Enigma-
Edward awoke alone as he had for the past six years of his life. Granted, he had thought that by going to bed with Mustang, perhaps he would not feel so alone when the morning dawned and sunlight spilled into the curtains.
He sat up, holding his head in his hands.
What had happened? Surely the previous night had not all been a dream, if it were, he would not be in Roy's room, covered in his blankets.
Suddenly, he felt very alone, so deeply alone that it was as if a chill had spilled over him and left icicles in its tracks.
Turning slightly, he surveyed the room. The phone hung off the hook, beeping obnoxiously, a chair was overturned, the mirror on Mustang's dresser cracked severely down the middle. Needless to say, it appeared to have gone through hell.
Was this, he pondered, how Roy had felt when Ed had left him?
Edward stood up and left the destructed room, deciding on what he had to do. It wasn't right to keep someone so close to him in the dark. He just couldn't do it. Maybe it meant that he and Al could have continued on living like they always had, as brothers and friends, as two people in a big world who knew they could rely on the other. Maybe so. But, Ed knew that he would not be able to live with himself if he kept such and important person in his life, sheltered from the light of truth.
It was time to pay up for his sins.
Entering the kitchen, expecting to find nothing more than a lonely table and a consoling cup of coffee, the blonde was thoroughly surprised to see Al standing over the stove. He halted, staring at his oblivious little brother.
Alphonse yelped as Mustang's stove, fuelled by natural gas, spat a rather nasty flame at him and the blue fire burned his fingertips.
Ed smiled at the domestic sight. He sauntered over, grabbed Al's hand and kissed the tender skin lightly, noticing the look of bewilderment being given to him.
Normally he wasn't one for such caring gestures. Hell, he hardly even hugged his sibling, never mind doing something that a mother should. He felt that perhaps he should start doing these things before Al was no longer around, or he wasn't there to do them.
"You're an idiot," He whispered fondly.
Al grinned sheepishly, he was glad to see a happier side of his brother. "And you're a hypocrite."
Turning away from Ed, Al continued prodding what appeared to be soup of some sort.
Edward glanced around, noting that it was near eleven and sat down at the table.
"What are you doing up so early, Brother? It isn't like you to get up before noon."
"Ha-ha, very funny. I woke up because it was so damn cold in that room." Ed paused, grumbling about some stupid bastard probably leaving a window open somewhere.
"Well I'd imagine so. With the way you must have been leeching heat off of Roy. Without him there, you'd actually have to make your own source of warmth, instead of being a parasite."
"Yeah, I slept fine for the night until-" Suddenly, the once calm Edward became sinister. "A parasite! Are you trying to insinuate that I am short, my dear Alphonse?" He questioned far too sweetly for comfort.
Al sighed, "Not at all."
Ed grunted in approval. "So, where did that bastard go anyway?"
He sipped a bit of broth from the wooden spoon, and deeming it ready, released it from the heat. "I'm not really sure. He left a while ago." Al grabbed two bowls, poured the meal into both and handed one to Ed. "There was a phone call about twenty minutes ago that he answered. Seemed pretty upset about it too," Alphonse came to sit beside Edward. "Then he left, without at word to me. But I had assumed that he at least told you where he was going. I hope nothing bad happened."
"It's probably nothing. He'll be back before we know it. Otherwise, I'll pound his fat egotistical insensitive head in for being such a moron," Ed waved his fist dramatically in the air, making as if to pulverize a non-existent Mustang.
Al giggled, "It's nice having you back, Brother."
Edward choked, while attempting to drink half of his soup at once, and coughed loudly.
Yep, this was definitely his brother. Loud, obnoxious, stubborn, and quite refreshing in such a dull situation.
"What do you mean? I've been here the whole time," Ed wheezed.
"No, you were acting really strange as of late. It was like… you were not yourself." The blonde inhaled sharply, trying not to think just how true that statement was. For a reason unknown to even him, Pride's voice seemed to echo louder in his head. Louder and louder and louder until he was shouting at the very peak of his lungs. "But it's fine now. You're back to your old self," Alphonse smiled to him, a smile so pure that it screamed to Ed's very soul.
"Alphonse," He whispered quietly. "There's something I have been keeping from you. Something I should have told you long ago, yet I kept quiet about it until now. I guess I was a little scared of what your reaction might be."
Edward gripped his left wrist tightly, holding onto it with such an iron-like vice, he vaguely feared he may be cutting off the blood.
"I- I'm…" He faced his brother's eyes head on; knowing that from this point there was no turning back. "I'm a murderer, Al."
"A what? You, you can't be serious Ed. You're lying aren't you?" Al felt tears build in his eyes and he knew nothing but absolute anguish when his brother, rather than deny everything and anything he had just spoken, tilted his head down in shame. "You're joking…"
His fingernails bit into his soft, but already scarred skin. "No I'm not!" He gushed in desperation. "I'm a murderer; I've killed people for money. I killed Ross and I tried to get Roy too. I just let it happen all around me." Ed slammed both of his fists onto the tabletop and let his salty tears fly into the air from his violent motion. "Don't you see, Al? I'm a fucking monster!" He screeched.
A slap penetrated the cries of the older Elric and Edward reached up slowly to touch the pink section on his cheek. He looked to Al, standing before him with his hand vehemently tossed to the side after the blow. "Al…"
Alphonse roughly embraced him in a bone crushing hug. "Don't you dare say things like that."
"But, Al, I-"
"No!" Al yelled, silencing Ed completely. "You're my brother, not a monster. You're one of the kindest and smartest people I've ever known. You wouldn't do those kinds of things to innocent people and people you cared about."
Edward pushed Alphonse away from him, tears still blinding his vision. When the younger tried to near him, craving the heat of their embrace, Ed cried, "Don't come near me! Don't touch me, don't hug me, and don't love me-"
"Brother?"
"I'm a monster-"
"Edward!"
"I killed Winry!"
Al stared at him, shock running through his features. His mouth hung open, slack with no words to even comprehend to say.
"I slaughtered her Alphonse. I ran a thick blade over her throat and watched her as she died. I was the one. Me! I am the one you should hate with all of your being! And do you know why I did it my Brother? Because I was too damned weak! I let something else take control of me for its own selfish reasons and I killed the one you loved!"
Al fell to his knees, quite and dry sobs retching forth from his throat. Wrapping his arms around his abdomen tightly, he rested his forehead onto the cold tile floor.
"I'm a monster," Edward whispered, and then…
He was gone.
Roy briskly followed Hawkeye down, past the media, and to the south entrance of the police station.
"You never did tell me who it was that was hurt," He commented idly.
"Who it was has not been confirmed. But," she opened the door with a silver key and led him inside, "I think that you'll be able to come to the same conclusion as I did when I saw."
Roy sighed and let her lead the way. Really, to have been called early in the morning, commanded out of his warm bed with a sleeping Edward curled up to his chest and to be forced to come back where he had just been yesterday was very tiring. When this small ordeal was over he wanted nothing more to sneak back to his house and go back to the blonde he had been without for so long. It had to be karma. The kid finally comes back to him, stays over at his house and does not sneak off into the night and Roy just had to be called away. Who was to say that Ed wouldn't leave now that Roy was not there to make sure he would not?
Granted that Riza had sounded awfully upset when she phoned. But did she forget that he wasn't a police man anymore? That murder investigation cases no longer concerned him and that he didn't do this sort of thing anymore? The only action he had gotten in years compared to the past week was when a kid vandalized some government property and Mustang had to chase him for eight blocks when he ran.
Hawkeye came to a stop at an office and let him inside to survey the situation himself while she stood guard. Apparently, the media trying to cover the rumoured murder occurring in the building was being held up by all the guards and officers on shift today at the opposite end. They were trying to convince the national populace that nothing of the sort occurred. All those except ones still loyal to Roy who had helped him sneak in, as they were the only real security.
Roy glanced around the room lazily. Nothing looked to be out of place. He walked in, prepared to berate Riza for wasting his time with some rumour. That is, until he heard a loud crunch and left something beneath his boot.
Squatting down, he extracted a pair of (now broken) glasses from his sole. At first he thought nothing of them, wondering who would be stupid enough to lose an item so useful. But as he inspected them closer, he found something else out.
On the frame were faint marks of pink wax crayons.
He recalled Maes bragging to him once about his child Elicia and her amazing coloring skills, and that she had even decorated his glasses in her love. And out of pure adoration swore he would never wash them off.
They fell to the ground with a soft ping, a lens popping out and shooting underneath the desk. His hands trembled as he tried to deny what he knew with all reason.
Roy tore his eyes to the door, catching Riza's gaze. She nodded gravely and bowed her head.
In anger he beat his hands onto the carpeted floor, cursing at his friend's stupidity.
How could the bastard go and get himself murdered in one night? How could he do it? How in heaven's name could he just-
Roy's thoughts abruptly halted while he stared at that floor.
Carpet…
He ran his gloved fingertips over the scratchy surface. Didn't carpet soak up liquid, and didn't people bleed when they died? The rumour was that someone had died of a gunshot wound, and didn't guns make holes that made the victim bleed?
Why then, was there none of the substance present on that carpet floor?
Even if Maes had been shot and whoever did it tried to cover it up, blood stains of that magnitude wouldn't come off of those tightly bound cords of thread. There would have been no time to patch it over or install a new floor.
Something had happened to Maes Hughes and someone was trying to cover it up.
Roy crawled over to the desk, reaching underneath to retrieve the ejected lens. But instead, he also acquired something he did not expect.
Whatever Maes had stumbled onto in that office was blackmail worthy enough for someone in the building to desire to silence him. And, Mustang decided, he had just found a big piece of that unsolved puzzle.
In his hand, he drew back the piece of glass and a picture.
A picture of a much younger Edward Elric, dubbed underneath the image as being five years of age.
"What the hell is going on?" He whispered quietly as he stared at the image.
Roy had a sudden feeling that he should madly dash back to the kid before he did anything stupid. He could only hope that Ed would be smart enough to stay at his house until Roy returned.
Who was to say that Ed wouldn't leave now that Roy was not there to make sure he would not?
Who was to say that Hughes' attacker would not be on the lookout for the blonde so they could finish the job?
AN: Thank you to reviewers! Well, that certainly was a mouthful! I have to say that this chapter was by far the easiest one to write. The words just seemed to flow into my caffeine drugged brain. Though I would hate to think that would mean it was worse. -.-
If you did like it, please comment.