Barranca: I was always of the opinion during the series that if Ed didn't level half the town of where he was visiting, all had gone well.
MandaxPanda: Oh and they're not even fully started yet on being fluffy together. These men are capable of big hearts.
moonstone glows: But of course, Winry is totally of the automail mindset. Automail is perfection to her... so naturally Roy's perfect physique had to be automail inspired and crafted. And poor Grand really won't be ever getting a successful break.
Mesonoxian: Hazel doesn't destroy, he reorganizes.
Hrethra: Yeah, I agree. Roy is far too hot for his own good, Ed has to camouflage him for Roy's own safety. And aww... yeah, Roy totally is unable to function without Ed in his life anymore. The big sap.
Neena: Roy is a good idiot for Ed. Ed knows just how to handle him.
black-klepon: Algebra? Ugh... save me. I can't help you there, it's a miracle I passed college math. And Roy and Ed on a speedboat... somehow I see that ending up with the boat somehow blowing up.
Alyzabeth: Ugh, yes, Grand must be eliminated. Stylishly. For Ed and Roy do things with flair. And I'm so glad I carried off that scene about Winry's parents well, I think I spent almost two days adjusting it, so I'm glad it wasn't in vain for you. But no... Roy really doesn't seem like a Jeremy at all.
xTKx: It's a line and a squirrel made for luvin.
B.D.: I did have fun writing that ending. I was probably grinning like an idiot doing so, but I like giving them happy little endings like that.
elemental heiress: -gives tissues- they really do need each other, the idiots.
camiimary: Thank you for finding the energy this time for a review. And Winry totally was all over Roy... maybe not physically, but the man is made for wanting to jump onto and do naughty things to. And Hazel is an angel, I assure you... -snigger-
j.d.y.: Cheering on Hazel, are we?
accident prone: Imagine if anyone ever wrote up a list of all of Grand's bad deeds, I shudder to imagine the length. And Roy totally went major depression, which was rather fun for me to write. But he's an idiot, and it's why Ed loves him... will love him... ya know XD
GreedxEd: See? I can make Winry atone a bit. She's not always as bad as you like to think.
Soaha: Leaving Hazel with unsupervised full run of a house without coming home at night is like inviting a herd of toddlers to come play in a china shop.
silvers-edge: Thank you, very much. And oh, surely Ed has something nice planned for Grand. Like an ice cream sundae... no matter that I'd want to poison it.
Eli: Aww! -gives you more tissues- I've made you cry like... two stories in a row now.
Cheru: Do you really mean make up, or do you mean make out? XP
Zemyx: Eh, it takes like two chapters at the most for me to cover a full day. And they're averaging around 14 pages each. So I guess that's normal to feel. But I hope I'm not boring you in the process. And oh yes, they are definitely beginning to fall for each other.
snake and crane: Thank you. And what is it you want them to find out?
egyptian1995: Roy sucks at guessing dessert for Ed, it's just his major failure in life. But yay! Another Hazel lover.
Just as a general announcement, considering when I posted Sel Euraidd I had people informing me they cried for days, were hugging stuffed seals, and everytime they thought of the beach or that nickname they burst into more tears, that I had better tell you all that you will not need tissues for this chapter. At least I hope not. I think most of you are all cried out for right now.
So yeah, I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was past the fall of darkness when Roy and Edward laid eyes on home again. The sight of it coming as a welcome relief to them both. Not that they regretted the trip they'd taken, not at all! In different ways, they'd both come away from it with closure and a strange sense of peace.
But coming back to the place they both called home, and now knowing with absolute certainty that they both wanted it to stay this way, had its own calling of relief.
As Roy busied himself with opening the fence gate, Edward shot ahead with a grin. "Time to go see the damage so I know whether or not to go out for the night!"
Roy snorted in laughter, shaking his head as he closed the gate behind him. He didn't bother with an answer as he watched Edward dive his way through the door. He knew the ghost wouldn't really go off anywhere, although he had the suspicion that if the house was destroyed, Edward wouldn't easily be tempted into helping him clean it up.
Reaching the front door he fished out his keys to let himself in, and once he'd stepped inside and closed the door behind him, Roy looked around for Edward. "Ed?"
The lights were switched on in the area of the kitchen in answer, and so Roy lost no time in making his way in that direction.
What he found, made him stop dead in his tracks as he stared.
Every single chair had been toppled over. Several canisters of food that had been being stored on the countertops were either rolled onto their sides, or rolled onto the floor. The dishrag and hand towel both appeared to have ended up over the hanging light fixture, how, Roy couldn't even fathom. The box he stored the cheddar crackers in had been raided, judging by all the crumbs littering the stove around it. And the roll of paper towels had been strewn all about the entirety of the chaotic mess, draped over the whole of it like a ribbon and bow over a coronary-inducing gift.
"You sure it's a squirrel you have?" Edward asked weakly as he floated over to hover at Roy's side.
Roy felt a groan coming on, "road kill. I own road kill." He determined in conviction. "Where's my motorcycle?"
Edward knew that Roy wasn't being serious, but it didn't stop him from letting out a noise of protest. "It surely can't be that bad… he must have gotten tired after this."
"The rest of the house." Roy suddenly realized, and before Edward could even keep up, he'd whirled around to hurry into the living room, flipping on the lights there. "Holy… shit."
Edward quickly darted over to Roy's side in order to see, and as his eyes landed on this next scene, he began to fear what would have happened if they'd been gone any longer than they had.
It appeared as though someone had released a train into the living room and attempted to drive it in a circle. The majority of the books had been dumped from their shelves. The couch and chair cushions had been laid askew, if not removed entirely. The pictures were hanging crooked on their hooks. The table lamps were on their sides, or close to tipping over onto the floor. And the boxes that Roy still hadn't removed to the trash after unpacking had been shredded and dispersed over everything.
The only thing miraculously not somehow involved in the disaster zone was the case that held all of Roy's glass sculptures that he'd created.
"We need to find a pet sitter." Edward finally noted as he looked around at the disarray of the room, and watched as Roy went over to at least rescue one of the lamps that was close to tipping.
"Maes won't take him for a reason." Roy replied, and considered giving Edward his gloves to hold onto. The only thing keeping him from not flipping out entirely was the fact that he had come home to this sort of thing before, if not worse at times.
"Will Hawkeye?"
"I don't want Hazel killed!" Roy exclaimed, knowing far too well how intolerant that woman was of anything out of proper behavior.
"Just road kill?" Edward reminded him with a smile.
Roy drug a hand back through his hair in a harassed gesture. "Yeah. And he's sort of a one-person squirrel. Well," he looked over at Edward, "one-ghost squirrel too. He'll behave if I don't leave him alone. But he knows what a suitcase means, unfortunately. But he won't behave for anyone else."
Edward looked around at the disaster that had befallen their home, and had to agree, Hazel certainly knew what a suitcase meant. "You should invest in a cage for him."
Roy glanced back out towards the hallway. "Come on, let's go see what else was destroyed before I decide what sort of house of horrors cage I'll stick the furry tyrant in."
"I think he turned your house into a house of horrors." Edward muttered as he watched Roy step over a couch cushion in order to move out towards the hallway, following after him shortly.
"Our house." Roy corrected idly as he began to make his way around the stairs so he could head for the laundry room. Knowing it was the only remaining area where Hazel could have gotten into mischief. He'd been able to seal off and secure every other section of the house.
Edward smirked at the correction, despite the warm feeling that came over him. "Your house when it's a mess."
The laundry room by far could have been worse. If not for the squirrel-proofed bin that the furry rodent's toys were kept in, no doubt they too would have been reassembled. Yet even with that small shred of fortune on the horizon, the rest of the laundry room had not been spared what Hazel could devise.
The clothes that had been in the hamper, needing to be washed, were now decorating the floor. Some of which were pulled almost entirely behind the washer and dryer. The box of fabric softener had been upended, with many of the fibrous sheets missing to be found only Hazel knew where. And in the direct center of the towels that Roy had neatly folded, and shockingly most of which were still folded, was Hazel.
The squirrel was utterly fast asleep. No doubt exhausted with his destructive habits to ensure that his owner knew his malcontent at being left alone, displaced by a mere suitcase. He was curled happily among the towels, fluffy tail wrapped around his head and over his body. Completely unsuspecting that his owner was bearing down upon him.
As soon as Roy was in range, he snatched his furry menace of a pet by the scruff of the neck, ignoring the startled and somewhat sleepy squeak he got in protest. "Hazel," he growled, as the squirrel went completely still with wide-eyes upon realizing just who had a hold of him. "So help me, I should have left you in the gutter in which I found you."
Hazel immediately began to chatter demurely, holding up his paws towards his owner in want of forgiveness.
"Oh no," Roy argued against the look his pet was pleading to him with, "you're not acting near cute enough yet for me to forgive you."
Edward, knowing Hazel was hardly in any danger, could only float nearby in observation as he tried not to let slip any laughter through his amused smile. It never got old, seeing how much Roy truly cherished his pet, even as he tried to be angry with it. And Hazel was just as bad.
Roy harrumphed over Hazel's 'I thought you loved me' look and now miserable vocalizations as he plopped his pet down onto the washer lid. "Shoo!"
Hazel scrambled frantically off the lid, leaping down onto the hazardous floor in order to bound away in a slinking, guilt-ridden fashion.
"That wasn't nice." Edward chided, his humor beginning to slip into his tone.
Roy shot the ghost a scowl. "We'll have made up by dinnertime. Curse it."
Edward laughed, not wanting to miss this make up session between the two. It was bound to be priceless.
And with that, Roy began to get to work in cleaning up the mess. Grabbing the strewn clothes and tossing them back into the hamper as Edward took up sitting in the pile of folded towels atop the dryer.
"You could help, you know." Roy leered up at the ghost as he bent over to rescue socks out from behind the washing machine. "You can get to some of this stuff easier than me."
"I could, and I can," Edward agreed with a wicked grin, "but I'm enjoying watching you more."
Roy pelted the ghost with a sock he knew he'd have to go get for the second time, but he didn't care. It had felt good. "I'm only entertainment to you now, is that it?" He grumbled as he continued refilling the hamper.
Edward merely grinned wider in answer, and Roy shook his head with muttered words.
From the laundry room to the kitchen, Edward trailed after Roy to watch as the man busied himself with putting their home back in order. It was clear as Roy fell into a rhythm that this was definitely not the first time he'd had to clean something like this up. And the man was making short, quick work of it.
By the time he was ready to move on into the living room, it was well after nightfall. His stomach was almost ready to complain loudly of hunger, believing he'd not noticed it yet. And Edward had taken to sitting up on one of the bookshelves to peer down at Roy as the man worked on sticking all his books back onto their proper shelves.
Mostly they'd been in a comfortable shared silence. Roy working, Edward watching. Although Roy had taken several opportunities to try and guilt his ghostly companion into assisting him. It hadn't panned out.
Edward remained near Roy's side, just observing, until he heard the man's stomach complain noisily.
Roy noticed Edward vanish through the wall, but he didn't think much of it as he turned to fixing all the cushions. He suspected the ghost had finally gotten bored of watching him and gone off to try and find wherever Hazel had taken to pouting.
And finally he was to the last project. Then his house would finally be clean again. And he sat down on the floor, picking up the shredded bits of cardboard and stuffing them into a trash bag. Still not having seen Edward since he'd left through the wall, nor Hazel.
It was Hazel who made the first reappearance.
The squirrel scampered slowly into the living room, meek hesitation in his every movement as he began to cautiously make his way over to where his owner was cleaning up the cardboard. And about to go around to try and plead forgiveness again, Hazel paused, sitting back on his haunches a moment as he observed with a twitching tail. After a moment he went back on all fours, and picking up a piece of the shredded cardboard in his teeth he padded up to his owner's side.
Roy abruptly looked down at the feel of two tiny paws on his leg, and as Hazel offered the bit of cardboard up to him, he couldn't help but smile in defeat. "Thank you." He murmured as he reached down to take the cardboard from his pet, letting his hand stroke over the furred head in reassurance.
Hazel fairly purred at the touch, and happily he crawled up onto his owner's lap to place his front paws on Roy's chest and nuzzle into him.
Roy smiled, cursing himself for being too easy and soft on Hazel as he continued to pet the happy squirrel. "Death of my reputation…" he said softly as he rubbed Hazel's head when it was shoved roughly into his hand in demand of petting.
Edward had come to lean back against the frame of the entryway, smiling at the sight the two of them made as he balanced a plate of food in his hands. "What I'd give for a camera."
Roy didn't cease in his petting of Hazel, who was still snuggling into him as the bushy tail twitched in happiness. Only sent Edward a faux dirty look that was soon overtaken by his curiosity as he saw what Edward was holding. "What have you been up to? I thought you were with Hazel."
Edward flashed a quick grin before floating down to the floor to walk over to them, kneeling down at Roy's side as he offered out the plate. "My own peace offering, for not helping you."
Roy tilted his head slightly as he looked with some measure of puzzled awe at the dinner Edward had made. The ghost had apparently raided part of his beef tenderloin, and it was now sliced and sauced while nearby rested a small mountain of roasted and generously seasoned red potato wedges. "You made this?"
Edward was beaming as Roy took the plate off his hands, looking miffed, yet near to salivating at the same time. "Yeah."
"You made this." Roy raised the plate up high out of Hazel's reach as the squirrel abandoned his snuggling in order to try and make a swipe for a potato wedge.
"What, you think I can order out at a restaurant?" Edward laughed at the man, offering him a fork and knife as well. "Of course I made it."
Roy took the utensils as he looked at Edward in growing amazement. "What is the sauce, exactly?" He asked, ignoring Hazel scrambling up to his shoulder where the squirrel apparently thought he'd be able to reach the food on its way to Roy's mouth.
Edward chuckled as he reached over to pluck a potato off the plate, leaning around Roy to offer it to Hazel who immediately snatched onto it gleefully before proceeding to gnaw into it with gusto. "Red wine and chopped mushroom." He revealed, smiling as he met Roy's gaze.
"I'll be damned…" Roy muttered, and never taking his eyes off the silver ones, he cut into the beef and liberally dabbed it in the sauce before lifting it to his mouth. It had barely touched his tongue before the tender meat fairly melted on his tongue, the sauce only making the experience the more enjoyable as he groaned his approval.
Edward's smile was bright as he waited for Roy's critique raptly. "Is it really that good? You're not just humoring me?"
"I hope you don't expect me to pet you, but damn," Roy acclaimed, "you've earned my forgiveness too."
Edward laughed, feeling a flash of pride burn inside him as he reveled that he'd done it right. "Just watching you eat it is reward enough." He replied as he settled down on his side in front of Roy, propped up by his elbow, just watching him eat with a content feeling deep inside him.
Roy ate his dinner, feeling oddly at home with Edward laid out on the floor before him, Hazel stealing his food whenever he was too focused on gazing back at Edward to evade the snatching paws, and a slight remaining disarray of Hazel-created chaos around them all.
Later that night, long after the house had been put back in order and dinner had been finished, Roy was alone in his bedroom getting changed into his pajama bottoms before he called out the all-clear to Edward. And after he'd done so, he set his suitcase up on the bed. He'd unpack after he let Edward in… but for now, he carefully took the one thing he didn't want Edward to see out from its hidden location in his dirty clothes.
The picture of Edward he'd swiped.
Holding it in his hand he looked down at it a long moment before faintly smiling. "You'd kill me if you knew I had this." He spoke to the face smiling up at him from the old photograph.
And he walked over to his bedside table to slip it in the drawer, as far back as he could get it, underneath a box of condoms. He knew Edward sure as hell wouldn't be going anywhere near that box, the pilfered photograph would be safe.
He eventually let Edward in the bedroom, and as the ghost flopped down onto the bed, he worked on unpacking his suitcase before shoving it away for the next time he'd need it. He crawled into bed shortly after, collapsing down with a grateful groan as he turned off the lights.
It had been a damn long day, for them both. And even if one of them was incapable of sleep, they were both grateful for the time to unwind before they dove headfirst back into another week at Headquarters.
They both left to arrive early as usual, and upon reaching the high walls of Headquarters, they were greeted with a sight that made Roy pause to curse under his breath before shaking it off.
"What is all this?" Edward asked, floating down to stand at Roy's side.
Roy looked around at the gathering herd of civilians in the courtyard before the main building, all trying to exude airs of imperious confidence, before looking over at Edward to mutter. "The State Alchemist certification exams."
And abruptly, Edward remembered. "Grand invited you, didn't he? To help proctor them, or whatever?"
"Proctoring is not what I'm there for." Roy answered, and muttered a quick, "come on."
Roy headed them around towards the side of the main building, and through a side entrance of a rarely used hallway. And once there he locked that door from the inside in order to lean back against the wall and meet Edward's silver eyes. "Whenever I'm in Central during the time of the exams, I've been asked to be there. As nothing more than something to show off."
"Because you're a war hero?" Edward surmised as he leaned against the wall opposite.
"And as you so aptly put it yesterday, I'm famous." Roy added grudgingly. Not at all convinced he deserved the honors thrust upon him. Not after what he'd done to ruin so many lives. "I'd happily forgotten that the exams started today..."
Edward frowned as Roy trailed off, "I know you don't want to be shown off like a trophy, but this could be good for you. A chance to see me toss something else on Grand."
Roy had to smile at that, even just a little. "I doubt you'll find a suitable opportunity for damaging him these next three days. But if this will be good for me in any way, it'll be in making sure that the Fuhrer sees my face again since I've gotten here."
"But isn't he like Grand in a way? Won't you have to get rid of him to become Fuhrer yourself? It's not like I can picture anyone just happily giving you the post to go into retirement. That's never been the history of the country before."
"Yes." Roy agreed with a quiet severity, "eventually I will have to kill him as well to give myself that final promotion."
Edward slowly nodded, knowing it was the only way. And he knew he'd stand beside Roy and support him through it all… even if no one else knew he was there doing so. "So what do we do now? I'm assuming we're not going to the office at all today?"
"No." Roy answered, and then he smiled. "But considering I'll be busy with other duties these next three days, my usual paperwork will have been shunted off to other qualified officers. So as soon as I'm done we can go home early if you like."
"Yes!" Edward exclaimed eagerly. "You can show me around more, and I can practice riding that bike, and…" he trailed off then, his joyful expression falling for a split second before he pulled himself back together to smile brightly at Roy. "And then you can go have fun tonight."
Roy could admit to being caught off guard. Edward didn't think that any of that qualified as fun for him? And he couldn't curb his baffled look as he straightened up from the wall. "What do you mean? I always have fun when I'm with you."
Edward wanted to hesitate, but he knew Roy would see the hesitation, so he plunged on without heed to how his own words made him feel. "I meant your manwhoring. You've spent three whole days with me, and those nights as well because of our weekend trip. I know I'm on an every-other-day sort of schedule. So you're overdue to go have some fun."
"Oh." So that was it. Roy looked away a moment, making himself remember. He'd had every intention to go home with Edward tonight, and stay home. And he would have felt confused, with Edward telling him this, if he didn't already know that the silvery apparition didn't truly mean his words. Edward was only reacting to what had already been established as customary, and trying not to monopolize his time.
And yet… he'd had every intention to go home with Edward tonight. "You see… the thing is?" He began with a small smile as he walked over to stand before the ghost. "I've got this huge cake still waiting for me at home that I don't want to go to waste. So I do think I'd better come home for dinner tonight, and dessert," and his smile vanished into a serene expression as he ended, "and your company."
Edward's eyes widened fleetingly, before his earlier joy suddenly returned in a heady rush. "Really?"
"Yeah," Roy smiled then, "really. So let's go get today over with so we can have some fun."
So they made their way down the hallways, adeptly avoiding any possibility of running into the newest batch of hopefuls, and eventually to a rather large amphitheater styled room. It was missing about half the required seats to be a proper amphitheater, and was enclosed by a dome roof, but it was large. And in a way, intimidating.
Edward supposed that the military didn't want to make this an easy exam to pass in any manner.
Near the center of the open floor, but back nearer towards the plain wall, was a large raised grey marble platform of about five inches high. A generously sized wooden table with three chairs was placed at its center, looking out towards where the examinees would be seated. And behind the whole setup two bold Amestrian flags were hung. As if anyone could forget which countries military they were trying to join.
"Is this the same as how you took it?" Edward asked as he looked around, and up to the sections of benches and their desks, waiting to be filled with examinees.
Roy too looked around at the so-far empty room. "Yeah. Had no idea what I was getting into, either. I had all these dreams of it being some surreal fantasy I would live in. Reality turned out to be quite different."
Edward looked over at the darkly-pensive looking man, "it always does."
Roy glanced over at the spirit, and found himself slipping into a smile. Their weekend still fresh in his mind. "Even so… at least reality includes this for us."
Edward smiled cheerfully back at him. "So when does this circus start? Who all are we waiting for besides the Fuhrer and Grand?"
"General Hakuro and whatever other random poor State Alchemist besides myself that gets dragged into this." Roy answered, his eyes briefly flicking over to the table. "By the way, Grand will be sitting in the chair to the Fuhrer's right. In case you're interested."
"You don't include Grand in with the poor State Alchemists?" Edward asked, already gleefully moving to sabotage the general's intended chair in some fashion. The sadistic man deserved it after everything he'd done, and was doing.
Roy wandered over to take a seat on one of the tables the examinees would be working on, watching the ghost as he worked. "He's not worthy to be an alchemist. But I don't intend to forget that he is one when it comes down to a fight between us."
And Edward finished rigging the chair in whatever fashion he thought would most likely dump Grand to the floor… and promptly rigged the other two as well. Just to take any potential suspicion off of Roy. If all of the chairs seemed faulty at a place like this, then it would more easily be taken as coincidence.
And around the time that he had finished unseen, a man Roy greeted as General Hakuro, another State Alchemist who dared not approach Roy given the dark forbidding look that was turned on him, and then General Grand all walked in.
"Ah, Mustang, glad you could make it." General Grand greeted with some degree of calculation as he made his way over to the platform as regally as he could manage, ignoring Hakuro and the other alchemist as he did so.
Roy was pleased to see that the General was trying to cover up a limp. Fractured patella if he remembered right… the man was probably sporting a hell of a knee brace underneath the loose uniform pants. The fractured cheekbone on the other hand seemed to have swollen nicely, and taken on the bruising the man's purported black eye had already lost.
"Yes." Roy merely replied, and added with silky smile, "you had a good idea. There really should be a State Alchemist of caliber here, I'm happy to represent the State."
Edward's jaw almost dropped at the thinly veiled insult, but as it was, he was grinning too much.
General Hakuro was hiding a smile from his chair, not about to call the Colonel out on a lack of respect. And the other State Alchemist was merely looking surly, making it hard to tell if he'd even heard or was just stewing over the black look the famed war hero had recently given him.
General Grand on the other hand had paused, and turned a calculating look on the man, not entirely sure yet if Mustang had meant it that way. But he didn't have time to formulate a response of any sort as the doors at the top of the amphitheater swung wide, admitting the military officers who'd be serving as proctors for the exam, and the examinees.
Roy merely followed General Grand up onto the platform, taking his place near the fore and to the right-hand side of the Grand as he watched the hopefuls file in. Being sure to take a good, careful look at each one. After all, these were his new potential victims when they tried to prove themselves by attempting to outwit him in an alchemy fight.
It wasn't a matter of 'if', but 'when'.
When everyone was seated and ready to begin, the proctors took up their places at the rear of the rows of seats. There was a strictly maintained policy regarding any form of cheating or attempts at such, and they were more than ready to throw anyone suspicious out those double doors without inquiry.
Yet the exams were not passed out as of yet, the company was still short one person, and several minutes later, the Fuhrer walked in.
Edward didn't even pay notice to Roy's sickening show of submission, even though he was aware of it at the edge of his mind and it caused him to shudder. In his mind, Roy owed deference to no one. It was they who owed it to him. Yet still, his main attention was for the Fuhrer, taking stock of his eventual second victim once Grand was out of the picture.
Eye patched and stuffed crisply into full uniform, the Fuhrer was a darker skinned man than Roy, but still lighter than Grand. He looked about the same age as the General, leading Edward to confirm that there was no way short of killing the Fuhrer that Roy would get his intended position as leader of the country.
And as the Fuhrer made his way around to his chair sat imposingly at the center of the table, he took a moment to look at General Grand in an assessing, unimpressed manner. Before saying quietly, so no one beyond the platform would hear, "try to sit in your chair carefully, General, if much more of you gets broken by furniture you won't be much use anymore as anything but a field officer."
Edward burst out into prideful laughter, catching the amused look Roy sent his way out of the corner of the man's eye. And he settled his laughter with a grin. "We'll make sure that the next major career choice he's given is one sending him to an undertaker."
Roy knew how very true that was… but didn't waste time to wonder if it was fair that it was two against one. General Grand wasn't a man that deserved 'fair'.
Shortly thereafter the Fuhrer's warning to Grand, the exam began after a short speech and a whacking of a gavel. Causing Edward to wonder how hard it would be to get that gavel to whack onto Grand's hand in some plausible manner.
In his theorizing he floated around over towards the table, coming in around in front of the Fuhrer, ignoring him in favor of leaning over the table in inspect the gavel. Perhaps it could be "knocked" from the table when all the chairs eventually collapsed? It would take only a bit of his help to make sure the heavy wooden object landed on some fragile part of General Grand.
Brow still slightly furrowed in thought, he began to draw away from the table, as he did so looking up at the Fuhrer who happened to be staring through him at the examinees.
The next thing Roy heard, was an inhuman scream.
Edward collapsed out of the air, connecting with the ground as pain – pain as he knew pain – shot through his body. Pain that wasn't going away as he continued to cry out, his body quaking, that horrible Gate flashing before his eyes intermixed with a symbol glowing red that he didn't understand. He didn't want to. All he wanted was to escape it.
So he fled, barely able to keep himself in a hover as he darted for the nearest wall, falling through it. In doing so, causing the pain to leave him, but he fled even further. Fear of that damnable Gate and not understanding what had happened to cause him to see it driving him back to Roy's office where he felt the safest.
And he collapsed into Roy's chair, eyes wide and arms wrapped around himself as he trembled violently.
Meanwhile Roy was standing frozen, still in the amphitheater, panic coursing through him even as he tried to force himself to stand where he was and not move. Everything inside him screamed to go after the ghost, but he knew he couldn't. They'd have him locked up in the insanity ward for suddenly having a "meltdown" and running out of here, long before he could even get to Edward. Potential excuses he could make for leaving kept rising to his mind, but he fought them down. He had to trust that Edward would be okay for another hour until he could get to the ghost.
The last times Edward had acted similarly in pain the ghost had been fine… he had to hope this was similar.
And he knew Edward would have wanted him to stay. Even if he felt horrible for forcing himself to do so.
So caught up in his internal panic, that he didn't notice that the Fuhrer seemed to have come upon a short-lived migraine only approximately a minute ago that was now fading much to General Hakuro's relief.
He couldn't even find it in himself to feel amused when all at once the three chairs at the table collapsed, sending the Generals and the Fuhrer sprawling with startled yells, causing the examinees to look on with wide, if not somewhat amused eyes.
In fact, the only time he showed any sort of life or knowledge of what was going on around him was when the exam time was concluded, and they were all dismissed once the Fuhrer had left. He managed to walk steadily to the nearest door, but upon closing it behind him, he raced down the hallways to find Edward.
Having a fairly good idea of where the ghost would have gone to.
So he pelted up to his office, not bothering to greet any of his startled staff, only slamming the door shut behind him and locking it securely.
Roy couldn't breathe in relief yet, even as he saw he'd been right. For he was still filled with fearful concern for his companion as he saw Edward shaking like a leaf there in the armchair behind the desk. "Ed?" He asked, making it to the ghost's side in record time.
Edward looked down at Roy as the man spun the chair around to kneel before him in worry. "Roy." His voice trembled along with his body as he continued to shake. "The exam's over?"
"For today." Roy replied, reaching a hand up to brush it through the silver hair he could never feel, never move. "Are you still hurting?"
Edward shook his head, before floating down through the chair to settle himself through Roy's legs. "I don't know what happened. I'm sorry."
Roy frowned, eyes filled with concern as he wrapped his arms around Edward's waist as best he could, considering he couldn't touch the ghost anyway. But it looked right to his eyes. Edward was there, even if he couldn't feel him. "Don't be sorry." He chastised fondly. "What did happen, just pain?"
"When I looked up at the Fuhrer, I was inspecting that gavel for, well, it's not important anymore." Edward murmured as he relaxed into having Roy close, it never failed to make him feel safer. "But when I looked at him there was just pain. Like I was being ripped apart… like before."
Roy knew that Edward was referring to the night they'd gotten the ghost free of the office. But what about the Fuhrer could possibly cause Edward pain like before? Pain indirectly related to that Gate. It was unsettling to him, but he tried not to let on about it as he worked on comforting the still-shaking ghost. "Anything else?"
"Paper." Edward suddenly said, "I need paper. And a pen."
Roy nodded, ignoring the knocking on his door in order to pull down a piece of paper from his desk, jiggling out a pen from one drawer, never once taking his other arm away from around Edward as he passed down the requested items.
Edward immediately started to begin drawing. Penning out the strange, unfamiliar symbol he'd sporadically seen between flashes of the Gate. He was aware of Roy watching him, but didn't let it distract him from his concentration. And when he'd finally finished, he held it more at an angle for Roy to see easily. "Have you ever seen this before?"
Roy took up the paper, looking at it carefully. Aware somewhere in the back of his mind that it should be familiar to him. He'd seen it once before… a very long time ago. And he tilted his head as he considered the winged serpent looking beast, curled around a star-fashioned marking. "Once… I can't remember where though." He admitted in a bothered tone, looking away from the paper to meet Edward's silvery gaze. "What is it?"
Edward looked down at it in hesitation, slowly shaking his head back and forth. "I don't know." He answered softly, "but I kept seeing it. Mostly I saw the Gate again, but it kept being disrupted by this." And he looked up at Roy worriedly. "How can I not know? And why did this happen when I looked at the Fuhrer? He couldn't even see me."
"I don't know." Roy echoed, looking down at the drawing again. "I really don't… but I think that for now it'd be best to keep you away from him. Until we figure out what this symbol is." And he studied it closely, distantly knowing somehow that it should be colored red, and not the black Edward had penned it in. "But if I ran across it once before, I'll surely do so again."
"I know this may seem redundant, considering my actions towards Grand," Edward whispered, following Roy's gaze to the penned drawing he'd created, "but that Fuhrer… be careful, Roy. I can't help but feel after today that he's dangerous. Maybe more dangerous than Grand."
Roy nodded, "so am I." He replied as he laid the drawing on the floor to bring his arm back around the ghost's waist. "So am I."
Edward smiled at him faintly, letting out a heavy breath that felt as if he'd been carrying it since he'd fled. And he relaxed into the thought of Roy doing his best to mime holding him with a faint smile. "To think I once told you to be careful about passing through me."
"Technically," Roy smiled as he tilted his head around to catch Edward's eyes, "you passed through me. But then, we've come a long way since that day."
Edward nodded, feeling the last of the trembles leave his body as he contented himself to be there with Roy as the door was repeatedly knocked on and ignored. Instead he graced Roy with a peaceful smile. "Thank you, for coming after me."