The Golden Sun: Chapter Five: A Comforting Presence

AN: Everyone loved Izumi! That's good, her interactions with the Elrics give me life and you'll see more of it in this fic :)


There'd been a lot of people going in and out of Ed's room all day, it was exhausting. Teacher, at least, had decided he was well enough that he wasn't in need of her mothering. She'd brushed her knuckles against the top of Ed's head and knocked Al's chest plate affectionately before bidding them farewell. Sig ruffled the tops of Ed and Al's heads, even though one of them was a suit of armor. It was...nice.

"If I don't hear from you in six months, I'm coming back here and physically dragging you to Dublith, all right?" Her expression darkened. "All right?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Ed and Al just managed to stutter out, making her grin in an almost feral manner. Teacher was just too scary.

She cast them one last glance before leaving out the door. One down, one to go.

"How'd Winry take it?" Ed was wincing.

Their automail mechanic best friend was violent at best and psychotic at worst regarding her reacting to Ed damaging her automail in any way.

"Well, she wasn't happy, but she calmed down when I told her you were in the hospital…she sounded worried, but I told her you were gonna be fine." Al sounded far too cheerful. Ed bet it was because he could get into significantly less trouble stuck in a hospital bed than out of it.

Ed scoffed loudly. "Yeah right, more likely she's worried about how much she's gonna have to repair herself and then charge me double for it."

Al giggled inside the armor. "She said she'll be here this afternoon."

"Great," Ed drawled out.

"She said 'maybe there's a cute city girl with a figure eight soulmark'."

"Great," Ed said in a horrified tone. "That's just what everyone needs, Winry with her wrench all sappy over some girl." That was a nightmare waiting to happen…unless the girl made Winry soft, which might improve her attitude. Ed was hoping for the latter.

Al full-on laughed. "I think it's sweet," he said wistfully and Ed paused, regret settling in his heart like a cold lump of lead. "That you're bound to someone, someone that'll make your life so much brighter by being a part of it."

Ed looked away, blinking a few times. It was hard for Al, he knew. His soulmark didn't exist without his body. Ed couldn't imagine what that must be like, his was an ever-constant, he never had a day where he didn't see his reflected in the mirror. The terrible irony was that the soul array inside Al's armor was almost exactly where his soulmark had been on his body. Ed had decided long ago to never bring that up.

"You're the romantic, not me," Ed said instead. Ed didn't spend a lot of time thinking about his soulmate, he probably should've, but his soulmate was always going to come in second to getting Al's body back.

"Brother?"

Ed hummed to let Al know he was listening.

"Do you think the soulmark is still there?"

Ed started and winced, dropping a hand to his aching and throbbing abdomen from the sudden movement. "What? Of course, it is!"

But the reality was, he wasn't even sure, neither of them were sure. Maybe something terrible had happened to Al's soulmate in the meantime, but a little white lie never hurt anyone. Besides, Al didn't need the harsh truth, not now, and Ed wanted his words to be true, more than anything, because if anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Al.

Ed rubbed at his shoulder port, the scars feeling tender and the shoulder beginning to ache as he looked out of the window, watching the rain as it came down.

"Brother?" Al's voice echoed within the armor. "Are you all right? You're kinda…quiet."

"Just old wounds, don't worry about it." Different types of old wounds.

Ed remembered the warmth of Mustang's hand encircling his wrist like he remembered Hohenheim's fingers brushing across his flaming brow when he was ill and Ed wasn't sure how he felt about that comparison.

"Sounds like I'm gonna be in here for a little while," he said to get Al's mind off it.

"Only until you're better." Somehow Al pulled off the best reproachful expression despite having none.

Dismay colored Ed's face as he turned his pleading eyes on his brother. "Come on, Al! You know I hate hospitals!"

"Either that or you end up bleeding over the Colonel's carpet ("Blood's festive," Ed muttered under his breath, "gives his office a splash of color.") and then you'll be back in the hospital within the hour."

Ed narrowed his eyes…that phrasing wasn't quite Al, more likely he'd heard it and was repeating it. "You're conspiring against me!" he realized in outrage. "That bastard! Turning my own brother against me!"

Al sighed in exasperation. "Ed, Colonel Mustang's not the enemy!"

Ed snorted in disdain but didn't believe him.

They sat in silence for a brief few minutes and then Al cautiously broke the silence. "Um, Brother?"

Ed hummed tiredly. All he seemed to want to do since they'd lost their bodies was eat and sleep, but being in the hospital and the attack on him seemed to have made it worse.

"I was thinking about looking into other branches of alchemy."

That had Ed frowning in consideration. "Other branches? You mean like healing or elemental alchemy?"

"Well, kinda," Al acquiesced, "but I'm kinda interested in the alchemy practices in Xing…seeing if anything about it might help us."

Ed considered that thoughtfully. That idea had merit. All their research had focused on Amestrian alchemy, but maybe the path to their bodies could be found in foreign alchemy…maybe Xing had some information about the Philosopher's Stone that Ed and Al had missed.

"Sounds like a good idea," he said. "Bring me back some good books, will you?"

"Of course!" Al promised before darting off with a quick wave, leaving Ed on his own.

Without Al around, Ed could feel his body unwillingly relaxing, dragging his eyelids down. He has hovering somewhere between semi-consciousness and unconsciousness when he heard something that sounded like the door creaking open and then shutting as a weight settled in the chair next to his bed. Ed could just barely feel the flutter of fingers brushing his bangs aside.

But it could've just been Ed's imagination.

He settled into a dreamless sleep and when he awoke it was with a pained gasp on his lips.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Mustang's face swam before his eyes, before Ed winced them shut, feeling the urge to vomit as his fingers dug into the edge of his shoulder port.

Then Mustang was gone and Ed felt suddenly and viscerally alone, but it was a few moments later when something warm was placed on his leg port and then over his shoulder. Ed wasn't sure if the sob of relief catching in his throat actually made it out, but at this point he didn't even care. Fingers were rubbing soothingly into his hair at the nape of his neck, like Teacher had done, but the touch was rougher, less practiced in the movement, more familiar with the sharp snap than anything else.

Ed sank into it more than he'd like to admit. There was a word springing from his lips that had the movement still briefly before continuing on.

"Get some sleep, Ed," came a quiet voice.

Ed couldn't remember the last time Mustang had used his nickname, because he'd opted to stick to Fullmetal for as long as he'd had the name…maybe he thought it was the best way to set them apart, to keep each other at arm's distance. It made Ed wonder why he'd forgone it now.

After that he fell into a doze, fading in and out of consciousness, thinking he heard the sound of Hawkeye's annoyed voice talking about paperwork before the darkness closed in completely.

"Such a pretty boy with pretty hair~!"

There'd been fingers running through his hair, tugging just slightly enough for Ed to try to twist away, and that had only made him laugh. Ed's throat had felt paralyzed, he couldn't even scream. It was like being strapped to a table like a lab rat that was going to be cut open, its organs exposed to see how it worked…Ed didn't even remember how'd gotten free, but it had been just in time for him to dodge the meat cleaver.

"I'm gonna get you~!"

Ed's eyes flashed open and he breathed in sharply through his nose. There was a scream lodged in his throat like it had been two days ago, only fading when he realized where he was.

Ed lifted his hand and pressed it firmly over his eyes, biting his lip hard.

"All right, Ed?"

Mustang's voice was steady and calm and that more than anything calmed Ed's racing heart. "M'fine," he managed to force out. "Just a nightmare." A shameful flush spread across his face. Admitting that to his superior felt like admitting a weakness. Ed dropped his hand from his face, rubbing at his eyes before blinking around him slightly.

Al still hadn't returned and being in the hospital screwed with Ed's ability to tell time, so Ed had no idea how long he'd been asleep (or in and out of sleep, as it were). He tugged on the end of his braid a few times before remembering that the Chopper had done that too.

"You look upset."

Anger boiled inside Ed and he snapped his eyes up to glare at Mustang. "Fuck you, Bastard Colonel!" he snarled out. "I'm perfectly—!"

"Edward Elric." The sharp way he'd said his name made Ed flinch back and he looked away from Mustang quickly, hunching his shoulders slightly. "You were just kidnapped and almost murdered, and then after you gave a statement, you were almost murdered again…a lot of people would find that very upsetting and I wouldn't blame them, so why do you think I'd blame you?"

Ed cast a cautious eye back towards Mustang. He was looking him straight in the eye, unflinching and steady. Keeping his eye was hard. It was like looking Hohenheim in the eye, but Hohenheim always had less feeling than Mustang, Mustang was like a blazing fire threatening to burst at the seams.

He looked away. "I can't afford to be upset," he muttered.

"Why not?"

Ed's fist clenched tight in his sheet. "Because Al—" His words caught at the thought of his brother and Ed pressed his hand against his face again.

"I think Al knows you're not as tough as you claim to be," Mustang rolled his eyes at Ed, even though he didn't see it. "Seeing as all he needs to do is turn the puppy dog eyes on and you flake…which is pretty impressive since he doesn't even have eyes in the first place."

Ed's lips twitched faintly at that. Like Mustang hadn't fallen for that trick all the time, either.

"All I'm saying is that its okay to get upset, especially about something like what you experienced…it's a normal response."

He dropped his hand slowly from his face to look at Mustang again, his expression open and honest. To be honest, Ed kinda hated him for it. His fatherly parental figures had always been rather on the low side but somehow Mustang was leaving them all in the dust and it wasn't fucking fair. Ed didn't even like Mustang! (Or so he'd been trying to convince himself, but that didn't seem to be working out the way Ed wanted it to)

"He touched my hair with his creepy serial killer hands." Ed scowled, wrinkling his nose. "A lot of people touch my hair without asking…it makes me uncomfortable and the Chopper makes me feel gross."

"That was why Havoc and Breda were saying you wanted to cut your hair," Roy surmised. He probably could've gotten a more in-depth reason as to why Ed had wanted to from his Lieutenants, but it was easier to just get it from Ed, well, not easier, per se, but it was probably better.

Ed brushed his bangs back away from his face with one hand.

"Who else has been touching your hair?" Roy asked flummoxed. Ed might've liked his hair long and he was still considered a child, but that didn't give anyone the license to touch it.

"Some of the soldiers." Ed shrugged his shoulders. "The guy that pulled on my braid broke his hand."

If Ed had looked to Mustang, he would've seen Roy hiding a smile behind his hand, just a hint of pride there.

Ed shivered suddenly and had to blink when Mustang's uniform jacket settled around his shoulders. Mustang arched an eyebrow, now only dressed in the light blue shirt he wore beneath it, daring him to argue, but Ed sank into the overcoat, small in comparison, not that he'd ever admit that.

"Colonel…can I ask you something?" Ed was tugging lightly on one of the sleeves, the ends just slightly frayed from use.

Mustang made a gesture with his hand and Ed continued. "You've never…you've never held it against us, what we did. Why not?"

Mustang blinked in surprise. "I thought it was fairly obvious."

Ed could feel irritation welling up inside him. He swore to Truth itself—!

"I never needed to, you did all that work for me."

The fire burning inside Ed flickered and died. Mustang reached out and straightened his jacket around his subordinate's shoulders.

"What you and your brother did…I can't pretend I understand it, but I do understand that you loved your mother very much." Mustang remembered Al, just barely having his soul bound to the armor apologizing over and over and saying "We just wanted to see Mom smile again."

Ed gritted his teeth together and looked away, blinking furiously.

"And it was rather clear that the one person who hates you for what you did the most…is you." Ed hated the patience and understanding in his tone, just as much as he craved it. "I do know that you're not alone in the blame, though, it wasn't just your mistake, it was Al's too…you like to forget that."

Ed twisted to look at him, fiery and enraged at the idea of someone putting the blame on Al for anything. It was Ed's fault, all Ed's fault! He was the one who dragged Al into this! He was the one—!

But all he did was ground his hand into his eyes. "Al deserves better than me," were the traitorous pain-filled words that escaped from him.

"Maybe, maybe not, but you're what he's got and he loves you regardless."

Ed knew his eyes were red when he removed his hand to look at Mustang and any other day he would've cared about Mustang seeing him like that, but not today.

"You're a bastard," Ed said decisively.

"Yes, I do get that a lot from you."

Ed's mouth twitched.

"So…your alchemy teacher was…something." Mustang cleared his throat awkwardly, leaning back in the chair and Ed snorted.

"She beat you up, didn't she?"

"I'm sure it was on her list, but she seemed a bit more preoccupied with the pair of you." The relief that was clear on his face made Ed want to full-on laugh, but Ed knew enough about Teacher to know the relief was well-founded. "I would've thought you two would ask her about the Philosopher's Stone."

Ed started in surprise and his abdomen barely twinged, but it was only then that Ed really seemed to notice the bulge under his sheets. He lifted the sheet to see the heat pad at the junction where his leg port met his thigh and he could feel another over his shoulder, easing the phantom pains.

It was almost nice of Mustang to get that, though Ed would never ever admit that out loud.

"We did," Ed said finally, dropping the sheet and scowling fiercely, like he always did when people talked about his father. "She wasn't very interested in the Stone, but there'd been an Alchemist from Central that knew a lot about the Stone, Van Hohenheim."

"And you think if you find him—"

"I don't ever want to see him," Ed snarled, his hand tightening into a fist. "Not after what he did to us, to Mom—" He could still remember his mother's smiling face, coming up with all these excuses as to where Dad was. Ed hated him with a fiery passion.

"Van Hohenheim is your father," Mustang realized, and Ed glared at him. Mustang held up his hands in surrender. "Biologically, at least…so he left your mother and you boys?"

"Guess he had better things to do."

Ed parents had never been married. There was never a ring on Mom's finger. Hohenheim didn't even have a soulmark to match Mom's.

"How does Al feel about him?"

Ed gave a half sort of shrug. "I don't like talking about him, so Al doesn't bring him up."

Mustang gave a soft humming sound before reaching down and pulling out a thin sheet of paper, wafting it in Ed's face until he glared and took it from him. "What's this?"

"You're on medical leave for the week after you're discharged, no field work."

Outrage colored Ed's face. "What? No! I can't! I've gotta be out there and—!"

"Fullmetal, you're recovering from a serious injury. You might be out of the hospital in a few days, but you aren't leaving the city until I get a note from your doctor." Mustang was firm and unshakeable and if Ed had another arm he would've crossed them and pouted, as it was the pout was unimpressive, if a bit amusing.

"So, I'm on desk duty."

"Yup, you'll most likely just be helping around with paperwork," Mustang said downright cheerfully.

Ed cottoned on very quickly. "More like you're trying to get out of your own paperwork, you slacker!"

Mustang grinned, standing and taking a few files and tucking them into his folder -had he actually been doing paperwork? Would wonders never cease!- before bringing his coat up around him, giving Ed an amused smirk. "I'm sure we can find something for you…and that military uniform you never wear is mandatory, Fullmetal…it took effort to find one small enough to fit you."

Ed saw red. "You get back here, you bastard and I'll show you who's the smaller one!"

Mustang only gave an answering laugh, sliding the door shut behind him, leaving Ed fuming as he flopped back against the bed, Mustang's jacket still wound around his shoulders, and he didn't realize it until much later, when he convinced himself that it was just because the jacket was warm and not because of the man that gave it to him.


"Sorry it took so long, Brother!"

Al was in much better spirits now that Ed was in recovery, but Ed liked it better when his little brother was cheerful, it made him feel lighter somehow.

The suit of armor stumbled into the room, carrying a number of books in his arms. "They didn't have a lot of translated books on Xing so I had them dig out the ones that weren't translated too!"

Xingese was easy to read and easier to speak. Sometimes Ed liked it more than Amestrian. Amestrian was rough as a language -so was Ed's way of speaking, but that was beside the point- but Xingese was smooth, rolling easily off the tongue, Ed liked the way it sounded more than his native tongue, but maybe he was just biased because of the soulmark on his neck.

"This is all they had on Xing?" Ed's brow furrowed in confusion. He knew there were some very large sections on Creta and Drachma and Aerugo…Xing was the one country that Amestris wasn't close to being at war with, he would've thought there would've been more on it.

"Yeah, they didn't have much." Al sounded a bit annoyed by it too. He sounded almost like Ed, actually, and it made his lips twitch. "It sounds like books on Xing or Xingese alchemy aren't of much value here when Amestris could be trading for silks or weapons."

Ed scoffed in annoyance. What a waste. Who would care about that sort of stuff when there was alchemy to be familiarizing yourself with?

He picked up one of the books, thumbing it open with interest, eyes flicking over the Xingese characters, translating them in his head. This book appeared to be one that focused on folklore that echoed Amestris' about how alchemy came into being. The Tale of the Eastern Sage was the one from Amestris, according to it, the kingdom of Xerxes, an almost mythical place that had long been claimed by the sands of time, was destroyed in a single night and that the only survivor wandered into Amestris shortly afterwards, he was the one that went on to spread the science of alchemy.

Xing, apparently, had a similar story, only instead of the Eastern Sage, it was called the Western Sage, about a man who had come from the West who combined his teachings with their own ancient techniques to create what was known in Xing as alkahestry.

The ruins of Xerxes were still around, they rested between Xing and Amestris, being from Xerxes could indicate why the surviving man was known as the Eastern Sage to Amestris and the Western Sage to Xing; the countries were in opposite directions…but it seemed to Ed that everything led back to Xerxes.

"Hey, Al…" he said slowly, not looking up from the book. "Do you think there's any books on Xerxes?"

"Um…" If Ed had been paying attention he would've heard the apprehension overlaying the carefully constructed thoughtful tone, but he was too focused on the book in his hands. "No, I think there was just that page about the Philosopher's Stone had how it was used to destroy the kingdom of Xerxes in a single night…why?"

Ed didn't know, Al had thought it best not to tell him that when he'd called back to say he'd gotten certified, Al had taken a large wooden box over to the house and piled inside it all the books in Dad's library, the ones they'd taught themselves how to use alchemy with and the ones they hadn't even touched yet. All the books and pictures of them all together as a family, and a few things that had belonged to their mother. Granny had clucked her tongue, knowing they were planning to burn down the house and thinking he should tell Ed what he'd taken from it before they could do so, but she still let him store it all in the basement.

Al would have to tell him one day, but somehow, he didn't think it would end well.

"Just a thought," Ed waved him off, "it seems like everything started in Xerxes, that's where we get the alchemy that we use today…and if that's where the Philosopher's Stone first came from…maybe it wouldn't hurt to look around."

"In the ruins?" Al was intrigued. "Isn't that in the Eastern Desert, though? Isn't there nothing but sand for miles?" Nothing but sand for miles that would get trapped in his armor, and traveling through the desert with automail probably wouldn't be the best course of action for Ed.

"Probably," Ed cupped his chin thoughtfully, opening with mouth to say more when he jumped violently as the door slid open loudly to reveal a very familiar person with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a toolbox over one shoulder. "H-hey, Winry," he said in a voice that clearly said he'd rather be running in the opposite direction.

"Edward Elric," Winry Rockbell bared her teeth in a grin that might've looked sweet to anyone else, but Ed had seen it too many times before being brained with a wrench, "just what've you been up to?"


AN: Winry is definitely a lesbian, someone didn't want her to have a girlfriend but its Winpan in this fic and that's not changing.

Papa!Roy is my jam, so you'll see so much more of it.

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!