Solid Gold Rabbits
Chapter one
By: Lunatic with a Hero Complex
Many people refused to acknowledge the true worth that Edward Elric had had for the military. People in power do not like to admit they're dependent on anyone.
It was fact, not conjecture.
Roy Mustang was uncomfortably familiar with the tendencies of military power.
Edward Elric had also been well acquainted in that area. He just hadn't cared half as much.
But Roy had a story to tell; he was not here to be absorbed in self-analysis.
He supposed it had all started with a Bloody Mary.
He had not previously known the elder Elric to be a drinker. He knew for a fact that the younger was not.
Even without the armor shell, Alphonse Elric more than likely had a strong personal vendetta against alcohol.
Apparently, Edward felt no such reservations.
So Roy found out when he wandered into a small bar two blocks from Central.
He'd been here once or twice.
Not religiously.
He was scouting for potentially pleasing female company when his eyes first scanned over, then recalled, then came to rest on a strangely familiar head of blonde hair, and an also familiar red jacket.
Strange wasn't it that the first thing he recognized on the boy was his hair. It was not a healthy sign indeed that he knew anyone's hair but his own quite that well. But he was strongly intent on intoxicating himself and squandering such oppressive, complicated thoughts.
His surprise quickly transmuted to anger at the site of the rather full shot of whiskey that the boy was downing.
However, he supposed Fullmetal was quickly leaving behind the boy stage. He was after all 17 years old now.
And yet so short.
He moved in the direction of the bar, taking a seat to the immediate left of the Elric. The kid didn't even acknowledge his presence, just ordered another shot.
Roy ordered a Bloody Mary. He assumed Ed's watch had gotten him around the age restrictions at the bar.
While he waited on his drink, he turned on his bar stool, "Fullmetal, I highly doubt that it is at all healthy for someone with your…smaller frame…to consume too much alcohol."
No shouts.
No rants.
Ed just turned his head and delivered a withering stare. Dull golden eyes. As if to say, Why do you keep up such stupid, childish, games?
For a moment, The Great Flame Alchemist felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
He tried to shake it off.
Ed spoke, "Just be quiet Mustang, you're in a holy place." A quiet smirk. He rose, laid money on the bar, and left, leaving nothing in his wake.
Automatically, a wind up soldier at the best of times, Roy followed.
He laid his own buck on the bar and exited.
When he came out into the snow, all he saw was a red coat disappearing around the corner.
He pursued.
For three blocks, Mustang followed, keeping a good distance behind on the near deserted streets. Not once, did Ed even look up. It was as though the path he was traveling was so ingrained in his mind that to think about it was useless. Although, he didn't seem too happy about the destination.
Ed turned a corner at the end of the third block and when Mustang followed him around it, the boy was gone. There was a row of doors on this street and he supposed Fullmetal could be behind one of them, but there was no way of knowing which one.
So Roy, turned for home, all thoughts of female companionship lost.
If he had known just how far past alcohol the older Elric's problems went, he probably would not have gone home.
The man's gold clinked with finality on his automail hand. He walked to the dresser that came with his room and opened the top left drawer. He lifted the false bottom and put the money in it, placing his back in the man's eye line. His first customer of the night was in his late forties, balding. What hair that remained was a dull mousy brown. He had a thin layer of perspiration on his upper lip.
A first timer.
Or, as it was sometimes called in this house, new money.
Edward undid his braid and put the tie on the dresser, he shook out the loose waves that came from the long time style and moved towards the man. It looked like he was going to have to take charge; he had to earn the buck after all.
He grabbed the man's hand, and the poor guy almost hit the roof. He pulled him towards the bed, and pushed the man backwards onto the dark red comforter. He straddled the extremely nervous man and began to unbutton the poor clod's shirt, moving slowly down, making it smoother for the customer.
Half way down, the twitchy looking man seemed to grow a backbone, and he took over, grabbing Ed by the hips and reversing the positions, from then on out, he just rode out the man's energy.
Inexplicably, as the man began to get started, a flash of a different face flew before him. Black hair, blacker eyes. Pale skin and the devil's glance.
Perhaps he could not explain logically the presence of that face in his mind at a time like this, but anything, logical or not, was better than what reality looked like at this moment.
The man lasted all of two minutes and he climbed off of Edward. He pulled his pants up over his ankles and buttoned his shirt. Edward was re-braiding his hair in the mirror when the man clinked four extra gold pieces on the vanity and left, murmuring a quiet, and timid, "Thank you."
Putting away the rest of the money, he moved back out into the lobby. In his head a bell tolled, and an unfamiliar voice said, Next.
Roy woke, for the first morning in many, without a hangover. It made sense. He had, after all, never received the Bloody Mary he'd ordered at the bar last night, and he certainly hadn't gone anywhere else before coming home.
Not, that he was complaining. The clear headed, painless, optimistic feeling he'd had when he woke up this morning was remarkably addictive, ironic of course because it only came from lack of addictive substances.
He rose and decked himself quickly in the uniform of his profession, ambition, and rank, and made ready to head to Head Quarters. Hangover or no hangover, he had no time to pause and enjoy it, he was not going to bite that literal bullet for the sake of celebration.
Locking up his home, he walked to the building, four blocks away. It was a blissfully sunny morning, a thing that, in his usual morning condition, was far more of a bane than any type of blessing.
When he arrived, cheerful and oddly resigned to his paperwork, Edward Elric was already waiting on him. In a rush, the former night's events came back to him and he felt concerned all over again. He forced it into the back of his mind. Obviously Full Metal was okay, as his presence here, this Goddamn early, showed.
Nonetheless, for a moment, Roy completely lacked the remembrance of why Ed was there. Then he spotted the slightly thick stack of paper in his hands and he remembered. A mission report.
Roy's own request.
One he was rather thankful for. He felt the urge to use it to corner the little blonde devil. All right, so he was a little worried. Or maybe bored. Who knew?
He went into his office, and without a word, Full Metal followed him, closing the door with his spare arm behind him.
Roy sat down in the chair behind his desk and gave a full minute of silence to allow Edward any ranting time. The boy remained silent, and standing.
Roy was about to initiate conversation when Ed shifted his head. He brought into brief viewing a bite mark on the part of his neck that was three inches away from smoothing into a muscular collarbone. Then the head moved back and the neck of the black shirt obscured the mark once more.
For a moment, his mouth was stayed. And then it resumed its normal course, "What information did you get?"
Bored, "Nothing useful, a few amateur alchemists and some funny parrots, no real mystery, just a misunderstanding.
It was completely free of complaints, or anger, or jibes at Roy's personal character. Clean cut, dry account. Moving on.
"Where's Alphonse?"
"In Risembool, with the Rockbells…bastard."
The nickname was tacked on the end of the answer, like a last minute, forgotten addition. As though the inner Elric no longer really felt the inclination to use the term, but tradition must be served. It was a little strange how docile the blonde was being today. It would be frightening if it weren't so damned suspicious.
"Ahhh, well Full Metal, this will come as surprise to someone with such a…short… history of vacations, but at the moment there is no where that the military requires you to go."
"Don't call me short."
He turned, and left. The anger that had been forced into that last sentence had been just that, forced, fake. Gaudy jewelry meant to fool the jeweler. It hadn't really worked.
He felt the inexplicable urge to not let the boy walk out of the door yet. It felt like something important would be irrevocably lost if he was allowed to leave now.
Mustang stood. He moved quickly around his desk and out of his office, towards the door.
Edward was only halfway out of the office. Lucky. "Full Metal."
He turned, bangs obscuring half of his face.
"I wasn't quite finished."
Roy caught up with him and he joined him in the hall, "Though we don't have anywhere for you to go, we do need your assistance with a certain branch of research. I need you to report here at 1900 this evening."
For a moment, emotion, real emotion, alarm, ran through golden eyes, and a not unnoticed hand came up subconsciously to rest on the spot that Mustang knew hid a bite mark. Edward looked ready to protest, excuse himself, Roy couldn't allow it, "This is crucial work Full Metal, I can't take no, you will be there."
Edward nodded, docile once again, whatever had alarmed him, seemed to have been put to rest.
Then, wonders of all wonders, he saluted, and with a quick, "Yes, sir." He was gone. Roy turned back to his office, marveling at the show of military respect and desperately trying to come up with something that seemed vital for the boy to research at 7:00 P.M. this evening.
The solid meat of an overweight fist connected with the right side of his head. Stars of pain bloomed in his vision and he fell to the floor. Never, never in his entire life had he so willingly let someone beat the living hell out of him like he had for the past 3 weeks.
A boot javelined into his ribs and the force propelled him over onto his stomach. He coughed and a large spot of blood landed on the splintery whorehouse floor. The wood absorbed the wetness, and in a few seconds, all that remained was the faint red stain.
"Are you kidding me, kid? Tonight is the busiest night of the week and you want it off? Do ya think I won't do what I said I would? Well, you little shit, I sure as hell will, and it will be even worse if you don't cooperate."
Edward wiped the blood off of the corner of his mouth, leaving a red stain on his automail wrist, and stared up at the hulking mass of a man, "If I don't go, then my commanding officer will get suspicious, and curious, and then he may come back to you, do you want that to happen? It's just this one night. I won't let it happen again."
Sid Raines leaned down and gripped the young man by the collar, lifting him up to his eye line, "It better not happen again, or you'll get more than a busted lip, do you understand?"
Ed's eyes moved down to the floor, "Yes."
"Good, now go downstairs, and work the time you have left, cut my losses."
He dropped him and Ed hit the floor with a thump.
The large man walked out of the room, leaving Ed on the floor, wheezing slightly.
For a moment, the blonde worked excruciatingly hard to fight back the violent tears that wanted to spill out and join his blood in the wood grain.
He won.
He stood.
He moved out into the lobby, and waited for the first customer of the afternoon.
He had found it surprisingly easy to find something for Full Metal to research. Looking in the back history files, he found a murder case that had remained unsolved. Five women murdered quite brutally, all of them astoundingly beautiful. Mustang had no idea why the case had been abandoned, but he knew it was the perfect opportunity, legitimate and functional, to keep Full Metal in close sight.
When the boy came in, the large, purple and black bruise that was blooming spectacularly around the boy's right eye and down his cheek struck him immediately.
Then, he noticed the dark rings under the boy's eyes, and the slumped, half dead gait. "Full Metal, what in the hell happened to you?"
The boy grinned, so fake it was sad, "Wasn't looking where I was going, ran into a post. I'll have to be more careful."
For now, Roy would accept, but he knew damn well, that that bruise had not come from running into a post; it looked more like he had run into a fist.
"Fine, sit down, I have the files ready."
He sat down, and imperceptibly winced when his thighs rubbed together.
Roy's eyes narrowed, but he nonetheless handed over the files, "The military closed this case a few years back, but their interest has recently renewed itself. The culprit was never apprehended."
Full Metal opened the folder, and flipped through the pages, when he came to the pictures, he paused, "Were there any suspects?"
Roy nodded, pleased, good he was interested, "Just one, but it was never proved, and the military has since lost track of him, a man by the name of Sidney Raines. Now we…"
He had stopped, because when the name left his mouth, the folder had left Ed's hands. It was lying scattered on the floor, and Edward had a look of utmost horror on his face, as though he'd been told that all of his nightmares were completely and utterly real, and very close.
Roy leaned forward, "Full Metal, Full Metal…Edward!"
The boy shook his head and his eyes cleared, "I apologize Mustang, I momentarily lost my concentration, continue." He leant down and began gathering up the papers that were spilled.
Roy's next words obviously caught him off guard, "Full Metal, do you know this man?"
For a moment, Ed's back froze. Then it moved again and he continued picking up the papers, "What man, I don't think I heard the name you mentioned."
It was a badly told and obvious lie.
"Sidney Raines."
A slight shudder, almost not there, "No, I don't believe I've ever heard of him."
"All right."
He finally had all the papers back in the folder, and he went back to flipping through them. Pausing at each picture to study the images. Finally, he looked back up, "Why has the military expressed interest after such a long time?"
"The military feels that such a horrendous crime should never have been left unattended in the first place and they wish to resolve it as quickly as possible."
A real smirk, "Oh, Public Relations, a good reputation makes a willing public, I understand."
Roy said nothing, everything he had just spouted might be bullshit, but in all likelihood, it was probably something that the military would stoop to doing, using the death of five young women to further their public interests.
Quick lies my friend, quick lies.
"You may read through the files, I have some paperwork to finish, just ask me if you have any questions, but I can't allow the files to leave the office."
Edward nodded. His mind was somewhere else again.
Roy nodded back and proceeded to continue with the work that Hawkeye had forced upon him upon learning that he was going to be remaining in the office this evening.
Ed moved to the couch. For the first thirty minutes, he avidly and dutifully read the files. However after a period, Roy noticed his eyes getting more and more lidded.
And finally when he looked up, the kid was asleep. His head was leaning against the back of the couch and the bruise was now fully exposed to the best light. And Mustang was free to examine it at will.
Yes, he had been in enough battles to recognize the difference between something hit by an inanimate object and something hit by a living breathing force. The brand on Full Metal's face was clearly the work of an angry fist.
The boy looked exhausted, haggard even. And yet, there was still an unreal sense of beauty about him. When he wasn't scrunched up in anger, it was far more obvious. He tried so hard to hide it, but face it or not, he was a beautiful person.
And for the safety of that beautiful person, Roy was going to find out what was going on behind the scenes in a day in the life of a blonde headed Elric.
But for now, he was going to take Full Metal home, there was no way the boy was spending the night on The Flame Alchemist's couch.
Roy put the file back in his drawers, and put on his coat, Full Metal had never removed his.
He lifted the incredibly light body, too light, and flicked off the light switch. He moved down into the street and walked the two blocks to the military barracks, and came to the Elrics' room, which of course, was now only occupied by one of the brothers. He opened it; it was unlocked, and moved in, closing the door behind him. The room was surprisingly bare.
A bed, a window, a chair at a desk, an overloaded bookshelf, a lamp on the bed stand, and then the door into the bathroom.
Positively Spartan.
He put the boy on the bed, and removed his coat.
A quick intake of breath. The boy's arms.
They were covered in bruises. There must be at least twenty.
Finger shaped bruises.
There was definitely something that Full Metal was not saying.
And Roy Mustang would find out what it was.