I'm back after my writer's block and I even had this chapter betaed just to make sure that it turned out okay! So here's my extra long comeback and I swear I'll try not to take too long before posting the next chapter!

So thank you so much for your help, Animegirl4466!

And this disclaimer counts for the rest of the story: I do not own FMA.

Chapter sixteen

Ed was getting frustrated. It had been three days and there was absolutely nothing. No names, no common denominators, not one damned clue.

Ed stood up. His back still ached like hell, but the concussion was as good as gone and his nose wasn't as swollen anymore. It also helped that he could actually open his left eye again, even if it was still swollen and purple. Basically, he was just pissed off that he was still in pain and not healing fast enough. Having his left wrist sprained wasn't really a fun thing either, and it got swollen as he kept writing, so now it was throbbing like hell. Maybe he should say yes to Hawkeye's constant offers to fetch him an ice pack…

No. These bastards had hurt him and he was damn well going to take all the pain without complaints. He wasn't going to be weak. He'd already gone crying to Roy once, which in hindsight made him pretty embarrassed. This whole thing with him was confusing and embarrassing. Because Ed kind of liked the attention and the hugs and the fact that they made him feel safe in a way he hadn't since Mom died. But Roy Mustang was still his boss. He was his CO, even if Schiff thought differently. Ed would be back to working for Roy hopefully within a few weeks, but what would happen then? How odd were things going to be? Because Roy still wanted Ed to call him by his first name around the office, although Ed still called him the Colonel when they were walking through the corridors in case someone overheard them. Things were different, there was no doubt about it, but it still made Ed feel odd. Because things had become both simpler and more complicated between them at the same time. Because Ed was vulnerable around the person he had probably been most guarded against just two weeks ago. He was giving Roy a kind of trust that still scared Ed in a way.

He was trusting him to take care of him.

He was trusting him to be a strong father figure to lean on.

And Ed saw what he was gaining from it, but it also meant giving something in return. He gave himself away, shed some of the protective layers and left himself like the kid he hadn't been in years. And he was trusting Roy not to hurt him.

Why the law of Equivalent Exchange had to be part of everything he did, he didn't know.

But then Roy was doing the same in return…

Ed would just have to see where this went, he supposed. Right now, it was something that gave him an odd kind of happiness that he hadn't had since Mom.

And Ed wanted to keep it.

"What's up, Ed?" Roy asked as Ed got to his feet.

"Toilet break."

Roy put down his pen and got to his feet too. "I'll follow you."

Ed sighed. "You're really taking this whole protection thing a bit too serious, you know…"

"Ed, you've already been attacked inside HQ once, I'm not risking it happening again."

"There was hardly anyone left inside the building that time! It's one o'clock!"

"Doesn't matter. I'm the leader of this case and you're under my protection." Roy spoke sternly, telling him that there was no question about it.

Ed admitted defeat, mostly because he really had to pee and had already put it off for half an hour because he had finally found a position that kind of worked with his back. And so they got going through the corridors, walking a bit slowly because of Ed's back.

Once Ed was done and they walked back out into the corridors, Ed looked up at Roy. "At least there weren't any scary toilet monsters to kill me in there..." Ed whispered teasingly.

Roy sighed, a tiny smile tugging at his lips. "Oh, shut up. I don't think you're going to be attacked in the corridors again, I just want to make sure that it doesn't happen."

"Over-protective bastard…"

"Elric!" a voice called out behind them. It was definitely Schiff. Ed cursed inwardly. Of course they had to meet him of all people.

They turned around to see that he was now standing only a metre away from them, looking angry. "I was informed that you were excused from work because of injury, so may I ask what you are doing here?"

"He was attacked, sir, by someone that my team is currently investigating. He is under my protection as the leader of the case. I chose to bring him with me to the office so that we could keep the investigations going while still keeping him safe," Roy said coldly.

"So Daddy Roy is there to save you once again? Can't even stand up for yourself? You're a disgrace to the military, Elric."

Ed stopped himself from retaliating simply because of the promise he had made Roy that he wouldn't have to see Ed get hurt again.

"Oh, so you have finally learnt your place? Has Daddy Roy taught you some proper behaviour for a dog? Because that's all you are, Elric. You're a little pup that needs to be taught how to behave."

Ed felt himself itching to strangle the man for the "little" comment, but he bit his lip instead.

"You need to learn how to grow up, Elric. The moment you find yourself getting orders you don't like, you just go crying to Daddy Roy… pathetic. Weak. We don't need weak soldiers, we need proper officers."

I'm not a soldier and I won't ever become one…

"Although I'm not surprised when you've been under this man's command. He doesn't even have the guts to punish insubordination."

"Or maybe I just don't believe that torturing children is a proof of strength, sir," Roy said to Ed's left. Ed looked at him. Roy was furious, clearly even more pissed off about the verbal abuse than Ed was. You could really see that he was imagining burning this man alive.

Ed was already used to it, seeing as how Schiff had already fed him plenty of crap in the two days he'd been in the office. Roy, however, seemed to not exactly have much patience with Schiff.

Schiff looked at Roy with an angry glare. "You stay out of this, Mustang, he's my subordinate, even if he is a waste of space at the moment until I can beat him into shape."

Schiff looked at Ed as if there was nothing he wanted more. He really had it in for him. This man absolutely hated Ed and would abuse his power to beat him into submission. Ed doubted that it was this bad with any of the others.

Then again, he didn't like Roy, so seeing the two of them together may be a bit too much for him.

"Yes, that brat needs a firm hand. He hardly learnt anything from the last flogging, he'll need many more in order to get even close to being useful. It was hardly the scream of someone who had learnt their lesson. Next time I will have to beat him harder."

Schiff really seemed to want to piss them off or maybe get Ed frightened of him.

"You won't." The whisper was deadly.

Ed looked up at Roy, he was absolutely furious. his fingers were twitching now, his desire to snap at the man was obvious.

Shit! He's that worried about him hurting me? What the hell has happened to us?

"You know, Mustang, it seems that you'd do well to learn that lesson too. My office, now."

Ed felt his stomach clench. He was going to use the cane on him?

"You too, Elric."

Ah, fuck.

Roy followed the bastard without a word and Ed did as well. Just walking behind Schiff, walking towards whatever kind of punishment he had planned, it wasn't fun. And it made Ed angry. If Roy had just kept his mouth shut and taken the crap Schiff was feeding them, then this wouldn't be happening.

If Roy hadn't let himself care so much about it…

…About Ed.

Well, shit. I'm angry with him for caring about me now?

They went inside the inner office and Schiff turned towards them, smirking evilly at Ed. "Well, well, maybe I should think like you do, Mustang. Maybe the brat is just a child and should be punished like one…" He went over to his desk drawer, taking out a belt. "Elric, pull down your trousers and underwear and lean over the desk."

Ah, hell no! He's gonna fucking spank me?

Ed looked over at Roy whose eyes were burning with anger. He looked absolutely furious. More so than earlier. Thank god he didn't have his gloves on.

"That's an order, Elric!" Schiff said strictly, holding the belt in his hands.

Ed knew that it wasn't possibly going to be that bad, but it was going to be embarrassing as hell. He did not want to do this at all.

Schiff didn't seem to like his trepidation, however, and struck Ed across the face with his right hand, sending bursts of pain from his broken nose, causing his eyes to water. "Now!"

Ed looked over at Roy who gave Ed the tiniest of enraged nods and Ed loosened his own belt and pulled down his trousers and then his boxers before he leaned over Schiff's desk, blushing. Ed would rather have the cane than this. This was just fucking embarrassing and little else.

Then came the first blow and Ed knew that the man was deliberately making the belt buckle strike him like that. It stung and hurt like hell, but Ed merely bit his lip so that he didn't show any weakness.

The man continued hitting him and Ed was sure that the skin had been broken in places within seconds. He couldn't help the grunts of pain that escaped his lips as the man kept slamming the belt against his rear. The man finally desisted five strikes after Ed couldn't stop the loud yelp of pain from being uttered as the buckle dug into his flesh once again. It was agonising and Ed was just thankful it was over.

He hated Schiff. He had just humiliated him and Ed was in even more pain than before. It was bad enough sitting down because of his back, but now the man had beat his butt bloody and he'd have bruises for weeks probably.

And a large part of him just wanted to go to Roy and get a hug. To just have some form of comfort and safety because Ed was in pain and he had been hurt by a sadistic bastard.

"Well, Elric, that's it for now. Pull up your trousers and sit down on the chair. It's Daddy Roy's time now."

Ed did as he was told, immediately noticing that blood was soaking through his boxers as he pulled them on. His back was also protesting the movement and Ed felt a mixture of miserable and furious. He moved to sit and the pain flared even worse than the agony he was in already, making him grunt as he sat down on the chair in front of the desk. His behind was on fire and it was humiliating because he didn't want to show that he had been spanked of all things, no matter how much it hurt.

Which was just what Schiff wanted. This was a hundred times worse on his pride than getting flogged. Schiff was an absolute bastard and he was enjoying it.

"Place your hand on the desk, Mustang, palm up," Schiff said, getting the cane out. Ed didn't want to watch. He didn't want to listen as Roy got his hand mutilated. He wanted to beat Schiff to a pulp for this.

Yet Ed had to watch as Schiff beat Roy's left hand fifteen times with that cane, making his palm into a bloody mess.

Roy was furious. Yes, his hand hurt like hell, but it was at least better than what Schiff had done to Ed. Ed was clearly in a lot of pain and although Roy hadn't looked as he got beaten, he had seen the blood spattered belt that lay on the desk. And Roy had still heard it as Schiff beat his boy. He had been forced to listen to the pain Ed was being put through, counting each of the many heavy blows.

"Maybe this will teach you two that Elric is my subordinate and I can do as I want to correct his behaviour. You are both dismissed."

Roy gripped Ed's right arm and helped him to his feet. The movement clearly caused him a lot of pain and Roy didn't care one bit about his own injured hand anymore. Ed looked shameful and angry at the same time with barely repressed tears in his eyes and Roy led him out of the office and stopped once they reached the toilets which were only a few metres down the hall thankfully. Roy locked the door once he was sure that there weren't anybody inside any of the cubicles and then he grabbed handfuls of paper towels, pressing them against his own bleeding hand before taking even more of them over to Ed who was still blushing and looking very much like the child he was while he stood looking down at his feet.

"Ed, how bad is it?" Roy asked, placing his free hand on his shoulder.

"Don't know. You should go to the infirmary, you know." Ed spoke quietly. Schiff had humiliated and tortured his boy and Ed was ashamed of it. It made Roy even more sure that he would find an excuse to burn the bastard.

"Edward, you have two options: either you let me help, or I'm taking you to Doc." Roy spoke sternly because he knew that Ed would try to pretend that it wasn't anything and then get himself an infection. "I know you're bleeding and that he hit you hard. And I know that it needs treatment, so answer me."

Ed looked up at him and the next second, tears began flowing from his eyes and he threw himself at Roy. Roy held him, making sure that the paper towels covering his own hand weren't getting soaked through. "He fucking spanked me! He made the buckle dig into my flesh and he enjoyed it!" Ed said somewhere between a rant and a sob. "I swear, Roy, he's gonna kill me in his tries to turn me into a puppet! Please, just take me back to the dorms. I don't wanna face the others after he fucking mutilated my ass!"

"Then you need to let me have a look at it so I can patch you up first. There's a first aid kit over on the shelf. After that we can go straight to the dorms and tell the team you got a fever or something."

There were a few seconds before Roy felt the boy nod into his chest.

"Good, then we'll get this done and nobody needs to know what happened, even if you shouldn't be ashamed about Schiff deciding to torture you."

They got into their dorm a while later, both of them now bandaged and in pain. Ed could hardly walk because of the throbbing pain and so it felt great once he let himself collapse on his bed after a painful change of clothes. Ed was only wearing his boxers and tank top and was lying on top of his duvet as Roy came inside with an ice pack wrapped up in a towel and placed it on his rear. Ed hissed with pain just from the contact, but once he was used to it, the cold felt soothing. Roy sat down near his head and began stroking his hair.

"I hate this. I just wanna be back on your team and be rid of that bastard. I didn't even say anything to him! He's gonna start punishing me just for showing up at the office once my week is up."

"I'm afraid that it was my fault that you got that belting, Ed. I just wasn't going to listen to him talk about torturing you. I should have thought about him not leaving you alone if I didn't keep my mouth shut. I'm sorry."

"Forget about it. You only reacted that way because you care, I don't blame you," Ed mumbled. Roy just kept stroking his hair and Ed found it to be very soothing. He hurt all over and he just wanted a break. "Did you phone the office?"

"Yes. Told them you had a headache and that I was taking you back here in case it was because of the concussion."

"That works."

Ed felt miserable. And he felt like a fucking kid. A grumpy, spanked kid. And it was so humiliating. With the flogging he had at least got looks of sympathy when they saw him in pain. But this was his butt.

And it hurt like hell.

And Schiff had forced him to pull his boxers down and just take it.

He wasn't just some misbehaving kid! He was a damn State Alchemist!

And him and Al weren't getting anywhere in their search as long as Schiff had his claws in Ed.

"Dammit!" Ed shouted, startling Roy, but he was soon back to stroking his hair again.

"Edward, I know this isn't fun and it isn't easy. And I'm sorry that you're stuck with this."

"There's no need to say you're sorry, it isn't your fault. I just wanna get things back to normal instead of getting humiliated by a sadistic General! I HATE THIS! I hate the military and the stupid bastards who think it is okay that people like Schiff are in power and I hate that my ass is in agony because of that bastard! I hate that I can't go looking for the Stone! The hero of the people got spanked even! I got spanked like some misbehaving brat! He fucking humiliated me!" Ed felt angry tears starting to form as he snuggled closer into Roy. "I hate it so much…"

Roy kneeled down on the floor and pulled Ed into a hug that allowed him to keep lying as he put his arms around Roy's neck and pressed his cheek against his. This was really the only good thing that had happened ever since Ed got reassigned. And he needed this right now. To have this kind of uncompromising warmth and safety was the exact opposite of what Schiff gave him.

No, this was good.

Scratch that, great!

Awesome in fact.

And so Ed couldn't help but smile slightly through his tears.

At least until the floor exploded underneath them and they were thrown into pain and blackness.