Carnival Time!

"Uncle Roy! Uncle Roy!" The little girl screamed, toddling as quickly as her little legs would allow. Ed and Al watched bemusedly as she stumbled past them, jumping the last few centimetres to cling to Roy's trouser leg. She was smiling brightly up at him, and Roy couldn't help but give the small girl a hesitant smile back. He crouched down and gently removed her from his leg. "Hello Elysia. Where's your daddy?"

"Right here, Roy." Hughes said, sauntering up, camera gleefully clicking away with Gracia beside him. They stopped by Edward, saying quick hello's before Gracia was checking the boy's face, graceful fingers gentle over the marred skin. Hughes sidled up to Roy, hanging the camera by a strap around his neck and picking his daughter up. He took a long look at Ed's face then leaned in to ask, "What happened?"

Roy sighed and watched as Ed gave Gracia a smile, and shook his head when she said something. "It was a sparring accident," he revealed, "Seems Ed was tired and failed to dodge a punch."

Hughes hissed in sympathy, cuddling his little girl close. "See Elysia, this is why you shouldn't fight. Your silly big brothers got all banged up."

"Silly big brothers!" Elysia echoed back, causing Ed and Al to stare at them strangely. Roy doubted the small girl understood what her father was saying, but it would be useless to tell Hughes that. He'd probably fling more photos in his face while he praised Elysia as a genius.

"So, Roy," Hughes continued with a sly smile, "Ed beat you up yet?" Roy growled and held up a fist, tempted to plant it in his friend's smug face, but Hughes quickly held up Elysia with a playful warning glance. His eyes then turned back to his wife, who was now speaking with a delighted Alphonse, Ed standing quiet at his side as he stretched to see over the crowd.

"Seriously though," Hughes sighed, "how've things been with the boys?"

Roy smiled at Elysia as he mentally ran through his weekend so far, and was surprised by his answer.

"Quiet. They've looked after themselves."

"See? Children are great!"

Roy had the feeling Hughes had taken his words the wrong way, but Roy wasn't about to correct him, especially with Elysia around. Today was supposed to be fun after all.

"Daddy, I wanna see big brothers!"The little girl said, tugging on the camera strap around Hughes' collar. The man grinned and held his little girl up, rubbing their noses together, "Well, let's go see them!"

Roy followed Hughes as the man sauntered back to his wife, putting Elysia back on the ground and getting his camera ready they neared. He watched as the little girl ran towards Edward, hands outstretched and laughing like she'd done to Roy. Al took a cautious step back as his brother crouched down, ready to catch the little girl.

It was a good thing he did.

Hughes cried out and Gracia gasped as Elysia tripped and went flying , falling headfirst to the cobbles and headed toward a huge puddle, Roy's heart thundered in his chest for a second before Ed's hands wrapped her and he held her close, trying to fend off any scared tears before they could start.

"Hey there, Elysia. Have you been good for Mrs Hughes?"Al crooned, his hand clanking as he reached out to the little girl, patting her head. Roy and the Hughes' stood back, Gracia ever ready to take her daughter back if need be and watched as the brothers kept Elysia calm, working as a team. Ed giving the girl physical comfort while Al distracted her with banter about going around the stalls and watching the performers.

Beside him, Roy placed a hand on Maes shoulder. He knew his friend could get pretty worked up about anything happening to his daughter. It was a wisdom it had taken three babysitting disasters to cement into his head. "Thank god Ed caught her," Hughes sighed as he brought up his camera, "and look how adorable they are! Three children enjoying their day out!" More clicks and flashes, and Hughes was suddenly in photographer mode, and not even Ed's indignant shouts for him to stop could deter him.

Gracia held a hand to her mouth as she giggled at her husband's antics before turning to Roy. "I'm so glad you managed to bring them," she said, "Maes told me how they don't get to be themselves that often." Gracia smiled as her photo-mad husband was held at arm's length by an irate Ed as Al carefully held a sniggering Elysia.

"It was all Alphonse's idea," Roy admitted, pulling the bag strap higher over his shoulder, "he managed to persuade Ed to come."

"I'm glad he did."

"Gracia, my darling! They're being mean!" Hughes yelled dramatically as he grabbed Ed's hands in one of his. Roy watched as Alphonse took no notice as his brother yelled and railed against being held, attracting more stares from the carnival goers then either the stalls or Alphonse. Instead, the armoured boy stood by Gracia and hopped a little from foot to foot. From what Roy had learned over the last few days, Alphonse was excited. "Can we go and explore now?" He asked, Elysia echoing the question from his arms, "Please, can we?"

"Sure we can," Gracia told him, "just help me separate these two and we can go further in. Coming, Roy?"

Roy startled, moving his feet to follow Gracia and Alphonse as they pried apart Hughes and Ed, who weren't arguing as much as they were wrestling. "Honestly, Maes," Gracia sighed good naturedly, holding onto her husbands arm. Hughes grinned at her, and gave Ed hair a ruffle before the boy could protest.

"You're a maniac, you know that, right?" Ed muttered, trying to flatten his hair. Alphonse tutted, and rolled the helmet as if rolling his eyes. In his arms, Elysia covered her mouth as giggles escaped her.

"Come on, brother, let's go look around!" Alphonse shouted, grabbing hold of Ed's jacket and pulling, trying to move his obstinate brother from where he stood, still fixing up his hair.

"Hold on, boys!" Roy shouted, making Alphonse stop in his tracks, Elysia making a small noise of complaint as Ed crashed into his larger brother, smacking his bruised cheek into the metal.

"Dammit, Al, that hurt!" he shouted, cradling his face. "Fu-"

"Language, Ed." Hughes warned sternly.

"Um...yeah, fudge..." The boy looked up at the girl in his brothers' arms before glaring at Roy. "What d'you want."

"If you guys get lost, meet us back here, alright?" He said, pointing at the ground and watching some strange emotion steal over Edwards face between his fingers. Ed nodded very slightly, pressing his fingers once more to his blackening nose before knocking his fist against the curved expanse of Alphonse's side. "Come on, Al. Let's go!"

"Coming brother!"

"Big brother!"

As if a spell suddenly overcame the carnival, the drizzle began to stop and patches of bright sun started to pierce through the thick cloud cover. "Looks like it'll be a good day after all," Hughes said gleefully, slinging an arm around Roy's shoulders, much to his annoyance.

"As long as there's no trouble, I don't care." He replied back, beginning to follow the three children through the thick crowd. Hughes laughed and shared a knowing look with his wife.

"Don't be such a wet match, Roy!"

"Hughes..." Roy growled, getting ready to torch his friend.

"Don't be angry, Roy! Just look at my sweet Elysia! She's having so much fun!"

Roy looked ahead to where Al was bouncing Elysia above his head as Edward dodged through the crowd, dragging his brother behind him as he bounced from stall to stall, something almost like excitement on his bruised face. Oddly, Ed didn't say a word, but Alphonse always commented on whatever thing had caught his brothers eye.

Roy and the Hughes' walked along behind them, sometimes stopping at the same stall, but mostly running after the three youngsters. Elysia seemed to be having a whale of a time with the two boys, and Roy had to laugh when the girl asked if she could ride on Ed's shoulders.

She kept asking as they walked around, going at it with the tenacity only three year olds posses and ignoring even the shiny jewellery in the stalls, or the smell of sweets and food that seemed to entice Ed. Roy was sure Maes would want his little girl back when they saw Ed starting to get frustrated, but all three adults were surprised when Ed growled and snatched Elysia from Al and plunked her on his shoulders with a stern warning to "hold on, and shut up."

Roy saw Alphonse tut at his brother, but with Maes beside him clicking away, and Gracia looking at some trinkets in a stall, he realised that no one was in the least bit worried.

Personally, Roy didn't feel comfortable letting the two boys run off with Maes only daughter, if only for their health. An angry Hughes had turned up more than once in a nightmare.

"You sure you want to let her stay with Ed?" He finally asked Maes, finally making the other man stop photographing every move the brothers made with Elysia.

"Yep!" Hughes beamed, "she's in the hands of two very capable young men."

"Ed's barely fourteen." Roy muttered, watching Elysia almost tip backwards before Al quickly righted her and Edward got a better hold of her legs.

"Ah," Hughes went on, "but Ed's taken care of Alphonse most of his life. He knows what to do."

"What if she falls?"

"She better not fall."

Roy saw the murderous look in Maes' eye, and quickly backed away.

"Aww, come on, Roy! I was joking!...Mostly." Hughes quickly caught Roy by the arm and again slung his own over Roy's shoulders. Roy grumbled and tried to shrug his friend off, but Hughes was never easily deterred.

A few stalls later, and after Maes got a picture of him looking at rings (he'd actually been looking at something Ed had picked up, and made a mental note that Ed had no taste what-so-ever), making thinly veiled suggestions about the state of his love life, Gracia snuck up to him with a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.

"I think someone's here to see you," She said, then quickly turned around and waved. "Hello! I'm so glad you finally found us!"

Roy turned to see who it was, and came chin to nose with his First Lieutenant.

Hope the wait was worth it!

I also really really hate myself now. With the introduction of Riza, there are seven characters I need to keep up with. SEVEN. I was having enough trouble with SIX!

Still, I'm hoping that chapter 10 will be good, and more about all of them watching performers and having fun at the games. This chapter started writing itself eventually (partially why it's so long), so I didn't get to put as much in as I wanted. Still, the chapter is approx. 1,800 without this author note. Yay.

Never give up hope with this fic!

Any reviews about my awful updating are welcomed, but if you want to comment on the story, that's fine too :D

Inuchron

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