Chapter six

Roy sat in the backseat with Al hugged to his side. Silent tears kept running down the boy's cheeks. Al had insisted on going back to East immediately. Roy felt bad about asking Havoc to drive for that long, but the man was more than happy to. The only problem was that Roy would have to find somewhere else for the two of them to stay. They could just check in at a military hotel for the time being.

Roy was tired, but he couldn't fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes he saw that head.

He still had that odd feeling of having heard Ed's last wishes. That he wanted Roy to take care of Al. That they needed each other to get through this. If it was just Roy's imagination, he didn't know, but it sounded like Ed and he was sure that that is what he would have said.

He hugged Alphonse tighter. The boy was just fifteen and he had already lost his mother and father. Now he'd lost his only remaining blood relative. His only brother. The boy had lost the person that had taken care of him for eleven years. It just wasn't right. It really wasn't. Al didn't deserve this. Ed didn't deserve this.

And Roy would honour Ed's final wish, whether it really happened or not.

"Al, you know that you're free to stay with me for however long you want," Roy said quietly to him.

"I can? You mean it?" Al said weakly, wiping his face.

"Yes. I'm not going to force you to stay with me, but you're welcome to."

"Thanks, Roy. I d-don't think I can go back to Resembool without him. When we came to visit after I was released from the hospital, he said "we left home together, and that is how we're gonna return." I-I can't return w-without him now." Then Al began sobbing again. Roy turned him around so that he had his face pressed against his chest. Roy pressed his lips against the top of his head as he fought a losing battle with his own tears.

"Then you won't have to."

"I'm so sorry, Ed. I don't know what else to say," Angela told him. Her eyes were full of tears.

"Yeah, thanks." Ed had just finished telling them everything that had happened.

"Don't worry, kid, we'll get your life back," Harold offered. The fifty plus Lieutenant Colonel had gone a faint shade of green.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked.

"Yes, it's just imagining how it must be for the General, I'm a father myself."

Ed froze, he hadn't told them anything about what he had said as he said goodbye, so how did they know?

Harold seemed to guess what was going through his mind. "Don't worry, kid, it's plain as day when one looks at the two of you together. At least when one is undercover and watches as the man ruffles your hair. It's alright."

Ed blushed. He still wasn't really comfortable discussing it. It made him feel weak that he had gone and found himself another father figure just like that. Made him feel like an emotional little kid.

"Ed, are you able to recognise some of the officers if we showed you some pictures?" Walter asked bluntly. He didn't seem too moved, but he didn't seem like a bad guy, just socially out of it.

"Maybe."

"Well, come with me over here a second, then." He gestured towards the wall plastered with pictures. "Do any of these guys seem familiar?"

Ed studied the pictures carefully. He paused the minute his eyes fell upon the guy from the cave. "That's the guy that told me they'd kill me."

For some reason, Walter clapped his hands together and began laughing. "HAHA! We got him now!" Then he sprang forwards and drew a big, green moustache on the picture, mumbling, "gotchagotchagotcha!"

Ed looked over at Greg who shrugged and mouthed "he does that."

"Other than that, that's the doctor that made the head, I think, I didn't get a good look at him," Ed said, pointing at another picture.

"Makes sense, he's the same that's gonna do the autopsy. It's probably happening right now," Walter said absentmindedly as he drew a couple of red flies around the photograph of the doctor.

"But you guys still haven't told me just who you are."

"Ah, sorry, Edward! We're a special group that's working on restoring Ishbal, which means that we're trying to build a case against the officers that are currently occupying it," Ezra said.

"Oh. So I guess I'm with you guys from now on then." Ed still wasn't quite sure if he could trust them, but if they were planning on killing him, then he wouldn't go down without a fight. For now he would just get as many answers as he could.

"Welcome to the team!" Greg said with a smile, slamming a cup of coffee into his hand.

It was morning when they pulled up outside the military hotel. Roy checked them in and they found their way to their room. He unlocked the door to room 217 and carried Al's suitcase for him as well as his own.

Al just stood there in the middle of the room, looking lost.

"Al, you're going to go to bed. How long have you been awake now?" Roy asked, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Since yesterday, but I can't just sleep now!"

"Alphonse, you look dead on your feet. You need sleep. I'm not letting you go anywhere without it." There wasn't anything they could do yet anyway.

"I don't want to!" Tears began streaming down his cheeks. "I can't stop moving! I can't because – I – I just can't! Please, Roy!"

"Al, you can't just try to flee from this."

"But it hurts! I can't breathe from it and if I don't keep moving then it hurts even more and I can't take it!"

Roy pulled him in for a hug. He knew about how Al was still getting used to being able to physically feel emotional pain again and Roy couldn't even begin to imagine how painful this was for him. "I'm so sorry, Alphonse, but you can't outrun this."

"Why would they do this to him?! He's not even an adult yet! Y-you said they gave you his h-h-head, did they do that to get revenge on you? Is that what it is about?" Al's voice didn't put any blame on Roy, he was just frantically looking for a reason as to why his brother was taken from him.

And he couldn't even tell him. Part of him wanted Al to blame him, to give him some of the pain he deserved. Because Roy had got Ed killed. Roy had got his kid slaughtered.

Roy began gently leading Al in the direction of the bedroom. He finally got him inside and sat him down on the bed. Al was still clinging to his chest and Roy just lay down, holding on to him and soon they were both asleep.

Roy was sitting on his couch back home, watching the flames from the fireplace. Ed walked into the room and sat down next to Roy and hugged him. "Hey, Dad."

Roy hugged him back. "Hi, Ed, is something wrong?"

"It's just good to see that you're taking care of Al for me. You two need each other now."

"What do you mean, Ed? What about you?"

"Oh, come on, Dad, we both know that this isn't real."

Dread was beginning to sink into him. "Why would you say that?"

"Because you never hugged me. You're holding onto a memory that never happened." Ed dug his face into Roy's left shoulder and squeezed him tighter.

"Then why does this feel so familiar?" Roy didn't understand. He didn't want Ed to tell him that it was all fake. Because Ed was his boy.

"I can't tell you something that you don't know. This is all inside your head. You're desperately clinging to something that you wish had happened yet never did."

"Please don't say that, Ed."

"You have to face it, Dad."

"No, I can't."

"I'm dead. I'm dead and you know it."

Tears were streaming down Roy's cheeks. "No, please, Ed."

"And you're the reason they killed me."

Roy felt something warm and wet soak through his shirt. He didn't want to look at it, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it either.

Roy's shirt was soaked with blood. He started, which caused Ed's precariously positioned head to fall off his shoulders and onto Roy's lap.

Ed's voice echoed throughout the room. "YOU KILLED ME, DAD. IT'S YOUR FAULT! I WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU AND THAT WAS MY THANKS!"

The headless body that was still hugging him began hitting him, blood flowing from the jagged remnants of his neck, spattering his face and clothes.

"Please, Ed! I'm sorry!"

"Roy! Roy! Stop it! You're having a nightmare!"

Roy woke with a start. Al was leaning over him, pinning his arms. His face was full of tears. "Al?" Roy croaked.

Alphonse relaxed slightly and released his grip on Roy's arms and furiously began wiping his tears away. "You know why they killed him. I heard you."

Roy sat up and hugged Alphonse.

"Why won't you tell me?" Al said.

"I can't."

"Why?! He's my brother! I deserve to know!"

Roy pressed his cheek against his and whispered to him, "because then they'll only kill you too."

Al just sobbed louder and Roy held him tightly, feeling the heavy weight on his chest only increase.