Chapter Sixty-Four
Edward sat with his legs tucked up beside him, a silvery light barely noticeable amongst the bright, sterile whiteness of the place surrounding him, his head bowed in resignation as his absent heart grew heavy. The pressure of tears unable to be shed ever growing. He knew where he was… he'd been here before. But he merely sat there, until he at last spoke softly, "he was unharmed by that? Entirely?"
"Yes," answered a whisper of a voice from behind him, sounding more as if it lurked in his mind.
Edward smiled sadly, yet it was a smile nonetheless. "I'm glad."
"Everything is, at last, moving closer to what it should be." The whispery voice was moving, making its way closer and around to speak again in a viciously delighted tone, "I knew all I had to do was wait. Wait for you to sacrifice yourself again."
Edward huffed out some semblance of a laugh, and finally he opened his eyes, looking up, silver gaze finally fastening unafraid, and without pain, on the Gate.
The great, hulking, black and twisted Gate that housed so much behind those doors. Doors he dared not open again. He didn't even stop to marvel that he was staring so resolutely at it, as if it had never haunted him.
Never murdered him.
A smoky figure floated between Edward and the black Gate, and Edward knew it instinctively to be some sort of manifestation.
"What I can't understand, is why." The smoky figure knelt in front of the silvery apparition, its wispy blob of a head tilting. "Why then. He could have won without you doing that."
Edward didn't argue the point, he merely gave a lopsided, sad smile. "Was there a different time in his life I was supposed to do this during? Perhaps there was. Perhaps I was too hasty. But we'll never know now."
"Your father is brilliant, and you are a fool, Edward Elric." The Gate observed in its whispery voice, its smoky humanoid outline drifting backwards a measure as if to be able to get a better look at the ghost before it.
Edward grinned, scoffing out a laugh. "Because I'll do whatever it takes to try to save the ones I love?"
The wisps of the figure swirled in an agitated manner, "he could have won without you doing that."
"Could have," Edward interrupted sharply, "you keep implying that. But I hear you making me no promises, and you are no god to make them."
"As far as your family line is concerned," the Gate hissed, "I am your god."
"Pitiful excuse for one," Edward judged without hesitation. "My father told me you find my entire existence hilarious, so go ahead and get your fun in. But if this is where I'm stuck now, I'm going to make every single moment as awful for you as I can. Especially if you think that highly of yourself."
"I don't have to grace you with my presence," the Gate snarled in offense, "nor do I have to suffer yours."
"And yet," Edward's grin was all teeth, "here we are. What? Were you hoping that all those years in isolation would have broken me? That I'd just take your abuse with an apology? That's not me."
"No, I wouldn't dare be so hopeful," the Gate remarked icily. "You're a serial martyr, not a punching bag. Sadly. Despite how you'd think the two would intersect. Your bloodline acts out for the people you love, which annoyingly enough makes all of you incredibly frustrating to deal with."
"It wasn't just about ensuring Roy would live," Edward told it now, silver eyes narrowing. "Don't get me wrong, I'd have done it even if it were just about him. It was also knowing that it would delay Amestris from becoming the same as Xerxes. It would give Roy, and my father, a better chance. It would give them more time. And my singular existence continuing on is not worth risking the lives of an entire country."
The smoky wisps of the Gate swirled backwards and up, reforming once more into a humanoid shape that appeared to be staring down at Edward. It was silent for over a minute before it said dismissively, "you can't stay here."
A forlorn smile slipped across Edward's lips, hidden by his already bowed head. "I figured," he conceded softly before asking in a far stronger voice, because if this was to be his last moment of existence, he wasn't leaving it with meek words. "Just… between you and me, why could only Roy see and hear me?"
The Gate swirled closer, "does the little sacrificial Hohenheim spawn truly not comprehend that there are other forces at work in your world besides that of my gate keeping? Poor little lamb. For all the knowledge you gained from your father and that which you've stolen from me, you fail to impress me."
Edward's head whipped up, anger once more chasing the grief from his face, and at last, he staggered to his feet with clenched fists. "You can admit you don't know, that alchemy is all you know, and how much that fails to impress me."
The smoky wisps churned in on themselves in agitation, "I will not be insulted by nothing more than someone born to be a sacrifice!"
Edward glared upwards, keeping his ground as the manifestation suddenly darted directly over his head in a swirling circular mass that grew darker by the second. "If my only purpose was to be a sacrifice, then I'm glad it was them." He shot back in steady conviction, voice heavy with feeling, and his eyes closed as Roy's face swam to his mind, adding softly, "I'm glad it was him. And nothing could ever cause me regret over what has been born of my actions each time."
"It is time you go," the Gate snarled icily, spiraling in smoky rings down around the ghost, "you cannot stay here."
"I didn't choose to come here. I didn't have control of where I ended up when I died," Edward opened his eyes, only to startle at the Gate's smoky tendrils closing in around him, still managing to add, "and I didn't have control when I destroyed what was left of me."
"Luckily, I do." The Gate hissed, and crushed in around the ghost. "Fucking Philosopher's Stones!"
The last thought in Edward's mind before everything went blank and bright white light, was of Roy.
And then he shattered.
Roy's hands had fallen quiescent but trembling against the hot cement floor. Hell, his whole body was shaking. He was staring unseeingly at the place Edward had last been, tears falling fat and unheeded as he stared, some stupid part of him believing that if he just stared long enough, Edward would be there. That he'd be there asking him what was wrong, and telling him it had all been some horrible hallucination brought on by stress and the cloying heat of the flames and the gradual blood loss from the hole that went all the way through his right shoulder.
Everything else around him had faded away, utterly unimportant as grief crushed in on him.
It was the bullet that sliced through his left side, grazing skin instead of sinking into his heart as it surely had been meant to, that pulled him abruptly back to the present. The wound stung, but it was nothing on the hole in his shoulder, on the hole already gaping in his heart.
Roy's hands fisted on the cement floor, his face twisting in rage as he gritted out, "aren't you dead yet?!"
Roy was on his feet in the space of a second, whirling to stalk in seething fury over to where Basque Grand had apparently begun to rethink his entire life plan and every decision he'd ever made as he scrambled backwards with a suddenly stark white face – a true feat given the man's normal darker complexion.
Grand wasn't in the best condition any longer, still not recovered from the battering that Edward had gradually given him over the course of a few weeks at Headquarters, and suffering vicious burns that had not healed when the stones were obliterated. He still ran as best he could towards a far wall, limping heavily and firing blindly behind him with his entirely ordinary and normal alchemy.
Roy continued to prowl after him, dark rage pulsing inside him and crackling like a fire in its own right. It was a dark satisfaction, a vindictive one, which albeit fleeting, was still there when he noticed Grand stop short at the wall, frantically pounding at it in one specific spot and looking increasingly agitated as nothing happened. "Did you not hear?" He growled as he raised one hand, "I had some redecorating done on the other side."
Grand spun to shove himself bodily against the wall to steady himself as he took aim and fired once more.
Roy sneered disparagingly at the effort as he snapped.
The flames exploded outwards, incinerating the bullets even as they surged in, crashing into the wall and over Grand.
Grand's screams didn't last long enough for Roy to glean any comfort from them, and as the fire died down he raised both his hands to his face, digging his hands against it as he dropped to his knees with a defeated thud.
Silence filled the basement.
Roy wasn't sure how long he knelt there on the floor. Honestly he didn't care. He wasn't sure he'd ever want any part in ever leaving this place. How could he when Edward… when Ed… when his – the faint sound of a gasping watery breath cut the silence of the basement.
The sudden blinding flash that illuminated the entire basement with such intensity that Roy had seen it clearly even through closed eyes with his hands pressed into his face was what jerked him to movement again. He was on his feet before he even truly registered moving, spinning around with hand raised as the light faded, only to stop short.
He stared, frozen and yet all the same feeling about to collapse to his knees again.
"It…" And then he was half running, half falling in his desperation to get back across the room.
The sharp pain that arced through his knees as he dropped to the cement floor barely registered, not when Edward was lying there, sprawled out and seemingly unconscious. Nothing else mattered as he began to gasp out Edward's name frantically while shaking so badly his whole body was practically vibrating.
Edward groaned miserably as he gradually regained consciousness, but through the fiery ache of his body that overwhelmed his senses he was beginning to hear his name being called. It took him what felt like an eternity of swimming up through a foggy sea before he began to recognize the voice. He knew that voice… loved that voice… why did it sound so scared? Then, suddenly, it all came flashing back to him.
The philosopher's stone.
His choice, and Roy's face.
The explosion.
Edward flailed to awareness weakly, his body uncooperative with the sudden burst of wanted movement, and that same body burned with fresh pain causing him to cry out sharply in protest even as he managed to sit up.
"Easy!" Roy gasped out hurriedly, already reaching out with shaking hands to steady Edward. "I'm here, Edward. You're fine. Calmly now… easy."
Edward slumped at the words, overcome with relief that Roy was all right, until he froze where he was. Slowly, he began to tremble, his eyes wide as he looked down.
Down to where Roy was touching him.
Roy was… touching him.
The white fabric of Roy's ignition cloth gloves stood out starkly against tan skin that Edward hadn't seen since he was a child.
"I'm…" Edward stumbled out haltingly, voice faint as his trembling increased.
"Yeah," Roy gasped out in what had narrowly avoided being a sob.
"Naked." Edward finished in bewilderment.
The laughter that burst from Roy startled him as much as it did Edward. And with that entirely overcome laughter still coursing through him, he lowered his forehead to rest it on Edward's bare shoulder as a few stray tears escaped onto flawlessly golden-tan skin. "Yeah," he agreed weakly.
Edward reached up a trembling hand to slide his fingers into Roy's hair. The black strands were thicker than he'd imagined them to be, and sweaty from the heat of Roy's alchemy flames, and felt utterly perfect between his fingers as he turned his head to breathe in the scent of smoke, the remnants of what he guessed must be Roy's cologne, and, admittedly, sweat. Roy smelled wonderful and perfect, and Edward couldn't help but to close his eyes as he soaked it all in.
"How?" Roy asked in a rough voice after several long minutes.
"I have no fucking idea." Edward admitted wryly, before pulling away, and as Roy shifted to look at him with a startled and anxious expression, he smiled. "I'm not going anywhere," he reassured and promptly took liberty to scoot himself into sitting sideways on Roy's lap and tuck his face into the man's neck. "Just want to be closer to you."
Roy couldn't help but smile at the startled squeak that escaped Edward when he wrapped his arms tightly around the blond. "You're gorgeous, you know."
Edward laughed softly as he curled his fingers into the sturdy uniform jacket that Roy was wearing, marveling at the novelty of feeling sensations and textures again. "You mean I wasn't before?"
"Hideous," Roy whispered, accepting the gentle shove to his chest he got for his teasing with a smile, and he slipped one glove off in order to reach up and finally do one of the very things he'd wished he could do for what felt like his entire lifetime, and slipped his fingers into the long golden strands of Edward's hair only to realize his fantasies had been incorrect all this time… it was silkier than he'd imagined.
A sigh shuddered out of Edward as he felt Roy's fingers card through his hair, "should have known you'd want to mess with it." He smiled and slipped his furthest hand up and around Roy's shoulder. Only to jerk that hand away with sudden startled remembrance as his hand came away wet and sticky. "Shit, Roy!"
"What?" Roy frowned as Edward drew away from him. Granted not very far at all, barely enough to warrant a frown during any other occasion, but this was hardly any other circumstance.
"You're hurt!" Edward reminded him, jerking forward to look closer, only to squeak, "it went all the way through you? You're sitting here bleeding out just wanting to pet my hair?!"
Roy couldn't help but begin to laugh, before reaching a hand up to cup Edward's chin firmly and make those heart-stoppingly bright golden eyes meet his own gaze. "It is nothing compared to what I felt when you vanished," he uttered in a soft seriousness, "it is nothing compared to you having ripped my heart out of my chest and left with it."
Edward went completely still aside from the soft rise and fall of his chest, feeling a sharp pang of regret in his chest that caused him to nod a few short nods, his gaze lowering to Roy's collar. "Right before it happened, I thought to myself that one day, I hoped you'd be able to forgive me. I'm not asking for forgiveness, believe me. I…" he looked back up to meet Roy's gaze, "it was the hardest thing I've ever forced myself to do. And I'm not looking for sympathy, I just – "
"Edward," Roy interrupted firmly, but tenderly all the same as he caressed his thumb across Edward's cheek, still holding the blond gently by the chin. "Believe me when I say that we are going to discuss it. In detail. And there's honestly a good chance that we're going to have an argument over it, which you will more than likely win, as we've established quite often and most recently earlier tonight."
Edward bit his lips together in a poor attempt to keep from smiling.
"But," Roy continued, "by some miracle, you came back to me. And by some further miracle, you are naked in my lap." And oh fuck but did he want to further explore the things Edward blushing did to him, "you will forgive me if I'm willing to suspend arguments on what you did this evening, as well as ignore the fact that yes, I did suffer a few injuries, because right now? May I remind you again, that you are naked in my lap."
Edward felt the blush that had first bloomed to life on his cheeks moments ago now all but flame across his skin. Just this morning, he'd have tried to vanish through the floor at those words, but he couldn't do that anymore. So with a smile, he did the only reasonable thing he could think of, "I love you," he whispered and leaned in to steal Roy's lips against his own.
Roy's sense of shocked elation that Edward was kissing him lasted all of a second before he was seizing the blond abruptly tighter to him, hand burying in that ridiculously golden hair and fingers tangling as he kissed Edward back with a desperation the blond answered with an enthusiasm that only sent the heat racing faster through his veins.
Edward was left gasping gratifyingly for breath when their kiss broke, breaths mingling and eyes searching before Roy abruptly claimed Edward's lips again to an answering whimper of approval that only seemed to serve to entice Roy to make him do so again.
It wasn't until Edward had legitimately been rendered a desire-trembling mess there in Roy's arms and sitting on his lap that he nudged Roy's nose with his own, grinning breathlessly. "We need to slow down a bit."
Roy quirked an eyebrow, and stole another quick kiss just on principle, which upon parting from caused Edward to laugh softly, happily. It was one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard in his life. "Not enjoying yourself?"
Edward barely kept from rolling his eyes, as it was he gave Roy a pointed look. "Quite the opposite, if you catch my meaning."
Roy promptly looked down.
Edward burst into a fit of laughter and smacked Roy lightly on his chest, only to frown when it caused the man to hiss in what appeared to be a suddenly remembered discomfort. "What…" he ducked his head a bit to peer down, only to gasp in exasperation, "Roy! She got you twice? Just where else are you hurt?!"
"No, actually." Roy grunted as he raised his arm enough to look at the side of his chest, "bullet graze. Grand thought it was a good idea to try and shoot me when I was a bit preoccupied with my world falling apart around me."
Edward bit his lower lip a moment before raising his attention from the wound's location and back up to Roy's own dark gaze. "I assume that didn't end well for him?"
"Decidedly not." Roy agreed darkly.
Edward felt a shiver snake down his spine at the look in Roy's eyes then, and he knew without needing to ask that Roy had finished what they'd come here tonight to do. It was an initially innocent train of thought that quickly derailed as he realized something. "Roy, there are cameras down here. I'm naked. And Fuery is recording."
Roy was fairly certain that Edward suddenly bursting out into laughter about it was hardly the proper reaction, but then, Edward was laughing. He was hardly about to put a damper on that. Yet Edward did have a point, and he lowered a hand to tap Edward's thigh. "Up, then. We actually should be getting out of here. For a lot of reasons. First and foremost that I would like to avoid running into the Fuhrer down here. Cameras or not."
Edward couldn't help but agree, but the unsettled feeling at the thought of the Fuhrer finding them down here was soon forgotten when as he made to try and stand up, he almost fell back down again as his decidedly very wobbly legs tipped him sideways.
Roy caught him quickly, holding Edward securely around the waist as the blond held fast to his jacket. "Walk much?"
Edward shot him a glare, just on principle.
Roy grinned back, but held Edward steady as the blond worked on getting his balance. It took nearly two whole minutes, but finally Edward was letting out a deep breath of relief. "Okay. I'm going to let you go for a moment, but I'll catch you if you start to fall again."
Edward watched as Roy began to shuck off his uniform jacket, his eyes narrowing in on the dark bloodstains on the white shirt beneath. "We need to get you treated."
"In due time," Roy agreed and stepped forward the single step parting them, "in advance, sorry about the blood."
Edward couldn't have cared less about blood being on the jacket as he let Roy help him into it. Not when Roy's actual injuries were what was really cause for concern, and the wet feel of that blood against his skin in the very places Roy had been injured only made him more determined that he was going to make sure Roy's wounds got tended as soon as possible.
"Yeah, that will work for now," Roy approved as he eyed the incredibly wonderful sight of Edward standing there in just his military jacket. "Feel free to wear that more often."
Edward felt that accursed heat rise to his cheeks again, but his fluster was soon forgotten as he groaned instead in acute frustration. "It looks like a dress on me!" And Roy had barely opened his mouth before Edward pointed a warning finger at him, "not a single word about my size, Roy Mustang!"
"Darling," Roy smirked as his hands reached for his belt, "I have nothing to complain about regarding your size."
Edward had barely started spluttering when an entirely different door opened, quite near to the staircase they'd come down, causing Edward to quickly dart a hand out to catch Roy's forearm to stop the man from attacking as from out of that doorway, burst Maes and Havoc.
Maes stopped short upon seeing his best friend standing there in the destroyed basement, one hand still holding a belt he'd clearly been in the process of unbuckling, and the other hand stilled in midair by a young blond man he'd never seen before, who was seemingly wearing nothing but Roy's jacket.
Havoc made to step past Maes and make his way over when a hand shot out to smack him in the chest. "Sir – "
"Guard the hallway," Maes told him firmly, and as Havoc turned to do as ordered, he turned his attention back to the pair standing there and after a moment he began to make his way over with no small amount of confusion. "Roy, aren't you supposed to be in a committed relationship?"
Edward smiled as he released Roy's arm, a soft laugh escaping him.
"Still very much am," Roy told him just a bit smugly, even if the relief on his face didn't match his tone. And turning his attention away from Maes, he finished removing his belt, holding it out to Edward. "Think you can belt it to you tighter without losing your balance? Or do you need me to do it."
Edward took the belt, running his thumb over the warm leather. "I'll try, but be ready to catch me." He said before grinning as Maes finally reached them, looking acceptably perplexed and concerned. "I'm going to give you a hug in a moment, Maes. Don't go anywhere."
Maes stared in bafflement at the young man who was now working on belting Roy's uniform jacket about himself, cinching it to a tighter closure than the buttons had done.
Roy smirked as he looked between his perplexed best friend and Edward, before finally motioning to the blond and saying, "Maes, meet Edward."
Maes stared at Roy, eyes wide and mouth somewhat agape in disbelief. He had no idea how it was possible, but what he did know was that there was no way that Roy would lie to him about something like that. And no other person that Roy would then look over to with such devotion and love in his expression. And honestly? No other seemingly random person who'd declare a desire to hug him.
Edward squeaked into startled laughter as he was suddenly seized in a massive hug that lifted him off his feet. "Roy, help!" He laughed even as he hugged Maes back tightly.
Roy smirked, and waited a good few seconds before drawling out a, "Maes, put my wife down."
"Husband." Maes and Edward corrected together as Edward was put back on his feet, and resulting in the both of them dissolving into laughter.
Roy rolled his eyes, but there was no banishing the smile from his face as he stepped forward to put an arm around Edward's hips. "We can continue the reunion later, for now we need to get out of here."
Maes nodded, half unable to take his eyes from the sight of Edward standing there in the flesh. "It's probably a bit chaotic out there," he said, and turned to begin moving away, "Havoc and I came in behind you when the building started shaking and the emergency sirens started going off."
Edward made to follow after Maes, listening intently, when his first forward step failed and he nearly tipped forward onto his face with a startled yelp. Before he could connect with the cement floor, however, Roy was there hauling him back upwards.
"Arm around my neck, love." Roy whispered over the top of Edward's head in the moment before he picked the blond up into his arms.
Edward quickly did so as he found himself held in the cradle of Roy's arms, even as he argued, "Roy, no. You're injured! You have a fucking hole through your shoulder!"
"He what?!" Maes suddenly seemed to notice the blood, having stopped to see the commotion, "what the hell, Roy! I just finished stitching you like a week ago!"
"Oh fuck off, Maes." Roy growled, "next time you can do what I did, and I'll be the one taking my sweet ass time skipping down the hallways hand in hand with Havoc."
Maes scoffed.
"Roy, seriously, I probably just need a moment or two of practice, that's all." Edward insisted, although he stayed perfectly still in Roy's hold. "I haven't exactly used a physical body in a long time, I'm still figuring it all out again."
"You can figure it all out once we're out of here." Roy told him firmly and didn't release his grip.
Edward blew out a discontented breath, but didn't argue it further. Instead he rested his head against Roy's good shoulder, nuzzling in a bit as he observed, "you smell good."
Maes shot a smirk back at Roy, only to outwardly grin as he noticed the faintest hint of pink on Roy's face. "He does, does he?"
Edward hummed in happy agreement.
"I smell like smoke and soot and sweat and blood," Roy argued weakly.
"Don't care," Edward muttered stubbornly, "I can smell you and I'm enjoying it."
Maes had to try and muffle his outright laughter behind a hand, lest Roy hear and decide to incinerate him where he stood.
"Havoc," Roy called as they came upon the door that would presumably lead them out of here, "grab what's left of Grand and start dragging him upstairs. If parts of him start crumbling off, at least make sure you grab me his head."
Havoc jerked into motion to go do so, sparing a wide-eyed and baffled look at the blond stranger in his commanding officer's arms before he then lurched into a jog towards the far end of the basement.
Hallway by hallway and staircase by staircase, Maes led the way towards what he claimed was a side entrance. Having decided that Roy would have had any dangers on his path forward taken care of, both he and Havoc had chosen another route to ensure that there were no other surprises waiting for Roy, especially after they'd seen whatever the hell that had been with that suit of armor.
By the time they reached ground level they could hear the sirens, and see the flash of emergency lights reflecting on the walls through the dingy windows.
The reason for the sheer number of emergency vehicles which had converged was made clear when the three of them exited out of the laboratory.
In the general direction that would have rested over the part of the basement that Roy had been fighting in, the laboratory had collapsed and was still on fire. The fire brigade was doing their best to contain and diminish the blaze while ambulances were parked nearby, the paramedics clearly waiting to be granted access to help search out if there were any victims of whatever had happened.
"Make sure Fuery and Breda know to hold their positions until Alex comes to collect them," Roy told Maes as a shout went up from near the ambulances when they were spotted. "If the Fuhrer doesn't show up I'll be surprised."
Maes nodded, "I'll catch back up with you in a few minutes," he said, but hesitated in his departure to give Edward an amazed look before hurrying away.
And then Roy and Edward were being descended upon by paramedics.
"I'm fine, he's the one who's hurt." Edward grumbled as some of them tried fussing at him.
A few firm words from Roy and they were escorted over to one of the ambulances, and only then did Roy carefully set Edward down on one of the stretchers, before sitting next to the blond and beginning to remove his shirt so the medical vultures could start trying to patch him up.
Somewhere during the initial fuss a grey blanket that someone had mentioned was for shock was draped over Edward's shoulders, but he ignored it. Instead he watched closely as the paramedics began to clean Roy's wounds, as he did so, his fingers absently beginning to braid his hair back loosely to try and keep it out of his face a bit better. When he'd died his hair hadn't been this long, and while he didn't want to cut it, he also wanted it out of the way for the moment.
It took him until the paramedics had nearly finished cleaning Roy's shoulder wound to realize that the man was watching him.
"It looks good like that," Roy approved, grinning as Edward flushed happily.
"I've had it braided before," Edward felt he should point out.
"It's still true." Roy chuckled and reaching out, took Edward's hand in his to squeeze it tightly.
Edward was smiling as he linked their fingers together, the texture of Roy's glove was the slightest bit rough, but he didn't mind. Not when he was able to finally hold Roy's hand in his. "My hair tie disappeared along with everything else."
"Here."
Both of them startled, not having heard her approach, to see Riza standing off to Edward's other side, a hair tie in her outstretched palm.
Edward grinned in delight at seeing her, at seeing her safe. "Riza!"
Riza smiled, and stepping forward engulfed the young blond man sitting beside her commanding officer and friend in a tight hug. "Edward, I don't care how or why. I'm just glad." And before she fully pulled back she tied Edward's braid off.
Edward gave her an understanding nod, returning her smile. "Thanks for the help earlier."
Riza gave the slightest nod, the words she'd been about to say falling silent on her tongue as the arrival of a new and distinctive military sedan pulled up to the scene to join the fray of parked vehicles. "He's here, sir."
Roy, who'd been watching Riza meet Edward with a content smile playing on his lips, turned abruptly serious. "Don't let Edward out of your sight."
Riza nodded, "no, sir."
Yet Edward quickly reached out to snag Roy's hand in his own, and as the man turned to look at him he did his best to not let the worry show on his face, "I'll be fine. You be safe. He doesn't care about me."
Roy nodded, and squeezing Edward's hand he leaned down to press a quick, gentle kiss to Edward's lips and then he was turning to make his way back into a fray of emergency personnel and military employees who'd been deployed to the scene while tugging his shirt back on over the cleaned, but not fully tended wounds. "Havoc!"
Edward watched with his heart in his throat, and wasn't that a novel sensation, to actually be able to legitimately feel that it was, instead of it being a phantom sensation. He watched as Havoc trotted quickly up to Roy, carrying a charred object in his hands.
"He'll be okay." Riza reassured softly as she came to stand right at Edward's side, resting a comforting hand on the shoulder of the young blond man. "Only a fool would try something now."
"The Fuhrer isn't the sort who needs to worry about others thinking him a fool for the few seconds those people would have left to live." Edward told her softly, eyes tracking Roy as the man moved.
Riza dropped her attention to the blond sitting there, the young man that by all accounts, shouldn't be sitting here at all. She had no idea what could have occurred to bring Edward back to life, but it only served to further impress upon her just how far out of their depths she and the others were in whatever was happening. "And is that why you seem to have found one of Roy's gloves in that pocket?"
Edward's smile was borderline dangerous, and despite having been found out, he kept his hand firmly in the pocket. "I don't know if he left it for me on purpose or not."
Riza didn't bother asking if Edward would know how to use it, she knew her answer. And she suspected that Edward would be terrifyingly accurate despite only recently having come back to the land of the living.
Past the crush of emergency vehicles, but purposefully in earshot of the great majority of the military personnel who'd been summoned to the scene, Roy ensured that that was where he headed the Fuhrer off. He didn't need paramedics witnessing this, he needed the military witnessing this.
"Sir," Roy greeted simply and almost dismissively as he approached Fuhrer Bradley, who had come to an abrupt halt upon spotting him. "This used to belong to the former Brigadier General," Roy lobbed the charred head he was holding to the pavement, where it thumped with a shower of fine ash and rolled to bump up against the toe of the Fuhrer's boot.
Bradley glanced down only to see a chunk of blackened flesh slough off from the jawbone of the skull and onto his boot.
"He won't be needing it any longer." Roy put in needlessly, expression hard and unyielding. And despite everything he'd just been through down in that laboratory, everything he'd been through because of this very homunculus standing before him, he managed to keep his emotions in check. He didn't need his enemy realizing that the entire event had been anything other than a dull, tedious affair for him.
Truly, Bradley wanted nothing more in this moment than to have Mustang removed from his sight, preferably a certain dank chamber beneath the city. Given the audience however, and the current necessity to keep up a certain façade, he adopted a seriously concerned expression. "Colonel, I presume you have a reasonable explanation for this!"
Roy didn't so much as flinch at the accusatory tone, admittedly it was warranted, whether the Fuhrer was a conniving, blood-thirsty homunculus or not. He'd just readily admitted to killing a superior officer, with a side-helping of Military property destruction still burning behind him somewhere. "I believe if you go down into the basement, you'll find the laboratory that that," he jerked his chin dismissively to the head still resting against the Fuhrer's toe, "was using in an attempt to create philosopher stones."
Bradley barely had time to feel the chaotic hurricane of anger and sheer panic at those words, coupled with the knowledge of the man who was saying them, before that man spoke again.
"Not to worry," Roy now all but purred smoothly, the slightest hint of danger lurking just beneath the surface of his tone, "I took care of it all. Not a speck is left. But if you need the video evidence aside from my word of his trespasses against our laws, I'll be more than happy to forward you the undoctored tapes."
Bradley slowly nodded, jaw clenching and teeth grinding as pure anger flared inside him. It took him a measure and several deep breaths that anyone could pass off as coming to shocked and horrified terms with the idea that such a high-ranking officer of his military had committed such illegal atrocities, before he was able to trust himself to speak again. But when he did, it was having stepped straight up to the Colonel's side, who didn't move an iota, and turning his head to say lowly, "and what is it you want?"
Roy moved then, turning his head to meet that unyielding dark gaze, and realizing that no, for all the deception and acts the Fuhrer put on to seem human, there was no humanity there in that eye. "His position." He returned in just as low a tone, with just as unyielding a look, "we're both smart men. I don't think I need to tell you where those tapes will end up if I don't get what I want. Tonight."
Bradley said nothing for a beat, merely continuing to stare back at Mustang, neither of them breaking the seeming standoff to look away. While Roy Mustang had no use to him as Brigadier General, admittedly, the man's use to him as the Flame Alchemist was also at an end. He had methods to ensure Mustang didn't follow through on his threat, and that he was able to find and destroy those tapes. But for that, he would need a small measure of time to get the man alone. "Very well. Report to me in the morning and we'll sign it into officiality."
Roy turned to watch as the Fuhrer moved off past him, yet he didn't move just yet, eyes narrowed as he watched Bradley turn to mutter something to one of the men at his side.
"We're not out of danger yet, are we." Havoc observed as he stepped up to Mustang's side, casting him a troubled look.
Roy glanced over at him with a wry expression and shook his head, "sleep lightly tonight. And be ready to disappear if anything seems the least bit off."
Havoc nodded, "yes, sir. What else do you – " he cut off suddenly, stiffening and eyes narrowing, "that guy you gave your jacket to, he's important?"
Roy frowned, "why?"
Havoc pointed.
Roy spun quickly where he stood to see a sight that made his blood run cold. The Fuhrer was heading straight for Edward and Hawkeye. "Shit."
Havoc watched with wide eyes as Mustang all but started running in that direction. "What the fuck is going on lately," he muttered, but quickly went in pursuit. He'd rather be there and not be needed, than be standing here looking useless.
Edward wouldn't have needed to see the slight stiffening of Riza's posture out of the corner of his eye, or feel her grip on his shoulder tighten minutely. He hadn't taken his attention off the homunculus for a second, not when the Fuhrer had spotted him and stopped cold, and not as the creature approached. Not once did he drop the eye contact that had snapped to life between them.
"Lieutenant, I require a word in private with this one." Bradley's voice was light and friendly.
And Riza didn't buy it for a minute, even as she found herself entirely in a no-win situation. Because on one hand this was the Fuhrer, and on the other, this was Edward she was guarding for Roy.
Edward reached up with the hand not still kept tucked in Roy's pocket, and placing his fingers gently against her he finally looked away from Bradley in order to smile up at her reassuringly and say, "I'm feeling much less dizzy now, thank you. I'll be okay."
Riza had never felt as sick to her stomach as she did in the moment she forced herself to nod and withdraw her hand. "I'll be close by, just in case you feel dizzy again." She hoped the lightness she'd tried for had actually made it into her voice. "Fuhrer," she saluted and withdrew.
Edward looked back to the homunculus with a neutral expression, and said nothing even as his heart quickened inside his chest.
"You look familiar." Bradley stated quite neutrally as he studied the blond sat there on the ambulance stretcher, wearing a jacket he knew must belong to Mustang and draped in a shock blanket.
Edward met his gaze unflinchingly, utterly uncaring as to even trying to conceal the warning look of his expression. "I can assure you, this is the first time you're ever seeing me." Technically true.
Bradley frowned, the familiarity still prickling at him, like a splinter digging deeper and festering. He was just about to pry about why a civilian had gotten involved in this, in hopes that it might lend him a clue, when he noticed it. And how he hadn't noticed it this whole time given he'd been staring straight into the blond's eyes, he set aside. Because this young man's eyes were gold. And it hit him. Exactly who this blond stranger reminded him of.
Edward couldn't help but smile, the dangerous edge back to that smile as he saw the recognition flash in the Fuhrer's one good, human-looking eye. "That's right. Now, how I got mixed up in all this here tonight? I'm not entirely sure what happened, at one point I rather blacked out," also technically true.
"I was under the impression that both his sons died." Bradley noted, now wondering if their information about how many children Hohenheim had fathered had been incorrect all this time.
Edward shrugged unhelpfully.
"I have a," Bradley paused to search for an appropriate term to use, "friend that I'm sure would quite enjoy meeting you."
Edward smiled thinly, well aware of the sort of friend that was being implied here. "I'll keep the offer in mind."
Bradley nodded singularly, something about the blond still unsettling him, and he wasn't wholly certain it was entirely because of who he suspected the parentage to be. Yet it was the crash that sounded behind him, as apparently the flames brought down another support beam for the main building, that caused his attention to shift, and suddenly he realized that quite a few eyes were on them. He forced a smile, "forgive me. You were clearly injured, and I'm preventing the medics from continuing to help you. We'll continue this conversation later."
Edward tilted his head just a bit, considering just how they could continue this conversation, while knowing at the same time that this was certainly not the place for it. Bradley was dangerous, and despite how badly he wanted the homunculus dead, he wasn't about to put all these other lives at risk. And especially not when Roy was injured. "I look forward to it."
Bradley nodded once and then abruptly turned to move off, back towards the fray. Intent on determining just how fucked he was by Mustang's latest well-played stunt.
Edward barely had time to feel relief curl through him, and a tension he hadn't known he was holding relax out of him, when Roy was suddenly right back at his side. Followed closely by Riza and Havoc.
"Are you okay?" Roy asked in a hushed voice as he swept a hand into Edward's hair, his other reaching to take the blond's hand in his.
Edward couldn't help but smile and he squeezed Roy's hand reassuringly. "Of course. He doesn't scare me, Roy."
"Believe me, your lack of fear about several things is likely going to start making me go grey." Roy muttered, unable to help but smile as his words earned a laugh from Edward.
"Stop being ridiculous. If I haven't made that happen yet, you're fine." Edward chided him gently, before he peered around the man to where several paramedics were hovering uncertainly. "Patch him up for me, I want to take him home."
A startled laugh escaped Roy, moments before he was politely manhandled into sitting back next to Edward as his increasingly bloody shirt was stripped from him again. "Want to take me home, do you?"
"Hush, you." Edward couldn't help but smile fondly, leaning around to watch them work.
Riza wasn't bothering to conceal her own smile as she watched the two of them.
Havoc on the other hand was more than a little confused. Because there was a definite clear familiarity and affection between Mustang and the blond stranger, of the variety he had thought Mustang entirely incapable of. And then there was the fact that both Hughes and Hawkeye seemed to know the guy. Hell, Riza Hawkeye, the most fearsome woman he knew, had given this stranger a hug! "So who are you?"
Edward looked over at the question, "Edward Elric," he replied with an easy smile, "I guess you could say I've been Roy's hidden informant since he was transferred here."
"And he's off limits." Roy added, in between wincing as the wound through his shoulder was being closed up.
Edward rolled his eyes and reached over blindly to rest a hand on Roy's knee. "And that, yes."
Havoc held up both hands in a gesture of surrender, "I wouldn't dare, sir."
Roy smirked.
"But you didn't go in with him," Havoc frowned, tilting his head in a mix of confusion and suspicion. "And Armstrong – so were you already inside? Did you double-cross Grand?"
Edward's dignified affront caused him to rear back a bit where he sat, "just because you didn't see me go in, do not ever imply again that I'd have ever lowered myself to tolerate Grand in such a capacity."
"Havoc," Roy added with the slightest bit of amusement at Edward's posture, "I'll explain to the rest of you another time. I'm sure Fuery will have plenty more to add to the questions I'm sure the both of you are going to ask in the morning. But right now? Go try and get some sleep. Morning is going to come early."
Havoc nodded, and giving Edward an apologetic smile he took his order to go home without fuss.
Riza watched as Havoc walked away, soon disappearing among the crowd, and then glanced over to where Edward was now watching the paramedics work on Roy. "Want me to give you a lift home? Or did Maes already go to find a car somewhere?"
"I sent him to check on the others and give them their further instructions." Roy told her, looking away from Edward now and to her. "He should be back soon."
"I'll go find a vehicle to borrow." Riza told him, and moved off to go do so.
Edward watched her go for a moment before looking back at Roy, "I hope you weren't angry with her that she left me with him. I told her I was fine. I didn't want her getting in trouble, it wouldn't have helped anything."
"Actually I had to tell her it was okay," Roy admitted with a wry smile, "she was fairly upset about it, for her. She really likes you. I think if we're not careful she's going to adopt you as her younger brother, and then I'm fucked."
Edward laughed at the idea, "as if you'd ever treat me in such a way that she'd shoot you."
Roy wasn't convinced, and he didn't look convinced either, if Edward's further laugh was anything to judge by. But he didn't get a chance to argue the point, as the paramedics finally pronounced him good to leave after injecting him with a local painkiller, and began rattling off a list of care instructions that he could, out of the corner of his eye, see Edward listening to with rapt attention.
By the time the medical vultures were through, Maes had returned.
"Everyone's good to go," Maes told them in a low voice as he came to sit on the other side of Edward on the stretcher. "Did you get what you wanted, Roy? Aside from your hot husband here?"
Edward felt it a near miss he didn't blush, but there was no stopping the grin. "Not married."
"Yes," Roy told him and hopped off the stretcher to hold out his free hand to Edward – his right arm had been secured in a sling to take weight off his speared shoulder. "Ready to try again?"
Maes couldn't help but find satisfaction in the fact that Roy had so off-handedly confirmed that he'd gotten his goal of obtaining the Brigadier General position through this whole ordeal, because his focus was entirely on what Roy truly cared about the most. Edward. He hopped down as well, just in case he might be needed to assist, what with Roy only having one workable arm at the moment.
Edward nodded and using his hands to scoot himself forward, he tentatively touched his bare feet to the pavement. It felt gritty and cool beneath his toes. He frowned, not entirely sure he liked the sensation. But regardless, he carefully began to shift his weight to his feet and his legs, still clutching to the stretcher until he was standing on his own. "Okay, take two," he muttered and carefully took a tentative step in Roy's direction.
It took several minutes, and several assists by both Roy and Maes, before Edward was able to manage walking a few steady steps on his own. He was still a bit shaky and wobbly at it, but this time, his legs were holding.
"Okay," Edward finally decided, looking up at them both, "let's go find Riza."
"Are you showing up at the office tomorrow, Roy?" Maes asked as he fell in at Edward's other side, ready to help catch the blond if something went awry. "Or are you having a honeymoon."
"Maes!" Edward squawked, bursting into flustered laughter and color filling his cheeks.
"Have to show up tomorrow," Roy barely kept himself from putting a comforting arm around Edward, fearing it would throw his balance off and cause Edward to topple. "Finish this all up with the Fuhrer. I'll probably cut out early though. I don't want to leave Edward home alone for too long on the first day."
Edward hadn't actually thought about it until now, but he realized with a great degree of unsettled displeasure that Roy was right. He'd have to stay home tomorrow. He wasn't allowed at Headquarters, not as a living, breathing person.
"Did you want me to stay with Edward while you're gone?" Maes offered.
"No," Edward cut in to answer, and while he was still too focused on walking and not falling to feel like he'd be able to look over at Maes and maintain his balance, he still frowned. "I want you with Roy. If I can't be there to protect him, I want the rest of you to be there tomorrow. And don't you try and overrule me, Mister I'm Now Brigadier General."
"No, love." Roy assured promptly, before glancing at Maes. "He'll be fine on his own for a little bit."
It was agreed, and soon enough they reached the military sedan that Riza had borrowed from somewhere. Edward shooed Roy off, and allowed Maes to help him get inside the vehicle, while Roy grumpily went around to the other side. Then Maes was getting into the passenger front seat, while Riza got back behind the wheel and began to drive them away from the scene of the wrecked Laboratory Five as it continued to burn and crumble behind them.
None of them noticed that the Fuhrer watched them go with a dark, calculating look.