


Fifteen minutes later, Roy was standing inside their private room together with Al after having said goodbye to a red-faced and newly cleaned up Ed who, for the first time, was letting himself be carried by Hawkeye, Ed still clinging to his half-eaten ice cream can, looking at the building fearfully, his lips trembling.

It was clear that Ed had just had a major setback. But one that would have to be dealt with later when Ed was somewhere he felt safe.

"Dad, what happened to him?" Al asked worriedly, his voice full of pain from seeing Ed that way.

Roy looked up at Al sadly, his stomach clenching. "Al, I don't think Ed should be around large crowds anymore, he hasn't been that scared since the attack in Dublith, and even then he didn't get as shaken up by it as this. I don't... I don't know how much this is going to affect him, but right now, we just needed to get him somewhere he feels safe."

There was the sound of crumpling paper and Roy looked to see Al clenching his hand around a note. "Al, what's that?"

"Lillian Penton's little sister's address. She asked us if we could come visit someday to talk about it all, but only if we felt up to it. She was really sorry about everything, but she had received a gag-order from the military so we can't speak about what happened in public. I don't really know what to think, because she's actually a nice woman," Al said, sounding both angry and miserable at the same time.

Roy put his hand on the one holding the crumpled up note, not knowing what to feel about it either. After what had just happened, he felt like burning the note, but a part of him was actually interested in hearing what this woman had to say. "Alphonse... How about we leave it for later when we're not so busy?"

Al nodded and Roy took the note from him, folding it up and placing it inside the pocket of his coat that was lying folded over a chair. Ed was still wearing Roy's uniform jacket.

Roy felt like slamming his fist on the desk in front of him, but instead he sat down in the chair, grabbing a pen. "Come on, Son, let's get to work so that we can have that family hug."


Thank you so much for those lovely reviews last chapter, they really made my day, so please keep them coming! :D 3

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