Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 18

Fullmetal's Confession

"I… after we got married… I heard reports of some suspicious activities near the border of West and East Sectors… I went to check it out while we were near the area, when we went on vacation." Roy nodded, and waited for him to continue.

"Terra was going to have our first child soon… and I shouldn't have dragged her with me… when I got there, I found that Gluttony, the Homunculus, had somehow… come back." Roy was sitting opposite of Fullmetal in a chair, gripping the armrest until his knuckles were white. Ed sat in between them, looking the very picture of bewilderment and confusion. Homunculus? Gluttony? Wasn't gluttony when kids at school stole lunch money?

"He grabbed her and said he'd kill her if I didn't help him bring the other Homunculus back… and…" he stared at his hands and clenched them tightly. "I did it… I couldn't lose her, not then, not ever…" Roy's eyes narrowed and he kept himself in check, realizing that he was on the edge of another wrathful lash out.

"And then… and then… they let us go… and we went back to Rizenbul for a while… and then we moved nearer to East City… both of our houses were gone, weren't they? Burned to the ground…" Roy nodded in confirmation and Ed looked at the floor, trying to reason out why on earth he was hearing what should be a top secret conversation for higher ups in the military only.

"We had our first son, a month or two after that… we named him Edgar… Four years after Edgar was born, we had another son. Terra wanted to name him Edward Junior, but I didn't. I let her have her way in the end…" he smiled a little, sadly, as he remembered the light hearted bickering they had gone through just to name their second son.

"Fullmetal… before you go any further with this… I want you to meet the Halfmetal Alchemist." Ed's head shot up and looked at Roy as if he were crazy. What was he possibly thinking of?

"Halfmetal… there was a reason you named him that, isn't there Fuhrer?" he asked inquisitively. "Show him your arm," he commanded Ed. Ed rolled up his sleeve acquiescently to reveal his automail arm. Fullmetal sucked in his breath quickly. "How did you lose it?"

"I don't know. Dad said I was born without one." A flicker of guilt flashed across Roy's face for an instant, but then receded into his horribly unsettling calm demeanor. Fullmetal stared at the Flame Arm Alchemist. "What do you know that we don't, Fuhrer?" he spat testily.

Roy got up from the chair. "I thought that you might see the resemblance yourself, Fullmetal. Just because the house burned down, doesn't mean everyone went with it!"

Fullmetal looked Ed in the eyes, and then it occured to him why the boy looked so familiar: He looked just like him. Ed seemed not to have grasped the concept, and was still floundering around for an answer that made more sense. He looked up at Roy beseechingly.

"Dad..."

Roy looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "You must have realized by now, Ed, that you weren't our son..." Ed stood up quickly, the chair falling backwards. "N-no! What are you talking about? You've been there since I was a baby, you're lying!" he backed away from Edward, almost tripping over the chair. "You were a baby when we picked you out of the burnt wreckage, not even a year old, I don't think. You lost your arm in that fire. It was too badly burned and crushed; it had to come off."

"B-but... but what about...?"

"Al and Alley? Your cousins. They were in the same fire, but unharmed. Those two were six months old at the most. They know as well, I think. You were probably the only one who refused to acknowledge the fact that you weren't our son..." Fullmetal was still staring at the floor, in his head thinking that there was no way this reuniting could have gone more wrong.

"Dammit! You're lying, you have to be! This can't... it isn't true!" he ran out of the building and onto the street, staring around him wildly for some place to go, anywhere but there. Before Roy could step out after him, he had disappeared from view. "Ed..." he turned to Fullmetal. "Fullmetal... once you brought the Homunculus back, how long did you really think that they'd leave you in peace?" he said coldly. "I couldn't... leave her..."

"She would have rather died than be at fault for this! Do you realize what you have done? Do you have any idea of the magnitude of it?" Edward's shoulders shook and a tear rolled down his cheek. "What would you have done, Roy?" Roy stopped. "What would you have done if it had been Riza?"

"Riza would have told me to go. She would have told me to leave her and never come back, no matter how frightened she was."

Edward stared at him. "She wouldn't have wanted me to bring back the one thing we had worked so hard to destroy, the things that we have lost so much for. Hughes... Elysia and Gracia... and everyone else who was harmed by those monsters... You owed them that much for not bringing them back! What do you think they've been doing all these years, Edward? I've been doing my best to help and to rebuild, but if whole towns are demolished by a single Homunculus, how the hell do I run this country?"

"Edward... this only shows how little you've grown up after all these years. And now... Now who do you have by your side? She's gone, Edward. Gone. Because of you."

Roy stormed off to his room leaving Edward to mull over his words, and to shed tears of guilt.

Aaagh... that was a lot of beating up on Edward, even for Roy. Poor Edward, and Ed. How will they ever look each other in the faces ? This is a fine predicament I've set up for myself. It seems that all notes I had put down for after this chapter have been unwittingly trashed, so from here on out, I'm writing purely off of the top of my head! Bear with me, dear reviewers, it might be a bumpy ride ahead. - T A