To Go Home
By Bashfulglowfly
Chapter Four
Central Command 1923
Major General Roy Mustang didn't waste his breath cursing as he ran out the doors of the Headquarters building. He barely even glanced at the destruction that was going on around him. He shouted orders as he ran towards the chaos. Soldiers either followed him or ran in other directions at his orders.
He did curse the fact that Lt. General Armstrong and her crew had left just hours earlier to return to Briggs. They would have been a great deal of help. He could see that Col. Armstrong already had his uniform jacket and shirt off and was attacking the strangely armored soldiers that were coming through the strange array.
He didn't even flinch as Col. Hawkeye began firing her rifle past his shoulder. He saw an enemy and snapped his fingers, his flames annihilating the enemy in seconds.
Roy heard Hawkeye gasp as a woman fell out of the array. He could tell that she was unconscious by the way her body was falling but before he could yell at Armstrong to do something…a giant hand shot out of a building and caught her.
A giant hand of a style that he hadn't seen in eight long years.
"It can't be!" he breathed. Even as he kept using his flames against the enemy, he didn't see them. He was looking for a blond boy that he had been missing for a very long time. At first he didn't see him but he realized he was looking for someone in a red coat and black shirt and trousers with a blond braid. He didn't see that but he see a man wearing brown with a blond ponytail.
It was Edward Elric! Not the boy Roy remembered but a man grown. And a very angry man from the amount of damage that Ed was doing.
Roy turned as he heard a woman's voice shriek something that he didn't understand. He saw a man with short dark blond hair and glasses shoot the woman who had fallen from the array. She staggered, dropped the metal bar she was holding and collapsed. Roy felt his adrenaline surge with rage. He snapped his fingers and the flames burned the man's hand off. The man stared at him in horror. "Nicht du! Ich habe dich getötet!"
Roy didn't understand what he was saying but the man's words enraged him further and with another snap he burned the man to ash.
Suddenly the array collapsed. Roy turned just in time to see Ed remove one of his giant spears from the body of a woman. The body dissolved as it fell to the ground. He could tell that Ed was injured and began making his way across the battlefield. It was obvious that Ed didn't see him because he began running towards the woman who had been shot. Roy began moving towards them.
"Liesl! Liesl!" Ed's automail leg collapsed under him. His automail arm wasn't much better, but he dragged himself to Liesl's side. "Leisl, hang in there! Help is coming!" He looked around wildly and spotted Roy. "ROY! ROY! Get someone! She needs help! HURRY!"
Roy ran the last few yards, Hawkeye right behind him. He stopped just in time to hear the woman say something in a language he'd never heard before. "Ed sah ich Richard. Er war erstaunlich! Ein Krieger der Flamme ..."
Ed kissed her cheek and spoke softly in her ear. Roy felt a surge of jealously. Then he felt ridiculous. He hadn't seen Ed in eight years. How the hell could he possibly be jealous!
Ed push himself upright using his automail arm, "Roy…" then the arm shattered, throwing Ed to the ground. He hit his head and fell across the woman, unconscious.
A few hours later, Roy walked down the hall toward the room that Ed Elric and the woman that was with him had been assigned. He opened the door and paused for a moment at the sight of the crowded room. His entire crew was there: Hawkeye, Breda, Havoc, Falman and Fuery. There was also, to his surprise, Alphonse Elric and Winry Rockbell.
"Sir!" Hawkeye saluted, the others right behind her.
He nodded to his people but addressed Al and Winry. "You two got here fast."
Al spoke. "We were already here. I came back to do some studying. Winry came along to visit with Mrs. Hughes. I fought those…things…in the city. Then when I was checking on Winry, Mrs. Hughes and Elicia, Captain Fuery came and told us about Ed."
"I see." He looked at Ed and the strange woman sleeping in their hospital beds. "What is their condition?" He felt one hand tighten into a fist as he saw the matching gold bands on their left ring fingers. Ed MARRIED her!
"Stable, sir." Hawkeye spoke matter-of-factly. "They should be waking up soon. The doctors want to keep them for the next several days, though. Ed, especially, will not be allowed to go anywhere."
"Why is that?"
Winry stepped forward. "General Mustang, you'll have to see to understand." She pulled back the sheet exposing Ed's body. Roy raised an eyebrow at her boldness. Fortunately someone made sure he had underwear on. Both automail limbs had been removed. Winry placed the remains of the automail leg on the bed, aligning it with the port. Even though there wasn't much of the leg left, he could see that it was about three inches shorter than the right. "He grew! With that much difference, he should have been limping like hell, but I didn't notice anything when he was fighting."
Winry nodded "He did grow. In fact, he should be in a lot of pain because not only are his arm and leg too short for him now, his ports are too small." She covered Ed back up again. "I'll need to get started on making new ports as well as the arm and leg."
"Whatever it is you need, make a list. Fuery and Falman can get it for you. I'll also make sure that you can have a surgical room and whatever help you require to do the replacements."
Winry's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, General." She moved to the desk on the other side of the room and pulled out paper and pen and began writing her lists. Fuery and Falman looked over her shoulder, quietly asking questions.
"Sir, take a look at these." Breda held up a pair of boots, made for a man. Roy just looked at him. Breda smiled. "Yeah, I know, it's a pair of boots. Nicely made ones too, expensive. But feel inside this one." He tossed the left boot at Roy.
Roy stuck his hand down inside and had a shock. It was elevated inside. Then he understood. The reason why Ed wasn't limping was because the shoemaker compensated for the difference between the two legs inside the boot. Clever. Very clever!
"There is also this, sir." Hawkeye gestured to a table under the window. Piled neatly on top was the clothes Ed and the woman were wearing, two leather bags similar to the ones messengers wore…and stacks of gold coins. "The medical staff found a packet of gold coins inside the woman's undergarments and Havoc realized that there were coins sewn inside the hem of her skirt as well as inside Ed's vest.
"Hidden gold coins?" Roy walked over to the table and picked one up. Heavy like gold should be. The markings on the coins were certainly different. But they did look official. "Hidden gold is a sign of someone on the run, isn't it." The others didn't answer because they realized that he was musing out loud. "What were you running from, Ed?"
"Sir?" Al spoke.
"Yes, Al?"
"May I look through Brother's bag? It might give us clues."
Roy looked at the bag marked with a scrolled EE and picked it up. He sat down in the chair by the window and opened the bag. Inside where several notebooks. He pulled one out and opened it. It was in Ed's horrible writing and equally horrible code. He pulled everything out of the bag and found another packet of gold coins. He set that on the table and handed the notebooks to Al. "Well, see what you can make of those."
Al gave that bright smile of his and began to read, shutting out the world around him.
Roy picked up the other bag and opened it. He began pulling out colored pencils and pastels as well as a set of brushes. "She's an artist." He found another packet of gold. "They really packed the gold away, didn't they." He pulled out a sketchbook and began paging through it. The bag nearly slid off his lap and he absently caught it, not noticing the small portfolio that slid out and onto the floor.
Hawkeye bent down and picked it up. She opened it and looked inside. She gasped and turned pale. "Riza, what's wrong?" asked Havoc. The others were surprised she didn't shoot Havoc for using her first name. Her hand shook as she held the portfolio out to Roy.
"Sir, you need to look at this."
Roy frowned at her but took the portfolio from her hand. Inside was a black and white photograph. Sitting in a chair was a young girl. He looked at her face, then at the woman in the bed next to Ed's. It was obviously the same person. Then he focused on the man's face. He could feel the blood drain from his head. The hairstyle was different. As was the uniform. But the face was his. "What the hell? I've never seen her in my life! How the hell could I have had my picture taken with her?" He stared in shock at the woman then back at the photo. His hands shook as he placed the portfolio on the desk, making sure the disturbing photo was hidden from view.
Havoc put one of his endless cigarettes into his mouth but didn't light it. "Where the hell were you, Ed? And what were you up to?"
Mustang snorted. "That's the question of the century isn't it." He continued looking through the sketchbook trying to keep his mind of the photo…when he saw something that DID take his mind off the photo.
It was a drawing. Merely done in colored pencil but it was incredible. It was of Ed. His long hair was undone and about his shoulders. He was resting his head on a pillow that covered his automail arm. His chest was bare but the details were incredible. Every muscle was outlined in bold relief. His human hand rested just above his groin, holding onto a sheet that barely kept him from being exposed. The sheet covered his left leg but his right leg and hip were bare.
It was an incredible picture and Roy had to fight a sudden urge to burn to death the woman who made it. SHE had seen Ed nude. SHE married him. SHE was able to do sketches like this whenever she wanted. You are a fool Roy Mustang. You are jealous over something that you never had. And never will have. He isn't a homosexual. Ed is married to this woman. He will never want to be with you.
A moan of pain came from Ed's bed. Roy shot to his feet, dropping everything to the floor. Al did the same thing and the two men moved to either side of Ed's bed. Roy spoke softly. "Ed, it's all right. You're home. You're back in Central."
"Brother!" Al's voice was tight with tears. "Brother, I'm here. So is Winry." The others had gathered at the foot of Ed's bed. Quietly watching.
Ed moaned again. Roy looked at Hawkeye. "He's in pain. Get the doctor in here to get him some laudanum."
Ed's left hand reached out and grabbed Roy's arm. Roy, shocked by the thrill of pleasure that ran through him at Ed's touch, looked into golden eyes that were dull with pain. "No. Please, Roy, no. No laudanum. I promised Leisl."
"Brother, you're in pain."
Ed's voice grew stronger. "No. I won't take it. I won't become addicted again."
Roy smiled, hiding his shock at Ed's words. "Okay, Ed. No laudanum. I promise." He looked at Hawkeye. "Get the doctor. See if they have something to alleviate his pain but won't be addicting."
Ed smiled. "Thank you, Roy." He looked at Al. "Hey, Al. I'm home."
Al laughed despite the tears rolling down his face. "Yes you are, Brother. Yes you are."
Author's Note #1 – "Nicht du! Ich habe dich getötet!" is "Not you! I killed you!"
Author's Note #2 - "Ed sah ich Richard. Er war erstaunlich! Ein Krieger der Flamme ..." is "Ed, I saw Richard. He was amazing! A Warrior of Flame…"
Author's Note # 3 – My inspiration for the description of the picture Liesl drew of Ed came from a wonderful artist called Rueme on DeviantArt. Her work called "Good Morning" .com/gallery/26258900#/d2tt285 is simply YUMMY!
