Author note: I have brought you chapter 9. All 2,391 words of it.
Chapter 9: Mistaken Identity
"How is he?" Roy asks.
Roy Mustang and Alphonse Elric comfortably sit in the back seat of their transport. Their driver steers through the roads of Central to a restaurant named Fortune, where they were to meet Juliet and Edward. It had been two months since Edward's kidnap attempt. Two months of paperwork and raising security after the kidnap attempts on other children - one attempt a success! There were talks of placing them towards an education institution, if they were safe around other children. Again the issue of safety came to mind, the kidnap attempts an ever-present complication. In the matter of the children: some of the children had adjusted well and others were (in an understated way) being difficult.
In a life of battling in a war and coordinating a team of alchemist and gunmen against gang wars and illegal smuggling organizations, Commander Mustang for once wondered if the military is taking too much on their hands. Baby-sitting has proven to be difficult.
A week before Juliet had invited Alphonse to a luncheon with herself and Edward, while prominently giving hints that Alphonse should also draw Commander Mustang from his office. Alphonse was (and still is) amused, thinking of Roy's infliction on females. He thought at times, that his guardian was the embodiment of charm.
Juliet later promptly drops the fact that Commander Mustang's surreptitious invitation (to be conducted by Alphonse) was a request from Edward. Alphonse admits he initially hesitated. Roy had purposely avoided any potential contact with Edward - the evasive behaviour arising after Edward kidnapping attempt and his attachment to Mustang. Upon inquiry by Juliet, Edward had backlash against her with a glare and a growl - it wasn't her place to ask. Hearing of Edward's reaction Alphonse had refrained himself from asking also, questioning his own position in Edward's new life.
The two had observed that Edward's adjustment to living with her were neither difficult nor easy. While he had accepted to living with her, the first three weeks he kept distance. Edward had confined to his room, disallowing Juliet to enter for those three weeks. Alphonse was allowed to enter his room after two weeks instead of three, slightly better yet meaning nothing on a grand scale. He came out of his room willingly after three weeks, residing to stay inside the house. Juliet noted how he wanders from room to room. She had asked him at times if he was looking for something. Edward would give nothing but silence, as he methodically checks each room.
Two months of trying to make a connection with Edward and Juliet had finally gained a bond with him. Edward was willing to talk with her at least. His room is still off-limits; Juliet didn't mind she had sisters to parallel the experience.
Alphonse made an effort to come over periodically to visit Edward. One time he had visited along with a black eye to decorate his face, Edward had fussed over him. Even without the psychologist daily report, Juliet and Alphonse knew it was a good sign. There were times that Alphonse wanted to ask what happen during the siege. The sexual assault, was that the first time? Was it the first time it happens to Edward? Was it the first time the guards done that, and to who else?
Neither Alphonse nor Juliet asked, and were also advised not too. "Don't press for information", they were told. The psychologist gave them the various reasons to let Edward say things on his own - confronting them. Alphonse remembers to nodding his head to these reasons, agreeing and yet not listening. Just wondering what happen and how could he miss these details while residing within the very same building? He was sure the scientist and doctor at the 2nd Lab would have also abhorred the guards - "the treatment the experiment was unacceptable," Alphonse could hear them say.
"Edward's better now." There is no one else Roy would be asking about. "He's been willing to talk to Juliet."
"There's been progress, that's good to hear."
Alphonse nods his head. "They still seem awkward around each other. Edward won't let her into his room, even to just clean up. He's even stop wandering around the house supposedly."
Roy frowns at the latest statement. "Wandering around the house? What's wrong with that?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there, but Juliet use to comment on how Edward would wonder the house searching."
"Searching? What are you searching for?" One black eyebrow rises.
A shrug of his shoulders, Alphonse hesitantly answers. "Edward…growled at Juliet for asking."
Both of Roy's eyebrows are now up in a dumbfound expression. He could see contemplation in the black eyes, trying to make an assessment of Edward. Roy has avoided Edward for two months, and he was about to meet him again. Alphonse did wonder what had intimidated Roy enough to want Edward at bay. It couldn't have been the way he had clung to Roy that evening; Alphonse has seen women cling more to his commanding officer than Edward had done in a few minutes. (Women could make quite a spectacle of themselves in front of a bachelor like Roy Mustang).
The restaurant, Fortune, is now in view of both men as the car pulls to the front to let both of them out.
x x x
There are four chairs around one clothed table, only three of them were occupied. Sergeant Juliet Sloe had excused Edward absence from the table as Commander Mustang and Officer Alphonse Elric locates their table. While Alphonse and Juliet's greetings were informal, it is only the second time Juliet met Mustang. They greet each other as formal as possible: polite, distant, and yet open for conversation.
Choosing to sit down Juliet quickly asks her first curiosity to be satisfied. "Commander Mustang, on an estimate how long will I have guards surrounding my house?" Her tone polite, yet simmering with agitation and despair. From Alphonse, Roy has heard about Sergeant Juliet's complaint about the guards. Not the guards personally, just the reality of having them pace in a pattern around her home.
Commander Mustang gave one of his sincere smiles - the one for distraught women. "Until the danger has passed for the boy the guards will keep watch over your house. Have they been causing trouble?"
"No", she says shaking her head once. "I find their presence to be…awkward."
"Awkward?" Mustang smile shows his bemusement and curiosity, yet no show of mock and laughter.
Alphonse watches Mustang, intrigue by the very sight of a smile instead of the trademark smirk he is known for. They only conclusion he could develop for the phenomenon: Sergeant Juliet is a woman, and is also a woman not in competition for promotions.
Embarrassingly Juliet admits, "I lived by myself for many years. Waking up in the morning or coming home and seeing - at most - 5 men parading in front and at the back of my house are unsettling. I enjoy my privacy, Commander Mustang." Whether or not the latter statement was an excuse, it did not fit well with the current circumstances.
"Are you wishing to relinquish your duties to Edward?" Mustang knew this is not the case, he knew Juliet's privacy was an excuse; he also knew it involves Edward more than Juliet would want it to be. Hearing the updates from Alphonse, it was always about Edward. He didn't doubt - that for Juliet - it would be the same.
Juliet gapes a bit. She didn't want to involve Edward, but her 'privacy' had backfired on her. "Having Edward with me is not a bother." She straightens herself from her gaping. "Edward," the Commander made a curious gesture - 'did this man know from the beginning', "seems intimidated by the guards." She couldn't say scared. Edward is far from being scared when he glares at the guards through the window, making it thoroughly known to them. And now thinking upon it, 'intimidated' didn't describe and connect well with his behaviour.
He is of course different. From what Juliet could gather, when faced with intimidation - instead of slinking away shyly and quietly - Edward becomes aggressive and confrontational.
x x x
It's his first time being in the city. It feels awkward and strange because everything is just too new. He's also in awe and wonder. 'This is outside' Edward tells himself continuously, 'it hasn't changed.' It is a different city then the one he grew up in, before the lab, yet the main point is that it didn't matter what city he occupies. This was the dream of freedom he possessed when he was a child. ('That's right; I'm not a child anymore! Why does everyone keep calling me one? I'm sixteen!')
Edward stares at the reflection in the mirror. The clothes Juliet had given him were loose on him. They were simple, white t-shirt and grey sweatpants with an old brown coat. The coat's length reaches his thighs, and lines of wrinkle show at the elbows and shoulders from its long use. The colors have even lightened at the elbows and other various places to a light brown.
He fingers the coat. It is warm inside the restaurant, yet Edward found he is unwilling to take off the coat, not after the stares he received.
They had been seated to a table nearby the entrance. There were four chairs to this one table, and Edward had wondered is 'that man going to come.' Mustang, that's the name. The first time he heard the name, the image connected with a sleek four-legged creature, a shiny brown coat, and a darker brown for the mane and tail. Edward knew this was not the creature he was supposed to imagine. He couldn't form a picture of the man he had grappled onto. Was he really that man?
Following his guardian's action, he also took off his coat, and in the first few seconds Edward could already see the curious glances in his direction. He waited for the looks, glances, and stares to stop. They didn't stop, as though they couldn't get enough. Ready to fix a glare in every direction, he is stopped by their waiter. The man sets down two menus (Juliet then asks for two more), and in the background of the stares Edward could hear the description of today's special. The waiter also gives Edward the curious look, particularly at his arm. 'It's the automail,' because they weren't really looking at him. They were looking at his right arm, the metal that replaces flesh.
A few minutes after taking a seat at the table, the prying eyes (he could feel) still continued. Edward had quietly slipped on his coat and excused himself to the washroom he could see at the far corner of the restaurant.
Edward's walk to a temporary salvation was less daunting than sitting at the table, nothing prepared him though. At the entrance to the washroom he had stopped dead. The walls and tiles were white, and Edward could imagine the steel table in the middle as though it is there. The needles were digging in his skin and he would lie naked waiting for the next administrations of drugs or pain they would bestow upon him. He had felt ready to run until the dark forest green of the washroom stalls catches his eyes. No, he's not in the experimentation rooms and he's not even in the labs anymore. This is a washroom, in the Fortune restaurant, and is currently within Central City. There are toilets within those stalls, the mirrors are separate above a sink lined against one wall, and the small rectangular window opposite on the wall of him let in enough natural light.
A man behind him coughs to catch his attention and kindly asks Edward to let him through. Embarrassingly Edward notes he is standing in the doorway. In a quick escape, he rushes to the nearest unoccupied stall, locks the door, and sits on the toilet trying to calm his nerves.
'It took me five minutes just to calm myself down.' Edward fixes his hair, noticing some strands have come loose when he had repeatedly pulled at his hair in the stall. "She's going to wonder what took me so long." Edward mumbles to himself, exiting the washroom.
He could see Juliet at the table, but she wasn't alone. The two other chairs across from them are filled with their backs towards him. He could recognize the back of Alphonse head, the other man though…black hair. 'Mustang?' Edward starts to carefully walk over, 'so he came.' And though it felt ages to reach the table, Edward finds himself at his chair.
x x x
Everyone's attention is direct to Edward, standing by his seat but not sitting down. His gold eyes, which have seem to lighten in color, are set on Mustang - searching. Roy watches the boy with his own pair of eyes, viewing the reactions of his face and trying to peer at what Edward is thinking. A frown takes stage and deepens by the second; Roy could tell the boy has become agitated.
Roy Mustang could admit to knowing that the apparent disappointment on Edward's face is expected. Edward down cast his eyes and loses the intensity in is small body. What ever the boy was searching for, he ceased to find it in Mustang. Roy follows in Edward's action and down cast his eyes in respect for Edward's…'privacy', he tells himself. It didn't stop Edward's hoarse whisper coming through to him.
A proposed comfortable luncheon became uneasy. None of them are willing to stay silent, yet engaging Edward into a conversation had proven to be a formidable task. 'It's almost impossible.' Roy watches Juliet shift around, unsure to whether she should comfort Edward or if he would let her. Both her and Alphonse try to make small talk: asking about the meal, his view on Central City, does he want anything else to eat? Their tactics to cheering him up weren't working. Roy looks up at the Edward, carefully as he had done against the boy's challenging eyes. He suddenly wishes the lighten-gold had stayed instead of the evident dejection on the boy's face. Seeing Edward solemnly eat, the hoarse whisper came to mind, "It's not him."
2nd Author Note: Chapters shall come much slower…like this one - the reasons are:
Just started my first year of University.
I don't want to rush with this story like I had been.
Possibilities of Writer's Block or a chapter is just being difficult.
Thank you to those reading this story, and also to those that had reviewed. Good luck to everyone with school!