Left Behind

Eleven years later...

"Take it back, damn you, take it back!" Roy was straddling another boy and punching as hard as he could into the other boy's face, rolling on the concrete floor and bumping into the brick wall of the school. His uniform was already ripped in five different places, his the knees of his pants wearing thin and becoming dirty, and his face was bleeding and bruised, but he didn't care. He seized the other boy's collar and slammed him into the ground, pushing his face closer to his opponant's. "Take it back," he breathed. A teacher came up from behind him and grabbed him under his arms, forcing him away from the other boy and Roy dug his heels in, unwilling to let his foe go so easily. "Let me GO!" he cried, lashing out at whoever was holding him. The teacher stilled his hands and he looked back, his eyes widening a little. "Auntie Gracia!"

"Stop it, Roy." A vein in his temple bulged and he struggled a little more.

"But I can't just let him get away!"

"What did he do to you?"

"He called me a bastard, the little-"

"Roy!"

"I'm sorry Aunt Gracia..."

"You beat him up, isn't that enough?" But the look in Roy's eyes told her that no, it wasn't enough, that something even worse had transpired to work Roy up into such a rage. She kept a firm grip on him and led him to the office, forcing him into a chair until the principal got there. The principal came, eventually, and when he did, Roy had his legs crossed and was leaning back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest.

"Roy, this is the fourth fight this month."

"Yeah? Tell me all about it."

"Your temper is impossible to deal with, you're altogether a destructive boy... and unbelievably arrogant." Roy's eyes flamed again but he said nothing, his hands tightening on his arms until the knuckles were white. "All in all, you're just like your father, and you'll end up dead, just like him."

"Don't talk about my father like that!" Roy roared, jumping up from the seat. "What could you know about my father? You don't know anything!"

"I've called your mother, she's coming to get you. I never want to see your face in this school again."

Roy gritted his teeth and turned on his heel, striding out the door, pulling off his uniform top uncerimoniously and tossing it back into the office in tatters. Gracia sighed and put her hand over her face; she had thought that this school might work for Roy, but with his explosive temper and his sensitive attitude towards his father... it was just very difficult to find a school for Roy Mustang to enroll in.

Roy sat on the curb waiting for Riza, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin propped on his hand, his foot twitching impatiently. Her car rolled up and stopped in front of him, and he grunted and waved his hand. Riza sighed from inside the car; she knew this was going to happen eventually. She honestly didn't know where she had gone wrong raising her son. She waited as Roy opened the car door and slumped inside. "Roy."

"Yes, Mom. I'm very sorry that I got kicked out of this school as well."

"No you're not."

"Is that my fault?"

"Yes."

"Why is it always my fault? Why can't they just stop bothering me for once? And why does everyone talk about Dad like he's a murderer?" he asked, and Riza turned her face back to the road. "How did he die, Mom?"

"An accident, Roy, an accident."


Back at Roy's estate, the only thing he had left Riza other than a son, Roy Junior opened the mailbox and handed his mother all of the things addressed to her, leaving three letters addressed to him: one from Elysia Hughes, one from J.J Havoc, and the one he had been waiting for, the letter from Luna Havoc. Riza arched her eyebrow at him as he tore open the letter eagerly, withdrawing the letter from Luna. "I see you've been writing back and forth to Luna and J.J." Riza stated, and Roy nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just stating the facts. How long have you been sneaking out at night to see her?" Roy spit out the water he was drinking, surprised, as his mother cocked a gun and pointed it at him. "TELL ME."

"Uh- eh, I-I, uhhh... um... AGHH, DON'T SHOOT ME, MOM!" There were three loud gunshots and Roy dove for cover behind a couch. "I SEND YOU TO SCHOOL, AND YOU GO AND GET KICKED OUT, THEN YOU THINK IT'S OKAY TO SNEAK OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! AND ON TOP OF THAT, YOU WON'T EVEN TRY TO IGNORE THE OTHER KIDS! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH YOU, ROY MUSTANG?"

Roy cowered behind his current shield, risking a glance over the top of it. That was quickly remedied by a quick shot into the wall from Riza and his head slammed back into his shoulders to avoid the bullet. "M-Mom, I said I was s-sorry!"

"Sorry's not good enough!"

"But Mom!"

"Do you know how much I have to struggle to put you in good schools, to feed you and put clothes on your back? It's hard, Roy, it's difficult, especially... especially since... since..." she sank down onto the couch and put her face in her hands, and Roy knew what she had been about to say. 'Since Roy died.'

She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry over Roy anymore, that she'd be strong, if not for herself, then in his memory, but that didn't help, didn't erase the fact that she loved him and he was gone. It only made it harder to bear. Roy went to her and hugged her, pressing his face against hers. "I'll... I'll try harder... Mom...?"

"Y-yes?"

"Am I... do you think... do you think I'm arrogant?" he asked hesitantly, and she looked up.

"No honey, I don't think you'rearrogant. You just... need to practice control on your emotions, especially when they talk about your father... now, about Luna..." Roy gulped; this is what he had been dreading.

"Jean told me he caught you two making out in the middle of the night... and you should be in bed in the middle of the night, and you sure shouldn't be making out in the middle of the night... the next time he catches you, I gave him full permission to shoot on sight. But..."

"But what?" Roy asked, alarmed at the but. His mother only used buts when things were dire, when something drastic had tochange.

"Your grandfather has asked you to be sent to him."

"My grandfather...? I have a grandfather? Grandpa Jack?"

"Your father's father, Roy." Roy suddenly got the image of a flaming demon with horns and bloody teeth.

That couldn't be good.

"He wants you to live with him for a while... and while you're there you'll be attendinga school... boarding school."

"BOARDING SCHOOL? I thought he wanted me to live with him!"

"Well, he's heard of your behavior from your aunts..." Roy cursed; he knew he shouldn't have talked to his aunts about school. "And he deems it all for the best if you attend the local boarding school to straighten you out first. If that doesn't work, he says he'll straighten you out himself." Roy sniggered.

"What can an old man do, eh?"

"Well... he was the Flame Alchemist before your father. I don't doubt that he could straighten you out much more efficiently than a boarding school. Luckily for you, it's a boarding school for budding alchemists; your father went there as well, I think. Also, you'll have a few friends going with you."

"Like who?"

"There's Edward Elric's son, Edgar, Alphonse and Winry's daughter, Ally, Armstrong's son and daughter, Matthew and Katherine, and the... Firestorm Alchemist's son, Locke Ross."

"LOCKE ROSS? Dammit, do I have to put up with him too? I hate him!"

"Him and everyone else in the world, it seems," Riza countered. "Just get along with him, he doesn't seem to hate you too much, and his father's a niceman."

"Yeah well... don't go and marry him while I'm gone," Roy muttered darkly. "Grandpa Mustang, eh? Fine. But can I call Luna first?"