The Golden Sun: Chapter Three: Close Call
AN: I've so many people screaming about this fic, so I must be doing something good! And I heard the lovely River, who I chuck all my ideas for this fic at, cried over the scene I wrote with Ed considering cutting his hair, so that's a definite plus!
The sight of the faint circle with the dot at the center when it had once been a thick black mark on his chest was enough to make Ling Yao lightheaded, a spike of terror running through his veins.
The soulmark on his chest had never lightened so much, not since he was eleven, that was the first time it had happened.
He made sure his chest was covered from the moment he awoke to see the mark nearly nonexistent, because he knew the Emperor had spies everywhere and he wouldn't ever give them the satisfaction of knowing that assassinating his soulmate would break him.
"I'm going to become Emperor," he decided after a spar with Lanfan, whose knives were very skilled in keeping Ling's dao away. "And I'm going to make sure no one has to be afraid of loving their soulmate."
Lanfan smiled. "Sounds like you'll be in need of an excellent bodyguard, then, young lord."
They both grinned, and though Ling's insides were still twisting themselves into knots over his unknown soulmate, the tension in his shoulders eased just slightly.
The Emperor would only realize too late that it was his actions that directly led to his downfall.
Roy never would've thought that his office would be roped off, but here they were.
His subordinates desks were a mess, pushed aside from when the emergency personnel had come to lift Ed's body onto a gurney, and take off in the ambulance for the hospital. There was a thick smear of blood on the floor, shattered glass by the window leaving a gaping hole. One simple straight blade was embedded in Falman's desk leg, but there was a second one, bloodied, lodged in the floor.
Ed was a small kid, and Roy knew enough about blood loss to know that it significantly impacted people more when they were smaller and younger, and Ed was certainly both.
He and Hawkeye had only just arrived in time to see the young alchemist carted off with his younger brother despairing. If Al could cry, Roy was certain he would've been doing that on top of hyperventilating.
Ed was not having a good day, that was for sure. First the Chopper, then an assassination attempt? Talk about bad luck. But assassinations were usually politically motivated and though Ed was becoming more well-known as the People's Alchemist, he'd only been a State Alchemist for nearly a year and hadn't met anyone of political importance to warrant an assassination.
Hell, the kid didn't hardly stick around in Eastern Command, he was almost constantly out in the field, scouring the country for any possible leads on the Philosopher Stone, often between missions he was required to perform for the military.
If anyone was a workaholic, it was definitely Edward Elric.
Roy frowned severely, looking down at the blood that had been spilled across the floor. He'd been so small and limp on the gurney.
If this was what it felt like to be a father, Roy was certain he didn't want to experience it; Fullmetal was giving him far too many heart attacks at twenty-seven.
At this rate he should give up now; he'd probably be dead by twenty-eight.
"Sir!" Falman saluted, still stiff enough with protocol that Roy nearly sighed. "Master Sergeant Fuery's checked the perimeter and the guards say they didn't see anyone."
Whoever it was, they must've been very skilled and very fast.
"Keep me updated," Roy said before dismissing him in time for Hawkeye to make several lengthy strides to reach his side. "What is it, Lieutenant?"
"Sergeant Han in Accounting threw me a bone when I showed him a picture of the weapon, sir," Hawkeye said, eyes sharp, "he thought it was possible it was from Xing."
Roy arched an eyebrow. "How does Han in Accounting know anything about weaponry?"
Hawkeye's smile was thin, wry, and barely there. He remembered the look on her face at the sight of Ed bloodied and unconscious. "Han's family immigrated from Xing…some political turmoil over the death of the clan heir, I believe…he said there's a weapon identical to the ones in there—" She nodded in the direction of the office. "—in his grandfather's room."
Xing. Now that was even more confusing. As far as Roy knew, Ed and Al had never ventured anywhere close to being out of the country. Besides, Amestris' relationship with Xing was practically nonexistent, but it also wasn't contentious. There was the Eastern Desert to get through before Xing could even be reached. The terrain was difficult, and it was a long journey to reach civilization on either side.
Now, Drachma or even Creta, Roy could definitely see them trying their hand at assassinations, after all, Amestris always seemed to be a hairpin away from war with either of them.
Even so, Ed had never been a part of any high-profile missions, though he'd been requested a lot by Generals above Roy. That in itself was a bit suspicious, because Ed was rather new to the military, with not even a year under his belt, and there were easily more experienced State Alchemists that could be sent out into the field. Thankfully, even though Roy was three ranks beneath them, he still had the option to deny them; Ed was his subordinate, not theirs, and he got the final say in where he was sent.
Ed was like the shining jewel of Eastern Command. He'd hate the description, but it was the most accurate. He was an alchemic genius, comprehending alchemical theories and formulas that Roy couldn't even begin to dissect, and though he didn't exactly like the military, he was very good at unconsciously turning public opinion towards them as a whole a bit more positively, by his actions alone, by helping people in ways that Ed probably didn't even think about. It made complete sense that generals would want him under their command.
(The first transfer request ended up on Roy's desk exactly three weeks after Ed had been certified and it ended up as a pile of ash)
Still, he couldn't see a slighted general killing the prize they wanted, that would be counterproductive.
Roy cupped his chin thoughtfully.
Xing…that had merit, he supposed. Ed and Al both spoke Xingese, he'd heard them converse easily in the language when they didn't want to be overheard. Roy's mother had been from Xing, and he'd learned her mother tongue at her knee, at least, until she and his father died in that car accident. He opted to tune out the brothers; their conversations tended to be intensely personal.
The brothers weren't Xingese -unless it was very far back in their family tree- their (Ed's) coloring made it impossible. Roy was certain the Elrics were the only people in Amestris with golden eyes, so it was likely their father wasn't from Amestris, but neither brother spoke about their father, let alone their mother. Roy had to assume the interest in Xingese stemmed from the soulmark at Ed's throat, the symbol of the sun; rather fitting.
He got the feeling that the soulmark had something to do with the assassination attempt, but there weren't enough pieces to the puzzle for him to connect the dots yet.
"I think we should head to the hospital and see if Lieutenants Breda and Havoc saw anything," he said decisively, and Hawkeye's eyebrow twitched; he couldn't tell if it was because she thought his time might be better served completing paperwork, or if she could tell what his ulterior motive was.
"Yes, sir," she said simply, heading off to start the car.
Breda, Havoc, and Al all stood out like a sore thumb, well, technically Al was the one that stood out the most, he was a rather large suit of armor, after all, but the other people in the waiting room were giving them all a bit of a wide berth.
It might've had something to do with the fact that both Breda and Havoc had blood smeared on them, and while Al didn't (which Roy was privately very glad of, because he didn't think the eleven-year-old would handle well knowing his older brother's blood was caked into his armor, especially if he didn't pull through), there was a small quaking sound coming from his armor that easily told Roy that he was trembling.
Havoc and Breda both gave Roy a salute, grim-faced, but they didn't stand; it appeared like they were in the process of assuaging Al's fears, though it didn't seem to be taking very well.
"What happened?" Roy demanded of them and Havoc and Breda shared a glance, probably deciding who would be explaining everything.
Evidently, they'd decided on Havoc.
"The Chief got out of the interview with Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and he asked us for some scissors because he wanted to cut his hair—"
"He -what?" Roy stared blankly at his subordinate. This was Fullmetal they were talking about…his hair was longer than Hawkeye's and people suggesting to him to cut it off usually caused him to explode immediately and violently.
"Don't worry, we talked him down," Breda waved him off. "We'd just convinced him to crash in the dorms when a dagger just hit the desk." He gritted his teeth together and Al bowed his head forward. "We were too busy looking up to realize the guy had thrown another one…next thing we know the Chief's on the floor bleeding out."
"You saw who it was?" Hawkeye asked in surprised.
Breda shook his head. "Not really. They were wearing black and some kind of decorative mask…you know, like people wear in plays…I guess nobody got him before he got away?"
Roy and Hawkeye shook their heads as one.
"Though its starting to look like they might've been from Xing," Roy said, his eyes flicking towards Al and the armor seemed to stiffen in surprise. "You kids know anyone from Xing?"
"No," Al said immediately. "I mean, we speak Xingese, yeah, but we don't know anyone from there…we just learned it because Brother was interested after finding out what his soulmark meant in their tongue."
"What's it mean?" Havoc was frowning.
"The sun."
Breda arched an eyebrow at that. Nothing had applied more to Edward Elric, with his golden eyes and hair, sun-dark skin, and fiery temper.
"Could his soulmate be the reason for the attack?"
"What're you talking about?" Al was completely confused.
"Is it possible that maybe Ed's soulmate is a very important person in Xing?" Roy explained it more completely and Al looked at the ground in silence before lifting his head up again.
"I…I guess that might be possible." He sounded young and uneasy. He was just a kid and the idea that his brother might've been hunted down for nothing more than who he shared a soulmark with must've been incredibly disquieting. Then his voice broke slightly. "Brother doesn't deserve this."
Roy wasn't sure what to do but he remembered the action Ed had done earlier that day. He reached over and patted the top of Al's head. "No, he doesn't, but your brother's tough, he'll pull through."
Hopefully.
"But there was so much blood," Al looked down at his gauntlets, the horror leeching into his voice.
Hawkeye took the lead then. She knelt down so that his head was positioned slightly above hers. "Alphonse," she said in a gentle voice that she tended to reserve for the brothers, "I know you're scared, and it's okay to be scared…there was a lot of blood, but they got him here as soon as possible and they're doing the best they can to fix him up…all right?" He didn't say anything or even more, so she stressed it again. "All right?"
There was a choked sound from within the armor. "Y-yes, Lieutenant." Roy remembered the picture of the two golden-haired brothers on the Rockbell's mantle and he could just imagine golden eyes identical to Ed's, filling with tears.
Roy was getting soft.
"Edward Elric?" echoed a loud voice and they all looked up as the person that Roy could only assume was the surgeon and he moved towards them when he saw their reaction to the name.
"How is he?" Al was still quaking in fear.
The surgeon appeared surprised by the youthful voice coming from such a looming suit of armor, but then he gave him a bemused smile. "He got lucky. The stabbing just missed his kidney and we've stitched him up. The most damage was from blood loss, so we've got him on a transfusion. We'll recheck his blood counts in a few hours to see if he needs more, but mostly we'll just be keeping an eye on him as he comes out of the anesthesia, doing neurological checks…but barring any complications, he should be in the clear."
There was a murmur of 'thank yous' and Roy thought that if Al had been standing, he would've crumpled to the ground.
"Can I-can I see him?" Al asked quickly.
The surgeon considered him. "In a few minutes someone can take you to the room, they're situating him now…I believe someone at the main desk was trying to call his next of kin—"
"Yes," Al said quickly, "I'm—"
"A woman named Izumi Curtis was the only one they could contact, I assume you're the younger brother?"
There was a rattling sound and if Al had a human body, Roy would've thought that the wind hat been knocked out of him, so Roy spoke for him.
"Yes," he said, "this is Alphonse Elric."
"I'd give them ten minutes," the surgeon informed Al kindly, though it was clear he was incredibly befuddled about the younger brother of an almost thirteen-year old boy being within a suit of armor that easily reached seven feet.
"Al?" Breda nudged the suit of armor only to jump when Al just pitched right to the side, collapsing in a heap of metal. Roy had never seen him do that before. "Hey, Al!"
"T-T-Teacher's coming?" Al's terrified voice echoed. "She's gonna kill us when she finds out what we did!"
Roy's team had been hearing for months the terrors that Ed and Al endured for six months under their alchemy teacher Izumi Curtis, but he'd always thought they were gross exaggerations. Now he was starting to wonder.
"Well, I don't think she'll kill your brother…he's in the hospital," Hawkeye pointed out in what she clearly thought was a helpful tone, but the ominous silence from Al made it clear that he severely doubted that. And it certainly didn't put Al in the clear.
"And he's going to have twenty-four-hour guards posted."
Everyone turned to look at Roy, something that appeared to irritate him immensely. "Someone attempted to have a major and a State Alchemist killed within the confines of Eastern Command…I'd rather they not get close to a second chance."
His men saluted, and Al bobbed his head thankfully.
Roy hoped they weren't determined enough to try again, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
So, the boy had survived…that was truly unfortunate, but a hospital was far easier to infiltrate than a military command post, and with how he was still in intensive care…it would be easy to pass it off as the boy succumbing to his injuries.
And if worst came to worst, the assassin couldn't be blamed for making things a little messy, just as long as the job was done.
Roy could come up with an excuse. Hawkeye was just going to assume he was slacking on paperwork -big surprise there- but really, the idea of leaving the kid on his own seemed like a terrible idea, even more so now that he was still unconscious.
"It's all right, sir," Al said, his voice assuring. "I can keep an eye on Ed."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Alphonse, the only reason I'm here is because I'm avoiding paperwork…and Lieutenant Hawkeye." He bit back a shiver down his spine, imagining his right hand's sharp and unrelenting eyes if she found him there, not doing paperwork.
There was a stilted silence, then: "Of course, Colonel."
Roy got the distinct feeling that Al was only humoring him, but for the sake of his pride, he didn't bring it up.
He looked over to the youth slumbering in the hospital cot. Ed's hair had long since come free, hanging around his face like molten gold. His cheeks were a few shades too light for his complexion. But the thing Roy couldn't accept the most was the silence.
Fullmetal was generally the loudest person in the room, even more so if he and Roy were having a very furious argument. It was far too unnatural for him to be so quiet. The anesthesia had long since worn off, Ed should've woken up by now, but for some reason he hadn't.
The doctor had assured them that that kind of response wasn't outside the norm for someone who'd been stabbed and lost a lot of blood. He had lost a significant amount, but not enough that the blood loss would've damaged his brain (or so they hoped, and Roy really wanted them to be right).
"Is he feverish?" Al sounded apprehensive and it tugged at Roy's heartstrings to know that Al gone almost two years now without the ability to feel touch, the warmth of the sun, the coolness of rain as it fell from the heavens. Ed wasn't big on being touched in general either -there was a reason he wore those gloves on top of hiding his automail hand- but it must've been a hundred times worse for Al. No need to sleep, no need to eat, no ability to feel anything at all. It must be so hellish for Al to simply exist.
Roy pressed the back of his hand to Ed's brow, for Al's sake. "He's a little warm, but that's not unusual."
Al was quiet for a moment. "Mom started with a fever," he whispered.
That made Roy pause, drawing his hand back -Ed twitched in his sleep, mumbling incoherently- as he turned to look at Al, the red light that was his eyes dimming just slightly. Neither of the brothers spoke about either of their parents, like they were still suffering from the wounds inflicted by their mother's death and their father's abandonment. And they must've loved their mother more than words could convey to even attempt human transmutation.
"Your brother isn't going to die," Roy strengthened his voice. "They'd just send him right back, that's how annoying he is."
And Roy couldn't help but know on a deep and visceral level that Al was smiling at him.
"He likes you," he confided in the Colonel and the answering scoff made him laugh lightly. "I'm serious. He likes you, he trusts you, he's just really bad at voicing it..."
"I think you're reading too much into it." Roy patted Al's gauntlet almost like he was trying to console him. "Fullmetal's too much of a brat to like me."
"Whatever you say," Al replied cheerfully before stiffening suddenly and Roy heard it too; a sound like a pair of dulled thuds.
There were two guards outside the room.
Roy drew on his ignition gloves in a fluid movement and Al positioned himself over his slumbering brother's body just in time for the door to be thrown open, the sharp blades -kunai, the term came to Roy- connected with his armored back and a dark blur tumbled into the room in a single second. Roy snapped his fingers, raising the density of the oxygen molecules around the unknown attacker.
He had to be careful with using flame alchemy in the hospital, though, because although there was oxygen everywhere, there was a higher concentration in hospitals due to it being needed for patients like Ed.
As a result, the explosion was rather small and the figure clothed in black bearing a mask that somewhat resembled a dragon was left standing, smoking and singed as he was, and, unfortunately, alive.
He was reaching for another blade and Roy was prepared to snap again when he heard the telltale crackle of alchemy being performed and he couldn't help but gape as a fist that appeared to have been made from the wall opposite the door shot forward with enough force to knock the assassin into the wall before the fist crackled once more with alchemy, drawing back through the opening of the door.
"Oh, no," Al said weakly.
And through the doorway stepped a woman, slender and tall, dark eyes, and hair in a gathering box braids, with the Flamel symbol tattooed onto her left breast, the very same symbol that Ed wore on his jacket and Al on his shoulder; it was more than an alchemic symbol, Roy realized belatedly, it was also a way of identifying the brothers as her pupils.
Her sandals clacked on the floor as she stepped through the opening to glower fiercely. Somehow her presence was more foreboding than the giant of man behind her, with a face full of bristly dark hair and arms large enough to put him in competition with Major Alex Louis Armstrong.
"Uh, Teacher—" Al was tittering as he stepped forward and she took his arm and flipped him with ease, sending the suit of armor spinning into the wall.
She paused, her eyes sharp and dark and Roy could just guess that she'd been able to tell that though the armor was heavy, it should've been much heavier with an eleven-year-old boy inside it. Then her eyes flicked over to where Ed was lying, still unconscious. His automail arm still remained unattached, but the port was visible at the neck of his gown, meeting with thick scar tissue, and the space where the limb once resided was empty and obvious.
At long last her eyes met his and Roy found himself startled to see the undisguised wrath burning within her dark eyes.
"You must be the idiot that thought recruiting my stupid pupils into the military before they even hit puberty was a good idea," she spat, lips curling in distaste. "My name is Izumi Curtis."
Now, more than ever, Roy was absolutely certain that the brothers hadn't been lying one single bit about their teacher. Roy was eternally grateful that he'd never been taught by someone as fearsome as her.
"And I'm going to make you wish you'd never met these boys," Izumi said, cracking her knuckles and Roy wished for the first time that he'd actually done as Hawkeye wanted and kept his head down and completed his paperwork.
This wasn't going to be pretty.
AN: I love the idea of Ed putting down the Curtis family in his next of kin with the hospital (apart from Al, obviously). Ed and Al have got so many parents in this fic its fucking ridiculous, I love it.
But at least you guys got to see a hint of Ling, right? His official introduction is still a ways off, but you'll get glimpses from time to time about him and the condition of Xing, but at least the plot is going places, right? ;)
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
