The Ties that Bind

A series of related one-shots that range from Roy finding Ed and Al in Resembool and far, far beyond. Not chronological. EdWin, AlMei, Royai Parental!RoyEdAl Parental!RizaEdAl

Seconds

Older Brother 16, Younger Brother 15

Roy bounced his knee and tapped his fingers at the same time as he waited for the train to roll out of Pleonuk Station and further south to Resembool. He and Riza had already been waiting for a good thirty-minutes, but last time the Captain got up to check, the conductor had apologized for the wait but they couldn't leave yet because the boiler had a ruptured pipe. They were currently waiting on a new engine being brought down from East City.

Grumbling, Roy laced his fingers together to stop the tapping and pressed his elbows down on his knees. Naturally, as soon as he learned of the problem, Roy had offered to repair the boiler with alchemy—it would hardly take a second to clap his hands and boom! They'd be on their way. But no, the station engineer had looked positively green at the idea before tentatively asking if Roy knew how the engine was made, what it was made of, or where exactly the hole was that needed patched. And yeah, that was all annoying and insulting, especially for an alchemist of his caliber. Of course, he knew how boilers worked, the main components of a Beatmore Boiler were iron and carbon—i.e. steal—and who cares if he knew where the leak was? He could just use his alchemy to redistribute the metal evenly across the entirety of the machine.

But no, the engineer insisted on doing the repairs the hard way—probably trying to justify his paycheck—and the engine driver concurred. They were, after all, only an hour out of East City. It wouldn't take that long to get a replacement. When Roy tried to argue that he had an important mission and he needed to get to Resembool as soon as possible, he received the engine driver's regrets. Then, assuming his civilian attire made him less recognizable to the podunk masses, he even pulled rank on the guy—being a newly promoted Major General had to be good for something—but the conductor reminded Roy that the East Amestris Railway Company was privately owned, and therefore outside of military command barring a military emergency.

Roy would have declared a state of emergency, too, except Riza glared him down and shooed him from the station office with a less than subtle flick of her eyes. So now Roy sat in his private compartment at the front of a train that wasn't moving and literally counted the seconds it took for the replacement engine to arrive. He was currently at 2,827.

The door to Roy's compartment slid open and he jerked upright, his eyes locking immediately onto the deep brown of his Captain.

"The new engine has arrived, sir. They're installing it now."

He blew out a sharp breath. "About time! Did they say how long it would take?"

"About twenty minutes, sir."

Roy groaned. "Seriously?"

"You need to be patient, sir. Those boys aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

Gritting his teeth, Roy sat back on the bench and did his best not to sulk like a child. He wanted to explain to her why he was so desperate, but he wasn't sure she would understand. Hell, he wasn't entirely sure he understood. Only five months ago, Roy had resigned himself to only touches to ensure they were safe and well and whole because Truth, the bastard, took the eyes he used to see the future. Including their futures. But now, thanks to Dr. Marco, Roy could see again, and suddenly those touches, almost three months old now, weren't enough anymore.

A warm palm settled over the back of Roy's left hand where it clutched at his pant leg. Again, onyx met chocolate and the amount of warmth and understanding radiating from Riza's soft expression almost made Roy's breath catch. She smiled, gently squeezing his hand.

"Soon, General. It will only be a few minutes longer."

Drawing a deep, steading breath, Roy straightened in his seat and nodded. "Right, of course. Thank you, Captain."

"Of course, sir." Riza withdrew her hand and took a seat on the bench opposite him. They sat in a familiar, companionable silence as Riza looked through the budget for the Ishval Revitalization Plan and Roy continued counting seconds.

At 3,354, the train began to move.

It was about 20km from Pleonuk to Kaumufy where they had another stop for the loading and unloading of passengers. Again, Roy's leg began to bounce and his fingers to tap, but the stop was gratifyingly brief, only 769 seconds, and then they were once again headed south.

932 seconds closer to Resembool, the late evening sun had nearly disappeared with only a few streaks of rose and amber mixed between the deepening indigos and violets. Roy stopped bouncing his knee and fisted his black trouser leg.

"What if they're not home? Or asleep already? Should we have called?" The boys had always kept odd hours while with the military, but being back home, and with Alphonse still on the mend, they probably had a more structured schedule. "We should have called."

He was grateful Riza refrained from the "I told you so" he was sure was on the tip of her tongue. But when they had left, a phone call seemed like such a waste of time. It was only six hours to Resembool from Central, and they'd left a little before noon. How was he supposed to know it would end up being closer to eight?

"There's a communications room on board, right?" Roy jumped to his feet. "I'll call the Resembool station and have them send a message to the boys. Or a telegram if they don't have a phone. It's a small town, they probably don't—"

"General, please sit down," Riza said before Roy's hand could even touch the brass handled door. "Judging by the amount of time we've been traveling combined with the train's speed, we should be in Resembool in the next fifteen minutes. By the time the phone operator was able to connect you, we would have already arrived.

"They might have a radio—"

Riza's eyes connected with his over the tops of her papers. Roy sighed and sat down.

1259 seconds.

…

1987 seconds.

…

2243 seconds.

Roy watched the land move as he counted. He liked just looking at things now. Colors in particular. He never cared to know the difference between chartreuse and shamrock before losing his eyesight (he hadn't even known those colors existed) but now he not only knew there was a difference, he could tell the difference, even at a distance. He watched as the evening shadows swallowed up the shamrock colored hills outside, darkening them more and more until they were almost black, but not quite; there was still a hint of green.

Sable black, Roy recalled, a wry smirk on his lips. Was there another man in Amestris who knew black came in shades?

2379 seconds.

The train whistle blew, nearly startling Roy off the spruce blue bench.

"It sounds like we're getting close," Riza said not a moment before a knock sounded on their compartment door.

"Come in!" Roy called, half-rising. The door slid open and a conductor stood just outside. He tipped his hat at the military pair.

"Pardon the interruption. Just wanted to let you know we're about to pull into Resembool Station. This is the end of the line, as well, so unless you plan to head back toward East City later tonight, you'll need to find accommodations. Would you like a recommendation?"

"No, thank you," Roy said, forcing his voice to remain even. "We've already made arrangements."

Another tilt of his hat, and the conductor was gone; closing the door behind him.

"There, sir," Riza said, not a speck of inflection in her tone, though Roy was sure she was mocking him. "We've just about arrived."

Roy grunted and settled back in his seat. Less than a hundred seconds later, the train began to slow. It coasted slower and slower before easing to a stop with the hiss and squeal of breaks, but Roy was on his feet, out of his compartment, and half-way down the corridor before the wheels had fully locked in place.

"End of the line!" a conductor called up and down the corridors. "All disembark. Return tickets are required for anyone riding the line back north."

Roy jumped from the open train door and onto the platform without sparing so much as a glance for the shallow metal stairs. In their haste to leave—well, Roy's haste—they had only one bag between them, and it held only documents. Yet another thing Riza had protested, but he'd thrown out some half-intelligible counter about supporting local businesses, and she'd let it go with barely an eye roll.

"Welcome to Resembool," the stationmaster said as Roy, followed not too far behind by Riza, passed beneath the arch leading from the platform toward the town proper. The man did a double take.

"Oh, hey! I know you." He stepped up to Roy with a wide grin and doffed his wool newsboy cap. "You're him, right? Colonel Mustang! I remember you from a while back, and them Elric boys was talking 'bout you the whole way through town."

Roy blinked. "Edward and Alphonse did?"

"Well, Al did, sure as right, but Ed didn't say nothin' against it, so I figure that says enough on its own." The man chuckled. "You sure made a real stir, sir, what with you leading our Ed off to East City and into the military all them years back, but he sure did make a name for himself, didn't he?"

He rubbed the back of his head with a bemused grin. "Who'd have guessed our boys would help the Feuhrer save the whole country? It's a hell of a thing, that's for sure."

Roy stared at the man. "I…yes, it was. Those boys were invaluable in the fight. Probably the truest heroes I've ever known."

He hadn't meant to say so much about how he felt, but the man was so artless, Roy couldn't stop himself. Word would probably get back to the Elrics, but Ed would never believe it, and Roy would deny saying it anyway, so he figured it was fine.

"I suppose you're here to be seeing them?" The man frowned suddenly, confused. "Say, weren't you supposed to have lost your sight in the fight? Al was sayin' about it."

"I did." Roy passed a hand over both eyes, still amazed at the shift of colors and shades of light after half-a-year of nothing but the deepest, emptiest blackness. "But there was an experimental treatment back in central. I was only just discharged from the hospital this morning."

"An' you came straight here?" For some reason, the man beamed as he said it. "An' here I am keepin' you here! Go on, go on! I'm sure you'll be wantin' to see them boys right proper after all this time."

Roy gritted his teeth through his sudden blush but didn't deny it.

"General?"

Roy's head snapped up at the sound of Riza's voice. She stood at the mouth of the station arch; her beige, autumn coat draped over one arm. "I was able to secure us a ride through town, but we'll likely need to walk the rest of the way."

Great, Roy sighed. Even more seconds wasted.

Bidding farewell to the statin master, Roy followed Riza to a wheat colored pickup truck idling outside the station. They climbed into the open bed, and Roy spoke to the driver, Vance Sylverman, through the open back window.

"The Elrics, eh? You know them from the city or something?"

"Or something," Roy agreed. "I was Ed's commanding officer before he retired."

"Oh! Colonel Mustang, then. Yeah, Gladys and I have heard all about you from them boys."

An odd warmth settled over Roy's heart as the man talked about everything he'd learned about Roy from Ed and Al (but mostly Al). He'd never expected the boys to talk about him, and certainly not with the glowing tones Vance's recounting seemed to imply. And the more the man spoke about how happy the townsfolk were to have the boys back and how much they'd grown and matured and how educated and sophisticated (Roy had to stifle a snort at that; Ed, sophisticated?), the warmer and more comfortable his heart became.

"They were wild things when they left here, for sure," Vance said as he turned out of town and onto a single-lane dirt road. "All flighty and intense and never paying attention in school. My Gladys was their schoolteacher, you know? Said there was never a day gone by that they didn't have their heads in some book they weren't supposed to be reading. Still got top marks in everything, of course. Them boys always were too smart for their own good. But it's been tempered now, hasn't it? Even Ed's got that short fuse of his on a longer burn. You must have done good with them up there in the city."

Roy tamped down his grin to a soft smile. "I'm afraid I didn't have much to do with it. They're just good boys."

"They are that," Vance agreed, his headlights bright enough to light up the road for a good mile. Not that there was anything to see. "But it takes a good man to raise good boys, Colonel. And I'm thinking you're that kind of man."

Again, Roy couldn't fight down the blush burning his cheeks, and he looked away. His eyes landed on Riza who was watching him with an amused quirk of her lips.

"Something to say, Captain?" Roy asked lowly. Riza shook her head.

"Not a thing, General."

To Roy's surprise, Vance took him and Riza all the way to the bottom of the Rockbell's hill instead of dropping them back where the rode forked. When Roy thanked him, Vance waved him off.

"Weren't nothing. I don't live too far from here anyway. Not much of a stretch to go all the way if I was going so far in the first place."

"We're grateful to you," Riza said with a polite bow. "Not only for the ride, but for keeping an eye on Edward and Alphonse. It's a relief to know that they have the support of so many good people."

Vance blushed and scratched his cheek with one finger. "Ain't nothing. We Resembool folk stick together, is all. And if you're there for Ed and Al, well, that makes you two Resembool enough for me."

More thanks were passed around before Vance begged off to head home. Roy and Riza lingered at the bottom of the hill to wave him off.

"This is a strange place, isn't it, Captain?"

"Strange, sir?"

"Yeah." Roy smiled after the truck's diminishing taillights. "But in the best ways, I think. If I ever had the choice, I wouldn't mind having grown up here."

A knowing expression softened Riza's face and she nodded. "I think I understand, sir."

They lingered a moment longer, just enjoying the silence. But the incessant ticking of seconds in the back of Roy's mind had him moving sooner rather than later.

"Come on," he said, pivoting to start up the hill. "We should hurry before it gets any later."

The higher Roy climbed up the hill, the harder his heart thudded in his chest. He wanted to blame it on the climb, but he was hardly so out of shape that a little hill could get his blood rushing. Dashing his sweaty palms on his pants, Roy stifled a curse. What was he so nervous about? It was only the Elric brothers.

Roy's steps grew shorter as he reached the porch, his heart a battle drum behind his ribs. Riza passed him on the stairs as he followed more slowly behind. No hesitation plagued her as she rapped her knuckles twice against the door in crisp, resonating knocks.

One second.

Three seconds.

Five—

The door opened, and Winry Rockbell's head popped out. "Yes? Oh! Lieutenant Riza!" Her eyes darted about in the near darkness until they landed on Roy, as if there was no doubt in her mind that if Riza was there, so would he be.

That wasn't too far off the mark either.

"Colonel Mustang!" She hurried out the door and reached for him where he still stood, clinging to the banister with one hand, on the second to last stair. "Are you okay? Here, let me help you."

Her small hands wrapped around his free arm, bracing him, and it took a startled moment before Roy realized she thought he was still blind. He looked down at her, and the sudden swelling of affection he felt took him off guard. She really was a good girl, wasn't she? Ed better shape up soon and realize how lucky he was, or he'd lose her.

"I'm all right, Winry," Roy said, though he didn't pull his arm away. "Really."

"Oh!" Winry blushed. "I didn't mean to make you feel awkward or anything, Colonel. I just didn't want you to fall; that is, some of the deck boards aren't even. Ed said he'd fix them, but you know Ed. He never does anything until he absolutely has—"

Winry stopped short of the door and stared at Roy. Stared right into his eyes that were looking unwaveringly at her. Her mouth fell into a soft 'oh' and her eyes widened.

"Colonel…" she breathed; her tone hesitant as if saying something out loud would jinx him. "Your eyes…"

Roy smiled. "I'm here to see Alphonse."

Her eyes widened further, tears rimming them, and she swallowed hard before ducking her head to dash the tears away. "Of course! Please come in; I'll get him right away!"

"Get who right away?" Ed's voice drifted from upstairs, and Roy's head instinctively snapped that direction as Winry lead him inside, her hands still clutching his arm. "Who's at the…Colonel?"

Ed paused on the steps, his head cocked as he eyed his former commanding officer. "What the heck are you doing here? And so late?"

"I apologize for the hour," Roy said, his eyes racking over every inch of Edward's form. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail rather than his usual braid and he was dressed down in a black tank top and a pair of loose black pants. Roy's eyes lingered on Ed's right arm before continuing. The boy was taller, much taller, than Roy remembered. And though he'd already known that from their time together at the hospital, seeing it did strange things to Roy's insides. Part of him was proud of the man Ed had become, but the rest of him was honestly sad to have missed it.

"There was a problem with the train engine, and we were delayed."

Ed shrugged. "It's fine, I guess. Were you planning to stay here tonight? Oh, hey Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Riza stepped up beside Roy and smiled. "Hello, Edward. You're looking well."

"Heh." Ed blushed and scratched his cheek with a sheepish grin. "Thanks. You should see Al, though. You won't even recognize him!"

Al. Roy swallowed hard and his heart picked up again. As if sensing the shift in him, Winry squeezed Roy's arm and looked up at him with a bright grin. "I'll go get him, Colonel. You just wait right here."

"Get Al?" Ed asked. He waved Winry down. "I'll grab him. Hold on."

"Wait, Ed!" Winry called, but he had already disappeared back upstairs. Winry huffed. "Honestly, that boy. He didn't even notice!"

"It's fine," Roy said, his eyes focused entirely on the stairs. Waiting. Counting.

Seven seconds.

Thirteen seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Two pairs of footsteps sounded from above, one set mismatched and heavy, the other set soft and slow.

"Colonel? Lieutenant?"

Alphonse appeared on the stairs, clutching the banister with both hands, and Roy stopped breathing as he stared.

Oh…Roy actually teared up. He's beautiful.

He was taller than Ed (which wasn't all that hard, even now), and still a bit thinner than he would likely be a year or so from now, but it was a healthier skinny than the skin and bones Roy remembered from the desperate touches he'd all but forced on the boy all those months ago. His hair was short and neat, the same color as autumn wheat, and his golden eyes shown with a curious light. He tilted his head and smiled as he made his way, carefully, down the stairs with Ed hovering only a step or two behind, ready to catch him if he fell.

"What are you doing here?" Al asked. "Not that we don't want to see you! You're always welcome here. It's just…" He paused on the steps, staring at Roy in much the same way Winry had. "Colonel…are…you crying?"

Shit, Roy realized. He really was, wasn't he?

A flash of shame went through him, making Roy want to turn away or cover his eyes, but he couldn't. It was irrational, but he was sure that if he let Al out of his sight for even a second, the flesh and blood boy would disappear.

"Sorry," Roy said, trying his best not to choke. "I just…I wasn't expecting…"

Unable to say more—he wasn't even sure what he was trying to say—Roy shook his head and strode forward. Al's eyes widened and he hurried down the last half of the stairs at a reckless pace.

"Colonel, be careful! We got inventory today from East City and it's all over the floor—!" Al missed a step and pitched headfirst down the stairs.

"Al!" Ed lunged.

Roy got there first.

"Easy Alphonse." He eased Al onto a step and grinned at the boy, pushing his golden bangs out of his face. "And you had the nerve to tell me to be careful?"

Al stared Roy in the eye, his mouth working wordlessly until he just lifted a hand and waved it back and forth in front of Roy's face. He rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't actually do anything you know. Whether I can see or not, waving like that isn't going to let you tell the difference."

"Colonel!" Al lunged at Roy, slamming into his chest and knocking them both down the last three stairs. They bounced onto the landing in a pile, and Roy 'oof-ed' when he ended up on his back with Al's elbow in his diaphragm. He really didn't care.

Seconds stretched into hours as Roy lay there, cradling the sobbing boy to his chest as he stroked soft spikes of short golden hair.

"Easy, Alphonse. I'm all right."

"But you weren't!" Al sobbed. "You weren't all right at all, and we just left you in Central!"

"Of course, you did! As you should have done. As I told you to do. Do you know how dangerous it would be for the two of you in Central once it came out that Ed's alchemy was gone and you could barely walk? You two made your fair share of enemies, and even if you hadn't, I certainly have." Levering them up with one hand, Roy scooted backward so he was leaning against the wall, still holding Al close. "You both needed the chance to recover and adapt in a safe place, and that wasn't going to happen in Central."

"What in the heck is going on?" Ed demanded, sounding a bit shaken as he descended the stairs at a slow, even pace. Roy looked up and read confusion and uncertainty in the boy's decidedly more masculine face. Their eyes locked and Ed drew a sharp breath.

"No way…"

Roy grinned. "Would you believe Knox found Dr. Marco who just happened to get his hand on another stone from somewhere?"

Ed gaped, his eyes widening like saucers, and Roy felt suddenly self-conscious. His grin faded as he eyed Ed and tried to work out what to say. One second. Five seconds. Ten seconds.

"Look, Fullmetal…Edward." Two seconds. "I know how you feel about the Philosophers Stones, and I know using one this way was selfish and maybe even wrong, but—"

"Shut up you idiot colonel," Ed said, his voice soft and tense. "You think I care about that?"

Of course, Ed cared about that. That's Roy had been trying to explain.

Reaching the landing, Ed knelt beside his brother and leaned in, almost glaring into Roy's eyes. Nine seconds. He lifted his pointer finger—his flesh and bone right finger—and held it vertically in front of Roy's face.

"Follow," Ed said before slowly moving his finger left then right then back again. Roy tracked it as ordered. He knew Ed needed this—and Al too, if his eager eyes and bated breath were any indication—so he didn't scoff or protest. Ed's hand started to shake halfway through his second pass until the tremor became too much and he dropped his hand in disbelief. Off to the side, Winry gave a choked half-sob half-squeal while Riza hummed softly in agreement.

Eleven seconds.

"When?" Ed asked.

"This morning," Roy said at once, trying to disguise his uncertainty with bravado. It didn't quite work. "I was discharged just before noon."

Ed's eyes widened. "And you came straight here?"

Roy shrugged, shifting his grip on Al so he could rest his other hand on Ed's soft, warm, flesh right arm. "I needed to see you." He looked down at Al and smiled. "Both of you."

Ed choked and ducked his head. "You…damn stupid bastard…"

Relieved, Roy finally stopped counting.

Kaliea: My endings are always so terrible! I just get to a point where I'm like, "now what?" and I just stop. I promise I'll try to get better moving forward.

Anyway, this story was totally an excuse for shameless Parental!RoyAl. I love the two of them together and they really don't get enough attention. I also couldn't get the idea out of my head of the first time Roy sees Al in the flesh, and I totally couldn't imagine him waiting even a single second after getting his vision back before deciding to head to Resembool first thing. Hence this story. It's a bit out of character near the end, but I'm using the fact that they're all still pretty high-strung emotionally following the Promised Day, plus Roy seeing Al for the first time and Al still a bit sensory deprived and Ed...well...we all know he's a softy at heart ;P

Thank's for reading!