Mesonoxian: I think they're both each other's saving grace in this story. These two need each other like peanut butter needs bananas.
j.d.y: Thank you. I rewrote parts of that sculpture scene at least twice trying to get it to sound as best as I could. Glad to hear I did well. And yes, Ed should not be allowed near any source of water. Or projectiles.
Animeluver: Thank you!
elemental heiress: Oh, Roy can always give himself a run for his money in cuteness. The man is prone to being a sap when the occasion calls for it. Happy crying? Anticipating a good ending already, are we? hehe
Shinigami Clara: Yes, Roy is just a bit clueless. He's led this lifestyle for so long that he hasn't yet realized the channel has been changed on him. And thank you! It is so nice when someone else gets that Ed's a bit emotionally... is stunted a nice way to put it? about emotions. He just hasn't experienced love yet. It's not his fault.
mudkiprox: Ed is a bit of a naughty ghost. He's been locked up for too long, it gave him too much time to plan world chaos.
silvers-edge: Ed didn't like any of those potential state alchemists anyway, he felt he was probably doing them all a favor. And oh Roy, Roy, Roy, he is an ongoing piece of work in the love department.
Kuronueslover: Well so far no picture. Usually the fanart shows up near the end of the story, so if a flower shows up I'll try and remember to let you know. You have very good questions! That makes me so happy... although I can't tell you any of the answers. But as far as story length... usually mine average out between 45 and 50. I'm thinking this one will behave similarly, but I'm still not certain.
Hrethra: Flowers are so underrated, given right, they are quite the gift to receive. And Roy definitely knows how to give them right.
moonstone: Meh, who says Grand needs a good day? -cackles- And you are right, Roy is totally cool. The man has got style, no denying it.
xTKx: Thank you. When Roy says to Edward "it's yours", he means the sculpture he created. Something that has a very close meaning to him.
MandaxPanda: The world needs cheese, m'dear. Nice, stinky cheese XD.
Zemyx: No, Ed would never try and sabotage or hurt anyone! He is a very respectable ghost. I shall ask Roy if he will make you a dragon... Gilbert.
Eli: Epic seems to be everyone's new favorite word. I've attempted to ban it from my Word dictionary, just in case. XD And wouldn't you want someone to take care of you after a threesome, lil' sis?
Neena: Yes, they are quite the pair. Thanks!
emodragon: The fluff only almost knocked you out of your chair? -pushes up sleeves- one cracktastically fluffy fic coming up. Hmm... I wonder if the Fuhrer would allow telecommuting for Grand? He can hide out in Lab 5 with his misfits.
Catlover12: Thank you, and I will!
SanitysOver: Ugh, I hate school too. Curses that we live in an era where a college degree is necessary for what I want to do. I guess that's why we need Roy and Ed, right? To cheer us up.
GreedxEd: Grand considers what happened to him as an 'emo' worthy event. He told me so himself.
ranni: Thank you, and you shall!
Potatoe Girl: And that's just when Ed is done with him, a lack of man parts. Makes you wonder what I'm going to have Roy do to him.
Loveless Torii: If ever there is fanart for that sculpture, I'll try to remember to make public note of it somewhere.
Soaha: That they are, connecting as Roy takes his sweet ass time getting a clue.
Blessed24: That he does! And a very good choice of crush, if Ed does say so himself.
Kimba: Roy really is a sap. And don't worry, you're not the only one wanting them to figure out their feelings. Hell, I'm among that number because I have to deal with the muses.
accident prone: Roy... gooey dork... I like it! XD and yes, Ed really should be taking the exam. Wonder how the Fuhrer would react to that request from Roy.
TwentyTawnyTigers: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. As to the concerns about the pacing, I am always happy to hear the opinions on it. However that's just the way the story is set up to work, and I'm afraid I have far more people appreciating it that way than not. But thank you, I really am always glad to hear opinions on that.
Koneko: I'm about to start asking around for someone to draw it, I've gotten so many remarks about wanting fanart of it. Hey, I can beg, right? XD And yes! I am rewriting the map -cackles- I just have never been able to get it as East City in my head, so eventually I just stopped fighting it. I figure if that's my one fault... I won't be killed too painfully for it. And yes, I do like messing with your head, and canon.
Jane Mustang-Elric: Thank you, I'm so happy you do!
EdwardxElricxForever: Thank you, I've tried hard to write stuff that others will want to read. Gosh those numbers make me nervous though. And I'm glad you got around to reviewing! So far I am not aware of another story with Ed as a ghost - that I've not written, I do have a small oneshot featuring such a thing - but someone may yet surprise me on that. Again, I am so glad to hear when someone understands the pacing of the story. It's not at all my intention to drag things out, these chapters take me long enough to write as it is with all the planning things out, without making it harder on myself. Hope to hear from you again!
egyptian1995: So close you can taste it... what does it taste like? Maybe it's Ed's favorite dessert? XD
Moonlightdream: You are very welcome, thank you for your kind review. You may join the ranks of the many who anticipate Ed getting his body back XD. It's quite the situational debate.
Halftere: Well thank you! I'm glad your sleep deprivation was worth it, always glad to know that. Hmm... let your friends think you've cracked, they'll be envying you your squirrel within the day.
Unfortunately: I am certainly not mad at you, don't even think it. I am, however, glad to see you're doing just fine. Congratulations on starting your story! And yes! I loved Bellatrix, every scene she was in I was just in tears of laughter, Helena did fabulous. I swear Bella's hair was alive. And of course I cried when Dobby... ya know.
Shadow Eclipse: I'm so glad that you love it! And only time will tell with those two, I think they've both an equal shot at first confession, they're both so clueless.
80x10: Well I'm glad you caught up! What is usually the snack of choice with the story readings?
Reisha: Gosh, it really has been about a year. Almost makes me want to mope... eh, can't ever help real life, can you? And that was an awesome random mental image you had. Fits so well with what madness usually goes on during the Saturday chat party -groans-. And ooo, kill off Winry... you've no idea how tempting that is. My Winry muse has been being a headache to me lately.
Gaara: Thank you!
SuperNekoFan: Thank you! I'm so glad you are enjoying the story.
Kit Ninja: You and me both, actually. I finally managed.
Alex: A playing-hard-to-get marriage proposal... I like you already.
d3m0nang3l: Thank you, I'm so happy you've enjoyed so far!
Ohsnap13: Eh, let them think you're insane. It's half of what makes life fun. Or tell them about those spiders, their reactions are a good way to make an escape.
Greetings, all!
Yes, yes, I know most of you probably want to murder me for the wait. Gomenasai. Some of you know what happened to me, but for those who don't, it's only fair you all get the down and dirty. After Thanksgiving I broke my foot, became disgustingly ill, and was flooded with work. I'm feeling much better now, as is my foot.
I was convinced into joining Twitter, Gate save me. You may find me at 'euraidd' if you so desire. What can I say, I'm a sucker for my own story.
Those of you who have sent me e-mails or PM's over the course of the past few months, thank you, I promise I have not been ignoring you. It's just my schedule. I will attempt to get to you tonight, and if I don't, you can harass me on Twitter. If any of you are wanting your left shoes back, no, they are now mine.
It was brought to my attention by a reader that you guys are absolutely fabulous! I've always said, way back when I first started writing, that I end up with the best group of readers an author could ask for. I truly do, a lot of you stick with me over the years. Some of you don't. But either way, when you're here, you're fantastic. So thank you for all the love you've given me, I only hope to keep being worthy of it.
I think that's all the info I needed to cover... if not I'm sure I'll remember at 2am this morning and go "oh, damn".
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Thirty
Long after Roy had fallen asleep, Edward lay beside him still awake. His head was laid on a folded arm, silver eyes resting on Roy's sleeping face as echoes of earlier whispered to him.
"Then what is it?"
"It's yours."
It was a gift he'd never expected to receive, something so unique in its beauty. Something recreated this once, just for him. He knew that the fiery flower was special to Roy, so he knew that it was not a gift lightly given.
When in that moment, when Roy had pronounced it as his… Edward let out an unsteady breath. It wasn't even so much the words, as the way Roy had looked at him; how under those dark eyes, everything had seemed to narrow down to just Roy, to the exclusion of all else. And he refocused his gaze that still rested unwaveringly on Roy, bringing the man back into clarity.
"You're already my world." Edward whispered into the stillness of the night. "How is it you can let me see everything… then make me see only you?" He wondered just as softly, reaching a hand up to brush against Roy's face.
Roy didn't move, and Edward couldn't feel, yet his hand lingered.
Eventually Edward did move his hand away, but through the rest of the night he didn't move from Roy's side. He wasn't sure what had happened between them, but he knew that whatever it was, he didn't want to forget it.
Only just before sunrise, when Hazel was soon to be expected, did Edward float upwards and leave Roy's side.
He couldn't explain the compulsion he felt to be here. On the rooftop. There were things he'd never take for granted again, seeing a sunrise being one of them. Yet all the same, he'd not indulged in daily sunrises and sunsets.
But for whatever reason that had compelled him here, it felt right. Soothing to his mind in a warm, caressing way that his body could no longer feel. Wrapping his arms around his knees, Edward leaned his chin forward onto them as he stared into the gathering light, realizing as he let the light soothe him that he had far more cares now than he ever had before Roy had entered his life.
Still, he couldn't find it in himself to mind. He cared far more about Roy than going back to having no questions in his death.
That was how Roy found him an untold time later. And he didn't even register that the man was there with him until a profile he'd not noticed before spoke.
"I give, every clever opening I'm coming up with sounds like a bad one-liner in my head, so I'm just going to ask: what's on your mind?"
Edward looked over at him, tilting his head marginally as he processed what Roy had said, now that his initial moment of being startled was over and he could gather his thoughts along with his wits. And after he had, turned back away to rest his eyes on the sun once more. "Yesterday."
Roy studied the spirit in silence, his mind methodically and swiftly reviewing everything that had happened. From their slightly revealing morning on his end to… shit. Had he done all the revealing between them yesterday? A scowl pulled at his face temporarily. It was like he'd been to a damn confessional. So he felt obliged to ask at the risk of sounding an ass either way, "any particular part?"
"All of it."
Well, that didn't help much. Where the hell was he supposed to begin? And Roy bit down on his lower lip as he tried to push his brain into higher functions before he'd had a second cup of coffee.
"My existence feels far more real to me since I met you, than all the times before." Edward murmured as he stared ahead. "If not for the memories… it'd be like everything before I died was just a dream. I can't remember a time I had so much on my mind about one person."
Roy didn't look away from the ghost, yet his eyes traced down and back up Edward's form several times before he pulled his own knees up to wrap his arms around them and mimic the ghost's posture as he continued to watch him. It didn't seem as if Edward was expecting an immediate answer, or even one at all, so he took his time to think. Things like, 'change has a way of doing that,' or 'don't worry, I'm not going anywhere' all seemed inadequate, and Edward already knew those things.
"When we first met I thought I'd grown up and knew anything about everything… now I'm not so sure." Edward admitted quietly, as much to Roy as to himself.
"We never can." Roy replied in kind, hesitating a moment to gather his thoughts before pressing forward to admit, "you're not the only one who's changing because we met."
Edward's smile was barely there, a quirk at the corner of his mouth, but there all the same judging by the answering smile he received. "As long as we do it together."
Roy tipped his head forward against his knees, still smiling. "So you ready to go to work with me? It'll be back to military life as normal."
"Nothing about us is normal anymore, Roy." Edward let slip with a little humor coloring his words. "Especially not in the Military."
Roy's lips twitched as he slowly unfolded his limbs with a muffled groan of satisfaction, enterprising to get himself to work before he ran late, even if he'd rather sit up here with Ed all day. "True. You seem to have a rare talent for livening it up."
While Edward still had more that he didn't quite understand than that which he did, he felt far better for having come up to the rooftop for a while. So he followed Roy down back to the grass without complaint.
The walk to Headquarters took them through a shadier looking section of town, but neither of them were too worried. Roy could certainly handle himself and char anything suspicious within an elapse of only seconds, which was why Edward wasn't too concerned either about the area of Central they were walking through. Although true to impulse, he did stay alert even so.
To say Roy was glad to be going back to his normal routine was something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, he liked the opportunity it gave him to interact with Edward much more while he was at Headquarters. But on the other hand, he had enjoyed being able to leave early those three days and spend that extra time with Edward elsewhere. It was sort of an amusing revelation, really, to realize that somewhere along the way he'd begun to base the quality of his day on Edward.
When they reached the imposing building that was Headquarters, there was a noticeable lack of the atmosphere that had hung over the facility while the State Alchemist Exams had been in progress. And a noticeable lack of fresh targets for Edward.
But despite this overwhelming lack of much, neither party was given too much time to dwell on it as the moment they made it to the hallway connecting to Roy's office complex, a loud, effervescent voice echoed down its length.
"Colonel!"
Edward jumped at Roy's side as out of nowhere, seemingly, they were ambushed by a hulking, balding man at least three times the general mass of Roy.
Roy, for his part, remained quite calm with a pleased smile as he walked forward to greet the saluting officer. "Major." He replied in kind, raising a hand in welcome. "I thought we'd be seeing you around shortly. Glad to see you didn't keep me waiting."
Edward, having since gathered his wits, also quickly ran through everything he knew about Roy's military happenings… and suddenly, he had it. "His sister looks almost exactly like him, but with hair."
A statement which decidedly left Roy with the bad mental imagery of Alex Armstrong in a dress and with hair. If he was looking a bit green, it wasn't mentioned.
"I arrived yesterday, but you were engaged elsewhere." Armstrong informed him dutifully, then a broad smile lit across his face. "So I spent the day catching up on the adventures of the others. Strange, though, for so little adventuring on their parts they sure acted miserable. I'd have thought they'd be bursting with energy! So this morning I thought I'd prescribe the old family secret exercise routine, passed down through the Armstrong line for generations – "
"Yes, yes. Good." Roy cut in hurriedly in a manner that suggested he couldn't interrupt fast enough, and stepping a step closer into the man's personal space he rested a hand up atop one broad shoulder in a turning motion. "You can fill me in on what caused you to finally give in and get yourself here while we walk to my office."
Already obeying the guiding motion on his shoulder, Armstrong had turned and begun to walk next to the colonel and the hand fell away. "Archer was no longer proving any use, just as you insinuated. Whatever interest the Fuhrer had in him, it's now my belief that it has waned. I'm of more use to you here, as I realized only days after you'd boarded the train."
Roy led the way into his personal office, and shut the door behind them himself before turning to regard the larger man seriously. "I do have use for you. Maes is doing the best he can, but a second body to the task will only help." And he met Edward's eyes for a lingering second before training his gaze back on Armstrong. "And I'm not the only one who'd feel as if everyone were safer if an alchemist were assigned to this as well."
Edward felt himself breathe out a small sigh of relief, uncaring to the fact that he really didn't need to breathe. Some mannerisms were just hard to get rid of after all, no matter how long you'd been among the dead.
Armstrong was entirely serious now, a soldier being addressed as such by his commanding officer. "Of course." He was already agreed to whatever was asked of him, but nevertheless he waited attentively to be briefed on the matter – not in the least surprised that Colonel Roy Mustang had already gotten himself involved in something.
As Roy crossed around to his desk to begin giving Armstrong the details, Edward found himself perched in the air next to an unsuspecting Alex Armstrong, watching him carefully as Roy spoke. He trusted Roy's choices in confidants, but that didn't stop him from analyzing this new alchemist. Especially an alchemist that was to be trusted with something so critical to Roy as the ongoing search to find General Grand's philosopher's stone experiment.
He found all uncertainties assuaged when Roy got to exactly that part – the philosopher's stone. For the words had only just left Roy's mouth when Armstrong's expression darkened.
"He would bring that accursed thing back?" And a fist clenched so hard at Armstrong's side that the joints creaked in protest. "Those who it didn't destroy in some fashion it drove mad with power lust. And you're certain of this? Of him?"
Roy had long been past the time of ever possibly doubting Ed's word about this. "Yes. Which is why I need your help to find where he's holed himself up. Hughes is doing what he can trailing Grand, but he can't be on him every minute of the day, and I can't risk him seeing me where I would have no reason to be. He won't see you or Maes as any kind of a threat, and I can't have him feeling threatened by me right now."
"I'll handle threatening him." Edward pitched in darkly, casting his gaze towards Roy now.
Roy let himself meet silver eyes for a moment, knowing that even if he wanted to, he'd not be able to stop Edward from doing just that. He smiled faintly as he looked back at Armstrong who had remained silent in thought. "Well?"
Armstrong wasted no time in giving a concisely short nod. "I'll speak to Major Hughes about combining our efforts in the most effective manner."
"Anything that might help keep Maes safer." Edward murmured. He didn't want anything to happen to Maes, he liked the man. Perhaps not to the extent he liked Roy, but even so.
"He should be wandering around within the hour." Roy told him as he pulled a stack of documents towards him that he knew Riza had delighted in piling there the night before.
Armstrong knew a dismissal when he heard it, and gave a gruff salute. "Sir."
Edward looked after the massive man as Armstrong made his way out of the office, waiting until the door had closed behind him before turning to Roy who was currently looking up at him, patiently waiting. "He's… strange. He seemed so carefree, hollering down the hallway at you, and then he's all serious."
"He's much different from Maes." Roy smiled. "Not that Maes can't be serious when the occasion calls for it, but Armstrong is so deeply ingrained in his family's military heritage that it seems to be a quicker switch for him to flip."
Edward smiled as he turned more towards Roy, his legs completely merged with the desk at this point. "And why were you in such a rush to shut him up? It sounded like he was going to give you some good material to harass the others about."
"I don't need anything to harass them about," was the answering smirk, "I harass them about nothing at all just fine." Roy remarked and he frowned down at the first document on the day's stack. "He'll go on and on if you let him, regaling you with tales of his family heritage and impeccable bloodlines, and soon you'll find yourself wishing to end that bloodline yourself."
Edward's eyes were widened somewhat in disbelief. "Then I suppose you wouldn't ask him back in to tell me stories when I run out of books to read?"
Roy looked up through his lashes at Edward, one eyebrow cocked upwards. "Edward, if you ever get that bored, I'll find you an exorcist. It'd be far kinder to you."
Edward couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head at the man. "Depends on how skilled the exorcist is." And with a smirk he ducked himself down into the depths of the desk to find the last book he'd been reading.
And so they returned to their schedules as normal. Riza drifted in at several points during the morning, clearly not so certain that Roy would go back to his previous good behavior after having three afternoons in a row off. Yet Roy remained hard at work, even when Maes came crowing in to display the latest photography shoot results.
At one point Maes did calm down enough to be questioned by Roy about whether or not he'd had a conversation with Armstrong about what the plan was. Finding out that Armstrong had opted to take over most of the trailing and tracking duties from Maes, thus freeing the once-investigations member to what he did best. Investigating.
It was an arrangement that sat well with Roy, and one that made Edward's relieved expression appear once again. He wasn't sure how capable of an alchemist Alex Armstrong was, but it just didn't seem logical that Roy would let any incapable alchemists anywhere near his private goals.
Lunch was a quiet affair, with food being delivered in. It was just passing the mid-afternoon mark when Roy stretched gracelessly in his chair with a grunting whine of a noise that distracted Edward from his reading.
"Are you quite all right?" Edward asked mildly.
Roy sent him a withering look as he relaxed back into a more natural position. "Just because you can't enjoy the pleasures of a nice stretch anymore…" he trailed off with a wicked grin.
Edward harrumphed, sitting up primly on the couch and peering haughtily over his book at Roy. "I also enjoy the pleasures of never having a headache, something I should be most happy to arrange for you."
Roy chuckled as he pushed back from his desk, taking the stack of finished paperwork in hand. "Give me one over a game of chess? I'm done for today and by protocol I'm required to still be here another two hours and thirty-seven minutes."
The book was shut decisively. "My pleasure." Edward promised with growing mischievousness.
As Roy dealt with the paperwork and Riza, Edward dealt with setting their game up. Doing so with a smile playing across his lips. It had been almost a week now since he'd been able to play chess with Roy, and now that they were back to it, he was beginning to realize how much he'd missed it.
There was something exceptionally soothing about going one-on-one with Roy at a board game and thoroughly trouncing him.
A delight that Edward proceeded to indulge in the moment Roy had sat down and made the first move.
"I gather that Armstrong was with you in Ishbal?" Edward asked, having successfully made his venture to box in one of Roy's knights.
Roy frowned at Edward's move, trying to analyze a way to make the loss act to his benefit. "He was. He, Kimblee, Grand, Marcoh… Armstrong was one of the few of us who realized the wrongs we were committing by using that degree of power following orders blindly. He never went off the deep end like I did, I respect him a great deal for that."
Edward's lips had pulled together in a thin line as he contemplated both Roy's words and the surprisingly good move that Roy had pulled out of his ass, "be fair. You can't really know that. Not everyone shows or deals with shit like you went through the same way."
Roy gave an absent shrug. "There's dealing with shit, and then there's what I did. Are you going to move that pawn?"
"No." Edward was certainly not about to move that pawn and give Roy's bishop a clear shot to his queen. "So who is this Marcoh guy?"
"A defector." Roy answered with an absent shrug. "Chose a life as a hider rather than a fighter. I'm pretty sure everyone believes him dead, I was the only one he spoke to before he skipped out of Ishbal with the philosopher's stone samples."
"I'm guessing you lied about that last part?"
Roy grunted affirmatively.
"So there's no way Grand could have gotten his hands on those samples this Marcoh took?" Edward pressed, feeling the need to have some sort of outside reassurance, even though he knew that if Grand had located this Marcoh character, he'd have heard about it in the years before he'd met Roy.
"None. And I'm not about to tell him, or anyone else, where Marcoh is." Roy said firmly as he knocked one of Edward's rooks off the board with a little smirk.
That was good enough for Edward, and didn't press further about the matter or Marcoh. He got the feeling that Roy had given him enough clues to figure out a few things for himself, but something inside him balked at knowing right now. He had enough on his mind already as of late without adding on questions about a man that Roy assured him was of no immediate threat.
And for several moves Edward remained silent, drug back into his thoughts of earlier this morning. Trying to figure out just what had happened between them last night. Roy had given him gifts before, so why was this latest one so different?
It wasn't that Roy had never given him anything of a more personal nature either. In some manner, everything that Roy had ever given to him had been personal. From that photograph that still hung here in the office, to his bicycle at home, to even that photograph of his father. And those were just the material things that Roy had given him up to this point. That was nothing on the gestures Roy acted out.
And yet here he was now, entirely confused.
Roy waited it out as long as he could, unable not to notice that Edward was distracted. Again. And by the looks of it, whatever it was wasn't just some general preoccupation. He'd even pulled off some bordering-on-illegal chess moves just to see if Edward would notice, and the spirit hadn't. "Ed?"
Edward shook himself out of his internal musings to blink up at Roy. "Yeah?"
"What's on your mind?" Roy asked for the second time today, this time his tone holding far more insistence. "And don't give me some vague, general answer. You didn't even notice me moving my pieces improperly. So what is it?"
Edward glared, the bastard had cheated? Leave Roy alone for a minute… "move them back properly." He demanded with scowl still in place.
Roy linked his fingers together to rest his chin down onto them. "No." He denied quite simply. "Not until you tell me what's going on in that head of yours. You're never like this, all closed up for an entire day."
"It's not been an entire day yet…" Edward muttered petulantly, even as his body posture signaled that he'd given in. If not reluctantly. "I don't know what it is exactly, that's the problem. Ever since last night I've – you've given me gifts before… it doesn't seem right that some should make me feel any different than the others. I should be happy about all of them."
Roy didn't make any outward reaction at first, before at last he tipped his head down and his hands fell away back to the desk. "Have any of them made you unhappy?"
"No!" Edward answered quickly, eyes wide.
Roy studied the ghost for a moment longer, toying with one of his captured pawns in a covert effort to sneak it back onto the chessboard. "It's okay, you know, to feel different amounts of happiness about gifts. Different kinds."
"I know that." Edward frowned at him, "but last night it felt," he tipped his head as he searched for a decent enough word, only coming up with "special. Different from the others."
Roy tapped the pawn slowly back across the chessboard, maneuvering it back to the nearest square as quickly as he dared, his eyes never leaving the silver ones watching him so attentively. "It was." He agreed, head tilting as well to mimic Edward. "Edward, what I gave you last night was something I wouldn't give to anyone else. Not even my mother. I'm glad it's special to you. Like I said, I thought I had dignity around you, I clearly don't. You get to witness the undignified side of me."
Edward's lips drew into a tight line as he considered the explanation, looking away at one point when Roy's unwavering gaze seemed to strangely be too much for him. And he was trying to decide how to ask Roy the question he'd only before asked him in the depth of the night, without it sounding completely ridiculous, when something distracted him. "Hey!"
Roy yanked his hand back with a laugh, the pawn clattering from his grip as Edward swiped across the desk at him. Grinning unrepentant in the face of the apparition's scowling, he winked at the ghost. "I wasn't doing anything, I swear!"
Edward sniffed as he grabbed all of Roy's beaten pieces and pulled them closer to himself. "Your guilty reaction says otherwise, Mustang."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." Roy retorted with the same wicked grin.
They were still arguing about it when there was a firm rapping on the office door. An interruption that caused Edward to silently vow that he'd finish with Roy later, and proceeded to stare as unnervingly as he could manage at his cheating chess partner.
Roy merely smirked at the stewing ghost and called for whoever it was to enter.
"What are you doing?" Maes's expression pulled sourly across his face as he made his way into the office.
Roy glanced down at the chessboard. "Arguing with myself over strategy. What's up?" He asked, looking back up at his befuddled friend with a purely innocent expression.
Maes passed one hand over his face, giving a shake of his head. "Since Armstrong is providing some assistance I was going to ask if you wanted to catch a drink later, but forget asking. You need a drink if you're fighting with yourself about a chess game."
"On the contrary," Roy smirked, "it is a good method of debate. It doesn't sound half as convincing if I carry the entire thing on in my head."
"Uh-huh." Maes deadpanned.
Roy waved one gloved hand dismissively. "I'm fine, Maes. Trust me."
"You're still coming out with me for a drink."
Roy's grin was positively wolfish, but he shook his head. "Sorry, Maes. You make a tempting offer, but you're married to a very lovely woman and I wouldn't want to come between that."
"Don't forget Elysia!" Maes exclaimed swiftly. "She's my…" he trailed off, his eyes narrowing suspiciously beneath his glasses as he considered his smiling best friend. "Nice try, but I'm serious."
"As am I." Roy countered promptly.
Edward could only look between the two, trying not to smile too much at their banter. He still had an argument to win with Roy after all, he couldn't be getting too softened up.
"Look, you can still pick up other women, or men, you won't hurt my feelings." Maes bargained with a roll of his eyes.
Roy tipped his chair back, sinking into it as he regarded his friend. Only for a moment, however, as his eyes slipped aside to rest on Edward. And for a time he just looked at Edward, long after the ghost had returned his attention. "Tempting offer, really, but I'm still declining." He said at last, looking back up at a shocked Maes. "I've got other plans. Maybe another night?"
Maes's expression turned suspicious, "other plans? What other plans? I know you, and you never have other plans for an evening out."
"Tonight I do." Roy maintained, "we'll do it another night. You have my word on that, but not tonight."
Edward was frowning at him, "tonight's your night to yourself, but it doesn't mean you don't need to blow him off. I'll let you have a night for just you and him, I mean, he is your best friend."
Maes, meanwhile, had sighed in temporary defeat before he pointed a finger at Roy. "All right. But I'll figure this out, just you wait."
Roy merely shook his head with a smile, and traded several friendly insults with the man before Maes bowed out intending to instead go home early to his wife. Gracia would be surprised, mostly because Maes had phoned ahead to tell her he'd be out with Roy, but Roy had no doubt that she would be equally as amiable to having her husband home early.
Which left Edward alone with Roy once more.
"You should have gone for a drink with him." Edward rebuked, "he's a lot better company than those loose women and men you surround yourself with. I'm still not convinced they've all been virgins."
Roy shook his head as he reached forward across his desk to pick up the telephone receiver. "Another night." He insisted, quickly dialing the number he needed. Whereupon he proceeded to ignore Edward as he waited for it to be picked up.
Edward could only wait, one foot tapping forward against the desk. Maybe Maes was right, Roy just might need a drink. He wouldn't have ever thought that Roy would turn down a night out with his best friend, or that he'd subsequently continue putting off their chess game in order to randomly make a phone call.
"This is Colonel Mustang," Roy said the very moment the other line was picked up, "I need a car waiting for me at the front in half an hour. No driver needed." And once he had his confirmation, hung up.
"What do you need a car for?" Edward questioned in confusion, his curiosity definitely piqued now. Just what was Roy up to?
Roy met Edward's gaze now with a growing smile. "For us."
Which ended up being all that Edward could get out of him. So eventually he had to resign himself to waiting it out, and took his confused impatience out on Roy's chess pieces.
Roy seemed disappointingly unaffected by losing the match.
A half an hour later they were packing up the chessboard so that they could go home. Or to whatever it was that Roy had up his sleeve. Edward wondered idly if there was such a thing as a ghostly kidnapping, because Roy still wouldn't tell him what he had planned. Yet shortly they were making their way down to the courtyard where a car was, in fact, waiting.
The officer who had driven it up passed off the keys to Roy with a respectful salute before expertly making himself scarce so as not to hold the Colonel up.
Edward hesitated next to the car, looking over at Roy as the man opened the driver's side door just in time to see him direct a challenging look his way. The message in Roy's eyes was clear. 'Coming?' It wasn't a challenge he meant to let get away from him, and without a second thought to it, floated his way into the car and up to the passenger seat where he let himself rest down.
"Have you ever been in a car before?" Roy asked as he started the engine.
Edward looked over at the steering wheel as he shook his head, a small, nervous smile beginning to make its way onto his lips. "My teacher, Izumi, took Al and I out on her boat a few times."
"This is a bit different than a boat." Roy grinned as he shifted the car into gear and pulled out along the courtyard driveway, aiming for the gates. "You'll enjoy this."
"You borrowed a car just to take me out in it?" Edward asked him in surprise, puzzled.
"Not exactly." Roy disagreed, braking the car just enough to check for traffic before pulling out onto the roadway and giving the car the acceleration it craved. "I'm taking you somewhere, not just anywhere. It's a bit of a drive, but we should be there before it gets too dark."
"But what about your night to yourself?"
"This is my night to myself, with you." Roy corrected, flicking a quick smile Edward's way. "You've clearly had a lot on your mind, and I want to spend tonight with you. You started to worry me, you know."
Edward looked around the car a bit guiltily, even though he knew it was really nothing to feel guilty about. But as quickly as that guilt had come, it began to vanish as he smiled. Inordinately happy by the other piece of what Roy had said. "Just because of that?"
Roy found himself smiling at the road ahead. "I missed you today."
Edward blinked owlishly at him. "But I was right there, all day."
"Still missed you." Roy replied quietly, his smile more muted now. "Realized that we don't get to talk as much when I have paperwork."
Edward chose not to point out that they hadn't exactly spent every moment together these past three afternoons talking. There had been plenty of companionable silence between them as well. Yet he kept that to himself, as he had a feeling Roy already knew it. Besides, he was far too pleased.
So without any further postponement, he began to ask every question he could think of about automobiles – and was very firmly told at one point that the only way he was ever getting behind the wheel was never. Roy didn't seem to care when he pointed out that that had made no sense.
Before they left the city entirely, Roy had stopped at a small diner to acquire dinner take-out, further impressing upon Edward that he had Roy fully and completely to himself tonight. Back out on the road Edward knew that the drive was taking a long time, but he barely even noticed it. He was far too engrossed in watching the scenery zip by past the car windows.
The world outside Central was green and home to many orchards in their neat little rows. And several times Edward had been delighted to see cows again, causing Roy to shake his head with amusement, only to be berated that he'd not seen such big cows in Risembool.
Eventually the orchards and farms were left far behind, yet Roy kept on driving westward after the path the sun had already taken, casting the sky back into darkness. The bob of light from the headlights on the road ahead showed Edward that they were gradually leaving behind the verdant area they'd first been in, yet Roy kept driving.
After almost an hour more of straight driving, in which the world around them became quite barren and dry looking, Edward was getting ready to ask Roy if he'd thought to bring a map when the car began to slow and Roy's head began to swivel around as he looked for a good place to pull off.
"Here? There's nothing out here." Edward frowned as the car tires crunched into looser-feeling dirt. "If you've brought me out here to murder me, something beat you to it."
Roy rolled his eyes, working on braking the car to a stop slowly. He didn't feel like choking on dust when he got out. "You'd be too much trouble to murder. I'd have you haunting me instead of Grand."
As the car gently swayed forward into the stop, Edward looked around at the landscape that was only dimly lit by the moon and stars now that Roy had turned the headlights off. "Where are we?"
"Middle of nowhere." Roy observed as he looked around with satisfaction, and then brimmed with energy. "Come on, get out. You'll see why I brought you here."
Edward eyed Roy suspiciously, but as the man got out of the car, so did he. Floating out to stand in front of the car he looked around as best he could as his eyes continued to adjust to the darkness. They really were in the middle of nowhere. In the far distance he could spot what looked like mountains, but all around them seemed to be nothing but flat… Edward shifted his left foot a bit deeper into the ground as he judged the give of it. Sand?
"This way." Roy waved for Edward to follow him, not taking any time to look around, and cheerfully jogged across the sand several yards away from the car.
Edward darted after him, still miffed, but now beyond curious. "What are you doing?" He asked as he reached Roy's side where the man was now digging about in the sand as happily as could be.
Roy smiled over at the ghost as Edward settled down beside him where he already knelt in the sand. And he let his eyes trace the ghost's figure a moment, admiring the way Edward seemed to shine even brighter out here away from artificial light that was so impossible to escape in the city. When had he started getting used to the way Edward glowed with that silvery, ethereal light that it took dragging the ghost out into the middle of nowhere to notice it again?
Clearing his throat though, not wanting to be caught staring, he looked away. "My display case could use some additions, you like cows, right?"
Edward couldn't help but laugh despite his confusion. "Yes, I suppose so."
"Good enough for me." Roy smiled and gathered together a pile of sand in front of him, at least arm's length away. Taking a moment to put himself in the proper mindset for doing this – as it had been years – he stretched forward to trace out a basic imprint of a specialized alchemic circle before snapping as he quickly leaned back.
Edward's eyes widened as the flames burst explosively into life, and suddenly understood why Roy had placed himself so far away from it. The intensity of it was easily illuminating all the way back to where they'd left the car. The snaps and crackles of the flames as they roared with restrained fury inside the circle was like nothing Edward had ever witnessed before.
And he'd accidentally set fire to a field once with Alphonse's assistance.
Roy allowed himself a few seconds to look over at Edward, smiling as he saw the stunned attention the spirit was giving to his little hobby. He felt gratified, really, because he knew there was no way that Edward was able to feel the tremendous amount of heat that was being left off. Most people couldn't stand it, but he had been a lot closer to fire than most people.
By instinct, he knew it was almost complete, so he turned away to watch the flames once more as they fought angrily for space within the alchemic circle. Carefully judging the right moment before he snapped once more.
Edward toppled back onto his rear with a muted noise of surprise as the flames exploded upward into a shower of firework-looking sparks before vanishing in a wispy cloud of smoke dimly apparent in the night air. Another bright flash jerked his attention back to where the caged fire had been, and his eyes widened as they lit upon the glass cow figurine that stood proudly in the midst of charred sand.
Roy sat back and watched with a pleased smile as Edward reached forward carefully, as if some part of him that still remembered being alive feared to be burned, and took the glass figurine in hand. The mystified look on Edward's face as he turned it over and over, continuously running a finger along the pointed horns was well worth the bit of sweat this activity caused.
And then he had a sudden remembrance which wrung an "oh!" out of him.
Edward was distracted from the cow as he looked over to where Roy was suddenly scooping together a much larger pile of sand. Yet he didn't have a chance to even ask before Roy had completed whatever circle it was he was using – in the dark no less – and snapped.
In concern for the glass cow, he cupped it closer to himself in an attempt to keep it away from the heat he knew existed. But he didn't drag his eyes away from the fire.
When it was over, and a brilliant flash of icy light that Edward suspected came from another circle Roy was employing in order to cool and set the glass, he tilted his head with a small smile. "I don't think that will fit in the display case."
Roy looked over at Edward with a mischievous grin. "Whoever said it was going in the case? You said you wanted a pony, there's your pony."
Edward laughed as he stared straight into the glass eyes of the miniature-sized pony. It would barely come up to Roy's waist at the highest point. "You chose my pony well. A fine specimen." He agreed sagely with a nod to the noble pony. "But it's a bit small, isn't it?"
Roy looked over at Edward wryly. "So are you, but you don't find me complaining." And was forced to duck Edward's attempt to smack him, even if it would only pass right through. "I was kidding!" He defended, rolling away as Edward made a lunge for him – having set the glass cow safely aside by its equine counterpart.
How Roy eventually escaped ghostly indignation he wasn't sure, but set out to appease said indignant ghost by creating more little trinkets. He'd been meaning to expand his collection, and now that he was here, he couldn't honestly imagine a better way to do it than with Edward eagerly giving him suggestions.
When at last Edward did help Roy pack the glass figurines back to the car, piling them carefully onto the backseat, a miniature zoo had joined the cow and the pony; among them a squirrel, a deer with an expansive rack, a rabbit, Maes, something Roy called an elephant, a turtle, and a puppy.
And as Roy began the long drive back to Central, Edward dutifully obeyed Roy's request to keep him talking so he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel by insisting Roy tell him about elephants which apparently the man had met on one of his undercover missions back around the time he'd first joined the military before the war in Ishbal. And after that story was over, insisted Roy tell him why Maes was to be part of the animal menagerie.
As Roy talked Edward had settled into the car seat, curled up and facing Roy with contentment pleasantly pulsing inside him. His cares of the day long gone from his mind in this moment as he listened to the warm amusement coloring Roy's voice as the man rambled on incriminating Maes.