They've probably been walking for the better part of half an hour before they finally arrive at a large, communal area. It's set with tables, looking like nothing so much as a communal outdoor cafeteria. They have seen a lot more of what Derek assumes to be Ishvalans—the dark-skinned, red-eyed people—than they have the more European-looking people he's coming to associate with Ed's military. Al is obviously recognized and well regarded by the way people react to him. They're much more reserved and hesitant with the rest of them, particularly with the military, even Miles.
He doesn't miss the way they look at Ed though. Like they should recognize him, then with surprise. He can literally see the rumors racing on ahead of them to the point that when they get to the eating area, there are people who are clearly just there to gawk at Ed.
But the gawkers aren't the only ones waiting for them.
Ed comes to a complete stop, the path in front of him clear except for four women, one teenage girl, and a giant of a man. Derek takes them in quickly—the blonde who is clearly military strikes him as being the biggest threat next to the man, the other blonde looks to be of an age with Ed while the woman with dreadlocked hair screams calm competence, but not military.
The girl is the one that moves first, tears in her eyes as she flings herself forward.
"Big brother!" she cries, and Ed crumples.
"Elicia!" he says, catching her like she weighs nothing. To him, she probably doesn't. He lifts her high in the air, and she laughs in delight, a waist-length braid waving like a banner. "You've gotten so big ," he says as he sets her down, his voice going tight with emotion. But there's joy there too, real joy. She wraps her arms around his chest, the top of her head coming up to Ed's nose, and buries her face in his shoulder.
"You're not allowed to leave again!" she tells him. He strokes a hand down her braid, his face going soft in a way that Derek is sure he's never seen before, but it's not far from how he looked at his brother.
"I'll do my best," he replies, then looks up. "Well? Don't all be happy to see me or anything."
Nearly everyone is teary-eyed.
"Ed, you asshole !" the blonde who almost looks like she could be his sister yells. "You insensitive prick! How could you just vanish like that? And then show up like it's nothing! Jerk! Asshole!"
"Hey, language, Winry!" Ed says, even though he's laughing as he says it and the admonishment is more than a little rich coming from Ed of all people. He puts his hands over Elicia's ears and says, "We got young ears here."
If Winry—if that's right, strange name—were teary-eyed before, she's absolutely sobbing now. "You stupid-head! You better not have screwed up my automail!"
"I'm still walking on it, aren't I?" The banter is easy, familiar, as if they've seen each other only yesterday instead of the nearly nine years it's actually been.
Elicia moves to the side enough that Winry can wrap Ed in a tight hug, but she doesn't let go of Ed's waist, and he keeps her tucked into his side.
"Jerk! Stupid! Meanie! If you ever do that again, I'm gonna steal your automail! See how far you get on one stupid leg!"
"Not very far," he replies, patting the top of her head with his metal hand.
She pulls back and rubs at her cheeks fiercely. "As soon as you sit down, I'm going to give you a proper tune-up—no! You probably need them replaced after so long. Who knows what the hell you've done to them."
"I took care of them!"
"It would be a first!"
"Yes, yes, children," the woman in dreads says, coming forward. Winry backs off a little bit, still staying close to Ed, and Ed's face twists in another new way.
"Teacher," he says, and Derek can't decide if it's relief or joy or fear he hears in Ed's voice.
Her eyes are dry, but her jaw is clenched to keep it from trembling. "You beautiful idiot," she says, apparently deciding to wrap her arms around him. Derek sees Winry try to coax Elicia away, but she stubbornly stays attached to Ed, clinging to him as if he might disappear again if she doesn't. All things considered, Derek doesn't blame her.
The larger man comes over and wraps his arms around all three of them, lifting them into the air for a crushing hug that, although Ed squawks at, he doesn't even pretend to protest.
"Welcome home, Edward," the man says in a deep, rumbling voice.
"Thanks, Sig," Ed pats his arm, and they're all put down.
"If you ever disappear on us like that again, I'll hunt you down myself, if I have to go through Truth to find you, am I clear!" she yells.
Ed flinches back a bit, but he's still smiling and not at all surprised, so he's used to it. Although Ed is obviously basking in what is attention from loved ones, it's strange to hear anyone who knows Ed, and certainly must know how brilliant he is, an idiot.
"I'll do my best," he says.
She crosses her arms and nods. "See that you do."
The woman who looks so much like Elicia, she can't be anything other than her mother, steps forward, and she gives Ed an unreserved hug. "We're so glad you're okay," she tells him. "You've been so missed."
Ed hugs her back with what must be almost crushing tightness. "I've missed you all too," he assures.
She steps back after a final squeeze, leaving only the military woman. She's happy, but more reserved in her happiness, more worried.
Derek shouldn't be surprised that Ed knows exactly what has her concerned. "He's not with me, but he's fine," he tells her and holds up his wrist. Some of the tension goes out of her shoulders. "I swear, Riza, I'm gonna bring him home too."
Mustang, Derek realizes. She must be worried that Mustang isn't with Ed. She smiles, then, unreserved for him. "I know you will, Lieutenant Colonel. And welcome home." She salutes him.
"It's good to be back, Captain." He returns the salute. It's the first time that Derek has seen Ed salute, and it's honestly bizarre . Nothing about Ed has ever made Derek think he's military. Military people have this aura, this way they carry themselves due to their training that no amount of years out ever seems to erase, and Ed doesn't have it. But when he snaps into a perfect salute despite Elicia still clinging to him, he suddenly looks every bit the soldier. That perfect posture is in place, the set of the shoulders, the puff of the chest—no matter the military, it seems universal, and for the first time, Derek sees it in Ed. Ed who, despite his relatively short stature, actually tends to slouch as if hunched over a book, who never sits on anything so much as sprawls, who somehow always seems to take up more space than he should.
People who have authority issues rarely do well in the military because the military demands obedience, at least in their world it does. But that's obviously not the case here. Here, Ed's abilities had been prized enough to give him substantial latitude that he never would have been given in any military Derek knows of. Given the women who were waiting to see him first, it also explains why Ed responds relatively well to women in a position of power. Men in power seem to trigger inevitable dick-measuring contests with Ed, usually leaving a lot of bruised egos in his wake, but whenever it's a woman in charge of the locals they're working with, Ed always responds much better. If these are the kinds of women he grew up around, it suddenly makes a lot more sense.
It seems that with the initial greetings past, the floodgates open. Exclamations and more banter and teasing explode as people step in to manhandle Ed, ruffling his hair, giving him hugs, punching him in some cases, Elicia stuck tightly to his side throughout it all, making him less of an aggressive target.
Derek doesn't notice the blonde captain make her way to them until she's at their side.
"If you'd like to get some food and sit down, now might be the time," she suggests. As if on cue, Ed's head turns, looking for them. He looks ready to call out when he sees the captain there. She gives a nod and a small smile, and he relaxes slightly, letting himself go back to paying attention to the people he hasn't seen in so long.
"I think we'd like that," JJ says, politely, and puts her hand out. "I'm Jennifer Jareau. This is Derek Morgan. We work with Ed… in our world."
"Captain Riza Hawkeye," she introduces herself. "You can call me Riza or Hawkeye. So they were in another world, then?"
"You're not surprised?" Derek asks.
"It was Alphonse's hypothesis," she explains as she starts leading them to where a massive cauldron is set up. "He refused to believe either Ed or the General could be dead."
"You seem to accept that quite readily," Derek says, not quite accusing.
She gets a rueful smile. "When you spend time around alchemists, you start forgetting human limitations," she says after a moment. "And when you spend time around Elrics, that is even more true." The humor leaves her eyes and they go dark. "Besides, imagining them gone, truly dead was, I think, unfathomable."
"Were you on Ed's team?" JJ asks as they are given bowls. A large, Ishvalan man with an x-shaped scar across his forehead and an automail arm has been stirring the cauldron dutifully. He dishes them out generous portions of the stew. "Thank you," she says to the man.
He has a brooding disposition and merely nods in reply as he hands Derek his bowl. Something about him makes Derek's hackles rise. Maybe it's just how obviously fit he is for all that he's stirring soup, but something about him makes Derek uneasy. A bubbly middle-aged woman gives them generous portions of a flatbread to go with whatever soup it is, along with carved wooden spoons that remind Derek more of Asian sipping spoons than Western ones.
"Ed and I were on General Mustang's team—I've been the General's adjunct since he was a lieutenant colonel himself. I went with him to recruit the Elrics."
Hawkeye takes a bowl for herself, and something seems to pass between her and the man, but no words pass as he lowers his eyes. She doesn't comment, instead escorting them skillfully through what is now a crowd with Ed effectively holding court to a table where they have a good view of the proceedings but have a little bit of privacy.
Once they've sat, JJ asks, "So you knew Ed when he was a child?" She takes a sip of the soup, and all but moans. "Holy crap, this is good."
Mouth watering from the smells of the stew and even the bread, Derek indulges himself, and dips the bread. The taste that explodes across his palate is gamey but flavorful, reminding him of curry, but the spices aren't quite right. There's heat, but not overwhelming, and maybe it's just their hunger, but it takes conscious effort not to inhale it on the spot.
"I'm not sure I ever knew Edward and Alphonse as children," Hawkeye says, a little wistful. "I don't know that anyone who survived what they did is a child anymore."
Silently resolving not to be judgmental about this any further when it's clear no one here is, Derek swallows and asks, "What did Ed do? While he worked for Mustang?"
Either some of his feelings about the man slip through or Hawkeye is unusually canny because she says, "I see the General doesn't impress you much." Before he can apologize, she continues on as if it's unimportant. "Edward reported directly to Colonel Mustang until their respective promotions, at which time he moved to report up through General Armstrong." Derek can't help but look for signs of distaste or displeasure, though she must surely be aware of why Ed transferred; he doesn't find any. "While under Colonel Mustang, Edward mostly operated almost as an independent contractor. As a rule, State Alchemists tend to be given a fair amount of leeway in how they're utilized, depending on their specialties. As a generalist, Edward could be deployed for any number of reasons—rogue alchemists were a particular specialty of his, but he also dealt with insurrections, conspiracies, honestly, anything that the local troops couldn't deal with."
"You sent a twelve-year-old to deal with things local militia couldn't?" Derek can't help asking, his eyebrows climbing.
Hawkeye gives him a long look. "You don't have alchemists in your world, do you, Mr. Morgan?"
"No, but—"
"Then I don't know that you can fully understand," she interrupts. "State Alchemists are the superartillery of the Amestrian military. They are living weapons, and age has little to do with it." She pauses to take a bite, and her eyes are keen, clear, intelligent. "You work with Edward in your world, you said?" Derek and JJ nod. "What do you do?"
They exchange a glance. JJ leans forward. "We work for a law enforcement agency. Our job is to track serial offenders, mostly."
"Serial offenders?"
"Anyone who offends sequentially, repeatedly. Usually they have a pattern or a ritual to how they offend," JJ explains. "But we also assist in kidnappings and bombers and general terrorists."
"How is that different from normal law enforcement?" Hawkeye asks, appearing genuinely curious.
"We look at a crime scene differently, try to get inside the head of the unsub—unknown subject," Derek continues. "We don't just look at the scene, we look at what they did that they didn't have to. We use that information to try to figure out who they are, who they might strike next, use that to catch them."
"I'm not sure I understand how that's different than what normal law enforcement operate."
Derek exchanged a glance with JJ, and she gave him a raised eyebrow and a grin, giving him permission to do it.
"We're profilers," Derek began. "That means we see things other people don't. For example." He glances over to the crowd around Ed. "Ed's easy. We know him well, so as happy as he is to be surrounded by all of these people he knows and loves, he'll turn, look for Mustang. You can see it." Hawkeye shifts to look over at Ed. Someone has given him a bowl of stew, which he promptly inhales, then laughs, Elicia still with an arm around his waist. He turns as if to say something, and for just a moment, his happiness dims. Derek wishes he could take pleasure in it.
Morgan glances around Ed and says, "Elicia isn't actually Ed's little sister. She's a friend of the family, obviously has known him since she was very young, and she trusts him completely, even though she hasn't seen him in almost nine years. She lost her father when she was young, and she's scared of Ed disappearing again."
Hawkeye seems mildly impressed but not entirely sold, so he looks at her. "You're career military, and you always worked under Mustang. You're deeply loyal to him, nearly devoted. You were relieved to see Ed, but you were more concerned about Mustang. But it's not romantic. You two served together, in the same unit, probably, and something about the situation you served under made you believe in him. Not romantic though, because you know that he and Ed are involved and yet I see no sign of jealousy. You were genuinely relieved and happy to see Ed."
She gives him a look like she's impressed, then she says, "Edward and the General had an argument recently, and they haven't made up yet. And you're not nearly as close as you say you are because you haven't known about them for long, and you are really not comfortable with them being together, are you?" She twists this time to really look at Ed. "He's hidden a lot from you, hasn't he?"
"It makes sense though," JJ says, sad but understanding in a way that Derek isn't sure he shares. "How could he have possibly shared all of this with us? He didn't even trust us with Mustang, and given how we've reacted, I can hardly blame him."
The stew suddenly sits heavy in Derek's stomach. He looks at Hawkeye again, really looks at her. "You're marksman," he says. "You're a stickler for the rules in most cases. Even in this heat where we've seen plenty of soldiers relax their uniforms a little bit, you haven't at all. But you also have some hairs on your clothing that you didn't quite manage to get off, so you have a dog."
This time she looks a little more impressed. "I could have a cat," she suggests.
Derek shakes his head. "No, you like order far too much, and dogs are far more trainable. You definitely have a dog," he tells her, and then it clicks. "That's why your relationship with Mustang isn't romantic, and never has been. It's why you still call him by his title and keep that distance between you, however deep your bond as soldiers is. Mustang is a cat—he's going to do what he wants, when he wants, and there is no training him. But you know…" he trails off, not quite able to say it.
"But I know that someone even freer and more untamable is exactly what he needs?" she offers for him anyway. "The bond that we share is real and deep. It is beyond family, beyond romance, I think, but what he and Edward share…" She shrugs. "I think we all saw what it would become. That nothing less than the wildfire itself could love the sun so much without being burned."
"I apologize for my tardiness," Mei's voice calls, cutting through the crowd that has been gathering while they've been talking to Hawkeye. Ed stands from where he was seated, still keeping Elicia close to his side, but his face has gone frighteningly blank, almost afraid. In her arms is a bundle, and even from their distance, Derek can see Ed's searing yellow eyes peeking out curiously.
Ed must see them too because he turns to his brother, near horrified. "Al, what?" Then his jaw snaps shut. To a profiler's eyes, it's suddenly obvious that with those big golden eyes and that jet-black crown of hair that the child must be Al and Mei's. "What the fuck? Why didn't you—?"
"You didn't ask," Al informs, beaming as Mei approaches with the baby.
"But you're not—"
"It seemed wrong to get married if you weren't here, and besides, you're the one who always said that marriage doesn't make people stay."
"Six months?" JJ guesses softly.
"Six months tomorrow," Hawkeye confirms. "It's why we're all here—for the celebration."
Derek glances at her, but only briefly, feeling like something important is about to happen. Elicia finally steps back, though still within arm's reach as Mei approaches not Ed, but the scarred man and hands the infant to him. He takes the child with gravitas, and steps toward Ed. Mei discretely moves around to stand by Al's side.
"The child was born six months ago tomorrow," the man announces with a tone that seems ritualistic. "The first child born in a city rebuilt. A child born of Amestrian, Xerxian, and Xingese blood in a place that has been bequeathed to the children of Ishvala, and so makes her Ishvalan by rite. Ishvala's graces us today, returning her long-lost uncle amidst the celebration of her birth. Though I am unworthy, my brothers and sisters have declared that I am pujaarti , the head of Ishvala in this city reborn. As such, and given Ishvala's obvious grace, I believe it is only fitting that the child finally be Named."
His voice carries easily among the crowd, the rhythm of it nearly hypnotic. "Parents of the child, have you a name to bestow on the child?" the man asks.
"We do," Al and Mei chorus, obviously prepared. Ed shoots them a dismayed look but doesn't interrupt.
"Name her, then, before your gathered peoples, before your family, before Ishvala herself, and let her name be known before the goddess."
"We name her Eden," Al says in a clear, confident voice, and Ed turns to stare at him in abject horror that would be hysterical if not for the solemnity of the occasion.
"You can't—"
"We name her for one who is beloved to us, whose resolve is great, his capacity for empathy and love even greater," Mei says, running right over Ed. "We honor my beloved's brother with her name, and so Eden she shall be."
The man smiles, the first time that Derek has seen anything other than sternness on his features, and he raises the infant above him. "I present the child to Ishvala and call her name Eden, lifting her name to Ishvala's ears." She squeals as he lowers her with care, and it's a happy sound. Derek hears people all around saying her name in varying tones of reverence and joy. "Only those who are trusted friends of Ishvala may hold the child." He addresses Al and Mei. "Do you trust this man with the child, Eden?"
"We do," they say, and Al's eyes look suspiciously watery.
"The parents of the child, Eden, who are Ishvalan by rite of their place as parents of the first child, have granted trust and allegiance to Edward Elric, once the Fullmetal Alchemist, known throughout the people of Ishvala, Amestris, and Xing as the People's Alchemist. As they offer him their trust, I place the first child, Eden, in his arms."
Ed hastily holds out his arms to cradle the infant, taking her with care and ease, just like Derek had seen him handle JJ's son, Michael. He gazes down into her face, meeting eyes as bright as his own, and he looks awed. She reaches up a tiny hand and Ed holds up a metal finger for her to grasp. She squeals that unique happy sound that infants make and tears spill from Ed's eyes. He manages to tear his eyes away from her to look at his brother and say, " Al ," in a tone so overflowing with love and surprise and exasperation, it tugs at even Derek's heart. He sees JJ discretely wipe her eyes.
"So the first child has been Named, her name has been cast to the heavens for Ishvala's ears. We gladly welcome a new member of our family, by the grace of Eden's trust," the man declares. "Let the celebration begin!"
The cheers go up around them, and Ed casts his eyes around for a moment, looking for Mustang again, before he turns to find them. He gives them a watery smile and lifts Eden a little higher, as if showing her off, the sun sparkling off his tears in a way that almost makes them look like diamonds. Derek can't help but return his smile, an odd pride welling in his chest as music that is at once foreign and familiar begins to be played.