It's time to bring Roy into the picture! Oh the fun!
No real action in this chapter, besides OC abuse, but this was the best place to end the chapter without making it incredibly long.
At first, Roy wasn't sure what had woken him up. It was almost four in the morning and while he did have bouts of insomnia due to drinking and war flashbacks, he hadn't been drinking and wasn't covered in sweat from a nightmare.
The general rolled over and pulled the covers back over his head. He had a meeting with Hakuro again the next morning, and he needed to be coherent to deal with all the stupidity he was going to encounter.
Even now, almost a year after taking down the Homunculi, Roy found himself being interrogated as to what had happened, why Bradley was dead, and why Fullmetal's body had gone missing.
Really, why couldn't Hakuro just go and die?
Knock knock knock!
Roy froze and peeked out from under the covers. He was sure he had heard knocking, but who in the world would come to his door at this time of the night?
The knocking started up again, louder, and Roy groaned and slid out of the bed. Whoever it was obviously wasn't going anywhere, and the sooner he dealt with it, the sooner he could get back to sleep.
The alchemist grabbed his gloves and slipped them on before stalking down the stairs and towards his front door. At this point, he could hear someone calling his name in between knocks. They sounded like they were on the verge of panic.
Roy jerked the door open and Arborthal nearly punched him in the chest from his flurry of knocks. The younger alchemist froze and took a step back.
They stared at each other for a moment; Roy noted absently that the younger man was soaked. "What the hell is your problem, Arborthal?" Roy growled, stepping over the threshold and onto the porch. Arborthal had been under his command for nearly four months, and Roy's initial loathing of the young man had yet to abate. It wasn't that he had done anything to infuriate Mustang- it was more Hakuro's fault than anything else. Within months of Ed's death, Hakuro had promptly dropped Arborthal into Roy's unit, telling him that he had gone to great lengths to secure Mustang a "replacement alchemist."
Just thinking about that day was enough to make Roy's blood boil and it took quite a bit of control to stifle the urge to punch Arborthal every time the man walked into his office.
And now Arborthal had gone and woken him in the middle of the night.
Wearing his gloves had probably been a bad idea; Roy wasn't sure how much self-restraint he'd be able to muster tonight.
Charlie was staring at him nervously, and Roy scowled. "Major, I asked you a question. Do you have a reason for waking me up?"
Arborthal let out a low whimper before flinging himself at Mustang. "General! He's down there! You have to come, he asked for you andhe'sgoingtokillmeyouhavetogo-!"
Mustang slapped a hand over Charlie's mouth and shoved him inside the house before closing the door. "Slow down, Arborthal. What's down where?"
It seemed that Charlie was beyond forming sentences. "The sewers! It's him, I saw him! All the blood and oh my god, his organs were everywhere, and-and-and-" Arborthal stopped talking and whimpered again, sinking down to the floor and holding his head in his hands.
Roy sighed and made his way over to the liquor cabinet. He had no idea what his subordinate had found in the sewers, but whatever it was had put him on the verge of hysteria. He poured two glasses of scotch and thrust one in Arborthal's face. "Drink and calm down," he ordered.
The other alchemist looked at the glass blankly before downing it in one gulp and slamming the glass on the floor.
Roy, on the other hand, chose to sip his alcohol slowly and watch his subordinate quietly. The major took several deep breaths and, after a second glass, seemed to have composed himself.
"I'll ask you one more time to explain yourself, Arborthal. After that, I'm going to set your pants on fire and kick you out my door." Roy scratched his arm and yawned. "Now. Who's down in the sewers asking for me?"
Arborthal stood up and licked his lips. He sucked in a breath and tensed, as if bracing himself. "Fullmetal, Sir."
Roy was sure he'd never run so fast in his life.
After punching Arborthal in the face, he had dragged his unfortunate subordinate by the collar to the door, snarling about all the way. "I don't know what kind of stunt you're trying to pull, but if you want to get killed, you certainly picked the right way!"
Arborthal gasped as Mustang slammed him against the wall. "S-sir! I'm not lying, it was him, I swear!" he exclaimed, eyeing Mustang's left hand warily as the alchemist adjusted on his glove. "I wouldn't lie about something like this!"
Mustang scowled and snorted in disbelief.
And then Arborthal began to talk. At first, Mustang ignored it, too intent on figuring out where it would be best to set his subordinate on fire, but then the babbling caught his attention. Arborthal, in his desperation to not get cooked, had begun to describe what Edward had looked like. And there was no way he could have known that…
Unless he'd actually seen him.
Roy abruptly stepped back and released his subordinate. The young man sagged against the wall and stared up at the general, still wary of being killed.
"Show me, Arborthal."
"S-show you what?"
"Fullmetal."
And then they were off, running like mad men to the sewer entrance closest to where Arborthal had run into Edward.
Arborthal skidded to a halt near a manhole cover and pulled the metal out of the way. The two men stared at the dark hole for a moment before Roy pointed to it.
"You first, Major."
The younger man bit his lip and made his way down the ladder, and Roy followed him.
It had been a while since Roy had been down in the sewers, and the alchemist took a deep breath. Keep it together, Mustang, he told himself firmly. Yes, this was the last place he really wanted to be, but if Arborthal was right somehow…
He followed closely behind his subordinate, who had brought a new lantern. Suddenly, the young man stopped. "He was over there by the scaffolds," he said, pointing; Roy could just make out the outlines in the gloom.
Arborthal didn't move. "Well? You going?" Roy growled. Was his subordinate really spineless?
As it turned out, he was. The young alchemist shook his head firmly at the general's question.
Roy narrowed his eyes and snatched the lantern away and began to stalk over towards where Arborthal had pointed. He was glad he had worn his military boots- they were high enough to keep his feet dry. With the lantern gone, Arborthal had chased after his superior officer in the fear of being left in the dark.
They arrived at the scaffolds and Roy glanced around, raising the lantern to see his surroundings better. "I don't see him, Arborthal," he growled. When this was over, Arborthal was really going to get it…
"That's because I'm over here, Colonel Dumbass."
Roy swung around so violently he smacked Arborthal with the lantern. The young alchemist yelped and fell to his knees, holding his head, but Roy ignored him, instead choosing to stare at the large pile of rubble behind him.
And perched on top was Edward Elric.
They stared at each other for a moment, Roy's eyes wide and Ed looking utterly bored, yet smug at the same.
"Took you long enough. I mean, really, it's been almost a year and you're still not done fixing the sewers?" Ed rolled his eyes and lounged back against the rock.
Roy's eye twitched. "It's called politics, Fullmetal," he snapped, habit taking over while his mind was still trying to process what the hell was going on.
Edward looked… normal. Arborthal had talked about how mangled the alchemist's body had been, but looking at him now, Roy never would have guessed he'd been mauled to death by Pride. He was wearing the standard eye-bleeding red coat with black pants and boots, with his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. If it wasn't for the fact that Ed was slightly transparent, Roy would have assumed he was alive.
Ed was still staring at him and as the silence stretched on, he leaped from the small mountain of debris and glided over to where Mustang and Arborthal were standing. "Yeah, it's me. Could you close your mouth and stop staring at me like an idiot?"
Roy snapped his mouth shut, unaware that it had been open to begin with. At the close proximity, he could pick out a slight reddish tint to Ed's eyes. The two alchemists stared at each other while Arborthal whimpered in fear and pain on the ground.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," Roy finally spat out. Ed snorted and opened his mouth, but Roy cut him off with a raised hand. "But before you say anything, let me sit down before my legs give out." He made his way over to the scaffolds and sat down heavily on the bottom level. Arborthal scurried after him and planted himself next to the lantern. I'm too old to be dealing with this kind of stuff.
"You coming, Fullmetal?" he asked, noticing that the blond hadn't moved from his spot.
Ed squirmed. "I can't," he replied.
The general frowned. "You can't? Why not?"
"That's outside my range." Ed took a couple of steps closer, but stopped several feet away. "This is as far as I can go. Any further and it's gets a little sketchy."
Roy decided to wait on more questions. "Arborthal! Make us a bench," he ordered, pointing to where Ed was standing.
The alchemist looked horrified, but after a firm push, he hesitantly made his way over to the designated area. As he neared, Ed turned to stare at him. This seemed to unnerve Arborthal to no end; Roy could see him shaking from his seat.
As the alchemist crouched to transmute, a demented smirk crossed Ed's face and he leaned so that he was hovering right above Arborthal, his face right next to the man's neck.
"Boo."
Arborthal shrieked and bolted, tripped over his feet and fell in a heap in a puddle. Roy groaned as Ed began to cackle, enjoying his ability to torment the poor solider.
Obviously, he was going to have to make that bench himself. Mustang scowled and got back to his feet, stalking past the traumatized heap that was his subordinate. As he bent to finish Arborthal's transmutation circle, he shook his head. "You're such an ass, Fullmetal."
Ed sniffed haughtily as Roy transmuted the bench and a flash of light illuminated the sewers. For a moment, Ed was invisible, save for the two smudges of red of his eyes. When the bench was made, Roy sat and crossed his arms. "Start talking. How the hell are you here?"
Yeah, bad place to break the chapter, but the explination is pretty much a chapter in on itself. So you get that next.
And I feel a little bad for beating up Arborthal so much. Poor guy needs a break.