Chapter two
"Unca Roy! Lookee!" Elicia thrust the tablet she had been drawing in frenetically with her colored pencils into his hands. "Horsie!"
Roy looked at the colorful blob, nodding appreciatively. "And a fine horse it is." He handed the tablet back across the train seat to Gracia, grateful Elicia hadn't made him identify the animal.
Elicia slid off the seat next to her mother and climbed up beside him. "Tell me a story, Unca Roy." She crawled into Roy's lap, bouncing enthusiastically. She nearly took out parts best not bounced on, while digging in a bony hip.
"Elicia, gently," Gracia cautioned, seeing Roy's wide eyes. "And I'm not sure Uncle Roy knows any stories."
Roy straightened the blue bow in Elicia's hair. "None that Elicia is old enough to know."
"I'm not sure I'm old enough to know most of your stories, Roy." Gracia grinned as Elicia glanced between the adults, puzzled.
Roy blushed. "I'm not that bad."
"Please, Unca Roy." Elicia put her hand on his cheek.
Roy's nose wrinkled as he dredged his memory for a story. "Hmm, let's see, well once there were two powerful alchemists. One was very good at making fire."
"Like you, Unca Roy?" Elicia leaned her head against his chest, snuggling in. A smile rode her lips.
"Yes, like me and the other alchemist was an arrogant, little boy who just had to challenge the one who could make fire to a duel." Roy, much to Elicia's delight, retold Edward's alchemy assessment complete with sound effects. Even a few other passengers were listening in by the end.
"Good story, Unca Roy." Elicia clapped her hands. "Tell another."
"That's enough stories for now, Elicia. Why don't you read your book?" Gracia patted the seat next to her and Elicia climbed off Roy's lap and went to sit with her mom. "And Roy, are you sure that's how that happened?" She favored him with the same motherly look she gave Elicia when her daughter was exaggerating.
Roy arched an eyebrow, giving the impression he was offended by the mere suggestion that he exaggerated. "Absolutely."
"So, if I ask Edward, that's how he'll remember it?" Gracia smiled.
"I give you one alchemist who barely broke a sweat," Roy tapped his chest, "and another who ended up in the hospital, just like in the story."
"Well, Edward is only half your age, Roy." Elicia tapped his toe with hers.
Roy pouted. "I know. He broke my record as the youngest State Alchemist, little bas...jerk." He edited himself in front of Elicia.
"Roy!" Gracia scolded, wagging a finger at him.
"That's what he is." Stubborn lines formed around Roy's lips.
Gracia crossed her arms, her fingers drumming her flesh. "I've noticed you and Edward are cut from the same cloth."
Roy smiled. "Very much so. That's why he needs Al to smooth things over."
"And you had Maes," she said softly, looking out the window.
Roy swallowed hard. This was so miserably hard. At least soon it would be over and she'd know what he had been lying with silence about. "Yes, I did."
"I think you miss him almost as much as I do." Her eyes cut over to him.
Roy's eyes misted and he rubbed at them. Even thinking about Hughes really being dead hurt. And when Gracia learned the secret, it was going to hurt worse because he had betrayed her. "Like losing my brother."
"You never mention your family, Roy." Gracia leaned forward, putting a hand on his knee. "Do you even have a brother?"
Roy's face screwed up as he leaned forward as well. "No. Mom died when I was a kid and I mostly wished Dad would just do the same," he whispered.
Gracia looked so surprised to hear the bitterness. "That's a terrible thing to say."
"He tried to sell me to a brothel when I was twelve. Edward's father saved me and that was the last I saw of my dad. If I never see him again, I'll be happy," Roy said, bluntly, so soft Gracia barely caught it. It had been a long time since he had to talk about his father but the pain hadn't ebbed much.
Gracia's gentle eyes went huge and her fingers tucked over her mouth. "Roy, I had no idea." She reached for Elicia who was still looking at her picture book, oblivious to the adults' whispered conversation.
"I couldn't talk about it for years. You guys are my family now. You deserve the truth." Liar. You've been keeping the truth from her for weeks now.
"I appreciate the trust," Gracia said and Roy felt his stomach drop. He bet she'd change her mind when he revealed the real reason he was taking her to New River. He hoped she kicked Hughes for him, even if this deception wasn't really avoidable.
Elicia demanded her mother's attention back and the rest of the train ride was made up of easy small talk and things to entertain Elicia. Once in New River, Roy stowed the ladies in one of the rented cottages. There was no real need to coax Gracia into taking a nap. He didn't know what was so tiring about sitting on the train but it simply was exhausting. Roy stumbled into the cosy cottage and barely registered anything beyond his bed. He collapsed and dropped off to sleep.
When he woke up, he discovered a colored pencil in his pocket, poking him in the side. Roy never knew what he'd find in his pockets with Elicia around. Roy smiled at the memories of all the strange things Maes would find in his pockets courtesy of his daughter the pack rat. Roy took a deep, steadying breath and made his way to the next cottage over. He was so ill prepared mentally to take Gracia to meet Maes.
When she came to the door, Gracia still seemed a little tired. "What's next, Roy?"
"Dinner then we'll be meeting with someone," he replied, wondering if he could eat with all the knots in his belly.
"And this person has information about why Maes died?" The hopefulness of her tone was colored with world-weariness, almost as if that would be too much to hope for.
"So he says," Roy replied and a strange look passed over her face. "What's wrong?"
Gracia smiled. "Nothing. I'm just not used to seeing you out of uniform." It might have been an excuse to cover her nervousness; he wasn't sure. She fussed with the deep green lapel of his shirt. "Riza's lucky to have such a handsome man."
Roy felt his cheeks go red. "Who would that be now?"
Gracia took his hand. "There's no one here to overhear, Roy, and I think it's great. She's just the kind of woman you need."
He ducked his head shyly. "More than she probably knows."
"Oh, she knows, trust me." Gracia turned around. "Elicia, time to go to dinner."
Elicia scampered over to the adults and thrust a stuffed bunny into Roy's hands. "Carry Rachael, Unca Roy."
"Um...okay." He took the rabbit gingerly.
"Did Maes ever tell you about having tea parties with the stuffed animal brigade?" Gracia asked, seeing his distress.
He snorted. "And I laughed at him long and loud."
"Guess what." She gestured at the rabbit. "He's probably watching and laughing at you now."
You have no idea, he thought. "No doubt." Roy took Elicia's hand and the little girl walked between the adults down the street to the restaurant.
That was the other reason Maes had selected the cottages. They were close to food and to his new home. Dinner was better than Roy was expecting; thick chicken soup rich with leeks and cream, rare slices of beef on a peppery salad, and waffles with pearl sugar in them for dessert. Roy even had the dessert, something he rarely had room for, partly because they smelled so good but mostly he wanted to kill time and not face the inevitable. He could be such a coward.
"Is it time to go?" Gracia asked, wiping her mouth.
"I think it'll be okay." Roy paid the bill and reluctantly accepted the rabbit from Elicia again. He tucked it under his arm and took her hand as he walked them down the street, looking for the street name Hughes had given him.
He hooked onto the road and found a small house easily enough. "Gracia, you and Elicia stay here for a second," Roy said, not really sure how he wanted to do this. He knocked on the door and waited. Anxiety moved up his spine as sweat trickled down. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next but he imagined a lot of tears and screaming.
Roy barely recognized the man who answered the door. Maes had gotten thinner but given that he was recovering from terrible wounds that wasn't too surprising. His face was still pale and Roy had no idea where his friend had come up with purple tinted glasses but there they were, as round as beer bottle bottoms. His hair, now a strange ginger hue, stuck up like a bottle brush, making him look like the older, redheaded relative of Fuery. He wore a loose shirt made up of a frightening patchwork of purples. "Julien Camden?" He used the pseudonym to give Maes one last shot to back out of this at which point he'd roast him himself.
"Nice rabbit." There was everything in the world familiar about the smirk that played over 'Camden's' white face.
"Huh?" Roy had forgotten he still had Rachael the Rabbit. "Oh. When a lady asks you to carry her rabbit, how can you say no?" He smirked back. "Ready?"
"Past ready. You took forever getting here," Hughes complained, stepping back into his home. He managed a passable Northern accent. Roy wasn't sure that he'd recognize the voice if he didn't know who Camden was.
"Yeah, well...let's just say I needed fortifying a little," Roy said then turned to Gracia. "Gracia, Elicia, come on in. This is Julien Camden. I think he can answer most of your questions for you."
"If he could then why hasn't he..." Gracia trailed off, all color leaving her face.
Roy put the rabbit in Elicia's arms and guided her over to the couch, leaving Gracia to try and recover. Apparently the disguise didn't last more than three seconds in her eyes. For a second, Roy thought Gracia was going to faint. Maes obviously thought the same thing, reaching for her. Gracia's eyes flashed hot and furious. She hit Hughes. Not the open hand slap Roy was used to seeing women employ; no she hit him full on with her fist right in the mouth.
Elicia looked up at the sound. "Mommy?"
"Play with Rachael, baby," Gracia said, her fist clenching. She whipped around and glared at Roy, her little fist cocked back. "How long have you known?"
"No...since the night of the funeral," Roy confessed, wanting to just take the coward's way out and run now.
"And you didn't tell me?" Her voice went thin and tight. Gracia took a step toward him and Roy had no intention of dodging the punch when it came.
"I told him not too, love. The world had to think I was dead," Hughes said.
Gracia whirled on him. "And you couldn't tell me but you could tell him?" She jabbed her fist at Roy. "Do you know what you put me through, Maes? What Elicia's gone through?"
At her name, Elicia looked up. "Daddy?"
"Shh, baby." Gracia went over to her child and stroked her hair. "Play with Rachael."
Hughes went paler, his shoulders slumping. Roy thought maybe Maes would be the one doing the fainting. "I didn't want to lie. There was no choice. I had to tell Roy because the people who did this to us are in the military. He was in danger. You were and still are in danger. I can't come home yet, maybe not for a long time, but I couldn't go on letting you think I was dead."
"So you're playing dead to what? Lure them out?" Gracia demanded to know, picking Elicia up. The little girl had begun to cry softly. She didn't know what was going on but the emotions sweeping the adults effected her mood. "You shouldn't have kept me in the dark, Maes! And you, Roy, I don't even want to see you right now."
Roy bit his lip and started for the front door. "I'll just go back to the cottages."
"Give me one reason I shouldn't just walk out those doors, too, Maes!" Gracia snarled, setting Elicia back down. The little girl's head jerked up, unaccustomed to such a tone in her mother's voice.
Roy paused when Maes lifted up his shirt. Gracia covered her mouth with both hands, tears forming in her eyes. Roy swallowed hard, seeing the wounds. It wasn't possible to see where the bullets had gone in since the surgeons had opened Maes up to extract the bullets. They left red rivers of pain over his chest. The scars were still vicious and thick-looking. There was a roundish one that pierced into his shoulder as well. Hughes turned and displayed the stellate wounds that looked like things the size of apples had been shoved through the skin of his back.
He dropped his shirt back down. "I couldn't let the people who did this think they failed. I had no way of making sure you and Elicia were safe. Roy's done what he can to be sure of that, Gracia, whether or not you knew it. Armstrong and Hawkeye, too, hell probably all of Roy's men if I know him. If I were alive and the people who tried to kill me knew it, nothing might be adequate to make sure you and Elicia were safe and I couldn't live with that." The emotions and weakness caught up to Hughes; tears started streaking down his face as he trembled.
Roy watched Gracia throw herself into her husband's arms, wishing there was something he could do for his friend but knew he couldn't. He let himself out. He had no further part to play in the drama. Tomorrow Gracia would probably let him have it then forgive him...hopefully. For tonight, all he wanted was to go home and sulk about his role in the secrecy of silence. Roy stopped at a liquor store and got something to soothe his troubled mind.
TBC