UPDATES!: Guys, I'm about to do something I never do; I promise updates through the first act of this story. Updates every FRIDAY! It would be super awesome if you could share some love by commenting, please?

Estro Jean: I cried! Look at their beautiful fan art! instagram dot com /p/CjzCD45OOar/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y

P.S. I finished rewatching the 2003. I'm so upset with how unsatisfying it is. Now unto rewatching Brotherhood, thank fuck.

Chapter 8- Empathy

Greed smiled as Edward swung in through the open window.

"Hey, beautiful, back so soon," he greeted, baring his teeth at the boy who he would like nothing more than to take a bite out of.

Sure, he was young. But everyone was young when you were two hundred years old and his little alchemist had survived more and understood more than most war veterans.

But Ed's response was a bit off when he grinned back, "I couldn't stay away."

Greed kept his expression open, "Did you wear the black lace like I asked?"

Edward's smile never faltered as he approached the sofa.

Greed grabbed him around the waist and pulled him into an opened mouth kiss which was reciprocated in full.

Greed groaned, nothing like a shape shifter to fulfil your darkest desires.

Even Lust wasn't this delightful.

When they parted, 'Edward' leaned against him, panting, practically swooning.

Greed smirked, taking their butt in both hands and squeezed, "Hello, Envy."

Envy pressed into him, "What gave me away?"

"Edward is sixteen, and as far as I know, a virgin."

"Damn," Envy said, slumping beside him. "He's so pretty, I was sure you'd be doing him."

"It's not for lack of want," Greed said, playing his hand through the familiar golden hair.

"Maybe I should break him in for you."

Greed gripped Envy's braid and yanked his head back, baring the younger Humunculis's throat, and snarled, "He's mine."

"I don't want him," Envy said with gritted teeth. "I want to be him."

Greed sighed and pulled Envy into an embrace, kissed his cheek. "I know what your emptiness feels like."

"It's not emptiness," Envy curled closer in. "I try not to care but their cries never stop. I want them to stop. I want to be alone in my head, and I want a family. I want to be wanted and whole, not something that is… hideous, small, and I don't want it to be pretend."

Greed sighed, "The sad part is, if he could, if he knew, I think he would do just that for us. He's nothing like Father or Hohenheim… He's… someone who learned from horror what we never did."

"And what's that?" Envy said bitterly.

"How to empathise with others' pain, to know that what he feels is not bigger than whatever someone else feels."

"Humans are stupid."

"That is not something innate to being human, Envy, it's something beautiful humans are capable of."

Envy twisted to look up at him, and accused "You desire him."

Greed smirked and agreed, "I want every part of him,"

"He's a child."

"He won't be a child forever."

Envy scoffed, "He won't live forever either. That's the thing about humans, they live, they age, they die."

"That doesn't stop me from wanting."

"If you had to choose between everything and Fullmetal, what would you choose?"

"If you had to choose between humanity and immortality, which would you choose, Envy?"

"Humanity. I'm sick of being like this, I'm sick of their screams, and I'm sick of being Father's slave. But I won't leave him for a half life. I wouldn't choose this existence and death. You might not serve him any longer but you're no more free than I am."

"Only a true life and death," Greed mused.

"Fullmetal or everything?" Envy pressed.

"Fullmetal. Not that it matters, even if I had him, I would never be satisfied."

Envy sighed, dropping their head on Greed's shoulder, "We are so fucked."

Greed pressed his cheek to the top of Envy's head, "You don't have to leave Father to visit me, Envy dear."

They looked up at him with a frown that despite the face , "Why is it, out of all of us, you're the only one of us that doesn't feel like a sibling?"

Greed caught Envy's cheek in his hands, held him close, "Is that a proposition, my darling?"

Envy twisted to straddle Greed's thighs, the weight of him pressing him deliciously down in the cushions. "I would never fuck Lust. None of us would."

"I would," Greed said with a smirk. "I have."

That seemed to spur them on as they pressed their and Greed's foreheads together. Envy never wanted anything that someone else hadn't wanted first. "Why? What makes you different? What makes you so readily independent? What makes you better?"

Greed tisked, cupping Envy's cheeks in his hands. "Not better, other. You were made from his blood, his DNA, Hohenheim's DNA. You, Edward, Lust, you are all siblings, family."

"So he is Hohenheim's brat then?"

"Yes, though there is no love lost between them."

You're one of us."

"I'm not though. The Dwarf in the Flask was never my father, never Hohenheim's brother. I wasn't made from their blood, I was made from the Dwarf's soul."

Envy shook his head, "That doesn't make any sense."

It wouldn't, Greed had more of the Dwarf's memories than any of the others.

"You are the body, made from the body, the physicality of everything Father envied from Hohenheim. But I was the need that drove him before he had a body, before he knew there was a difference between the physical and the metaphysical. When he carved out greed from himself, he carved himself in half."

"Father is still greedy."

Greed smiled, bringing their lips closer, "He is. He is still envious, and lusts, and rages, he is still lazy, and glutiness, still prideful to a fault. In birthing us he lost only one thing that all of us are capable of, whether we want it or not. The one thing that makes Edward Elric-Hughes shine golden even in the darkest of nights."

"What's that?" Envy asked, breath brushing over Greed's parted lips.

"Empathy," Greed whispered against Envy's mouth, before claiming a kiss.

"Are you sure?" Maes asked.

"I have several days off that I've never taken," Roy said. "Besides it's been a while since I've done any hard research and I ought to know some of what my subordinates are capable of."

Maes looked amused and went to Edward's desk and pulled out a stack of different bound manuscripts. "If he wakes up before I get home, inform him that I gave them to you and told you they are just drafts."

Roy raised a brow, "Unpolished?"

Maes shrugged, "I am not an alchemist. I couldn't understand any of this when he was eleven. Maybe you'll have better luck."

Roy huffed and flipped open the first one on construction. There was an abstract and everything. He felt his eyes go wide.

He looked up at Maes, "Ishvalan Architecture?"

Maes half smiled and half grimaced, "I was a bit too open with him in the beginning. I don't think I really understood how much he interlized my burdens as his own."

"He's trying to make amends," Roy said, looking over at Ed who remained unmoved since the night before.

"We all are," Maes said before leaving with a salute, his demeanour changing at the drop of a hat. "Thanks again!"

Roy sighed. He hadn't particularly wanted to open this bag of emotional landmines. But seeing as his team was playing guard dogs due to the Ishvalan serial killer, it wasn't like those old nightmares were far from reach.

He began reading the text. While some of the notes carroted into the margins were tiny and more notes to self than annotations, the primary text was in the neat handwriting that had won Hawkeye over to Edward's fanclub on day one.

The text itself was oddly riveting and insightful despite how practical the text was.

It was obvious Fullmetal was battling his admiration for Ishvalan culture and his want to not overstep what reparations the Amestris might provide.

The text explained the actecute needs. The main houses were the more upscale ones but it was actually more efficient in a city that was plotted from the beginning rather than had Ishval had actually grown from a tribal desert people to a city.

It brought back far too many memories but it also gave Roy appreciation for the things he had seen and destroyed of a people he had never understood.

Like the temple being the centre of their city. The highest point, the heart of their people.

And Fullmetal's solutions?

Exceptitional.

There was little to no use of alchemy aside from securing the water ways, which, given the restraints of the desert, was understandable. Even with all the modern technology at their disposal, Alchemy was still the most reliable way to find and reach water reservoirs.

Outside of that, was providing raw resources. Not building for them, but giving them the tools and resources to rebuild.

And resources… it was better than money. Money was cold and drove corruption, no matter the people, but organising the trade routes and ensuring they had what they actually needed?

It would mean no one would get away with any racial refusal to provide services or goods. Afterall, what was the point of giving back if you made them pay for it?

The other drafts were more alchemy based and less depressing to read. Roy felt as if he were being taken to school.

The arrays were as complicated as they were beautiful, on the surface, they were stupidly complicated, but in reality, they weren't so much complicated as specified.

Arrays varied in complexity, some that depended more on the alchemist's will and knowledge while other arrays did exactly as they were designed to do only functioning if the right elements were present and from the alchemist's energy.

These arrays were, from what Roy understood of Edward, beneath him. Arrays like these could be used by any alchemist, without them needing to understand what they were doing or what the end product was.

The sheer amount of swirls and specifics were clever as any alteration would make them useless, meaning they couldn't be used as weapons.

Afterall, if an alchemist wanted to destroy a building, or the plumbing, there were easier ways than trying to figure out how to alter these arrays.

It was a glorious amount of paranoia against the military while being excellent state building.

Edward truly was Maes Hughes's son, and more than that, he was likely his pride and joy.

His hope.

If Roy made it to the Fuhrer, then he could do the dirty work, while people like Edward could inherit something more than ruin, and make something worthy out of it.

Gracia came up with lunch without Roy realising how many hours had passed.

"I'm glad we have someone who can appreciate Ed's work now," she said, closing the door with a foot behind her.

"Are the girls not allowed in here?" Roy asked.

"No, Edward doesn't like to share this part of himself with the girls. He doesn't even use it around the house since Elicia could crawl. And he used to use it all the time," she said, a bit wistful.

Roy frowned at that, "Now that he has become a State Alchemist, Elicia must be interested?"

Gracia smiled, "Oh no, Ed still does the majority of his research out of this room. As far as Elicia and Nina are concerned, alchemy is the result of infinite boredom. Though, I think Nina has other reasons to dislike alchemy."

Roy tilted his head to the side, "And you're not bothered by that, with a tutor like Edward, your daughter would have more than a headstart."

Gracia placed the plated sandwich and glass of water on the desk and sat beside Ed and combed her hand through his unbound hair. "When I first met Edward, he was hurting. And Maes… Maes wasn't the man I first met before the war. He tried to be of course, but war takes a toll on everyone who it touches."

Roy flinched, he had been too much of a mess after the war to help himself, much less Maes. No Maes, who had been deployed home before Roy, had been the one to pull Roy out of his own inner hell.

"Maes never lost his— the spark that made him him," Gracia continued. "He always showed that to me, but Edward existed within the darkness that haunted Maes, and allowed a space where he could be. When I moved in with them, Ed was entirely welcoming but he didn't need a mother." She smiled down at Edward with such a look…

"But you love him," Roy stated.

"Oh, I do," Gracia said. "But it's a bit more like having a brother-in-law. Ed does see Maes as his father but their relationship is a bit more free flowing than that. They pulled each other up. All this is to say, Ed lost his innocence before he came to Central. And I don't know how that happened, but I suspect it has something to do with alchemy. So no, when you ask me if I'm upset that Ed doesn't share his wealth of knowledge with my daughter, the answer is no. I'm thankful he is devoted to keeping her safe, to ensuring she has a childhood. He's a better brother than he is an alchemist."

Roy glanced down at his own hands, "Alchemy is power, and all power comes at a cost."

Gracia smiled, and reached out to squeeze one of Roy's hands, "Ed is Maes's son, and he has traumas, but he isn't a child. Don't forget that."

Roy raised a brow, "You aren't worried for him then?"

Gracia shook her head, showing the conversation was at its end when she stood. "I worry for him, like I worry for Maes and for you. Now, eat, and—" She grabbed a blank pad of paper and a pen. "I would write down any questions or ideas you have. I think he's a bit starved for intelligent conversation."

Roy snorted, "Maes talks circles around me."

She tapped Edward's manuscript, "Not on these subjects, or at least not on the science and arrays behind it."

Roy sighed, placing it down on the desk and reaching for the glass of water, "I suppose I have some research to catch up on."

Gracia smiled, "The three of you working together, are going to remake the future." She stood, "Yell if you need anything."

He nodded thinking over everything he had read so far. He found himself eating with one hand and writing with the other.

He was only a quarter of the way through his manuscript on metals, and these read a lot more like notes, isolated pages, half imagined theories, and more questions than answers.

It was insanely interesting. He hadn't had this much fun since the beginning of his training.

When he had been studying with an enigmatic professor and his beautiful daughter, and if he was honest, Riza had been the main motivation for him to learn alchemy. Studying under her father had been one of the only ways to remain in her circle.

Things had always come easy to him, his studies, athletics, marksmanship, grades, and women.

Riza Hawkeye hadn't been easy.

Neither was flame alchemy.

Hopefully, it wouldn't end the same for Fullmetal.

Roy froze, remembering Maes's theory that Edward had attempted the taboo at age eleven.

So in reality, both Roy and Fullmetal had come by their alchemy by way of horror.

That was not something he wished to have in common with the young man.

"Why do you look horrified at the process of removing toxic metals from water?"

Roy's head jerked up, "Um—"

Edward was sitting up in bed, watching him.

Roy flushed a bit, both at having zoned out and being caught reading another alchemist's work without their explicit permission, "Your father gave me these to read, Gracia told me to take notes, and I was told that these were drafts not finished ideas. However, if I didn't know you were brilliant already, any one of these ideas would have qualified you for the military."

Fullmetal smiled a bit, "Most of those ideas came from you."

Roy blinked and looked down at the manuscript, "These solutions are a bit beyond me. I studied alchemy, perfected my arrays, but I was never a researcher or inventor. These aren't my primary elements of study."

"You didn't invent your sigil?"

Sigil.

Not array, sigil.

It was perhaps a more apt description of the design on his glove. It wasn't the full array that Riza's father had designed. Nor in fact could anyone use the design without knowing the original array.

"No, it wasn't my invention."

Edward smirked, "But it's yours now. I get the theory of what you're doing, changing gas particles, but even if I could conceptualise the gas needed for that, the array as drown would blow up in my face."

That had happened once to an alchemist who had tried to prove he could be the Flame Alchemist's equal. He had copied it down exactly from a newspaper picture.

The fool had exploded his lungs and airways. It had been, at least, a swift death.

Not wanting to lead anyone down that avenue of research, he redirected back to Ed's earlier statement,"How did I come up with any of these ideas?"

"You identified the problems. I used to listen to you and Dad talk on the phone all the time. You are very critical of the State."

Roy rubbed his neck, uncomfortable with the idea that his subordinate had been listening to him bitch for years unfiltered. "Yes, well being a dog—"

"I meant it as a compliment," Edward interrupted. "I actually think it was a good thing you were sent to the East. Central is really closed off to the problems East City either has or rubs shoulders with. The capital hides its faults better."

Roy looked back down at the essay he had been reading, "Three years ago, when everyone in a mining town south of us got sick but it was hushed up when they found high deposits of lead had seeped into the drinking supplies…"

"Lead might be good for bullets but bad for people."

"A law passed against mining for lead in large quantities," Roy remarked.

"That didn't magically make everything better though, did it?" Edward asked. "I haven't figured out a way to pull the metal from a large source reliably yet. there's a lot of factors involved where the water comes from, as well as how much of the ground is naturally and unnaturally exposed."

Roy blinked. "Are you upset that Maes didn't introduce us sooner?"

Roy thought he might be.

"That depends," Edward said with a smirk, how well did you actually understand my research?" There was a challenge in the teen's tone.

Roy fought a smile of his own, handed the boy the glass of water before they began talking in depth about Edward's research. Roy did end up having to look back at his notes and Edward's theories a few times, solid elements weren't his speciality. He knew enough to engage in debate however, considering almost all alchemy studies began with stone and metal.

But then their discussion turned to his own studies, studies rarely shared. Alchemy was a jealous art. Yet Edward seemed to delight in learning as much as he did sharing his knowledge, given how much he had opened up with his own research, research that was so clearly designed for the public good.

"How much can you control the direction and intensity? You're not like the Crimson Alchemist, you're not doing small or large explosions, I mean you can presumably do explosions but flame itself can burn weaker than a candle."

It was nice not to be put in the same camp as Kimblee. Even if Roy had technically killed more people than the Crimson Alchemist, they were two very different people and alchemists.

Kimblee had been a sociopathic killer who liked to watch people explode and delighted in destruction. As far as Roy could tell, his interest in science began and ended with how big the explosion was and how many people he could decimate with it.

Even then, the bastard had been a sadist, enjoying close up kills to see their fear and pain.

"Hold out your hands, away from your face," Roy said, reaching into his pocket for a glove.

Edward complied instantly and asked, "Oxygen restriction?"

Roy couldn't stop the small smile that pulled at his lips; very few people would have assumed the request to be to keep the fire away from their face rather than to avoid discomfort in breathing while he manipulated the gases in the air. "Correct."

Maes was right about them getting along.

"Ready?" he asked.

Ed grinned, waggling his fingers, the metal ones catching the evening light.

Roy snapped.

The thing about manipulating gas was that it truly felt like wielding magic. The elements in the air moved too fast to actually account for. But there were percentages and intentions. Unless it was a large scale attack he could prevent oxygen from burning. He simply drew what he needed along the path he needed it and only allowed the alchemy to transform what he wished into the flame.

The spark created by the gloves was to spare him the energy of rapidly speeding items to burning levels.

Very much like a partial transmutation but there was no point at which someone could actually see the transmutation marks.

No, visually, large or small, the fire and sparks always danced. A living breathing substance.

It was fun.

Light danced around Fullmetals fingers in a quick stream of light, he popped a burst over the metal palm and let the light spiral for a second in his flesh hand before letting the flame streak out.

The wide eyed awe and delight on Fullmetal's face was immensely gratifying and the smile he flashed Roy's was impossible not to return.

"No," Edward said.

"No?" Roy returned in question.

"I'm not mad Dad kept us apart, I would have been bitter about not learning how to do this."

Roy wouldn't have taught him not then or now, but he had to ask, "And what did time change?"

Edward shrugged, "At twelve I think I believed I could do anything I set my mind to."

"If I was willing, and I'm not, I have no doubts you could learn this," he said.

Edward grinned again, "Yeah, maybe but that's not really the point. Just because I can learn anything doesn't mean I can learn everything nor that I should try. Anything is not equivalent to everything. I only have so much time and I have my own projects." His smile grew, "Besides deweaponizating arrays requires a lot of backwards thinking."

Roy laughed, "I noticed. Any idiot could activate most of your arrays, but it would be easier to start from scratch on any one of them than altering them for destruction. The brass would hate you for these."

Ed shrugged, "I mean building things can still cause damage."

"True but anyone with the power to do so could summon a wall through another building."

Edward shrugged again, "Removing metals from water has been the most difficult in that regard. The arrays I've drawn so far could easily be reversed to poison the water or, considering the body is 70% percent water, yank the iron out of the body and starve the cells."

"Might be good for metal poisoning. Such as lead or mercury poisoning," Roy countered.

Ed blinked, "I… I hadn't thought of that."

"It is the drawback of studying in a vacuum."

Edward shuttered, "I wouldn't want to be the cause for anyone doing test trials on living organisms though."

"That is more than fair," Roy said, thinking of Laboratory 5.

"Could we—" Edward began but bit his cheek then forged ahead. "Could we continue this regularly? Or like semi-regularly? I know you're busy but even my friends who enjoy science aren't actually alchemists."

"Of course, Edward, it would be my pleasure." Roy said and because he was a bastard; "Are you going to tell me why you fainted?"

Edward ducked his head, "No, is Maes home?"

"No."

Edward frowned, "Then why are you here?"

"Peace of mind."

Fullmetal looked out the window knowing the light, "So you took time off to babysit me, why?"

Roy sighed, "There are currently two serial killers. One is hunting women of lower classes as you saw, and the other is killing State Alchemists. Five dead so far. All of us have been placed under guard."

Edward's eyes went wide and his voice rose, "They're coming here? Is my family—"

"Fullmetal," Roy cut through his rising panic. "He's a hand to hand fighter." Roy snapped again and flame whisked around Edward's metal arm. "We will be okay."

Edward was still frowning, "Still, I should be here—"

"You think panicking Elicia is preferable to being able to protect your family if he comes looking for you here. He's an Ishavalan man with an 'X' shaped scar on his face. He might be targeting Alchemists, but Maes was a soldier in Ishval as well."

Edward scowled, pulling back the covers.

His leg was automail up to mid-thigh. Roy couldn't imagine having such an injury at eleven, much less enduring the automail surgery.

"Fullmetal," Roy warned.

"I'm just going to the restroom, breathe, Colonel."

"You're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Edward said without looking at him.

Roy stood and Edward tensed.

"I'll go tell Gracia you're awake. I'm sure you're hungry."

Edward looked over his shoulder, "Thanks— I think I'll take a shower too."

Roy nodded and left without any more preamble.

"He awake?" Gracia asked.

"He stepped into the shower," Roy said, taking a seat at the table.

Havoc, Breda, and Maria Ross were seated at the table. Roy wasn't thrilled to be under watch either. But it was at least a weight off to know he was listening for sounds of distress not the creaks in an empty.

Of course, because it was Riza staying with him, it was more like waiting for orders and or gun shots.

Or her sliding into bed with him like she had last night.

He tried to think of the feel of her beneath his hands as he went to the phone, and rang to headquarters.

—Hughes.

"He's up. Aside from an appetite, he's fine."

—Good. There's been another killing. Stay there. Hawkeye is riding home with me tonight. See you at dinner.

Maes hung up before Roy could argue.

He sighed and put the phone back onto the receiver, only to him when it rang in his hand. He answered, "Hughes residence."

—This is Shou Tucker, I need to speak with Gracia.

Fists and a barking sounded from the front door.

Three guns pointed at the door, but Roy was familiar enough with the sounds of crying children. He opened the door without checking through the peephole, the pounding had been within two feet of the bottom of the door.

Nina came darting past him, chestnut brown hair unbound and streaming behind her as Alexander, a puppy that was nearly the same size as Nina ran beside her.

The officers lowered their weapons as Roy relocked the door.

Gracia came sprinting around the corner, sliding on sock covered feet, "Nina!?"

Ross had caught Elicia before she could leave her seat.

Nina ignored them all as she shouted, "Big brother!"

"Nina!" Elicia yelled but Ross convinced the little girl to stay while Nina pounded up the stairs.

Roy noticed there was a voice yelling into the receiver and he picked it up, "Nina and Alexander are here."

—Thank you. Can I speak with, he began but Gracia was there taking the phone from Roy's hand.

He passed it to her and followed the little girl up the steps.

"Nina!" Edward exclaimed as he emerged from his room in soft pants and a tank top. His hair was still damp from the shower. He immediately went to his knees to scoop up the distraught child.

"Nina," Edward repeated, petting her hair. "What happened?"

Nina pushed back, sitting on Edward's legs as he sat more solidly on the floor of the hallway.

Roy stayed on the stairs, ready to step in if he was needed.

"She left! Mommy left! She didn't even say goodbye!"

Roy watched the devastation cross Edward's face as she pulled her back into an embrace. "I'm so sorry."

The girl clung to Edward and said through heavy sobs. "She hated his alchemy! I hate it too! I don't like the animals in the basement, they scream and smell and never get to see the sun! But why did Mommy leave me!?"

"I don't know, Nina. But I understand my dad left too when I was a little older than you. He didn't say goodbye either."

"Why does she hate me!?" Nina keened.

Edward hushed her pulling her in tighter for a hug, rubbing her back in soothing circles as the white dog whined at the girl's distress.

"I promise, Nina, your mom didn't leave you because she hates you. It wasn't about you at all."

Nina pushed back to look up at Edward. "No, it's alchemy's fault! Because of Daddy's stupid test! I hate it! I hate State Alchemists! Why'd you have to be one too, Ed? I hate you!"

Roy's breath caught, his heart breaking for them both.

Nina waited for Edward to argue with her or defend himself and her father.

But Fullmetal did none of those things. "That's okay, Nina. It's okay to be angry, it's okay to hate alchemy and your dad's work. It's even okay to hate me, but only if you remember how much I love you and that I'll always be here if you need me."

Nina hiccupped on another sob, "I didn't mean it, Big Brother— I— I…"

Edward pulled her back into an embrace and held her as the little girl's world fell to pieces around her.

Roy back down the steps, remembering what Gracia and Maes had been trying to tell him about not being a child. The teen needed support because he took far too much responsibility onto his own shoulders.

Roy wasn't certain he had the emotional maturity to comfort a sobbing child who had just been abandoned by his mother.

AN: I would be incredibly grateful for any feedback on this story or chapter :D