The Golden Sun: Chapter Four: For the Emperor
AN: There was an insane amount of love for Izumi with the last chapter, which was great :) Poor Roy, he's got his work cut out for him.
Izumi tossing Al into the wall like he weighed nothing was probably the best part.
Roy thought maybe he should defend himself to the clear rage in Izumi's eyes -the last time he'd seen a look like that was when he'd unknowingly walked through an Ishvalan slum, Roy hadn't slept right for a week after- but he had never met this woman before. He had only heard tales of her told by the Elric brothers and she was somehow living up to all of them.
But there really wasn't a defense to provide. He was the one that had convinced Ed to go into the military in the first place, but he was beginning to think that Ed wasn't attacked because he was in the military.
"Uh, Teacher—"
"These boys," Izumi was seething, there was practically fire in her eyes, "are almost twelve and thirteen. What gives you the right to induct them into the military? Are you so fond of child soldiers, Colonel Roy Mustang?"
Roy wasn't sure where she'd gotten his name, but he definitely didn't like the disdainful emphasis she put on it.
He was still positioned so he was leaning slightly over Ed's body, one hand gloved and preparing to snap again, the other closed around Ed's small wrist, feeling the steady thrum of his pulse.
The large man behind her cracked his knuckles ominously and Roy realized that he'd been staring at her without actually speaking.
"I didn't induct them," Roy felt the need to correct, "I gave them the option."
"And you think—" Roy vaguely wondered if she could get away with murdering him -probably- but everyone in the room was distracted by Ed stirring suddenly and she fell abruptly silent.
He was shifting in the bed, turning slightly towards Roy, his hair falling over his shoulder from the movement. His eyelids fluttered faintly, finally opening as Al pulled himself to peer over the bed.
"Brother!" Al had never sounded so relieved. "How are you?"
Roy abruptly realized he was still holding onto Ed's wrist and tried to release it without drawing too much attention. It wasn't like he'd been trying to hold the kid's hand or anything, he was just checking his pulse, dammit!
Gold eyes shifted from Roy to Al, furrowed confusion relaxing into relief. "What-" Ed's single croaked word dissolved in a cough that made him spasm in pain as it jarred his wound. He squeezed his eyes shut, his face tight with pain. Izumi smoothed her hand over his brow, stroking into his hair while Roy reached over to press the button that would pump some of the pain medication in through his IV.
It took a few moments for Ed to relax, leaning into Izumi's soothing touch with a sigh, his eyes still closed. Roy felt a pang of something that he didn't want to describe, so he opted to shove it down deep instead of facing it.
"Mom," he murmured, not completely awake and Izumi froze for a moment, the man stiffening behind her.
Roy knew enough to know that Ed and Al's mother was clearly dead, or they wouldn't have bothered with the human transmutation otherwise. He could only assume that the action was one that she must've performed, and the pain medication was addling his brain.
Izumi's shoulders seemed to tremble, her face flicker into something softer, something that ached with longing. "Get some rest, Edward," she said quietly, her fingers still rubbing into his hair. "We'll talk when you're rested."
He seemed to relax even further, sinking back into the pillows with a sigh.
"If you think the fact that one of my stupid pupils is injured and the other is a hollow suit of armor is going to stop me from kicking your ass, I can assure you, you couldn't be more wrong," she spoke quietly so as not to disturb Ed, but there was ice in her tone and the husband -Roy could only assume; they were both wearing silver rings- was glowering fiercely while Al pressed his gauntleted hands together nervously.
Roy blinked. "I was actually going to go and see to it that the assassin-wannabe was thrown in jail before he got another chance to kill Ed, to be honest."
There were a few flat stares turned towards the assassin whose mask had cracked from the force of Izumi's attack was starting to stir.
Al made a sound of alarm at the sight of a glittering blade, leaning to shield his brother once more and Roy already had his gun out when the assassin uttered a few words in Xingese before using it to slit his own throat.
Crimson bloomed under the crumpled body. An anticlimactic end, Roy thought, given the amount of effort he'd expended in attempting to personally murder the Fullmetal Alchemist. But he was already dead, might as well see if there was anything in his pockets to indicate any reason for the attack on Ed.
There was only one thing on his person that wasn't a weapon and it was a single picture of Ed, red coat over his shoulders, neck twisted slightly to look down the road, his long braid tumbling over one shoulder, but hardly doing much to hide the soulmark that had always been dark and obvious against the side of his throat, even more so than Hughes'.
"Al," he said as the blood continued to pool, "how often would you say that you and Ed are apart?"
"Um…" Al tilted his head slightly in thought. "Not that much. Why?"
"Do you know when this was?" Roy held out the picture and Al leaned in to look while Izumi and her husband frowned at the picture that had clearly been taken of Ed when he wasn't aware of it.
"No," Al admitted regretfully.
Roy looked back at it. He supposed it could've been taken in Central when Ed was first certified…but that was an oddly long time to be stalking a kid like Ed.
And Roy liked the words he'd uttered in Xingese even less: 'For the Emperor'
Ed came around slowly. He'd almost awoken earlier, or had just briefly, Ed wasn't sure which, but it was definitely one of the two. There's been a warmth of fingers against his wrist and another stroking into his hair. It had felt…nice. Like when he was four or five and he'd gotten so sick that both Mom and Hohenheim had stuck around to look after him. It was one of the only memories of Hohenheim that actually reminded Ed that their father had probably loved them once. It was a trusting warmth and he'd sunk into it, relaxing into sleep once more after just barely catching sight of Al's glowing eyes and a bluish blur that Ed was sure couldn't have been Mustang.
Al's voice was getting clearer and clearer, echoing in his ears now. "I'm sorry, Teacher."
"Sorry isn't an excuse, Alphonse," Teacher's sharp reply came.
"I know, but we knew that it was taboo and we still did it anyways…" Al's voice struggled and faded. "We just missed Mom so much."
Ed was so close to being awake, but what tugged at his heartstrings the most was the pain in Al's voice and how he talked about Mom.
"I know." The pain in Teacher's voice was too deep, too visceral to come from anything but experience.
Ed's finger twitched, and he heard a low rumbling. "I think he's finally coming around."
Everything felt so heavy and her was a dulled throbbing at Ed's abdomen that all Ed wanted to do was sink back into sleep once more, but he couldn't actually feign sleep away; he'd done that once with Teacher and it hadn't ended well.
So, Ed tiredly opened his eyes, blinking hazily a few times as he took in the sight of Al at his right, the red lights that were his eyes almost seemed bright with concern -and Ed had gotten rather good at reading Al's emotions despite not being able to see any change in expression on the armor- and to his left were two very familiar figures; Teacher and Sig.
"Teacher," he rasped, his throat feeling like sandpaper.
Her eyes sharpened. "Hello, stupid pupil. I see you've become one of the military's dogs."
Ed winced hard. He'd always known that she was going to find out about it eventually, but somehow having this conversation while he was laid up in a hospital bed -because there was no mistaking the lightly painted walls and the overly clean smell that often accompanied his stays in the hospital- didn't ever really factor in.
His abdomen protested, and Ed lifted the blanket with his only arm to see a thick bandage over where his pain was coming from. Ed frowned before looking to Al. "What happened?"
"Um…you -you don't remember?" Al sounded a little nervous. "We were in the Colonel's office with Lieutenant Breda and Havoc…trying to convince you not to cut your hair."
Ed shifted uncomfortably as Teacher and Sig shared a look of surprise. "I remember that…Breda suggested I get some sleep, then…" His brow furrowed. "It's kinda a blur."
"You were stabbed, apparently someone was trying very hard to kill you." Teacher was scowling but for once Ed didn't think it was entirely his fault. "Piss off anyone in Xing?"
"Don't know anyone in Xing." Ed's hand came up to reflexively rub over the soulmark against his neck. He didn't need a mirror to know exactly where the mark was, smoothing his thumb over the perfect circle. "Did they catch him?"
"Um, well, sorta?"
Ed looked at his brother in complete confusion. "What's that even mean, Al?"
"Well…" Al pressed his fingers together. "He…kinda tried again while you were out of it…the Colonel and Teacher got him, but, he, um, killed himself."
There were a lot of things in that sentence that Ed could've focused on, but only one of them left him completely and utterly befuddled. "The Colonel Bastard? He was here?"
Teacher snorted at the insult. "I hope you call him that all the time."
"He does," Al said in dismay and both Teacher and Sig laughed, but Ed was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that Mustang had actually been by his side. Of course, that blur of blue could've only been someone in military uniform, but Ed had assumed that it had been someone else on the team, like Hawkeye or Havoc or Breda. Mustang had a lot of work to do -not that he ever did, the slacker-, he didn't have time to be worrying about injured subordinates.
"He was probably just avoiding paperwork," Ed decided with finality.
Al gave a tittering sort of giggle from within the armor. "I don't think so. Colonel Mustang was really worried, they all were."
Al always saw the best in everyone, even Mustang, so all Ed could do was pat his head in what he hoped was a comforting manner while not believing him for a second.
"Brother…" Ed looked over to Al. "Do you think your soulmate could be someone important over in Xing?"
That made Ed pause and stare at Al in complete incomprehension. "What're you talking about, Al?"
"Its just…before he died, the assassin said 'for the Emperor' in Xingese…like he'd been personally ordered by the Emperor to kill you."
Ed's heart fell into his stomach and then he exploded angrily. "I've never even been to Xing! What a complete asshole! I don't go around killing people I don't even know! Fuck Xing and fuck its Emperor!"
"Ed!" Al was completely scandalized and trying to placate his brother at the same time but neither seemed to be working very well, especially with the Curtises laughing so hard. "You can't just say that!"
"So I should just wait to be assassinated then?!"
"Calm down! You'll open your stitches!"
Ed held his tongue and swallowed his rage, but just for Al, only for Al.
Teacher scooted her chair forward just slightly, but the sound it made echoed in the silence of the room and Ed's eyes shifted to her automatically. "Now," she said severely, her smile long-faded, "we're going to have a talk."
He got the feeling where the talk was going and he knew he wasn't going to like it, but Ed was looking at Teacher like he was seeing through her, remembering when they were younger, sparring against Teacher and failing to best her every time -Al always got farther than Ed ever could, he had always won when the pair sparred, even back when he'd still had his body- remembering how she'd simply clap her hands together and transmute.
"When I heard there was a young gifted State Alchemist who could transmute without a matrix…I knew what'd happened." Teacher's face darkened. "I didn't want it to be you, either of you, but I couldn't think of anyone else as foolish or as desperate -and don't deny it!" She snapped and both Ed and Al recoiled sharply. "Look at both of you! Al is hollow -and I don't even know how you managed that – and you're missing two limbs!"
"I traded my arm for Al's soul." Ed's mouth had thinned into a line. He had no idea just how much he looked like his mother when she was displeased.
There had never been a successful binding of a soul to an inanimate object before. Ed had read enough academic alchemical papers to know that soul alchemy was a theory that had never been proven, and Ed would never admit to having empirical evidence that it actually worked; he'd never subject Al to that.
Besides, Ed was already the youngest State Alchemist who could talk circles around most of the alchemists he'd met -Mustang, at least, had some ability to comprehend some of the alchemy he talked about, putting him just above those other alchemists- he didn't need the satisfaction or the ego boost of knowing that he'd proven the theory correct. The only thing Ed cared about was ensuring Al got his body back.
"You—" Teacher bowed her head, hiding her face behind her hand. She couldn't seem to get the words out.
"But don't worry," Al said quickly, waving his hands emphatically, "we're gonna fix it! We're gonna find a way to get our bodies back, it's fine! I've just started making a list of all the foods I'm gonna eat when I get my body back, and—"
But Teacher surprised them. She stood up and tugged at Al's shoulder, cupping at the back of Ed's head, drawing them both into a hug, Sig's arms bracketing around them. Ed's chest felt warm and tight; when was the last time he felt like this? "You little idiots…it's okay to cry."
Al's gauntlet tightened at her back. "We're so sorry, Teacher," he murmured, wishing he had a body that would let him cry, and Ed, poor Ed who hadn't shed a tear since his automail surgery when he'd voiced his fears to Granny and Winry that Al would hate him for what he'd done -locking his little brother into a metal prison and throwing away the key, what monster would do that?-, Ed who had put on a tough front for Al and the military, Ed sobbed into her shoulder for everything he was worth. His flesh hand grasped at her side, fisting into the fabric there. He could've been holding his mother, embracing his mother, and he wouldn't have known the difference.
And she let him bawl his heart out into her shoulder, her fingers rubbing into his hair soothingly, easing the knot in the pit of his stomach at the memory of the Chopper's fingers running through it, curling the locks over his fingers like it was something priceless or precious, like it was liquid gold. The need to cut it off at the base of his skull or rip it out of his head lessened, even more than when Breda and Havoc had patiently talked him down.
He didn't know how long they'd remained like that, all four of them in a huge bear hug…it seemed like hours before they parted with Ed quickly scrubbing at his eyes while Teacher rubbed her fingers through his hair, a sad sigh leaving her.
"It seems both of us are beyond help," she said softly.
Ed looked up, his eyes red, a question in his eyes.
The pain in Teacher's eyes was from an old wound that refused to heal; Ed knew the feeling. "For awhile it seemed we were barren, we wanted a child but couldn't conceive."
Ed and Al both started in surprise.
"When we were finally able to conceive, I ended up falling gravely ill." The pain in her voice echoed and Sig looked away, perhaps relieving the pain of that day as well. "It led to complications and…" Teacher had to pause and take a breath. "Our child was stillborn…I wanted to bring him back, so I committed the taboo. As a result, I lost parts of my inner organs. What an idiot I was…now I realize I should've told you sooner."
She met their eyes steadily and the mother that could've been that was still in mourning faded into the harsh teacher with a kind heart. "I could've spared you so much pain."
Ed's eyes felt hot and the urge to cry again welled up inside him. "Teacher?"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry about your son."
Teacher's eyes widened and then softened again. "And I'm sorry about your mother." She wiped away a stray tear that Ed had missed. "Now, I want to say that I'll expel you for this, for committing the taboo, for being reckless and foolish, for becoming a State Alchemist." Ed's wince had grown steadily more pronounced as she continued and Al let out a low hiss to indicate how uncomfortable he was as well. "But the truth is…the Truth…" Teacher rolled her eyes faintly. "We are on even footing now, we've all made the same mistake…being able to transmute without a matrix requires such a price."
"Um," Al said suddenly, "I need a matrix to transmute."
That made Teacher pause in startled surprise. "You do? You mean, you didn't see the Truth?"
A shiver went down Ed's spine at the mere memory of it, that faceless almost formless being with a sickeningly wide smile as it took Ed's leg and took Ed's arm when he ventured back into its domain a second time, this time on purpose.
(I am called by many names. I am the World, I am the Universe, I am God, I am Truth. I am All, I am One, and I am also You. You have dared to knock on the door, now the door is open)
"No," Al agreed, "I don't really know what that means."
"You must've lost your memory from the shock." Teacher cupped her chin thoughtfully. "You must've seen more of the Truth than either of us."
"Do you think If I remembered what happened then it might help us figure our how to get our bodies back?" The eagerness in Al's voice made Ed smile tiredly.
"It's a possibility, a very slim one, though, and I wouldn't even know how to go about doing it." Teacher frowned. "In the meantime, I'd focus on something a bit more…tangible."
But there was a spark inside Al now, that there was a possibility that he actually knew a way to get their bodies back, hidden somewhere deep in his subconscious, and Ed wouldn't dare take that away from him.
"With any luck he'll still be asleep, and I won't have to deal with his smart mouth."
"Aw, you like the little brat, admit it!" Hughes grin was far too cheeky, and Roy didn't care for it as he pulled off his gloves and tucked them into his pockets. "It's been a day, Roy, he's probably awake."
"Unfortunately." Roy was already lamenting to the lack of silence he knew he'd be subjected to, or, at least that was what he told himself.
He stopped outside Ed's room, his hand closing around the handle when he heard the sound of laughter, laughter from multiple sources. But it was a good sign.
Roy pushed the door open and took in the scene before him. Al, Breda, Havoc, -Hawkeye, Falman, and Fuery were still in the office but sent their regards- and Izumi Curtis' husband were all seated in the plastic chairs clustered around the bed, while Izumi herself was seated on the bed, sitting so that Ed was directly in front of her as she ran the brush through his hair -had it really always been so long?- before parting the golden hair into three sections and beginning to braid them together.
It felt like Roy had walked in on some intimate family time and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Ed looked tired and pale -there was still a blood transfusion hooked up to his IV- but in far better spirits than he had been the previous day, and far more conscious, he was even smiling as Havoc and Breda made elaborate gestures to go along with the story they were telling about when they'd gotten into a spot of trouble back in their days at the Academy.
Havoc lifted a single hand and grinned over at Mustang and Hughes. The only thing missing was a cigarette dangling between his lips, but that was undoubtedly the best way to get him banned from the hospital in two seconds flat. "Yo."
Mustang strode forward, and Ed's golden eyes fixed on him in muted surprise. "Ah, Fullmetal, I'm surprised to see you awake…I hear wounds like yours can be seriously debilitating for someone of your size."
Ed's eyebrow twitched dangerously, and Mustang grinned widely. "Someone of my size?" Ed just barely managed to force out from behind his teeth.
"Oh, no," Al sounded horrified, like he was watching a train wreck happen in the moment and having no way to prevent it.
"Well, you do have a tendency to be on the small side—"
Ed leaned forward, but his hand dropped suddenly to his bandaged abdomen with a wince, so Roy knew he'd jarred the wound. Izumi grasped his shoulder, forcing him to relax back against her, but then he lifted the hand to jab in Roy's direction.
"C'mere fucker and say that to my face!"
"That would be a bit redundant, seeing as I've already done that."
Ed actually growled out loud. "If Al wasn't so worried about me busting my stitches, I'd bust your face!" he swore.
"Can you actually reach that high?" Roy's grin was demonic.
The noise Ed made sounded painfully like his enraged screams, only this one was a bit cut off, so he wouldn't irritate his wound again. "You've sunk low enough for me to reach, asshole!"
It only devolved from there, leaving the entirety of the room watching Ed and Roy verbally harass each other back and forth, and though Roy was privately relieved Ed was doing better, an unease sank into his stomach at the thought of why someone would think assassinating an almost thirteen-year-old State Alchemist was a good idea.
But maybe they'd never find out the reason why, which Roy wasn't sure was better.
When Ling awoke the next day to find his mark almost back to its usual color, he relaxed in relief.
Ling looked down at the mark. "You're going to cause me a lot of trouble, aren't you?" he murmured to himself, pressing a hand over the mark and knowing viscerally that his soulmate was the reckless type.
AN: I love Izumi a lot and I hope I did her justice in this chapter. She and Roy don't get along but imagining them trying to co-parent the Elrics gives me so much life.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
