To Go Home
By Bashfulglowfly
Chapter Five
Central Command 1923
"It's not as effective as the various opiates but it's certainly less addicting. Please, let me know if or when you need anything else."
"Thank you, doctor."
As the door shut behind the doctor, Ed spoke. "I want to sit up."
"Is that such a good idea, Brother?"
"Don't really care. I need to sit up." Roy and Al helped him sit upright while Hawkeye rearranged the pillows behind him. Ed leaned back with a sigh and took a good look at all of the people he had long ago decided was his family. "Hello, Al." He held out his arm. Al grabbed him and the two hugged. He looked over at Winry. "Hey, aren't you going to hug me too?" Winry laughed and complied. "Al, you look wonderful. Winry, you do too!" He looked at their hands and saw matching wedding bands. "Wait, what's this? Are the two of you married?"
Al fidgeted "Yes, for two years now."
Ed's grin grew wider. "That's just wonderful! I'm very happy for the two of you! So, am I an uncle yet?"
Al and Winry both blushed. Winry spoke. "Well, you're going to be one in five months."
A chorus of congratulations came from all around the room. Ed's smile got even bigger. "That's great!" He looked at everyone. "We're going to be Aunts and Uncles!"
Havoc muttered to Breda, "Hawkeye's baby gift will probably be a gun." Breda snickered with him and both flinched when Hawkeye glared. "Shit! She heard!"
Ed looked at Roy, still smiling. "Congratulations on being a General, Roy." he winked at Hawkeye. "So, even though you're a Colonel now, you still have to baby-sit him?"
Hawkeye smiled, her brown eyes twinkling. "It was discovered that he wouldn't do his paperwork unless I was around." Roy just rolled his eyes.
He grinned at the rest of Roy's crew. "Congratulations your promotions as well, guys." He paused for a moment. "By the way each of you owes me 5000 cenz."
"Little bastard would remember that!" muttered Havoc.
Ed looked over at the woman in the bed next to them. His face grew worried. "Is Liesl okay?"
Hawkeye spoke "She was shot. The bullet hit her spleen. The doctors had to remove it but they think that she should recover nicely but she needs to rest for several days."
Ed closed his eyes and sighed. "Good. I'm glad she's going to be fine."
Roy looked at Ed. This Ed was not the angry boy from eight years ago. He had grown up in the time that he'd been gone.
"Where have you been all this time, Ed?" asked Winry.
Ed sighed and wriggled further into the pillows. "In a world on the other side of the Gate. I ended up in a country called England then traveled around a continent called Europe and finally lived in a country called Germany for several years. They don't have alchemy on the Other Side, so I studied science to try and get back over."
"How did you get back here?" asked Falman.
Ed scowled. "Because of the actions of a stupid woman named Dietlinde Eckhart and her flunkies Rudolf Hess and Jan Alder."
"And this woman who came through the array with you. Who is she?" asked Roy quietly.
Ed looked at Roy. "Her name is Liesl Reinhardt…Elric. She's my wife."
Roy felt his heart stop at that announcement. He could feel his jaw twitch.
Winry asked "How did you meet?"
"We met after I threw my latest lover out for hitting me. The bastard!" Ed scowled again at the memory.
"Brother…'bastard'?" asked Al hesitantly.
Ed looked his younger brother straight in the eye. "Yes. Bastard. My lover was a man. I'm a homosexual, Al."
Roy froze. Ed is…a homosexual? I know I'm not hearing things…but is he really telling the truth?
Al stammered "But…but…you said that Miss Liesl is your wife!"
Ed rubbed his forehead. "She is. For a few reasons. Let me finish. We met after I threw out my lover because she heard the fight and was concerned about me then she invited me over for supper. When I was in her flat, I saw a photograph of her and a man." He looked around and spotted Liesl's bag and pointed at it. "She should have in there. In a black portfolio."
"We saw the photograph." Roy said quietly.
"Oh. You looked through her bag already. Then you saw that she's an artist."
"Yes, I saw several of her sketches. She very good." Roy said reluctantly.
"Ah, did you see her anatomical study of me?" Ed laughed wickedly at Roy's blush. He went back to his narrative. "I damn near had a heart attack when I saw that photo. His name was Richard. He was forced to commit suicide in 1909." Roy straightened in his chair, eyes wide. Ed nodded solemnly at him. "Yeah, in our world, it would have been after the Ishvalan War. Richard was accused of seducing a man and forcing him to steal important documents. The man's name was Jan Adler. Roy, you killed him just a few hours ago."
Roy recalled the look of horror on the man's face. "He was horrified to see me. I don't know what it was that he said but…he was certainly shocked!"
"I'm glad it was you who killed him. He deserved it."
"Actually, Ed. I was already angry because he shot your wi…Liesl."
"Considering, in a way, she's your sister, no wonder. Well, Liesl and I became friends. We shared a lot of things. There was a war going on at that time, so there were food shortages or it was very expensive. We helped each other out as much as we could. I have to admit, there were times that we went to bed hungry."
He took a sip of water from a glass that was on the bedside table. "Anyway, after the war ended, things began to change. Slowly, quietly. I wanted to continue my research but I knew that I might have to leave suddenly and I didn't want to leave Liesl behind. And it would have been difficult for her to travel with me if she wasn't my wife. Our being married provided both of us protection. Since I was married, most wouldn't suspect that I was a homosexual and others wouldn't try and take advantage of Liesl. Some would consider her to be little better than a whore because she paints and would try and treat her as such. So, being married protected us both."
He looked at everyone, golden eyes dark with a darker memory. "She saved my life. I began to grow, so the ports began to hurt more and more. I hid that fact from her. I thought that I could handle it. I began taking laudanum to ease the pain." He closed his eyes and bit his lip. When he opened them again he looked over at Liesl. "In some ways she probably deluded herself too because the signs can be very obvious, but when the chemist mentioned to her that I was on my third bottle for the week and it was only Wednesday…she took action. She refused to give me any more. I was really, really terrible to her during that time. It took a week or more before that crap was out of my system. I don't know what all I said to her. She's never told me but I know it wasn't nice. But she stayed beside me, cleaned up the sweat and vomit." Tears rolled down his cheeks. "She helped me survive." He wiped the tears away and looked at the others. Winry and Al were crying also. Roy and Hawkeye looked stoic. Breda, Havoc and Falman were grim. But he was surprised by the look on Fuery's face…it was as if he knew exactly what Ed had gone through.
"Gah! I was a fool. But, I did my best to make it up to her. We moved to a nicer neighborhood not long after. The only problem was the damned nosey neighbors. They didn't like the fact that I 'allowed' Liesl to paint. They thought it was frivolous for a housewife to do that. Liesl thinks that I don't know that she was constantly being asked if she was pregnant. They seemed to think that if she had children, she would stop painting. The fools! I would have loved to have turned a few of those old bats into frogs…or at least dropped a few houses on them."
Both Hawkeye and Winry snorted with disgust. "Like having children will keep someone from their passion!" said Hawkeye. Winry nodded in agreement.
"Brother, how did you get back here?" ask Al.
"I was getting to that." He swallowed another drink of water. "About a year ago, I met a man. His name was Alfons Heiderich." Ed smiled and looked at Al. "He looked exactly like you. He was also interested in the same thing I was: rocket science. We worked together well."
"It took me a while but I finally got him to come to our house for dinner. Leisl had never told me the name of the man that arranged for her brother to die, but that night I learned that it was Jan Adler. So I knew Eckhart and her flunkies where up to no good. But I couldn't persuade Alfons about that. He could only see the goodness in people."
"But he overheard Eckhart and some others talking one night. About invading another world using science and our reasearch. He came to see me and asked for my help in destroying everything. The plan was that we'd destroy it then leave Germany. I tried to get Liesl to wait for us at the train station but she refused. So all three of us went to the lab. But they were waiting for us. Eckhart said that I had a duty to fulfill and she was going to make sure I did it. She ordered her man Hess to shoot Liesl but Al…" Ed's voice choked. "Alfons jumped in front of her. They killed him. Liesl tried to attack Adler but she was hit over the head knocking her unconcious. Eckhart said that if I didn't behave she'd have Liesl thrown to her men and if she survived, she'd cut Liesl's throat in front of me."
Roy's vision ran red with anger. First I'm jealous that she's married to Ed and now I'm pissed off because she was threatened with rape and murder? I need help!
"Liesl had been hit pretty hard so she never woke up until we got to this side, so she didn't see what went on. When we got to the lab, Eckhart took us to an area that I didn't know existed. It was underground. Eckhart had drawn a massive array…and she was using Envy and Dad to help power it with me as the final touch."
Al stared at him in utter shock. "D…Dad? She was using Dad. And Envy? How did Envy get there?"
"Damned if I know, but he was in the shape of a dragon and that bitch had placed Dad in his mouth. She stabbed me in the side then strung both Liesl and myself by our hands above the array. Our blood dripped down and activated the array. I think she thought that Liesl would just be absorbed but obviously that didn't happen. Dad and Envy were absorbed though…I saw them come apart as we entered."
Roy spoke quietly. "So there's no chance that your father or Envy are still alive."
Ed shrugged. "I don't think so, but the Old Man and that piece of shit are pretty remarkable about showing back up." He looked at Roy. "You said that just before you killed Adler, he said something. What did he say?"
Roy thought for a moment and then attempted to repeat what he remembered. Ed frowned for a moment "Did he say 'Nicht du! Ich habe dich getötet!'" At Roy's nod, Ed grinned evilly "That means 'Not you! I killed you!' Certainly confirms that he arranged for Richard's 'suicide.' Seriously, I'm glad you were the one who killed him. I think Liesl will be pleased as well."
"What was it that she said to you before the pair of you passed out?" asked Roy.
Ed smiled at him. "She said 'Ed, I saw Richard. He was amazing! A Warrior of Flame.'"
Roy felt himself smiling at the praise of Ed's wife…his…sister on the Other Side.
Everyone turned and looked at the woman on the other bed as she moaned and her eyelids began to flicker.
