Eli: You and wanting to set Hohenheim on fire. He's quite scared of you now, you know.
Woobatty: Is it cruel of me that I'd love putting Hazel with your cats anyway just to get video footage of it? You could make me go viral on youtube.
Anemone Kurosaki: I adore writing cliffhangers. More than one person has claimed that I laugh like a maniac when I do it... and they'd be totally correct.
moonstone: Now how can I resist a request for Grand assault?
black-klepon: I'm working on the new laptop still. I'm hoping that between my next few paychecks I'll have enough put aside to buy another. Luckily they're cheaper than they were when I bought my original one.
Kat-OF-Shadows: Banana! And Hohenheim would have to be as blind as Roy not to see that he loves Ed. Although given the case I've let Hohenheim have so far, it'd not be much of a stretch, but in this I give him full benefit of the doubt.
FullMetalCrayon: You're going to give me a turtle?
egyptian1995: Don't you just love how Hohenheim seems to have problems answering direct questions? The man should have been a lawyer.
SuperNekofan: Yeah, I love Hohenheim too... but it needed to be done. And yes, Roy knows now. Hohenheim told him in a roundabout fashion.
Denmark-CyanideDiamond-Alois: Rereads of stories are good. You always end up picking up on something you didn't notice before, which is fun. And sometimes that includes finding blatant typos... which is funny XD
Eona the Crim: I feel a bit guilty for constantly killing you.
Aysu: Darwin the Dinosaur is happy to have your love. He was feeling very lonesome.
gali-o: Hang in there.
cynder81: Roy being protective is bundles of fun, and hotness. How can Ed not love the fact that Roy will punch people for him.
Fullthrottle13: Oh shit is a good reaction XD And it will probably end up around 50-60 chapters. Seems to be my usual average these days.
Alex: No, I do like Hohenheim, very much. In fact, if I were to tell you the extent I like him, you'd probably think I'm insane. But torturing him is sometimes needed, especially in Roy's mind.
Cheru-chan: I love torturing you most of all my dear.
of untold secrets: I like it when Roy is feeling confused. He usually ends up doing or saying some pretty funny things. At least the way I look at it.
cHAOsrulesoverall: Yes, she's your roomie because I say she is. And since I'm her older sister, she has to agree with me XD
Soaha: Then I am definitely crazy, because the voices and I have conversations.
blame-my-ADD: Ed will talk to you privately about it XD
softdreamer: I was glad I reached the point where it was time for Hohenheim to come in. I like him.
cocopower1: I'll have to work on that list. Not tonight though. It's nearly midnight and I've work tomorrow morning.
Well I've certainly been having fun with technology lately. As far as my getting a new laptop, I'm still working on that. Currently I'm borrowing my brother's laptop which is literally falling apart at the hinges... it's held together by electrical tape, I kid you not, but it doesn't randomly freeze. Which is very handy for when I need to do some thinking as far as this story goes.
And my waffle maker died on me this morning. Tragically. It's older than I am though, my mother had it before she had me, so I guess for a waffle maker that's a pretty good life. Goodbye, sweet waffle maker. May you rest happily in the appliance graveyard, remembering all the wonderful mornings we had together.
Then tonight, one of my dearest friends finished her Scar/Al twoshot for me. That was a welcome surprise to get in a text, telling me the good news. Those two need lots of love in my opinion. Although I'm still not sure I'll cave to her claim that Al is a 'ho'. Bite me, Cheryl, he's sweet and innocent XD.
Anyway, I think you've heard me prattle on enough for one night.
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Hawkeye is going to be so mad at you." Edward murmured as he hurried alongside Roy up the flight of stairs that would put them nearest to the man's office.
"She can be mad." Roy stated uncaringly, his hand sliding along the balustrade as they climbed. "First time since I moved here that I'll be late. And as far as I'm concerned, entirely worth it."
Edward glanced over at him with a wry, lopsided smile and a knowing look in his eyes. "She just better not shoot at you."
Roy had given a huff that bordered on being amused, but when he turned to look at Edward, what exactly he'd been amused at left him. The look now on the ghost's face, that preoccupied, unsettled, and wholly lost look that was eerily ghost-like… it did things to his composure that he didn't like. He didn't like seeing Edward like this. Like a ghost. Before he'd met Edward, he might have guessed this was what a ghost would look like. Lost.
But he knew Edward. He knew such a vision wasn't correct… and yet, it was here before him now. He didn't like it. He didn't like the way it made him feel useless and adrift. Apart from Edward.
More than once he was aware of opening his mouth to say something, but more than once no words would come out, and at last he had to give up as they reached the top of the stairs. And he was left with only silent curses to Hohenheim, that the man had driven this wedge between he and Edward.
It was as expected when they reached the office complex containing Roy's office and subordinates. They were all already present, and looked on at his late arrival with varying reactions of amusement, resign, borderline frustrations, and in the case of Havoc and Falman, money changing hands.
"Colonel," Hawkeye immediately began as Edward would have expected, "now is not the time to fall back into bad habits."
Roy might have bantered the point with her any other day, but not today. Too much had happened to him today, too much was on his mind. He gave her a cursory glance before turning his steps to his office. "It couldn't be helped."
Hawkeye could only stare after him, her eyes starting to grow concerned, thoughtful, as she slowly sat back down. But it wasn't a true coming to rest as she suddenly rose from the chair again and quickly left the office, only saying "I'm going to find Maes" before the door closed behind her.
Meanwhile inside the office, Roy had just assumed his office chair.
Edward curled up into the corner of the couch nearest Roy, his arms pulling his knees close to his chest as he stared down at them. Slowly he shifted to rest his chin on his knees, staring instead over at the picture of the sunrise that was still mounted on the office wall. Letting himself get lost in the colors, and the skyline, as he tried not to hear the echoes of what his father had said. Distantly, he knew Roy wasn't working, could only guess that the man was watching over him instead, and knew with a flicker of warm amusement that they probably wouldn't get in any chess games today.
As much as he had needed, in a way, to see his father again. And as much as it had meant to him to know that his father loved him, hadn't left because of him, something inside him still hurt. Hurt to now know all the secrets his father had kept from them, and probably would never tell even Alphonse if the man did make good on his word to one day go back to his only remaining, living relation. It hurt to know that his father had left again, still without ever saying goodbye.
And it hurt to know that he'd most likely never see the man again.
It was strange to him, in a detached way, that only now, in the aftermath, were his thoughts now taking this turn. When he'd actually been with his father, shock and the strange self preservation that had kept him on edge with sarcasm had kept him from thinking too heavily on it all.
It had been as if his father's mere presence had thrown him for such a curve that all true thought had left him, and he was only now recovering.
His father, who had called him unnatural and more than implied that he shouldn't exist – shouldn't be allowed to exist. Had implied he was no better than the homunculi, and was an upset to the natural order of the world. But he did exist… he existed for Roy's eyes only. Wasn't that worth something to his father?
Against all supposed logic and rules, the Gate had let him exist and bound him to Roy. There was no light to walk into for him, just Roy.
But he hadn't been able to tell the man that.
But did it truly make him an unnatural being no better than a homunculus? Because he hadn't chosen this for himself, the only choice he'd ever made in dying was the choice to offer himself in place of any harm coming to Alphonse. But he knew now, sitting here, that his father would never think of it that way. Not truly.
Even so… deep down, buried underneath the anger and rage and sadness… he still loved that man.
Edward smiled bitterly, choking down the mirthless laughter that had threatened to bubble up. Turning his head down so that all he could see were his thighs and the couch beneath him, he stole a barely adequate look towards Roy.
Roy… the man he knew with ironclad certainty, would never leave him. No matter what hell his existence was bringing down around Roy's head, he'd always be there. He still couldn't imagine what he'd ever done to deserve this idiot.
This idiot who refused to send him away, even as it became ever clearer that his presence was leading Roy towards a danger the man had never thought to want to face before. But then… that was the irony of it all, wasn't it. One way or another, Roy would have learned the truth. About the Fuhrer, about Grand… wasn't it better this way? Better that he had found out with forewarning, and what Edward sensed was yet another argument that he was about to win?
He felt a hopeless smile break onto his face, and slowly, very slowly, he began to laugh in helplessness until within a matter of seconds it had consumed him.
"Edward?" Roy asked in baffled concern, having gotten up from his chair and now approaching the ghost slowly, as if his companion had suddenly gone stark raving insane. And a part of him was onboard with that fear. "What… are you… what is it?"
"Only you…" Edward hiccupped his laughter as he tried to gain back some semblance of control, "we're going to have another argument, that I'll win because you're being stupid –"
Roy had to do a double take at that, and barely kept himself from voicing his disapproval.
"– and because neither of us can leave the other behind. We're such idiots!" He exclaimed in fresh laughter.
Roy officially believed that Edward had lost some part of his sanity now, but even so, he lowered himself on the couch next to the overcome apparition. "This is about my not wanting you to help me when it comes down to me and the Fuhrer?" He guessed.
Edward gave a few more chuckles before looking up at Roy with defeat in his eyes, but it was a smiling defeat. "Yeah… you know I'll win, right?"
Roy couldn't help but smile back at him, even though he wasn't quite sure what emotion this was that was causing him to smile. "I know…" and he reached out a hand to Edward in insistence of a handshake. "Just know that I'd never forgive myself if anything were to ever happen to you. He's on the same playing field you are, in a way."
Edward met his eyes, sobering a bit as his smile softened. "Then you know why I refuse to let you go alone." And he slipped a hand free to rest it slightly through Roy's. "Only you would be fool enough to have gotten me."
"I happen to consider it luck." Roy corrected quietly, and didn't lower his hand. "Do you want to try telling me yet what your father said that upset you so much?" And when Edward's posture began to hunch immediately after asking, added, "was it about why only I can see you?"
"No." Edward finally answered, after a few minutes spent in unhurried silence. "It was something else. And I… I hadn't allowed myself to hope like that in a very long time… if ever." He paused to draw his hand away, curling back into the couch once more, but this time towards Roy, instead of the corner. "I don't want to put the burden of that hope I had back there, and the knowledge that my father couldn't… I just think it's better if you don't know."
Roy studied Edward silently for a time, not content not to know… but all the same, he was glad Edward was talking to him a bit about it. Letting out a slow sigh of submission, he rearranged himself on the couch so that he sat back up against it fully and draped an arm over the back of it, where Edward was sitting next to him. "Are there any hopes of yours that I can grant?"
Edward smiled faintly, reaching one hand out to rest it through Roy's nearest thigh. "I'm no longer alone, Roy. And to me, compared to anything else I might want… that means the most to me."
Roy knew he didn't need to say anything, Edward already knew he wouldn't leave, just as much as he knew he'd be devastated if Edward did leave. "Did he know?" Roy asked instead, "why only I can see you?"
Edward drew his hand away from Roy's leg, resting it on his own as he directed his attention back to that photograph of the sunrise on the wall. "Surmises, mostly. Although the more I think about it, the more I'm certain it's linked with how you were able to set me free."
"The more I think about it, the more I realize that man can talk circles around a straight answer without letting you realize at first, that that's what he's doing." Roy sounded properly annoyed about it, too. "Maybe it's some sort of Xerxian blood trait that you're bound to be difficult."
"Hey!" Edward burst out, glaring at the man as best he could under that smirk that dared him to give in to the laughter he could also feel.
"I'm serious!" Roy teased. Mostly. "Knowing you, and then today with your dad, I think I have a valid case!"
Edward scowled at him, but couldn't force back the smile for long. "I like to think I'm difficult because I live with you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Roy recoiled back in exaggerated shock, though his arm didn't budge from where it rested on the back of the couch around Edward. "I am not difficult!"
"Oh yes you are." Edward insisted with a hint of laughter. "Shall I make a list as proof for you, of all the ways you're a difficult man? I'm sure I can send a letter to your mother as well, asking for proof from your childhood."
"Evil spirit." Roy accused, with a certain degree of fondness.
Edward merely smiled in pride.
"Are you better now?" Roy asked, his hand bending down from the couch to bat at the silvery hair that ignored his attentions, as always. "I don't do so well when you're upset."
"I'm okay." Edward reassured him calmly, "yes, he said some things to me that I didn't like, and yes, I had a fleeting hope crushed and it rattled me… but I promise you that I'm okay."
Roy knew he had no choice but to accept that for now, and he nodded in understanding as he drew his arm away. "Then I'll get my work done. And I'll have lunch delivered for me, so we might still get a chess game in."
Edward nodded, and as Roy was about to rise, he put out a hand quickly, although the hesitant look on his face belied the hurry in which he'd done it. "Are you going out tonight?"
Roy had lowered himself back down obediently, and at the question, he began to smile as the warm pulse of endearment filled him. "No." He answered without hesitation, and at the shock but light of happiness he saw in Edward's eyes, his smile remained. "I need to be with you tonight."
"But," Edward began, whipping around as Roy had gotten up and nearly made his way around his desk, "you've not…" and he tilted his head in confusion, "when was the last time you did?"
"It doesn't matter. I will Wednesday." Roy brushed the matter aside as if it were wholly unimportant. "You've needed me, and you come first. And tomorrow I'm taking you to the theater, don't forget. So Wednesday."
Edward had just had enough time to warm at the reminder of their destination for tomorrow night when there was a quick knock on the door, followed by it opening anyway. Both sounds having caused him to look over, and when Maes had slipped through to shut the door behind him, he smiled brightly in welcome. "Maes!"
Roy couldn't help but feel happy at Edward's enthusiasm to see his best friend, but the look he personally turned on Maes was more of the questioning sort than the unbridled delight sort. "What do you want? It's not more pictures, is it?" He groaned at the mere thought.
Maes laughed, waving his hand as if to bat the question away. "Your jokes are still as bad as ever I see." But he quickly sobered – although in all fairness, not from the sour look Roy turned his way as the man resumed his seat. "Riza," he stated as he crossed over to the desk, but perched himself up on the arm of the couch unknowingly right next to Edward.
"You're married already. See? This is one of the reasons I remain unattached, for when someone new strikes my interest." Roy deadpanned as he pulled his files closer to him, as if they were a protective barricade or would somehow signal to Maes that he was extremely busy. Neither of which would work, anyone knew that.
"Not quite." Maes smiled, not bothered enough to go into odes of why he loved Gracia so much over any other woman. "She said you came in looking strange, and thought you might need your best friend. Did something happen? You look fine."
Roy abandoned the hope that Maes would be leaving soon, although he was secretely, on a deeper level, quite glad to have him here. As he'd said, Maes really was his best friend. "I ran into Hohenheim this morning."
Maes let out a low whistle, and his brows drew together in concern as he quickly looked his friend over. "You okay? You don't look like you got into a fight with him. Unless he's not quite as good as all the rumors made him out to be."
Edward had floated around to sit on the coffee table by now, his legs crossed as he studied Maes with a small shadow of a smile remaining. And he looked over at Roy now to see how the man would answer. Something told him he shouldn't get involved yet. There were certain things that only talking to Maes could do for Roy.
"Actually, I believe I punched him several times." Roy offered nonchalantly, but with a steely edge that would have gone unheard by anyone less close to the man. "He did something to offend me a long time ago, the time to collect dues on it came."
Maes's brows climbed over the rim of his glasses, "you punched him? Not set him on fire?"
"I'm sure he would have given me reason to get to that eventually, had he not managed to escape." Roy muttered darkly, still not pleased that at the very least, Edward hadn't gotten to dump his degenerate father out of a chair in that eerie place they'd been led to.
"What did he do, exactly, to offend you?" Maes asked in true confusion, "I wasn't aware you had a grudge with him. Unless that grudge is that he's still alive… I know a part of you was hoping he wasn't."
Roy's hand tightened in anger for the briefest moment. "He abandoned his family. His sons. It's unforgivable to me, no matter the reason."
Maes practically slid backwards off the armrest of the couch in slack-jawed shock. Did his friend just… "since when are you suddenly the champion of family life?" And he quickly held up his hands in an offering of peace. "No offense."
Roy only glared for a moment, but shook his head. "It's complicated."
"That's putting it lightly." Edward breathed out heavily.
"Complicated." Maes stated firmly, watching his best friend closely. "Roy, since when do you even know that the guy had a family?"
"Again, complicated." Roy growled out, his pointed look a warning to his friend.
Maes chuckled, though it was part nerves as he held up his hands again. "Don't tell me that you slept with his wife or something and suddenly you do have children."
What happened next, Roy would claim was the result of spontaneous combustion. And as the black leather couch exploded into ash underneath Maes, he would also claim he did not smile as he watched his friend slam rear first onto the ashy floor with a yell of shock.
Edward was applauding through wary laughter… and trying not to mourn the fact that Roy had just incinerated his favorite couch.
"I am not that sort of man." Roy growled, and shifted in his chair in irritation. "It's just complicated!"
Maes got up, rubbing his bruised tailbone with a good-natured smile. "Sorry. Sorry. I know how you freak about the kids thing." And he laughed as a muscle in Roy's face began to twitch. "So I'm guessing seeing him again, and this thing with his family, it's not settling too well with you?"
Roy gave him a withering look, "I don't go around punching people for no reason. But I'm not suicidal or about to go on a no-holds-barred rampage throughout Headquarters. You can assure Riza of that."
"Just going to go on a rampage against me?" Maes smiled, as if amused by the prospect.
"You can handle it." Roy informed him, well aware that it was a compliment.
Maes chuckled as he considered his friend, really looked at him. It had been a while now since he'd been able to see Roy, and looking at him now… he smiled a small, knowing smile. "You can too, you know."
Roy gave him a weird look, "what?"
"Nothing!" Maes brushed it off cheerily, and gave the man more of a wave than a salute. "Come have dinner again with us sometime!" And he quickly left before Roy could encase him in flames for interrogation.
Edward watched him go with a true smile and a light-hearted laugh. "I really do like that man."
Roy huffed out his own laugh, and picked up a pen with a roll of his eyes. "I know how you feel."
Edward looked back around at him with the same smile. He wasn't quite sure of the story behind those two becoming best friends… but he was sure it was an amazing one. He'd have to ask sometime. But not now… for now he'd let Roy work.
So he went in search of one of his books, while trying not to look at the spot that was missing a couch.
The day passed in far more peace and quiet than their morning had, and as Roy promised, he'd had his lunch delivered in to him so that he could work through it, trying to get his work done as quickly as possible in order for them to have time to themselves later. Edward had finished the book he'd been reading, and was part way through another when he set it down and rose into the air.
There was something that had been on his mind now for a while, and it needed attending to.
"I'm going to go pay a visit to Grand. See if I can't do him any harm."
Roy looked up, the pen going slack in his hand as he shoved the problems the border patrol was having from his mind for the present. "Just be careful." He said, knowing that he always said that. But unable to keep from saying it all the same. He worried when he wasn't able to keep an eye on Edward.
"Yes, mother." Edward smiled teasingly, and then a wicked gleam entered his silver eyes, "or according to Maes, should it be father?"
Roy flung the pen at the impertinent ghost. "Certainly not!"
Edward ducked away with a laugh, and giving the man a short wave, darted through the wall to be on his way.
Roy groaned and stared at his pen that was now mocking him from across the room. "What do you want?" He threatened it, and wondered if it might magically come back to him.
Meanwhile Edward was making his way to Grand's office, unaware of the showdown that Roy was having with a ballpoint. He was beginning to recognize certain military officers during these personal missions of his, but he didn't stay to harass any of them as he focused on his goal. In time, they may become his goal too… but for now, he was content with helping try to remove Brigadier General Grand from the picture.
The area surrounding his office was rather quiet, as Edward had become accustomed to it being. The man's subordinates were involved in their work, and Edward had a hard time not being suspicious of the lot of them. He knew sensibly that even if they were involved in their superiors illegal activities, that they'd never have evidence of it sitting around in broad daylight work hours.
So he passed them all by in favor of entering the General's office.
It seemed that Grand was having an easier time sitting down these days. He was involved in file reports of some nature, and sported only a few lingering bruises on first look. Although Edward was pleased to note that a cane rested not far from the man. Apparently that patella was taking a proper amount of time to heal. Good.
"You know," Edward began in a silken, cold voice, "you're no longer my primary concern as a threat to Roy's safety… but that doesn't make your position any safer." He promised as he floated towards the desk determinedly. "Now I just want you out of the way sooner, so you've less time to plan trying to harm Roy. I won't allow something like that. I never will… from you, or the Fuhrer."
It seemed, in this moment, a shame to Edward that he couldn't kill this man. He knew Roy needed him still alive. But it itched at him that Grand could walk around free like this, possibly planning to hurt Roy, and all he could do was pull dangerous pranks on him. The thought of whether or not he could kill a man didn't cross his mind, not in this.
When it came down to his desire to protect Roy, it couldn't cross his mind.
"I think it's time you go home early today for injuries." Edward decided matter-of-factly. "Or to your little hidden lab. Either way, I want you out of here and doing something that Maes might be able to use against you." He was certain that if Grand left the building, Maes would tail him.
Edward began to look around, assessing what he had to work with. "Now what sort of fun shall we have today, Brigadier General."
Unfortunately, where the man currently was, and the fact that he was where he was, it didn't give Edward very many potential opportunities to exploit. That is, until Edward realized where Grand was, and he began to smile.
The man was sitting at his desk.
With that uplifting knowledge in mind, Edward lowered himself to the floor to begin fiddling as soundlessly as he was able, with the screwed in brackets holding the heaviest side of the desk up on its legs. A few times the wood squeaked in protest, and Edward had had to wait it out until the understandably jumpy man settled back in with his paperwork. But bit by bit, he was able to loosen the brackets until the screws holding them barely remained affixed to the desk itself.
"I do love the art of carpentry." Edward murmured pleasantly as he scooted back to admire his work. He'd give it a few minutes before the entire thing came crashing down, based on the sudden vigor with which Grand was writing against the now unbeknownst unstable surface.
But he could hardly consider himself done. Certainly not. Just for a bit of added fun, for the receptionist he knew would come rushing in here, and grab up Grand's phone to make the alert for the medical ward, he loosened the phone cord in its jack so that in her haste it might become fully disconnected.
Having finished enough for the day, Edward took to sitting in one of Grand's office chairs to wait it out. Just staring at the man with the patience only a vengeful spirit could muster. He wished that desk would come crashing down soon.
And just as he was beginning to wonder if he'd not done the job good enough, the General slammed his fist onto the desk in a clear show of frustration at something.
The desk gave a last, dying creak of ominous warning, before the legs on the left side splintered free to shoot across the office as the bulk of the desk came crashing down against the greater portion of Grand's thighs.
The startled, pained shout caused Edward to smile thinly, and he rose from his chair in satisfaction as Grand somehow managed to collapse free of the chair which had been pinning him up against the weight of the broken desk. The man crashed to the floor onto his side amidst all the spilled stationery just as the door was flung open and the receptionist rushed in with a panicked gasp and a frantic "sir!"
Edward chuckled as he floated around to watch Grand squirm in barely repressed pain and a litany of curses that he was sure Roy wouldn't approve of him hearing. "Maybe that's how I'll help Roy get rid of you. From the ground up. Surely you're not as good an alchemist if you can barely walk."
"Sir, the phone's not working in here!" The receptionist said hurriedly, "just stay still while I call from the other room."
"Don't fucking bother!" Grand snapped at her, trying to shift into a seated position and not show the wince of pain as he had to support his weight on his hands to do so. "Nothing's broken!"
"Damn." Edward muttered in true disappointment.
"Just get me my fucking cane and help me down to the ward!" Grand continued to rage, and he looked at the broken desk in seething anger. "And then I want to know how that thing broke off two legs at once!"
"Suspicious someone's after you?" Edward asked lightly, smiling as he watched the woman rush to get the cane. "Because I am."
"Yes, General!" The receptionist answered hurriedly, and helped the injured man to his feet.
Edward took great satisfaction in the hisses of pain that the man tried to repress. "Won't be able to move so fast in a fight now, will you." And he watched, waited until the door had closed behind them, before he took a look down at the abandoned, ruined desk. "Now let's see here…"
Grand wouldn't notice if his once obsessively organized desk was in disarray. The mere collapse would have done that. So Edward took this golden opportunity to get in some first class snooping.
After several minutes of swift, but thorough searching, all Edward could find that seemed out of the ordinary, were a bunch of papers clearly written in Grand's own personally devised alchemic code. But alchemic codes weren't ever things to stop him, and by the time Edward was able to read what was on them, he was hearing footsteps approaching the door once more.
Taking a last, confused glance at them, he shoved them back where he'd found them. Knowing that while Grand might not notice if things were displaced, he'd surely notice if they were missing.
"Until next time." Edward promised the office, and fled back to Roy.
It was one of the quicker trips he'd made back to the man, having taken full advantage of every shortcut he could access and his unhindered speed. After having spent some time doing recon, he knew he'd lost time in informing Roy that he'd had success.
He barely had made it fully through the office wall before he blurted out, "he should be out of here for the day. Let Maes know."
Roy looked up at his entrance, but nodded immediately. "Hopefully he'll choose a different way home today. Surely he needs to check up on progress sooner or later." And he grabbed the phone on his desk.
Edward waited until Roy had finished talking to Maes, presumably, before alighting on the man's desk in good spirits. "I made most of his desk collapse onto him!" He divulged proudly.
Roy raised an impressed eyebrow, and tried not to chuckle too much at that little revelation. "Did you now? You're really stepping it up."
"I'm getting tired of waiting!" Edward admitted passionately, "I want to at least keep him on the injured side until you can take care of things. But Roy… now that we know the Fuhrer is going to be a harder opponent than you were counting on… I just don't want to waste time if I have it."
"I know you're impatient." Roy soothed with a bracing smile. "I do know, remember? But don't worry, I have patience enough for the both of us. It'll be okay. Knowing when to strike is practically an art, and one I am quite familiar with."
Edward huffed as he settled in a bit more on the desk. "Good thing you're in the military and not me. I'd make a mess of things, wouldn't I."
Roy laughed at the ghost's worries. "Probably so, but you'd make it interesting. You do already."
Edward chanced a grin at him. "Would you put up with me on your team, then?"
"I already do." Roy rolled his eyes, but smiled. "As if I'd ever let you go anywhere without me. Now stop thinking about that sort of thing and tell me, honestly… it's important –"
"Yes?" Edward blinked at him.
"You're not going to drop my desk on me because I turned your couch into ashes, are you?"
Edward snorted, rolling his eyes. "As if that'd be a fitting punishment. You're fixing that couch later, you know. Or buying me another one. Now do you know why Grand would have a bunch of coded papers referring to a number five?"
"Number five?" Roy echoed, his forehead creasing in a thoughtful frown. "Why?"
"I was snooping after he dragged himself out. All his alchemist coded files referred to a number five, but I couldn't figure out what it was. The most I could discern was that there's been a lot of activity at it. But a place with a lot of activity going on… that wouldn't be a place he'd put a hidden lab. I just thought you might have an idea what he was referring to." Edward offered.
Roy tapped his pen against the desk before swiveling the chair so that he could look out across the courtyard in thought. "Unfortunately we can't assume anything right now. I'll have Maes look into it. I didn't steal him back from the investigations department for nothing."
"Roy…" Edward broached, hesitantly at first, "can't you let me help with it too? Let me help you both research this? I know you are, even if you don't tell me you are. You really don't believe I think you just threw the entire thing onto Maes, do you?"
"It's not that I don't think you wouldn't be any help, Edward," Roy said as he turned back around to face the ghost, "it's that it's still too early to involve you. I want to have a more concrete lead before I let you take a look at anything Maes or I have turned up. Because I know you… the moment you think you have the answer, you'll rush headlong into it. I can't risk you doing that just yet."
"You think I'll prevent you from being able to gather the proof you want to be able to slide into his position as a general." Edward surmised, his tone slightly reluctant.
"I tend to prefer my way of saying it." Roy appeased and reached out to the ghost. "Don't take what I'm doing the wrong way, you have to trust me right now that I know what I'm doing. This isn't the first time I've done something like this… granted never something of this magnitude, but I do know what I'm doing."
Edward looked around at him with a faint smile, "just don't keep me in the dark too long. Else I'll have to start haunting you."
"That is a truly fearsome prospect." Roy smiled, only smiling wider as Edward scowled upon realizing he was being teased. "Now go on, I still need to finish these. As much as I enjoy your company."
Edward snorted, but got off the desk anyway to go grab up his book again. And leaving Roy to his work, he went up to his favorite corner of the ceiling to get in some reading. Even though a large part of him was still awaiting any potential phone calls that Roy may get regarding Grand's current state of health.
But they heard nothing, and the office was silent for several hours save Roy's mutterings over his paperwork and the rustling of paper. Eventually Roy did get up, hoisting finished paperwork with him, causing Edward to rouse himself out of his book in excited anticipation.
By the time Roy got back, Edward had already set up the chessboard in his eagerness, causing Roy to laugh.
"What?" Edward complained in an effort to hide his embarrassment. "We haven't played chess since last week!"
"It's only Monday." Roy teased with a smile as he sat in his office chair.
"You know what I mean." Edward berated him, and soon the game was off to a destructive start for both players.
Roy was glad for the distraction the chess game was giving them from their day, but as it always did, and he knew it always would, the question and answer session started between them as effortlessly as knocking yet another pawn from the game board.
"How exactly did you make Grand's desk collapse?" Roy asked, wanting to know how to reinforce his own. Just in case.
"Loosened the brackets of the legs on the heaviest side." Edward smirked proudly, and snorted at Roy's expression. "If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't drop part of a desk on your legs. I can get far more creative with you, considering I know where you live."
"Yeah, where you live." Roy muttered, just a bit petulantly, but perked up despite it as he managed to remove one of Edward's bishops from play.
Edward chuckled, and tried not to take the loss too heavily as he considered his remaining options at the same time asking, "when my dad said you hadn't told me the full story… you know, about looking for him? What did he mean."
Roy frowned slightly, both at the question and at the predicament Edward had just created for him on the chessboard. "I had suspected for a long time that he wasn't exactly – well, fact is he never appeared to age. In any photograph I'd ever seen of him. I didn't realize just what he was until today, but I'd had my suspicions, especially after Ishbal, that he was more of an alchemist than he let on."
Edward knew it wasn't his turn for a question, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "why? Why not tell me?"
"I didn't want to insult you, I guess. By telling you I had a suspicion your father was involved in illegal substances… of a fashion." Roy shrugged his shoulders heavily. "Not that it matters much now. Anyway," he shook himself away from those thoughts and hoped to bring Edward away from them as well, "I was wondering if you wanted to stay in this coming weekend."
Edward tilted his head in curiosity. "Stay in? Sure. Hazel definitely wouldn't complain if he got to see you at least one more day than has been usual."
Roy chuckled at the mention of the destructive ball of fur he called a pet. "The state of my home wouldn't either. But actually that's not quite what I had in mind when I brought it up." And he chose a new location for his remaining knight. "I was thinking you and I could do some things in town that I've been meaning to do with you."
"Such as?" Edward pressed curiously, but not raising an issue about it.
"Well," Roy considered the ghost thoughtfully, "I thought I might take you to the carnival that Elysia's school is having. There will at least be a few amusement rides, and plenty for you to look at."
Edward grinned at him eagerly. "Really? I've never been to anything like that before! You really won't mind?"
Roy chuckled and shook his head definitively. "Besides, I realize now I need to spend some more time with Maes and the girls anyway. They'll be glad I came… and you and I can sneak off every now and then to do things by ourselves."
Edward wasn't sure his grin would fade anytime soon, but he regarded Roy curiously. "When did you find out about this?"
In answer, Roy smirked as he drew a sheet of paper from his desk to present it for Edward's view. "Maes slipped this into my paperwork. I was waiting for your answer before I chose."
Edward reached out curiously, taking the paper in hand, and smiling as he read the invitation to the school carnival he saw that Roy had, in fact, left unchecked the boxes that read either 'yes' or 'no' in reference to attendance.
"I don't know of any better way to spend my Saturday." Edward concluded as he grabbed a pen from Roy's desk.
Roy had leaned his chin into one hand as he watched the ghost happily mark the paper. Completely oblivious still to the fact that he had emptied all of Edward's chess pieces off the chessboard. And as Edward handed the paper back to him, he grinned, "so I win?"
Edward was confused only for a moment, before he saw the chessboard. "Roy!"
Roy was grinning down at the marked 'yes' checkbox. "I'll take that as a yes." He interpreted smugly as he slipped the paper back away to give to Maes later.
"Wait… where'd you put my pieces!" Edward accused, noticing that they'd all vanished. Even the ones that had been knocked off the board earlier.
"What pieces?" Roy asked innocently as he surveyed his success. "I believe this is what they call a "clean sweep" my dearest Ed."
"I don't care what you think they call it! I think you cheated and you know it!" Edward pointed a finger at him, just in case there was any doubt in who he was accusing.
"Yes, I know you think I cheated. But did I, in fact, cheat?" Roy queried cheerfully, only to yelp through laughter as Edward lunged through the desk at him in search of the missing chess pieces.