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Chapter Five
Ed was angry, in pain and embarrassed all because of one man. He fucking hated General Schiff.
He was lying on his bed in the infirmary for the third day in a row.
General Schiff had come visiting yesterday, and Ed had to say that he felt like strangling the man.
"Hello, Elric."
"Sir."
"I'm just here to say that I expect you back at your desk in two days."
"Sir! May I say that as a doctor I would highly recommend that Major Elric stays in bed for the next week at least!"
"If it is only a recommendation, it cannot be that important. This is punishment, after all. You're going to be back at the office at eight o'clock sharp on Monday, no excuses."
When Ed didn't answer, Schiff moved forward and slapped his back, earning a yelp of pain.
"How many times do I have to remind you to say "Yes, Sir" when I give you an order, Elric!"
"Sorry, Sir," Ed said through gritted teeth.
"That's better. Two days, Elric!"
"Yes, Sir."
And now he would be living with Mustang for two weeks, being helped like a fucking child probably.
So, no, not a good day at all.
And speaking of Mustang, he'd been keeping Ed company now for two days along with Al. Ed didn't really know what to think of it. It was kind of like the man was keeping guard over Ed while he was here, and it made Ed very much more aware of how weak he actually was when he was under another officer's command. With the Colonel he'd been allowed to go where he liked as long as he delivered his reports afterwards. He was sent on missions that actually had something to do with the Stone. He got to use his skills to fight and actually do something worthwhile.
Schiff had only seemed to want him to do paperwork to crush his will.
Dammit! I'm the "Hero of the People"! That means that I act to help those who need it rather than that stuck-up bastard who just wants a promotion!
"What the hell does that bastard want with me?!" Ed said out loud.
"Brother? Who are you talking about?"
"Schiff! Why did he want me on his team? I was actually helping to give the military a more positive reputation!"
"I don't know, Brother. I think he might be thinking too militaristic you know. You are a prodigy after all. I think he wants to make you into a human weapon."
Ed felt his stomach clench at the thought.
"No way in hell am I going to war under that bastard's command! I'm not going to kill anyone! Especially for that man!"
"Good, Brother," Al said quietly. "You're not a killer."
Although I'm the reason that Mom died a second time…
"Good news, Ed! I'm letting you leave this afternoon, but don't you dare over-exert yourself!" Doc told him sternly.
"I wasn't thinking about doing that."
"And remember that you shouldn't do any heavy lifting, or generally do anything that puts a strain on your back. That will only break the skin again and so it will take even longer to heal. That includes washing your hair and putting on your uniform jacket."
"So I'm basically an invalid for two weeks?" Ed moaned.
"Close enough. I know you're not one for letting people help, but you really should in this case."
"Argh, fine."
Roy was pretending not to listen to the ongoing conversation, but anything was better than reading and signing these approval forms.
Roy had to say that he hadn't really thought about how much he was going to have to help Fullmetal out. This was going to be much more work than he had originally planned.
And Roy had a nagging feeling that there would be more injuries that would need to be treated during the next two weeks, seeing as how the kid wouldn't let Schiff push him around.
This wasn't possibly going to go well.
But you do what you can for your team.
And so came 16.30 in the afternoon, and Fullmetal was allowed to leave. Roy helped him sit up and put his red coat on, dropping the tank top because it would just cause the kid unnecessary pain to put it on. They walked through the halls, the kid wincing slightly now and then because even just regular walking caused him pain.
Roy wasn't surprised, though. The kid's back was much smaller than the average soldier, and so the whip had only been concentrated on two areas instead of four or more. Just moving his hips would stretch the mutilated skin and cause him significant amounts of pain.
Roy had sort of blocked out his feelings as he had been watching, but in hindsight, he could still remember the soldier behind him laughing and telling his buddy that "the snot-nosed brat deserved it". He had also heard a lot of gasps and a few female soldiers shouting for him to be let down. Mostly, though, it seemed as if the soldiers accepted the fact that the man was torturing a child.
That was not a military that Roy wanted to be part of.
The military needed to be changed so that people like Schiff lost their undeserved power. The man had risen through the ranks because of the way he had taught his soldiers to be mindless pawns in his sick power struggle. To the higher ups he looked like a man who could be trusted to lead, but in reality he just beat his subordinates into submission. That was not how it should be.
And I'm going to burn him to a crisp if he ever succeeds in doing that to Fullmetal.
They reached the car and the kid gingerly sat down, groaning as his abused back leaned against the seat.
Or I might just burn him anyway.
"You ready?" Roy asked him.
"Yeah, just drive," the kid said through gritted teeth.
And so Roy did. They stopped at a grocery store, however, and Roy pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. "Okay, we need to find out what I'm going to buy for the next few days. What do you like to eat, Fullmetal?"
"Seriously?" The kid was looking curiously up at him.
Roy sighed. "Unless you want me to make food that we don't know if you'll like or not, I suggest you tell me."
"Do you know how to make stew?"
"Yes." Roy wrote down the ingredients. "What else?"
"Well, I enjoy pasta, I suppose."
"Anything else?"
"I'm not that particular, but I won't drink milk."
"But it's fine in stew?"
"Yeah, because then it doesn't taste like cow puke."
"Cow puke? You have lots of experience with that?" Roy couldn't help but tease him for the childish reply.
"No, of course I don't! I'm just not gonna drink some opaque white liquid that was secreted by a cow!"
"Maybe that's why you're so small, you know…"
"SHUT UP! I'M NOT LITTLE! DON'T CALL ME GAAAH!"
The kid stopped in the middle of his tantrum, his back obviously protesting the movement agonisingly.
Roy felt bad about provoking him like that, he should have thought about that before he said anything.
"Is there anything else you want? What do you like to drink?"
"Orange juice."
"Fine, then I'll add that. I'll be back in ten minutes."
Then Roy went out of the car and into the store. He hadn't been in this one before. He usually went to one that was closer to where he lived, but he knew everyone who worked there, and he figured that it would be a good idea that people didn't start asking questions about why he was suddenly cooking for more than one. It could lead to quite dangerous situations seeing as how both him and Fullmetal had made plenty of enemies over the years, and having the kid at his house instead of a military hotel, could mean that certain people would use the opportunity to attack them. Especially if word got out that Fullmetal was injured.
Finding his way around the store was hard, but he somehow managed to find all the things that they would need for the next few days. It felt odd to be buying food for someone other than himself. When he went on dates, he usually didn't invite them back to his own place.
Who knows, maybe it will be nice to have some company for the next few weeks…
He went outside with his grocery bags and put them in the trunk. Slamming the lid down, he heaved a great sigh.
"Here we go, I guess. It's time for me to be Roy Mustang, family man," he said to himself, trying to mentally prepare himself for living with two teenage boys.
It was sort of funny, though. One of the boys needed practically no help, but would rather have a body that did, while the other would need plenty of assistance and was going to hate every minute of it.
Roy had of course also compensated for the extreme amounts of food that went into the little body, so he would basically be cooking for three for the next two weeks. He had considered asking the kid to pay for his share of the food, but Roy didn't feel that that would be right. It wasn't the kid's fault that he had a CO who was a complete bastard, and besides, Roy knew that most of the money Fullmetal earned, was used to keep his automail in a good enough condition.
"So, how's your house? Do you have a couch or a camp bed or something?" Fullmetal asked after driving for fifteen minutes in silence.
"You'll be taking the guest room."
"Oh, so your house is that big?"
"It's not small, no. It's got three storeys including a basement. I've also got a small library, so I guess you'll be spending some time there."
"Any books on alchemy?"
"Most of them are. Some of them are pretty old, though, so be careful while reading them."
"Sure. How far is it?" Roy noticed that the kid was wincing frequently and would probably like to get out of the car as soon as possible.
"It's just around the corner here."
They came to the blue house and Roy parked the car in the garage.
"So, here we are."