SuperNeko: It's always fun to toss Hohenheim in! He's a bucket of crazy awesome and I love him dearly.
Zemyx: As long as it continues to remain awesome shit.
cHAOsrulesoverall: Cliffhangers are fun! I think it is an unhealthy addiction that I have to them.
Anemone: Yes, Paradox is still being worked on. Although it's now twice the headache of length considering I am down my laptop and the backup is prone to random freezes.
Kimba: Waste not words, but dwell on the moment.
Eli: You just enjoy the sexy image of Roy being badass and punching future father in laws.
Silvers-edge: Oh I like my multiple character arrangements. And I needed Hohenheim to give them the nudge they'd need about the homunculi. It doesn't hurt of course that I love the guy to pieces.
Black-klepon: Hazel is quite interested in this new toy you speak of. He'd like to have it. Now.
Storykeeper18: Typical Roy responses, spontaneous combustion of various countries, pigeons, and camera shops.
Moonstone: Hazel is a squirrel who does not share his worldly knowledge and skills. He learned quite a few naughty tricks before he became domesticated.
Denmark-Cyanide: Thank you, and don't worry. Roy doesn't stop there.
Alex: Did you find this chapter yet? XP
Mesonoxian: He can defend his boyfriend's honor with righteous punches and scathing jibes! He is Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist.
Shinigami Clara: Oooo the train scene! Finally someone mentions that XD Yes, Roy did seem to be having a slight problem there, didn't he.
Batty: Get off the mobile and come give me love. And then give Hazel love. He misses you. Just out of curiosity… how long does it take to read a chapter on a mobile?
Egyptian1995: Hazel is pure fun and innocence! Surely he does none of this on purpose. And yes, I did leave it there. – cackles -
Mudkiprox: I love the man too. So much.
Eona: Did the cliffhanger kill you? Are you dead?
Aysu: I seem to be on a soul kick lately. It's a drug.
Blame-my-ADD: It's good you still are being surprised by things. I like being able to confuse the hell out of you sometimes XD
Alyzabeth: You had to go through a whole day at school before you could finish? You poor thing.
Secret25: Roy going all badass on Hohenheim for Ed's sake is just sweet. And cliffhangers are fun!
Gali-o: Edward getting one up on Roy is just really too precious. The poor manwhore, he just doesn't even have a hope of fighting it off. At least not forever.
Fullthrottle13: Mmmmm cinnamon rolls… and sure. I'll make myself a note for tomorrow, I'm going to bed straight after this.
Soaha: Oh we are. Move a bit more to the left.
Wren: Will do.
Koneko: Roy losing his pants to Ed is a definite good image. I'm not sure that Ed could then say in all honesty he wouldn't want to see Roy naked. In fact, he'd probably apply himself thoroughly to getting the rest off.
Liloi: Yes! I am evil, evil, evil, evil and the cliffhangers are back!
New Squirrel Girl: They really are good pets if raised properly. And so cuddly cute too. I'm happy you have one!
FullMetalCrayon: So that's why all the short people have been chasing me around lately.
GreedxEd: Proposal? Nah. Not yet anyway. If ever.
Cheru-chan: Yeah I just bet you'd like to know which toy it was XP. Let's see how this fits into your theories.
Cocopower1: If you'd like I can try and remember certain stories I've read that I can get through without wanting to tear my eyes out. Otherwise I can generally point you towards authors I know are good… most of whom are my servants in one fashion or another XD.
I honestly have no idea how the above and this will look when it uploads. FFnet is being its usual prissy self towards me, but I refuse to give in! Not tonight. Tonight, I am stubborn.
And tired, so I have no common sense, but that's beside the point.
To those of you who ditched me for AWA, I demand pictures. Now. And videos if they are to be had. Love you all.
I just now learned that two of my readers are roommates in college. I apologize in advance to the dorm containing Eli and cHAOs, the noise you are all about to hear now and in about ten minutes is entirely not my fault. In fact, I apologize to the entire eastern seaboard.
Now then… my laptop is again dead, for those who haven't yet heard or seen the memos. I'm working off a machine that likes to randomly freeze, so please be patient with me.
Aside from that… I adopted, was forced to adopt, a toy dinosaur at work. His name is Darwin. Send him your love, for he was abandoned by a child.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Thirty-Seven
"Edward is there with you, isn't he…"
To say that they were stunned was an understatement.
Both Edward and Roy were left entirely thrown and without words at Hohenheim's evaluation. An evaluation that had come out of nowhere for both of them. An evaluation that caused Edward to sit heavily on the arm of the chair Roy sat in as he stared at his father with wide eyes. Roy barely had the awareness to notice as he sat practically frozen in shock.
"I see." Hohenheim breathed out heavily, his regret clear even in that as he bowed his head. "Edward, I –"
"No!" Roy suddenly lashed out, the fresh rush of anger melting the stillness that had overtaken him. "You have the audacity to think you can just happen upon a chance to apologize and everything will be fine?"
"Roy," Edward managed quietly, a touch of faint humor evident in his tone, "that's not very fair."
"Fuck fair, Ed!" Roy rounded on the ghost, no longer quite so concerned with keeping up a certain façade. "I remember you telling me one day that you hoped he'd died for what he did to all of you, whether or not this," he jabbed a finger at Hohenheim, "has changed your feelings is up to you. But I'm apparently still pissed off at him and I think that entitles me to being a bit of an ass for a while."
Edward couldn't help it, he let out a small laugh that only seemed to incite Roy more, but he smiled fondly at the man with shining eyes. "My hero."
Roy huffed petulantly, not noticing that he colored slightly. "Don't mock me, brat."
Hohenheim watched all of this, at least, what part of it he could with a faint smile. He hadn't been wrong, Roy really did care about his son. But he did sober at about the same time Roy was turning back around to face him. "I'd not blame him if he hated me." He admitted quietly.
Roy regarded him stonily.
Edward, on the other hand, seemed to deflate under the weight of everything that had happened this morning. "I'm not sure I can ever forgive him for it." He said softly, carefully, "and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to understand. I should be more like you, raging at him and demanding answers and yet… I've hated him and yet I…" he looked over at Roy now with a broken-down glance, "right now, I just want to know my dad still loves me."
Roy considered Edward in silence, face expressionless before his eyes softened in defeat. "I think I can help you there." And he directed his gaze over to an attentive Hohenheim. "You'd best answer truthfully, else I'll have to light you on fire as Edward has once made known he wouldn't mind."
Hohenheim merely nodded, not once bringing into question, even in his own mind, just how good a judge of character and honesty that Roy Mustang was.
"Do you love Edward?" Roy asked the question with far more gravity than he could recall ever asking anything with before. He hadn't realized just how much the answer meant to him, as well, but it didn't even phase him as he pinned the man with a steady stare.
Hohenheim wasn't sure he could ever have properly expressed just how much he loved his sons. Both of them. How much he loved Trisha. They were the family he never thought he'd ever be privileged enough to have… the family that had flashed by him in the blink of an eye. He lowered his gaze sadly to the croissant he now could no longer stomach, feeling the whole sense of his loss begin to settle over him. "I've always loved you, Edward. From the very first moment I held you I loved you."
Edward felt something inside him clench at the words he'd never known he longed so badly to hear, to know. Yet it wasn't happiness that possessed him as he looked unwaveringly at his father. "Then no more half answers. Why did he leave?"
Roy was still trying to ignore what had come over him when Hohenheim had answered Edward's desires to know love, it had grinded on a part of him he couldn't identify, an ugly beast rearing its head inside him saying that Hohenheim wasn't worthy. But worthy of what was eluding him just out of reach, and now it didn't matter. Edward needed him. "You owe it to your son to be more upfront with him than you've been with me. Tell him why you left, no more dancing around all the sordid little details you think may tarnish your image in our eyes, because I assure you, right now you're as tarnished in mine as a human could possibly be."
Hohenheim met Roy's steely gaze dead on before he shifted it to where he could sense the vaguest impression of a separate soul, that of his son's. "That actually would lead us into the territory I'm surprised you've not punched me for as well, Mustang."
"Have I been remiss?" Roy shot back with a snarl as he shot to his feet so quickly the table rattled. "Allow me to correct that."
"Roy!" Edward grabbed the table to pull it hard back into the man's thighs, causing Roy to stagger back with a swear.
"Edward!" Roy glared at the ghost, his temper banked for the moment as he rubbed at the coming bruises. "You're lucky I'm taller than you. I know you don't need yours, but I kind of need mine."
Edward rolled his eyes, "celibacy would do you good."
Roy only glared.
Hohenheim had risen to his feet during the disruption, and a part of him was amused at the one-sided scuffle of words that was taking place, but the rest of him was completely serious, subdued, as he came around the table. "As I said, I've spent a lot of time around souls… but that takes us closer to the end than the beginning."
Roy's attention didn't waver from Edward, but the hand that snapped out to seize the man by his shirt once more was still exactly on target. "Then get started with the beginning," he growled as he slowly looked around at him. This whole thing had been doomed to be messy since the moment he'd taken off after this bastard, but he'd never imagined it'd become this disorganized. He'd thought he'd have dictated the entire thing from initial to final punch, but none of that was going according to plan… aside from the initial punch. It was pissing him off.
Hohenheim didn't attempt to dislodge the firm grip Roy had on his shirt, and his eyes were steady as they stared down his captor. "I think you already have some idea as to the beginning, Mustang… or haven't you told Edward?"
"Told me what?" Edward asked with a growing frown, looking from his father to Roy uncertainly, and back again.
"I've heard that the military, you, has been looking for me. I'm not a fool."
"I'd gladly argue that one." Roy decided with sarcastic happiness, and released the man with a backwards shove. "What I have or haven't told Edward is my own business, right now you're the one answering questions, so get answering. Don't try and change the subject again, let that be a final warning. As good an alchemist as you are, I'll happily try my luck."
Hohenheim caught his balance easily, straightening his clothes for what felt the millionth time since he'd been abruptly reacquainted with the Flame Alchemist. "Then please, sit back down." And he resumed his seat himself.
Roy took his seat again, resembling an annoyed porcupine.
Edward settled in as well, in the air at Roy's side once more, pushing aside for now the insinuation that Roy knew more about Hohenheim than his friend had let on.
For Hohenheim, he knew that neither his son nor Roy could possibly have understood what they were asking from him. The explanation they were about to receive. It was one he had never spoken of to another soul… and he found a flicker of irony there. It was an explanation that he knew was probably madness to give, but Edward had died indirectly as a result of his actions, all stemming from a mess he'd let drag on for far too long.
He owed it to Edward, and in part to Roy, to tell them the truth. No matter how wrong it felt to even begin to admit aloud the truth of who he was. Of course, he could never admit to everything, at least… not to Roy. But he would say what he could, what was necessary, to try and make Edward understand.
And if not at least understand, to know.
They'd forgive him later if it took a moment for the words to start coming, as the memories came back to him.
"Around four centuries ago, close to five," Hohenheim began with hardened, distant eyes, "there was a grave accident in Xerxes that led to the destruction of the country and its people. You know this already thanks to historic records of other countries, but none of those records ever got the truth of that accident correct. I had never, not then, and to an extent not even now, wanted to admit that in many ways, I was that accident."
Edward slowly slipped through the air as he tried to absorb what his father was saying, and he landed heavily on the arm of Roy's chair once more.
"Xerxes was annihilated because I made a mistake." Hohenheim continued sadly, slowly, as he remembered that cataclysmic moment. "Although I can never give back all the lives that were sacrificed unknowingly to me to make me what I am, I have been trying. I live each day on borrowed lives, a philosopher's stone inside me filled with murdered souls who keep me immortal. To this day I've been trying to correct what happened, and though it is only a small solace, I have grown to know the individual souls who are a part of the stone… it's why I can sense Edward. After four centuries of living like this… it's second nature to realize that he's there. I knew the feel of my son's soul since the first moment I held him."
And even still, Hohenheim could not bring himself to look up. Not for shame, but for something that ran far deeper than that. "But I was not the only one who survived the disaster that befell my country. That is why I left. That is what I'm trying to correct. So that perhaps one day, I might live in peace knowing that my family is safe. I'd only hoped that they'd not know the truth of me, and that despite the philosopher's stone… I am a breaking man."
Hohenheim stopped there, looking visibly relieved in the manner of a man having confessed his sins on the way to the executioner, as if it might somehow save even a piece of his soul. But he retained a tension at finally having gotten his lifelong secret out into the open. Something he'd never planned to do… and certainly not in hearing distance of a State Alchemist, but the situation and variables were different. This was his deceased son asking, asking through a man who cared for him. And so he waited for judgment to be passed down upon him, sitting silently under the weight of Roy's stare.
Edward was by all appearances frozen from the shock of what he had been told. With not even a breeze able to ruffle his hair, he truly did appear paralyzed. His father was a philosopher's stone? From four hundred years ago? But if his father wasn't the only one… what sort of danger had his family potentially been in had his father stayed? "Who? Who's the other one."
Roy forced himself out of the stunned state he'd fallen into. Yes, one of those revelations he'd guessed to… he just hadn't known, hadn't even guessed the enormity of what he'd once pursued to know. It was no wonder to him now that Hohenheim was lauded as such a brilliant alchemist. Who wouldn't be after nearly five centuries of practice? But he shoved all that away, for the interim, and echoed Edward's question.
At that, Hohenheim held back a world-weary sigh. He had expected it might be asked, but that didn't mean he had to like the fact it had been. "You could say, that in a way… it's my other half."
"I was… half Xerxesian?" Edward breathed out, giving a mirthless wry chuckle. "Well that race truly is a dying breed, isn't it."
"Edward." Roy scolded on principle, giving the ghost a good look before turning back to Hohenheim. "And when this other Xerxesian is dead, you'll go back to Alphonse?"
Hohenheim smiled thinly and nodded. To be honest, he wasn't sure that even if he won the fight that he'd survive. He was attempting to walk into a battle with another immortal, and he just couldn't be sure of the outcome of such a clash. To his knowledge, it hadn't been done before. "Yes. It was always my intention to return to my family."
"You're sure taking your time." Roy muttered darkly, still too caught up in repeating Hohenheim's explanation in his head to indulge in what would have been an appropriate angry outburst.
"What's the accident that destroyed Xerxes?" Edward asked softly. "What did he do?"
Roy wasn't a man to put a halt to a good question. "What happened to Xerxes? What exactly did you do to it?"
Hohenheim barely held back a flinch at the words, unpolished and harsh… but Roy couldn't have known. No one did. Except them. "I placed trust in the wrong hands, and the country paid for it with their lives while I was saved. I never asked to be saved." He shook his head darkly before a sad smile overcame him. "Not like that. Trisha… she truly saved me. In a way a philosopher's stone never could have."
Edward's gaze darkened, and he clenched one hand into a tight fist in forcible restraint not to hurt the man for daring to mention his mother in such a way.
Roy seemed to sense the danger on the horizon, and quickly seized a change of direction. "If you can sense Edward's presence… have you sensed others like him before?"
Hohenheim's fingers came together at a point, and he regarded Roy over their tips as he occasionally looked towards the area he could feel pulsed with the presence of his son's soul. "In all the centuries I've been like this, I've never come across the anomaly that Edward is presenting himself to be."
"I'm a ghost." Edward grumbled petulantly. "Not an anomaly."
"Ghost." Roy corrected with a firm look. "He's a ghost."
Hohenheim couldn't help but smile. "I've never run across another ghost, then." But then he sobered as one hand came up to rub at his chin, fingers tangling in the neatly trimmed beard. "Which makes his presence strange, to say the least."
"I happen to enjoy his strange presence." Roy muttered, mostly to himself.
Edward smiled down at the man, knowing he shared the sentiment.
Nothing further was said at the table for a time afterwards, and the eerie absence of other people went unnoticed as they all tried to find level footing after everything that had transpired.
Hohenheim particularly had fallen into pensive frowning as he considered the state of his son, and the Gate who was clearly behind this. He was the first to broach the silence with a tentative question, realizing he might be asking this on unstable ground.
"How did you two meet?"
Roy flicked his gaze towards the man, his displeasure evident but not actively expressed as he still grappled for stable footing for his brain. "No one seems to be able to see him but me, and he was trapped in my office until I managed to get him free."
"Free?" Hohenheim echoed in concerned confusion.
Edward noted the signs that Roy was about to become ornery, and stepped in firmly. "Tell him. There's the chance that he might prove of some help about this, he is my father, and we both know how you view him as an alchemist."
Roy closed his eyes, knowing Edward was right. In his eyes, Hohenheim was the one alchemist left standing who he truly believed to be more powerful than him. Grand's artillery circus act was dangerous in the way a moving car was dangerous to a pigeon. Hohenheim was like a runaway steam locomotive against a blind, three-legged kitten. "We believe he was trapped in the office by the Gate. I'm not sure how I was able to get him free… but he's contained by what he calls a white world that he can't penetrate without me – at least now – looking at it. I have to see what he sees."
"I see." Hohenheim said, rather appropriately.
"Enlighten us." Roy commanded with a slight growl. "If you can. Edward has unhelpfully reminded me that while he is brilliant, so are you. So try."
Hohenheim had to smile, he knew what it must have cost Roy to say that based on the way the man's hackles had bristled. Yet in this… he wasn't sure how much help he'd be. Which really grated on him, one of the few things he could do for his son, and he was at a loss as to most of it. "Entrapment of that sort isn't a kind I'm accustomed to," and here, he smiled thinly at the memories before he brushed those shadows from his mind.
Edward made a noise quite close to a huff as he looked away with a swish of his hair before looking back sharply as something else came to mind. "Ask him if he knows why the Fuhrer affects me so badly." He insisted firmly, drawing himself up straight as he shifted to stand on the sidewalk, his silver eyes glowing in determination as they stared down his father.
Roy turned his head to look at the ghost, having an idea of where this was possibly going later just between the two of them, based on the answer Hohenheim gave. He didn't like it one bit, but he knew better than to refuse to ask the question. Truthfully… he was curious to know now too. "Edward wants to know…" he began as he focused back on Hohenheim who had shifted into alertness, and he paused before starting over. "A while back Edward got into the line of sight of the Fuhrer, it caused him a great deal of pain and some flashes of the Gate and this strange symbol. I haven't had time to research what it is yet, but that's not the point… why would the Fuhrer cause him pain?"
Hohenheim perked up at the question, a question that truly stimulated all his accumulated knowledge. "If Bradley caused Edward pain then he would have felt something too. You…" Hohenheim trailed off as his face pulled into a slight grimace, "you won't like what I'm about to say. Homunculi are sins against nature and twisted products produced by the Gate. Edward's existence isn't natural either – he isn't supposed to be able to exist. They more than likely cause each other pain by, in their own ways, recognizing an incompatible existence. Two wrongs only equal pain."
"Oh I know I'm not natural." Edward muttered with almost cynical humor. "I'm supernatural."
"And how is it that Edward can exist?" Roy growled, really trying not to punch Hohenheim for calling Ed unnatural and wrong.
Hohenheim's face pulled into an apologetic look, and he shook his head. "Sorry… it's never happened before that I know of. Not in centuries. I don't know why or how he's able to be there with you. Or why you should be able to see him at all. Like I said, anomaly."
Roy didn't like it, but he couldn't see how he could help change that answer. If the man had no idea, he had no idea. But there was something else, "could the Fuhrer hurt Ed?" And his gaze grew even more serious as he leaned forward partially. "Setting aside the pain they both apparently caused each other, could he hurt Edward?"
"You're worried that Edward can be… I supposed killed isn't exactly appropriate… destroyed?" Hohenheim said for the man, and his lips pulled into a thin smile. "It's unknown. Edward's existence goes against all logic and rules."
"Roy, even if he could hurt me," Edward began almost scoldingly, "what in our history together makes you believe that I'd let it deter me? Chances are he hasn't a clue what happened to him if he really ended up feeling pain as well. It means I have the advantage, and he literally won't see me coming if he ever tries to attack you."
"I'm more worried about you getting mixed up with him than Grand." Roy replied as he turned to Edward seriously. "We'll talk about this later, not here. Not now. Certainly not in the presence of your father. I don't trust him entirely."
Hohenheim took the abuse graciously without a flinch.
"That makes two of us." Edward breathed out heavily and turned to his father once more. "At least see if he knows why only you can see me."
Roy did.
Hohenheim didn't react at first, save for a troubled breath they weren't supposed to see, and he opened his mouth once, shut it to rethink, before continuing forward with the question he wasn't entirely sure would go over too well. "Edward, may I speak to you alone?"
"You damn well may not!" Roy snapped in fierce protectiveness as he slammed his hands to the table. "I'm not leaving him alone with you. You've done enough to him."
At this, Hohenheim drew himself to his feet, not entirely caring that Roy had copied the move in a defensive manner. His eyes were hard with a sudden lacking of his timeless patience, and his tone was clipped and without the warmth of before. He knew his sins, every single one of them, personally, whether Roy believed it or not. He wasn't about to take the abuse in this as well. "I am not suggesting you leave. In fact, I believe that would prove entirely useless."
"You'd find me highly uncooperative." Roy bit back.
Hohenheim's eyes flashed with steely resolve, "just stay out of earshot, that's all I ask of you. But I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to my son. He may refuse if he wishes. I can hardly force him to do anything."
Roy didn't back down, even though the self-preservation that had kept him alive in Ishbal now had him on high alert that Hohenheim was no longer sending off the easy-to-punch vibes. He was suddenly, acutely aware that this was Van Hohenheim he had been assaulting… and that was rarely a good thing.
"Enough." Edward broke in quickly, sensing a sudden need, and floated around in front of Roy, merging with the table as he commanded Roy's attention. "Whatever he wants to answer, clearly he feels safer telling just me… which probably makes no sense considering what I've done to Grand but, Roy… I want to hear and," he trailed off, glancing down towards the table hesitantly, "I need this."
Roy could only stare at first, his guard still sending off blaring warning signals to the part of his brain that didn't seem to like listening when it concerned Edward. But gradually he keyed himself down to focus on Edward, even if it took him a moment to process what the ghost had said. "You know…" Roy began at last with a bit of a tired laugh, "you have a funny way of showing you hate someone."
Edward smiled up at him brightly at first, then it softened into something more melancholy. "I guess I do. I guess… I hated him because I didn't know. And while I still don't understand why he couldn't have told mom, and while I know he still isn't telling us the truth… the way I hate him is different from the way I hate Grand."
Roy remained steady only a moment longer before he gave in with a sigh and a lopsided smile to the apparition. "I'm here if you need me."
The brightness returned to Edward's smile, and he nodded as he reached a hand out towards Roy's as if to touch it lightly. "I always need you, but I also need this. It'll probably be the last time I ever see my father, given his track record… I died and have stayed dead for seven years with no regrets. I don't want to start gathering them now."
Roy shook his head, more in defeat than disagreement, and he raised his gaze to glare sternly at Hohenheim. "Try anything funny with him and I swear on his grave that I will give that immortality thing of yours a try when I set you ablaze."
Hohenheim's eyes softened a shade, and he gave a steady nod. "You've my word." He would never have been able to stomach doing something to Edward anyway, but he was quite pleased to see how protective Roy was. It was… intriguing to say the least of it. Roy was an entirely different, relaxed and laughing person when he was interacting with Edward.
Yet he knew without a doubt that it did not mean that Roy wasn't still on guard. He wagered that his current immortality would mean nothing to Roy if it meant defending Edward. Which was scary enough on it's own without adding in the fact that he believed Roy was an alchemist of capabilities to be respected.
Roy turned back to Edward, conceding defeat with a nod before beginning to dig in his pockets in order to produce a charcoal pencil and a wrinkled bit of paper. "In case you need it." He murmured as he passed them into Edward's hands.
"If he needs to be yelled at I'll ask you to translate," Edward smiled as he gripped them. "You sound scarier than a bunch of exclamation marks on paper."
"All you have to do is say the word and I'll set him on fire for you." Roy suggested gravely.
Hohenheim had no idea what Edward answered, but whatever it was it had caused Roy to smile again. Something he couldn't help but smile at himself, albeit a bit sadly. But those thoughts were for neither here nor there, and he drew his distracted attention from the paper he could clearly see Edward was now able to hold. "We'll just go over here a bit, so Roy can keep an eye on you."
"My hero." Tossed Ed back over his shoulder, not minding Roy's scowl. With a flash of a grin he floated after his father to the opposite end of the eerie, still deserted street that truly looked as if it should have been occupied.
Only when they were in the partial shadow of a tree on the opposite sidewalk, nearby a brick wall of a music shop, did Hohenheim stop and turn to where the impression of his son's soul, the ghost, was holding a paper and pencil.
"You wanted to know why only Roy can see you?" Hohenheim paused, but not for long, knowing that he could hardly expect Edward to write out an answer unless it was in the negative, and the pencil was not moving. "I can only make surmises as to that, but I'll get to those in a moment."
Edward frowned, but made no attempt to communicate as he stared his father down.
Hohenheim slowly took in a breath as he nodded, more to himself than anything. "Edward… not everything I said back there was the truth, and in some cases, the whole truth, but I'm telling you the truth now, and I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you can tell him."
At this, Edward's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I knew it… you lying bastard."
But as Hohenheim could not hear this, although he could wager a guess as to his son's reaction, he continued on with a grave expression. "There are things you deserve and need to know, about me, and about yourself. Your existence isn't natural, that much is true – "
From across the empty street Roy was standing leaning back against the edge of the table, his eyes narrowed calculatingly as he watched father and son. His arms were folded across his chest in a show of his displeasure, but one hand was carefully loose from the fold, just in case.
And as the minutes began to pass by with excruciating slowness, Roy only got more suspicious and dedicated in his observation of the pair. Especially at the point when Edward began to write frantically on the paper, far faster than he'd ever seen Edward write before… and he knew the ghost well enough to see that Edward was uneasy about something.
And Edward was, even as the conversation drew to a clear close. If it could even have been called a conversation. He wasn't at all sure what something like that could be called. Much less what he was supposed to feel. His mind was swimming with what his father had told him, and he bowed his head as he looked down at the paper crinkling in his grip, burning all the words written on it into his mind before he flipped it over and wrote one last thing.
'Burn this'
He held it out to Hohenheim resolutely.
Hohenheim took the paper, read the two simple words, and nodded somberly. "I am sorry, son."
"A bit too late for that, isn't it." Edward whispered, and as the piece of paper was destroyed by a show of alchemy that should have unnerved him, he turned away. His eyes landed on Roy, and without paying his father any more mind, he began to hasten back to the man, knowing in his very base instincts, that Roy was stable ground.
Roy didn't have to wait for Edward to reach him to see that something was definitely upsetting the ghost. Which only meant one thing. But before he dealt with that, he needed to be sure that Edward was okay. And he quickly intercepted his companion. "What did he say, what's wrong?"
Edward met Roy's eyes with uncertainty, feeling rather out of sorts as he shook his head with regret, apology. "Roy… I can't." And an absurd part of him began to wish that Roy might start humming, like he used to do when the world was so scary and new.
"Can't what?" Roy frowned, taking a second to glare at Hohenheim who was looking more than a bit regretful himself.
Edward took a deep breath that he didn't at all need, but the long-ago familiarity of it helped a bit. If only in his head as he clarified softly, "can't tell you. I can't lie to you… and I can't tell you."
"You can't tell me." Roy repeated softly, suddenly certain that he was going to have a headache. But the look on Edward's face… he knew that for right now, he couldn't press the ghost. Whatever it was his father had told him, it was bothering Edward. He wouldn't get very far at all by trying to push the ghost, knowing that with Edward as he currently was, it would most likely only cause the ghost to draw away from him emotionally. So without much other choice, slowly he nodded in consent. "All right."
Fortunately, there was one individual he could take his coming headache out on.
Roy seized Hohenheim's coat in one hand and purely on principle, connected a solid right hook into the man's jaw to send him sprawling onto the empty road. "There, now I feel much better."
Edward blinked down at the scene, stupefied as if he couldn't quite believe that Roy had knocked Hohenheim down again. And suddenly, he couldn't help it. He began to laugh. Helplessly.
Hohenheim, meanwhile, grunted as he pushed himself into a seated position, one hand rubbing tenderly at his abused jaw before he popped it fully back into place. "If only I could say the same for myself."
Roy sniffed down at the man, "you'll get over it. You abandoned Edward, you deserved that and more."
Hohenheim looked up at the man with a placid calm, a small smile beginning to work its way across his lips. "You care a lot for him… so take good care of him. Whether you've realized it yet or not, Roy Mustang, you're his family now too."
"Are you looking to get punched again?" Roy demanded, incensed by the insinuation that he didn't realize how greatly Edward figured into his life now.
Edward, still somewhat overcome with laughter, turned to Roy with shining eyes. "Are you mad at him for your sake now, or for mine?"
"Shut up, Eddie." Roy growled, smirking in the face of Edward's glowering look, before the sound of something strange caught both of their attention, and they slowly looked down, miffed, at Hohenheim.
The man was almost overcome with laughter, his glasses askew even more haphazardly as laughter shook his body.
"Roy, just how hard did you hit my good-for-nothing father?" Edward asked mildly.
Roy was beginning to wonder the same thing as he scowled and sharply nudged at the man with his boot. "Just what's so funny." He demanded, not at all pleased that Hohenheim should be getting any sort of amusement out of this meeting.
"Not funny…" Hohenheim laughed unconvincingly a few more times before sobering with a truly pleased smile. "I'm just happy he has you."
Roy wasn't entirely too sure what to make of that, and he was sure the bewildered expression on his face spoke of his sentiments clearly. However he knew one answer that would certainly suit, and promptly drove his fist down onto Hohenheim's head. "Shut up!"
It was quickly becoming a favorite catchphrase when dealing with insane Elrics. He wondered if it was a Xerxesian blood trait, some sort of deficiency.
"I'm happy I have you too." Edward offered out, grinning as Roy turned to scowl at him.
"What is it you want, I know you. I know you want something." Roy accused, not fooled by the light dancing in Edward's eyes. It wasn't the light of innocence, it was the light of playfulness. And a playful Edward could mean many things.
Hohenheim decided it was time to make it back to his feet, although to be honest he'd had his doubts about whether or not it was worth getting back up again. But as Roy clearly began to banter back and forth with Edward, he smiled wistfully before turning away, casting a lingering look to the dark-haired alchemist who watched over his son before he slipped away into the shadows, bidding a silent goodbye to his son.
It hurt to leave this way, but there was little choice. Roy would become violent more than likely, there was no knowing for him how Edward would react, and he couldn't afford to dally any longer. Not now that he was planning an unexpected side trip.
He had something he now knew he needed to do… and it was a place they could not follow.
Edward had just happily won the argument when he suddenly noticed something was off, and as he looked, he swore. "Damn him! Where the hell did he go?"
Roy too, looked around quickly before growling his displeasure as his head fell back onto his shoulders. "Least I know where you learned your skills at sneaking."
"Don't you toss me in with that man!" Edward berated before sighing in bitter disappointment. "I didn't even get a chance to dump him out of his chair."
Roy frowned and looked around at their still empty surroundings, repressing a shiver as he turned back to Edward. "We'll find him another day I'm sure, and when we do, I'll make sure you get to dump him out of as many chairs as you want. But for now, let's get out of here."
Edward too looked around, beginning to become just the least bit unsettled at the unnatural quietness of this street. "You're going to be so late for work." He pointed out as he followed after Roy, heading, hopefully, back to someplace they recognized.
"It was worth it." Roy said with a steely hardness in his voice, and he barely blinked as he led them out onto a street that was almost jarringly busy compared to the one they'd just departed. "No one just leaves you and gets away with it. Not you."
Edward felt the smile appear on his face, but he remained silent as he diligently followed after Roy as they made their way to Central Headquarters. Not even to mention to Roy that when he'd looked behind him, there was no possible entrance to this street they could have come out of. He had far more pressing things on his mind as he again tried to understand just what his father had meant.
And he hoped that Roy didn't notice he was floating a bit closer, but when on a quieter street the soothing sounds of Roy humming reached his ears, he knew it was a lost cause, and with a smile, let the sound put him back at ease.
Meanwhile in an empty alleyway, Hohenheim stepped back to view his handiwork.
In the grimy filth that generally littered places like this, he had drawn a transmutation circle with his cane, and the sight of it made him hesitate. This was one thing he had never wanted to do… but he had to. He had to know for sure.
Rubbing his sore jaw absently, he stepped forward into the circle with dignity that far outshined his current grubby surroundings. He'd never imagined that would he make such a circle, it would be in an alleyway… there seemed far more appropriate places… but perhaps in the light of the nature of this venture, this was entirely too appropriate.
He waited only a moment longer before activating the circle, and in a flash of brilliant bluish-white light, he vanished.
"Such a crude method you use to visit me."
Hohenheim didn't falter at the welcome, only drew himself up into his full imposing height as he stared ahead, unafraid. "You would know all about crude methods, wouldn't you. What has been done to my son?"
"He acted beyond his mortal status in a way far less elegant than you, Van Hohenheim. His consequence was of his own choosing."
"I doubt you gave him the choice of ghost. They're not supposed to exist!"
"Neither are you." Was the reply, hinged on tinkling laughter. "Like father, like son. Such a shame that Alphonse stays away from using alchemy now… I was curious to see just how volatile your bloodline truly is to the proper order of the world."
Hohenheim stiffened, eyes hardening with steely warning. "Do not manipulate Alphonse."
"I hardly need to manipulate you, or anyone else you create." Came the sardonic response. "You fall into place like dominos on strings… all except for Edward."
"What did you do to Edward!" Hohenheim demanded with explosive fervor.
The Gate began to laugh.