"Edward? Edward are you alright?" The boy woke up, wearily rubbing his eyes and blinking owlishly in the light.
"What is it?" He asked, looking around at the boys gathered around his bed.
"You were screaming." Harry said from where he leaned against one of the posts a the end of the bed.
"I was?" The gathering nodded. "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"That's not really the issue Edward, it was what you were screaming that was so. . . disturbing. You kept yelling about you mum. You kept apologizing and then you said you were going to kill someone." Harry replied, somewhat impassively.
"Oh, a nightmare. . . sorry." Harry didn't look convinced, but they all went back to bed. Edward sighed, curling up under the blankets and trying to go back to sleep. But his memories were keeping him awake, memories of that night.
SHIFT
"This is the only way Al . . . we can bring her back. Everything is here, we can do this." A much younger Edward said, calming a much younger Al.
"I know that brother. . . it's just, nothing, let's do it." Both boys kneeled on opposite sides of the transmutation circle. All the ingredients piled in the center, everything needed for a human beings creation. They both nodded and placed their hands on the circle. It glowed brightly, and for a moment everything seemed to be going well.
Then there was screaming. The thing in the center of the circle was no human, it was a monster. Edward crawled towards his unconscious brother, his own leg and arm gone. Al looked fine, but his breathing was slow. Edward, grabbed his brothers arm and dragged Al and himself out of the house. Away from that thing. The thing they had made. . . it was a homunculi. . . and like all alchemy they had paid a price for it. Their mother's soul was lost forever, in the grey void between worlds. She would never know peace, and neither would her sons. Not until the thing they had made had been destroyed.
SHIFT
Edward awoke the next morning, and just lay in bed. Even in moment's like this, when everyone else was sleeping, there was no quiet for him. He stared down at his hand, that one. . . that one wasn't real. His arm, his leg. . . magical creations from his brilliant friend Winry. And then there was Al. . . His heart so badly damaged by the fouled up alchemy that he had a doctor ready twenty-four hours a day. He had to kill the thing he had made. . . to restore his brother if not himself.
Sitting up and throwing off the blankets, Edward made his way to the showers. Grabbing fresh clothes, towels and soap on the way there. The warm shower helped, but he couldn't shake his feeling of unease. How could they be so close? Damn it. He thought to himself, dressing quickly after drying off. He twined his hair into a braid and tied it off with a bit of string he found in his pocket.
"I hope Al had a better first day than I did." He muttered under his breath, walking downstairs to the common room, much to his dismay, there was Russel. "Dammit."
"Good morning Edward."
"Leave me alone Russel."
"I heard about the homunculi. . . My brother and I are both making preparations. If it comes to a fight here, we will be ready to help." Edward gave him a look of surprise. "What did you expect Edward? There are few alchemists as it is, we have to stick together."
"Right, thanks Russel."
"What are friends for?" Edward just smiled, heading for the door.
"Let's go get breakfast, I need to apologize to Malfoy before Mustang realizes I haven't done it yet."
"That's enough to make me want to goto breakfast." Edward rolled his eyes and the boys headed down to breakfast.
Edward spotted Malfoy just outside the entrance to the Great Hall and made his way towards the obnoxious blonde. When he was near enough to touch him, Malfoy looked up.
"Did you want something Elric?" Edward took a deep breath and did his best to look and sound sincere.
"I'm sorry for the fight." He mumbled quietly. Draco grinned.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
"Sorry for the fight." He mumbled a bit more loudly. The short haired blonde smiled.
"Quite alright Elric, we have to make allowances for children with tempers." Edward grimaced, breathed and made to go into the hall. "I hope our next meeting won't be so... short." Edward didn't even blink, he just turned around and punched the other boy. Draco glared and lunged at Edward, tackling him to the ground. The boys wrestled about on the stone floor as a group of students gathered.
"Fight, Fight, Fight!" They chanted as mobs of students do. Draco landed a punch on Edward's chest while Ed landed one on Draco's shoulder. Only the sudden interference of Professors Mustang, Snape, and a strange dark haired man with glasses no one recognized saved the fight from escalating any further.
"Edward Elric! What the hell are you thinking!" Professor Mustang shouted, his face red as he fumed. Professor Snape was in no better condition. But the stranger with glasses was laughing to himself. Edward struggled to get out of Mustang's grasp, Mustang grabbed him by the hair and dragged him off. "I'll take care of this Snape, Hughes look after my classes today." The man called Hughes stopped laughing and nodded.
"Sure thing Roy." He replied cheerfully.
"Professor Mustang it would be best to. . ."
"I said I would deal with it Snape, why don't you take care of the other one." Snape made a face, but did not respond as Mustang dragged Edward back to his office. He sat Edward down in the chair opposite his desk, taking his own seat behind the desk. Edward swallowed sharply, he could sense that this would not go well.
"Roy I..." He raised his hand to silence the younger man.
"I am really disappointed in you Edward. You are supposed to be a grown up, yet you continue to act like a child. What am I supposed to do with you?" Edward was at a loss for words. "You have to be careful, and while I am glad you refrained from using alchemy, fighting of any kind draws attention. You don't need that kind of attention right now."
"Maybe if I was getting more attention elsewhere this wouldn't be a problem." Edward muttered spitefully. Roy glowered, getting up from the chair and crossing to the other side of the desk.
"You want attention? Fine." He drew back his hand and slapped his lover, hard enough to knock him off the chair. "I love you Edward, I do, but you have to stop this. You have to focus on your future." Edward rubbed his cheek, his eyes locked on the floor as Roy knelt down next to him. "Look at me Edward. . . please." Ed looked up, but he was crying.
"I . . . I keep seeing her in my dreams Roy. I keep seeing her. It makes me want to lash out at something... someone... anyone. I'm sorry. I . . . I . . ." Roy cut him off with a kiss.
"It'll be alright Edward. Everything is going to alright. . . soon." Ed nodded, clutching onto Roy like a dying man.
"Love me Roy... please, just love me."
"As you wish my love." He kissed his lover again, conjuring blankets and pillows out of no where and laying his blonde angel down in a bower of blue and white. He kissed him again and blew out the lights.
Carefully he stripped off Edwards robes, leaving a trail of delicate kisses along the young man's collar bone and chest, down his stomach and thigh. Laying the last kiss just below his navel.
"Roy... that tickles." He whispered, stretching under his lovers kisses.
"Stop squirming." Ed made a face, but stopped. Roy lay a kiss on Edward's lips, pulling off his own clothes and laying them down next to his lovers before laying down on top of the blonde. "It's been too long." Edward moaned as his lover slid into position.
"Much too long." He agreed breathlessly. "Slowly, I want this to last."
"If that's what you want love." He moved slowly, but not too slow. Edward's moans became more frequent as their passions rose and rose until they overflowed. Edward covered his mouth to muffle his scream, Roy removed his hand and kissed his lover. "Happy?"
"Yes." Edward said, a silly grin on his face, "Let's do that again." Roy grinned.
"You are insatiable."
"You know it." Roy just shook his head, tickling the blonde mercilessly as he stole another kiss.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Edward smiled, and stole a kiss of his own, pulling Roy into his arms.
