When the Game Changes
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit angst.
As he tromped along the lonely road Maes fingered his knives and cursed his best friend roundly. He'd woken up that morning to find a note from Roy slipped under his door that stopped just short of being a suicide note.
"You always whine when I change plans at the last moment." Translation: I'm going to do something insanely reckless and I don't want you talking me out of it.
"If it doesn't work out -" Aka: If I get myself killed. "-I'm trusting you to take care of things –" Edward, Roy's staff.
"If all else fails I'll be sure to open up some opportunities for advancing our plan." In other words if Roy got caught he wasn't going down without a fight and would try to take as many members of the Military's corrupt upper echelon down along with him as possible. And someone would have to fill those empty slots so while Maes was taking care of the people Roy cared about could he take care of fixing the country too? Roy had never been shy about asking favors.
Before Maes could do anything about Roy, Maria Ross called with information about another prison located conveniently close to state research lab. Then she mentioned that Roy Mustang had tried to kill the Fuhrer. All of which left Hughes here, several miles from the prison Ed had escaped from, hoping that one of his people would find the boy before any of the guards from the prison or the lab and hoping that when they did find him Roy would be with him.
Hughes saw a pair of fresh tire tracks leading off the road. "Sloppy Roy," he muttered but when he spotted the car he smiled in relief. He almost didn't want to wake them up. Roy looked relaxed for the first time since Ed had been taken and Maes hated to be the barer of bad news. But the bad news in question was more than dire so Hughes rapped on the window then stepped back and waited for Roy to recognize him.
"I found him," Roy mouthed silently as he shifted Ed off the shoulder the boy had been using for a pillow. Roy eased the car door open and slipped out then gestured toward the edge of the glade so that they could talk without waking Ed. Maes noted that Roy kept Ed carefully in his line of sight.
"The Fuhrer's looking for you," Hughes said with a defeated sigh.
"No," Mustang argued. "He was dead, people don't survive third degree burns over every surface on their bodies or breathing superheated air."
"Then they replaced him with one of them or maybe he was one of them all along, I don't know!" Hughes exclaimed. "But he's not dead and he knows you tried to kill him. You're a fugitive Roy."
"My staff?" Mustang asked.
"Safe for the moment," Hughes reported. "They've been given the chance to redeem themselves in the Fuhrer's eyes by hunting you down."
"You're going to have to take over for me," Roy said. "How do you feel about being Fuhrer Maes?"
"Roy, don't be stupid. I chose my career path with an eye toward watching your back, not the rapid advancement or widespread notoriety your plan calls for," Maes said. "The Eastern Sector is primed to support your bid for Fuhrer, not mine. Hardly anyone in the Military knows who I am, let alone the civilians."
"And Hawkeye or Havoc won't advance unless they deliver my head on a plate," Roy sighed. "I ought to order them to do it but I can't abandon Ed like that. As long as those things are in charge he's going to have to stay a fugitive."
Roy sat down on a tree stump and rested his forehead on his knees. "Hell Maes. What do I do now? I have to take care of Ed but we have to do something about Bradley. I thought he perverted the State Alchemists into the Military's Dogs out of expediency when the war with Ishbal kept dragging on but if he was one of those things all along then he was looking for an excuse to have us commit genocide from the start."
"How secure is your support base in the Eastern Sector?" Maes asked quietly.
Roy looked up at his friend in shock. "You're talking about instigating a civil war."
"I know, but Lior is well on it's way to becoming the next Ishbal. If you could swing the entire sector to secede from Amestris… There are plenty of ambitious people in the Military, that large of a blow to Bradley's image could give them ideas," Maes said. "We might be able to shatter the Homunculi's power block without removing Bradley from power."
"If we secede Amestris would dissolve into several warring states, we'd be open to outside conquest," Roy pointed out.
"Who is the lesser evil: Drachma or the Homunculi?" Maes asked.
"You're right," Roy said. "And the Eastern Sector is the best situated. The desert will protect us from Xing. If we're the spark that set off this powder keg we'll be best prepared for the fall out; anyone else who breaks away will be an easier target. If there are several splits they'll work things out with each other before turning on us."
Roy paused for a moment then continued, "Bradley will need to make an example of us if he can, but there were a number of Alchemists who's desertions I helped cover up during Ishbal. Most of them are listed as killed in the line of duty. They're good, much better than the average class of recruits the Military was able to entice after Ishbal, I think we can match numbers with skill. We can do this. It'll take some time to gather support, but if I'm in the Eastern Sector my staff will have every reason to return as well. They'll know what to do if you mention the general plan."
Hughes' mouth twitched, his expression was too grim to be called a smile. "And my people will spread the proper rumors in Central. This is between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Roy but I don't see that we have any other choice. Gracia has a cousin in one of those minor Eastern townships, I can never remember which one, who's due a visit."
"I should have talked to you," Roy said quietly. "Then Gracia and Elysia could have left yesterday."
