When Plans Go Astray
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit angst.
When his intelligence agents called to report that Fullmetal and his brother had fallen off the map Colonel Roy Mustang was annoyed. Three days later when Ed still hadn't reappeared in a characteristic explosion of chaos Mustang was on a train speeding toward the Elric brothers' last know location. Six endless days after that Mustang was standing in front of a door to a lonely root cellar. His expression was completely impassive.
"This is our lead?" Havoc asked, his tone disbelieving "There is no way this place could hold our brat."
Mustang's face twitched, a flinch that didn't quite get away from him. He snapped his fingers and the door disappeared in flames. Roy stepped through the resultant cloud of ash and stopped dead.
Lieutenant Hawkeye pushed past him and ran to check on the two boys. Ed was curled up in Al's lap. Stripped down to a black tank top and his boxers, with both of his automail limbs missing and his long, blond hair hanging loosely around his face, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, looked very small and very young. Especially in contrast to Alphonse's armored bulk.
Hawkeye pressed her fingers lightly to the side of Ed's throat. "I've got a pulse. Slow but stable," she reported. She tilted Ed's head back to check his pupils then pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. "Shock, possible dehydration."
Gently Riza Hawkeye began the task of extracting Ed from his brother's lap. "Colonel, you can either help or move out of the way," Riza ordered.
Slowly Roy walked across the room, his face was completely blank. He knelt beside Al and examined the damage. A snap of his fingers produced a small steady flame in the palm of his hand. With it's light illuminating the earthen walled cell Roy leaned closer and peered inside the armored shell that housed Alphonse Elric's soul. 'That had housed…' Roy corrected himself as he saw the remaining edge of a rune along the side of the damaged section in Al's armor. As an Alchemist Roy knew immediately what that meant: with the rune's disruption the ties binding Alphonse's soul to the armor had broken. It had likely happened days ago, too long for Edward to repeat the fete that had bound Al within the armor when his body had initially been lost. Alphonse's soul was gone; the armor was nothing but a shell.
Roy turned to watch Hawkeye and Hughes as they examined Edward for further injuries. Riza's face was pinched as she placed a board under Ed's broken hand and wrapped it in bandages. Roy's gaze moved on to the men hovering uncertainly in the doorway. "Major Armstrong," he said in a quiet, level voice. "Please see that Alphonse…" Roy stumbled over the word. "That Alphonse's body is transported to Headquarters."
A look of horrified disbelief swept through the company.
Roy glanced back toward the comatosed blonde lying on the floor. "Fullmetal will undoubtedly want a proper burial for his brother," he said softly, confirming that Alphonse Elric was dead.
Roy stood off to one side at parade rest, his eyes focused on an empty spot just short of the door as he listened to Hawkeye and Armstrong direct the preparations to transport the brothers back to the base.
After a time Hughes' hand closed tightly on Roy's shoulder. "We're ready to go," he reported gently.
Roy blinked once then nodded. "Find out who was behind this," he ordered in a frozen voice.
