When He's Found

Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit angst.

Thanks for the feedback: Prozacfairy, Krows Scared, Martson, Shakia, Yimi Makuya, winryrockbell2, Shingo-sama, Hinatafanboy, Nightwisher, KuramasGirl123

winryrockbell2: My take on Roy is that he wants to be the Fuhrer because he wants to fix the country and stop the possibility of another Ishbal Massacar. For all of Bradley's genial manners, he is the guy who ordered the State Alchemists to Ishbal and ultimately the one responsible for all the corruption in the government, Roy doesn't know about him being a homoculi but he does know that Bradley isn't a good guy. It isn't stated explicitly but my general impression of the Armistis government is that it's not a democracy, I don't think Roy expects to be promoted to Fuhrer (after all Riza has warned Roy about it being treason to even speak about his ambitions). If Roy eventually amassed an overwhelming amount of support he might give Bradley the chance to step down, but frankly Roy's planning a coup, it's highly likely that his intent was to rise high enough in the military to command enough support to take Bradley's place once he was dead.

In this story, Roy's statement that he would have killed Bradley someday was intended seriously, Roy always assumed that at some point he'd have to fight Bradley for control of the country. The timing got moved up because he needed information on Ed, Sloth was the only person he was sure could tell him where to find Ed, and he couldn't find a good time to attack Sloth without the Fuhrer present.To get away with interrogatingSlothabout Ed's whereabouts and avenging Farman he couldn't leave witnesses so he killed Bradley... who is not an innocent, even if Roy doesn't know exactly how guilty he is, he knows enough.

Hinatafanboy: Well Roy thought he was human anyway, which is why he didn't take the same precautions he took with Sloth to make sure she was dead rather than just shocked...And yes, the homuculus Roy took out was Sloth, Ed destroyed Envy in chapter 17. I'm trying to keep in mind that the characters have only limited knowledge of the homoculi, Ed knew Envy could shape-shift so to be safe Hughes and Mustang are assuming that otherhomoculi might becapable of doing the same.


Ed made it out of the prison without much difficulty; the part where he'd been held was deserted. Now he was walking through a pitch-black night with no clue as to wear he was, how he'd got there or where he was going. The icy mud squished up between his toes and his flesh foot felt numb. He couldn't seem to stop shivering. He could barely see his hand in front of his face and he knew that a maelstrom of bad things were swirling around him, waiting to pounce just out of his sight.

Headlights cut through the night and Ed knew he should hide but he just stood there. The car turned a corner and the harsh lights swept over him and burned painfully through his brain leaving him frozen.

The car skidded to a hard stop, Ed heard the door being thrown open. Then an indistinct form was hugging him, shaking him, shouting at him and hugging him again. Ed whimpered as the enthusiastic greeting jarred his cracked ribs.

"I'm sorry, Ed. Where are you hurt?"

Ed's eyes adjusted to the light and somewhere under the emotional display the person kneeling in front of him, carefully checking him for injuries, looked like Roy Mustang but he certainly wasn't acting like Ed's bastard Colonel. After the Al that wasn't Al Ed's brain was telling him he should be freaking out but his body wasn't asking his brain's permission before collapsing against Roy. Mustang's presence pushed the bad things away and the gloved fingers carding through his hair felt good; hypnotic. Roy's low voice was soothing even if it was lecturing him about something he couldn't be bothered to listen to.

Then Roy's voice changed. "Ed what happened? How did you get here?"

"It wasn't Al," Ed replied without bothering to lift his head off Roy's shoulder. "Al would never ask me to kill someone and Al would never hate me."

"No, he wouldn't. You saw through them." Roy said and Ed wondered at the relief and pride in the older man's voice. Then all of a sudden Roy slumped backward pulling them both to the ground. "Hate adrenalin crashes," Roy muttered to himself.

Ed's mouth dropped open, he knew about adrenalin crashes; when the only thing keeping you on your feet was fear and determination and then it was over. The adrenalin ran out and you had less than nothing left. But the only thing that had happened was Roy had found him.

"Come on Ed," Roy said as he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled back toward the car. "Can't risk someone following you. If I try one more transmutation tonight I will rebound."

Roy was out of uniform, unshaven and there was a fresh burn on his arm. Ed frowned and reached out to touch the edge of the burn carefully. Even when he didn't like to admit it, Edward was impressed by Roy's control over his flames. Fire should have been a brutal weapon but Roy made it elegant. By controlling the flow of oxygen Roy controlled what burned. He didn't get scorched. He wasn't acting at all like Ed's 'morally bankrupt Colonel with a God complex,' but Ed knew he was Roy Mustang just as surely as he had known that that thing back at the prison hadn't been his brother.

Roy pushed Edward into the car then staggered around to the driver's side. They drove back to the main road then Roy drove the car in a dense clump of trees along side the road. He reclined his seat and pulled Ed against his side. "Didn't go to this much trouble to lose you again," he said then fell asleep.

Ed considered shouting something about "Who did Mustang think was so small he could be mistaken for a teddy bear?" but Roy had been dead on his feet and it didn't seem like something that was worth waking him up over. Ed found himself remembering falling in the river when he'd been four, he'd almost drowned, after he'd been fished out his mother had refused to let him go for hours, Roy was acting the same way.

Plus Roy was warm and Ed couldn't remember the last time he'd been warm.

Besides there was something hidden in the darkness that surrounded him, something that would hurt like nothing else when it hit him. It was lurking out there, but Roy would keep it at bay. He didn't have to remember while Roy was there.